9/11 First Responder Bill Passes

After multiple filibusters and blocks from Republicans, the 9/11 First Responders bill (officially called The James Zadroga 9/11 Health Bill) has passed. The bill was intended to provide around $7 billion in care for responders by closing multiple corporate tax loopholes. This would have actually resulted in a bill that would have been deficit neutral. However, Senate Republicans balked at this because it went against their core belief that everything should be done to make the rich richer. Closing the tax loophole was removed but that wasn't enough. Despite adding nearly a $900 billion to the deficit by extending the bush tax cuts along with some extras for the rich, Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Enzi of Wyoming balked at the $7 billion price tag. The final cost of the bill is $4.2 billion that might be paid for by foreign tourists and business visitors.

Once again, while this was debated for months, the Tea Party remained silent on this issue even though they happily invoke 9/11 frequently, are against anything that adds to the deficit and I would think would support the closing of tax loopholes. Yet again a reminder that the Tea Party is another name for Republican and neither group is nearly as patriotic or fiscally responsible as they claim to be. How people that are not rich (aka make under $250,000) continue to support such hypocrites is something I will never understand. The real shame is this was an easy bill to pass that should have been taken care of this summer without all the nonsense.

Net Neutrality Guidelines Created

Yesterday, the FCC issued new guidelines that are an attempt to at least move somewhat forward in a codified version of net neutrality. For those that may only get their info from Fox News, the idea behind net neutrality is real simple - all bits are created and should be treated equally. By this it means those that help get the data from point A to point B shouldn't have the ability to charge more for one type of bit over another, charge to get bits faster than others or anything else that results in some types of data being treated differently than others. By the way, not discussed is if want to treat data differently, that means the telecoms have to monitor and track what the data is for, in effect they will have to know everything you do online. Everyone, especially Americans should be for net neutrality then right? Ironically, the rules passed have basically angered everyone.

Links of the Week

Daily Show Smacks GOP for Blocking 9/11 Bill
When Jon Stewart gets angry, that is usually when the Daily Show is at its finest. Thursday's episode is an example of that as the laid a smack down on the GOP who, in a quest to add $900 billion in debt so the rich can get richer, continues to filibuster the 9/11 First Responders bill. The bill would help provide healthcare coverage to the brave men and woman who searched day and night searching for lost loved ones after that tragic day. As Stewart points out, you would think the party that gets outraged, with a huge assist from Fox News, on any little 9/11 related slight would be all over this bill but nope. This is a no brainer. This bill, more than any other, shows beyond doubt that the GOP has only one priority - get the rich richer. If not rich, then you can frankly just go to hell as far as they care. Not much better is the press which continues to show indifference, I guess because it isn't "sexy" enough but more than likely because they can't handle more than one major story in a 24 hour period. Anything then that and their on air talent gets lost. The entire episode should be watched as it begins with Stewart’s outrage, goes into an interview with a few 1st responders and then has Stewart correct so-called religious Mike Huckabee who manufactured excuses for the GOP's behavior but corrected every step of the way by Stewart. Why anyone supports a party that makes it clear that if you don't belong in the top 2% they could give two craps about you is something I will never understand.

Watching Fox News Makes You Stupid
As the graph shows, the more you watch Fox News, the less you know. Since Fox makes its bread and butter by essentially selling the same lie over and over until people believe it is true, can't really say the results are surprising. Still, having a scientific study back it up does not hurt. The study was based on polling 616 voters, finding how much they watched each network and what they knew about certain facts. Emphasis on facts. Not opinion, not policy but actually proven facts. The result is all there on the graph. You watch Fox News, you risk becoming stupid. Need more proof, go chat up a random Tea Partier.

Links of the Week

Gawker Media Passwords Released to Public
If you have ever commented on Gawker, IO9, Gizmodo, Lifehacker or other sites of the company, then you need to change your password ASAP. You might also consider changing your password to any sites that make use of that same username and password combination especially if used for personal information.

Fox News Boss Orders Slanted News
For a while now Fox News has claimed it is a real news organization by saying there is a difference between its real news times and its opinion news times. Realistically there is no difference as the network is truly 24/7 GOP opinion machine but many remained convinced. New proof further supports this notion as a memo from Bill Sammon, a Fox Managing Editor, pretty much forced all Fox News reporters, on air talent, etc to make sure they use GOP approved phrasing for things like "government option" instead of "public option" because in polls it shows people would support that wording less. After the memo went out, the change went into effect across the board in all the "real" news hours.

Obama Caves on Bush Taxes

To really no surprise of anyone, President Obama did as predicted and once again caved to Republicans on the Bush Tax cuts. The agreement is rather remarkable in the sense it is probably the first time these last years where Republicans may actually vote on a bill they compromised on (this use to be SOP before the Bush era). When Obama caved to Republicans before they all voted no as a block. This happened with health care which was compromised to the point it wasn't much different than the GOP's 1994 health care plan. The bailout which was supposed to have more stimulus spending was compromised to a 40% tax cuts for 98% of the country (which failed to recognize those cuts to no surprise) that every economic expert across the war said would result in a stimulus bill that would have a minimal impact on the economy. Something, two years later we now know was true.

The resulting compromise extends the Bush tax cuts while extending unemployment insurance. The Bush tax cuts will be extended two more years. The estate tax will be altered to protect the first $5 million of an inheritance with 35% tax rate. It used to be the first $2 million before the "Death Tax" moniker made it sound like it affected every American instead of only 1% because most Americans are stupid and can't be bothered to get more information than a made up label. The price tag for this is $10 billion or 2x what Obama's stupid federal employee freeze will "save".

The Earned Income Tax Credit and few others will be extended adding another $40 billion cost. Unemployment insurance, which the GOP voted down, will get a 13 month extension for a cost of $56 billion. Payroll taxes will get a 2% tax cut (so lunch once a pay period on the government, whoopee) which will cost $120 billion. It also has the odd investment spending bill that lets businesses deduct 100% of their investment spending for next two years. Conditional tax cuts work (something the GOP should embrace more but since the rich is their only priority that will never happen), but usually it’s something like 30% if bring a business in, or hire X number of workers. Not sure what a 100% write-off would accomplish. The suggested cost is $200 billion in tax revenue. Overall, this may have an impact of adding $426 billion to the deficit, ironic considering what the GOP campaigned on. Then again, if Americans paid more attention to history and not buzz words, they would know the GOP has never been fiscally responsible. Very hard to be when the goal is to give condition free money to corporations and the rich.

The GOP continue to claim that tax cuts for the rich will fix everything, ignoring the fact that hasn't worked for 10 years now and really 30 years if look at the failure of trickledown economics from 80's on (again unless rich as had 500% growth while everyone else remained stagnant). Unconditional tax cuts do nothing for the economy. The rich don't use it to create jobs or give raises and it has no impact on people's spending. A business either has the sales to support their hiring or they don't. When given to the rich and corporations, it is simply added it to the bottom line and nothing more. Now we are extending that failed economic policy for two more years. So Obama caved and the GOP got their wish for the next two years but at least some very minor stimulus was seeded in.

