ZEITGEIST

What do you do if your sixteen-year old daughter is pregnant with a baby that's going to have Down's Syndrome? Tell her to have the baby, then pretend it's yours forever. This, at least, would appear to be the only option if you're a governor who got elected on an anti-choice/abstinence-only-education platform and are currently hoping to be elected to the second-most powerful office in the world. There are reasons to suspect that Sarah Palin, Republican presidential nominee John McCain's choice for Vice-President, did just that.

Let me stress here that this is, as of right now, a rumor on the Internet. SuicideGirls news is not a credible news source, and neither are any of the other places on the internet which allege Sarah Palin's youngest son actually belongs to her daughter Bristol. So why report it? Because unless a large number of non-credible sources makes some noise on this point, no credible news source will use its expense account to send a reporter to Alaska and go through hospital records and find out whether or not it's true. So what's the evidence so far?

The strangest piece of evidence, according to (credible and pro-Palin news source) The Wall Street Journal is that she allegedly started having contractions, then, against the advice of her doctor, made a speech in Dallas, and then flew to Anchorage -- a flight that could not have taken less than six hours -- to have the baby.

"Maybe they shouldn't have let me fly, but I wasn't showing much so they didn't know," she says.

Not only did they not notice she was pregnant, but neither did anyone else during her pregnancy--at least not until she mentioned it, seven months in, according to The Anchorage Daily News.

That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news. The Governor, a runner who has always been trim, simply doesn't look pregnant. Even close members of her staff said they only learned this week that their boss was expecting.

There are dozens of photos of the Governor during the late stages of her pregnancy, she doesn't look especially pregnant--but it's pretty hard to say either way. I will not sully SuicideGirls with fully-clothed MIDNLF photos.

Last and possibly least, the controversial and quite possibly unreliable DailyKos -- who started the story/rumor -- reports that Sarah Palin's daughter, Bristol Palin, was reportedly out of school for four months with "mono". Mononucleosis usually lasts a month at most, though symptoms can linger for up to three months. To be fair: in the "against" category, there is the fact that the child in question has Down's Syndrome. Down's is much more likely in older women, but is nonetheless a possibility for all mothers. Most babies born with Down's are born to younger mothers, following the pattern for fertility in general.

None of this evidence is conclusive at all, but considering that the possible future Vice-President may have forced her daughter to have a child in order to further her own political carrier and anti-choice policies, this non-reporter feels this is certainly an important enough issue to encourage real reporters to check this story out some time very soon. Maybe it's all a baseless lefty rumor, but if the real press doesn't do its job, we'll never know.

(Written by: ZakSmith)

Orange County’s Spare The Air was the music festival that made bus passes cool. Held at the Fullerton Transportation Center, headliners included SoCal rockers Saosin, Lit, Death By Stereo and Sugarcult, alongside Utah’s The Used and Seattle’s Aiden. The event aimed to introduce the generation next demographic to the delights of public transportation. Entry was a very reasonable $10.67 or was free with a flash of a bus pass.

Things got seriously rockin’ around 2.30 pm when Street Drum Corps hit the stage, though somehow we doubt they used the 721 bus to transport themselves and the assortment of drums, oil barrels and power tools they use to make noise. (We’ll give ‘em a free pass in this regard since the express LA to Fullerton OCTA service doesn’t run on weekends.) Having just signed to Interscope, the collective have had a plethora of writing teams coming up with material for their first major label release. The process is starting to pay off, and their set showed improvement when compared to earlier recordings posted on their MySpace page. The boys also deserve major props for using and abusing a theremin, which added geek power to their otherwise testosterone-driven antics.

Aiden were the next band to rock our world, with lead singer wiL Francis indulging in, and orchestrating some extreme audience sports while delivering a rock solid show. But the day belonged to the most local of bands, Lit. They had no need to utilize public transportation to cover the distance from the Transport Center adjacent Slidebar, which serves as their second home and is co-owned by guitarist Jeremy Popoff, to the main stage at the other side of the parking lot-cum-venue.

Lit are going through a particularly tough time right now due to drummer Allen Shellenberger’s recent brain cancer diagnosis. Sadly he’s suffering from the same type of vicious malignant glioma that struck Senator Edward M. Kennedy. But while fighting bravely on with double-doses of chemo, Shellenberger and his fellow band mates continue to play the gigs that are important to them. Pal Adrian Young (from No Doubt) was on hand to take over the drumming duties when exhaustion got the better of Shellenberger. On a couple songs they made a powerful team, playing in tandem on kits set up side by side. Fellow No Doubter Tony Kanal came out to show support, as had much of the crowd. Our love and best wishes go out to Shellenberger and his family.

Though the South Coast Air Management District-sponsored festival won't be able to repair the systematic damage done to our public transportation system by oil-loving corporations overnight, the event did achieve its objective: to raise awareness for the need for public transportation. And as the patrons of the local bars staggered out after what was a very long and thirst-making day, one can hope they didn’t reach for their car keys for more reasons than one.

(Written by: nicole_powers)

I'm not sure what it says about your belief system or religion, when it can't weather even the tiniest of insults. Shouldn't the one true way be stronger than that? Shouldn't the rantings of idiots be easily dismissed and ignored?

Not according to the Catholic Church, angered by another in a long line of seemingly <a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080828/D92RGRP01.html
" target="_blank">harmless stunts/pranks/arts. (Yes, I'm far from the first to point this out and it is far from groundbreaking or even noteworthy... I realize that, and yet, it still kinda has to be said.)

An art museum in northern Italy said Thursday it will continue displaying a sculpture portraying a green frog nailed to a cross that has angered Pope Benedict XVI and local officials.

Angered? Because someone, somewhere doesn't believe what you believe and in fact, finds it laughable? Do you try to fight everyone who disagrees with you, or only people who target things important to you? Do you try to go after everyone who ever called your country dumb or your mom fat? That's a lot of fights to fight, no?

