I am not a fan of meetings. In my former life, as an administrator, meetings were a staple. They took two different forms; the first were staff meetings. These were small, mostly consisting of colleagues in the department. They could be useful (not usually) or a waste of time (meaning just boring, although occasionally tense and even, at rare times, a little exciting).

The second type of meeting is known as the conference. This type generally involves travel, and includes lunch, which is often the only perk, but can be a decent one. Long conferences involve other social time (with a cash bar, public funds are well spent on plane tickets and taxi rides but not on booze), and of course dinner, which is never any good and the price is too high - sitting through a keynote speaker.

I've used this description enough in the years of my freedom (by this I mean I now don't have to attend conferences) that it is almost tired - but it still remains apt. Five years ago I vowed never again to sit through another spring mix with raspberry vinaigrette and pasty chicken a la Marriot accompanied by a presentation on the styles of learning or transition to college or the nuances of Regents' standards or online learning transforming the galaxy or the sensuality of math. Sorry folks, cell phones ringing ain't a learning style, freshman will always party too much, even Commissioner Mills couldn't explain those nuances, transformation is no match for the academic galaxy, and math is not sexy.

Anyway, now that I am adjunct, forget conferences, I don't even have to go to department meetings. I get invited about once per semester, always to the last one, which includes a free lunch, and a minor speech that consists mostly of "thanks." Anyway, when food is involved, my price is fairly low. And, I usually feel pretty charitable at the semester's end, and this being the fall semester, festive over the holidays besides.

So, I went. The chair invited me to share on two subjects, (1) upcoming spring enrollment and (2) the program I took on last spring. So, (1) resulted in lots of faculty praise, especially from the not-yet-tenured; (2) resulted in me giving a brief history, interrupted when I got to the part about the graduate assistants who work on the two undergraduate courses with the question: "where do they come from?" followed by my explanation...and then a long tirade (not really related to my answer) from this German (not German-American) recently tenured faculty member about how indefensible, low quality and just generally awful the courses are. It was probably not intended as personal criticism for my efforts, but due to his less than warm and fuzzy demeanor (OK, that's an understatement, it was downright offensive, and if I was a man it almost would've warranted a punch...make that if I was a man without a PhD) it sure did seem like it...and it resulted in my feeling that I was on the defensive, even if I am an unwilling, and so weak, defender. My situation was not helped by the fact that I was in day two of a head cold, and I am an awful patient.

Of course his outburst sparked much discomfort at the table: the chair was nervous and embarrassed; the young faculty members sat frozen, staring at me with sympathetic eyes; one or two others were doodling in notepads, perhaps bored, or anyway they seemed not to be paying much attention; another parolee from my former place of employment and the retired former superintendent of schools turned faculty member were visibly irritated. The stage had been set; a discussion followed about the awful courses, and the concerns of the faculty. A few questions were directed at me, which I clumsily answered. That was the only time I had any chance to get to what I had intended to be the bulk of my remarks, about the good things in the courses, and the changes I have made since assuming this disaster (um, challenge). Sadly, I don't think I did a good job of explaining any of that.

Suddenly, my former dissertation chair came awake - up until this point, he had been among the bored, though not doodling - and said, in that testy way he sometimes exhibits, "I motion that we make a resolution [or some such word] to recommend to the Dean that she create a committee to investigate the program and these courses" and then the German guy snapped "I second."

I was floored, and the reaction at the table was electric. In administration, such outbursts are less common, unless the audience is tiny. Years ago, I saw a program on PBS during a fund drive. It was by a funny motivational speaker named Loretta LaRouche. She was describing uptight people; she said they have to hold a quarter in their butts at all times, so this is why they are so stiff and cannot express genuine emotion. That seems like a good description of what happens at administrator meetings. It isn't OK to get mad, or laugh too much, or be openly sad, or uninhibited, but my guess is that irrational behavior is the normal atmosphere of faculty meetings - though I don't know really. It is a new role for me, and this is only about the fifth time I have attended. But judging from the "literature," college faculty behave this way. (I am remembering, years ago I made a presentation at a high school meeting, where the reaction was similar. A few sentences into my remarks, a wild-haired guy jumped up and yelled, "I object to having to attend this meeting" and after several minutes of various people shouting, over half the attendees stormed out. Maybe it's me?)