If Fox News continues its pretty remarkable run and Americans continue to stop using their brains, it is pretty clear the GOP figures they will get control of Congress so can go ahead and make the cuts permanent without regard for the impact it will have on the deficit. Good job Tea Party. Not even one month has passed and already the GOP has tossed you to the side. Next time look at history and recognize the GOP doesn't give two craps about you unless part of the upper 2%. Next time don't vote on the fantasy that you might win the lottery and become rich but on your current practical needs.

Links of the Week

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen
The now late, great comedian and movie star Leslie Nielsen died Monday from complications with pneumonia. The actor starred in the Airplane, Naked Gun and many other hilarious movies. Thanks for the laughs

Republicans Vote Against Tax Cuts for 98% of the Country
You know that issue that Republicans ran on, claiming fiscal responsibility with tax cuts? The issue that helped give birth to the Tea Party (because frankly they are stupid)? Yeah that one. It turns out; to no surprise (if now historically the GOP has never been fiscally responsible and only care about the rich) none of the GOP and Tea Party elected officials really believes in it. The House passed bill to make the Bush tax cuts for 98% of the country. All but 3 Republicans in the House voted against it. Why? Because the bill didn't include a $700 billion bonus tax cut for the other 2% of the country. A bonus that would go straight to the deficit, therefore not be fiscally responsible. The GOP claims giving tax cuts to the rich helps everyone. I point to the last 10 years when the rich got way richer while everyone else's wages and job security remained static or got worse. For 10 years we already had those Bush tax cuts and all we got was two recessions, stagnant job growth, stagnant wages and $3.5 trillion added to the deficit. How dumb does someone have to be to believe that continuing them will suddenly bring different results? Ten years, $3.5 trillion added to the deficit and what do we have to show for it? Not much? Exactly. So why support giving the rich another $700 billion bonus? So the GOP is on the record for being against tax cuts for 98% of the country. Why in the world did Democrats not try this before the election when those votes might have been used against the GOP?

Links of the Week

Rachel Maddow Lecture at Harvard
Mrs. Maddow gave an interesting lecture and Q&A at Harvard that focuses on the relationship between politics and the 24 hour news cycle. She makes a few excellent points, the primary one being that the act of leading and governing has no longer become the job of elected officials. Their prime job now has been to always speak to the news sound bite and not take the risk of doing the strange thing of actually making laws (aka follow the John McCain school of "governance"). It really is worth listening too as even the far right agrees the press do not really do their jobs anymore.

Reporting - Publicity = News
Seems like a simple question but if you really look at how the news works nowadays, it is truly amazing how much time and effort they spend talking about and regurgitating press releases and press conferences while making no effort to separate the truth from the misinformation nor how what was said doesn't match with what has actually been done. The example in this case is Republicans saying they will cut spending. They say that a lot, have for decades. Yet they have never actually cut spending but increased it, by a lot. By more than any Democrat administration ever has. They say "cut spending!" but their actions say "more spending" as they fight to add $700 billion to the deficit with more tax cuts for the rich. They say tax cuts will fix everything, but 10 years of tax cuts show that isn't true. Repeating their words is easy, analyzing and showing how their words don't match their actions nor history, that is news and that is reporters doing something strange - their jobs of reporting facts.

Links of the Weeks

Sorry for the last of posting for last few weeks. I have been on vacation and then pulled my back so frankly just didn't feel like it.

Giant Lego Map of Europe
Hit the link for a gallery of images that creates Europe on a 157 square foot Lego map with little miniature Lego creations to represent the various major cities. The map took 53500 bricks and about 6 months to build. The cool part is the way it was built allows them to take it apart and literally file it away.

Life and Death of the One Dollar Bill
Click the link for a very cool graphical breakdown and the life and times of a single dollar bill. Fun facts include the cost of a single bill to produce (6.4 cents), amount printed each day (16.6 million) and how to read some of the coding on the bills.

Republicans Continue Their Rich First Priority
Only in American is people stupid enough to not only vote against their own self-interests but then nod along when the people they voted for pretty tell them to their face that they are not important. The current big battle is to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Now the Democrats have no problem with that for 98% of the country. The sticking point is that top 2% of the richest. Dems want to use that 2% to pay for leaving the cuts in place for the other 98%. In other words be fiscally responsible and make sure the cuts are paid for. The Repubs, which ran on platform of fiscally responsibility (even though historically never has been), want to not only keep those cuts but add another $700 billion on top for just those 2%. That cost would go directly to the deficit, which was something I thought the whole Tea Party thing claimed to be against (but then again that "movement" was supported by that top 2%...). So the lesson learned from the recent elections? Not a thing. The Bush tax cuts did nothing to create jobs or help the middle class for 10 years and yet Americans are truly stupid enough to think giving it another 10 will be different.

Links of the Week

Christine O'Donnell: Constitution Moron
There is something very amusing about watching a Tea Party candidate make such a clear fool of themselves (all of them are, with various degrees of ability to hide it). Like all Tea Partiers, her claim is to be one of the few that understand the Constitution (essentially treating it as the Bible) that must be given office to protect it. And like all Tea Partiers, it turns out their study and understanding of the Constitution apparently doesn't actually involve reading it, understanding it, or even being vaguely aware of its history beyond the random pop culture maybe facts that you collect over a lifetime. In a debate with her opponent, Chris Coons, while at a law school no less, O'Donnell was flabbergasted that the separation of Church and State was enshrined in the first amendment. She, of course, only new the random factoid that the phrase was not in the document, I guess it never occurred to her that there might be a different phrasing for the same concept. On top of that she didn't even know the 14th, 16th, and 17th amendments even though she is a member of a political class that has indicated they want them repealed. Now to be fair, I don't have the amendments memorized either. Then again I am not running for Congress on the platform of being the great protector and arbiter of the wishes of the founding fathers like she has been. As usual, hypocrite and a republican are one and the same.

Stewart Disagrees with Sanchez Firing
Once again showing that he is more on the ball than most of his peers, Jon Stewart told Larry King that he thought CNN should not have fired Rick Sanchez for his stupid comments about Stewart and those that run CNN. He had the same problem I did with it, which was penalizing their hired commentators for expressing an opinion that management doesn't necessarily like on their own time. Sanchez is just the latest is a now regular revolving door of CNN reporters who get fired for expressing any opinion that is corporate approved. Reporters have bias. It is hiding that bias, pretending it doesn't exist, or allowing it to dictate what does or does not get covered as news that is a problem. In other words don't behave like Fox News. Past that, the only thing firing people for expressing an opinion does is allow stupid arguments to be given "equal" attention whether they deserve it or not resulting in the mess that is now CNN.

