Monthly Archives: January 2006

Live Blogging (and Drinking) For State of the Union

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Naturally, I am drinking Sam Adams for the speech.

Fanatical Apathy – The 2006 State of the Union Drinking Game

Strong and stronger! [drink]

9/11! [drink]

Weapons of mass (murder) [drink]

terrorists hate our freedom! [drink]

EVIL! He said evil! [drink]

Clear plan for victory in Iraq! YAY! [drink]

War is difficult. Sounds like “hard work” to me. [drink]

We are winning! Woohoo! [drink]

Support our troops! Ovation of teh evul minions! [drink]

Military making sacrifices. Sounds like “hard work” to me. [drink]

(Justifiable ovation for the family of the soldier killed in Fallujah. Support our troops, damn you, by bringing them home. Boy, these ovations are can’t-miss, aren’t they?)

Iranian newkiller weapons! [drink]

(lip service about female education in poor countries. Will not be funded and of course there will be no family planning piece)

(here we go – Patriot Act)

9/11! [drink]

By authority given to me and by the Constitution…[drink]

(pause to prepare a delicious dinner of teriyaki salmon, nori-sesame-bonito seasoned sushi rice, and spinach salad with honey citrus dressing)((Soy Vey, I love you))(((don’t look so shocked, the salad is a “kit”)))

(and now into the domestic portion: this is where I get to drink some more)

Tax cuts! [drink]

Permanent tax cuts! [drink]

What the hell is “Non security discretionary spending?” Oh. Defense. We’re cutting the hell out of our social programs, yadda yadda.

Scattered applause to “earmark reform.” McCain on camera. [drink]

And now on to the Elder Issue…

Democrats applaud on “congress did not act on my ‘proposal’ to ‘save’ Social Security. Republicans sit glumly. [drink][drink][drink]

This is like watching 2 bleachers full of basketball fans. Yay! Boo! Standup! Siddown! We got spirit, how bout you? [drink]

(bite of delicious salmon hits floor. The rot is setting in.)

What the hell. [drink] [drink] [drink]

Medical records? Sounds sorta fishy. Just in case… [drink]

Our wimmin need OB-GYNS to have more babies! [drink]

Ah, the oil addiction. (David says “and he’s the pusher”)[drink]

No mention of hybrid cars yet. No drink.

Hybrid cars! Hydrogen cells! Okay. [drink]

Give our nation’s children an edge in math and science! Here’s an idea, repeal all intelligent design laws! Oh, wait, that part’s just a fantasy. [drink]

No Child Left Behind = No Education Will Be Funded. [drink]

Oh, ho… “natural disaster.” If he takes responsibility for Katrina, I get to drink…

Society and the culture wars: no drink

Alito: no drink. The minions slaver for liberal blood.

Activist judges! [drink]

Say goodbye to the nice lady judge, girls, she was your last hope for control over your own bodies for many years to come.

Lip service re lobbying scandal (Hil can be heard yelling “Yeah!”: no drink.

Emergency: 85 BEELION dollars to the Gulf Coast! Rebuilding levees!
Too little, too late! [drink][drink][drink]

No mention of failures re Katrina. Not hearing “I am responsible,” here. No drink.

BARACK! [drink] (I love that guy) [drink]

And rah-rah, sis-boom-bah, God Bless America. [drink]

(break)

Okay, the Democratic response from Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Coretta Scott King! [drink]

You have a right to expect your government to deliver results.

Mention staggering national debt. Has Debt been drinking? [drink]

Tim seems like a nice guy, but he’s waving his hands too much.

No Child Left Behind wreaking havoc! School funding! [drink]

Student loan programs cut by Congress! [drink]

His eyebrow bugs me. No drink.

They should have gotten Obama. No drink.

Wow, this guy is young. At least he’s not Teddy Kennedy. [drink]

Canadian prescription drugs! [drink]

No Child left uninsured in Virginia! [drink]

Support our troops… we all do, you know. [drink]

9/11! [drink]

Are the President’s policies the best way to win this war? [drink]

Bad body armor, bad intelligence, reduce military benifits? [drink]

There’s a better way. [drink]

Okay, that about does it. I only got through 2 beers, so obviously next time I need to drink more and type less.

State of the Union Drinking Game 2006

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Adam Felber’s got a new and improved State of the Union Drinking Game:

Fanatical Apathy – The 2006 State of the Union Drinking Game

The State of the Union Drinking Game (2006 edition) (enhanced!)
First of all, make sure everyone has a few pieces of scrap paper in front of them. These pieces of paper are called “The Fourth Amendment” and will be used during the game. Also, make sure that there is one fluffy and not-too-large pillow handy. Your Host begins with the pillow in his or her lap. This is the Crisis Pillow.

