From the same amaziballs creators who gave us Conan the Barbarian: The Musical comes this new, hilarious piece of work. Batman: You Son Of A Bitch!
Sad when a parody is about a bazillion times better than the actual flick.
Tag: vid
The Tea Party & The Circus
I firmly believe those who hold extreme views on any topic are less educated about the issue than those in the middle. Such people do not choose to arm themselves with facts but with feelings. Even so, the stunning ignorance of the Tea Party members interviewed in this short piece is nothing short of embarrassing. Person after person admits they don’t know what is and what isn’t in the bill. All they know is what Fox News and Glenn Beck has told them and that’s good enough for them.
If I didn’t have family members of my own that felt this exact same way, I’d think the entire Tea Party movement was a joke. Unfortunately it’s not, it’s deadly serious. The rise in selfishness in the modern conservative movement in recent years has really taken me by surprise. The “I’ve got mine, you’re on your own.” attitude that pervades Republican and right-wing circles is both frightening and counter-culture to the very Christian ideals so many on the right profess to hold.
Some of the Tea Party members in this video don’t believe there are millions of uninsured citizens in our country. To them the emergency room heals all wounds, treats all diseases (even cancer, heart disease and mental illness) and doesn’t raise the cost of health care for the rest of us year after year. This week I listened to caller after caller on the Brad & Britt show phone in to say that they either didn’t care about those who were uninsured or who didn’t believe the rising cost of health care was worse than doing nothing.
The health care bill that is about to be passed in the U.S. Congress isn’t the best legislation that could have been written, not by a long shot. It is a highly imperfect attempt to fix the growing problem of spiraling health care costs that also helps to protect consumers from being dropped for pre-existing conditions (among other things). It is by no means the final solution, but rather simply a step in the right direction. However, if Tea Party members had their way, we wouldn’t even be having the discussion in the first place.
Time Warner’s Predatory Pricing
Like many communities across the country, Greensboro is attempting to lure internet giant Google to the area to lay the foundation for their super-fast broadband service. City officials have begun to mobilize and there is even a Facebook group that has cropped up where citizens can show their support for the project. I missed the following video when it first was posted, but thanks to a comment posting by Jim Caserta at Ed Cone’s blog, it was brought to my attention.
The town of Wilson, NC has become famous in these parts for launching their own, privately held high-speed fiber network. They did this despite enormous pressure from Time Warner Cable. The network in Wilson is also noteworthy because it has demonstrated what Time Warner is willing to do in order to put such locally owned high-speed networks out of business. Catharine Rice gave a presentation recently that outlines the kinds of price slashing TWC is willing endure in order to hold onto business, even while customers in nearby Raleigh have seen their rates rise from 5-50%. We can’t see the data she’s presenting in this clip, but it’s not necessary, the facts speak for themselves.
Time Warner cable has had a monopoly in North Carolina for far too long and I firmly believe that Google’s entry into the region would serve all of us well. I wasn’t able to make it to the initial community meeting to discuss ideas on how to lure Google to the Triad, but I damn will make the next one. I’m tired of paying ever-increasing cable rates for inferior broadband service. I can’t record HD shows in my Time Warner DVR because half the time they’re not available when I tune them in. The price breaks the people of Wilson are getting are almost obscene compared to what we pay here in Greensboro and it’s high time we let them know. I’ve had enough.
Favorite Film Funnies
I’ve been seeing quite a few of these “Best Movie Lines” videos on YouTube and so I thought I would take a shot at making my own. It took some work to grab all of the clips, but the result was worth it. Editing this short ode to silver screen silliness was really fun. Next up, my favorite dramatic lines. Enjoy!
Mental Health Break
At the risk of becoming a YouTube blog, I present you with four very awesome videos. Sometimes surfing the web can lead to random discoveries that turn out to be treasures in their own right. After finding these wonderful clips I just had to share so if you have time, be sure to check them all out, they’re really worth it.
• Take On Me-A-Ha-Ukulele Cover (via Buzzfeed)
• Hitler Upset By Balloon Boy Hoax (via @arlo)
Intel Rockstar
The new Tonight Show with Conan O’Brian has been hit or miss since its debut, but this wonderfully geeky bit is right on the money. Conan Interviews the co-creator of the USB port, Ajay Bhatt with hilarious results. Check it out, the end alone is worth the price of admission.
Hat tip to Mashable for this post.
Aqua – Back to the 80’s
I’ve always loved Aqua ever since I first heard Barbie Girl, and now they’ve returned with the video premiere of their new hit – Back to the 80’s. Granted this tune is aimed square at Generation Xers like myself, but its still a great song. The beat is catchy and the lyrics are full of pop culture references like the Commodore 64, Banannarama and Moon Boots. Bravo Aqua, bravo!