I knew I had to do something, or lose it. I leaned forward and summoned as much assertiveness as I am able, without slipping into rage mode, and said "you can do whatever you want, but it wasn't my intention to spark the department to take some action on this - I was just sharing information - but I report to the Dean's office on this, and I feel I have to brief the associate dean on what happens here. I do not want to create the impression that I came to this meeting to complain about problems in the courses that somehow caused you to make this recommendation."

The desired result was better than I expected. A professor who is shared with another department said, "does anyone want to object to the motion?" and the fellow parolee said, yes, he did, followed by the former super. My former dissertation chair withdrew the motion, and instead they decided that the department chair would (reluctantly on his part, I think, though he was mostly taking notes and not saying a lot) recommend it for the agenda of a chair's meeting instead.

At this point, I had changed into my alter ego, from professional circumspect best to irreverent, borderline sarcastic. That was probably ill-advised, but it is my biggest reason for liking being a nearly invisible adjunct - unlike all others present, I am free, I do not play the game, I already cashed in, and I don't have to sit through these meetings once a month.

Afterwards, the German guy made a point of walking with me to the luncheon. I thought maybe - fantastically - unbelievably - he was going to apologize, though, being married to a watered-down 3/4 German-American I should have known that was wishful thinking. He was pleasant enough, in his cold way. I figured maybe he was going to at least bring it up in some way. But, he did not. Instead he peppered me with things about my other class. Later I realized it was under the ruse of being interested in online classes, but I suspect his real interest is somehow calling into question my competence.

At the luncheon, I sat with the other parolee, two new faculty members, the secretary who runs the department, and a professor who has now retired. Strangely, the retiree immediately asked me about the program I took over, and I responded, briefly, but much more in the way I had hoped to in the departmental meeting. The conversation centered around the campus presidential search, latkas (they were on the menu), the retiree's upcoming trip to somewhere exotic, one of the youngster's law student boyfriend, and the secretary's athletically amazing daughter (now a high school senior and college-bound soccer champ). But there was a bit of palpable tension surrounding me.

I left to go sew up one of the low quality, indefensible, just plain awful classes - it was about to be over for the semester, and on the way I resolved to blow both the meeting and the luncheon off at the end of next semester.

The latest on the Home Depot bird poisoning outrage. Oh, and surprise, surprise - they did not answer my letter on the subject.

Speaking of answering letters...I received only four responses to my letter about another outrage, although of a very different sort - the Large Parcel. That would be two emails: one from the sole "no voting" school board member, one from a "no voting" county legislator, one very brief paper letter from a state senator, and a phone call from a state agency (referred by the governor's office).

Grades are all - finally! - submitted. I even responded to the 50 angry emails.

Yes, the students missed the deadline. I had the grades for one class on Thursday - for the other yesterday (I was told they were ready last Monday, but no one bothered to email me the files, and I had to go to campus and retrieve them from a computer) but I took off Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and then I needed some time to check them over.

By the way, my Christmas was great!

Well, I entered the grades for five classes in the online system. I would be officially done for the fall semester, except that two of the graduate assistants, each one for a different class, have not sent me spreadsheets with their evaluations. The deadline is 12 noon, although I can still enter the grades in the system later than that, but I have to call the registrar for them to be posted. Since both of the GAs are now teaching school during the day, and it is pretty clear that is the priority and the obligation to me is not, I am not optimistic that I will get anything until this evening. I am not prone to panic, but I am pretty irritated. I want to be finished and enjoy the holiday too! I hope I get something from them before the grades become accessible to students, and I am the recipient of 50 angry email messages.

Some brighter news, I received an email that a post I wrote about plagiarism may be printed in the letters section of the Chronicle of Higher Education.

I didn't mean to let so long slip by between posts. My cold is better. My discomfort over my last day of the semester on campus has faded. I may get a short story out of that episode. I am beginning to see daylight on end of semester grading; it is a good thing, because they are due at noon on Wednesday! (And rest assured I will be done at exactly 11:59.)

I had many things to write about, but was focused on evaluating students, and arranging enough space in the house so we could get a Christmas tree, which we did, on Sunday. A beautiful fresh cut Scotch pine. I tipped the two cute little boy scouts $1 each for their handiwork, and they skipped off, shouting, "we got a tip! We got a tip!"

