I Feel Like I Need To Apologize

I was really psyched to do some blogging this week, but I have no material. I try to come up with stuff, but it never really works out. So, I'm taking this as a sign that I need to stop for the week. I might do some weekend blogging if I come up with some good ideas. And, before I leave, all of you should go download the new Chamillionaire mixtape from his website. So, with that, I'm leaving with a Chamillionaire video and saying peace.

Information Blast: I Can Never Rest

Yes, I totally made a Ben Folds Five reference. Additionally, here is a Ben Folds Five link. But, the reference pretty much sums up how I feel about the news today. Between the coverage of Vick, Lohan, and Ritchie, I want to stab myself in the face. Anyway, let's get this up before I take my own advice.

• Nicole Ritchie is currently going to jail...for four days. At least she manned up unlike Paris. Also CNN, Ritchie is not an actress.
• Spice Girls world tour dates. You know you need some spice in your life.
  
• I'm not alone: Cyclist Bradley Wiggins also thinks the tour is dead. For this year at least. I think it's going to be for a lot longer.
• Astronauts like to sauce up before suiting up.
• If you smoke too much pot, seeing Jesus in the corner might become all too real.
• National Embarrassment and Presidential Candidate Rudolph Giuliani conflates ideas, makes factually specious arguments, and fails to understand the term victory in the context of the war on terror. Did I mention that he was in Houston talking to the public?
  
• John Edwards talks about the death knell for most Democrats, although it's completely necessary: taxing the rich.
• In what's guaranteed to be a more serene television show, Whoopi Goldberg is supposedly the new host on The View. I know that all of you are so excited.
• While they can't do anything else right, the Bush administration can issue a subpoena to Michael Moore for going to that Cold War rival and site of American failure Cuba.
• Along with misleading the public, Giuliani and dog hater Mitt Romney also hate democracy and its constituents.
• There are few truly independent voicees in the media now.
• In the time it took me to compile this, I used as much electricity as would be allowed to a resident of Baghdad for FOUR DAYS!

As I end this, I'm giving a shout to Malik Woods. JESUS IN THE CORNER!

A Note

I've been sitting around watching MSNBC for an hour or so now. I'm fairly confident that they've spent around a half-hour covering Nicole Ritchie and Lindsay Lohan. This is ridiculous. There are troops dying and a fiasco on the hill. Aren't these just as important as these celebutards?? Also, while I'm on the complaint, what's so tragic about drunk astronauts?I feel like most airline pilots are drunk. Did you ever think about why they talk so slowly on the overhead? I know: sauce.

Night Has Fallen

Yes, night has fallen indeed. And with night falling, I'm totally checking out. I went through the news, but nothing was really going on. I'll give props to Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber for their new baby boy Alexander. Anyway, I'm out on some sweet climbing footage from the Tour De France before it was tainted by controversy. From 2000, two legends of the sport Marco Pantani and Lance Armstrong battling on the legendary Mont Ventoux! And, yes, the foreign language is Danish.

A Follow-up To An Information Blast

In some positive news on the computers don't completely own us yet front, human poker players beat a poker playing computer yesterday. There's still hope for success against the computers, humanity. There's still hope.

Real Life Mindfreak

So, I'm sitting around this morning, watching CNN. Par for the regular course. Anyway, this story comes up about a rapist who was let off because they could not find an interpreter of the African language of Vai for the trial after it was said that the defendant would have to be spoken to in that language. CNN thought this highly dubious and did some investigating. Apparently after searching for two and a half years for a translator, CNN found one in two and a half hours. But, this is not the mindfreak. Nor is the fact that the guy could speak perfect English as he graduated from Magruder High School, one of the best schools in Maryland.

The mindfreak is the next door neighbor. There's always a next door neighbor in these types of situations, someone who is familiar enough to answer some fairly remedial questions about the person for the reporter. It was a mindfreak because it was this dude that I went to high school with for four years. I knew it was the dude because I recognized him, and he was wearing a t-shirt with the school's crest on it. So, there you are, a St. Andrew's student knew crazed rapist and child molesters who spoke good english contrary to the Court's demands for a Vai translator. I'm sure my high school would be happy to know that one of its students was on television for such a purpose.

Cycling: A Lost Art?