The board of the foundation of the Museion in the city of Bolzano voted to keep the work by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger, the museum said in a statement.
Earlier in August the pope had written a letter to Franz Pahl, the president of the Trentino-Alto Adige region that includes Bolzano, denouncing the sculpture.
It "has offended the religious feelings of many people who consider the cross a symbol of God's love and of our redemption," Pahl quoted the pope as writing in the letter.

People should not be protected from being offended.

Also, I think they're missing the point here. I'm not so sure this was really an art piece. Think about it, if this guy was chosen to be the messenger of our new frog god, and he came right out and said it, he'd be a laughing stock. He had to claim it's art.

But I've got a feeling this is real... After the false messiah that was Kermit we're all a little hesitant to believe, but he's here to show us the way! I mean, with global warming melting the ice caps and causing the oceans to rise, who better than an amphibious god to lead us to our watery, moss-covered promise land!

Yay Frog God!! Going green suddenly makes so much sense! And man do I feel bad for the French... Frog God leaps higher than all the other gods combined! And he'll get you high if you lick him! Top that, other gods!

Pahl himself has long opposed the display of "Zuerst die Fuesse" ("First the Feet" in German), even staging a hunger strike this summer and saying he would not seek re-election unless it was removed.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Thursday, Pahl said he was outraged by the museum's decision to keep the work, which he claims "pokes fun at the Catholic population and offends religion and the pope."

How'd that hunger strike go? Maybe he only dined on flys? Something we'd all better get used to, I'm guessing.

The 1990 wooden sculpture shows the crucified frog nailed through the feet and hands like Jesus Christ. The frog, eyes popping and tongue sticking out, wears a loincloth and holds a mug of beer and an egg in its hands.

Beer and breakfast... you gotta like that. I've prayed for both on many occasions, good to see new god has his priorities in line with my own.

The museum said the 3-foot (1-meter) -tall sculpture has nothing to do with religion, but is an ironic self-portrait of the artist and an expression of his angst.
"With humor and a tragicomic sense, which belongs to art since the times of Greek tragedy, Kippenberger ... faces his condition of suffering, which he expresses in many works, also, for example, in a video in which he crucifies himself," the museum said in a statement.

Wow, now I really hope he's shepherding in the new Frog era and not uh... making pretentious bullshit.

Please Frog God... show me a sign! I want to believe! Put a lilly pad in my bath tub or... well, I'll leave it up to you. (Moments later TCK goes to his closet for a towel and is hit with a falling diver's flipper - then collapses on the ground in tears and prayer.)

Born in Dortmund, Kippenberger moved from painting and sculpture to work in all mediums, often combining elements of Neo-expressionism, Pop and Dadaism. His art has been displayed across the world, including Zurich, Paris, Jerusalem, London and New York.

Jerusalem!? Isn't that where, ahem, someone else was from? Or visited? Something? Eh, I've never been a fan of those other religions, but sign me up for beer-drinking, hoppy god asap...





TheCoolerKing is equally annoyed by both sides of this story.

Check back each Sunday for more from TheCoolerKing.

(Written by: TheCoolerKing)

Hmmmmmmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

It’s not the destination, it’s the journey that counts. Supposedly, anyway. It’s not as if the destination in this case is particularly bad, it’s just… a bit weird.

Yup, I’m not totally satisfied with the way Kaiba ends. “What’s new?” I hear you cry. “It’s anime, most shows end weirdly!”. But it’s been a good few weeks now since the show ended and I’ve watched episode 12 a good three or four times now to try and work out how I feel, and I’m still not really getting anywhere.

At first blush, if like me you watch it raw and your Japanese is poor to put it mildly, it’s a whole great load of mindboggling tosh. Giant blue monsters emerging out of nowhere with evil baby Warps, giant planetoids appearing out of nowhere, Neiro running through some completely unidentifiable storage room releasing giant ethereal hands that are apparently “good”… while the overall tone of the episode makes sense and the end is fairly obvious, there’s so much that appears to be just thrown in because it looks cool. Certain aspects make more sense once you take the time to consider the episode on rewatches, but on the whole it’s dissatisying that a show that has spent so much time carefully making its “world” feel so fully fleshed out just throws a lot of weird shit at the audience for no particular reason.

I suppose there’s little left to really do in this episode. The ambiguities of the story as a whole are mostly cleared up, and the characters’ emotional arcs have been pretty much played out by episode 11 - most of the characters don’t even have emotions any more, so there’s not much you can do with them! Personally I don’t think Yuasa really knew how to end the show - Copy Warp is dealt with effectively, and the Kaiba threat is well established throughout the previous episodes, but I think he thought he needed to throw in the baby Warp because a giant plant that Warp had defeated before wasn’t really going to cut it for a final episode conflict.

Baby Warp, though, doesn’t make much sense. Not only does it make the whole Warp succession thing even MORE confusing than it already was, but all his prattle about negative memories and becoming one with the Kaiba has nothing to do with anything and should realistically mean nothing to the true Warp because the whole POINT of the show has been that Warp isn’t a bad guy and that he has happy memories with Neiro. It’s ridiculous.

…and breathe. Anyway, plot issues and meaningless imagery aside, it’s hardly a BAD final episode. There’s some great animation, good action, and at least the very end is nice in an annoyingly Japanese ambiguous way.

So, the show as a whole. I have to think in terms of the whole show, not the ending, although it’s left a slightly sour taste in my mouth. So few shows show the breathtaking imagination that Kaiba did, nor the impressively secure writing, acting, music… you name it. Yuasa MOSTLY got the somewhat teenage impulses that plagued Kemonozume (in my opinion) out of his system and crafted a sensible, mature sci-fi romance like the show was marketed as. I do think he needs to spend more time on his actual stories rather than plot concepts, though - the more abstract concepts and worldbuilding in Kaiba are dealt with fantastically, but I don’t think he’s very good at properly constructing an overall story.

I don’t have a lot else to say, unfortunately, and I wish I did. I’ll pick up the show in a flash if it ever gets an English language release, but I still can’t quite put into words how the end of Kaiba has made me feel, which is a pity as it’s been by far the most interesting anime I’ve seen this year.

One last outdoor freakout before we head back to the cold, dark recesses of the New York disco night...

