Links of the Day

Pay Cap for Wall Street Executives - In a sign that Congress might get it...while not getting it, Sen. Clair McCaskill wants a salary cap for employees that get bailout money. The only problem is what instigated the call, billions in bonuses for Wall Street executives, is about bonuses. Unless the law includes that in the cap, then it’s an empty gesture. The multi-million dollar bonus system is killing American business and it needs to stop.

Ghost Rider Sequel in Works - Columbia Pictures is taking steps to do a sequel to the movie with Nicolas Cage returning as Johnny Blaze. I recently re-watched the movie. Sure it’s no comic masterpiece but it’s a fun popcorn movie so looking forward to the sequel.

Classic Removed From Coke - Way back when Coke tried to introduce a new formula called "New Coke". It didn't go well so they re-introduced the old version as "Coke Classic". Then they stopped making "New Coke" and kept the classic name. Finally, nearly 20 years later, they realized that calling it Coke classic is stupid. This is what executives get paid money to decide.

Colbert Report: The Audacity of Nope - Stephen Colbert rips into the Republicans for their uniform rejection for voting against a bailout package because its not 100% tax cuts like they think it should be. The amusing part is they claimed the bill is partisan despite multiple meetings with Obama and plenty of compromises on the bill. In essence they are saying "do it my help, or f you" and don't seem to care about what effect it may have on the American people.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

The Word - The Audacity of Nope

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
More Funny Videos

Links of the Day

Obameter - A very cool website found via Net@nite that keeps a scorecard of the 500 or so promises Barack Obama made on the campaign trail. So far, in just one week he has kept 6, compromised on 1, has 17 of them in motion and broke 1. Ironically, the one he broke 1 promise to keep 1 by signing the equal pay act without a five day grace period.

$18.4 Billion in Wall Street Bonuses - If your high enough on the Wall Street food chain you might have enjoyed an average bonus of $112,000, despite a horrible year and continued layoffs. It never ceases to amaze me how the upper echelon of corporate America rewards itself for a job horribly done while it refuses to even give a simple standard of living raise to their workers, opting to instead lay them off...to justify their bonuses. If helping the economy is so important, it seems to me to use that bonus money to keep people employed would be a better use of it.

Fox Takes Over Narnia - Fox has decided to pony up part of the now agreed $140 million budget to allow Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader to continue production. I can't decide if this is good news or not as Fox has a tendency to over manage their properties but then again without them something like the X-Men movies may not have been made.

Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan? - In a change of pace, rather then just bash Obama, Limbaugh proposed a plan where 54% would go to infrastructure spending and 46% would go to tax cuts as a means to get Republicans on board (that percentage matches the voting split for the election). At this point it is pretty clear that Rush Limbaugh leads the Republican Party and its base at this moment. It goes so far as Republican's calling his show and apologizing for suggesting otherwise. Why waste time on the appeasement hoops with 100's of Republicans in Congress when can do it with one man, quickly realize it is a waste of time and move on. The main problem I have with such an idea is it simply doesn't work. Bush tried it for 8 years and it only made things worse. The reality is people getting an extra $5 or $10 (which is all those tax cuts would mean for non-rich Americans) is not going to effect consumer spending habits at all. What is needed isn't more money in our pockets (even though that is always nice), its job security and stability. We are cutting back because we don't know how long we will be employed not because taxes are too high. If I know I am employed for the next year I am willing to do and spend a lot more then when I don't know I will have a job day to day. Limbaugh and Republicans don't get this because all of them are rich and simply don't have to worry about remaining employed from day to day.

Final Fantasy XIII Trailer - New trailer for the game coming out in Japan sometime this year and in the US sometime next. The game is pretty but it seems a lot of screen real estate is wasted for commands for no particular reason.


iPhone CubeCheater - Click the link for a demo video of a slick new app that helps you cheat at solving a Rubik's cube. The slick part is that you can take pictures of each side of the cube and the program will analyze what the colors are for each face.

