Memorial Day

I would just like to take the time out of my day to say thank to those who have paid the highest price for defending this country: their lives.

Your sacrifice will never have been in vain.

Happy Memorial Day.

The Count was right about Leo

Let me tell you point blank what I think about Leo Pusateri . He is a piss poor parent. The worst kind of parent. Anybody who has a child in Iraq or Afghanistan and supports this war and this President doesn't give a shit about his children.

He cares more about his president then he does his own child and to me that makes him a worthless parent and a worthless human being.

I couldn't agree with you more, Count.

I came to this conclusion when I posted about why he's bitching about Al Gore but not about the Army Times reporting that the troops serving in Iraq don't need a bigger pay raise. This was his response:

1. Try to stay on topic.

2. Bush wouldn't complain about a larger increase in pay than he proposed if your defeatocrat friends wouldn't be threatening to cut military funding at every turn of the corner (and don't give me that B.S. that you're not a democrat--you hang out at D.U.).

I'd be trying to conserve money, too.

Don't be talking to me about supporting the troops.

You and yours may just as well hold a friggen gun to their head, and threaten to pull the trigger, since that's what you and yours have been doing lo' these many months.

Talk about torture and stress. It's not like they have enough, and you go and pile it on with your worthless piece of crap political posturing and threatening to cut off their funding.

Screw you!!

Don't ever--ever come on this blog again and talk about Bush not supporting the troops!

I decided to ignore his ranting and provide more examples of Bush not giving a shit about our troops.

Jonathan said...

"(and don't give me that B.S. that you're not a democrat--you hang out at D.U.). "

Wrong, I read D.U. - barely, because I don't have the luxury to do it(responsibilities to school)everyday, and btw: i'm not a member. I've never signed up for D.U., you condescending prick.

What's the matter, Leo? Hard to accept that Bush only uses the soldiers as either a photo-op or for political posturing?

Well, here are more examples of Bush not supporting the troops:

Wieghtman testifying about privatization of Walter Reed

two soldiers killed in friendly fire, not in combat

injured troops being deployed

veterans disabilities being downgraded

neglection at Walter Reed #18

sending troops to war without the right amount of troops needed

Who supports the troops now?
It sure as hell isn't the Commander-In-Chief.

5/25/2007 10:59:00 AM

Unfortunately, Leo couldn't handle the truth, so he deleted it.

Count Istavan was right........Leo, you don't care.

I could really care less at this point, whether or not you support the war. I believed that you would be pissed that for all the talk of Bush claiming to support the troops, that you would be mad as hell that he's only using them for a photo-op, but I guess your unwavering loyalty to Bush trumps your own son and the troops.

You sir, are a fucking creep.

Shrek The Third

Can somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on? How is it that now two of the three biggest movies released in the month of May are the biggest disappointments? Shrek The Third, like Spider-Man 3, was a movie that ran out of good ideas.

Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Oscar nominee Eddie Murphey, and Antonio Banderas are all back in their respectable positions (no need to tell them again, you should know who's who by heart) this time, they have to find a king to replace the deceased frog king of Far, Far Away; protect the kingdom from the hands of Charming (a devilish Rupert Everett),the once would-be king, now reduced to doing ye old diner theater, and Fiona getting knocked up; or as I like to call, stealing the screenplay to Spider-Man 3. Shrek, Donkey, and Puss in Boots find the would be king in Arthur (Justin Timberlake, what the hell are you dioing in this picture???), the high school nerd (you know this movie's going downhill when they have to make King Arthur the loser in a medieval high school) that even the other nerds pick on (a hint of Napoleon Dynamite, anyone?).

Rather than explain the damn story, I might as well explain what's wrong with the movie: it's more of the same pop culture references and CG wonder, but without the heart or wit of the first two Shrek movies. Much like the third time sequels such as The Godfather: Part III and The Matrix Revolutions, Shrek the Third has run out of gas, and makes you leaving the theater, hoping that there isn't a fourth.

** stars out of ****

The Shins - Wincing the Night Away

Die-hard fans of The Shins, the New Mexico indie rock gods who hit it big with their 2001 debut, Oh, Inverted World, and followed up with, Chutes Too Narrow two years later, but best known for their musical appearances in Zack Braff’s independent hit, Garden State, have said that their new album, Wincing the Night Away, is a disappointment. Fair point, to an extent. Wincing is nowhere near the genius of Chutes or the freshness of Inverted World. To that end, I say to all the disappointed Shins fans, what were you expecting, another Chutes II? Get over yourselves.

