The post in which I berate you solely because I'm stuck at work after 5pm

This weasly little suck-ass nerd at work recommended this program, and even thought I dislike him so intensely that were it any other recommendation I would disregard it on general principal, this PBS show about terrorism and Al Qaeda in Western Europe was actually pretty good. You can watch the whole thing online and it's free. It's only an hour long, so how about you take the night off from watching that Friends episode about Schwimmer and his stupid effing monkey you've already seen six times and learn something, hippie.

A uniter, not a divider

"I hate Republicans and everything they stand for," says Howard Dean.

Thanks, buddy!
Now, someone tell me why the fizzuck I should vote for a party who wants this guy to be their leader? This isn't about policy. He hates Republicans, the people, in addition to the Republican platform. If this guy gets elected DNC chairman, so much for the Democrats being the "big tent" party.

Don't skim this post...

Because if you do, you'll never understand what the awesomest new kung-fu movie on the block*, House of Flying Daggers, has to do with Lionel Richie.

Ok, well, I guess there's only one thing the two have in common. I mean, technically I suppose there a bunch of things they could have in common. Like, I have no idea if L-Rich is of Chinese ancestry or not, or if he's ever worked with the fucking key grip or best boy from the movie for one of his videos or whatever. So, I'll just focus on the coolest thing they have in common. And by "coolest," I mean, "creepiest."

Both Lionel Richie and (the main dude in) House Of Flying Daggers stalk blind chicks. Ferreals. You probably ain't seen the movie yet, but trust me, the guy stalks the blind** girl. And do you remember the video for "Hello?" Of course you don't, unless you're some sort of freak addicted to VH1 Classics. Ahem. So, check here for a rad recap, and link to the full video.



* Until Kung-Fu Hustle!!!!! Which will be the coolest kung-fu movie ever ever ever ever. Shmeariously, dig the trailer.

*Yes, I know. Stop ruining it.

I know

that literally everyone in the 'sphere is linking to this, but it is freaking hilarious.

More Maloney

Evan Maloney has a new short video up at his site. He went to the Inauguration Day protests in Washington, D.C., and gets inside the heads of the protestors.

Check out his other videos while yer there.

Weepy pain, Pts. 1 & 2

I trust AMG's taste and reviews infinitely more than the "diaper-typers" (what up Starbuck) at Pitchfork, but this just seems really mean-spirited. Conversely, Pitchfork's take seems sycophantic and out of touch.

Lifted alternately horrified and enthralled me, so I guess this is just par for the whiny course. Damn, how purple is that?!?!

So, I watched "Bowling For Columbine" the other night

And I didn't hate it.

Let's get a few things straight, though. I still think Michael Moore is an odious human being. My esophogus revolted at the shameless display of self-righteousness when he laid the photo of the girl who was shot in Flint on the walk at Charlton Heston's house. The movie was also a half an hour too long, and I think the last half hour was when his message became a bit confused. It might have been a more effective film if he had decided if it was the fault of the media, or of capitalism that Americans tend to shoot each other. Setting aside MM's casual acquaintance with facts, I still think the film suffers from this confusion.

He and I perhaps agree that the mainstream media is completely out of control, often with disastrous consequences. I mean, John Kerry almost got elected president, for chrissakes! Moore makes a large, sweaty effort to point out that other countries have more guns than America per household, watch the same violent films as Americans, and have similarly violent cultural histories. He stops, then, before saying that America is much wealthier than other countries, even socialist ones! And yet he seems to advance the thesis that because the evil General Motors corporation, in a heartless bid to stay in business, is responsible for the resultant poverty in Flint, and that that poverty caused the shooter's mother to be absent from home when her little boy came across the gun that killed his classmate. And that if K-Mart hadn't sold the Columbine kids the bullets, then nobody would've got shot. But more people die in car accidents than gun violence every year, but Moore protests the closing of the General Motors plant. And while he tells the audience that in George W. Bush's America, poor people don't matter, he neglects to point out that it was under the Clinton administration that the nation's most sweeping welfare reform package (of which welfare-to-work is a large part) was signed into law. I mean, come on, that's just a no-brainer.

