The crazy adventures of Biblely!

Prop 8 passed, while folks in CA voted heavily for Obama. It was truly ironic that much of the support came from Black and Latino voters, who have the unpleasant historical experience of having their civil rights restricted by the state because of the color of their skin.

Huh?

Morford has an excellent commentary on it, that about sums up the reason why it failed. Of course

Excerpts:

Some say the inglorious success of Prop. 8, the brutally regressive measure that removes the rights of very specific people who love very specific other people from ever marrying them, can be blamed on multiple factors.
...
Or maybe it's all those sad, white, central portions of the state, the huge chunks of voters who live in places without much culture or perspective or major universities, who only hear certain strains of spiteful rhetoric and thin fearmongering, whose general lack of education means they apparently still believe certain flavors of love will poison everyone's soup and ruin the sanctity of the time-honored 50-percent heterosexual missionary position Christian divorce rate.
...
[...]I think the real blame lies with, well, the Almighty himself.
...
Behind it all, it's God. No, not the god you and I understand as a universal, non-gendered, asexual, love-drunk energy coursing through all things at all times everywhere without the slightest wisp of prejudice or geographical preference, but that famously small, myopic version, the one that encourages a literalist interpretation of very carefully selected Bible verse (to the complete disregard of myriad others) -- a version that, in short, has been drilled into the consciousness of far too many voters for far too long.

Is it not true? Once again this election, in pulpits across America, the call rang out: We must stop the gays. We cannot allow them entry into the sanctuary of Eternal Hetero Love. After all, marriage is (these people believe) the last upstanding Christian stronghold, the final barrier preventing America from becoming some sort of Sodom-iffic nipple-pierced polyamorous rave party where anyone can marry anything and pets are running scared and people stick parts of their bodies into other people's parts for sexual pleasure. The horror.

My take on it: restricting civil rights using a simple majority vote is un-American. That, and the simple fact that nothing is removed or lessened for heterosexual relationships should gay people marry.

What would Mr. Show do?

Or Senator Tankerbell? You gotta watch it to get the Bibley reference.

Fanboys: Harry Knowles is kicking Window's ass

Extreme Star Wars dork pleasure, or failed montage of sci-fi heroes? Darth Vader would no doubt find my lack of faith disturbing.

I can almost see Shatner's ego greedily chomping at the margins of the film.

Solid Gold...in your coffee?

While preparing my beverage the other morning, the brand name of the creamer took me back to the 80s. I never realized that Diddy was dancing back then...wow! He's so talented. A Solid Gold dancer.

Palin for President

My new favorite site.

Looks like it's getting updated each day.

Can't wait to see what happens with the diplomas.

This just in: cool people admit they would have Tina Fey's baby

See the SNL VP Debate?

Plan C (If McCain/Palin are elected, and I haven't the will)

Just came across this great piece over at InfoWorld about Americans being able to offshore themselves if IT jobs continue the exodus.

Costa Rica sounds sweet, but I've always wanted to go to Israel and get my kosher on. Regardless, it's an awesome thing to see a more integration of a markets, needs, and talent. Feels like a Schoolhouse Rock spot.

A-game for the AP

I'm loving the comedic coverage from the AP regarding the U.S. 2008 Presidential race.

Highlights here:

Of course, the stock market's plunge was a popular topic among the comics, with Letterman devoting his Top Ten list to "Ways to Make the Financial Crisis More Fun." Ranked in second place: "Enjoy the blank stare when Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin what the FDIC stands for."

He also poked fun at Palin's gaffe when, addressing a group Sunday, she referred to Afghanistan as "our neighboring country."

"Apparently," cracked Letterman, "she can see bin Laden's cave from her house."

On Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," host Stephen Colbert took an approving look back at Thursday's vice presidential debate.

"Both candidates surpassed expectations," he said. "Sarah Palin proved she could speak. And Joe Biden proved he could STOP speaking."

And NBC "Tonight" show host Jay Leno called attention to a candidate for governor of Bangkok who assaulted a TV reporter for asking him tough questions on the air.

"Today Sarah Palin said, 'You can do THAT? Where's Katie Couric?'"

And here:

"John McCain's campaign has closed their offices in Michigan and they say they won't try to compete for votes there," noted NBC "Late Night" host Conan O'Brien on Monday. "Apparently this is part of McCain's strategy to try to win votes only in the original 13 colonies."

"John McCain blew off Michigan! Well, I know how they feel," said CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman. McCain canceled an appearance on Letterman's show two weeks ago."

7 1/2 Floor...700 Billion...Coincidence? I think not.

A little while ago I was at World Savings (part of Golden West Financial) in, which later got bought by Wachovia, which then severed a multitude of jobs, and is about to get put in Wells Fargo's grocery bag.

