No one said it was going to be easy...

And I agree with Lowell that this poll that shows Congressman Perriello only down by two is too good to be true. That six percent for Clark looks VERY suspect to me, unless it weighs Charlottesville heavily and the Repubs there are punishing Hurt for blowing off their debate. Still, I find it very hard to believe that Hurt is up by twenty-six. Al Weed didn't even lose by that much, did he? I think even the gloaters on the forums won't take a fifty-buck bet that Hurt will win by that. Of course, as the congressman undoubtedly already knows, a win's a win, even if it's one vote.

If it is close (and at this point, who the hell knows), then the congressman has a shot because his organization was tops at getting out the votes last year and perhaps he can combat the general malaise that's gripping the country re: Democrats. But this district's demographics definitely work against him.

And even though piling on Perriello seems to be the hip thing to do in the Virginia political blogs, even I have to say I'm not a huge fan of his latest ad. While there's no question Robert "World Of" Hurt is a corporate whore, I think the Congressman has been the best salesman of himself, and this ad keeps his screen time to a minimum. I'd love to see an ad detailing very specifically the projects he's brought to the 5th (which even Hurt can't bring himself to criticize).

We still great power! Our cars superior!

Mrs. Nevskaya showed me the hot new viral video in Russia; a little background, Pootie-Poot was pootie-pooting around in a Russian Lada car to show the strength and durability of domestic cars. The problems here are a) Putin took three yellow Ladas on his trip, presumably in case one of them broke down b) all the other cars in the ridiculously large entourage were clearly of foreign make, and c) the punchline occurs at around the 2-minute mark, where the third yellow Lada is on the back of a truck and the audience assumes (not unreasonably) that it must have broken down.

Here's a British blog article on the whole debacle, and those students of Russian language and linguistics will no doubt delight at the curse words thrown around.

8 Bits O' Nevsky - WTF am I supposed to do next edition

If you were concerned about purchasing Metroid: Other M because you had heard that it was a bit of a departure from past games, let me assure you that it is a Metroid game through and through.

Because I've played it for 20 minutes and it's already really fucking pissing me off.

No, I'm not a big Metroid fanboy. Not unlike the Final Fantasy series, the only game I've managed to beat is the first one on the NES. And I'm pretty sure I piggybacked on my brother's progress on that one to finish it. Unlike Zelda, I don't think I really got a handle of how I was supposed to progress. All those little nooks and crannies that encouraged exploration just confused the hell out of me, occasionally I'd trip through a hole and progress but more often than not I'd go back and forth between rooms clearly missing something but not taking the time to look as closely as I should have.

And things didn't improve so much when I bought the Metroid Prime Trilogy last year. I felt I had to buy the game the way semi-intellectuals purchase The Complete Works of Shakespeare, because it would look good on my shelf. And for fifty bucks MPT is an unbelievable bargain. It's either a testimony to the series or a condemnation of 90% of Wii game designers that the original Metroid Prime is still one of the best-looking games on the Wii. But I stopped about 25% into the first game despite the excellent level design and wonderful controls because...well, I'm not really sure why. Really need to get back to it.

So anyway, I pop in Other M, big cutscenes, check. Quick tutorial, and the Wiimote-only controls seem unnecessarily difficult. Why not use the nunchuk for moving around? Then you can use either the C or Z button to pop into visor mode. Fine, I get down to a room, defeat the enemies, and spend fifteen minutes looking for the next key. And I just can't fricking find it and it's getting on my nerves so much I decide to quit even though I wasn't able to save my progress which means I'm going to have to watch those cutscenes again and I just bet you can't skip through them.

So, this Metroid experience will be like just the others, I fear. You'd think I'd learn.

Speaking of shriveled-up teats, what, you weren't speaking about that?

Times can be hard, we're all busy. We've all got our own responsibilities to ourselves, our loved ones, and society as a whole.

And despite being busy, I would be remiss in my societal duties if I didn't say fuck Alan Simpson. Sideways.

