I Want My MTV

Once upon a time, in a world far, far away, there was a station that played only music videos. They called it MTV.

Now, you'll never guess what's happened! MTV has launched MTvM--mtvmusic.com.

As many people are noting, the design seems to bite off of Hulu's design. But hey, Avenue A | Razorfish does great design work, so I can't fault any intentional imitation.

Here's one of my favorite songs and one of the weirdest videos from the old school (obviously file formats and compression of older videos don't translate to great visual quality):

Talking Heads |MTV Music

U.S. Helicopters Attack Inside Syria

CNN.com is reporting:

"(CNN) -- The U.S. military said it is investigating claims from Syria that U.S. helicopters based in Iraq killed eight people and wounded another Sunday in an attack inside Syria's territory Sunday.

Syria's state news agency SANA said four U.S. helicopters crossed the border and struck a farm about 8 kilometers (5 miles) inside Syria before returning to Iraqi airspace."

What I'm wondering is this: Why now?

Anyone think this is a ploy to swing last minute support towards Military McCain?

I sure hope no one is playing politics with the lives of our American soldiers. There better have been a strategic purpose to this endeavor. With a loose border, there better have been meaningful intelligence to warrant the possibility of creating further ill-will along Iraqi borders.

Right?

Wasssup Now?

60Frames brings it with Wasssup 2008.

Hi, This is Joe McCain.

Joe the Caller. What a jerk.

Palin the Diva

I wanted to title this post: Palin, Lone Wolf, Shot Down. But she's just not smart enough to be a wolf.

Or a fox. More snake.

Now that's a Maverick!

CNN brings us this story about Palin going her own way:

Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

Ron Howard, Ritchie Cunningham, The Fonz and More!

Seriously awesome. By the way, does anyone realize how exhaustive and influential Ron Howard's career has been? Acting aside, look at what he's directed and produced!

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Carl Rove Touched by a Woman!

So, yaknow how sometimes the book is better than the movie? That's the case with the article and video surrounding this event.*

*As of yet, there are no reports indicating that the woman's fingers melted after touching Carl Rove.

Protester in SF attempts to handcuff Karl Rove

2 hours ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An anti-war protester confronted former Bush administration aide Karl Rove while he spoke at a San Francisco mortgage bankers' meeting.

A statement by the group Code Pink identified the woman as 58-year-old Janine Boneparth, who tried to handcuff Rove in what she called a citizen's arrest for "treason."

Yes, I'm from Scranton

So SNL is wrong. Joe Biden's not the only one to make it out of Scranton. Besides myself, I know a few. Like d.

After talking about the problem with people in Pennsylvania, I just wanted to point out the fact that I am familiar with the area.

Here's SNL bashing Scranton in their spoof of the Biden/Palin debate.

(And by the way, there's plenty of stupid people all over the world. They're not exclusive to Pennsylvania. In PA, they're just tougher.)

The Problem with Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is where the American Revolution was brewed and battled. To this day, Pennsylvanians carry a mean streak of independent, rebellious attitudes that lead people (and keep them) in ignorance. When you constantly label differing views as 'anti-American,' as some less-enlightened leaders continue to spew, it seems the people most easily influenced by corporate media, the most stubborn, and least likely to engage in healthy discussion gravitate towards embracing fear-based--non-thought based--beliefs and notions.

Aside from the fact that there's no big mountains, this is the reason I moved away from Pennsylvania. It's greatest strength is also its biggest weakness: an irrational sense of righteousness.

When Republican talking points have been based on manipulating fear, you encite mob-like results where even well-meaning, good-natured people are perverted by the Republican propaganda and the corporate media coverage that allowed such vitriol to run un-checked for years. The only place these deluded notions have been consistently combated are in education institutions.

So, of course, that's why individuals like Karl Rove spin the public into resenting the 'elitist' and 'liberal' advocates of education, while maintaining the need for constant state of defense against terrorism.

This yeilds a partial populice with a paranoid, defensive, exclusionist, and dangerously disillusioned state of being.

The United States Divided

Why?

Some people aren't able to weigh issues. So they turn to guttural, fear-based reactions. Instead of lifting them up and working to educate people on the issues, the Republicans use these irrational talking points that relate only to some fantastical fear they've created in their mind and not to any actual fact or issue.

