Quick update for everyone, let’s see what I have for you today:
First up, just a reminder for everyone:
I could go on, but let’s remember, if God is more concerned with a football game than starving children, people dying of disease, natural disasters, etc, I would rather find a new religion, God wouldn’t deserve me. Thankfully though, that’s not the case.
Need a primer on how primary elections work? I did:
If you need a good laugh, and cry, check out Clients From Hell. It’s bad. And so, so true.
This is one of my favorite bits from stand up ever. It’s from Patton Oswalt’s new special, and is amazing:
Pensblog covers why the Pens have been on a four-game slump: the Elmo Balloon died.
Over on his blog, Lev Grossman has a fan-created image of when Alice first saw Brakebills. This is amazing:
Whole bunch of stuff to add in today, still not quite caught up, but it’s a big dent, I hope you enjoy:
It’s no longer illegal to jailbrake your phone! I could have put this under the Great and Secret Show, but I have some other ideas for that, so I figured I would just link this here. Hooray!
I have no idea where I found this, but it involves The Muppets and Kick-Ass:
Over the summer we searched for fake merit badges and found this page. I really like the “Easy Button” on!
How about a lot of Iron Chef America secret ingredients? Ok:
Amazon is now selling more eBooks than physical books. Kind of scary, but interesting. Slate takes a look at it, I can’t remember if it is that article, or another that makes mention of the idea of dynamic eBook covers, which I think is an awesome idea.
I’ve been reading PostSecret for a while. Frank’s mail carrier retired, but she put some thoughts up on her own blog. Check them out here.
And here’s another fun video for you:
And here’s an awesome news story coming from I’m not even sure where. But I have to say, The strippers sound more level-headed than the pastor:
And I was up at camp when it all went down (and continues to go through the legal system), but here’s some updates on Prop 8 being struck unconstitutional:
The lawyers go on both Fox News and CBS, and absolutely destroy their opponents (not legal opponents, in these clips, the talking heads). Both are amazing to watch.
And on a related note, a candidate for Governor of Florida (and their current Attorney General) wants to ban same-sex couples from adopting, based on his personal religious views. Dan Savage takes him down a few pegs:
We’re not allowed to slam McCollom for this because, you know, he’s talking about his personal, religious faith here… a personal, religious faith that McColloum would like to impose on everyone in Florida by force of law. And I think we can all agree that every child deserves a mother and a father—particularly the 20,000 kids that are in foster care in Florida right now because they were failed, neglected, abused, or abandoned by their mothers and fathers.
And finally, AFER (American Foundation for Equal Rights), the lawyers for the plaintiffs in the trial, put together this video about one of the couples they represent (points for including Wii Tennis!):
First off, check out The Old Spice Guy helping someone propose:
Have you seen the periodic table of meat? Bacon rightfully is in the first position, being a Noble Meat:
I really don’t have anything to add to the title of this post, except of course a couple of expletives. So, I’ll just say, Stay Classy, Catholic Church.
Speaking of The Catholic Church, for anyone following the Fr. Mark Gruber case, he is now suing.
And don’t forget, if you live in California, to vote to protect traditional marriage:
Hey everybody, quick update. I thought I had some more links with me, but I guess they are still floating out in the tubes somewhere. I’ll also have a few things for The Great and Secret Show that I’ll be posting in a little bit, so be sure to look for that.
First up, a federal judge has declared DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) unconstitutional on two grounds. This was unexpected, but welcomed. However, I have a sneaking suspicion it won’t stay. But it’s interesting to watch, especially as the Perry trial is awaiting their verdict as well. Also fun is that one idea was looking at it from the fifth amendment (I think) which guarantees equal protections, the other, the tenth, which gives states their rights (and is a favorite of social conservatives as well). Exciting (and confusing legalese)!
The Stranger also came out with a great “New Column” which I’ll post:
Ok, one more piece from The Stranger, this time, in the form of a follow up letter about an internship:
Hey Lindy! I sent an email a while back to the old address of yours I have saved in my account. Since I hadn’t gotten anything back, I figured that either you took that account out of commission OR YOU ARE A BAD PERSON. To account for both options, I wrote a few responses in a “choose your own adventure” style of correspondence.
If your account is inactive/my e-mail exploded, go to page 1. If you ignored/fiendishly deleted the e-mail, go to page 2. To run down the cave on the left, go to page 73.
