Hey, look what I just found thanks to Defective Yeti: posterwire.com � the movie poster weblog

It's like Bag News Notes but for movie posters instead of news photography. Also Bag News Notes is really cool and if you care at all about visual media you should check it out.

Anyway, get a load of this, Brokeback Mountain absolutely ripped off the Titanic poster. That's kind of brilliant when you think about it.

Apparently, there are 31 days in January. Until just a few days ago I was certain there were only 30. I think it'd be better if we made all our months 30 days and then had December be 35 days to balance it out.

So Hamas is doing the Chun Li "I win! I win!" dance. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's entirely possible that from a realpolitik standpoint the last thing we want is true democracy in the Middle East. Sucks, huh?

Everything you thought you knew about the Challenger Disaster is probably wrong. Here's the science.

Because the Olympics are coming we are, for a limited time only, rereleasing the hit Miniature Play "The Olympic Village"

BEWARE! SPOILERS FOR THE VILLAGE AHEAD!

Bela Karoli: *walks in with Kerri Strug in arms* I not believe her dead. It make wonder why we chose settle here, but we did, and now we never leave, even if becomes exceedingly clear that this idea horrible. After all, Athens is a heap.

Mary Lou Retton: I love you Michael Phelps.

Michael Phelps: *busy winning gold medal*

Carly Patterson: You love me Michael Phelps.

Michael Phelps: It's true, let's get married! *wins gold medal*

Carly Patterson: Mary Lou Retton will settle for The Thorpedo. He's like a torpedo that swims!

Bela Karoli: Carly Patterson, I know you love him, but Michael Phelps ask to leave Olympic Village. We suspect he see Romanian Gymnastic Team We Do Not Speak Of and use Dope We Do Not Use.

Paul Hamm: My voice is sooooo high that even as an Olympic champion, nobody will sleep with me. You love Carly Patterson. *stabs Michael Phelps*

Michael Phelps: *wins silver medal*

Carly Patterson: I love him! Let me go to the towns.

Bela Karoli: Don't scream Carly, but I must tell you that Romanian Gymnastic Team We Do Not Speak of is false. Rumors of Romanian Team in these woods, but we coaches wear unitards to scare the other Olympians. Now take Credit Card We Do Not Speak Of (American Express), and go to towns.

Carly Patterson: It seems preposterous that I should be able to walk through these woods blind, but I guess love is guiding me or something stupid like that.

Paul Hamm: ARGHH! I am Dragulescu, a top Romanian Gymnast!

Carly Patterson: *Kills Paul Hamm*

Paul Hamm: *Releases helium from skull*

Bela Karoli: It is actually 2004!

Olympians: We know, all the signs say Athens 2004.

Amanda Beard: *Gets hot and heavy action in the hot tub with Aaron Piersol and Catelin Sandeno*

M. Night Shyamalan: In case you were wondering, here is some exposition. I think I have a point, but now it is hopelessly muddled. Look at me in that artsy reflection! I'm so hot right now.

Carly Patterson: I have returned with medicines!

Michael Phelps: *Wins gold medal*

-End-

Kevin Drum waxes on about Rumsfeld's insistence on a Cold War military and says that Democrats should take the Bush White House to town on this. After all, if they're still spending outrageous amounts of money on weapons that don't really fight terrorism, can't we score some National Security points? As he says, "it's not just good politics, it's good policy."

But I have a different idea. Sure it's worth preparing for the coming conflict with China (maybe), but aren't we supposed to be locked in a global struggle for our very lives against TERROR? Maybe this isn't gross incompetence so much as a tacit admission that terrorism just isn't as bad as the government (namely the Republicans) have been screaming for the last 5 years. 3,000 people died on September 11, but will Osama be marching on the White House anytime soon? No. Remember terror alerts? And how they mostly dissappeared after the Presidential election? I generally like to assume that these people aren't stupid, but that usually just leads to "corrput" or "nasty." Maybe all of this fearmongering that keeps terrifying the scared wittle Republicans into ditching all of their civil liberties doesn't ever make it across Rumsfeld's desk.

Finally got around to watching this after it's floated around for a few weeks. Apologizes if Asa and the handful who read the blog have already seen it. Anyway, The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny is definitely worth a link.

