Archive for February, 2009
Sununu On The Daily Show
On The Daily Show last week, Jon Stewart questioned John Sununu, a former Senate Republican from New Hampshire who now sits on the five-person congressional panel overseeing the distribution of bailout funds. Jon attempts to find out why, after eight years in which Republicans created a staggering deficit by pouring trillions of dollars into the Iraqi War and tax cuts for the rich, their solution to the current economic crisis is “more tax cuts.”
Top 10 Sin Cities, From Berlin to Pattaya
Sin cities in which you can pursue vice and debauchery have existed throughout history — from Rome’s glory days where you could follow up your bet on a gladiator fight with an orgy to Shanghai where you could float for days on drug and sex highs in opium dens.
In the 21st century, new sin cities from around the world have taken up the cause, and we’ve compiled them all on our top 10 list. The criteria for a locale to make our sin cities list is pretty simple: It has to offer a strong presence of gambling, sex, drinking, drugs, and/or partying.
Here are the top 10 sin cities that made the cut.
The Story Of Anvil: Mockumentary Or Documentary?
Anybody watching the new documentary Anvil! – The Story of Anvil could be forgiven for feeling like they were being taken for a ride. Minutes into the film, about a forgotten Canadian heavy metal band called Anvil, we’re presented with grainy archival footage of a ludicrous-looking group of young guys in bondage gear, enthusiastically playing guitars with dildos. Contemporary testimonials from giants of the metal world may be intercut with their performance, but there’s something a bit too This is Spinal Tap about it.
In what appears to be a groaning reference to that film’s director, the drummer is called Robb Reiner and as the film progresses, catching up with Anvil a little over 20 years later, with Robb and his best friend, guitarist and singer Steve “Lips” Kudlow still trying to make it, the Tap references continue to come thick and fast. Far from being an elaborately executed hoax, though,…
More Fast-Food Joints in Neighborhoods Mean More Strokes
Living in neighborhoods packed with fast-food joints could increase your risk for stroke by 13 percent, compared to residing in places where such restaurants are less plentiful, a new study suggests.
Whether the link proves to be causal is not known, though, said study author Dr. Lewis B. Morgenstern, a professor of neurology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
“The only thing we are certain about is, if you live in a neighborhood with a high fast-food restaurant concentration, you are at increased risk,” Morgenstern said. He presented his study Thursday at the International Stroke Conference in San Diego.
Has Google Ocean Found Atlantis?
The network of criss-cross lines is 620 miles off the coast of north west Africa near the Canary Islands on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The perfect rectangle — which is around the size of Wales — was noticed on the search giant’s underwater exploration tool by an aeronautical engineer who claims it looks like an “aerial map” of a city.
The underwater image can be found at the co-ordinates 31 15′15.53N 24 15′30.53W. Last night Atlantis experts said that the unexplained grid is located at one of the possible sites of the legendary island, which was described by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
According to his account, the city sank beneath the ocean after its residents made a failed effort to conquer Athens around 9000 BC.
The Best Conservative Movies (Apparently)
Once in a blue moon, Hollywood releases a conservative movie, or at least a film that resonates with conservatives in a particular way. Because conservatives love movies — and especially debates about movies — we decided to produce a list of the 25 best conservative movies of the last 25 years.
Our approach in selecting them doesn’t rise to the level of an actual methodology, but there was a method to it. We asked readers of National Review Online to submit nominations.
Hundreds of suggestions came in, along with explanations and arguments. We considered each one, tallied them up, and consulted a number of film buffs and professional movie-makers.
The Chance for a New World Order By: Henry A. Kissinger
As the new U.S. administration prepares to take office amid grave financial and international crises, it may seem counter-intuitive to argue that the very unsettled nature of the international system generates a unique opportunity for creative diplomacy.
That opportunity involves a seeming contradiction. On one level, the financial collapse represents a major blow to the standing of the United States. While American political judgments have often proved controversial, the American prescription for a world financial order has generally been unchallenged. Now disillusionment with the United States’ management of it is widespread.
At the same time, the magnitude of the debacle makes it impossible for the rest of the world to shelter any longer behind American predominance or American failings.
Every country will have to reassess its own contribution to the prevailing crisis. Each will seek to make itself independent, to the greatest possible degree, of the conditions that produced the collapse; at the…
Did Aliens Chase the Americans Off the Moon?
Pravda: Before we continue with this week’s article I would like to remind you of one very important principle. Do not be swayed by promoters of mediocrity and narrow minded dogma. There is no doubt that you will meet hordes of them in your own quest for real and credible answers.
Especially on the subject of the moon, because it is such an emotional and romantic symbol in most people’s minds and carries countless historic links to activities of past civilizations.
Powerbroker Jack Valenti’s Sexuality Was ‘Obsession’ For FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover
Joe Stephens, Washington Post: When Beltway insider Jack Valenti died two years ago at age 85, he was playing the role of intermediary between Washington and Hollywood as the theatrical, snowy-haired president of the Motion Picture Association of America.
But back in 1964, Valenti was a Houston ad executive newly installed at the White House as a top aide to President Lyndon B. Johnson. And J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI found itself quietly consumed with the vexing question of whether Valenti was gay.
Previously confidential FBI files show that Hoover’s deputies set out to determine whether Valenti, who had married two years earlier, maintained a relationship with a male commercial photographer. Republican Party operatives reportedly were pursuing a parallel investigation with the help of a retired FBI agent, bureau files show.