One of the few sports that has a positive mythology around it is cycling. For my American audience, this will be hard to understand. In a culture that celebrates guys who bang heads together and have problems exerting themselves in continual blasts, the sheer physicality and drama of cycling will be lost upon many. But, to those Americans, I say come with me and look back at some of the great tours and cyclists.

There was Miguel Indurain blasting dudes up the sides of climbs that are hard to drive no less climb on a bike. He won the Tour De France, the grandest of the grand tour (Giro D'Italia, Tour De France, y Vuelta A España), five times. Laurent Fignon was set to beat Greg Lemond in 1989, but, in one of the greatest time trials ever ridden, Lemond made up the time deficit to steal the lead on the last stage and win his second Tour.



Lance Armstrong, seven-time winner of the Tour, gave Jan Ullrich a last glance then started tapping the pedals on Alpe D'Huez, a legendary climb in the Tour De France, in 2001. This move secured Armstrong's third tour victory. And before all of these men, there was the Belgian Eddy Mercx who was one of the most dominant riders of all time. He was so dominant that he rode entire tours de France in the maillot jaune. As you can see, cycling has a long history behind it of men who have used their intense will and strength to ride over 2000 miles in three weeks.

But, this history is threatened by the past two years. Last year, the tour winner Floyd Landis was stripped of his title as he tested positive. This year, two teams were thrown out of the tour for having members that tested positive. And, in an eerie repeat of last year, the tour leader, Michael Rasmussen, was also thrown out of the race. Last year had already set an indelible mark that the tour was going to have to fight its way out of. And, this year, it had done that. The racing this year was pretty exciting. The battles between Alberto Contador, the young Spanish rider, and Michael Rasmussen were quite compelling with Contador trying to get the upper hand. But, Rasmussen never cracked and picked up on the accelerations. In the end, on stage 16, Rasmussen cracked Contador, leaving him in his wake as he climbed to the summit of Col D'Aubisque.

This was, without question, the most exciting ride of the tour. The Col D'Aubisque is a beyond category climb. For those unhip with the cycling language, beyond category means that it is so mind-meltingly hard, the angles so steep and the length so brutal that it cannot be classified from 1 (hard) to 4 (cakey). These two men were surging and acting like they weren't climbing at a 8-9% gradient for miles. These battles on such difficult climbs is what makes the tour compelling, but there was no doubt in past times that these climbs were made on sheer moxie and grit. Now, when someone makes a solid climb, the questions start circulating. Is he cheating? Is he doping?

Given all of the controversy surrounding this year's tour, I hate to say it, but cycling may be seeing its end as a serious sport. It will soon become only the hobby of the rich and successful. Unless the sport gets completely clean, the tour will always be in question for doping and other uncompetitive tactics. As a fan of cycling, this saddens me. But, the cynic in me expects this to be true since the facts speak for themselves. I hope that my cynic is wrong, but it hasn't been wrong in a while, so I'll stick with it.

The Bastardization of Mythology

As you well know, 300 and Troy have come out recently. Both movies were about classic Greek history with the latter being based on Homer's Odyssey. Anyway, both of these movies were pretty interesting studies in the way that Hollywood understands the history of these events. And, that is fairly well in the case of 300 and terribly in the case of the latter.

Shifting historical foci, Hollywood has decided to move from the Greeks to the Anglo-Saxons to tackling one of my favorite pieces of literature: Beowulf. If you haven't read Beowulf before, read the Seamus Heaney translation. It was the version that I read, and it made a pretty graphic story interesting.

Anyway, Beowulf is to now become the new 300. Robert Zemeckis, of Forrest Gump fame, has taken on the directorial duties in this film. The cast stars Angelina Jolie and Anthony Hopkins amongst others interpreting this story while also using radical filmic techniques. From what I saw in the trailer, it looks like it is not going to be authentic to the tradition of the poem, which is sad for the following reason: the myth is totally boss.

The myth is a perpetual battle. Beowulf comes in to get in a fight. He gets the fight brought to him by a huge hellspawn who tears apart a Viking hall. And this is just the first fight; there are two more. I can't imagine why someone would want to deviate from such a priceless script. If they haven't tinkered with one thing from the original, it is the violence. From all outset, this new version looks like it will be as violent as the original story. This fact would be the only thing that would inspire me to see this movie. Otherwise, watch the trailer and see if you will be amongst the sea of comic book fans and fantasy kids who will, indubitably, be at the preview of this film.

