Random Amusements of Travis Cook

This Is Stunning

2010-08-11T14:44:00.000-07:00

It is about words, and the different meanings they can have, but I'm not even going to try using words to describe how fantastic this is:

At Long Last, The Catholic Church Understands Women...

2010-07-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

They're just as bad as child molesters:

And you know what's rich? Say a priest ordains a woman into the clergy. The one who gets excommunicated? The woman.

The Catholic Church: Horrified of Vaginas since 1 A.D.

You Know, Maybe the Republicans Are Right

2010-06-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

Traditional views on marriage are the foundation of society, and they predate things like laws and liberal activist judges. Just ask these village leaders in rural India:

If we let a man marry a man, then maybe a girl from a lower caste will marry a man from a higher caste, and then a man will want to marry his sister. Where will it end??!?!?

If You Are Ever Having A Bad Day

2010-05-27T17:44:00.001-07:00

Just remember, there are tiny miracles happening all around the world right at this moment.

After hearing nothing for 8 months, Jonathan's cochlear implant is turned on and he hears his mother's voice for the first time.

Who Knew A Christian Prank Show Could Be So Mean?

2010-03-29T16:34:00.000-07:00

A poor girl gets pranked into thinking she is "Left Behind" during the Rapture (and do yourself a favor, skip the sermon and go to the 1:20 mark):

... So, is it Christian of me or un-Christian of me to find this funny?

RE: "Did You Know The Season Premiere Of "LOST" is Two Weeks From Tonight??

2010-01-22T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Crash of Flight 815 in real time...

Lost fans are the best fans.

Did You Know The Season Premiere of "LOST" Is Two Weeks From Tonight??

2010-01-19T17:13:00.000-08:00

... I just can't wait to find out what time period we are in on the show because it could be 2004 or 2007 or 2010 or maybe even a different time later but then again it might also a be parallel or maybe a perpendicular universe and maybe the two universes or times will come together as one and we can see all the same characters again and we will find out if Jack still loves Kate and if Juliet still loves Sawyer and if Farraday still wears skinny ties because even though Farraday died they might have changed the future when they changed the past which means the present and past we have presently been watching all along now exist in the past of a different dimension ...

Final Season Of 'Lost' Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever

I Am Going To Make A Very Lucky Family Very Unhappy

2010-01-13T10:58:00.001-08:00

The Internet Finally Makes Up For 2 Girls 1 Cup

2009-10-11T01:51:00.000-07:00

... 2 Girls 2 Cups

We Have All Been There Before

2009-09-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

... Child Abuse?

2009-08-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

I recently finally finished reading "The God Delusion," by Richard Dawkins, after stalling on the last few chapters. Overall, the book is fantastic, surprisingly funny, and ultimately a massive relief for me. It was the first time I read something that articulated my skepticism and doubt so well.

I do not come from a religious background. For me as a child, religion was obviously true, because everyone believed in it. I can only remember one event from my childhood that exposed me to the idea of non-belief (once, a friend's mother was upset with my family for taking her child to church without her permission -- it took me a while to realize my family was clearly in the wrong) .

Once I began working through my doubts, eventually arriving at atheism in high school, I mentally relegated myself to being a minority and an outsider. Not only was it doubtful many people agreed with me, but it would be far too impolite to ever express what I really thought.

I have held onto this aversion to rocking the (religious) boat. This was one of the reasons why the penultimate chapter of "The God Delusion," which focuses on vocalizing opposition to parents passing on their religion to their children, was difficult for me to swallow. What right do you have to have any opinion on what religion someone else's child is brought up within??

Religious indoctrination, Dawkins argues, is a form of mental child abuse.

"Geez," I thought as I read Dawkin's argument, "no wonder everyone hates atheists."

But then I started to think about it. At its root, what is religion? A pleasant answer to that question is that religion is a foundation for morals and judgment on which our human world revolves. But honestly, that answer gives religion way too much credit. We have morals and judgment because, without them, humans would have become extinct thousands and thousands of years ago. To survive, we evolved into increasingly complex social creatures, capable of empathy and stumbled into our own morality.

Ultimately, religion and belief is a prism through which someone can view the world. It is immensely powerful, but it is still merely a perspective. Religion describes the world and the people in it on its own terms, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.

And surely, something that is "merely a perspective" is harmless to pass onto an impressionable child, right?

I felt ambivalent about that question. That is, until watching the following video:

The video, uploaded by a young Christian girl, Molly, shows her and her friend in their effort to convert a young Hindu girl, Saraa. Thank god, they are unsuccessful.

On the surface, the video is hilariously stupid. Molly and her friend can't comprehend how someone with a darker complexion, clearly of Indian descent, comes from Asia instead of Africa. But making it through the entire 10 minutes reveals the video to be tragic.

"Okay," Molly heavily sighs, "it's really frustrating. I don't -- okay -- like I know it's not your fault that you're Hindu, but I can't -- I don't know if I can be around that type of presence, like someone who can't let Jesus in--"

"I know. It's like -- it's hard," chimes in her Christian cohort.

"Like, you're not a bad person, but -- It's just --"

"If you just try --"

"You're going down the wrong path. Okay," Molly sighs again, recognizing her defeat, "I can talk to you, but I don't know if we can be, like, friends."

Fed up with the backhanded insults, Saraa departs.

Okay, I know the girls are stupid. Deplorably stupid. But they are also young. And clearly, Molly's only perspective stems from her religion. Incapable of seeing anything of value outside her Christian prism, Molly is handicapped.

Can children handle the seriously flawed system of belief that is religion? Maybe if there was a chapter in the New Testament about critical thinking I would feel far less ... critical. At least adults can be expected to understand the archaic nature of most religions and also have the worthwhile capacity to pick and choose. But (most) kids can't pick and choose. They have what they are told. And if the parents pass on an identity of Christian or Muslim or Jew, who is the child to argue?

Should not children be given a pass, at least until given the tools of critical thinking, to be tagged with a religion? Maybe instead of asking, "what right do you have to have any opinion on what religion someone else's child is brought up within?" I should be asking "what right do you have to categorize your child's belief system before s/he is even given a chance to weigh in on the subject?"

Maybe if Molly's parents asked themselves this question, their daughter would not be down a friend.

Bless Her Heart

2009-08-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

Oh Sarah Palin...

(While checking out Yahoo news this morning)

God bless the fact check.

HA!

2009-08-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

The quick brown fox actually jumps over the lazy dog!

The Nicest Music Video Ever Made

2009-07-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this music video on another blog and had to post it up here. It was created entirely through webcam starring the musician's fans from around the world.

I Know This Shouldn't Be Funny...

2009-04-27T19:58:00.001-07:00

... But the smoke shop appearing to have caught on fire?

God has a sense of humor.

A Big Day

2009-04-16T16:37:00.000-07:00

If you rely on exclusively conservative sources for your news (ie: Fox News, Drudge Report), you are missing a huge story that came out today. And I doubt that the mainstream media will cover this story very much either.

The "Torture Memos" have been released.

... This is huge. Essentially, they are the legal opinions crafted under the Bush administration twisting the legality and definitions of certain forms of torture into a confusing pretzel of permission to commit war crimes. They are part of the damning case that is making it legally treacherous for certain people, from John Yoo to Alberto Gonzalez to our former president and vice-president, to travel to other countries (read: Canada and Spain) out of fear of being arrested for war crimes.

And people really need to get over this false idea that just because America and our president do something illegal that somehow it is still okay. Torture is illegal and has been illegal for decades. Our laws on this issue did not fall alongside the twin towers.

Andrew Sullivan, one of my favorite bloggers, covers the topic of torture voraciously. I highly recommend his blog (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com). Here's a paragraph he wrote this afternoon as he reads through the torture memos:

"Perhaps you are reading these documents alongside me. I've only read the Bybee
memo, as chilling an artefact as you are ever likely to read in a democratic
society, the work clearly not of a lawyer assessing torture techniques in good
faith, but of an administration official tasked with finding how torture
techniques already decided upon can be parsed in exquisitely disingenuous ways
to fit the law, even when they clearly do not. This is what Hannah Arendt wrote
of when she talked of the banality of evil. To read a bureaucrat finding ways to
describe and parse away the clear infliction of torture on a terror suspect well
outside any "ticking time bomb" scenario is to realize what so many of us feared
and sensed from the shards of information we have been piecing together for
years. It is all true."

