We just saw Neil Patrick Harris last night at EPCOT for his very last Candlelight Processional performance this year. He was funny before and after his narration, but not disrespectful about the material. From what we’ve heard, this is an improvement over previous year’s performances.
And now for something completely different!
A brand new day, a brand new XBox360. Our reviews of some new video games, some new TV series, some new comic books.
If anyone seriously thinks Governor Palin is qualified to be a heart-beat away from the Presidency of the United States in this precarious time, please watch the Couric interviews with Bide and Palin below. If you want to skip to the good stuff, it starts at 3:16. Enjoy!
I’ve long wanted to get into the whole hacking/making hobby, following a few of the famous maker evangelists and their exploits. One such maker, Bre Pettis, now has his own show where they explore both the history of technology and how to hack everyday object to do fun things. Here’s the teaser.
I have just a few quick political thoughts for today. First, Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last night was exactly what it needed to be. Check out the video here for the full experience, but I’ll leave all of the other analysis to the experts.
Second, kudos to John McCain for ensuring that, either way, a precedent will be set in this year’s election. While I think that the choice of Gov. Palin was, in part, to pander to some of the pro-Hillary crowd, as most of that crowd is pro-Choice, I don’t believe it will be a significant factor in the election. Combine that with a few skeletons, her extreme lack of foreign and domestic policy experience (yes, much more so than Obama), and the very real possibility that McCain might pass on in office, I’m not sure that she’s the safest choice to ensure his victory.
This, I figure I should link to this post on the excellent blog Pulse of Central Florida where I recently posted a rather lengthy comment on exactly what I like support Obama over McCain. This was in response to post about how Obama wasn’t exactly specific on the issues and what he would do as President. While there is a great deal to get excited about by Obama the person, there’s even more excitement and a great deal of detail about Obama the candidate that’s worth pointing out from time-to-time. Here’s to hoping that last night marked the opening salvo of this fall’s election battle.
“Eight is enough!”
I voted from Al Gore back in 2000, and I try not to think about how different things would be today had my dear home state not screwed up so spectacularly. Had he run for President again, I would have supported him without second thought. Now, I just wonder if he’ll step up and publicly endorse any of the current candidates before the primaries are largely done. The very fact that he hasn’t yet endorsed any candidate might speak to his hesitance to support another Clinton administration, but not out-right wanting to publicly dis them either. Or he just wants to stay out of it altogether. Either way, his thoughts on gay marriage ought to ring loudly in the ears of all the candidates for the Democratic nomination.
While I’m certainly more sensitive to smears against Obama than any other of the candidates, I still believe that Obama has had to handle more than his fair share of nasty misinformation. What blows my mind are that some of my friends and family have believed or even passed along these claims. Here are some of the more pernicious ones and their factual responses.
Obama is a secretive Muslim - He’s actually a Christian, not that it should matter.
Obama belongs to a blacks-only church - His church Trinity Church of Christ, though predominantly black, welcomes anyone regardless of their color.
Obama won’t support Israel - Obama has frequently acknowledged the importance of supporting Israel, though not without acknowledging the plight of the Palestinians.
Obama doesn’t have enough experience - Though this one is less a smear than a simple opinion, Obama has actually been an elected official for longer than Hillary Clinton.
Finally, here’s Obama himself speaking to a paper in Nevada. In lieu of reading and/or listening to his two books, this interview is an excellent snapshot capturing a little bit of why I support him over any other candidate.
While I have enjoyed a number of “Tom Cruise movies”, I’m usually attracted more to the directors that utilize Cruise than Cruise himself. Still, Tom Cruise is absolutely bat-sh1t crazy…about Scientology! Need proof, then check out this video.
And speaking of aliens, it seems that our new overlords are searching “our leader” at his ranch in Texas.
This story about the US Military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on 60 minutes this Sunday has reignited my utmost contempt for our great nation’s ignorant, backwards policy. Check out this list of countries that currently ban honest homosexuals from serving in the military:
I guess even though Iran doesn’t have any homosexuals citizens, they still need a policy in place. Better to be prepared, I say. Great company, though, right? I literally feel sick right now.