Links of the Week

Sorry for lack of updates, frankly just been busy with posting on the other blogs. Here you go though, a little bit longer than normal link list.

Largest Lego Ship Ever
Hit the link for images and video that shows off a 23 foot Lego recreation of the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. The ship was constructed to mini-fig (1/40) scale with Wildcat and corsair airplanes to give it the 1945 look from when it was built. A truly awesome creation.

No Bank Accounts Costs Money
A reporter learned the hard way that not having a bank account can be expensive. After around 30 days of not using a bank, the various fees resulting fees cost $93 or possibly at least $1100. The lesson seems to be that even though banks no longer really function as lenders but more as fee machines, it is still cheaper to have an account then not have one since they will find a way to get their pound of flesh one way or the other.

Zack Snyder Directing Superman
After many false starts with the commercial failure of Superman Returns (good ideas but homage taken too far), WB finally seems ready to move on. Watchmen, 300 director Zack Snyder will helm the film. He also hinted, but has not officially confirmed, that Zod will be the film's big bad. It seems likely this will be a reboot of the franchise rather than continuation of the story where Returns left off.

Lego Space Habitat
A gallery that shows off a huge habitat complete with commercial areas, living space, space port, and more. It makes heavy use of a modular design so it’s actually like a lot of identical living spaces with slight changes to each to give it the cohesive but unique look.

Chasing Fox
An interesting article from New York Times about MSNBC's growing pains as it attempts to catch up to the ratings of Fox News now that the network has surpassed CNN. It gives a peek behind the scenes at some of the egos and infighting that flares up occasional, especially between management and the on air talent.

Donald Duck vs. Glenn Beck
An inspired mash-up that combines the many cartoons of Donald Duck with the equally hate filled crazy talk of Glenn Beck.


Portable XBox 360 Slim
Ben Heck is back with a new completed project. For all intents, he crammed an XBox 360 into a kind of briefcase with a 17 inch LCD screen. The result is a fully functional XBox that you can take with you wherever you want. He probably needs to add a handle.


Scream Awards Back to the Future Recreation
In homage to the 25th anniversary (and help sale the impending Blu-Ray edition), Spike TV put together a shot for shot recreation of the teaser trailer from 1985, complete with appearance by Michael J. Fox.

Destroyed and Rebuilt in 3 Minutes
A pretty sweet video that combined 45,000 photos to show the deconstruction and reconstruction of an office building in Paris.

Links of the Week

Starcraft II Lego Thor
Click the link for a sweet gallery of the new Thor Starcraft unit being Lego-ized. Not sure the specifics on how it was created but worth checking out. Hit the link above for the full gallery of images and Sven Junga's other Lego projects.

The Secrets of Scientology - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Check out this BBC episode that gets into Scientology and their practices uses new interviews with ex-members who became disenchanted with the cult after years of their rather crappy and abusive tactics. At the heart of Scientology is a desire for power, greed and control with those at the top treating everyone else as slaves complete with a spy unit, threats, breaking of families, recording of secrets for future threats and so much more. The show does a good job of showing some of those tactics like obsessively following critics around, treating people as sub-human, and recording things with not one camera but many. It is overkill at its finest. You may be tempted to defend the cult, but apply even standards. If Christianity, Judaism, etc use these exact same tactics people would hit the roof. Scientology, if it really wants to be religion like it claims, should not get a free pass. What I find really ironic is the cult hates Psychiatry with a passion but at its core is the basic application of Psychiatric science. The short of it is avoiding this cult at all costs, it is truly dangerous. Unless you are filthy rich and then you will be treated like kings and queens.

Links of the Week

Are We Run By A$@holes?
Jon Stewart had a hilarious response to the death of the Don't Ask Don't Tell/ Military Spending Bill that the Republicans killed. They claimed it was because procedure things were not followed even though historically how it was handled was no different than it has been in the past. The real reason, of course, is the GOP is the party of hate and they love the Constitution and equal rights until they actually have to apply those principles to things they don't like. To them, the Constitution has a little asterisk mark that says "Does not apply if the GOP doesn't like it." Anyway at the link is video of Jon Stewart breaking it down in his usual hilarious way.

Colbert Testifies Before Congress
Stephen Colbert testified today before Congress in his usual amusing fashion and as the O'Reilly like character he uses for his television show. The result will probably be dismissed but if listen to the content he actually makes some valid points that are worth considering. All I know is Fox News and Republicans hated his appearance which really tells you it’s probably something worth considering.

Stewart/Colbert Rallies
Speaking of the two hosts, the pair have joined together to have two competing rallies on October 30th in Washington DC. Jon Stewart's rally is called "The Rally to Restore Sanity" while Colbert's is "Rally to Keep Fear Alive". Sounds like might be worth going. If still need convincing, Glenn Beck has come to the conclusion it is a bad thing where the pair are going to "activate the youth... to vote with the Labor Unions apparently... [They] will activate the youth to try and get the youth to go out and vote." Because that is a bad thing don't you know. As usual, Beck has no reason for his conclusions but I am sure he will not be pleased when this rally on a network with half of Fox News rating along with a quarter of the advertising budget probably blows his efforts out of the park as far as participating goes. Of course Beck is really a massive scam artist tricking his viewers and related morons so there you go.

Lego Star Wars Chess Sets
Hit the link to view two chess sets themed after Star Wars A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back. The set isn't just Lego dudes but a Lego base with the dudes’ part of character specific structures. The result, as often the case for fan made creations, worthy of retail.

Links of the Week

GOP Finally Introduce a Plan
The Party of No has spent the last two years doing whatever they can to prevent Democrats from accomplishing as little as possible. Their game plan was simple - regardless of what it does for the country, block anything and everything. No matter how big or how small, try to create as many obstacles as possible to any success as they know the electorate is too stupid to blame them for being unwilling to work together for a solution on anything of significant. As a result of this rather simple plan, the GOP has spent those two years saying all attempts the fix the economy are bad ideas and refusing to provide their own beyond "tax cuts FTW!"

Hit the link above for more. View the graphs, compiled from non-partisan groups. You don't even need the words to re-enforce that how the GOP want to do business is bad for America.

