Worst Of 2007

Wow, where do I even start? 2007-The Garbage Year. Pop Culture, politics, music, movies, news…..all garbage. Tabloid journalism became the status quo, sending us to dizzying lows. A truly horrible year. First up:

Politics-

For me, the worst political moment in a year full of worst political moments, was the amnesty fiasco. This had a profound impact on me, as I learned we no longer have conservatives in Washington, and that includes George Bush. I don’t care what you call it, that bill was amnesty and they all knew it, and if you support any kind of amnesty, you are not a conservative. Period.

I believe Tancredo was the only Republican to put his money where his mouth was on this thing, everybody else waited for an entire month as their servers spontaneously combusted, and their fax machines whirrred helplessly as they ran out of paper, before they reluctantly killed this piece of shit, proving to me that my elected representatives most certainly do not represent me or the vast majority of Republican voters, nor do they care to. Their elitist, arrogant attitudes toward Republican voters was literally shocking, and I for one, re-registered as an independent, and  have no plans to re-join the Republican party. I don’t know about you, but I won’t soon forget what I consider a betrayal of Republicans by the Republican Party, on the single most important issue facing this country today. These RINO’s have destroyed what little unity we had.

Oh, and then we had this piece of shit →   

Pop Culture-

Did you ever see the Mike Meyers movie “So I Married An Axe Murderer”? There’s a scene where his mother refers to the “Weekly World News” as “The paper.” Well, that’s where we are now. Tabloid news is the only news. I understand that we’ve always been more interested in exciting celebrity gossip than boring old world news, but damn, in 2007, we really reached 9th Circle of Hell levels of absurdity.

Thanks to this seemingly unquenchable thirst for everything salacious, reckless ignorant behavior has become a career move in Hollywood. A DUI and a stint in rehab is better than…Oh I don’t know…actually acting or singing or whatever the fuck you’re supposed to be good at.

        

Nice huh? Look at those smirks. They think this is hilarious, and you know what? It is, because every mugshot gaurantees an army of paparazzi chasing these ignorant bitches around, and they no longer have to show up at those pesky movie sets or TV shows for “work,” they can now have a full time career getting drunk and flashing their twats.

The media has become public enemy number one in this country by glamorizing every drunken pill-popping talentless piece of shit that is more than happy to make a spectacle of themselves while we keep coming back for more like pigs to a trough.

And it’s not only celebrities. NBC gets the nod for worst ratings whoring of the year when they decided to air the promo pack sent to them by the VT shooter, showing the deranged murderer in self-aggrandizing poses in the interest of “news.” Fuck you NBC, because I guarantee you right now, there’s some insane loser out there putting together his own promo pack, and figuring out how he’s gonna get more kills than the VT animal. When that happens, and it will happen, that blood will be on your hands NBC.

Do I even need to mention Anna Nicole? Like I said, garbage year.

Movies-

This one’s easy. The slew of anti war movies that were doomed to fail. What’s striking to me, is that there were so many. I believe Hollywood knew these movies would tank, the real agenda here was an Oscar, and I bet at least one of these will win one, guaranteeing an anti-Bush, anti-war, tirade/Hillary campaign plug, that will be met with a standing ovation. You just watch.

Worst TV

With so much to choose from, there was a wealth of really bad TV, but I’m gonna go with the “music” networks, VH1, MTV, and Fuse.

VH1’s “dating” shows “I love New York” “Rock of Love w/Brett Michaels” and MTV’s bi-sexual Tila Tequila dating show brought reality TV to a slimy new low.

One of the most shocking things I saw was a show on Fuse called “Rad Girls.” Basically a female version of Jackass. Let me tell you what these pigs did, in case you have kids, and if you do, they probably watch Fuse, and you might like to know what they’re seeing.

In one episode, the girls “waxed” themselves on a car bumper. Let me paint the picture for you. One girl is standing there naked, as the other girls put wax on the bumper, then the naked chick sticks her crotch on the waxed bumper, as another peels out in the car, followed by a close up of the pubey wax on the bumper, as they are all laughing hysterically.

In another, they all stand naked in a bathroom using a clipper to shave their pubes, which they gather up and take to a burrito stand, and have the guy behind the counter put them in one of 3 burritos that they then eat until one of them gets the “tainted” burrito.

I’m not kidding or making this up, this is on basic cable folks. I’m not easily offended or shocked, and this offended and shocked the shit out of me, especially since the show is geared to young girls. This is the kind of “entertainment” we get when we glamorize the Paris Hiltons and Britney Spears of the world.

