Scientists: "Turns out we don't know jack shit"

Colossal squid caught off Antarctica.

So it turns out the giant squid has an even more giant cousin, the colossal squid. And it lives now, in the deep sea. It's like one of the biggest animals to ever live on planet Earth, and it's just now in our modern, we-know-everything age of 2008 being discovered. They don't even know the gender of the 33-foot specimen in storage. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens: open mouth, insert foot.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7367774.stm

How big will this story get???

"For him [Barak Obama] to an offer an inartful explanation of that which informs these people’s lives and voting patterns only underlines his weakness with this constituency."

Here are the comments from a San Francisco Fundraiser (link to original story plus audio):

OBAMA: "So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.

Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing."

So how big is it? I got slammed after Ohio and Texas after counting Hillary out. I think as just as Al Gore and Jimmy Carter were about to weigh in to call on Hillary to withdraw, she's been tossed another lifesaver. Can she win big in 10 days???

More Onion Hilarity

Delicious Snacks Distract Congressmen From Horrors Of War

The Onion Movie

This totally missed my radar. Apparently, The Onion has been producing a movie, and it's coming to DVD.

Here's the trailer:



And here's the news source.

There Will Be Blood

A masterpiece, it is not. It's certainly ambitious, tries to be original, to stay true to its own voice and not cower in the face of what's safe, easy, and popular. And for the first half, it tells a damn good story. Sadly, where There Will Be Blood goes wrong is at the halfway point, when a crucial plot development occurs that pretty much derails the film's disciplined focus and, ultimately, severely dilutes its impact.

Which is a shame, since this really could've been a powerful movie. It sets itself up to be a dark and moving father-son story, and there are scenes after the halfway point that would've resonated so much more, had they not been overshadowed by the aforementioned disappointing turn the movie decides to take.

Perhaps not coincidentally, it's this turn at which director Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Uptor Sinclair's Oil! ends, and his own take on the material begins.

This is not to say the movie simply stinks during the second half. In fact, there are some pretty entertaining parts, such as the infamous "I drink your milkshake!" scene (ironic how that phrase has become a catchphrase representing the film, even though it really sums up absolutely nothing relevant to the story at all). But those entertaining moments come at a cost—namely, betraying the story's original direction in favor of pointless scenery-chewing.

Daniel Day-Lewis is perhaps one of the few actors who can make scenery-chewing seem like the reason why we have actors. Luckily, Day-Lewis also knows how to imbue his characters with subtler stuff than that, and it's in moments where we see quieter, more complex statements of his suppressed rage and emotional pain that make his performance truly noteworthy.

In the end, the film is pretty odd, a definite mixed bag of memorable scenes, of staggering missed potential, of moments that are somewhere between amusing and disturbing. In some ways, There Will Be Blood feels both undercooked and overcooked at the same time. There are enough arresting parts to prevent the film from simply being dismissed as completely misguided, but the level of greatness it tries to achieve easily escapes the movie's grasp by quite some distance.

Still, this shows that some people in Hollywood are at least trying to make good dramas that take genuine risks, and that's definitely an encouraging sign for American creativity.

Elijah Cummings: "Say it ain't so."

Well, not exactly. But he said something to that effect at Roger Clemens' hearing:

"It's hard to believe you, sir. I hate to say that," said Representative Elijah Cummings. "You're one of my heroes, but it's hard to believe."

Here's the article.

I could go for a bottle of Elijah Craig right now.

Rifftrax

Rifftrax. Contemporary movies given the "Mystery Science Theater 3000" treatment.

More clips here.

Report Card

Swedes.

Time Magazine has an article on Iraqi refugees. Here's a scorecard:

United States
Population: 301,139,947
Life Expectancy: 78 years
Founded: 1776
Founding Fathers: White men who didn't want to pay taxes
Current Ruling Philosophy: White men who don't want to pay taxes
Iraq Refugees Accepted thus far: 2,700

Sweden
Population: 9,031,088
Life Expectancy: 80 years
Founded: Mentioned by Roman Historian Tacitus, 1st cent. AD.
Founding Fathers: Iron Age Chieftains
Current Ruling Philosophy: If it feels good, do it.
Iraqi Refugees Accepted thus far: 31,300

Cheating 101

I found a site posting a bunch of videos of kids telling how they cheat on tests. One girl stared into the camera and said "I hope my teachers don't see this, because that would be awkward."

