Linkfest - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

The year is almost done and fortunately the Mayans were wrong as we are all still here. The problems remain but so does hope for the future. In the last post of the year we look at another cool Lego creation, info on data caps being scam, Wal-Mart hell, great Stephen Colbert interview, Google's year in review, and the Man of Steel.

Lego The Legend of Zelda Map
The image is a Lego re-creation of the map for the classic NES game The Legend of Zelda. From Michael Kuroda, the map re-creation really isn't that large with it being 256 Lego studs wide by 88 studs high.

Data Caps are Cash Cows and Unnecessary
Hit the link to read a little bit about how cable companies and telephone service providers lie when they claim tiered data systems are necessary because of a need for data caps. The reality is the cost to move data gets cheaper every year. Also the cost of the transmission remains the same whether 1 megabyte of data is moved or 1000 megabytes. Long story short, the more you use the internet should not cost you more because it doesn't cost the service providers more. They just pretend it does because its an easy way for them to charge more while providing nothing more thereby increasing their profits. The upper management gets their huge bonuses while having done literally nothing for their customers. Its a scam so next time a company or a politician pretends otherwise, don't believe them.

Links of the Week

Legoland Star Wars Gallery
The Star Wars attraction at Legoland California which as more than 2000 Lego Star Wars sculptures on display. Hit the link for a gallery of some of the masterpieces.

25 Years of Pixar Animation
An excellent fan made video that celebrates 25 years of excellence from Pixar which brought us Toy Story, Cars, Up, Wall-E and so much more.


WonderCon Green Lantern Footage and Panel
Below is four minutes from Green Lantern along with all five parts of the WonderCon panel. Over all the footage makes the movie look much better than the teaser trailer had. Definitely going for an epic, universe spanning feel that DC movies have normally lacked.

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 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

Colbert Report in Iraq - Stephen Colbert is reporting to Iraq for a week of shows that start airing tonight. To kick off the event, he got a military style haircut to show solidarity with the troops. Below is a brief cameo he made for a high school graduation commencement speech from their principle that shows off the new style.


E3 Press Conferences - The video game celebration is over but fortunately Gamespot has including all three press conferences in their entirely from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony for our enjoyment.

Conan's Super Mario Set - Amusing response from Conan O'Brien at the observation that the background of his set looked like it was inspired by Super Mario Bros.


Oprah Plus Health Equals Bad Advice - In a rather gutsy move, Newsweek actually took a chance and attacked Oprah Winifrey regarding her guests their advice about health care. Oprah's has made a career of trying to sell people simple solutions to complicated problems, not necessary in anyone's best interest. For example, The Secret, which basically says good things, will happen if you wish for it long enough while glossing over that if was the case then bad things must happen for the same reason. Or Suzanne Somers phobia of old age that includes a crap load of plastic surgery and endless supply of shots and pills (about 80 a day). All this sold to her willing audience who go out and blindly follow it (being on her show is a guaranteed burst to the bottom line). Her claim is her audience researches her advice, as if that absolves her of not bothering to do more then give lip service to the opposing viewpoint. The end result is Oprah uses her reputation to sell nonsense and clearly doesn't care. Take her shows advice at your own risk should be the spoken warning.

Links of the Day

Consumer Prices Fall for First Time Since 1955 - Apparently it turns out that deflation is a bad thing and it is good when the price of everything increases every year (while your income usually doesn't). Because of that, the news that consumer prices has dropped .4% for the year is a big since that has not occurred in decades. The main problem it is a sign of just how much consumers have kicked their spending habits as they hunker down for a long term recession. The fact though is even once the recession ends, I think most know that companies will still continue to screw them on salary.

Bane In Arkam Asylum - I don't normally get excited about video games anymore (hard to make time to play them), but in this case I am making an exception. Of course I don't own a 360 or PS3 so excitement probably doesn't matter. It just looks like it will be a blast to play or even watch others play. The clip below introduces Bane, the villain that literally broke Batman's back in the mid-ninety comics.


NASA Treadmill Named After Colbert - Despite reports, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams informed Stephen Colbert that a new space station node would not be named after him despite winning an online vote. The reason is mostly because of the long standing tradition of not naming space station hardware after living people (station being international might have a large part to do with that). Instead NASA is employing its love of acronyms to name the stations treadmill (arriving in August) the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT). Stephen took the renaming pretty well considering.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Space Module: Colbert - Sunita Williams
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Ghostbusters Rule Three - This is another game on systems I don't own that I am excited about. It looks like it might be a lot of fun and doesn't hurt that most of the original cast provided the voice work for the game.