It snowed a bit yesterday. Rudy is, as always, thrilled, that nine-year-old puppy of mine. Sophie and Edna are considerably less thrilled; the former because she has no hair! And the latter because cats hate getting wet. Now it's cold, cold, cold here.

One story I wanted to comment on that I heard on the news several days ago was that one of the local Home Depot stores hired Orkin to put out poisoned bird seed to kill the many birds that are always flying around those stores because some customer complained. I love those birds! They are the only good thing about Home Depot, they sure beat dodging forklifts.

Why do people hate birds? Case in point: the most obnoxious, stuck-up, conceited, plastic, shallow, fake girl in my high school class listed "birds" in the yearbook as something she hated. Why do I clearly remember this 25 years later? Because it happens to be one of the captions they chose to re-print on the program of the reunion last summer. And, in the three times I saw her since high school (10th reunion, 20th, 25th), she has only increased in being obnoxious, stuck-up, conceited, plastic, shallow, and fake. If she hates birds, then logic dictates that I must love them.

Next example. Every year, there are newspaper articles about some obnoxious, stuck-up, conceited, plastic, shallow, fake town, neighborhood or facility (like the race track or a golf course) with interviews of people who are complaining about crows, Canada geese or pigeons. Why can't people leave the birds alone? A murder (isn't that a delightfully descriptive word) of crows often flies around and perches in the trees in Castleton. The racket is reminiscent of the Hitchcock movie! I am fascinated when they arrive, and I rush outside to see (and hear) them. Canada geese are a common sight in Samsonville; sometimes in the spring they have adorable goslings trailing behind. How carefully the parents watch them! And I have always appreciated the pigeons in Albany, those scavenging city birds so many people think are disgusting. I wonder as I watch them, how would they like to be transplanted to Samsonville? But they wouldn't much care for it, I'm sure, as there are no McDonald's french fries to score. In Samsonville, our nuisance bird is probably the barn swallow. They build nests everywhere, and have batches of five or six that do make a mess. But still I love them, feel joy at watching those hungry little beaks, keeping the parents so busy.

About the awful Home Depot report. This isn't an isolated incident. My first wish: May a bird crap on that customer's head, repeatedly, every time he or she goes outside. My second wish: A massive boycott of Home Depot. There are so many reasons to do this, but the bird atrocity is the best yet. May the whole chain burn slowly in big box he-l.

Ugh.

I have a cold (picked up either from Bob [who came down with one last week] or at Cherry Hill, where I volunteered on Sunday. There were 189 visitors!).

I also had a very unpleasant day yesterday...professionally, although not student-wise.

It turns out that the student from the latest plagiarism case has a serious genetic disorder. However, she is not registered with Disability Services, apparently because she does not want to be labeled. I have a feeling that the student has had her symptoms managed in a medical way, but perhaps not received psychological counseling or academic assistance prior to this.

After reviewing her work, the judicial affairs rep (a great guy, btw) asked her how she has managed to get to her senior year, and write acceptable papers for her history courses [her major], and she reported that she has not had to do very much writing before this!

After meeting the student and consulting with her parents, the judicial affairs guy does not believe she intentionally plagiarized, although he said it clearly is a plagiarism case, and that if I decided to have the university pursue it, she most likely would be suspended. He shared with her parents my evaluations of the student's assignments, as well as her status in the class (missing almost all of the work, so that she is failing regardless of the plagiarism), and they agreed that is the grade she has earned, and they have no intention of disputing it.

I told the judicial affairs officer that under the circumstances, I have no objection at all to withdrawing my referral to them, but that I am concerned that the student is not getting the academic or emotional support she needs. He agreed with my perspective, and he is going to tell the student and her family that she has failed the course, but the plagiarism charge will be withdrawn, provided she registers with Disability Services. He is going to discuss the case with that office, and follow up to be sure that the student and/or her parents do this.

Strange how things work out. I feel bad for the student - the nature of her condition is heartbreaking. But I also feel that I did the right thing, both in terms of upholding academic standards, and in detecting a student who is in need of intervention, and immediate help. And, both the department chair and the associate dean agree.

Yesterday, the associate dean came to see me. The latest cheating student contacted him. She did not attempt to see me, and she also did not attend class. Then, last night, she sent me another email. There was no message, just a duplicate of something she had already submitted, her third written assignment. There were no changes, it also did not meet course expectations, and it included instances of plagiarism from at least two websites.