Links of the Day

25 People at Heart of Economic Meltdown - If you want to know why Republicans and Democrats are not doing a whole lot of finger pointing, click the link for a breakdown of the major players involved in the current recession. What it comes down to is Clinton, pushed by Gramm, Dodd and others (all paid by bank lobbyists), and revoked a few major banking restrictions in his last year in office. Major banking players then took advantage of this money for nothing scheme and despite multiple warnings Bush and his fellow Republicans chose to ignore the warnings and just try to reap the benefits both financially and politically until the bubble finally burst.

Stimulus Showdown, or Craving - Rachel Maddow asks some rather important questions last night on her show, specifically why are the Democrats and Obama bending over backwards to appease Republicans who have made it clear that nothing short of failure will satisfy them. As far a Republicans are concerned, it’s in their best interest to try to make Obama fail whenever possible, regardless of the consequences so that they can use that to gain seats in 2010 and more in 2012. So knowing this, why do the Democrats continue to refuse to grow a pair and just do what they think is right? If Republicans want to kill the bill, make them do it in as publically embarrassing a way as possible. Quit letting them control congress, the bill and the discussions. Basically, Democrats need to stop being wussies.

More Jobs Cut, Consumer Confidence New Low - The hits keep coming as 11,500 job cuts where announced including 1,500 from Target, a sign that the hit on healthy companies in the retail sector as begun. Thanks to regular news like that, consumers continue to tighten their belts either because they don't have a job or assume they may not for long. The new Consumers Confidence index now fell to 37.7, a new all time low for the index.

Five G.I. Joe Posters - Click the link for new posters for the upcoming G.I. Joe summer movie. The posters basically show off not bad costumes. My favorite is Rachel Nichols (Scarlett) since it shows off that fabulous body...but then I have had a bit of a crush since her Alias days.

Links of the Day

NBS Birth of Dr. Manhattan - A sweet viral video for Watchmen that re-creates the set, reporting, everything of a 1970 news report about the 10th Anniversary of Dr. Manhattan, a god-like character in the movie. I was more interested in how little network broadcasting has changed over the years.


71,400 Jobs Cut Today - Its been a bad day for the job market as Home Depot announced its closing it's EXPO stores resulting in the layoffs of 7000 employees. Pfizer, after a 50 billion merge with Wyeth is tossing out about 26,000. Sprint, getting its rear kicked by other communications due to poor customer service and a worse reputation is losing 8000. That isn't even all of them for the day. What should be scary though is now the layoffs are hitting mostly healthy companies in large doses where before it was mostly weak companies made even weaker by the recession. All this before the retail starts their cuts and closings which are probably coming very soon.

Weekend Box Office - With the economy so bad, I guess people want something to laugh at. That is the only reason I can think have on why Paul Blart: Mall Cop had another stellar weekend taking in $21.5M. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans debuts at number two with $20.7 million which makes me doubt the future of the franchise. Gran Torino grabs $16M, Hotel for Dogs gets $12.3, and Slumdog Millionaire grabs $10.5 helped by all those awards its winning. Sadly Inkheart, despite being an entertaining movie, is probably going to fade quickly with $7.7M.

More Evidence that Republicans are Bad for Economy - Its strange to me how much Wall Street loves Republicans even though consistently its proven that they are bad for the economy. If check the numbers over the years in GDP, Employment growth, and S&P, Democrats consistently lead over greater growth then their Republican counter parts. Its real simple, if you invest and want money, vote Democrat. At least their goal is to prove government works while Republicans just want to prove it doesn't and don't care who or what they hurt in the effort.

Citigroup Buys $50 Million Plane - Normally a bank buying a plane to ferret their overpayed CEO's wouldn't be a big deal. But then normally a bank isn't being subsidized with a $45 billion infusion of tax payer money. If you want proof about how unbalanced things are, here is a plane being bought in France (so doesn't help US workers) while at the same time banks are refusing to explain where the money is going. The car companies get all these rules, restrictions and oversight. The banks on the other hand were given a blank check. Irony is I bet Citibank will ask for more before it is all said and done.

