Ok, here we go. In defense of a liberal media, which does its part to help Americans (the vast majority of whom don't travel internationally) understand the world of which they are a very powerful part.
An insight into daily life within North Korea. The Reps/right wing/conservatives/neocons would argue that the article is "sympathizing" with an enemy who's part of the "Axis of Evil." That's bullshit. People need to be reminded, apart from all the blithering rhetoric otherwise, that there are real people over there, leading real lives, and it's not like the entire population is one homogenous horde opposed to America.
Besides, militarily it is advantageous to know more about your enemy than less, so all the "liberal" media is doing is giving more information to our future cannon fodder so that they can better understand their enemy - and annihilate him/her! Now THAT'S what I call true patriotism! (Not that ignorance prevents us from efficiently killing dirty towelheads elsewhere.)
15 September 2008
Esquire interviews Rupert Murdoch
His bias bleeds through the lines like the blood of the thousands he helped kill in Iraq.
Unfair? Nah. See, he's made an art of distortion, so much so that "facts" and "opinions" are indistinguishable in his worldview. And he's made Fox News a powerful voice for the ignorant, illogical, and ill-informed in the US - instead of going toe-to-toe with "intellectuals," they largely just cut mics and have idiotic shouting matches about trivial topics to create a virtual 'fog of war' in politics and in the favor of the right-wing zealot idiots who now control the country.
You wonder where the Reps get off lying so much and so easily - he opened the door for disinformation. O'Reilly perfectly fair and balanced, that's why Britney's sister is a slut and her parents are unfit, while Sarah Palin's daughter is an inspiration to us all and her mother could (and should!) be Vice President.
This bit of illogic is a gem: he didn't become a US citizen only for business reasons, he just had to be a US citizen to own a network. Hmmm ... that's not a business reason? I don't care if he sees his business life intertwined with (or as) his personal life, or makes no distinctions along those lines, but to pursue a business goal he changed citizenships. Just because he engages in double- or triple-think doesn't mean the rest of us do.
And if it weren't for the investigative reporting of the NY Times, this country would be far worse off. I wish I had the time to compile a list of the breaking, relevant news they've provided over the years. What does Fox News have to its credit? The fact that half its viewers still believe the US found WMDs in Iraq? Are you fucking kidding me? And you'd denigrate the Times?
Makes me want to get rid of my citizenship ...
Unfair? Nah. See, he's made an art of distortion, so much so that "facts" and "opinions" are indistinguishable in his worldview. And he's made Fox News a powerful voice for the ignorant, illogical, and ill-informed in the US - instead of going toe-to-toe with "intellectuals," they largely just cut mics and have idiotic shouting matches about trivial topics to create a virtual 'fog of war' in politics and in the favor of the right-wing zealot idiots who now control the country.
You wonder where the Reps get off lying so much and so easily - he opened the door for disinformation. O'Reilly perfectly fair and balanced, that's why Britney's sister is a slut and her parents are unfit, while Sarah Palin's daughter is an inspiration to us all and her mother could (and should!) be Vice President.
This bit of illogic is a gem: he didn't become a US citizen only for business reasons, he just had to be a US citizen to own a network. Hmmm ... that's not a business reason? I don't care if he sees his business life intertwined with (or as) his personal life, or makes no distinctions along those lines, but to pursue a business goal he changed citizenships. Just because he engages in double- or triple-think doesn't mean the rest of us do.
And if it weren't for the investigative reporting of the NY Times, this country would be far worse off. I wish I had the time to compile a list of the breaking, relevant news they've provided over the years. What does Fox News have to its credit? The fact that half its viewers still believe the US found WMDs in Iraq? Are you fucking kidding me? And you'd denigrate the Times?
Makes me want to get rid of my citizenship ...
14 September 2008
Moment of ... hypocrisy. Again.
These are becoming almost too numerous to keep track of.
I like Huckabee, but I despise the GOP. I'd never vote for Huckabee. The disconnect between the approval rating of Congress and the individual re-election, district-by-district, of its representatives is another clear and terrifying example of the idiocracy of American sheeple and is the direct result of their biased, hyper-individualism. "My guy's right - it's your guy that's the problem!" Retarded. Where are theconcentration internment camps when you need them? "Your IQ must be this high to get out." lol
Another hypocrisy: making "service" your speech-day motto, but having your other preparatory speakers denigrate those who actually do service. And the American sheeple love it!
I like Huckabee, but I despise the GOP. I'd never vote for Huckabee. The disconnect between the approval rating of Congress and the individual re-election, district-by-district, of its representatives is another clear and terrifying example of the idiocracy of American sheeple and is the direct result of their biased, hyper-individualism. "My guy's right - it's your guy that's the problem!" Retarded. Where are the
Another hypocrisy: making "service" your speech-day motto, but having your other preparatory speakers denigrate those who actually do service. And the American sheeple love it!