This morning, I received an email from her father, who apparently is an attorney (it was from AOL, but he had an e-signature with his title). He was seeking to meet with me tomorrow. I did not respond, but instead called the Judicial Affairs officer. We discussed the circumstances at length, and I decided to refer the case to his office. He explained that due to confidentiality, I cannot discuss the situation with her parents if she is not present, without written consent from the student. So I emailed the father and told him that I had referred the case to Judicial Affairs, and that the student should contact them directly.

I sent Judicial Affairs copies of all of the work, with my evaluations, copies of the various assignment guidelines, as well as links to the websites from which she cut and pasted the well-written parts. I went through my grading spreadsheet, and determined that she has missed 6 (of 23) classes, including yesterday's. She never handed in a journal, and she has not met expectations on any of the three written assignments. I won't be evaluating the groups until the end of the semester, but although she has been in class for many of the group activities, as far as I can tell, she has not been an active participant. (I use partial peer evaluation to determine group grades as well as a brief essay and my observations of student and group participation in class. Students hand in the written materials at the last class.) She has made no posts in the online discussion board (students are required to post 14 times throughout the semester).

Judicial Affairs understands that she is failing the course, even without the plagiarism. Although it is now a university matter, he said one possible outcome may be that he convinces her (and her father) to not dispute the failing grade, because otherwise, the result may be that she is disciplined with suspension in addition to course failure.

I am relieved it is now out of my hands. Too bad it has taken so much of my time, during the very busy end of semester.

Sunset in Samsonville

I caught another student plagiarizing today. This time, it was two assignments, which were mostly copied verbatim from websites. The student threw in a couple of atrociously-written sentences to join the cutting and pasting of beautifully-written, distinctive text from the Internet.

Remind me again why I like teaching?

What a week.

Tuesday
#1. 12 noon. Plagiarism girl (I'd write "woman" or even "womyn" but she has a lot of learnin' to do to earn the title) cries in my office when I tell her it is not as she perceives – a choice between me failing her or letting her get away with cheating by arranging for a “W” after the deadline for dropping, or extra work and an “I”…it is a question of failing her, or failing her and sending her to Judicial Affairs. I have never seen such tears, not even at a loved one’s funeral. And they were not accompanied by sobs or sniffling – but seemed more on cue…theatrical even? Or am I the meanest person on the planet? That is how I felt, afterwards.

Background for #2: an graduate student (let's call him "M") is teaching one section of the same class I teach. The chair is not 100% comfortable with the idea, because he is not a doctoral student, and he has a rep for being a little difficult. But, there are no other qualified candidates.

So, M is doing it, with supervision. Mostly mine, because the word "No" is not part of my usual vocabulary. (Actually my role is more informal, so I do not have the opportunity to wish I said No.) A few weeks ago M asked me if I have AV material. I do, a pretty extensive library, actually. (All personal copies, as I know better than to ask for departmental reimbursement.) I lend him a set of 3 PBS videos. Tell him I am showing episode 3 on 11/16, so I must have it back in time. Explain that I am doing a class exercise based around the model school in the program, and the video is timed so that the next class activity is built around it. Remind him our paths only cross twice per week. Wait ½ hour with my bags packed to retrieve them after evening class on Tuesday 11/9 because he didn't bring them in the afternoon. So...

#2. 1:30 pm. Moments after sending plagiarism girl on her way, I am in class, I snap in the video...and it isn't rewound. I rewind it (takes 10 minutes on the WW II relic VCR). I push play. It is episode 2 - apparently he mixed up the tapes when he put them back in the boxes. I run upstairs and retrieve the appropriate video. Back downstairs, I am getting a little nervous because I know there now won't be enough time. Class runs out when there is still about 5 minutes left of the model school portion. And of course there is the din as students pack up 5 minutes before that.

#3. 2:35 pm. After class several students wait. A book review is due this week, and the books are on reserve in the library (I bought multiple copies - once again, personal, no reimbursement - and put them on 48 hour reserve so students wouldn't have to buy them). Someone has taken many of the books and not returned them. I contact the library. They can't tell me who has them due to student privacy, but yes, they are missing and the fines are upwards of $50 per book (when you could buy them used for $5 on Amazon?). So now many reports will be late (and I hoped to use Thanksgiving break for evaluation of this assignment...)