Links of the Day

Lego Inauguration Gallery - Click the link for a full gallery of pictures of the Inauguration re-created Lego style at the California Legoland. Very impressive.


Sony, Microsoft Cutting Jobs - Nope, the bottom hasn't been reached yet as Microsoft has been forced layoff 5000 and Sony 6000 workers worldwide. Thanks Republicans, doing whatever big business wanted has turned out wonderfully.

Mad Magazine Goes Quarterly - Print is dying and it seems to be speeding up as newspapers go bankrupt and magazines end. Mad Magazine is also feeling the paint as it’s forced to go quarterly to stay alive. I remember when it used to be over a hundred pages now its will be 4 times a year for 56 pages. I get the feeling it’s just a matter of years now before magazines go completely online.

Fox Continues the Fear Card - As the Daily Show wonderfully illustrates, the wandering compass of morality continues at Fox News as they have reversed their philosophy on how a President should be handled. Where before, during a time of war, criticizing a President was nearly treasonous, now it’s ok to be unrelenting as they repeatedly play the fear card. Going by their talking heads you would think the nuclear bombs would be dropping any day now.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Fox News Fear Imbalance

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Japan Harry Potter Trailer - A new trailer from Japan that shows a few new scenes for the movie that is coming out this summer.
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/harry-potter-and-half-blood-prince/japanese-trailer

Links of the Day

Obama Signs Guantanamo Bay Closing and Torture Ban Orders - On his second day in office, Obama carried out a campaign promise to close the detention center within a year so sadly it will not be immediate. It’s sad that executive orders are needed for such common sense policies.

Judge: No 1:1 Relation in Pirating - For years now, the RIAA fundamental rule when decrying lost sales and problems with pirating is to assume a one to one relationship. There numbers, there legal briefings, quite literally everything is based on the assumption that a pirated copy equals one lost sale. This of course makes absolutely no sense logically speaking and finally a federal judge realized this in USA vs. Dove decision. This doesn't immediately effect current cases but could effect the RIAA's attempt at restitution and maybe (but doubtfully) help educate reporters who breathlessly repeat RIAA sponsored studies to "prove" what the poor innocent victims they are, rather then having an effect business model.

Inauguration Day Satellite Images - Click the link, with Zoom features to see a satellite view of Washington, DC area during Inauguration Day. Thanks to the crowd, it’s pretty spectacular to see.

Palin Whines Some More - Once again, the quest for special treatment while pretending she isn't asking for it, Sarah Palin complains that the press is being mean to her kids. The source this time is news that her daughter and husband to be dropped out of high school. Palin's reply is a) its none of our business and b) they are in correspondence school. For a) Palin has not problem trotting her family in front of the cameras and bring them to interviews when it appears to help her. If you don't want the scrutiny don't put them in front of the cameras to begin with. Also, her family views, no abortion, no sex before marriage, abstinence only education makes her daughter situation relevant considering her child is an excellent example of why those beliefs are naive at best. As for b) it is pretty clear those kids dropped out and are getting GEDs, another sign that Palin's politics are not based in reality.

Alba vs. O'Reilly - The lovely Jessica Alba handled O'Reilly attack team with grace with she just laid it out like it is. That Bill O'Reilly is an a-hole.


81st Oscar Nominations -The nominations are out; Benjamin Button got most and will win most. Heath Ledger is a lock for post mortem Oscar in the Supporting Actor Nomination. Wall-E will win best animated movie. I am sure there will be a single surprise over a see of predictability but frankly I just don't care.

Inauguration Day for President Barack Obama

It is finally over. President Bush's administration is no more, off to right his memoirs and explain why his ability to avoid introspection and have doubt is why he is a great leader.

As a final goodbye, here is Keith Olbermann summarizing the disastrous Bush legacy in eight minutes. A series of disasters not even the big business he spent eight years catering too.