Links of the Week

Actual Waistline and Real Waistline Sizes May Vary
Esquire decided to investigate the accuracy of waistline measurements and discovered something interesting. It turns out the most of the time the measurement is incorrect. For example, the worst offender was Old Navy with the 36'' pant size actually being 41''. I guess it’s useful as an ego boost as can pretend don't need wider pants then you really do but I personally like knowing when I am going up in pant sizes as provides that little extra motivation to skip dessert.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Unconstitutional
Not sure why it took over a decade but a federal court finally ruled on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy regarding homosexuals serving in the military. "The act discriminates based on the content of the speech being regulated," [District Judge Virginia] Phillips wrote. "It distinguishes between speech regarding sexual orientation, and inevitably, family relationships and daily activities, by and about gay and lesbian service members, which is banned, and speech on those subjects by and about heterosexual service members, which is permitted." It is good news overall but I imagine it will be contest to the Supreme Court. Normally that would actually be a good thing because if the Supreme Court upholds the ruling this would prevent any future policies and laws that would prevent gays from serving openly. However, this is a Conservative Supreme Court where the five always vote in lockstep and have demonstrated frequently that conservatives’ ideals trump the Constitution and the law. They are highly likely to overturn the ruling and that would open the door to an outright ban or more. It is a calculated risk and one I hope Obama and the Department of Justice are considering carefully.

New Apple Products and Other Links

Apple Announcement
Today Steve Job held a press conference to announce a refresh of the iPod line-up, show off a new Apple TV, iTunes update and talk about iOS 4.1 which hits iPhones next week and the iPad in November. The iPod line-up refresh has a few major changes with a new 4th gen Shuffle ($50-2GB, no 4GB) that looks a lot like the 2nd gen, a new Nano ($149-8GB, $179-16GB) that is nearly shuffle sized with touch screen, and updated iPod touch ($229-8GB, $299-32GB & $399-64GB) has all the same design bells and whistles as the iPhone but since can't make calls with it, no concerns with antenna problems. The iPod Classic lives but remains unchanged. The new Apple TV ($99) is now puck sized with no hard drive as now designed for streaming from your home network, iTunes and Netflix. Apple's continued refusal to support non iTunes video formats means that if your library is unplayable through Apple products, that is not going to change any time soon. Probably best to consider other devices or just use Netflix from your gaming console. The iOS 4.2 was previewed with Airplay feature for wireless streaming to iPad or Apple TV but again that codec limitation makes the feature pointless. Over all there isn't really anything innovative was announced today but the new Nano is pretty sweet looking (if overpriced by $50) but the tiny size means video is no longer supported (but that is no real loss).

Hurricane Damaged Six Flags New Orleans
Hit the link to view a gallery of images of a decayed Six Flags, left abandoned after Hurricane Katrina devastated the then five year old location. It is amazing just how decrepit and tore up everything looks even though the site is barely 10 years old.

Links of the Week

GOP Only for Rich Tax Cuts
The GOP's current platform comes down to "we are not democrats". When asked for a specific plan on how to turn the economy around, the best they can come up with is "tax cuts", specifically make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent. The only problem with this plan is it clearly has worked in the previous 10 years and added around $2.5 trillion to the deficit. Considering the party's sudden love for deficit reduction, further tax cuts present a problem since there are no means to pay for them. Basically a tax cut = increased deficit. So you think when they actually put forth a tax cut plan they would device a means to pay for it right? Nope, as the lovely chart on the right illustrates, their plan isn't really any different than the Democrat, at least until you hit the $500k threshold. The Democratic plan pays for itself and may reduce the deficit because the rich don't benefit anymore than any other tax group. The Republican plan basically goes "you rich? Here have more money!". It’s that trickle down axiom of there that has never worked. After all, what happens to a tax cut that doesn't get spent? It doesn't trickle down. What happened to the previous 10 years of tax cuts? As the economy shows, they clearly didn't trickle down. Instead of listening to the Limbaughs of the world that have 99% opinion and 1% fact, look at the facts. Ignore my words, just look at the chart and noticed the huge difference and ask yourself "does this make any since?" and "Isn't this the opposite of fiscal responsibility the GOP claims to believe in?".

Links of the Week

Lego London Tower Bridge
The pic is an upcoming piece from Lego that when completed has 80 windows, 40'' long, 17'' high with mini Lego vehicles, working drawbridge, tan bricks, arches, and more. The 4,287 piece structure should be hitting Lego online and Lego stores soon. No details on costs but guessing a few hundred.

Weird Science vs. Real Genius Geek-Off
It has been 25 years since these two classics came out and Moviefone decided to determine which is the superior movie based on the good guys, bad guys, "future stars", the ladies, science, geek factor and quotability. Hit the link to see if you agree with their analysis that Real Genius is the better geek film.

Republicans for Rich Only
In one of the things that baffles me, the GOP continues to get support from the middle class and the poor despite the fact that the party policy comes down to a collective "f%^k you". The party talks to them a lot but if every really look at their record they have done nothing for a majority of Americans in decades now. Sure they talk a good game about tax cuts but the only ones that have ever seen any real tax cuts is the rich. If you make over $250k a year, the GOP is your best friend. If you don't, you really have no reason to support them from a financial and economic standpoint. Another example of this is going on now. The states are essentially going bankrupt. All 50 of them. Police officers, firefighters, teachers and more are getting laid off (which is bad for the economy). Odd little cuts are being made like unpaving roads, cutting off lampposts, and more in a bid to shave money off the budget. This isn't "wasteful" spending being cut now but essentials that are needed for safety. So what does the GOP do? They say no. Their "solution" yet again. Make permanent the Bush tax cuts despite the fact they will ADD $700 billion to the deficit and did NOT help the economy in the previous 10 years. Basically their solution is "hey it didn't work for 10 years, let’s try it for another 10 just to make sure!" and people are buying it. It truly boggles my mind that people just cannot see something that simple and reject it as stupid and not working.

California Gay Marriage Ban Lifted
The Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled earlier this week that the California law banning marriage was un-Constitutional and has now ruled that marriage can resume on August 15th. It is a major victory for gay rights movement and a major defeat for the mostly conservative contingent that has been working hard for years to codify a country wide ban. Ironic considering the conservative "movement" has been making talking about how the Constitution has been circumvented by Obama (while unable to provide specific examples and supporting the Bush's patriot act), that the country is going fascist (while supporting an actual fascist immigration "show your papers" law) and claiming love for the Constitution (while trying to overturn the 14 and 17th amendments. Its real simple, if you love the Constitution, you have to support equal rights. If you support equal rights you have to support gay marriage. You can't really have it both ways regardless of the mental gymnastics used to attempt to justify it. But if there is a real constant in politics, it’s that a conservative is by definition a hypocrite.

Harry Potter 7 Split Revealed
The final story of Harry Potter is being split into two films. Part 1 this Christmas and Part 2 next Summer. The point the movies will break has finally been revealed by Entertainment Weekly in this week's magazine article about the movie. It seems it will occur around Chapter 24 (out of 36) when Voldemort captures the Elder Wand. This leaves the Gringotts break-in and Battle of Hogwarts as the main pieces of Part 2.


He Who Yells Loudest Is Still Stupid
Knowing they have no plans beyond stop taxing the rich, the GOP keeps bouncing from scare tactic to tactic to get the ignorant to vote for them. Their entire 2010 campaign comes down to "be scared of stuff, vote for me and I will cut rich people's taxes to protect you!" The new meme is "terror babies" or "anchor babies". The idea is people are having babies here so that 20 years from now they will attack the United States. In a bizarre interview with Rep. Louie Gohmert basically yells his way through the interview on the idea that yelling really loud means he is right. Asked for evidence of his assertion he can provide none yet mentions it must be true cause of an airplane conversation. It is the usual GOP nonsense of lying but making it seem true with repetition and yelling a lot. After 10 years of this you would think people would stop falling for it. Sadly no. Hit the link to watch the rather insane exchange. The GOP, "we hate everyone but the rich...vote for us."

2010 San Diego Comic-Con 80 Plus Panel Videos

It is a few weeks late but finally able to post the links to 80 panels from the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) that were recorded and posted on line. Big thanks to all the uploaders.

The lengths vary from as short as 10 minutes to a full hour, usually the difference related to how much copyright footage was show during the panel. Because of that material you will often find a reference to a clip but that get shown as had to be edited out per SDCC recording rules or avoid DCMA takedowns. The panels cover TV, movies, toys, comics and video games. I have watched most but not all. Probably my favorite of the bunch was Castle with Nathan Fillion kept things going with his usual wit and charm. The other ones worth watching include The Visionaries Panel with Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams, Mythbusters, Psych and pretty much all the SyFy panels.

MOVIES
Battlefield Los Angeles - Part 1 | Part 2
Captain America - Part 1 | Part 2
Cowboys & Aliens - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Green Lantern - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Red Press Conference - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Red Panel - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
Resident Evil: Afterlife - Complete
Salt - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Sucker Punch - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Super - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Thor - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
The Avengers - Complete | Trailer
The Expendables - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3.1 | Part 3.2 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Tron Legacy Press Conference - Complete
Tron Legacy - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Trailer

Links of the Week

GOP Holding Laws Hostage for Bush Tax Cuts
In yet another example of conservative hypocrisy, the GOP is holding pretty much all activity in Congress hostage in effort to make Bush's tax cuts permanent. Despite claiming fiscal responsibility and reducing the deficit, the previous decade of cuts resulted in around $3 trillion being added to the deficit (more than Obama is expected to add in his entire first time). If made permanent, the cuts are expected to add at least another trillion. The GOP claims it helps the economy, but considering the cuts has been in place since 2001, that doesn't seem true. Especially since the cuts only provide significant assistance to those that make $150k or more so around 10% of the country. The graph to the left is why they are fighting as the Obama plan would re-shift tax policy so that the burdens to the rich and even then not that significantly but to the GOP the rich shouldn’t even pay $1 in taxes. Then again, considering pretty much the top tier of the GOP are in those wealthy categories that benefited most under Bush, their perspective is no surprise. What is the surprise is their non-rich followers that support a policy that doesn't benefit them in any meaningful way.

Things You Didn't Know About Scientology
Hit the link to look at an amusing chart that compares science with the cult of Scientology. It includes a handy timeline of Earth's history that science believes occurred and the bat-sh$t crazy that is the cult's version along with a few myths they try to sell but isn't true.

Tom Mankiewicz R.I.P.
The screenwriter of Superman, Superman II, most of the 70s James Bond films and more died on July 31st at his home 68. He was 68.

Links of the Week

Green Lantern Posters
Even though the movie is a year away, we have teaser posters that show off the main cast of the movie with Ryan Reynolds (Green Lantern, Hal Jordan), Blake Lively (Carol Ferris), Peter Sarsgard (Hector Hammond) and Mark Strong (Sinestro). Nothing remarkable yet, other than the observation that Lively is exceptionally hot as a brunette. Hit the link above for hi-res pics.



New DMCA Exemptions
Oops. Apple spent the last year or so trying to make it illegal for user to jailbreak their phone and here the Copyright Office instead makes it not only legal but specifically sites Apple in their change. While Apple continues to march down the 1984 path (really, can't even do what you want to your own purchase?), it’s nice to see at least some people get in the way. The other major exemption is the use of clips from an already owned purchase as long as used for documentaries, non-commercial videos and educational use. Basically, if using the clip and not making money from it. This isn't a move a GOP administration would ever allow since they see corporations as their masters.

DC Universe Online Trailer
If only DC would actually make a movie that looks this good and this dark. The trailer uses pre-rendered CGI to basically show the intro sequence for the upcoming MMORPG that establishes the skeleton of the story driving the game. It involves a despotic future where the heroes are just defeated by all the villains when Brainiac invades. Back to the present, the heroes must make sure that future doesn't happen.

Stargate Universe Season 2 Trailer
If don't mind spoiling the season 1 "everyone could die!?!" finale, hit the video below to check out the return of Stargate Universe on September 28th. I just hope the series picks up the pace as I have been a fan since Stargate-SG1 premiered on Showtime but this series is a drag. Uninteresting characters (but with potential), not particularly interesting situations and very slow moving plot. The foundation of a great series is here but in an effort to not be SG1 or Atlantis (which should not have been cancelled), they created something dull. On the plus, breaking up the DVD box sets stopped my buying habit of all things Stargate, so saved some money there.



YouTube Time Limit Increased
Speaking of YouTube, after years of staying at the same number, the average uploader can go to 15 minutes. While YouTube already makes exceptions for "partners", this is the first major change in the time standards since nearly the inception of the website. Hopefully this will decrease the amount of "Parts" you find for many videos.

Links of the Week

Economy Does Better Under Democrats
For reasons that will probably never be explained, most corporations and people seem to think the economy thrives when Republicans are in charge. This isn't actually true as numbers repeatedly and always prove. There are really no exceptions in this. Consistently, Republicans are bad for the economy. The reason is fairly straight forward. The GOP believes in unrestrained greed. The problem with that is too much greed becomes destructive, which rarely leads to healthy companies. See Enron, HP, all of Wall Street, housing scandals, lead in toys and so much more. When you allow unrestrained greed, companies will often make decisions that make the short term look good but can lead to their death in the long term. On top of that, the GOP has a pretty straight forward belief that tax cuts to the rich fix everything. Except that isn't true either. The engine of the economy isn't the rich. It’s the middle and lower classes (who are 95% of the population). The rich are getting richer thanks to GOP tax cuts but everyone else is either getting poorer or holding steady. Even raises have been stagnant now for around 10 years. The result is less disposable income which leads to a sputtering engine. People do not make spending decisions on tax cuts. They make them based on available disposable income and job security. Eight years of tax cuts under Bush has proved it doesn't work, despite the GOP promising more of the same (while not trying to pay for it). Any case read the link for more charts on why your savings and investments are better off during Democrat administrations.

New StarCraft II Trailer
Blizzard has released a new trailer that hints at some of the story that will drive the single player campaign in the game. I participated in beta and found the game to be a whole lot of fun; however my computer is old and barely could run the game. To get the full experience, you should consider playing the game with a computer that meets the recommended specs. In this case that means one that is two years old or newer (my computer is five years old).

