"After Last Season"

Saw this on Massawyrm's Worst of 2009 list at Ain't It Cool News.

KICK-ASS!

Prepare to have YOURS kicked when this film is released on April 16!



I don't know when I have last seen such a seamless blend of hilarity and unbelievable badassery.

Sausage O'Clock!

Sausage O'Clock! - watch more funny videos

Contemplate the Eigenharp!

At first I thought these crazy looking instruments were Chapman Sticks, but the Eigenharp is something quite different:



Thanks to the Grimmbot!

Birth of an Elephant

Unbelievable footage. Very graphic.

click here

"We just had an anomoly..."

Third time's a charm with UniqueDaily.com!

D-Pants

Thanks again UniqueDaily.com!

Visit Dagobah!

Credit goes to UniqueDaily.com!

Veteran's Day 2009

President Obama speaks at the memorial service at Fort Hood

Trailer: Black Devil Doll

10 Years of Butt-Numb-A-Thon

I have had the remarkable good fortune of having attended all ten occurrences of Butt-Numb-A-Thon, an around-the-clock, 24 hour long film festival in which 11 to 13 films are shown, along with a variety of vintage trailers, sneak previews of upcoming features and/or appearances by filmmakers or actors. It is the birthday party for host Harry Knowles, the man behind interweb giant Aint It Cool News. Taking the experience to the next level is the co-host of the event - Tim League and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Austin, Texas. Tim's team delivered the fresh meat pies during a showing of Sweeney Todd, served us caviar on cream cheese with a shot of Russian vodka so the audience could follow along with Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

There is a wonderful "anything can happen" mojo that swirls through Butt-Numb-A-Thon, the closest thing in my life to Christmas morning when I was 7 years old. Each year thousands apply, yet our host has selected my brother in law and I and a few of our friends to return each year thus far, an experience akin to finding a golden ticket in a Wonka Bar wrapper once a year.

Here's a very groovy peek at most if not all of the films we have seen over the last ten years, assembled by ConnieLane:

Patrick Stewart Screenplay

"Good Lord!"



Mined again from AVClub.

Shatner is Julius Caesar: The Rap Musical

From a cool article at Onion AVClub: Is Wayne Brady gonna have to choke a bitch?: 21+ guest stars who stretched the meaning of "as himself"

Triple Shot of Translation Hilarity

Benny Lava!

Thanks Sisbot!


Monty Python: The Tobacconist Sketch




Talking Cats: Reaction

Honey, I'm home!

Thanks to Grimmbot!

Laugh Along Meta Style!

Blackmail!

President Clinton could have saved himself and the nation a lot of trouble if he'd taken Letterman's approach to addressing this kind of situation.

Holy Crap!

Even crazier than you are imagining!



Thanks to Tosh.O

Protect Insurance Companies PSA

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Thanks to PointSpy!

Senseless violence

I know I am not helping by spreading this even farther, but it is too shocking not to post.

Click here.

Thanks to Grimmbot!

Family Guy: America's Melodic Voice for Libertarian Social Policy

"The Freakin' FCC" from the PTV Episode

Related story: Parent group files FCC complaint against 'Family Guy'

The PTC is urging its purported 1.3 million members to file FCC complaints against "Family Guy" as well. The organization has a history of taking issue with the show's content and series creator Seth MacFarlane was asked about the PTC last year:

"Oh, yeah. That’s like getting hate mail from Hitler. They’re literally terrible human beings. I’ve read their newsletter, I’ve visited their website, and they’re just rotten to the core. For an organization that prides itself on Christian values — I mean, I’m an atheist, so what do I know? — they spend their entire day hating people. They can all suck my d**k as far as I’m concerned."


"Bag of Weed", from the 420 Episode


A Bag Of Weed - Awesome video clips here


Off Topic Crazy-Ass Bonus Track: Prom Night Baby

Dogs Playing Tetherball

Thanks to UniqueDaily.com!

Judas Priest in Atlanta

A great show by an all-time great metal band, only 25 years after I saw them at my first rock concert at age 14.