What band members James Mercer (lead singer, songwriter, guitarist) , Martin Crandall (bassist) , Dave Hernandez (bassist/guitarist) , and Jesse Sandoval (drummer) have lost in the first two albums, they have gained in developing a new sound that pays off in the long run. Take the opening song in the album, Sleeping Lessons, a triumph of originality, where the band experiments with psychedelic Hawaiian tones, a minute of keyboard tones, and Mercer’s vocals. All the combining elements work like a hypnotic dream. Another example is Sea Legs, where hip-hop is fused with the indie pop/rock melodies. Again, the boldness in melodies works like a charm.

Each of the songs on Wincing are catchy and easy to listen to, but it’s Phantom Limb and A Comet Appears that are the gems of this rich album. In a interview with Billboard.com, Mercer described Phantom as “a hypothetical, fictional account of a young, lesbian couple in high school dealing with the shitty small town they live in,”. Mercer feels for the two girl’s problem of dealing with a town that doesn’t understand, let alone, accept them, and we do as well. The second gem is the last song on the album, A Comet Appears, where you can imagine Mercer picking up a guitar in the middle of the night, singing about all the sins he’s committed that still eat at him. It’s a haunting song that rivals New Slang, Caring is Creepy, and Know Your Onion as one of their best songs.

As I said earlier, Shins fans are pissed that they opted to experiment with a new sound, instead of returning with their lo-fi harmonies that made them a hit. To hell them, I say. In a summer music season that has it’s teeny-bopper crap anthem in Avril Lavigne’s Girlfriend, bound to have it’s overly played on the radio R&B hit, and equally nauseating emo rock bullshit, I’ll gladly take The Shins new sound over the sea of mediocrity any day of the week.



**** stars out of *****

Mark Noonan: Blind Loyalty Before Country

So this week's bitch over at Blogs for Bush.con are the 11 GOP senators who placed country before party (or voters before country, however you want to look at it) telling the Shrub in office, “The word about the war and its progress cannot come from the White House or even you, Mr. President. There is no longer any credibility. It has to come from Gen. Petraeus.”

Unfortunately, that didn't sit too well with Mark Noonan. For those who don't understand bullshit speak, I will translate, from time to time, what Noonan is saying to what he really meant.

For you "moderates" out there - go ahead and vote against victory; heck, switch parties, if that will make you feel better. For us on our side of the aisle, we're more than willing to see zero GOPers in Congress in 2009 if that is the price of victory in 2008.

Translation: dead American soldiers and my party's future doesn't mean jack shit to me, as long as Dear Leader keeps his head up firmly in his ass and continues to lead the troops and the country over a fucking cliff, then so be it.

This is war, not politics - and all of the political straddling and calculation of all the "moderates" in America isn't worth...well, it isn't worth something which rhymes with "spit".

Translation: to hell with with what americans say about the war, their opinons aren't worth two squirts of piss! Besides, there's only one opinion that really matters......and that's the one coming from Dear Leader's mouth!

We fight until victory or until our fellow Americans so far remove us from the direction of affairs that we lack any power to influence events.

Comment: Mark, that day is coming sooner than you think.

2. To the blood of the Iraqi dead: Look, you saw what we defeatists engineered in Saigon in 1975. You should know by now that if a war goes on more than a year, then we'll be working for American defeat because war is hard and we don't like it much and we especially don't like it while President Bush is in charge.

Comment: Uh Mark, the Vietnam War lasted 16 years and cost us the lives of 58,208 American soldiers, but I guess those numbers don't really matter when you're fucking shitfaced from all the White House talking points you've been drinking, eh?

3. To our enemies: You win. We're too chicken to fight you for long and if you'll please just blow up Americans in moderate annual numbers, then we'll be ok with it forever.

Translation: i'm too much of a fucking pussy to fight in a war that I support so much. Also, I have nothing new to say, so i'll just repeat some bullshit scare tactics I overheard Dick Cheney talking about on Meet the Press.

Mark, when you and your neo-conservative possy have been wrong about everything about Iraq for 5 years, isn't time to stop making predictions on how Bush's strategy (Stay the Course, take 4) is going to eventually fuck up, ditch the rhetoric on how we're going to win (without any definable goals or without any hint of a fucking plan), and just admit that you were wrong?

