Tina Fey's Full Speech

It's funny.  Trust me.

Watch the full episode. See more Mark Twain Prize.

This'll Make You Feel Good

This video comes from Japanese artist Isao Hashimoto.  It is a time-lapse map of the 2053 nuclear explosions that have taken place between 1945 and 1998.  


This should serve as a reminder that nonproliferation and disarmament of nuclear weapons is an important issue and just why the new START talks are so important.  


Secretaries Clinton and Gates have urged the Senate to ratify the new START treaty and I sure hope they do.  There could be major foreign policy consequences if they don't.  Keep in mind that nonproliferation and disarmament should not by any means be a Democrat vs. Republican issue; arms-control is in the interest of everybody.  


(h/t Crooks and Liars)


Also, this chart really worries me.

All I Want Is My Own Tina Fey

I'm not going to lie about this or try to cover it up in any way, I'm just going to come right out and say it: I love Tina Fey.  Like love Tina Fey.  She is, in my opinion, the perfect woman.  Smart, funny, brave, and for all of her accolades and wealth, she's just so normal, and I want my own Tina Fey. If you know one, send her my way, please.  Thanks.

Also, she was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor last week and her acceptance speech was hilarious.  Watch it, please. Alright, it's not the whole thing, but there's nothing I can do about it but it is still hi-freaking-larious. 

My favorite line has to be the "Nathaniel Hawthorne Prize for Judgmental Nature."  Ha!  He was such a snob.

I will post the full speech as soon as it is available and I am able to find it.  

Schweet Schtuff

Batman Returns

Shaun of the Dead

Iron Man

The Joker

The Wizard of Oz

Star Wars IV: A New Hope

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back

Gremlins

Fight! Fight! Fight!

The Maddow/Stewart debate discussion is not only an enlightening and candid conversation on the political media, it is also a great example of how our national political discourse should be conducted.


The interview is almost 50 minutes long, but it's worth watching.

My Totally Non-Boring Paper!

So for my American Political Thought class I have the privilege of writing papers every five weeks or so.  It's a lot of fun.  Here's my most recent paper.  I don't think it's my best, but I sure hope the professor does!

John Rawls vs. Robert Nozick

John Rawls and Robert Nozick may have been colleagues, but they had very, very different ideas about society, justice and the state.  Were Rawls and Nozick running for public office and they were my only two options (why is it we always seem to be pressed to decide between the lesser of two evils?) I would have to vote for Rawls, not because I agree with him more, but because I agree with Nozick less.  First I will explain why I disagree with Nozick and then I will proceed to explain why I prefer Rawls.   

In The Event of a Zombie Apocalypse

So I've been watching The Walking Dead on AMC lately, okay well the first two episodes- it's awesome, thanks AMC for making good television!- it's not too gory, which is good, because I do not handle gore well.  When I see excessive amounts of blood and guts I get all kinds of queasy.  But this show is terrific.  


Anyway, where was I?  Oh right, zombies.  So the show got me to thinking, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, would I survive?  The obvious answer is clearly no.  I would probably be one of the first persons to be eaten.  


But the most ideal situation I can come up with is that when the zombie virus breaks, I'm one of the first persons to catch it.  So look out, y'all Imma gonna bite ya.

Watch this show; it's good.  I wouldn't lie to you about television.

Also Known As Identity Theft....

Not only is Tucker Carlson a sorry excuse for a journalist and a partisan hack, he's also an identity thief.  

Carlson, reached by phone Tuesday night, confirmed he impersonated Olbermann in the email responses to Bykofsky.

"Could you resist?" Carlson said. "It was just too funny. The flesh is weak."

Carlson said he didn't expect the email exchange to be published. 

I've always said identity theft is hilarious way of playing "gotcha!" and that more Fox News personalities should engage in it; it's an excellent way of staying fair and balanced.  

Welcome Back, Coco

Team Coco, for the win.

Ryan Murphy Has No Idea What He's Doing

Yup, I said it.  Glee creator Ryan Murphy has absolutely no idea what he's doing.  


I was a big fan of Glee when it premiered.  I enjoyed it well into the first season.  And then it started to suck.  Bad.  Plot lines were inconsistent, or were dropped altogther.  Character's personality traits are rarely consistent. 


One of my major beefs from season one was that Rachel (played by the wildly talented Lea Michelle) was always talking about lawyering up, but then when she is assaulted (more or less) by a group of students from another school, she doesn't say anything.


Another more recent plot hole I picked up on was in an episode that aired last month.  Kurt claims to be the only out gay person in town.  Wait, what?  I thought Rachel had two gay dads?  Who is writing this thing?  Why is there no consistency in this show?  Why won't anyone listen to me when I'm right? 


Turns out the reason there's so much inconsistency in Glee is because it's written by the show's three creators-Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan-and each of them have competing ideas about what Glee should be.  Murphy is more interesting in making the show a dark funhouse mirror version of his experiences in high school.  Brennan wants to focus on the sadness that is at the show's core.  And Falchuk is interested in bringing the two ideas together.  