All in all, 2007 was one gigantic stinking turd of a year. 

 The Garbage Year.

I really hope 08 is better.

Best Of 2007

According to me. My first end of year with a blog, so I’m gonna indulge.

Best T.V. Shows-If it was good, it probably got canceled. That’s the way it is now, if a show is not a monster smash from episode one, it’s over. Which sucks, because there were a couple shows that I thought were really great, but didn’t get American Idol numbers, so after investing in the characters and plot, tough shit, outta luck. Networks will not wait for an audience to build. Kinda like what destroyed the record industry. Two of those shows that I thought were excellent, but got cancelled:

Jericho-      

Even though it started in 06, it ended in 07, so I’m counting it. Great show about a nuclear strike against the U.S. and the people in the town of Jericho, Kansas. This one was saved from the chopping block by fans sending bags of nuts to CBS. Also, one of the few shows on network TV with a conservative bent. I highly recommend this show, and you can probably rent it on DVD.

Journeyman-    

A show about a guy who travels to the past, but only 10-30 years and only in his city, to help some poor soul fix something or other. Kind of like “Quantum Leap” but better. This show has been cancelled, but fans are trying a Jericho like strategy by sending boxes of Rice-a-Roni to NBC. (the show is based in S.F.) We’ll see if it works, but I’m not holding my breath. Great show, I really liked it.

American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, and Dancing With The Stars– OK, make fun of me, but I love these shows. Good wholesome family entertainment, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Hells Kitchen/Kitchen Nightmares-    

I have a man-crush on Gordon Ramsay, what can I say? Kick ass shows. My only complaint is that it’s too “Foxified.” Fox has this habit on their reality shows of cranking the annoying music so loud, that it literally overpowers the dialogue, and it’s a constant bed of music, it never stops. Also, after every commercial break, a complete recap of the previous segment. A 60 minute show is probably about 30 in real time minus all of the previews/recaps. I hate the way Fox produces reality shows.

The Riches–     

Starring Eddie Izzard, one of my favorite comedians. A show about a family of Travellers (con artists) that assume the identity of a wealthy family. Great show.

Big Brother 8-   

My wife and I are freaks about this show, it consumed our summer. We clearly have no life. Evel Dick rocked this season of BB, probably the best reality show contestant Evah. Some of the most compelling reality TV I’ve ever seen, especially the after hours stuff on Showtime, and believe me when I say I’ve seen a lot of reality TV.

24/Lost–         

These are a given, although this year was the weakest season of 24 yet. But the worst season of 24 is better than the best season of most shows. I’m still diggin Lost, even though a lot of people are losing interest.

Best Movies-

This is a tough one. I don’t think there were any really great movies this year, just varying degrees of OK. It’s amazing to me the total crap that gets turned out in Hollywood these days, I mean, how hard can it be to cull together enough interesting material to fill 2 hours? Apparently, it’s damn near impossible. To be fair, I didn’t see a lot of movies this year, so this is the best of what I saw.

Transformers-              

It was definitely kick-ass, it’s just too bad they put all that kick-assness behind a stupid toy. You know what made this movie work? Shia LaBeouf. His performance really humanized a movie about robots, that kid is really great. Without him, I think this would have been just a CGI wank a thon.

Ratatouille-              

The Pixar people are awesome. This was a joy to watch, beautiful to look at, great music, good story, and the attention to detail is mind blowing. Too bad a cartoon had to be better than most live action movies this year. I also really liked Meet The Robinsons.

Pirates Of The Caribbean-Worlds End         

Like Spider-Man 3, and Die Hard, this was good, but not great. I can’t put my finger on what went wrong in this series, but something did. Maybe it’s the ridiculously convoluted story, too much CGI, I don’t know. While entertaining, somethings just kinda hinky here.

Like I said, I didn’t see many movies this year.

Movies in 07 were underwhelming at best, as was the next category:

Music

To be honest, I got nothin here. Not one single artist grabbed my attention. I guess the big artists this year were Amy Winehouse and Kanye West. I could care less about either of them. I think Winehouse has already worn out her welcome, and as far as West goes, I refuse to acknowledge Rap as songwriting. Sorry, but you tell me one single Rap “song” that will stand the test of time, that will be played on the radio for the next 50 years. In a year or two, Kanye will be about as relevant as Sir Mix-A-Lot.

As dismal as music was, it wasn’t a pimple on the ass of the pathetic year in: Politics

The best? Sarkozy came here and sounded more patriotic than any American politician including George Bush, has for a while. The king of Spain told Chavez to shut up. That’s about it. American politicians continue to be an embarrassment to me, and my country. This was one of the worst years in American politics in a long, long time.

