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Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
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7:59 am - Iron Man, Iron Man/ Does whatever some iron can...
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Finally got around to seeing Iron Man last night. Everybody's right; if you haven't seen it yet, see it now. Superhero movies done right are rare treats (though less rare these days, it seems), so snap 'em up when you can. By this time there isn't much left to say, but I still have a few comments, tastefully hidden behind the cut. ;)
( Iron Man, Iron Man/ Does whatever some iron can... )
Spolier-free recap: Downey unsurprisingly awesome drunk, Paltrow shockingly awesome service-oriented submissive, Michael totally ignorant about Iron Man mythos, and some people can pull off the cheesiest gimmicks with enough pure bottled awesome.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, May 12th, 2008
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10:33 am - "I am black, and you are white." -- "You are blind as a bat, and I have sight..."
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Last Friday's bizarre and unpleasant news:
My parents' dog (mine too, until they moved to South Jersey) spontaneously went blind last week. IIRC, the vet called it "sudden acute retinal degradation", and it evidently just happens sometimes in dogs.
This strikes me as incredibly bizarre and horrible. I mean, it'd suck enough to suddenly lose your vision as a human, but being a dog? Being unable to talk or use tools or put what was happening to you into any sort of context... Terrifying and awful. I don't even want to imagine it--so naturally I've been imagining it a lot.
I like to think of myself as pretty grateful for what I've got (I live in a relatively stable nation, have never known real hunger, have never been homeless, have never had to really fear my government, have never had a hostile army in my country, have two partners who love me...), but it helps to be reminded sometimes.
I haven't been cast into darkness and confusion. So that makes today a _damned_ good day.
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(12 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
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12:28 pm - Blame Canada!
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So I assumed it was just a stereotype...
...But people in Canada--at least in this part--totally punctuate their sentences with "eh"s.
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(comment on this)
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| Thursday, April 24th, 2008
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8:12 am - Huh. It turns out happiness -is- a warm gun.
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Yoinked from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) fearsclave:
So we've all been there: there's discussion of a divisive social issue, and you get the sneaking suspicion that one side just can't get past the assumption that the opposing position is held by "that kind of people". Maybe the prohibition on gay marriage is pretty similar to "separate but equal" racial segregation, but you know gay people just want to force their lifestyle on others. Maybe marijuana is no more harmful that alcohol and tobacco, but you know pot smokers are all just loser burnouts who're a drain on society. Maybe climate change is causing us some real-world problems that need to be addressed, but you know environmentalists are all just tree-hugging hippies.
All Bush opponents are just liberal America-haters. All feminists are man-haters with hairy armpits. All Jews are greedy schemers. All opponents of creationism in schools are hateful atheists... These stereotypes often aren't said explicitly, but they often form part (rarely all, to be fair) of people's opinions on the matter.
Stereotypes turn off thought.
One that I see very frequently is the "gun owners are angry, isolated rednecks who use self-defense as an excuse for violence" trope. You can explain that owning a gun comes from exactly the same motivation as owning a fire extinguisher or wearing seatbelts, but that stereotype often still lurks in the background, coloring everything with a blush of "yeah, but c'mon... They're gun owners."
So you can understand why I was so pleased to see this Wall Street Journal article, which cites results from a major University of Chicago study indicating that, in every measured way, gun owners are happier and more prosperous than their non-gun-owning peers. The results are broken down by deomgraphics (gun-owning Democrats vs. non-gun Democrats--gun owners vs. non-gun-owners in any given income bracket), and the results remain the same: on average, all other things being equal, the person who chooses to own a gun is happier and less bitter than the person who doesn't. He's also more likely to give to charity, both in monetary ways and in non-monetary ones (such as donating blood).
Why are gun owners so happy? One plausible reason is a sense of self-reliance, in terms of self-defense or even in terms of the ability to hunt their own dinner.
Many studies over the years have shown that a belief in one's control over the environment dramatically adds to happiness. Example: a famous study of elderly nursing home patients in the 1970s. It showed dramatic improvements in life satisfaction from elements of control as seemingly insignificant as being able to care for one's plants.
