Wal-Mart Worker Crushed - Humanity has its issues but it seems New Yorkers have them in spades. Despite thousands of stores opening for Black Friday without incident, it seems the crowd at a NY Wal-Mart just couldn't control themselves and the result is a dead 34 year old worker literally killed by the stampede of the crowd trying to get into the store (who also broke the doors). It’s something that should never happen and sadly those directly responsible will probably never be punished. I also have a feeling that store management is directly responsible either because too lazy or too stupid to manage the crowd and their expectations with the use of coupons and the like to distribute the more popular black Friday deals. Crowds tend to be more contained if they know the big items are already sold out before they even enter the store.
Macy's Parade Rick Rolled - In a cute joke on the crowd, the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade was Rick-rolled by the man himself.
Lego Mecha Turkey - Click the link for a gallery of a turkey built out of legos. This lego creation has a pilot and various weapons to defend the turkey motherland. Its actually much more complicated and cool then it sounds.
Box Office Weekend - Family fare ruled the box office with Four Christmases taking the top spot with $31.6M and Bolt second with $26.5M. Twilight took a 60% hit, not surprising considering female tweens are about the only group willing to see it considering the bad reviews and heavy romance angle. Not a slam on the business though as the movie cost $37M to make so profits are raining down on the company and that is before DVD sales add to the total. Quantum of Solace made $19.5M considering its slide in the US but that is more then made up by its foreign take. Australia sits at 5th with $14.8M, a horrible take considering the promotional blitz and talent in the movie. It was probably hurt by its 3 hour running time and overall bad reviews which essentially all called the movie boring.
Netbooks vs. Notebooks - If your in the market for a new notebook or netbook, a good read to help you make up your mind covering the areas of gaming, work and play. Overall, my advice is a netbook is good if you travel a lot and just need email, internet and basic word processing. A netbook is built for size and convenience not power so if your a user with many programs opened, tons of stuff installed or do stuff that is processor intensive (gaming, graphic editing, etc) netbooks will not meet your needs.
Fan MegaMan Movie Trailer - An amusing trailer for a MegaMan movie based off the first game of the long running series. Interesting to me is the heavy use of the Transformers soundtrack throughout the trailer.
Weekend Box Office - To the surprise of no one, Twilight rules the box office with a $70.6M take. The movie had generally horrible reviews making fun of pretty much every aspect of the film from story to overall execution. The movie should take a huge nosedive next week but those crazy tweens could defy that expectation. Second went to Quantum of Solace with $27.4M and a 60% drop from the previous weekend. That was probably a result of a near universal bitch slap from reviewers and viewers for its piss poor editing style. Bolt first week took in an ok $27M, clearly damaged by its targeted demographics going to Twilight instead. Madagascar 2 dropped to 4 with $16M and 5th went to Role Models ($7.2M).
Going Out of Business Warnings - Click the link for a video and article that warns that when companies go out of business, the deals may not be so good as it seems on the surface. The reason is usually the companies sell out to liquidators who in turn run the going out of business bargains. Like any company the goal is to maximize profits and to do that means eliminating any previous deals and drops in prices and using the MSRP or higher as the go buy for those percentages off. The net result is a deal may not be a deal. So first off don't even bother going by these stores until the percentage off hits at least 30% or more. Second, research those prices. Don't assume the deal is good until you know it for a fact with a quick online look at other retailers. Finally, remember the stuff is non-returnable so if its something like a TV or the like, it might be worth paying that extra $50 or at a place not going out of business for piece of mind.
Home Prices Show Record Decline - New information shows that its just getting worse. Price values are dropping for the obvious reasons that people want to sell their house but can't. People either can't afford to buy them thanks to the credit crunch, and of course the current job market makes such a purchase gamble a bit risky. I wonder if anyone has bothered to do a crime analysis of areas showing such price problems. I bet there would be a correlation.
Daily Show Sarah Palin Montage - From the Daily Show, a montage of their greatest bits and clips involving that Bush in drag, Sarah Palin.
Stevens Loses Senate Race - Its finally official, that Whore Ted Stevens was defeated by a mere 3724 votes in the Alaskan Senate race. A sign that apparently 47% of Alaskans like their representatives to be corrupt. This also curtails rumors that Sarah Palin was going to take the seat to help in a 2012 bid for the Presidency. There still remains too Senate races yet to be decided, Minnesota (recount) and Georgia (run-off) but those are likely to go Republican preventing the mythical "filibuster" proof Senate that Democrats needlessly kissed Lieberman ass to get.
