Daily Show Debate Quote

Said Rob Corddrey of the Daily Show, in response to an assertion that Senator Kerry had little chance against the hard working man of people President Bush:

“If I may John, that is a bit of a stretch. The Bush people would like to remind you that he held his own against the smartest man in the history of the world. This is an amazing accomplishment for a president who, the Bush team points out, by some standardized test results is technically retarded. John, as RNC chairman Ed Gilllespie told me before we came on air, ‘This is a president who was nearly killed by a pretzel.’”

Best of Blah blah blog: week of 9/27

Here is the second installment of the "Best of Blah Blah Blog" for the week of September 27th:

Miss Universe, Austrailian Jennifer Hawkins was modeling back in her home country, putting on a show for the local fans. As Chris put it, "Even though it started out alright, it didn't end up as planned. All the men in the audience must have collectively prayed to God for Jennifer to step on the back of her skirt and tear it completely off, because he listened, and made it happen, and it was just as great as you might hope."

You can see pictures here and here and you can even watch the complete video (12.5 MB). It really is as good as you'd hope it would be.

Photostamps is an outright cool ass idea for a company and I can't wait to give them my money in return for custom made stamps. I'm not surprised that some outrageous stamps have been produced and successfully mailed through the postal system (I heard a Unibomber stamp made it through - no joke) but right now I can't think of any iconic images that I would want to make into a stamp. Hmmm... I'm really going to have to think about this one. Any suggestions?

Hot and wide awake

Sounds like the title of a Skinimax movie doesn't it? I'm in NJ, done with fasting and atoning for the vows I broke last year, for the wrongs I committed and the rights that I never got around to doing, and wide awake. Wide wide awake. The kind of awake that is uncomfortable this late because you know you are tired, you know that you are getting up in 5 hours, you know that only getting 5 hours of sleep is going to throw off your entire week, and so on and so forth. So after trying and failing to fall asleep I've decided to at least be somewhat productive.

It's 2:31 AM and I'm sitting on a footstool because the chair in this room has 10 text books stacked on it and I'm too lazy to move them. So, I'm awake yet lazy. I've been surfing for the last 45 minutes, catching up on the news and on some blog reading. I work with some very talented people who have their own blogs. So, I started with their writings.

I first checked out Chris's blog to see if anything new has been posted. Nothing's new. I wrote last month that I would on a weekly basis post a "Best of Blah blah blog" entry because I think his blog is that good. I think Miss Universe's skirt getting torn off by her own wayward stilletto heel is post worthy. I'm post it tomorrow.

I then went to Stephanie Klein's blog which is fantastic. I was talking about her at break fast tonight with someone who wants to be a graphic designer. I mentioned how talented she is and then mentioned how she took all the photos that are in the rooms of the Hotel Gansevoort and then how her writing was featured in the Independent, a London newspaper, back in July, etc etc. Basically, I went on and on about her - with good reason. She is hightly talented, multi-facetted and very impressive. I'm slightly intimidated in her presence because I want to be as creatively productive as she is but I'm not. At least right now. I could be if I really tried. I haven't really tried. I will one day. Maybe. Now that I'm thinking about Stephanie, I'll mention something that has been bugging me for almost two years now. If you go to her blog and read it you'll soon discover that she was divorced and is still pretty hurt. However, at work she still goes by "Stephanie Dines" which was her married name. I know that she was divorced over a year ago and quite possibly two because she was married when my incident occurred and was divorced when I returned to work. So, sometime between January 21, 2002 and December 4, 2002 her marriage ended. I have always wondered why she hasn't changed her name back from Dines to Klein, especially since she is as hurt by the breakup as she lets on in her writing. Maybe I'll tell her about this post and finally ask her about it. Maybe I'll do that next week.

Ah, there are so many maybes in the early hours of the morning. Maybe I'll see "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" one night this coming week. Maybe Jessie and I will see an apartment tomorrow that we would actually like to buy. Maybe I'll finally start writing my collection of short stories. Maybe I'll finally come up with an original and viable business idea that will allow me to work out of the home and become rich and famous. Okay, maybe not famous but definitely rich. But the kind of rich that invariably leads to fame because "damn, that guy is so rich." Maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt. We'll see. I should try to go to bed again. I've been on the computer for over an hour now. If you see another post at 4:00 AM you'll know I wasn't successful.

