You decide

Who said these? Karl Rove? Donald Rumsfeld?

"Terror must be broken by terror"

"All opposition must be stamped into the ground"

Nope, Nazi brownshirts.

No Comment

Obamarama

Man do these people do political statistics well. The scenario analysis is interesting too as are the somewhat-puzzling graphs.

Letterboxing?

Has anyone heard of this at all? This sounds kind of interesting. When I go walking around I like to explore a little, and day my day I'm kind of running out of areas near me that are new. This idea seems interesting. People leave a waterproof box with a rubberstamp and a paper pad inside somewhere in town and hide it. Then they put clues online like such. These are all the Oregon ones listed by date placed. Some were placed in 1999, so I'm sure those are gone. Anyway, it seems like a cool alternative to doing nothing.

Urbanteering

On July 20th there will be a scavenger hunt put on by some people starting in the Pearl.

http://www.urbanteering.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

It looks pretty cool. There will be teams and individual classes.

Like A Potato Could Beat That

However! It is the year of the potato. Why 2008? According to the website:

Food prices are soaring worldwide, driven by fierce competition for reduced international supplies of wheat, maize and rice, and other agricultural commodities. As concern grows over the risk of food shortages and instability in dozens of low-income countries, global attention is turning to an age-old crop that could help ease the strain of food price inflation.

Damn, this website got me all excited about potatoes.


That headset thing looks crazy. LAN parties are going to just look like a bunch of Cylon hybrids staring at monitors soon enough. Luke, you ballsy enough to get one?

Neuro-input device for the PC!

Goddamnit, such a cool concept. I imagine the second generation of this will be pretty sweet.

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/input_devices/ocz_neural_impulse_actuator_nia_-_the_log/1

Cylons refuse XP!

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/05/28/cylons-run-windows-xp

Who's ready for a rockin Sunday??

So this Sunday after our kickball game, which is at 3pm, we are planning on doing some grilling and drinking at a park. It will either be at Overlook Park or at the kickball field to watch the rest of the playoffs.

You should come!!

The importance of national appeal

I dunno. After West Virginia, I'm kinda wondering if we might want to rethink nominating Obama, and nominate Hillary instead. Because, you know, you just can't understate the importance of appealing to the white hillbilly racist vote.

And I thought there was nothing I could possibly read or see that would make me think Bill O'Reilly was even nuttier than I already knew he was

Mr. Honeybun

From now on, everyone must refer to Bobby only as 'honeybun', or possibly Mr. Honeybun. His shirt should be updated too.

Last day to register as a Democrat to vote in the primary

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/oregonvoterreg/

Drop it off at:
Multnomah Elections Office
1040 SE Morrison St.
Portland, OR 97214

Phone: (503) 988-3720

Edit: You can also drop it off at any DMV. It must be in by 5pm.
Edit2: Hope you all registered! I just got back from changing my registration from Green to Democrat. If you're not registered as a Democrat, no bitching if Hillary steals it. Well, ok, you can still bitch. But fingers will be pointed, accusations will be hurled, recriminations will abound, and it may all come to fisticuffs and blood in the streets.

Vote Hook

Okay...you've all seen the signs... Steve Novick for U.S Senate.
But did anyone know he has a hook for a hand? Not even kidding. And even better... he's using it in his campaign!!


And as if the t-shirt isn't enough... this TV ad is sure to win you over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05jv9yaHR34

His sign is going right inbetween my Sam Adams and Obama sign in the yard.

Fucking Hillary

And I don't mean that I've found a stick with tits. Our favorite Republican-lite has all but guaranteed that McCain will win in November. While the Democratic process drags on for months and months, prior to a group of shadowy men going into a room to decide who will win the primary (in striking similarity to how the 2000 election was decided), McCain will get a free ride, while Billary puff up their egos.

Good job, way to put the country before your own power greed.

Public Service Announcement

COMCAST SUCKS! Ok, we already knew that didn't we? Seriously though, this is an interesting article for anyone that has HD currently, specifically with Comcast (although dishes are also notorious for being compression-happy due to the cost of satellites). And is pretty much a rant I've had all along.

The gist:

1) Comcast compresses the shit out of everything HD (3-1 currently), and not very well at that.
2) Verizon's FIOS is WAY better, both for internet and video. If you are lucky enough to have it available, get it now.
3) Anything that is on network TV (read: football, Lost, etc.) is best viewed (depending on the channel, with very little compression) from off-air, that is using 'rabbit ears'.

Unfortunately, since this is all controlled by monopolies, and the Portland phone monopoly is Qwest, it is unlikely that FIOS will hit Portland proper any time soon.

Re: BSG

I'm pretty sure this doesn't spoil anything.

So far this season of BSG has kicked serious ass. But I really think that "WE'RE GOING THE WRONG WAY!!!" is becoming the new "WAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLT!!!" and "I'm losing it!" is becoming the new "They took my son!"

This is not good.

Brokered Convention

Regardless of whether you're following the Democrats' nomination process, this is a very entertaining read:

http://nymag.com/news/politics/45786/

OK. So.

So what is actually happening this weekend? I have heard a lot of ideas floated, particularly about Galactica, but nothing really solid. Anybody?

