Sorry, no fun stuff here. I just noticed there was no ONT.

Posted by: Ace at 06:30 PM | Comments (646)
Post contains 22 words, total size 1 kb.

Just a thread.

Posted by: Ace at 02:52 PM | Comments (698)
Post contains 11 words, total size 1 kb.

From Entertainment Weekly, why Joss Wheden's cult classic has endured for over a decade:

Some television shows blaze bright and fade quickly. Others ignite and burn for years. Joss WhedonÂ’s Firefly did neither. The sci-fi opus barely sparked during its 11-episode run on Fox in 2002, yet produced a uniquely vibrant afterglow, nurtured by stalwart fans, as well as new fans who continue to discover the series on DVD and cable. To celebrate the cult classicÂ’s 10-year anniversary, Science will air a reunion special tonight called Firefly: Browncoats Unite, which brings together Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, and more for a conversation (moderated by this reporter) about the showÂ’s origins and legacy and where the series might have gone had it continued.

From the New York Post:

‘Firefly” aired for only one season 10 years ago, but Nathan Fillion still hasn’t gotten over it.

“It was the best character I ever played,” Fillion told The Post. “The best dialogue to ever come out of my mouth was on that show.

“It was my first time truly being in love with my work,” he says. “It’s the bar to which we compare every job.”

The fans aren’t over “Firefly,” either. More than 10,000 of them lined up for the 10-year reunion of the sci-fi cult classic at San Diego Comic Con this past summer.

Behind the scenes there, Fillion joined “Firefly” creator Joss Whedon and castmates Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Adam Baldwin, Morena Baccarin, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres and Jewel Staite to film a reunion special airing [tonight] on Science Channel (10 p.m.).

More from Forbes and The Hollywood Reporter.

My theory? It's the hat. People like the hat.

The Jayne Hat

Do a Google image search on "firefly jayne hat," and check out the results. You get something like this. Looks like Jayne's hat is becoming a thing. Now I want one.

No, really, it's got everything: Beam weapons, hot women, shooting, big heroes, revolvers, spaceships, frickin' zombies, great writing and stories, shooting, the frontier, and great characters that we care about. And shooting. Oh, plus wicked martial arts. Another thing: The characters aren't flat. Like most people, they all have good and bad traits. Sometimes it's not so clear where they're coming from. It's really the best science fiction show since the original Trek. And that includes a lot of great shows, like Babylon 5, Space: Above and Beyond, all the other Trek spinoffs, and the original Battlestar Galactica. I can't think of anything else that comes close. And the snowballing cult following pretty much confirms that.

Not bad for 11 episodes. Not bad.

If they ever re-do the show, you know what would be cool? Bringing in favorite stars from the other shows for guest appearances. You know, like the local town heavy could be Dirk Benedict or Bruce Boxleitner. That would be fun. Plus, it would anchor the show with fans even more.

It's on Science Channel (SCI) tonight at 10:00 Eastern. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 01:30 PM | Comments (209)
Post contains 543 words, total size 5 kb.

Vent here. more...

Posted by: rdbrewer at 01:18 PM | Comments (275)
Post contains 6 words, total size 1 kb.

Today's B-Movie: Without Warning. A young David Caruso and friends are the unfortunate victims of an alien who hunts for sport. Plot sound familiar? The actor playing the alien, Kevin Peter Hall, also played the original Predator. Nothing new in Hollywoodland. Also Jack Palance and Martin Landau play their pre-Oscar selves, their salaries gobbling up 90% of the movie's budget. The remaining 10% went into blood-sucking ninja stars. Film also features a van.

Today's Bad Movie: Prophesy. Some guy from Falcon Crest, Rocky's girlfriend, and a bunch of bad special effects show us what happens when we combine John Frankenheimer's alcoholism with an environmental message: exploding sleeping bags and dog-sized sperm.

Today's bacon-themed item: Jameson Bacon and Egg Martini, recipe below. more...

Posted by: CAC at 12:22 PM | Comments (150)
Post contains 149 words, total size 1 kb.

Hello, this is The Dude with the keys to the AoSHQ Kingdom ready to bore you with gaming crap

Thankfully for me though there really isn't much to talk about other than Nintendo did another big blow out of their upcoming system, the Wii U (they should have gone with the name of what they are using in pr in Japan, the Super Wii). Where they promise you that they still care for core gamers and third party support by having companies release old ports and then have the third parties abandon them in a year when the actual next gen starts with Microsoft and Sony.

More below the fold
more...

Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 11:27 AM | Comments (112)
Post contains 2626 words, total size 16 kb.

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, in 1918.

I never feel up to the task, but it needs to be remembered.

This day was known as Armistice Day, in the United States, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. A treaty that regrettably could not resolve deep historical conflict, and laid the foundation for another global conflict.

At the end of WWII it was changed from a remembrance of the end of WWI to a remembrance for all veterans and has been so until today.

Which is good and proper.

This isn't Memorial Day. That day is reserved for those who gave their all. This day is set aside for all those who served.

God bless them for their service. For their families. And God bless those who serve today, and their families again.