There's a lot to legitimately disagree with over gun ownership in America: how much can the individual's Constitutional rights be hindered to try to prevent unlawful access to guns? How do we assess who's "not mentally competent" to own a gun? Is the right of the people just to defend themselves against criminals, or do we preserve our right to oppose the government, come to that? And we need to openly discuss our policy disagreements; silent certainty kills democracy. Let's just be sure we remember that the people on the other side of the debate are people, not cartoon villains.
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(31 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
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7:38 am - "You maple-sucking puck-slappers!"
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So I haven't read Livejournal in about a week now and I feel completely out of the loop. I am addicted to technology. Y'know all those time travel fantasies about going back in time and meeting famous historical figures and using your knowledge of metallurgy, chemistry, and D&D to conquer the world? I think I'd miss the Internet too much.
Anyway, I'm here for a reason: by this time next week, I'll be in Canada. I mean, only barely in Canada--and in a border city that tries (at least in part) to cater to American tourists--but in Canada nonetheless.
Any suggestions on what I should do while I'm briefly free of the States? I already plan to sample some delicious cigars and get badly injured so I can try out the famous medical system, but what else should I be on the lookout for? Real Canadian bacon? Dollars made of metal? CCA memorabilia? ... My knowledge of Canadian culture is, I suppose, slightly lacking. How much of it can I realistically see in Niagara? We'll be there for the better part of a week with no particular obligations--is there anything within driving distance that we shouldn't miss?
Ooh--and one more thing, so I'm prepared: Canadians love it when you incessantly quote Terrance and Phillip, right?
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(15 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
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12:36 pm - On my way back home...
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11:36 am - Now where's our damn circuses?
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I know one or two of you out there don't begin your days by scrutinizing the Dining & Wine section of the New York Times. So in case you missed it, today's issue headlines with a feature on the political demographics of food.
Essentially, some political strategists--as always eager to break us all down into studiable groups--are using microtargeting to study the eating habits of Americans likely to vote either Republican or Democrat (and in the latter case, granulating the data so fine as to separate the Clintonians from the Obamanites).
I notice that one party tended to line up well with my food preferences...
"For example, Dr Pepper is a Republican soda. Pepsi-Cola and Sprite are Democratic. So are most clear liquors, like gin and vodka, along with white wine and Evian water. Republicans skew toward brown liquors like bourbon or scotch, red wine and Fiji water...
"When it comes to fried chicken, he said, Democrats prefer Popeyes and Republicans Chick-fil-A."
And it isn't only in terms of what I like:
"Mrs. Clinton scored high among voters who also had favorable views of McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Starbucks...
[according to microtargeting expert Mark Penn, Obama] has more of the arugula vote..."
Holy crap! I'm totally a Republican! Pass the Bible, the ammo, and the "God hates fags" bumper sticker! And speak English while you're doin' it, goddammit!
On the other hand...
[According to] JoAnn Clevenger, the owner of the Upperline restaurant in New Orleans...Democrats tend to order earthy, down-home food with lots of juice for sopping, like Cane River country shrimp with garlic, bacon and mushrooms.
...the lines between who eats what continues to blur. Republicans are not necessarily red-meat-eating bourbon swillers...
Don't worry, gipper. I'll keep carrying the burgers-and-Knob-Creek flag for ya.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, April 14th, 2008
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9:14 am - Time, time, time, to see what's become of me...
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Continuing in my long-standing tradition of falling in love with things I can't have, I give you the Patek Philippe Calibre 89 pocket watch:
It's made of 1728 separate parts.
It has a thermometer, a power reserve indicator, a star chart, and a dial that displays the current position of the winding crown.
It displays the full date (day of the week, day of the month, month, and year), and indicates leap years. It displays the phase of the moon, shows the current time of sunrise and of sunset, and calculates the date of Easter.
Plus another 14 features that I don't entirely understand. :)
I'm pretty sure this is the watch God carries. (Well, the God in Time Bandits, anyway...)
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(16 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
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9:56 am - Sooo-weee!
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Yoinked from jaimefeu:
We are making bacon popcorn! :D
[edited to add: As commenters have duly pointed out, Bacon Salt is miraculously vegetarian and kosher. Jewish vegans rejoice!]
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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8:34 am - This just in...
