Starring Jack Black, Neil Patrick Harris, John C. Reilly, Allison Janney and more, via Funny or Die

Pretty funny. Am I finding this late, or was it made late?
Either way, better late than never.

Mouse over the image for alt-text goodness. Via XKCD: Alternate Currency

It’s that time of the year and people are organizations are beginning to crown their whatevers of the year.

And first up (for me) is Merriam-Webster. They’ve named the 2008 Word of the Year based on which word “received the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online over the shortest period of time.”

And the 2008 Word of the Year is:

bailout (noun)

a rescue from financial distress

From the site:

With politics and the economy foremost on the minds of many, it is no wonder that bailout—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency and fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2008.

Bailout, defined in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition as “a rescue from financial distress,” received the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online over the shortest period of time. As evident from the 2008 Word of the Year contenders list below, the presidential campaign and financial issues factored heavily in the concerns of our online visitors throughout the year.

The runner ups (1-10) are as follows:
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Reading this article got me freaking fired up, hence the title before the dots. But after some consideration.. “or don’t?” Story first. Lots of (parentheses) follow.

From this WaPo article entitled “Lieberman Contributed to GOP Senate, House Candidates”

..Having ridden the wave of support for President-elect Barack Obama, (new democratic senators) Udall and Merkley spoke out in favor of the spirit of reconciliation and moving on from the campaign, in which Lieberman was one of the highest profile supporters of the Republican presidential ticket.

But no one in the room knew, as Merkley spoke, that Lieberman had supported Merkley’s opponent, Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.). Lieberman, through his Reuniting Our Country PAC, gave Smith’s reelection bid $5,000 on Oct. 10, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Lieberman’s support of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for the presidency was well known, punctuated by his nationally televised speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul criticizing Obama as not prepared to be president. His endorsement of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has served as the top Republican beside him at the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, also was well known in Democratic circles.

But not even Merkley knew of Lieberman’s backing of Smith in their critical Senate race, until Capitol Briefing alerted his staff today.

“We were surprised to hear this news, but it’s time to put the election behind us. Jeff Merkley is looking forward to working with all his new colleagues on an agenda that will put our nation back on track,” said Julie Edwards, spokeswoman for Merkley.

Lieberman’s support of Smith came the same weekend he wrote an op-ed in the St. Paul Pioneer Press defending Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) for his work as chairman of an investigative subcommittee on Lieberman’s homeland security committee. The same day he wrote a check to Smith, Lieberman’s ROC PAC gave $5,000 to Rep. Peter King, the Long Island Republican. In radio and TV appearances the final days of the campaign, Lieberman also frequently said that a Democratic majority of 60 votes, a filibuster-proof level, would be a bad thing.

Lieberman’s $5,000 check was clearly not a difference maker for Smith, as Merkley still won by more than 50,000 votes. And Coleman is clinging to a razor-thin lead during a recount of his race against Democrat Al Franken.

But the internal Democratic caucus debate over Lieberman’s fate almost always focused on Lieberman’s criticism of Obama, not on his support of Republicans in Senate races. Edwards, Merkley’s spokeswoman, has said that Merkley also expressed how much Lieberman’s actions in the presidential race angered him. He did not encourage other Democrats to vote one way or the other, but did talk about moving on from the bitter fights of the campaign.

Then, on a 42-13 vote, Democrats supported keeping Lieberman as chairman of the committee with broad oversight of the Obama administration and removing him from the Environment and Public Works Committee…

The formatting above is mine, for emphasis.

So, let me get this straight. This former VP candidate for the Democratic party contributed AT LEAST $10,000 cash dollars to help GOP Senators and Representatives, and priceless endorsements of John McCain and other GOP members, and the Dems (Obama) want to keep him.

My first reaction is “Yeah fucking right! Kick this dipshit to the curb!”

This guy is basically a god damn turncoat. HE SPOKE AT THE RNC! Jesus Christ!

It takes a lot of chutzpah for Dems (Obama) to let bygones be bygones and welcome ol’ Joe back. Or are they (hopefully) being crafty?