Wednesday
#1. 12 Noon. Module 6 (that’s online lingo) group does not have their project ready to e-present to class at their deadline. And, of course, they are non-responsive to email.

Background for #2 and #3: Wednesday and Friday were big debate days in my two big, team taught classes. A few times per semester, two of the discussion groups debate the yes and no sides of an issue, a third group serves as the jury, and a fourth group functions as the debate managers. In the upper division class, Wednesday’s debate is about the merits of adding competition in the public school system, and Friday’s is about physician-assisted suicide. In the lower division class, the debate is about drug legalization.

#2. 2:35 pm. After class is over, a student from the group that is arguing for the “Yes” side in Friday’s debate approaches me to say that only four members of the group are willing to do anything, the others are on life support (and, this was my own private thought, should be calling for Dr. Kervorkian, if their side is correct). This debate was an add-on in the class (meaning I have to come to campus on a day when I never do) since the undergraduate TA for this group (which had lost an earlier debate) convinced me that it would be good for them to have another try. I didn’t really want the outcome to be another humiliating loss for the group in question, so I feel very sorry for the student and her three serious group mates. But I do my best to give her advice on a face-saving strategy.

More Background for #3: A recent problem has surfaced in these two GA-run classes. Each has two GAs; and in each class, one GA, both with excellent performance last semester, are December graduates and both have already accepted full-time jobs. This is causing strain on the other GA in each class. They are classes of about 80 students each, run by elaborate teaching and management collaboratives, they are almost bureaucracies. The strain is starting to create fissures up and down the structures.

#3: 4:45 pm. The jury has left the room to formulate questions for the opposing sides. This lull generally results in quasi-office hours, as I only attend class occasionally, most students don’t bother to email or come to see me otherwise, and who knows what is going on with the GAs.

A student from the “Yes” side receives his midterm back and freaks out over the (B-) grade. He approaches – attacks might be a better description – the GA who is sitting next to me. My attention is diverted, as another student is talking to me about his exam, and the other GA is a no-show. The student who is talking to me is reasonable – but oblivious to the fracas taking place not five feet away. I’m thinking the GA will be able to handle it, but the situation escalates – and the undergraduate TA for that group tries to intervene, unsuccessfully. There is a problem with the undergraduate TAs not being clear about their role – as part of the instructional team, or champion of their peers in group. Meanwhile the offended (and offensive) student has veins popping out of his neck, his face is all red, I am worrying that we may see a 21 year old succumb to a stroke or heart attack. Or perhaps he will lunge across the desk and choke the GA and we will have TV news coverage. Half the lecture center is watching, as this real conflict is much more interesting than the artificial one about smoking weed that I have set up.

Finally, I drag myself away from Mr. Center of the Universe and assume the posture of a middle school teacher. It takes me yelling to go and sit down, this is not the appropriate frame, twice, to put an end to the fight. The jury returns. The GA is shaking. What happened in class after that? I dunno.

Thursday
#1. 11:45 am. I am meeting with the undergraduate TAs for the two classes described above, putting out the fires. Some papers have been misplaced by the two GAs who now have allegiance to the 9-5 real world. There are scattered reports that the discussion sections are being dismissed (very!) early on a regular basis (to which one TA gives me a very smart mouthed response). Tomorrow, the GA will visit the discussion sections so that the missing paper situation can be sorted out.

Friday
#1. 12:30 pm. The GA visits the discussion sections, and all but one group have already been dismissed (1/2 hour early).

I caught a student cheating. It was another of those plagiarism deals, handing in an essay that another student wrote last semester for my class. She is now pleading her case to my mostly unsympathetic ears. She has even suggested I do what another student she knows managed to negotiate, being allowed to withdraw rather than failing the class. As if being among a community of cheaters helps her case! Little does she know what I am debating is not whether to fail her - it is whether to report her to Judicial Affairs and allow the university to sanction her in addition to my penalty.

I wonder how many times I have missed it? How many students are cheating but go undetected? The class from last semester happens to be my least favorite, the one where students whispered and giggled during class, impervious to being told to stop talking, and I suspect lots of students didn't do the reading. I guess it is no surprise that one of them would share their work with a friend this semester.

This semester is going well, or at least I thought it was. I changed every assignment, to make it harder to plagiarize. But they do it anyway. I love teaching - more than any job I've had in the past, way, way, way more. But this is one thing I absolutely hate about it. Hate it so much I could change paths again. Maybe someday I will be a full-time writer...and I can leave this behind.

