Friday Humor with Irony
Irony is a word that is misused a lot. Ever since the movie Reality Bites, which had a scene specifically about the definition of irony, I've made a point to be clear what is and isn't irony. This gets me in trouble with people, especially those who like Alanis Morrisette and the song "Ironic", which unfortunately talks about a lot of things that are not ironic. In that way the song is actually ironic. It happened again this morning, I started pestering somebody about their incorrect use of the word irony and they used the song as proof that they were correct. Thankfully, comedy came to the rescue. ...
Originally posted by Inigo Montoya:
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
A friend showed me this video shortly after the incident this morning.
Knight Rider - my guilty pleasure
As a kid I loved watching Knight Rider. So when the new version came on the air this season I made a point to watch it. My initial reaction? It was trash. KITT ( Knight Industries Three Thousand ) transforms, the lead characters are getting undressed before the first commercial break, KITT is so tricked out in battle mode he looks like some VW engineer is going to unmpimp the auto. Things changed though when I started describing it to someone and I made the comment that it is Knight Rider and I shouldn't have expected it to be Firefly. Then it hit me, the old KITT ( Knight Industries Two Thousand ) did transform in battle mode, although it was just adding a spoiler. As for the highly sexually charged show? I seem to remember the Hoff getting it on with a new lady just about every episode. ...
With these thoughts in mind I decided to keep watching. Thanks to my favorite video site, Hulu, this is a breeze and they do earn some money for me watching. Knight Rider is an enjoyable show. It is still more about how cool KITT is there is a ton of sexual tension between many characters, but I'm okay with that. In fact, KITT is cool and that is reason enough to watch it. His upgrades are nice ( plausability be damned ) and his voice is done by Iceman himself, the Real Genius, Val Kilmer. That's pretty cool and I think he voices it well.
Last weeks episode brought up the fact that KARR is has a new version well. KITT nerds are happy about that.
My biggest concern when I was first watching the show was the theme song. Given my history, that is no suprise. That was one area they nailed and I love watching the theme song sequence. So the following video is the theme sequence cued up from this weeks show.
Friday Humor with Dr. Horrible
A friend at work introduced me to this humorous musical show created by Joss Whedon during the writers strike. It is a brilliant piece of humor and art. I would love to see more but, as with something else by Joss Whedon, it doesn't appear to be in the cards. Oh well, this is long and split into three parts but well worth your time to watch. ...
Don't watch if you have a hard time watching Mal Nathan Fillion as a jerk antagonist.
Visit the Dr. Horrible page at Hulu to see just the individual parts ( if you are short on a chunk of time ).
Watch the guild for more Felicia Day goodness.
Participation in Politics
Well, congratulations to the USA. There was a larger participation in this election than any election in memorable history. My hope, is that people continue their involvement in their government. I myself was jaded until I got inspired by the grassroots campaign of Howard Dean in 2004. If you were too jaded to vote before this election, use your excitement as a springboard to having your voice continuously heard. Educate yourself on the issues that are most important to you, one great tool is opencongress.org. For those that voted for Barack Obama's hope, make sure that hope isn't crushed by corporate lobbyists and others who find that hope isn't in their best interest. For those that voted for any other candidate make your voices heard as well. There are elections again in 2010 that will decide who will sit in many congressional seats. Make sure your values are fought for by your congressmen and women. If they aren't, remind them that you can always find someone else who will fight for your values. Maybe you'll even run yourself!
It's November 5th, it is time to really take back our country. A good place to start may be November5.org.
Voting with Glassbooth
As you may have read in my previous post, I voted Saturday. In passing I mentioned that my mind had been changed on my choice for President. The main thing that made me change my mind was glassbooth.org. It is worth taking a look at regardless of your situation.
For instance if...
...you've already selected your candidate and you are not changing your mind:
Check out what some of the issues are and how your candidate stacks up to them. Regardless of who gets elected it is up to you make your values take shape in your government.
...you're on the fence about who to vote for:
Check out where you stand and see which candidates stand closest to you, then vote for that candidate.
...you just want to learn about more of the actual issues:
The site is set up so that each question has links to information about the issues so you can make up your own mind.
...you live in Wisconsin and you want information about the Senate and House races:
The site defaults to the US Presidential election but there is also information on Senate and House races in Wisconsin and a section about New Zealand. I'd love something like this for all my local elections.
For me I first used the site the traditional way. I used my 20 points to pick the issues that were most important to me then rated my stances on those issues and their sub-issues. After my initial results I wanted to make sure it would remain consistant for all categories, since the results were different than expected. I went through and put 20 points in each category. My results were consistant in almost every one. Glassbooth.org didn't change my vote, but it gave me the information to change my vote when I voted.
I voted, thank goodness its over.
Well I finally voted today and thank goodness I can quit thinking about it. My wife did most of the research this time around, I guess 2010 will be my turn. Actually, I hope to start the research process much earlier next time. Heck, maybe there will even be something worth running for! The great thing is that this time I went beyond just who I was voting for and begin to pick who I was voting into a certain position. That is why for some positions I felt a libertarian was a better choice or a republican or a democrat. Unfortunately I only had one place to vote for a Green party candidate on my ballot but hopefully the state party will begin the work right after the election to gain ballot access in the next election(s). ...
I'm glad it is over, for me at least. All that is left to do is wait for the results. Sure, perhaps I can change a few minds before they walk into the voting booth but at this point I don't find it too likely. Of course I did change my choice for president this morning so who knows.
One thing I grasped from the experience that I found important was the need to not vote along party lines. Voting in this country was not meant to be 'us versus them', it was created to be 'who/what do I think is best for my country/state/county/city'. With that in mind certain personal values, while important for some positions, may not even matter in other postions or it could be a bad thing. That is one reason why voting multiple parties makes sense to me. Another reason is checks and balances. Different values come together at some point, so only the most important issues will pass with ease. This keeps us from spending too much or creating too many laws just because the power is there. Finally, the best reason to vote multi party is that you get to vote for an individual. While the parties do hold quite a sway over many politicians, on the local level it doesn't seem as bad. Individuals really are just that and many( if not most ) have great dedication to their communities that can make the best candidate be someone outside of your 'chosen' party.
What do you think?
Finally, some pics
My family is very important to me. I love my wife and kids dearly. However, you wouldn't know it from looking at my blog. My.opera.com has a great system for adding pictures and I just haven't been using it to showcase the loves of my life. All that has changed now that I realized, I can embed my picasa pics in my blog ( what do I do for a living again? ). Read on to see photos from the last two months, AKA birthday time. ...
Steve Martin on The Daily Show
I may have mentioned before that Steve Martin is my favorite comic. So I was extremely excited to see him on the Daily Show. While it reminded me that I have to get a copy of his book, it was also good just to see him riff with Jon. ...
Synchronized debates
We all could have stopped watching after the first one. We probably could have not watched any.
Ralph Nader on News Hour with Jim Lehrer
I am a big fan of public broadcasting. Often the news that we can get from PBS ( often supplied by the BBC* ) shares many stores you just won't get from the mainstream media. Unfortunately NPR and PBS haven't covered the alternative candidates very much. Somewhat understandable, but unfortunate given what public broadcasting should be about. But the alternatives have been covered, including Ralph Nader. ...
Recently Ralph Nader was on News Hour with Jim Lehrer. The interview was extremely professional. Ralph Nader, instead of being told he can't win ( which is not true, he is a longshot ) was asked what he would do as president about the economy, Afghanistan and Iraq.
*Why does the BBC provide more news and less story than our mainstream media?