Serenity Verse - Click the links for images of some of the 215 planets and moons that make up the Serenity Universe. The images and is for "The Complete and Official Map of the Verse for the Quantum Mechanix website.
Bush, World Leaders Don't Shake - As a sign of just how far Bush has fallen and the recognition that he is as Lame duck as a President can get, world leaders didn't bother to shake his hand during a photo op. Just like America, the world is simply waiting for Obama to take residence in the White House.
New X-Men Cartoon Series Trailer - Click the link for looks like an interesting new cartoon series called "Wolverine and the X-Men" that will be on Nick Toons. The last X-series that I enjoyed was way back in the '90s that appeared on the now defunct Fox Kids cartoon block.
Lieberman Remains On Chair - As a sign of just how wimpy the Democrat party is, Joe Lieberman remains as the chairman of the powerful Homeland Security Committee. Lieberman spent the last two years campaigning tirelessly for McCain and spent the last eight supporting Bush on most of his economic and foreign polices decisions that have been nothing but disasters. So the lesson is do what you want, the Democrats will embrace you anyway. I have a feeling that Obama and company are going to regret the decision as I seriously doubt that Joe will be as inclined to rubberstamp Obama plans and will be much more inclined to launch "investigations" on an Obama administration.
Race to Witch Mountain Trailer - A remake of the 1979 classic "Escape to Witch Mountain" that involved two siblings with special powers and lots of naïveté trying to learn about their own origins by going to the mountain but people trying to use those powers for own ends get in the way. A pretty straight forward allegory of kids trying to learn about themselves as they go through childhood (or to a mountain). If the remake is any indication, the writer's didn't get that as the kids know everything, fully capable and seem to have the adults tagging along for comedy relief as things go boom.
Auto Industry Questions - From CNN, key concerns or questions that need answers in deciding if the auto industry gets $25 billion in bailout money. At this point I am thinking no more bailouts. The money has been spent poorly and done little to turn the economy around. The band aid might as will get ripped off at once rather the limping along to an inevitable end. In this case though, the auto industry played a large part in their own fall. They chose to go gas guzzlers when the signs said don't. They chose to bed themselves with oil rather then seek out new sources of energy. They also chose to abuse their work force way back when resulting in the union-chained industry that can barely fart without a union official signing off on it. A bankruptcy might allow those chains to be removed and essentially start over. The market has already been conceded to Honda, Toyota, etc. A start over might be what they need to repair their pathetic reputations.
Lego Safe - Video of a Lego safe that actually works and well constructed.
Time-Lapse Voltron Painting - Cute video that shows the creation of a painting of Voltron, a favorite toy from my childhood.
New Harry Potter Trailer - A new trailer is out for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Price. This one will probably be the most interesting to see translated to film considering its relatively boring compared to the rest since its real subtitle could be the Origin of Voldemort.
Weekend Box Office - Quantum of Solace ruled the weekend with a franchise record $71 million weekend. Its staying power will be determined next weekend. My opinion is there was a good movie but it was edited to death and it seems reviewers and such agree. I expect more then a 50% drop between this weekend and the next. Madagascar 2 took in another $36.1M, Role Models took in $11.7M.
Three Mayors Need Bailout - The mayors of Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Phoenix have asked the Treasury to give them a piece of the $700 billion bailout do to growing financial crisis. All the cities have already cut back on hours, pay and spending but expect to have hundreds of millions is deficit spending.
GM Shockwave - An article that points out just how important GM is to the economy. Not because of its car sales but the domino effect. If GM fails, so will hundreds of suppliers, manufactures, dealers and pretty much any company dependent on them for survival. This of course means thousands of jobs. Those lost jobs will only increase the economic stranglehold on this country. At the way things are going, with retailers holding their breath for Christmas, it’s now a battle to simply avoid a Depression.
Maddow Makes Case On Lieberman - Probably to the surprise of no one, the Democrats have decided to essentially wuss out and let Lieberman keep his committee chair on the powerful Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee despite making it clear that in this area he is 100% Republican. The reason they are considering it is the mythical 60 senators needed to avoid a filibuster. As Rachel Maddow explains, that simply isn't enough of a reason to just remove him.