New Star Wars Videogame

There is new Star Wars video game being advertised on TV a lot these days. It's called Stars Wars Battlefront and it looks pretty good. I went to the product site to check out some screenshots, watch a demo vid and generally review it. Although I rarely play my PS2 these days, I have to admit that I will probably rent this game and/or buy it because it seems pretty damn cool. The flash site is decently robust and its neat how its got a music player which streams classic star wars tunes. Check out the requisite AIM icons - the characters are very nicely rendered as pixel art. Some LucasArts games have crappy game play so I'm hoping that this one is good. If I actually do rent/buy/play it, I'll post an update and a review.

The World Wants Kerry As Prez

I read an interesting article from the BBC today about how if the world, and not the US, voted in the November elections, Kerry would win in a landslide. I'm sure plenty of right-wing republicans who want us out of the United Nations will use these numbers as proof of something, though I'm at a loss as to exactly what that something is right now. Anyway, check out the article from those golly good chaps:

A new poll in 35 countries suggests that people around the world would prefer Democratic challenger John Kerry as US president over George W Bush.
Global research company GlobeScan Inc and the University of Maryland found clear leads for Mr Kerry among those polled in 30 of the countries.

Only Filipino, Polish and Nigerian respondents clearly backed Mr Bush.

Most said Mr Bush's foreign policy had made them feel worse about the US since his election in 2000.

Meanwhile, a new survey of American and European public attitudes also suggested there had been a dramatic leap in the latter's criticism of US foreign policy.

More than three-quarters of Europeans surveyed in 10 countries by the German Marshall Fund of the US said they disapproved of President Bush's international actions, 20% more than two years ago.

The survey also showed sharp differences in how governments should respond to potential threats from terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

More than 80% of Americans thought war could achieve justice - more than twice the proportion of Europeans.

The GlobeScan/Maryland poll, of 34,330 people, was conducted mainly in July and August.

POLL RESULTS (KERRY-BUSH)

• Norway: 74%-7%
  
• Germany: 74%-10%
  
• France: 64%-5%
  
• Italy: 58%-14%
  
• Spain: 45%-7%
  
• UK: 47%-16%
  
• Canada: 61%-16%
  
• Mexico: 38%-18%
  
• Brazil: 57%-14%
  
• China: 52%-12%
  
• Japan: 43%-32%
  
• Indonesia: 57%-34%
  
• India: 34%-33%
  
• Philippines: 32%-57%
  
• Nigeria: 33%-27%
  
• Poland: 26%-31%
  
• Thailand: 30%-33%
  

Because of access difficulties, polling was restricted to metropolitan areas in 11 of the countries.

"Only one in five want to see Bush re-elected," said Steven Kull, the director of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

"Though he is not as well known, Kerry would win handily if the people of the world were to elect the US president."

Mr Kerry scored best in traditional US allies, such as Canada and Western European countries.

The highest margin was in Norway, where 74% of respondents backed Mr Kerry compared with just 7% for Mr Bush. The strongest negative views about US foreign policy appeared to come from Germany, where 83% said their view of the US had got worse.

Respondents in all the Latin American countries polled, including neighbours Mexico, also went for the Democrat, with the biggest majority - 57% to 14% - in Brazil.

The picture was more mixed in Asia. Only respondents in the Philippines clearly backed Mr Bush, but there was an almost even divide in India and Thailand.

Organisers of the poll attributed the Philippine result to US aid to a military campaign against Islamist rebels in the south of the country.

Star Wars Quote of the Day

There has been a ton of Star Wars attention lately due to the first three movies, episodes IV - VI, being released as a boxed set in DVD format (finally). The best line I've heard/read so far is from Luke himself, actor Marc Hamill:

"How can you be so serious on a film where you are dodging explosions and running away with Sir Alec Guinness on this side and an eight-foot monkey on this side, and the eight-foot monkey is the one flying the spaceship?"