A Life Lesson Learned

Just because a crack whore might be a crack whore doesn't mean that you can't trust them. Just because a cop has a badge and a gun doesn't mean that you can trust them.

I'm not here just to blow your mind; I'm also here to drop science.

Information Blast: Misfire

Yea, as this is my first post today at 4 pm in the afternoon, I'm not putting up an information blast. I'll comment on what I see over the day. If you would like to know why this is my first post, I had to go to the library to return books. This isn't a simple process as it's like a 15 minute drive each way and I also spent time in the library. Additionally, I forgot my iPod, so I had to go back and get it. But before all of this, I had to finish reading one of the books that I had to return. That when until about 1 PM this afternoon, so my day started late to begin with.

When I finished all that stuff with books, I had to write some emails and other messages. Yes, I do conduct other regular business. Alright, I've talked enough. Let's write some posts!

Slow Wednesday

Nothing's really happening anywhere and I need to buy cake flour, so I'm leaving. A classic cover. Faith No More - Easy

Celebrities and the People Who Love Them?

So, if you are not up-to-date on the ins and outs of Hollywood, let me sweep you up to date with one classy phrase that a pimp somewhere developed years upon years ago: bitch is crazy. Which bitch you may ask? Glad you did. There are three, to be specific. Let's start with everyone's favorite child-bearing pop singer who married her backup dancer and his super sperm: Britney Spears.

Spears has been a straight mess. According to OK!, Spears had a breakdown at their interview. She looked like a hot mess, spread chicken grease on a Gucci dress, and cleaned up dog poop with a Chanel dress. I'm sure he'd probably kick an ass or two because that's what Karl Lagerfeld would do. Anyway, this is just more wood to the continual mess that has been the life of Britney Spears for the last year. Between the vag photos, the highly public divorce, PoPoZao, Playing With Fire, child custody battles, and coming out in public looking like a street walker, I don't know how Britney hasn't broken down yet either. This girl is a hot mess who either has a mental problem or is beyond saving. I'd like to think the former because that one is fixable. Seriously, I'm sick of seeing this chick make an ass out of herself and filling our gossip rags with useless, uninteresting information about her life. It's not funny anymore. It's really sad.

Any woman that I feel the same way about is Jessica Alba. First, this girl is a straight hater. She comes out in public and just makes hater comments. Unfortunately, she sounds vindictive and angry instead of kind of interesting. No man in the industrialized world, apparently, cares because she's supposed to be one of the hottest women on the face of the planet. I'm in disagreement because she doesn't really do anything for me physically; she's also kind of uninteresting to read about and that's an immediate turnoff to me (I do have to read the gossip about these people). Anyway, she broke up with her two-and-a-half year boyfriend in the most classless way possible: via Phone Call...from another continent. On top of this, she sent an assistant to his house to take his stuff out, thereby eliminating all need to see him again. I mean, except for the fact that she will because everyone in Hollywood sees each other again. Now, that's not G. That's not hood. That's straight punk. Bammas do shit like this. Alba is dead to me. She should act like a real human and at least do it face to face, even if it turns out terribly.

Someone that I wouldn't want to see right now is the misguided train wreck of a starlet Lindsay Lohan. Honestly, I think that she could be a good actress if she weren't always getting in ridiculous predicaments and affiliating herself with the wrong people. As you know from this very blog (Information Blast from the previous day to be exact), Lohan was busted for drugs and DUI. So, this arrest with all of her previous incidents means that Lohan the actress may be dead because no one will take the chance to actually hire here. The term that I read elsewhere was that Lohan was "uninsurable." When you are uninsurable anywhere, you have pretty much signed a death ticket, both literally and figuratively. I can only hope that Lohan pulls through this as she is a very good actress who does do well when given the right opportunity. I think her first step should be finding a new mom. I think a Dame should volunteer to take La Lohan under her wing, teach her how to be a better actress, and show her the right way in life. I think Helen Mirren should volunteer for this because I sense that she would have a sense of humor about it while also not being willing to take a lot of shit from Lindsay.

