Dumb and Dumber 3 movie trailer

Thanks to Silent E who thanks Ol' Broad.

I guess Ludacris likes Obama

The biggest thing about this is that it's rap . . . and I'm not particularly fond of rap. There are songs I like. Not so much this one.

Still, I like the effort. It's obviously not endorsed by Obama, and for a song about one's opponent, it's pretty good. Funny, if anything. But, not really a good rap song.

What's next? A song by Ted Nugent ripping Obama?

Britney, Paris, . . . Obama?

OK. On the one hand, I love the video. Without saying so it compares NObama to the two vacants that are so popular, yet offer little in the way of talent. Perfect.

But, it should have been a non-McCain related viral video. If this is really a clip from the McCain campaign, then I don't like it. It could have worked without the two skanks in it and, for me, was rather off putting.

I don't think any negative reaction will have legs, and it's fun to listen to reaction, but it wasn't a good idea.

Thugalapooza

So, the wife and I saw Batman last night. Awesome. But, two things . . . I really don't and didn't like Maggie Gyllenhal. I wasn't a big fan of Kate, either. But, Mags is the worse of the two.

Second, that Joker sure is a resourceful guy. Bombs planted everywhere, barrels of oil at his disposal, guys to help him . . . don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. One does have to suspend various beliefs, though.

But, MOST importantly . . . the DA in the movie refers to Batman as . . . . a THUG! Batman!

Huh.

Cyber Murderer Wants Case Dismissed

Lori Drew, the Missouri woman who was indicted in May on charges related to MySpace cyberbullying activities that led a 13-year-old girl to commit suicide, has filed three motions to dismiss the charges on grounds that they're vague and misuse a computer crime law.

With all that has gone on with regard to this, I imagine Lori's life is not likely going to be normal again anytime soon. She's been harassed and threatened, and her daughter gets the same.

Good.

What she did was way beyond reprehension. Truly pathetic for an adult to act this way.

Drew was indicted in Los Angeles County, where MySpace is based, in the wake of public outrage that stemmed from the failure of authorities in Missouri to charge her with a crime. Authorities in that state had said their hands were tied since there were no laws prohibiting cyberbullying.

Drew was charged with one count of conspiracy and three violations of the anti-hacking Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, on grounds that she obtained unauthorized access to MySpace servers by allegedly violating MySpace's terms of service.

Drew and two co-conspirators allegedly provided fake information to MySpace to set up and maintain a phony MySpace account in 2006 under the identity of a nonexistent 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. The Evans account was used to flirt with and befriend 13-year-old Megan Meier, who'd had a falling-out with Drew's daughter.

The fake "Josh" ultimately turned on Meier and told the girl that the world would be a better place without her. Meier already suffered from clinical depression, and shortly after that final message she hanged herself in her bedroom.

What a low life. Her daughter has some falling out with a girl and Lori goes through all the time and trouble to create a fake person to befriend then betray the girl who winds up killing herself over it.

That's sick. That's twisted. That's f*cked up.

I know the girl who killed herself had problems, and may have committed suicide at some point anyway. But, she didn't need a PUSH in that direction. NORMAL people would seek help for someone like that.

MySpace's user agreement requires registrants, among other things, to provide factual information about themselves and to refrain from soliciting personal information from minors or using information obtained from MySpace services to harass or harm other people. By allegedly violating that click-to-agree contract, Drew committed the same crime as any hacker, prosecutors maintain.

The use of the anti-hacking law to charge Drew was roundly criticized by experts who said it set a dangerous precedent that could potentially make a felon out of anyone who violated the terms of service of any website -- a prospect that is particularly troubling, they said, because terms-of-service agreements sometimes contain onerous provisions, are often arbitrarily and unilaterally changed by companies, and are rarely read by users.

Drew's lawyer, H. Dean Steward, who would not respond to any questions from Threat Level, filed three motions to dismiss on grounds that prosecutors were too vague in their charges, failed to state facts in support of allegations that Drew intended to violate the terms of service, and have improperly delegated prosecutorial powers.

This is what's really troubling. Fact is, Lori may not have committed any real crime. The case is a slippery slope. But, maybe it points to the seriousness of disclosing information on the net. Sure, as we've seen, publicity can be good and bad . . . true or not. One does have to be careful. One should be able to remain anonymous. But, is it too much to ask that people be truthful when initially joining commercial sites? I think it's reasonable. With all the crap that's out there, full disclosure might be a good idea.

I had a person waste my time with an eBay sale once. Pissed me off. I went after his ISP and got him kicked off as it violated the terms of agreement. And that's just an eBay sale. Lori lied to PURPOSEFULLY cyber-bully a person . . . who wound up killing herself. I think that's worth some charges.

