Almost Worth Knowing: A term best left in the last millennium

This April, many of us will, yet again, fill out a census form. In the United States, a census is conducted every ten years and, as a part of that, residents of the United States (citizen and non-citizen alike) are expected to include information such as race. While this same question (and term) has been included previously, it comes somewhat as a surprise that this year, Americans again have the option to be identified as "Negro."

The term Negro comes from the Latin base niger meaning black. It is also the word for black in Spanish, Portuguese, and ancient Italian. Prior to the civil rights movement, Negro was actually the polite term to use in reference to Black people, superseding the term "colored." However, the term fell out of favor, largely due to the fact that it was associated with the long history of slavery, segregation, and discrimination that treated African Americans as second class citizens, or worse. Today, it still exists in historical references as well as in the names of older organizations such as the United Negro College Fund.

Another place it can be found is Question 9 in the upcoming Census 2010 (one option for racial designation is "Black, African Am., or Negro"). The US Census Bureau has been criticized in several media publications for reviving the controversial term, with members of the public calling the word improper and unnecessary.

In the US Census Bureau's defense, however, the term "African American" was added to the form in 2000, catering to that political notion. Similarly, the term "Black" was added in 1970. Before that, the only racial signifier found on the form was "Negro." Logically, one might assume the antiquated term would be eliminated now that it has fallen to disuse and has been replaced by more politically correct terms. The US Census Bureau justifies their decision to retain the term, however, stating it is a term of inclusion and "Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do. Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included." Personally, while I do not feel strongly that the term should be removed, I find the purported reasoning to be silly and think the term could easily be retired without affecting the accuracy of Census results. I doubt that there is a significant number of individuals remaining who consider themselves Negroes, but would not also be able to identify as Black or African American.

Then again, perhaps I'm wrong. All I know is that I've been waiting years for a box marked Oriental. This April, I guess I'll just have to check "Other."

Almost Worth Knowing: Conan O'Brien Leaves NBC

Though I'm sure this is not news to anybody, Conan O'Brien has left NBC, the company where he was employed, writing for SNL in 1988, to his brief stint as the Tonight Show host this past year. Time Magazine says that O'Brien went out with class, and I have to agree. The last episode ended with O'Brien shredding his axe, while Will Farrel sang and played cowbell, putting on a truly epic and ultimately fitting rendition of Freebird, the classic song by Lyrnyrd Skynyrd. Ben Harper, Beck, and Max Weinberg (of course) also joined him on stage. If you didn't get to see the last episode, you can see it here: The Tonight Show: Episode 146.

Also, as part of my duty in relating useless information, check out this interesting Taiwanese Animation summarizing the Late-Night War. It's sub-titled, but I wonder if it might not be more fun to watch without the sub-titles.

Finally, I'd just like to say that I hope Conan comes back soon. I have many fond memories of late nights in college, when I would stay up with my roommate long enough to watch Late Night with Conan O'Brien as it aired for the second time. I honestly mean it when I say that TV as we know it wouldn't be the same without him.

Answers: On a side note, I issued a challenge two entries (and an eternity) ago. Congratulations to Katie for getting 1 point. The answers are as follows:

"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (spoken by Sherlock Holmes)

"The truth will set (make?) you free." - The Bible (John 8:32)

"The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple." - Oscar Wilde

"Truth is more stranger than fiction." Mark Twain (often misquoted as Truth is stranger than fiction)

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." - Lenin

Almost Worth Knowing: Everybody's In It...

... and I'm pretty sure that even you can find someone worth liking in this film.

Seriously, you have to check out the ensemble cast in the upcoming movie, Valentine's Day.

The cast includes: Taylor Lautner, Bradley Cooper, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Ashton Kutcher, Taylor Swift, Emma Roberts, Topher Grace, Patrick Dempsey, Jamie Foxx, Joe Jonas, Eric Dane, Shirley MacLaine, Queen Latifah, Christine Lakin, Carter Jenkins, George Lopez, and Hector Elizondo.

Some of these actors need no introduction, while others are familiar faces, though you may not recognize them by name. Eric Dane, for instance, is one of the main characters on Grey's Anatomy (interestingly featured here with Grey's Anatomy co-star Patrick Dempsey). On the other hand, there are two actors on this list (Christine Lakin and Carter Jenkins) that are completely unknown to me.

Though I doubt I will see this in theaters, YouTube commentators had these things to say (and they may just change my mind): "this is the biggest famos onsomble cast in history." and "I have really grown to like chick flicks. They concern themselves with a sharp scrpt and the relationships between characters, rather than special effects and explosions."

Wait for Valentine's Day to hit theaters this February.

Almost Worth Knowing: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as the Tooth Fairy?

As I was leaving the subway station this morning, I passed by the following poster advertising the upcoming film, Tooth Fairy, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the title role.

That's right, The Rock is playing the Tooth Fairy

The film is coming out on 1/22/10. Needless to say, I'm excited. Moreover, a quick Google search showed that 20th Century Fox is also running another poster print, as follows:

Most importantly, these two posters have opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibilities: puns formed by replacing the word "truth" with "tooth" in popular quotations. Besides the title of today's entry, here are a couple of others I came up with:

"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the tooth."

"The tooth will set (make?) you free."

"The pure and simple tooth is rarely pure and never simple."

"Tooth is more stranger than fiction."

"A lie told often enough becomes the tooth."

Maybe you can come up with some others? In any case, I'll also post the trailer for the film below. I wonder how Julie Andrews and Billy Crystal got roped into this one.