>>> Courtesy of CNN.com Entertainment news.

Important Jury Duty Info

I received this little news tidbit last week (September 15th) but with the Jewish holidays I finally got around to posting it. This is good to know for all those who may face jury duty one day - now jury duty can be a lot more fun! Read on below for details:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New Yorkers dreading jury duty take note: it's OK to be drunk on booze or high on pot or cocaine while doing your civic duty.

So said a New York judge Wednesday, who refused to set aside the verdict on a retired city firefighter convicted of swiping souvenirs from Ground Zero, citing the U.S. Supreme Court to back her ruling.

Samuel Brandon, 61, found guilty in March of petty larceny for stealing personal items from the ruins of the World Trade Center, asked for a new trial after a juror told him after the verdict that he had been drinking during deliberations.

But Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Ellen Coin cited a 1987 Supreme Court decision which rejected the argument that jurors consuming alcohol, smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine and falling asleep constituted an "outside influence" on jurors.

Coin said being drunk on jury duty was "reprehensible," but that there was little she could do about it given the Supreme Court ruling.

"However severe their effect and improper their use, drugs or alcohol voluntarily ingested by a juror seem no more an 'outside influence' than a virus, poorly prepared food, or lack of sleep," the Supreme Court said in its decision.

Brandon faces up to one year in jail at his Sept. 27 sentencing.

>>> Thanks to Evan Glass for sending this my way.

2000 Election Numbers

Here are some interesting numbers about the 2000 election courtesy of MoveOn.org:

Official Bush margin in Florida: 537 votes
Gore margin in New Mexico: 365 votes
Margin of victory in IA, NH, OR and WI: Fewer than 8,000 votes in each
Eligible 18-24 year olds who didn't vote: 15.2 million
Total eligible voters who didn't vote: 56.8 million

Based on the campaign so far, 2004's results might be even closer than the resutls in 2000. It's scary that the margin might be that small...

Anyone for some real issues?

Taken from Jonathan Alter's article in this week's issue of Newsweek entitled "The Danger of Distractions":

"But there is a second reason Bush wants to spend valuable time debating debates. It runs down the clock on discussion of important stuff, like his record in office. The debate over debates is a classic 'campaign issue' as opposed to a 'real issue.' Campaign issues have little to do with how a candidate would perform as president; they are manufactured by the campaigns to score points. The media, particularly cable TV (which drives so much of the agenda nowadays), make it worse by favoring hot-button stories over complex, hard-to-illustrate real problems that the next president can actually work on."

For the full article, click here.

NASA's fucked

Looks like NASA has some home repairs to make.

Concentration at its finest

If I ever need to hire either a night watchman or someone to look after something, I will look for someone who has "Olympic Ping-Pong Player" on their resume. See the pic below:

Table tennis players at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, clockwise from top left are: USA's Ilija Lupulesku on Aug. 14; China's Zhang Yining on Aug. 22; Shu Arai of Japan on Aug. 14 ; Italy's Yang Min on Aug. 14; Sweden's Jorgen Persson on Aug. 15; Hong Kong's Leung Chu Yan on Aug. 16; Germany's Jorg Rosskopf on Aug. 17 and Ryo Yuzawa of Japan on Aug. 14. At center is Laura Negrisoli of Italy on Aug. 15. (AP Photo/stf)

Thanks go to the the Digital Journalist for posting the pic.

J-Date Profile Gets Mad Hits

Recently, "KnowtheScore," a single guy in NYC who has been posting about his relationship to J-date.com totally revamped his J-date profile. He took the picture which is attached to his real J-date profile and created a completely fake profile to match the same picture. He did this because his real profile has received only two responses over six months and wanted to see what a little fiction could do to his response rate.

In embellishing his profile, he said he made a lot of money doing something telecom related and alluded to owning a boat. Big deal to our jaded NY women right? Well, this fake profile got 22 responses and they are all funny. He has posted the history behind this idea as well as all of the responses he received - its friggin' great and it just made my day at 4:21 PM on a slow, Friday afternoon. Enjoy.

The King in NY!

