How Would You Pronounce It?

:: From NewsScan Daily:

A father in China's Zhengzhou province has been denied permission to name his son "@" because it cannot be translated into Mandarin, as the law requires. The father had argued that the symbol is in common use on keyboards and should be acceptable. The attempt reflects parents' global penchant for saddling their progeny with silly monikers -- earlier this year a couple in Holland, Michigan insisted on naming their son Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0. As The Register noted at the time, "Jon and his wife will certainly be spending many a sleepless night debugging little Jon Blake Cusack Version 2.0 and -- in about 16 years' time -- having a pretty hard time explaining to their unfortunate offspring whose bright idea this was in the first place." (The Register 12 Oct 2004)

:: Primer will indeed play in Edmonton in 2004. Tomorrow, in fact, at the Edmonton International Film Festival. I plan to see it. I also hope and/or would like to see Bad Education, Bright Young Things, Dear Frankie, The Five Obstructions, Intimate Strangers, P.S., and Seven Times Lucky, to name a few (more.)

Bad Bad Baby Names 2

:: Jennifer notes that Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Coldplay Martin named their newborn girl "Apple", and Gina Davis's new twin boys were christened Kian and Kaiis. Her response and mine to these developments are similar: WTF???

I had a lot of respect for Paltrow and Martin up to now, as they keep their relationship out of the public eye, making efforts never to walk down red carpets together, etc. But "Apple"? Good grief. From the Herald Sun (Melbourne Austr.):

The Eye's Western District spy suggested Apple could get hitched to Christine Applegate's brother and become Apple Applegate, then get rid of him and take up with Bill Gates' son and she'd be Apple Applegate Gates.

What's with the weird baby names? Yes, I ranted about this earlier, and will continue to rant about this stoopid practice. The Herald Sun, notes that these handles aren't the first odd celebrity baby names:

A Knight's Tale star Shannyn Sossamon has a son called Audio Science, while Almost Famous actor Jason Lee has a boy called Pilot Inspektor.

Audio Science? Pilot Inspektor? There really, really oughta be a law. Why, you ask? Check out Horrid Celebrity Baby Names.

:: It's confirmed that Dennis Farina will be replacing Jerry Orbach on Law & Order. Orbach will be missed. I think it will take time to warm up to Farina.