Saturday, October 18, 2008

Brace yourself, Viper

Dakota Fanning is a Cheerleader.

You know how yesterday I was saying about how Liz Hurley had some of the best cleavage in the world?

Permit me to present to you her American counterpart, Tara Reid, pictured here with an unidentified friend.

She's saying "See: That's Ben. He's the last guy left who thinks I still have a career, and might actually be interesting instead of just hot, so I should really do something nice for him"

"But what?"

"I know..."





I think this falls into the category of "Hate to see you leave..."



"...but I love to watch you go."

Yee-Ha!


Fox has picked up "Terminator: SCC" for a full season.


The network recently ordered two scripts of the show, so perhaps the stories came in strong. Midseason sci-fi drama "Dollhouse" might be another factor -- Fox's previously announced winter schedule pairs "Dollhouse" and "24" on Mondays and "American Idol" and "Fringe" on Tuesdays, without "Terminator" listed. So perhaps the network has a new scheduling configuration in mind to support its sci-fi efforts.

Yet another potential factor is that "Dollhouse" has had some creative struggles. Sources say the newer scripts are stronger than the first batch, but if there's any chance of the show being delayed Fox might have decided to keep "Terminator" in the mix.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Just what you want to hear from a vice-presidential candidate

Sarah Palin doesn't even watch the news. Apparently, it depresses her, the poor thing.

John McCain, meet Yogi Berra

"Fifty percent of small business income taxes are paid by small business."

-- Sen. John McCain, during the third presidential debate.


Via Political Wire.

Say what you will about Geri Halliwell...

She's kept herself looking good.

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Whether those good looks are all-natural, or instead she's given mother nature some help, is not for me to say.

Dear Elizabeth Hurley...

Look. We all know you have some of the best cleavage in the world.

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But there comes a point where you're just being garish.

And speaking of Saw V...

1. Here's another "leaked" scene. I love it.



2. Canadians are so stupid (Hi Jen!)

From the Ontario Star:

A new viral marketing campaign for "Saw V" is scaring the wits out of some of its unsuspecting targets, according to OPP.

A website for the fifth film in the series of psychological horrors allows visitors to enter their name and a friend's in order to generate a creepy message that can be dialled to any home number.


These calls have genuinely frightened a number of citizens, including the mother of an intended target who called OPP to complain. Since Thanksgiving weekend, said Const. Tracey Bednarczyk, the Nottawasga detachment has received at least six calls from concerned citizens about the alarming messages.

Levi Stubbs

Rest in peace. And respect.

Here's "Reach Out"



And here's a cool (if simple) visual to go along with "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch."

You remember what I was saying about how "Bride Wars" might not suck?

On second thought...

Yeah, I'm thinking cable or maybe DVD if there are cool features.

It's time to let go. The fucking motto. We're supposed to cherish our lives.

(being the final in a planned series of four posts trying to write something a little more penetrating about why I think it is that I've become so enamored--some would say obsessed--with the Saw films)

In terms of execution--no play on words intended--Saw IV is the least of the installments so far. This may be because it's the first installment not to be written or co-written by Leigh Whannell, who also starred in the original.

(Once again, there are spoilers below, but if you've made it this far you've either already seen the movies and don't care, or know you never will, and don't care. Then again, I once thought I never would. But I digress...)

As one reviewer (I can't remember who, otherwise I'd link) pointed out: For this plot to work, you have to believe that Jigsaw can correctly predict what anyone is going to do at any given time.

And that he can do so far in advance, given that most of his traps tend to take just a little time to set up. Unless you happen to have handy, say, a device that both gouges people's eyes out and tears off their limbs.

It's also confusing even by the Saw series' always non-linear standards. In the last scenes of Saw IV, it's revealed that the events of this film and Saw III have been unfolding at the same time. This takes the already quite bleak ending of III and lowers it down a couple of more pegs.

But with hindsight, it makes some sense to do such a double-back, since at the end of Saw III, Jigsaw is dead. (That's not much of a spoiler, since his head on a scale was a poster for Saw IV.) And it would seem that if we immediately go forward, his games are over.

But during his autopsy (which is gory, but still not as bad as the brain surgery in III), a tape is found in his stomach.

It tells the listener...

...By hearing this tape, some will assume that this is over but I am still among you...




Thematically, Saw IV also revisits some material from the last installment. The positive which Jigsaw is trying to effect here, in his ever-deranged way, is to get one officer Rigg to face up to his obsessions.

The questions are again: Is it ever better not to act than to act? And can you save everyone, or must some--perhaps most--of them (of us) save themselves (ourselves)?

Still though, it's evident that some more thought has gone into this movie (and its screenplay) than almost any directed by Tim Burton. When detective Hoffman repeats John/Jigsaw's "motto," (at least as John sees it)

We're supposed to cherish our lives.


Rigg replies:

Well, how the hell are we supposed to do that when this is our lives?


