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July 31, 2008

Plumb dumb

I'll tell you right now for free: there is no better fruit than a well-ripened plum.

By fnord12 | July 31, 2008, 5:01 PM | My stupid life| Link

Total Solar Eclipse Tomorrow

NASA's going to webcast it.

Mark your calendars. On Friday, Aug. 1, NASA scientists will broadcast and webcast the next total eclipse of the sun, live from China. Viewers can watch the event on NASA Television beginning at 6:00 a.m. EST. They can also watch it at the website for the Exploratorium in San Francisco starting at 6:30 a.m. EST.

By min | July 31, 2008, 3:51 PM | Science| Link

Exxon Makes Record Profits

Link

Exxon Mobil reported Thursday its best quarterly profit in history, lifted by the surge of prices at the pump, while the European giant Royal Dutch Shell also reported a sharp rise in earnings. ... The principal reason for the company's banquet of riches is rising fuel prices. Crude oil prices in the second quarter averaged more than $124 a barrel, 91 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Oppenheimer.

So shocking. It's pretty plain to see why they need to be on corporate welfare. They might have only made regular profits this quarter instead of the biggest profit ever, and we can't have that.

And, ofc, despite this, the investors are still not happy because they expected to benefit even more off the higher gas prices. That would be rich people profiting off of our hardship, the same hardship our politicians keep paying lip service to whenever they want us to vote for them all the while handing the oil companies bags of cash for "research and exploration".

Explain to me again why we shouldn't take all their money away and distribute it amongst the rest of the country. It's pretty clear that these people don't deserve it.

By min | July 31, 2008, 2:21 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link

Random Lyrics Thursday

Lack of Communication by Ratt

You gotta love that "outro", especially where the person writing out the lyrics finally gave up and just wrote [Repeat]. Fun song, though.

Too many problems, the world can't solve
Too many people, no-one wants to be involved
(Lack of communication, back off)

Keep rearranging, it's all the same
Always saying, someone else is to blame
(Lack of communication, back off)
Look all around me, who's standin' tall
Hold tight, no-one's gonna answer your call
(Lack of communication, back off)
Put up our boundaries, we build our walls
It's alright, no-one's gonna change us at all
(Lack of communication, back off)

Time's passin' us by, we have our reason
No-one wants to try, we have our reason
Questions askin' why, we have our reason
Problems still arise, we have our reason... for

Back off !

You're so together, you fall apart
You never miss, when you're shootin' straight for the heart
(Lack of communication, back off)
You see it your way, I'll see it mine
Well, conversation is a useless change of line
(Lack of communication, back off)

Lack of communication, back off)
Lack of communication
(Lack of communication, back off)
Well, back off, well, back off
(Lack of communication, back off)
In the age of the modern man
(Lack of communication, back off)
We see the problems, we don't really understand
(Lack of communication, back off)
Well, lack of communication
(Lack of communication, back off)
Well, lack of communication
(Lack of communication, back off)
Well, lack of communication
(Lack of communication, back off)
Lack of communication
(Lack of communication, back off)
Back off, well, back off...
(Lack of communication, back off)
[Repeat]

By fnord12 | July 31, 2008, 10:20 AM | Music| Link

Halo Corpse Alphabet

At the rate you guys get spanked by 9 yr olds, you could have easily finished this project yourselves.

The Halo Corpse Alphabet is a rather macabre project with the goal being to represent every letter of the alphabet by the twisted, curved, stretched, and otherwise dead Spartan and Elite bodies from Halo 3. The Halo community was clearly up for the challenge as they miraculously managed to capture every single letter, number, and even some punctuation in the form of screenshots. Have fun viewing the Halo Corpse Alphabet, then try your hand at writing with it by utilizing the font included at the end. Enjoy!

By min | July 31, 2008, 9:15 AM | Video Games | Comments (1) | Link

July 30, 2008

This Guy Must Be Like Wolverine

Cause i don't know how else he could have still posed a threat to police when his back was broken.