Life may not be quite the same for Lori. But, at least, she's alive.

Gordon Almost a Goner!

Ramsay, the star of hit shows Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen, was filming The F Word in Iceland when he slipped and fell 85 metres, The Sun reported.

"I thought I was a goner," Ramsay said.
"They say cats have nine lives. I've had 12 already and I don't know how many more I'll have."

The 41-year-old told The Sun he struggled to get to the surface because of the heavy gear he was wearing.
"I remember thinking, 'Oh f**k'. My boots and my waterproofs were dragging me down."

"I'm an extremely good swimmer but I couldn't get to the surface. I was panicking and my lungs were filling up with water."
"When I got to the top after getting my boots off I was dazed and my head was totally numb."

Ramsay's TV crew pulled him out after throwing him a rope.

He said he was too scared to tell his wife, Tana.

"I chickened out but she knew something was up. She was upset and extremely pissed off. When I was underwater all I could think of was Tana and my kids.

"It wasn't until I was on the plane home I realised what a close call I'd had."

Whew. Lucky for him.

Well, now . . .

From USAToday:

Obama was ahead 47%-44% among registered voters, down from a 6-percentage point lead he had last month. McCain led 49%-45% among likely voters, reversing a 5-point Obama lead among that group. In both cases, the margin of error is +/—4 points.

the whole article is here.

The one thing about NObama's trip . . . the public has a short memory for these things. That and the trip didn't shore up anything for anyone anyway. Except that he's all about the photo op. His not visiting the wounded soldiers will likely have a little more staying power than anything else that came out of the trip . . . which was nothing, really.

There's still plenty of time for NObama to stick is foot in his mouth. . . repeatedly.

Sometimes, I do believe

"Aaron looks lost when he has to do two things at once. Though, at this point, he would be my choice."

Can I quote myself? Well, I gonna. I said Aaron would be my choice and the Food Network thought so, too. Good. I so didn't want Lisa to win. She's sooooo annoying. Adam couldn't really cook and, in spite of all his "experience", really sucked when it came to the on camera stuff. Aaron really cooked some good stuff. While he needs some polish, he had the best personailty a viewer could relate with.

Well, next to Kelsey. But I don't want to talk about it.

"OK. No one says ANYTHING about this!"

CALIMESA, Calif. — Three naked men were robbed after women lured them to a Calimesa motel for some partying.
The men told Riverside County sheriff's deputies they met three women in a Yucaipa park and they rented a room at the request of the women.

After the men took off their clothes, sheriff's investigators say four other men entered the room and robbed them of about $80 and fled.

One of the victims ran from the motel room at about 1:20 a.m. Thursday, leading to 911 calls about a nude man in the area. Sheriff's dispatchers then got a call reporting a robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

That's harsh.

Still, a little "turn about is fair play" sort of thing, perhaps?

A couple more . . .

So, Silent E and me ain't quite done with our moments, yet. Here are two more that go back and really got me started on the whole brass and rock thing. Chicago really started me off, and this is one of my favorites from them:



I saw Chicago when Terry Kath was still alive. What I always liked about him was that he rarely used distortion of any sort. Truly one of the most under recognized guitar players.

This one is more jazz band than jazz rock. But, I still like it.



OK. I think I'm dome with my moment.

I'm having a moment!

One of my favorite songs . . . ever. From a group that's been together for over 40 years. Amazing. I love this sound.




Huey Lewis and the News, Chicago, The Tower of Power, and locally, the Groove Hogs all have that great brass and rock sound. Again, though, the Ides of March have been together for 40 years . . . unchanged. All original members. Wow.

UPDATE!

My friend Silent E reminded me of another great song:



Awesome.

Help me understand

Two French toddlers died of heat exhaustion when their fathers allegedly forgot they were strapped in child seats in the back of their cars as they went to work.

Both cases involve middle-class men, described as devoted and loving parents, who appear to have forgotten their children in an inexplicable lapse of concentration.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that a three-year-old girl had died from heatstroke and dehydration after spending the day locked in her father's vehicle in the car park at the factory where he had a managerial post.

The outside temperature was no more than 77 degrees, which is relatively low for southern France during the summer. Inside the car, it rose to 113 degrees, according to fire officers.

When the unidentified man finally noticed his daughter, he drove directly to the local fire and ambulance station but rescue workers were unable to revive her.

“We have not been able to question the father. He is still in a very disturbed psychological state,” said Thierry Bas, the state prosecutor in nearby Chalon-sur-Saône.