Republican choice
Of course you have a choice, just so long as it remains our decision whether or not the government will allow you to make that choice! As Orwell put it, "All animals are equal; but some are more equal than others." Palin's family made the choice they're going to deny everyone else, and really, at their core, people have a lot of difficulty with this hypocrisy - except for the evangelical right, who're used to the suspension of logic.
Impalin' earmarks ...
... but for keeping the money. You know what else gets doled out from the general fund? Legislators' compensations.
Bill Maher is my soulmate
And Paul Begala is awsome. "... look at George Bush, he's kind of disgraced me entire gender and ethnicity." I love it.
13 September 2008
12 September 2008
as the saying goes ...
"If it's good enough to flush down my toilet, it's good enough for the city of San Antonio!"
They can get this industrious DIY-er to keep the plant smelling like roses!
They can get this industrious DIY-er to keep the plant smelling like roses!
the next generation of music piracy?
Ushered in by the precedent-setting:
radio tower protection fail
radio tower protection fail
06 September 2008
it's about ... character
Namely, the character of the letter 'W'. I loved it at The Shrub's acceptance speech in 2004, the way they projected giant gold 'W's to flank the stage on both sides. The TV clips largely ignored them, but every so often when the camera zoomed out you can see them.
All that propaganda and patriotism, those simplistic, single-color banners ("royal" blue?), barren except for a lone symbol, does remind me of an earlier time, of another "historic" moment. When was it? Where was it ... oh yeah!
Gosh, those were the days ...
And the Reps have the gall to call Obama just "a celebrity?" George's shrubbery hath extended even beyond a mere person, he's taken over an entire letter of the alphabet (and here is the store to prove it!).
All that propaganda and patriotism, those simplistic, single-color banners ("royal" blue?), barren except for a lone symbol, does remind me of an earlier time, of another "historic" moment. When was it? Where was it ... oh yeah!
Gosh, those were the days ...
And the Reps have the gall to call Obama just "a celebrity?" George's shrubbery hath extended even beyond a mere person, he's taken over an entire letter of the alphabet (and here is the store to prove it!).
05 September 2008
vetting a veep
OK, there is obviously a lot of controversy over this Palin selection. One of my favorite micro-debates is on her family's right to privacy (as Obama may point out, Constitutional scholar that he is, there is no right to privacy guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, although maybe it should be included in order to offset the violation of the right to unlawful search and seizure that the government is allowed under the "Patriot" Acts).
Okay, to do what Reps despise and re-focus on the issue. McCain and the Reps are squealing over Palin's privacy, that how she rears her family has nothing to do with her fitness for public office. Ok, fine, but then please explain how the following examples fit:
The campaign says the form included such detailed questions as: Have you been faithful in your marriage? Have you ever paid for sex? Have you ever downloaded pornography? Have you ever used or purchased drugs?
Now, as far as I can tell, those are all questions on a candidate's morals. If it turns out that the candidate did use drugs, like Clinton, The Shrub, and Obama, it's okay to cite Palin's drug use. So if those examples of morals are okay, why not the family unit? If you've been divorced, and the politicians themselves use that as a screen for "fitness", then why can't the American public? And where are your morals displayed anywhere more so than your family unit? You're going to treat your spouse/children a lot closer to the morals you actually practice (by definition) than those you just preach. And that's why the Reps desperately want to present a (n often false) squeaky-clean moral facade that is above question, because the more you question, the more hypocrisy you find.
And don't even get me started on how Stewart pwnd Gingrich over the meaning of the word "decision." Fabulous.
And if you have the appetite for even more Palin hypocrisy ("she was for wasteful pork barrels before she was against them!", "she was for Alaskan independence ... and still probably is!"), have a gander. Brilliant.
Okay, to do what Reps despise and re-focus on the issue. McCain and the Reps are squealing over Palin's privacy, that how she rears her family has nothing to do with her fitness for public office. Ok, fine, but then please explain how the following examples fit:
The campaign says the form included such detailed questions as: Have you been faithful in your marriage? Have you ever paid for sex? Have you ever downloaded pornography? Have you ever used or purchased drugs?
Now, as far as I can tell, those are all questions on a candidate's morals. If it turns out that the candidate did use drugs, like Clinton, The Shrub, and Obama, it's okay to cite Palin's drug use. So if those examples of morals are okay, why not the family unit? If you've been divorced, and the politicians themselves use that as a screen for "fitness", then why can't the American public? And where are your morals displayed anywhere more so than your family unit? You're going to treat your spouse/children a lot closer to the morals you actually practice (by definition) than those you just preach. And that's why the Reps desperately want to present a (n often false) squeaky-clean moral facade that is above question, because the more you question, the more hypocrisy you find.