Those are the problems that Bush helped create. Now the world seems to converge in Washington, DC to not watch the end of those horrible eight years but instead to celebrate another step made in the American Dream and to look to the future. President Barack Obama. He may not be able to fix our problems for a while, if ever, but he brings something to the table that we have not had for eight long years - hope. Fear was Bush and the Republicans’ favorite tool and hope is Obama's as his acceptance speech and the cheers illustrate.

Special Comment: Guilty As Sin

Keith Olbermann aired a new commentary on the eve of Obama's inauguration to take Bush and company to task for breaking the law and to Obama for refusing to look into it. Obama has made it clear that as far as he is concerned, the sins of the past are to be forgotten and forgiven as if nothing was done wrong. The problem with this belief is it sounds nice on paper but people have a tendency to believe that if they can get away with something, they can always get away with it. In other words, even if his administration remains corrupt free (doubtful), the next (likely Republican) will know they have carte blanche to do whatever they want. An accounting is needed. Not only for justice, not because it is right, but to make sure that those that want to repeat history will think twice about it.

The End of The Bush Era Is Near

In less then 24 hours, the Bush Administration will cease to exist with large celebrations nationwide. Like many, January 20th at noon can not come soon enough as George W. Bush Jr. failed in every way a President can fail.

His simpleton black and white approach to the world, his infantile view of what a leader is and his constant desire to prove he should be the favorite son of his father nearly destroyed this country.

His decisions seemed to be based on few criteria. Step 1 was to show up his father (Iraq, taxes). If the decision had nothing to do with that then step two was compare it to his simple word view criteria which comes down to rich is good, big business is good, and government is bad. If the decision hit against those criteria he was against it, if it matched them he was all for it. Its why there was NEVER a decision he made that didn't benefit his rich friends or large corporations in some form or fashion. It’s also why Katrina was such a disaster because no decision he could make would match those criteria.

What was worse though was his view of what a leader is. He thinks it’s sticking to your guns and making quick decisive decisions without showing any doubt and taking credit for successes and placing blame elsewhere for the failures. In essence is the middle manager approach to leading of maintaining illusions while depending on others to get the work done. However, most middle managers at least have enough sense to make sure those that get the real work done are competent enough to do it. Bush was so focused on getting yes-men he failed to look deeper, after all doubt isn't a sign of leadership. In the end, his Nixonian belief that anything the President does is right compounded mistake after mistake preventing a reversal of course even after we saw the crash coming.

While Bush's friends try to spin his administration as one history will vindicate, it’s pretty clear that is delusion at best. Economically he was part of two recessions, one that teeters to a depression. Foreign policy he started two wars, on two fronts, without an exit plan or an end. He created the "Axis of Evil" that has lead to North Korea to seek nuclear weapons as a defense when he basically threatened an invasion. In the end he had few friends on the worldwide stage, having made all of them look like fools. Domestically there is 9/11, Katrina, and crumbling infrastructure and a massive debt (despite claim republicans are fiscally responsible). What ever standard you want to use to measure a President, things are worse now then they are when he started.

The man is an epic failure who sadly will walk away with his head held high because he doesn't have the brain power to recognize his own failure and too much pride to admit it even if he did. Introspection just isn't a characteristic of the Bush clan. Here is hoping the Obama years are much better as he tries to repair the damage Bush wrought.

Links of the Day

Circuit City Shutting Down - In probably a surprise to no one considering how poorly operated the company has been from the top (timeline here), its throwing in the towel and liquidating the company nationwide starting this Saturday with the goal of ceasing operations by March 31st. Considering the company followed the practice of rewarding CEO's and their lieutenants for their failures, its now surprise. The previous CEO was paid tens of millions to go away after running it into the ground and more then likely the current CEO will get a huge windfall for pulling the trigger to put it out of its misery. If not for the 35,000 employees about to lose their jobs I would say good riddance. As it stands, it’s just a shame the board and top people where not tossed earlier so something could be salvaged. Oh and as the FAQ tells you, its just best that you don't buy anything online or in the stores as a liquidation is just one big con game. Something needs to be done with how upper management is treated by companies and shareholders need to drop the blinders about it. It is real simple, treat them like regular employees. Reward for success, punish for failure. Not reward no matter what they do.