His aunt says he is undergoing major surgery for a broken back and broken heel. While he was lying on the ground, she wonders why Ozark police used an electric stun gun on him up to 19 times. [emphasis mine]
"I'm not an officer, but i don't see the reason for 'Tasering' somebody laying there with a broken back. I don't consider that a threat,"
His dad says the use of the stun gun delayed what would have been immediate surgery by two days.
"The 'Tasering' increased his white blood cell count and caused him to have a temperature so they could not go into the operation."
"He refused to comply with the officers and so the officers had to deploy their Tasers in order to subdue him. He is making incoherent statements; he's also making statements such as, 'Shoot cops, kill cops,' things like that. So there was cause for concern to the officers," said Ozark Police Capt. Thomas Rousset.
Police say although there are several unanswered questions; the reason for the use of a stun gun is not one of them.
"It's a big concern for the officers to keep this guy out of traffic, to keep him from getting hurt," said Rousset.

I'd add Missouri to the list of places i refuse to go to, but since it's one of the landlocked states, it was already on the list.

By min | July 30, 2008, 3:52 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1) | Link

Not For Hire

I bet they got a lot of requests before they painted that sign.

By fnord12 | July 30, 2008, 9:55 AM | My stupid life| Link

Joe Klein with a spine?

I'm vaguely impressed, even if i think he is whitewashing his support for the Iraq invasion a bit.

By fnord12 | July 30, 2008, 9:17 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link

Out of hand allusions

If you're going to do a Godzilla Vs. Mothra comparison, you'd better have a stronger reason than "it's taking place in Japan". Competition between hybrid car manufacturers just doesn't qualify.

By fnord12 | July 30, 2008, 8:58 AM | Godzilla | Comments (4) | Link

July 29, 2008

He's No Rocketeer

An inventor from New Zealand planned to unveil Tuesday what he calls the world's first practical jetpack at the EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here. The inventor, Glenn Martin, 48, who has spent 27 years developing the devices, said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 each.

Link

Cereally. It's kewl that he figured out how to make one, but it's just so damned ugly. Even Hank Pym wouldn't walk around with one of these things strapped to his back.

By min | July 29, 2008, 12:35 PM | Science | Comments (1) | Link

Straight answers to inanely stupid questions

It's nice to see the AFL-CIO addressing these ridiculous charges about Obama, but it's a shame that they have to.

They haven't gotten around to this one yet (plenty more where this came from, too):

DARSANO RAHARDJO - Childhood classmate of Barack Obama when he attended a madrassa in Indonesia. Was found with his head cut off in a Jakarta alley way in 1970. Many children at the school attributed Rahardjo's murder to the young Barack Obama. It was likely done as an initiation ritual, since Islam demands that a boy spill another's blood before the age of ten to prove their loyalty to Allah.

By fnord12 | July 29, 2008, 10:32 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link

Dodgy subject

The New York Times published an Op-Ed saying we should do more to investigate UFOs.

By fnord12 | July 29, 2008, 9:15 AM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1) | Link

July 28, 2008

When Bush Quotes are Used as the Voice of Reason

So, i'm reading this article about how fuel subsidies results in higher prices for everyone, and i'm kinda going "right, yeah, i can see how that might be..." when i get to paragraph 7 and see this:

President George W. Bush warned about the effects of subsidies on July 15. "I am discouraged by the fact that some nations subsidize the purchases of product, like gasoline, which, therefore, means that demand may not be causing the market to adjust as rapidly as we'd like," he said.

I mean, ok, anything coming out of this man's mouth gets the automatic "bullshit" flag. He might be against "subsidies" but he's all for giving tax breaks to corporations in the name of free market economy. Corporate welfare, anyone?

I just don't know who writes an article, who isn't working for Fox News or the like, and puts in a quote from Bush to illustrate their argument and that argument isn't about what a moron Bush is or how badly our government's fucked things up. Granted, this is a paper owned by the NYT, but c'mon. It's not like it's Adam Nagourney writing it or something. It was filed in Indonesia, ferchrissakes.

By min | July 28, 2008, 12:56 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link

July 26, 2008

All toolboxes smell like vomit?

We used to have a toolbox at work that smelled like vomit because... someone once vomitted in it. Getting a tool out of there always made me a little nauseous.

But a few years ago we bought a toolbox for home, and it had the same sort of smell. Did someone vomit in this toolbox too? Did i have some kind of psychological association? Apparently not.

By fnord12 | July 26, 2008, 3:29 PM | My stupid life | Comments (2) | Link

July 25, 2008

World War Hulk - original plan

Why do i always like the original idea better than what eventually comes out of it?

By fnord12 | July 25, 2008, 3:53 PM | Comics| Link

Stealing Wanyas' gig

The physics of super-heroes.