New Watchmen Trailer - A new trailer for the movie coming out next March. It’s essentially a brand new trailer, new music, many new scenes and so forth. I am still not sold on the movie but I am sold on Malin Akerman who has simply never looked better so I will likely be there on day one.
TV Cancellations - The networks are still reeling from the strike with many shows way down from pre-strike levels. The result is cancellations. Rumors are that Fox is canning Prison Break, has already cancelled King of the Hill and dropping MadTV after its 14 season run. NBC cancelled My Own Worse Enemy and Lipstick Jungle. Over at ABC, rumors are that Pushing Daisies will complete its ordered 13 episodes and then that too is done.
American Express Bailout - It seems the credit card companies and their 30% rates are starting to feel the pain. Much like mortgages, rather then figure out ways to at least get some of their money back (say with lower interest rates but dropped max credit limits) they just keep cranking up the rates. The result is people are defaulting on their cards just like they did their loans and doing it in numbers that have nearly drowned both Capital One and American Express. As a result Am Ex has been approved to become a bank so it can get some of that bailout money. Money btw that is now being diverted to businesses only and not to consumers. This I could agree with if they forced these businesses to renegotiate the debt owed by consumers but it’s all essentially no strings attached money.
Special Comment on Prop 8 - Keith Olbermann aired another special comment condemning the supporters of California's proposition 8. He pretty much sums up my feelings on the subject. I am not gay and friends with no gay people, but despite that this campaign strikes me as simply morally wrong. Its makes false the belief of all people are created equal. The same people that support these kinds of actions tend to be those that claim judgment is for God only, claim that they belief in the beliefs of this country, claim to believe that prejudice is wrong and yet on the issue of gay people all those beliefs they claim to follow they quickly and easier toss away in a quest that is ultimately found on hate and nothing more. Belief that all people are equal, belief that everyone deserves at pursuing happiness does not have the caveat of "only if it makes me comfortable." If limiting it for group regardless of race and sex is wrong then limiting it for a group because of sexual preference is wrong.
DHL Abandons United States Operations - As a sign that the United States fall into a possible depression edges ever closer, DHL has announced its closing US operations and cutting 9,500 jobs. In some cases this will decimate entire towns that exist around the business. Things are not looking good but hey "corporate America first" right?
Timeline of Circuit City's Fall - From Consumerist, a nice timeline that shows the fall of Circuit City that essentially began with an idiot spreadsheet manager of a CEO made the colossal mistake of firing all experience staff for cheap labor. The result of piss poor customer service, inability to answer questions and the resulting lost sales. I am not sure which is worse, the CEO for being so stupid or an executive management and the board of director's for supporting him long after the fallout of his decision became known.
New Up! Teaser - A rather strange teaser for Pixar's next movie. It hints a little more at the story but still rather confusing. Regardless their track record means I will be their on day one.
Lego Millennium Falcon Stop-Motion - In what must have been a massive pain in the rear, a stop motion video of the assembling of Lego's Ultimate Collectors Falcon.
The Onion: Obsessive Supporters - Amusing video that asks the question of "what now?" for Obama supporters that woke up the day after the election without a candidate to sell or talk about electing.
The Moment - A video that captures the moment in Grant Park when Barack Obama was announced that he was the next President of the United States. Regardless of party, the reaction and the joy that comes across is pretty good to behold. It also says a lot how much people are hurting and how desperately hope is needed right now over the fear Republicans continue to sell. Barack may not be able to keep his promises of "change" but it is better then more of the same. Don't worry Republicans, Palin has made it clear that the slander, attack, pander and fear party you know and love will be back for 2012.
50 Barack Obama Facts - Cute little article that covers little tidbits about the President-elect such as collecting Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics, being left0handed, early jobs and many other things.
Secrets of the 2008 Campaign - Really long 7 part story from Newsweek that covers the last two years of the Presidential campaign. Worth a read for anybody that likes a little peak behind the curtain. They also have a series of video that interview the reporters that help compile the information in the articles.
Secret Service: Palin Caused Increase of Death Threats - Sarah Palin's campaign for President amounted to a case of why NOT to vote for Barack Obama rather then why to vote FOR John McCain. As part of that she took great pride in stroking fears of the base. As is often the case when dealing with ignorant people that can't be bothered to verify on their own if information is correct (he is a Muslim, pals with terrorists, etc), violence is considered the only proper response. The result, once Sarah started her campaign of fear, the threats against Obama increased. To think, this is the woman considered the future of the Republican Party.
