Before he died, my grandfather's goal was to sell a touchscreen system with a zero error rate across the American South. He found nothing but corruption and incest between the state governments and the mega-giant voting machine companies. Maybe the switch back to paper ballots is a turn away from the sins of the past. Or maybe the politicians have found a way to cut out the middleman and keep the HAVA money for themselves.
Great piece that highlights one of the most stupid decisions of the Bush administration. Remember, this was the guy who wanted immigration reform. Typically, he's caved into the right-wing nuts who want to get rid of immigrants any way possible. I work and know a lot of immigrants, legal and illegal, in L.A, and this idea, at least to those who know about it, is seen as a joke. And a callous one at that. I wish Obama would speak out more about this issue; McCain's already flip-flopped on it to Natavist/Lou Dobbs loonies.
Oh, just roll with the punches. Why anyone still expresses amazement that the Christmas retail season begins so early is beyond me. I ignore it and buy whatever I have to in December, like most people.
"Middle of the summer"? Hell, I'd say summer is winding down at this point. Still, this is pretty ridiculous. I can't imagine anyone buying tickets this early, but there must be someone like that out there...
I think, instead of fretting over the old economic models of the entertainment industry, we should be focusing on new models, how to leverage the Internet to support culture. ITunes is one effort, but the music and movie industries have been slow to adapt.
you know this is really true. at my school a lot of profs have facebook pages, and im even friends with some upper-level administration. you just have to make sure not to post the picture of you giving a pretend blowjob at a party. or at least set your privacy settings so that they cant see them!!! be facebook smart, people!
I am, admittedly, an iPhone owner, but shouldn't we know some things by rote? I know f-stops and crystal sync speeds by heart the same way that a carpenter knows dimensional lumber measurements and a knitter should know their stitching counts (or whatever they call it). These are things that should be learned by experience and training, not recited by a box because you never took the time to learn. It's great to have something that can tell me if it's going to rain when I'm on my way to the park, but at what point does it start to replace the functions of my brain and I turn into a character from "Idiocracy"?
I agree with asamsky: the punishment described seems disproportionate to the infraction. In my own four years at college there was a strict honor code that was regarded as sort of a joke. Most professors were too disinterested in mere undergraduates and didn't pay attention during exams to see students cheating.
It's like Billy Budd for Web 2.0! Except nobody gets hanged and the controversy makes everyone look equally stupid. Honor codes seem to be a major selling point for colleges and universities now, but I can't recall a single example of them actually working well in the press or in my personal experience.
my crew had their own absinthe-tasting experiment. as far as i remember, the kind that is sold in the US is free of wormwood, so no hallucinating is likely. Still, it was a strange drunkenness. Most of what I remember is that we had lots of snacks and at one point we took a box of vanilla graham crackers and a box of chocolate graham crackers and "de-segregated" them. Then later I woke up at five a.m. and threw up the most pure and disgusting vomit yet.
Great. This is exactly what wrestlers need. More reasons for people to call them gay. Way to go.
So, in "Tropic Thunder" is a movie-in-a-movie called "Simple Jack" in which Ben Stiller's character, usually an action movie star, plays a mentally disabled (see I'm being nice) character in a sad, blatant attempt to win an Oscar. The filmmakers are commenting on a real phenomenon; actors take rolls as mentally disabled people in a grab for Oscar gold (the other popular choice is people dying of a disease). Tropic Thunder pokes fun at Hollywood marginalizing and stereotyping the mentally disabled. So what do these RETARDED PROTESTERS do? They try to get the scene exorcised from the film! Why aren't these knuckle-dragging idiots protesting the real offenders, like Sean Penn in "I Am Sam" and Cuba Gooding Jr. in "Radio" and Rosie Odonell in "Ugly Fat Retard Goes Grocery Shopping" or whatever the hell that shameful shit was called. I hate misdirected whining even more than I hate whining, unless of course I'm the one whining, in which case it's warranted and OK.
I think it's hard to claim media bias on this one. After all, Phelps won 8 golds; in the sporting world that's a big deal. Dtdowntown might be overstating Phelps' feat by calling it "historic," unless he means in a very limited way.
Expatriot, you're off the mark. Obama might not be as pure as millions of his supporters once supposed--translated, he's a politician, big surprise--but he's anything but "politically immature." If Republicans believe that--and the smart ones don't--then Obama takes McCain in a landslide.