SFGate ran a piece about the Sandlers, a husband and wife team who started World Savings and had their headquarters located in Oakland, and who got out of the mortgage business about the time when I left. Very shrewd couple...or evil diabolical architects of fiduciary vampiricism?

Regardless, it appears that their Wachovia stock is going to get a whole lot more valuable. Although I must say, we had a very Being John Malkovich orientation process at World.

The orientation consisted of getting to know how many branches they opened up, what was the first branch, how Herb and Marion Sandler met, etc. It was almost like...7 1/2 Floors.

Unfortunately, there seems to be little peace for taxpayers and the lot of their accursed kind. We get to bail out everyone. It's amazing how 'FREE MARKET WILL PROVIDE' the politicians are, but when the shit hits the fan, we get a Karl Marx solution.

VP Debate pre-show details

The VP debate's on tonight! See what channels offer it where you live.

Seen the AP piece on the recent bout of network hosts blasting the VP candidates? It's fairly one-sided because, well, we haven't seen this much of a sub-par GOP VP nominee since Quayle ran with GHW Bush. She's an unstoppable force of fodder. The bar's been lowered so far, that she'll be seen as a competent candidate as long as she remains standing, maintains that spooky smile, and utters a few incomprehensible words.

And be warned...if her hair isn't in a bob, then she's wearing an earpiece, so her handlers can bail her out.

In the event you don't like additional mouse-clicks, here's the highlights from the article:

"Last night during an interview on CBS, Sarah Palin said, 'One of my best friends is a lesbian and I love her dearly.' After hearing this, Bill Clinton said, 'Prove it.'"
_O'Brien, NBC's "Late Night."
___
"I love this show! It's like the first season of 'Lost' only it makes less sense."
_Stewart, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show".
___
"It's been reported that John McCain is taking an herbal supplement to improve his memory. Apparently McCain is having trouble remembering why he picked Sarah Palin."
_O'Brien, NBC's "Late Night."
___
"Great day for Sarah Palin. She has been practicing for the big debate tomorrow night. Palin's staff has tried to find a stand-in to pretend to be Joe Biden. But so far all they've come up with is a tree stump. Which actually sounds about right."
_Craig Ferguson, CBS'"Late Late Show."
___
"This is for all the marbles, this debate tomorrow night. And Sarah Palin is nothing if not diligent. She's working hard on preparing for the debate with Joe Biden. Earlier today in Arizona, we just heard, she shot a donkey."
_Letterman, CBS'"Late Show."
___
"Now we all know Gov. Palin has a lot of foreign policy experience because from Alaska, she can see Russia. More to the point, Russia is on the other side of the international dateline from Alaska. It's tomorrow there. So when Palin looks at it, she's actually seeing the future."
_Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
___
"The vice presidential debate is tomorrow night. Joe Biden, already gearing up. I understand he went to the hair salon, told the guy to put a little more on top ... And Sarah Palin she's getting ready for tomorrow's debate, too. I understand she now knows all three branches of government."
_Jay Leno, NBC's "Tonight" show
___
"Teams of technicians have been working around the clock trying to figure out how to run an Internet cable directly into the back of (Palin's) skull."
_Jimmy Kimmel, ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live."

Notorious

Might be a DVD rental, but I think my money's going to be on Stone's 'W.' biopic.
[GHWB: Who do you think you are? A Kennedy? You're a Bush! Starting acting like one.]

I'm a fan of Biggie fo sho, and he was undoubtedly one of the best MCs to grab the mic, but right now I want to see Dubya's legacy skewered and roasted over a hot pit of voter vengeance.

That's what we call meat on my planet

IGN has a great piece on bad comic book turned movies. I'm truly curious to know if that unreleased 1994 version is worse than the '05 and '07 iteration.

As I was watching this horrible clip, I found myself unable to pull away. It was like being in a speeding, out of control car, and knowing you're going to crash into a telephone pole.

I also found the soundtrack seemed very familiar, and given that it's a Roger Corman production (king of the B-movies), I said to myself, "Self, didn't you see another Corman film when you were a kid with that same soundtrack?" Thanks to the internets, I can say "Yes." It was Corman's 'Battle Beyond the Stars'. Revel in the pre-A-Team George Peppard campy goodness.

Palin's yahoo email password is 'password'

Or something close no doubt. Some moderately clever evil-doers hacked her yahoo account.

What's so funny about it (or sad depending on how you look at it) was that she was using it to conduct public (read: as an elected official) communications.

Palin's chief of staff, Michael Nizich, sent her an e-mail August 22 with the subject line, "Using Royalty Oil to Lower the Cost of Fuel for Alaskans." The subject line of another e-mail from Nizich reads "CONFIDENTIAL Ethics Matter."

