Our brilliant president speaks on human rights abuses at Gitmo: "We've investigated every single complaint against the detainees. It seemed like to me they based some of their decisions on the word of -- and the allegations -- by people who were held in detention, people who hate America, people that had been trained in some instances to disassemble -- that means not tell the truth. And so it was an absurd report. It just is." File Under: President Asshat

After 3 decades, Deep Throat has identified himself, though Carl Bernstein will not confirm or deny whether it's the truth. (via metafilter) File Under: Watergate

To the guy having a personal crisis right outside my bedroom window last night... do that again at 3AM on a worknight and I'll be more than happy to offer you assistance in your suicide attempt. I was having trouble sleeping last night, and some jackass outside my window who wouldn't shut up was not helping the situation. I thought it was some drunk on the street, so I went out to my living room to yell out the window at him to shut up and what do I see but some shirtless guy on the very corner of the roof of the building next to ours and a street full of cops. The weird thing is that he stayed on the roof and the cops eventually just left. At least he stopped yelling. Don't get me wrong, I have compassion for anybody going through some personal issues, but the second you drag me into it by loudly having your crisis right outside my window in the middle of the night, you have instantly lost my sympathy. Same thing goes for wannabe bridge jumpers who stay there for hours. If you're going to do it, do it. If not, your little cry for attention is just pissing people off. And one last thing, a jump from a third story roof would probably seriously maim you, but you'd probably be continuing your miserable life severely crippled. File Under: Suicidal Tendencies

Just because I like to push the envelope of silly online contest ethics... I've been playing around with Blog Explosion the last few days. It's a way to get traffic to your blog, but I don't know if it's necessarily a way to keep traffic there. People have to go through blogs at 30 second intervals in order to get other people to look at their blogs for 30 seconds. They also have a battle of the blogs where people gamble their points (toward hits) and let people vote on whose blog is best. Hence the church sign. So far I'm 0/2. Will this cheap ploy work to get me votes or will it backfire on me? File Under: Dork

Happy Memorial Day! While you're enjoying your barbecues today, let's remember all those who have died in wars, either defending our country or otherwise. Let's particularly pay tribute to those lives flushed down the toilet of Iraq by our lying president while he mugs for the cameras at Arlington Cemetary, giving speeches about what a great sacrifice they've made for Haliburton's bottom line our country. Most importantly, let's try to figure out a way to keep these people from dying for no damn good reason anymore. File Under: President Asshat, War

What far right fundamentalist would want to send their kids to a public school where they'll be terrorized with secular history, evolution, tolerance for others, the metric system, and all the rest of that liberal hippie commie nonsense? Those kids need to be homeschooled, dammit! And now the fine folks at Christian Light Publications and the Bob Jones University Press have all the textbooks that these kids will ever need. Everything from history books that have a chapter on the 60's called "Nation in Crisis," and an extended section on Reagan and Bush, to social studies books that are "God-centered, not man-centered," to a science book "based on God's gifts to us as recorded in the Creation account in Genesis 1." And be sure not to miss this fine educational poster to hang in your home classroom, right next to the gun rack! (via the General) File Under: Opiate of the masses

Everything I need to know, I learned from Iron Maiden! File Under: Metal!

Make your own church sign! File Under: Opiate of the Masses

Ahhhh, the South... home of cheap cigs, good barbecue, and cross burnings. The fine folks at Freak Republic are sure it's a hoax to make extreme right wing hate groups look bad. Yeah, because those groups don't look bad enough on their own. File Under: American Taliban, Freepers Creepers

Tom Delay is all pissed off. First the damn liberal media ran with a story about how he made threats to the judges in the Terri Schiavo case, then he gets name dropped on an episode of law and order about some murdered judges. Poor guy. Everyone's out to get him these days. And for what? Don't worry, Tom, those fine patriots over at Freak Republic have your back! File Under: Rightwingnuts, Freepers Creepers

This is cool! Watch streaming TV on Winamp. I've got the all Family Guy all the time channel on right now! There are Simpsons channels, movie channels, sitcom channels, and of course, since this is the internet after all, porn channels. File Under: Cool

Does the FBI have a file on you? Take this quiz to find out the likelihood. There's a 67% chance that they have mine. After you take the quiz, go here and listen to some appropriate music. File Under: The Man, MP3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNE!!!

