Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Patton Scoring Crank 2!?!
TR: Of course you are primarily a musician, but have you ever considered doing a score for a game?
MP: Yes, I have spoken to some people about it and started one that was aborted. I’m sure it will happen at some point, but that takes quite a bit more of a time commitment. I’m scoring a film right now. Crank 2. It is almost like a videogame!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Is Santa Claus Really Thor? Is Thor Really Satan?
Mythologist Helene Adeline Guerber presents a very convincing case tracing Santa to the Norse god Thor in Myths of Northern Lands:
Thor was the god of the peasants and the common people. He was represented as an elderly man, jovial and friendly, of heavy build, with a long white beard. His element was the fire, his color red.
The rumble and roar of thunder were said to be caused by the rolling of his chariot, for he alone among the gods never rode on horseback but drove in a chariot drawn by two white goats (called Cracker and Gnasher). He was fighting the giants of ice and snow, and thus became the Yule-god.
He was said to live in the "Northland" where he had his palace among icebergs.
By our pagan forefathers he was considered as the cheerful and friendly god, never harming the humans but rather helping and protecting them. The fireplace in every home was especially sacred to him, and he was said to come down through the chimney into his element, the fire. (Guerber, H.A. Myths of Northern Lands. New York: American Book Company, 1895, p. 61)The unusual and common characteristics of Santa and Thor are too close to ignore.
- An elderly man, jovial and friendly and of heavy build.
- With a long white beard.
- His element was the fire and his color red.
- Drove a chariot drawn by two white goats, named called Cracker and Gnasher.
- He was the Yule-god. (Yule is Christmas time).
- He lived in the Northland (North Pole).
- He was considered the cheerful and friendly god.
- He was benevolent to humans.
- The fireplace was especially sacred to him.
- He came down through the chimney into his element, the fire.
Even today in Sweden, Thor represents Santa Claus. The book, The Story of the Christmas Symbols, records:
Swedish children wait eagerly for Jultomten, a gnome whose sleigh is drawn by the Julbocker, the goats of the thunder god Thor. With his red suit and cap, and a bulging sack on his back, he looks much like the American Santa Claus. (Barth, Edna. Holly, Reindeer, and Colored Lights, The Story of the Christmas Symbols. New York: Clarion Books, 1971, p. 49)Thor was probably history’s most celebrated and worshipped pagan god. His widespread influence is particularly obvious in the fifth day of the week, which is named after him – Thursday (a.k.a. Thor’s Day).
It is ironic that Thor’s symbol was a hammer. A hammer is also the symbolic tool of the carpenter – Santa Claus. It is also worth mentioning that Thor’s helpers were elves and like Santa’s elves, Thor’s elves were skilled craftsman. It was the elves who created Thor’s magic hammer.
In the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs, author Francis Weiser traces the origin of Santa to Thor: "Behind the name Santa Claus actually stands the figure of the pagan Germanic god Thor." (Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 113)
After listing some the common attributes of Thor and Santa, Weiser concludes:
Here, [Thor] then, is the true origin of our "Santa Claus." . . . With the Christian saint whose name he still bears, however, this Santa Claus has really nothing to do. (Weiser, Francis X. Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1952, p. 114)Another interesting trait of Thor is recorded by H.R. Ellis Davidson in Scandinavian Mythology, "It was Thor who in the last days of heathenism was regarded as the chief antagonist of Christ." (Davidson, H.R. Ellis. Scandinavian Mythology. New York: Peter Bedrick Books, 1982, p. 133) In case you are not aware, an "antagonist" is an
enemy, adversary or replacement.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Friday, December 12, 2008
I am Sad Now...
Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.
Sunday, December 07, 2008
Friday, December 05, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Damn. That's Some Hard-Ass Shit Right There...
FRUSTRATED women in Papua New Guinea's Highland region are reportedly killing their male babies to end a tribal fight that has lasted for more than 20 years.
Two women from the Eastern Highlands told the PNG's National newspaper of the slaughter during a three-day peace and reconciliation course in the region's capital Goroka.
Rona Luke and Kipiyona Belas, each from two warring tribes, said the male infanticide reduces the cyclical payback violence infamous in Highlands tribal fights.
If women stopped producing males their tribe's stock would go down and this would force the men to end their fight, they said choking back tears.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...
When a drunken neighbor came over and threatened his Thanksgiving guests with a kitchen knife, one Del Paso Heights man allegedly took matters - and a plastic candy cane - into his own hands.
In what police said was self-defense, the man used the two-foot plastic lawn decoration to beat 49-year-old Donald Kercell until police could take Kercell into custody, said Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Hmmm. This Sounds Familiar...
