Email notification to Brandon Starr's blog has been shown to reduce bad cholesterol in two-toed sloths, and has been used as an effective exfoliant.
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Monday, October 11, 2004
Sinclair to air anti-Kerry movie on its 62 stations
Sinclair to air anti-Kerry movie on its 62 stations less than 10 days before election
What to say, except it's another example of Bush's powerful corporate friends doing his dirty work for him?
People should be outraged that a big company broadcasting over the public airwaves is airing a smear movie so close to the election.
The only way to stop them: vote out Bush and any other corporate crony buddy on the ticket on November 2nd.
Rasterbate: supersize your images using this web site
The idea is to take a picture and blow it up REALLY BIG, so that it prints on multiple pieces of paper. Then you can put it up on a wall as a massive poster "up to 20 meters in size."
Check it out.
Christopher Reeve dies at age 52
Christopher Reeve, actor, champion of research into curing paralysis, including stem cell research, dies at age 52.
A pressure wound, common in paralysis, got infected, leading to heart failure.
Reeve was a champion in so many ways--on the screen as Superman, certainly; yet his life, though so affected by his injury, became infused with meaning as he became a champion for the treatment of paralysis. He himself, through tireless efforts and new therapeutic strategies, actually gained more mobility than anyone else in history with his form of quadriplegia. His foundation is at the heart of stem cell research, and it was one of his bedrock hopes that some day a form of nerve regrowth or replacement would allow him to walk again.
And he was the best Superman, too, though I've just started watching the rerun versions of "Smallville" and enjoying them.
I've mentioned it before in my blog, but he was in a gem of a comedy that is almost totally overlooked. "Noises Off!" is an ensemble comedy based on a stage play. It's about a group of actors who have to go into opening night, and then a tour, with too little prepration and too many personal entanglements. It's full of fast speeches and amazing physical comedy, done with unbelievable timing.
I had never seen it on cable before until recently. So if you don't want to seek it out at a Blockbuster or Amazon, try finding it on your TiVo. I wholeheartedly recommend "Noises Off!" to anyone who likes a good comedy.
I also recommend honoring Reeve's fight by supporting stem-cell research, and especially releasing the shackles placed on it by President Bush.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
George Soros, strong anti-Bush patriot, has a blog which he updates almost daily.
And if you're thinking, "does Brandon mean that those who aren't anti-Bush aren't patriots?" the answer is
yes.*
Anyway, check it out.
Soros's site made some news recently quite by accident when, during the Vice-Presidential debates, Cheney directed viewers to go to "factcheck.com." He meant factcheck.org, but when folks visited the erroneous site, they were redirected to Soros's anti-Bush blog! Strangely, Soros doesn't own "factcheck.com," and no one knows quite why the web surfers were redirected there.
Maybe a hacker saw the debate, realized the error, and saw an opportunity.
Speaking of Republicans and computers, Bush, during the second debate, referred to "Internets." Specifically,
"I hear there's rumors on the Internets (sic) that we're going to have a draft."
Internets?
Does this sound like a guy who's in touch with the common man? He sounds more like his dad who, in the early 90s, was awed and amazed by a grocery checkout scanner.
For those not familiar with the term "(sic)" it is an editorial aside meaning "we left this as we found it." In other words, "the quote is exact: yes, there's an error, we realize it, but we're quoting someone, and here's how the quote went."
I'm not going to touch the lack of grammatical agreement between "there's" and "rumors."
Out of touch, and not showing off his world-class Harvard AND Yale education well.
Even if he had any ethics, he'd be a weak Presidential candidate.
* I'm making an exception for my Dad, simply out of filial devotion.
(added later)
Here's my message that I sent to Mr. Soros via his website:
Dear Mr. Soros,
To me, the election is not so much about issues.
It should be. There are huge issues out there.
But sometimes, a candidate is so lacking in ethics, so flawed in judgement, so strict in his fundamentalist beliefs, so unwilling to see any other sides of any issue, that he simply has to be defeated, by anyone who is stronger in those areas and not completely extremist. Bush is one such candidate who must be defeated.
Kerry fits the bill perfectly. He volunteered for Vietnam at a time when many privileged kids were ducking service, including Bush; then he further volunteered for one of the most dangerous duties within his branch of the armed forces. He went on after the war to advocate for the return of POWs, and later became a prosecuting attorney. His is a life of service.
He is thoughtful, intelligent, and anything but extremist. His ethics are above reproach, and he is capable of seeing complexities in this complex world. Yet he is also strong and unyielding where it counts.
I am not a Democrat. I am a registered Libertarian, and have not voted for a Democrat or Republican for over a decade. But I will vote for Kerry this November 2nd. Keeping Bush from a second term is too important to the future of this country, and I am pleased to support a patriot like
Kerry.