I also thought the animated segment of the film was ludicrous. By drawing an explicit comparison between the KKK and the NRA, is Moore implicitly calling himself a violent racist?

I don't know. I could go on, but something tells me I'm in for some pretty colorful comments as it is, and this is already the most depressing day of the year. I don't think I could handle it, kids.

I didn't read this site before the movie, though I knew it was out there, cos I wanted to give the movie a fair shot. But in reading it afterwards....well, there's some pretty outrageous shit. I recommend it if you're a fan of the movie or of Moore. And it's got links the links to back it up.

Anyway. I just wanted to say that I watched one of his stupid movies. It was very, very funny. And the guy uses music in his film almost as well as Tarantino. But I think it comes across as a dishonest, sloppy, hatchet job, and reading the stories behind it convinces me it is.

It might take me another few years before I can watch "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Oh! Oho! Whoa!

Ain't no party like a J-Bush party cos a J-Bush party don't stop...

Bad day....fuck it.

Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!

Why, yes. The 80s were amazing!

You're a Post-Punk. You know 70s punk was cool, but
it was mostly just a stepping stone for the
greater intellectualism of what would come
after. The 80s were amazing. You quite possibly
have huge hair, and may wear lots of black.
Snare drums need reverb. Lots and lots of
reverb.

You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.

Khartoum, Sudan. August 25, 1998. I came across this photo while digging through some old things yesterday, and for some reason found it ironic. Well, maybe not ironic, but interesting nonetheless. I remembered that I had cut this photo out of the newspaper, and used it as the cover of a mix tape I had put together. It seemed emblematic of the absurdity of the times: a president who was so gifted politically that it was believable that he would kill innocent civilians to distract from troubling political circumstances here at home. He thought that Al-Qaeda and Iraq had a working relationship, and that the danger of a country handing off biological or chemical weapons (or the knowledge to make them) to terrorists was so immediate, that he had to bomb the factory where he thought these weapons were being made. Turns out that he bombed an aspirin factory, and that faulty intelligence was to blame. Muslims, as the photo suggests, and some of the president’s critics, were enraged. They thought it was all about sex. Or maybe they thought it was about oil. Some people will believe anything.

That's my girl.

Nice Guy Evan

Go and check out this profile of Evan Coyne Maloney, chronicling his efforts toward his new film, "Brainwashing 101." It's about the problem of extreme political correctness on university campuses. The website for the film is here, where you can watch a short version of it.

Evan's site has been on my sidebar since day one, and he was nice enough to even send me a free DVD of his short films, "Protesting the Protestors."

Rock on, Jenna. You, too, Babs.

No bullshit!

Hilariousest link of the week. It ain't about politics. Promise.

morbidly obese J-Tim still lovin' it

The slogan for the new McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder with cheese is "Pound One." Shouldn't it be "half-pound one?" I'm just sayin.

75% of people think U2 is not the best band in the world

It ain't quite March Madness, but this gives you all the fun of filling out a tournament bracket with stuff you actually care about. Go and rank the Best Band in the World!

My Final Four was Wilco, R.E.M., Radiohead, and the Flaming Lips. Wilco won the big dance. Howevs, the poll of all bracket-filler-outers sez:
1. U2 25%
2. Radiohead 11%
3. R.E.M. 5%
4. Wilco 5%

Ok, first off, U2 sucks. I mean, seriously, people. "Achtung Baby" was like 14 years ago. Get over it. The poll is run by Esquire magazine, though, and other top ten bands include Red Hot "you can't be serious" Chili Peppers, the Dave "Asscanon" Matthews Band, and Maroon "Maroon Fucking 5?!?!?!" 5, proving that Esquire readers are old, stoned, and stupid.

The actual best band in the world, Super Furry Animals, didn't make the tournament. Fucking RPI bullshit, man.

North Carolina weather alert

I swear I am not making this up:

In Wake County, Cary got nearly half an inch and western Raleigh received nearly an inch [of snow].

