markbark

Well damn.... Dan O'Bannon, writer, Dead at 63

2009-12-19T10:53:32Z

The notable science fiction screenwriter and director Dan O'Bannon has died at the age of 63. O'Bannon's career began with a writing credit for John Carpenter's Dark Star and he went on the write many enduring science fiction and horror films such as Blue Thunder, Lifeforce, Screamers and Total Recall. He was also an occasional director, whose credits include The Return Of The Living Dead, the campy horror film that made popular the zombie chant of 'braaiiiinnnsss.' (to John Romero's eternal dismay)
However, he will be best remembered as the writer of Alien, one of the all-time classics of both the science fiction and horror genres. O'Bannon died after a 30 year battle with Crohn's disease and is survived by his wife, Diane, and son, Adam.

From the Rude Pundit:

2009-12-18T15:23:01Z

This Is What a Liberal Sounds Like: A Few More Pieces of Bernie Sanders' Speech Yesterday:
You've heard the beginning of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders' old-fashioned, passionate, actually liberal speech on the Senate floor yesterday after being fucked over hard by Oklahoma Republican Tom "Pay That Man Whose Wife You Nailed, Ensign" Coburn. By forcing a reading of Sanders' entire 767-page amendment to the health care reform bill, Coburn claimed he was just making sure that every Senator knew what was in it. But what Coburn was doing was making sure that single-payer insurance was never discussed by the full Senate. Why the hell not, you know? It's not like President Obama wanted it brought up.

A righteously pissed-off Sanders, who actually looks like he would fit right in at Independence Hall back in the day, made a one-man stand for actual progressive politics, withdrew the amendment saying, "Why is it that we need an entirely new approach for health care in this country? The answer is pretty obvious. Our current system, dominated by profit-making insurance companies, simply does not work. Yes, we have to confess, it does work for the insurance companies that make huge profits and provide their CEOs with extravagant compensation packages. Yes, it does work--and we saw how well it worked right here on the floor yesterday--for the pharmaceutical industry which year after year leads almost every other industry in profit while charging the American people by far--not even close--the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs.

"So it works for the insurance companies. It works for the drug companies. It works for the medical equipment suppliers and the many other companies who are making billions of dollars off of our health care system. But it is not working for--in fact, it is a disaster for--ordinary Americans."

By the way, dear tea partygoers, that's what a fucking liberal sounds like. A motherfucking liberal hates corporate America and wants to see it severely regulated and taxed, if not destroyed. A motherfucking liberal thinks that government works for the people, not the corporations. And that if you leave a vacuum of needs that has to be filled by a private company, that need will be subjugated to the profit margins of the private company, and that shit will destroy the country. Nearly everyone you accuse of being socialist or even leftist is a moderate or conservative. They're just not fucking nutzoid, like you.

Sanders ended by saying, "This country is in the midst of a horrendous health care crisis. We all know that. We can tinker with the system. We can come up with a 2,000-page bill which does this, that, and the other thing. But at the end of the day, if we are going to do what virtually every other country on Earth does--provide comprehensive, universal health care in a cost-effective way, one that does not bankrupt our government or bankrupt individuals--if we are going to do that, we are going to have to take on the private insurance companies and tell them very clearly that they are no longer needed. Thanks for your service. We don't need you anymore.

"A Medicare-for-all program is the way to go. I know it is not going to pass today. I know we do not have the votes. I know the insurance company and the drug lobbyists will fight us to the death. But, mark my words, Madam President, the day will come when this country will do the right thing. On that day, we will pass a Medicare-for-all single-payer system."

We have lost the courage again to do really big things in this nation that don't involve blowing shit up and killing people, things that actually affect people on a day-to-day basis and make their lives easier. Our government only does things within a narrow sliver of possibility, pressed in by corporate money, lies, and fear.

John Lennon - 9 Oct 1940 - 8 Dec 1980 RIP

2009-12-08T12:20:07Z

Wasn't this a Gene Wilder/Harrison Ford movie?