This person was smart enough to hide their face, I also think they had the most interesting plan --

There's one very appropriate scene in another video. A kid talks about how to cheat by writing notes on a small piece of paper, that he then hides between playing cards. He writes on a slip of paper as an example, holds it up to the camera, and it says ---

Are you a spectator?

I like this one too.

Jerry O'Connell nails it...

...with this Tom Cruise Scientology video parody. Great stuff.

What a passenger spaceship looks like

Virgin Galactic unveiled the design of what a plane that can take non-astronauts into space will look like. Check out the article and video here.

If you watch the video, you'll see exactly how you'd be transported into space. The middle plane in the above picture detaches in mid-air, then rockets into the upper atmosphere and into outer space. Then, it simply drops back down onto Earth and, after adjusting its wings, settles in for a (hopefully) nice landing.

The astronomical ticket price aside ($200,000—I'm assuming this is for a round trip), I would feel hesitant, to say the least, to go on a space ride anytime soon.

Thoroughly Unmodern McCain

Well before Florida's election I think its time to officially declare myself on the Straight Talk Express. Let the criticisms from Aaron and others role in, but there's no one I'd trust more than John McCain for President. If you have the time and any interest in the republican side of the race, check out a NY times op ed from a few days ago: Thoroughly Unmodern McCain

For something more humorous check out the McCain Bloggett. While the Romney kids act as certified cheerleaders in their blog, McCain's daughter seems to just be having fun as a 23 year old on the campaign trail.

Regardless of the press the picture says it all for me.

I think I know what it is

On the left: Aaron's sighting.

On the right: scene from The Village.

Conclusion: it's an extra who has wandered off the set of that movie and has never found his way home since.

Be Prepared for anything...

... when you leave your office after working on a Sunday.

What is this mysterious creature?
Why is it walking the streets of Reading, Pennsylvania?

Goodyear 26

It was Goodyear 26, Einstein.

Coach: "Little Mac, Join the Nintendo Fan Club."

Heath Ledger, 1979-2008

A talented actor of our generation has passed away. New York Times coverage here.

Canada made me do it

I didn't think I wanted to blog again....then I saw this disturbing Canadian PSA, and it needs shared.

Wow.....be ready before you hit play! I'm still trying to confirm if Quentin Tarantino ever directed any PSAs in America Junior to get his career rolling.

Borrowing More Material from LJ

Original Commentary by our own scientology skeptic in Jersey:

"And here is an official Scientology video of Tom Cruise hawking his cult. Note the incessant use of the Mission Impossible theme. I dare you to derive anything meaningful or intelligible from his inane ramblings.

http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress"

A post cartoonist took her own crack at cruise today managing to even disparage our president and vice president in the process:






http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes

Maybe if you were both doing less fromping you would understand.

Just makes you so proud (cont.)

Anyone have a bucket I can barf in? Ok, so the dude used part of his grandma's estate for library room 7b. Does the biggest waste of money at Dickinson since ATS really justify putting his face front and center in the library? The poster was next to the circulation desk when I went back to the big dick in january. I half expected the series to be up for sale in the bookstore.

Hey Pennington! Go jack off a turkey.

Mootisse's Finest Moment

I was going through old photos and this seemed appropriate for the first temporary blog posting. I think that's Andy freaking Roth in the background. Pretty funny to think of lally and (what's the other one's name?) as seniors. I think Mootisse deserves a wiki entry, with details of the escape and brief stint in john bass' room included. Ahh, the many things we could do if we didn't have a life (or even less of one)... like this Dickinson page: http://www.dickinson.edu/news/features/2004/cowparade/