We owe them so much, and can repay so little. Except to offer our gratitude, and respect.

Update (sigh). Please take bitter political crap somewhere else. Not this thread. There are plenty of other places for you to emote. Not. Here.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 10:23 AM | Comments (186)
Post contains 185 words, total size 1 kb.

Quite a little upset yesterday for the Aggies, huh? Congrats SEC, you wanted A&M. This is what they do, they drive you batchit crazy that's what.

All you pickers get your pickin in. Have a good Sunday morons, and remember to thank a veteran.

Yep. That's an elbow right there.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:33 AM | Comments (195)
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

There are lots of rumors of >100% of registered voters turning out in precincts all over the country. I haven't looked into all of them, but I suspect most are as ridiculous as the one concerning St. Lucie County, Florida (Allen West's district).

Ummm, no. As the Shark Tank explains,

Reports that there is over-voting in St. Lucie county is speculative. The candidates and amendments took up two voter cards, so some voters just voted on one card and not the other, some voted on both and turned them in, which accounts for the fact that there were more voter cards turned in than actual registered voters.

So the potential "vote" (as it's being calculated in the 141% Internet rumor) is up to 200%. Anything above that, and we have a problem.

This isn't to imply that vote fraud doesn't exist. It does.

But we didn't lose on Tuesday because of it.

[Update] We lost because we allowed our opponents to define us, didn't get our message out and ultimately didn't turn out our voters.

Could the fraud vote have turned the election at the margins? No one will ever know.

But in this economy, the election should have been a blowout - beyond the reach of fraud. To whatever extent there was of it, vote fraud doesn't explain the complete strategic and tactical failure we saw on Tuesday.

Posted by: andy at 07:20 AM | Comments (397)
Post contains 254 words, total size 2 kb.

Translation: "Omelettes! I got your omelettes right here!"

Good morning, comrades.

OregonMuse Joins the Communist Party

Yes, it's true.

After Tuesday's shocking and disappointing results, I decided I'd had enough. Enough of the crappy leadership, enough of the faux conservative, sub-optimal (heh) candidates, and above all, enough of the continual losing, where every defeat is costly and every victory inconsequential.

Away with all that!

I now say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So I did. I'm now a out-and-proud (heh) member of the progressive left, and I fart in your general direction, you slack-jawed yokels.

So, what do I read now?

Well, first, I want my free stuff from the government. This is what being on the progressive left is all about, that is, government getting progressively more and more expansionistic and aggressive with tax dollars, and all that plunder has to get spent somewhere, so why not on me? I've found this guy, Matthew Lesko, who has written a large number of books on how you can play the 'gimme' game, notably Getting Yours: The Complete Guide to Government Money, so I think I'm going to just help myself. After all, it's not your money, it's the government's. They're just letting you hold on to it for a little while until they figure out what they need it for.

So gimme my free stuff, bitches!

And speaking of the government spending metric buttloads of money, I need to bow before the master himself, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. This dense book forms the premise of Obama's wildly successful stimulus package, and is endorsed by economic genius Paul Krugman

But before all this, I guess I should start off with some foundational texts, like Das Kapital. Get back to basics, and all that. But I hear the book is a long, slow slog of tedium, so I can probably make do with just The Communist Manifesto. I can have fun determining how much of this evil crap excuse me, I mean, how much of the glorious progressive revolutionary program has already been implemented here in America -- some of it by Republicans.

And I need to dispense with God, since there is no room for Him since the state is now God, and which tolerates worship at no other altar. Anything by Richard Dawkins will do, so I'll just stick with The God Delusion, which is the book that put him on the map.

Now that God has safely been banished, that means that I can do whatever the hell I want. And since I'm a male, this means all sex, all the time, with no restraints whatsoever. Woohoo! And not to worry, The Kinsey Report has my back on this. And I know it's true, because it's Science!

And Science also tells us that you righties in your tightie-whities are just a bunch of control freaks. This famous bookThe Authoritarian Personality (Studies in Prejudice) by Theodor Adorno is scientific proof. If you argue with this, you're obviously psychologically disordered.

Of course, even though I'm now a big time progressive, I will probably still have occasion to talk to you rubes on the right. SO I'll enlist the help of George Lakoff, Don't Think Of An Elephant!/ How Democrats And Progressives Can Win: Know Your Values And Frame The Debate: The Essential Guide For Progressives is my go-to guide. And this book may be helpful, too.

I've discovered that everything I learned about U.S. history is wrong, because I learned it from a bunch of dead heterosexual white guys. Instead, I should have been listening to The People. That's why we have Howard Zinn's People's History of the United States to set the record straight.

Oh, and I almost forgot Quotations from Chairman Mao, a truly progressive work. Because sometimes in order to establish perfect government, you have to kill tens of millions of people.

As even a dumb conservative can see, I've got a lot of reading to do to get up to speed on the left. So if any of you enemies of the people know of any progressive/revolutionary books I've missed, please let me know.

more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:57 AM | Comments (140)
Post contains 829 words, total size 6 kb.