People Don't Dance No More is excited to close out our summer boat parties with a very special set from our foxy friends from Paris: GILDAS + MASAYA from Kitsune, with a sure-to-be hot opening set by KRAMES (Cobra Kai), and of course DAVID BRUNO and myself. Hosting duties are being handled by our friends NICK THE DUKE + CHASE. It all happens SUNDAY September 7th.

This party is an extremely intimate affair with only 200 fashionable friends squeezing on board. Another word to the wise, these parties sell out really quickly. Don't wait it out: tickets are here.

If you've missed out on cruising the East River and dancing the night away with us so far this summer, have a look at the photos (and mixes) from our August 12th Metromix.com & AMNY's Artist Only Showcase presents YACHT ROCK! party with Lauren Flax + Max Wowch; and photos from our July 3rd Wurst Boat Party Ever (Season 2: Drunker, Louder) with My Cousin Roy & Lee Douglas. Expect madness

(NB: We'll be back at Trophy Bar on Sept 19th...)

Ah, Asshole Fuckfacing. It’s a glorious thing to behold, not because it’s beautiful, but because it makes you think you are a better person than you actually are. It’s like looking at dirty, angry hobos. You know you’re better than that, so enjoy. Buddha was all about hating on Asshole Fuckaces and he’s the one who actually started the list. Since that time, the list has been passed on and on. Now it is in my powerful hands and I treat it with the respect and fear it deserves. Each week I scour the news looking for the worst of the worst and then I present them to you, for mocking. This week is no different, so put on your raincoats because this is going to be ugly.

First up, another addition to a long list of presidential Asshole Fuckfacery.

One of the biggest failures of the Bush administration was to drop the ball on North Korea, encouraging the crazy country to create nuclear weapons. Clinton had an agreement in place that would have prevented such an occurrence. Bush blew it off and called North Korea “evil” and the rest was history. North Korea now has at least two nuclear bombs.

Talks have been ongoing between North Korea, China, Japan, Russia, the US and South Korea. There was a big breakthrough in June, when North Korea submitted an account of its nuclear facilities to the other five countries. The expectation was that the US would, in return, remove North Korea from their “terrorism sponsor list.”

The submission by North Korea of a nuclear dossier was seen by the Bush administration as one of its success stories in foreign policy

Let’s see…keep a country on a terrorism list and they keep building nuclear bombs, or take them off the list and they stop. Well, what to do? If you’re an Asshole Fuckface, you do the thing that will keep North Korea in the nuke bomb business.

North Korea says it has stopped disabling its nuclear facilities, accusing the US of reneging on a six-party disarmament deal.

Work was suspended on 14 August, a foreign ministry spokesman told the state news agency KCNA.

"As the US side failed to keep its own side of the agreement, we cannot but take the following measures under the principle of action for action," the foreign ministry spokesman told the KCNA, according to AFP news agency.

Nicely done, Asshole Fuckfaces. Keep up the horrible work; it’s amazing to watch.

Next up, some Swiftboating Asshole Fuckfaces.

Now, we all expect the right-wing Swiftboaters to launch some horrible, horrible ads against Obama. It’s pretty much as expected as rising of the sun or fat, four time divorced, drug addict Rush Limbaugh saying something racist. And the Swiftboaters did so last week, hitting Obama with an ad linking him to William Ayers. Yawn. Unlike Kerry, Obama hit back fast and the result was pretty hilarious. The Swiftboaters aren’t in this Asshole Fuckface Roundup for the ad; they are in the Roundup because they turned into a bunch of crying little bitches.

Besides going after the ad with one of his own, Obama went to court. The Obama campaign claimed the ad was a “violation of federal campaign finance laws” and asked networks to abstain from airing it. A letter was sent to the Department of Justice asking for a criminal investigation of the Swiftboaters. The Swiftboat group in question is a listed as a 501.c, which is a tax-exempt non-profit. That means it can lobby on issues, but is only allowed to engage in an "insubstantial" amount of activity supporting or opposing political candidates.

The Ayers ad clearly seems to violate the law, so Obama went to court. Obama’s lawyer, Bob Bauer wrote the DOJ asking for an investigation...

“…of the American Issues Project; its officers and directors; and its anonymous donors, whoever they may be.”

The Obama campaign also went after stations airing the ad.

The Obama campaign plans to punish the stations that air the ad financially, an Obama aide said, organizing his supporters to target the stations that air it and their advertisers.

That’s called fighting fire with fire. The big bad Swiftboater’s response? Crying.

The American Issues Project has now struck back with a press release complaining of "a campaign of intimidation and legal threats to convince television stations and the federal government to force off the air an ad by the American Issues Project detailing the link between Sen. Obama and remorseless domestic terrorist William Ayers."

Aw, did da liberul not let you shove a broom handle up his ass? Poor little babies.

"They're going all of these routes - through threats, intimidation - to try to thwart the First Amendment here because they don't have an argument on merit," Pinkston said.

What up, irony? How you been?

Aw. Is Obama totally fucking with you? You should totally be able to lie and be horrible cunts without anyone stopping you, right? Sorry, and good luck with your Asshole Fuckfacery this election season. Can’t wait to see how much of your money you spend in court.

Next up, another right wing Asshole Fuckface can’t handle what Obama’s bringing.

But this time, I’m not referring to Barack Obama. Michelle Obama drove a man insane on Monday night. An unidentified man in Pasco, Florida, was watching Michelle Obama’s convention speech, when he couldn’t take it anymore.

The man stood outside his RV, yelling and shooting a gun into the air. When Pasco sheriff's deputies confronted him, he ran inside and wouldn't come out.

That started a six-hour standoff late Monday night between the man, whose name was not released, and authorities.

The police shot round after round of tear gas into the RV, but dude wasn’t coming out. Six ours later, at five am, the Asshole Fuckface finally came out of his RV and gave up.

The cause of his displeasure, according to Doll, was Michelle Obama's speech last night at the Democratic National Convention.