Susan Boyle Performance - It only occurred four days ago but already Britain's Susan Boyle has become an internet sensation for her excellent performance of Les Miserables' I Dreamed a Dream. The cause for the attention is this rather homey singer with rather normal background surprised the audience and judges with her performance. To me it is a sign that we have become to programmed to think that singing talent can only come from hot little sexpots when it used to be based on ability. I guess do to popularity, embedding has been disabled.

Links of the Day

Weekend Box Office - After last week’s bonzo box office thanks to Fast and Furious, this week was decent and more the norm for April. Hannah Montana debuted to a sadly impressive $34M showing that Disney Channel adaptations continue to be cash cows. Fast & Furious took a 59% dive to a still impressive $28.8M take. Monsters vs. Aliens is number 3 with $22.6M. Observe and Report launched with $11.1M proving that Seth Rogen is not yet a headliner. Good reviews from critics combined with bad reviews from crowds probably didn't help (friends’ opinions trumps "experts" anytime). Knowing is 5th with $6.7M. To the surprise of no one, Dragonball: Evolution absolutely tanked with a pathetic $4.7M take thanks to crappy trailers and bad reviews from pretty much everyone (audience and critics alike). No surprise since they took a property that should have been a blast to take to life action (think Matrix fights) and instead of keeping the fights they kept the crap (costumes, humor, design).

Captain Rescued By Navy Snipers - It took a while but the US Navy was able to free the captain taken hostage by pirates by killing three of them with sniper hits. Richard Phillips was unharmed and doing well. Hopefully this is the beginning of a no nonsense approach with the pirates. At the end of the day their goal is wealth by taking it from others and like most criminals there wiliness to engage ends with risk to their lives. Kill enough of them and maybe they either stop or at the very least they learn to not mess with any ship waving a US flag.

Colbert: He Did It - After a campaign on his show The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert won a NASA poll to get a new room (module) at the US Space Station named after him. NASA delayed announcing what name they had decided upon but the AP is reporting that Astronaut Sunita Williams will be on the program Tuesday to announce that NASA has chosen "Colbert" as the official name.

Polar Bear Attacks Woman - At the Berlin Zoo on Friday, a woman was attacked by a polar bear and bitten several times. The caveat on this though is she chose to climb the fence and jumped into the bear's habitat during feeding time. Intruder plus hunger equals expected results. It is unknown what the woman was thinking.

Best Buy Reorgs - In an attempt to cut costs (mostly through demotions); the company has reconfigured the stores hierarchy to decrease the number of floor supervisors. On the plus side, the reorganization isn't expected to lead to layoffs. I would say there is a bad side but nor of a neutral side since I expect service to remain at its lackluster level and the continued incompetence in such areas as Geek Squad (where the staff is mostly salespeople not techs) to continue unabated.

Links of the Day

The Big Takeover - A snarky but good look into what caused the failure of AIG that needed taxpayer bailout and why the bonuses are so bad. In general, the main bad guy is AIG Financial Products division led by Joseph Cassano who caused the company to buy all the bad debt that it couldn't unload and nearly caused its bankruptcy. He and his people are the same people that are supposed to get the $165 million bonus money. Yep, they nearly destroy a company and their reward is more money. Cassano was finally laid off but he was given $34 million in compensation and $1 million a month from AIG to consult. Basically Wall Street's version of policing itself is to hand out money freely to its biggest con artists. For all the Republican talk of why deregulation is required for all things, I give you AIG as a reason on why it’s absolutely necessary.

Colbert Tops NASA Poll - As a sign of the Colbert Nation strength, Stephen Colbert asked for people to vote for "The Colbert" as the name of the new wing of the international space station and they did raising him to the top spot over second place name "Serenity." A name I assume is from the Firefly TV series (and movie). Now the contest wasn't to actually name the module but simple pick a primary suggestion that NASA may or may not use. NASA has said its official determination will not be made until next month.

AIG To Rebrand - What does failed company do with a horrible reputation? Rename itself of course. AIG is going to spend some of its taxpayer money to rename itself to AIU Holdings Ltd and already started the process with removing AIG from its headquarters in New York. Sadly, a new name often does wonders for a company as the public quickly forgets what the old name really represented.