Thanks for the ride info!

That sounds like a great cause. I will definitely be there.

Community Involvement and Etc.

For you bicylists and feminists. April 24th is Bike Back the Night. The goals of this event are something like:

→ To create a highly visible public demonstration of Portland’s commitment to ending sexual violence.
→ To distribute information about the sexual assault services available in the community.
→ To unite the vibrant, progressive bicycling community in Portland with the grassroots effort to end interpersonal violence.

The ride starts Thursday, April 24th at 5:00pm at Colonel Summer's Park, 20th and SE Belmont St.Portland, OR 97214. The ride will start shortly there after and end at PSU. I will be tabling for PWCL and ziping around on two wheels. Hope to see you there.


View Larger Map

Speaking of Freebird

This should help you out in learning the song Josh. I know personally that my pinkies do not do that.

King's Cup narrowly averted

That was fun!

Tonight?

If I didn't tell you I'll feel real bad, but we're having a party tomorrow with a Prom theme. You're definitely invited Dan. We're really going to try and do it right. Decorations, slow dance songs, the works.

Tonight...I've been asking people what we're doing tonight and getting little response. Ideas I have are:

-Play Trivial Pursuit somewhere
-Play any other game somewhere (Uno, Jenga, Operation, drinking games like caps quaters and beer pong, Power Grid, Boggle, Scattergories, any of those played like a tournament)
-Go to Ground Kontrol
-We could all grill at my house and make some good food
-Power hour early on, like 9 or so
-Do crafts: paint, sew, all of us could combine and make a big painting on a canvas like at Gillian's house
-

Bowling is always an option, but Friday bowling sucks because its so expensive. We should do that on a weekday.

I always throw the options out there, I just need some input. The one thing I believe our group is not into tonight is just going and sitting at a bar, or even a few bars. A bike pub crawl is cool, but we'd rather hang out at someone's house. We're all a little tight on money. Houses are more fun anyway.

Awesomeness

Dan... I'm with you!! I'm sure Josh is with you... We're pretty plan free for tonight, we should do something.... any suggestions? You should e-mail Josh... he'll figure shit out.

I think a bike pub crawl sounds great when it warms up. We should plan it in advance... where we are biking and approximately when we're going. That way no one can back out.

Group hug?

Where did all the awesomeness go? You are all awesome in your own ways, even the people I don't know and will never meet. I'm guessing. I believe in my heart, anyway. Because there is that spark of awesomeness in all of us (yes, even Richard Simmons). I call it the Awesome Particle. But that's Physics stuff, so I defer to Josh on the details of how it works and stuff. Anyway, the point is, collectively, I feel that giant sucking sound of awesomeness leaving the building, leaving only the cold emptiness of a giant, awesomeless, awesome-free vacuum in its wake. And I think it's high time to rage, rage against the dying of the awesome! Who's with me?!

Bike pub crawl (obviously not until the weather clears up)! Or something.

Mr. Music Strikes Again!

I for one LOVE live music. That may be obvious. But, here is a real treat. There was a movie made a few years back, called The Devil and Daniel Johnston, about this freakishly-talented, but, well, freakish, guy named, oddly enough, Daniel Johnston. He is certifiable (literally), but here is the trailer:



and he is playing Friday April 18th, at the Wonder. I will most likely go. You are invited.

Another one for the ladies

Enjoy!

Future PRESIDENT Hottie?

Ladies? Do I need to say more?

OK, maybe there is hope

This seems to me to be telegraphing that Richardson is officially in the ring as the VP nominee for Obama. That would be a killer ticket.

Gloria, here are the steps to do the link.

First, paste in the link, or any text:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.richardson/index.htm

then, highlight the whole thing, and click on the 'linky-looking' button up top, and enter the actual URL for the website (I just copy the URL once from my browser, then paste it in here and paste it into the dialog box too, since I'm lazy). I just always use the link for both, but you can be fancy and just make random text a link too.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/21/obama.richardson/index.htm

Fuck

I suck at links... anyways its at
springbeerfest.com
Sorry!!

Spring Beer & Wine Festival

I just found out about this today...

Hopefully that worked.. it was my first ever link!! Anyways I think we were planning on going on Sat at about noon or so, it might be cool to check out.

Also sometime this weekend the horse brass is having a cask extravaganza... I'll find out the details later.

Plunderathon

In a few short months Plunderathon will be upon us. This year I'd like to get some sweet, sweet planning going in advance. The brain juices have been flowing (ah, Fridays at work) and I think my best idea so far is: a fleet. That's right. A fleet of ships. Now I'm not talking crappy shopping cart ships. No, I think the Ikea furniture carts will make the best ship base. They will be easy to stand on, push (hell yes for 360 degree wheel rotation front and back) and lock up at friendly bicycle racks. If 2-4 peoples will take responsibility for creating each ship creating a tiny fleet should be too difficult. Who's with me?!?!

Other awesome Plunderathon ideas?