Of course. I mean, he lives in Florida in a trailer and a black woman is speaking about her husband, nominee of the Democratic Party. It’s the white trash apocalypse.

Finally, a little league in Connecticut is overflowing with Asshole Fuckfaces.

New Haven Little League officials want all their kids to grow up in an unrealistic world, in which no one else is better than them, they never get their asses handed to them and all competition is equal.

Jericho Scott is a 10-year-old kid with a 40 mph fastball. He plays in the Youth Baseball League of New Haven and has thrown 5 no-hitters. His team is 8-0. That’s fucking awesome.

Jericho's team was killing the competition when league officials told his coach on Aug. 13 to put somebody else on the mound.

Uh, what? Welcome to not sports. Way to develop a rare talent. You could be the town where the great Jericho Scott came from, instead of the town that drove away the young Jericho Scott.

The pint-sized fireballer played second base the next game on Aug. 16, but when Jericho took the mound last Wednesday, the other team forfeited rather than face his fastball.

Okay, now you just created an entire team of 10-year-old pussies. You know what you do when confronted by an awesome force kids? Give up. That’s a fantastic life lesson. Don’t ever try your best against someone better, just walk away.

Now the league wants to disband Jericho's team - a move that his manager and the other parents oppose. His dad, Leroy Scott, said he's worried about what the controversy is doing to his son. "Everybody is saying it's because of his pitching," he said. "He's thinking it's all his fault."

Oh, good. Maybe he’ll develop a horrible complex at a young age and stop pitching.

Jericho, a Yankees fan who idolizes Alex Rodriguez and dreams of one day playing in the major leagues, said he just feels "sad."

"Me and my teammates can't play baseball anymore," he said.

That’s what happens when Asshole Fuckfaces are in control, Jericho. Maybe you can grow up to be a criminal, instead.

Congrats to all of this week's Asshole Fuckfaces. You will each recieve a FearTheReaper bicycle seat. You may also read more of FearTheReaper's spew on his blog, Stop All Monsters.

(Written by: FearTheReaper)

It’s been a busy couple of months in Webland. We began design of a new site back in February or so, and were literally days away from launching when the word came down that we were closing our doors. So, one of the first things we had to do in order to get back in business was to try and get that new site back on track. Our partners at ZAAZ have worked with us to modify the front end design to reflect the needs of the new Nau, and have teamed up with our brand new partners at ZaneRay who are producing the back end, requiring a substantial amount of work to integrate the two.
Once having assured one another that the two systems were indeed compatible, August has been spent in trying to take all the content we’ve been able to acquire and/or produce and load it into our new web architecture. We’re hoping to have that done in the next ten days or so, and then begin testing the new site, with an eye to a fully functional site experience by October.
The image attached offers a peek into the new design. Faster, more user-friendly, with a lighter overall look and feel. A good reflection of the new Nau we think.

I've made a few changes to the layout of The Big Picture today, hoping to make the experience a little better for everyone. 1) Starting this week, all photos in entries will have numbers in the captions, and permalinks so it will be much easier to refer to an individual image in the comments, or by using a URL. 2) Archives and categories are much easier to find now, at the top of the page. 3) The layout of the comments has been tightened up a tiny bit, and the HTML cleaned up, so entries with more than a few hundred comments should load much faster now. 4) a few other cosmetic changes, but importantly, the size and layout of the images (the focus of the blog) has not changed. A(n) FAQ has also been written up, please let me know if there's anything missing from that.

Also, please let me know what you think of the changes - or if you spot any bugs in layout or display. Don't be shy (I know you're not). Thanks.

This fall, we’ll be starting the Substance Substantial Internship Program. We’re looking for a handful of things in an intern:

ONE: A student. (This is for college credit. We can’t afford to pay you, except with wisdom and the potential of a variety of beverages.)
TWO: Someone who is passionate about consuming knowledge, has a open mind, and wants to learn.
THREE: Someone who enjoys discussing ideas and then figuring out a way to execute on them. We’re looking for both a thinker and a doer.
FOUR: Someone who’s got the chutzpah and innovation to figure out solutions for projects even when a computer might not be available. You will probably become close friends with a good pencil and a sketchbook.
FIVE: Someone who wants to do better.

HOW TO QUALIFY: Impress us. Send us your resumé, links to some work, and/or a compelling reason why you’re the right for Substance. Blow us away, and you are in. Anything short of that, well, we wish you the best of luck. Send your info to “info (at) findsubstance (dot) com”

Make meaning. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Leila writes:

Dan posted that the signing in DC will take place at 1pm - I know that the LoC event itself is free, but do those of us who want something signed have to bring or have anything besides a book (or stack of them)?

To which Mr. G waxes:

This is so mysterious. What kind of thing could people have or bring apart from books? Perhaps owl feathers in their hatbands, or black orchids in their buttonholes?

Anyway. No, they should just come. And by special permission of Harper Collins there will be copies of The Graveyard Book available that day only.

And to which I will only add: You do realize that you all need to show up with owl feathers in your hatbands or black orchids in your buttonholes now, right?

UPDATE: In fact, thanks to the generosity of a fan, the first twenty-odd of you that she sees so attired will receive a free copy of the UK edition of ODD AND THE FROST GIANTS, not yet published in the US.

FURTHER UPDATE: As I tapped the above last night, I thought to myself, Wait, it's illegal to possess the parts of most migratory and predatory birds, unless you are a member of a recognized Native American tribe using them for religious ritual, isn't it? I should confirm that before Birdchick has to school me...

And then I promptly forgot about it until this morning, at which point I did look it up and confirmed that: "The Federal Migratory Bird Act states that most birds and their parts (feathers, eggs, nests, etc.) are protected by federal law from being killed, taken, transports, possessed, bought, sold, imported or exported without a valid federal permit."

So all of you non-Native Americans need to stick to black orchids in your bottonholes or, at the very most, faux owl feathers in your hatbands, okay? Or just pick up the first pigeon feather you find on the ground and stick it in your hat -- the Mall is full of them. Mr. G will probably know the difference, but I bet he's too nice to call anyone out on it.