No proof was ever found, but the files, obtained by the Washington Post under the federal Freedom of Information Act, provide further insight into…
Conspiracy Theory Rock — Banned From American TV!
“Conspiracy Theory Rock” by Robert Smigel was shown on Saturday Night Live during the March 14, 1998 broadcast but edited out of reruns. SNL producer Lorne Michaels told the New York Daily News he “didn’t think it worked comedically.”
In an interview, Harry Shearer said “The truth is that Lorne wanted to continue working at 30 Rock.”
Internet Hate Machine ‘Anonymous’, Takes Down Sick Animal Abusers!
It’s ‘game, set and match’ for the sick bastards responsible for a recent spate of cat abuse, and once again, the main-stream media totally ignores the true heroes in this whole case…4Chan.org
Earlier this week, two young American boys, Kenny and Weston Glenn, decided it would be a great laugh to abuse their cat ‘Dusty’ and then post videos of the abuse on YouTube. The video showed really quite horrific footage of the boys smashing the cat against the wall of their bathroom, which the boys oddly reffered to as their ‘lab’.
Using some ‘1337 haxxor’ skills, Anonymous managed to trace the duo to their Facebook accounts, and later their real addresses…
Boosting Your Mind With Colors
A new study shows that being in a red environment boosts accuracy and memory, while being in a blue one inspires creativity. So, paint your room red before you do your taxes and blue before you write your hilarious romcom screenplay.
The scientists behind the study point out that people associate the red with warnings (fire, stop, alarm, etc.) and thus may unconsciously become more careful and alert in red settings, while blue recalls the calming effects of blue water or blue skies. No word on the strange effects of mustard yellow or eggplant.
Ku Klux Klan Baseball Team
A reminder that baseball truly is the American pastime, this has to be one of the oddest baseball team photos ever. (Check out the cross-eyed manager.) I’m envisioning a Jerry Springer episode in which they challenge a team of Black Israelites.
The Most Brilliant Sci-Fi Mind on Any Planet: Philip K. Dick
Mark Frauenfelder | BoingBoing:
Here’s a PDF scan of the November 6, 1975 edition of Rolling Stone with a terrific profile of Philip K. Dick by Paul Williams.
(If you like the feature stories in Rolling Stone, check out this excellent DVD archive: Rolling Stone Cover to Cover: The First 40 Years.)
UPDATE: David Gill of the Total Dick-Head blog emails:
“Excellent find! This is a fantastic article, probably the best ever written about Philip K Dick. Williams’ interviews (which he eventually collected in a book titled “Only Apparently Real”) capture Dick had his bullshitting best. In the book Dick even tells Williams that the amphetamines he had been taking for years had been filtered out of his bloodstream by his liver before he even got high!”
Finally, A CEO Talks Smart (Sorta)
Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is a smart guy. He believes Americans should pay their mortgages, “(People are) supposed to pay the mortgage, and we should teach the American people, you’re supposed to meet your obligations, not run from them.”
Down With Liberty… Up With Chains!
Ian Svenonious is back with a new project called CHAIN AND THE GANG.
“Everywhere that liberty goes, it leaves a path of destruction. Fast food, bad architecture, materialism, rampant greed, environmental destruction, imperial conquest, class struggle; these phenomena, when combined, seem to be synonymous with “Liberty.”
So just as it’s called “liberty” when war and greed stalk the land, Ian Svenonius (Make Up, Nation of Ulysses and Weird War) calls his band Chain and the Gang. Like a true chain gang, they’re on the road to confront and defy any freedom-lovers that come across their path. They shuffle, manacled, across railway yards, and through graveyards; they’re on the side of the road, picking up the garbage as they walk, as people drive by, yelling at them. All they can do is become a chorus of metal meeting metal, hands hitting hands and a collective voice louder than one.”
Check out the new songs,…
Filmmaker Sues to Name Company ‘I Choose Hell’
A Pennsylvania man is suing the state with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union because he was denied the right to call his company “I Choose Hell Productions.”
Choronzon Interview
P. Emerson Williams (or 333 as I call him). Musician, artist, illustrator, web mogul, chaos magick practitioner. Since the late 1980’s P. Emerson Williams has been making his mark in a world that is not often seen by the mainstream media. But through his incredible work ethic and vast amount of creative energies, as well as a knowledge of how to tap into the powers of the web, he is now able to reach across to his fans in a multi-medium fashion that has only become possible since the turn of the century.
And just when the world catches up with him, he takes another quantum leap forward — as he did in 2005 with the multimedia work “Panic Pandemic”, and promises to do again this year with new releases including the newest Choronzon recording “Controlled Substance”. Perhaps the best way to describe 333 is like a Whirling Dervish — of…
The Slumming of Suburbia
The financial meltdown has produced a vast patchwork of foreclosed and abandoned single-family homes across America, accelerating the decades-long migration of our nation’s poor from cities to the suburban fringe. In 2005, as rising property values reduced affordable-housing stock in inner-city neighborhoods, suburban poverty, in raw numbers, topped urban poverty for the first time.
The trend will continue. By 2025, predicts planning expert Arthur C. Nelson, America will face a market surplus of 22 million large-lot homes (a sixth of an acre or more), attracting millions of low-income residents deeper into suburbia where decay and social and geographic isolation will pose challenges few see coming.
“As a society, we have fundamentally failed to address our housing policy,” said Nelson, director of metropolitan research at the University of Utah. “Suburbia is overbuilt and yet we will keep on building there. Most policymakers don’t see the consequences, and those who do are denying reality.”
Nelson…
