It is a new decade!

Time to work on my New Year's resolutions:

Get ripped up abs like The Situation, bro. Fistpump!



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Live by important latin proverbs:

Absit reverentia vero

(The truth should not be silenced to spare someone)


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Be classy like Conan:

Before we end this rodeo, a few things need to be said. There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at Saturday Night Live, The Late Night Show, and my brief run here on The Tonight Show, I have worked with NBC for over twenty years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we’re going to go our separate ways. But this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.

Walking away from The Tonight Show is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium, and I will fight anyone who says I don’t. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting The Tonight Show and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we’ll find a way to make it fun.

And finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational.

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this particularly of young people: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

Say what you will about him, but the man knows how to make an exit.


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Kick Ass like Weng Weng

History Geek Corner

Back to blogging? Would not count on it! But every once in a while I may run across something that compels me to post something.

The other day, for instance, I was doing a search for something and I stumbled across a very very old photographic portrait. I'm talking 1840s-1850s. What was even more remarkable was that it was a portrait of a very old person. So not only was I looking at an actual photograph of a man who live 150 years ago, I was actually looking at a man who had been born in the mid eighteenth century. For some reason, I found this mind-boggling.

After a bit of searching, I found this site, which features photos of American Revolutionary War veterans in the autumn of their years. Never mind the fact that these men faced down the redcoats and saw George Washington with their own eyes... One of these fellows, Conrad Heyer, was alive during the Seven Years War. He was ten years old when Wolfe and Montcalm fought on the Plains of Abraham, 250 miles north of his home. And he was already a man in the prime of his life the year his country was founded.



Conrad Heyer of Waldoborough, Maine: Born 1749, died 1856 at the age of 107. He may well be the earliest born human ever photographed.

Worked Up

Let's face it, the blog is moribund. At this point --with the arrival of the twins imminent-- it takes something truly outrageous to sufficiently get my dander up to the point where I feel compelled to post.

That something is the Polanski case, and more specifically, the myriad of "industry" types who have flocked to Roman's defence ever since he got his stupid ass pinched, in Switzerland, of all places.

By now, all the myths and misconceptions around this case should have been thoroughly debunked. It was rape, plain and simple. And Polanski pleaded guilty. And then he fled from justice, and has been a fugitive ever since. Any artistic achievement coming either before the crime, or in the intervening years has absolutely no bearing on the truth of the fact that Polanski never paid for the crime he committed.

If you were looking for evidence that Hollywood's moral compass is irretrievably broken, you can cease searching: Here it is.

Remember the names of these child-rape apologists, folks. Remember them the next time you queue up at the box office.

I hate Bill Maher. But he is 100% right:



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Also: Afghanistan is an ungodly mess. It was supposed to be the "good war", remember? In contrast to the "wrong war" that was Iraq, the Afghanistan conflict, with the imprimatur of the UN and the collaboration of NATO, was the one that even the most doveish of the Democrats could get behind. I'm now worrying about it in a way I never worried about Iraq.

Even in the darkest days, I figured Iraq was winnable --as a search through my blog archives will attest. With Afghanistan, though, I have never been certain, and following the debacle that were the recent elections and other developments. I'm less certain than ever. For one thing, the two freelance journalists who were most reliable on what was really going on on the ground in Mesopotamia throughout that conflict, the Michaels Yon and Totten, always gave a realistic picture of that conflict, so in my book they have credibility.

On Afghanistan, both have sounded, and continue to sound, pretty pessimistic. Yon, in particular, seems to have a real understanding of the situation, and his insights are pretty frightening. It really does seem that things need to turn around there, and quick. Frankly, I'm not sure if the Obama administration has the stomach to do what needs to be done.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Why Bother?

I've been blogging so sporadically lately, that I feel like Dan Aykroyd, popping by Studio 8H with my lifetime pass for an SNL cameo, blithely ignoring the fact that I have not done anything that merits an appearance in decades.