---

• Mr. G will be appearing at a fundraiser for the Open Rights Group on 24th October. The details are all on their site. They're charging 5 pounds to existing members, 10 pounds to the general public, and it's completely free to anyone who signs up to become a regular supporter of ORG between now and the event's date. Sounds like a good reason to support a good cause!


• Lucy helpfully writes to point out that details for the Manchester stop of THE GRAVEYARD BOOK UK Tour have now been posted.


• Details about the Scotland stop on THE GRAVEYARD BOOK UK Tour have been posted.


• UltimateDisney.com has up a nice interview with Henry Selick about NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and CORALINE.

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[REDACTED]

One style icon gets to grips with another: Kevin Chesters gets a call on his super- slim Mobira.
This was actually the first handheld mobile phone. Launched by Nokia in 1987, it retailed for a wallet-coshing 4,500 euros.
As used by leaders everywhere:
 
"Chesters? It's Gorby here."

Traditional Finnish crayfish dinner in Helsinki with Nokia. Above: crayfish before. Below: Luhr tucks in:

Some time later: the aftermath.

Have to admit that, for the beginner, the crayfish seemed like quite a lot of effort for not much reward in terms of meat gleaned from the shells. But It was a splendid evening, complete with vodka and Finnish drinking songs.

Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo has a new presence on the interweb-thing with the launch of www.wktokyo.jp.

 The site was CD’d by Eric Cruz, designed by Mark Okon and Gino Woo, produced by Shane Lester and programmed by CJ Cenizal.  With the exception of CJ, who freelanced for our guys, the site was created completely in-house.  Both Japanese and English speakers can now learn more about what we’re W+K Tokyo is up to on the little island they call home.

Have a peek when you have some time. 

While the amazing, four-day Democratic commercial goes on, I thought this would be a good time to revisit a topic that has dropped off the grid since the spring. Remember health care? Seemed to be a big topic a few months ago, but not so much now. Now we’re clearly more concerned with who’s a bigger celebrity and how many houses Old School owns.

But 45 million Americans do not have health care and 25 million more are underinsured. McCain and Obama have very different ideas on reforming health care. I’m going to break their shit down and you’re going to read it. That’s how we do.

McCain’s plan is a piece of shit created in jackass land. It does NOTHING to address the problem of uninsured Americans. NOTHING. Did I make that point strong enough? I used capital letters. That is some serious shit.

Johnny’s plan is more of the same crap that already got us into this mess. It’s all about “market forces and individually purchased insurance.” Sweet. Up until now we haven't tried "market forces and individually purchased insurance." It's so fresh!

Old School’s plan mainly focuses on….taxes. What a big surprise.

Currently, workers do not pay taxes on health insurance premiums paid by their employers. The McCain plan would eliminate this tax exclusion and use the revenue generated — projected to be $3.6 trillion over 10 years — to pay for refundable tax credits for Americans obtaining private insurance ($2,500 for individuals, $5,000 for families). Uninsured Americans could use their credits to help buy insurance coverage on the individual market, and workers with employer-sponsored insurance could use theirs to offset the cost of paying taxes on their employers’ premium contributions or to purchase coverage on their own.

Oooooo. That sounds fucking awesome. Unless, of course, you are like the millions of Americans who can’t get insurance due to your medical history, or one of the millions of Americans who have claims denied and are dropped because they had the gall to have surgery. But don’t worry about that, because McCain will solve the problems of spiraling costs with “deregulation.”

Oh, fuck yes. Please, more deregulation. It has worked out so very well in every other market over the past ten years, especially energy and housing. Old School’s plan would allow insurers to sell across state lines and people would be able to buy policies from companies in any state. Wow, that should not make even the slightest difference.

McCain also believes by making insurance more “visible,” people will seek out lower cost insurance plans. Johnny thinks if workers can see how much their employers are paying, they would go for the cheaper insurance.

Since Americans would receive a fixed credit, the expectation is that they would seek out lower-cost, less comprehensive insurance plans, fostering competition among insurers.

Yeah, good luck with that. In the end, McCain’s plan doesn’t do shit for people who can’t afford insurance. Most uninsured people would remain uninsured and the fixed tax credit would lead to a gap in affordability as health care spending increases. And the number of Americans paying higher taxes for employer insurance would go up, too. McCain’s plan would force many people to purchase higher deductible, less comprehensive insurance. Oh, and if we got rid of the tax benefits of employer sponsored insurance, some businesses would stop insuring workers. How great does that sound?

But don’t fret, because McCain has proposed a “guaranteed access plan.”

The federal government would work with states to create insurance alternatives for those unable to afford coverage on the individual market. The plan builds on the experiences of the 34 states that operate high-risk pools for residents who are deemed to be medically uninsurable.

Oh, good. The castaways. Only, McCain’s plan has no way to pay for this part. It’s quite simply, bullshit. His interstate insurance market plan would actually weaken some states regulated protections. Oh, and those “34 states” plans already have high costs and limited benefits.

McCain basically is offering very little. It’s more of the same, which is unacceptable considering the situation we currently find ourselves in. If McCain is elected, expect our health care situation to get a lot worse.

Now, Obama at least seems to be trying, though he is also a bit deluded. Barack wants to spend money. Lots and lots of money. His plan includes an employer mandate, insurance regulation and a combination of public and private insurance.

Under Obama, employers will have to offer employees insurance or pay a tax. Smaller business would not have to pay a tax.

The Obama plan would also create two new options for obtaining health insurance: a new government health plan and a national health insurance exchange that would offer a choice of private insurance options. Both would be open to persons without access to group health insurance or other public insurance, as well as to small businesses that wanted to purchase coverage for their workers. Income-related subsidies would be provided to help lower-income persons afford coverage.

Best of all, insurers would not be able to deny coverage or charge more for preexisting conditions. His new "insurance exchange" would provide a pooling system, which would increase the purchasing power of individuals. Obama believes by pooling people together, it will cut administrative expenses and increase competition. Good luck with that.

And the attempts to cut costs don’t end there. While McCain has proposed little to nothing to drop health care costs, Obama’s plan is much more thoughtful and nuanced.