Signs You Are A Dork #28

2009-03-28T12:37:00.001-07:00

You can fill up the trunk of your car with your board game collection.

Carrows Restaurant

2009-03-24T20:52:00.001-07:00

Now serving shitting pancakes

Church Sign Fail

2009-03-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things is the variety of messages on those signs outside of churches. They are usually very witty and clever (well, relatively speaking), and I can just imagine some priest or pastor sitting with a pad of paper in his quiet office exclaiming "OH! Good one Jesus!" when they come up with a new one (because surely all of these messages are coming directly from Jesus Christ).

I pass by a church on my way to work that always has the most entertaining signage, usually tinged with just the right amount of social commentary. Here is their current sign:

If you can't read the photo from my iPhone, the sign reads:

"OUR GREATEST THREAT IS NOT GLOBEL [sic] WARMING BUT SPIRITUALITY LUKEWARM"

First of all, it is too bad these signs do not come with a spell-check.

Secondly, are you sure about that, West Los Angeles Christian Center? I get a feeling after the pastor comes up with these quirky quips, s/he does not spend much time thinking about what they really say. The play on words is fun, but empty.

In my humble opinion, rising coastlines; millions and millions of displaces people; more severe extreme weather disasters; changes in agricultural capabilities (ie: having to plant corn in North Dakota instead of Iowa), and skirmishes and wars over those new capabilities; the famine and refugees that accompany said wars -- all that is slightly more important than people sleeping in Sunday mornings.

Their previous sign was too rich:

"NO COURT CAN OVERTURN YOUR CONVICTIONS"

Clearly in reference to their assumed anti-gay stance (those pesky "activist judges" upholding our state's constitution!), it does not take long to recognize the utter BS of this sign. Just taking the statement at face value, "NO COURT CAN OVERTURN YOUR CONVICTIONS" ... umm... is that not one of the exact purposes of our judicial system?? Enforcing and overturning convictions per a jury or judge's prerogative?? Am I missing something?

I will be keeping an eye on the West Los Angeles Christian Center. Talk about entertainment.

Okay, No... This Is Some Funny Shit

2009-03-11T00:42:00.000-07:00

I take back what I said in my previous post. This is the funniest thing I've ever seen:

That Is Some Funny Shit

2009-03-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

I have seen people roll their eyes when mention is made of America's Funniest Home Videos. I say to hell to those people. AFV is hands down the funniest show on television.

Okay, so the hosts over the years have been... awkward.

But the videos? There is something beautifully universal about seeing a kid run into a screen door, or some octogenarian crash and burn dancing at a wedding. It is the perfectly pitched combination of Murphy's Law and schadenfreuder. Pure and basic hilarity.

I just watched their 300th episode tonight (which is already airing in syndication), and I cannot remember a time I laughed so hard. The show has been on the air almost as long as I have been alive, and they were showing some of the most fantastic clips. Here is a two minute segment had me in tears.

I want this television show to outlive me.

Why Daylight Saving Rules

2009-03-09T18:36:00.001-07:00

I'm leaving work and the sun is still out... No reflective armband for me for my bike ride home!!

Thank You Brasa In Culver City

2009-03-06T21:29:00.001-08:00

This is the best plantain I have ever eaten ... Crispy on the outside, soft and hot on the inside, brown sugar coating ... Mmmmmm.

(click image for larger, more delicious version)

Angry

2009-03-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

I just came across this news.

To sum it up: Obama wrote a letter to the people running the "No on 8" campaign last summer, saying how much he supported them and how much he opposed Proposition 8:

"And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the
California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or
those of other states. ..."

That is what Barack Obama wrote to us, months before the election.

Obama won California by 24 points. Proposition 8 won by four points. Day's before the election, I received this flyer in the mail:

Yet still, Obama's letter sat on the desk of some high paid consultant throughout the campaign, gathering dust.

"I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution..." Can you imagine that important sentence from Obama's letter being used in nearly every TV commercial and in nearly every mailer ad for "No on 8"? If there is one state that loves Obama, California loves Obama. The proposition would have been crushed!

I gave hundreds of dollars to "No on 8" and volunteered at phone banks (or at least tried to volunteer -- when I was stood up for volunteering in Santa Monica, I didn't go back). The incompetence is infuriating.

We had that letter -- a golden ticket -- to use against the manipulation and lies being hurled from the other side. And the letter sat there, doing nothing. Un-fucking-believable.

When the California Supreme Court chooses not to overturn Prop 8 in the coming months (which is what is going to happen), and we start gearing up for a new ballot initiative for 2010 or 2012, I demand that all of the dimwits who fucked up the last campaign be as far away from California as possible. Send them on some nice long vacation where their horrible decisions no longer effect my civil rights. Otherwise, count me out. I won't waste my time and money on those people again.

What Big Teeth You Have

2009-03-04T17:55:00.000-08:00

Today, I had the joy of a nearly 2 hour dentist appointment to fill four cavities and have a follow-up cleaning. Aside from my extremely awkward dental hygienist who wants to be an actress, hitting up her patients for leads on casting directors, the entire experience was very manageable.

The coolest part happened when the dentist showed me the x-rays of my wisdom teeth. "Look," he exclaimed, "you have a second wisdom tooth!" He was oddly excited about it. I don't think he sees this very often.

And sure enough, about a third the size of one of my massive wisdom teeth, another smaller wisdom tooth is hanging out, crammed into his larger colleague, somewhere in the back of my jaw.

So I have to get my wisdom teeth removed. All 5 of them. That can not be enjoyable.

I wonder if they will charge for the extra tooth, or maybe they can throw it in as a freebie. I think they should let me keep it. The tooth fairy would pay good money for a freak tooth like that, right?

A Haiku For Carla From Top Chef

2009-02-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

So you did not win.
You're the Top Chef of my heart.
Hootie Hoo, girlfriend!

An Oscar Blog Post, One Last Addendum

2009-02-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

Hahahahaha...

An Oscar Blog Post, Addendum

2009-02-23T11:46:00.000-08:00

So I sucked it up on my Oscar picks below. I totally ripped off Nate Silver's picks for the major categories, which was not the best idea. He totally pegged the election with his fancy computer models this year on his amazing blog, fivethirtyeight.com, so I thought he would successfully mathmatecize his way through the Oscars.

Nope.

But I thought the Oscars were great this year. Hugh Jackman was wonderful. The set-up of the stage, with all the great actors crammed to the front semi-circling the main podium, somehow made the entire thing more intimate. I was impressed and hope they keep it up.

And lastly, I should note that contrary to my previous post, Kate Winslet was nominated (and won) for The Reader and not Revolutionary Road. Pardon me while I go wipe this mud off my face.

An Oscar Blog Post... Yeah Yeah, I Know

2009-02-22T14:27:00.001-08:00

I used to make it a rule to see all of the Best Picture nominees before the Oscar telecast. This year, I am 3 for 5 (sorry Frost/Nixon and The Reader). So take my Oscar predictions below with the finest grain of salt...

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Best Actress: Kate Winslett, Revolutionary Road

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson, Benjamin Button

Best Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay: Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Cinematography: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Editing: Dark Knight

Best Art Direction: Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design: Duchess

Best Make-Up: Benjamin Button

Best Original Score: Wall-E

Best Song: "Jai Ho", Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound: Wall-E

Best Sound Editing: Dark Knight

Best Visual Effects: Benjamin Button

Best Animated Film: Wall-E

Best Foreign Film: Waltz With Bashir

Best Documentary: Man On Wire

Best Documentary Short: The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306

Best Animated Short: Presto

Best Live Action Short: Spieleugland

I feel entirely unsure about 85% of my picks, but it is not like anyone really has any idea. There will always be some sort of unexpected win (or at least I hope so -- Hugh Jackman can only make the show as un-boring as one man can do).

Of course, there is a very easy way to make the Oscars un-boring. Drinking game! If you want to play along, here are possible rules:

Every time music plays during an acceptance speech: 1 drink

If the winner keeps talking, and they cut to a super-wide shot so they can shoo the winner(s) off stage: 2 drinks

If the person tells the orchestra to stop playing over their speech: 3 drinks, cause that shit is just rude.