The incident came seven days after a two-year-old boy died in similar circumstances in Pont-de-Chéruy, also in eastern France.

A passer-by found Yannis strapped into the baby seat in the family vehicle after being left for about three hours by Eric Allarousse, 38, his father. The outside temperature was between 77 and 80 degrees.

Allarousse, who owns a pharmacy, told detectives he had forgotten his son after witnessing a traffic accident after lunch on July 15.

OK. Tragic. No question. A toddler should not lose its life this way.

But, for the life of me, I cannot understand how a person forgets they have their child in the car. It seems impossible. But, I certainly don't believe these people did this on purpose. So, it must be true. But, how? I find myself wanting to scold the parents for being idiots, but is that fair?

Sad.

Criss Angel is a dork

I like magic. I have a handful of stock tricks that I do from time to time. I enjoy watching magicians perform. One of my favorites is David Blaine. No, not when he's making an idiot out of himself trying to die. When he performs his street magic stuff. He's very good. But, I admit, he can be very dorky.

Well, if dorky is a creed, Criss Angel is their king. Or bishop. Or whatever.

For obvious reasons, big illusions don't work on TV. I would hope that most people are smart enough to know that you can pretty much do anything "magical" on TV. Especially when cameras cut from one scene to the next. Kind of loses it's "live" feel. So, news flash to Criss . . . WE KNOW IT"S A TRICK!

What's worse, though, and Criss has been criticized for this before, he performs these big lavish illusions in front of about 20 people! Wouldn't you think you'd want a huge audience?!?! Well, that's because, they're all plants. Picked to act "amazed", "shocked", and "bewildered".

It's pathetic. I don't know what's worse, watching Angel act like he really has super powers . . . or watching and listening to the "audience" gasp in amazement. Then go on in the interview on how shocked they were.

Oh. My. God.

As Jack Black would say . . . LAME.

Criss' premiere show was to have him be the first magician to walk across Lake Mead. Walk on water. I swear, it looked more like a parody of a Criss Angel show. He spent the better part of the hour talking about water, being one with it, mystical crap, bad hairdo . . . what's with all the f*ckin' rings? He's such a dork. Anyway, so the time finally comes and there's about . . . oh . . . 20 people there. WHAT?!? Wouldn't you think you'd want a huge crowd there? So, he starts walking on the water. Again, we know it's a trick. Come on. But then, two girls get in the water and are in constant awe. Geez. You'd thought he was Obama or something! One girl, actually reaches up to touch Criss' hand. That did it. Slap on a crown of thorns on this guy and call him jesus. OMG, it was pathetic.

But then, he goes out about 20 feet . . . and stands there. Hands up like he's summoning Crispin Glover's energy or something. WTF? In the mean time, more "oohs" and "aahs" and "OMG's", and "look at that", and I'm thinking . . . when is he going to walk across the lake?!?!? He's just standing there on a plexiglass platform looking like a biker who just found religion and wants to be baptized . . . walk, asswipe!

Nope. He just sinks.

We never see where he goes. The camera cuts to the crowd where they gasp and wonder and disbelieve and be generally stupid. He never does show up anywhere. I suppose you can't show him coming to the surface swimming. Why not float?

I know, why watch? I keep hoping he'll do something cool. But he never does. He always a dork. I guess it's like picking a scab. You know you shouldn't, but you just can't help it. Once again, though, the DVR saved me. I only bled a little.

Gore has competition!

For crazy person of the year. This one, at least, is interesting.

(Yeah, I know, the end of the world due to mankind's awful raping of the earth isn't interesting to me. Go ride a bike.)

Anyway, former astronaut and moon walker (that should give you a clue right there) Edgar Mitchell claims ET's are real, have visited earth many times, look pretty much as we've depicted them, and whose existence is being covered up.

Moon-walker claims alien contact cover-up

I love this comment:

Chillingly, he claimed our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as theirs and "had they been hostile", he warned "we would be been gone by now".

Hmm. Aliens that visit us from outer space . . . likely outside our solar system . . . and our technology is "not nearly as sophisticated"?

Assuming for a moment this is true . . . no shit sherlock. What amazing insight!

I wonder how much tin foil this guy has.

Stern is stern!

Sirius Satellite Radio host Howard Stern supports the merger of his network with XM Satelitte Radio and is fuming at Democratic opposition on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) panel.

After FCC commissioners announced they have reached a deal to approve the merger of Sirius (NASDAQ:SIRI) and XM (NASDAQ:XMSR), Stern ranted about Democrats’ ‘gangsterism’ and ‘communism’ and the obstacles to the merger.

Stern described a phone conversation he had with his agent, who he described as a “liberal Democrat kind of guy.”