After observing international press reporting on the incident, these same supporters are now bitterly attacking the media for its "unfair" pro-Obama bias and for deliberately "confusing" the meaning of al-Zawahiri's message.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
LOL
But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.
According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota, some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a president who speaks English as if it were his first language.
"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."
The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate -- we get it, stop showing off."
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Euphoric or Nightmarish?
Those backup singers want to sacrifice your children to Satan. Or to David Lynch. I'm not sure which.
Chicken Police?
I wonder if these Chickens would keep Django, Rem, and Emma calm and collected in the mornings?
Friday, November 14, 2008
My Reviews: Week of November 14
Silver Soapbox Column: The Sign of the Times: The Significance of Marvel's Dominant Market Share, by Keith Dallas, Paul Brian McCoy, and Dave Wallace
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Saturday, November 08, 2008
He Said, Clinging To His Gun...
But some gun buyers and sellers never forgot, or forgave, Mr. Obama’s widely reported comment in April to a group in San Francisco that some Americans “cling to guns or religion” in times of adversity.
“It was an annoying comment, and it showed there’s a lot more to him,” said Mike Warner, 38, of Las Vegas, who was shopping for a gun there on Thursday.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Liars, One and All...
What was all that paranoia and hateful rhetoric about if, in their hearts, they really think this is a day to be proud of America. They're proud because we stopped them? Because their hostility, slander, bigotry, and all the other reasons they shouted (or encouraged the shouting of) "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!" and "Traitor!" at all those rallies lost them the election?
I don't believe them. They are liars. They were liars throughout the campaign and there's no reason to believe that they are telling the truth now. If the fear of a Black President was so great that they resorted to linking him, however tenuously, to Muslim terrorists, questioning his citizenship, doubting his parentage, his sexuality, his "socialist" agenda (this being the only "substantive" attack against his policies - the others all being slanderous hints and intimations - and some outright declarations), then do you really believe that suddenly they're glad that lost that fight?
If you called him Anti-American last week, and this week are proud of America for electing him, you're a liar. Either before or now. One of those statements wasn't actually honest.
My gut says it's the ass-kissing now that are the lies.
If you voted to stop the first Black President from being elected, you don't get a pass by saying how proud you are of everyone else for beating you. Fucking ridiculous.
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Black Harvest
We've been drinking perfectly separated Black and Tans, Half and Halfs, and Patriots (if you don't know what those are, check the website linked above for recipes) for over a week now.
Tonight, we invented our own recipe. We call it the Black Harvest. The lower half is Blue Moon's Harvest Moon pumpkin ale, and the top half is Guinness. And it is delicious. The pumpkin spices of the Harvest Moon provide a very nice texture to the smooth Guinness taste.
I declare it an Orange and Black, Halloween success!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Good News! Well, Not For Jude Law...
Branagh, who continues in his role as Donmar West End artistic associate, has had to withdraw because of commitments to the forthcoming feature film Thor, a project he’s recently undertaken.
But I Drink While I'm Online...
But:
Does drinking alcohol shrink your brain? - CNN.com
Do I win or lose?
Trick question. Anyone reading this loses, obviously.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Yes. Yes. Yes.
As I've said, Palin's lies are not like most political lies. They are not spin or vagueness or misdirection or clever use of words. They are simply statements that what has been empirically shown to be true is false, or vice-versa. They are denials of basic reality. They are a function of some kind of psychological detachment from reality. She either has a serious psychiatric problem or her mindset makes Bush's funamentalist psyche seem positively flexible. In either case, her presence on the ticket simply makes a vote for McCain unacceptable. She should be a deal-breaker for any rational person.
Very Astute...
Obama? He lollops along with a calm smile and a physical fluency that is hard to mock or copy. If he were a boxer, he’d be the kind who keeps moving but hangs back. He waits for his opponents to take a swing, ducks and comes back into the game. He sticks to a game plan and rarely deviates. And he waits for his opponent to make an error. Watching his autumn fight with McCain reminds me of the Wile E Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. Every elaborate attempt to blow Obama up leaves his opponents with sooty faces and a trail of smoke rising from the tops of their heads.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Dangerous Bullshit...
This is the sort of desperate bullshit that could very well inspire some white trash nutjob to try something deadly.
They should be ashamed.
Oh wait. They're douchebags with no shame. I forgot.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Saturday, October 04, 2008
Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars on AMC? Hell, Yes!
"This fits in with our bigger vision of wanting series that feel like cinematic one-hour movies," said Christina Wayne, senior vp original series and miniseries at AMC. "We're always looking for big genres but to do them in slightly different ways so they feel fresh and new," she added, noting as examples the network's Western mini "Broken Trail" and crime-themed series "Breaking Bad."