I’ve always wondered how many people have lived on Earth, in total, since you know, we started. Someone finally figured it out! Over 106 Billion. That’s a lot!
A fun clip from the Daily Show, my favorite part, “It turns out the people in the White house are not secret Muslims, they’re nerds!”
Inspired by a case in Florida in 2007 (I think), Obama extended the right to same-sex couples to be at the side of their partner in hospitals. This also extends the benefit to friends, such as in cases where there is no family left. Very classy, but a shame it took this long for it to happen.
And one more Daily Show clip, this one is pretty good, I love the yelling:
I posted the Spiderman version a little bit ago, now, what if Wes Anderson directed the Lord of the Rings? Spiderman seemed more like The Royal Tennenbaums, this one seems more like The Darjeeling Limited:
This is probably the best thought out computer virus I’ve ever heard of. It steals your temporary files and web browsing history (presumably also including passwords to things like banking sites and e-mail) and publishes them online, charging you about $20 to remove them. Awesome. Now I’m just waiting for karma to strike me.
Listen, this next video is strange, and probably crosses the line. Why am I posting it? Because it’s an interesting take on TV ads, as well as a neat execution. It’s from a campaign in The Netherlands to promote South Park. That really should tell you all you need to know. The first scene is the worst, but the fact that they get in killing Kenny should be commended. Anyway, you’ve been warned, you probably shouldn’t watch it:
And that’s it for now, have a great one everybody!
Hello everybody! Big ole update for you today, enjoy the links and all the fun things!
I saw Alice in Wonderland last week, and I enjoyed it, although the 3D was totally unnecessary, and I would suggest you save the money and see it in normal 2D. One entire section of the movie is the classic orange/blue contrast (Alice’s dress and the Mad Hatter’s hair), which was cool, but kind of overdone. And strangely enough, every singe preview before the movie was for a Disney movie. My brother and I both noticed it, I hope that does not become a trend. Disney however, did do a cool thing and pull the original Alice out of the vault for an ‘unanniversary’ release. And finally on the subject of Alice, check out what Disney did with $700,000 dollars:
The Wrap discusses the blurring of the line between news and advertising and the journalistic integrity/ad revenue debate that always rages on. Do I like te ad? Not really, I don’t think it made much use of the medium. Do I think readers realized it was an ad and knew to turn the page? Yes. Do I think it probably annoyed them? Yes. But then again, those are just my thoughts.
Queen of the Nerds, Felecia Day will return as Little Red Riding Hood on SyFy (I feel dirty just typing that). I’m very excited, hopefully it turns out well. Now to wait for The Guild season 4!
Also in nerd news, BrentalFloss’s first CD is coming out soon:
I’ve been dating someone really great for a few months, but he’s never referred to me as his girlfriend. How do I take it to another Level?
While the obvious answer is “Accomplish a story task in the boyfriend track for XP equal or greater to your next level threshold,” I get the feeling you might be hinting that you want to descend into the fetid labyrinth that festers beneath his ancient wizard’s tower. In that case the stairs are in quadrant M23, behind the Throne of the Kobold Hetman.
I know it’s been over for a while, but this is one of the coolest things to come out of the Olympics: Water usage (specifically dealing with toilet flushes) during the gold medal hockey game. Pretty awesome!
Here’s a cool video made entirely from a flatbed scanner:
I missed it (due to date and the fact it was in Washington State), but even though I’m horribly afraid of any kind of public protest, I might have gone to a protest for Pluto:
ATTENTION ALL CONCERNED CITIZENS!
A horrible injustice has occurred! Aghast astronomers, intrepid interstellar adventurers, and many others have joined forces to protest one of the darkest days in recent solar system history. Pluto—the smallest and most distant planet—has been removed from the planetary pantheon.
We refuse to bow to this outrageous decree and declare: PLUTO IS A PLANET.
It’s been stirring for a while, but here are some of the letters that have been send to the Itawamba County School Board, in response to their cancellation of prom and then trying to blame it on one of their students.
And speaking of, here is a great, great editorial piece written in response to it, here is one of my favorite paragraphs, which is a little out of context, so I would encourage you to read the whole thing:
What happens is that some Protestants cherry-pick edicts out of the Bible that support their prejudices and then, in a neat bit of mental judo, spread their arms wide and claim their religion is under attack if anyone contradicts them. “What about tolerance for ME?” they cry. It’s as if I seized a copy of the Bible and began beating someone over the head with it and, when you try to stop me, I accuse you of failing to respect my faith.