From the looks of Noonan's last post, it appears he's going to ride his saddle of ignorance into the sunset.

Good luck dude, let's see how far that 'el get ya.

Another example of a Bush apologist placing blind loyalty to a president over his country.

Spider-Man 3

Trust me when I say, you'll know that Spider-Man 3 isn't as good as the first two films when Peter Parker (a disappointing Tobey Maguire) goes completely emo on the audience, then goes into his cheezy dance moves, moves I thought (or at least, hoped) the Gods of Cinema banned after Saturday Night Fever. Well, it's not entirely Maguire's fault for the lack of depth that was presented in Spider-Man 2 - that can be pinned right on screenwriters Sam Rami(also doing directing duties for the third movie), his brother Ivan Rami, and Alvin Sargent, who wrote Spider-Man 2.

The last Spider-Man movie had more depth and understanding about Peter trying to maintain his duties to New York City, and and to his college studies, and to his friends. Here, Peter just comes off a jerk who's letting his own ego swell, at the expense of his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson's (a tired and weary Kirsten Dunst) feelings of being a no-talent singer.

Still, there is still some pulse in this 139 minute movie. Thomas Haden Church does good work as Flint Marko, a small-time bank robber, wrongly pinned as Uncle Ben's killer who transforms as Sandman. He's one the few characters in the movie you can actually have empathy for because he can raise havoc in the streets of NYC, but can't save his dying daughter. The same can be said for Harry Osborn(James Franco)who vows vengeance on Spidey for killing his father by becoming Green Goblin Jr. But even his father's demonic spirit can't mask Harry's good and warm side.

The most disappointing character though, yet the most interesting, is Eddie Brock(Topher Grace in another fine performance), the smooth-talking sleaze bag trying to steal Pete's photography job at the Daily Bugle by phtoshoping Spidey robbing a bank.

It's the moment when Eddie becomes Venom when the movie really starts taking flight(Peter tries to extricate himself from the Black Suit and the parasitic host that took over his suit, in turn it gets on Eddie), but even with the last third of the movie becoming exciting and the final climatic action sequence, it's too little and too late. Much like when the black parasite affected Peter's judgment and his mod, Spider-Man 3 was affected from being an awesome franchise, rich with heart and story, now swimming in a sea of meritocracy.

**1/2 out of ****

Most. Annoying. Song. Ever.

Confession: I used to be a fan of Avril Lavigne.

You heard me. I used to be a fan of the punk-rock chick from Canada. I liked "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi". Shit, I even have her first album "Let Go". I used to love to rock out to her music, mostly cause i'm a fan of rock.

Then, she did a 180 and came out with her second album.......which I though was OK. It was more along the lines of Alanis Morissette in terms of the album(which is no "Jagged Little Pill" by any stretch of the imagination).

After Avil's last album, that was when I started listening to REAL artists.

I was reconnected to the Red Hot Chili Peppers through "Stadium Arcadium", I became addicted to The Shins with their sub-pop/mellow songs and melodies, I became a Coldplay fan through their last album "X & Y", with my growing anger over the Bush Administration and the war, I was steered to great protest bands and artists such as Green Day and Neil Young, and thanks to the power of YouTube, I became a fan of the most original female singer i've heard: Imogen Heap.

And after a few years, Avril Lavinge returned........only this time, I listened to her new summer anthem, "Girlfriend" and found out that it was total crap.



The video was one cruel joke/illogical fantasy after another.

Ex. #1: the choice in girls the dude in the video he has to make: the spoiled, stuck-up, ditzy redheaded nerd...........or the overly aggressive, man-stealing punk chick? Add to that, all the bullshit drama he'll have to eventually put up with from either one of these girls? In reality, no sane guy in their right mind would chose either one of these girls!

Ex. #2: i'm sorry, but I missed the part where it's funny and entertaining to wreck havoc on a couple's date. Shit, halfway through the song the couple (or at least the girlfriend) would call security and have the punker chick and her friends thrown out of the damn mini-golf facility, which brings me to........

Ex. #3: mini golf? That's where you would take your date? Seriously?

The worst part of the whole experience is that i'm going to be hearing that damn song all summer long!!!!!!

I guess my who point was to show my progress from Avril - likeable cotton candy fluff - to listening to artists with real talent.

As the masses will be singing Avril's summer anthem, I will be spending my time with The Shins and any other artists or bands that blows my way.