Well I'm about to become a dad for a second and third time (twins!) so I've had to engage in some radical re-prioritizing. Here's some stumbled-across content from my hiatus

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I think Detroit is the new Palenque--hey that ain't a bad idea for a tourism slogan! Behold, its Feral Houses

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My brain don't work so good. What's the highest form of patriotism again? I keep forgetting that neat little aphorism I kept reading everywhere during the period of 2000-2008.

Mark Steyn:

Well, on mid-day on January the 20th, pretty much everyone ripped off those bumper stickers off the back of their car, and told us now what was important that we should all be united. We should all be one. We should be in effect a one-party state.

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Behold, the worst wrestling match ever:



Nice fireball!

From what I gather, this match basically finished Jim Hellwig as a wrestler once and for all. Given what followed, one could argue that Hogan never recovered from this debacle either.

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The suberb miniseries Generation Kill has been on HBO all summer, and viewing it has motivated me to hunt down The Wire, which was produced by the same people. This is some truly good storytelling, people. Maybe because it was based on a book written by Rolling Stone's Evan Wright, who was embedded with The Marines of First Recon throughout the invasion of Iraq, it somehow rings true. Maybe it is the way that the filmakers refuse to adhere to tired tropes or engage in Hollywood shorthand and supply us with the usual lazy archetypes within a group (i.e. the black one, the southern one, the jewish one...). Rather, we gradually come to know a few of these young, vulgar and phenomenally brave young Americans in striking, character-revealing moments amidst the crucible of a strangely improvised war. The producers do not condescend to the audience, either: In the end, you are neither pressed to cheer the conquering heroes nor moved to deplore the amoral aggressors, you are merely left to contemplate what you have seen, and draw your own conclusions. It is as if we are being told: "This all happened... now, what do you think?"

One who was there, and has been fairly open about what he thinks, is Nate Fick, who in the miniseries is depicted as the young Lt he was in 2003 when First Recon stormed across the Iraqi border in its Humvees. Here you can see retired Captain Fick, author of his own memoir on his time as a Marine Officer, speaking on his experiences.

Interestingly I had read somewhere that one of the members of the cast was not a professional actor, but an actual marine who played himself. I could not guess who it was while viewing miniseries, and was surprised when I learned it was Rudy Reyes.
Here is an article on a most unique member of the USMC. Check out the comments section for a few chuckles.

With the British Army and the ANA in Helmand

More Leftovers

With some new stuff thrown in for good measure:

Slate has a piece on single-topic-blogs, which I must admit enjoy as a kind of guilty pleasure. My favourite: LATFH

Related: Carnivore? Keep Being Awesome!

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RIP MJ

Anyone remember this?



I love the WAAAOOH! scream.

Weird! Good music though.

...Come to think of it, that statement applies as much to the man himself as the videogame.

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A baked Kevin Smith gets poignant:

We have a symbiotic relationship, the fan base and I. In a weird way, they get to live vicariously through me, since I'm the tubby kid who made it good, who comes across less like an artist and more like your buddy who suddenly won the lottery of life. They see how I "handle" it, and they're into the fact that it would appear I'm the same person now as I was before I started making films. Plus, I inspire them, in that "If a guy like that can make it, then maybe I can, too" kinda way.

What I get from the fan base is unconditional support. They may not like all the flicks I do, but they'll give each one a shot—which is the most you can ask for from any audience. Contrary to what the haters think, the fan base doesn't lounge around like a giant caterpillar, taking hits off the hookah of my collective body of work; they're normal people with normal lives who just relate to what I write/say. And the relationship doesn't end at the theater: These are folks I play poker with. I spend my birthdays with them (onstage or at a home-made prom). I played hockey against and beside them just last week in Brantford, Ontario, at Walter Gretzky's 3rd Annual Street Hockey Tournament. It makes sense we'd all get along, as we share a common interest: Kevin Smith films. But, Jesus—you can only talk about those for so long. And when the "Then what'd Jason Lee say?" chatter dries up, you find they're more friends than fans.

