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October 27, 2004
Well, I'm impressed
The song is too long by about half and there are no discernable hooks, but the lyrics are intelligent, poignant, and have that classic Eminem charm. "Mosh," the first single from the great white hope's forthcoming album has hit the scene and brought with it a cacophony of buzz and one of the most beautiful videos I've ever seen. What everyone will be talking about is the political nature of the song, and Eminem'sa toeing of the line when it comes to publicly threatening the President. The song and the video basically aim to incite an uprising against our incumbant. Not until after that idea is presented, is it then clarified to be an army of voters. The anger is there, the incindiary content is there, the idea is there, but it's all on the up-and-up because "Oh! I meant go out and vote! Not take up arms! Sorry!"
Fine by me. Good way to get a message across. Strange, however to find myself on the same side of the fence as Eminem, but I suppose in this case, it couldn't happen any other way.
So, hopefully, this will get some of those unlikely voters off their asses on the 2nd. It's a noble attempt at the very least. More effective and purposeful than P. Diddy's obnoxious PSA's and "Vote or Die" shirts.
The next thing to note, is that this video kicks my ass. I can't stop watching it. I've got it playing on mute even as I type. Rotoscoped, manipulated live-action over rich, brownish 3-d city scapes interplay with Flash-inspired cartoon animation to produce a truly amazing piece of art. So much animation in music videos these days. People were listening when Modest Mouse and Linkin Park (ugh) released their summer singles with high-gloss animated videos, and others have since followed suit. With the reintroduction of music videos to the channel line-up (largely thanks to FUSE), these highly stylized animated and rendered artworks have an eager audience and I'm in the front row.
Shit, I'd never listen to Eminem or Linkin Park otherwise, but I don't even reach for the TiVo remote when theior recent, gorgeous videos come around.
October 25, 2004
Pardon Our Dust
Blogger ate my template again. Five times, two years. While I sat, recreating a source template from the view source on a Google-cached version of my page, I decided it would be just super to rebuild my page using CSS and XHTML compliant code. This all went swimmingly for the most part. I learned a few things about CSS and finished up pretty quickly. Everything was super until I tested it out on FireFox.
What I'm saying here is tht if you're on IE6, which most of you should be, everything's just super. If you're browsing this page with a Mac or a Mozilla browser, things may not look so hott. Gimme time, I'll fix it. I swear.
In the meantime, I'm going Flickr crazy. Check out my new Flickr page.
October 20, 2004
You've got to be kidding.
I hate these fucking things.
October 19, 2004
A Slip of the Mind
It hasn't been subtle. It's barely been gradual. George W. Bush was once an aggressive, eloquent, pointed speaker and, as this quicktime movie puts it, an artful debater. Previous to his 0-for-3 decimation in this year's Presidential debates, Mr. Bush had never lost a public debate. He has been known as quick to the punch and comfortable with the audience.
It is no secret that in his four years as President, Mr. Bush has left us no shortage or misspeakings and mindlapses. Likewise, there has been no shortage of speculation as to why he may all of a sudden be having so much trouble with the english language. It's obvious that his Texan drawl and folksy charm have both been exaggerated in recent years. These things put him at stark contrast to a certain overly Senatorial Massachusetts Senator who arose as his challenger. Republicans never much cared for "Northern Elitists," and anything Bush can do to paint that picture might be points in his favor. It would be difficult to argue, though, that those 20 second long stares into oblivion are doing much for his "Southern Lawyer" charm.
Some have pointed to drug use or drinking. Perhaps he's back on. Perhaps, old habits have simply caught up with him. A friend at work suggested that his steady diet of Texas Angus Steaks may have given him Mad Cow disease. I think, though, that this quicktime movie is the first to actually accuse him of having "Mental Defects." It shows us a few clips of Bush at his best, and at his worst. Of course anyone can have good and bad days, but let's face it: there's really no reasonable way to reconsile the Bush of 10 years ago with that of today.
Flickr
This is a test post from 
, a fancy photo sharing thing.
October 13, 2004
The Duelfer Report
Comprehensive Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD
On October 6th, the US government released its most recent analysis of Iraq's arms programs. The conclusion: Saddam Hussein posed a rapidly diminishing threat at the time the United States invaded.