If a winner thanks the Academy: 1 drink

If a winner thanks God: 2 drinks

If a winner thanks God, but not the Academy: 3 drinks, cause that shit is just rude, too.

If someone mentions anything vaguely political: 1 drink

If someone mentions something vaguely political, and they cut to a reaction shot of an African-American, because somehow it's related (did you know we have a Black president now???): 2 drinks

If someone happens to mention something pro-gay marriage: toast them, and have 3 drinks.

Of, if you just want to get totally blitzed, start drinking once a winner is announced, and do not stop until they reach the mic. You will not make it through the awards for the short films without slipping into a coma. Seriously, they may as well stick those people on the Mezzanine and just throw their Oscars up to them once they win.

To The Guy In Front Of Me At The Annuals Concert Tonight...

2009-02-20T00:43:00.000-08:00

Were you shitting your pants the entire time?

Seriously, I understand if you let a fart or two escape -- you may be thinking it won't smell, people won't notice, I can get away with it. But at some point during nearly every song tonight, you literally smelled like shit.

It was annoying enough that you kept leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back. Every time I was hoping you would be going to go relieve yourself, but then you'd come back, shove yourself past me with another drink for your friends, or a Corona for yourself. And then you'd start dancing, your greasy hair flopping around in front of my face, and sure enough, a silent and invisible odor would permeate behind you.

I know it was you. When you left for another beer mid-fart, the stench trailed behind you, wafting into the nostrils of everyone you passed. I was not the only one that smelled it.

Perhaps you have a medical condition? Did you need to change your man diapers? Maybe your long intestine is diseased? Anal leakage? I'd rather not ponder the malfunctions of your lower GI, but lord knows I could not pay attention to the concert. And it was my favorite band, asshole.

So please, for the sake of the poor, unsuspecting schmuck who happens to stand behind you at your next concert, or at the store, or who shares a car with you, don't forget to take regular dumps. Maybe treat yourself to a colonic. I hear they are very refreshing.

I am just glad this photo of you is not scratch-and-sniff.

Have You Ever Wanted To See a 7-Year-Old Tripping Balls?

2009-02-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

This is David, after the dentist:

Everything You Need To Know About The First Three Seasons Of "LOST"

2009-01-21T17:04:00.000-08:00

What?

Today...

2009-01-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

... feels different than yesterday. Aside from all the hope and inspiration of a new president, I have a surprising feeling I was no expecting:

Calm.

I Had No Idea This Tuesday Is Invitation Only...

2009-01-16T09:02:00.001-08:00

Got this in the mail last week.

What's Your Number?

2009-01-15T23:21:00.000-08:00

I am not someone one who is nervous or afraid of technology. When I think about computers or the Internet, my mind does not automatically drift towards pictures like this...

... or this ...

What I am more worried about are the simple things that go away with the more technology we have.

I got a new phone last week, and by extension, a new phone number. On one hand, the tasks around getting a new number are much easier. I send out a mass email or create a facebook group, and ta-da, my job is done, and everyone is informed. But on the other hand, when was the last time you remembered someone's phone number? And I am not talking about a Tommy Tutone song. I mean, actually remembered a 10- or 7-digit phone number. If you were to name your five closest friends, could you tell me their phone numbers? Without looking in your phone?

Hopefully you can do better than me. I can't even name one.

Maybe this is not a big deal. But what if (god forbid) your cell phone battery runs out? What if you have to call someone collect on a pay phone? You remember pay phones, right?

Aside from paranoid situations like that, there is something lost in no longer being forced to memorize someone's number. I remember a time when, if you made a new friend, you had to put effort into remembering their digits. If you knew someone's phone number, they were a part of your life. If you did not know someone's number, there was probably a reason why.

I had a friend recently who bragged about how many phone numbers he had stored on his blackberry. Thousands, he exclaimed, as if proof of his likeability. But how many of those numbers do you know, I wanted to ask. Or, more importantly, how many of those thousands know your number?

Maybe phone numbers have simply become obsolete: placeholders alongside your name in someone's cell, alphabetized in between the names and numbers of two strangers.

Ironically enough, I set up the Passcode for my new iPhone the other day. I guess it prevents strangers or nosy friends from getting into your phone. But what are the four digits I chose for my Passcode? The last four digits from my phone number growing up. Because I knew those were four numbers I would never forget.

Things That Qualify You As A Douchebag

2009-01-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

# 92: Trying to high-five someone who is blind.

You (Do Not) Complete Me

2009-01-13T16:34:00.000-08:00

The Daily Beast, a monthly publication I had never heard about before today, published a list of their "50 Most Loathsome People in America, 2008." I am already a total nerd when it comes to lists, but this list is good. I recommend the whole thing. But for example:

20. Joe the Plumber

Charges: The Che Guevara of bald, pissed off white men. In a lot of ways, Samuel Wurzelbacher really does represent the average American—basing economic opinions on unrealistic expectations of personal future success, blaming his failure to meet those expectations on minorities and old people, complaining about deadbeats getting his taxes when he isn’t actually paying his taxes, and advertising his own rudimentary historical and mathematical ignorance by warning of creeping socialism in a country whose highest income tax rate has dropped by half in thirty years. “Joe” indeed symbolizes the true American dream—to become undeservedly rich and famous through a dizzyingly improbable stroke of luck. As American folk heroes go, Wurzelbacher ranks somewhere between Hulk Hogan and Bernie Goetz.
Exhibit A: "Social Security is a joke...social security I've never believed in, don't like it. I hate that it's forced on me."

Sentence: After blowing his fifteen minutes and all his money on coke and Thai hookers, an infirm, elderly Joe finds that social security actually is a joke, and is
finally forced to snake toilets for a living.

Ouch. And the list does not discriminate. Keith Olbermann, Barack Obama, Brett Favre and Sean Hannity all get ripped a new one. My personal favorite loathsome person of last year:

43. You

Charges: You think it’s your patriotic duty to spend money you don’t have on crap you don’t need. You think Hillary lost because of sexism, when it’s actually because she’s just a bad liar. You think Iraq is better off now than before we invaded, and don’t understand why they’re so ungrateful. You think Tim Russert was a great journalist. You’re hopping mad about an auto industry bailout that cost a squirt of piss compared to a Wall Street heist of galactic dimensions, due to a housing crash you somehow have blamed on minorities. It took you six years to figure out what a tool Bush is, but you think Obama will make it all better. You deem it hunky dory that we conduct national policy debates via 8-second clips from “The View.” You think God zapped humans into existence a few thousand years ago, although your appendix and wisdom teeth disagree. You like watching vicious assholes insult each other on TV. You support gun rights, because firing one gives you a chubby. You cuddle falsehoods and resent enlightenment. You think the fact that 43% of whites could stomach voting for an incredibly charismatic and eloquent light-skinned black guy who was raised by white people means racism is over. You think progressive taxation is socialism. 1 in 100 of you are in jail, and you think it should be more. You are shallow, inconsiderate, afraid, brand-conscious, sedentary, and totally self-obsessed. You are American.
Exhibit A: You’re more upset by Miley Cyrus’s glamour shots than the fact that you are a grown adult who is upset about Miley Cyrus.

Sentence: Invaded and occupied by Canada; all military units busy overseas without enough fuel to get back.

But there is one person on the list who should definitely not be up there. And I have a feeling I am alone on this one:

40. Free Credit Report.com guy

Charges: OK, he’s actually French-Canadian, but he invades America’s headspace every day. It’s bad enough that we have to see this albino smurf lip-sync some ad man’s grating jingles of financial woe fifty times a day. It’s bad enough that these ditties, as calculatedly infectious as bio-weapons, bounce around our skulls like a .22 caliber bullet. But the kicker is that this culture parasite and his “band” are hawking a scam. That’s right; freecreditreport.com isn’t free—in fact, it’s 15 bucks a month after the week-long “trial period.”
Exhibit A: There is a website where you can get a free credit report: It’s called annualcreditreport.com, and it was created in compliance with an act of Congress by the three big credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Then Experian set up freecreditreport.com, and their suicide-encouraging commercials, to cultivate and benefit from public confusion.

Sentence: Powering Ween’s tour bus with a stationary bicycle.