Links of the Week

Green Lantern First Look
In what is probably a test run of the all CGI costume, Entertainment Weekly has scored the first look at the Green Lantern costume. The movie is expected to hit summer next year. The result is rather interesting but a little too painted on for my taste. Really hard to tell for sure until the final look is decided and seen in action.

Price is Right Perfect Bid, Wasted Moment
An interesting story from Esquire that details how Terry Kniess became the only person in 38 years of the Price is Right to guess exactly value of the prizes in the Showcase showdown. The part that annoyed me was how Drew Carey and the show’s producers handled it. Which was very poorly. They basically assumed the guy cheated and was trying to make them look stupid. Carey has just recently replaced Bob Barker on the show and the long time executive producer Roger Dobkowitz was fired so he could be replaced by a cheaper newbie named Mike Richards. The next result is a whole lot of inexperience led to a horrible handling of a game show historic moment. It is kind of expected that the producers would be worried about image and credibility; however Carey's response was just wrong. At their core, a game show host's job is to advocate for the contestant. They should want the contestant to not only win, but win in the most dramatic way possible. By doing that, they create good television. Instead, all Carey focused on is his ego. How bad he would look and more. Basically, reading this article confirmed what I suspected. The Price is Right is no longer worth watching because the guy at the top doesn't recognize what his core job is. It is tragic.

Links of the Week

The Best Lego Films
Bleeding Cool has compiled 18 Lego movies that show off the many ways you can tell stories with Legos. They include a brief retelling of Star Wars, Thriller, Spinal Tap, and other movie related re-creations.

How They Make the Old Spice Commercials
Click the link to view an interview with Old Spice's Isaiah Mustafa that stars in those wild Old Spice commercials. He explains how the recent commercial was made. It turns out that it is one continuous shot that can take up to 40 takes to get right, it was filmed on a lake, used a real circular saw, man-made waterfall and more.

RetroN 3 Device for Old School Gaming
If you have $70 you can buy a device that will play NES, SNES, and Genesis games. It comes with two generic wireless controllers but also has slots to use the classic controllers for each system. The perfect system if have old games lying around or need to free up some space.

Links of the Day

DC Redesigns Wonder Woman's Costume
For the first time in years, Wonder Woman is getting a permanent (such as exists in comics) costume change. As the image shows, it retains some elements of the classic design but the goal seems to mostly lose the bathing suit esthetic of the decades old template. I think the change is motivated by a marketing desire to make the character easier to sell to parents and more importantly easier to create a costume if Wonder Woman ever makes it the big screen. Warner Bros show it is nearly incapable of exploiting its own properties well so not holding my breath on a Wonder Woman movie but moves like this might make it a little easier.

Best Buy to Fire Employee Over Internet Video
Yet another sign that Best Buy doesn't get it, they are going to fire an employee because of a funny iPhone vs. HTC EVO video (at the link) that pretty much makes fun of iPhone lovers. The video doesn't reference Best Buy or any store. The video has no Best Buy specific logos, dress or anything else even remotely related to the company. The only Best Buy aspect of it is the video was created by a Best Buy employee and expressed an opinion corporate didn't agree with so decided to take action. I imagine that if the video had been a glowing review of the iPhone, they wouldn't be taking this action. The lesson is for all current and future Best Buy employees, beware as Corporate Big Brother is watching and if they do not approve of your internet activities done on personal time, they may fire you for it.

Links of the Day

Futurama, Lego Style
If a fan of Futurama or Legos, really should check out the huge gallery of images of this re-creation of Futurama' New York. It has the major buildings, including Madison Cube Garden and the Planet Express. Also have the characters Lego style, the sewers and a lot more sweet details. (Via Gizmodo)

Larry King to Retire
It is official; Larry King is finally going to retire after 25 years on the air. The decision is likely one part simply being time since he is 76 years old, one part personal reasons since he is going through some family problems, one part pressure from CNN as his ratings or not only bad but skewed to an older non-advertising friendly demographic and finally because he simply isn't very good at it anymore. Better to go out before things sour to the point of no return, especially since all it takes is one mistake for the press to tarnish a long and legendary career (see Helen Thomas). No date on his last day was provided.

Hulu Plus Announced
It has been rumored for more than a year but now official. By fall Hulu will have a paid subscription of $10 per month and availability on most devices that you pretty much already find Netflix on including iPhone and iPad. The plus apparently brings access to more shows by giving access to all episodes of shows rather than just a select few or last six or so episodes like is the current practice. Of note is you will still be forced to watch the ads and I doubt that the episodes will become available any quicker than they do now after broadcast.

Links of the Day

iPhone 4, Apple Against Left Handed People
It seems that the new iPhone has a left handed person bias. The phone antenna is around the outside of the device to increase signal strength and overcome some of the inherent problems that are associated with AT&T. It seems a side effect of that design is if you hold the phone in such a way as your skin contacts the bottom left hand corner (something common if type on device with right hand or just a lefty) then it will quickly lose its connectivity to AT&T. Now either this problem was not discovered or it explains why the new overpriced "bumber" case was released. Apple's official response to the news was a) you are holding it wrong and b) buy a case. So once again, buyer beware.

Links of the Day

100+ Pieces of Star Wars Concept Art
Hit the link for a huge gallery of images from the six Star Wars films and few video games that show how a lot of what is now iconic images were developed.

iPhone 4Gen Review
Apple has released the update 4.0 for the iPhone operating systems and now the 4th gen iPhone has started shipping to retail and those that pre-ordered online. Overall, the media remains in love with the phone calling it the best yet and worth the upgrade for most users. An unboxing video can be found here.

Complete Guide to iOS4
Click the link to get an overview of all the features the new 4.0 OS for the iPhone including how to use folders, multi-tasking, new mail features, and more. Again, the OS is considered a win and worthwhile for iPhone 3GS users. There is a caveat (see below).

Links of the Week

Looney Tunes Cast Revealed
Bugs Bunny is returning to the airwaves soon via the Cartoon Network but with a new look and new (mostly female) cast members. The cast has been de-aged to around early teens. I just miss the old cartoons which were pulled off the airwaves by the Network once they locked up exclusive rights to them and decided they were not worth airing.

Gigantic Lego Imperial Shuttle
Lego continues its huge scale Star Wars sets with the 2503 piece set that will hit retail in September for $260. Once assembled, the craft will be 28'' tall and 22'' wide. It will include five minifigs with Darth Vader, Shuttle Pilot, Imperial Officer, Stormtrooper and Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker. Sadly this set is outside my wallet range.

Monster Lego Chess Set
Below is a video that shows off a massive, motor controlled chess board that was built with 100,000 Legos and $30,000. The game is controlled by computer that can also reset itself. More info on it at Team Hassen Plug.