Jeremy Elice, vp original programming series, added that the project will be character-driven. "It's not the spectacle of sci-fi that you typically see," he said.
Friday, October 03, 2008
I Guess They Didn't Watch The Debate...
The girlfriend told deputies that her boyfriend wanted to get intimate, but she just wanted to go to sleep. When she refused, he became irate.
Authorities said the girlfriend went to a spare bedroom, and several minutes later she heard two gunshots. She told deputies her boyfriend came into her room and threatened her. He then stumbled into the kitchen before falling into the oven, knocking himself unconscious.
And In Other News...
"The fact a 7-year-old can wreak so much havoc in such a short time, it's unbelievable. In my day he'd get a big boot up the arse," centre director Rex Neindorf told Reuters by phone.
Thursday, October 02, 2008
I Need A Beer. Now.
Reports confirmed my suspicions: Palin, not McCain, is the FrankenBarbie of the Rove-Cheney cabal. The strategy became clear. Time magazine reported that Rove is "dialed in" to the McCain campaign. Rove's protégé Steve Schmidt is now campaign manager. And Politico reported that Rove was heavily involved in McCain's vice presidential selection. Finally a new report shows that there are dozens of Bush and Rove operatives surrounding Sarah Palin and orchestrating her every move.
What's the plan? It is this. McCain doesn't matter. Reputable dermatologists are discussing the fact that in simply actuarial terms, John McCain has a virulent and life-threatening form of skin cancer. It is the elephant in the room, but we must discuss the health of the candidates: doctors put survival rates for someone his age at two to four years. I believe the Rove-Cheney cabal is using Sarah Palin as a stalking horse, an Evita figure, to put a popular, populist face on the coming police state and be the talk show hostess for the end of elections as we know them. If McCain-Palin get in, this will be the last true American election. She will be working for Halliburton, KBR, Rove and Cheney into the foreseeable future -- for a decade perhaps -- a puppet "president" for the same people who have plundered our treasure, are now holding the US economy hostage and who murdered four thousand brave young men and women in a way of choice and lies.
And Now My Paranoia Is Really Gaining Ground...
Last week, when I got the letter from Robert Greenwald talking about John McCain's refusal to release his medical records to fair scrutiny, the fact that there are 1,000 pages of them (I create medical records for a living, 1,000 pages is EXTREME), and the news that he has had malignant melanoma, deep primaries with removal of lymph nodes, my immediate thought was "Then he's dying." If he were to be elected, he'd have an almost 2 out of 3 chance of having a recurrence if he doesn't have one already. This is not the kind of cancer you count on escaping from. This is not Stage II, as it has been reported: Stage II by definition does not have lymph node involvement. By definition, it must be either Stage III or Stage IV.
This Really Doesn't Look Good, Does It?
It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.
Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from “Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition”—and such “condition” is not defined or limited.
These new pretexts are even more expansive than they appear. FEMA proclaims the equivalent of a natural disaster when bad snowstorms occur, and Congress routinely proclaims a natural disaster (and awards more farm subsidies) when there is a shortfall of rain in states with upcoming elections. A terrorist “incident” could be something as stupid as the flashing toys scattered around Boston last fall.
The new law also empowers the president to commandeer the National Guard of one state to send to another state for up to 365 days. Bush could send the Alabama National Guard to suppress antiwar protests in Boston. Or the next president could send the New York National Guard to disarm the residents of Mississippi if they resisted a federal law that prohibited private ownership of semiautomatic weapons. Governors’ control of the National Guard can be trumped with a simple presidential declaration.
It's Probably Nothing, Right?
UPDATE: As this commenter notes, the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act somewhat limited the scope of the powers granted by the 2007 Act detailed above (mostly to address constitutional concerns by limiting the President's powers to deploy the military to suppress disorder that threatens constitutional rights), but President Bush, when signing that 2008 Act into law, issued a signing statement which, though vague, seems to declare that he does not recognize those new limitations.
UPDATE II:
There's no need to start manufacturing all sorts of scare scenarios about Bush canceling elections or the imminent declaration of martial law or anything of that sort. None of that is going to happen with a single brigade and it's unlikely in the extreme that they'd be announcing these deployments if they had activated any such plans. The point is that the deployment is a very dangerous precedent, quite possibly illegal, and a radical abandonment of an important democratic safeguard. As always with first steps of this sort, the danger lies in how the power can be abused in the future.
The Posse Whatitatus Act? Shut Up, Commies!
It is not the first time an active-duty unit has been tapped to help at home. In August 2005, for example, when Hurricane Katrina unleashed hell in Mississippi and Louisiana, several active-duty units were pulled from various posts and mobilized to those areas.
But this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.
They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
ANOTHER Hail Mary Pass???
