Jimmy Kimmel: Hipster or Hasidic

Needed some random silliness here.  Prob'ly wouldn't pull this off outside NYC.

AJ+: Young Swedes React To U.S. Democratic Presidential Debate

C'mon AJ+, surely you could have found a few fascists even in Sverige ?

Wonders...What reason might Al Jazeera's backers have to encourage a Sanders presidency ?...Feel the Bern !

Interesting Times

Anyone else feel like we are sleepwalking off a precipice ?  And that our governments are utterly unprepared for the next shoe to drop, having exhausted all the tools in their toolbox during the last crisis ?*


Meanwhile, apparently this is a thing:

People's poorly remembered experiences with an unusually titled series of childrens' books**, from their childhood, at a time when they were just barely learning to read, as evidence of alternate dimensions/parallel universes, rewritten history, interference by aliens, time-travel, or the like...

As a lifelong fan of escapism (hey, I still watch Doctor Who, though I'm not sure Moffat appreciates the escapist element fully), I can't blame people for wanting to escape from reality.  Certainly not in times like these.  The present sucks, and the future looks bleak indeed.  But meanwhile our overlords in government and in the business-classes are continuing to pursue policies that are destroying our planet, and planning for the future when then need to pull up the ladders behind them, as they batten the hatches, and leave us to drown, safely ensconced (they hope) in their fortified private compounds.***  And ninety-plus percent of us aren't paying any attention whatsoever.

Aw, what the hell ?  No-one cares.  Interview with a/the Vampire, Fruit/Froot Loops, Nelson Mandela dying in prison, Sex in/and the City, 52 states in the US, New Zealand changing location, Henry VIII with a turkey-leg in his hand****, Magic mirror on the wall...have at it.

We're all gonna die !  Possibly imminently if the conflict with Russia goes nuclear.  But...isn't this just the cutest likkle doggie you ever did see ?!!

* Mixing metaphors all over the place.  And no, I don't fully understand the significance in the drop-off of the PRC and others purchasing US debt.  Nor am I sure I want to...

** Always thought the spelling was weird; Never imagined it would be inspiring conspiracy-theories in multiple generations of adults.

*** Mixing metaphors with abandon now.  Whee !

**** Wouldn't chicken be more likely ?

Manspreading*

So...came across this picture of two major world-leaders whilst writing the previous piece.  And...uh, it wasn't a good look for Dubya.  It's no better a look for Bibi & Vlad.  In fact, these two have never looked more childish.**  We get it arseholes, now can we discuss actual policy whilst you for a moment at least pose like statesmen ?


* Not that this phenomenon amongst say male riders on transit in any way inherently justifies legal penalties.  If there's room for all, and you're comfortable with that pose, and not a fucking politician having pictures taken for global media, then hey, go for it.

** Hee hee hee...my balls are so big...In case you actually needed this idiocy spelt out.

A Calm and Considered Request for Closure

Had a post half-written a fortnight back on my attempt to re-watch the first episodes of Nu-Who (G-d it was awful), but thought better of posting it.  But with the news that Jenna Coleman is finally (two years too late) leaving Doctor Who, I just have one thing to say to Steven Moffat:

CLARA OSWALD MUST DIE !

No seriously, give us a death-scene.  Something horrific preferably.  It's the least you can do.

Possibly an even worse contribution to canon than the 'Time-War'.

* I suppose it's theoretically possible that the character will improve with the new series.  But I can never un-see that last squandered soap-opera of a series*.  Such a waste.

** Check out that original title in the URL.  Drama-queen much ?

Let It Be

From the Big Gulp to the Big Chair

I missed this earlier, but it is delightful, and may well become a defining image of Marco Rubio's quest for the GOP nomination.

This would be damning even if it were a Photoshop or a cartoon, but it is, instead, a real-life photo-opportunity that Senator Rubio chose to make for himself.  A candidate whose defining selling-point (next to being Cuban-American), his youth, and relative inexperience, is also potentially his greatest weakness.

I'm a serious contender for the presidency.  Whee !

Irish Women on 'Ginger' Jokes

And then most of the news-stories seem too obvious, too old, too boring, too depressing, too Trump-centric even in the case of one country's politics, for anything other than a link-dump. Wait, women-only train-carriages ?  Is Corbyn advocating Sharia ?! Scandal ! Scandal !  Scandal !

Always cartoons, and Bell's latest is a beaut., if only for what he did to Harman, but I just ran Bell, and I have to have some kind of standards.  And for some of the other dailies...

But I do feel I should post something more than a half-century-old song, so*...