I was a lot closer than the fellow who shot this video, so for me it was 100% eye-popping extravaganza fueled by equal parts thunder and lightning! Woot!



Here's my Grandpa Simpson moment: The ticket for the show in 1984 was $13.50, while the "convenience fees" for this show totaled $14.00!

Thousands and Thousands Sing Along with Sabbath

Just moments before the stage was taken by Birmingham's other legendary metal band.

Shii

Never Piss Off a Guy Who Owns a Backhoe

Thanks Grimbot!

Economic Straight Talk

Thanks again to PointSpy!

The End of Retirement

People nowadays invest for many reasons, but one of the most common is retirement. Ever since the American pension system and its government equivalent, Social Security, began to shed their reputation for stability and adequate funding, a growing number of Americans – pushed that way by large and lavishly funded ad campaigns – have placed their hopes for a comfortable old age on investments. The result is a huge fraction of Americans who are emotionally as well as financially invested in the hope that a big payoff from their assets will enable them to have the retirement of their dreams.

If you are among the people who cling to that belief, I’m sorry to say I have bad news. Over the next decade or so, the huge overhang of paper wealth that now floods the world economy is going to lose nearly all its value. As it goes, it will take your retirement funds with it.

Read the whole essay at The Archdruid Report.

New Watchmen Saturday Morning Cartoon

Watchmen Saturday Morning Cartoon - watch more funny videos

From Funny or Die

Path to Freedom

This family is growing three tons of food a year on 1/10 of an acre in the middle of Pasadena, California!



Here's a link to their website, Path to Freedom.

Thanks to PointSpy for the linkup!

Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

When the Sony Walkman was launched, 30 years ago this week, it started a revolution in portable music. But how does it compare with its digital successors? The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week.

---

Read all at: BBC News Magazine.

Dethklok is the real deal

They may only exist in 11 minute increments on the animated Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, but these three songs make it clear that Dethklok is, nevertheless, the real deal.


Bloodrocuted



Thunderhorse



Briefcase Full of Guts

Robot Lincoln

This is from Michael Kupperman's blog, Here Comes Madness.

He's great!



I first ran across him through the Onion AV Club's interview with him.

Patton Oswalt on Athens, Georgia

"Last Day Dream" (2009) by Chris Milk

From: Design You Trust

Last Day Dream [HD] from Chris Milk on Vimeo.

Will you be needing a "to-go" box?

Happy Independence Day!

Bakshi's Wizards

Check out this eye-popping trailer!

Sarah Palin Drops a Bomb!

Wow! Who saw this coming?

Is she off to prepare herself for a presidential run all the way off in 2012? Or is she about to disappear into the forests of Alaska to personally train The Barracuda - a Christian army of Apocalypse Ninja who intend to seize control of Alaska and place her upon on its icy throne.

Vanity Fair steals the day with an in-depth and impossibly timely look at Sarah Palin: It Came From Wasilla.

“Just Make It All Go Away”

As Palin has piled misstep on top of misstep, the senior members of McCain’s campaign team have undergone a painful odyssey of their own. In recent rounds of long conversations, most made it clear that they suffer a kind of survivor’s guilt: they can’t quite believe that for two frantic months last fall, caught in a Bermuda Triangle of a campaign, they worked their tails off to try to elect as vice president of the United States someone who, by mid-October, they believed for certain was nowhere near ready for the job, and might never be. They quietly ponder the nightmare they lived through. Do they ever ask, What were we thinking? “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah,” one longtime McCain friend told me with a rueful chuckle. “You nailed it.” Another key McCain aide summed up his attitude this way: “I guess it’s sort of shifted,” he said. “I always wanted to tell myself the best-case story about her.” Even now, he said, “I don’t want to get too negative.” Then he added, “I think, as I’ve evaluated it, I think some of my worst fears … the after-election events have confirmed that her more negative aspects may have been there … ” His voice trailed off. “I saw her as a raw talent. Raw, but a talent. I hoped she could become better.”