All told, 33 pastors in 22 states were to make pointed recommendations about political candidates Sunday, an effort orchestrated by the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.
The conservative legal group plans to send copies of the pastors' sermons to the IRS with hope of setting off a legal fight and abolishing restrictions on church involvement in politics. Critics call it unnecessary, divisive and unlikely to succeed.
That About Sums It Up...
My basic objection to religion is not that it isn't true; I like plenty of things that aren't true. It's that religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Wow. So True It's Painful...
The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflexive prejudices of their demographic, as they would for reality-show contestants or sitcom characters. Hicks root for hicks, moms for moms, born-agains for born-agains. Sure, there was politics in the Palin speech, but it was all either silly lies or merely incidental fluffery buttressing the theatrical performance. A classic example of what was at work here came when Palin proudly introduced her Down syndrome baby, Trig, then stared into the camera and somberly promised parents of special-needs kids that they would "have a friend and advocate in the White House." This was about a half-hour before she raised her hands in triumph with McCain, a man who voted against increasing funding for special-needs education.
Have the Republicans really come up with the ultimate empty consumerist fantasy candidate possible? If they win, then I guess they have.
Surely they won't win.
Right?
Who Is Actually In Charge of This Campaign?
Who was it who put their campaign on hold (in theory, anyway), flew to Washington, sat quietly before issuing some generic platitudes, then went home to start calling Republicans to convince them to support the bailout, then failed to get more than 1/3 of them to do so?
Who was that, again?
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Can He Go Lower? Of Course He Can...
Inside John McCain’s campaign the expectation is growing that there will be a popularity boosting pre-election wedding in Alaska between Bristol Palin, 17, and Levi Johnston, 18, her schoolmate and father of her baby. “It would be fantastic,” said a McCain insider. “You would have every TV camera there. The entire country would be watching. It would shut down the race for a week.”
Because it's obvious even to the McCain campaign that the less time he spends campaigning, the fewer people actually realize what a soulless, rage-filled fuck he is. Bring on the circus!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
That's Because He's a Liar...
John McCain declared on Wednesday that he would suspend his run for
the White House and return to Washington to help resolve the country's
economic crisis. But while the candidate himself left the trail, the
campaign itself is decidedly still open for business.
Across the country, McCain campaign offices are up and running,
accepting volunteers, conducting phone banking, literature dropping and
other GOTV activities. This held true on a local, state, and even
regional level. The Huffington Post called up 15 McCain-Palin and
McCain Victory Committee headquarters in various battleground states.
Not one said that it was temporarily halting operations because of the
supposed "suspension" in the campaign. Several, in fact,
enthusiastically declared the continuation of their work. Others hadn't
even heard that the candidate for whom they were devoting their time
had officially stopped campaigning.
No Shit...
"John McCain did nothing to help, he only hurt the process," the senior Democrat said at a joint news conference with Senate banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd.
Barney Frank, the Democratic chair of the House of Representatives financial services committee, said: "I think this was a campaign ploy for Senator McCain.
"I think they then had the problem that there might not have been enough of a deadlock for him to resolve," he said, after Dodd had earlier announced an in-principle agreement with some senior Republicans on the bailout package.
The meeting convened by Bush was a "photo op and political theater that had nothing to do with us getting to work," Dodd said.
Crazy Conservatives...
Federal agents and Arkansas state police had raided the headquarters of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in tiny Fouke on Saturday and removed six girls ages 10 to 17. They sought evidence that children there had been molested or filmed having
sex.Prosecutors sought Alamo's arrest after interviewing the girls this week, but Frazier would not disclose what the children said.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, describes the ministry as a cult. Alamo's church rails against homosexuals, Roman Catholics and the government, and Alamo has preached that girls are fit for marriage once they are sexually mature.
"Consent is puberty," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press last week from Los Angeles while agents raided the compound. He denied any involvement with pornography.
Palin's Church...
On the first night of services, Muthee implored his audience to wage
“spiritual warfare” against “the enemy.” As I filmed, a nervous church
staffer approached from behind and told me to put my camera away. I
acceded to his demand, but as Muthee urged the church to crush “the
python spirit” of the unbeliever enemies by stomping on their necks, I
pulled out a smaller camera and filmed from a more discreet position.
Now, church members were in deep prayer, speaking in tongues and
raising their hands. Muthee exclaimed, “We come against the spirit of
witchcraft! We come against the python spirits!” Then, a local pastor
took the mic from Muthee and added, “We stomp on the heads of the
enemy!”
Monday, September 22, 2008
More Marvel Ad Copy...