Consider: Connecticut went overwhelmingly for Obama. Lieberman’s approval ratings in his state are not what they used to be. Sleeping with the enemy doesn’t help.Could part of this also be a decision to not fight this battle now, but to hang in there until Lieberman is up for re-election in 2010 and let Connecticut voters bury Joe on election day?

This guy is scum, and I HOPE that Dems (Obama) are just planning to let the voters of the fine state of Connecticut do their dirty work for them. Joe has no place in this party. He’s now put his money where his mouth has been, and shown his true colors.

Basically: Joe’s ass better be on the curb by 2010.
The Dems (Obama) have punted. Your ball Connecticut.

Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (Ophelia), 2001

Photographer Gregory Crewdson elaborately stages all of his photos. To create a single photo he pretty much uses a film crew, including everything from the lighting equipment to the set designers. Thus, his work is very highly polished and perfect in the technical sense. He favors photos over films because they convey one decisive moment of a narrative. A photograph gives the viewer the opportunity to imagine what happened before and what happens after. There is a first impression beauty to his photos, but as you keep looking the underlying anxiety, fear and isolation become overwhelming.

I really like Crewdson’s work because he stages everything; he defies the norms of photography. He forces us to ask the question of whether or not his work is photography. Furthermore, I like that his photos look absolutely normal at first glance then you take another look and think “What the heck?” You have to try to figure out what happened, why is this woman floating on a sea of water in her house? The photos below convey his eery aesthetic a little better.

Read more »

Happy Thanksgiving Timmy!

And everyone else of course. It’s okay to be a glutton today.

I wish the stupid Lions would stop hosting Thanksgiving NFL games, they stink every year.

Also enjoy a nice (lip synced) RickRolling via Cartoon Network at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade:

Let me follow that old meme with a new one:
“Yo dawg I herd you like rolling so we put a rick on your roll so you can get rolled while you roll”

(new art of the week tomorrow)

–

A GUEST Blogger & New Poll topic soon.

Thanksgiving update tomorrow.

If I had to pick an all time favorite sports moment, this would most definitely be it.

I’m not one of those people that has an answer to questions like “What’s your all time favorite sports moment?” Too many fields are too all encompassing to have concise answers. But at the ripe age of 21, I can say right now my all time favorite sports moment is the 2007 Fiesta Bowl: 11-0 Boise State vs. 11-1 Oklahoma.

Boise state was the Cinderella story in College Football in 2007: an undefeated team from the Western Athletic Conference. Being undefeated in the WAC doesn’t mean as much as say, being undefeated in the SEC or Big 10, because the caliber teams you play just aren’t as good, so it’s easier to go 11-0. Regardless, they got a major bowl game vs an “establishment” team in the Sooners. No one really knew how good Boise State was, since they didn’t have to play the top tier of NCAA teams. Everyone knew after this game.

I remember being superbly interested in this game, mainly because a no-name team that played on a blue field was going to play the Fiesta bowl vs the freaking Sooners. That’s storyline enough. Add in a perfect season being on the line, you have the makings of a thriller. If Jason Hobbs is reading this, maybe he’ll remember this game too: he came over near the end of regulation. I don’t know how big of a football fan he is, but I remember us both being fairly glued to the television for the duration.

For full disclosures sake: I am a big sucker for gadget plays and trickery on the field. In Madden I constantly run fake punts and HB passes. There’s something about it. In a game as scrutinized and micro-analyzed as (Pro or College) football, there’s something mystifying about still being able to trick the other team. That’s probably what solidified this as my favorite all time sports moments: the game coming down to basically 3 gadget plays (see second video below). Not to take away from the rest of the game, it was a thriller, from both sides.

I’ll close without overly stating my case: this was an amazing game. Everyone wants the underdog to win (unless they have a dog in the race). And the underdog won, in amazing fashion. A great end, to a great story: 12-0 Broncos.

I’ve dug up a condensed highlight reel and a more introspective look at the 3 gadget plays that won the game. The videos are below: