Heh. Corgis.

Bro sent me this video; nothing much more to say about it, except that for some reason our own Monty never seemed to take to the water...

Wow, we all just love getting played, don't we?

Never mind the bigotry of past generations, you'd think everyone would have learned the lessons of Shirley Sherrod a few weeks back. Just because a bunch of right-wingers start beating their chests about something doesn't mean we have to listen...and good on Mayor Bloomberg and the Prez for not caving in.

Goddammit, Best Buy sucks...

So I finally get a new monitor after the old one gives out, as there's an Acer monitor for sale, $99. And I ask the guy if it matters that my computer's as old as dirt and runs Windows XP, and he goes "no, no, just change the resolution"...

So of course, the best resolution here is 1024 x 768, which looks like ass, and I try to download a driver for the monitor, and surprise! No driver for Windows XP.

What really sucks is I like the monitor better than the computer...

Update: And of course, ten minutes after posting this I figure it out. I take it back...

Dear Warner Bros., just take my goddamn money already...

The new Looney Tunes discs came out this week and my response was the same I used to have to the Golden Collections magnified: strong desire for what should have been.

I've blogged in years past when one of the new Golden Collections were released, and despite having all six (sigh, yes, I know) and getting a whole lot of use of them, I found the haphazard nature of the collections frustrating. Every collection had a few gems, more than a few clunkers, and the WB trope of devoting a disc to a special theme ruined a bit of the magic through repetition. Seeing ALL the Speedy Gonzalez cartoons one right after the other really brings to light the recycled gags. I get, he knows everybody's sister in the sleepy Mexican hamlet. And by "knows" I mean "screws". Wait, getting off the point...

So while the new single discs seem a bit chintzy to me they do have the advantage of being focused on Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. But once again, I have to deal with the absences. No "Racketeer Rabbit"? No "Captain Hareblower"? For the love of Elmer what the hell do I have to do to get these?

And to cap it all off, there's the ridiculously vague feather-across-the-taint pricktease announcement that a Looney Tunes Blu-Ray is forthcoming. Which brings me to the subject line. Just release 'em all, or at the very least release are the cartoons in a certain period so I KNOW WHAT ELSE I'LL NEED TO BUY. The six Golden Collections together were about $300 and represented about half of the total oeuvre. So tack on a twenty percent asshole tax and let's be done with it. You don't have THAT long to milk nerds, soon it'll all be the cloud. I'm telling you right now, WB, get on it.

And then, fully satiated with my Blu-Rays, I'll be nice and docile while you rape my childhood.

Credit where credit's due to Congressman Perriello...

...from The Roanoke Times.

Incumbents generally have little to gain in debating lesser-known challengers, and sometimes contrive to avoid them altogether. Perriello has not done that, and instead has agreed to terms more favorable to his Republican opponent.

He might have acted on principle or out of necessity, as a first-term Democrat in a conservative district. Either way, he did what was right for voters.

Cue complaints about the Roanoke Times being a liberal rag in five...four...three...

Holy shit, Russia really is on fucking fire...

Mrs. Nevskaya has been following very closely the events this past week in Moscow and showed me this very chilling clip about a group of volunteers who were trying to get back home (starts about a minute in)...

Two candidates for our rep aren't afraid to face their constituents...and Robert Hurt ain't one of them.

Tom Perriello and Jeffrey Clark faced off in the first VA-5 debate, and Robert Hurt (surprise, surprise!) chickened out. It's the first time in the debate's history (since 1996) this has happened.

Hey, Hurt won the Repub primary without debating, so maybe it was a savvy political move. But let's not pretend that he's going to "restore" accountability to Congress. Our district has already contributed more than its fair share of that...

Robert Hurt: Anti-jobs, anti-truth.

Thanks to our congressman for voting to save teachers' jobs here in Virginia. As he says, this bill is a no-brainer, so of course Robert Hurt is against it.

But it would be nice if in Hurt's opposition he could simply tell the truth, I see three whoppers right in the article without looking too hard. 1) The stimulus bill was under a trillion, 2) the stimulus bill saved and created 3 million jobs while tax cuts twice as expensive as the stimulus didn't do jack, and 3) the jobs bill the Congressman voted for didn't add a single penny to the deficit. Hurt knows that. Or at least he SHOULD know that, I'll freely admit that he could just be an idiot instead of a liar.

But either way, it looks like Hurt is simply going to be a puppet for Boehner rather than looking out for the needs of his constituents.

Why such a hardon for teachers, Repubs?

You can't even vote for a fucking jobs bill? And then you'll have the balls to turn around and complain Obama's not doing enough for jobs? What the fuck's the matter with you, really? How can this be even controversial? I realize I'm not contributing anything but ranting, but we may as well argue about the sun being hot...

If you're looking for something substantial, read Digby...

8 Bits O' Nevsky - Lobster Claw edition

I have nothing but praise for BlazBlue; adrenaline-pumping action, odd (to say the least) but memorable characters, fantastic animation, all wrapped up in a hardcore sensibility that makes the geek in me swoon...but the game does illustrate a horrible flaw with the PS3.

Namely, the d-pad on the controller sucks dick, balls, and shit. Even the Wii Classic Controller does a good enough job on Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, but on the PS3 controller a simple quarter-circle, necessary on any move stronger than a slight breeze, registers about a quarter of the time despite your thumb tendons ripping apart at the seams with the effort. A few hours on BlazBlue and it looks like the PS3 controller is intent on finishing the job ten years of repetitive office work has started on my hands.

