The Die Hard franchise of movies overall is great fun and Die Hard recently was voted the best action movie of all time. Even the 3rd movie was good, mostly because it took place in NYC.
To show their love, a music group made a song about these flicks and now I can’t get it out of my head. Watch, enjoy and then you too try to rid yourself of this super poppy rock diddie:
Via Chris
Five decisions were recently made by the Supreme Court in cases that were pending before it. They all were 5-4 rulings and each time it was the same five for and the same five against. All five of the decisions refute, repeal or ignore past precidents and they unfortunately are a sign of things to come in this country.
In case you were wondering, below are the five jurors who voted to move our country backwards and the ones who are trying to keep these barbarians from the gate:
To me it is as clear as a pane of glass: this is the Bush legacy and its alive and active already. Fuck Iraq: we need to pay attention to what is happening here. This country is quickly becoming much more conservative, less liberal and it looks like it will only continue this way for the forseeable future.
Thanks to the NYT for that image
Like many people who vote Democrat and who are paying careful attention to the 2008 Presidential race, I am currently torn between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton. I used to also throw John Edwards in the mix but now its just down to Hil and the Big O.
To help me make up my mind, I am going to hear Obama speak on Friday night and depending on how eloquent he is, I may be won over to his side. Then again, Hillary might have already pushed me there today by naming Celine Dion’s “You and I” as her campaign song! I mean, as the Junior Senator from New York, doesn’t Hillary watch enough NY1 to know that this is the same song that is used in the “Go to Canada” tourism commercials?!?
Okay, to be fair, she didn’t choose it: her supporters chose it for her as she had a contest where she listed about 8 songs and said “vote for my campaign song.” I forget who I voted for but it was definitely not that crazy Cannuck and if her supporters love Celine Dion, maybe I’m rooting for the wrong team…
That being said, Hillary did do something incredibly cute and clever for a politician in announcing it: she and Bill spoofed the Sopranos ending! To be punny, I found it hilarious. Ba dum dum. Make sure your speakers are on and check it out below:
In this day and age, isn’t it great that we are focusing on campaign songs too and not just the issues? To be honest, I’m not even sure if I mean that sarcastically or not. I mean, things are so fucked up in the world, you need to laugh once in a while and just saying “Iraq, Terrorism, Taxes, etc” gets boring after a while and you tune out. So, if having a campaign song contest is a way to get you involved again, who is to say that its so bad?
Paul McCartney played a secret and free show at the Highline Ballroom yesterday and I missed it. I have all the time in the world right now to sit and wait on a line for tickets yet knowledge of this show escaped my usual network of sources and I only found out about it today after the fact. Sure, it was only announced on his web site but still, come on – at this point either my minions or I should have been able to sniff this show out. He played 20 songs, a mix of Beatles songs and songs from his new album Memory Almost Full and from what I’ve seen in the “Watch” section of his site (where you can view clips of the the show), he sounded and looked great. And I missed it. Doh!
I wrote about a site called Tour Filter back in March of this year and how I was hoping not to “slip” anymore regarding rock shows because of this site. However, I wasn’t tracking Paul McCartney on TourFilter – probably because his last tour’s tickets started at $5,000 each (okay, I exagerated a tiny bit). I wonder when Tour Filter picked up on the show…
Regardless, in order for this to not happen again, I plan on now doing 3 things: add every single band I like to my Tour Filter profile, add these bands as my friend at MySpace (if they have a profile there) and sign up for their mailing lists from their own personal web sites. I would suggest you do the same except then maybe you’ll snag my ticket in the future so instead I say simply do what you want. Only time will tell to see if I “slip” again in the future…
Via Dave
I received the list below in an email from my Uncle and I have to say, it was the first forward in a long time that I not only read but found humorous. Those in a relationship with a woman will find the list below especially useful. So, without futher ado, the nine words that women use and what they mean:
1. Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
2. Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
3. Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine. (Refer back to #1 for the meaning of fine.)
4. Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don’t do it!
5. Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to #3 for the meaning of nothing.)
6. That’s Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a women can make to a man. That’s okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
7. Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you’re welcome.
8. Whatever: Is a women’s way of saying F@!K YOU!
9. Don’t worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking “What’s wrong?” (For the woman’s response refer to #3)
Via the Mayor
The Sopranos are dead. Long live the Sopranos. I am sad, yet exhilarated that the show ended the way it did. After watching the Sopranos finale titled “Made in America,” you will find yourself in 1 of 2 camps, you loved it or hated it, and it’s all because of those last 5 minutes in the diner.
I for one loved it. I think it’s because I’m a writer and one who believes the show is more art than entertainment. Who are we to makes demands of an artist? To me, David Chase created art that was displayed on a television screen. Who am I to argue with his vision? Who am I to tell him how his story should end? As an aside, during the episode we see a “Twilight Zone” episode and Little Miss Sunshine playing on background TVs. I think its Chase saying, “Look – writing is important. Its the story that makes the show.
In keeping with that thought, here is a great quote from the Chase. He said,
“I don’t think art should give answers. I think art should only pose questions. And art should not fill in blanks for people, or I think that’s what’s called propaganda. I think art should only raise questions, a lot of which may be even dissonant and you don’t even know you’re being asked a question, but that it creates some kind of tension inside you.”