Overall, 2007 was a pretty lame year, notable more for bad things than great things, which will be on my much more fun “Worst of 2007.”

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope you all have a great one!!

Journeyman Cancelled, NBC Sucks

I watch a lot of TV. Way too much. Many more important things go unattended while I bask in the warm glow of the idiot box. It makes me happy. I have an extensive list of favorite shows, and one of those shows was NBC’s Journeyman, which after only 12 episodes, has been cancelled, due to low ratings.

If you’ve never seen Journeyman, well….it’s too late. If you like time-travelly sci-fi with interesting twists and good characters, you probably would have loved this show, but alas, it apparently didn’t get the monster audience of absolute dreck like……Medium, which will be in it’s place next week.

I’m as pro-capitalist as one could be, but at some point, everything shouldn’t always be about the bottom line only, particularly artistic ventures. This is the same attitude that has killed the music industry. If an artist doesn’t sell 10 million copies of their debut CD, they won’t get a second chance, move on to the next one. Sorry, no time for developing an artist.

 Same with TV shows. While a really unique drama like this gets cancelled, total bullshit like “CSI Wherever The Fuck” and “Law and Order-Parking Patrol” just go on and on.

Fans of this show are trying to save it by using a “Jericho” type of campaign of sending boxes of Rice-a-Roni to NBC (the show is set in San Fran), but I think it’s already too late, as all the actors have been released from their contracts, and are probably already working elsewhere.

Knowladge Is Power

This story  about high school students learning about how tough it is for Latino immigrants is exactly why our schools are lost.

POWELL — The students had a role-play project: assume a Latino identity, build an imaginary life in your home country and develop a workable plan to immigrate to the United States.

Ok, starts off good.

Try it legally, Erica Vieyra told her 40 senior Spanish students at Olentangy Liberty High School. Fill out the correct documents, follow the proper steps. And then, after they spent days completing the actual paperwork from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, she took out her red ink pad and stamped a big, fat DENIED across every request.

Ah! Here we go! Time to teach these kids just how really mean big Mr. America is! Automatic denial. After DAYS spent filling out forms. Wow, DAYS wasted trying to immigrate to a country. What could possibly be meaner than wasting DAYS of someones time to become a citizen of a whole new country? Man, what assholes we are.

Now, she told the students, come illegally. Forge your documents, find a way across the border. Then, research real ads and find a place to live in Columbus. Figure out what it would cost, how to get food. Plan how to survive.

After three weeks of work, the students presented their projects yesterday and discussed their conclusions. Most said it was a grueling experience to even pretend to walk in an immigrant’s shoes.

“I can’t begin to fathom how they can survive here,” said Yana Lyon, 17. “Everywhere you turn if you try to become legal or help yourself, there’s a roadblock.”

For her project, Yana assumed the identity of 28-year-old single mother Margarita Sola, a barmaid in Tijuana, Mexico. Yana had Margarita stay at a Columbus Knights Inn until she found a $7.50-an-hour job at Chipotle. Eventually, she rented a Town Street apartment for $320 a month because it was close to a bus stop. She quickly found a man to marry to gain legal residency.

You know how they should have run this little exercise to teach these kids about Latin immigrants?

First, have the kids live in the backyard of their house in a plywood shack for at least 1 year, so they can experience the changing of the seasons without heat or A/C, or carpet or cable TV.

Next, while living in the plywood shack, they have to get a backbreaking job, for about 10-15 hours a day, for $7.00.  $7.00 a day. No insurance, no surfin’ the net at lunch. Transportation to the job would be in the back of a pick-up truck with about 15 other guys.

For dinner, they can find exciting new ways to prepare things like cows tongue and intestines, because on $7.00 a day, In-n-Out burger ain’t gonna be happening.

Then, as soon as they have enough money saved from their $7.00 a day,( and they shouldn’t be able to graduate until they save enough) they can contact a coyote, who will provide them with all the necessary documentation to cross the border. (about $2000) This part is easy.

After all this, I think staying at the Columbus Knights Inn, and working for $7.50 an hour at Chipotle ain’t gonna seem so bad. In fact, I bet they’d love it.

We certainly wouldn’t want to teach the super privalaged American children that $7.50/hr. at Chipotles is hardly an insufferable indignity we force upon Latin immigrants who probably consider that job and life in America a considerable improvement on what they came from.

No, we wouldn’t want to do that.