I can't remember if I bored everyone to tears with this or not

I'm a libertarian liberal. Which basically means government should stay the hell out of your life, but it should support the needy (yes, through taxes, though not taxes that pay for corporate giveaways like pharmaceutical drug benefit giveaways nor wars that benefit Halliburton, so the taxes shouldn't be insanely high), and keep an eye on corporate power and abuse. So, basically work for you, instead of regulate you. And regulate corporations instead of working for them.

Bike pub crawl a week from tomorrow!

OK, now you've done it

Well I agree with your point about the liberals. Although there is one thing worse than a sanctimonious, preachy liberal, which is a sanctimonious, preachy, intellectual liberal.

Having said that, and at the risk of making a gross generalization, I find conservatives to be even more dull than liberals to talk to, since they are essentially the same as those folks wandering around campus thumping on bibles. In both cases, if you try to reason with them, use statistics, bring in other viewpoints, etc. they just immediately revert to parroting what they've been programmed to say. Now this is going to sound holier-than-thou, but I have literally never known a conservative that wasn't a) ignorant (typically regarding world politics), b) selfish (typically regarding taxation, etc.), and c) close-minded (typically regarding the notion that they could possibly not be entirely correct).

That I find boring, but I would like to talk to the exception to that rule.

But I agree, I'm not that interested in sitting around 'being the choir', and actually in some ways I am more of a federalist than a liberal anyway, so will likely get attacked to boot.

P.S. It took me a long time to figure out why the Dead Kennedys always rant about liberals (e.g. Holiday in Cambodia).

Garfield minus Garfield

Having never been a very big fan of Garfield, I scoffed a little bit when somebody sent me this link (http://garfieldminusgarfield.tumblr.com/page/1) . However, after reading the first couple pages, this is pretty damn funny.

Fantastic Daily Show Report

Man, this pretty much blew away my assessment that it was funnier without the writers.

If this country devolves like it did with Vietnam into hating soldiers, that will definitely piss me off more than national politics. If someone wants to be a Marine, go right ahead.

I'll Go But...

I really dislike talking politics with liberals and more specifically ones I don't know. I feel like I don't learn anything. Its not that I dislike liberals, I just love to see what it is that makes people vote Republican. I am very positive that there are plenty of very smart Republicans that have great arguments why they would believe in John McCain. I just don't like it when people argue over the exact same viewpoints. Even worse, hearing people just agree on stuff and yell louder. Going to college in Boulder and hearing people slam on Bush all day long was dull, and even though the College Republicans were HUGE assholes, they were pretty interesting.

I'm super interested in Obama vs. Clinton (elections are pretty much a national sport these days), mainly because that's probably the only thing I'll see in the next four years that will really make a decent difference in the country.

I think National Politics has become like the job that all your co-workers hate. If EVERYONE is talking shit about it and hates it, you kind of hate it too. I feel like I haven't heard many positive things in the last 5 years, and there have been both a Democratic and Republican majority in Congress during that time. Other than the increase in minimum wage, national politics are dull. Plus whenever I hear about filibusters, that makes me want to never want to acknowledge Washington DC again.

Now...city politics, I enjoy that stuff. I love how for some reason, city politics never seem to have strong party affiliations. State congressmen, yes, but mayors and city council members always seem to be just simple people who want to run. That is awesome. Nothing is ever disagreed upon for party lines. Maybe Tom Potter is an ass about Cesar Chavez road, but at least we can blame him as the asshole, and not just his party Whip telling him how to vote. Party politics make me feel completely powerless.

Man, sorry for that rant. I'll go with you guys to it, but you may see me quickly go play some pool or darts or something. The only hope I have for politics right now is that Obama wins.


FINALLY, Dan, yes to bike pub crawl. My friend Matt will be here on Monday and he's bringing his bike. I figure that's a good way to show him around. So maybe we can tentatively plan on either next Friday or the weekend after.

Sold Out

I think the show's sold out. I googled it, people were selling and looking on craigslist, so I figured it was sold out. Went to TicketsWest, selected 1 ticket, it was available. Selected one more, it wasn't. Bought one ticket.

Last chance for fun

At least this fun. EVERYBODY I've talked to about Gogol Bordello says they are totally awesome and fun live. They are playing tomorrow night (Wednesday) at the Roseland. Here is one description:

Gogol Bordello is a spectacle. The wildly exuberant, multi-ethnic group from New York City makes frenetic music that's part punk rock, part Gypsy folk, part Cabaret. Led by Eugene Hütz, a Chernobyl survivor from Ukraine, the band is famous for its costumed live shows that often stretch for more than two explosive hours.

And here is a video:

OK, since we've fallen into politics mode .....

All I have to say about it is if this country is still ruled by one of the two families that have ruled it for the last 28 years for the next four years, I will stab my eyes out, and rupture my eardrums so I don't have to see it or hear it.

Hillary is no more a democrat than Bill was. And they both are to the right of Nixon and far more beholden to corporate america.

There, now I've done it.

Courage and

I'll tell you what would take true courage at this point: go to drinking liberally and be a vociferous Hillary supporter. Who wants to go and play devil's advocate? I would definitely go to that. I actually looked into that group a while back but got the impression no one was actually attending.

Bobby, good catch on the cartoon. And I agree with David, xkcd is awesome.