Golden Compass review coming soon, I promise!!
Politics
Larry Craig - so gay/bi-curious it hurts me just to type it. I’m sorry that he’s so repressed/horny that he feels the need to cruise airport restrooms. It’s bad enough coming out when you’re young and still learning life, so I can only imagine what it must be like dealing with these issues when your life is mostly behind you. Still, to stake your political career shingle in the anti-gay GOP these days and somehow try to be gay, albeit in a very secretive, sneaky way, is just hypocritical at the very best.
Come out of the closet, Larry. Take a cue from former NJ governor McGreevey (or even CO minister Ted Haggard) and just admit what happened. You’ve already plead guilty, so it will only help your conscience catch up with the law.
TV, Comedy, and Movies
Seriously, the writers of Showtime’s Weeds have just completely gone off the deep-end. Things are either abjectly depressing or batshit insane! I miss the first season’s funny, mostly formulaic stories, though the religious community storyline might just save everything for me.
Loving The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Why can’t networks make more solid drama’s like these? Ugh, sounds like I’m writing TNT’s ad copy now! Seriously, thees shows are well-crafted police procedurals with interesting characters! Take that CSI: Everywhere and Law & Order! Now, if only we could keep Holly Hunter from taking off any more clothes!
Speaking of Holly Hunter, thanks to The Sound of Young America podcast, I’m now officially a fan of the comedian Patton Oswalt. I had, of course, seen him on the Comedy Central roasts, and heard him as the voice of Remy in Pixar’s gorgeous Ratatouille. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet to experience his stand-up, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Two great, recent summer movies - Stardust and Bourne Ultimatum. I also saw Hairspray, but I think I still prefer the original movie and the non-movie musical more. It was decent, but it didn’t really transcend the originals as Chicago ,The Producers, and even possibly Rent did. Next up, Elizabeth: the Golden Age!!
Video Games (and other geeky stuff)
String of great games - Bioshock (360), Puzzle Fighter HD (360), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), all absolutely amazing. What little time I have left at the end of my longer days, I now sacrifice to them gladly. While Bioshock and Metroid are at least finite games that I’ll probably play through only once or twice, Puzzle Fighter is the game that will probably steal away most of my life. With its various incarnations to date, I’ve probably spent about 1/8th of my life so far clearing its gems and dropping devastating drops on my opponents.
Now with the new version on the XBox Live Arcade, I can waste ever increasing hours of my life defeating random opponents around the world. Yeah…<sarcasm>my life is exciting!</sarcasm> I guess its either that, reading my weekly (yeah, I’m an addict again) batch of comics, listening/watching the latest TWIT or Rev3 podcast, or updating my stupid Facebook page.
Lastly, I just want to send a huge THANK YOU to the BBC for doing whatever they could to hang on to David Tennant and Russell T. Davies (et al) for the next two series of Doctor Who. Yeah, 2009 will be kinda sucky with only the occasional special, but I’d gladly have that than potentially losing the creative team that has made it so awesome. With Battlestar Galactica now approaching its end, it will be a small comfort to know that, as it has for over 40 years, the Doctor remains.
I’ve been slowly working through a gorgeous Nova episode about the first flowers, a fascinating documentary about this area in China from which most of our popular flowers originated. Its pretty much scene-after-scene of flower porn, all rendered in brilliant 1080i. Then, today I saw this awesome recreation of a prehistoric tree. Something about it reminds me of the Mars I pictured in C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet, those towering trunks with alien fronds jutting out in the crown.
This self-described Pulitzer-caliber site begins to catalog the promise and the reality of food advertising. With all the Photoshopping that goes on these days, is it any surprise that your fast food orders don’t come out looking quite like their head shots? This, of course, from the guy that actively believes in the reality of the dessert tray. Oh, those dashed dreams and waxy bites!
Finally, thanks to MountainCabin for this great find of a site devoted to Broadway videos. Though I’m not the biggest fan of Broadway, I know many of my friends for which this will provide countless hours of tubey goodness. And they said “the internet is [only good] for porn!”