Radio Host Mancow Waterboarded
Even though right-wing TV personality Sean Hannity is too afraid to follow through on his promise to be water boarded on air, others aren’t. Witness this incredible display by conservative shock-jock Erich “Mancow” Muller having himself water boarded. After lasting only 6-7 seconds he reverses his opinion on the subject and declares without a doubt that the procedure is indeed torture. Are you listening Mr. Cheney?
Sean Hannity will never allow himself to be water boarded on television or on his radio show. If he were, he would be be forced to admit that his position on the treatment is wrong and that water boarding is, in fact, torture. Hannity is a transparent coward who has no right to speak on the subject until he submits to the same treatment that Erich Muller does here. Time to step up Sean.
[hat tip to Andrew Sullivan for this post]
Following Through
I can’t honestly remember the last time I was rooting for my President to succeed so vehemently. So far, Barack Obama has done a pretty good job of keeping his campaign promises. His first official budget, which he delivered to Congress this week, continues that resolve. The sheer fact that unlike Bush, he didn’t attempt to hide the cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan by leaving it out of the budget signals the true nature of change he represents.
In this latest weekly video address Obama foreshadows the huge lobbying effort that is gearing up to fight the changes his administration will bring. At the 3:40 mark he lays it out bare: they are getting ready for a fight. His answer to those deep-pocketed special interests is even better – “So am I”. You are not alone Mr. President, we’ve got your back. This is going to be good.
Don’t Panic!
If you could open up the fictional Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and ask it to explain the current credit crisis, the answer would look something like this video. About the only thing missing is the snarky attitude and snotty English accent. Come to think of it, those things would probably make this snoozefest of a subject actually enjoyable. Gets really good around the 7:20 mark.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.
Maximum Zen
You have to hand it to the people at PopCap. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so addictive. I mean the player strategy behind their hugely successful game, Peggle Deluxe, amounts to little more than a digital coin toss. Despite this, the game is immensely satisfying and keeps players coming back for more. One of the reasons is the sheer joy you get when you pull off shots like this:
In many ways, Peggle has a lot of the same visceral qualities that made games like Ambrosia Software’s Malestrom and Apeiron so great. These noteworthy creations from Ambrosia Software helped to inspire my love of Mac gaming and provided a great deal of inspiration when it came time to bring the user interface and general feel of Frenzic to life. Ambrosia has gotten away from these types of straight forward, fun as hell, games lately (with the possible exception of Sketch Fighter) and it’s too bad. I would kill for an updated OS X version of Malestrom. One that combines the simple fun of Peggle with the classic sensibilities of Ambrosia and the power of Mac OS X.
In the meantime, my hat goes off to the folks at PopCap for creating Peggle. I think it’s almost as addictive as Frenzic… almost 😉 If you have videos of your favorite shot replays, post links to them in the comments and help spread the Extreme Fever. Tally ho!
A Brief Video Tour of CandyBar 3
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth a googolplex, right? Yesterday Panic & The Iconfactory released CandyBar 3 for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and it has been greeted with open arms by Mac users and icon enthusiasts alike. There’s a great deal of new stuff packed into this release, not the least of which is the blending of CandyBar 2 and Pixadex 2 into a single, unified whole. I thought an easy way to show some of these cool new features was to make a quick guided tour. Video artifacts and nervous jabber aside, I think you’ll find it helpful.
To get the complete skinny and download a free trial version, point your favorite web browser to the CandyBar Home page over at Panic.com. Then surf on over to the Iconfactory and download tons of great, free icon sets and their accompanying Leopard dock styles. Have fun and thanks for watching!
UPDATE: The guys over at MacMost have put together their own screencast of CandyBar 3 and it’s pretty nice. They show how you can manually drop in dock images instead of using just iContainers, which is something I didn’t cover in my overview. Check it out.
Contact Icon Tutorial for iPhone
In a blatant attempt to compete with Craig for the virtual linking affections of John Gruber, I am pleased to present the Contact Icon Tutorial for iPhone. This short video shows off a quick way that you can make use of desktop icons on your new iPhone with a little help from Pixadex and the groovy new Dine-O-Matic icon set from the IF workers.
If you don’t know what Dine-O-Matic is, head on over to the widget’s home page to learn all about this fun, free Dashboard widget for the Mac. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled in the days ahead for version 2.0 that incorporates some exciting new, and heavily requested features, coming soon to a factory near you. Enjoy!
UPDATE: Kate reminds me that this process will work in conjunction with any Apple phone that can be synced with Address Book, not just the iPhone. Thanks Kate, I was temporarily blinded by my iPhone’s sheer coolness. 🙂