Various

The only plan I know of to go out of town was this weekend, when I was planning on going up to Seattle. Next weekend my sister was supposedly coming down from Seattle, but I am pretty sure that is not happening now.

I am not a fan of sports that utilize round balls.

Definitely down for egg shots.

Political drinking sounds good, I've put it on the calendar so we remember (at least Bobby and me).

xkcd is awesome

Misc.

Brian would probably be up for a March Madness pool, he is kinda apeshit about basketball. Jack too.

Hell yes to Easter.

Tangentially related to Obama: I think I'm gonna go to the next one of these, which is on the twentieth. I'm one of those mutants who actually likes talking about politics, and it does go well with beer. Anyone interested? David?

And Dan: that comic you posted is actually from xkcd, one of my very favorite webcomics (and probably the geekiest one there is).

March Madness pools?

Heck yeah!

P.S. Bike pub crawl anyone?

Easter

The reason I'm asking about Easter weekend is of course---- I've got our annual Jello Shot Easter Egg Hunt in the works- I am tentativley holding it on Easter Sunday as a brunch/bloody mary kind of deal.
Just throwing it out there, still haven't checked with the fam to see if I have some other obligation.

I'm Going To Go Out On A Limb Here

But I'm assuming that people here aren't too exicted to jump in on some March Madness polls, or am I hopefully wrong? If you are interested, I'll even set it up. I won't do some lame one where the winner wins everything, probably more of a tiered pool. I can already tell I'm getting ahead of myself, but the offer is on the table.

Seattle was the Rumor

I believe that rumor is off for me. It was going back and forth a few weeks ago, but I'm eager to get some eggs and do some Easter shit that weekend.

Rumor Control

I heard a rumor that some of y'alls is going out of town NEXT weekend (March 22-23) is this true?

Smashing and Obama

Wait just one more week and I'll be playing SSBB along with the world. I'll be having tournaments and what not at my house for it, just give me one more week.

Ross, I'm so happy you said that the HD version looks good because I've been kind of confused why it actually did look good on my TV in widescreen even though the Wii doesn't actually output into widescreen. I thought everything was being stretched and I just didn't notice. After reading, I realized that everything is A-OK. I'm happy for the day that all AV stuff is just 3 HDMI cables in the back. Almost there.


About Obama, I've heard a few delegates say that they will switch if the other candidate wins the popular delegate vote. I think Obama will get it. While the super delegate idea seems dumb, I think that they know that and don't want to piss people off. Especially since they're kind of known as the people's party and all.

Laugh... and politics

Sorry David, I completely missed everything, even the $1 pints. How was "Guys With Feelings?"

Turns out, the Oregon primary might actually matter. That assumes, of course, that delegates still matter by May 20, that Team Clinton hasn't brainwashed everyone into thinking vague notions of "electability" trump delegates in the nomination. God she is a craven politician. Anyhoo, here's the link.

Based upon Obama's leaked delegate chart, it appears that Obama will likely lock up the pledged delegate lead on May 20, 2008. Obama is 242 delegates short of the 1627 pleadged delegates needed to be the winner. Obama projected that he would win 20 delegates in Mississippi, 75 in Penn., 1 in Guam, 60 in North Carolina, 39 in Indiana, 13 in WV, 23 in Kentucky. The 23 from Kentucky would give him 251--9 over what he needs. But Oregon also votes on the 20th, and Obama projects that he will gain 28 out of that contest. So, Oregon will put him over the top even if Obama does a little less well before May 20th.

And finally (originally from here.)

Brawlllll

Hey people, this is Ross. While it seems some people are waiting, I would just like to point out that the game is out! Ive played it, its tons of fun, some of the stages are ridiculous. If you have an HD, more power to you the game looks sooooo good in HD. Anyways hopefully we can all play sometime, Wario man power!

Comedy Tonight

This is mostly aimed at Dan since he mentioned an interest in attending. Tonight is 'wristband only' at the Mt. Tabor main stage, which is where I intend to be all night. So of course you can attend the other areas and there is lots of good stuff - but I won't be there.

There are at least 4 reasons for my intransigence on leaving this venue:

a) it is the most comfortable,
b) it has $1 PINTS of Busch,
c) i got totally soaking fucking wet last night wandering the streets and don't want to do that again, and finally
d) the first two chunks has these comedians who I want to see:

Guys with Feelings
Patton Oswalt
Rylee Newton (even though she picked on me last time...)
Richard Bain

Plus at Mt. Tabor you get the Lounge going too, which I wanted to check out without having to move anywhere. Plus my Chucks look really awesome in black light.

Anyway, that's my excuse.

LOST: The Other Woman

This is a spoiler-free zone.

I thought this episode was unpleasantly predictable. But it redeemed itself to me in two ways: Firstly, and most importantly, it made Ben super-scary in a whole new way. And secondly, it all but confirmed two of my personal pet theories about the show. Ask me about them sometime.

Comedy

I caught some sort of bug, and was feeling pretty lousy last night (fever, feeling lethargic), but have been feeling somewhat better today, so...I'm still thinking about going tonight. Not sure. I definitely plan on going Saturday night. David?

Comedy Show: Who All is Coming?

