Election Is Now for Bush Campaign Early Efforts Aim To Amass Voters


This ran on Drudge today with a headline quoting the figure that Bush's campaign has 10 times the number of volunteers that Deans does right now

It's gone now, so I don't see the actual sentence, but that was the gist of it. You can see from reading the story that that is the number of e-mail subscribers that they have, not the number of volunteers.

Regardless of that fact, Bush has no opposition in his party right now. Dean is up against a number of candidates, thus splitting the possibility pool for him. Also it seems that the right wants to choose Dean as their opponent, which leads me to believe that they have something on him and think he is the most beatable of the likely winners of the dems.

Anyway, back to the story that Drudge was trying to spin:

Bush's campaign has an e-mail list totaling 6 million people, 10 times the number that Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean has, and the Bush operation is in the middle of an unprecedented drive to register 3 million new Republican voters. The campaign has set county vote targets in some states and has begun training thousands of volunteers who will recruit an army of door-to-door canvassers for the final days of the election next November.

I sure hopes that somebody from the Bush campaign comes to my door.

The entire project, which includes complementary efforts by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and state Republican parties, is designed to tip the balance in a dozen-and-a-half states that both sides believe will determine the winner in 2004.

"I've never seen grass roots like this," said a veteran GOP operative in one of the battleground states.

You know why he's never seen grass roots like this? Because it isn't a grass roots campaign. Bush is the gawldurned president. The Republicans are in control, any campaign they run is top down and orchestrated by Rove. There is no grass roots movement, only sad little dittoheads that march in lockstep party lines.

The real story of this story is that the republicans are scared shitless about this next election because they know that there are MANY out there who will get out and vote against Bush, be it Dean, Kerry or Clark who gets the final nod (or one of the others, but I doubt it will be any of them). They are also worried that the faulty e-voting machines won't get used in enough places so that they can cheat the vote if needed.

They are scared and they are trying to work as much control now while the dems are fighting with one another.

Ummmm....

Found via Warren:

Further evidence that the Japanese are very wrong people.

Honestly, I don't know what the hell this is.

Comic Book Database

Comic's fans take a look at the General Comic Book Database. It contains a multitude of comics covers and information that is searchable, much like the Internet Movie Database is for movies.

They don't have my favorite comic cover of all time:

Sunglasses After Dark #2,
Though they do have:

Dr. Strange #80

Dreadstar #17

Uncanny X-Men #234

Slapstick #1

also Every issue of Speedball

Found via Stephen Grant's Permanent Damage column at CBR.

We Are Behind Denmark in Reality Television

A baby was conceived on Danish Big Brother.

These are the two what done it, Sissel and Robert.

Robert looks like quite the punk-ass, doesn't he?

MTV needs to get off their asses and get a baby made on one of those Road Rules/Real World shows. We cannot let Denmark beat us in reality tv milestones. I want the first conception to birth reality show on MTV. Perhaps Jessica Simpson and her husband could be persuaded.

Bathroom Reading

Tommy has a sci-fi anthology on the back of the toilet that I've flipped through a number of times when I forget to bring my book in with me. I've read part of a few of the stories, but most of them are too long for me to read in one sitting and I forget about them.

One that wasn't too long for me to read was Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Link to a probably copyright infringing copy of the story is here

It's a pretty good little story that I think could be a pretty good bigger story if it was given the chance. It reminds me quite a bit of Warren Ellis' stories in his book Available Light, just short little scenes really.

Alot can be done with this format, but it leaves me wanting more of the story alot of the time. I realize the Vonnegut story was just a short thing for a pulp magazine, but it just has the feel of alot of Phillip K Dick's stories where they just seem to wrap up to nicely and quickly.

I like it though.

Honestly it's the only Vonnegut I've ever read. I'm a bad, bad pseudo-intellectual.

Uncle Sam



By way of Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters column at Comic Book Resources.

The image is an unused cover from the US Vertigo Comics mini-series by Alex Ross and I think Mark Waid about the life and times of Uncle Sam.

It was a pretty good book, but that's a very good image.

Damn Art

Rex Mundi over at Damn Art Diary is quite the damn artist. If the other people that took advantage of his free art promotion recieved pieces of the quality that I did then I have no doubt that they are quite pleased.

I've got two of the prints up on my wall right now, and the only dilemma I had in putting the work up is that I didn't have room for all of them at once.