E3 2010 News

E3 is a video game convention/conference where the major video game companies present their plans for the next year. The business aspect is to get retailers and the like interested in their product but the main benefit is the free press they get worldwide as people talk about their plans and show off the products that are coming down the pipe. This year brings not only new hardware from Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft but the usual plethora of games. Below are links and the like to info I found most interesting.

E3 Press Conferences and Trailers
From checking the various websites, Gametrailers.com really is the best source to see all the E3 press conferences and trailers in solid quality so head there if want all the details and not just a few bullet points.

Microsoft Kinect Officially Announced
Last year at E3, Microsoft demonstrated a device they called "Project Natal". This year it is now an official edition to the Microsoft line-up complete with Kinect specific games, special port on new XBox Slim and really a whole new way to do motion control. The device supports controller-less playing, voice commands, video chat and more. It uses sensors to tell a person's positioning to reflect commands so a kick is read as a kick, a jump a jump and so forth. Touching in space can register as commands and a lot more. It’s hard to type out what it does, but the potential of this is huge. It also seems like a lot of work since you can't "cheat" the system like you could with the Wii where could bowl from the couch. Since your body is the controller, it means games will require your full physical attention to participate. The systems release date is November 4th and the expected launch games list is here. Gamestop has the price at $149 but that price point is not official. I suspect that that at that time there will be XBox, Kinetic + game system packs that will go on sale in time for Christmas.

Links of the Day

Nintendo 3DS Revealed?
Nintendo had announced last year it was working on a 3D handheld system and apparently some information about the product has been leaked. The device has the basic form factor of the regular DS but now with a much larger widescreen on top, camera, and an analog stick (the white nub on bottom left side). The image is just a mock-up based on the report from China but expect the real deal to be shown off next Tuesday at Nintendo's keynote address at E3.

Time-Lapse of Space Shuttle Prep and Launch
Very cool video that shows the six week process of prepping the Space Shuttle Discover for launch from the hangar bay all the way to lift-off.

Indiana 5 Rumors
The film is likely years off, but apparently next year is the penciled in date to start production. The story is rumored to involve Indy and his son Mutt on an adventure at the Bermuda Triangle. A goal is to go back to Indy roots with more practical effects and less CGI driving the story.

Starcraft II War is Coming Trailer
A decent trailer for the upcoming game. It mostly shows off the game's cinematic and hints at the single player story. I played the Beta and pretty much if you’re a fan of Starcraft I then two is right up your alley. My five year old machine played it pretty good once dialed down the graphics but I think any machine three years or less in age with separate graphics card should be able to enjoy the game.

iPhone 4 and Other Links

iPhone 4 Officially IntroducedToday Steve Jobs officially introduced the new iPhone at the WWDC 2010 keynote which will be available starting June 24th. The price will be $299 (32GB), $199 (16GB), and $99 (3GS 8GB). A comparison of the 3GS and iPhone 4 shows a faster processor (same as one in the iPad), a higher pixel density of 960 x 640 (almost same resolution as iPad) or what Apple calls Retina Display, HD video recording (720p at 30fps), a front and back camera, the main being 5 megapixel with flash, and slightly improved battery life. So far the phone seems to continue to be tied into the crapiness that is AT&T so an upgrade will jail you to them for two more years. Main new apps for the device include iBook (with pdf support), Netflix, and iMovie. The phone will also support video conferencing (aka FaceTime Video Chat) but only over a Wi-Fi connection. Hands-On description and video here. Top link is a definitive guide that breaks down all the details for the new phone.

Helen Thomas Forced into Retirement
If you want to know why conservatives always go into attack mode even when it does nothing to actually help, this is why. Helen Thomas voiced an opinion that Jews (aka Israel) should get out of Palestine. Since America has this warped opinion that Israel can do no wrong, it was twisted into an anti-Semitic remark by the right with the cowardly press corps diving into the dog pile as they figured it would help ratings (cause god forbid it actually start an intellectual conversation about the Gaza Strip, the politics of the regions and more).

Links of the Day

25 Horribly Sexist Vintage AdsAds that are kind of jaw dropping by today's standards in how they depict women vs men in trying to sell products. A shoe ad has the tag line "Keep her where she belongs...", another has a woman as a rug with her head being stepped on, another is for a projector but the focus isn't the projector but the woman's breasts, and well you get the idea. Amazing these often wordy and stupid ads actually worked.

Supreme Court Guts Miranda
It took three decisions to do it, but conservatives finally have used the sheep...err the five conservatives on the Supreme Court to gut Miranda rights to the point that they have no value. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court decided that until a person verbally invokes their right to remain silent. Apparently your rights only apply when you declare you intend to use them. I am not sure how the requirement to declare your intentions applies if you can't speak, don't speak English or talk after the statement is made. A previous ruling invalidated asking for a lawyer as a means of ending interrogations. Basically, with their various rulings over the years the police are only required to read you your Miranda Rights, not honor them. They can interrogate you for as long as they want, regardless of what your do or don't say, with the full protection of the Supreme Court. It’s unclear if other rights also have to be declared out loud before they apply. I wonder if this means websites have to declare their intent to use the 1st amendment since rights are no longer implied.

Nun Excommunicated for Saving Mom's Life
In yet another sign of how bizarre and arbitrary of the so called moral authority that is the Catholic Church. A nun, Sister Margaret McBride, approved an abortion as the only means of saving the mother's life. It was in the 11th week of the pregnancy so it was the death of the mom AND the baby or the death of just the baby. The decision is sadly pretty simple. The result was she was excommunicated. As the report at the link notes, strange how this nun participated in saving a life is punished and very quickly yet all the priests that raped children are still with the church who has gone through massive steps to protect them. Moral authority my rear end.

Links of the Day

Gary Coleman, Dead at 42The star died today of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42. For me, he was the hilarious comedian on Different Strokes. For others he was the short guy suffering from nephritis that would pop up in the tabloids for some problem or other. All I know is he made me laugh for many years as a child and for that I alone I have nothing but fond memories of the guy. It’s a tragedy he died so young and lived a life so hard. R.I.P. Gary thanks for the laughter.

Woman Killed After Threatening a Census Worker
While not confirmed, I am betting this woman was an avid listener of Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. It is the only way to explain why she pulled a gun on a census worker and later was dumb enough to wave it around at the police officers that came to investigate. Point guns at police plus refusal to put it down equals them defending themselves. The result is this woman lost her life because she didn't have the common sense to know when to back down or not listen to fools that claim to love the Constitution while attempting to thwart and endanger those carrying out its directive of a census every 10 years.

