Kristen

Seriously, you know this woman will have a modeling career on some sort now. My question is will she bother to put together a portfolio for a prospective agency, or will she simply flash her spread from the New York Post?

And how would such an interview go:

Agent: Have you done any covers? Like Cosmo or Vogue?
Kristen: New York Post.

Super High Me

Trailer

"distinctive sideways walk"

If only a gnome would terrorize the East Village. Why does Argentina get to have all the fun?

Ferraro flak

Every election year brings with it a full bag of dumb statements, and this one certainly hasn't disappointed. But Geraldine Ferraro's comment that Barack Obama is only where he is because he's black has to be the tops.

I would like to play the devil's advocate on this for a second. Sure, one can defend this remark by saying that indeed Obama has been successful on getting African Americans to vote for him, especially in the South, and there's certainly a subset of those voters who's support is based solely on race. Ok, fair enough. But that's not seeing the forest through the trees. A deeper analysis show that not only is this remark retarded, but also false.

"But African-Americans make up only about 13% of the population. And does anyone doubt that that advantage he gains there is not balanced at least to a substantial degree by resistance to voting for him among white voters? Why is Obama running so poorly among white voters tonight (compared to his rates in northern states) in Mississippi?"

Besides, a certain she who shall not be named would in no way be where she is today if she wasn't the wife of an ex-president.

Old Skool Baseball Site

I've been spending some time over the course of the last few months getting the albums of baseball cards out from underneath my bed and into long boxes (I said "long boxes") and into the shelves in my closet. Such is life when you live in a small Manhattan apartment.


As I've been going through my collection, which spans nearly 20 years, I've become somewhat nostalgic for that era of baseball from my childhood. Especially considering how much baseball I watch now - which is practically zero. Seriously, I didn't see a single pitch from last year's World Series. My quest for baseball nostalgia has brought me to this site, the Baseball Almanac.

This has become another useful time-waster. Their archive of information is simply astounding. My favorite feature is looking up old box scores, mainly to see what line-up a team fielded on a particular day/year. For instance, not only can I see the outcome of every single game played by the 1986 Philadelphia Phillies, I can also see their line-up they fielded against the heralded 1986 New York Mets on September 19th of that season. Incredibly geeky, I know - but a time-waster nonetheless.

One of the reasons I watch so little baseball these days is that like a lot of things in this world, it's been ruined by money. (Not to mention steroids and the fact that I find most games painfully boring to watch.) Another interesting resource provided by the Baseball Almanac are player salaries from every season. To give you an idea of how much the game has changed in 20 years, take a look at the salaries of the 1988 Los Angeles Dodgers (World Champions from that season). Eventual Hall of Famer, Don Sutton, earned "only" $350,000 that season. Now compare that to the 2007 Boston Red Sox. The entire roster is earning more than that!

Maybe her character should have been named, "Mary Jane".

Sorry for the lame attempt at a joke in the header.

In case you missed it, actress Dawn Wells, you know the hot one (Mary Ann) from "Gilligan's Island, was arrested for possession of pot in her car.

What I don't understand is that the officer found two half-smoked joints in her car. I'm no math major, but instead of smoking halves of two joints, she could have smoked one whole joint and destroyed some of the evidence, no?

New York seems to be well-represented here.

Source

"Durr, I'm Eliot Spitzer...

...and I run a high class prostitution ring. I'm a fucking dumbass for thinking I wouldn't get caught. Durrrrr."

You know, on the one hand, I don't think prostitution should be illegal, but wasn't this guy attorney general for New York State and would have had some influence on law-making. I mean, that's kind of what attorney generals do. I don't feel sorry for him.

In case you're keeping tabs.

The Roman Catholic Church - you know, that organization of old men with funny hats - has declared there are new sins we need to avoid in modern times. Some are potentially noble, but vague; like ruining the environment. Others, like taking and dealing drugs, are even more vague. Does this make Pfizer blasphemers?

No truth to the rumor that pretending to know things you don't know and can't prove (like what happens after you die), and making shit up (as in the entire edifice) will be considered as future sins. And I mean there's no truth to those rumors.

Bubba on Rush, for reals?

As if you needed more evidence that the two sides need each other to keep themselves in the public consciousness. Another reason why I support Obama is I just want partisan hacks to be marginalized.

Does it get any more English?

Fish and Chips
Originally uploaded by bre242

Fried haddock, chips, tea, real ale. From my recent trip to North Yorkshire, England.

Holy Diver

I think this may be the most ridiculous video ever made. If you can find one more ridiculous, please send.

Can someone please pander to the unaffliated?

I've been looking forward to mentioning this for a while. A recent survey on the religious landscape in America, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, has some very encouraging news. The group that has seen the most significant gains in affiliation, ironically enough, is the unaffiliated. The overall percentage, 16.1%, more than doubles the number of those people who say they were also raised unaffiliated. This is bad news (well, good news for me) for the retention rate of America's major religions. It especially bodes poorly for the Roman Catholic Church who has seen the largest drop-off. In fact, the percentage of unaffiliated is fast gaining on the percentage of people who call themselves Catholic, 23.9%. Protestants barely even have a majority any more at 51%. Jews make up a scant 1.7%.

So, given these numbers, why is it that NO news outlets ever refer to the atheist vote? Or the unaffiliated vote? You don't EVER see pie charts on CNN showing John McCain (for instance) winning a large segment of non-religious voters over Mike Huckabee.

As encouraging as this report is, religious pandering still dominates our public discourse. The Democrats aren't immune to this nonsense either. Here's Hillary Clinton claiming that she has "felt the presence of the Holy Spirit (whatever that is)", and that she believes the entire Bible is true. If that's really the case, then it would be logical to believe she thinks her husband should be stoned for adultery. Finally, to prove I'm fair, Barack ain't off the hook on this issue either by a long shot.

Cutting the crap

Bush may be the biggest purveyor of bullshit in the country, but the Clintons aren't far behind. No, I'm not saying that Barack Obama is loaded with foreign policy experience, but neither was Bill in 1992. And at least Obama doesn't feel compelled to outright lie about his experience. Good for Maher to call out the Clinton campaign out on this nonsense. And she's the one who's supposedly not getting treated fairly by the media. Give me a break!



In some ways politics does reflect the cycle of poo. We get chewed up and digested during eight years of Clinton, then get shit on during the last seven years of Bush. And if Senator Clinton becomes our next president, get ready to get shit on again in 2013. The cycle of poo endures.