These are the two that I have up (my pictures don't really do them justice, but they are way to big for my scanner). The first is called Behind the Fencerow and the second The Old Gods. Both are quite nice and put me in the mind of medieval woodcuts (are they woodcuts Rex? Or are they of the rubber print type?). Whatever they are they are some good shit.

There were a couple of original ink drawings and some more prints in the package as well. Head on over to The Damn Art Store and buy something from the man.

Town passes ordinance requiring firearms

GEUDA SPRINGS, Kan. — Residents of this tiny south-central Kansas community have passed an ordinance requiring most households to have guns and ammunition.

Noncomplying residents would be fined $10 under the ordinance, passed 3-2 earlier this month by City Council members who thought it would help protect the town of 210 people. Those who suffer from physical or mental disabilities, paupers and people who conscientiously oppose firearms would be exempt.

"This ordinance fulfills the duty to protect by allowing each individual householder to provide for his or her protection," said Councilman John Brewer.

Found on Drudge

What exactly are they providing from protection from with this? Maybe I'm being a bit citified, but I would imagine a town of 210 people doesn't really have anything that hordes (or even one) criminal is going to come in and try to take. Maybe it's for protection from animals?

"...and people who conscientiously oppose firearms would be exempt."

So, the fine is pointless. You could just say I conscientiously oppose firearms and that would be that, right?

Don't the residents of this community have some televised football to watch or something?

Buy Me Things vol II



That there is talking Master P, he's not on my Amazon wish list, but there's alot that is.

For those of you who feel obligated to buy me a christmas gift go and take a look. I'm not saying you have to buy me something from Amazon, but it's there for some ideas.

Hulk Rules

I saw this review of the album Hulk Rules by Hulk Hogan and the Wrestling Boot Band at i-mockery.com.

I have a copy of this album on cassette somewhere, my sister gave it to me for christmas one year I think. I used to use it as torture music in my car. When someone else was riding with me I'd crank that sucker up to 11 and let it rip with "I Want to be a Hulkamaniac."

Ah, such memories.

The reviewer is way to easy on the album. If you've heard the The Wrestling Album (And if you have, I'm sorry) it's much the same thing on this album. Not what I would call good music, but then I do love GWAR. This album is pure Jimmy Hart. If you like Jimmy Hart and Hogan, then this might be your bag.

I think what the world needs more than another Macho-Man Hogan wrestling match is a rap battle between the two. Get John Cena to be the MC and let the two go all freestyle yo. That would be something that would sell on PPV.

By the way I'm winding into the final hours of my vacation, and I'm not looking forward to the return to work. You see how I'm choosing to spend my time.

Namco count

The current Namco Arcade ticket count won from Skee-Ball is: 164

By my calculations that is roughly $8.50 spent to win that number of tickets. I can now cash them in for: 1 blow up Spiderman or Hulk, a Simpson's ball, and possibly some candy.

I figure I've only got about $300 or so more to spend and I'll be able to get that remote controlled tank...sweet!

Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life

I realize that this one came out in theatres quite a while back, but I just got around to watching it on DVD this week.

While this movie is better than the first one, that is not exactly a lavishing of praise, most films are better than the first one.

This movie is an example of why film budgets don't need to be so high and that sometimes computer effects aren't the best way to go.

This movie had some terrible effects work. I thought I was watching one of the early Babylon 5 episodes, or maybe Andromeda. I don't understand why there was the need for a CGI shark, or the shadow monsters near the end. Is the idea of an ass-kicking female Indiana Jones type of character not enough to carry a movie? Indy had supernatural foes, but it wasn't so overdone and unrealistic. I bought it when the nazis were melted in Raiders, but I didn't buy any of this film. They couldn't even get the digital matte-paintings right, often characters were obviously screened in.

I say give Troma the $80 million this probably cost and let them do the picture. Granted Laura'd be fighting giant penis monsters and would be seconded by Kabukiman, but is that so bad? I think the movie would be much more realistic and entertaining that way.

I Need TP

I saw this on Unscrewed tonight and thought I would bring it to your attention.

Jeff Goldblum is watching you poop

It's a bit of the viral marketing, though not based on a product. I am unsure if the massive amount of typos I saw on the page were purposeful or not. I can't see why they would be.

Also the same story brought to my attention that the face in the Obey ads is Andre the Giant. I should have made the connection with the Andre the Giant Has a Posse signs and also with the fact that I have a poster of the same damn picture up on the wall in my room. I just never put 2 and 2 together.