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Neda may be dead, but she just won't go away

"Staged"?

Yeah, sure, Mahmood... in fact, it was probably staged by them non-existent gays, eh?

Related: Hitchens

There is nothing at all that any Western country can do to avoid the charge of intervening in Iran's internal affairs. The deep belief that everything—especially anything in English—is already and by definition an intervention is part of the very identity and ideology of the theocracy.

It is a mistake to assume that the ayatollahs, cynical and corrupt as they may be, are acting rationally. They are frequently in the grip of archaic beliefs and fears that would make a stupefied medieval European peasant seem mentally sturdy and resourceful by comparison.

The tendency of outside media to check the temperature of the clerics, rather than consult the writers and poets of the country, shows our own cultural backwardness in regrettably sharp relief. Anyone who had been reading Pezeshkzad and Nafisi, or talking to their students and readers in Tabriz and Esfahan and Mashad, would have been able to avoid the awful embarrassment by which everything that has occurred on the streets of Iran during recent days has come as one surprise after another to most of our uncultured "experts."

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Bill Murray is just great

Local reporter drops sly reference, reaps reward.

How cool would it be to tell your kids that you once talked to Carl Spackler at the U.S. open?

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Frank Sinatra Has A Cold

The hoodlum from hoboken was cool back when being cool was a character trait and not a lifestyle choice. They don't make like Frank Sinatra any more, and they don't write stuff this good very often either. You don't event need to be a fan of the Chairman of the Board to dig this article, an early example of the "new journalism".

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She's resigning to spend more time with her media consultant

Sara Palin has been in the news so much lately, I could not help but recall the amusing misadventures of a certain amateur Catholic theologian and part-time gynecologist!

One of the nastiest takedowns I have read in a long time:

Through the Looking Glass with Andrew Sullivan

Cleaned out the Freezer

Amazing what you find back there! Haven't been blogging much lately, mostly because I have been hanging out with the little guy during my vacation. I'm a bit out-of-the-loop as far as pop culture and current events go. Nevertheless, here are a few frost-bearded hunks of months-old leftovers and tidbits

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Because I never get tired of people picking on the UN

A great piece found on ForeignPolicy.com: Some Dissasembly Required

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IDF video on Hamas tactics



Whether you think this is “Zionist propaganda” or a painstaking reconstruction of Hamas tactics during Operation Cast Lead, it's a pretty fascinating video with amazing computer graphics.


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Dante's Inferno

Cool site if you are interested in one of the classics of Western literature:World of Dante.

Apparently the Ciardi translation is the best, though I don't think that was the one I read. I'll have to re-visit...

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Scambaiting is Fun!

Not that I would encourage that potentially dangerous pastime, but some of these elaborate ruses are pretty insane! Incredible what some people are willing to go through if they think that there is a big payoff at the end.

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Rough start for Conan

In honour of David Letterman being number one again for the first time in like 15 years: Cracked presents Letterman's 9 most hilariously awkward moments

Also, not necessarily awkward... just bizarre: Chris Elliott on Letterman



Actually, if you have seen what he is spoofing, it is pretty funny. If you haven't, look up Shatner Rocketman on Youtube.

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Douglas Copeland attempts to bring back his 90s zeitgeist, does not succeed

From a Diogenes Borealis post from last November: Hideous Public Art.

Mr. Copeland, your ironic slacker installation blows in almost every way, but at least it looks vaguely military. So, congrats on your partial FAIL.

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This will be good for your brain

Trust me



...now this was TV, people!

see why Bill Buckley is missed so?

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Last but not least, two random cool sites

Cabinet of Wonders

The British Library Online Gallery, featuring the Lindisfarne Gospels

In honour of Conan's Move to the Tonight Show

Bob Goulet!

