Just In Case You're Still Confused...

...about the DTV switch that happens TONIGHT, here's a handy flowchart from our friends at Consumerist.com:



Hope that helps. You've only had 3 years to prepare, so I know you might be caught off guard. Of course, none of my regular reader* will have this problem.



*No, that's not a missprint.

Jon Stewart On The GM/Chrysler Bag Of Fail

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Be a F@#king Person - Dealer or No Dealer
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Indeed.

A Short Trip Down Memory Lane

Was digging through some old music the other day, and came across what in retrospect would be quite possibly the best rock song of my high school days. Granted, in the mid-90's there was a LOT of good rock: Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, REM, Radiohead, real U2, and a host of others. One that gets overlooked a lot (but is enjoying a resurgence recently) is Weezer. Thier "blue album" is one of the best rock albums front-to-back ever produced. Buddy Holly, Say It Ain't So, The World Has Turned and Left Me Here, and finally Undone - The Sweater Song all contribute to what is a fantastic pure rock album. So with that, I give you:

Weezer |MTV Music

This was filmed in one unbroken take, and directed by Spike Jonze (the director of the upcoming Where The Wild Things Are). He's pretty dang good.

Enjoy!

Encore: Here's Buddy Holly, just for funsies:

Weezer |MTV Music

And the Pork and Beans video, featuring spoofs (sort of) of some of the best viral videos of the past couple years. If you're an internet junkie, you'll love it.

Weezer |MTV Music

First Mother's Day!

Happy first Mother's Day to the best mommy in the world!

Super Creepy Trailer For Disctrict 9

Almost two years ago, I brought you a swett little short film called Alive In Joburg, about a group of aliens that arrive here, and are almost immediately relegated to living in ghettos and slums. Here's the original:



Well, now the director is releasing a FULL length motion picture version titled District 9. The first trailer has been released over at apple.com, you can view it here. When there's an embed available, I'll put it up. Pretty cool, right?

The Hairdo Grows Some Cajones

This is a big, hairy deal:

WAKE UP CALL: TEXAS GOV. BACK RESOLUTION AFFIRMING SOVEREIGNTY
Tue Apr 14 2009 08:44:54 ET

AUSTIN – Gov. Rick Perry joined state Rep. Brandon Creighton and sponsors of House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 50 in support of states’ rights under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

Perry continued: "Millions of Texans are tired of Washington, DC trying to come down here to tell us how to run Texas."

A number of recent federal proposals are not within the scope of the federal government’s constitutionally designated powers and impede the states’ right to govern themselves. HCR 50 affirms that Texas claims sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

It also designates that all compulsory federal legislation that requires states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties, or that requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding, be prohibited or repealed.

Via Drudge. This is what many of us have been waiting for for YEARS. Telling Washington to shove it. Awe. Some.

Pure Win.

As you may or may not know, Jack (from the david crowder band) is a friend of ours. So when we saw this mockumentary that was all about Jack, we were extremely excited. Enjoy:



"One the one hand, Jack needs to see a doctor..."

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Won't be taking Molly to see THIS one, but don't that look like the coolest thing since sliced bread? It'll be released as Apocolypse Meow in the US (probably so the delicate flowers don't get thier feelings hurt by the use of the "S" word. GASP!)



Looks like Tom Clancy's Peter Cottontail, right? Seriously, does that not look awesome?

You Will Believe!

Now the trailer for Where The Wild Things Are is out. And it rocks my face off. Had NO idea what to expect when I clicked play, and found what may be my favorite trailer of the year (as good as Benjamin Button). Do yourself a favor and give it a watch. You won't be sorry.




Many different trailer sizes and qualities here.

I've watched that 7 times now, and it brings a tear to my eye every time. Gawd, i'm such a girl.

I can't WAIT to get the DVD for Molly. Oh, anybody know the song in the trailer?

EDIT: Found the song: Arcade Fire-Wake Up. Just listened to the whole song. Wow. That's is one friggin' fantastic song. There's several different versions of it, even one with David Freaking Bowie! Sweet.

BIG HAIRY UPDATE!!! Oh. Yeah.

Poster for Where The Wild Things Are.



Now with MOAR PICS!











Loved this as a kid.

Unimportant Update

Was going back through some of the AMVs I'd made on YouTube, and noticed that they've made several of them available in High Quality (HQ) versions, with much improved visuals. They used the original uncompressed files I sent, and kept the quality. Pretty cool. You have to load each video, and then click on the "HQ" button on the bottom-right of the view screen. It allows you to see a lot more of the detail in videos (but also brings out the flubs I made!) Here's a link to my YouTube channel, and you can see which ones are HQ available.

Letter To GM. Priceless.

This one I personally verified on snopes. For the win:

Letter To GM

Letter To General Motors
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Abridged letter from Troy Clarke, President of General Motors

- followed by a response from our son, Gregory Knox:



Dear Employee,

Next week, Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Your elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is critical to our continuing the progress we began prior to the global financial crisis.....................As an employee, you have a lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to have your voice heard.

Thank you for your urgent action and ongoing support.

Troy Clarke
President
General Motors North America

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Gregory Knox,

In response to your request to call legislators and ask for a bailout for the United States automakers please consider the following, and please also pass this onto Troy Clark, the president of General Motors North America for me.

You are both infected with the same entitlement mentality that has bred like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping the nation, awaiting our new "messiah" to wave his magical wand and make all our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to keep "living the dream".

The dream is over!

The dream that we can ignore the consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for these atrocities and that still the masses will line up to buy our products

Don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle and countless other automotive OEM's and Tier ones for 3 decades now throughout the Midwest and what I've seen over the years in these union shops can only be described as disgusting.

Mr Clark, the president of General Motors, states:

There is widespread sentiment in this country, our government and especially in the media that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management. It is not.

You're right, it's not JUST management, how about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times, making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass so they can come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily could have done within their normal 40 hour week

How about the line workers who threaten newbies with all kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift and for being too productive (mustn't expose the lazy bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific underproduction, must we?!?) Do you really not know about this stuff?!?

How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's sad plea:

over the last few years we have closed the quality and efficiency gaps with our competitors.

What the hell has Detroit been doing for the last 40 years?!?

Did we really JUST wake up to the gaps in quality and efficiency between us and them?

The K car vs. the Accord?

The Pinto vs. the Civic?!?

Do I need to go on?

We are living through the inevitable outcome of the actions of the United States auto industry for decades.

Time to pay for your sins, Detroit .

I attended an economic summit last week where a brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a penny of "bailout money". Yes, he said, this would cause short term problems, but despite what people like George Bush and Troy Clark would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next day and something else would happen. Where there had been greedy and sloppy banks, new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market system works. It does work if we would let it work!

But for some reason we are now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't work; that we need the government to step in and "save us". Save us, hell we're nationalizing and unfortunately too many of this once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what's really happening but they sure can tell you the stats on their favorite sports teams yeah THAT'S important.

Does it occur to ANYONE that the "competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for decades now in this country?...

How can that be???

Let's see - -

Fuel efficient -

Listening to customers -

Investing in the proper tooling and automation for the long haul -

Not being too complacent or arrogant to listen to Dr W Edwards Deming 4 decades ago -

Ever increased productivity through quality, lean and six sigma plans -

Treating vendors like strategic partners, rather than like "the enemy" -

Efficient front and back offices -

Non union environment -

Again, I could go on and on, but I really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know in their hearts

I have six children, so I am not unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that you have gotten yourself into. My children do this on a weekly, if not daily basis, as I did at their age. I do for them what my parents did for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way). I make them stand on their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work them through.

Radical concept, huh?

Am I there for them in the wings? Of course but only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults

I don't want to oversimplify a complex situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the proper role of parenting and government.

Detroit and the United States need to pay for their sins.

Bad news people, it's coming whether we like it or not.

The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away" I laughed as I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the vote count was tallied "we might not do it in a year or in four"! Where was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for the office

Stop trying to put off the inevitable!

That house in Florida really isn't worth $750,000!

People who jump across a border really don't deserve free health care benefits!

That job driving that forklift for the big 3 really isn't worth $85,000 a year!

That couple whose combined income is less than $50,000 really shouldn't be living in that $485,000 home!

Let the market correct itself people, it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other side of it is a nation that appreciates what is has and doesn't live beyond its means and gets back to basics and redevelops the work ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world and probably turns back to God.

Sorry, don't cut my head off. I'm just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news"


Gregory J Knox
President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Franklin, Ohio 45005

The First Star Trek 11 To Get Me 'Stimulated'

Let the stimulus flow over you...



Not bad, eh?

Jon Stewart Beats CNBC Like A Rented Mule

Good Lord.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Now THAT'S a good, old-fashioned, behind-the-woodshed, paint-yer-backside-red beatin'.

WHOA.

When I first heard they were making a new Terminator film, I was like: "Eh, OK. Couldn't be any worse than the last one." Then I heard McG was directing. I thought, "Oh, maybe it can." Then the first trailer leaked. I was all "Hmm, maybe this won't be TOO bad." Well, now the second theatrical trailer has leaked. Now I'm all "OMGWTFBBQ! That was a bag full of win and awesome!"



Here it is in all it's HD glory: Terminator: Salvation

Now THAT's a trailer, my friends.