Big ups to the people of Spain for doing what voters are supposed to be doing. They recognized that the people they'd placed in charge of running the country weren't representing their interests, and they overwhelmingly voted to remove them. I really, sincerely hope that Americans in general are smart enough to follow their example.

For the past year or so, Lil Flip has gradually moved toward becoming one of my favorite rappers. He's got this snarky little kid charm to him, like on the remix of Fam-Lay's "Rock N Roll" when he said "play with my money and I'll turn into Oscar the Grouch!" He got this slow, slurred flow like a southern Mase, and he seems perpetually amused with everything he says. He was on "Like a Pimp", which might have won the hotly contested "best song with insanely objectionable lyrics" award for 2003, and he was on "Screwed Up", one of the three songs on the last Ludacris album that didn't suck. (The other two were "Stand Up" and "Hip Hop Quotables", if you're keeping score.) He seemed likely to become a national star, but then he had to fuck around and release a single with no hooks. I like "Game Over" just fine, but dude, a bunch of people chanting your name is not a hook. This is not how you become a star.

Bridget and I went with some friends to see Secret Window this weekend, and that movie is just butt. I liked the movie most of the way through (mostly because of Johnny Depp, who is typically jittery and great), but then the movie hinged on this absolutely weak-ass plot twist that made everything that came before it pointless. It's not as bad as the twist in Identity, but it's close. Also, as soon as you see that Johnny Depp has a dog, it's pretty obvious that the dog is going to die (it happens in the first 15 minutes, so I'm not really giving anything away). It's such a played-out plot engine to have someone kill the hero's dog. It's obvious, and it's cruel, because most of us audience types really, really hate to see dogs get killed in movies. Seriously, dudes. Stop doing that.