Other cost-control measures include accelerated adoption of electronic medical records, promoting disease management and better coordination of long-term care, paying providers on the basis of performance and outcomes, strengthening prevention, permitting the federal government to negotiate prescription-drug prices for Medicare patients, cutting excessive payments to private health plans contracting with Medicare, and establishing an institute for comparative-effectiveness research to generate information about effective treatments.

A big criticism of Obama’s plan is that it does not mandate insurance for adults, just children. That means it would not cover all uninsured people, but Obama has stated he may move forward with mandates if his plan does not result in universal health care.

The big problem is the money. The cost control plans are not certain to work and he needs to come up with $50 to $65 billion. He says he will pay for it by ending tax cuts to families making over $250,000 a year, but that will not cover the whole enchilada. He expects to save a lot of money with his cost cutting measures explained above. If they don’t work, it’s going to cost more. And you can pretty much guarantee there will be problems. But we’re spending $15 billion a month in Iraq, so if you are okay with paying for the war but don’t want to pay for universal health insurance, then you are a major douchebag.

Obama’s plan is way better than McCain’s, but it’s got a lot of problems. The only guy who had a decent health care plan was Kucinich. Until you take the profit out of health care, nothing’s going to work. Ever. So, don't get too excited either way, because we are a long way off from something decent.

UPDATE: One of the architects of McCain's healthcare plan uttered this gem today...

Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain’s health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

“So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care. “So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved.”

FearTheReaper also is a blogging idiot. Read more of his tripe on his blog, Stop All Monsters.

(Written by: FearTheReaper)

WILLIAMSPORT, PA—The Hawaii team, known for its powerful lineup of short, fat Skill 5 hitters, defeated the Mexico team 12-3 in the championship game of the Little League World Series, a four-round, single-player tournament held from 2 p.m....

WILLIAMSPORT, PA—The Hawaii team, known for its powerful lineup of short, fat Skill 5 hitters, defeated the Mexico team 12-3 in the championship game of the Little League World Series, a four-round, single-player tournament held from 2 p.m....

I was late to the game on the Mad Men phenomenon, though quickly eliminated my knowledge deficit by busting through all of Season 1 over the course of a liquor-and-cigarette fueled week (also thanks to Comcast OnDemand for having Season 1 available). Now heading into Season 2, I’m drawn in by both the familiarity of the working environment (the politics and inner workings of an agency, advertising or otherwise), and the soap opera relationships between the characters. Some of the pitch scenes are just brilliant, like this one for Kodak (but that’s a future post). Plus, Don Draper (the main character) is such the antihero… makes me almost want to wear a suit to work. Badass.

About a week or two ago, I somehow was directed to Don’s Twitter account: twitter.com/don_draper. How Don manages to use Twitter from the 1960s via a rotary phone or typewriter is beyond me, but technical challenges notwithstanding, his tweets have added a bit of extra depth to the show… randomly popping up over the course of the week between episodes, totally in character. And now there’s a whole slew of Mad Men besides Don on Twitter… Peggy Olson, Bobbie Barrett, Sal Romano, Betty Draper, Joan Holloway, and Roger Sterling to name a few.

Here’s the thing: none of the Twitter accounts were created by AMC, the channel that produces Mad Men. They were created by fans of the show, taking on these personas, and having conversations online based on the characters.

And as often is the case, if old media doesn’t understand it, they litigate. AMC requested Twitter remove all of the Mad Men accounts since they were not created or controlled by AMC. And go figure, the story got out… on Twitter. Fortunately someone at AMC’s web marketing agency suggested it might be a bad idea to shut down all these fan-created Twitter accounts. (Gee, you think?) So AMC allowed Twitter to restore all the accounts. Not the best day for AMC’s relationship with the online community.

What can you learn from this story? When your hard-core fans want to promote your show, let them. Embrace them. Enable them. Why in the world would you want to shut down the people who are loving your show so much that they voluntarily tweet as characters from the show? And not in a negative or out-of-character way, but caring so much about the show that they put their passion and enjoyment of the program into their tweets and responses.

Would it have been “better” if AMC had created these Twitter accounts instead of fans? I doubt it. There’s something to be said for the authentic, spontaneous creation of the accounts by fans, not by the corporation. Someone thought, “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if I was Don Draper?” and through the power and anonymity (certainly the sword cuts both ways) of technology, POOF!, this person became the 140-character embodiment of Don Draper. Others picked up the idea, created character accounts, and ran with it. Together, these people who may have no idea who each is in real life, are stitching together these fan-created conversations based on the show.

I can only imagine the run on Twitter accounts from every network to secure the names of every character from every show they’ve ever produced. Good luck with that. And all the film production houses, don’t forget about all the actors and movie characters. Oh, and authors and book publishers, you’d better grab all your literary characters as well. Same with you playwrights. Just to be safe, the phone companies might want to reserve all the names in the phone book. Just in case.

Seems when old media approaches their passionate audience with fear instead of embracing them, things probably won’t turn out so well. In the meantime, I’m only up to Episode 4 from Season 2 of Mad Men, so don’t tell me what happens next. I’ll just follow Don Draper’s tweets.

Apparently these girls are called First Aid Kit and have just signed to the Knife's Rabid Records. Regardless, this is something very special.

Gregory and the Hawk - Voice Like A Bell

This is the sound of waking up to clarity, of coming to terms with a good decision. This is the sound of knowing when things are finished -- when it's time to throw that stuff out, to sell that old thing, to finally forget that phone number. It's not angry, resentful or scared - it's confident, clear.

Some might argue that this is one of the more conventional releases on Fat Cat, the folks that previously brought us Animal Collective, Sigur Ros, Max Richter, etc. Their previous singer / songwriter entries included Nina Nastasia and Tom Brosseau, both of whom have somewhat unconventional tendencies. But there's something to love about the straightforward simplicity of Gregory and the Hawk. With the perfect amount of arrangement to surround Meredith Godreau's vocals, the songs reach for a timeless quality and succeed.

