.500

The Tribe was the second best team in baseball after the first week of July (It's true, look it up) but after their disaterous start to the season it was only good enough to fininsh third in the AL Central at a dead even 81-81. Last year's ALCS collapse still stings a bit, but they're a good young team and should be back in the mix next season. I consider myself a true fan. I will perservere.

In other baseball news that I've been meaning to comment on. OMG the Dodgers got Manny from Boston at the trade deadline. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. MAN-EE. Thank you dumb ass Red Sox management. Thankyouthankyouthankyou. Manny torched NL pitching for the last six weeks of the season, hitting .396 with 17 homers, 53 RBI, a .489 OBP and .743 slugging (if you don't follow baseball, that's just ill. Manny Ramierez is one of the best right handed hitters to ever play the game of baseball.) propelling my adopted baseball team the Dodgers to the NL west title. Which I missed because I'm in god damn New Zealand again. I didn't make it to a game during Siggraph, which makes this only the third(?) year in probably 20 years or so that I didn't see at least one baseball game.

I'm going to feel a little bad when they knock The Cubbies out of the playoffs. As an Indians fan, I feel the pain of the Cubs fans who've been literally waiting a lifetime for a World Series title, but, too bad for you. How does this fairy tale end? Manny hits a game, and series, winning bomb in the seventh game, against the Red Sox. That would be awesome. The Red Sox fans were lovable when they were like the Cubs and Indians fans, but after two recent World Series wins, they're just dicks. Fuck 'em. I hope Manny breaks their hearts.

Review: Hellboy 2 - The Golden Army

Mrs. STFU and I saw, this, hmmmmm, maybe three weeks ago? I really liked the first one. This one, meh. It felt like Del Toro was trying to hard to take everything to the next level. Part of the reason I liked the first one was that, even though it was out there, you could kind of buy it. It was almost believeable. The sequel was just off the hook, over the top, like, out there man. Too much character pseudo-development, too fantastical a story. It was all just a little bit forced. The effects were competent, and the action was decent, it's just not as good as the first one. The reviewers on rottentomatoes.com love it, which just goes to show you that movie critics are idiots.



Five out of Ten

UPDATE

It's been a little crazy around here. I had a birthday. I'm 3 movies behind on my reviews. Basketball has started again so my Wednesday nights are full. Work is good. Work is full on. Getting a promotion is a double edged blade sometimes. Haven't talked to anyone at home in a while. It's getting warm though. Spearfishing weather soon. Had the second semi-not-really-regular-whenever-we-feel-like-it pancake breakfast at Casa del Smith. Twenty seven people! Not including us!! Do you know how god damn long it takes to cook seven pounds of bacon? A while. Good times and I have some pix so it will eventually get it's own post.

Help Wanted

Best ... help wanted ad ... ever





P is Kiwi-speak for crystal meth, btw.

Jones

The latest republican meme seems to be that the subprime mortgage crisis is the fault of .. wait for it .. Bill Clinton. Ummmmmmm. No? A little? Ok, a little. Who can you trust, besides The Daily Show? I trust Editor & Publisher, The Nation and these guys

Where Credit Is Due: A Timeline of the Mortgage Crisis

Required reading for this topic

Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Glass-Stengall

Remember folks, when McCain gets elected, Phil Gramm is going to be the Secretary of the Treasury. Good luck with that.

Trust

I keep hearing about how Jon Stewart is now "the most trusted man in America" and how The Daily Show is the place get The Real News ... This has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love The Daily Show. But it's funny because I already know what's going on. I have a clue. Liberals watching TDS without a clue are no better than the idiots who parrot the talking points on Rush, or that go to Hannity for their news.

Calling

I'm calling it. I know, "what about the debates?". Fuck that, the debates don't matter. They don't matter. It's over people. It's over, and McCain is going to win. He is. I know you don't want to hear it, you don't want to believe it, but I think you know that it's true. The Americal electorate is stupid and the American electorate is racist and every bible banging yenta soccer mom from Devner to Pittsburgh and all the way down to the Gulf coast is going to equate every attack by Democrats on Palin as a personal affront. Karl Rove has been fucking the DLCC in the ass for, what, three presidential election cycles now? Every four years he shows them exactly how to win an election in the US, and they still just don't get it. The Democratic party is an object lesson is what not to do in an election. It's a dead heat. It's a fucking dead heat with a trillion dollar albatross hanging around McCain's neck. With the most woefully unqualifed running mate, possibly ever. The crazy little man is riding a eight year tsunami of failure into the election, and it's a dead heat. The Republicans are going to play nasty, they're going to purge democratic voters from the rolls, they're going to cheat where they can. All they have to do is keep it close until November and you're all going to wake up one morning in February to see that we've invaded Iran. Paranoid? Fuck that. Those things are allready happening. It sucks. The American electorate is stupid and will not only get the government that it wants, but will certainly get the government that it deserves.

Oh yeah, we're bad.

"Weta is running four clusters that are each equipped with 156 of HP's new 2-in-1 blade servers, and use liquid cooling to manage the heat loads. The Weta render farms currently hold spots 219 through 222 on the current Top 500 list of the world's fastest supercomputers."

State Of The Art Data Center For Weta Digital

Torture

Really great piece from Elaine Scarry

Presidential Crimes
Moving on is not an option

very long, lots of footnotes. Guaranteed to piss you off.

IQ

Looking to break into CG? Maybe just digital photography?

Check your color IQ

I got a 3 on an uncalibrated Samsung SyncMaster 204b at work. Should've gotten a 0, but it was at work and I was trying to not waste too much time.

Sad

'Peanuts' animator Bill Melendez dies

Responsible for 'Charlie Brown Christmas,' 'Great Pumpkin'

Flip Flop

This was aired before Palin was announced as the VP candidate. Brilliant.