"Warren Ellis is the only writer I've read who has never let me down… The single thing that Ellis does that makes him my favorite working writer is what makes me so excited about this iteration of the X-Men. He takes science fiction concepts and makes them believable by working through their real-world implications." – Paul Brian McCoy of ComicsBulletin.com
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Oh Yeah. That Sounds Better...
McCain's campaign insists the investigation into the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan has been hijacked by Democrats. The campaign says it can prove Monegan was fired in July because of insubordination on budget issues, and not because he refused to fire a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce from Palin's sister.
To that end, the campaign released a series of e-mails detailing the frustration several Palin administration officials experienced in dealing with Monegan. The "last straw," the campaign said, was a trip Monegan planned to Washington in July to seek federal money for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases.
So it wasn't anything personal. He just wanted more money for fighting sexual assault cases.
Nice.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
How Can You Argue With That?
All elements in the universe get their properties based on their combinations of 3 specificsub-atomic components (a trinity). Protons, Neutrons, & Electrons. No element has the same combination, in other words Gold has 79 protons, 118 neutrons, 79 electrons while Carbon (man) has 6 protons, 6 neutrons, 6 electrons or 666. This will be the number in which the Antichrist will be identified by. And because a clone does not have working sexual organs, this explains why a cloned Antichrist will not have need for a woman.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
GAAAHHH! FUUUUUCCCCKKKK! SSSHHHHIIIIIITTTTT!
Claudia Mejia gave birth eight and a half months ago at Orlando Regional South Seminole. She was transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center in Orlando where her arms and legs were amputated. She was told she had streptococcus, a flesh eating bacteria, and toxic shock syndrome, but no further explanation was given.
The hospital, in a letter, wrote that if she wanted to find out exactly what happened, she would have to sue them.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Awesome!
There's a new dating trend in Japan. No, it's not beautiful Korean boys or geeks from Akiba—those are so last year. Now young women are looking for "kareoyaji", or withered old men. Here are some of the traits of this highly desirable, elder guy, according to a book titled Do You LIke Ojisan?:- He likes alone time.
- He looks good in back alleys.
- He drinks beer out of bottles, not cans.
- He likes cats more than dogs.
- There's a neighborhood a bar that he frequents alone.
- He's a nonchalant know-it-all.
- He doesn't aggressively chase after money or women.
- He accepts his age.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Saturday, September 06, 2008
And it Looks like Shit...
Cindy McCain
Oscar de la Renta dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch: $4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000–$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
Thursday, September 04, 2008
I Love This Column...
The mighty Republican Party, longtime defenders of women’s rights, are now hitting the airwaves claiming the only reason people are attacking Sarah Palin is because she is a woman. Please ignore the Troopergate scandal, the fact that she is married to a traitor and was at one time a traitor herself, lied about visiting Ireland, didn’t travel out of the country until two years ago, belongs to an insanely backwards church, thinks 11-year-olds who were raped by their father should be forced to give birth, used government money to fund a “cure gays” organization, tried to ban books, abused her power by firing people who opposed her views or divorced her sister, believes Iraq is a war being fought for God, and has a preacher who claimed voting for John Kerry would send you to hell. None of those things are relevant for baby time McCain. If you criticize Sarah Palin, it’s because she’s a woman with a pregnant daughter.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
I Love BSG, But This is Just Disturbing...
Photo from Flickr photostream of someone called burnlab.Nice work!
Uniters, Not Dividers...
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets.
Monday, September 01, 2008
Sukiyaki Western Django
Is it playing anywhere around here?
Of fucking course not.
Here's what I'm missing, dammit...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
On the Anti-Christ and Other Time Wasters...
Because, really, who gives a shit about the things that wander through my brainpan while "10001110101" or "What Would a Wookie Do?" is playing?
1. But I was thinking today about the Anti-Christ and how some nutjobs out there are claiming that Obama may be the Son of Satan. And not the cool one:
But if I understand the mythology of this stupid-ass shit, we won't know the identity of the Anti-Christ until it's too late. And aren't there a bunch of false prophets to look out for, too? Like maybe "Christians" who go around calling people "Anti-Christs" perchance?
And even if Obama were the Anti-Christ, shouldn't real Christians be kind of backhandedly rooting for him/her to take power? I'm pretty sure Jesus can't come back until after the Anti-Christ has mucked things up good. So the quicker we get the Anti-Christ in power, the quicker Jesus can come clean things up, right?
Damn, people are stupid.
Anyway, anyone who thinks Obama is the Anti-Christ should be out rallying the Democratic voters, getting out the vote and all that, bussing people to polling places, etc.
2. Thinking about this crazy superstitous bullshit, of course, led me to thinking about how Christians are always reading and quoting the Old Testement. That kind of bugs me.