And some more old news, check out Jon Stewart discuss the Massa/Beck interview:
Cool video showcasing monsters/aliens taking profile pictures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcbZ0v8Mpvk
Here’s an interesting article about how to put together a useful online news room, some great ideas, although I would probably pick and choose a couple of things, depending on the situation of course. And Nathan discusses some of his favorite online tools.
I saw this on Slog, and I think a couple other places, but here’s a cool video about possible future kiosks that will work with tablets:
Penguin Books is going to be releasing cloth bound, hard cover classics, the design is very old, but impressive (especially the cloth). Here is what the first and second sets will look like.
Apparently one of Tiger’s mistresses has released the contents of her text messages with him. Apparantly we already knew half of the conversation, so Slate put together their own version:
Joslyn: Sent: 04:02 PM 08/28/2009: What would you say to Carlsbad Caverns if you were there right now?
Tiger: Sent: 04:06 PM 08/28/2009: I want to be deep inside you
Joslyn: Sent: 04:12 PM 08/28/2009: LOL. I love spelunking.
And in scout news, the Girl Scouts (who are surprisingly more and more progressive, even if their paperwork or organization doesn’t really work or make any sense), even (denying and then admitting) to putting out a sex-positive, realistic pamphlet. The PR is kind of a nightmare (denying it, then making up lies, then saying that it was yours all along). And the story is at a conservative site that uses a boy scout merit badge sash by the way. And over on the other side of the gender gap, an Eagle project had to be changed from a volleyball court to bocce due to noise concerns. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all, but that is part of the process, working with the community. I will add though, that when we play bocce at camp, we are generally pretty loud, it’s because we’re having fun!
The Kill The Gays bill in Uganda debate rages on, Andrew Sullivan covers it, here’s a quote:
The anti-homosexuality bill, simply put, is a backlash. A backlash from a group that, in the long run, is losing the battle of ideas.
Even though we have been together for six years, shared a household for five and a half years, pooled our finances for five and a half years and will be celebrating our third wedding anniversary this summer, we are total strangers as far as the federal government is concerned. And if the federal government recognized our marriage, I would have been an American citizen three years ago. In fact, if I had married a longtime female friend 20 years ago, I would be a long-standing citizen right now. (Yes, a heterosexual marriage would have voided the HIV ban automatically for the past 22 years.)
What does the federal government call a legally married man who has paid taxes for twenty-two years and has a PhD, and a job? A faggot.
In college we read a book called The Influentials, and this made me think of my friend Teri, who most certainly was an influential on our campus. I’ll have to alert her to her changing status…
I don’t have anything to add to this trailer, it’s just awesome:
And finally, here’s a cool montage of movie endings:
These girls are in sixth through eighth grade. Good gravy they are amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmvUVPlvs3E
As a quick wrap up to the Olympics, Virginia has a great article over at That’s Church, make sure to check it out.
Looking for good, online entertainment? Check out this year’s nominees from the Streamy’s. I recommend The Guild (and also The Legend of Neil), but I’ll be using the nominee list to find new programs, I’ll let you know what I find that I recommend.
Did you know that the earthquake in Chili shifted the Earth and made the axis about three inches shorter? Which in turned shortened our days by about 6.8 microseconds. I believe it was Carbolic Smoke Ball that took that opportunity and ran with it.
Weird confession time: I love signs. Ask anyone who has ventured out into the real world with me, if I have my camera, I inevitably made them stop so I could take a picture of a sign. And now Slate is running a series of articles all about signs! I haven’t had a chance to read any of it yet, but I’m super excited! So geeky!
Take a look at this awesome chart. DRM may be all but extinct from music, but there’s still more to worry about, namely at the moment: books.
See! I told you Avatar was really Pocahontas. Again, not that’s a bad thing, there are only so many stories that can be told. But I will be made if Avatar wins for best editing, I thought that part of the movie was done poorly in a few spots that really stood out.
Good job, D.C! Check out an awesome video over on Slog. I think I read that they have been together for 13 years already, so good for them!
I love the idea of this chalkboard table, but the guy who came up with it came up with all kinds of uses I would have never even thought of! Makes setting the table a breeze! And no more placemats to wash!