I am a product of public schoolin after all.

and the face in the obey adds is Andre the giant

Chili?

The Man Show Host that isn't Joe Rogan on his first orgasm after a vasectomy:

I didn't know what to expect to come out, blood, semen or chili.

Payday, the Day Where I Buy Stuff I Don't Need

It's my bi-weekly day to go out and buy things (with the extra money that I'm not spending on comic books and wrestling). I picked up a book called The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth as well as Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. I also picked up Mr Show Season 3 and a Spike Jonze video and short film collection.

I also bought the new Two Towers box set on Tuesday, and watched the extended version of the film yesterday. The new 40 minutes or so added a bit to the end and to Merry and Pippin's story. There is also a scene with Boromir and Faromir added in that gives you a little bit more to Faromir's story.

Yep, time to go watch Smackdown.

New Comment System and Some Answers

I'm switching over to HaloScan for my commenting system so all of the previous comments are going to disappear (sorry). I'm a little bit tired of Enetation not working more than half the time. Here are some answers to recent comments:

About Troma Toys asks:

There's more to film-making than Troma, but it's a good place to start...

Have you seen?: Cannibal the Musical? --that's one of my faves.


"Are you lookin at my EYE?"

Cannibal is indeed one of the finest comedies ever made and I think it is made much better by the drunken commentary track. One of my favorite comedies.

About my sister's drinking of Gravy, my sister says:

I did not drink the whole thing, i finished what was left after i ate it with the chicken. I like the gravy, sue me!


What was left after the chicken was about 2/3 of the cup. It was the white, thick type of gravy. I still think it is a bit disturbing.

SKBubba says:

I don't know who's the most messed up member of your family (it would be hard to say at this point) but I just noticed that 1982 World's Fair T-Shirt in the picture. Very cool. Is that you? Do you still have it? Were you really that little in 1982?


That little in 1982? I'm still that little now, that picture was taken in 1998.

My sister is far more messed up than me.

And about my being John Constantine, Rex Mundi has this to say:

I bow to you Hellblazer...you were such a help to the Swamp Thing

I try to help out my friends, and I look nothing like Keanu Reeves.

Things I Learned From the MTV Europe Awards

I returned today from visiting with my parents and sister where I was subjected to my sister's t.v. viewing habits. I was 'fortunate' to witness the MTV Europe Awards twice over the weekend, as well as most of the E! True Hollywood Story of Baywatch and some Saved By the Bell.

Here are some things I learned from the awards show:

...In Europe Robbie Williams is famous. So famous that he is up for album of the year against a bunch of Americans.

...Someone in the MTV Europe design staff must read Warren Ellis's DiePunyHumans, since the logo of the show was a Filthy Monkey grasping the award. They were also suitably cynical about the whole thing with graphics talking about the factory created celebrities and the interchangeableness of them.

...Eminem thinks he is alot cooler than he is.

...Host Christina Aguilera is this generations Cher, and not in a good way. Her multiple costume changes and bad hosting were not as pleasant to watch as they should have been.

...This show was completely unnecessary as most of the winners were just the same boring crap as at the VMAs.

Thank you and goodnight.

Wisdom From Lloyd

...My shit was so enormous it hurt my butthole coming out. But then I was finished and it felt good.

From All I Needed to Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger by Lloyd Kaufman and James Gunn. That's how LLoyd ended up his first book on the Troma way of filmmaking. I think it sums it up pretty succinctly.

I really like LLoyd's books, they're some of the very few books I've read that have actually made me laugh out loud constantly. They make me want to make a movie.

Carbonated Thanksgiving Dinner

Jones Soda is set to test market a turky and gravy flavored soda.

This brings up an interesting (and disgusting) anecdote. I took my sister to Sonic a little while back and she got the chicken finger meal. That's all fine and good, I enjoy a good fried chicken strip mean complete with onion ring, but the disturbing part is that after she finished the chicken she popped the top on the cup of gravy and started drinking it.

Let me reiterate that for you and put it in boldface so it stands out a bit My sister drank an entire cup of Sonic gravy.

She only smiled and laughed at my look of utter horror, then she asked me if I was going to finish my gravy.

The point of all this is when I showed her the story about the soda she said:

"I don't know about the turkey, but the gravy, of course."

Somehow I'm kindof glad that they aren't testing this soda anywhere near her, though maybe they should, it would be hugely successful.