Dan, should we expect to see you somewhere? I have absolutely no clue about which people to see so I'll just be following people around. If anyone has a plan, I'll tag along.

IMing for comedy

You know how when you start a new job there's always a new kind of culture to get used to? And you know how when you start a new job, the company always gets bought out the second week of work?

Yeah. I mentioned the Bridgetown Comedy Festival to a coworker via IM (she keeps IMing me - I guess that's the culture), and suddenly she invited 5 coworkers to the chat and tells them to come to it. And also calls them hookers. Yeah. So, we'll see, I did my part.

As for the second part, I can't talk. But I think I can probably link. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/3/comcast_buying_golfnow_com

You thought it was a busy week before

Now how can we pass this up? A Mr. T inspired art show (put on by a 10-year-old no less):

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/02/i_heart_mr_t_art_show_in_portl.html

For the first time ever, twenty of Portland's finest artists will come together to present "I (Heart) Mr. T" - a show of art based on America's favorite Mohawked Messiah. Levi Pitters, a ten year-old artist and Mr. T enthusiast, came up with the idea and recruited some of his talented friends to create artwork dedicated to his idol. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of art in this show will be donated to a scholarship fund to help send 5th graders in Levi's school to Opal Creek - a three day outdoor education program held in June. Mr. T would approve!

Turns out, women really are inferior

We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?

I keep re-reading this to find the part that confirms it's irony, but I'm not finding it. It's also not posted on the Onion. The last paragraph:

So I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home. (Even I, who inherited my interior-decorating skills from my Bronx Irish paternal grandmother, whose idea of upgrading the living-room sofa was to throw a blanket over it, can make a house a home.) Then we could shriek and swoon and gossip and read chick lit to our hearts' content and not mind the fact that way down deep, we are . . . kind of dim.

Time to write my letter. :)

That Sounds Great

I really don't know who any people are at all, so I'll just come along to wherever people suggest. Wow, March is really looking like an exciting month. Two visitors, two concerts, board game and comedy festival, damn. I think I'll just buy everything tomorrow and just know that all of my future weekends are paid for.

Bridgetown Comedy Festival

This is pretty cheap entertainment folks. Friend Andy is putting on a 3-day comedy shindig this coming weekend, and all three days can be had for $20. On top of that the final night's show is only for those who buy the 3-day $20 pass.

I am probably going to go at least some of the time, so maybe we can get a gang together, eh?

In Andy's words:

Just a quick reminder the first annual Bridgetown Comedy Festival is less than a week away! Your festival wristband, on sale for the low, low price of $20, gets you access to all venues, all three nights, and lets you see ridiculously funny comics like Patton Oswalt, Morgan Murphy, Eddie Pepitone, Chris Fairbanks, James Adomian, Howard Kremer and dozens more! Check out the schedule and start planning your weekend now.*

I also wanted to let you know that in the interest of fairness to all the festival-goers, and because of the demand to see Patton Oswalt, the Mt. Tabor main stage shows on Saturday will be wristband-only. That's still quite a steal, as the 8:00 show features a live taping of the hit podcast Guys With Feelings featuring guests Patton Oswalt, Eddie Pepitone and Howard Kremer, and the 10:00 show features standup from Patton, along with Jonah Ray, Chris Fairbanks, Rylee Newton and Portland own Richard Bain! And that's not to mention the midnight show that closes out the festival, which includes Eddie Pepitone, Moshe Kasher and many more!

Monkey Does Handstand on Tightrope-Walking Goat

Smash Bros. Party Delayed

So my Smash Brother in arms, Matt is going to be here in a week or two and he asked if I would wait until he arrived to play Smash Bros., watch the intro and play the Subspace Emissary together. Of course I said yes, so the party will be delayed a bit. Pretty much we've played both Smash Bros. a ton so we figured we'd keep the tradition going.

Not A Big Fan and DST

I'm not a fan of very much these days. I don't think its music's fault, I'm just kind of stuck.

I don't know about you all, but my favorite day of the year aside from Christmas, Halloween and my birthday is coming up, Daylight Saving Time! Its on the 9th which corresponds with Super Smash Bros. Brawl's release! So, I'll be there right when it opens (no lie), and I'll get it and everyone can come over. I hope to see you all exactly an hour from when I tell you (because you and I both know you'll forget to change your clocks).

Speaking of goats...

Are there any huge Mountain Goats fans out there? I have one extra ticket for tonight's (sold out?) show.


This has nothing to do with Mountain Goats.

Un-Band

In order to justify that headline, I give you a robot that can perfect the hardest Guitar Hero 3 song on Expert (which no human has thus far been able to do).



Relatedly, here is a sweet Lego robot that can bowl a perfect game on the Wii.



Here is a link with more info. The former is electronic, which is very cool, and the latter is mechanical, which is debatably cooler.

Unrelatedly, Josh, I suggest a Friday after work or a Saturday afternoon for Gladiators. It seems like a good pregaming activity. I'm in, in any case.

Unbanned

So I banned myself from websites at work to make me more productive, but I unbanned this one because it wasn't sucking up too much of my time. Also, I tend to post more at work anyway.

