May 28, 2008

Alice




Brilliant. Watch it now before Disney wipes it off the 'net. And go here to download a free mp3 of the track.

May 16, 2008

Quote of the Month, Perhaps Decade


"[T]he constitutionally based right to marry properly must be understood to encompass the core set of basic substantive legal rights and attributes traditionally associated with marriage that are so integral to an individual’s liberty and personal autonomy that they may not be eliminated or abrogated by the Legislature or by the electorate through the statutory initiative process. These core substantive rights include, most fundamentally, the opportunity of an individual to establish — with the person with whom the individual has chosen to share his or her life — an officially recognized and protected family possessing mutual rights and responsibilities and entitled to the same respect and dignity accorded a union traditionally designated as marriage."

Go California.

Appease Allow Me To Introduce Myself


I'm not a big fan of Chris Matthews. Actually, I don't really like him at all. His voice gives me a headache and his laugh freaks the hell out of me. But yesterday, Matthews conducted the greatest interview of his career and absolutely eviscerated right-wing hack Kevin James who came on Hardball to backup the Preznit's not very veiled claim that Barack Obama's ideas regarding diplomacy and negotiations make him comparable to Nazi appeasers. The only problem was that James had zero grasp of the facts pertaining to Nazi appeasement, particularly the actions of Neville Chamberlain back in 1938. This may be the funniest pundit video I've ever seen:



Now, I admit, I didn't know exactly what Chamberlain did either (I must have been "absent" that day in school), but I don't go around talking smack on the radio or television about stuff I don't know about. It took me less than a minute to find the information on the internet. You would think if you are going to share your "expertise" with the American public that you would at least take a few minutes to prep your talking points.

It would be fantastic if Matthews' actions became a trend on pundit television, especially during this election year (we're going to be hearing a lot of crap, and not just about appeasement, from now until November). Could you imagine how great it would be to see talking head after talking head getting completely smacked down for not doing their homework? For too long, these Rovian thugs have gotten away with bullshitting the American people. It's time our members of the press did their jobs.

For example, did you know that John McCain was in favor of talking to Hamas before he was against it? You wouldn't have if you simply read or listened to what was mostly doled out by the media yesterday. Fortunately, a reporter from the Washington Post recalled this interview with McCain from two years ago:



That's journalism. I wonder how many mainstream U.S. journalists are going to look into Bush's grandfather's dealings with the Nazis? I'm not going to hold my breath.

For more appeasement fun, let's go to our old pal Jon Stewart:



UPDATE: I meant to mention this before. One of the most hilarious aspects of the Matthews/James interview was James' attempt at a final zinger as he tried to pin 9/11 on Bill Clinton. Mark Green correctly comes back with the fact that 9/11 happened on Bush's watch and that for 9 months former members of the Clinton administration, particularly Richard Clarke, tried to warn the Bushies about bin Laden. James' retort? Watch an ABC made-for-TV movie he erroneously called "Pathway to 9/11" (he meant Path to 9/11 which TV critic Tom Shales called "Factually shaky, politically inflammatory and photographically a mess."). Why read or listen to facts when you can watch pretty pictures on the teevee?

May 15, 2008

May 14, 2008

The Real Problem With Hillary Clinton:


Instead of trying to educate this country and bring it together, she is instead exploiting the hatred and ignorance of people like these "fine" folks from West Virginia:



(h/t to reader Sal)

Sad


2:57 p.m., Yeager Airport, Charleston, W.Va.: A steep descent brings Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.


Pathetic, actually.

May 13, 2008

Two (to 8) Out Of Every 10 West Virginians Don't Like Black People


I am soooooooooooooo shocked:
"The number of white Democratic voters who said race had influenced their choices on Tuesday was among the highest recorded in voter surveys in the nomination fight. Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes. More than 8 in 10 who said it factored in their votes backed Mrs. Clinton, according to exit polls."






Less shocking? Hillary Clinton's take on her token victory:
"The White House is won in the swing states. And I am winning the swing states," Clinton told cheering supporters at a victory rally.
So, in other words, all of you white people out there better get your act together or you are gonna end up with a big Black loser in November. Or something to that effect.

Fun Fact: Both Gore and Kerry lost West Virginia (and it's grand total of 5, count 'em, electoral votes) in their bids to become POTUS. Perhaps West Virginia is no longer the bastion of Democratic salvation that Hillary wants you to think it is. Methinks there are bigger fish to fry (and Obama knows it).

This One Goes Out To "Rico Bach"

Except for the occasional, angry Jared Leto fan, I rarely receive negative comments from readers of this blog. In fact, this blog rarely receives any comments at all unless you count the enthusiastic missives from obsessive Titanic fans or the nice folks who like to discuss Jehovah's Witnesses.

However, last night I received the following comment about yesterday's Bill O'Reilly post from some brave soul with a fake name, living in his parent's basement, who needed to let me know what a jerk I am:
As if your politics were not a large enough nut-filled turd, now you're beating your villians over the head with old blooper reel footage. The guy was stuck on "Inside Edition" for Christ's sake. If you are the savvy industry insider you claim to be, you know all of the less than flattering moments dubbed off on thousands of videotapes... capturing talent at their worst. Good thing there were no cameras in the edit suite rolling when you were throwing hissy-fits while keying cheesy supers over Ren & Stimpy promos... eh, Ace? My advice to you: grow up. And vote McCain, dumbass.
Where do I begin? Okay:
• First of all "Rico", if my politics seem like a stinky nougat to you, why are you even reading my blog? Shouldn't you be reading Jonah Goldberg?