Inauguration Tickets for Sale - Apparently the tickets for the 1/20 event are going for as high as $20,000. Personally I think the view will be better from TV (and without the cold) but each their own. Buyer beware though, this will likely lead to a lot of scams so I you don't know someone that can get them for you for free (the real cost of the tickets), I wouldn't risk the purchase.
Obama to Reverse Bush - Obama plans to hit the ground running by striking many of Bush's executive orders that existed to promote the Republican agenda or help his business friends. This could include restrictions on stem cell research, preventing carbon dioxide emissions control for California, and many others. Its sounds like a good start to a long road to repair this country from the Republican Party whose mantra of the last 8 years has clearly been "party first, business friends second, country last."
Poll, Bush at Lowest Ever - A new poll shows that only 16% of the country say things are going well in the country, the first time that number has ever dipped below 20%. 83% say things are going badly, the highest the percentage has ever been. Bush as a 76% disapproval level, the highest for any President in the last 6 decades. The previous record holder was Harry Truman in 1952 with a rating of 67%. Considering the economy is getting worse, I don't think Bush has topped out just yet either.
Inside Consumer Reports' Testing Lab - From Gizmodo, an article that has images and two videos from the magazines testing labs. If you don't subscribe, I recommend it, as it can save you some time and money and maybe provide that tipping point when debating which products to buy.
The Day The Earth Stood Still TV Spots - I am not sold on this movie yet. The effects look good, Keanu Reeves taste in entertaining movies is rock solid, it’s just that I still have no idea what the story is about. I guess the earth is about to kill the human race unless one guy can be convinced (probably by the kid he runs with) not to. Havoc ensues in the meantime. The special effects look really good though based on the spots below.
Meet Ann Nixon Cooper - The 106 year old from Atlanta was the centerpiece of Barack Obama's acceptance speech. As they said she has seen a lot of history and met a lot of those figures too. Oddly she hasn't met Obama yet but hopefully that will change. Either because he gets an invite to his inauguration or because he comes to Atlanta to help Martin defeat that slime Saxby Chambliss.
Palin vs McCain Information - From Fox News, behind the scenes information is starting to come out regarding Palin and her extreme lack of knowledge and attitude she had during the campaign. Everything you hear about her continues to support the notion that she is truly Bush in drag. We had eight years of a non-intellectual that remains curious about nothing and it seems Republicans want the female version of the same thing.
Windows 3.x Discontinued - 18 years later and Microsoft has finally ended the licensing of the legendary operating system. My first computer ran off of 3.1 and its how I learned many of the computer skills I have today. It is amazing how much computers have and have not changed over the years.
As a sign of just how far the United States has fallen in the eyes of the world, there where actual celebrations both in the states and across the world at the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. As part of the celebration, Barack gave an excellent victory speech (below) and McCain provided a solid, classy concession speech that sadly given before a not so classy audience.
From USAToday: "From Beijing's streets to France's Elysee Palace, common citizens and leaders of the world greeted Barack Obama's election largely as a sign of hope that America would mend torn international relations and lead the way out of global economic turmoil."
Famed writer, producer, and filmmaker Michael Crichton died Tuesday at the age of 66 due to cancer. If you’re a fan of movies, TV and books, this man has a part in all three.
His books include Airframe, Congo, Jurassic Park, and Amdromeda Strain, Next, Timeline and many more. More then 150 million books are published worldwide and many turned into box office successes, especially the Jurassic Park franchise. His TV work included the creation of "ER" which is going to wrap up its 15th season next year.
"While the world knew him as a great story teller that challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us -- and entertained us all while doing so -- his wife Sherri, daughter Taylor, family and friends knew Michael Crichton as a devoted husband, loving father and generous friend who inspired each of us to strive to see the wonders of our world through new eyes," the statement said. "He did this with a wry sense of humor that those who were privileged to know him personally will never forget."
Crichton won an Emmy, a Peabody, and a Writer's Guild of America Award for "ER." In 2002, a newly discovered ankylosaur was named for him: Crichtonsaurus bohlini.
A legend of the entertainment industry. His work will be missed.