We are having our first snow of the season today.

Yesterday was an irritating day. In my afternoon class, two young women were doing something with a cell phone, while giggling...taking my picture? Text messaging? Taking my picture then text messaging "what a dork?" I'm not sure. It was distracting as hell. I shot them a few glaring looks, which worked for about 30 seconds then they were back at it. Then I picked up my pen and pretended to make a note on my attendance sheet. That worked for about a minute.

On the advisement side, for some reason several students decided to rise up on the same day, and give me a hard time about Spring registration. I did my best to stay calm in the face of obnoxious behavior. It wasn't easy, but I do have a lot of practice in dealing with the sometimes unreasonable public.

Then, I am having some trouble with the GAs. Two are as very conscientious, but the other three have too many irons in the fire and the GA responsibilities wind up getting short shrift. I understand that writing a thesis and classes take priority - but working at other jobs seems to be what is actually driving this. I know I am probably an overly responsible person - as well as being somewhat over committed - but I am remembering that this is the hassle of being a supervisor. Others often don't live up to their obligations, and "the buck stops here." Oh well. Only about four weeks left of the semester. But Spring is usually more difficult. I'm going to need that winter break.

Yesterday we went to North Adams, MA, to vist my nephew who is a student at MCLA. We went to Mass MoCA, something we have wanted to do for a while. Interesting art there, to say the least, but I always wonder what is the utility of art that can only exist in a large museum space? What happens to it in the future? Will it be just a memory, perhaps captured only in photographs?

Something I forgot. After a long break (I think of about a year and a half) I volunteered at Historic Cherry Hill again. Since it was Halloween, they had a special tour about the murder that took place there. I forgot how much I enjoy helping out there. They called today to invite me for another special event, on December 5, and I'm going to go.

Still no word from the publisher about the Mimmie book. I am impatient (though I have little time to work on it until January regardless).

How is it that (according to the media outlets that have not already called it) Ohio is too close to call when Bush leads Kerry by 136,221 votes (100% precincts counted), yet Pennsylvania, a slightly larger state where Kerry leads Bush by 121,818 votes has been called for Kerry (with 99% of precincts reporting)? Another example, although in this case it is a slightly smaller state: Michigan was called for Kerry. With 96% of precincts reporting, he leads by 146,704. Yet another example, though this time a much smaller state, Wisconsin. Kerry leads Bush by only 13,293 votes, with 96% of the vote counted, yet that state also has been called for Kerry already. As my mother would say (inspired by a TV commercial), "something stinks and it's not the litter box."

But leaving Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin alone, and giving Kerry the rosiest scenario possible, from the data that has been thrown around, if there are 175,000 provisional ballots, and 90% of them count, that's 157,500. If they break the way Kerry's strongest county did (67% to 33%) that's 105,525 for Kerry, 57,750 for Bush. Assuming the bleakest scenario for Bush, that there are no absentee ballots at all - which is known to not be true - Bush still wins Ohio by 88,446.

And, why are members of the media who have called Ohio for Bush not calling Nevada for Bush - while those who have not called Ohio for Bush yet, are calling Nevada for Bush? What gives? Is it because if they call those races they would have to declare Bush the winner and they cannot accept that outcome? Or are they just trying to give Kerry time to wake up and smell the coffee?

Can you say "bias," "ratings" and "loser denial?"

Well, they may have an agenda, but I am going to be bold. Bush has won.

The networks are bad, but my thankfulness for not having cable grows.

Oh, did I mention that I hate lawyers even more than I did before?

We had 25 trick-or-treaters tonight. All those kids in costumes taking away candy is very upsetting to the dogs.

We saw Team America on Wednesday night. I have never liked South Park, as the animation is crude and I find the voices irritating, but ever since I was a kid, and my father put on puppet shows with Pinocchio and Geppeto, I have loved marionettes. The puppets in this movie were amazing. As a movie it is an outrageous, in-your-face, over the top satire, not at all PC, also vulgar and violent (although since it is puppets that was tolerable), and I think it is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. There were some scenes that were just hilarious, and everyone in the theatre seemed to agree. Plus, the portraits of loudmouth Hollywood stars - Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Tim Robbins, Michael Moore, etc. - cannot be missed.

Well, this isn't a surprise. But it is a sad day.