Person and Roxboro counties closed schools at 11:30 a.m. Franklin County, Johnston County, Warren County schools are closing early. Wake County schools are closing an hour and a half early and Durham schools are closing an hour early.
There are numerous reports of accidents in the Triangle, including an overturned vehicle on the Beltline on the bridge over Glenwood Avenue. Authorities said the right northbound lane is blocked. Raleigh police said there were at least 30 accidents on roads. The North Carolina Highway Patrol said that there were more than 100 accidents that they were responding to throughout central North Carolina.

Nearly an inch of snow causes all this. Rad.

Awesome

"If him and his gawky bird want to go banging on about the war they can do it at their own gigs ... That lot are just a bunch of knobhead students - Chris Martin looks like a geography teacher. What's all that with writing messages about Free Trade on his hand when he's playing. If he wants to write things down I'll give him a pen and a pad of paper. Bunch of students."

—Liam Gallagher

The fog of war

Filmmaker Errol Morris has an op-ed in today's New York Times about why he thinks John Kerry lost the election. You should read the whole thing, but the bottom line is that he thinks that Kerry should've talked more his opposition to the Vietnam war. I happen to disagree, largely for the same reasons as Althouse, but I think that Morris knows of what he speaks.

The dude made anti-Bush commercials for MoveOn.org during the election, styled after his highly successful Apple/Mac "switch" series, so you know we probably don't have much in common politically. But his most recent film, the excellent "The Fog Of War: 11 Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara," was to me the most effective anti-war argument I have heard, before or since. The film, of course, centers around Robert McNamara and his involvement in WWII and the Vietnam War, but the parallels to Iraq are obvious and chilling. But he doesn't belabor the point. He hardly even mentions it, to be honest, and that's why it works.

I was discussing this with some of my (I'll assume, safely, I hope; let me know if I'm wrong, you two) anti-war friends the other night. They agreed that it was far more effective than "Fahrenheit 9/11." Indeed, and by their account, War turned one of our more partisan friends (I harbor no illusions that he frequents this blog) away somewhat from Michael Moore and "Fahrenheit."

I've said it a hundred times before, and I'll say it again here: there are plenty of ways and reasons to criticize Bush and the Iraq war without making shit up. "The Fog of War" is one of them.

Condi Rice

Dr. Rice began her Senate confirmation hearings today for her nomination to Secretary of State. On the day after we celebrated the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and his legacy, I think it's pretty darn neat that an African-American woman, by some accounts the most disadvantaged minority in America, has risen to such a prominent and distinguished post. She has, of course, been long respected for her ideas, having served in President George H.W. Bush's administration, as provost of Stanford University, and as President George W. Bush's National Security Advisor. In other words, she has been judged not on the color of her skin, but on the content of her character. Some liberals disagree, but don't they always when it comes to President Bush?

Bush sez:

I know that the Reverend and Mrs. Rice would be filled with pride to see the daughter they raised in Birmingham, Alabama, chosen for the office first held by Thomas Jefferson.

Yup. Pretty neat.

All I'm sayin is...

...that I wish there were a few more shots like this in "In Good Company." That's all. No big whoop, right?

Spy vs. Spy

Via Drezner, here's a really, really cool article about the role the Ukranian spy agencies played in the Orange Revolution. The reporter appears to have unprecedented acess to most of the major players, and the resulting story reads like a Tom Clancy novel:

The group contemplated a public resignation, but decided to try steering the gathering forces from a clash, and to fight from within. "Today we can save our faces or our epaulettes, or we can try to save our country," General Romanchenko and General. Sarnatskyi said they remembered the spy chief saying.
...
"I had always thought that all of our generals were very loyal to Kuchma and were pragmatic," she said. "All of a sudden I made this discovery. We had generals on the side of the people."

Highly recommended.

That's a lot of free cigarettes

According to state records, 83,000 people executed a same-day registration for Milwuakee County, which is more than 20% of all voting-age residents in the county. Now, Wisconsinites may procrastinate a bit, but in order to believe that number, you'd have to expect that 20% of the county had moved or became newly eligible within the past two years (after the previous national cycle). Not only that, but the state now reports that 10,000 of those registrations cannot be verified, a whopping 12% of all same-day registrations and almost the entire margin of victory for Kerry for the entire state.