That guitar game should work, and if anything will make your playing cleaner which would be a good thing.


Who wants to see the American Gladiators finale? I want to have people over and drink whenever Hulk Hogan says "Brother" or whenever your picked contestant loses. I've got it taped so I'm just waiting for the opportunity.

Lastly, if you want to see "Be Kind, Rewind" this weekend, I'll probably be going Saturday afternoon.

Guitar Rising

Link

I have no idea whether or not that will be at all fun or successful. But I am really, really interested in seeing what reactions it will prompt from people.

For reals?

I hope so. (From here.)

"It's a Washington where decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who've seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years...

...

I don't know about a time-out, but I do know this - when I am President, I will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for American workers. And I'll pass the Patriot Employer Act that I've been fighting for ever since I ran for the Senate - we will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in America."

From Obama's victory speech last night.

Expression

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/10/22

Do read the beginning of the newspost as well.

Feeling like Arthur Dent on that fateful Thursday

OK, it's not a Vogon Contructor Fleet, but I am hungover (good party last night! Between the Columbian vigorously defending his thesis that neoliberal policies of the west are ultimately responsible for the violence in Columbia, to the poli-sci major arguing that Obama can't win 'cause America is racist, to realizing I am no Jack White, or Black for that matter (but closer to Black), a good time was had by all - except that I can never listen to Pearl Jam again, but that's another story), and I do have a vague sense that something's not right. Could be this.

It could also be that my boss has made several brief references, one today, and one yesterday, about some sort of release I'm apparently supposed to be doing today. I'm thinking it's a big one. THE big one, even, maybe. Wish I knew. Should've paid attention in those conference calls, I guess.

Let the Swift-Boating begin

http://hillarythemovie.com/about.html

Not that I'm a huge fan of Hillary, since she voted for the war, and voted recently for the warmongering Iran resolution, but the usual cast of Clinton-haters is in this film. Damnit, why can't I dislike Clinton for being such an establishment moderate without all these misogynistic, lying, ignorant, bloviating assholes staking out that position for totally idiotic and mean-spirited reasons? An enemy of my enemy is ... my enemy? Damnit!

Ignite 2

Sean filled me in on this, he and Amy are planning on going. Looks like it will definitely be cool, but maybe a little too packed for my taste, dunno. Anybody interested?

electric goat might be your band name.

i love it just for the noise it makes


via videosift.com

Some weekend activities

Jacob and I are going to see the movie Persepolis tonight at the Fox Tower. It is one of my favorite books and it looks like the author did the artwork as well. Anyone want to go with us?

Also... I STILL have not tried my new bowling ball. Friday night, is there anything else going on because if not we need to go bowling.

My Dharma initiative beer is chilling in the fridge in anticipation of Thursday LOST return.

Super Bowl Sunday

I will be watching the big (Packerless) game, the kickoff of which appears to be 3pm. It is a little hard to tell since the pre-game show, I swear to god, starts at 11am! That is just excessive.

In any case, everyone is invited as usual, I'll probably get it turned on at 1 or 2, but if anyone does want to come over earlier and make a day of it I am good with that too. We can just hang out like normal people rather than NFL freaks.

In my case, since I don't watch the pro bowl, this is the end of the season, so I will be in mourning and wearing black (well my socks anyway).

I hope to see you all there!

Bad ABC, No Biscuit.

FYI, I edited the LOST event on the calendar to start at 9pm instead of 8. ABC's been announcing that it's a "two-hour premiere event", but it turns out the first hour is just one of those stupid clip shows to get people caught up. As if that would even work.

I wouldn't be opposed to watching the first hour as a recap of sorts, but I'm definitely not married to the idea.

my kind of politics

do you love Barack?

Things heard at work today:

• The phrase "stakeholder buy-in"


• Comments about food poisoning.


• The ***hole who blows his nose every ****ing day, multiple times throughout the day, as loudly as possible, seemingly for as long as possible - twice in a row. Picture either: two full, consecutive breaths blowing unmercifully, forcefully, into a trumpet with no intention of making anything remotely musical, or two full breaths expended solely trying to make a farting sound (mouth to palm) as loudly as possible. Irritating doesn't begin to describe it. Does Tonya Harding still live in the area?


• An offer to extend my contract when I thought they were actually about to kick my lazy *** out of here before the end of my contract.

I've been thinking about UFOs a lot this week (as I'm making a promo about a local UFO sighting). I think its obvious the US governement is trying to cover it up anything, but they sure do a piss poor job of coming up with excuses. Today: "ohh yeah... our aircraft WERE over stephensville texas, we just... umm forgot about it...." Come on! At least blame it on global warming, everyone would believe that!

But really, if some of the UFOs are visitors from somewhere else, what do they want? Are they just checking us out? Seeing if we're friendly? Are we some sort of tourist destination? Like we would pay to visit the moon? or go on Safari?

And on that note- back to editing- but... someone put this on the calandar.