App Store hits 500 Million - Driven mostly by free apps, despite being only 6 months old, the store has had 500 million downloads. Doesn't hurt that there are already 15,000 and many more to come. I suspect that most of those downloads are people who sampled the crapware and quickly removed them. Still, quite a remarkable number in a short time.

Watchmen Settlement Reached - It seems that Fox and Warner Bros. have reached an agreement on who gets what for the upcoming Watchmen movie. Fox, who purposely sat on the film for 20 years, wanted some money and apparently it got it. Around $5 million up front plus a percentage of the profits. Overall, a great profit for doing nothing. On the bright side it means the movie will not be delayed and will release on March 6th as scheduled.

Transforming Apartment - At a cost of $218,000, Hong Kong architect Gary Chang decided to maximize the space of his $45,000 apartment by installing sliding walls and detachable shelving to allow for 24 different layouts, meaning nearly a different apartment for each day of the month.

Will Smith Solves Rubik's Cube - As a sign that he is not stupid, Will Smith solved a Rubik's cube in a minute while on TV a little over a year ago. Why he was doing it I don't know but its clear he isn't being random but working out a clear path to success, which is better then most (including me) do when playing with the toy.

Links of the Day

ScotteVest Blog - I have one of their coats of many pockets and considering getting a new one. The problem I have in choosing is I am very picky on coat choices as I am hot natured (don't even own long sleeve shirts) so looking for a lightweight, non-lint collecting coat that essentially be worn anytime (like my current one). I want to touch, feel and try on the clothing before buying but obviously can't do that. However, checking out this SeV blog, it’s temping to just pull the trigger. The use of a blog to sell your product, sell yourself (Scott, the CEO of the company), provide previews of upcoming products and just keep people in the loop so they feel invested is simply brilliant. It’s something that other companies should attempt as fans are the greatest advertiser any company can have. I was thinking giving the Tropical Weight Jacket a go, but based on the preview apparently it is not coming out in black. Any case, if you need some clothes, based on my experience you should give ScotteVest website a look. (No, this post was not solicited by anyone, just my opinion on the subject).

TV Guide Drops Youth Channels - As a sign that probably very soon TV Guide will be throwing in the towel, it has stopped publishing the listings for youth oriented channels like CW and MTV while keeping listings such as QVC. Supposedly space issues are the reason but it seems they allocated more space to some channels (plus more space for advertisements) so more then likely money changed hands to keep some channels on the grid while removing others. Basically it’s a big scheme and since it means I am now forced to look on line for my viewing information (iPhone app "What's On" is fantastic, PC or Yahoo Widget version is needed), I now have no reason to renew my subscription when it expires.

New Fast & Furious Trailer - The fourth in the franchise is coming and the new trailer provides a touch more of the story. I get the impression a character died or was hurt and know revenge is the goal. The action looks entertaining.

Steve Jobs on Medical Leave - A sign that all those health rumors where correct; the CEO of Apple is taking a break to recover. What this means for Apple is unknown but it seems no major innovations or products are in the pipeline currently (probably due to the economy) so timing wise it is probably perfect as it minimizes the impact of his absence considering how critical it seems he is for Apple. If only other CEO's where that important as it seems most just show up to collect their golden parachute.

Obama's Presidential Portrait - It was just taken yesterday and now available to all thanks to Obama being to first Presidential Portrait taken digitally. Obama has embraced technology where as Bush has not so what that will mean for policy is unknown but I expect good things.

Links of the Day

Star Wars Galaxy Mapped - Click the link for a high resolution, CGI map of the Star Wars Galaxy. It pretty amazing how many planets and the like it has grown over the years and the amount of detail there is considering each planet has been given its own look.

