Nuggets to take you through the weekend

• If you feel up for lamentation, rending of garments, and blood all over the sands of the Australian outback, then you should see Nick Cave's The Proposition. But the secret reason to sit through the aforementioned highlights is John Hurt's incredibly over-the-top performance as a filthy drunk bounty hunter. John Hurt should be in every movie.
• Hey, what the fuck, Old Hag & TMFTML? It's been a while. Baby wants some more porridge. Baby will continue to click mindlessly on the links; baby will get disappointed. Baby will keen, mewl, and low. I'm imagining Lizzie Skurnick and the fancypants TMFTML guy riding ponies on a Moroccan beach, laughing and tossing their hair back in the wind.
• Do-gooder friends are departing for good-doin', in Sudan Mozambique Namibia Sri Lanka Tanzania Romania etc. To them I say: what's more important, your "work," or keeping my social circle alive? Also, don't drink the water.
• What's the origin of the jock nod? You know, the little quick upward tilt of the head, as if you're trying to scare a pigeon off its perch atop your hat. I don't remember seeing it in the '80s, but perhaps it goes back to Charlemagne's Lombardy or something. My favorite jock nod was years ago when I was on a sssupersexy date with a young radio traffic reporter (hey, she rode around in a helicopter every day) at, em, a Giants game. We sat next to the bullpen and spent a lot of time mocking the oafish Jeff Juden, who was making an ass of himself by "bantering" with the crowd & flirting with the ladies. Finally, Juden was called in for long relief (and got shelled), but before he left, he turned right to the traffic reporter, winked, and gave her the jock nod.