A few weeks ago, I went to an exhibit on the human body featuring actual placticized bodies in various states of flaying to illustrate different body systems. It was pretty freaky, and now it all gets a little bit creepier... File Under: Freaky

I know I shouldn't even be surprised by this, but this just has my blood boiling. The Governator has product placement in his freakin' TV ads. Congrats, Arnie. You've managed to take corporate whoredom to a whole new level. File Under: Pimps n Hos

Somebody call Bill Frist quick! Those damn activist judges are at it again. I can't wait to see all the conservatives who are so appalled at judicial activism jump into this fray, but I'm sure not holding my breath. (via metafilter) File Under: American Taliban

Afghanistan: Mission Accomplished. File Under: Bloody Oil

You would think that a guy like Phil Spector could afford an image consultant for his murder trial. (via freakgirl) File Under: WTF

So it looks like the nuclear option has been averted for now. While the news stories say that both sides are claiming victory, I don't think that the democrats got such a great deal in this. They blocked two judges. The rest of this pack of extreme right loonies who got rejected once already will now get votes and probably be confirmed. The idea that Bush could get 200 or so judges confirmed and 7 or 8 blocked already is a compromise, but for these crybaby republicans, that wasn't enough. So now we only get to block 2 judges but get to keep the right to filibuster other extreme cases while Senator Palpatine Frist and his gang keep the right to pull this nuclear showdown bullshit again. I hope that the next time it comes down to this, they just vote on it. If we lose the filibuster, it's not like we're always going to be the minority party. Let's see how those piggies like it when the shoe is on the other foot. File Under: Rightwingnuts, Filibuster

Four days later and my freakin' web host has FINALLY gotten up to the point where I can actually post to my freakin' blog! So, if you're just reading this now, there are a few days worth of posts that I couldn't publish that are now up. So now that I can actually post again... We saw Star Wars yesterday and it was just as good as folks have been saying. While there were definitely some issues with cheesy dialoge and acting, it really tied everything together very nicely and there were moments where I even almost cried. Yoda and Mace Windu were both really kick ass. The opening space battle was insane. The battle with the Wookies gave a taste for how much better Return of the Jedi would have been if it was Wookies rather than Ewoks as I've heard was Lucas' original intent. I thought that Anakin's seduction to the dark side was a bit too easy. He didn't seem to struggle too much with the decision at all. I guess they sort of started setting that up in the last movie, but still, Anakin is an awfully cheap date. Given that the original Star Wars came out when I was just 5 and I've pretty much been a fan ever since, this last movie gives closure to a story that has been unfolding for the majority of my lifetime. I think George Lucas really understood that was the case for so many of the fans, and he really put his all into not letting this one be a big letdown like the last two. Thanks, George! File Under: Star Wars, Blogging

Last night was amazing! I showed A Guy Walks Into a Bar (15mb QT) for the first time in public. It's a little tough opening on the same night as Star Wars, but there was a decent crowd and they really loved my stuff. I tacked the Washington Interns Gone Bad trailer before A Guy Walks Into a Bar and the crowd went wild for that too. Despite the fact that none of the cast and crew could make it, there were a few folks who showed up from Tribe, giving me a solid posse. There were some wonderful films shown, many by the hosts of the show, including their Bush in 30 Seconds ad and a musical that they did for the 48 Hours Film Project. Some of the other films shown were amazing. There was one called kebob, kind of like Office Space meets Soylent Green, shot in London on B&W super 16. I'm always impressed by anyone working with actual film. There was also one called Book of the Dead which was a stunning anti-war piece showing the digitally manipulated photography of Tantra Bensko. File Under: Film, San Francisco

Those groovy folks at MoveOn.org just came up with yet another sweet ad campaign to coincide with the release of Episode 3. It's Senate Wars: Revenge of the Frist, and it's simply perfect. And it's getting some glowing reviews from that fine bunch of Clone Troopers over at Freak Republic. File Under: Star Wars, Politics, Freepers Creepers

My web host has dropped a bomb on me today. All of a sudden they decide to shut down passive FTP, which is what Blogger uses to upload posts. For those who don't speak geek, the translation is that nothing I've been writing over the last couple of days has been posting. It could be upwards of 48 hours before any of you read this while my hosts move me to a server that will do what I need it to do. Why do I bother posting when I know it won't upload? Probably because I'm a huge dork. File Under: Dork, Blogging, Web Hosting From Hell

Fun with Technorati tags! Once my #$%&! web host gets their collective asses in gear and starts allowing me to post to my blog again (who knows when that might be?), I'll be implementing a new systerm At the bottoms of my posts, you'll see "Filed Under" links. These are related tags from Technorati. This will allow people who are looking for blog posts under a certain category. I hope that this will add some traffic to this site. I also hope to create some new categories, such as Rightwingnuts, Asshattery, and assorted others. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. File Under: Blogging

It has begun. The dark side has put into motion their plan to dissolve the senate and turn the republic into an empire. No, I'm not talking about Star Wars Episode 3, I'm talking about the nuclear option showdown happening right in the Senate as I type. Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few months, you know that the republicans are trying to dismember every last vestage of bipartisanship by ending the filibuster for judicial nominees. Apparently the couple hundred nominees cleared by both parties are not enough for these people when 10 extreme right wing ideologues can't get confirmed. The republicans have put their sleaze machines in overdrive on this issue, from their stunt getting the religious right all worked up over Democrats filibustering "people of faith" to offering a whole assortment of other lies. This should be interesting to watch unfold. Democrats, for once please don't let us down on this one. File Under: Rightwingnuts