And, with the suggestion that Dame Helen take upon Lindsay Lohan, I depart from the left coast and go back to the mountain lifestyle. I'm going to dash out my window and kill a bear with my BARE HANDS!

The Darjeeling Limited

is the name of the new Wes Anderson movie that he wrote with Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman. The movie revolves around three brothers played by Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman who travel through India and learn about themselves.

This could very well be a compelling movie to watch, but I'm not convinced from the trailer; it strikes me as being safe for Anderson, which I know sounds strange. I'll probably still see it because I like Anderson movies, but I have a strange feeling that this one will not be one of his better films.

If you would like to watch the preview, go to the apple site and see it in HD, baby. HD.

John Does and American Security

As I noted a couple of days ago, I was watching The O'Reilly Factor with guest host Michelle Malkin. She was talking about a bill that was being voted on that would have allowed for people who provide information in situations of possible terrorism to receive legal immunity. Being the continual skeptic that I am, I had to do some research on this one.

For those not familiar, this bill is being sponsored by Peter King, a representative from New York. The bill arose as a response to the Flying Imams controversy from 2006. The controversy swirled around six American Muslims. The story varies on which side you hear, but some passengers had a belief that the men were going to blow up the plane or hijack the plane a la 9/11. In fact, as all of the facts were sorted out, the Imams were returning back to Phoenix after attending a conference and had no connection to terrorism. Given these facts, the Imams have decided to sue the people who thought they were suspicious, US Airways, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. Rep. King brought this bill forward to stop people from being intimidated by the prospect of a lawsuit to bring credible information about terrorism to the authorities, which is a stupid reason to not report something if you believe it is suspicious. I thought intimidation was the whole reason that the Federal Witness Protection program was started.

If you go to the Internet like I did to find credible information on this case, you will be pretty much shit out of luck. Much of the information that you will find plays to the fact that we are living in a state of terror where anyone can attack at anytime, although all proof of this idea is pretty much null as America has not been attacked since 9/11/2001. But, this does not stop people from acting irrationally and this amendment is a prime example of this irrationality.

Irrational or not, the bill upon which this amendment was attached has been worked on and can be on Bush's desk before the Congress goes on August recess. This amendment will make me ashamed to be an American after it goes into law, which it most likely will.

My shame is in the fact that this bill has essentially condones racial/religious profiling. As is well known by anyone who has looked at it without an agenda of their own, racial profiling doesn't work. It is an ineffective form of policing that also creates a chilling effect amongst the communities that are profiled, most likely communities of color. Because of the fear that they will be persecuted for crimes that they did not commit because they are close to the profile of the actual criminal, people in these communities are far more hesitant to trust and work with the police.

The Muslims, who, as a culture, are a pariah due to the actions of a rogue few, will now turn into martyrs tied to the stake planted in the bonfire of American fear and xenophobia. Their current fears of not being able to assimilate into the country will be further exacerbated by this "john doe" legislation. They will now be reported to the police if they are doing something that seems the slightest bit out of the normal now that tipsters have what amounts to whistleblower protection.

Whistleblower protection is not necessary if you are reporting really suspicious activity that could be related to terrorism because you should be taking the effort to report only if you are positive that something strange is happening. The example that is continually pointed to by the right is a Circuit City employee calling a tip hotline and stopping the attack on Fort Dix. Protection or not, this employee clearly had to call as the signs were quite clear.

Most of the information that led to the arrest of the Imams occurred before they got on the plane. From my perspective and what objective information that I can find on the case, what they were doing is nothing that is patently illegal or suspicious. According to the police report filed following the incident, they were praying and chanting, which if I remember correctly is an important part of the Islamic prayer service. Additionally, an witness reported them talking about Saddam Hussein and cursing about US involvement in Iraq. On this last one, I've done both of these things. Does that make me a terrorist? Should I get my form letter ready for the ACLU?

The only parts that happened on a plane were some movement between seats that isn't out of the ordinary. Additionally, they got seatbelt extensions, which I guess could be used as weapons. The last time I flew, I remember the seatbelt clips not being particularly heavy or at least not heavy enough to really harm someone with it. Additionally, how could you hurt someone with something that you would have to swing in a space where you can barely reach over your head? So, to me at least, this whole case reeks of religious discrimination, especially given the fact that the men were let go the same day after being completely cleared as non-terrorists and as American citizens.