It's a beautiful album, and one that will be perfectly fit in with the coming fall. Voice Like A Bell is a clear standout among many highlights. I'm hoping this album, Moenie and Kitchi, isn't overlooked when it's released on October 7th on Fat Cat.

You filthy mongrels may be surprised, but I believe Joe Biden was the best possible choice Barack Obama could have made. This is pretty simple reasoning, which is why it seems to be confusing so many Republicans. Besides Dick Cheney, who was given a spectacular amount of power by the testicle-less Bush, Vice Presidents really don’t do shit. Their most important function is to make the tie-breaking vote if the Senate is deadlocked. Other than that, not much. Sure, they go around the world, talking to people and have their own little agendas, but overall, pretty meaningless. They are just waiting for the big guy to die or for eight years to pass so they can run for president.

With that said, you may be wondering why I think Biden is an awesome choice. Well, here you go.



That's better than porn. The man’s tongue is a weapon to fear. Unleashing Biden on the campaign is like creating a non-stop, sound bite machine. He is concise, brutal and usually dead-on. You know how you always wish some politician would cut the shit and call somebody out on being a douchebag? Biden’s the guy who actually does that.



McCain is about to come face to face with an actual “straight talker,” which will contrast greatly with his time-worn mind, constant bullshit yammering and horrific speaking ability. Usually, candidates pick a knob who won’t upstage them in the talky department. Just take a look at Joe Lieberman, Al Gore and John Edwards. Yawn town. And totally ineffective on the campaign trail.

The amusing aspect of this choice is watching the Republicans get huge hard ons for all the “material” they have against Biden.

REPORTER: Rush Limbaugh today (sic) said this on the radio, he said, "I really hope it's Biden. We don't want to say that too loud, but I really do hope that it's Joe Biden because we've got a mountain of archival audio on Joe Biden, plus the arrogance factor times two, with Biden and The Messiah would just be delicious."

Wow, great call. Seriously, please do. Go at Fire Tongue with everything you’ve got and take the attention off Obama. Please divide the focus of your attacks and do it against the man who can wipe the shit-eating grin off your face with one comment. By the way Rush, you are a four-time divorced, millionaire drug addict who takes trips to Puerto Rico with bottles full of Viagra. Keep speaking for the common man, though. Maybe Paris Hilton can tell us what's up as well. Just thought I’d throw that in for no reason.

McCain is already running an ad in which Biden says he’d be honored to run against Grandpa McCain and compliments him. Genius. The tape is from 2004, setting up a Biden, “Well, he’s fallen off quite a bit in the past four years.” McCain is the candidate who has far to fall, as most people still don’t realize he is an old man, slowly losing his ability to think and constantly making embarrassing gaffs. Now, here comes an “old friend” who is going to make the case that McCain isn’t up to the job. And he’s going to make it well.

I want someone above average. I want someone who knows what they’re dealing with. And it surprises me that John didn’t understand the complexities of the power struggle going on in Iran right now.

John McCain remains wedded to the Bush Administration’s myopic view of a world defined by terrorism. … He would continue to allow a tiny minority to set the agenda for the overwhelming majority. It is time for a total change in Washington’s worldview.

Only a fucking idiot would run an ad in which Fire Tongue praises McCain, because a severe verbal beat-down will follow. Severe. To have an ad with Biden praising McCain will create a false impression. People are now sitting around thinking, “Oh, Biden likes McCain.” They will then be surprised by the two months of verbal attacks McCain takes from his old buddy. It’s a dumb tactic. Now, using clips of Biden attacking Obama is smart, but you can be sure Biden can talk his way out of that.

So, what’s Biden’s voting record like? Who gives a shit. People vote for the top of the ticket. Sure, you can quote my “Fuck Joe Biden" article all you want. But that would make you one of the least understanding and dumbest motherfuckers on the planet, because those facts are all relevant for a man running for president. Guess what? Joe Biden is running for VICE PRESIDENT. See the difference? Guess who doesn’t set the agenda? He’ll have his own little projects, probably Amtrak, that he focuses on. Overall, he will have one function in the campaign -- to undermine John McCain. Who better than an old friend to do the job?

I’m sure Fire Tongue have an input on foreign policy too, because he is one of the most knowledgeable people in our country when it comes to foreign affairs. His deft ability to make complex foreign policy issues understandable will be devastating to watch during the vice presidential debate and whenever McCain opens his hate hole on the campaign trail. Oh, and he has a son going to Iraq. Someone on the ticket actually has a personal stake in the war. Imagine how that will go.

This is the best choice Obama could have made. By far.

You can read more of FearTheReaper's geniusing at his blog,
Stop All Monsters.

(Written by: FearTheReaper)

Updates for two events on Mr. G's upcoming US tour for THE GRAVEYARD BOOK:

• National Book Festival on 9/27:
  
  Event: 11:45am - 12:45pm
  Signing: 1pm - 2pm (This signing will almost certainly go on longer.)



• NYC on 9/30:
  
  Teachers College at Columbia University
  Horace Mann Auditorium
  525 W. 120th Street
  New York, NY 10027
  908-991-2153
  
  Hosted by Barnes & Noble College. Event is free and open to the public, no tickets needed. Pre-signed books will be available for purchase.

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The LA Times has posted a photogallery of the Rogue Artists Ensemble of 'Mr Punch'.

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For those few heathens who prefer their Journal feed to be 100% Neil, I have created an Exclusively Neil RSS feed. Mostly I wanted an excuse to play with Yahoo! Pipes.

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The response to my request for help with an Inform 7 has been an embarrassment of riches. I have received responses from professional IF7 developers and award winners, among others. I am, honestly, a little intimidated. If you don't hear back from me, please accept my heartfelt thanks for volunteering your time.

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The new Knight Rider show has a character named Charles Graiman? (What's next? Neil Vress?)