The report paints the picture of a smart, brutal, determined leader who either expected too much or too little of the United States. According to the report, Hussein had disarmed fully in 1991, but was not entirely forthcoming about it. Never claiming to ahve or have not, he hoped to keep some semblance of threat in the eyes of Iran. In a bluff intended exclusively for Iran, he inspired the wrath of an all-too-eager Bush the Second. In much the same way he never expected the US to attack him in the first Persian Gulf War, he had no suspicion that George W. Bush would avoid protocol, circumvent international law, dodge to UN, and attack a country that was, by omission, already without arms.
Does this make him a madman? Surely no one would have expected the US to go to such extremes despite international disdain. How could he know? It's not as if he had a memo sitting on his desk entitles "Bush Determined to Attack within Iraq."
The image of Hussein and of Huseein's Iraq conjured by the Duelfer Report stands in stark contrast to that of this administration. Each day, another piece of evidence shows the difference between George Bush's reality and our own in greater relief. The behaviour of this man, and this administration is disgusting, disgraceful, and disingenuous.
Find below links to PDFs of the Deulfer Report in it's entirety. The report itself is over 1,000 pages, so an official 19 page Key Findings document has also been made available.
Key Findings of the Duelfer Report (194KB)
Complete Duelfer Report
Volume 1 (53,807 KB)
- Charles Duelfer's Transmittal Message
- Acknowledgements
- Scope Note
- Regime Strategic Intent
- Regime Finance and Procurement
Volume 2 (76,070 KB)
- Delivery Systems
- Nuclear
Volume 3 (69,895 KB)
- Iraq's Chemical Warfare Program
- Biological Warfare
- Glossary and Acronyms
October 12, 2004
Grandma Bubbie Kicks GOP Arse!
Brilliant flash cartoon over at njdc.org has Bubbie messing up our favorite GOP villians.
October 11, 2004
Because they can
"Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of the largest chain of television stations in the nation, plans to air a documentary that accuses Sen. John Kerry of betraying American prisoners during the Vietnam War, a newspaper reported Monday."
This made the news on Saturday, but I still haven't seen the backlash. Has the 'liberal media' covered it up? The irony there needs no explanation. Have the other members of my party finally slipped into a pot and cheeto induced coma? Where the hell is everyone?
The Sinclair Broadcast Group. The very same klan that prohibited seven of its ABC-affiliated stations from airing a "Nightline" segment back in April that featured a reading of the names of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, as this type of honesty and reverence for those who have died in our countries name is apparently "Contrary to the public interest."
It blew my mind that they could even THINK they might get away with something like this. Just think of how shocked I am now that they are! I can't feel my extremities and the pins and needles in my temples are giving way to searing pain.
So, what kind of reach do these assholes have?
Let's break it down this way:
- Sinclair is the largest owner of television stations in the world.
- Their roster includes every major network.
- They reach directly over 25% of the homes in the country, but synidication puts them into nearly half of US homes.
- A dozen of Sinclair's stations are in the critical swing states of Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Wisconsin.
So far, only one 'independent' watchdog has even contacted Sinclair. Media Matters for America sent a letter to Sinclair stating that their evil ploy would be in violation of broadcast regulations requiring "equal time for political candidates, as well as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law."
One final note. According to CNN:
"Sinclair executives have given nearly $68,000 in political contributions, 97 percent of it going to Republicans, since the beginning of the year, according to the Los Angeles Times."
October 08, 2004
iReaching out to the iIndie community
Apple's iTunes music store frequently posts playlists composed by celebrities. These playlists can be viewed by the user and bought as a whole, or for the standard 99 cents a song. Kind of a good idea, right? Well, today I noticed the Pedro the Lion playlist. Moments later, a tout for an iTunes exclusive EP by Jimmy Eat World, and then one of live tracks and demos by Death Cab for Cutie. iTunes exclusive? Anyways... I know none of these bands are really an underground sensation any longer. I know that even if they were still relatively unknown, it would be because they suck. I'm at home with the idea that indie rock is dead, I really am. It's just still weird to see Apple advertising some of the main players from my music collection circa 1998, that's all.
PS. - Just noticed that Alkaline Trio has an entire EP exclusively available as an iTunes download. Goddammit.
October 05, 2004
News from the Knife Party
It also look super-awesome. Totally super-awesome. I am so fucking sick of talented, artistic people just running around helter-skelter. Someone needs to put an end to their dangerous thinking and jealousy-inducing exploits. This one, by the way, is the work of the good person(s) at Knife Party.