I mean, one of the main reasons the Jesus Myth was even thought up was to make a break from that crazy-ass "eye for an eye" "it's okay to own slaves" "can't touch a woman who's menstruating" "putting to death those who work on the Sabbath" and whatnot. Jesus' new Laws were pretty simple really.
Love each other. Forgive people who offend you. Don't cast a stone if you're not without sin. Pretty easy, forgiving, hippie kind of shit, you know?
I don't think anyone who quotes Old Testement Law about anything is a real Christian. They may actually be one of those "False Prophets" I mentioned earlier.
You know, if any of that crap was real.
But really, who gives a shit, anyway. It's all made up bullshit designed to keep poor people in their places, doing their shit jobs, living their shit lives, without making a fuss, because they'll be "rewarded" when they're dead.
Brilliant stuff, I admit, from a Social Control perspective.
Hell, Jesus was even all "pay your taxes and stop bitching" with that "render unto Caesar" routine.
3. I'm playing Fantasy Football in four different leagues this year. That's going to be a bitch to coordinate.
4. I really should buy a replacement battery for my MP3 player. I've had my Creative Labs Nomad Zen Xtra for years now. Surely newer batteries hold charges longer. Granted, this one still plays pretty continuously for around seven hours, but longer would be nice. Especially for when I work those full eight hour shifts (or longer).
I'd like to buy a new MP3 player, but I'm spoiled by having 40 Gig of hard drive space and don't want to go any lower. I'm already not able to carry everything I want on this thing.
80 Gig would be great.
5. I need a new watch. Well, I don't really need a new watch, but I'd like a new watch. My current watch (a Timex Ironman Datalink - it keeps all my phone numbers, email addresses, and birthdays) has a pretty crap band. The first one broke last year sometime, and now the new band has broken. And it's one of those plasticy-rubbery bands (resin, maybe?) that when it breaks, it literally snaps in two.
So I've been wearing my dress watch for the past few days. And it's nice and pretty, but has no alarms or any tricked out shit that makes me love it with all my geeky heart.
Don't get me wrong. I like it a lot. It's just not my everyday watch. I'm constantly worried I'll scratch it up.
Because of this, I've spent the past few evenings hunting for watches online. Again, I don't need one (I just need a new watchband), but I'd like a change.
I'll probably end up getting a Casio that's Solar powered and synced to the Atomic Clock in Colorado. But what I'd really like is this, the Tokyoflash Rogue:
Is that awesome or what? Not only does it look great, but no one else will be able to tell what time it is when they look at my watch.
It's expensive though. And I'm not sure why I wouldn't worry about scratching it up, when I worry about scratching up my dress watch that probably cost a lot less, but was still more expensive than I would have paid myself (it was a gift).
But damn, that Rogue is cool.
6. My fourth Fantasy Football draft is tonight. In about 20 minutes, in fact. I guess I should get going then.
Awesome. I Want To Try This Someday...
This all began for me in about 1969, when I started teaching a film class in the University of Chicago's Fine Arts program. I knew a Chicago film critic, teacher and booker named John West, who lived in a wondrous apartment filled with film prints, projectors, books, posters and stills. "You know how football coaches use a stop-action 16mm projector to study game films?" he asked me. "You can use that approach to study films. Just pause the film and think about what you see. You ought to try it with your film class."
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Priceless...
The man stood outside his RV, yelling and shooting a gun into the air. When Pasco sheriff's deputies confronted him, he ran inside and wouldn't come out.
That started a six-hour standoff late Monday night between the man, whose name was not released, and authorities, Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Doll said.
SWAT team units arrived later and surrounded the RV, Doll said. As the situation entered the early hours of this morning, SWAT team members fired riot gas into the man's home. He still wouldn't come out, Doll said.
Finally, about 5 a.m., he exited his RV and was taken into custody.
The cause of his displeasure, according to Doll, was Michelle Obama's speech last night at the Democratic National Convention.
Doll said the man will undergo a psychological evaluation.
-- Nomaan Merchant, Times Staff Writer
Surely They Can't Win...
According to Fordham Institute science education expert Lawrence Lerner, Palin's nomination is less worrisome in terms of education than the broad relationship of science and government.
"In the direct sense, vice presidents don't have much to do with what goes on in classrooms. But a person who's a creationist doesn't understand science and technology at all," said Lerner. "It doesn't bode well for science, and doesn't bode well for interaction between science and government."
Emphasis added.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Biden is the VeePick?
Still waiting for my text message, though, at 8:45 Saturday morning, after reading about the pick last night before going to bed.
Grrrrr.
EDIT: Hmmm. Actually, the text was on my phone and claims to have been there since 3AM. Didn't get the email alert about the pick until nearly 10:30, though.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A Meme From SpaceCase...
I figured I'd go ahead and do this since I really should be doing other things.