Again...She drank ALL of the cup of gravy.

And people think that I'm the most messed up member of my family.

Yep


You are John Constantine.
John has a strong knowledge of the occult and at
times he appears to wield strong magical powers
but he has also become known as something of a
con-man, more likely to talk himself out of
trouble than pull a rabbit out of a hat.


What Gritty No Nonsense Comic Book Character are You?
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Elf
Dir by Jon Favreau

Who would have thought that the guy who brought us Swingers and Made would come out with a nice family-friendly Christmas movie?

The story of a child, Buddy (Will Farrell at his over-acting best), adopted by an elf (Bob Newhart) at the North Pole, who goes to New York to find his real father (Jimmy Caan). There is also the love interest, Jovie (Zooey Deschanel), and a variety of other supporting characters including a cameo by Kyle Gass of Tenacious D and Andy Richter as a duo of children's book authors who work for Caan, and Ed Asner as Santa Claus.

The acting is fine, with a standout performance by Farrell who makes each inappropriatly grand emotional response better than the last. Everyone else is servicable.

The movie is good and funny except for an abrupt change in pace and tone at the end with the introduction of the villanous Central Park Rangers that just comes across as oddly forced and out of place.

I also wonder if the scenes in the North Pole were originally planned to be done in stop motion. The snow and some of the creatures (including Leon the Snowman) are CGIed to look like the old stop-animation christmas specials, but with only parts of them being done this way it didn't quite come across right and I the movie picked up when they got away from them.

All-in-all your standard fish-out-of-water story with a strong performance from Farrell. If you like Will Farrell, you'll like this film, if you don't you probably won't.

Luther
Dir by Eric Till

Joseph Fiennes stars in this a bit overlong historical drama about the famous civil rights leader.

I was very surprised with the decision to go with a white man (Fiennes) in the role of Dr. King, and I was even more surprised that they set the film not in 1960's America, but in Germany a long time ago. That alone seems to dilute Dr. King's message, but they also left out the "I Have a Dream Speech." You'd think they would have at least included a little bit about his assassination as well.

One thing that is for certain after this film is that I really, really want to be a Luthran. In a really bad way.

A nice historical drama with good performances all around. Only the forced bit about the crippled little girl and her pesant mother was overly hokey to me.

Al Franken Considers Running for Senate

MINNEAPOLIS (Nov. 13) - Comedian Al Franken, a Minnesota native, says he's considering moving back to the state to run against Republican Sen. Norm Coleman in 2008.

"It's a long way away, five years away," Franken told the Star Tribune this week. "It might be crazy. I might not be the best candidate. Part of this is seeing what happens next year and what direction things are going."

His possible bid for the Senate was first reported by Newsweek. When asked to respond to the story, Coleman said: "I have no comment. I don't do comedy."


If I moved to Minneapolis right now would that make me eligible to vote for Al? Would that make me crazy and impulsive?

Truck and Stair Dismount

I've been playing Truck and Stair dismount, and I have to say that I find them quite good games. Push a guy down the stairs for the most damage and look at it from different angles, or cause a truck wreck for the most damage.

Good fun.

Sunday Comic
A good Doonesbury from last Sunday.

I think there are lots of people like the girl in that strip, maybe enough this election.

SkeeBall.com, for your edification and mine.

‘Something’ felled an M1A1 Abrams tank in Iraq – but what?
Mystery behind Aug. 28 incident puzzles Army officials


Warren had this story up, and I thought it was interesting.

This and That

...Saw Matrix: Revolutions, I'll probably have something longer to say about it later, but for now I'll just say there was a bit too much talky-talky in it. They could have done better to let the visuals speak for the film, even on the philosophical stuff. It was like watching a movie written by Chris Claremont or Jim Starlin...way heavy on exposition.

...Picked up some new DVD's today: Immortal Combat starring Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba, terrible, terrible stuff; God Told Me Too and Carnival of Souls double feature; Jin Roh; The Rutger Hauer Action Pack: Escape From Sobibor, Beyond Justice and Cold Blood; and The Third Man Criterion Collection. Hopefully I'll get to watch them all pretty soon.

...also picked up Pearl Jam's 6-25-00 show from Berlin, bringing me closer to my incredibly obsessive goal of acquiring all of their live discs (only about 45 more to go).

...reading Wolves of the Calla, the new Dark Tower novel, and it's pretty good. So far it looks to me like he's going in the direction with the books that I thought he was earlier. More on this after I finish the book.