2009-12-07T13:21:07Z

A Lubavitch Rabbi from Brooklyn helps improve the Hebrew of a Montana lawman so he can speak to his Israeli trained, bomb sniffing German Shepherd. You couldn't make THAT one up if you tried!
Click here for story

--MAB

Wait..WHAT?

2009-11-21T04:22:54Z

A story about a disturbing trend. Click here
A quote from the above:
"A fellow militiaman, armed with an assault rifle, walks along as Olson — a man whose conspiracy theories were so extreme that he was kicked out of the group he founded, the Michigan Militia, 15 years ago — discourses on the need for a paramilitary Alaska Citizens Militia.

Wait.... this guy was so bugfuck insane that he was too extreme for the goddamn MICHIGAN MILITIA?!?

Think the Air Force can spare a Predator or two for a "training exercise" on these types?
If you don't do it now, you'll only have to deal with them later.

--MAB

What Happened?

2009-11-12T12:30:33Z

<RANT mode=ON>

Once upon a time in America it was possible for a NON-College educated Working Class person to:
1. Keep a good job with "benefits"
2. Earn enough to raise a family in relative comfort
3. Have a stay-at-home parent to raise the children
4. Buy and pay off a comfortable home in the suburbs
5. Own and operate a relatively new car
6. Take a REAL vacation every year
7. Send his children to a State University
8. Save enough to retire in comfort and dignity.

It was possible for anyone to attend a State University and graduate DEBT FREE if they were willing to work part-time.

Those things would be possible TODAY if we had politicians that represented PEOPLE rather than the highest bidder.

<RANT mode=OFF>

markbark @ 2009-11-05T08:03:00

2009-11-05T13:04:24Z

Remember, remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot.
I can think of no reason,
Why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Cafeteria Christians in Maine?

2009-11-04T17:46:13Z

To whit:
Leviticus 18:22 Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.
Fair enough... but what about the passage a few chapters back?
Leviticus 9:9-12 9: Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10: But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to detest. 11: And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. 12: Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.

Seems like the Great Sky Wizard™ doesn't much like Maine Lobster.
Can we outlaw that too?
Or how about a boycott?

Some thoughts on the recent election

2009-11-04T15:58:47Z

Two things I got from yesterday's election returns:
1) Some people who voted for Obama are disappointed. They still like Obama but they are not enthused. Independents are unimpressed.

2) The Palinista/Talibornagain forces that have taken full control of the national Republican Party cannot win elections outside militia-held territory.

Democratic and Republican spinners will wrangle over which message is real but they are both real. They are trends in opposition and eventually something's gotta give. We need to get people feeling good about Democrats because feeling bad about Republicans is not dependable.

In 1976 Ronald Reagan challenged Gerry Ford from the nutzoid-right. Everyone had a good laugh... he was like Ron Paul and Sarah Palin rolled into one. Jimmy Carter won the general election by post-Watergate default, surviving a late run by Ford. Then everyone turned on Carter. The Democrats became national figures of fun and the colorful crazy man who had been taken little more seriously than Sarah Palin won easily in 1980.

We just won two election cycles (2006-2008) because the opposition represented the worst President in American history. Now the low-hanging fruit is all picked.

I would suggest that banking on the absurdity of the Republicans to keep Democrats viable is a bad idea. That dynamic works until it doesn't. The Republicans will get less absurd or their absurdity will become mainstream.

Dems, here's a hint: Elucidate some principles and stick to them through thick and thin and pass bills that benefit millions of people immediately, not in 2013. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Capiche?

--MAB

O RLY?!?!

2009-10-26T12:57:02Z

On Sunday's Face the Nation, John McCain was asked if he could support health care reform that included a government plan. "No" said the Senator, "I have never seen where the government can do a good job providing health care.

This is John McCain. Navy Vet McCain. War Hero McCain. Pentagon officer McCain. Elected official McCain. All-his-life-on-the-public-tit McCain. Never had a paying non-government job McCain.

This is the McCain who qualifies for TriCare, VA care, and Senatorial insurance.