Pro Net-Neutrality Pick for FCC - Obama has picked Julius Genachowski as his choice for FCC Chairman. The amazing thing about this choice is the guy actually knows and likes technology who has served on the FCC before. More importantly, he is pro net-neutrality, important when the teleco's are doing their best to try and introduce a tier system so they can legally charge more for less.

Prison Break and Other Fox Plans - Sadly Prison Break is cancelled, a shame considering it found its legs again after the horrible last season. On the bright side Fox, unlike piss poor managed NBC, knows that it pleases viewers and helps DVD sales to provide series finales. Also good news is very strong indications Fringe will get a second season. However, enjoy Dollhouse as the lukewarm reply on that show is that is toast before it’s even started. Probably publicity and money is the only reason they are bothering to air it at all.

Sanctuary RED One Camera - Click the link for a brief behind the scenes video on the high tech camera that allows for televisions first nearly all green screen production to thrive. The show story wise isn't groundbreaking but it is entertaining. Besides I watch mostly because of Amanda Tapping.

Palin, Alaska Daily News Email Exchange - Pretty much Palin did her how unfair that the press dares write or question her and the editor did a good job ripping her complaints apart. Long story short, what she does, who she knows, what they do and how they do it is a story. If she didn't want the attention, she shouldn't have accepted the spotlight.

Links of the Day

2008 in Film Video Retrospective - From Dark Horizons is a great collage of many of the films that came out in 2008 including the good, the bad and the ugly. Click the link to get options to download high quality versions of just enjoy the YouTube video below.


2009 Golden Globe Winners - While the process is a farce considering that the "journalists" comprising the voters are a bunch of nobodies with credentials extending to only have written a few articles a year, which by that standard means any blogger under the sun qualifies. However, the Globes are often used by the Oscar voters as a cheat sheet on who to vote for so they don't have to watch the movies themselves to make a decision. As a result the list of winners becomes more important then it should.

Democrats Cave on Burris - To the surprise of probably no one, Harry Reid once again caved to the pressure of potential bad press and made the decision to allow Roland Burris to have his Senate seat despite being the choice of corrupt Rod Blagojevich. One day Reid will grow a pair, but until then we all will pay the price as the Republicans run roughshod all over him.

Top 10 Bush Moments - From the David Letterman, a video of top 10 Bush being stupid moments.


Weekend Box Office - A 14% increase over last year meant a busy weekend in movies considering its January when normally people don't bother going to the movies. Clint Eastwood hit a career high with a $29 million take for Gran Torino (excellent movie). Bride Wars took second with $21.5 million despite horrible reviews from critics. Horror flick The Unborn got third with $21.1 surprising result considering it doesn't have big names fueling it. Marley and Me took a nose dive to fourth and #221.4 million and Benjamin Button (it was alright, nothing special to me) rounds out the top five with $9.5.

Links of the Day

Open Letter Regarding Watchmen Litigation - Watchmen producer Lloyd Levin issued a letter to the public regarding his perspective of the Watchmen fight between Warner Bros and Fox. He essentially take the moral rather the legal view, pointing out the effort, work, charity, and chances others have taken that allowed the movie to be made. Something that Fox in no way shape or form participated in. As he points out, the extent of the companies’ involvement in getting the film made is to say "no" repeatedly. There is a saying of "Who Dares, Wins". WB dared, they should win the windfall of a successful movie. Fox shouldn't. It’s really that simple. A boycott is being called for Fox films and I have to agree. They are taking a financial stance, so maybe fans should hit them in the wallet.

Top 10 Funniest Stargate: Atlantis Moments - Click the link for the breakdown. It is sad to see this very entertaining show go thanks to NBC's piss poor management.

End Times for Print - An article that covers the rapidly increasing decline of print media in magazine and newspaper form as more and more hit the internet for information. The simple fact is mass media is no longer trusted and now people seek out not just alternative source for information (such as blogs) but more sources of information (say something other then just Fox News). To me this is only a good thing and reporters dismissing it are probably the same ones that accelerated the decline by not doing their jobs and instead simply letting the stories come to them.

