Archive for 2009

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Thoughts On Tom DeLay: Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on October 8, 2009 by admin in Politics

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

I’m not surprised that ABC helps whitewash Tom DeLay’s public image. I’m surprised that YOU don’t seem to care.


Would you let your daughter
dance with this man?

I don’t really swear much, but that was my response when someone told me that Tom DeLay was on “Dancing with the Stars”. I wasn’t surprised that the federally-indicted, lying, self-serving and egotistical asshole would have the nerve to do such a thing – in fact if I were his publicist it’s exactly the sort of audacious thing I’d suggest. What surprises me is that a major media organization like ABC would deliver his image-washing for him, and that the American public would sit there and slurp it up like a bunch of livestock at the trough. Watching the several seconds that I did watch of him wiggling his fat white ass on national television frankly made me “vurp” just a bit. It gave me the same feeling you might get at an old-fashioned ice cream social when the gym teacher that everyone knew had been caught at the local rest stop doing questionable things with a truck driver says “that’s a fine boy you have there” and no-one says anything. On a more fundamental level though, it highlighted why I’m slowly drifting into a more and more apolitical state. It’s nothing new to turn political criminals into celebrities; Oliver North and G. Gordon Liddy were trailblazers in this area. But to me, putting smug-faced contemptuous asses like Karl Rove and Tom DeLay on national TV while they’re under subpoena or indictment perhaps makes a bigger statement about you and me than them, in a way. And with a slew of villains like the last administration  wandering the streets and major television networks, I might as well get used to it. But I will remain utterly perplexed: why the apathy towards these men?

October Holidays: Columbus Go Home!

[ 3 Comments ]Posted on October 7, 2009 by admin in Holidays

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009

How can we celebrate International Newspaper Carrier Day if there are no newspapers to tell us about it? And a quick explanation of why we’re starting a campaign to replace Columbus Day with Leif Erikson Day.

We wanted to tell you about the Newspaper Association of America’s International Newspaper Carrier Day, which is supposed to be celebrated on October 10, but as you’ll learn if you click that link, the “Full text of this content is available to subscribers only“. I’m personally not going to fuss about it, because as is more often becoming the case, my town doesn’t even have a newspaper. What I will fuss about though, is this character Christopher Columbus. I’m on a personal mission to have his holiday replaced with Leif Erikson Day for two simple reasons: 1.) Leif was here first, by 500 years, and 2.) He went home without making a big mess like Columbus did. As we all now know, the whitewashing of Columbus’ life we received as kids in America was bunk; he was brutal when in power, and messianically delusional later in life. I’m kind of joking (at least in terms of my personal activism on the issue) but this is a serious topic; as the people of the Transform Columbus Day Alliance point out, “Columbus Day is an inherently racist statement of cultural domination“, and Columbus was a “slave trader whose legacy is steeped in blood, violence, and death“. I’d like to add that his movie bombed at the box office too. In a week or so we’ll touch on another October horror: Halloween. Last year the scariest spooks were Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke; what will be the hot theme this year? Read the rest of this entry »

There’s More To Muse Than A Radiohead Cover Band

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 6, 2009 by admin in Music

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009

If you’ve dismissed Muse as a Radiohead clone like I did, give them another try. Just don’t bother listening to them as mp3′s on your iPod.

I made the mistake back in 2003 of glossing over the band Muse because of their shameless Radiohead-ness. At the time, listening to Muse when Radiohead existed felt like listening to Coldplay when there’s a U2 around. Except I actually like Radiohead. All of which, in spite of being the perception of the music press in general, is incredibly unfair. In a way I’m glad I glossed over Muse like did, because after finally exhausting all the Radiohead in existence, it’s like there’s a back-catalogue to explore. Except when you finally give Muse a chance, you realize there are layers and layers and layers, and the comparison to Radiohead becomes incredibly inaccurate. My re-Muse-ment began when I saw the video for their new tune Uprising featured here (which seems, alas, to only be available at MTV.com. Apologies in advance for the commercials). In spite of the tune’s over-the-top “anthem for the common man” theme, I found myself nodding along with it, and ended up watching the video for Supermassive Black Hole from their 2006 release Black Holes And Revelations. I was sunk at this point, as I decided to dig back into my music collection. Starting with 2003′s Absolution, I almost wrote them off again. The first track – Apocalypse Please – is so Radiohead-esque that I was sure my resistance was legit. But I slowly realized it was actually just a good way Read the rest of this entry »

