"If I Had My Way You'd Wear That Uniform For The Rest Of Your Pecker-Suckin' Life"

I went to see Inglourious Basterds. It is a spaghetti western set in Nazi-occupied France. And it is brilliant. I'll have to see it a couple of times more before I conclude that it's Quentin Tarantino's best film, but right now for me it is.

The All-American Weapon Of The Hostel "Bear Jew"

I am not surprised that the film is popular in Germany. After generations of guilt, and media-driven apologetics of "oh, but there were good Nazis who opposed Hitler," I understand the catharsis from seeing one's shameful historic, horrifying past put to a revenge fantasy. I was born in and now live in Alabama, and I wish this treatment would be done to the civil rights movement in the south. As someone who abhores the history of this fair state and yet is a product of it, I would relish in an anti-George Wallace revenge fantasy.

"There's a special level in hell for those who waste good scotch."

I would add that, were there a hell, another, lower level would be reserved for cowardly bigots who can't accept shame and defeat. That level would be filled with those southern "Americans" who still fetishise the Confederate flag. Can we start carving that symbol into their foreheads, since they are all too timid to do it themselves?

Karen O: All Is Love

From Where The Wild Things Are, available at iTunes:



Brilliant!

Water on the moon

Moon Water: A Game-Changing Discovery @ Space.com and images

We Grow

From USA Today:

Americans who don't identify with any religion are now 15% of the USA, but trends in a new study shows they could one day surpass the nation's largest denominations — including Catholics, now 24% of the nation.

No superstitions, no shackles...

My Pre-Ordered Copy Should Arrive Soon

Dawkins' new book, The Greatest Show On Earth, is available now.


For me, I assume it will be mostly elementary. But, like TMBG's Here Comes Science, one sometimes needs to know that a comprehensive, pedestrian scientific explanation is out there for the ignorant, obstinate superstitious among us. And we can relish in the book's simple explanatory glory, just as the religious enjoy reiterating their favored voodoo through verses and psalms. Only ours is based on reality and advocates hurting no one...

(B)V-1 Beetles

I really don't know what to think about this. It's either a great advancement towards getting my Jude Law-bot body or a scary omen of an insectoid robot-zombie holocaust.



Either way, I welcome my automaton-beetle overlords and beg for assimilation. Unless they can do that shit with squids.

A Great Article About Secretary Gates

From Wired:

Robert Gates: Overhaul the Pentagon

Well-Deserved Emmys

HBO's "Grey Gardens" won 6 Emmys, including "Best Made for TV Movie"[sic] and "Best Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Movie" (Jessica Lang). It deserved as much. We watched it because I had heard it was weird and interesting. Instead, it was a slice of retarded Americana, twisted yet familiar. Drew Barrymore also deserved an award, but oh well.

Watch it and you won't be disappointed.

Put The Gays In Charge

The Emmy's were unprecedentedly tolerable, thanks to alpha-gay host Neil Patrick Harris. When people receiving awards take time to thank the homo in charge for a job well done, one has to wonder: why aren't we in charge of more?

Harris pulled off the night with comedy and class; just watch the schmaltzy-turned-ballsy (and technically difficult) opening song he performed:



On another positive note, during the montage of "Drama TV in 2008," Battlestar Galactica was featured prominently. And people ballyhooed during it. Maybe one day scifi will be recognized...

Beyond The Republican Assertions About The End Of The European Missile Shield Program

The guys over at my favorite naval warfare blog, Information Dissemination, sum it up:

We seem to be heading towards one of two conclusions. Either big time sanctions are applied on Iran, or Israel attacks Iran by the end of the year. Today's actions suggest Russia will support the sanctions, but I guess we will have to wait and see.

They, like me, support this move by Secretary Gates. As the last post on this blog reiterates, the State Department is ill-equipped to handle the change, but it's a good one.

We have THAAD and Aegis (and the Israelis have Arrow). Theater ballistic missile defenses work. To continue to throw money at a system that would require massive expenditures to be deployed in a decade is retarded, especially when the whole point of the "shield" was to intimidate Russia. A few well-placed F-35s and F/A-18s, along with THAAD and Aegis, could do just as well.

Not the least bit surprised

Hitting Bottom in Foggy Bottom in Foreign Policy.

My Vote Wasn't Wasted: A "B-L-A-C-G-E-R" Who Will Always Defend His Minority Over Whites

I Take It Back

Maybe I wished that Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown was just a quasi-science fiction album and not a prophesy. With what's going on in this country now, the opus was the latter.

So, I change my review of Green Day's last album: 21st Century Breakdown is the best punk album of this decade.

If you've seen the evangelical Christian-driven racist protests fueled by Republican apologists/cynics, doesn't the following ring a bell?

I am a nation
a worker of pride
My debt to the status quo
The scars on my hands and a means to an end
It's all that I have to show

I swallowed my pride
and I choked on my Faith
I've given my heart and my soul
I've broken my fingers
And lied though my teeth
The pillar of damage control

I've been to the edge
And I've thrown the bouquet
Of flowers left over the grave
I sat in the waiting room
Wasting my time
And waiting for judgment day

Praise liberty
The freedom to obey
Is the song that strangles me
Well don't cross the line

Oooh dream, America dream
I can't even sleep
From the light's early dawn

Oooh scream, America scream
Believe what you see
From heroes and cons?!

Or, to quote my favorite radio liberal talk show: we have become a nation of "angry asshats."

I want to leave now...

As We All Suspected, Ned Is In Cahoots With The Undead

From Cute With Chris.

Mr. Deity Vs. Michael Shermer