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Figures. A moment like this, and words fail me. I don't think this will sound in any way elegant. Granted, I'm still only half conscious.
I'm happy; I'm hopeful. And I'm feeling something else, something I haven't experienced in full for a very long time. It feels strange even now to put it into words: I'm proud to be an American.
Wow, how about that.
To everyone who helped make this victory happen, thank you. We did it. To everyone who is feeling even a little bit joyful this morning, enjoy it. Savor it. This was a huge step, a paradigm shift, but it's just that -- a step. There's still a long, long road ahead. To those who feel fearful, despondent, even angry this morning, take a deep breath. It's going to be OK. No one knows for certain the specific course and change the future will hold, but I think history will bear me out on this one: We've reached a turning point, and it will be for the better.
I don't think I ever felt more proud for a political candidate, and for myself in my support of that candidate, than I did last night watching President-Elect Barack Obama speak in Chicago. I hardly stopped smiling. I was moved in a way I've seldom experienced.
To President-Elect Obama: Congratulations. A lot of us were pulling for you, and still are. Continue to make us proud.
To Senator John McCain: You fought hard. At times, you fought dirty. I disliked and disagreed with much of what you and your running mate said, and the manner in which you said it. But I have to hand it to you -- your speech last night was the classiest, most statesmanlike address I've ever heard you give. You accepted defeat with a poise and dignity that I thought you had lost. You struck the right note. I just hope your supporters really heard it.
Ah. Now, a cover of "Over the Rainbow." Pixies! Pixies all over the goddamn place!
- Music:Celtic Woman - Newgrange
I'm a Highlander fan, but I'm not rabid about it. The franchise's signal-to-noise ratio is problematic for me, but if you have the patience to do some sifting, there are some gems in there. So, I looked upon this latest Highlander movie with wary interest. On the one hand, it's a new Highlander movie. On the other hand... it's a new Highlander movie. If you're experienced with the franchise, you know what I'm talking about.
Regardless, fastening my eyeballs onto this piece of trash was a critical error. Never, ever watch this movie. If you've never seen anything connected to the Highlander franchise, never watch this, or you'll want to kill yourself with a butter knife whenever someone mentions the Highlander or Immortals. If you're a Highlander fan, you absolutely, positively must NOT watch this. You will die a little inside.
I'll touch on some of the main reasons: Terrible acting across the board, ridiculous story, pathetic special effects, utterly uninteresting fight scenes. Yes, the fight scenes suck. Highlander's never been about Oscar-grade acting or water-tight storylines, but at least the fights were fun to watch. Here, not so much.
Yes, the film plays hell with franchise continuity, but that doesn't count, because so does everything else that's been produced.
I can't even recommend this as a "so bad it's good" movie, or a "I want to watch a train wreck" experience. Dr. Forrester should have shown this movie to the folk on the Satellite of Love -- it would have ruined them utterly.
There are a number of reasons why I should've known this movie was going to suck:
1. It's a Highlander movie.
2. It's a made-for-TV Highlander movie.
3. It's a made-for-TV Highlander movie that debuted on the Sci-Fi Channel.
It has virtually no redeeming features, whatsoever. The only thing of which I even remotely approved was that the prime villain, the Guardian, wore a large metal neck protector. It's a mystery that other Immortals don't do this. However, it inexplicably vanishes after the first fight in the first 10 minutes of the movie, so, so much for that.
As though the movie needed something else to piss on, it does one more thing that is utterly unforgiveable:
It killed the theme song. Killed it dead.
It features a music video montage-like scene slap in the middle of the movie for no good reason, featuring a hideous hard/lite rock cover of Queen's "Princes of the Universe." Think of your least favorite, most derivative, unimaginative "hard pop" band, and imagine them trying to perform that song. Or, just puncture your ear drums with ballpoint pens.
It is, without question, the worst slap in the face to Highlander fans, ever. It is worse -- far worse -- than "Highlander II: The Quickening." Let me say that again: It is worse than Highlander 2. Take a moment to let that sink in.
You have zero empathy for the characters, including those who are familiar to you: Duncan, Joe Dawson and Methos. Duncan comes off as a sulky prick, Joe's barely more than gruff window dressing who utters cliches, and Methos is an impotent hanger-on who just stands around looking alarmed and occasionally making snide remarks that barely dent the surface.
The only emotional response I had -- aside from revulsion -- was when Duncan's sword got broken. The Sword. The custom-made katana that's been there from the first movie up until now. This happens an instant before another "tragedy" occurs, one that, strictly speaking, is intended to have a deep, profoundly sad impact on fans of the series, but it doesn't. During this second tragedy, I kept thinking "The Sword is broken! Damn!" Duncan spends the rest of the movie fighting with a couple knives that came from -- well, I don't know where they came from. Perhaps he kept them up his ass along with his ability to evoke a sympathetic character.
Let the franchise die, already. If this is the best that can be done, it doesn't deserve to live.