Bill O'Reilly Ambush Story - Bill O'Reilly is an ass. A huge idiot of an ass that is only outmatched by his ego. Someone dares to question him; he sometimes will sic his attack dog, a pathetic shell of a man named Jesse Watters. Jesse then goes out and follows you around as he tries to get a "gotcha" moment. Failing that he will suddenly ambush you maybe in your yard, at work, or on vacation as the story at the link indicates. From there he will ask a bunch of stupid loaded questions of the "Why did you eat your baby?" variety that gets heavily edited to make it seem like you dodging something. It’s basically a big "fuck you" to his audience because he knows most are simply too stupid to question what they are seeing. If you are on the receiving end of such behavior, simple say "Before I comment, can Bill answer questions about Andrea Mackris" Repeat that name over and over as Bill will refuse to allow any footage to air that utters that name. BTW, she was a women he sexually harassed and settled out of court with.

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

Gas Profits, Obama Gains, McCain's Healthcare Plan and Colbert

Where Gas Money Goes - A nice little diagram that breaks down where all that oil profit and money goes. The picture to the left is tiny and hard to read so instead click here to view the full size one.

Obama Gains in Bush States - In a sign of just how bad things are, even traditionally Republican states are turning on McCain. North Carolina went from easy win to dead heat, he trails in Ohio, New Hampshire and Wisconsin are now Obama leaning and Florida is now a toss up. Overall, current polling puts McCain at a 1:9 shot in winning the election.

McCain's Healthcare Plan Costs - On paper McCain's plan is pretty straight forward. He bribes the average America with $2500 credit (that does straight to your insurance company). In reality it’s more complicated. First off, do your really think if you spend less then five thousand you will get that back? Of course not. Second, he intends to tax the insurance your company currently pays for. So go ahead and add about $10,000 to your adjusted income to get an idea of what kind of increase that will bring come April. Now, pray to your HR reps that they just don't use this as an excuse to cut your insurance entirely. Because if they do (as predicted about 50% of companies will), then suddenly the problem isn't paying taxes on $10,000 or so, its paying for the monthly insurance fees that will double or triple (assuming you don't have a pre-existing condition, otherwise no insurance for you). As the article above reports, there is now a new wrinkle. It turns out to pay for his bribe; McCain is going to cut Medicare and Medicaid by $1.3 trillion. That generally means increasing the age people get into the program (ouch about to retire? Might want to wait), cutting what is covered (ooh heart condition, no go for that surgery), and probably increasing the rules of eligibility (just how handicapped are you really?). While both candidates’ plans need a lot of work, it’s pretty clear that McCain's is a disaster waiting to happen.

Stephen Colbert Talks Colbert and Politics - An interesting summary of one meeting between Stephen Colbert and Ariel Levy where he discusses his show, his character and politics in general. A very good read.

Stewart, Colbert, Palin Interview, Bank Failures, and Lego Mac

Stewart and Colbert EW Interview - Click the link to read the interview that goes with that hilarious cover. In it, mostly Stewart, talks politics and how the press (doesn't) cover it very well.

Sarah Palin's Couric Interview - The more I see of Palin, the more she scares me. She really is like Bush in drag. Her information comes across as a series of talking points rather then original thoughts of an intelligent woman. Like Bush, when things go off script, say a follow-up question to her own response, she gets flustered. I am also amused how she keeps trying to turn things into a McCain discussion, which is to be expected, but it’s handled so poorly that it’s laughable. Even sadder, she seems to have drunk her own kool-aid. Its one thing to sell to people that being a neighbor is the same as experience. It is another thing to actually believe it. What should scare you is the continued Iran rhetoric (which smells much of Bush's Iraq rhetoric in 2000) and never second guessing Israel on any actions. If this candidate is an independent thinker, she sure is doing a bad job of expressing it.



Washington Mutual Fails, Bought - The bank failed and was sold to JP Morgan at bargain basement price today. The net result for consumers overall is a continued consolidation of the banking industry. The result for WaMu customers their bank has new owners but their money remains safe. For now anyway.

Wachovia Next To Fail? - WaMu has fallen, now Wall Street believe that Wachovia could be next. And sadly thanks to that belief they are selling off its stock left and right. The net result is it will probably become a self fulfilling prophecy.

Lego Mac Case - A time lapse video that shows the assembly of a Lego Mac Pro case. Pretty cool. Even better, you can order your own at the Lego Factory but the cost for the 2,558 pieces is $376.65.