The Islamic Civil War

Remember that nasty homecoming surprise that the Royal Anglian Regiment got in Luton a few weeks ago? This time, Luton's moderates drive off the nutjobs

Mr Latif said: 'We have been fighting these Muslim extremists for you. They represent nobody but themselves.
'The community decided to move them on because the police won't. We have asked them, but they did nothing.
'I don't know if they will be back. We have been the victims twice over - from the stupidity of Muslim extremists who metaphorically pour petrol and fan the flames of the right-wing extremists.
'This was a peaceful demonstration and we hope they get the message that the law-abiding community is sick and tired of them.'

Thank goodness that some mainstream Muslims are at long last awakening to this mortal peril in their midst. They must definitely be feeling the squeeze by now, as the far-right in Britain feeds off the anger provoked by the Islamist fringe. Unfortunately, the moderates can continue to expect no help whatsoever from their Government, which, to its eternal disgrace, stands with the extremists.

Incidentally, the worst insult an islamist can level at a "fellow" muslim?

Angry words were exchanged and scuffles broke out between members of both groups, with the extremists shouting 'Shame on you' and 'Get back to your synagogue'.

What a disgrace.

Idolology

I managed to avoid American Idol, for the most part, for six-and-a-half seasons until last year, Nesrine called me into the room to listen to David Cook tear the roof off the place during one of his bravura performances. For the first time, this year I managed to watch beyond the early episodes -- you know, the ones where cruel people like me get to indulge our shameful schadenfreude as Simon Cowell systematically dismantles the hopes and dreams of deluded mediocrities-- and I actually found myself getting into it!

I picked Danny Gokey to win early on, but as the Idol contestants headed into the homestretch, I found myself thinking that Danny-Boy was starting to flag. Maybe this is just hindsight, but in retrospect his last couple of outings just did not pack the punch that earlier performances had shown he was capable of delivering. What's more, when I saw how the final five was shaping up, I starting to think that inverse vote-splitting (vote consolidation?) would come into play. I thought I knew who the final three were going to be (Danny, Adam, and Kris)--and when it turned out I was right, I told Nesrine who I thought was going to win: "it's either Danny or Kris".

Nesrine, who was a Glambert backer from Day-1, thought I was nuts, so I explained my theory:

Danny and Kris, for all their stylistic differences, were essentially from the same AI template: The safe, radio-friendly boy-next-door unit-mover. Adam, however, was an alien from another planet. Sure, the theatrical, sexually-ambiguous vocal powerhouse had all the pundits on his side, and by the time we got to the final three, conventional wisdom was that he was a lock to win, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that the math did not add up.

I tried to imagine, in some alternate universe where the Idol results were determined by preferential ballot, how many people who picked Danny or Kris as their first choice would likely pick Adam as their second. I just could not see it being that many. The kind of people who dug the earnest, religious guy from Arkansas' brand of easy-listening adult contemporary music would probably be drawn more to the earnest, religious guy from Wisconsin's brand of easy-listening adult contemporary music. And on top of it, Adam's opponents appear to have hedged their bets with some effective attack ads:



Let's leave it to others to comment on the red-state/blue-state subtext to this year's finale. I'll stick with the facts: Given that American Idol viewers voted two fairly similar contestants into the top three, it stands to reason that third-place-finisher Danny's fans --those sufficiently motivated to continue voting, at least, would be more likely to switch to something similar, i.e. Kris. That means that Adam, our odd-man-out, would have to have a pretty commanding lead going into the finals if he hoped to see off a contestant who might be boosted by "second choice" votes from disgruntled Danny supporters. Anecdotal evidence prior to the finals suggests that was not the case.