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Which Major Arcana Tarot Card Are You? created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as XIII: Death Death is probably the most well known Tarot card - and also the most misunderstood. Most Tarot novices would consider Death to be a bad card, especially given its connection with the number thirteen. In fact this card rarely indicates literal death.Without "death" there can be no change, only eventual stagnation. The "death" of the child allows for the "birth" of the adult. This change is not always easy. The appearance of Death in a Tarot reading can indicate pain and short term loss, however it also represents hope for a new future.
|
Lord, I will in the world go run over all,
And cruelly outsearch both great and small;
Every man will I beset that liveth beastly
Out of God’s laws, and dreadeth not folly;
He that loveth riches I will strike with my dart,
His sight to blind, and from heaven to depart,
Except that alms be his good friend,
In hell for to dwell, world without end.
Lo, yonder I see Everyman walking;
Full little he thinketh on my coming;
His mind is on fleshly lust and his treasure,
And great pain it shall cause him to endure
Before the Lord Heaven King.
-Death, "Everyman"
I did so enjoy playing Death in "Everyman" back in college. And I looked rather bad-ass in a black, flowing robe, if I do say so myself.
AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) — The scene of the Clinton press corps' less than ideal filing center in the Berger Activity Center men's locker room. (Photo Credit: Sasha Johnson/CNN)
Updated 8:53 p.m. with a statement from Sen. Clinton's campaign: "These accommodations should in no way be taken as a commentary on the quality of our media coverage," said Clinton spokesman Doug Hattaway.
This sort of photo is almost too good to be true for a site like Wonkette: "When reporters asked for food, Clinton staffers suggested they eat shit."
Obama dismissed Nader as a perennial presidential campaigner. "He thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush and eight years later I think people realize that Ralph did not know what he was talking about," Obama added.
Huckabee uttered this strangely awkward sentence: "I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats, not the Republicans."
I think what he's trying to say is "Doesn't hurt us one damn bit, so, woohoo! Go, Nader!"
I wonder how many Republicans will donate to his campaign this time around in order to weaken Democratic support.
Classy.
Main Entry: classy
Pronunciation: \ˈkla-sē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): class·i·er; class·i·est
Date: 1891
: having or showing class: as a: elegant, stylish <a classy clientele> b: having or reflecting high standards of personal behavior <a classy guy> <a classy gesture> c: admirably skillful and graceful <a classy outfielder>
— class·i·ness noun
Edit: For some reason, the code I pasted didn't make it the first time around.
Mao offered U.S. 10 million womenEr. Dur? I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the concept of a country's leader simply offering up 10 million women. "Here! Take 'em! God knows we don't want 'em."
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.
"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.
"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."
A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million."
After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."
"It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it."
I wish there was recorded footage of people's "O.o" expressions when they heard this.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Three days after New Mexico voted, Democratic officials offer apologies and finger-pointing — but have no winner. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a slight lead, but the state is still counting 17,000 provisional ballots given to voters because of long lines and a shortage of ballots.Oh yeah, and there was the matter of a couple precinct captains in Rio Arriba County keeping ballot boxes in their homes overnight for no good reason.
[Snip]
It was a mess: Overwhelmed polling places with long lines, some up to three hours. Too few ballots. Confusion over where to vote. Bad weather in the north. In Rio Rancho, one of the state's largest cities, a single polling location where 1,900 people remain lined up at 7 p.m on election night.
I'm so proud of the Land of Enchantment, my adopted home state. It never fails to disappoint when it comes to embarrassing itself.
Comcast has modified its terms of service to more clearly explain its practice of traffic management -- throttling certain types of connections and transfers, most notably torrent transfers, Ars Technica reported yesterday.
While this comes in the wake of a a class-action lawsuit and an FCC investigation into Comcast's until-now-secret efforts to slow down torrents, a company rep claims it was just updating its ToS as part of a "normal course of business."
The company still denies that it "throttles" BitTorrent traffic, saying rather that it just delays or postpones it on occasion, according to Ars Technica. OK, fine. You say tomato, etc.
Internet forums exploded with rage after the information about Comcast's futzing with torrent transfers came to light, with many requisite shouts of "Free Internet!" and "net neutrality!" and "F--k Comcast!"
I wasn't thrilled when I heard my ISP was secretly and deliberately hamstringing my connection, even if it was in the name of maintaining network health.
Some argue Comcast (and other ISPs) are interfering with their God-given right to use their paid connections any damn way they want to, including downloading (and occasionally uploading) torrents. That's a fine argument, from the 12 people who use BitTorrent for "legitimate" reasons, but let's face it, 99 percent of BitTorrent users are using it to download free movies and television episodes.
When the complaint becomes "You're making it hard for me to steal this shit" it loses some of its lustre. As annoyed as I am by the interference, I can't shout too loudly.
I'm more than happy to villify bloodthirsty groups like the RIAA, and I feel justified in doing so, and I object to companies pretending to give people unlimited Internet access while imposing secret limitations. And with Comcast, there's still the matter of its indeterminate bandwidth caps.
I just can't drum up sufficient moral outrage over interference with what is, nine times out of 10, an illegal practice.
