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from l.a. weekly's political highlights of 2005 (all worth a read):

2. Are Women Necessary?
Not in Hollywood, it seems. Once again, prize givers are struggling to come up with standout female performances — Carla Gugino flaunting her rack in Sin City? Judi Dench playing Judi Dench, yet again? But the problem isn’t the studios’ alone. When Warners brought out North Country, a stolidly worthy film about sexual harassment, reviewers clobbered it for being just like like Norma Rae — as if the problem with Hollywood is its insistence on churning out feminist dramas. (The same thing happened to Mona Lisa Smile.) When Fox released In Her Shoes — a touching, beautifully made film with wonderful performances — it got written off as just another “chick flick,” a fate that never seems to befall “guy flicks,” even when (like Sin City) they wallow in the most sophomoric and masturbatory male clichés. Which isn’t to say that the media don’t like so-called women’s pictures — Brokeback Mountain left reviewers weeping. They just don’t want them to be about women.

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also from l.a. weekly:

Annual Anagrams

America + Iraq = CIA REAM IRAQ

Rumsfeld = DR. FLUMES

Rumsfeld + Iraq = ALFRED SQUIRM

Bush + Rumsfeld = BLUSHED SMURF

Bush + Rice = U.S. BE RICH

Katrina = ANTI ARK

Gov. Arnold = VALOR DONG

Antonio Villaraigosa = A VAGINA SALON OIL RIOT

Mayor Antonio = AMATORY ONION

Tom LaBonge = A BONG MOTEL

Brad + Angelina = BAGEL AND RAIN

Tom Cruise = MR. SO CUTIE

Katie Holmes = LAME HOSE KIT

Tom Cruise = I, SO RECTUM

Katie Holmes = TOES LIKE HAM

Heath Ledger = THE LARGE HED

Kanye West = SWEET YANK

Conor Oberst = BORN TO SCORE

Arcade Fire = A DIRE FARCE

Sufjan Stevens = JESUS FAN VENTS

Fiona Apple = A POP FINALE

White Stripes = HE WRITES SPIT

= HER PIES TWIST

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some new tunes, courtesy of here:

"you are what you love," jenny lewis and the watson twins
"love's lost guarantee," rogue wave
"i love a man in uniform (yeah yeah yeahs remix)," gang of four
"breathe me (four tet mix)," sia
"la patte," saian supa crew