Anyone looking for another opinion on that doughy douchebag?

At first, I didn't feel like commenting on the Beck sideshow in DC, he was so clearly a clown it was better for my blood pressure to ignore him.

But then I had a discussion with some friends who I consider pretty reasonable (i.e. Democratic) but told me the so-called Ground Zero so-called mosque shouldn't be built. Oh, no one was arguing they didn't have the right to build their center, but "they should be more sensitive" to others. I pointed out that it's difficult to be sensitive to manufactured fake outrage because there's absolutely no way to alleviate it, but it occurred to me that no one was arguing that Beck was being insensitive by appropriating a definite moment of the civil rights movement for something that was clearly wasn't.

Because, of course, that was the point. By associating his event with the earlier march on Washington, Beck was trying to provoke normal people into a response that would send his followers swaddling themselves in the cloth of false victimization. It was as disgustingly cynical a moment in our history as I'd ever hope to see, and my only solace in it is that Beck can't make himself any more noble by trying to redefine Dr. King's legacy just as last weekend didn't make Dr. King a posthumous douchebag.

Actually, it's not fair to call Beck that, those have at least known the touch of a woman...

Heh. Two corgis.

Bro sent me this link (via Warming Glow) of two corgis on a treadmill. Awwwww, the left one's a fluffie!



This almost makes me forget yesterday when Mr. Monty, in his anxiousness to run in for dinner, ran over my bare foot and slashed me with his short-but-motherfucking-sharp claws leaving a wound resembling the one on Simon Le Bon's neck in the Hungry Like The Wolf video (and no, I'm not linking to that oh fine here).

I want to be kind to Ken Mehlman...

And while I understand the righteous anger of all the commenters in this article I think we should applaud him for this, because the sooner we can get all the closet cases out of the Republican Party and let 'em know it's all good, the happier we'll all be.

So, so true...

...what Mr. Jaquith wrote about Perriello's meeting with The Tea Party yesterday.

When I told bro about this his response was "So, did he give them a bill for his brother's cut gas line?"

Robert's gonna Hurt jobs in our district.

Reading this article was very depressing (and not just for the doofy comments) because it illustrates the challenge Perriello is going to face with his message and the intellectual dishonesty of the Hurt campaign.

As much as it may be true, "it could have been a lot worse" is not a great political slogan. And as much as the congressman has done to help our district with projects like the Cane Creek Centre and Monogram Snack Foods in Martinsville, and the Robertson Bridge, all these small projects that are making a real difference are being drowned out by the shouts of "socialism".

I think it's only fair to point out that all of these projects are in sections of our district that are not expected to break for Perriello.

And Robert Hurt needs to answer the question, if you think the stimulus is so horrible, which of these projects should be cut? And not in the way his spokesman tries to crapweasel his way out of it:

When asked whether Hurt supported any of the local projects, such as the Robertson Bridge, Harrison said there “may be projects in the 5th District that are worthy of federal funding, but they shouldn’t require a trillion dollars of additional debt and hundreds of millions in other wasteful government spending projects to get them done.”

Perhaps the state senator can spending a little time reading about these projects and the difference they're making in between offering his opinions on Cordoba House and ducking debates.

Kevin McDonald is the funniest Kid in the Hall.

This is a fact, not a value judgment. So the AV Club's Random Roles feature on Kevin is a must-read. I love that the "Don't Put Salt In Your Eyes" sketch is based on fact.

And here's another one of his brilliant sketches and one of my personal faves.

Dammit, Madsen, that "Bust The Pro" t-shirt was mine!

Playing a Full Tilt $5 KO tourney, and Jeff Madsen's at our table. Not really playing, though, he was in instafold mode and then started pushing randomly. I wake up with pocket jacks when he tries it again, and he turns over 6-9 of diamonds...and hits the straight. And I hit the bottle...

That's poker, and idiots like me get the anguish they deserve for playing it.

Someone want to remind Robert Hurt where he lives?