X-Entertainment has finally gotten around to posting a review of Nintendo Power #1, and it's a doozy.

These days, my knowledge is limited. But if we're talking Nintendo? 1988? That I know. You don't forget Glass Joe and that weird statue of Kraid that I could never seem to break down. We were all Nintendo junkies, and for a time, there wasn't anything more important than Contra's super code or imitating the face Great Tiger makes after he gets all dizzy and shit. Nintendo Power was a godsend to us kids. Unlike today's typical gaming mags, this one was written specifically for people with zero education and a likely inkling to jump into leaf piles. Aside from the occasional Weekly Reader, Nintendo Power was one of the only works of literature many of us could proudly claim to have read cover-to-cover.

My favorite Nintendo Power memory: Loaning my copy of issue #1 to my friend's older brother, only to see him get it confiscated in art class.

If I were to go buy the early 90s Flash TV show on DVD, would anyone be into watching it with me? Because I sure did love that show when I was 10 (or whatever) but I have no idea if it's any good anymore. All I know is that the hot girl from Max Headroom teaches Dawson's dad to be a superhero, and it was great.

How long will it be before Asa breaks down and bus Lois & Clark seasons 1 and 2 (but no further) on DVD? Place your bets now!

Anybody interested in buying a whole lot of Superman comics for cheap? I don't know which comics and I don't know how cheap, but I've been told there is a deal out there. If you're interested let me know and I'll put you n touch with a guy who knows a guy. It's like drugs, but with comic books!

This artist's rendition of the Supreme Court (from this article) is pretty strange. Who knew that when you retire from the bench you continue to haunt it as a ghost? Even if you're still alive...spooky.

Barone via Steyn.

Michael Barone made a characteristically sharp analysis the other day about the political impact of the Internet: "The left blogosphere has moved the Democrats off to the left, and the right blogosphere has undermined the credibility of the Republicans' adversaries in Old Media. Both changes help Bush and the Republicans."

True, but half of the right blogosphere is currently incensed at all the institutionalized GOP corruption, corruption that the GOP is dancing around and saying, "Well the Dems are bad too!." More corruption will facillitate a split between the libertarian-right (Instapundit, etc.) and the movement-right (Powerline), thus weakening the right blogosphere as a whole.

I read Peter David's excellent "Madrox" mini-series today and realized that Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man is the perfect illustration of my theory of Cylon consciousness. Each model is like one Jamie, and every Cylon of that model is like one of Jamie's dupes. Now if only anyone had read Madrox that would be a great way to describe my theory to people.

Maybe this a common thought, but I don't think I've ever heard it mentioned: Does anyone ever consider that part of the reason that Hollywood is so liberal in general is that it is one of the last remaining union strongholds? The film industry is unionized at all but the lowest levels (there's even a PA's union, but nobody joins it) and the unions ensure good wages, health care, and a variety of other benefits for a largely transitory (and easily exploited) workforce. Not that those unions don't have their problems (for both sides) but they aren't crippling the industry, in fact they keep it quite healthy. No wonder so many Hollywood types identify so heartily with the Democrats.

So here's a question I just simply don't even begin to have an answer for: What do we do about Iran?

With Iraq it was fairly obvious from the get go that they a) weren't involved in 9/11 and b) weren't really capable of attacking anybody. I mean we'd been bombing them and monitoring them and all sorts of things for a decade at that point. It was easy to be anti-war then, even if it meant your President might sic the NSA on you.

Iran is different. They're religio-fascist (more terrifying than the secular kind!) and they certainly have the sort of sovereignty and economic stability to get some sweet nuclear mojo going. This article makes the case that a Nuclear Iran would enter the same sort of historic MAD showdown as the USA/USSR and India/Pakistan. Nukes for everybody means nobody gets nuked, right? But even if Israel can strike back I wouldn't underestimate anybody's willingness to kill that many Jews at once.

So what to do? Air strikes? Nuke them ourselves? Invade the country? Let's not forget that we need their oil and, if we're looking at the world as a zero sum game, we don't want China to have it. All of this - oil, Israel, China, burgeoning Democracy, etc - brings up so many nasty questions about our duties as world police (are we fighting Israel's fights?), our duties to our own national security (we're not in the middle east!), our duties to the world (don't we want the standard of living in China to go up?), and our commitment to our already overwrought lifestyle (oil!) that it makes my head spin.