As an aside: Throughout the series, Jigsaw does seem to have a lot of anger focused on (and a lot of information about) one small group of cops: Matthews, Hoffman, Rigg. The ending of Saw IV suggests another explanation.

It also gives us a new main character, someone who, like Jigsaw, should be listened to very very closely because he never lies, but he doesn't always tell the whole truth. And who, at the end, is asked by John Kramer's voice from beyond the grave...

You feel you now have control, don't you?


It's also the first one, IIRC, in which no actual saw appears (although one is heard).


And the countdown continues.

Still not as sad as it would be if this base-whore were elected president...but sad nevertheless.

You know...when I first saw this headline:

McCain Using Same Robocall Firm That Helped Smear Him In 2000


I thought of doing a joke here along the lines of "Ah, the circle of life." But on second thought, what I really want to do is ask:

At long last, senator, have you no sense of shame?

I don't think this is funny, I think this is really, really sad. In the last debate, John McCain said that if Barack Obama had wanted to run against Bush, he should have run four years ago.

Well senator, if you had wanted to have a chance not even of winning, but just of retaining the respect of most of your countrymen...you should've been the man you were eight years ago.

But then...you never really were that man, were you?

Ok, look at...

...this picture. And tell me.

Is it me, or can you totally hear their private bits yapping at each other like a couple of dogs?

What's better than a large-breasted woman wearing a green dress?

A large-breasted woman wearing green paint.

[Images from Wbeem on Flickr removed by request. Images via cityrag]

I'm sure I'm dating myself with this phrase, but I think this is what we used to call, a year or two back, a "rockin' bod."


Thursday, October 16, 2008

You'd think I'd get excited by this.

It's Rose McGowan, who's been a babe, wearing a short, green dress.

And yet...no.

Oh, you have absolutely got to be ratfucking kidding me

Wondering how desperate some GOP groups have become?

The latest newsletter by an Inland Republican women's group depicts Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama surrounded by a watermelon, ribs and a bucket of fried chicken

That's how desperate some GOP groups have become. Please note that I emphasize "some," not "all," or even "most." I don't believe all Republicans are evil racists.

This GOP women's group, however...They're not even trying to hide their racism anymore. And in a weird way, I say, good for them. I hate it when people act like this is something we've all "gotten over."

Obama is a sign of how far we've come since the days of the civil rights marches and all, but this is a sign of how far those marchers still have to go.

Ho. Ly. Fuck.

Watch this. And then spread it around.



Now that is fucking powerful and human.

One more thing on the debate

When Obama said
"100 percent, John, of your ads -- 100 percent of them have been negative."
This is what he was talking about.

All that and brilliance, too

Selma Blair handles the paparazzi.



Why did he have a balloon pump?

Anne...Hathaway...in a...in a bridal gown...



Excuse me, I've got something in my eye.

...that's actually from the poster for her movie Bride Wars, with Kate Hudson. There's (at least) an outside chance it might not suck. The director, Gary Winick, has done some good stuff both as producer and director. The writers' previous work I'm not familiar with.

MY PRECIOUS!!!



Image pilfered from Daily Kos.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hey, Jen: Is The Canada Free Press a terrific publication?

Because they--among others--have been taken in by a really obviously fake Michelle Obama interview.

The uterus is more important than the issues

Or at least, it is to these women, former Clinton supporters who just raised $500,000 for Sarah Palin.

Way to make women look good, ladies.

We have another "This would be funny if it weren't so scary"

In the debate tonight, did it seem to you that John McCain was implying that Sarah Palin knew all about Autism because her kid has it? Me, too. Problem is, he doesn't. Sarah Palin's child has Down's Syndrome.

We are so screwed if they actually manage to get into office.

Fortunately...while I am not about to tempt fate by using the "W" word or the "L" word, I am willing to say I think that in about three weeks time, Barack Obama will do very well.

Is it just me?



Or does anybody else kinda wanna see Kristen Bell in an homage to Brooke Shields' old Calvin Klein commercials?

Hi, sailor!


I'm NOT an RPG fan, but there's something elemental about this picture that I like


And for those of you that haven't heard...



Yes, Madonna is single.

Again, I don't know who this is, but I LIKE her...

There's a theme to these pictures...can you guess what it is?





That's it--if I ever meet Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend (the unworthy swine), I'm challenging him to a duel

Hathaway's Con-Man Ex Blames Anne's Lifestyle

My heart bleeds, you mangy cur.

Did you ever have the feeling that Paget Brewster was watching you?

I always knew it would come to this eventually



Sinfest-Click to see full size.

I don't really know who this is, but by god, I must have her

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Selma Blair has what I believe are usually called "legs that go all the way down to the floor."

Or in this case, up in the air...

From our "This would be funny if it weren't so scary" dept

You know how John McCain has been trying to convince people that Barack Obama is pals with terrorists?

Well, funny story...that is it would be, if weren't so, etc etc, see post title.

Via TPMMuckraker...