P.S. to Avril - look, it was fun the first time around, but I have changed, and you continue to put out the same teeny-bopper crap I foolishly fell for. It's over.

To Leo.....

Remember when I blogged about Leo Pusateri calling me out for supposedly calling Chimpy an idiot and a coward (which I didn't, i said he was "incompetent" and "intellectually-challenged")?

Well I've decided to respond to Mr. Pusateri's comments.

Leo? I hope you're reading this blogs, cause I have a few misconceptions I need to clear up with your post, which by the way, was flattering:

First, I said that the Shrub was incompetent, not stupid. I'm not sure if you realize this, but incompetent and stupid are not the same thing. Here's the definition of stupid:

1. lacking ordinary quickness and keenness of mind; dull.
2. characterized by or proceeding from mental dullness; foolish; senseless: a stupid question.

Now, the definition of incompetent:

1. not competent; lacking qualification or ability; incapable: an incompetent candidate.
2. characterized by or showing incompetence: His incompetent acting ruined the play.

Second, let me explain why I called the president incompetent and intellectually challenged. I called Bush incompetent because all the studying he did in Harvard and Yale and his terms as Governor of Texas couldn't help him fight a war with competence, or rebuild New Orleans, or hire qualified officials to high-ranking positions of power (Alberto Gonzalez and Michael Brown ring any bells, Leo?). I called Bush intellectually challenged cause, if you've listened to the man for five minutes, you'd see he couldn't string together a coherent sentence if his life depended on it.

Thirdly, no one called Bush a coward, but I did find it ironic that you invoked Bush's service to the National Guard, which is honorable work, which I would have given him credit for.......if the Shrub hadn't gone AWOL on his service as Salon.com reported in 2004.

Bush flew for the last time on April 16, 1972. Upon entering the Guard, Bush agreed to fly for 60 months. After his training was complete, he owed 53 months of flying.

But he flew for only 22 of those 53 months.

Upon being accepted for pilot training, Bush promised to serve with his parent (Texas) Guard unit for five years once he completed his pilot training.

But Bush served as a pilot with his parent unit for just two years.

In May 1972 Bush left the Houston Guard base for Alabama. According to Air Force regulations, Bush was supposed to obtain prior authorization before leaving Texas to join a new Guard unit in Alabama.

But Bush failed to get the authorization.

In requesting a permanent transfer to a nonflying unit in Alabama in 1972, Bush was supposed to sign an acknowledgment that he received relocation counseling.

But no such document exists.

He was supposed to receive a certification of satisfactory participation from his unit.

But Bush did not.

He was supposed to sign and give a letter of resignation to his Texas unit commander.

But Bush did not.

He was supposed to receive discharge orders from the Texas Air National Guard adjutant general.

But Bush did not.

He was supposed to receive new assignment orders for the Air Force Reserves.

But Bush did not.

On his transfer request Bush was asked to list his "permanent address."

But he wrote down a post office box number for the campaign he was working for on a temporary basis.

On his transfer request Bush was asked to list his Air Force specialty code.

But Bush, an F-102 pilot, erroneously wrote the code for an F-89 or F-94 pilot. Both planes had been retired from service at the time. Bush, an officer, made this mistake more than once on the same form.

On May 26, 1972, Lt. Col. Reese Bricken, commander of the 9921st Air Reserve Squadron at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, informed Bush that a transfer to his nonflying unit would be unsuitable for a fully trained pilot such as he was, and that Bush would not be able to fulfill any of his remaining two years of flight obligation.

But Bush pressed on with his transfer request nonetheless.

Bush's transfer request to the 9921st was eventually denied by the Air Reserve Personnel Center in Denver, which meant he was still obligated to attend training sessions one weekend a month with his Texas unit in Houston.

But Bush failed to attend weekend drills in May, June, July, August and September. He also failed to request permission to make up those days at the time.

Now, this list goes on for a while, but hopefully, you get the point: Bush cut and ran from the Guard.

Lastly, Leo, let me translate what you told me, to what you're actually saying:

Well, Jonathan--I must forgive you for your shallow thinking.

Translation: I've got nothing on this kid.

I mean, as a 16 year old and a probable victim of indoctrination by liberal teachers,

Translation: Acting like a condescending prick will really put this snot-nosed brat in his place!

your life's experience has not allowed you to see reality.

Translation: I am in no way aware of what either irony or hypocrisy mean.

Glad I could clear some of these misconceptions up for you, Leo!