Fuck You Ron Paul

“When fascism comes to this country, it’ll be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”

In fairness, he was quoting Sinclair Lewis, but the implication is clear. This idea that Conservative Christians are somehow fascists is really getting fucking tired, and it’s retarded to boot. If anything, fascism is a leftist paradigm.

Asshole.

Bush 41 And Bill Clinton-BFF?

What is it with these two?

I get that they teamed up for various fund raising, but somethings weird about this buddy buddy relationship they got goin’ on. This is exactly why I’m wary of trusting Republicans these days.

Former President Bill Clinton said Monday that the first thing his wife Hillary will do when she reaches the White House is dispatch him and his predecessor, President George H.W. Bush, on an around-the-world mission to repair the damage done to America’s reputation by the current president — Bush’s son, George W. Bush.

Is 41 really on board with this? These two are so diametrically opposed, I just don’t get how they’re such good pals these days. Sorta like James Carville and Mary Matalin. Those two always gave me the creeps.  Anything is possible, but a marriage tends to be between like minded people, and when your fundamental belief system is 180 degrees from your spouse, I gotta call bullshit.

With Matalin being Cheney’s adviser, and Carvilles attachment to the Clintons, and now Bush 41 and Bubba snapping towels at each other, the relationship between the Bush people and the Clintonistas seems a little too friendly to me. Has for a long time.

If I was conspiratorially minded, I’d be a little weirded out.

I Love “Rockumentaries”

I wrote about this on my now defunct music blog, but I’m gonna expand a little here, because I have nothing else I feel compelled to blog about right now. I know a lot of AoS morons are musicians, so maybe you guys can appreciate a good rockumentary. This one, is an an excellent film called “Dig!”

This film was shot over seven years(!), and features two L.A. bands, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, and The Dandy Warhols, who are rivals/friends. If “artsy people” annoy you, steer clear of this, but if you’re like me, and enjoy watching retards from afar, this will provide two and a half hours of pure entertainment.

We follow the success/failure of both bands over the course of seven years. The Dandy Warhols go on to pretty huge success in Europe, in fact, you’ve probably heard a few of their songs as they’re used in a lot of commercials. The BJM however, collapse under their ego-centric, and drug addled leader, the once promising Anton Newcombe, whom we get to see unravel over the course of the film in a lot of really entertaining ways. If you like that kind of thing. (I do)

The memorable scene in a film full of memorable scenes, is a showcase the BJM play at the famous Viper Room in L.A., for a label rep that was about to sign them. The nototriously unstable Newcombe goes apeshit, and begins what turns into a full blown onstage brawl between band members, forever sealing their fate. Although Newcombe is viewed by the music industry in L.A. as a genius, after that fight, he’s untouchable by any serious label. A career destoying moment, caught on film. Ultimately, the film becomes a chronicle of Newcombe’s downward spiral, including the obligatory heroin addiction, that is both depressing and hilarious. Amazingly enough, he’s still alive. 

Here’s the trailer: Warning: Two guys kiss, but it goes by very fast.        

Have a couple beers, and enjoy!

Girls Stupid Chinese Tattoo Means “Supermarket”

 She thought the Chinese characters spelled her boyfriends name.

You know what my top post in the short history of this blog is? A post called “Tattoo’s Are Cool,” which I think was my third or fourth post after starting this blog. It’s consistently in my top post category for some reason.  This story fits in with that post nicely.

 This one means “Change my diaper”

This girl made all the classic tattoo mistakes. Stupid trendy tattoo (Chinese characters), and boyfriends name. It was bound to fail. At least she didn’t get a tribal band.

Tattoo’s have lost all rebel cred. They have become a symbol of desperation. Desperation to be viewed as a rebel, desperation to find meaning in your life, desperation for un-earned attention, and in a funny twist, desperation to fit in. A tattoo ain’t gonna give you any of those things. They will however, provide me with a lot of free entertainment.

And BTW, I’m sure there are millions of idiots walking around with Chinese characters on their bodies that say stuff a lot worse than supermarket.

Flight 93 Memorial Blogburst #10

Dr. Kevin Jaques is one of the Three Mosqueteers. Of the three academics who are helping architect Paul Murdoch to plant a terrorist memorial mosque on the Flight 93 crash site, Jaques was most central to the Park Service’s fraudulent internal investigation.He has also left a revealing paper trail. Shortly after 9/11, Indiana University School of Law sponsored a forum on the likely legal fallout from the attacks: consequences for immigration law, civil rights, etcetera. As the university’s resident expert on Islamic (sharia) law, Jaques was invited to say something about our looming engagement with the Islamic world and their systems of law.

Please continue reading the rest see here for full post.