Adam, a juggernaut when it came to buzz and hype from music-biz types, turned out to be more vulnerable when the voting public had their say. After all, he came in the bottom two(!!!) during Rat Pack standards week. Maybe his legion of fans got complacent that week and forgot to vote, but anyone with a huge lead would not have slipped that far down the rankings. So maybe Adam was the giant with the feet of clay, and maybe Danny, who seemed to me to be the superior singer, concealed his own vulnerability with a smug grin as his performances contined to deliver increasingly diminishing returns. I think humble Kris was more than just a dark horse. Just go have a listen to his version of Kanye's Heartless, and tell me that isn't marketable to the Tweens.

With his likeability/inoffensiveness, and his undeniable talent, Kris Allen may have been the stealth frontrunner the whole time.

Aziz and Star Trek

Aziz Ansari is awesome

Aziz Ansari stars in Parks and Rec

Aziz Ansari says beware of phoney IMAX!

Well, I just saw the very well executed Star Trek reboot at a real IMAX, and I thought the performances were great all around, but the true standouts were a hilarious Simon Pegg as a Glaswegian Scotty (since they changed the timeline could the alternative timeline have shifted where Scotty grew up to the West Central Lowlands? The mind boggles.), and Karl Urban, who as Dr. McCoy so effectively replicated DeForest Kelley's speech patterns and Georgia drawl without doing an impression or a parody.

I think that in the sequel, they should bring Federation weapons specialist Mohinder aboard the Enterprise to help battle Klingons, and I think I know just the man for the job! Mr. Ansari, clear your schedule...

Startling

Old-timey photoshop job of a 2009 snapshot or Great-great-great Grandpa as a young dandy, circa 1850?



This is the most strikingly modern-looking 160-year-old photo I've ever seen. The handsome young subject, smiling enigmatically as he gazes at something out of our view, seems like he could almost leap out of the frame. How often does one see happy expressions in pictures from the 19th century? The superb quality of the shot reveals details like the texture of the man's jacket, the wrinkles on his (open!) collar, and the carefully curled locks of what may or may not be a wig.

To me, he has the look of a time-traveller, grinning to himself as he contemplates his success at blending into 19th century society!

More great shots like this at Shorpy.com.

SABBATH!

Minutiae and Trivia

The Office and the Peter Principle

The Office has turned into a pretty great show, mostly thanks to the clever way they have developped the character of Michael Scott. Just when you think that they have pushed his incompetence and cluelessness to almost ridiculous levels, he goes and reminds everyone that there was a reason he was made manager of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin in the first place: The man knows how to sell paper.

I like the idea that Michael Scott is an idiot-savant; that he is generally mediocre and yet displays excellence in one very specific area.

Does that very specific skillset compensate for his gross incompetence as a manager? Of course not, but it at least gives him a somewhat believeable backstory and makes him more sympathetic. I think the Peter Principle is something most viewers of The Office can relate to. After all, how many of us have seen genuinely good workers turn into piss-poor leaders upon promotion? Heck, some corporate cultures seem hard-wired for that sort of thing.

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For no particular reason: A bit of culture



The first time I saw a Masaccio fresco, in the Brancacci Chapel, I actually experienced Stendhal syndrome (no fooling). It seems unreal that those six-hundred-year-old works, still so bright and vital, are considered the birth of Renaissance painting.

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I got a funny e-mail at work the other day...

Not the kind of funny that makes you laugh, though. Apparently, some of my older neighbours have been accosted by local members of the street community under the influence of controlled substances (a.k.a. drunks and crackheads), and are therefore warning everyone to be on the lookout for non-resident interlopers. There are a number of healthy younger guys on my block, and given the fact that there are also a few children around, I don't expect that many of us will be too concerned about the niceties if and when we have to see an unwelcome harm reduction advocate off.

Apparently Ottawa has one of the lowest serious crime rates in the country, but stuff like that makes me seriously consider moving my family away from the downtown very, very soon... before anything like this, anyway.

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A little late for Easter, but still worth a read:

Why was Jesus Crucified?

An enlightening historical examination of a particularly gruesome form of judicial execution. No wonder the early followers of Christ were not big on using the cross as their symbol!