And don't even get me started on how Stewart pwnd Gingrich over the meaning of the word "decision." Fabulous.
And if you have the appetite for even more Palin hypocrisy ("she was for wasteful pork barrels before she was against them!", "she was for Alaskan independence ... and still probably is!"), have a gander. Brilliant.
what is the opposite of beer goggles?
Whatever you call this drink, lol.
Parkour (free running) = cool. Sport? Not really. Marial art? Hardly. Hardcore? A bit, but not nearly as much as swamp soccer!
Parkour (free running) = cool. Sport? Not really. Marial art? Hardly. Hardcore? A bit, but not nearly as much as swamp soccer!
the sad thing is
While we're debating global warming, it's already too late... the CO2 we've already admitted will remain in the atmosphere for decades (at least), and our overall emissions are not dropping yet, therefore we are going to continue adding to the cumulative amount of CO2 in the atmosphere for a long while after we notice the effects of global warming. Once you start seeing the effects, it is already bordering on being too late to do anything about the situation.
20 August 2008
Batman: The Dark Knight
All the reviews are deservedly positive. I think Heath Ledger will be nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but I am skeptical he'd win (even though some people claim it's "not just a comic book movie" it's still a comic book movie!).
I thought Heath Ledger nailed the character of the Joker. I am not sure if it led to his inadvertent (or otherwise) OD on sleeping pills, but I find it difficult to believe that the role would have disturbed him so much. I mean, it is so far detached from a 'real' person that I can't see an actor having anything but gleeful fun with the role, since there are no character boundaries for the Joker's mania. Personally, I would've stayed another 2 1/2 hours in the theatre just watching his anti-social antics.
I was never that impressed with Jack Nicholson's portrayal, nor did I like the more campy screen adaptations of Batman in general. I grew up reading the comics and watching the fantastic animated series on WB that I always viewed Batman as a very dark/tormented character. I mean, the Joker killed how many Robins? I recall one was left to drown in a vat of acid!
OK, but enough reviewers have already fawned over Ledger's performance, and despite reading many of those reviews before seeing the film, I was still impressed. As for the rest of the cast, they were good, but not great. I like Bale as Batman, and he's also able to pull off Bruce Wayne quite convincingly (and all I can say is praise Jesus that Katie Holmes did not reprise her role from Batman Begins - her performance was so void it threatened to envelope part of the film!). Gary Oldman was really good. Aaron Eckhart was good, perhaps as good, maybe a little better, than Bale, but his character had to go through such a transformation ... the stakes were highest for his character, and I think that he fell just a little below what could have made his role as memorable as Ledger's. I think Dent wasn't edgy enough before his transformation, and that hindered the believability of Two-Face. Alternatively, his character could have shown more conflict/confusion post-transformation (I thought he too-readily accepted the Joker's manipulation).
There were also some minor logical/technical gripes, such as:
- how did the Joker escape from Bruce Wayne's benefit?
- how did Dent survive that limo car crash, unscathed to boot, after purposefully unbuckling his seat-belt (after shooting the driver)?
- the chase scene in the tunnel was poorly-shot (as many reviewers have commented).
There were a few other minor things I noticed ... if I remember I'll write them, but for now that's all I got.
I thought Heath Ledger nailed the character of the Joker. I am not sure if it led to his inadvertent (or otherwise) OD on sleeping pills, but I find it difficult to believe that the role would have disturbed him so much. I mean, it is so far detached from a 'real' person that I can't see an actor having anything but gleeful fun with the role, since there are no character boundaries for the Joker's mania. Personally, I would've stayed another 2 1/2 hours in the theatre just watching his anti-social antics.
I was never that impressed with Jack Nicholson's portrayal, nor did I like the more campy screen adaptations of Batman in general. I grew up reading the comics and watching the fantastic animated series on WB that I always viewed Batman as a very dark/tormented character. I mean, the Joker killed how many Robins? I recall one was left to drown in a vat of acid!
OK, but enough reviewers have already fawned over Ledger's performance, and despite reading many of those reviews before seeing the film, I was still impressed. As for the rest of the cast, they were good, but not great. I like Bale as Batman, and he's also able to pull off Bruce Wayne quite convincingly (and all I can say is praise Jesus that Katie Holmes did not reprise her role from Batman Begins - her performance was so void it threatened to envelope part of the film!). Gary Oldman was really good. Aaron Eckhart was good, perhaps as good, maybe a little better, than Bale, but his character had to go through such a transformation ... the stakes were highest for his character, and I think that he fell just a little below what could have made his role as memorable as Ledger's. I think Dent wasn't edgy enough before his transformation, and that hindered the believability of Two-Face. Alternatively, his character could have shown more conflict/confusion post-transformation (I thought he too-readily accepted the Joker's manipulation).