Air New Zealand

Their new slogan is "At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide."



For the first time ever, you might be interested to watch the safety video.

An Army of Artists

Actors, painters and Xeroxmen work to create Ralph Bakshi's classic - "Fire and Ice", featuring the original artwork of fantasy legend Frank Frazetta. Much of the work looks mind-numbingly tedious, the labor intensive process of pre-computer rotoscope animation.

The film still looks great after all these years, always providing some trippy jungle ruins or impossible alien landscapes to focus on when the storyline gets thin.

The DVD I got from Netflix included some funny extras, including a retrospective with the fellow who played Larn, the hero of the story. He reads excerpts from his diary at the time of the shoot, when he was young and ambitious.

Cheep Laffs with Ozzy

The Unexpected

Over the years I have seen quite a few opening acts and also headliners about which I had no previous knowledge, where I was there to see a specific band on the bill and really knew nothing about the others. The vast majority of these bands failed to sink a hook in me at all, even though they may have put on a good show and the music was solid enough. In fact, since my first live show in 1984 there have been exactly two bands that completely blew me away, both of which went on to win places in my Exalted Pantheon of Musical Greatness. Here are three tracks from each.

SUPLECS
This NOLA trio is equally at home in mind-splintering, half-speed damnation or in full-on, full-speed aural assault.









RAGING SPEEDHORN
I love the one-two punch of their roaring dual singers, the crazy mixed-meter looping riffs and the hardcore ethos.

Lazy Town Remix

Images from the Exodus/Kreator Show

I'd forgotten about this!

From "Can't Buy Me Love"

Kristin Wigg Rules

Disbar the Torture Lawyers

The recent commission of torture under the Flag of the United States is a disgrace to all who have ever sworn allegiance to it, saluted it, or died for it. This activist group intends to see those that Bush Administration officials that conspired to make it happen now suffer the consequences.

Torture is illegal under both United States and international law. The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment, and it states that treaties signed by the U.S. are the “supreme Law of the Land” under Article Six. The Geneva Convention and The Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment both prohibit torture and have been signed by the United States. These laws provide no exception for torture under any circumstances. Moreover, the United States Criminal Code prohibits both torture and war crimes, the latter which includes torture. The Army Field Manual prohibits the use of degrading treatment of detainees.

Despite this well-established law, under the Bush administration, torture was authorized by George Bush and kept secret using classified designations. The White House requested legal memoranda to support its use of torture and it received those authored by a host of attorneys, including John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Stephen Bradbury. Attorneys who advised, counseled, consulted and supported those memoranda included Alberto Gonzales, John Ashcroft, Michael Chertoff, Alice Fisher, William Haynes II, Douglas Feith, Michael Mukasey, Timothy Flanigan, and David Addington.

Several of these memoranda have recently been released, and clearly demonstrate that these attorneys conspired to violate laws against torture and that their actions resulted in torture and death. Accordingly, these attorneys must be held accountable. We have asked the respective state bars to revoke the licenses of the foregoing attorneys for moral turpitude. They failed to show “respect for and obedience to the law, and respect for the rights of others,” and intentionally or recklessly failed to act competently, all in violation of legal Rules of Professional Conduct. Several attorneys failed to adequately supervise the work of subordinate attorneys and forwarded shoddy legal memoranda regarding the definition of torture to the White House and Department of Defense. These lawyers further acted incompetently by advising superiors to approve interrogation techniques that were in violation of U.S. and international law. They failed to support or uphold the U.S. Constitution, and the laws of the United States, and to maintain the respect due to the courts of justice and judicial officers, all in violation state bar rules.

On Monday, May 18, 2009, a broad coalition of organizations dedicated to accountable government, and representing over one million members, filed disciplinary complaints with state bar licensing boards against the above named twelve attorneys for advocating the torture of detainees during the Bush Administration. These detailed complaints, with over 500 pages of supporting exhibits, have been filed with the state bars in the District of Columbia, New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania, and they seek disciplinary action and disbarment.