Hey film fans, want to see A Guy Walks Into a Bar on the big screen tomorrow night? Come to the Canvas Gallery at 9th Ave & Lincoln Way in the lovely inner sunset district of San Francisco at 8:00PM for their Open Shorts series and see this funny film. It's like an open mic night for filmmakers. File Under: Filmmaking

Today's Star Wars Link O' The Day is an interview with the guy behind the Darth Vader Blog. As my Star Wars Links O' The Day, his blog ends today to coincide with the opening of Episode 3. File Under: Star Wars

Some asshat wants to change the name of Mt. Diablo. He doesn't like the idea of a mountain named after the devil. His first choice for a new name: Mount Reagan. I'm sure that there are millions of Salvadorans and Nicaraguans who think that would be quite a literally fitting change. File Under: Rightwingnuts, Asshattery

Here's a great and surprising op-ed piece on the Michael John Bolton nomination by noted political commentator Larry David. File Under: Politics, Comedy

Second Star Wars Link O' The Day: If you buy this, you are such a dork! File Under: Star Wars, Asshattery

Check this out! It's a side by side comparison of two moronic heirs to great fortune, one named Paris, one named George. (via freakgirl)

Today's Star Wars Link O' The Day: Lucas Strikes Back at Bush? The "liberal" media is really stretching on this one. Their "evidence" is a line where Darth Vader says "if you're not with me then you're my enemy." Because I guess nobody ever said that before Bush did. On the other hand, it is easy to see how Lucas could get inspiration for the behaviors of an evil empire by watching the current administration.

Star Wars Link o' the Day: The Cannes premiere, with a shaven headed Natalie Portman.

Yesterday's editing was great. We worked for close to 10 hours and came up with some really coool looking stuff. We turned my bathroom into a recording booth and taped some narration. The chase scene with the added steadycam footage looks sick! We had been missing some footage to tie it all together, so now it's much more cohesive. We also did a very cool flashback sequence with breakdancing, successfully copied an effect from a Beastie Boys video, and even stumbled upon another effect that really fit in perfectly. In a clip where I wanted to add lightING, I accidentally dragged down the lightNING effect onto it and it fit the scene perfectly. I also did some really funky stuff with slow motion, reverse speed, and ghosting (incidentally, every time I used the ghosting effect, that Tegan and Sara song Walking With the Ghost kept playing in my head). The director had fallen into one trap that I warned him about though... falling in love with a temporary audio track that he can't use. It happened to me when I edited the Washington Interns Gone Bad fight scene to Beat It, before replacing it with something else (and completely different but still very cool) that I actually had clearance to use. In this case, it's a loop of the intro from Grandmaster Flash's classic, The Message. Since the music and sound mixing is coming last, we're using a whole temporary soundtrack of stuff we can't use in the final cut. Besides The Message, there's some Skinny Puppy, A Perfect Circle, System of a Down, Metallica, and even a clip from the Sin City score. It would make for a pretty good soundtrack album. Oh, if only there was a budget for that! The director is probably going to at least try to find out how much festival rights for The Message would cost, and if it's something not too ridiculous he might try to raise the funds.

Today's Star Wars Link o' the Day is an NPR audio clip talking to the geeks fans camped out on line in front of Mann's Chinese Theater in LA.

I'll be spending most of today on this freelance editing gig. It's really coming together nicely. It's a scifi short called Tranzfer in which the hero is some sort of futuristic dance warrior. His life force flows from a boombox, and he only has 1/2 hour to live if he loses it. A bounty hunter steals it from him and he franticly races to get it back. It's a first film for the director/star and it's a lot of fun to be involved in a first project like this. Much of it is shot in downtown BART stations. The white textured walls give it a very nice sterile futuristic look. I went on Thursday to do some additional shooting using my steadycam and spent a good chunk of last night re-editing the chase sequence with the new footage. There's a great deal of motion which flows very nicely together. There's also some amazing breakdancing and some wild action. This is the first major editing I've done with Premiere Pro. I edited Washington Interns Gone Bad in Premiere 6 which did an OK job but has some major limitations. Pro has realtime effects preview, serious color correction, and excellent keyframing. It also allows you to edit sequence by sequence, then drop the sequences into a master timeline. It almost makes me want to go back and re-edit Washington Interns. I'd consider it if I had a distributor willing to pay for that.

My dad just scored a killer review of his CD, and there's a great interview that goes with it. If you haven't heard it yet, check out some clips. I wonder if that blog does movie reviews too.

Today's Star Wars Link o' the Day: Who's the cloned intergalactic bounty hunter who's a sex machine to all the chicks? Boba Fett. Damn right.

My host is being incredibly lame today and not letting me upload properly, so who knows when this post will actually go live, but authorities have fingered the suspect in the Wendy's Chili case.