More.

Diversity of opinion

If yer not already, you should be reading Beer and Rap and We Eat So Many Shrimp. It would help if you liked rap music. Those guys do. Like, a lot.
So much so, in fact, that they have a petition to ban Kanye West from the Grammy awards cos he apparently doesn't write his own shit. Click through just to see the hilarious graphic, sign the petition if you so desire.
I kinda like Kanye, although I think his album is pretty overrated. Personally, I don't get what the big deal is. Lots of folks winning Grammys don't write they own shit. But since this blog is all about diversity of opinion (how many of you hippies even know another Republican? Yeah. That's what I thought.) , I thought I'd pass it along just for shits and giggles.

On pancakes and politics

I, too, was a bit miffed by Summer's none-too-subtle assertion that to become well informed one must read left-leaning (or irresponsibly left-leaning) publications. And what ever happened to good ol' newspapers? Or blogs? Would it have killed them to drop an "Instapundit.com" in there? No. It would not have.
Y'know, Gilmore Girls turned me off this exact same way. Rory's Fahrenheit 9/11 posters; Lorelai's dubbed-in-post, snarky comments about wars for oil. Listen, masters of teen-skewed post-modernist self-referential dramas featuring hot chicks and equally hot moms (I'm looking at you, Kirsten...don't give up on me, baby): I'm sick of your polemics!
I do, however, appreciate the new, more revealing wardrobe for Lindsay. And if I were Sandy and Kirsten, I totally woulda still eaten those pancakes.

UPDATE: And don't anybody even try to step to me with your "Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an allegory for the struggle of feminism or modern-day teens " bullshit, cos I'll smack that weak cork right out the park, B-Bonds juicer stizz, and give it the full-moon salute (Randy Moss stizz) on the way out. Ferreals. And that show sucks ass anyway.

Music, politics, and rants about hippies

A while back, I linked to an article that I've read several dozen times since. It's a phenomenon I identify closely (not to say entirely) with, and I think liberals, especially after their dismal election day youth turnout, ignore it at their own peril. For lack of a better term, they call it "South Park" republicanism (or conservatism, here).

Anderson talked with "several dozen" conservative students for his book. "They weren't young George Wills, they weren't young Bill Buckleys." They wore jeans and listened to iPods nonstop, but were intensely pro-life. But less conservative than their older counterparts on gay marriage, where they didn't object to the idea of civil unions for gays. As for the war on terror, they were very pro-Bush.

Is there a downside to the rise of South Park conservatism? I ask. "It can be," as its critics claim Anderson notes, "kind of nihilistic, profane, and vulgar." And, of course, "it will offend a lot of people." But, he says, "the biggest danger is that the activism and the attitude might replace an engagement with ideas."

Well, you won't find any profanity or vulgarity on this blog. (ahem) That last sentence is key, though, as we have seen already the results of this on the other side.

It's time to recognize that PC culture was a bad idea, and is for all intents and purposes, dead. In the words of MC Paul Barman, "If someone uses a non-offensive vocabulary, that person is considerate," not politically correct. And yes, he rapped that shit.

I linked to this article the other day, too, which I think correlates to this young conservative phenomenon. The overarching point, I think, is that it's time to re-think the ideals and the practices of the 1960s. And before you jump down my throat, there are obviously good things that came out the '60s. I'll not insult your intelligence by naming them here, but we all know what they are.

But we're seeing some of the cultural consequences of hippie parents now, as their children come of age. Hands-off parenting was depicted and criticized in the South Park movie; the practical effects of pacifism in the face of facism was illustrated in Team America; PC culture is incessantly mocked and ridiculed, even among the targets of its alleged benevolence; the rise of identity politics; laissez-faire morality resulting in broken homes and angry, disaffected youth. Can a devil-may-care approach to sentence structure be far behind?!?!


Liberalism is the new establishmentarianism. Conservatism is the new rebellion.

OH YES

Picture Jenna in this...

This is why we have inaugurations, people!

My first link!!!

Mad, crazy, ups to Reihan, Steve, and Ross at The American Scene for giving me my first link! I've said it before, but y'all should be peepin' their noize every day. Ferreals.