The Rules
– Whenever the President says “evil,” everyone must raise their glass and take a drink. It’s good form to make a brief toast of sorts, something like “Down with evil!” or “Evil is bad!” “Evil” should be pronounced with a soft “i” [“Evihl”].
– When talking about the progress of the War in Iraq, wait for the President to say “We are winning” or “we will win.” Everyone then says “Yay!” raises a glass and drinks triumphantly. When the President says the words “hard work” or indicates that hard work still remains, everyone should say “Awww” and take a disappointed sip.

…

– When talking about about Hurricane Katrina (or anything else, really…) the President may say “I take responsibility.” At this point, raise your glass, exclaim “Finally!” and bring the glass to your lips. Do not drink unless the President says something – anything – that indicates that “taking responsibility” means anything other than saying “I take responsibility.” As you wait, slowly lower the glass from your lips.

As noted, the above rule can apply to a variety of different situations. The lobbying scandal? Sure. Not having fired Karl Rove’s ass yet after promising to do so for outing Val Plame? Yeppers. Asleep at the switch when the merry military lads in charge of inserting positive news stories in Iraqi newspapers were doing their bit for outsourced propaganda? Uh huh.

Oh, it’s going to be an interesting night. Best have beer and blood pressure medicine handy. In the meantime, the Trib published an ad yesterday calling for people to make noise during the speech and “Drown Bush Out.” We’ll see.

Maker Faire? Dammit.

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AUGH. There’s no way we’d be able to go to this, it’s in frickin’ Californeye-yay:

Boing Boing: Maker Faire, April 22-23, San Mateo

Maker Faire, April 22-23, San Mateo
Make magazine is hosting a giant-sized meetup called Maker Faire, to be held at the San Mateo Fairgrounds April 22-23. Ticket prices are very low. I hope to see you there!

Join the creators of MAKE magazine, the MythBusters, and thousands of tech DIY enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, science clubs, students, and authors at MAKE’s first ever Maker Faire.

Damn! There’s just no way we’d ever go.

Via Boing Boing

Amazing Race 9 Lineup Announced!

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Woohoo! Team photos and bios are up at CBS.com The teams of TAR9 are:

LakeMichelle.jpg

here.

danielledani.jpg

Danielle and Dani. Pink.

What is it with girly teams putting “Pink” on their boobs or butts. And oh, goody, they’re loudmouths who’ll use their sex appeal. We haven’t seen that before. (However, if Kevin makes good on his threat, I may decide this team is okay).

BJTyler.jpg

BJ and Tyler. Bohemian.

Wow! Originals! Wacky like some former all-male teams, but this is our first Team Boheme. Both have already traveled around the world and spent a lot of time in Asia. If they make it to Japan, these guys have a big advantage. They’d better not get knocked out too fast, they look like a lot of fun. They’re wacky, they’re funny, they’ve been to Burning Man, so thank God someone’s finally waving the Technohip Alternaflag.

RayYolanda.jpg

Ray and Yolanda. Lawyer and former track star.

These two are a fairly serious threat – it’s always good when a male-female team has a truly athletic woman. It looks like Yolanda could probably beat most of the men in a sprint, too. If Ray can navigate, they’re golden.

UPDATE: This Chicago team may interest .

JohnScott.jpg

John and Scott. Type A/C. Fear of flying.

We’ve seen gay teams before, but this one is interesting. John’s tongue weirds me out a little in the photo, he’s a Type A, and he’s the one with the fear of flying. He’ll have a tough time just stepping aboard the first aircraft. So though he may look like Evil Personified, he’s got a weakness that may humanize him a little.

DavidLori.jpg

David and Lori. Type C/A. Fear of heights.

Interesting juxtaposition, here it’s the less-driven team member with the great fear of something encountered ALL THE TIME on this show. In a short preview clip I saw, they were laughing and seemed to be having a blast.

EricJeremy.jpg

Eric and Jeremy. More traaaack!

Whoa! This could be a pretty racy Race what with all the former track stars. I guess CBS finally thought better of their “all models, all the time” casting strategery. These guys might be fun to watch, but it’s hard to tell from photos anyway.

FranBarry.jpg

Fran and Barry. Old age and guile…

Right, we’ve also seen the Spunky Older Couple Aims to School These Whippersnappers teams. However, Fran’s climbed all the Fourteeners in Colorado, so she’s fit, hardy, and has the endurance to wear down some of the more “run, rabbit run” teams.

LIsaJoni.jpg

Lisa and Joni. Big Sisters of Perpetual Motion.

They admit in their bio that they hope to use prize winnings for plastic surgery. Why? I hope I look as good (not much chance of that, they’ve got a head start). And they’re both over 6 feet tall – that’s Twelve Odd Foot of Pissed Off Menopausal Women, so look out, world!