Internet Running out of IP Addresses
It seems the world is about 18 months away of running through the 4 billion IP addresses the IPv4 scheme allows for. A solution already exists, in the form of its replacement, IPv6, that allows for trillions of addresses but a majority of companies are not ready for that standard. The result will most likely be that companies seeking new addresses will be turned down until they update their equipment to handle the new protocol, something that will become a problem for smaller companies that may not necessarily be able to afford the added expense. At this point it really is too early to know exactly what will happen but for the average user not a whole lot.

Holmes 2, Superman Set Dates
Warner Bros. has made a few firm decisions on some of its franchises. It has announced that Sherlock Holmes 2 is set for a December 16th, 2011 release date with most of the key cast returning. The Flash is also on the verge of being greenlit while Superman has penciled in December 2012 for a release date with The Dark Knight's Chris Nolan producing.

Darth Vader Recording for TomTom
Amusing commercial that shows the difficulty in recording lines for the Star Wars TomTom device.


Stop Motion NES 8-Bit Montage
A creative video that uses household items like paper, desks, food and more to re-create classic NES games from the 80s like Contra, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros and more.

Links of the Day

Google Pac-Man Cost $120 Million
Apparently the Google Pac-Man playable logo was enough of a hit that it is estimated that it cost $120 million in lost productivity. This is based on half a billion hits the site experienced on May 23rd and around 5 million hours of time at an estimated cost of $25 per hour (which seems high to me). The game itself remains available here.

Apple Officially the Goliath
Way back in 1984, Apple cultivated this image of the underdog company always trying to beat the big meanies of Microsoft, Dell, and other computer companies. Ever since then Apple fans have used this false view to defend pretty much anything the company does as the acts of a smaller company just trying to survive. As of Tuesday, Apple's market value is now greater than Microsoft, which to mean needs to forever kill its underdog status. It is now the Goliath it once railed against. See its iPhone and iPad policies for proof of how it wields its strength. I wish this would put an end to the excuse making from the Apple fan boys, but not holding my breath.

Alice to Cross $1 Billion
In unexpected box office news, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is expected to cross the $1 billion threshold by the end of the weekend. This is largely based on its foreign sales of $667 million but the $332M from the US didn't hurt. The movie becomes only the sixth to cross that threshold, joining Avatar, Titanic, Return of the King, Dead Man's Chest and The Dark Knight. The movie was released in March, becoming the first non-summer, non-holiday movie to cross the mark and possibly proving that not only can movies succeed when released outside of the usual crowded summer window but also thrive. I also think it proves that the US consumer is going to lose power in deciding what a success or failure is as the foreign sales continue to makes up a huge chunk of the gross for many movie releases. Now if only TV would take into consideration the overseas success of its programs when deciding what to keep or cancel.

Generic = Name Brand Drugs
Click the link to view a nice chart that breaks down why it’s silly to pay more for name brand drugs when the generic does the exact same thing. The reason? Thanks to "evil" regulation, generic drugs are required to be identical in dosage, safety, strength, quality and performance as its name brand counterpart. Basically it’s the same everything in less flashy packaging or expensive advertising campaigns at half the cost.

1979 vs. 2010 Oil Spill
Rachel Maddow broke out the way back machine last night to show off how little technology has changed in 30 years when it comes to dealing with ocean based oil leaks. The names change, such as "The Sombrero" becoming the "Top Hat" method but other than that, not a thing. For all the talk of "advancement" from BP and its defenders, it’s pretty clear the only tech applied to drilling is how to get more oil for less money, not preparing, preventing, or planning for when disaster strikes.

Fall 2010 Upfronts

This week all the major networks held their upfronts which is basically a press conference were they release their probable schedule for Fall 2010. This usually also includes official confirmations of cancelled shows, renewed shows, new shows and midseason shows. The schedules will often experience a few tweaks over the summer but usually most of it remains in place from what is revealed in the upfronts.

Links
Breakdown: ABC | CBS | NBC | Fox | CW
Fall TV Schedule chart
New Shows Trailers

Cancelled
ABC: Better Off Ted, The Deep End, Defying Gravity, Eastwick, FlashForward, The Forgotten, The Goode Family, Hank, Lost, Scrubs, Surviving Suburbia, Ugly Betty, Wifeswap

CBS: Accidentally on Purpose, As the World Turns, Cold Case, Gary Unmarried, Ghost Whisperer, Miami Medical, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Numbers, Rules of Engagement, Three Rivers

Fox: 24, Brothers, Dollhouse, Past Life, Sons of Tuscon, Til Death

NBC: Heroes, The Jay Leno Show, Law & Order, Mercy, Trauma

CW: The Beautiful Life, Blonde Charity Mafia, Fly Girls, High Society, Melrose Place

Renewals
ABC: America's Funniest home Videos, The Bachelor, Brothers & Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, Extreme Makeover, Grey's Anatomy, The Middle, Modern Family, Private Practice, Supernanny, V, 20/20

CBS: 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, The Amazing Race, The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, The Good Wife, How I Met Your Mother, Medium, The Mentalist, NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, Rules of Engagement, Survivor, TWo and a Half Men, Undercover Boss

Fox: American Dad, American Idol, America's Most Wanted, Bones, The Cleveland Show, Cops, Family Guy, Fringe, Glee, The Good Guys, Hell's Kitchen, House, Human Target, Kitchen Nightmares, Lie To Me, The Simpsons, So You Think You Can Dance

NBC: 30 Rock, The Apprentice, The Biggest Loser, Chuck, Community, Dateline NBC, Friday Night Lights, Law & Order: SVU, The Marriage Ref, Minute to Win It, The Office, Parenthood, Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live, The Sing-Off, Sunday Night Football, Who Do You Think You Are

CW: 90210, America's Next Top Model, Gossip Girl, Life Unexpected, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries

New Shows
ABC: Better Together, Body of Proof, Detroit 1-8-7, Happy Endings, Mr. Sunshine, My Generation, No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, The Whole Truth

CBS: Blue Bloods, The Defenders, Hawaii Five-O, Mike and Molly,&%%* My Dad Says, Criminal Minds Spin-Off

Fox: Bob's Burgers, Lonestar, Mixed Signals, Raising Hope, Ride-Along, Running Wilde, Terra Nova

NBC: The Cage, Chase, The Event, Friends with Benefits, Harry's Law, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Love Bites, Outlaw, Outsourced, The Paul Reiser Show, Perfect Couples, Undercovers

CW: Hellcats, Nikita

Sad to see some favorites go, especially Law & Order which isn't getting the send off it has earned, but that is typical of NBC. Of the new shows, only a few grab my interest. I intend to try out The Cape, Love Bites (because of Jordana Spiro and Becki Newton hotness), Perfect Couples (cause of Olivia Munn), Undercovers (spy show), No Ordinary Family (superhero fan), Body of Proof (cause of Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan), Terra Nova (Spielberg's involvement), Hawaii Five-O (pure curiosity), and Nikita (loved the original TV show). It looks like another year of recording one program while watching another.