I have never met anyone who actually agrees with me on this, but that FreeCreditReport guy is kind of... cute.

They could not have cast someone who looks more like a loser, so I don't know why I cannot get enough of his commercials. And at least that's not his singing voice in the commercials -- god that voice is annoying.

But I just can't help it. All I want is to pinch his cheeks and tussle his hair and watch as he pretends to play the guitar. I can't loathe that!

Blogging outside!

2009-01-12T12:17:00.001-08:00

I have officially entered a new and exciting technological world. I am now the proud owner of a brand-spanking new iPhone. I am oozing cool.

Best part? I can blog from anywhere!

The Longest Joke In The World

2009-01-08T21:26:00.000-08:00

In high school, I did a lot of work with the Anti-Defamation League, largely around issues of discrimination and prejudice, and they have helped positively shape my view of the world. One project I helped organize with a bunch of other high schoolers was a big Passover Seder for a bunch of other high school students. As a theme, we came up with what we believed to be about a dozen words that best characterized what we saw to be important in the world -- words like strength, understanding, and love. For each word we found corresponding quotes from people like Margaret Mead, Albert Einstein and T.S. Elliot. This was all thrown together for a (really bad) video I had made to introduce the Seder.

I was thinking about all this recently, and I had an odd realization about one of the quotes. The quote in question was for the word "faith," and was written by someone named Ambrose Bierce:

"Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without parallel."

I am not sure why I so clearly remember this one particular quote for "faith," while having to go back and re-watch the video to merely remember some of the other words we came up with. I think this quote was the only one I did not fully comprehend, so I stored it away in my subconscious, slowly toiling over its meaning.

It has been ten years since the Passover Seder, and I think I just figured it out. I think this quote is a joke.

Actually, I am pretty sure it is a joke. The quote is taken from a satirical book published in 1911 called The Devil's Dictionary, a large collection of quirky definitions making fun of the world. For instance, the definition for "congratulations"?

"The civility of envy."

And the definition for "love"?

"A temporary insanity curable by marriage."

See? Really funny stuff. So funny, I think it has taken me a decade to get one of the punch-lines.

When it comes to Bierce's definition of "faith," the joke is the emphasis on ignorance:

"Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge of things without parallel."

The quote sure sounds nice though, doesn't it? The repetition of the word "without", the iambic-ish rhythm to the words. It is not hard to see why some high school junior doing a google search for "faith quote" thought it was a good idea.

But take away the poetics, and the definition says that faith is the belief of someone trying to deal with shit way above their pay grade.

If that is true, should we really consider faith to be a virtue? I do not mean "faith" as a synonym for hope or trust (which are two things of which I am a big fan), but "faith" as certainty of the unknowable. The world around us is going to keep going and we are going to keep figuring things out. And uncertainty about the unknowable is our fuel.

I am not saying that having faith is incompatible with intellectual curiosity and progress, but it does not help. That sounds harsh, but think about it.

Faith is a belief that no amount of proof or data or learned knowledge could ever shake. It is a "belief without evidence." So once again I ask, is that really a virtue?

A few days ago, scientists picked up a noise six times louder than any noise they have ever heard from deep space. It is a fascinating story. So far, no one has any idea what it is. They are clueless. And yet, you do not have astrologers and astrophysicists coming up with random ideas about what is this noise, and then when asked for proof, responding with, "I have no proof, I have faith."

But still, the word faith, essentially meaning a lack of a plausible explanation, is revered. Maybe I'm ignorant, but that makes no sense. What is positive in admitting complacency to ignorance?

Maybe this is something I need to accept that I will not understand. Maybe I should just have faith that faith is a good thing. That would solve my problem, wouldn't it?

It Will All Be Over Soon

2009-01-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

I wish I had the ability to hibernate. If I did, I would plan my hibernation around Ann Coulter's book release schedule so that I would never have to see her hacking her book across the mainstream media.

Pipe Dreams of Tomorrow

2009-01-06T17:43:00.000-08:00

I love the start of a new year. Just because a digit changes in the date, we are presented with an annual opportunity to take a breath and begin anew. It is a time when you can be unabashedly hopeful and not feel like a deluded fool. So, knowing that, here is what I hope 2009 has in store:

Wasps decide not to build big hives in the awnings of my apartment building.
Former Pastor Tedd Haggard comes out of the closet, divorces his wife, and becomes a forceful yet humble spokesgay for the LGBT community.
Transformers 2 fails at the box office.
The U.S. develops a power chemical weapon that causes selective memory loss. Said weapon is used in Pakistan, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Somalia and Zimbabwe, making everyone forget why they hate each other.
Sham-Wow commercials suddenly cease appearing on television.
The oil companies apologize for constantly messing with the price of crude and offer to pay for a massive high speed passenger rail system from coast to coast.
Uwe Boll decides to take up a career as a dental assistant.
Obama does not disappoint anyone.
A Fazoli's restaurant opens near my apartment.

I am not going to hold my breath.

My Top 5 Viral Videos of 2008

2009-01-06T16:46:00.000-08:00

Oh, 2008, how you entertained me so. A year when a bunch of big Hollywood movies were actually really good, and reality television could not hold a candle to the soap opera-driven presidential race. Even the Internet seemed to me to be better than average as it seems destined to do to television what television did to the radio. With that, I want to countdown my favorite viral videos from 2008 because making lists makes me feel important.

5) "Girl Talk - Feed the Animals" -- 21-year-old Chris Beckman describes what he does as "recycling culture." Whatever he calls it, I find it awesomely addicting. Creating music video mash-ups from any and every genre of music, he creates a jumbled symphony where The Beach Boys, Snoop Dog, Salt N Peppa and Nirvana all play their role. Best part, you can download his entire album for any amount (even for free) here. Or just check it out on youtube. Here is my favorite track:

4) "People in Order" -- The most fascinating count from 1 to 100 you will ever see.

3) "Font Conference" -- There are a lot of really lame viral video sites out there, but some of collegehumor.com's original videos are better than stuff on prime time. Great writing and production quality set their work a part from a vast wasteland of junk. Here's my favorite from last year:

2) "Yes We Can" -- Al Gore may have invented the Internet, but 2008 was the year when then Internet was finally utilized as a tool to democratize our democracy. At the center of this revolution stands Obama, a man who is going to be the most powerful person in the world precisely because of the Internet (do you really think he would have beaten Hillary Clinton or John McCain if all we had were 60 Minutes and The New York Times?). Anyone who does not understand Obama's massive appeal only see a rehashing of a political stump speech when they watch this:

1) "Where the Hell is Matt (2008)" -- First off, if you have not yet heard of Dancing Matt, watch his first video. Matt (aka: the luckiest guy in the world) is sponsored by Stride Gum to travel around the world to videotape himself dancing (poorly). This is the third video Matt has made and it beautifully shows that despite wars and borders and poverty, wherever you find other humans, you will find humanity.

Very Honorable Mention: Simply titled, "My dogs greeting me after returning from 14 months in Iraq." This video almost makes me cry, and it would be in the top 5 if it weren't for the Green Day song in the background:

Christmas Wishes...

2008-12-25T08:20:00.000-08:00

...To Everyone

Random Epiphay

2008-12-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

What is more important? Who Obama selects to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, or who he selects for his cabinet?

The Definition Of Heartlessness

2008-12-19T23:03:00.001-08:00

Here.

Everybody Hates Rick, Ctd.

2008-12-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

The more this guy talks, the worse it gets. Obama really messed this one up.

Rick Warren, you are still a fucker.

OWWWWWWWW

2008-12-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Way Over My Head

2008-12-18T17:16:00.000-08:00

If Mr. Rogers and Bill Nye The Science Guy ran off together to the UK and gave birth to a lovechild, this is what you would get.

Heh. Cool.

Everyone Hates Rick

2008-12-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

I used to think the news that Obama had selected Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration was amusing. In one move, Obama managed to piss off the right and the left, and I thought that was rather impressive. But now I just saw the video below with an interview of Rick Warren airing tonight where he is asked about his stance on gay marriage. He answers with an incredibly homophobic and misinformed response. Then, when flat-out asked if he is homophobic, he has a huge laugh, as if to say "Preposterous!"

His nerve is appalling.