JosephMonica.jpg

Joseph and Monica. Tall and small.

Another team in the “Huge/Tiny” mold – the great big tall guy and the diminutive girl. No telling from their bio if she’s capable of doing anything, let alone carrying her own pack.

UPDATE: Whine and Cheese didn’t have much to say about this team, either.

WandaDesiree.jpg

Wanda and Desiree. Mother and daughter.

The photo scared me at first because I thought Desiree was simpering too much for the camera. Perhaps she’s shy – but it’s always a bad sign when someone appears to mug a little too much for their promo photos. Wanda seems sensible and she’s well-traveled, so they may do all right.

Tokyo Stormtrooper

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Oh, my GOD, this is good geekery:

tokyostormtrooper.jpg

Click on the photo for a full-size, gloriously detailed image. Check out Danny Choo’s website for the hilarious commentary (also much other anime/action figure weirdness). Danny likes to go out on various errands, fully armored and ready to put down the odd rebellion, perform traffic stops looking for ‘droids, or ride the train to Yokohama.

The title of this particular set: “Densha Trooper.” I think that means something like “Railway Trooper.” Oh, Annie might need to see this.

Via Boing Boing

Technorati Huh?

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I’ve been tinkering around with Technorati Tags, a plugin for Movable Type, trying to get it to work on this blog and the Holy Moly church blog.

I found in the course of things that I had deleted the Atom feed template for this blog, so I restored that. According to something found at Yezbick.com, the problem may be that I put the tag in the wrong spot, and/or in the wrong template. Well, for now it’s in the main index template and also in the Atom template. We’ll see if it works.

I did finally get some tags working for Holy Moly – though I can’t tell if it’s the plugin doing the job, or the ability of Technorati to pick up categories as tags. Turns out I hadn’t claimed the church blog in the right way so it reference the actual blog page, it was looking at the “main” page of the site instead. Duh.

I was trying to get “Idiotarod2006” to show up via just the plugin, which supposedly will take anything entered in the keyword field and turn it into a Technorati tag. Nothing so far. I may have to move the tag from the spot I have in the template to a different spot farther up in the body of the post. Meh.

Enough of that noise. Numa numa!

My Current Obsessions

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David Hewlett: almost as surprisingly sexy as Mitch Pileggi.

Also, strangely hot. Yes, I'm obsessed with David Hewlett, who plays McKay. Apparently, he's making an indie film with some of the other cast and crew of both shows, called "A Dog's Breakfast." He's been making films since he was a kid, so it may be worth a look if/when it ever gets a distribution deal. Still, I'm not that much of a freak for Hewlett: at least I didn't create a fanlisting for his hands, although I totally concur with the one for Joe Flanigan's hair, "Intergalactic Bedhead."

Actually, Atlantis is really kicking ass and taking names from Stargate this season. I like both shows, but I *lurve* Atlantis currently because they're still on the backside of the story curve – they're developing new plots and gaining momentum and in the sweet spot of having a lot of possibilities open to them.

Stargate is not exactly declining in its tenth year, but it suffers from the absence of O'Neill, although Mitchell is starting to come on a little stronger and they're getting new plots spun out of his character's experiences. It'll be better when Vala comes back, though.

We rewatched the episode today where she was introduced, which includes my favorite Stargate line ever: "…OW?" I can watch that scene where Daniel gets smacked around and then smooched over and over again. It's a fangirl's dream come true. Yeah, I'm a bit of a Daniel freak, too.

On the musical front, somehow months after first seeing it mentioned online (I think it was on Boing Boing), I've become somewhat beguiled by the Numa Numa guy. There's just something so loveably happy about Gary's little chair dance. He looks like a doughy kid who might not get a lot of notice from "the ladies." Or "the dudes," if he's that way inclined. He starts out being sort of self-conscious, but then the chorus kicks in and you can see he's just completely into the song and the weirdly happy feeling you get from it.

He's apparently mortified at all the attention he got over it (it made a fairly big media splash a while back) and refused an interview with the New York Times, which didn't "get" him, but the community on the Internets did. He's trying to get over the accident of his fame, but I hope he realizes that he completely wins over people with that video. They may start out laughing at him, but by the third repeat of the chorus, they're waving their arms above their heads and trying to sing along, and wishing they had the words down cold like he does.

So many other people have fully embraced their joy. Gary led the way.

Like Cumberland-Perry Vocational Technical School. You guys rock!

So do the kids in this computer lab.