Go read this right now.

It's short.

UPDATE: Also read this. I'll bet you didn't know that! I sure didn't.

(both links via Instapundit)

O.C. Spoiler ahead

Just a tiny, awesome one, though:

According to iTunes Music Store:

On this week's episode of The O.C., Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher) offers his wife Kirsten the ultimate anniversary present with this performance at the Bait Shop. Here is Peter's rendition of the Solomon Burke song "Don't Give Up On Me," an iTunes exclusive.

The link is here, for those of you with iTunes. If you don't have it, btdubs, you should, iPod or no iPod. They're charging 99 cents for it, but you can hear a sample for free.

It ain't bad, truthfully, although a far cry from "the ultimate anniversary present." Solomon sings it better, obvs. Kirsten'll love it, though. Cos she's that kinda girl.

The most perfectest post ever

From the "shit just don't get no weirder" file, we see today that both President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard ("Dick") Cheney are both confirmed iPod users. Photographic evidence here, and here.

Apparently, Cheney digs the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And from the picture, you just gotta think that G-Dubs is cranking out some Journey. ANYWAY you want it THAT'S the way I need it ANYWAY you want it!!!!! Yeah, I know it says he listens to "Brown Eyed Girl," but I'm not buying that for one second.

Other suggested Presidential mp3s:

• Ol' Dirty Bastard- "Recognize" I would just love to hear Bush singing along to this one, shouting, "What's my name? Shut the fuck up! I bring the motherfucking ruckus!"
• Jay-Z- "99 Problems" Bein' a bitch ain't one.
• Gomez- "Bring It On" Snatch.

Ok I can't even really think of any more because now I have that Journey song in my head. Y'all can throw down in the comments.

And therein lies a painful truth about an advantage that many teenagers of yesterday enjoyed but their own children often do not. Baby boomers and their music rebelled against parents because they were parents — nurturing, attentive, and overly present (as those teenagers often saw it) authority figures. Today’s teenagers and their music rebel against parents because they are not parents — not nurturing, not attentive, and often not even there. This difference in generational experience may not lend itself to statistical measure, but it is as real as the platinum and gold records that continue to capture it. What those records show compared to yesteryear’s rock is emotional downward mobility. Surely if some of the current generation of teenagers and young adults had been better taken care of, then the likes of Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Tupac Shakur, and cer­tain other parental nightmares would have been mere footnotes to recent music history rather than rulers of it.

To step back from the emotional immediacy of those lyrics and to juxtapose the ascendance of such music alongside the long-standing sophisticated assaults on what is sardonically called “family values” is to meditate on a larger irony. As today’s music stars and their raving fans likely do not know, many commentators and analysts have been rationalizing every aspect of the adult exodus from home — sometimes celebrating it full throttle, as in the example of working motherhood — longer than most of today’s singers and bands have been alive.

Nor do they show much sign of second thoughts. Representative sociologist Stephanie Coontz greeted the year 2004 with one more op-ed piece aimed at burying poor metaphorical Ozzie and Harriet for good. She reminded America again that “changes in marriage and family life” are here to stay and aren’t “necessarily a problem”; that what is euphemistically called “family diversity” is or ought to be cause for celebration. Many other scholars and observers — to say nothing of much of polite adult society — agree with Coontz. Throughout the contemporary nonfiction literature written of, by, and for educated adults, a thousand similar rationalizations about family “changes” bloom on.

Meanwhile, a small number of emotionally damaged former children, embraced and adored by millions of teenagers like them, rage on in every commercial medium available about the multiple damages of the disappearance of loving, protective, attentive adults — and they reap a fortune for it. If this spectacle alone doesn’t tell us something about the ongoing emotional costs of parent-child separation on today’s outsize scale, it’s hard to see what could.

Read the whole thing. More evidence to the phenomenon that allegedly radical entertainment is in reality (to an extent) advancing more conservative themes.

Study: Family, Friends Reduce Quality Internet Time

by Scott Ott

(2004-12-31) -- A new survey from the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society shows that relationships with family and friends may reduce both the quantity and quality of time spent surfing the internet.