This is why Erik Neu is part of my ka-tet - he bought me a ticket to this event while I was away on my honeymoon: Conversations with Charlie Rose: Stephen King. Boo-ya! In my old hood no less - I'm beyond psyched, I need to invent a word to describe how I feel...

Here is some background info provided by the 92nd St Y web site:

The most anticipated book in Stephen King's career, The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower is the final installment to the best-selling author's epic series. The end to a saga hailed as a "hypnotic blend of suspense and sentimentality - a sprawling, eventful tale of demons, monsters, narrow escapes, and magic portals" (The New York Times Book Review), The Dark Tower promises to be the most exciting publishing event of the year. Stephen King is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

If you'd like to buy tickets, they are unbelievably still available so click here and get some tix!

On Terrorism

From Paul Krugman's Op-Ed piece entitled "Cult of Death" from the Tuesday, 9/7/04 edition of the New York Times:

"Three years after Sept. 11, many are still apparently unable to talk about this evil [i.e. terrorism]. They still try to rationalize terror. What drives the terrorists to do this? What are they trying to achieve? They're still victims of the delusion that Paul Berman diagnosed after Sept. 11: 'It was the belief that, in the modern world, even the enemies of reason cannot be the enemies of reason. Even the unreasonable must be, in some fashion, reasonable.' This death cult has no reason and is beyond negotiation. this is what makes it so frightening. This is what scauses so many to engage in a sort of mental diversion. They don't want to confront this horror. so they rush off in search of more comprehensible things to hate."

"...and knowing's half the battle."

FROM EBAUMSWORLD:

"Remember how at the end of every G.I. Joe Cartoon they would have some short educational segment and it would always end with the line "And Knowing Is Half The Battle"? These clips are dubbed over with new dialogue and even some of the animation is changed and remixed. The result is so hilarious that I almost wet my pants the first time I saw them. Watch the videos closely to catch it all. If you don't get it, don't worry. It is meant to be random and goofy. We want to thank Fensler Films for creating these videos."

Sacreligious? Maybe but they still are awesome!

Inspired by the MC Paul Barman lyric, "I couldn't stay calm because/ she revealed a bra made of two yarmulkes," designer KS turns the fantasy into a reality but lauching Yarmulkebra.com. This site made me think of Jessie's "shana punim" T-shirt which is put out by the Rabbis Daughters clothing line.That then made me perform a google search on this subject and I found the following at ABCNEWS.com:

Dec. 24 [2003] � It may have started years ago when Adam Sandler released his "Hannukah Song," a laugh-out-loud ode to being Jewish during Christmastime with the refrain, "Put on your yarmulke, It's time for Hannukah."
Click Here

Lately, Jewish culture is being put on the map with features in recent editions of Time and Time Out New York. Both magazines spotlight clothing that proclaims Jewish pride, or as one company seasonally puts it: "Chanukah Chutzpah."

Web sites, including rabbisdaughters.com and jewcy.com, are targeting Jewish youth with pride T-shirts bearing mottos like "Jewcy" � a play on the popular designer brand, Juicy, which says it celebrates"kosher-style fabulosity."

Rabbi's Daughters sells T-shirts that say "Oy Vey," which means woe is me and "Shiksa," which refers to a non-Jewish female. The Rabbi's Daughter line is now in more than 100 stores, and non-Jewish people are buying too.

Then there is The Hebrew Hammer, a new film modeled on the "Blaxspoitation" films of the '70s, like Shaft. It features "an orthodox stud" who is a "sexy and powerful Jewish action hero," the publicity material says. It's all for laughs.

But why all the attention now?

Julia Lowstein, who put a Jewish spin on J. Lo with her company Jewlo.com, says it is a way for Jewish to show off their identities.

"Younger Jews are accepting their Jewish identity and looking for ways to 'represent,'" she told Time magazine. "With the alarming rise in anti-Semitism on college campuses, as well as in the national consciousness, young Jews are feeling that now is an especially important time to be forthright and proud of who they are."

Even fashionistas and non-Jewish celebrities are getting into the act. Christina Aguilera and Kelly Osbourne have been spotted with Jewish pride T-shirts.

(thanks to Jessie for the yarmulkebra.com link which inspired this post)