10.31.2008

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

The last line of A.O. Scott's review of the film:

"The gauzy sweetness that envelops the end of the movie is not unwelcome, but not very convincing either. The 'porno' remains unfinished, and so does 'Zack and Miri,' having — like most pornography, interestingly enough — thrown away an imaginative premise to get down to predictable, mechanical business. It’s as if Mr. Smith were a plumber who knocked at your door and then, against all reasonable expectations, insisted on fixing the sink."

Awesome.

10.29.2008

What was it Emerson said?


"Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

10.23.2008

10.22.2008

New Lil' O'Reilly Video

Here

[from jibjab.com]

10.21.2008

Ah...How I Miss High School.....

I give them a 10 on creativity.

10.19.2008

New Video

In response to Grawlix's post about Mark Wahlberg.

10.17.2008

Obama is a Gangsta

AY, at New Year's you and I had a conversation about the ethics of hip-hop. I think Obama (starting at about 2:19) condenses my position pretty well. "Art can't just be a rear-view mirror, it should have a headlight out there pointing where we need to go."

Also. he brushed off them haters in the primary:

Buffet on what to do with your money

I think I have a crush on him.

10.16.2008

If you need it...

Injuries Resulting from Car Surfing

(Some people at the CDC might have too much time on their hands.)

10.15.2008

Questions of Racial Discrimination at UNL College of Law

The group Center for Equal Opportunity did a study of admissions at UNL's College of Law and found that the college is discriminating against white applicants and favoring Hispanic and black applicants. Basically the group looks at undergraduate grade point averages and LSAT scores - and compares and contrasts the various racial groups. The study can be found here.

The dean of the law college responded in this letter.

This all comes as Nebraska approaches a vote on Initiative 424 which aims to end gender and racial preferences.

I must admit that my first reaction is to side with the college on this - I have faith in the admission process and that it is done with a general good faith effort. But I also read the CEO's report (which is obviously designed to support anti-affirmative action) which seemed valid on at least some levels.

I know you all are fairly savvy when it comes to political issues and we don't talk much about affirmative action or gender or racial preferences - so I thought I'd throw this out there for discussion. Also, I know that some of you are better at statistical analysis than I am and was wondering if you could attest to the report's statistical findings.

Thanks for looking this over and adding your thoughts.

10.14.2008

My Love for You is like Diarrhea, it Flows like a River

BBC article about the sale of a book of text messages for lovers to send to each other. The highlight is the title of this post, but others are a bit more creepy, including one promising HIV:

"H is for Happiness and joy forever with an I: Incomparable love that will never V: Vanish until death do us part. I love you," the message concludes. I'm not sure I'd be looking to carry on a relationship with someone who sends a message like this...

A more appropriate cultural spin-off:

"You're the only mosquito in my net."

10.13.2008

Does Barack Obama read Brolatollahs?

How else do you explain this?


I got a theory.

Mark Wahlberg Offers His Ruling

Mr. Wahlberg (sans the Funky Bunch) does not think the SNL sketch I offered for debate was all that funny. He plays the "SNL used to be way funnier" card.

His point might be valid... if dude hadn't made a movie (the worst by one of Paddy's favorite directors) in which he talks to a plastic tree:


Also, he's responsible for Entourage, which makes me want to smother a handicapped baby.

Worst. Halloween Costume. Ever.

I'm open to being proven wrong with other examples.

10.12.2008

Boos and Thumbs Down



If this were a gladiatorial contest, well...I think you can get the picture.

10.11.2008

An Interesting Video

CNN video

A little glimpse of the McCain I like. I think this speaks a great deal to his character--that he was willing to say this in front of so many, apparently uncivilized, attendees. This is the part of McCain that I admire and respect; the part that we used to see much more of.

However, I also think this behavior is the natural outgrowth of the negative campaigning and the poor models of "debate" that we get from both candidates and the media. It's all about the ad hominens, and never about the issues. The sincere fear that leads these people to ask these questions and make these statements is the result of the very tactics the McCain campaign has been using. It's good that McCain is trying to assuage the fears, but it is a little too late, I think.

10.09.2008

Salute it before you eat it

and you will eat it, America.

10.06.2008

Can I get a ruling?

Funny or not funny?

10.04.2008

10.03.2008

Porn and Adultery

An very thought-provoking article from The Atlantic.

Your thoughts?

Things I Liked Today:

(1) A funny video about voter registration and voting (especially Jonah Hill, from Superbad, and Sarah Silverman).

(2) The NYTimes interactive transcript of the VP debate. It is here where I searched for the term "also" (having noticed that Palin LOVES this word--it's like the Alaskan version of the valley-girl "like"). The results: Biden used the term 3 times, Gwen Ifill, 2, and Palin...47! Wow.

(3) How ridiculous CNN correspondent Leslie Sanchez is. She gave Joe Biden a B on CNN's interactive VP debate report card, saying he was "too verbose and technical when explaining the Obama/Biden progressive ticket." (I thought that has been the criticism of Obama all along--that he has been too general about his policies. Now that Biden works to clarify them through specifics, he's being too detailed. Honestly, Sanchez spins the shit out of these things. My question: Is it really worth having contributors like this from either end of the spectrum? All they do is make stuff up anyway.) To add insult to injury, Sanchez gave Palin an A, arguing "she spoke about common sense reform on domestic issues. She reinvigorated the GOP ticket." I didn't here a specific idea from her in the whole 90 minute debate. Of course, that's just me.

