Cleverly Titled Blog
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Finally, Banner Ads I'm Happy to See!
Just saw the first Kucinich For President link on the Google text ads at the top of this page. About darn time!
Of course, Howard Dean still keeps turning up on top, too, and Lieberman's started showing. Let me reiterate that this blog and this blogger continue to endorse Kucinich For President.
By the way, I've got a theory that the only candidate the whole Hussein capture (meaningless though it is) really hurts is Dean. I think it gives a big boost to Kucinich (read the statement on Kucinich's homepage and you should see why) and also to the hawks like Lieberman, Kerry, et al. I think it does hurt Clark a little, but not the way it hurts Dean -- and that's because the media built Dean up as THE anti-war candidate, and Dean's deferential response to the capture weakens his stance.
I admit, while I think it's great Hussein is out of power, one of my first thoughts was, "oh crap, Bush is gonna get reelected." I've since had time to temper that with the realization that at this time in '91, Bush pere had "won" the "Gulf War" and was riding a huge wave of popularity, and looked absolutely unbeatable. And an obscure guy named Bill Clinton -- the governor of Arkansas, for gosh's sake -- was a barely-noticed blip on the national scene, polling at around 1% for the Democratic nomination and being told to get out of the race.
Oh yeah, he won the nomination and the Presidency -- twice.
See why I still think Kucinich has a shot?
Monday, December 15, 2003
Just Say "Get Well, Julie"
According to Harlan Ellison's posts on his message board, comics and science-fiction legend Julius Schwartz is in dire health, hospitalized with pnuemonia -- which is apparently now combining with a blood infection, severe dehydration, and kidney troubles. Mr. Ellison promises to keep concerned parties updated on his message board, so I'll be checking in frequently, and would urge all those whose lives have been touched by this great man to do the same.
If you don't know who Julie Schwartz is, think of everything you love about Silver Age DC Comics. He's most likely at least partially responsible for it. To say nothing of the fact that Schwartz co-edited and co-published what is widely considered the first science fiction fanzine (The Time Traveller, way back in 1930, with fellow eventual DC editorial legend Mort Weisinger), and as a literary agent, helped break the career of such obscure science fiction writers as Ray Bradbury, H.P. Lovecraft, and Alfred Bester. Tangentally, he's also indirectly responsible for the rise of Marvel Comics -- The Fantastic Four was launched as an attempt to capitalize on the success of his Justice League of America.
My world would be a very different place without Mr. Schwartz having been a part of it (albeit indirectly), and I wish him a very speedy and full recovery.
Friday, December 12, 2003
Equal Time Doctrine
The Associated Press has a story this morning on Wesley Clark's appearance on The Daily Show last night.
While I enjoyed General Clark's appearance and thought he made a good impression, I'm disturbed that the AP finds this newsworthy when they didn't cover the appearances of many other Democratic candidates on the show. I know that Dennis Kucinich, Al Sharpton, Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, and John Edwards have all appeared during the campaign, and I don't recall any of them receiving AP coverage for it.
Edwards even announced his candidacy on the show, but I don't recall AP stories making mention of that -- they covered his more "official" announcement the following morning.
It feels like the "liberal-my-ass" media has already annointed Howard Dean the nominee, and the only other option they're willing to consider is a Dean/Clark race (with the exception that Lieberman's getting some ink out of the perceived snub from Al Gore endorsing Dean). So Dean and (to a lesser degree) Clark get covered and everyone else is marginalized. Forget the fact that the first primary vote is yet to be cast, the media is already trying to decide for us who's won.
Hell, ABC even went so far as to pull reporters off the Kucinich, Sharpton, and Carol Mosely-Braun campaigns this week -- they've already decided that the three candidates aren't worth covering as they've already decided the three have no chance of winning.
(The Kucinich campaign seems to think that this is also in part to take revenge for Kucinich openly chastising Ted Koppell during this week's debate for his incredibly lame and irrelevant line of questioning. I think that probably made the decision easier for ABC, but I doubt that was the motivator -- I believe they simply thought they could save money by ignoring the so-called "fringe" candidates.)
The media has clearly forgotten that at this time in the '92 campaign, Bill Clinton was polling at around 1% and was being told to get out of the race, that he had no chance of winning the nomination, much less unseating Bush. We all know how that turned out.
Don't let the media fool you -- this race ain't over by a longshot. Don't let them keep you from voting for the candidate of your choice, no matter whom that is -- your vote still counts! Don't be misled by pundits offering commentary during so-called "news" reports -- nothing has been decided yet.
Seek out your own information online, through public television/radio, and other non-corporate media such as the BBC and get a fair account of the world, then make your own decisions.
I didn't intend for this to become such a soapbox rant, but it needed to be said.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Nixon's the One
According to tapes released today by the National Archives, even Nixon didn't like Reagan. So why is "the Gipper" so damn lionized? There's even talk of putting his face on the dime, for crying out loud (repacing FDR, in a case of sick irony). Reagan wasn't a very good president, and I can't stand the way he's deified.
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Dubya the "Freedom Fighter"
If the Shrub is such an advocate of liberty and freedom, why is he opposed to Taiwan's bid for independence from China?
Oh, I know: it's because they don't have oil, but they do have cheap labor bringing in goods to American shores. Silly me, I should have remembered -- with this Administration, it's all about the Benjamins, not right or wrong, no matter what bill of goods they're trying to sell us.
Please Hammer, Don't Bore 'Em
The WB is giving MC Hammer his own sitcom. Since his life has already become a joke, they're basing it on his life.
Didn't they learn the lesson of Hammerman?
The only way this show succeeds is if his kids are played by Emmanuel Lewis and Gary Coleman. Heck, if that happens, I'll even watch.
