I Was Wrong

The comments by Louis and eeky finally pushed me over the edge. I just got back from watching Dances with Smurfs, er, Blue Pocahontas, um AVATAR.

Holy Sh!t!!

James Cameron is a friggin’ genius.

At directing. At visualizing and getting his vision down on film or tape or disc, or whatever. At writing, nazzofastguido. But my sweet bleeding jeebus, that film is a visual freaking masterpiece. (As were Titanic and even Aliens.) My hat’s off to him. And yes, I saw it in 3D, and I have to say that this is the FIRST film in which that gimmick wasn’t a gimmick – it really added to the film.

Ignore the political message – you need to see this thing, and pay the extra for 3D.

Edited to add: In the sequel, directed by Paul Verhoeven, the “Star People” (dressed in leather trench coats and knee-boots, to the dulcet strains of Wagner) return to Pandora, drop tactical nukes from orbit as the ultimate in daisy-cutters, spray the 22nd Century’s equivalent of Agent Orange on the rest of the planet, and strip mine the place for every picogram of “Unobtanium” ore they can get. In a fit of pique, Mother Pandora telepathically convinces the primary gas-giant to compress itself and ignite, thus wiping out all life on Pandora, including the hated “Star People.”

There. I feel better now.

At Least They ADMIT IT

At Least They ADMIT IT

Via SayUncle and Sebastian, the Joyce Foundation admits its agenda:


If you can’t read that, it says that the Joyce Foundation gave a grant of $179,971 to the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health “For support of research on policies that can more effectively restrict firearm ownership to law-abiding persons.”

I had to grab a screen-shot of that one myself.

Video Bleg

Video Bleg

I’m looking for a good, preferably free, flash video editor. I’ve tried a couple so far that haven’t been too impressive, and the final result of the second one I tried wouldn’t upload properly to Photobucket – half of the video is 60fps, and half is 30fps. The 30fps stuff played perfectly, but the 60fps stuff played at double speed. Alvin and the chipmunks audio without video.

I’m willing to buy something, but (being unemployed) I don’t want to spend much.

So, any recommendations?

What Could POSSIBLY Go Worng

What Could POSSIBLY Go Worng?

Police may scrap entrance exam

The Chicago Police Department is seriously considering scrapping the police entrance exam to bolster minority hiring, save millions on test preparation and avert costly legal battles that have dogged the exam process for decades, City Hall sources said Tuesday.

If the process is opened to everyone who applies and meets the minimum education and residency requirements, Chicago would be virtually alone among major cities. Most cities have police entrance exams — and for good reason, experts say.

Then again, it’s not like the CPD doesn’t have a LOT of problems already.

Still, it is interesting to read their reasoning – “to bolster minority hiring…and avert costly legal battles….” Battles resulting, undoubtedly, from that “minority hiring” problem.

The Internet Detects Censorship as Damage . . .

The Internet Detects Censorship as Damage . . .

. . . and routes around it. From what I’ve seen, this video is getting yanked from YouTube and other sites, so I thought I’d host it until Photobucket gets pissy.

http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v99/smallestminority/America_Rising__An_Open_Letter_to_D.flv
From what I’ve read recently 14 House Republicans, 10 House Democrats, six Senate Republicans and two Senate Democrats have announced that they will not be running for re-election. Who will be replacing them? And what about the Democrats who do run?

Of course, I’m going to repeat Ken’s comment from this post:

Yeeeeaaaaaahhhh, but the idea of hangin’ our hats on 2010/2012 puts me in mind of a comment from a post at Jaded Haven. Quoted in part: the subject of Daphne’s post “…is prepared to learn that he must leave it to Republicans to move the progressive agenda at a pace at which it can be absorbed.”

In your heart, you know he’s right.

Voting out the Democrats does not equal “taking back the country.” There’s a reason the Stupid Party is called “Democrat-Lite,” and the choice between the Evil Party and the Stupid Party a choice between castration and a wedgie.

Stolen Shamelessly from AR15.com

Stolen Shamelessly from AR15.com

14 terror suspects mistakenly kill themselves

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Fourteen suspected terrorists died Tuesday night when the bus they rigged with explosives blew up prematurely, police said.

The explosion occurred as the suspects were riding the bus in the province of Kunduz, said police chief Abdul Raziq Yaqobi.

Yaqobi said the suspects wanted to attack Afghan police or foreign soldiers.

NEW GUY!