“I go, ‘That’s it!’” Stern said. “[I] go, ‘You know what Don, I’ve voted Republican and I’ve voted Democrat. I have vowed I will never vote for a Democrat again. I don’t give a [expletive] – no matter who they are. I don’t care if God becomes a Democrat.’ I said, ‘I backed Hillary Clinton, I backed Al Gore, I backed John Kerry. I am done with them.’”


Stern took it a step even further and called Democrats on the FCC “communists” and referred to their tactics as “gangsterism.”

“The fact that these Democrats on the FCC are communists,” Stern said. “They’re for communism. They don’t want to see companies – this is gangsterism. I said, ‘This is crazy.’”

The FCC commission is a five-member panel made up of three Republicans and two Democrats. The Democrats include Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps. The Republicans include FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Robert McDowell and Deborah Taylor Tate. Tate had been the swing vote on the proposed merger and on July 24 The Wall Street Journal reported she would vote in favor of the merger.

You know what? I have no opinion about this whatsoever. I don't subscribe to satellite radio so I really don't care about the merger one way or another.

I just like stories that rag on demoncrats.

Childish? I know.

I really want to be a teacher!

Actually, I do . . . and always have. I've done some. Guitar, drums, photography, and video production. All either privately, at a tech school, and at MPS. I've always enjoyed teaching. I've been hesitant to go after certification simply because of the state of our society today. But, who knows?

Anyway, between the bennies, pension, and summers off, there's now another possible reason to try and become a teacher:

Schools eye four-day week to cut fuel costs

The entire article is here.

I think it's interesting that one solution is just to eliminate busing all together. To me, it's one of those parental responsibilities. I understand every situation is different, but if one decides they have to live way out in the country then they'd better be able to cart their kids to school. Harsh? I know.

Also, there's no mention of better conservation in the buildings. Maybe it's been done to its extent, but is shutting down a full day a week the ONLY answer?

Interestingly, the end of the article reports better attendance and improved performance by the students. That's a plus, of course. But, are they on par with the rest of the districts?

Of course, for the teachers . . . THIS IS GOLDEN! No mention of pay or benefit cuts. Oh no. I'm sure everything is the same. Same pay for less work. Nice.

I wanna be a teacher!

The Terminator Talks Tough

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is threatening to pay thousands of state employees the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an hour until lawmakers reach a deal on California's overdue state budget.

This is pretty funny. I'm not sure if it could happen or not, but I wish it would. Maybe if these pencil pushers found out what it was really like to have to make a budget work, it would help them do a better job with taxpayer money.

Then again. I doubt it.

The entire article.

Yeah, but can it encode a movie to mp4

Some serious computing muscle.

And I was all happy about the MacBook I bought.




Mine has a built in iSight. Theirs doesn't!

HA!

POS.

No love for Jessica in Wisconsin

According to an article on A Socialite's Life, Wisconsin wasn't all too keen on listening to Jessica "Mindless" Simpson:

Country Thunder in WI

I can't imagine any true Country fan would care much for her. But, is there a double standard here? Some seem to make the crossover from Country to Rock (Dixie Bags, Shania Twain). But can someone make the change from Rock to Country? Of course, I say Rock when it's actually, what . . . ? Adult Contemporary? Soft Rock? Or, in the case of the Dixie Bags, crap?

I'm not saying, I'm only saying. You know what I'm saying?

I hope so. I don't.

Who is/was The Best?

There was an article somewhere on the web talking about Batman and the various actors that have played him. The article went on to mention other "replacements" in other roles. So, let's play along.

For Batman, they were all pretty good. No one, in my opinion, sucked. But, if I had to pick a favorite it would be George Clooney. Bale would be my very close second choice.

Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October, and others, was best played by Alec Baldwin. Though, Alec would have to join Jenny Craig to play him today. Harrison Ford was way too intense. Plus, he's just not that good an actor.

007. Well, I hated, HATED, Peirce Brosnan. Too much of a weenie. I'm not too crazy about Daniel Craig, but he's better than Brosnan. Actually, I liked Tim Dalton. Though I might be the ONLY person who did. Rodger Moore would be my second choice. Much as I like Sean Connery, he was rather goofy looking when he was younger.

Of the women I can only think of Silence of the Lambs and the role of Clarice. I think Jodie Foster did a better job than Julianne Moore, but I like them both.

I know in the upcoming Mummy with Brendan Frasier, Eveyln, originally played by Rachel Weisz, will be replaced by Mario Bello. That's a tough one. Of course, I haven't seen it yet but I reeeeealy like Rachel Weisz.

Any others?