Thursday, December 04, 2003
Restating The Obvious
Do this now:
1) Go to Google.
2) Type in the words "miserable failure."
3) Hit "I'm Feeling Lucky."
Enjoy the results!
Thanks to Peter David for pointing this out.
For the record, "I'm Feeling Lucky" automatically takes you to the top page in Google's database for that search term. Google's search is based not only on the content of the page, but on the links to that page. So, if many popular sites link to, say, someone's official bio using the words "miserable failure" as the text for a hyperlink, that page could conceivably become listed on Google for those keywords -- and even become number one. A similar phenomenon occurs if you enter the phrase "Weapons of Mass Destruction" -- the number one page in Google's database is this hilarious parody of Internet Explorer's error page.
Look to some of the secondary links on Google for the phrase "miserable failure" and it'll become obvious how this happened.
And I'll help that along with one more link to the miserable failure himself.
Oh Boy!
I try not to get over-excited about movie/TV rumors until they're confirmed, but it's hard for me not to be excited at the news that Quantum Leap may be getting a movie revival, complete with the original cast, and that full-season DVDs are on the way! QL is easily one of my favorite television series ever, and I welcome any opportunity to see Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell back as Sam and Al. Moreover, I've been waiting forever for the original shows to come out on DVD. I can hardly wait!
Buried in His Jammies
I haven't seen the full list yet, but early indications are that this year's Grammy nominations aren't horrible! Multiple nominations for Outkast, The Neptunes, Missy Elliott, Eminem, and Warren Zevon are good things.
Album of the Year candidates are Missy Elliott, Evanescence, Outkast, Justin Timberlake and the White Stripes. I haven't heard Evanescense, but I'm -- at a minimum -- not horrified by the others. Yes, even Justin -- haing heard some of his solo material on SNL this weekend, I found it thoroughly tolerable, if heavily derivative of Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson. Obvioulsy, I'd prefer Missy E or Outkast win -- I haven't heard the full albums yet, but I'm mightily impressed (as usual) by what I have heard.
New Artist, as is the trend of the past few years, includes a few artists that have actually been around a while but are now making mainstream inroads. This year it's Fountains Of Wayne and Sean Paul up against actual newcomers 50 Cent, Heather Headley, and Evanescence. I like FOW well enough, but I prefer this award go to an artist actually releasing their first album; moreover, I can't see how they overlook 50 Cent's massive success.
Record of the year noms are Beyonce & Jay-Z's "Crazy in Love," Black Eyed Peas & Justin Timberlake's "Where is the Love?," Coldplay's "Clocks," Eminem's Oscar-winning "Lose Yourself," and Outkast's "Hey Ya!" Shake it like a Polaroid picture, baby -- I'm with Andre 3000 and Big Boi for this one. Nothing here embarrasses me, though -- even the Beyonce/Jay-Z number is catchy enough.
Song of the year (the songwriters' award) competitors are Linda Perry (for Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful"), Richard Marx & Luther Vandross (for Vandross's "Dance With My Father"), Avril Lavigne & The Matrix (for Lavigne's "I'm With You"), Jorge Calderon & Warren Zevon (for Zevon's "Keep Me in Your Heart"), and Jeff Bass, Eminem & Luis Resto (for Em's "Lose Yourself"). This is the first time I can remember that only one Record of the Year nominee was nominated for Song of the Year -- usuall the lists are very similar. Unfortunately, in my opinion, it's to Song's detriment -- "Beautiful" and "I'm With You" both absolutely suck. I would give this to Zevon in a nice post-mortem kinda way, but I won't mind if Eminem wins.
Lots of other interesting noms in the various genres, but I'm going to wait until I see a full list to comment -- and probably in a more public format (i.e. one with a larger audience than this blog). But right now, I'm actually looking FORWARD to the Grammys, and that's something I coudn't say in most of the last several years. Good on ya, Grammy.
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
The Revolution Will Not Be Blogvertised
Most people that know enough about the Internet to even be reading a blog are probably savvy enough to realize -- or at least guess -- that Blogger users like myself who take advantage of the free server space on blogspot.com have no control over the ads that appear on their sites. The Google text ads are a good match in that they try to relate the ads to your content, but it's not an exact science.
To wit: Google's system has started prominently delivering "Dean For President" links to my site, and lest there be any confusion: no, my affiliation has not changed, and I'm still supporting Dennis Kucinich. That's Dennis Kucinich for President. Not that other guy.
I figure if I type "Dennis Kucinich for President" enough times, the Google ads should get the hint and drop the other guy's ads.
Of course, that's assuming that Dennis Kucinich and his Kucinich For President campaign have purchased ads from Google, too.
But even if they haven't, let it be clear: This site proudly supports Dennis Kucinich for President. I'm sure the other guy is nice, and if he gets the nomination, he'll get my vote. But unless and until that happens, I continue to support Dennis Kucnich for President.
That's Dennis Kucinich.
For President.
Point taken?
Shouldn't It Be "53rd & 3rd"?
The city of New York has renamed the corner of 2nd Street and the Bowery -- just around the corner from CBGB -- in honor of Joey Ramone. Very cool.
And yes, if David Lee Beowulf is reading this: I do remember when you told me, on my first visit to the City, that the "53rd & 3rd" in the Ramones song is actually a street corner in Queens and not Manhattan, but I couldn't resist the obvious heading.
Score One for Keef
The Rolling Stones have largely become irrelevant, and that's mostly Mick's fault. Keith Richards proves he's not the reason the Stones have wimped out in their old age.
Of course, Keef also still doesn't know that he's been dead for 20 years... he hasn't come down yet.