This is such an atrocious problem that it makes me extra sad we've been wasting the past 3 years dicking around in Iraq creating new worries rather than dealing with the actual problems that already existed in the world. It also makes me glad I'm not Condoleeza Rice. This shit is intense.

Alright, I don't go to the Museum of Hoaxes nearly enough. They have a regularly updated blog now! Or maybe I just didn't notice it before. Anyway, this story, Amputees Used In War Games, is great:

..."He's got a (bleep) wire!" and started firing laser bullets into Young's chest. That caused the other fake civilians to start screaming, ``Murderers!" That distracted the soldiers, enabling a bunch of fake insurgents to sneak up and wipe them all out — "mowing down the troops as effortlessly,"

56-44 votes in the Senate to confirm. I'm thinking 2 Dems will vote yes, and 1 GOPster will vote no.

I don't know what exactly that Garbage Pail Kid would look like, but I'd love to see.

Anywho, I think it's safe to say that with everything going on these days if the Dems don't make some gains in Congress (not even taking back the House or Senate, just gains at all) then the Republicans are safe in their majority status for a good number of years to come. And, you know, they'll deserve it. Maybe I'm wrong, but everything going on now seems a whole hell of a lot worse than the majority corruption and presidential scandal that swept the Repubs into power under Gingrich in the 90s. The current Repubs are more corrupt and the scandals actually, you know, have real national significance beyond hot BJs. The 80s are a different story though. I get the impression that crop of Dems was pretty bought and paid for, but I wasn't really following politics then.

I'm watching Bush's "townhall" meeting and while the questions are decent enough, Bush's opening speech on terrorism and Iraq and democracy was actually pretty good. Forceful, detailed, clear, and relateable. And this is not just by his usually low standards, but by general speech standards.

Just thought I'd say something nice.

The Alito Hearings are on. First major observation: Alito has a notepad and pen. Damn. Judge Alito, you are no John "Mandroid" Roberts.

This blogger says that the reason why Pres Roslin doesn't just fire Admiral Cain and replace her with Adama is because the BSG universe follows a Turkish model of political military power-sharing rather than the American model. Go on...

The Schwarzenegger Plan for Infrastructure Renewal is even more massive than I imagined.

He proposed a sweeping $222.6 billion public works program that would require the largest bond package in state history. Schwarzenegger said the plan is necessary to keep pace with California's expanding population, which is expected to reach 46 million people by 2025.

The state has not embarked on such a massive series of public works projects since the 1960s. His plan would need to be approved by the Legislature and then go before voters in a series of elections between 2006 and 2014.

I'll withhold opinion until more details emerge.

Bwa?

Actually, this is a rather interesting post from some conservative blogger that outlines why traffic congestion is (politically) in lefties best-interests. It's sort of in the same way that privatized SS is in righties best interest.

As the Smart Growth advocates block new road construction and succeed in making new suburban development prohibitively expensive, the cost of closer-in housing spirals, the urban poor lose all hope of escaping the inner city ghetto, and middle class people find themselves crammed into high rise hives.

I actually think if you're a conservative or libertarian and you're mad at Demo-controlled urban planning, you kinda of have yourself to blame. The Right long ago ceded debating ground to the left on status of public works because, well, public works are a form of "big government." For proof, check out the CA GOP's harumphing over Arnold and the Dems proposed 50 billion infrastructure bond. The conservative doctrine is to rail against federal this or that. Fine. But even when federalism manages to allow road construction to end up at the state and local level, conservatism still demands that Righties rail against it simply because it belongs to government. In short, the line is *never* drawn, and the end result is that conservatives take themselves out of transportation debates ENTIRELY. The only people left arguing (see: LA) are Dems, Socialists, and Arch-Greens. In the end, we all lose; we get crappy public transit, pot-holed roads, and *more* people driving SUVs. Argh!!!!

Apologies for the one link post, but this is pretty cool. It's a pic of the Space Shuttle causing a sonic boom. It has a very futuristic look.