It is also nice to know that opposing someone's civil rights is okay, as long as you give them doughnuts while you do it.

Rick Warren, you are a fucker.

Why is Bill O'Reilly Such An Idiot?

2008-12-18T00:23:00.000-08:00

Because he cannot hear anything beyond what comes out of his mouth. Case in point:

[Bill O'Reilly smackdown at 3:50]

Oh No

2008-12-17T23:57:00.001-08:00

Please, someone tell me this article from The Sun newspaper in the UK is totally fake. The article supposedly announces the cast for the next Christopher Nolan Batman movie.

The big announcement? Eddie Murphy is going to play The Riddler. Now, I personally cannot see the Nutty Professor taking on the role of The Riddler, but I also remember a lot of skepticism about Heath Ledger playing The Joker, so I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

But the big surprise for me? What am I praying is not true? Shia LaBeouf is slated to play Robin. Into how many movie franchises is this kid going to stick himself? Can we please make one big Hollywood movie that does not have this guy? Seriously.

Dear God, please don't let it be true.

Sounds of the Season

2008-12-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas music. But there is one Christmas song that annoys the hell out of me (well, this song and then everything from Mannheim Steamroller... god they suck). It is this:

I do not know why, but it is just wayy too saccharin for me (and that is saying something).

Personally, I do not think there should be any new Christmas songs written. We have a glut of music already, and if it was not possibly sung by Bing Crosby, I do not want to hear it. Let's just please stick with what we already have.

Like this tune. This is Christmas:

You're Getting Warmer

2008-12-17T18:28:00.000-08:00

Hey climate scientists and all you communist Al Gore-lovers out there! How do you explain stuff like this, huh??

That is snow. In Las Vegas. Hell may not be freezing over, but Sin City is.

Obviously, global warming is a bunch of silly liberal paranoia.

... Wait. What is that respected NASA scientists?

The year 2008 was the ninth warmest year since instrumental temperature measurements began in 1880, and all of the nine warmest years have occurred in the past 11 years, NASA reported on Tuesday.

The new data from NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and other government agencies on Tuesday adds to the evidence scientists have been observing about a warming Earth as fossil fuel burning emits heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

NASA also reported that the January to November global temperature was 0.76 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for the 20th Century.

NASA also noted that the past year was cooler than any since 2000. Scientists note that global warming is a steady trend, but within it there are natural variations.

Oh. Nevermind.

Hot Hot Heat

2008-12-17T17:55:00.000-08:00

The Yahoo! homepage has a story about the most dangerous places to live in the country when it comes to natural disasters. Here's the map they show:

I have had more than a few conversations about the dangers of living in California. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and the probability that the state will slide into the Pacific are very real dangers, people say.

But I would like to bring everyone's attention to the shade of California on that map. Light Grey.

See! California is totally safe. The reason?

"According to our results, the answer is heat," Susan Cutter and Kevin Borden of the University of South Carolina wrote in their report, which gathered data from 1970 to 2004.
"I think what most people would think, if you say what is the major cause of death and destruction, they would say hurricanes and earthquakes and flooding," Cutter said in a telephone interview. "They wouldn't say heat."

"What is noteworthy here is that over time, highly destructive, highly publicized, often-catastrophic singular events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are responsible for relatively few deaths when compared to the more frequent, less catastrophic such as heat waves and severe weather," they wrote.

The most dangerous places to live are much of the South, because of the heat risk, the hurricane coasts and the Great Plains states with their severe weather, Cutter said.
The south central United States is also a dangerous area, with floods and tornadoes.
California is relatively safe, they found.

"It illustrates the impact of better building codes in seismically prone areas because the fatalities in earthquakes have gone down from 1900 because things don't collapse on people any more," Cutter said.

"It shows that simple improvements in building codes in high-wind environments like hurricane coasts, and the effectiveness of evacuation in advance of hurricanes, has reduced the mortality from hurricanes and tropical storms," she added.

And for all of my friends and family living in the dark, dark grey state of Colorado: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Tough Economic Times...

2008-12-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

... Call for creative measures. Ladies and gentleman, I present the great Dan Gao:

Because nothing says cheap like sneaking your free refill from El Pollo Loco into an Italian restaurant.

Let's Get Some Shoes

2008-12-16T10:43:00.000-08:00

George W. Bush sat down with a report for ABC News to talk about the "shoe heard round the world" incident over the weekend in Iraq. (I should say for the record that I do not think it is nice to throw your shoes at a world leader... However... the metaphor, meaning and implications to Bush's legacy in the Middle East are too massive to ignore. We reap what we sow.) Here is a part of the interview that entirely captures why we are getting shoes thrown at us:

BUSH: Clearly, one of the most important parts of my job because of 9/11 was to defend the security of the American people. There have been no attacks since I have been president, since 9/11. One of the major theaters against al Qaeda turns out to have been Iraq. This is where al Qaeda said they were going to take their stand. This is where al Qaeda was hoping to take ...

RADDATZ: But not until after the U.S. invaded.

BUSH: Yeah, that's right. So what? The point is that al Qaeda said they're going to take a stand. Well, first of all in the post-9/11 environment Saddam Hussein posed a threat. And then upon removal, al Qaeda decides to take a stand. And they're becoming defeated and I think history will say, one, the world was better off without Saddam, two, along with the Iraqi troops we have denied al Qaeda a safe haven because a young democracy is beginning to grow, which will be an important sign for people in the Middle East.

So what? So what? Are you kidding me?

First of all, Sadam Hussein did not pose a threat in the post-9/11 environment. Sure, he was a bad guy, but he was not a threat to the U.S. Can we all finally agree on this? Great. Moving on.

To shrug off the fact that the botched invasion of a sovereign nation that you orchestrated based off of cooked intelligence is the reason terrorism now exists in that country is appalling.

So what?

The willful ignorance and entire lack of responsibility in those two words makes me sick.

More U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq than Americans on 9/11. The Iraqi death toll is somewhere in the hundreds of thousands. The country was thrown into such disarray that they cannot even gather an approximate estimate about how many people who have been killed since the U.S. invasion. Our government has given itself permission to commit war crimes and torture other human beings. These actions in the Middle East are creating an entire generation of young men and women who are more likely to give themselves over to extremist religious groups aimed at killing more Americans. And to top it off, Osama bin Laden is still out there!

So what??

I love my country, but I am not blind to the horrendous mistakes of its leadership.

And you know what I am going to do about it?

I am mailing a pair of old shoes to the President.

WTF??

2008-12-15T15:35:00.000-08:00

Have you had a solid "What The Fuck??" moment today? No? You haven't?

Then I have just what the doctor ordered:

Click here.

[safe for work]

"God Bless America, That Is Funny"

2008-12-14T13:02:00.000-08:00

YOUTUBE BOOB ADDRESS - watch more funny videos

Whoa

2008-12-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Did anyone have any idea that the flute was the most awesome instrument ever??

Public Transportation Wet Dream

2008-12-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know if this is possible, but just thinking about that much rail transit in LA makes my heart skip a beat.

I Have An Inexplicable Need To Start a Slow Clap

2008-12-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

The most inspirational video on the internet:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

"They may take our lives, but they will never take... our Independence Day!"

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out!!

2008-12-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

From a wall of letters to Santa at a mall in Manhattan Beach, CA... I think this kid needs to be on a watch list.

[Click here for full size version]

FMI (For My Information)

2008-12-10T17:38:00.000-08:00

I am posting this video not expecting anyone to to actually watch it (it is nearly an hour and a half long), but it is a fantastic interview with Sam Harris covering all the bases of science, religion, thought, society, the brain -- everything. He has such a poetic way of stating his position on things, I just want a place where I can watch it again.

Huckabee Goes Down

2008-12-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

My friend, Spencer, mentioned to me the other day that the best and most productive way to debate someone about an issue like gay marriage is to merely ask the right questions. Arguing will get you no where, but calmly asking follow up questions just makes the other person's circular talking points fall flat.

Case in point, this brilliant interview Jon Stewart did with Mike Huckabee. Huckabee keeps trying to change the subject and quickly pull the "well let's just agree to disagree" card, but Stewart hammers it home. So gratifying to watch.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Mike Huckabee Pt. 2

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Jon Stewart's best line I need to commit to memory (discussing redefining the word marriage): "semantics is cold comfort when it comes to humanity." Awesome.