I do feel like the specific sport of Ginger-baiting is more a phenomenon of the British Isles than elsewhere, but no doubt some degree of discrimination is present in any country where redheads are a minority (ie, er...well, practically everywhere).  I'll never understand it.


* If only out of laziness in continuing to avoid a couple of other subjects on which I meant to write.

TWiB's Shocking Sanders Revelation

So, that's what Aaron looks like...

Performance Art ?

This...is kinda brilliant.  And also likely to drive me insane.  Blame (and/or credit) Wings Over Scotland...and Gordon Brown...not me.

Religious Certitudes

Rowson is frankly a fuckin' god in terms of his visual skills...but he can't be everywhere at once.  And with Bell struggling with that obsession with a certain condom, there may be room for a new number two...somewhere

The Awesomest Thing Ever

This new picture of the International Space Station against the Moon is the awesomest thing ever, right ?

Wait, that's actually from 2010.  Oh, right, here we go...

No, sorry, that's from 2014.  How about...

Nope, 2011.  How about...

Nope, 2009.  Maybe...

2014 again.  Surely, the next one...

Yer fuckin with us now arsehole...  Okay, okay...for realsies:

Seriously, not to be an asshole about it.  Just that I see this kinda shit in the news* all the time, think, hang on a minute, are you sure no-one has never shot that before, and...

The picture is awesomely cool...even if it's not the first.


* Not sure if that was one of the sites I was thinking of, because a certain mobile browser lost all my tabs...again.

The Nightly Show: Hunt, Eat, or Pet...with Republican Candidates

Tha' Candidate-Tracking Thingee

Well, with all but one of the candidates on this graphic now declared or declined (C'mon, Joe, c'mon, do it !), I suppose I should probably prune the non-candidates, but I will miss Santa Voldemort.  Why oh why isn't Voldemort running for ruler of the free world ?

And I suppose there's a rumour going 'round about some guy called Gilmore, but fuck, I already included Fiorina* against my better judgement -- How obscure do we have to get with these people ?


* Was the demon-sheep not an obvious reference ?

Everyone's a Nazi

Gasp ! Truly shocking video that, isn't it ?  How dare they goof around with their children in 1933 ?  Clearly the Royal Family must all secretly be Nazis ! Thank goodness the Sun was able to reveal that for us.

But, that's not all.  Turns out the Beatles were secretly Nazis too !

Time for a record-burning ?

The Culture Wars Continue

So, the Confederate 'Battle-Flag' (I always assumed it was the regular Confederate flag, which shows how much I know) may be coming down from the grounds of the Capitol in South Carolina, may finally be removed from the flag of Mississippi, and is no longer being sold by various retailers such as Walmart & Amazon.  But this...surely this is a step too far.

What have them Duke boys gotten themselves into this time?

One of the most iconic pop-cultural images of the Confederate flag — atop the famous "General Lee" car in The Dukes of Hazzard TV show — is about to fade away. Given current controversies swirling around the sale of merchandise bearing Confederate imagery, Warner Bros. Consumer Marketing has decided to stop the licensing of General Lee toys and models with the flag. 

Noooooooooooooooo !

Photo: Christopher Koppes on Flickr.  CC 2.0

Not the General Lee !  Now they're really messing with our cultural heritage...

Inspector Osborne

Nah.  Didn't care that much for Series 1.  I'll give it a miss.

Attention Cartographers

Mount Everest has moved 1.2 inches (3cm) - and changed direction - because of the Nepal earthquake, according to a geological survey by the Chinese government.

It's easy to forget that world's highest peak is moving, both laterally and horizontally. That process has been affected by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake, according to research reported in the state-run China Daily newspaper.

According to research by the Chinese government's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, the mountain has moved 3cm to the south-west since the quake, AFP reported.

We should re-draw the borders immediately !  Those three centimetres of mountain were historically Chinese territory and must remain ever thus !


Gets stupider below the fold...

Darth Vader is in Trouble

Just compare his numbers in this latest poll from the Washington Post*:

with the numbers he was getting just a year ago:

Shit, Darth, you need to up to your game !

As for what it says about American politics going into the elections next year that Bernie Sanders (practically the only American politician at state-level or above who would ever dream of admitting to being an actual honest-to-g-d Socialist) is the only candidate in the top chart in positive territory, I can't imagine.  But it surely can't be a bad sign...can it ?


* Psst, WaPo, fictional characters aside, you do know don't you that Barack Obama is constitutionally prohibited from running for a third time in 2016, right ?

I Guess The Indie Really Wants to Make Sure I Read This Story

Not really interested...  <Scrolls>

Still not...  <Scrolls>

WTF ?  <Scrolls>

C'mon, dammit !