Gary's on to something there… all the girls are totally into his moves, and not a few of the guys. The song itself is the Avian Flu of mind virii. Called "Dragostea Din Tei," it's incredibly catchy. And it makes you feel… just damn happy to be alive. There's two competing versions, and there's confusion on the Net as to who originally wrote it. The Romanian band O-Zone does the version on Gary's "Numa Numa" video, but the Italian band Haiducci does the version on this bizarre Japanese animated video. Apparently the dancing shrimp and squid and what-not are visual puns on sound-alike words in the lyrics.

Later, after Gary did his version, other people cut pictures of themselves into it, and added puns of their own. Such as a shot of "feta cheese," since the lyric has the word "ferucia (fair-oo-chee-ya)" at that point. It's all incomprehensible good fun. To assist you in making your own version, many sites have the lyrics cut in to the video, so you can sing the actual words. It's especially incomprehensible when it gets cut into a Spanish-language trailer for Walt Disney's "Chicken Little." That won't stay up for long. And yet, it's still funny. And of course, that song.

You can actually see the real dance in this video, which features the O-zone boys doing a kind of disco folk dance. Other obsessions are on hold – TAR will premiere Season 9 late in February – and thank GOD they're going back to the regular format. I've been listening to iTunes a lot… not quite obsession level yet, but still tinkering around with playlists. At some point I'll probably start blogging that, too. Inevitably. I'm pretty obsessed with my Flickr page still – this ebbs and flows depending on whether we're just back from a trip and have a buttload of photos to upload. And of course, there's my continuing obsession with Maui. More on that later. 😉

[tags]David Hewlett, Numa Numa, viral video[/tags] 

Seventy Five Percent

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ABC News: Majorities Disapprove of Bush on Ethics

Jan. 27, 2006 — A clear majority of Americans now disapprove of President Bush’s handling of ethics in government, and three-quarters say the administration should disclose all contacts between White House officials and disgraced Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The administration has declined to release records of Abramoff meetings, saying it will not “engage in a fishing expedition.” But in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll, 76 percent said the White House should produce such a list. Even 65 percent of Republicans said so…

That’s a good sign. I know most Republicans won’t listen to anything a Democrat says, and vice versa, on Presidential matters. So I’m relieved to see that at least some Republicans are questioning the information that comes out of the White House about the Abramoff scandal. They won’t listen to us screaming about the other highly questionable issues, but at least they want to know the truth about this one thing. Maybe, just maybe, they might want to know the unvarnished, unspun truth about more things.

Idiotarod 2006 NYC: BE THERE!

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Oh, man, this looks like fun.

Idiotarod January 28, 2006

The Iditarod is the famous long-distance race in which yelping dogs tow a sled across Alaska. Our Idiotarod is pretty much the same thing, except that instead of dogs, it’s people, instead of sleds, it’s shopping carts, and instead of Alaska it’s New York City.

The third annual event happens January 28, 2006. It will start in Brooklyn, run into Manhattan, and end approximately five miles later. Teams of five will race for a cash prize. And glory.

*Who can race?*

Anyone. Everyone. Last year we had 500 runners. We anticipate more this year. You can forward this invitation to anyone you know.

*Isn’t it going to be cold?*

You can count on it. The race goes off rain or shine, blizzard or breeze. Bundle up.

*What’s the route?*

That’s up to you. The race begins in Brooklyn at 2pm. We will announce two checkpoints and a finish line on our website a week before the race. You choose the fastest path. You will be held for 20 minutes at each checkpoint. There will be booze at the checkpoints.

*Can we get drunk?*

It makes the pain go away.

*Are there rules?*

Yes, quite a few of them. For starters, four people must be attached to and running in front of the cart at all times. There will be referees along the route to disqualify cheaters. We’ll release a more detailed list of rules a week before the event.

*Does my team need its own shopping cart?*

Yes.

*Where do we get a cart?*

Be resourceful.

*Are you suggesting we steal it?*

We didn’t say that.

*Can we modify our shopping cart?*

Yes, although there are rules — kind of like stock car racing. Your shopping cart must roll on four rubber caster wheels. The only exception is that you can attach some sort of sled substructure to the bottom of the cart in case of deep snow or treacherous ice. As a general rule, you can attach things to your cart, make a riding platform, and grease up your wheels. You can also chop up the cart and rearrange the pieces — but they all have to be accounted for. And because one team has already asked, no, your shopping cart can not be motorized.

*What do I do with my cart after the race?*

Get it away from us. Seriously. We faced a $5000 fine last year because of your precariously balanced shopping cart pile. While we’re all for spontaneous public sculptures and temporary memorials, we also believe in fuddy-duddy concepts like responsibility and civic pride. Really. Take the cardboard off the cart. Throw away the onboard water cannons. And take the cart somewhere else. Like a supermarket.

*What is this going to cost me?*

Dignity. Plus, there is a $5 per person entry fee.