I'll give him points for honesty; it's clear Hurt wants to talk about anything except the 5th District.

Still, it takes a special kind of balls to claim the congressman should be focusing on jobs and then asking about the Cordoba Center in the exact same press release.

Of course, if Hurt chose to attend debates or even read the news, he would have known the Congressman voted for 439 jobs in this district not too long ago.

I also can't wait to hear Sen. Hurt's opinions about unicorns and leprechauns...

Because we all know the country's being overrun with anchor babies, as immigrant mothers throw themselves on their backs on the border in the last stages of labor so that with one mighty push they can propel their newborns onto American soil.

But credit where credit's due, at least Senator Hurt seems more enlightened then his Republican brethren and isn't so quick to scribble a Sharpie over the Constitution.

It's just that with his quick comments on this issue and Cordoba House, I can't help but wonder if he plans on offering ideas to create jobs for the constituents in the district he ostensibly hopes to represent. If only there were some sort of forum for him to present these ideas...

8 Bits O' Nevsky - Adrien Brody-lookin' Japanese sheep-man edition

And sometimes, the subject lines just write themselves. I have no fucking idea what's going on in this game, but I want it...

LEAVE HOWARD ALONE!!!!

I think what Dean said about the Cordoba Center was dead wrong, period.

Nonetheless, it seems to me that for some reason a lot of blogs are enjoying piling on, and I can't go for that. Because Dr. Dean will always be to me the guy who had the balls to say in 2003 what everyone else was saying in 2006.

And referring to that link, how does Dean's faux pas prove that he shouldn't have been Secretary of HHS? C'mon, this is the administration with Joe futhermucking Biden (and I love the guy)...

Blogging burgers bloopers bosoms...

Just after my blog post about Five Guys, our local weekly just finished its annual poll of favorite places and in a surprising upset (in my opinion), Five Guys was denied its repeat win by our local joint Boylan Heights. And I can't say I disagree; I don't get there too often because it's usually packed with UVA students, but when I've gone, it's been deeeeeee-licious.

It occurs to me that given my recent posts the four people who read this blog would think I do nothing but stuff burgers down my gullet all day. I'll have you know that with my exhausting regimen I've dropped twenty pounds in just this past month, and as this photo will attest, I've never looked better.

Good one, Tom...

Via Blue Virginia, Congressman Perriello has a new ad up. This one hits hard and has a killer punchline...

Hoping against hope sanity prevails...

I'd like to think this Time article is the walking back against the Cordoba House hysteria I was wishing for, but I won't hold my breath.

I was pleased, however, to see our congressman refusing to take the bait and addressing the controversy for what it is, an attempt at distracting the voters from the real issues in our district.

Mmmmm, mmmmm, that IS a tasty burger!

Sis sent me this link as Five Guys managed to beat out In n' Out for the best burger in America according to Zagat. As a resident of the East Coast and having frequented the three Five Guys locations in Charlottesville, that's a tough but reasonable call. I'd certainly understand it if In n' Outers (giggle)were puking their guts up at the injustice; on a recent trip to Vegas with the sibs we all made a special trip to experience the mouth-watering glory of the double-double, and we were not disappointed. And given the choice between the two, I'd pick In n' Out for lunch. The burgers are a close enough call but only In n' Out has strawberry shakes. And they're damn good.

Still, I not much of a meat-eater (giggle); once a week tops. And when the boo-boo and I have burgers for dinner, more often than not I make 'em at home. Two ingredients: fresh ground meat from The Organic Butcher and a little seasoned salt. I don't sully the meat with Worchestershire sauce or eggs. I'm making hamburgers, not no goddamn Egg McMuffins.

And while I emulate Five Guys with my home burgers, here's how to make your own double-double.

Dammit, I made myself hungry.

8 Bits O' Nevsky - Just buy this now edition...

Look, I'll make this quick. The World Ends With You is on sale for $15 at Amazon today. It is the single best DS game, period. So go buy it.

Shut up. Buy it now.