What we have here is the top 106 books most often marked as “unread” by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded, but have you really read them? Bold the ones you’ve read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno (and Purgatory and Paradise)
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present
Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers
Monday, August 18, 2008
Oh Hell Yeah!
Turner Animation’s Stu Snyder noted that the Splits have “been entertaining kids for years,” but the return of the property will capitalize on boomer nostalgia as well. “Go Bananas Your Way,” the new Splits album, is “intended to appeal to kids and parents,” according to the release.But will it be as good as the original? I somehow doubt it.
MILFs? Seriously?
Troops and local police are fighting intense gunbattles with more than 200 Moro Islamic Liberation Front rebels in the predominantly Christian town of Kolambugan in southern Lanao del Norte province.
I wonder if other Muslim separatists make fun of their name?
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Great News!
I was worried that the rumors were true about the director being kicked out and the studio pushing for a PG-13 cut. Yeah! The exploding heads are in!
What are you looking at?
Hey! Marvel quoted me again...
"Aaron writes this book with fearless swagger and his chin out," raves Paul Brian McCoy of ComicsBulletin.com. "The man can freaking write. His Blaze and Ghost Rider have definite anger issues and are driven like never before. I just can't get over the energy here."
Friday, August 15, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Appalling.
In April, Mr. Ng began complaining of excruciating back pain. By mid-July, he could no longer walk or stand. And last Wednesday, two days after his 34th birthday, he died in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a Rhode Island hospital, his spine fractured and his body riddled with cancer that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for months.
Mr. Ng’s death follows a succession of cases that have drawn Congressional scrutiny to complaints of inadequate medical care, human rights violations and a lack of oversight in immigration detention, a rapidly growing network of publicly and privately run jails where the government held more than 300,000 people in the last year while deciding whether to deport them.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Fantastic Movie News, Part Two
As odd a collaboration as Herzog and Lynch may be (and trust us, it's odd), even more unlikely comes the announcement that Lynch and Absurda will be working on a film with Alejandro Jodorowsky. Best known for his series of surreal, mind-bending Fando y Lis, El Topo and The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky hasn't made a film since 1990. Jodorowsky certainly shares a lot more common ground with Lynch, but hearing of any new project by the Chilean 79-year-old is a bit incredible.Jodorowsky's film will be the metaphysical gangster movie King Shot. Already guaranteed to be NC-17 (no surprise given his earlier works), the film features Marilyn Manson as a 300-year old pope and will star Nick Nolte.
Fantastic Movie News, Part One
CANNES - Werner Herzog and David Lynch are teaming for My Son, My Son, a horror-tinged murder drama based on a true story.
Herzog and his longtime assistant director Herbert Golder co-wrote the film, loosely based on the true story of a San Diego man who acts out a Sophocles play in his mind and kills his mother with a sword. The low-budget feature will flash back and forth from the murder scene to the disturbed man's story.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Old News (but related to the previous entry)
Orr’s appointment, ironically, comes a week after a study by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute determined that in areas of the world where contraception was more widely available, such as Eastern Europe, abortion rates were lower than in other areas where birth control was not easily available.
If this is true, then this country is built on a solid foundation of Stupid...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has drafted a rule that would call it abortion when a contraceptive prevents a fertilized egg from embedding itself in the uterine wall.
That's one of the ways many birth-control pills and intrauterine devices work. And if that's abortion, millions of women who didn't know they were pregnant -- who medically weren't pregnant -- have killed their unborn children.
No joke.
Folks within the federal health bureaucracy have drafted a rule that would give ``human being in utero'' status to the itty bitty zygote.
Kafka is Awesome!
A stash of explicit pornography to which Franz Kafka subscribed has emerged for the first time after being studiously ignored by scholars anxious to preserve the iconic writer's saintly image.
Very Nicely Done, Cracked.
There are generally two types of science: first, there’s the type that makes computers work, allows us to ride around in metal boxes propelled by continuous explosion, and makes it so that milk doesn’t taste all gross. Then there’s the fringe science, the stuff that shoots up your nose like mathematical horseradish and dances a jig on your brain…or brane, as it were (that’s the nerdiest joke in the article, we promise). So kick off your work boots, put on your thought slippers, and prepare for a science course so mind-blowing, it’s written almost entirely in italics.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Marvel's Using My Words Again!
They must be really searching for praise for this book, since my review wasn't exactly glowing, but was positive. And they sure had to cut it up to make it work. But at least the grammar is mostly correct this time.
Paul Brian McCoy of ComicsBulletin.com proclaims, "SKAAR: SON OF HULK is an interesting beast of a comic… I just want to recommend trying it and letting it breath and grow… It's sort of a barbarian story machine…The art works… It creates a very raw look that connects very effectively to the emotional core of the story."