For all those that want (and demand) closure, go find Da Vinci and ask him why the Mona Lisa is smiling. Oh wait, he’s dead. I guess you’re going to make up a reason….
Getting back to the show itself, there are 2 major theories and 1 dark horse theory about what happened. They are: Tony was killed, Tony was not killed, the audience was killed.
If you want to read more on first 2, The NY Times has 2 great posts in its Lede blog about them. I would read this post and then read this post to get a good sense of what is what.
I am in the “Tony wasn’t killed” camp because for 5 minutes, we get inside of Tony’s head. We get to know, and feel if your heart was thumping like mine was, what it is like to be Tony, where every second everything needs to be analyzed like it’s a threat. He is never safe, never truly happy, even at “happy times.” Sure, its possible that he died, that the Members Only guy is supposed to be Nicky Leotardo and that he kills Tony when he comes out of the bathroom but that is the beauty of this final episode: we just don’t know. That being said, the Nicky Leotardo theory has been slammed due to it having some huge semi-sized holes in it.
Here is another theory, more of a dark horse theory, but one I am now in love with it because its a combo of the one that I agree with (a.ka. Tony wasn’t killed): WE were whacked. WE didn’t see it coming. WE don’t see anything or hear any music because WE just died. You can read more about the “WE got whacked” theory here. Basically, the idea is that the show goes on, like life after we are dead, except we aren’t around to see what happens.
Lets talk about the music now. For a show that was so musical, the lack of music was telling. Steven Van Zandt said on Yes Network’s Centerstage the show featured the best music in any TV show ever. If you can, watch this interview on repeats. He is very smart, very artistic and very, very cool. In fact, I made as background noise for the dinner party we threw in honor of the show ending a music mix that only featured music used in a Sopranos episode. I couldn’t wait to hear what song they used as the last song so the silence to me was shocking and in the end awesome.
If you are on the fence about Tony not dying or about us being the ones “whacked,” think of the words in the Journey song: Oh, the movie never ends – It goes on and on and on and on – Don’t stop believin’ Even the band name is telling as many people say that life is a journey and we should enjoy the trip, not the destination you hope to reach. If that is the case, this is more weight behind the “Tony wasn’t killed” theories…
Adieu to a fantastic show. TV will never be the same again.
For a city that has only existed for about 100 years, there seems to be an inordinate amount of famous legal problems that have developed there. Skipping straight to the 60’s, we have: the Watts riots; rampant & gross corruption in their police department for years; the Rodney King trial, acquittal and subsequent riots; the OJ trial and its absurd verdict.
Now, here is yet another bit of ridiculousness: a celebrity named after the City of Lights, who was caught driving under the influence 3x, was sent to serve the rest of her sentence from home after only serving in jail 3 days of her 23 day sentence (which was reduced from 42 days due to overcrowding mind you). The reason she was sent home? She has an “unnamed” medical condition. Please note that the judge specifically spelled out during sentencing that this Euro-capital was not allowed to serve house detention. Also please note that nationwide, a third of all inmates have a medical condition and none of them are sent home. Rather, if they receive treatment at all, they go to a medical jail.
After I heard this news yesterday, to me, this is the final straw. LA is an absolute fucking joke. Like everything else in La-la Land, the rule of law is merely based on smoke and mirrors. I think their Supreme Court is probably just a movie set facade.
To put this in perspective, my father worked in the NYS Appellate court system for about 20 years. His goal was to try to get sentences reduced for Clients who received poor previous legal representation and who really didn’t deserve to be in jail for as long as they were sentenced. There were the guys who, while guilty, went away for 10 – 20 when they really should have only gone away for 3 – 5. He also fought for mentally retarded people who were in crime committing crews (they drove get-away cars, acted as look outs, etc) to try to get their sentences reduced as they for the most part really didn’t know what was going on. Keep in mind all of these clients admitted guilt and showed contrition. That being said, he won these types of cases once in a very blue moon, like one every other year.
That was New York. This is LA. A celebutard who could have killed someone’s son/daughter/mother/father on 3 different occasions by driving drunk received probation the first two times and was told simply “don’t drive.” While she has more than enough money to take a taxi everywhere, she continued to cruise around and pretended not to know what she was doing is wrong. She still has not shown remorse yet she received special, beneficial treatment that no other citizen in this country would receive, that is, unless you happen to be a US citizen living in LA.
The only positive I see here is that we have discovered new legal superheroes – the City of Light’s legal team. I have no clue how they were able to pull this off. It’s like they traveled faster than the speed of light. Maybe Sheriff Lee Baca got a hummer along with a two movie deal. It’s simply mind blowing (pun intended).
The clip below is of an interview Ali G conducted, or tried to conduct, with Andy Rooney. Like all of Ali G’s interviews, the subject gets pissed but this time it is because of Ali G’s poor language skills. For instance, Ali says “does you think” and then Andy corrects him saying, “it’s do you think.” Overall they get into quite a tiff about it which leads Andy to say at one point, “The english language is very clear. I have 50 books on the english language is you want to borrow one.”
For anyone who has ever corrected someone else’s grammer, please watch and enjoy.
Via Pere