By fnord12 | July 25, 2008, 1:56 PM | Comics & Science | Comments (1) | Link

Freedom Freaks

Glenn Greenwald:

When Jesse Helms died last month, there was a discussion about Helms in an online email group of prominent liberal Beltway journalists, and one participant asked whether the Left has any equivalent to Jesse Helms, and a well-known "liberal" journalist responded: "Yes -- the ACLU extremists." Time's Joe Klein said last year that objections to the Senate's warrantless eavesdropping bill were merely "fodder for lawyers and civil liberties extremists" -- a phrase which GOP Rep. Pete Hoekstra then praised in National Review. The very same Beltway denizens who have so submissively enabled the radicalism of this administration simultaneously harbor and continuously spew contempt for those Shrill, Unserious "activists" -- such as the dreaded ACLU extremists -- who challenge and disrupt their little Beltway fiefdom.

Yeah, people who believe in the constitution are just civil liberties extremists, the left's equivalent of racist nincompoop Jesse Helms. God save the center!

(Image by Jack Kirby from Captain America #195 - Mar 76)

By fnord12 | July 25, 2008, 12:20 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link

Recent food contamination problems due to lack of regulation

Wanyas recently pondered why were were suddenly having a number of food outbreaks and i offhandedly suggested that it was probably that the Bush administration was probably being deliberately slack on enforcing regulations. That seems to actually be the case:

The industry pressured the Bush administration years ago to limit the paperwork companies would have to keep to help U.S. health investigators quickly trace produce that sickens consumers, according to interviews and government reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
The White House also killed a plan to require the industry to maintain electronic tracking records that could be reviewed easily during a crisis to search for an outbreak's source. Companies complained the proposals were too burdensome and costly, and warned they could disrupt the availability of consumers' favorite foods.
The apparent but unintended consequences of the lobbying success: a paper record-keeping system that has slowed investigators, with estimated business losses of $250 million. So far, nearly 1,300 people in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada have been sickened by salmonella since April.

By fnord12 | July 25, 2008, 8:50 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link

July 24, 2008

For Robn

Feel better!

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 10:24 PM | My stupid life | Comments (3) | Link

Marvel's Black Men in Chicken suits

I don't get it, really. I mean, the rooster is a symbol in voodoo, so i kind of get Black Talon (but not really).

Gamecock is just bewildering. He's a street-gang level villain. On what planet do you decide dressing up like a chicken in the poverty stricken ghettos of the 1970s is not going to get your ass kicked? And how do you convince two of your friends to dress up the same way, Adam-West-Batman-villain-henchmen style?

How does Marvel wind up with not one but two super-villains that are black guys dressed up like chickens?

In one of our high school history books, there was a picture of a white man in black face (possibly Al Jolson?) dressed up as a rooster to illustrate minstrel shows (wish i could find it online). That's what i think of when i see these guys.

Update: Also, Bantam.

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 4:55 PM | Comics | Comments (2) | Link

This test needs an extra credit question or something

It's not fair to get them all right and only get a 97%.

Take the Pew News IQ test.

This test is a lot harder. I didn't get a single one right.

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 4:49 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (4) | Link

Sick and tired of my job

I love the guy's expression when he says "Oh all right". It looks like he's laughing, but in context it's more like frustrated hysterics.

This ran in Marvel comics around their April 1975 issues.

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 1:17 PM | Comics| Link

RFHCFGFE BRFFX!

Iron Fist first appeared with this image in the Marvel Bullpen (March 1974). The nonsense he's spouting is in a secret code that was given to subscribers of Marvel's fan magazine Foom. I can't find the code anywhere online. I've been seeing this crazy image for years - any cryptologists out there want to take a crack at what he's saying?

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 10:40 AM | Comics | Comments (4) | Link

Random Lyrics Thursday

Police State by Dead Prez

[Chairman Omali Yeshitela]
You have the emergence in human society
of this thing that's called the State
What is the State? The State is this organized bureaucracy
It is the police department. It is the Army, the Navy
It is the prison system, the courts, and what have you
This is the State -- it is a repressive organization
But the state -- and gee, well, you know,
you've got to have the police, cause..
if there were no police, look at what you'd be doing to yourselves!
You'd be killing each other if there were no police!
But the reality is...
the police become necessary in human society
only at that junction in human society
where it is split between those who have and those who ain't got

[Dead Prez]
I throw a Molotov cocktail at the precinct, you know how we think
Organize the hood under I Ching banners
Red, Black and Green instead of gang bandanas
F.B.I. spyin on us through the radio antennas
And them hidden cameras in the streetlight watchin society
With no respect for the people's right to privacy
I'll take a slug for the cause like Huey P.
while all you fake niggaz try to copy Master P
I want to be free to live, able to have what I need to live
Bring the power back to the street, where the people live
We sick of workin for crumbs and fillin up the prisons
Dyin over money and relyin on religion for help
We do for self like ants in a colony
Organize the wealth into a socialist economy
A way of life based off the common need
And all my comrades is ready, we just spreadin the seed

The average Black male
Live a third of his life in a jail cell
Cause the world is controlled by the white male
And the people don't never get justice
And the women don't never get respected
And the problems don't never get solved
And the jobs don't never pay enough
So the rent always be late; can you relate?
We livin in a police state

No more bondage, no more political monsters
No more secret space launchers
Government departments started it in the projects
Material objects, thousands up in the closets
Could've been invested in a future for my comrades
Battle contacts, primitive weapons out in combat
Many never come back
Pretty niggaz be runnin with gats
Rather get shot in they back than fire back
We tired of that - corporations hirin blacks
Denyin the facts, exploitin us all over the map
That's why I write the shit I write in my raps
It's documented, I meant it
Every day of the week, I live in it; breathin it
It's more than just fuckin believin it
I'm holdin them ones, rollin up my sleeves an' shit
It's cee-lo for push-ups now, many headed for one conclusion
Niggaz ain't ready for revolution

[Fred Hampton]
I am.. a revolutionary
and you're gonna have to keep on sayin that
You're gonna have to say that I am a proletariat
I am the people, I'm not the pig

[another speaker]
Guiliani you are full of shit!
And anybody that's down with you!
You could man-make things better for us
and you cuttin the welfare
Knowin damn well when you cut the welfare,
a person gon' do crime..

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 9:24 AM | Music| Link

Leopard vs. Crocodile

Interesting, considering the article says there really isn't enough meat on a croc to make it worth the risk for a leopard.

By fnord12 | July 24, 2008, 9:17 AM | Science| Link

July 23, 2008

Why there were no Mighty Avengers in Mighty Avengers

Hannibal Tabu:

Wanna find out how Skrullektra got in to her shtick? Well, you should read Right Wing Avengers, er, "Mighty Avengers" #16, which has (fun fact) absolutely no members of the team in the issue. Seriously. It's not a bad story, showing how disturbingly easy it was to infiltrate the Hand (no ninja senses? So, say, The Sentry could come in and take over the Hand, seriously?) but it could almost have been an issue of "Secret Invasion" ... or was it an issue of ... oh sweet spirit, that's it! That's what's happening! THE SKRULLS ARE REPLACING OUR COMICS WITH SKRULL COMICS! THAT'S THE "SECRET" OF THE "INVASION!" HOLY CRAP, WE'VE GOTTA TELL SOME ...
*brief pause while reviewer falls over ... and then gets back up to keep typing ... or does he?*
... er, that is, "Mighty Avengers" #16 was still really cool, with those Skrulls and all kicking butt. Those Skrulls rock. Right. Er, moving on ...

By fnord12 | July 23, 2008, 4:44 PM | Comics| Link

The Democrat's support for FISA explained

If you squint really hard, you might see this is the goody bag that will be handed out at the Dem's presidential convention. Without squinting very hard, you might notice who will be sponsoring that convention, and very likely a number of re-election campaigns as well. This wasn't dubbed the "Protect AT&T" act for nothing.

By fnord12 | July 23, 2008, 2:11 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1) | Link

Too Much Hello Kitty

I feel bad for this guy. I mean, i love Hello Kitty, but i feel bad that his wife subjects him to it to such a degree that the pink (but empty) Kitty house is better than his house now with all his wife's Hello Kitty tschochkes. That's just wrong.

By min | July 23, 2008, 1:27 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (1) | Link

July 21, 2008

Cranky old men: Hands off!

While Obama tours the Middle East and the puppet Prime Minister of Iraq cuts his strings to essentially endorse him, McCain tours a golf course with the elder George Bush.