Final Fantasy XIII Screenshots - Click the link for about 30 screenshots from the next installment of the Final Fantasy series that may come out this year. The shots are gorgeous, but as often the case, you have to wonder if they are in game movies or shots of actual gameplay. Considering the game is on the PS3, it’s a tossup.

Olivia Munn's CES Day 1 Roundup - I heart the Munn. The girl is gorgeous, smart, hell of a sense of humor and doesn't seem in full of herself. Her blog is entertaining and so are her videos which usually are just her and always game Kevin having fun.


Consumer Debt Dropped $7.9 Billion - Believe it or not, this is a bad thing considering the US economy 2/3 based on people blowing their money on things they don't need. What this indicates is people are cutting back, and cutting back a lot on those things as budgets shrink and job security goes up in smoke (along with retirement funds). The result is the economy will take that much longer to turn around. On the bright side, if people are cutting back in effective manner, they will be financially more secure when the recession ends.

Links of the Day

Spider-Man Meets Obama - Marvel, mostly as a publicity stunt, is producing a "special issue" of Amazing Spider-Man where the hero meets Barack Obama on his inauguration day. Its really a five page story add on to the comic rather then an entire issue devoted to the meet-up. The comic will go on sale next week.

Palin Whines About Couric, Palin - In a sit-down with extreme conservative John Ziegler, ex-VP candidate Sarah Palin whines about how unfair the press was with their questions and their scrutiny of her qualifications, essentially saying they cared only because she was a woman. Basically her argument is it’s not ok to question her but its ok to say that others "pal around with terrorists." As usual, the conservative moral compass wanders if it interferes with them.

2009 Razzie Awards Nominations - The anti-Oscar awards have announced their nominees for worst films of the year in various categories. Sadly Speed Racer is included, which shows that often the Razzie's are based more on box office performance then the film itself (much like the Oscars). Still it’s an interesting list of the crap that came out last year. I expect the Love Guru to home the most "awards".

New Watchman Trailer and Behind Scenes Video - Click the link for two video for Watchman. The first is a modified trailer that shows more of third term Nixon that is part of the story and the second gets into details of the first group of Minuteman and a B&W photo that is a key prop and story point in the film.

EGM Ceases Publication - After 20 years of dedicated service to the video game industry, EGM ceases publication as of its January issue. This is part of the fall out of the sale of the 1UP Network to UGO yesterday where the layoffs have already begun (usually there is a slight delay when one company buys another). This leaves only GamePro and GameInformer as the hold-outs in paper form, until they too are probably gobbled up as old media finishes its death spiral.
R.I.P. EGM 1989 - 2009

Links of the Day

Blair House Open...Just Not To Obama - It turns out that all the money being spent with taxpayer money (because of security) keeping the Obama family in a hotel until they can move into the White House was a complete and unnecessary expenditure. The Blair House, normally the temporary home of the President-Elect is unoccupied, was claimed to be in use by the Bush Administration. That turns out not to be true. It will be, but not until next week by a former Australian Prime Minister. Someone who could have been delayed or placed elsewhere considering the Blair House is already configured by the Secret Service to provide the necessary security the President-Elect would need. In other words, just another in a line series of stupid and childish behavior that has marked Bush and his cronies. 14 days to go.


Budget Deficit to Reach $1.2 Trillion - Bush's hefty spending with tax cuts, a huge recession cutting tax revenue, more and more people getting unemployment (a waste to Republicans that should be spent on wars), billion dollar giveaway to banks (with no oversight), billions to car companies (but at least with oversight), and now Obama's spending plan, the debt is going to break untold records. It’s pretty depressing and makes me feel bad for the next generation that has to deal with this load. Thanks to Bush's failed policies, all in the name of giving his rich friends more money, we will all pay the price in ever increasing taxes to pay for this new heavy burdon.