Happy Holidays Merry Christmas

2008-12-07T09:07:00.000-08:00

The other night, my friend remarked about my relationship with the holiday season: "Travis is an atheist, but I think he is more into Christmas than most people I know. Isn't that funny??" Well, that is not the exact quote, but you get the idea.

But it is true. Right now it looks like Christmas vomited in my living room. Last night I was inspired by the decorations in a bar, and I want to copy their ideas in my apartment. But to prevent my living spaces from being overtaken with a total lack of tact, I will refrain (mostly because my ceiling isn't high enough).

But overall, there is nothing Christian about Christmas that I celebrate.

I agree with the Bill O'Reillys and Pat Robertsons of the world that the holiday season is over-commercialized. I agree that there is a "spirit of Christmas," but I do not think it has as much to do with Jesus as it does with Santa Claus. I may as well be celebrating the Winter Solstice, just a few days late.

I bring all this up because I just came across a fun article from a few years ago talking about the relationship famous atheist writers have with Christmas. An excerpt:

“It seems to me to be obvious that everything we value in Christmas — giving gifts, celebrating the holiday with our families, enjoying all of the kitsch that comes along with it — all of that has been entirely appropriated by the secular world,” [Harris] said, “in the same way that Thanksgiving and Halloween have been.”

Mr. Dawkins, reached by e-mail somewhere on a book tour, was asked about his own Christmas philosophy. The response sounded almost as if he and Mr. Harris — and maybe other members of a soon-to-be-chartered Atheists Who Kind of Don’t Object to Christmas Club — had hashed out a statement of principles. Strangely, these principles find much common ground with Christians who complain about the holiday’s over-commercialization and secularization, though the atheists bemoan the former and appreciate the latter.

“Presumably your reason for asking me is that ‘The God Delusion’ is an atheistic book, and you still think of Christmas as a religious festival,” Mr. Dawkins wrote, in a reply printed here in its entirety. “But of course it has long since ceased to be a religious festival. I participate for family reasons, with a reluctance that owes more to aesthetics than atheistics. I detest Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and the obscene spending bonanza that nowadays seems to occupy not just December, but November and much of October, too.”

He added: “So divorced has Christmas become from religion that I find no necessity to bother with euphemisms such as happy holiday season. In the same way as many of my friends call themselves Jewish atheists, I acknowledge that I come from Christian cultural roots. I am a post-Christian atheist. So, understanding full well that the phrase retains zero religious significance, I unhesitatingly wish everyone a Merry Christmas.”

While I partly disagree because there is a solid portion of the population that celebrate the holiday purely as a religious celebration and reject its secularization, I would argue they are in the minority. The word Christmas will always retain some religious significance because... well... it has the word Christ in it. But if you name me one religious aspect to Christmas, I will name five secular ones that have nothing to do with Jesus' birth.

As corny as it sounds, this time of the year is ultimately about reconnecting and reaffirming your appreciation for family and friends. It is a time of year to remind everyone to try to be a little bit nicer. That giving can be more gratifying than receiving.

If those are the ultimate goals, then Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

What The F***???

2008-12-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

What do these three pictures have in common?

This.

The most over-the-top and ridiculous music video the world has ever seen.

If you have ever wanted to see a dragon attacking a horse-drawn carriage, a battle in an ice palace, and stock footage of a crocodile, your day has finally come.

[note: different sizes of the video can be seen here]

Shameless Self Promotion

2008-12-05T15:56:00.000-08:00

I uploaded some clips from my documentary, "Next Exit, Main Street," onto YouTube. Feel free to... you know... watch them.

Trailer

Salt Lake City, Utah

Lake Zurich, Illinois

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Lost Springs, Wyoming

"L-L-Let Me Finish"

2008-12-05T15:25:00.000-08:00

For me, it will be difficult to look back on the past eight years of Bush's presidency and not cringe. I just stumbled across this 10 minute interview with Bush that claims to be banned in the U.S.:

After having followed Obama's speeches and campaign for nearly two years, I think I am only now beginning to fully understand the true incompetence and arrogance of our 43rd president. It is such a relief to usher in a leader and a style of government that does not model itself after a playground bully.

And another point, is it just me or does it feel like the media here in the U.S. never was as gutsy as the woman in the YouTube clip above. And even though Bush's reactions make her out to be rude and disrespectful, I'd argue she is being really nice. Compare Bush's handling of difficult questions to Obama's handling of a much more difficult interview:

Geez, the difference in the mental and thought capabilities in each of these men is stunning. Watching them one after the other really puts everything in perspective.

How Could I Not Post This??

2008-12-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Milk

2008-12-02T23:48:00.000-08:00

There are instances when a film's release is so perfectly timed and in tune with the happenings of the world that you would second guess whether or not some studio execs have psychics on staff. Walking away from just watching Milk and trying to comprehend the timeliness (and ultimately timelessness) of this story is stunning. Since previews always give away too much, here is Harvey Milk in a quick nutshell:

While the movie altogether is fantastic, there was one aspect that I cannot shake. There is one scene with Harvey Milk having a meeting with a bunch of established rich gay guys, debating a mailer ad for a new piece of gay rights legislation Milk is pushing. Milk is furious: "You don't mention the word gay on here once! You've got to have at least one old queer on here somewhere." The old-school stodgy gays response: This is what works. But for Milk, the ultimate solution was visibility. If people's awareness is raised to a level above the religious bigotry and fearmongering, their minds will be changed. Simple, yet brilliant.

But visibility, courage, and speaking up always has negative repercussions amongst the most insecure in our society, and Harvey Milk fell victim to those repercussions.

For today's gays, the passage of Proposition 8 will probably be viewed as the most positive setback for equal rights. Plenty of fingers have been pointed seeking blame for our loss against Prop 8, but no one can argue that we displayed enough visible during the campaign, whether it was in our commercials or in our organizing.

"You've got to have at least one old queer on here somewhere."

"But this is what works."

No, not anymore.

The gays of the 70's had decades of severe discrimination and harassment motivating them to become visible, and Harvey Milk helped them organize. Now, the gays have Proposition 8 to thank for their motivation. And now, with this film, we have a renewed figure -- our own martyr -- helping to show us the way... again.

Random Thought

2008-12-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

It takes some gall to come back into CVS pharmacy and demand back the one dollar you accidentally donated to St. Jude's Children's Hospital when going through checkout.

Bah Humbug much?

1A

2008-12-01T14:27:00.000-08:00

For those Californians who were opposed to Prop 1A, a huge bond to create a high speed rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco, chew on this:

I-5, which stretches from the Bay Area down to the 405 just north of LA, was gridlocked yesterday with holiday drivers. Gridlocked.

That is 400 miles of road.

That train will not get here quick enough.

Random Thought

2008-11-27T23:44:00.000-08:00

Pulling off a tasty and enjoyable thanksgiving is one of the most gratifying and humbling things to do. Happy Holiday everyone :)

Oh, That's Interesting

2008-11-26T08:09:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought I had a pretty good grasp on this whole gay marriage controversy, this interview springs up online. I can't figure out yet if I agree with the general thesis, but it is very compelling:

The possibility that a whole new generation of American males is being raised by women without men is very challenging for the churches. I think they want to reassert some sort of male authority over the order of things. I think the pro-Proposition 8 movement was really galvanized by an insecurity that churches are feeling now with the rise of women.

Monotheistic religions feel threatened by the rise of feminism and the insistence, in many communities, that women take a bigger role in the church. At the same time that women are claiming more responsibility for their religious life, they are also moving out of traditional roles as wife and mother. This is why abortion is so threatening to many religious people -- it represents some rejection of the traditional role of mother.

I recommend the entire interview here.

You know you live in LA when...