By fnord12 | July 21, 2008, 8:52 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (3) | Link

SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Iron Man #31 - Once you accept that this isn't going to be very good, it's actually not that bad, if that makes any sense. Two complaints: 1) I think to myself, 'Man, that looks a lot like Braniac's skull-ship, and a few pages later the characters refer to it as "that Braniac thing" - guys, if you're aware that you're ripping off your competition, change the design. 2) Is this the second? third? time Iron Man has been in a bind and then said "Wait a minute! My opponent doesn't know about... Extremis!". Why isn't he just using his armor to its potential the whole time? Anyway, not terrible if approached the right way.

X-Force #5 - Not thrilled about the turn of events where the bad guys are now fighting amongst themselves. This wasn't a great issue. *I* don't have any problems with the art, though.

Hercules #119 - This continues to be great.

Captain America #40 - Now i like the way these bad guys fight amongst themselves. It's realistic and despite their differences they still manage to work together. Bucky's confrontation with 50s Cap was cool too. Ah, it's just a damn good comic overall, and Epting's back on art.

Mighty Avengers #16 - On an irrelevant point, what is this story doing in Mighty Avengers? The Elektra plot took place in New. Anyway, i enjoyed this even if it seems a bit much for Elektra to be able to take out three super-skrulls by herself. But is she dead? She sure looked dead. At least we now we know that the point of this wasn't to retcon out every post-Frank Miller appearance of Elektra, which is good.

By fnord12 | July 21, 2008, 11:49 AM | Comics | Comments (1) | Link

July 17, 2008

I sent this guy some money

Anyone who does an extended xkcd homage gets my support.

By fnord12 | July 17, 2008, 5:06 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (2) | Link

Random Lyrics Thursday

Pulled Over The Car by Morphine

I was drivin my car
I was drivin my car
I was gettin kinda tired, so I pulled over the car
I pulled over the car
I pulled over the car
I got out of the car, walked around the car
I got a little air, I felt better

I got back in the car
I got back in the car
Well as soon as I got back behind the wheel I felt tired again
So I pulled over the car
I pulled over the car
I got out of the car, walked around the car
I got a little air, I felt better

I felt better
I felt much, much better

So I got back in the car
I got back in the car
Well as soon as I got back behind the wheel I felt all tired again
So I pulled over the car
I pulled over the car
I got out of the car, walked around the car
I got a little air, I felt better
I got a little air, I felt better
I felt much, much, much, much better

I got back in the car
I got back in the car
Don't you know as soon as I got back behind the wheel
I felt all sleepy and tired again
Well I can't keep pulling over every fifteen minutes
Just because I feel a little sleepy and tired
So I kept on driving
(fell asleep at the wheel)
yes I kept on driving
(fell asleep at the wheel)
I hit a truck
I hit a truck
I got out of the car, walked around the car
and checked it out
Totaled

By fnord12 | July 17, 2008, 9:06 AM | Music| Link

July 16, 2008

The Gift of Humiliation

Alright, who thought getting me a subscription to XBox live for my birthday would be a nice idea? I suck at Halo! I get beat by nine year olds!

By fnord12 | July 16, 2008, 10:23 AM | Video Games | Comments (1) | Link

Marvel Sales

May

By fnord12 | July 16, 2008, 10:23 AM | Comics| Link

SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Young Avengers Presents #6: Hawkeye This was a good character driven story. Much less sappy than the Patriot issue i read. I'm a sucker for these kind of historically referential stories if they are done right. And Alan Davis on art always helps. Liked it so much i stole it from Wanyas, which he claims was his plan all along.

Nova #15 - Galactus continues to rule. I thought the idea of riding up the energy shafts into Taa II was cool, and i like the repercussions. The shadow/despair creature part was a bit long but overall this is still good. Looking forward to the Secret Invasion crossover and seeing Nova on his own without the Worldmind for a while.

Guardians of the Galaxy #3 - Three issues in, this is feeling a bit samey. Still good, but it needs to break the format of having the team giving a debriefing of a mission where things didn't quite go as planned and they nearly got killed. Also, i'm not a big fan of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, so while i thought bringing back Vance Astrovik was cool, i'm a bit wary about where this is going after seeing a version of Starhawk this issue.

Secret Invasion #4 - This issue felt more like an interlude, possibly due to the narrative style at the beginning. Is it possible there is too much going on at once and not enough space to devot to moving the plotlines along? Anyway, it was all made up for when Nick Fury shows up with his giant @#$&% gun.