Here's the original review, by the way: Skaar: Son of Hulk #2
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Chicago Police Misconduct Round-Up
Officer Barbara Nevers is only the first officer listed in this article. There are 5 other officers fired for misconduct listed at the end. And what a variety of misconduct it is.
Sheesh.
Wow. Just... wow.
"He said he didn't expect them to have a lot of money, but decided to rob them anyway. He wanted some money for gasoline and cigarettes," James said. "It was really kind of silly. I don't know what the heck he was thinking."
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
This Time the Foot is the Real Deal - #6
PORT ANGELES — Bones and flesh inside a black hiking sneaker found on a Strait of Juan de Fuca beach are the remains of a human foot, Seattle laboratory analysts said Monday.
That makes it similar to five athletic shoe-clad feet found on beaches in British Columbia in the past year.
It was also determined that the foot — like the five in Canada — had come off by itself, discounting the possibility that it might have been cut off.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Ah, to be old, mentally ill, and in prison...
With mentally ill inmates taking up prison cells and hospitals facing bed-space shortages, mental health in prison and jail populations continues to be a major issue for corrections officials in terms of overcrowding, staffing, safety and security and recidivism.More than 10 million adults are booked into U.S. jails each year and a recent Bureau of Justice Statistics study reported that an estimated 64 percent of local jail inmates have mental health issues.
The suicide rate among mentally ill inmates is double the rate of the general population, and the study reported that significant amounts of mentally ill jail inmates do not receive treatment during incarceration, while only 17 percent receive post-release treatment.
This deserves some thought and comment, but I'm off to work.
Maybe later.
Sunday, August 03, 2008
There's Something Strange Going On...
Police on the Greek island of Santorini have shot and injured a knifeman who decapitated his girlfriend and walked around the streets with her head.
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Holy Crap!
A man sleeping on a Greyhound bus as it rolled across the Canadian
Prairies was killed, gutted and decapitated by his seatmate as
horrified passengers fled to safety in the night, witnesses and police
said.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
From the Pages of DUH Magazine...
And it only took 7 years of conservative think tank study to figure this stuff out? Almost everything listed in this report was the common sense response to the fucking brain-damaged conservative plans since we fucking practically abandoned the conflict in fucking Afghanistan.
Fucking idiots.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
ComicCon news that gets me excited...
Seaguy 2 and 3 on the way.
Devil's Due / Humanoids Press publishing deal.
David Mack adapting Philip K. Dick's "Electric Ant."
Boom! Studio's Farscape series, written by Rockne O'Bannon.
Mike Grell doing new Warlord ongoing series.
Hardback collections of Swamp Thing and Preacher!!!
Ennis and Dillon Punisher minseries.
Punisher War Zone red band trailer (tempered by the rumor that the director has been kicked out now that the filming is over and the editing is nearly finished).
Aranofsky directing new Robocop film.
Zoe Bell in Brubaker's Angel of Death online video series.
I want to be excited about Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan's Red Sonja film, but I just can't do it.
Machete film gets me all worked up, though!
I may be forgetting a thing or two...
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
We're Dying Even Faster...
The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.
Overall, the American Human Development Report ranked the world's richest country 12th for human development.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
Wanna Dress Your Children Like Cult-members? Have I Got the Site For You!
This site is dedicated to provide children with
clothing that meets the FLDS standards for modesty
and neatness. Our commitment is to offer quality,
handmade, modest, affordable clothing.
Each piece is made with joy and care.
Nightmarish...
If alien life ever shows up and turns out to look like either insects or deep sea fish, then prepare for a long and bloody war.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Some Sneaky Patriot Act Bullshit
You probably didn't notice this little provision inserted into the Heroes Act of 2008, passed by Congress on June 17.
The headlines in the press release about the law were about the increased benefits for veterans and families of deceased military.
But Richard Kohan of Price WaterhouseCoopers drew my attention to one section of the act -- the portion that states anyone voluntarily giving up his or her citizenship will be taxed on ALL of his assets as if he or she had sold them -- paying capital gains on assets that have increased in value, even though they have not been sold!
That's right. While everyone in the media is focused on keeping aliens out of America, Congress has voted to lock its citizens -- or at least a good portion of their assets -- into -- America! Maybe they're thinking that patriotism won't be enough to keep the smart money from recognizing the coming increases in the tax burden.
Some People (You Know Who) Are Freaking Idiots...
The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he
criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16,
which reads: “God made two great lights — the greater light to govern
the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the
stars.”He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of
countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really
is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.
“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
That's Just Damned Strange...
Cronenberg, who is directing the opera, wasn't sure what effect it would have.