2008-11-25T23:39:00.000-08:00

... rain is so rare, it dominates your Facebook news feed:

Heather John thinks everyone who is soo happy it's raining is retarded. Remember how there were fires last week? Yeah, that beeping you just heard? Flash flood warnings. 15 minutes ago
Scott Stenholm is in Chicago, while it rains in LA, just my luck... 18 minutes ago
Alison Knox is still wide awake... listening to the rain (finally) fall. 27 minutes ago
Brianne Castillo-Huang : "...Or I'll just end up walkin' in the cold November rain..." 56 minutes ago

Full disclosure... my Facebook status:

Travis is sleeping with his bedroom window open to listen to the rain. 3 minutes ago

Headlines That Brighten My Day

2008-11-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

Opponents of stem cell research now face tough battle

Socialized Medicine

2008-11-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

As Obama fills all the positions within his future cabinet, there is a clear tilt towards picking people out of the legislative branch in government. And if Rahm Emanuel's recent comments are any indication, Obama does not plan to let the economic slowdown hamper his future plans. The big buzzword from the right during the presidential race was "socialism." The fear of socialized medicine is a very real thing for many Republicans.

I have never understood this. Just about every other modernized nation in the world has government sponsored health care. It does not destroy their economy. Civilization does not crumble.

I recommend this article about the possible ramifications for the GOP if the U.S. successfully introduces Universal Health Care to the country (a big if). Chew on this:

Recently, I stumbled across this analysis of how nationalized healthcare in Great Britain affected the political environment there. As Norman Markowitz in Political Affairs, a journal of "Marxist thought," puts it: "After the Labor Party established the National Health Service after World War II, supposedly conservative workers and low-income people under religious and other influences who tended to support the Conservatives were much more likely to vote for the Labor Party when health care, social welfare, education and pro-working class policies were enacted by labor supported governments."
Passing Obamacare would be like performing exactly the opposite function of turning people into investors. Whereas the Investor Class is more conservative than the rest of America, creating the Obamacare Class would pull America to the left. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, who first found that wonderful Markowitz quote, puts it succinctly in a recent blog post: "Blocking Obama's health plan is key to the GOP's survival."

Sounds good to me!

The Official Start of the Holiday Season

2008-11-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

... is today. KOST 103.5 has begun playing Christmas music. Feel the Cheer.

An Affront to Christians Everywhere (from my hometown, too!)

2008-11-19T19:37:00.000-08:00

Well, not really. But there are a bunch of Christians in Denver up in arms about some new billboards about Atheism. The billboard, which comes across to me as a new support hotline, is up in a few random places around the Metro Area proclaiming, "Don't believe in God? You are not alone." A quick news clip:

There are a couple reasons why this story is immensely amusing.

(1) They are billboards. Metro Denver is a pretty large place, and they'll have a whopping 10 billboards in total. Big deal! If no one feigned persecution, the billboards would have been forgotten as soon as they went down. The Christians creating this fake controversy are only giving the atheist group more bang for their buck. Thanks to them, people are now more likely to pay more attention to the ads.

(2) There are religious billboards up all the time. People do not care. Atheists do not freak out over them. How insecure are you in your beliefs that you are taken aback by these billboards? The billboards are not even directed at Christians! They are directed at people who already do not believe in God!

Do not get me wrong. Religious people have been persecuted throughout history. But pretending to be persecuted or affronted over something as uncontroversial and harmless as these billboards is just plain silly. If you do not want to encounter anything in public that goes against your view of the world, do us all a favor and stay home.

W. Really Is An Asshole

2008-11-19T17:26:00.000-08:00

January 20th can not get here quick enough.

Spokes-gay

2008-11-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

Gay marriage is hot topic du-jour on the news. TV debates about gay marriage can make me cringe if they get some spokesperson who is too polite or too stupid to defend themselves against the empty noise of the opposition.

So thank God for Dan Savage. Not only am I addicted to his advice column and podcast, but damn he is good on television. My favorite moment (in the 2nd video):

Tony Perkins: Boy, you can't get a word in edgewise
with this guy.
Dan Savage: Well, you stripped me of my rights and I interrupted you. Who's really suffering here?

Mr. Savage, I owe you my sanity.

BIG BREAKING NEWS

2008-11-19T16:17:00.000-08:00

Queue the exciting music and fancy cable news graphics! The Associated Press is reporting this hour that the bellwether state of Missouri will go to Senator John McCain. Geez louise. Took them long enough. So much for being a bellwether.

I was actually sad this year that I did not get to watch all the election night ballot returns on CNN as commentators and pundits are literally interrupted mid-sentence with photos and graphics of big blue or red check boxes. There is a drinking game in there somewhere.

However, what is astonishing about Missouri is how few votes separated the two candidates. A mere 3,632. There were nearly 3 million people that voted in that state. That's about a 0.12% difference.

Goddamn.

And in the state of Minnesota, there were about 200 votes separating the two candidates for U.S. Senate -- such a small amount, they are required by law to recount everything. There will likely be court fights about the validity of handfuls of individual absentee ballots.

Election after election, there are always races that come down to the smallest vote differences. I once met someone who ran for an office and lost by 3 votes. Three.

So the next time you hear someone whine, "voting is useless.. my vote does not count," be sure to remind them they are a complete fool.

Whoops

2008-11-13T17:57:00.000-08:00

Imagine for a moment you are quietly working from home one afternoon. A friend sends you a link to a funny video, you click it, and it takes a while to load. A work call comes into your cell, and you start helping them out. The video starts playing full blast. The volume control of your computer does not work. After a minute, you finally are able to pause the video. The person on the other line asks confusedly, "was that a little girl?" Enjoy the video:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor

Ted Haggard Finally Has It All Figured Out

2008-11-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

Famed gay-sex-and-meth-loving Evangelical hypocrite, Ted Haggard, returned to the pulpit this week to make excuses for his closeted gayness. Here's a quick news clip about Haggard's nausea-inducing realizations:

The most "fascinating" finding: because Haggard was molested in 2nd grade, he developed an insatiable hunger for meth and man ass. Uh huh.

Of course his behavior probably has nothing to do with the serious psychological damage that must originate from being a self-hating closeted homosexual obsessed with furthering hateful and misinformed messages about gay people.

It is such an ironic depressing joke.

Dear Ted Haggard: you cannot write off your sexual identity due to vague sexual molestation events when you were in elementary school. Molestation of children is incredibly serious and can leave life-long psychological damage.

Haggard is not gay because he was molested. He became a right-wing, nut-job preacher because he was molested.

My How Times Have Changed

2008-11-11T11:36:00.000-08:00

Wow. You leave the country for 11 days and everything changes. Of course, Obama becoming the president elect totally kicks ass, and I will post some stuff on that. But before you are able to enjoy the end of 8 years of Bush, Prop 8 slaps you across the face. There are so many things that infuriate me about this proposition, but for now you should just watch Keith Olbermann's take on the subject. I think one of his best Special Comments ever:

A Time Machine

2008-10-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

The past can be so unintentionally ironic and hilarious. I came across an article from 2006 in the Chicago Tribune discussing the possibility of Obama running for president in 2008. My favorite bits are below. The whole thing here.

About the Republican field:

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani might be formidable in the general
election but is too moderate to survive the GOP primary process. Sen. John
McCain's time will have passed. Ahn-old can't run because he's foreign-born.
There's talk of Bill Frist, George Pataki, George Allen, Mitt Romney, Bill
Owens, Chuck Hagel, Haley Barbour and Jeb Bush, but it doesn't leave Democrats
crumpled in despair and resignation.

The Republican POV:

But quite a few Democrats are unenthusiastic to sickened by the prospect of
another charmless loser at the head of the ticket -- frontrunner in the polls
Hillary Clinton; re-treads John Kerry and Al Gore -- and hold out hope that a
groundswell will change Obama's mind.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, are
licking their chops at the prospect of running against an inexperienced
blue-state liberal.

User comment:

I'd love to see a strong, charismatic Dem lead the ticket after the disasterous
Kerry fiasco, which followed the Gore-Lieberman thrill-a-minute ticket, but
after witnessing how the press savaged Dean, I don't think Obama has a prayer.
"'Obama - Rhymes with Osama.' Obama will be weak on NATIONAL DEFENSE! Save
America! Vote Republican."
I can see it now.

One More:

I voted "I lean Republican and I favor the idea" because I think, if he
were the Democrat nominee, he would be crushed in the election.