Thanks for your time.
Sincerely,
Brandon Starr
It's the birthday of Edward D. Wood, Jr. today. If he didn't drink himself dead, he'd be 80 today.
For those not in the know, Ed Wood* was the affable, energetic, dogged, and totally untalented director of a surprising number of unsuccessful B movies in the 50s and 60s. Included is the movie "Plan 9 from Outer Space," which is sometimes called "the worst movie of all time."**
He had a rough life--untalented yet totally devoted to getting his sci-fi, monster, western, and porn movies on the screen.*** In the end, the booze got him. But he had a lot of friends, and the Burton movie is surprisingly touching and upbeat--ending, as it does, with one of Wood's triumphs.
If you're a MSTie,**** you'll know that Ed Wood directed both "Bride of the Monster" and "The Sinister Urge," and wrote the screenplay for "The Violent Years," the movie that became famous and money-making because of its beautiful-criminal-coed-girls-rape-young-man scene. Sadly, Wood was paid $500 for the screenplay, no residuals.
Just his luck.
Anyway, be thankful if your talents line up AT ALL with your dreams. When they don't, you get Edward D. Wood, Jr.
* Ed Wood was the subject of the excellent movie by that name, starring Johnny Depp in the lead role and directed by Tim Burton, plus an amazing turn by Bill Murray as a transvestite/transexual and Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi.
** It's not. But it's bad. Several Coleman Francis movies, "Manos: The Hands of Fate," and "My Best Friend's Wedding" are all worse. "Plan 9" is sort of entertaining in its way, since it is directed with a lot of energy, even as the screenplay and the acting fall to tatters. It's a campy cult classic.
*** To be fair, he only turned to porn when his B-movie funds ran out, along with his resistance to his encroaching alcholism. But to be even more fair, you can see the porn coming with the sexy, fetishistic scenes in both "The Sinister Urge" and "The Violent Years."
**** a MSTie is a fan of the late, great show "Mystery Science Theater 3000."
Saturday, October 09, 2004
Rarest of the rare: new great ape found
Scientists discover new great ape: halfway between gorilla and chimpanzee
Before this discovery, there were only five* great apes: chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, bonobos, and humans. All four nonhuman great apes are endangered, as are, presumably, this new species.
But hold everything: there is some debate as to whether this new great ape is a "true" new species: it could be a branch of chimpanzees much larger than any other known, rather the way ponies are still horses. They could be crossbreeds between gorillas and chimpanzees--though I don't know if that would preclude them from being considered a new species or not.
They are the size of gorillas, but have many chimpanzee features, and nest on the ground, rather than in trees as gorillas do. Their diet is closer to that of chimps, and they live far, far away from any known gorilla population.
Fascinating stuff.
* I should say "five known," given the nature of this article.
Lennon: "When I (would be) 64" Factcheck.org had to check its own facts!
Factcheck.org's own site led Kerry to say Bush was a part owner in a timber company, which Bush loudly denied during the debate; the company in question was an oil-and-gas company which now has timber interests, but didn't until two years after the 2001 income-tax return Kerry referred to. Factcheck.org didn't figure their error out until it came up in the debate, though.
In other words, Kerry told the truth based on the facts as they were available; but factcheck.org f'ed up in this case.
Still, if you just substitute the word "oil" for "timber," it changes the point Kerry was making at the time ZERO; the idea was that President Bush was saying that somehow he was an example of a "small business" that would be "adversely affected by his tax plan" and keep him from creating jobs via his "business," and that idea is patently ridiculous, yet that is how Bush was trying to count up the negatively impacted businesses. Cheney, too, was a multi-hundred-dollar "small business" under the Bush adding up of things.
Like the debate itself, which seemed closer than the first one, the amount of facts bent by the candidates was closer. Again the edge goes to Kerry for staying closer, in my opinion, but not by much.
Another way of putting it: the more Kerry uses truth as a weapon, the better he does.
Friday, October 08, 2004
"Town Hall" style of debate couldn't save Bush
Bush was supposed to do well in this kind of debate. He's supposed to be folksy, in touch, affable.
Instead, he came off creepy, and did you notice the odd, whiny tone his voice took on whenever Kerry was scoring points on him? Every time his stress level went up, he started sounding like my three-year-old when he wants dessert in the morning and is told no.
He tells his lies with less enthusiasm each time, it seems. The same rote lies about his opponent again, only without any punch to them.
Both managed to keep their reactions to the other's statements to a minimum.
I think you'd call this one "less of a loss for Bush." In other words, Kerry won, but Bush didn't do much (except lie) to make himself look bad.
I'll be interested in seeing factcheck.org's take on the debate, as usual.
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