I have to check with the Myst/URU folks, but there may be some weird copyright conflict going on here with the OA’s new program Mysterium Compass. Mysterium is the annual Myst conference. Yes I’m a nerd, no I’ve never gone, yes I always lobby for it to be held in Pittsburgh, and yes, I really want to go to one held in Spokane so I can get a tour of Cyan’s headquarters.
Foe everyone keeping track at home, Fucking retard Sarah Palin didn’t get a good response on Leno, it was added in by a sound engineer. Original article here. Again, I’m allowed to say that Sarah Palin is a fucking retard, it’s satire, just like Rush Limbaugh (did I even spell that correctly?) and Steven Colbert told me.
Another quick political thing, I love Rep. Grayson. So much! Watch him with crazy Bachmann (who looks frightened) on Larry King Live:
I can’t embed it, but go watch Jon Stewart take on Chat Roulette and the other news stations “investigating” it.
First things first, Bowtie Tuesdays was a success! We’ll be back on January 5. Be ready!
Patrick has a cool article up about ad placement online, check it out here.
Slate’s gaming club takes a look at the games of 2009. For whatever reason, I only remember seeing this column at the end of each year. As always, I tend to disagree with most critics (Bioshock is not nearly the best example of tough moral questions in a game), but they did at least have a large conversation about this year’s games, as well as touch on quite a few.
Slate also sent a reporter to the convention of the Modern Whigs, apparently vying to be a third party. I wish we had more parties, although not quite as many as the Netherlands, but I’ll happily remain an independent.
I probably should have been watching this, but D.C. has weird political rules for their city so I forgot, their city council voted the second time to legalize marriage equality. Now, after the mayor signs it, as long as congress does not block it, it will be law in 30 days. Strange proceedings, but a wonderful outcome (thus far). Patrick, anything you care to shed some light on, or am I generally correct in how it works down there?
Storming the stage in protest at a nationally televised awards show is practically an annual event for Kanye West, but his “performance” at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards was particularly ill-advised…According to Linda Holmes of NPR’s Monkey See blog, “when you’re a big-mouth and you get in a tangle with another big-mouth, nobody necessarily thinks the less of either one of you. You get in trouble, however, when you’re picking on people who aren’t even old enough to drink – unlike you.” Later in an interview with Jay Leno, Kanye apologized and ashamedly acknowledged that his mother would have been disappointed.
That’s it for now, I’m trying to post more often to keep my inbox from getting too full, hopefully I can keep up with it. Have a great one!
Alright, I’m finally starting to go through everything from last month, let’s see how much I can cram into this one post before it gets too unwieldy or I get lost and confused. I’ll try to break up the links with images and videos, so read and click away!
I’ve followed the story here and abroad for a while because I’ve found it extremely interesting, but it seems that now gay men can donate bone marrow in Canada. Another step in the right direction for Canada, we’ll see how long it takes the U.S. to follow. Sweden also recently ended their ban on gay blood donation.
I kind of like Lady Gaga’s music, and even though she sometimes comes off as bat-shit crazy, she really is a good person. Seen here, she meets Queen Elizabeth II, obviously knowing when to pick her publicity/battles. I wonder what she would be called if she was ever given the title “lady”?
This is kind of crazy, but strands of tiger DNA has been found in the AIDS virus. From what I’ve read, it is thought that HIV/AIDS came from monkeys (I think), so I’m not sure how this fits in with research and whatnot. But in a giant breakthrough, researchers have found that stem cells can kill HIV, or at least, have the proof of concept.
Have you seen the Wii’s holiday ad, I really like it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGRaTaNCPMc
The Episcopal Church elected its first openly lesbian bishop. Canterbury isn’t too happy, I can’t even imagine (or care for that matter) what ex-bishop Duncan is saying.
When you click through to see Yale students protesting some evangelical preacher on their campus, make sure to see how many categories on his sandwich board you fall into. Obama voters, Dirty Dancers (really?), Hindus, Feminists…you’re all on there. And going to hell, apparently. Like I always say, it will be a party, and we’re all apparently invited!
This link from Gizmodo, is an awesome cheat sheet for buying a new TV, check it out if you’re in the market.