We enter the 25th installment of “This Week in Logobama.com” with the news that Joe Biden joins the Democratic presidential ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. I watched some of the news analysis of the VP announcement, as well as saw many tweets about it on Twitter. I am the first to admit that I know very little about Joe Biden, so I’m not commenting on his selection as Obama’s VP. What was interesting, in an expected way, was the response. Analysts who have supported Obama cite Biden as a great choice and a “home run” selection. Conversely, Republican analysts point out the fact that Obama picked Biden because of his foreign policy and armed services credentials, thus supporting Obama’s lack of experience in these fields (stressing that Obama has little experience in these areas, not the VP selection itself).

Obviously you can’t please all of the people all of the time. But thinking about the selection, I wonder who Biden was selected for. I don’t think he was selected for those already strongly supporting Obama; those people are going to vote for him pretty much no matter who he selected as his VP. And Biden obviously wasn’t selected to appease the Republican critics. Biden was selected for those who aren’t sure who to vote for. The strategy must be that he’ll convince more people to vote for Obama/Biden than will switch and vote for McCain/? because of his selection. I also think if Obama had selected someone as his VP who always agrees with his decisions, he’d just be bringing on a “yes man.” Obama bringing on someone who shares his passion and vision, but is confident to disagree when the circumstances warrant disagreement, will result in better decisions through discussion, debate, and thinking instead of just, “yes, I agree” decisions. If David, Todd and I agreed about everything, we’d probably be out of business by now. Instead, we “fight as if you are right; listen as if you are wrong” (from the No Asshole Rule by Robert Sutton). And look where that’s gotten us.

Fortunately, the charts don’t argue, and the charts are never wrong.

Review by Duncan Mitchel


    Coffee Prince Number 1 (2007, MBC miniseries)

Coffee Prince Number 1 is probably the most enjoyable Korean TV drama I've watched so far. I loved Ruler of Your Own World, but it was darker, more serious, more dramatic. Coffee Prince is pure fun, and its popularity shows that many Koreans agree with me.

The premise is that Go Eun Chan (Yoon Eun-hye, Palace), by default the head of her family after her father died when she was 16, is often mistaken for a boy. She wears her hair fairly short, dresses ambiguously, knows Tae Kwon Do, does delivery work, and eats like a horse. Choi Han Gyeol (Gong Yoo, One Fine Day), handsome scion of a wealthy family, is being pressured to marry by his imperious grandmother (Kim Young-ok). He hires Eun Chan, whom he takes for male, to pretend to be his gay lover. Behaving outrageously in various hotel lobbies, the two scare off all the women his grandmother sends him.

Grandmother then raises the stakes. If Han Gyeol won't marry or go to work for the family company, he'll have to support himself; she takes away his care and gives him notice of eviction for his expensive rooftop apartment before he agrees to manage Coffee Prince, a rundown coffee shop in a student district, and increase its profits. Eun Chan wheedles him into hiring "him," and before long they find themselves powerfully drawn to each other. His interest in a cute boy understandably disturbs Han Gyeol, who reacts as if he were a closeted gay man: he alternately tries to keep Eun Chan close, and to drive "him" away.

Why is Han Gyeol so reluctant to marry? Several online articles I've seen describe him as a "playboy," but he's never shown dating women. He's in love with Han Yoo Joo (Chae Jeong-an, Emperor From the Sea), a beautiful and brilliant artist who has an on-again, off-again love with Han Gyeol's cousin Han Seong (Lee Seon-gyoon, White Tower), a musician and producer. As the series begins, Yoo Joo has just returned from a long stay in New York, where she was involved professionally and romantically with a man called DK. Now she's back and wants to start over with Han Seong, who (reasonably enough) doesn't quite trust her. But she's not in love with Han Gyeol either. By chance, Go Eun Chan delivers milk to Han Seong's house. She and Han Seong bond over Han Seong's sheepdog Ssulja, and become good friends.

As usual in a series, Coffee Prince includes a constellation of secondary characters, ranging from Eun Chan's feckless mother (Park Won-sook, Tomato) and the wacky butcher, Mr. Goo (Lee Han-wee, Love and Hate), who wants to marry her; and Eun Chan's more glamorous younger sister Eun Sae (Han Ye-in), who wants to be a star. Then there's the Coffee Prince team, assembled like disciples by Han Gyeol and Eun Chan: Han Gyeol's old friend Chin Ha Rim (Kim Dong-wook), who fancies himself a ladies' man but also seems interested in Eun Chan; the hunky but slow Hwang Min Yeop (Lee Eon, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident in 2008), who's in love with Eun Chan's sister and pursues her doggedly despite her best efforts to drive him away; the mysterious Master of Waffles No Jeon Ki (Kim Jae-wook), who keeps muttering in Japanese; and Manager Hong, the slovenly manager of the shop, whom Grandmother keeps on as co-manager to keep Han Gyeol on his toes.

Writers Lee Jeong-ah and Jang Hyeon-joo keep things steaming along entertainingly, and for the most part they keep the comedy in character, without much of the pointless slapstick or asides that disrupt some comedy-dramas. I'm also forever grateful that they never resort to a car or other accident to engender a crisis and permit tearful reconciliations and confessions, as in so many dramas. Some early plot points, like Eun Chan's supersensitive nose for smells, are introduced early on and then forgotten; on first meeting Eun Chan, Ha Rim calls "him" My Chan and exclaims over "his" cuteness, but after a few episodes he's chasing after young women and trying to give Eun Chan advice on handling the babes.

The story doesn't really come together until Han Gyeol and Eun Chan begin to fall in love. Most writers would, I think, have let Han Gyeol know that Eun Chan was a girl after no more than one episode of homosexual panic, but Lee and Jang stretch it over several episodes, and make Han Gyeol's anxiety wholly convincing. He sees a clueless old doctor, who gives him medicine to cure him of his tendencies. "You're gay, right?" he asks Eun Chan. "But I'm not. So stop seducing me."

"Who called me over in the middle of the night?" she points out.

"Let's be sworn brothers," he tells her. She refuses his evasion at first, then gives in. In voice over, each then tells us that even if it only means being a brother, he won't have to leave the other's side. But still Han Gyeol runs hot and cold, firing Eun Chan and then running to get "him" back. (One beautiful bit: Han Gyeol tells Eun Chan a major fami