February 2, 2014

Rest in Peace, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/02/showbiz/philip-seymour-hoffman-obit/index.html

One of the most prolific and consistently excellent actors of recent times. I really enjoyed his supporting role in "The Ides of March" and thought he was funny as hell as the lackey in "The Big Lebowski".

January 19, 2014

Everyone should watch "The Act of Killing", now on Netflix Streaming.

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/The_Act_of_Killing/70271652?trkid=13641907

It's about as unlikely a film as you'll ever see, an "bearing witness" to atrocities, but the ones bearing witness are the perpetrators, who have never seen any justice and in fact are a type of hero/celebrity in their society (Indonesia) because they are the victors in the coup/civil war.

It kind of defies description but is probably unlike anything you've ever seen.

November 28, 2013

Uniforms for this year's Army/Navy game unveiled:

http://www.capitalgazette.com/multimedia/photos/sports/army-navy-uniforms/collection_f668ee6a-2811-5631-a79d-9637ceff7468.html

I'm partial to the Navy one but they're both pretty awesome.

November 27, 2013

Enjoy a Colbert Thanksgiving!

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/430770/november-21-2013/guess-who-s-coming-to-thanksgiving-dinner-

November 22, 2013

Are there ANY news stories about people getting insurance (Medicaid or exchange) for the first time?

Because of the ACA?

Because I sure haven't seen any.

Why is this not considered notable in any way, or is it too "dog bites man"? I mean it seems like this should merit at least 5% of the media space but it seems more like zero.

October 19, 2013

Confederate Flag Guy will wind up being GOP poster boy for the 2013 Shutdown in the history books.

And it couldn't be more appropriate.

October 17, 2013

Re: Lonegan and Cuccinelli - this is what the GOP nom process produces?

In Blue or Purple states?

Really?

October 16, 2013

ASSUMING Boehner takes the walk of shame today and floors the Senate bill...

And it gets passed by mostly Democrats and some Republicans, with the Tea Party types sulking on the sidelines...

Can we assume that this was pretty much his plan all along, recognizing that the Tea Party idiots were never going to vote for anything reasonable?

And that it was never going to happen before the very last day because otherwise he didn't "try hard enough"?

October 8, 2013

I'm starting to get increasingly concerned about the news coverage of the shutdown and debt ceiling.

What I'm seeing from CNN and CBS and the like when I flip channels are a lot of stories that do nothing to label the bullshit crises as forced upon us by the GOP. Instead, "Shutdown: Obama still won't negotiate with GOP" followed by Boehner mouthing a bunch of talking points.

Even if it was just labeled as "the Tea Party initiated shutdown/showdown" or whatever that would set the context.

If you watch news junkie shows like Maddow or Chris Hayes you will see good explanations of what is happening, but the big news organ reporting just seems lazy and full of the bogus "both sides suck" fake balance we've become so used to.

I worry that this kind of coverage will lead to an increasing perception over time that both parties are somehow equally responsible to compromise instead of seeing this as a hijacking or hostage taking by sore GOP losers who can't get the seats and votes they need to accomplish their goals through accepted means. I am legitimately worried about this.

September 28, 2013

Do you know any GOP voters who are uneasy about hostage taking as a method of governing?

Any who are disturbed that their party has latched onto these kind of methods instead of trying to broaden their appeal and get more seats?

I don't see any of this stopping unless popular disgust and depressed turnout among saner GOP voters resulted in them losing the House in a wave election big enough to overcome gerrymandered districts.

Fox News and their whole media apparatus doesn't let the message ever moderate, but I bet they'd start to change the message if it became clear that "all wingnut all the time" was actually achieving negative results.