Here's Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) sounding like a foolish, 7-year old girl who's adamantly adhering to something her 'Daddy' told her, and she's determined to prove that Daddy is right when she doesn't seem to understand the argument or the lack of logic in her position.

Joe the Plumber.

I have so many potential titles for this.

Why I love the Internets.

I'm not Surprised.

Keating 5 Staying Alive.

McCain's Full of Shit.

McCain Gets Rootered by Fake Plumber.

And I could go on. But really, I think I like this one best:

Here's Some Plumber Crack in Your Face.

President McCain

After watching the end of tonight's debate, I realized something. McCain should have been president in 2000. That would have been the perfect time for him. He would have handled the 9/11 tragedy as well as Bush did. He would have done a far better job in going after Bin Laden.

There would have been no Iraq bullshit. I absolutely believe that McCain would have had the military hunt down Osama Bin Laden and then McCain would have killed Osama himself. He would have been the ultimate of all action heroes.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. No telling the economic situation would be any different, but our world position would likely be much better.

Here's the thing: this is now. And this election, in 2008, Obama really is the right man for the job.

That's right.

The Fewture is officially endorsing Obama.

Tina Fey On Sarah Palin

Tina Fey will be going waaaaay off the grid if Palin is elected. Can't blame her. We'll be over run by Jesus Ponies.

Via Huffington Post:

The "SNL" veteran who has come back to play the Republican Vice Presidential candidate (and whose own show, "30 Rock," is still nowhere to be seen), said, "We're gonna take it week by week. If she wins, I'm done. I can't do that for four years. And by 'I'm done,' I mean I'm leaving Earth."

Chemistry of the Fewture

AS our Idiocracy continues on it's path, here we see how chemistry will be taught in the fewture.

At least it will be entertaining.

Hayden Panettiere from Heroes

On John McCain. Okay, not ON John McCain. But talking about him. Yeah, that's it.

(Oh, and if you're at work, you might wanna turn the sound down.)

See more Hayden Panettiere videos at Funny or Die

Palin Wanna Cracker?

John Cleese says that Michael Palin is no longer the funniest Palin on earth.

And likens Sarah Palin to a nice looking parrot.

Philadelphia Tells Palin What's Up

Lynn Zinser at the NYT broke this story about Palin getting boo'd at a Flyers game in Philly. (or so I believe and a thank you to dob.)

Do you think she was expecting to receive the same type of welcoming that Lehigh gave her?

Ha. Not in Philly. Philly knows a fool when it sees one. You can rest sure on that.

Andy Mckee Embarrasses the Hell Out of Me

This guy's mad skillz are so absolutely redunkulous I can't get over it.

I came across him as totally randomly (as this sentence is cliche) on YouTube the other day. As someone passionate about music and acoustic guitar, this guy totally embarrasses me. Because this is the kinda stuff I hear in my head and WISH I could play. This guy does stuff I've never seen anyone do before. And I think he's only in his only 20s. But capoing only the first 4 strings? Playing overhand? And his fingertapping stuff would humble even Eddie Van Halen.



I'm downloading his Art of Motion album from Amazon right now. $8.99 for the mp3 album is money well spent.

Sarah Palin's SAT Scores

I can't say if it's true or not, honestly. 

However, one reputable photojournalist source stated that 'This is the form that Palin's office released. The true scores are 360 370.'

 

But again, I can't verify the accuracy of that. 

Obama Buying Half-Hour Block of Prime-time Broadcast - Advertising Age - Campaign Trail

Wow. This should be interesting.

And hopefully inspiring.

Obama Buying Half-Hour Block of Prime-time Broadcast - Advertising Age - Campaign Trail: "WASHINGTON (AdAge.com) -- In what is likely become biggest network-TV buy of the presidential campaign, Sen. Barack Obama is buying 30 minutes of time on major TV networks for a program to air from 8 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29."

Top 5 Myths About John McCain

Tim Dickinson thinks we're vetting the wrong candidate.

Cars vs Helicopter

Total. Unabridged. Awesomeness.

Finally. Beer Goggles for Your Email.

Another reason to love technology.

Have you ever sent out a late night email, only to wonder what the hell you were thinking in more sober hours?

Gmail wants to help. Via webmonkey:

Is your Saturday morning inbox filled with regret and self-loathing for the drunken e-mails you fired off the night before? If so, Gmail might have a solution for you. Google’s Gmail Labs has a new experimental featured dubbed “Mail Goggles” which will attempt to prevent you from sending out those ill-advised late night e-mails.

