I want to wish everyone a happy new year and offer hope that 2004 will bring more peace, love, and electronic goods to you and yours and provide less cause for fear, hate, and mistrust among all the peoples of the world. Carry on then.
Mark had a really great post yesterday and I wanted to make sure to point to it as it is exactly how I feel about many of the positions I am in in life.
Some definitions (also previously posted by Mark) serve to illustrate why I choose the political slant I usually do:
conservative
conservatism
liberal
liberalism
Definitions via dictionary.com
I tend to believe that everything can be better. In my personal life, on the sports teams that I follow, at my workplace, and in society at large, I feel that it is my duty to point out flaws and try to bring about change where change is needed. Sometimes this is labeled troublemaking, or whining. I wouldn't do it if I didn't care, however, I would simply pick another team to root for, change jobs, or move to another country. But because I care about those things in my life, and my country, I must point out its flaws and strive to improve them.
At the Bush in 30 Seconds site you can to vote in the MoveOn.org Voter Fund's political ad contest. The winning commercial will be televised during the week of the President's State of the Union Address this January.
There has been well over a thousand ads submitted. Some are very bad, then there are the copy cat ads like priceless and such, but a few are very good.
Some focus on this quote by Nazi Herman Goehring:
It works the same in any country. He's right. It's that easy. That's what the Bush regime banks on. The distinction between the election campaigns and war, between democracy and oligarchy seems to be closing fast.
I think the best ads focus on just one issue. Here are a few of my favorites:
After watching the last of the Lord of the Rings movies I am a bit disappointed. The thing I can't tell is if I am disappointed in the 3rd film or that they are now over.
In some ways I doubt that this film will win best picture. I am not sure that it is better than either of the first two. Although I have had the benefit now of seeing each of the first two films the way they were meant to be — at full length — without scenes cut out. Each of the first two films were much improved with the original footage restored, and I suspect the 3rd one will be no exception, that is unless they add more on to the end.
If the award is given for the cumulative works of this trilogy then yes it deserves it by far, but is that fair?
I should keep in mind that (extended editions aside) I thought that the 3rd viewing of the Fellowship of the Rings was the best, and the second viewing of the Two Towers was superior to the first as well. I will likely write a little more about the movie after I see it again (and this time not at midnight).
I have written more (see the extended entry) - but what I have written contains some spoilers, so beware.
Continue reading "Extra Extended Edition?"One thing that really bothered me about the media's handling of the capture of Saddam Hussein was how when it was so graciously announced that "We got 'im" (grammar interpreted) was the reaction of the press corps that were at hand. They cheered. I guess nobody told them that journalists are supposed to be impartial and simply report the news.
Was I glad to see Saddam captured? Sure, but then I don't shape the opinions of the world — hell I can't even get my family to read Alt Text.
Here we are on the eve of the opening of the final installment of the Lord of the Rings movies. I am fresh of last nights (in theater) viewing of the Two Towers extended edition. I am impressed with how well the 3 hour and 40 minute movie flows. Peter Jackson should get the Best Director nod for the culmination of his 7 years of work on this series.
I can't help but get a twinge of sadness that the movies will be ending soon. What will I have to post about? There's always The Hobbit and speculation on when the pressure will be too much for Peter Jackson to withstand. I get the same feeling of loss when I complete a book series I have really enjoyed.
In other movie related news:
The New York Film Critic Circle has announced its award winners for 2003 and the Return of the King gets Best Film. The AFI has posted its 2003 Movie of the Year candidates as well.
With all the hubub over Google's "Florida" update it now seems like Google is becomeing more evil. The update changes the way only certain words and phrases come up in the reults, only the most popular ones, that have commercial value to people. Speculation is that by unseating sites from positions they have held for years, you increase the competition for the highest rankings in those words so they can sell more Adwords and make more money.
Want to see how the reults would be if they weren't manipulatd by Google? search for the same terms or terms and then type -uybvlizwyfbszilhfsgkfbsf (or some equally unique term) after it.
Interesting & Related: Search for "Miserable Failure" at Google and see what comes up.
First Al Gore declines a Bush/Gore rematch vowing not to run in 2004 — not wanting to lose to Bush twice, then Gore has decided to endorse a candidate that has very little chance to beat Bush in the 2004 election, ensuring an easier time for himself in 2008. Nice commitment to your party and your country.
Sure Dean has a grassroots movement but if any idealistic liberals out there feel Dean has a chance in hell to beat Bush and his corporate $ponsored campaign, they'll surely get a wakeup call in the form of 4 more years of Bush II. Dean has great Internet support, that's nice but when it comes to voting he doesn't have the mass to get people to the polls and overthrow the powers that be. He is too outspoken about the war and that will kill him, the economy is coming back and that will kill him, Bush s going to try to claim victory on Medicare reform (which is a joke - unless reform means making it easier for drug companies and HMO's to make money) which will kill him, and he simply does not have the personal attributes (charisma, looks, stature etc. — the intangibles) to be elected to the highest office in the U.S.
I personally hope something happens in the coming weeks and months to unseat Dean as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. I don't think it will happen — in fact, in a perfect world, it shouldn't happen, but in the world of U.S. politics it is far too often that I find myself voting against one person rather than for another. Unfortunate really.
I am a little late to the party perhaps (in fact so late that I can't even comment on his weblog, but cut me some slack I have been on vacation.) but I need to give Jason props on his continual (or maybe it's herky-jerky) evolution of Kottke.org. Once again Jason blazes a trail (can snails blaze?) that makes it easier for the rest of us to follow. While I do think the movie banners are a bit overbearing I love the fact that Jason is separating types of posts in the main blog area. The inability (or at least the prohibitive difficultly) to aggregate different types of posts with different types of data is one thing that has been holding me up for a couple years now. I would have loved to bring over my movie reviews from BenOnFilm.com (no longer affiliated with me - RIP) and write more but I really wanted the data to be presented differently than a regular post. I too have several blogs (Links, Lists, etc) aimed at segregating data of different types but have not tried too hard to bring them all together as Jason has.
I am back from a great trip to New York where I got to catch up with some friends and see some sites. but mainly just walk and eat and relax. I will post more in the coming days and weeks than I have been posting lately. Promise.
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