William Timmons, the head of John McCain's transition team, was involved in a lobbying effort on behalf of Saddam Hussein's government in the early 1990s.


Emphasis mine.

Did you see Kathleen Parker last night?

She's the conservative columnist who gave the McCain campaign a heart attack because she criticized his choice of Sarah Palin. I'm assuming most if not all of you reading this are, like me, regular watchers of The Colbert Report, on which she appeared yesterday evening.

I have to say, I thought she came off as very likable on the show. So, naturally, I did what I instinctively do whenever I find a conservative likable: I tried to see what else I could find out about her.

Parker is the author of the book "Save the Males," of which the Library Journal said
syndicated columnist Parker argues in her antifeminist book that there is a smear campaign against men, especially white men.


She's also written pretty blatantly xenophobic and anti-gay columns.

You always gotta look closer, Detective Matthews...likable or not.

I have heard, among this clan, you are called the forgotten man

Lengthy (five pages) but well-worth reading article on Joe Biden in The New Yorker, why Obama chose him, and what his role in an Obama presidency will likely be.

Well this is interesting...

Another way to put that is "Holy crap."

Two soldiers, at least one of whom served multiple tours in Iraq, say someone forged their signatures on re-enlistment contracts.

Monday, October 13, 2008

I can't believe it took me this long to post this

A few days ago, the idiot Sean Hannity had the tables turned on him by a representative of the Obama campaign. Keith Olbermann, who I think is pretty good and at least a little brave--he was criticizing Bush years before it became fashionable--did a little number on it.



The icing on the cake, though, is that Olbermann had a poem to read. Written for this occasion by...John Cleese.

Letters, oh we get letters

Corey Klemow writes to query my statement that
I haven't studied all the fine points of these allegations [against ACORN], but from what I can tell, there's evidence to back them up.
He says:

Acorn actually put the registration forms they thought needed special flagging and attention aside, pointing out to the state registrar which ones might need looking into before processing. They also claim they fire any employee who they find has been submitting non-kosher forms, and that they pay by the hour, not by number of registrations collected.


If you've found anything that shows actual evidence that Acorn has deliberately engaged in electoral wrongdoing, could you please send me the link?


So I looked into it a little more closely...and what he says is true. See, this is why I should never post after only glancing at a couple of blog entries...

The Sarah Connor Chronicles has managed to carve out a ethos for itself in the Terminator timeline

...that for me supersedes the suck-y Terminator 3. So this is some possibly good news (from the Terminator-Sarah Connor section of the Fox website)...

While the fate of the show past production on episode thirteen is still unclear, FOX has given us the go-ahead to write two more additional episodes for this season — fourteen and fifteen.

We are hard at work writing those episodes and await news of a potential pickup for the full “back nine” (additional episodes to complete the season) in the near future. We’re crossing our fingers (and dotting our i’s) that we’ll have more good news to share with you soon…

In the meantime, keep tuning in! Get your friends interested! And thanks for all of your support.


TSCC started out good and got better, so I’m hoping it can keep going. I especially like it for its strong women (or in the case of one or two, woman-bot) characters.

Moving it seems like a good idea, it would be a good show just before or just after House, for example.

Dear god, I miss George Carlin

This is a pastor (!) at a McCain rally (!!) basically saying "god likes my country and my political party best."

Ok, the ACORN thing

You may have heard, as I have, that the Rush Limbaugh wing of the GOP is trying to smack down the Democrats by stressing their alliance with The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which is alleged to have committed voter-registration fraud.

I haven't studied all the fine points of these allegations, but from what I can tell, there's evidence to back them up. So clearly, any candidate or party who supported this organization must now be viewed with a jaundiced eye, yes? I mean, it's just common sense.

You see it coming, don't you?

Can you guess what the following men all have in common?

John McCain...Arnold Schwarzenegger...Tim Pawlenty...Mitt Romney...Joe Lieberman.

That's right.

"It is the universe that makes fun of us all."



"Why exactly would the universe make fun of us all?"

"Maybe it's insecure."

Life

Quick shots

1.



And me without a thing to wear.



2. I'd just like to say that I don't care how old Phoebe Cates gets...She will always be in my dictionary under the word "nubile." I felt you needed to know that.

3. I dare you not to make the obvious joke.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

No comment.



(Ok, small comment. In case you're wondering, that's a panel from one of those Christian right Archie Comics of the '60s and '70s)

(Other than that, I have nothing to say about it. Absolutely nothing)

Prediction:

When John McCain walks out onto the set of the David Letterman show this Thursday, he'll be carrying flowers to give to Dave. And maybe a box of candy, but definitely flowers.

Two things I'm bringing to your attention.

1. I like Frank Rich. This column is about what he thinks about the turn taken in the republican campaign in the last few days.

2. Once again, for those of you playing at home, John McCain has officially become a parody of himself. And a coward, too.

Some days, a man just wants to feel nostalgic about Heather Thomas



And by god, this is one of those days.

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