Aliens

I think you put your finger on it, Kristi. It is just not possible for me to believe that we are the only life in the trillions of planets in the universe. Equally improbable to me is that a culture that was advanced enough to travel

6.1724248 × 10¹³ miles

(that is 61,724,248,000,000 or, yes, almost 62 trillion miles) in one of their lifetimes (as a point of reference, the speed of light is 670,616,629.2 miles per hour, and even at this unattainable speed, it would take 10.5 years) could be duped by any instance of the pentagon or US government is pretty hard to believe.

On top of that, they would have to identify our planet out of trillions to come visit, cause you know there ain't any sidetrips with those distances.

Chuck Klosterman Will Save Music

I almost finished Fargo Rock City in one day and while I'm not going to peddle the book on anyone unless they are incredibly interested in Rock Culture, it is awesome to read things from a high and mighty music critic that make you feel good about any music you listen too. All he does is write about how much he absolutely LOVES glam metal and heavy metal. He breaks everything down associated with it.

My favorite thing he said was something like that Tubthumping by Chumbawamba will always be more important culturally than the grammy winning Bob Dylan album Time Out of Mind released that same year. It definitely says more about that time's culture than Dylan did, if for no other reason than its record sales. If you don't believe it, who would you be more interested to listen to again in 20 years? If you say Dylan's Time Out of Mind you're a liar because while anyone can always argue the technical and talent merits of a band, you can't argue how important and significant that fucking song was in 1997. That's right, from that logic, Insane Clown Posse is more important than probably 99% of all bands from the last 15 years. It doesn't mean its good or bad, but its definitely more important than any pretentious art-folk from a 3 piece in Montreal. Ridiculous as that may seem, I definitely stand by that.

UFOs

Have you heard all this talk in Texas? I know I'm a major conspiracy theorist- so I'm wondering what do you guys think? Are there UFOs? Or is it just some strange "Norththern Lights-esque" phenomenon? I'm on the fence about it honestly. I guess I think they're out there, but the idea of them coming and hovering over our planet repeatedly, for YEARS, and not doing anything seems... unlikley. Then again... maybe we just can't see them.

Or maybe you're all aliens and I'm the only one whos actually human.... Spooky...

Re: Seriously

What is weird about that? Where its being premiered or the movie? If its the fact that they made a sequel, that is AWESOME. Harold and Kumar was fucking awesome (that is probably strongly based on the fact that I smoke the weed). I can tell you right now that watching that movie will rule and I will love it. I'm not sure if it will have the same great premise of the first one. I really love buddy movies. Dude Where's My Car?, Blues Brothers, Lethal Weapon, Half Baked, Bad Boys (NOT BAD BOYS 2), Bill and Ted, Turner and Hooch. You can't go wrong.

Deadly

I have come to hate the word DEADLY. If you wonder why, just watch the local news.

Seriously

I swear to god I am not making this up.

Premiering this year at the SXSW Film Festival: Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay.

Apoplectic Fits

Last I heard, May 20th, though that release date is potentially a leak - they haven't announced an official one through proper channels. You'd think they'd want to release it ASAP here, as it's selling like crazy in Japan, already broke a million copies. And with America's general fitness craze...

Generally, when you see a release date like Jan. 1st, April 1st, etc., at retailers, it's false. When a company believes a game will come out in a certain fiscal quarter but doesn't have an official release date, they'll commonly use the first or last day of that quarter as a placeholder in their computer systems.

What really kills me about the Smash delay is that they said they want to "polish" the game more...yet it's only been delayed a week in Japan. WTF Nintendo? Why?

Help Me Bobby Kenobi... You're My Only Hope

I have been sitting in her in anticipation of the Wii Fit release for months. I kept reading January 1st 2008, but alas not even a release date on Amazon. When ohhh when will my wii fit come? where ohh where could it be?

God Dammit

For those of you who persist in believing that we live in a good and just world, I bring you these tidings: Super Smash Bros. Brawl is now delayed until March 9th.

Well, hell.

"Fuck it, split 'em."

Thought you Vegas-bound folks might get a kick out of this:

Dying to Lose In Vegas: The $3 Blackjack Death March

AFI honors

That is the american film institute, they have a casual thing every year to honor 10 movies and tv shows. I seem to be completely out of touch, because very few of these have i actually seen (those in bold):

The films honored at the lunch were “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,” “Into the Wild,” “Juno,” “Knocked Up,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country For Old Men,” “Ratatouille,” “The Savages” and “There Will Be Blood.”

The honored TV programs were “Dexter,” “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Friday Night Lights,” “Longford,” “Mad Men,” “Pushing Daisies,” “The Sopranos,” “Tell Me You Love Me,” “30 Rock” and “Ugly Betty.”

TORNADO!

My work is such a cluster f*%$ today. If you want to know more about the Tornado just turn on the TV. It on EVERY channel.
Why? I'm not sure. I suppose we are mourning the loss of a number of trees and back yard sheds.

"Stay tuned to KOIN News 6 for continuing tornado coverage."

That Looks GOOD

I'm serious. I'll get one of those.

Famous Bowl

This is the funniest thing I've read in a long time.

Also, second on the birthday well-wishes. You made it another year! Congratulations!

Happy Birthday Josh!!!

Can't wait for a little M&6P action later tonight.

Sometimes my job is alright

So... just found out the stories we're doing for sweeps. Nothing too exciting except for this.
The reason we're doing the story- the company is based in good ole' PDX.