This is the McCain, who has never had to live in the non-governmental world.

McCain is not happy with government health care.

We must all be way better off than we thought we were.
And to think we wanted government run health insurance.
Good thing Johnny's there to set us straight.

Steampunk Confections!

2009-10-22T13:21:59Z

Click here for more pix!

Coolness

2009-10-02T18:11:40Z

Today's Quote of the Day

2009-10-01T13:49:39Z

Comes from the man who asked "Do androids dream of electric sheep?"

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words." ~ Philip K Dick

Words & phrases like "socialism", "death panels", "public option?"

--MAB

Typographical Humor

2009-09-11T23:02:35Z

Call Chris Knight and Lazlo Hollyfeld!

2009-09-02T18:17:07Z

Silent deathray in first blast from the skies

Death-tech goliath Boeing has announced a long-delayed in-flight firing for the smaller of its two aeroplane raygun-cannon prototypes, the Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL). The ATL blaster, mounted in a Hercules transport aircraft, apparently "defeated" an unoccupied stationary vehicle.

"This milestone demonstrates that directed energy weapon systems will transform the battlespace and save lives," said Boeing exec Greg Hyslop. "The ATL team has earned a distinguished place in the history of weapon system development."

Don't Know if this Qualifies as "Engrish"

2009-09-01T10:27:32Z

....or if someone was just seeing if they could get it past the corporate legal dept.

Ping time SUCKS though....

2009-08-30T03:11:30Z

Rocky Mountain Adventures of Ft Collins uses RFC2549 compliant delivery system for rafting pictures {grin} Click Here for the full story

--MAB

I suppose I can't let this event go unremarked

2009-06-26T15:17:36Z

Michael Jackson, poor fucker. Something in the American psyche that loves a particular twist in its Gothic approach to its Christ mythology. Images of Baby Jane's organza bows merge w/a bloated Elivis falling in slow-mo off his golden toilet and the great mind of Howard Hughes fades away as he drinks his own piss in the dark. It's as riveting as gawking at Britney from the window as she shaves her head, cinematic in scope and to be continued at a later date. Right now it's Jacko's turn.

Welcome back to Sunset Boulevard, where Norma Desmond will always live to bury her monkey and plan her big comeback...

Short, Sweet and To The Point

2009-06-19T13:23:19Z

For My Homies in the Hood

2009-06-12T15:06:37Z

Geekier than most I suppose

2009-05-27T01:29:12Z

But dammit, it's my JOB!
(Shamelessly gakked from flaviarassen

--MAB

WARNING: Rant Ahead!

2009-05-26T22:01:51Z

RE: California Supremes OK'ing Prop 8

I've always wondered why no one has thought to introduce a bill that says, in effect, "You can stand up in your special building with all the pretty windows making all manner of promises to your invisible sky wizard, but nobody's 'married' unless the STATE says "You're married"" i.e. make ALL marriages "civil unions" and just as much PITA/hassle for the straights. I mean, when you get right down to it, "marriage" is all about property rights, so why not just cut to the chase and call it a contract that you have to lawyer up for like anyone else?

The sky wizard crowd then couldn't complain that performing wedding ceremonies for same sex couples was "against their religion" since the ceremonies themselves would become irrelevant. The equal protection clause of the US Constitution states that "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
This seems pretty much a no brainer here, but then again, IANAL.

Thoughts?

--MAB

Looks fun...

2009-05-20T22:17:29Z

OK .. THAT made me laugh

2009-05-11T10:11:12Z

From this morning's Washington Post in an essay on how movie producers tiptoe around the fanbois:

Only the third and most recent trailer seemed in any way deviant, as a voice-over tells the new, hottie Kirk (Chris Pine) that he must fulfill his destiny and follow his father's footsteps, which, as anyone knows, is "Star Wars" talk -- a little like being handed a Communion wafer in a synagogue.

Best. Simile. EVER.

--MAB

Virtuosity... Thirty Years Later

2009-05-06T13:15:05Z

The late lamented Gentle Giant from a BBC concert in 1978.