According to MSNBC, there were attempts which failed to limit the amendment to cover just suspected terrorism and not crime. Since the talking head they brought on had no critical sense about him, he didn't elaborate on the greater consequences of such an action like the fact that this can possibly carry over into race issues as well since there is no delineation between crimes. But, let's not talk about race. That's not cool with the public who thinks that everything is just a-OK.

In the end, while I do think that the bill is a disgrace to the history of America as a free country where people can be held accountable to their actions, I also think that the new language is at least fair. From the Washington Times:

Any person who, in good faith and based on objectively reasonable suspicion, makes or causes to be made, a voluntary report of covered activity to an authorized official shall be immune from civil liability under federal, state and local law for such report

I don't like the use of the terms "good faith" and "objectively reasonable suspicion." Both of those phrases reek of "community standards" in Supreme Court decisions. Are the two terms going to be considered afterwards or at the moment of? I'd like that to be ironed out a little bit, and I might be more comfortable with this.

More than anything else, I am not comfortable with the language being used by the right with regards to this law. The right is insisting that by passing this law, America will be safer. Rep. John Boehner believes that Americans will be protected from frivolous lawsuits. I'm sorry, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, what is frivolous about a lawsuit to regain the respect that has been so brutally stripped through public embarrassment and unfounded accusation? What is frivolous about trying to regain one's dignity after being humiliated for practicing one's religion? Is that frivolous to you, Boehner? If that is frivolous to you, Mr. Boehner, god help us all.

Information Blast: Feel The Breeze

For you the reader, all I have to say is yes!

• Bear Grylls's street cred is now heavily in question. He's still boss to me because he drank his own urine.
• J-Lo goes on tour with Marc Anthony. I wonder how this one will turn out. One has no real singing talent and went on the most bullshit tour of all time, when she wasn't singing on television. The other is the walking dead. Should be a good investment of $100+ to watch what will most likely be the shittiest concert of all-time.
• For the ladies, a report from Elle featuring women talking about the Supreme Court and decisions that the Court has made which have hurt women.
  
• If you want to buy the new Joni Mitchell, you will have to set foot in a Starbucks. Convenient for this guy, I don't particularly care for Joni Mitchell.
• Crazy gun guy from CNN Debates is becoming a folk hero for the right, showing how disconnected the left is from the gun nut crowd. You know, since that's a huge crowd for the left.
• In news that is unsurprising to anyone that has ever been on MySpace, there are about 29,000 sex offenders subscribed to the site. If they get rid of these, can they get rid of the porn bots next?
• Watch America's Lawyer totally commit career suicide.
• The master power play of Michael Rasmussen to crush the will of Alberto Contador today on the last climb and solidify his stance as the leader of the race will be overshadowed by yet ANOTHER positive drug test.
• I fail to see how Iraq is getting safer if you can't go to a football match without the threat of being blown up.
• There is a reason why George W. Bush hates America: His Grandfather Prescott Bush hated America. I'm not making this up; this is very, very, very real.
• Just remember this one fact: while Bush says that the escalation was asked for by the generals, it wasn't; the escalation was developed by the neo-conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, the now home of disgraced former World Bank Leader Paul Wolfowitz.
  

Information Blast: This is Just for La Lohan

I might have some sort of brilliant revelation about something that requires me to write a longer post, but, from what I've seen today, that probably won't happen. In the meantime, I have found some good shit. Think of this post as a mid-day report. Yes, that's it a mid-day report. And hey, did you see this photo of La Lohan?! She's living la vida loca!! Anyway...

• Original Star Trek's Chekov is organizing trekkies to fight against the military junta in Myanmar. Yea...wait, it's not Burma?
  
• Fox Mulder was crazy like a fox. UFOs were spotted in England with photos.
• Our Cover Girl for today was busted by the fuzz. She was blown, drunk, and belligerent. This is clearly a time for her dad to attempt to get some limelight for himself.
• Obese girls seem to not like learning as much as their thinner peers. But, if they do, I have faith that they can run a beer pong table. I've seen it with my own eyes.
• In one of the stupider bank heists of all time, Chinese bankers stole from their bank to buy lottery tickets to put the money they stole back in the bank.
  