Researchers say the new data show that Americans enjoy the internet less, and use it less frequently when burdened by "outdated relational protocols and so-called family responsibilities."*

That was cool

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. (AP) -- Someone in the Census Bureau may be watching a little too much MTV. Bevis Lake, a 5.7-acre body of water in a forested area about 25 miles northeast of Seattle, is now appearing in Bureau records with a different name: Butthead Lake.

Schnappi

I have it on good authority that this is the number one song in Germany at the moment. Chilling.

No, girls. No. Try again.

Influence

Drezner reports on the results of the Erdos & Morgan survey, which lists the top 10 most influential media outlets.

The Erdos & Morgan 2004-2005 survey represents the views of over 450,000 American thought leaders who shape policy and opinion in the public and private sectors. It is the best-known and most widely used survey of opinion leaders in the United States, and documents where they get the information they use in their work.

Here's the top 10:

Foreign Affairs
CQ Weekly
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
The Economist
Harvard Business Review
The Washington Post
The New York Times Sunday Edition
The New England Journal of Medicine
Science

You see Foreign Affairs in the #1 slot. It's bi-monthly (or whatever means "it comes out every two months), and it's a hefty and intimidating read to take on. I used to read that bitch cover to cover every time, but now...well, US magazine is shorter, and it has a few more pictures of Lindsay Lohan. But I still do subscribe to the weekly Council On Foreign Relations (who publishes Foreign Affairs) email service, which is an excellent resource for those who want to get their learn on about issues and debates in foreign policy. Highly recommended (by me!), and the price is right at free-ninety-nine. Go get some. The magazine itself, though, can mostly be read online. Also highly recommended, and free.

Good news for people who like bad tv

Best line of the night, obvs, goes to Summer: "Cohen, your breath smells like Marissa! You're so drunk!" We're still laughing about that one here in the other OC.

More, I'm beginning to come around to TWoP's view that the show may be going a bit far with the meta-references. "The Valley" first season dvd/book, references to the whole wifebeater phenom (incidentially, remember the show "Phenom?" I used to think Phenom was kinda hot. Anyway.), the Sixth Sense reference... Don't get me wrong, it sure is amusing and mildly clever. But do we need three or four of these per show? No, OC, we don't.

Plus, Jimmy moving to Maui? That's in Hawaii, right? Maybe his boner for Julie is not as big as we are led to believe. I mean, seriously, Fox, did you think we wouldn't notice? He's got Hailey fever!

I am a nature photographer

Because I'm a nature photographer in my other, more secret life (the one where I'm also happily married to Liv Tyler.....er, Deborah Messing....no, wait, I mean Nicole Kidman...well, any one really would be fine. So, while you're imagining my other life as a nature photographer, you can picture my lovely wife as any [or all] of the three. And thanks.) I went out to practice my trade last week. Here's a few shots of the American Lake Geneva, not that tacky, phony-ass Swiss one.





These were all taken from roughly the same point on the path near the extreme west end of the lake, looking east.

And here's one of my dog, Samfernee, because he's awesome. He's a bit spooked cos the ice is cracking beneath his mammoth paws. In real life, this dog is as big as a bear.

A bear, I tell you.

Get your socks off

It's picture day here on the 'pod (or JAI [pronounced "jay" for those of you with queer eyes] for those with AF [acronym fetishes]), so time to get your crayons and your pencils. Super huge bonus ups fer spotting that reference, b-t-dubs.
Anywho, I came across the best Christmukkah gift I didn't get on the interweb today:

They're socks, for your iPod. To....keep...it...warm? Just guessing here, really. Price, $29. Ferreals. I know, in Apple-land it's a total bargain. Howevs, with my mad surfin' skillz, I went out and found a comparably cool set of socks into which you may shove yer new iPod. Here they are:


Price? $8.25. One-third the price, three times the cool. Inverse sock rule? Obvs. Plus, they still have apples on them, and they have bonus horses. On a scale of 1 to 10, these rate a "cool as fuck." Trust me, I do these kind of surveys for a living.

more new celebrity iPods

U2's did so well...

More here.