Click here to learn more.

Thanks to Typhusbot for spreading this infection.

This video is great for a dozen reasons...

Its all in the wrist.

Woman demonstrates technique for arousing some kind of miniature hobbit.

Jones Good Ass BBQ & Foot Massage

Make sure and visit the website!
www.jonesbigasstruckrentalandstorage.com/jonesgoodassbbqandfootmassage.html

Thanks again, www.uniquedaily.com

Meet Dachi!

That dude from "Police Academy" is going to be pissed.



Thanks to www.uniquedaily.com!

Nothing to Add...

This changes everything!

The Perfect Kreator Playlist

Click here for details.

Thanks Arthur!

Sign of the Times

Food giveaway sites draw crowds, many forced to leave empty-handed

More than 200 people gathered at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2872 at dawn Thursday to pick up bags to free groceries from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and several dozen were turned away after food ran out.

*snip*

As the line snaked around the VFW parking lot, volunteers handed out numbered tickets representing one household's allotment of groceries. It was clear by 8:15 a.m. that there weren't enough tickets to go around. The scene was similar at a Oconee County grocery pick-up location, where volunteers ran out of groceries by 10 a.m. - a first in Oconee County, said Elaine Whitmire, ACTION Inc.'s community services coordinator for the county.

With more and more companies laying off employees and the state reaching an all-time high of 9.2 percent unemployment, Maxey isn't surprised to see new faces in the line, she said.

From the 3/19/09 online edition of the Athens Banner-Herald

Those Baaah-studs!

I can't get enough of this!

This guy Kutiman has welded together bits and clips of other people's YouTube videos into a brilliant video album of booty shaking funk, beautiful melodies and lots of groovy everyday people. Its Fatboy Slim done with visuals rather than vinyl.



Wow!!!

Tremendous thanks to Shorinbot for shooting this cannonball my way.

Scion Rock Fest

Last Saturday I attended the Scion Rock Fest at The Masquerade in Atlanta. The event was free, staged by Toyota offspring hipster brand Scion, who brought nearly three dozen metal and heavy rock bands to four stages. Amazingly, Scion maintained a pretty low key presence, with no model vehicles, no car brochures and no giant signage. Given the thousands of people present and the ticket price the whole thing was very well run - on schedule, well managed and fun.

The Masquerade is a really cool venue, a turn of the century mill of heavy granite walls and giant machinery that is divided into four areas. Although I have seen dozens of metal shows there over the years, every single act played in Heaven, the largest indoor stage. I'd never even seen the outdoor area before this.

Here are some pics of the Masq's four areas from their web site:

Heaven: The upstairs main stage with a spacious bar in the back.

















Purgatory: A bar, couch area and tiny performance space located on a mezzanine level. Lots of cool room-sized machinery visible around an upper catwalk.















Hell: A recessed dance floor area ringed by ramps and booths, with a groovy curved bar in the back.















An outdoor area large enough for a giant stage and tent, plus booths and trailers of beer, burritos and merch.















And lots of mud. This became evident when I took the first twelve or so steps into the outdoor area at the very beginning of the day only to have the 21 year old, boot-camp-issue combat boot that I was wearing blow out all along the pinkie toe area of the right foot. The resulting cold, clammy foot served to remind me that death is the only possible outcome for any of us, the ruptured boot a clear metaphor for my own misspent youth, while the cold and numbness served was a first taste of the uncertain, terrifying and inevitable march to the grave. I felt well-fortified for the metal onslaught to come.

Here we are, wayfaring strangers steeped in the boundless eternal sorrow of METAL.















About to join a seething mass, a freakshow mix of classic metalheads, stoner metal hobbits and other miscreants.















The Masquerade has one of the Deep South last surviving coal-fired, steam operated gallows.




















Japanese doom metal masters BORIS completes their sound check a little after noon:















The first band for me - Kylesa on the outdoor stage. They were cool - a fun opening act with an awesome frontchick singing with a complete demon metal voice that served to remind us that in life beauty is often used to conceal rage and terror.
