...there was an add before the Matrix movie with a stuntman who first talked about how much he loves making movies and how much it means to him, then it hits with a bit about how if somebody downloads a film or bootlegs it it takes money away from him and his family and that is a crime (or some shit like that). That's just a shitty way of making their point. I seriously doubt that this guy gets backend points on the film or merchandising, he was paid to do a job and that's that. He gets paid when the film is made, no matter how much it makes or doesn't make. Maybe thinking that makes me an asshole, but, hey, like anyone is surprised by that.

...speaking of shit, that was a word that was used alot in the Matrix film. It was like they were told "We'll let you say shit and damn but no f-bombs."

...the new crop of comic-book movies is not exactly inspiring me. Be it Man Thing or The Punisher, I am not impressed with what I am seeing right now. Constantine starring Keanu worries me the most. They've taken one of my favorite characters and changed him from a late 40-ish British chainsmoking asshole into Keanu. Maybe it'll be good, but I doubt it seriously.

The Greatest DVD in the World

I picked up the Tenacious D Complete Master Works DVD yesterday. It is quite possibly the greatest DVD ever produced, by the greatest band in the world.

On the first of two discs there is a complete concert as well as all six episodes from the HBO series. On disc two there are three short films which rely heavily on scatalogical and body fluid humor. There is also tour footage and the three videos (Wonderboy, Tribute and FHG) from their album. FHG is an animated video by the kind folks at Spumco.

If you like the D (how could you not?) pick it up to have your world rocked.

Secondhand Lions
Written and Dir. by Tim McCanlies

This was a film that I had decided not to see, but it came down to a decision today between it and Brother Bear, and it seems that Lion eats Bear.

This is, with the exception of the final four minutes or so of the film, a great movie. I read on IMDB that the ending was re-shot because test audiences didn't like it. I imagine that it was left a bit more ambiguous than it stands now. That would have been for the better, I think.

You've probably seen the trailers, but don't be fooled into thinking that this is a grumpy-old-men film with cute little Haley-Joel thrown in to livin things up, it isn't.

To me this film has more in common with The Princess Bride with high action flashback sequences detailing the adventures of young Garth (Michael Caine) and Hub (Robert Duvall). These are told to Walter (Haley Joel Osment), the two's nephew who his floozy mother leaves with the brothers (?) for the summer to find out where they've hidden a vast fortune that they may have gotten as bank robbers, soldiers or Mafia hitmen (and also so she could go play the loose woman in Vegas).

This is a well written and directed film, and Duvall is the standout to me, with a striking performance in the role of the searching-for-his-place former soldier/man's man. Imagine if Indiana Jones got old and settled down and was passed by by the world (I know that that happened in the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, that's not the point). What does he do with himself when he can't go out adventuring anymore?

It's also the story of Walter who does the standard boy growing into a man schtick with his crazy uncles. There's also a subplot about (other) scheming relatives and a used circus lion to add some more flavor to the mix.

I'd suggest you catch the film in the theatre if you can, or rent it on DVD shortly, if you can handle just a bit of good old hokey Hollywood filmmaking.

"I'm Hub McCann. I've fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I've led thousands of men into battle with horses and swords, artillery and tanks. I've seen the headwaters of the Nile and tribes of natives no white men had ever seen before. I've won and lost a dozen fortunes, killed many men, and loved only one woman with a passion a flea like you could never begin to understand. That's who I am."

Harry at AICN hit it right on the head in his review.

Terrorist Busters!



Go right on over to the CIA's War on Terroism page, where amongst other things you can learn that, contrary to the lies of the liberal (scum) media:

1. The CIA never, NEVER had a relationship with Usama Bin Laden (because they say so, and we can trust them)

2. CIA agents could recruit him now without company approval, if they felt that he had information of threat importance to the US or allies. (so if it comes out that they did have a relationship, it's ok after all)

3. A group is not a terrorist group if they do not practice international terrorism. (That's why we're not sending troops into Ireland or Montana)

Go learn about you some terrorism, don't let it learn about you first. Because knowing is half the battle.

Dark Light



This is a streetlight amongst the trees near my apartment. I just like the way this picture looks. I took it walking home the other night.

Master of Puppets

You're Karl Rove! You're the de facto leader
of this great nation, also serving as godfather
of the family Bush.


Which member of the Bush Administration are you?
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