Introducing Michael Goldfarb

2008-10-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the stupidest campaign spokesman this entire campaign season (although I'd argue not as stupid as the flag pin guy):

That Goddamn Liberal Media

2008-10-28T23:49:00.000-07:00

I got an email a couple days ago complaining about the "biased" pro-Obama slant of the main stream media, with a link to this editorial. "It may be an eye opener to some," the email sender wrote, "but I find it to be a scary future if not corrected."

I partly agree with the article. Obama does receive better news coverage. A recent study:

The Project for Excellence in Journalism’s researchers found that John McCain, over the six weeks since the Republican convention, got four times as many negative stories as positive ones. The study found six out of 10 McCain stories were negative.

What’s more, Obama had more than twice as many positive stories (36 percent) as McCain — and just half the percentage of negative (29 percent).

This morning, Politico published an article addressing the apparent tilt in election coverage. It's a good read, and I recommend checking it out.

The argument the article makes is not complicated. Essentially, there is a bias in the media. The bias, however, is not for or against any specific candidate. The bias is for stories. For narratives, the "horse race." Or, as Politico describes, a "bias against boredom." While this does skew the press, it is a prejudice that has always and will always be a part of the media, and it does not skew liberal or conservative.

The campaigns are aware of this. Sometimes more attention is paid within the campaigns to being "on message" and creating a "narrative" with which the press and voters will respond rather than creating cohesive policy for voters to evaluate. So the reason why McCain is getting such negative coverage? He has failed at framing the story, trying out new story angles multiple times per week, and then lashing out at the press when they do not buy into his preferred point of view.

So, yes, there is some "bias" in the election coverage recently, but to shove all blame on the media gives them too much credit. By and large, the McCain campaign is earning the coverage they are receiving.

Throwing Some Mud

2008-10-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

It is kind of fun to turn on Fox News or read a right-wing blog to find out how some people in the Republican Party are labeling Barack Obama today. Blogger, Eric Martin, describes this chaos:

This is the problem. It’s not just the McCain campaign’s problem - although their inability to pick a narrative and stick to it is a special kind of inexcusable - it’s a problem for the entire wingnut noise machine. Obama is a Marxist Muslim Arab Jesus Black White Terrorist Technocrat Racist Do-Gooder Liberal FDR Stalin Hilter Commie Fascist Gay Womanizing Naive Cynical Insider Noob Boring Radical Unaccomplished Elite Slick Gaffe-Prone Pedophile Pedophile-Seducing Liberation Theology Atheist Etc. & Anti-Etc. with a bunch of scary friends from - wait for it! - the Nineteen Hundred And Sixties. It makes no sense.

And don't forget to throw in Celebrity!

No wonder no one is buying this stuff. My guess is that picking just a few of those compatible memes listed would have actually been effective, but the sense that the noise machine is running around like a decapitated chicken grows with each new smear.

All of this plays directly into Obama's best strength: his demeanor. People want to be reassured from their leaders, and McCain has not displayed any stability in this election.

As Andrew Sullivan brilliantly points out about Obama:

And still he's calm. Not too cocky. A little aloof, but very professional. He learnt all of this as a black man in a white country: no sudden moves; no anger. That's how he managed his white mother in adolescence. That's how he manages a white electorate increasingly at ease with him. And, by a massive stroke of luck, that's what voters want right now. In an economy that is melting down, with two wars still raging, they want calm above everything else. They want to know that the man in charge will not panic, will not be flustered, will not blow up.

They need a Valium. They can now vote for one for president.

Closing Time

2008-10-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

What were you doing today?

History is happening right now. Obama's rhetoric is soaring, and while part of the Republican strategy is to write off Obama's speeches as empty political drama, watching the clip below is real and inspirational. When has someone been able to move the people of this country to care so much about our future so effectively?

Vote.

My New Phobia

2008-10-27T14:40:00.000-07:00

"Wackophobia" -- The intense fear and anxiety that some nut job will try to do something to Barack Obama.

:(

An Inalienable Right?

2008-10-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

Dr. James Dobson of the right-wing, theocratic, anti-gay, Colorado Springs based evangelical powerhouse "Focus on the Family" is on the airwaves and in newspapers throughout the country this week with stories of doom and gloom about America's future after four years under President Obama. Some predictions:

"The Boy Scouts no longer exist."
"Tens of thousands of Christian (public school) teachers either quit or were fired."
"The Bible can no longer be freely preached over radio or television stations."
"Christian nurses, physicians, family counselors, lawyers and other professionals are being stripped of their right to work in those fields."

The common theme for these drastic domestic predictions: the gays. Or, more specifically, our society's successful inclusion of gays and lesbians as equal members of society.

Or, to read between the lines, Dobson is openly worrying about his right to discriminate. How can he still impose his religious beliefs on other people if he cannot force people to live their lives according to the rules of his ancient storybook? Of course, he would not call it "discrimination," but at that point you are merely playing with semantics. In his worldview, my civil rights are at odds with his religious freedom.

Please.

But that leaves the question: does Dobson have the right to openly support discrimination in both the private and public sector? In my opinion, of course he does. However, expecting the growing socially-liberal electorate to play along is going to be difficult.

After eight years of theocratic and divisive right wing politics, I think people have rightly developed a "live and let live" social attitude. By and large, people respond less and less to cultural "wedge" issues. They are tired of it. Dobson backfired. And consensus is mounting that supporting people like Dobson and his hateful rhetoric is prejudiced and discriminatory.

Society almost always moves towards inclusion. And reading Dobson cry about his view of the future only illustrates how out of touch he is with the real world.

So Dobson and his followers are more than welcome to their views and are free to pursue them, but they better not be surprised when more and more people call them out on their hate. If you want to behave like a bigot, you have to be comfortable being called a bigot. That's the new rule of the game.

The Best Video In All Of YouTube

2008-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Take it away Marvin Gaye:

Recounts

2008-10-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

As this presidential race draws to a close, my favorite part of the election finally draws near: the recount. No, no, not as in Florida and hanging chads. The stories from high level advisers and other people "in the room" as they all give their takes on what went down within the campaigns.

Just as the Democratic primary finally finished this summer, the blame game inside Clinton's campaign furiously took shape as political professionals played the exciting game of "Not My Fault!!" And now, as McCain's presidential hopes have about the same level of probability as, well, a republican winning the white house after eight years of W, "high level" and "unnamed sources close to the candidate" are covering their collective asses. Just this weekend we have some great reports of delicious in-fighting and conspiracies.

This is like having director's commentary to a really good movie.

The Obama campaign has been a very tight ship, considering this has been the longest presidential campaign in history. I can't wait for the stories behind Obama's run. And maybe a movie? Primary Colors 2? Where's Mike Nichols?

The Man of YouTube

2008-10-24T17:04:00.000-07:00

Maybe it is because I predominitaly read liberal blogs, but it seems to me like Democrats have a monopoly on awesome and hilarious youtube videos about the election. I do not think liberal are somehow more creative, but in terms of using the aparatus of the most democratizing force the world has ever known (the internet), conservatives are left in the dust. Seriously, have you seen font over at the Drudge Report? Hideous.

Here are a few of my favorite Obama-flavored YouTube clips:

My Hometown

2008-10-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

... Is just like every other hometown:

Dreamy

2008-10-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

Can we all be in total agreement that Emile Hirsch is really dreamy:

Wake Up Call, starring Emile Hirsch from ace norton on Vimeo.

The Backwards B

2008-10-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

Perhaps the most stunning and ultimately ridiculous story about the presidential race of the past couple days is the story of Ashley Todd, a McCain supporter who was attacked by "big black man" who mugged her, beat her up, and carved a B onto the side of her cheek. A lot of right-wing press went nuts over the story about how horrible Barack Obama supporters are getting. I know news cycles are fast, but did anyone take 2 seconds to fact-check this story:

Yes, when you look at that photo, the "B" for Barack Obama is backwards. Perhaps what it would look like if someone with a low IQ mutilated themselves in front of a mirror.

Not even getting into the racist overtones of this story that inflated the sensation, the newly-famous Ashley Todd has admitted to fabricating the story after failing a lie detector test. Big surprise, it was a lie.

Media standards anyone?

Keeping Me Entertained

2008-10-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've found myself wanting to post multiple articles and videos per day on facebook, so for the sake of my friends' news feeds, I am going to start posting everything here. I can't promise postings with any regularity, but I hope you at least find it randomly amusing.