Also worth a read: 101 Bible Secrets That Christians Don't Know

Some mind-blowers here. Among my faves:

Long-haired Jesus is a pagan god

Were Christians Communists?

Did Moses Stutter?


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In Honour of Alfie's Rapidly Diminishing Cup Hopes...

Ten Top Players Who Never Hoisted Lord Stanley's Mug


BONUS:

More fun with campus fascists

"He was not able to practice his hate speech," said Oakley. "You have to respect the right of people to assemble and collectively speak."

Americans Don't Bow to Foreign Potentates!

uh...

except when they do. From the excellent Miniseries John Adams:



Of course, performing courtesies to the representative of a thousand-year-old royal dynasty is one thing. Bowing and scraping to the son of history's luckiest desert raider is entirely another!

Interestingly, I recall someone saying that Obama is the first President in a very long time whose father was a British subject. So maybe Britain's complicated history in Kenya has something to do with his relative coolness towards his father's colonial overlords.

Slumdog Instant Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire is coming out on DVD, and I'm really curious to see what the fuss is about. I have always been a fan of Danny Boyle, who seems to have a knack for crafting nifty genre pictures that always seem slightly askew to me. Trainspotting was not quite a black comedy, and 28 Days Later was not quite a zombie flick, but both were quite excellent.



After all the hype about the explosion of India's vibrant film industry, it is rather startling to read something like this, that really brings the gulf between Bollywood and Hollywood into sharp focus. In some ways, Bollywood is still small potatoes.

The woman who has vaulted ahead of the Aishwaryas, Bipashas, and every other female Indian superstar to become the highest earning female actor in the country is a neophyte actress with exactly one movie credit under her belt so far. How that must irk the Bollywood divas.

In fact, Freida Pinto is not technically a "Bollywood star" since almost everyone agrees that what Danny Boyle has made is not a Bollywood movie, although it does offer a tip of the hat to the genre here and there. Some in Bollywood have actually criticized Boyle's flick as exploitive, calling it a cheap trashy mediocre version of erstwhile Bollywood hits, although that criticism seems a bit rich to me, considering that countless western films have been shamelessly mined, plagiarized, and ripped off by Bollywood.

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Plus:

David Brooks provides us with some hope for Afghanistan. It isn't much, but it's more than we've had for a while.

The Love Guru: What Went Wrong

If you have the Movie Network, you may recently have gotten a whiff of a rancid comedy while flipping channels and wondered "What is this fetid stinkbomb, and now how do I get this smell off my clothes?"

If the suspicious cinematic toxin featured a mustachioed Justin Timberlake as a quebecois Goalie and a hirsute, profoundly unfunny Mike Myers as an Eastern Mystic, you got Love Guru on yourself. Quick, go take a shower.

Simply put: The Love Guru ain't really that funny. Worse, it is a self-indulgent and tedious flick that actually makes us like and respect Mike Myers less as a comedian for having spawned the character of Guru Pitka and the movie that revolves around him.

It is hard to overstate how badly things went wrong for Myers, a prickly perfectionist who apparently laboured over Pitka, his latest comedic creation, for months and months before "perfecting" it to the point of deeming it worthy to commit to celluloid. The lack of self-awareness on display here is staggering.

This is no indifferent hack we are talking about, after all. Myers must have really thought that Pitka would be a big hit, else he would not have built a movie around him! Remember, this is the guy that refused to give us a "Dieter" movie he could not get behind 100% artistically --in spite of the fact that he had co-written the script, a courageous stand that resulted in a lengthy suit with Universal Studios, and indirectly, the creation of the cinematic abortion The Cat In The Hat, as a by-product of the settlement. Evidently, we can thank Myers for refusing to allow the legacy of "Sprockets" to be defiled a la "Night at the Roxbury".