Big Insurer’s Spending Habits Disclosed - NYTimes.com

This article in the NYTimes makes me absolutely sick. I keep hearing people talking about a tax revolt. Now I understand why.

Big Insurer’s Spending Habits Disclosed - NYTimes.com: "A week after the insurance giant, the American International Group, received an $85 billion federal bailout, its life insurance subsidiary, AIG General, held a weeklong retreat for its top sales agents at the exclusive St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif. Expenses for the week, lawmakers were told, totaled $442,000, including $200,000 for hotel rooms, $150,000 for food and $23,000 in spa charges.

In addition, the former A.I.G. executive who led the London-based division whose implosion is largely blamed for the insurance giant’s downfall, Joseph J. Cassano, continues to receive $1 million a month from the company, on top of the $280 million he received in the last eight years.

And even after A.I.G. reported $5 billion in losses in the final quarter of 2007, its chief executive at the time, Martin J. Sullivan, argued before a compensation committee that executives should receive performance bonuses. He received $5 million.

“This unbridled greed, this callous abuse of trust of hard-working Americans’ savings is just so disgusting it is hard to put into words, and the anger level in America is coming, as it often has, at Wall Street,' Representative Mark Souder, Republican of Indiana, said."

John McCain: Maverick

Thanks to Creativity for bringing us the scoop on this:

Goodby, Silverstein & Partners creative director Jamie Barrett recently teamed up with MJZ director Craig Gillespie (Lars and The Real Girl) for a series of "behind the scenes" spoofs aimed to question Republican campaign strategy with a smirk.

A Message from Sarah Palin

Letterman continues to burn the Republican candidates in response to being snubbed.

Fact Check: Palin Is Stupid

Millions of Americans are wondering: How stupid is Sarah Palin. They point to her inability to think of a newspaper she's read and non-sequitor, run-on responses as evidence of this trait.

Here's the thing: Palin is the super popular cheerleader who runs for class president. She makes stuff up, since she truly has no idea what she's talking about, then expects you to believe it due to the sheer force of her charm. You betcha!

But to imply that Obama would rather hang out with terrorists than 'see America as the greatest force for good in this world' is a truly stupid distraction technique. If the man is running for president, he has to believe that America is good and that he can help make it better. Everything else aside, this is what someone believes if they run for president. Motives can very widely, but even George Bush believed this.

So America, you are right. Palin is stupid. McCain has been using really wreckless tactics in navigating these last weeks of his campaign. I disagree with his politics, but he is an intelligent man. Palin is stupid. Plain-old stupid. A talent-show approach and a particular and precise diction can certainly be entertaining. But, comon, I don't know how it works where you're from in Alaska, but where I'm from, you don't shoot your mouth off right after getting put in your place. Especially if you get put in your place by a Scranton boy.

I mean, Sarah, think about it. Really. After getting killed by both press and personalities over your Katie Couric interviews, you managed to successfully make yourself look mildly cognizant during your debate with Joe Biden. Not bad. Not good, because you were outclassed, but not bad.

Then you immediately open the door for the press to slam you about inaccuracies all over again. That's like catching flies and pushing them into shit.

Please don't complain to us about the stink.

Via CNN:

Palin cited an article in Saturday's New York Times about Obama's relationship with Ayers, now 63. But that article concluded that "the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' "

Several other publications, including the Washington Post, Time magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The National Review, have debunked the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship.

Barney Frank and Bill O'Reilly

We might have to start a Barney Frank Moments feature on this blog.

Here's Barney and Bill. Funny stuff. They could be a great comedy duo. Frank is the witty, somewhat easy-going Massachusetts intellect. Bill is the blubbering, barbaric, belligerent baboon.

Good times.

You have to respect Frank for not stooping to his level of emotional tirade and for going back at him with some insights for Bill to consider. Thing is, Bill's not very considerable. He's just overbearing.

Just because someone gets away with being overbearing--in fact, even if they make their living by being so--it doesn't mean they're actually right.



(If you click the video and visit the YouTube page, you can also laugh at the Republican supporters who seem to think that this is an effective way to communicate. O'Reilly's audience must consist of mostly divorced individuals and those that can't find a mate.)