• "Villains"? How quaint.

This is a blooper:



Hahaha. Wasn't that simply hi-larious? You see, Rico, a blooper is, to quote Merriam-Webster, "an embarrassing public blunder." I'll add the word "harmless" to that definition. The Bill O'Reilly video was not a blunder. It consisted of the lunatic ravings of a very unhinged man who continues to act that way, albeit without the profanity, on his high-quality "news" program, The O'Reilly Factor:



• Billo was "stuck" on Inside Edition?!?! For six years?!?! Bill started on that show as a correspondent in 1989 and worked his way up to anchor. Bill was actually so proud of his imprisonment tenure at Inside Edition that, in 2001, he falsely claimed that the show had won a prestigious Peabody Award. After he was busted for his lie by Al Franken, Bill claimed that he had mistakenly said "Peabody" and meant to say "Polk" (it was later learned that Inside Edition received it's Polk Award a year after O'Reilly was "released" from the show).

• I don't ever recall claiming I was a "savvy insider" but I might have once said I won a Polk Award (I was probably drunk when I said it so I really don't remember).

• "Hissy-fits"? I beg your pardon sir, but I don't roll that way. I once, at the ripe old age of 23, threw a 3/4" tape across a control room (which I believe "hissed" as it made it's way to the adjacent wall) but it's not a moment I'm particularly proud of (although someone had seriously messed up). However, it was a one-time event and not something I would use to base my career on. Yelling at people or physically intimidating them gets you nowhere unless you plan on hosting a show on Fox News. But, on this particular point, I agree with your view Rico and I'm glad there's no videotape of that unseemly event.

• Cheesy supers? You'll have to take that up with the Spike graphics guy who made them (and, I guess, John Kricfalusi since the graphics are simply a variation on Kricfalusi's logo.). I kinda like that spot, however, which is, admittedly not a graphics' showcase but more about writing and editing:


R&S
(Click to watch)

Well, writing...not so much.

• "Ace"? I like it. Any readers who want to leave negative comments are hereby requested to call me Ace. I've also instructed my wife to call me Ace in bed.

• I will never grow up. I'm too old for that.

• And finally, if, in November, I find myself pulling the lever for that ancient, doddering, war-mongering hypocrite, then, yes, I am a "dumbass."
So Rico, because I'm a good guy, I'd like to dedicate the following song to you. From RevoLucian, the man who brought us the classic Barbara Streisand remix STFU, comes F#*k It. Click the link to enjoy!

May 12, 2008

MoveOn.org's "Obama in 30 Seconds" Contest Winner




To watch the other finalists, go here where you can also donate to help put the winning ad on yer teevee.

May 09, 2008

There Goes Hillary's White Vote


This is a real ad:



No, seriously. It's real.

May 08, 2008

The Unbearable Whiteness of Being...Hillary

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," (Clinton) said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
Will someone please stick a fork in this woman.

"It's excruciatingly painful being green."


Sad Kermit covers Elliott Smith's "Needle in the Hay" (which you may recall from The Royal Tenenbaums):



Sick but genius.

May 07, 2008

"The America That We Believe In"


Last night, Barack Obama took back the soul of the Democratic Party. Yes, it was only a speech. But Barack Obama sounded like someone who truly loves his country. Barack Obama sounded like someone who wants to be President because he (rightly) believes our country has been tainted and he wants to do whatever he can to restore the promise of America. Hillary Clinton sounded like someone who thinks she deserves to be President. Take it away Barack:

May 05, 2008

PEHDTSCKJMBA


Learn how to pronounce PEHDTSCKJMBA with our old pal, Tom Waits:



If Tom is guided toward your town, do not miss him. He gives one helluva concert.

The Great Derangement


Rolling Stone's excellent political writer, Matt Taibbi has a book coming out tomorrow called The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire. Here's the basic premise of his book:
(After 7 years of "a corrupt White House and an acquiescent corporate media") "Americans are now supposed to make their own sense of the world, but are the right messages even reaching our collective brain? Are the halves of that brain even connected? Do we know who we are anymore? Are we sane? It's a hell of a problem for a nuclear power."
To promote the book, Matt made a video with animator Eric Merola. Enjoy:



You know our country has gone insane when Jesse Ventura makes more sense then the majority of talking heads and politicians we see day in and day out on the TeeVee:

"If America is changing because of the war on terrorism, then the terrorists are winning..."
Donny Deutsch is a great example of the inanity of our talking head culture. He goes from a discussion of "chicken hawks" to asking Ventura about Martha Stewart (!?!?) Amazingly, Ventura is able to turn that inane question into an example of how insane America has become.

Something For The 8-Year-Old In All Of Us




(h/t List of the Day, a new websession)

I Think I Sort Of Remember When This Guy Was An Eloquent Speaker


Bill Clinton, campaigning for his wife at a North Carolina church:
"I didn't come here to ask you to vote for my wife," said Clinton, addressing the congregation at Church of the Pentacostal in Asheville, N.C. "I came here to ask you to pray for her. And to vote. Do whatever you want. Show up. Our country is in dire distress.

"I just want you to pray for her and to make your voices heard," he added. "Do whatever you think is right. But don't sit this out, because we are being called upon to return to our true purpose."
Yes, my friends, your true purpose is to send Bill back to the White House or "whatever you want."

May 03, 2008

The Empire Strikes Barack


Indiana, North Carolina: The Choice is Yours.



May the Force Be with You.