Monthly Archives: October 2008

This is why I’d like him as my president.

UPDATE:
Strange, this guy Joe from the above video was mentioned about 15 times by McCain in tonight’s debate. Odd, because now people will likely be googling “Joe the Plumber”, they’ll see this video, and will likely be impressed by Obama. Not too smooth there McCain.

Great point.

“Clearly, the proposal to partially nationalize some banks comes as our financial system continues to plunge off the cliff. But there’s no less a critical emergency in our healthcare system,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the 85,000-member National Nurses Organizing Committee/California Nurses Association.

“In homes and hospitals across America, our healthcare system is dying a quiet death. The millions of Americans who endure their pain away from the spotlight of Wall Street or the glare of TV lights deserve sweeping systemic solutions as well.”

Yeah, I’ve never understood why so many Americans stand by as their health services crumble. It affects almost everyone. As someone who has dealt with a ton of medical bullshit, I can say that health care is a much more pressing issue than the banks collapsing, as well as the “War on Terror”. Fighting terrorism is sold to us as trying to stop the possibility of thousands of people dying in another attack, while thousands of people die every year due to lack of health care. I do not fucking get it. A death is a death. Whether it’s from a bomb or cancer, doesn’t really matter in the end. I’m relatively conservative when it comes to the expansion of government – I’m a fan of very limited government – and universal health care is a no-brainer to me. As long as you are going to have a government you’d might as well ensure that your citizens do not die needlessly.

For the record, Obama’s plan does not impress me very much. It seems like another patch on a broken system. Clinton’s was better.

Jolie breast-feeding photo: triumph or trouble?

Neither, it’s publicity. And it’s working.

Got it?

Cool.

Virginia Astley & David Sylvian – Some Small Hope

I am currently obsessed with this song and I don’t know why.

Nice to finally see McCain show some class in this election.

Jesus, check out this stunning video for MGMT’s The Youth. The song is ok, but the video, directed by Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, is quite simply a work of art. Tim and Eric’s style is a blend of banal, silly, retro, creepy, and even depressing humor. There is an odd humanity present in all of it. I know that sounds cliché, but I honestly feel sad sometimes when I watch that show. This video is the purest example of that aesthetic, and it’s oddly touching. There is something intangibly both unsettling and uplifting about it. So strange. I love it.

It’s also beautiful, so this is a hi-res video. May take some time to load.

I’m in a flurry of micro-blogging this morning, so I might as well turn some of these ideas into a linkpost:

Gotta love Fox News: Viewers Perspectives Widespread on Palin Leg Photo

I don’t know Obama, this might be overkill…

I caught Life On Mars last night on ABC. It shows promise. Harvey Keitel in a TV show?? I’m all over that shit.

Drill here drill now… Really? (sorry bout the ad)

I love it. And, I didn’t know you could send specifically timed clips from Hulu!

(video embed)

Try and suffer through this pedestrian cover of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, through Tom Petty’s placid singing, through Jeff Lynne’s autotune-massacred vocals, until Prince takes a solo that murders everyone on stage.

Prince.

-via the amazing AUDIOTUTS

Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

Vactor, 24, lasted only about 15 minutes, a probation officer said.

–CNN

Ok, coming from someone who both loves classical music, and was known in the past to blast loud rap music from his ’68 VW Bus, this is ridiculous. You couldn’t get me to listen to classical music for 20 hours. You couldn’t get me to listen to anything for 20 hours, not even my own tunes (and I’m known to indulge in quite a bit of the vanity listens). This is one of those articles targeted toward smug oldsters who can’t get enough of the ‘Kids Today…’ type of fluff stories.

Of course, when you read on:

It wasn’t the music, Vactor said, he just needed to be at practice with the rest of the Urbana University basketball team.

“I didn’t have the time to deal with that,” he said. “I just decided to pay the fine.”

If I had the choice of listening to the classical station playing “the hits” and talking about the latest Mostly Mozart festival (how come I only hear about these on the radio btw??) or going to a rehearsal, I’d go do my responsibility.

This isn’t about culture or the youth or the decline of western civilization. This is about compulsion. You couldn’t compel me to go record hunting (quite possibly my favorite activity) for 20 hours! Fuck, you couldn’t compel me to do it for 1 hour. I’ll do it on my own. Defiance is individuality. I respect this kid more for leaving after 15 minutes than I would had he stayed for the entire 20 hours. As the sentencing judge, Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott, said herself, “I think a lot of people don’t like to be forced to listen to music”.

I agree with you Champaign County Municipal Court Judge Susan Fornof-Lippencott. They also wouldn’t like being force-fed filet-mignon for 20 hours straight. You’re a force for evil and tyranny in the world.

Smiles!

It’s a great strategy. Very smart. It dismantles McCain/Palin’s criticism, and leaves McCain with the only option of bringing it up in the debates, and polls show that swing-voters dislike dirt in the debates. They need an ad with this up today, which would make every utterance of the Ayers bullshit in a public setting seem cowardly.