And hey, Yu's art is... not terrible when the colorist isn't trying to make everyone look like a zuvembie.

By fnord12 | July 16, 2008, 10:05 AM | Comics| Link

July 15, 2008

Got That XBox Live Gold Membership Just In Time

Microsoft and Netflix have unveiled a partnership under which Netflix will stream movies directly to consumers through Microsoft's Internet-based Xbox Live service.
Under the deal, customers who have an Xbox 360 console attached to their TVs and who subscribe to Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold service, and who are also Netflix subscribers, can download Netflix movies at no additional cost.
The service will launch in the fall and feature more than 10,000 movies and TV shows available for immediate viewing, Netflix and Microsoft said in a joint statement Monday.

Link

By min | July 15, 2008, 3:08 PM | Movies & My stupid life & Video Games| Link

July 14, 2008

The History of Marvel Comics

Semi-regular commentator mikkim recently wrote this history of marvel comics from a publishing point of view and i've asked if i could host it online here.

This is the abstract:

Marvel Comics began in the late 1930s with the popularity of superheroes. They thrived on booming sales, publishing comic books of various concepts, until major criticism in the 1950s. In 1960, Marvel came out with dynamic and well developed characters, bringing high sales once again. The emersion of comic book specialty stores and a collecting craze made the company thrive through the 1980s. When the enthusiasm ended, marvel filed for bankruptcy in the mid 1990s. Business plans for licensing brought Marvel out of debt and are aiding to propel a prosperous future for the company.

Go check out the full paper.

By fnord12 | July 14, 2008, 4:10 PM | Comics | Comments (1) | Link

Change in the AP's reporting style

The Associated Press has made a conscious decision to use a more editorial based reporting style. I have previously advocated this king of reporting style as a solution to the problems of so-called "non-biased/objective" reporting that essentially acts as stenography, at best giving equal weighting to two sides regardless of factual accuracy and at worst acting essentially as press releases. I am re-thinking that position...

The ideal type of political reporting would print what politicians say and then attempt to analyze the accuracy of those statements - similar to what Jon Stewart does without the Dirty Sanchez jokes. The problem is that there are always enough facts out there to support a point of view and it is difficult to get anyone to try to sort through those facts objectively when they have a point of view. So the compromise solution is to still ask reporters to do that while identifying their political leanings so that the reader can take the information with a grain of salt.

The reporting i've seen recently from the AP has been horribly biased and now i see that is official policy, which makes a lot more sense. However, what i've seen has read more like political hit pieces, pro-candidate pieces, or fluff than editorial based reporting. This is the danger of this style: it is likely to devolve into pure punditry. For the AP, it seems to have happened rather quickly.

By fnord12 | July 14, 2008, 3:46 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1) | Link

2 Days Overdue

By fnord12 | July 14, 2008, 9:06 AM | My stupid life| Link

July 11, 2008

Senioritis

Link:

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."
He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.

We renamed our Politics category to Liberal Outrage a while ago as a Wanyas-inspired half-joke, but really, there comes a point where it just doesn't register anymore.

By fnord12 | July 11, 2008, 12:42 AM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1) | Link

July 10, 2008

Random Lyrics Thursday

For those of you who have seen the Joe Cocker video and want to know what the hell he's really singing:

A Little Help From My Friends by Joe Cocker (originally by the Beatles)

What would you do if I sang out of tune,
Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song
And I'll try not to sing out of key.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

What do I do when my love is away
(Does it worry you to be alone?)
How do I feel by the end of the day,
(Are you sad because you're on your own?)

No, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody
I need somebody to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.

Would you believe in a love at first sight
Yes, I'm certain that it happens all the time
What do you see when you turn out the light
I can't tell you but I know it's mine

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends
Mm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

Do you need anybody
I just need someone to love
Could it be anybody
I want somebody to love.

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
With a little help from my friends.

By min | July 10, 2008, 12:54 PM | Music| Link

July 8, 2008

Bat Bra

Miss Hawkins said she got dressed at 7.30am and arrived for work at the Holiday Inn Norwich North, near Norwich International Airport without noticing anything unusual.
"When I was driving to work I felt a slight vibration but I thought it was just my mobile phone in my jacket pocket," she said.
It was not until her lunch break, at midday when she felt a strange movement inside her bra, which had been hanging on her washing line the previous night.
"I plucked up the courage to investigate and I pulled out a little baby bat. I just lost my breath when I saw it and I did not know what it was at first," she said.