Given the game's insistence that you memorize elaborate combos in order to have a chance in hell (OK, there's a beginner's mode but I would sooner go full teatard than use it), I've actually given thought to the purchase of a fighting stick. Normally, I would have called such a purchase a display of opulence on the order of a gold-plated yacht, but I figure now that a purchase like this will allow me a few more precious years before I need to go on disability. My buddy (similarly addicted to BlazBlue) got the Hori Fighting Stick and likes it; it's surprisingly big but it certainly works. Combos were easier and it was ergonomically pleasing, it also brought me back to those nostalgic days when people used to play in these ancient meeting halls called "ar-cades". And at fifty bucks it seems reasonable considering some other options. I'll continue to shop but if there are any recommendations from any other gamers out there please feel free to add your comments.

Die in a fire, Associated Press...

Seeing this fucking article just burns me up, especially the headline: House members scurry back to pass jobs bill. Ho, ho, using the word "scurry" adds to the image of Congress as vermin, I see what you did there! Never mind that this is a bill to fund jobs for teachers and first-responders that would have been lost if the bill didn't pass. Never mind that the reason this session had to be called because the Senate Republicans ruthlessly filibustered the bill. Ask the people whose jobs this bill will save what they think.

And what's the most galling is that the Repubs knew damn well that there is no political loss for this delaying tactics. The Dems could either call the bluff and let these jobs be lost to prove the point, or they can act like grownups and still get shit like this article.

I'd say if anyone in the modern press or the Republican caucus had any sense of honor left they quit their jobs and devote themselves to doing something more useful, like throwing themselves into a woodchipper for horse feed.

You never go full teatard...



Once again, bro comes through with a winning design, suitable for wearing at your next casual function...

As always, feel free to check out the full range of designs available at our Cafepress store, Geek 3000...

You can't spell, "Christ, CNN is full of frickin' morons" without "CNN"...

I stopped blogging for a while to help my blood pressure, and it's shit like this that made me quit.

This is the goddamn headline, I'm not kidding.

--
Small biz jobs bill: FAIL
--

I know times are tough for news services, but do you have to let the copywriter's 8-year-old Mountain Dew-addled nephew write the headlines?

And it's the same "views differ on the shape of the earth" bullshit that misses the point completely. The small business bill isn't passing because of "Washington gridlock", it's Washington OBSTRUCTION. It's Republicans making sure nothing gets improved because they're going to run on the idea that nothing's improving. They make no fucking bones about it. Waiting for the media to call them on this is like waiting for motherfucking Godot...

Robert Hurt US Congress: Anti-Reality

Hurt was meeting the Lynchburg Tea Party in a closed event, presumably part of his avoiding-debate strategy, but someone did manage to get in and hear what he had to say, and it seems he's gone the full bibble-bibble-oatbran.

"Joke" about abolishing the IRS. Check.

Getting rid of health care reform? Check.

And let's see what fellow nut Jim McKelvey says he's going to do: "Robert has promised to work to cut or eliminate funding to government agencies which have no constitutional basis for existence". Check. No, wait, what? Is that English?

I would have hoped that tinfoil-hat-conspiracies and Underpants-Gnomes-economics would have gone the way of Dubya, but it looks like Hurt understands the way to woo the hard right is to ditch any and all hints of moderation. Way to go.

Personally, I'd rather have the grownup for a rep...

TIMMMMMMMMMMM-ber.
We've had some nasty violent storms these past couple of days; a tree just fell down the street from us a few houses away. Fortunately, no one was hurt and no damage. At least the power stayed up this time around...

(and here's the subject line reference, last gag)...

It was the President's birthday today! But really, no matter what the occasion...

...you can always count on the Republican Party to be childish fucking assholes.

Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls, it's 2010 not 1864...

For all the yelling the teabaggers do about the Constitution, they don't seem to have a problem rewriting the parts they don't like...

Maybe after Repubs are done with the 14th they can reinstitute that whole three-fifths thing.

And if you found this post just to be a cheap excuse to use the subject line, hello, my regular reader!

Is "I don't want you to ask me questions, but vote for me anyway" a valid campaign slogan?

It seems to be Robert Hurt's (it does beat the other one, "HURT U.S. CONGRESS"; seriously, no one on your staff noticed that?). Oh sure, he'll meet with fringe groups behind close doors, but he's backing out of more debates even though I'd be shocked if nutball Jeffrey Clark gets more than 10% of a poll.

I guess Hurt doesn't want to take the chance of dealing with an extremist right-winger. Oh sure, I can't blame him, but if that's going to bother you you're really running in the wrong district.

Despite what the audience said, Primus definitely do not suck.

An excellent concert with a great choice of songs that stuck pretty much with Frizzle Fry and Seas of Cheese (and a surprise pick of Golden Boy, which I love but had no expectation of hearing).

Other high points: Pudding, Mud, and Tommy. Notable absences: John, Jerry, and Wynona.

And Gogol Bordello was also awesome though I couldn't give you a single song title. Really, every song I've heard from them on disc doesn't come close to replicating the awesome energy of their live performances. This is a band I'd pretty much recommend to absolutely anybody to see live.

Just call me Aloysius Devadander Abercrombie (that's long for Mud)...

Bro and sis are down in gorgeous Charlottesville to catch the Primus/Gogol Bordello show tonight, which, according to mathematical equations, must at least be awesome...