(4) And this story, about a kid who thought it would be a great idea to send a porn pic to his ENTIRE school.

10.02.2008

Warren Buffet on Taxation



Apparently Buffet has been making this argument for a while now, but I just caught it for the first time today when he was speaking at a conference sponsored by Fortune magazine. The gist of it is this (and this will be brief because I'm by no means a tax specialist): Considering multiple forms of taxation (payroll and income [I'm not really sure where captial gains taxes fit in here, but the fact that Buffet isn't too concerned about it makes me think it is not that substantial]), Buffet pays a smaller percentage in taxes each year than his secretary or cleaning staff. He cites specific numbers in the video: his rate, around 17%, his secretary, around 32%.

Now, Buffett is the third richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of somewhere around $50 billion. I don't see him as some saint who stands out among his peers--he admittedly likes to make money, to play the market, etc. But, he sees the inequality in the tax system and addresses it. It's not that I see him saying that the rich should have an unfair burden, but simply that as it stands now, the non-rich (meaning 95% of the US population) are on the unfair end of the system. Something is certainly wrong here.

I just started thinking about this a lot because many of my students have been into talking about this. I gave them a list of ethical dilemmas to work with in class one day (as a way to formulate arguments) and one of them dealt with the issue of welfare. It is amazing to me how many of them say (putting themselves in the position of a career man or woman), "Hey, it's my money, I earned it, so why should I have to give it to someone else?" I often pose the questions to them: How much is enough? Or, how much is too much? The answer is often not one at all. The concern, in my mind, is that these students (and I'm sure a lot of adults too) see their potential as endless--that is, to say, that if they earn it (through hard work of course), then it will never border on an immoral hording of money. They hesitate to see that at some point it just cannot be useful to keep so much money.

Long story short, I think Buffet notices this and recognizes that sparing a little more in taxes out of his billion-dollar nestegg will NOT affect him--not even a little bit, not at all. The bloggers from Freakonomics did a similar experiment (as they are self-admittedly not on the Buffet plane) and came up with similar results. They, too, pay a much smaller percentage in taxes, and don't seem to see a leveling of the taxing-field as an undue burden.

As I watched some clips of the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates tonight, I began to wonder why people still buy the Conservative "trickle down" theory. Every election people go to the polls and vote against their very own interests--they choose the candidates that spin the issue with rhetoric that says raising taxes on the top 1% will result in higher payroll taxes, which in turn, will lead to job loss and lower wages. It's just not true. Buffet is not concerned about keeping his employees (he's even drawing their attention to how much he saves compared to them!) or paying higher payroll taxes, and he heads one of the most successful company in the country.

Why do people resist seeing this? Why is a policy of tax breaks for the middle class such a hard one to sell when most of the country falls into that category? In short, WTF? Damn, I'm pissed about this!

Is Postmodernism American?

That's one aspect of Max Fisher's response to the comments Paddy directed us to earlier. He argues that the Nobel folk don't dislike America as much as they dislike postmodernism, and this mode has come to dominate American literature over the last thirty-some years. He points to non-American postmodernists who would be well ahead of any Americans in the Nobel pecking order - Rushdie and Eco, for example - who have similarly been overlooked. Postmodernism's general skepticism with regard to politics and idealism make its texts unattractive to a highly political body like the Nobel committee. (one could easily substitute Joyce or Nabokov in for postmodernism, I think)

So perhaps the real question should not be "Why does the Nobel committee hate America?" but "Why does the Nobel committee hate the last forty years?"

Post of the Month

I like Grawlix's idea of a post of the month. Can we submit nominations for a travelling monthly prize?

Fine. I'll go get a gun that DOES work.

This link is to a story about a dude who comes home from the bar with his girlfriend and wants to have business time. She refuses. He gets a gun and starts shooting himself. "He then stumbled into the kitchen and knocked himself unconscious."

Ha. Wish I had that on video tape...

Papa Bear, the early years

Question: funny YouTube video or the funniest YouTube video?

In Case You Need It

link

This Looks Awesome

Grawlix, I especially expect you to be into this.

10.01.2008

Sneezing

Just sneezed during my federal indian law class - someone said "bless you." And i thought how weird it is we do this - and I wondered what other cultures do when someone sneezes.

I looked it up - my favorite is what the french say in response:

In French polite speech, after the first sneeze, one says à vos souhaits which means "to your desires". If the same person sneezes again, the second response is à vos amours, which means "to your loves." Santé (health) is a more casual response.

You can look up your favorite here.

Christmas (and Halloween, apparently) Comes Early with this Gem

When this woman was arrested for peeing on a neighbor's porch, blocking traffic, and terrorizing children,

"The arresting officer says Allen smelled of alcohol, slurred her speech, and was belligerent. She also allegedly cussed at the officer."

Kudos to you, ma'am.


Full details in this link.
Michelle Allen Will Dress As A Cow, Pee On Your Porch And Give You The Best Mug Shot Ever

All About Palin

Just watch how absurd Bay Buchanan's defense of Palin sounds. (She was also part of Romney's campaign, which makes me sick.) Honestly, you think you would just get tired of spinning the facts so much.

Carville takes her to town at the end with a sweet comment about "facts."

A Gift for the Politically Active

I thought this was a pretty sweet idea.

Re: J's Cloud Trap

NYU Abroad

Also Interesting. Thought we might have a good conversation about the exportation of knowledge, its potential strengths and weaknesses, etc.