One of the best deconstructions of the cinematic travesty that is The Love Guru --as well as an examination of the hubris of the man primarily responsible for it-- can be found on the AV Club Web site as an entry in Nathan Rabin's My Year of Flops feature: Kicking A Man While He's Down, Case File #132: The Love Guru. It is a dynamite piece that really cuts to the heart of why and how this movie failed, while marveling at the level of effort Myers put into the creation of this failure. One of my favourite musings from the piece:

A smart, talented, accomplished writer-actor like Myers spending years meticulously creating, rehearsing, and refining an obnoxious one-note cartoon like Guru Pitka is a like a group of brilliant scientists working around the clock for a decade to build a malfunctioning fart machine: a surreal waste of time, energy and manpower.

That's a pretty good example of Rabin's irreverent style. It's also right on the money. I just hope that Mike Myers learns from this fiasco and that this undoubtedly talented man, who after all brought us Wayne Campbell, Austin Powers and Shrek, can bounce back!

Not Funny

There is nothing funny about Afghanistan right now.



The Afghanistan house is burning down and these people are taking the piss out of Canada's Army --One of the few forces that has actually been in real, sustained combat over there? How tone-deaf can you get? Canadians have been eating it in Kandahar for quite some time, and given the gravity of the situation in that benighted land right now, this light-hearted ridicule from a bunch of chuckleheads is both offensive and really clueless. Newsflash: Things are dire! This thing is far from won. This isn't a time to mock your allies.

At least the Canucks are there in a serious way, which is more than you can say for many other NATO countries. Afghanistan is about to make Iraq look like the invasion of Grenada, and we have lighthearted topical comedy about Canada's mission coming from these clowns. We'll see how much everyone is laughing in a year's time...

Looking for laughs in Luton

So some of the local islamist shit-disturbers decide to crash the Second Battalion's Royal Anglian Regiment's homecoming parade from Iraq. Oddly, some were not having it. Here's what ensued:



Of course, not surprisingly, the British National Party is making hay of this incident.

The islamists, brandishing the victim card, could not give a rat's ass, promising more to follow. Meanwhile the apologists are chiming in, right on schedule. Laughably, some reports refer to these folks as "muslim anti-war protestors" when many of them are likely far from "anti-war", having enthusiastically provided material support and comfort, if not manpower, to the other side.

To me, all the incipient street violence has a bit of a whiff of the Weimar Repubic, circa 1929, about it. Nonsense, right? Well, things were not that bad in the Weimar republic of 1929, even if the seeds of disaster were already sown. I mean, sure, before the economy really went south, you had your marginal elements of society making themselves known in the streets, with the reds of the KPD sometimes going toe-to-toe with some right-wing jerkoffs, but nobody remembers them anymore right?

Look, the point is that when the economy goes south, any unrest and resentment already festering within a society will only get worse, as people look for scapegoats; e.g. "immigrants", "jews", whatever tickles your fancy! And things are not too bad in the UK, at least not yet, but I don't think I am going too far out on a limb in saying we can expect this type of "difference of opinion" to occur more and more often, as fairly ordinary people reach the point of exasperation take matters into their own hands with the endlessly accomodated, constantly aggrieved, and newly emboldened recently arrived muslim supremacists in their country.

If history is any type of a guide, unless brazen provocateurs are denounced and marginalized, and unless the UK government discontinues its folly of pandering to islamists, the mainstream moderate voices in Britain will gradually give way to the folks on the fringes, peddling their simplistic, yet undeniably compelling solutions to the complex problems Britain finds itself faced with.

Hitler is a Fanboy

Warning: Major Watchmen Spoilage
Second warning: Not for those who take themselves too seriously



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIhHema5PNg


If you explore the related videos on Youtube, you'll find creatively subtitled videos of Hitler reacting badly to bad news from his underlings(not being able to get a Wii Fit, Hannah Montana releasing a new album, etc). It's a meme based on scenes from the acclaimed German film Downfall. I hope this catches on because, let's face it, seeing Hitler throw tantrums over ridiculous stuff is pretty funny.