Wanderlust

Wikimania

Along the lines of wikis propping up all over the place in all sorts of categories (wikisex anyone?), I found this today morning:
http://wikitravel.org

The site has descriptions and guides to destinations around the world, useful travel related articles, and even online phrasebooks. So, before you shell out for the Lonely Planet or Rough Guide to a country you are about to visit, check this site out first to do your research. Of course just like Wikipedia, the information on this site need not be accurate.

New Rules

Bill Maher is a funny guy. His acerbic wit and ruminations on everything from Britney Spears tonguing Madonna to espousing that stem cell research will help the spinal cords of the Democrats, now appears in the form of a book called New Rules. I bought this yesterday and it took all of 90 minutes or so to wrap it up. I spent most of that time smirking and laughing like I do when I watch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Maher and Stewart are similar beings. They are both comedians, social critics and political pundits. I don't watch Maher's new show on HBO called Real Time only because I don't get HBO. I used to watch Politically Incorrect sometimes until it got canned because Maher referred to the 9/11 hijackers as not cowardly.

The book is subtitled Polite Musings from a Timid Observer. His musings (if you can call them that - it's more like raging rants) are neither polite nor is he timid. The book is a collection of brief observations that are culled from a routine segment of the same name in his HBO show. You can see a lot of these rules online but the book has many newer ones. His targets include every aspect of life in America today from John Travolta (he should stop dancing in his movies), Mt. St. Helens (blow up or shut up), Paris Hilton (throw her in when St. Helens blows up), Scientology (it makes its adherents fat), Dick Cheney (the only reason to bring him out of seclusion is to make Rumsfeld seem more human), Star Wars (space movie for guys who can't get laid), tattoos (the Chinese character above the crack of your ass says "beef with broccoli") and so on and so forth. The people who get the most bashing are (understandably) the President, John Kerry and Paris Hilton.

The titles of these new rules are also hilarious. They are filled with innuendos and double entendres. Some of the choicest ones (I would leave it as an exercise for you to figure out what they are referring to) are Abu Grab-Ass, Ash Hole, Bored of the Rings, Diet-Netics, Inky Dinky Don't etc. The rules are arranged in alphabetical order and each letter is in its own section. Each of these sections also contain what he calls Editorials which are more like a 2-3 paragraph version of the rules in which he defends California (our farms feed the world), challenges the right leaning women to put their cervix where their mouth is (stem cell research), the maudlin coverage of the Olympics (NBC uses this to show the world that Americans cry a lot) and so on. You may not agree with all of his views and rants but it will surely have you smile, laugh or have you go - how the fuck can he say things like that? Very politically incorrect indeed.

Maher's views on the important issues in America these days are clear. He supports Gay marriage, opposes the banning of lap dances in L.A., supports stem cell research and opposes gas guzzling automobiles. His political views are less certain since he bashes both the republicans and democrats with equal fervor. He voted for Nader in 2000. I am not sure who he voted for in the last election.

All in all, a very entertaining read by an intelligent wit. And while you are at it, check out Stewart's best seller - America (the book) too. Equally funny and informative in a very different way.