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| Tuesday, April 8th, 2008
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10:31 am - Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar
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Okay, so let's say, hypothetically, that this guy isn't exactly a smoker, but enjoys the occasional cigar (the same way that he enjoys a good beer, but doesn't need to get blitzed regularly to get through life). And let's say that he doesn't know too much about the cigar world--only the basics. And let's say, hypothetically, that he's going to the Canadian side of Niagara falls for his honeymoon...
And let's say he understands that Cuban cigars don't necessarily deserve all their hype anymore, and that their quality can vary pretty widely, but that he'd think it'd be a shame to waste the opportunity to find out for himself.
And finally, let's say that he has a friends list full of people who're unexpected experts on all sorts of topics. Do you suppose anybody out there could give him some input on what brands and lines to look for, and what he could expect to pay? (He sees that Cohibas are among the best, and are in the $25 range, but the Internet isn't always right--also, he fears that Niagara retailers might jack up the prices due to American tourists like himself.)
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, April 7th, 2008
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7:54 am
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| Friday, April 4th, 2008
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9:00 am - This just in...
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7:58 am - "The safety word is banana."
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It's a little late (as it was posted last July), but still I just can't resist passing on the Onion's hard hitting tinvestigative feature: Butterfly Fuck-Swing Filled With Junk Mail:
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"ELMHURST, IL--An adjustable butterfly fuck-swing once used by Nathan Moscone and Sofia Klein-Moscone to have wild and uninhibited sex in myriad aerial positions has been slowly filling up with junk mail over the past several months, the couple reported Monday.
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"'The wife and I sure had some crazy times on that thing before we had the baby...But it seems like forever since I turned her upside down in that thing and dripped hot wax onto her vulva. Maybe we can give it another go after we finish the deck. That's taking up all my spare time at the moment.'
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"'I was just thinking yesterday, Boy, I can't remember the last time I had my fist up my wife's asshole,' Moscone said. 'It happens to every marriage, I guess.'
Also noticeably absent from the couple's sexual repertoire is the bright purple silicone butt plug that, for the past several weeks, has been the favorite chew toy of their Pomeranian, Champ.
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"'Last Thursday, Nathan and I wanted to take his penis prison out of the shed to have a little bit of fun before Dateline,' said Klein-Moscone, referring to a rubber locking male-chastity device. 'But, my God, was that shed a mess—we ended up just sorting junk. At least I found our favorite ball gag, which I'm going to hang in the garage so I know how far to pull the minivan in.'"
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
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10:23 am - That's right--hit the flagpole, bitch!
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9:08 am - I could always trade it for self-sealing stem bolts.
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| Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008
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8:45 am - Das Frischmacher
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| Tuesday, April 1st, 2008
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8:49 am - Tatonka!
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I always fail at April Fool's day. Though I listen to social and political news with almost ridiculous amounts of skepticism, I'm also toweringly credulous when it comes to novelty news. An alarm clock that donates to charities you hate when you hit the snooze button? I'll totally believe that. KFC changed its name because the state of Kentucky trademarked the word "Kentucky" and is demanding royalties? I believed it for years.
Which is why I'm glad I found this _yesterday_. Otherwise I'd worry all day that it was a joke I wasn't getting. And so, I give you the awesomest article on Wikipedia:
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, March 24th, 2008
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7:41 am - Oob!
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...
So most of you understand how awesome the Reduced Shakespeare Company is.
Many of you may know that they've been a tad disappointing lately, what with the absence of classic troupe members and the regrettably bad Complete History of America--Abridged.
What you may not know is that Adam Long (one of those classic members) did a reduced Star Wars Saga in Under 20 Minutes for the BBC, and that it rocks. Seriously rocks. In classic RSC style.
Part one, the Prequel Trilogy, has disabled embedding for some reason. You can find it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6zv1HADbII
It isn't nearly as good as the classic trilogy (obviously), but it's funny and sets up a joke in part 2:
Part 2 ends as it must, with the entire Star Wars saga in under a minute. For your edification, here it is all by its lonesome:
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
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8:18 am - Dropping like flies.
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Damn.
R.I.P Arthur C Clarke.
Is that the last of the great old science fiction writers? :(
I gotta go (find and) reread Rendezvous with Rama.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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