Outrage Outs Hypocritical Gay Politicians

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on October 5, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Monday, October 5th, 2009

Should politicians that are publicly anti-gay while privately gay be outed? Where’s your righteous indignation? I dunno, but your Outrage is on HBO this week.

I missed Outrage when it hit theaters in May, so I’ll be trying to crash a friend’s place this evening to catch it on HBO. The idea of a movie created specifically to out politicians that are publicly anti-gay while privately being gay hits some dynamic chords for me. Conversations about issues related to gay rights are usually a little more nuanced in my circles. I’m not sure I’m behind government approval of gay marriage, for example, but that’s because I’m not sure I believe in government PERIOD. Otherwise, I vehemently support a person’s right to marry whomever they like, regardless of gender, or even species — as long as the other species is consenting. In this case though, it’s a little more cut-and-dried for me. The idea here is exposing politicians’ hypocrisy, not their sex lives, right? How can that be wrong? Well, I wonder how a filmmaker shooting a film like this chooses their “targets”, and what their methodology is in general. But hell. Once they’ve got the goods, it’s a no-brainer, right? They’re just exposing lying politicians, right? As Rep. Barney Frank (whom I previously had no idea was openly gay) puts it: “There is a right to privacy, there’s no right to hypocrisy.” If you’ve read this far, you may be curious as to just who the film exposes. The list includes Florida governor Charlie Crist, who was once a likely pick as John McCain’s running mate; David Dreier, who was once a leading Republican candidate for House majority leader; Ken Mehlman, George Bush’s campaign manager during the 2004 election and former RNC chairman; former New York City mayor Ed Koch; the now-retired Read the rest of this entry »

Forget That Mac Tablet – The Microsoft Courier Is Coming

[ 3 Comments ]Posted on October 4, 2009 by admin in Technology

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

All you fascist Mac-Addicted zombies are gonna be jealous when I have my cool gizmo before you have yours.

My interest in the ultimate iThingy, innovative laptop concepts, and the much-rumoured Mac Tablet borders on an unhealthy obsession. If somebody would just go ahead and MAKE one of the darn things, I’d be the first sucka in line to buy one. And now, I’m in real danger, because the Microsoft Courier may just beat the Mac tablet to market. I mean, when you’re talking about imaginary magic fairy gizmos, anything can happen, right? The impending Microsoft answer to the Mac hoopla is actually pretty intriguing. Watch the video below to see exactly how cool an imaginary Microsoft product can be. I’m just left wondering how a device that small can possibly run a Windows operating system. It must have a pretend fairy-powered CPU too. And since it’s a startlingly clever concept considering its Redmond origins, rabid PC-hating MacFreaks of course had to immediately dig up this video from 1988 showing that Apple was “already there”. Well, thank God Apple didn’t go there; if I had to look at and listen to that little bowtie-wearing dork in the video every day I’d stop using computers altogether. He’s more annoying than “Microsoft Bob” or “Clippy”. Well, maybe not Clippy. And just one last thought (swiped from Microsoft’s grinning robots or the Brotherhood of the Mac. Which is worse? ) to all you Mac-fixated zombies out there who are going to claim in advance that the Courier couldn’t possibly compare to a Mac Tablet: “Go back to your house. I know, you’ve got an iHouse. The walls are brushed aluminum. There’s a glowing Apple logo on the roof. And you love it there. You absolute MONSTER.” Read the rest of this entry »

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