• In further proof that Cycling is pure corruption, fan favorite and comeback story of the tour Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov was thrown out of the race for blood doping. Cycling will have a hard time redeeming itself after all of this.
• Further proof that Tupac isn't dead.
• BET thought that its parade of self-loathing and self-hate would benefit from getting a name change. Instead of Hot Ghetto Mess, it is We Got To Do Better. If they want to do better, how about starting with a grammatically correct title.
• The Chinese-Mexican Meth King goes down. Wait a second, how does one go about becoming the "Meth King"?
• Minimum wage is now $5.85/hr, lining itself up towards the bottom end of current minimum wage. This is the first raise in a decade, and it still won't help most families substantially.
• In further proof of his stupidity news, McClatchy points out that Bush is a terrible salesman.
• US and Iran are talking again. And, from the news reports, it's clear that Iran likes the US as much as it likes the clap.
• Drew Carey is the new Bob Barker. Yea, that wasn't such a good choice.
• My dream of replacing all of my limbs with bionic ones is coming along quite nicely. Your sacrifice and gains will not be forgotten, soldier.
• Is there a causal link between hip-hop and stupidity in pro sports?
• Paula Zahn to CNN: Peace, Bitchezzz!
• So, how did you become a sex offender? Oh, I mooned a family on the highway.
• CNN either hates Mike Gravel or thinks he has no chance. Oh, right, that's the same thing.
  

MSNBC Hates Dennis Kucinich

In my daily watching of MSNBC, I find the reporters doing something that should be thoroughly inappropriate. It doesn't really matter who as someone is bound to make an error. A frequent occurrence has been bringing on Dennis Kucinich to mock his run at the presidency. Kucinich is only at about 1% of the public vote. But, it is just as important to note that we are still about 16 months away from the general election and 6 months away from the first primaries.

These facts are lost upon the anchors of MSNBC as they have repeatedly tried to slam Kucinich. Today was a fine example of this. Anne Curry tried to suggest that Kucinich should drop out of the race as he has no money and not a lot of poll support. Kucinich neatly stepped around this question. Curry, noticing the step around, tried to hammer Kucinich on the topic. But, Kucinich would not take the bait and talked about how much time he still had to raise his public profile and get people behind his cause. It's sort of sad to see Kucinich get taken behind the shed every time he appears on MSNBC. But, it is better than the fact that the anchors blatantly laugh at Mike Gravel while interviewing him, even though Gravel is right on most of his points.

Politics and Morrissey

I watched the debate tonight. It wasn't super impressive. The questions were better than I thought they would be. The answers weren't on the other hand. Anderson Cooper is a terrible moderator, but he does get an A- for effort. He didn't follow up with as many questions as I thought he could have. I did like the fact that he stayed out of the way hence the A-. If you want to be good and get that A, you will have to be a news reporter from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, preferably Gwen Ifill or Jim Lehrer.

If I had to pick a winner, I would firstly slap the person who asked me to do this because there were no real winners tonight in this debate. After that, I would say that Joe Biden won the debate because he was fiery, passionate, and actually answered the questions. Mike Gravel was actually batshit crazy while being disturbingly lucid. Can I call that "batshit lucid"? Chris Dodd might have lost some points in my book for being kind of lame. Also, I have to give a tip of the hat to America for asking good questions.

Anyway, I'm out of here for the night. Bump this track if you know. Bump it if you don't. Shit's hot.



Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before - The Smiths

Discussion Question

I was talking with my friend Ariane. And, after talking about the restrictions of modernism as a design concept, the discussion came around to violence in American society. Neither of us came up with a good answer for our culture is so violent.* So, I'm posing the question to you: why do you think America is so violent?

*this asterisk is intended for the republicans who will throw graphics at me showing that America is rated quite low with regards to violence. Of course it is. America is a nation of 280+ Million people. We cannot be compared with a country like Jamaica where there are only 2.5-3 million people in the country. And those graphics are per every 100,000 people. So, while 6 people per 100K were killed, that's only 180 at most. Also, we cannot be compared to a country like Columbia, which is in a prolonged civil war against FARC and ELN. As well, gun freedom doesn't work either; there must be limits on the access to guns. If you are a regular person, you will not get into a problem getting a gun. But, laws must be made more stringent to keep the violent and mentally unstable from getting guns.