The technical grasp of the GOP nominees is coming across as strikingly and shockingly subpar.

I'm vying for a spot in a reality show

Finally my love of the thespian arena and gaming intersect with MTV Networks, Spike TV, and Microsoft Corporation partnership to bring a bunch of dorks together in "...a real-life televised Gears of War 2 adventure."

I've submitted my questionnaire and emailed in the pitch entailing why I should be a member of Delta Squad.

"...just like in the game, challenges, tough decisions and sacrifices stand in the path of victory. In a fast paced reality show that feels like an alternate reality game brought to life, your team must work together to reach the ultimate goal: Becoming the first gamers in the world to play through the entire saga of Gears of War 2 in early October."

In light of Patton Oswalt's piece on George Lucas, my geekiness is getting in the way of my nerdiness.

I can see Russia from my house...

Thank you Tina Fey.

Housekeeping or precursor to The Road?

A nice summation of the current state of the economy from SFGate:

WINNERS: Bank of America: Buys Merrill Lynch in a shotgun sale for $50 billion, creating the largest U.S. financial services company. Warren Buffett: His insurance holdings stand to benefit from AIG's weakened position, and he could buy some or all of the company at a big discount. Taxpayers: The federal government refuses to throw financial lifelines to Lehman Bros. or AIG that could have put taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in bad loans. It also refuses to pay the ousted chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac up to $24 million in exit packages.

LOSERS: Merrill Lynch: One of the best-known and most respected companies in American history vanishes overnight in a desperate sale to Bank of America. Lehman Bros.: It survived the Civil War and the Great Depression, but it can't escape the credit crisis and files for bankruptcy protection as it closes. Washington Mutual: The Seattle thrift was flying high amid the real estate boom, but it crashes just as spectacularly. Now it reportedly looks for a buyer as it tries to avoid insolvency.

HOSERS: Current Presidential nominees.

Can we finally put the whole lipstick-gate thing behind us? No one owns that word, and who gives a damn if she can field dress a moose? It's not like living in AK gives Palin years of valuable foreign policy experience.

I don't care about her baby and her baby having babies, or McCain delivering sermons on how he's more patriotic than Obama, I care about getting the economy stabilized, the job market improved, and the perception of Americans improved in the international sector. It's a sad state of affairs when the majority of Americans buy into the political campaigning and spin doctoring designed to cast candidates in more favorable light, especially when it detracts from 'real issues'. And please GOP/McCain campaingers...spare us the all the 'elite media' tripe you've been spewing. Just because you're not the loveable darling now that Dubya and Cheney salted it for you, doesn't mean you need to whine.
Thank you Dilbert. You so wonderfully characterizes the legacy of the Bush administration, and what we'll [hopefully] be recovering from in the next Presidential term.

I'm just saying, if that's what your standards are

My bestest buddy Gabe hooked me up with Patton Oswalt's "Werewolves and Lollipops" album that we'd listened to while driving down to Big Sur, where we TOTALLY saw Natalie Portman, for some beer drinking...er...camping with another old school homie.

Gee, gosh, darn he's funny. Ross prefers Jim Gaffigan, and characterized Patton as edgier, but not as funny.

While Jim has some good stuff, I really dig on Patton's political sensibilities. Take his 'The Dukes of Hazzard' piece. Brilliant.

BART 2.0

I'm digging the new BART site redesign and improved functionality.

They finally made their service consider the fact that some people need to plan a trip from a location close to a BART station to another station or to another nearby location by a station.

That's a lot of "ay-shun", and is total alliteration.
I'm prone to roll employing loquation, and in kindergarten I hated equations.
Missed the Cuban missile crisis and threats of nuclear obliteration.
Before I handle food, I conduct a thorough ablution.
Sarah Palin promotes theory of creation, while abstinence didn't deter her younger generation from fornication...

I digress....where was I?

Before, a site user had to copy and paste address information to find the nearest station, then go through another step of selection that station and the other end point, which was a total pain in the 'a'.

Now when I want to find out the closest station and route to the new California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, while also planning my trip itinerary from my starting BART station to the closest station near the Academy, I can do it all in one step!







They also have an embedded quick planner widget now.



Everything's coming up Milhouse.

Man this porn looks good

Seth Rogen and Kevin Smith come together to make a movie? Oh sweet celluoid nectar of the silver screen...er...my TV at home, I cannot wait to revel in your extra-feature laden DVD.

To have the Apple guy say the words "more like Glen and Gary suck Ross's giant meaty c--k" just sucks the blood out of your inner Miss Nancy's complexion.

Thankfully, the film ended up garnering an R instead of the dreaded NC-17.