Bricked Mac - Time-Lapse from RP Cuenco on Vimeo.

WiiWare, iPhone, Happy Birthday Copyright and Colbert

WiiWare Goes Live - Nintendo has released WiiWare, a new channel that allows users to pay for and download games built by a myriad of 3rd party publishers designed to be release via the service. Click the link for details and descriptions of the games currently available through the service.

iPhone Sold out? - News is coming out that the iPhone is no long available online in the US or UK from Apple. This seems to give credence to the rumor that the famed phone will get a G3 update after Apple's June 10th press conference. Personally I am just hoping the iPod Touch gets a price drop/memory upgrade. Doing business with AT&T is something I want to avoid unless they somehow manage to break company history is produce a deal to good to pass up.

The Happy Birthday Copyright False? - A new report is coming out that the $2 million a year copyright for the Happy Birthday song may no longer be valid. It seems the owners, Mildred and Patti Hill, may have pulled one over the RIAA and MPAA when claiming the copyright which has never been contested in court. Just further proof to me that copyright, patents, and other claims to ownership of ideas is fundamentally broken.

Stephen Colbert "Webby Person of the Year" - It has been announced that the man has one the award. The reason is for his use of the internet, from "truthiness" to Facebook, his use of websites for raising funds for charity. The awards are giving out by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences on June 10th in New York's Museum of American Finance. Personally I am looking forward to see how has fun with the victory.

Movie Trailers and Politics

Star Wars The Clone Wars Trailer - Click the link for HD trailer of the upcoming Clone Wars CGI series coming out on August 15th, 2008. I am not too much of a fan of the whole Clone Wars thing mostly because we already know how it turns out but series looks like it might be interesting.

Speed Racer, 1st Seven Minutes - Click the link or look below for the first seven minutes of the movie. I have to admit I am not terribly interested in the movie but will probably see it anyway just because of its unique look. In a weird way it reminds me of playing F-Zero or Mario Kart with all the extreme drifting that occurs.


The Daily Show Is Journalism - According to a report from Washington's Project for Excellence in Journalism it turns out that the Daily Show does engage in it and on a frequent basis. As an avid watcher of the show I already knew this. Heck I knew they often do more journalism in one episode then most news organizations do in a week but a little proof never hurts.

Colbert Report on Oil Profiteering - Big oil is currently paying hefty sums to advertise how misrepresented they are in their ever growing record profits. As Colbert points out, its amazing that their stats add up to 100% with cost of crude oil, refining, distribution and taxes yet apparently profit isn't seen anywhere. Basically the message is big oil thinks the American public is stupid and they are probably right. Click the link so view a scathing comment on the advertisements.

Colbert on Electability - Stephen Colbert debates himself and pretty much explains why the concept of "Electability" which is so important to the pundits ultimately makes no sense. As he says "What if everyone votes for someone that nobody would vote for?!"

John McCain's Top 10 Out of Touch Moments - Just what it says, a list that shows how McCain just doesn't get the problems of today and has shown that his promise really is "More Bush Done Better."

Hobbit, Slingshot, Supreme Court and Tanya Andersen

Del Toro Officially Set for Hobbit Films - New Line Cinema has announced that Guillermo del Toro has signed on to direct the Hobbit and its sequel. The filmmaker will move to New Zealand and work with Peter Jackson on the 4 year project. Del Toro is the handpicked choice by Jackson for the film. This should also scuttle any chances for a Hellboy III any time soon. The hope is to get the first film out around 2010.

Kamen Introduces the Slingshot - Previously called the Vapor Compression Distiller when first introduced on the Colbert Report a few months ago, the machine is now officially called the Slingshot. The machine is designed for 3rd world countries and claims to be produce clean water from any water source, dirty or not. The device uses no filters, costs $1000 to $2000 and can also produce enough electricity for 70 energy efficient light bulbs. I still think it uses pressure at a certain setting that vaporizes water, and only water, leaving behind the unwanted impurities.


Boston Legal Trashes the Supreme Court - The legal show does it again, this time taking the Supreme Court to task over its politics which drive the court rather then the legal which mostly seems irrelevant to the court in this day and age. Really, on any given issue, it’s not even a question of how the court will go as the five conservatives are always going to vote as a block and align 100% percent with republican values. It’s really just a question on what the other 4 will do. At this point I don't know why anyone bothers to bring a case to them since it’s decided before they even show up.