Link

The bat in the photo is huge. I'm hoping that's not the same bat she had sitting in her bra for 5 hours cause if it is, one has to ask, why was there so much extra space in her bra?

By min | July 8, 2008, 3:54 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (4) | Link

Some Panda Porn to Tide You Over

By min | July 8, 2008, 10:45 AM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (4) | Link

July 6, 2008

SuperMegaSpeed Reviews

Hulk: Raging Thunder #1 - I like Parker, but i don't know what the point of this was at all. Surely they're not floating a Thulkra series? Maybe she should meet up with Skaar for a Hulkids series. I did appreciate the reprint though; i didn't have that issue.

Clandestine #5 - Well, it's over, anyway. It started off very promising but it didn't really go anywhere, or it went in too many directions at once, or something.

Iron Man #39 - Two more issues till Gage. Just gritting our teeth through this fill in story until then.

Runaways #30 - Well, it's over, anyway. It started off very promising but it came out like once a century and introduced like a bazillion new characters from the past that i wasn't very interested in and couldn't remember who was who from issue to issue. Joss Whedon can stay away from comics for a while, please. At least he didn't kill anyone.

Daredevil #108 - Getting fun again. And who would have ever thought we'd be seeing so much of Dakota North?

Fantastic Four #558 - This is more like it. That first story was terrible, but this is quite good. I wish it could be the real Hulk but even so i think this is going to be very interesting.

Guardians of the Galaxy #2 - Well, we're committed to the Universal Church of Truth story, which i have reservations about but we'll see where it goes. In the meantime, more telepathic dogs, talking racoons, and noble seedlings, plus Vance. Not sure that Vance should stay, though. Too much danger of creating a lack of uniqueness with duplicates of both Captain America's shield and Justice, but i guess it's the other end of the universe so it doesn't really matter.

Secret Invasion: Runaways & Young Avengers #1 - This is only a 3 issue mini? Hmm. Yost does well with the characters; i wouldn't mind if he wrote one or both of these teams as an ongoing. I like following up on Hulkling's lineage so this should be interesting. I like the cartoony art style, but i'm not sure about what Nico's wearing.

Avengers: Initiative #14 - Good old Gage, using continuity elements from 3-D Man, of all things. This was very good. I like how this book is essentially about no one in particular, letting Gage (oh, ok, and Slott) utlize whatever characters they'd like.

Captain America #39 - This continues to be good although i do miss it when Epting isn't on art. I was surprised by the ending; it's been a while since we've had a traditional "bad guy shows up and threatens to beat up the good guy" type of cliffhanger ending. I don't mean that as a bad thing, just noticing.

Thunderbolts #121 - Nice Goblin/Mimi fight and nice to see something being done with Speedball. I liked the Samson/Moonstone dynamic as well. And Bullseye was also great. Ah, it's just a damn good book. As much as i like Gage, it'll be a shame to see Ellis go.

Hercules #118 - Not a ton to comment on since we're mid-story but this continues to be a great book. I see that the sales aren't weathering the Hulk/Herc swap as well as Marvel might have liked which is a shame because i'd like to see more books about less prominent characters (and i want this one to keep going). Nightmare was well depicted.

New Avengers #42 - Secret Invasion is going to play hell with my timeline project, but luckily it'll be long over by the time i get to these books. Bringing up House of M raises an interesting questions for me - it's interesting that the Scarlet Witch essentially did exaclty what the Skrulls were aiming for with regard to mutants, so were they actually controlling her? Did they replace Magneto or Quicksilver? And if not, wouldn't Wanda have "fixed" the Skrull infiltrators when she was re-creating everything after House of M? We'll see; obviously it looks like it will be addressed.

Mighty Avengers #15 - Hey, it's Romita, Janson, and Palmer on art. That's a nice team. Poor Hank. Such a loser. I don't think there's anything wrong with "drunk Jan". I think we're seeing an aspect of the Hank/Janet relationship you don't normally see; they're trying to get back together and it's not working and she's not handling it well. I don't think that's supposed to depict how she typically acts. Hank, on the other hand, has a long history of being a failure.

By fnord12 | July 6, 2008, 11:18 PM | Comics| Link

How weak we sound