This could be an explanation as to why it seems that the characters all suffer from multiple personality disorder and why so many plot-holes and inconsistencies exist.  


I demand they fix it and I demand that they take my advice on the matter.  The best solution is for all three of them to give up and let Dreamgirls director Bill Condon take charge of Glee's future.  After all, Dreamgirls is not only a near perfect movie-musical, it's a near perfect movie.  Condon clearly understood what he was doing and deftly demonstrated how movie musicals should be made.  


In Dreamgirls the songs grow out of the situations and out of the dialog, like they're supposed to in musicals.  But not in Glee.  In Glee they go through painstaking measures to give an explanation for every single song.  Mr. Shu has to give assignments.  Rachel has to first tell the class she's sorry and then tell them that the only way she can express how sorry she is is through song.


You're killing me!  Just let the songs grow out out of the situations naturally.  That would be the first best step in fixing Glee. 


The next step would be getting rid of the "theme episodes."  Another thing about musicals is that they can be thematic without having their themes being blatantly blurted out.  West Side Story is a fantastic example of this.  The musical never comes right out and says "gang violence is bad!  Prejudice and bigotry is bad!  Hope for the future can reside with the youth if they can overcome these problems!"  Glee, however, laboriously lectures its audience instead of letting the themes subtly arise through the show's structure and storytelling.  


Well, that's my take.  Hopefully this ends up in the hands of Ryan Murphy and he'll take my advice, because he'd be stupid not to.  

I Was Once, But I Quit.

Tina Fey makes the perfect analogy regarding Fox News' persistent references to Sarah Palin as "governor."  

"Which is like calling me Dairy Queen Employee; I was once, but I quit!"

Buckle Up, Buckaroos

Anne Lamott's rousing, although brief, article in today's Salon.  Here's a sample.

And that Obama is nothing if not brilliant. This guy has had some liberal victories legislatively, and when word of these victories -- the realities of healthcare, financial reform, student loan reform, etc. -- trickles out, we will have pride and stamina again....Let's all go have some well-earned rest. A new day dawns.

In Heavy Rotation

Vampire Weekend- Vampire Weekend, 2008

This Would Be Infuriating

And I don't even play chess!

Election Night Thoughts

• Some may assume that Republicans regaining control of the House is an indicator of significant change.  I'd like to remind them that when you assume, you make an ass out of "u" and "me."  The political pendulum in the United States does not swing as broadly as many pundits claim it does; when the pendulum moves either to the left or the right, it's a very small, tight swing.  The system is designed to ensure that the likelihood of majority factions forming in Congress is minimal.  So basically, the system, although crazy, is working as it should.

• The Democrats kinda had this coming.  Because they're Democrats, they're horrible at marketing themselves and actually, you know, capitalizing on their achievements.  They should have shown more backbone the last two years.  Hindsight is 20/20, and in the words of Michael Scott, "we should have had hindsight."

• Hawaii is too freaking far away!  I'm covering Hawaii 1st District for a class and have to announce the winner tomorrow in class, it's 10:23 and the polls in Hawaii are still open for another hour!  I've been up since 5am and just want to go to sleep.

• Christine O'Donnell is what you'd call "crazy."  In her concession speech she claimed that "we have won."  No, I'm serious. 

• New Rule: When making concession or victory speeches, do not bring your children and extended family up with you to the podium.  They talk and chatter and are very, very annoying. (Don't sue me, Bill Maher!  Also, you're views on Muslims are wrong.)

• Chris Matthews' boisterous, interrupting style of "reporting" bothers me almost as much as Glenn Beck's incessant, disingenuous crying. But just almost.

• The next two years will be absolutely horrible.  I mean, even worse than this year.  The Republicans that picked up seats will do all in their power to ensure that absolutely nothing gets accomplished.  This of course, will only be good for Obama, he'll be able to say "listen, you gave the House back the Republicans and they did nothing for you, why let them keep it?"  Thanks, Tea Party!

• Short term politicking makes for bad long term legislating.  Keep that in mind when casting your ballot.  I will never understand how people who don't believe in effective and competent government get elected.  

That's it for tonight. There may be more tomorrow. 

Exit Polling Observations

This morning, I had the opportunity to participate in the Utah College Exit Poll.  It was fun tiring.  Here are some generic observations.

• People who voted Constitution Party were more likely to admit vocally to the pollsters who they voted for.
• Constitution Party voters were also more aggressive and more likely to vocalize their opinions outside of the voting area where they were audible to other voters.
• The more conservative the participant, the more paranoid they were that the poll would not be confidential; also, the more paranoid they were in approaching the survey in general.
• The more liberal the participant, the more willing they were to participating in the survey.
• The more liberal the participant, the more friendly they were with the pollsters.
• The more conservative the participant, the more abrasive they were with the pollsters.  
• Liberal participants were less likely to react negatively to being asked to participate in the survey.
• Weber County did a really poor job at informing people which precinct they're supposed to vote at; one lady said that our polling location was the fourth place she'd tried.