Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Jesus Camp


http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/
(watch the videos on the website)

"I wanna see young people you are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I wanna see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Pakistan and Israel and Palestine...because we have the truth!"

This documentary is amazing. It's only showing in a limited number of theatres, but it will be playing in a few theatres in CA on September 29th. The film investigates a summer camp that Christian parents send their born-again kids to, where they are brain-washed into believing all sorts of radical ideas, turning them into war-mongers who will die for their religion.

Theatre List and release dates:
http://www.jesuscampthemovie.com/theatreList.html

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Loose Change



With the 5-Year Anniversary of September 11th on its way, I thought I'd share an extremely controversial video regarding a conspiracy theory plot perpetrated by our own government. "Loose Change" is a mind bending argument that is definitely worth a look. Despite all the propaganda and Bush administration anti-sentimentality, the fact that no hard evidence of a Boeing 757 was found at the site of the Pentagon certainly makes you wonder what other lies were told concerning 9/11. However, when the video went into the details of doctored cell phone calls, my disbelief began to settle in. Naturally, everyone is entitled to their own opinion of what happened. The sad reality is that we may never have conclusive proof of what actually took place on the event many have called the "Pearl Harbor of Our Time".

My only suggestion is to never stop asking questions of our government or anyone else in a position of power or authority. I find it completely ridiculous for anyone to be labeled as "Unpatriotic", "Treasonous", or "Un-American" just because they don't agree with those currently in power. After all, the citizens of these United States need only be loyal to this country, not our President. Government is supposed to support its people, not the other way around.

Monday, August 28, 2006

The Emmys Were Lost On Me


At the start of the Emmys last night, the show opened with this skit about Lost:

http://www.lostlinks.net/videos/emmyskit.htm

My favorite line:

Conan: "I've gotta get to the Emmy's. You wanna come with me?"
Hurley: "Well.. we weren't exactly invited."
Conan: "But you won last year! Nothing makes sense anymore."

It's apparent, the process of Emmy nomination is in need of some serious tweaking. Unfortunatley, shows with a more serialized approach were penalized since the voters were only required to watch one hand-picked episode by each show's producers. As a result, programs like Lost were snubbed and ignored due to its inherently complex storyline.

Ironicly, this is one of the main reasons why I like this show so much. Since Lost has so many interweaving storythreads, one episode could never do it justice. So much depends on your understanding of the characters' past experiences and internal struggles. On top of that, the mythology of show adds even more layers to the convoluted puzzle that is Lost.

But then again... we don't watch it because it gets Emmy's. We watch because we appreciate it for what it is: One of TVs smartest dramas on television today. But I can't blame the Emmy nomination committee for not getting it. Their loss. Besides the ratings and online fan community speaks for itself.

Article: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/4141476.html

Stay tuned for Wednesday, October 4th, 9pm.

Friday, August 25, 2006

The Ethics of Stem Cell Research


A new scientific study has found a way to extract stem cells from human embryos without destroying the embryo itself. This is obviously a notable breakthrough that will hopefully turn the tide of legislature concerning stem cell research in this country.

Link to article

However, the response from the White House indicates that they are ignoring its findings, stating:

Response in the New York Times

"Any use of human embryos for research purposes raises serious ethical questions.
This technique does not resolve those concerns.”

How can they say this when the primary argument against this research conveyed by opponents of stem cell research is no longer an issue?!? This reaction reminds me of a child who covers their ears, and repeats the phrase "I'm not listening!" over and over so they can avoid providing a cognitive rebuttal.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Vote Now for the Stephen Colbert Bridge!

This is a funny story...

There's a contest to vote for the name of a bridge in Hungary. So Stephen Colbert of the "Colbert Report" urged his viewers to name it the Stephen Colbert hid (hid is bridge in Hungarian), after himself . The first phase of voting concluded with Stephen Colbert as the leader with over 17 million votes. In a distant 2nd place, the Nicholas Zrinski hid had 4 million votes. And the Chuck Norris hid was bumped from 1st to 5th. The funny thing is, Hungary only has a population of approximately 10 million.



Now they're asking people to vote in a second phase, for one of the 25 top choices so far. The Stephen Colbert hid currently leads the pack w/ 8000 votes, with the Jon Stewart hid trails in 2nd w/ 3000 votes. You can view the current tally here.

The truth is, this isn't the first time Colbert has rallied the blogosphere into a public prank. On the July 31st, 2006 episode concerning Wikipedia, Colbert made outrageous claims that "the population of elephants tripled in the last six months," causing many to alter elephant-related Wikipedia pages, which ultimately led to the temporary lockdown of all these pages.