After that we went to HELL to check out Salome, this incredible sludged out sonic onslaught trio with - remarkably - another demon voiced leading lady!





























They reminded me a lot of Cianide, authors of the timeless metal refrain:

Ever-growing need
from what to expect.
Future holds nothing
Life is a wreck.

So after Salome it was back outside for Baroness. They were cool... more of a jam band vibe than pure metal. The singer/guitarist in the center had crazy pop eyes!
















Finally it was time for BORIS, whom I was looking forward to most of all, as you can tell from watching this video.


















I was right up front for this show, one hand braced against the front barricade to hold back the surges from the crushing, churning meatgrinder of elbows and knees that swirled behind us like the inescapable fate of an ever-escalating global population galloping toward declining energy resources, an unstoppable climate increase and the open arms of The Four Horsemen.















Check out the end of their set - my first ever YouTube posting!




Our efforts to see Harvey Milk in PURGATORY were a preposterous waste of time. The performance space was tiny and beyond view for all but the six or seven people at the front. This photo pretty well sums it up, as well as the fact that we are doomed to endure a continuous stream of missed opportunities and failures.
















I wandered up to HEAVEN to see a bit of Warbringer, who was more of a straight up speed metal band that put me in the mind of my old metal heroes - KREATOR. At this show I saw this dude in the mosh pit who lived at the unfortunate cusp of "really short guy" and "midget". He was bouncing around off the other Tasmanian Devils just fine, but then ran up to this big dude, grabbed him around the waist, and spun him out into the middle of the pit. Except the big dude did not move one inch, leaving the little dude to struggle ineffectually until the big guy sent him reeling around like a mini metal pinball dude.

On the way back outside I got a cool photo with the men of BORIS in the merch alley.
















The last band I saw was High on Fire, back outside. I was excited to see them since their leader was the guitarist in the stoner metal giants Sleep, who is/are legendary for having spent $50,000 of the record company's advance money over a two year period only to deliver a 52 minute album consisting of a single song - Jerusalem. The label refused to release it, leaving it in the can for a couple more years until another label set it free, where it became an instant classic in certain circles thanks not only for its massive, ponderous riffs, but also its siren-like message.

I managed to see them right there at The Masquerade 15 years prior, where they told the audience that any free liquor would be much appreciated, then later confided that they did not have a place to stay and would be interested in any offers of lodging.

Unfortunately High on Fire is really nothing like Sleep, though, so it was only a final a let down.

By about 7:45 we tucked our tired tails between our legs and left the Scion Rock Fest behind in utter despair. There were still plenty of great acts on the lineup, but we knew when we had been beat.

Way to go Scion! Thanks for a really great event - and for FREE, no less!

Mine Tour - Part II

Last August I reported on my crawlspace excavation project, when I was at the 71-loads-excavated mark:















Since then the digging has only made it to the 94 load mark, the effort pausing while I completed the various steps needed to get the first beam and pillars up, such as learning how to mix concrete from my brother-in-law Efrain.

And here's the first beam and one of the pillars! It is made up of three 2x10s bolted together and supported by two adjustable jackposts, which are in turn bolted to 12" diameter x 48" tall concrete pillars. The pillar is pretty much in the same spot as the shovel in the above photo.

Note the old lone 2x6 beam with the block pillar to the right.




















Here is a side view of the beam. From this view you can also see our skyhooks, an idea we puzzled together that was so successful that my wife and I were able to install this extremely heavy thing unassisted.
















They are just two "C" clamps attached to a floor joist with a ratcheting tie-down strap hung between them - the kind you'd use to hold a couch in the bed of a pick-up truck. This arrangement supported the weight of the beam most of the time, providing essential peace of mind that if the beam fell while we were setting the jackposts it would be caught by the strap.




















Next we will give the threaded jackpost screws a 1/4 turn every few days until the rafters are evenly supported, then connect each rafter to the beam with hurricane straps. At that point we'll be able to knock out those two old block pillars and resume digging!

My Trip to Washington