There were also some minor logical/technical gripes, such as:
- how did the Joker escape from Bruce Wayne's benefit?
- how did Dent survive that limo car crash, unscathed to boot, after purposefully unbuckling his seat-belt (after shooting the driver)?
- the chase scene in the tunnel was poorly-shot (as many reviewers have commented).
There were a few other minor things I noticed ... if I remember I'll write them, but for now that's all I got.
Media Reviews
I'm going to start reviewing all the films I watch and books I read, more for the benefit of my own memory than anything else.
23 July 2008
failure alert!
Bush fails again. What, did he look into Medvedev's "soul" as well, the fucking retard? Not that his failure matters, since he neither reads the news or listens to anyone but his parroting yes-men lackeys. The "CEO" President couldn't be any more apt in prescribing exactly his idiotic shortcomings.
still a lame excuse
... rationalizing stupidity doesn't make it any less stupid or any less a person's choice. It's the 'everyone else jumped off a bridge' argument, except in this case it's 'everyone else around me appeared to make superficial choices, so I took that to mean I didn't have to think through my own actions ..." SHEEP!
In other news, yay for freedom! haha I wonder if they use the same argument for freedom of speech as they do for the definition of porn: "I'll recognize a breach of your civil liberties when I see one."
In other news, yay for freedom! haha I wonder if they use the same argument for freedom of speech as they do for the definition of porn: "I'll recognize a breach of your civil liberties when I see one."
05 July 2008
the face of tyranny in Zimbabwe
Stunningly brave. I bet the Guardian helped pay for his extrication. Heck, with Zimbabwe's inflation, they probably bought first class tickets for him and his family to Tahiti!
I'm OK to dwive, honesht
In other news, researchers at the University of Michigan claim that the nearly-insignificant difference in crash statistics between two equally stupid systems for the legal drinking age finds that one severely stupid system is only slightly less idiotic than the other.
Stunning amounts of time and money were exerted, and no one mentioned the pink elephant in the room: make the legal drinking age LOWER than the legal driving age, and you'll have less drunk-driving accidents. This proposition appears counter-intuitive only to idiots, which is why the US has not adopted it.
a bad PR day in biofuels
Is there no such thing as bad PR? I would think a "secret" report by the World Bank on the economic damage being caused by biofuels would be considered, um, pretty bad.
Most people are not going to blame the terrible choices of biofuel feedstock which have been made (corn ethanol is bullshit, and clearing virgin rain forest for palm oil is even more putrid bullshit). What will stick in people's minds is the massive spike in food prices attributed (largely) to these ridiculously inefficient or improperly deployed crops.
The only silver lining? At least the report makes Bush look bad! :o)
I'm OK to dwive, honesht
In other news, researchers at the University of Michigan claim that the nearly-insignificant difference in crash statistics between two equally stupid systems for the legal drinking age finds that one severely stupid system is only slightly less idiotic than the other.
Stunning amounts of time and money were exerted, and no one mentioned the pink elephant in the room: make the legal drinking age LOWER than the legal driving age, and you'll have less drunk-driving accidents. This proposition appears counter-intuitive only to idiots, which is why the US has not adopted it.
a bad PR day in biofuels
Is there no such thing as bad PR? I would think a "secret" report by the World Bank on the economic damage being caused by biofuels would be considered, um, pretty bad.
Most people are not going to blame the terrible choices of biofuel feedstock which have been made (corn ethanol is bullshit, and clearing virgin rain forest for palm oil is even more putrid bullshit). What will stick in people's minds is the massive spike in food prices attributed (largely) to these ridiculously inefficient or improperly deployed crops.
The only silver lining? At least the report makes Bush look bad! :o)
01 July 2008
hire marx four being emfatik!
In a way, the teacher could be implying that maybe the room was such a shithole it deserved an exclamation mark!
I don't think the examiner was being broad-minded enough. Maybe "room" could be taken in the global, socio-economic sense as "room to grow." I mean, on the one hand, some plunderer's are getting rich exploiting and enabling the Chinese regime. On the other, not everyone takes such action lying down.
I would've asked for more clarity from the youth on which stance he was against.
I don't think the examiner was being broad-minded enough. Maybe "room" could be taken in the global, socio-economic sense as "room to grow." I mean, on the one hand, some plunderer's are getting rich exploiting and enabling the Chinese regime. On the other, not everyone takes such action lying down.
I would've asked for more clarity from the youth on which stance he was against.
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