Recently, Colbert provided a "Star Wars Kid"-like video of himself in front of a green screen. He proposed a contest to submit the best modimodified version of this video, complete w/ lightsaber effects and anything else the creator might like to include. Update: Here is a list of notable entries.

Honestly, I think this type of audience involvement creates a fun, inclusive form of entertainment. Just like how taking part in message boards, blogs and providing podcast feedback allow us to extend our voices further than tradional media outlets has allowed in the past, Tso too does this style of television. The fact that Stephen Colbert does a wonderful portrayal of Bill O'Reilly is also a plus.

So in order to join in on the action, use the link below to vote for the bridge, the Democratic way...

To vote, go here:
http://www.m0hid.gov.hu/

UPDATED! Phase II Voting instructions: Walk-through of the voting process

  • Click on the "Regisztráció" link on the top left-hand corner of the page.
  • Write in your email, and your password, and a repeat of the password (your password confirmation) in the three blank fields (IN THAT ORDER).
  • In minutes, you get a mail with a confirmation link and your password. Click on the link included in the e-mail.
  • When you click on the link in the e-mail, you will get redirected to the voting page.
  • Type your e-mail in the E-mail cim field, and your password in the Jelsó field.
  • Select the radial button by "Stephen Colbert híd" and click the Belépés button. You will be taken to a screen with the vote tallies. To vote again, click on the Kilépés button.
  • "Belépések száma" means "Number of logins". It does appear that you can vote unlimited times, but you have to be registered to do so.
  • "Összesen" on the bottom means "All votes", and the Toplista tally page seems to be working again if you would like to see the tally of all of the votes.
  • And, in case you're wondering, yes the Colbert Nation has already found a way to cheat stuff the ballot box on this round of votes, too. But Colbert has requested (via the ColbertNation.com forums) that everyone play nice so that we don't block out all of the other people from around the world who might want to vote. In other words - don't cheat. Do it the long way.

Monday, August 21, 2006

We're Not Leaving...

Video: http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/21/bush-not-leaving/



Well, you heard it straight from the horse's mouth: "We're not leaving So Long As I'm President". Up until at least January of 2009, we are literally screwed. It's time for the impeachment proceedings to begin! The NSA Spying Scandal, the unwarranted detainment of Guantanamo Bay prisoners; the constitutionality of these offenses needs to be examined much more closely and this administration must take responsibility for it's actions.

Cuz let's face it, do we really want these people running our government for the next two and a half years?

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Now and Then

Just a word of warning, this is going to be less about Technology and more about Knowledge..


So, I was listening to The Best of the Left podcast this morning and this one overarching theme of the Bush Administration's policies hit me: "Terrorism is the new Communism". Just like how, in past decades, the US has taken a vicious stance against eradicating Communism from the face of the Earth, we now take that same stance against Terrorism today. The evils of Communism that forced us to orchestrate uprisings and quell political dictators have been given a modern face-lift, a new "Terrorist" branding, and a Middle Eastern spin. We are chasing the same ghosts today as we did during the Vietnam War. Terrorism is being used today as a scapegoat for nearly everything. It has clearly become the magic word used as political ammunition for obtaining anything our government desires. Are we still so blind with rage from an attack that happened 5 years ago that we should stumble into a conflict we have no business interfering with? The war mongering has got to stop.


...At least until we can deploy large mech armies to do the fighting for us. Okay, so I sprinkled a little technology in there. I couldn't help it. Come to think of it, here's what would be ideal... Instead of mounting our forces for that inevitable WWIII, what if, alternatively, all the world's superpower leaders join in a Battlefield 2 game. It can even be that one Middle Eastern map. See this way, at the end of the day, we can all go home to our respective houses/huts, watch a little tv, and remain breathing.

Problem solved!

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Lego Star Wars II

Despite the fact that the first game was a little kiddie and also wasn't based on the greatest of movies, the nerd-friendly combination of Star Wars and Lego-everything was almost too good to be true. Now, they're applying the Lego Star Wars treatment to the original trilogy. I'll probably play this just for the wonderful memories of the Empire vs the Rebels. When The Force was still just The Force, not some midichlorian crap! When Darth Vader was the badass of the universe, not some whiny show-off who misses his mommy. Maybe they should really think about making those Indiana Jones and Rocky sequels...before they tarnish another perfectly good movie franchise. Matt Dameon as Captian Kirk, anyone?