Profile on Tanya Andersen - You may not know her name but she is taking the fight to the RIAA for its tactics and secrecy over the last few years at it attempts to buffer its lagging profits via unjustified lawsuits and fear mongering. So far she is winning. Worth a read.

NBC Season, Peabody Winners, Recession and Doogie

NBC Announces Next Season Plans - The network has released its plans for the next season through the summer including its schedule. The general plan is to have an 8PM family hour, 9PM blockbuster hour and 10PM adult themes hour. This replaces the previous announcement of having mostly reality shows at 8pm. In addition Las Vegas showrunner has been assigned to Knight Rider. I enjoyed Las Vegas so please but the show not being granted a finale still annoys me and generates a lot of distrust for NBC endeavors at this point. Also Chuck has been renewed something I wasn't aware of. Click the link to get the full schedule and presentation.

Peabody Award Winners Announced - The winners of the 2007 Peabody from the University of Georgia (I am an alumni) has been announced. Lots of great talent won awards but the key one is another victory lap for The Colbert Report for "bombastic and self-serving in cable-news bloviasion, has come into his own as one of electronic media`s sharpest satirists."

Depression vs Recession - A brief 101 introduction to the two economic concepts. Essentially a recession is 6 months of negative business growth; currently we are at 3 which are why Bush can claim this is a "slowdown". A depression is basically a longer version of a recession, probably a year or more of negative growth. Suffice it to say Bush's anything for big business policies have not had the trickle down effect he thought they would. Duh, business is greedy to the point of self-destruction, why don't republicans get that.

Doogie Howser Returns - Via the man himself, Neil Patrick Harris sends up his ages old Doogie Howser role complete with theme, large text over blue screen and thoughtful pause. Hilarious. If you’re not watching How I Met Your Mother, you really should be.

Jericho, Snake Eyes, Dirty Harry, Kamen's Distiller, and Obama Bashing

Jericho Cancelled - It looks like the fan induced renewal wasn't enough to save the show despite a much improved second season. Thanks to anemic ratings (I think average was 7 million), CBS has decided to forgo a season 3. However, the show did plan for possibility of cancellation by shooting two versions of the end. Clearly the series finale end will be the one that airs this Tuesday. Lesson to all future show runners, holding your cards too long thinking you will need them for season 3 or later doesn't do you much good if there never is a season 3. The reason Jericho went from early season 1 success to late season 1 failure is because they played out their central mystery to slow to maintain viewer interest. Take the Heroes rode, throw out your best early on, once you have people hooked, you can slow down as needed.

Snake Eyes Image - A sneak peek of Snake Eyes (Ray Park) has been released to the web for the GI Joe movie that is in production. It should help fans know that it appears that Snake Eyes will maintain his bad ass looks.

Dirty Harry Returns? - Rumors are swirling that Clint Eastwood's next project is another Dirty Harry film called "Gran Turino." However, there are also rumors that he isn't and the film is about a racist that changes his ways after an immigrant family moves in next door. Frankly, considering Clint's career for the last 15 years, the second plot is more likely (smells of Oscar).

Vista SP1 Reviews - Click the link for reviews of the new service pack for Vista. The consensus seems to be the improvements will probably not be noticed by the average user.

Kamen's Vapor Compression Distiller - Dean Kamen appeared on the Colbert Report to discuss his newest invention which is a chemical, membrane, and filter free water purifier that can be used on any type of water be it dirty, salt, poisoned, even urine. The idea is that it can be used in third world countries to provide access to clean water and possibly "wipe out 50% of human disease". Based on my basic science memory and the name, it sounds like the device uses pressure so that contaminated water is turned to vapor leaving behind the impurities. This vapor is then collected, cooled back to water, and released for use. If true, it’s actually an elegant solution. The problem remains maintenance and upkeep which is probably why it took five years to develop as would need to reduce the points of failure to as few and cheap as possible if plan to deploy in poor nations. Click the link above for the demo.

Fox Hosts Tired of Obama Bashing - A day that few thought would come, two Fox hosts actually got sick and tired of a Democrat being bashed ad nausuem. Fox and Friends is a morning show that pretty much spends the entire time kissing Republican rear while trashing Democrats. Basically it’s Rush Limbaugh with three hosts. Well apparently after two hours of harping on "typical white woman" phrase from Obama, Brian Kilmeade left and later Chris Wallace voiced his own disapproval. From what I can tell the problem is the use of the phrase "typical", the usual dislike of stereotypes because people like to pretend they are unique even when they are not and trust me, that female Fox host is a typical female Fox News host in every way whether she wants to believe it or not. I didn't even vote for Obama and found the whole discussion silly.