WARNING: Don't open the link at work.

M6P Tomorrow?

I can't speak for Gloria, but I think I'm going to stay home. We'll be going to the Moon and Sixpence for my birthday tomorrow night though (can't say no to the band and darts).

I don't have a stove

so I don't give a shit how expensive organic produce is. All my food is brought to me on a plate, or handed to me in a bag. I'm almost positive it is not organic. I don't know how much a gallon of milk costs. I should be president; I am supremely qualified.

Pub crawl. Good.

If you want to avoid just one nasty thing in your food chain, I would strongly recommend buying organic meat as that one thing. All of the meat that I do not buy is either organic or not and so I would know.

PUB CRAWLIN'

I can't believe no one's mentioned the annual January 8 pub crawl yet. It's tomorrow people!

Anyone? Amnesia, Bye and Bye, then M6P?

Kristi - sounds like good advice.

Buying Organic

I generally am too cheap to buy organic... but I heard this once and I think its a great philosophy to use when you're making that cost vs. healthy decision.

If you eat the skin of the vegetable/fruit its a good idea to buy organic, if you're just going to peel it away, save your money.

I know some of that nasty shit can get inside too, but if you have to be cost effective- its a good place to start.

Whole Foods

Prices are insane. So are New Season's, but just a slight bit better. I alternate between the convenience of New Season's (one less than a mile away from my house, I think it was the original one) for the organic stuff I buy (though trying to get less prepared stuff, since it's less healthy and more expensive), Fred Meyer for commodity stuff, Costco for commodity stuff in bulk, and Trader Joe's for, well, whatever, when I'm near one. I agree, Trader Joe's is so much better. I used to buy Chocolove dark chocolate a lot. The price difference between Trader Joe's and Whole Foods was something like around $2 to something around $4.

The price comparison was between Nature's and New Season's, similar types of markets, so I think the comparison in prices was valid, as I tended to find New Season's prices were comparable to Nature's, I mean, Wild Oats, I mean, Whole Foods.

They closed the Hillsdale Wild Oats when Whole Foods bought Wild Oats. Annoying. I thought and still think a Trader Joe's there would be great. I guess I should email them.

Organic Prices

I used to price shit at Wild Oats and its nasty how fast things rise in price. Organic foods seem like a wonderful thing, but until they price things at a reasonable level, there is no way I will ever shop at Whole Foods instead of Trader Joe's.

Food prices

While shifting some of my stuff, I happened upon a receipt from Nature's Northwest from 6/25/2001 (OK, it wasn't me that moved the stuff or happened upon it - it was Jolea). Since I've been feeling lately that the prices of food have been going up at a ridiculous rate, much faster than the growth in wages (what growth?), I thought it would be interesting to compare the prices. I was only able to find four matches, but it pretty much confirms what I've been feeling. Admittedly, four items isn't statistically significant in any way, but still, it doesn't contradict my impressions.

Bearitos Refried Beans: 2001, $1.29. 2008 $1.99.
Cascadian Farms Grape Juice: 2001, $2.99. 2008, $3.59.
Amy's Chili: 2001, $1.99. 2008, $2.79.
Tillamook Medium Cheddar: 2001, $2.99. 2008, $3.89.

70 cents, 60 cents, 80 cents, 90 cents. No big deal. Percentage-wise, though, around 70%, 20%, 40% and 30% respectively. I don't follow inflation, but those percentages seem pretty high. Everything just seems to be about 20% - 30% more expensive than I remember it being only a few years ago. Oil prices? Weak dollar? Stagflation? Come to think of it, why isn't Bush being tarred with stagflation the way Carter was? If this isn't stagflation, I don't what is (keep in mind it's very possible I really don't know what it is :) ).

Naked Runch

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/index.jhtml?ml_video=77232

Can I just say...

...WTF wind?

I don't like it when I can feel my house moving.

Mr Potato Head

This looks like something one of us would do.
The pictures are very telling.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123102054.html

Hillary Repackages Herself as a Black Man

(From http://www.borowitzreport.com)

Hillary Repackages Herself as a Black Man
Bold Strategy to Win New Hampshire

In what some party insiders are calling a Hail Mary bid to win Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton today attempted to repackage herself as a black man.

In the wake of her disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, there was consensus among Mrs. Clinton’s campaign aides that her presidential bid needed to be rebooted, but few party professionals expected her to change her race and sex with only five days to go until New Hampshire.

Read the rest at http://www.borowitzreport.com

Hello Iowa

Clinton: 29%
Edwards: 30%
Obama: 38%

Fuck yes. It's on now.

I've read a ton of fascinating articles about this tonight, if anyone else is interested in this I can post them.

Man, that is just...that's awesome.

RE: James Hong

He was in the greatest movie of all time, Tango & Cash.

Seriously though, James Hong is kind of 'the shit'. He's got one of those voices that recognizable even when the nearest TV is in another room.

James Hong

David and I saw Chinatown yesterday and saw this guy in it:



We thought it was familiar, but man, if you check out his imdb page, he is in A TON of moves, TV shows, video games, just everything that needs an old asian guy.