The True Home of Hip-Hop

Today, big news comes out of New York for the hip-hop world. The rec room where Kool Herc started moving records and bodies in 1520 Sedgwick in the Boogie Down Bronx is now going to be recognized as a historic landmark. In addition, the pioneer himself is arguing that the mixed-income building stay in the same state, especially given the multiculturalism of hip-hop as a form.

If you are in NYC or the Bronx, help Herc out with this. This is a good cause for sure.

This Isn't Really Enough

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) has decided to launch motions to censure President Bush and Vice President Cheney. While I applaud him for actually deciding to do something about the issue, this is not enough. These two goons who run the government need to be taken out of office. One would think that lying about a war would be enough to get someone out of their office. But, my representatives seem to disagree about this very idea seeing as Madame Speaker Pelosi will not move forwards with impeachment proceedings in her legislative body of Congress.

Newsflash: Actresses Aim to be Successful

In some news from the past weekend or thereabouts, an interview surfaced with Jessica Biel aka the one on the left. As you well know, Biel is a featured component (and, yes, that is a double entendre) in the new movie that is raising the ire of gay America while having the support of GLAAD I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. As anyone with a set of eyes can note, Biel has quite a frame. Unfortunately, this gives her the impression that she has been pigeonholed in her roles. Biel, like pretty much every actress on the face of the planet, wants to diversify and show herself as a true talent. She said that she would be willing to become ugly or fat for a role like Charlize Theron did in Monster and Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones.

I'm just going go ahead here and make the obvious comment to be made here: Theron and Zellweger are amazing actresses. Theron's breakout party was Monster, but she had already established herself as an actress to watch. Renee Zellweger is an acting superstar, doing a lot of well-received movies. And, the last time I checked on both of these two, both Theron and Zellweger are not hard on the eyes. So, with all the in-between cut out, we are left with why Biel's struggling to get off the B-List while Theron and Zellweger can make terrible movies and still get big money: talent. Theron and Zellweger have it; Biel: not so much.

If she's still bitter about not getting Thora Birch's role in American Beauty, Biel should do what everyone does when they don't get what they want: go back to the lab and work it out. And, I don't mean work out. I mean work it out. If she needs someone to follow, look at Diana Rigg, Jane Fonda, and/or Helen Mirren. Since Rigg and Mirren are British, they should be referred to as Dames Rigg and Mirren, which they actually are. But, I'm getting away from my point. Both Rigg and Mirren are Shakespearean-trained actors who ooze talent on screen. Jane Fonda is one of the best regarded actresses of the 20th Century. All three of these women are known for being fantastic actors. They are also known for being extremely sexy during their youths (they are all still beautiful now, but I'm not going to put up a Jane Fonda now poster on my wall. Although, she's always welcome to coffee and feminism at my house because I would like to talk politics with her).

Rigg used to wear that oh-so-hot catsuit as Emma Peel on The Avengers. While her character was sexy, she was also clever, talented and considerably smarter than Steed. Rigg actually made The Avengers must watch television, something that Macnee (Steed) could not do on his own. Mirren is best known for appearing naked on film a lot in the earlier part of her career. Regardless of her nudity, she is stood out in those films and has shown that talent is true as she is more well-regarded now than when she was young. Jane Fonda will live on as a sex symbol due to the sci-fi romp that is Barbarella. But, she followed that vapid role with a tragic turn as an down-on-her-luck actress in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, a turn that netted Fonda a nod from the Academy.

As you can see, three women who are all in the same boat as Biel. They were all known for being hot. But, each actress actually showed brilliance of form in movies where they were nothing more than sex symbols and more solidly in movies where their sexuality was not as important. And all of these actresses had their breakthroughs at around Biel's age.

So, while she is complaining about not being successful or being given the opportunities to succeed, maybe she should recognize that sexuality doesn't make an actress; sexuality makes magazine fodder. Talent makes an actress. Even the most sexualized of actresses Marilyn Monroe was actually a pretty talented actress. So, sex appeal really does not stand in the way of getting good roles. All of this, essentially, means that Biel needs to become a better actor instead of taking her complaints to the media. She's starting to sound like Anne Hathaway with all of the "look at me" quotes flying around her.

Information Blast: Extended Edition

I didn't clean out my reader over the weekend. You, the reader, reap the benefits!

• Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey are going to get into political catfights. Maybe I'll really learn Angelou still rises.
• Shitty rappers extraordinaire Dwayne Carter (Lil' Wayne) and Jeff Atkins (Ja Rule) were arrested in the Big Apple on gun possession charges. I guess calling Ja Rule a shitty rapper is an insult. I mean, nothing he can do could be worse than that track he did with J-Lo "I'm Real". Thinking about it gave me a shiver.
• In sad news, baseballs kill.
• Romney should brush up on his Marx before he goes off trying to hate on Hill-Money (that's Hillary Clinton for all the squares).
• If politics were about money, the Dems would have 2008 on lock.
• Tammy Faye died this weekend. I direct you to Shakesville's main editor Melissa McEwan who wrote a much better commemoration to her than I ever could have.
• In the UK, there's nothing wrong with rocking the Folex.
• In another people being stupid with their iPod affair, a woman in Britain is being charged for contempt in court because she listened to her iPod, or to be fair her "mp3 player", instead of the evidence of the trial. Seriously?
• Buju Banton stops being homophobic because he hates being broke more than he hates gay people.
• The White House has issued an order which says that the Justice Department cannot do its appointed job. And who said bipartisanship is dead? Wait, scratch that.
• OxyContin's makers finally realize that their drug probably has fucked up a few too many people.
• Facebook is under fire for partaking in that formal tradition of Harvard: biting other people's ideas.
• More journalistic ink spilled about the democracy of YouTube. Also, there's a debate tonight on CNN using questions from YouTube. You know, in case you didn't know from the plugging of the event for the past 2 months or so.
• Apparently, Lindsay Lohan liked to keep it natural in rehab.
• When keeping it real goes wrong, a kid in Fort Worth got arrested for flashing gang signs at a car. Unfortunately, undercover cops were driving said car.
• The supercomputer domination of human life continues on. First stage was chess. The next stage is poker.
• The Onion A.V. Club shows some love to The Simpsons.
• The British, even though we totally kicked their ass in the Revolutionary War, will be fully examined when entering the country. And the Department of Homeland Security: 100% Perv.
• This article is about filibusters. I'm only posting it because it has a graphic. Woo, failure to close discussion and slow down the business of the government to protect the public!!!!
• Cindy Sheehan is a lady who wants to put some chutzpah back in Congress. And she's taking her fight straight to the lady in charge: Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A Weekend Update

I went to Baltimore on Saturday for Whartscape with Adam. We met up with Tara and saw some interesting bands to put it mildly. The best one that wasn't Beach House was this three-piece called Blood Baby. They were totally amazing and the lead singer has a Fu Manchu. There were some other good bands, but I can't remember their names. I should also clarify that Beach House wasn't the best band on this day, but they were the band that I wanted to see most out of all the bands. They were very good, but more in a serene sort of way. I would have liked to seen them play at like 9 pm or something while the sun is setting. But, I can't really complain about something like that since I got to see a band that I've wanted to see for free.

The night before this, I watched The O'Reilly Factor for the first time in years. I usually don't watch Bill O'Reilly because he makes me die a bit inside because of the way that he is destroying the nature of political discourse in the country. But, I had to watch this edition because it was fellow alumna of Oberlin College Michelle Malkin talking about something that is in her wheelhouse as a Filipino-American: Racial Profiling. She was trying to defend a bill that would keep people who made accusations against people who they thought were terrorists from being hit for racial profiling suits. As almost anyone with a sense of liberty would understand, this is a patently ridiculous idea that would open the doors to a lot of different forms of harassment pointed towards minority communities in America, which would be something that a minority like Malkin should not want. But, then I also realized that I was watching Fox News Channel. I'm not sure what their aim is, but if it is to scare the crap out of viewers, they fully succeed in their goal. Well, that and completely misinforming the audience.

But, even before I thought about this, I had to drive through the suburbs of Washington, D.C. D.C. is a top five congestion area in the nation. Even on late Friday night, I ran into traffic jams and other forms of misery including people who were cruising around without their lights on in the dark and going 35 in a zone where the routine speed is 70. As I got cut off a few times and ran into the weird traffic, I understood why people got shot at now while on the roads of D.C.

So, that was the weekend of this guy. Pretty sweet overall, but it definitely had its low points.