Er. Hang on. *head explodes*CNN: Coulter wants Clinton over McCain
(CNN) — In the latest sign that a conservative backlash is starting to build against John McCain, conservative commentator Ann Coulter said Thursday she is prepared to vote for Hillary Clinton over the Arizona senator in a general election match up.
Speaking on Fox's "Hannity and Colmes," Coulter took aim at the GOP frontrunner, and suggested he was little more than a Republican in name only.
"If you are looking at substance rather than if there is an R or a D after his name, manifestly, if he's our candidate, than Hillary is going to be our girl, because she's more conservative than he is," Coulter said. "I think she would be stronger on the war on terrorism."
I was glued to the debate last night (admittedly, the first I've watched from start to finish during this election cycle). It was remarkably genteel and civilized -- a debate, rather than a pissing contest. It was good to see -- the answers were substantive rather than bitchy. Unfortunately, with Super Tuesday just days away, I don't think it was the "make or break" debate that I think many were expecting, or hoping for. For those of us who have yet to make up our minds, it offered substance, but not much in the way of polarizing moments.
Clinton and Obama are so similar on their issue stances; they differ in the manner in which they would get things done. Some pundits have said Clinton appeared more commanding, while Obama appeared more inspirational (watching his victory speech in Iowa nicely illustrates that). They are not night and day, however, and they spent a surprising amount of time pointing out their similarities with, and respect for each other.
The most exciting moment for the debate crowd was when they were asked what they thought of a Clinton/Obama or Obama/Clinton ticket. People went ape. Obviously, since neither of them is an idiot, they both danced around the question as best they could. Wolf Blitzer of CNN, however, kept pressing the issue, although I'm sure he knew full well neither of them was going to "go there." It was all rather cringe-worthy.
Still, it's a good thing, being forced to choose between two strong candidates, as opposed to the lesser of two evils. I'd much rather have to make a choice, thinking "God, I kind of like both of them for different things," rather than "Ugh. Which one do I dislike the least?"
While on an instinctive level my opinion of Clinton rose, she still strikes me as a little too calculating, a little over-ambitious. And her continued stubborn refusal to admit her mistake in initially voting to authorize funding for the Iraq War left a sour taste in my mouth.
Hillary, it took you a while to really come out against the war, but you did it. It is perfectly acceptable, in a rational society, to say: "Back then, I made a judgment call based on the information I had at the time. In retrospect, I really wish I had voted the other way. I was wrong, and now I'm doing all I can to correct that mistake."
I think a lot of people would accept that. It doesn't automatically make you a flip-flopper, to change your mind based on new information you've received. It's mental evolution.
Obama tugs at the heart strings more than Clinton does, but Clinton has more practical experience, and seems to have a clearer, more detailed idea of how she wants to get things done. That can come off a little dry, at times. Going on about the virtues and importance of making medical records fully digital isn't going to fire up anyone, unless you work in medical records and realize you might lose your job to a computer. Whoops.
And poor, poor Mike Gravel. He is, technically, still a candidate, although the fact he's got about 48 supporters and zero delegates kept him out of the debate. Has he actually been invited to any of them?
He's still got the best, trippiest, nuttiest campaign ad ever.
Sayed Parwez Kaambakhsh distributed to fellow students copies of an article he found on the Internet questioning why men can have multiple wives, but women can't have multiple husbands.
Media and human rights groups in various corners of the world said "Um, no," and are demanding the sentence be reversed. Afghani officials told them to mind their own damn business.
Kaambakhsh has appealed his conviction and the case will now go to an appeals court, according to CNN. President Hamid Karzai will have the final say in the matter.
CNN: Afghan lawmakers back reporter's death sentence
Here's a nice highlight:
"And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us. He’s joined the list of progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say they support a woman president, just not 'this' one)."Yeah. Good logic there, girls.
The national NOW president, perhaps sensing that some people in this hemisphere might find the earlier statement a touch overwrought, not to mention infantile, put out a briefer and much more rational statement, expressing "enormous respect and admiration" for Kennedy, and stating that while it has thrown its support behind Hillary, it respects Kennedy's choice.
THAT is how it is supposed to be done. Like this: "We disagree, but he made his choice, and we respect that. It doesn't mean he is a woman hater, it means that our opinions differ on this matter. We are reasonably certain Sen. Kennedy does not hate women and everything they stand for."
As opposed to this: "omg u fukin traytor u hate womin dont u im gona ignore u on MySpace and AIM and im writign a nasty poem abt u rite now!!!1!!!!"
I understand Oprah Winfrey got her ass handed to her by a number of her fans for doing the exact same thing -- endorsing Obama and thus betraying the Sisterhood(tm).
Now, I realize as one of the Penis People that the instant I disparage, denounce or denigrate anything to do with feminism or its more... strident... champions, that makes me an Evil Penis Person who clearly wishes all women to do no more than cook, wash dishes and make babies (simultaneously, of course, in order to save time) and thus will not be invited to the next bra burning/simultaneous ovulation party. I find this sort of moral absolutism distasteful and off-putting, and don't want to have anything to do with it anyway.
As for myself, I'm perfectly happy with the idea of a woman president, but I'm sure as hell not going to vote for someone based on their chromosomes.