Incidentally, for more insight on how movies receive ratings (and for an interview with Kevin Smith on how he had to fight for R ratings for Clerks), I highly recommend the documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated.

Google forays with a new open-source religion

Bolstered by its continued success in generating billions of ad dollars, strong brand recognition, the creation of an iPhone competitor (based on the Android platform), its forthcoming new browser (with long-term competitors being IE, FF, Safari, and Opera), Google has finally decided to offer its version of theology.

Google's PR department released this statement:

"It's going to be an open-sourced model that allows faith-followers to synergistically strengthen their core beliefs with a ubiquitous de-centralized deity. It's based on the OpenSocial API, which is the foundation for a host of successful web appliances, namely Orkut. We realized that in order to be true to the mantra 'don't be evil', we would need to create a new theological construct in order to legitimize more aggressive revenue-generating advertising models. In addition, we believe that we have something new to offer certain members of various demographics who find themselves removed or disconnected from reality.

As part of an extended development process, our team conducted focus groups with [among others] Second Life denizens, as well as individuals tinkering with cybernetic implants and found that while people enjoy their metaphysical experiences there is a certain degree of spiritual emptiness as we have not yet been able to reduce the human soul to a binary expression, nor digitally quantifying the aforementioned emptiness.

With much experimentation, we discovered as a way to accomplish these tasks, and in doing so, uncovering the means to similarly generate a host appliance capable of monitoring and upgrading soul programs, thereby improving the quality of virtual life. Sergey and Larry dubbed this host: DaemonLord, in a sentimental gesture to a long-lived family of processes well-known in those versed in computer science concepts.

Beta-users of DaemonLord will receive secure access to the development site, and complementary surgery to integrate proprietary mechanisms designed to facilitate the entry into the virtual environment, nicknamed Temple. As the user spends more time in Temple, his or her body would normally atrophy, however Google is committed to maintaining both a healthy body and virtua-soul, so initial testers will be configured with electrical stimulation in order to prevent physical decay.

We plan on maintaining DaemonLord and Temple by the revenue generated by users within the environment, as micro-transactions (similar to papal indulgences) and various implementations of the existing AdSense and AdWords platforms."

Needless to say, there's been some explosive responses from the general user community. Religious leaders have yet to release a formalized comment on the situation, but President Gee-dub did have these questions:

"So...if I snort some of that digitalized nose dust in that there etherland of pagan goodness, will it come up in my pee-pee test that I have to take for Uncle Dick every month?"

...and...

"Does this mean that I can hook up with Sarah Palin in this new-fangled Temple thang? I'm tryin' to talk Laura into a threesome! Man, that Sarah could moose-wrestle me into submission any Temple session!"

Facetown....ghostbook?

Ricky Gervaise = Whoopi Goldberg

I swear to Yahweh, that if both the Facebook movie and Ghost Town come out in the same year, I will gouge out my own eyes, pack the empty sockets with kosher salt, and ram my head against the nearest marble vertex until my skull splits open and I can see my own gray matter patter to the floor and make little bloody smacking sounds when they hit.

And doesn't Téa Leoni look great?! Wow! She's totally hotter here than in 'Bad Boys II'. David Duchovny is a lucky guy, but that's why he gets songs written after him.

Seriously...why did some troll think it was a good idea to make a Facebook movie? Mark Zuckerberg is a d-bag, and Facebook...is a WEBSITE! What's so wonderful about making a movie about a website? Do we really need a movie about a website that puts you in touch with your old friends from elementary school? I'm going to throw this out there: if you're not in touch with them now, maybe it's for a good reason.

Maybe if Facebook started killing people, and they had the whole 'The Ring' thing going for it it might be compelling, but a movie about some dudes who made an exclusive social site for like-minded d-bags at Ivy League universities [good for branding, giving it a solid heritage, pass my snifter of cognac, won't you Reginald?], then rolled it out to the proles [read: State schools], where they effectively tarnished their image forever with the Beacon privacy debacle? What's the denouement? Zuckerberg becomes the youngest billionaire ever, and initiates his own Logan's Run bubbleworld to keep the 30+ folks in check? OK...maybe that's too dated of a film for his 'young' demographic...how about 'The Island'! That was a wonderful tale that probably meshes well with his junior high school experience.

I can't wait for the DVD...so I can film myself burning it on the stack of 'Facebook: The Movie' posters, and make multiple postings of it on youtube...not really...in reality I will just not attend the film in the theater, or in any paid streaming fashion. If I do choose to see it, I'll pirate a copy.

Then again, from the little that's been said about the book, it's supposedly brutal in critique of said Zuckerberg. In this case, it might be worth a viewing...from a pirated source of course.