Using Real Clear Politics interactive map, below is my best guess on how election night will go. My best guess is 278-260 for Obama. That projection is based on history, my pessimistic view of people in general, polling information from 538.com and a whole lot of guess work. By midnight tonight I will know how close or not I am. I am hoping I am completely off the mark and the result is really the 349-189 that 358.com is projecting.
I think the undecided vote will go about 70%-30% in McCain's favor resulting in all toss up states going McCain's way. This includes the usually critical Florida, Ohio and Virginia. On the plus side, Obama has run a campaign that minimizes the importance of the "battleground" states and he will just eek out a win, assuming no voting fraud occurs.
According to Yahoo's Election timeline we could know the results shortly after 7:00pm when polls close in multiple states. If Georgia, Indiana, and Virginia all go solid Obama early, that will indicates a landslide. If they don't or remain too close to call, that will indicate a long night is in store for everyone.
Circuit City Closing Stores - The electronic stores announced it is closing 155 stores out of 600. Strangely it seems in many cases they are nearly abandoning entire states making me wonder if this is a repeat of CompUSA's mistakes of cutting off limbs rather then surgical strikes to remove weak stores. While the economy can be blamed for this nail, the coffin has been built by a series of horrible CEO's who where more focused on building useless numbers for bonuses then creating meaningful and long term results for the companies health. I give the company at most another two years before they fail entirely.
How to Buy an HDTV - A link on what to do when buying a new TV in this day and age. It use to be just look for a big size in your price range. Now its size of the room, contrast ratios, plasma vs. LCD, contrast ratios and bunches of other crap that can make a difference on a smart purchase or a mistake. I want a new TV but at this point I am in no hurry.
Scientology Protest Turns Ugly - In usual Scientology practice, they took a protest that few knew about and made it an online sensation that many know about. How stupid can they be? Well how about a video of security guards roughing up to protesters on camera. Yep, they are really that damn dumb. That isn't even the whole detestable story either; click the link for the video and the details.
7 Most Impressive Geek Collections - From Cracked, a run down of both amazing and rather strange collections. An awesome boxed Transformers collection, super soakers, all things Pikachu, dice, video game crap, barbies, and Star Wars.
Ranking of US Presidents - From UK Times, a ranking of all US presidents from best to worst. Top three best: Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Worse: James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, and Martin Van Buren. George W. Bush was ranked 6th worse (time and history will probably bump him up a few).
Tomorrow is Election Day. For the first time in four years, the American people once again have a say in what they think on how our representatives are currently running the country and the direction they want it to be in the future. The key though is to show up and vote. Tomorrow is expected to break record numbers along with probably a record number of broken voting machines so lines are to be expected.
As this blog probably has made clear, I want Barack Obama to win this election. My opinion is based on the simple reality that McCain is promising to simple continue Bush's failed policies for four more years. They haven't worked in 8, four more isn't going to change things.
Right now, things are looking good for Obama. He is showing an average lead of 6.8 points in most of the national polls. The thing is he can still lose if people get complacent and just assume the election is done. It isn't. It is far from done. Until every vote is counted and every state makes it official, the election could still go either way.
Turnout. You want things to change, you want something other then Bush polices you have to show up. You have to wait in line and you have to cast your vote. Make your voice heard that corporate first policies of the Republican Party are unacceptable. That means not just voting for Obama but against Republicans running for Congress.
If people turnout, Obama wins. In states that are close, turnout can turn the tide. If people stay at home or work (info on work and voting is here) because of the weather, the lines, just don't feel like it and any other excuse - then McCain wins and you have no one to blame but yourself.
The last two years has been about everything thinking one thing, tomorrow is about taking those thoughts and turning them into action.
Vote tomorrow for Obama, vote for change. Vote against a corrupt establishment that has nearly bankrupted this country and our future.
SNL had a pretty good weekend with their skits. John McCain did a pretty good job sending himself up, Ben Affleck did a vicious Keith Olbermann and even sheltered Elisabeth Hasselbeck got skewered. On top of that, Sarah Palin got pranked by a Canadian radio station and in usual fashion she had no ability to just go with the flow and turn a negative moment into a positive one for herself. It probably explains why her campaign stump speeches are really about why not to vote for Obama and very little to do with why to vote for McCain.
Lego Mecha Turkey - Click the link for a gallery of a turkey built out of legos. This lego creation has a pilot and various weapons to defend the turkey motherland. Its actually much more complicated and cool then it sounds.