I think the evangelical preacher at Yale would like this link. It ends up making me angry if I read too much, but if you want to see the hilarious things that people worry about, namely, people working retail during December that would dare to with you “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas.” Stupid people aren’t allowed to believe things that I don’t. Currently the most offensive, GAP, mostly due to their awesome commercials. Here’s an example:
I am absolutely sickened by the new Gap commercial comparing Christmas to Solstice and “do what you like”. I will NOT shop at the Gap, Old Navy, or their sister stores any more nor will my teenagers. …
And here’s the commerical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMPWlWDvsI
I’m liking the campaign mostly because it’s pissing off the right so much. And from what I can gather, a direct response to the right after they pulled shenanigans back in the fall.
The Catholic diocese of St. Louis sent $10,000 to Maine to help overturn their marriage equality law. I have a big post coming up for that, with all kinds of links and updates, really everything that has happened since NaNoWriMo, and the election at the beginning of November. People are now protesting the diocese of St. Louis, but truth be told, $10,000 was just a drop in the bucket. It will make your skin crawl, stay tuned.
Dollhouse may be cancelled, but their marketing is just really starting up (thanks a lot, Fox), here is Rossum’s November ad:
I don’t understand this at all, how it works, or even that it could be done. Scientists have trapped a rainbow, and my mind just exploded a little bit.
I found this song on a mix CD that I’ve had for a while, and I’m really liking it, although the music video leaves a lot to be desired:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF-3TUcva9M
If I was in Seattle, I would go here, and blow up golf balls and use cannons for mini-golf! I would go there a lot.
This has been making its rounds, and it rocks:
And since it is the end of the decade, we’ll be getting lot of these vidoes. Although I think this left out a lot of stuff, it’s a good start.
Ok, one more video then I’ll break it up a little bit. This video made me like Martha Stewart a lot. It’s a good thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ow_nZO8vfQ
If you liked Harry Potter, or even if you didn’t, you should really read The Magicians, I read it, and could not put it down, and was really hoping there would be more than one, but as of now, it’s a one off book. However, you should pick it up, it examines what a magical world would be like if it was college, instead of a prep school, and the hazards and problems young adults have to face instead of teenagers. Check out this article from io9 about it if you’re interested, and you should be.
Ok, I think that’s it for now, sorry for the length, although there is still a lot more for me to go through and post for you. I’ll be back with more soon, enjoy the day!
And I’m back! Big update, and another big one coming, hopefully tomorrow. I’ve been working hard on my NaNoWriMo novel, and the word counts are now working, you can follow my progress on the left side. Also, Pittsburgh is in a word-war with Sacramento and Finland. Yes, the entire country. And we’re also battling Philly, but less officially. Tracking for that is over there as well. We agreed at our write-in today that we need to take down Finland. Because it would be so satisfying to say that we won versus an entire country! Also, we learned that they only have to write 30,000 words because of how their grammar works, sentences like we use can be said in three or four words. Only fair, and a cool fact!
I watched live online the House pass their version of Health Care Reform. It was exciting, I found out that most representatives don’t know when to sit down and shut up, and generally I would not like to be in either house of Congress. I also spent a good bit of time researching on wikipedia things like Whips. All in all, a fun evening. While I don’t agree with the individual mandate and I think there are cuts for women’s health hidden in it (but I would have to check), generally, it’s a step in the right direction. Heck, just getting rid of the term “pre-existing condition” would do this country a lot of good. Well, the term, and everything associated with it, you can’t just rename it and expect it to work…you know what I mean. Good job House!
Ok, too much talking, here’s the newest trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks:
Did you know they are working on a space elevator? I didn’t either.
And in the UK, construction can begin on the first underground mansion, complete with water slide!
That guy in Louisiana who refused to give out marriage certificates to interracial couples finally quit.
And I think this family wins for Halloween costumes!
Speaking of, Dan Savage has a great column about Halloween costumes. Check it out, but not while you’re at work.
Games Radar did an article about video games characters zombiefied. I don’t like the article, I don’t think the graphics were great, however, there was one entry which made me laugh, Pac-Man:
This video has been floating around this week, I’m already a fan on Facebook. You should be too. You know, if you support the 11 principles and the 3 herbs and spices…and you oppose the communists who want to socialize your Nazism!
Not quite your thing? Then check out this video mash-up:
Did you know you can grow a mustache in November in support of men’s health charities? I didn’t know, although I’m already doing one month-long project. Not shaving would require another commitment….wait a minute….nah