Writer-less A Daily Show and Colbert Report Still Good

They might not have writers, but "Th...A Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" where still excellent and informative. Both took on a very pro-writer's strike format for their first showings but still more entertaining then most programs with writers.

Return of The Daily Show and Colbert Report

For the first time in 2 months, the Daily Show and Colbert Report return to the air waves sans their writers. It should be intersting to how good (or bad) the programs will be without writers to prep their various skits and jokes. Remember that even Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are bound by the WGA so they can not themselves write jokes for the show. They can ad lib things, they can suggest skits and the like but any prepared content that involves writing is prohibited.

Probably the big change will be guests will be given more time and more "remote" skits will be performed then normal. Since both programs only had actors on once in a while, the SGA not allowing members to appear on the programs will probably have no effect in booking of guests.

Good or bad, I am looking forward to their return. They must have things to say about last weeks Iowa Caucuses and tomorrows New Hampshire primary should provide plenty of fodder to fill out their week.

Daily Show, Colbert Report Return January 7th

Comedy Central announced today that The Daily Show with Jon Steward and The Colbert Report will return with new episodes starting January 7th. The show went dark because of the ongoing writers strike.

From USA Today: In a joint statement, Stewart and Colbert said: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

From Variety, it appears that lot of the funnier features of the shows are going to remain on strike:

According to insiders, trademark features like Stewart's "Headlines" and Colbert's "The Word" will obviously have to take a break since they're heavily scripted.

Instead, it appears the shows will try to work around the missing writers (and the guild rules that bar anything that's traditionally the domain of scribes) by relying heavily on pretaped segments from the field.

In many of those cases, the segments are produced and edited by non-WGA members. That would still seemingly prevent correspondents who are WGA members from participating, but it's believed that some of the show's contributors are with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, rather than the WGA. (In addition, "The Daily Show" has occasionally run pieces by individuals who are not regular contributors.)

VideoSift Open Letter to Viacom

Videosift, a website that tracks popular online videos, has posted an open letter to Viacom and its owned network Comedy Central to work with the Internet. Viacom has started a policy where its most popular internet programming is only available through select websites and doesn't allow sharing via embeds and the like.

The result is no one can easily share the funny and insightful moments from their most popular shows such as The Daily Show, Colbert Report and South Park. Its their anti-YouTube policy of limited distribution from very limited sources. Something I think its idiotic and counter productive to advertising and selling the brand. Out of sight, out of mind is something to be avoided while Viacom seems to be embracing the concept. Personally because of the difficulty is sharing moments from Comedy Central, I simply don't bother to post about them anymore.

Here is the letter:

We love the Daily Show on VideoSift. The Comedy Central video embeds have been consistently some of the most popular voted content here.

So, it’s with a lot of regret - after an extensive community discussion- that we have decided to ban the submission of all Comedy Central videos.

The Internet does not respect national borders and your recent decision to block access to non-US viewers means that 30% of the members on VideoSift see a frozen screen when trying to view content from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park and other CC programs.

I’m sure you have very good reasons for taking this action - exclusive distribution deals with overseas TV networks, advertisements not meant to be globally broadcast etc. - but we ask you to reconsider your decision – and not just for the obvious reasons.

Programs like the Daily Show do more to create goodwill toward the US than the current US administration has ever done.

If the Daily Show can relentlessly skewer its nation’s politicians without fear of retribution - it gives hope to those living under despotic regimes that democracy isn't quite dead in the US.

Those of us living overseas see Jon Stewart as a face of America- and we like an America that is self-deprecating and willing to highlight her many mistakes. It makes it so much easier to forgive that way.

Of course, you own the content, and who are we to tell you how it should be distributed? Comedy Central has no obligation to send a political message to the rest of the world.

But there is another reason to allow international viewing that has more commercial appeal. When you block dependable access to your videos, you are driving people to illicit sources for their favorite content. (YouTube, Bittorrent etc.) We would try to monitor contraband
submissions on our site, but for you, policing this across the Internet will be like trying to drain the ocean with a teaspoon.

Comedy Central, please think globally and give us our Daily Show!

Respectfully yours,
The Rest of the World

PS. While you’re at it – can you prevent your videos from “expiring” after a few weeks?