I wonder how much money it was. It couldn't have been much, but if I were a magician, I'd be hard-pressed to sell a magic trick I'd been working on for four years, no matter how much the payout would be. Although it makes me wonder how often this kind of thing happens in the magic world.
You're being too kind, atomculture. Koons, to his credit, capitalized on the sensationalism that Warhol started (whether it was the films with Joe D'Allesandro, Interview magazine or his Polaroid collection) and took full advantage of a culture that was more open to obscenity. I don't think the sculptures of Koons and his onetime Italian wife were at all seductive or sumptuous, but rather 3-D Hustler mag. He's more serious than a Mark Kostabi, but doesn't even belong in a conversation with Warhol.
These videos kind of reminded me of one of your older posts, the videohippos one, in music and looks. Does he get paid, and do the bands he "narrates" know about his work?
Cool article. Magic acts have seemed to go the way of the typewriter, outclassed by computer animation and special effects. Now all you see is David Blaine, and while he is cool, he doesn't even do magic anymore, he does stunts. I'd like to see this "Rain" trick, it sounds interesting.
I don't know that I'd call it media bias--the Australians aren't doing that well compared to their norms. They have 12 swimming medals, of which 4 are gold and they have no bona fide star with the possible exceptions of Jones and Rice. Meanwhile, Phelps has turned in the greatest performance in the history of the Olympics. Is this media bias or just legitimate reporting of a historic event while ignoring the other relatively pedestrian efforts? If anything, it sounds like there is a major media bias down under, where they're hyping up an otherwise down year for the AU swim team.
All we hear about in America is Michael Phelps, I didn't even know that the Australians were doing well in swimming. Just goes to show you how biased the media is.
This is a really good article. Obama has turned into the "Play-Doh" presidential candidate. He'll take whatever shape you want, and he comes in blue, red, green and yellow. It goes together with the Teleprompter as his oratorical pacifier. Could it be that Obama is politically immature?
I have to say that I was immediately skeptical when Frozen River came bursting out of nowhere with so much critical praise. The movie seemed deliberately plain, and I'm always a fan of a touch of style. Perhaps I'll wait for the DVD.
I would say second-rate Warhol. His sculptures are sumptuous and seductive. And I think Koons is the necessary corollary to Warhol. He took Warhol to his logical extreme.
I don't think you should be offended, Marilyn. It's Koons' work I was referring to, and he couldn't care less what I think, or other detractors of his art think. I've seen his stuff at shows, and think he's a great opportunist, great at getting publicity and great at marketing. As for his art, it's cheesy; sure, kitsch for kitsch's sake, but a fifth-rate Warhol.
The Castle is looking a bit different today, but it's no less ornate and no less grand.
The pictures are of real phone sex workers, with a few short quotes from each about their job. If you go to the link at the bottom of the page you'll get to the original source with more pictures.
i'm sorry, maybe i'm dense, but i don't completely understand this... are these people's real life accounts of phone sex workers? And the pictures, do they relate? i'm sorry i'm being idiotic, but can anyone help me out on this one?
nice find! I love harry knowles and his site ain't it cool. I consider knowles to be one of the best film critics out there, if not the best. he writes from a really interesting perspective, and I love how his philosophy that a movie review "doesn't begin and end with the opening and closing credits." it makes for really great reviews to read and pour over. his dvd columns are great too: that's where he really gets to show off his obscene knowledge of all things cinema. one of my true idols for sure.
Far and away the handsomest man in Hollywood.
I don't get the fascination with knocking American Apparel. It's a CLOTHING store. Not my taste, but to each his own.
That makes sense. Maybe SpliceToday will be the new pfork in a few years. Success > indie cred.
Because making fun of American Apparel makes you indie. It used to be the other way around, until American Apparel got to popular. They're just like Pitchfork, once they enjoy success they become less indie.
He's got at least one more floating around out there. It's called "Fecal Matters," we posted it earlier this summer: http://www.splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/i-don-t-want-for-us-to-eat-shit-anymore-not-that-it-s-bad
he's really cute.i also like this video quite a lot. it's really funny.
that was one of the best arty black and white films i've ever seen. hilarious. not that this is related, but i love the name "noah lennox."
Why do people love to make fun of American Apparel? I bet whoever wrote the title of this post has a fair share of American Apparel in their wardrobe.
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