Democrats About to Fold On Burris - It is starting to look like Harry Reid and Senate Democrats on going to fold and let Roland Burris take his Senate seat. The man is probably corrupt considering his friend Blago. Legally they don't have much authority to block his seat but morally they should fight this tooth and nail. Being Democrats thought, why fight when they can tuck tail and run. Reid needs to go. His kind of wimpy leadership isn't helpful during a time when boldness is needed.

New Presidential Limo To Debut - Per tradition, Obama will be transported in a brand new custom made limo for Inauguration Day. Really though it’s less limo and more tank with its state of the art communications, 8 inch doors, thick bullet proof glass and other security to handle a long term siege attempt on the President.

NFL's Yellow Line - Click the link for an interesting but dry explanation on how the first down lines are created for NFL games.

Final MacWorld Keynote

The Job-less MacWorld keynote was held today and sadly the show closed with a whimper rather then a bang. The focus was essentially on software, with an updated iWork, iLife, a DRM-less iTunes. The only hardware that was introduced was a 17'' Macbook Pro with a new battery and power usage technology and expensive pricetag of $2800.

iLife '09
- $79 upgrade, $99 family pack, out late January and ships on all new Macs
- Update iPhoto 09 with Faces and Places
- Faces essentially tags photos based on facial recognition.
- Places which uses geotagging for photo location and the like. Yay more metadata.
- Basically its a new ways to manage and use photos.
- iMovie updated with more editing options and the like.
- GarageBand 09 updated with basic lessons or ability to purpose lessons from the famous for $5.
- iPhoto video tour
- iMovie video tour

iWork 09
- $79 single user, $99 family pack, $49 with new Mac, out now
- Update to the Mac office suite
- Includes iwork.com which is Apple's answer to Google Docs, ie on the web editing and storing of work documents.
- Works with new iPhone Keynote remote app

17'' MacBook Pro
- $2799, out late January
- 1920 x 1200 display, 700:1 contrast ratio, wide viewing angle
- Has C2D CPUs, up to 8 gigs of RAM, NVIDIA graphics options and can get 256GB SSD
- Uses Apple designed battery to extend life to 8 hours per charge. Built in to laptop so not easily replaced or upgraded.

iTunes
- Starting in April, three tier pricing structure (essentially demanded by the RIAA)
- $.69 (older, less popular stuff), $.99, and $1.29 (so music companies get more for less)
- Will remove DRM from all songs (no indication if retroactive or not)
- Will add about two million more songs by end of the year for total of 10 million
- Enabled iPhone to download music over 3G rather then just WiFi (will work with Edge too but very slow)

New Dr., Dr. Who vs Star Trek, OSHA, and Lego

New Doctor Who Tomorrow - The BBC has announced that it will air a special Doctor Who Confidential where the identity of Doctor 11 will be revealed. Apparently Serenity's Chiwetel Ejiofor is in the running and personally I have liked his previous work so hope he gets the nod. Any case BBC1 will air it at 5:35pm on Saturday where I am sure about two minutes later it will spread across the web.
Update: Matt Smith has been announced as Tennant's replacement. Yeah I don't know who he is either.

Star Trek vs Doctor Who - A very well done mash up of a Doctor Who episode from last season and some episode from the Original Series. It’s not done just with simply editing scenes together but using CGI manipulation to merge elements from one show to another (just as the Tardis on the Enterprise's teleporter pad).


OSHA Uselessness - Further sign of the incompetence and "Bush and business first" philosophy that infected all levels of government. OSHA's output decreased by 86% mostly thanks to OSHA director Edwin Foulke Jr. whose claim to fame is giving Bush lots of money and defending corporations from OSHA. His interest in running the department consisted of using it essentially as nap time during meetings. Typical Republicans, purposely assigning idiots to run government so they can then point and go "see, government doesn't work!"


Best Lego Stories of 2008 - Click the link for Gizmodo round-up of its Lego related stories of the last year with cool galleries and behind the scenes video.