Photo of the week

This may go down as one of the funniest t-shirts of all time:

My two cents

Sarah Palin addressed the world yesterday at the RNC, and she had great poise and showed much strength as the long list of stories about her come rolling in. Overall, my thoughts on the speech, and Palin herself:

- Palin proved she can carry her own during her speech. She was very personable, and quite frankly, a lot easier to look at than McCain. Grade: A-

- Her speech was typical of the "fear and smear" campaigning that's been prevalent in our election process. She never mentioned Obama by name, she called him out like she wanted to have a street fight with him, and she name-called a lot. It seemed like the speech was written by a 7th grade bully trying to steal someone's lunch money. Grade: C-

- Most of the items she addresses about "her opponent" were flat out lies. Never once did she address real truths about Obama's ideas or promises to the American people. She used the same rhetoric that Republicans have used for the past 30 years. Namely, Obama will raise your taxes, take your guns from you, let terrorists take over America, and abort all your babies! Wow, original shit. Grade: F

Overall, a pretty ho-hum speech. She addressed some of the unwarranted concerns of the American people, and specifically addressed her 17 year old daughter's pregnancy. Honestly, although it's a compelling story, it doesn't weigh in on my presidential decision at all. Also, the fact she can read a speech from a teleprompter doesn't show how she can really handle herself. We'll find that out in the months to come, on the road, and in exactly one month, when she squares off against Joe Biden in the VP debate.

Regarding Palin

People are already "for" or "against" McCain's VP running mate, Sarah Palin. Republicans are saying they are firmly in her camp, and she would make a great VP. Democrats and half the world are saying she doesn't have the experience, and many . And no one will stop talking about her 17-year old pregnant daughter. They also ramble on about her unemployed husband who was charge with a DUI dozens of years ago. Mostly, folks are either complaining about or praising McCain's selection process. In all honestly, I've never even hear this person utter a word, so I'm not going to judge her until I hear from her.

Which will be tonight.

Palin will address the nation tonight at the RNC. After that, I will judge. Either way, I my personal belief is that McCain felt that desperate, and a last-second stunning move on his part would help him get the presidency. I don't think he selected Palin because she is the best candidate for VP. I think he picked her to get Hillary Clinton's supporters to vote for him. Most of you are saying, "well, no duh", but I thought that McCain has said time and time again that pulling stunts just to get elected was a "no no" for him. Why would he stoop so low now? Well, frankly, because he's behind in the polls and he felt that desperate times called for desperate measures.

Whether Palin can make a good VP (or President for that matter) is still an unanswered question in my mind. But I know this, McCain has proven he will now do anything imaginable to try and become President of the United States.

Google Chrome

No, it's not for your car.

It's the new, fully open sourced web browser the Google mastermind has created. Soon world domination will be complete! Read more about it here. The full product outline is a bit on the cutesy side, and extremely long, but you'll get the gist. Overall impressions: it is fast, it looks a bit like Opera, and the new tab page is cool.

If you don't feel like reading about it, you can download it here.

Photo of the week

OK, it's not an actual photo, but an amazing rendition of Obama by one of my favorite Pop Artists, Ron English. It's entitled Abraham Obama. See more of English's work on his website.

Mousing around

What does it mean?



Microsoft dropped this little bomb on their website this week. I wonder what they have up their sleeves?

The Text Message

The world waited with high anticipation for a text message last night to see who Senator Obama was going to tap for his running mate. I was one of those people. Well, the text message came flying in at 3:22 a.m.! 3:22 a.m.! What's that all about? I'm sleeping on a Friday night and a text message comes blasting through at 3:22! Why did it happen?

Obama's decision leaked to the media several hours before his aides planned to send a text message announcing the running mate, negating a promise that people who turned over their phone numbers would be the first to know who Obama had chosen. The campaign scrambled to send the text message after the leak, sending phones buzzing at the inconvenient time of just after 3 a.m. on the East coast.

Well, I've been holding off on talking about the election because we drone away on it in this country for too long. It's been talked about on every news channel, website, and satellite radio station all year (and even before). But, seeing we're hitting the home stretch (only 2 months left!), I'll start making predictions, offering commentary, and matching up the positives and negatives of each candidate. Today, however, I'll just say this:

Obama/Biden. It's a great ticket to be sure. A blue-collar (born in Scranton, PA), Catholic with a long history in the Senate and terrific foreign policy record, Biden will bring balance to Obama's campaign for sure. He has something else as well, an interesting little tidbit that will probably be the buzz of the press:

Joseph "Beau" Biden, Jr., Joe's oldest son, who followed his father into politics and serves as Attorney General in Delaware. He is also a JAG Captain in the Delaware National Guard. His unit, the 261st Signal Brigade, was notified last year that they would deploy overseas. He will head to Iraq to fight in October. Now that's something to campaign about.

Photo of the Week - Bolt

There's another champion of the Olympics besides Michael Phelps. His name is Usain Bolt, and he is the fastest man alive.

Destroying the pack in the 100m and 200m, Bolt beat his own world record in the 100m and decimated Michael Johnson's record in the 200m. At 23, he still has a lot of career left. But, of course, there's controversy surrounding this athlete. Some are saying he's too arrogant, too cocky, and people are coming out acting disgusted at some of his antics at the Olympic games.

Well, I say, WTF!?! This guy deserves to be cocky. He's the fastest man alive today. Don't we Americans love when a football player scores a touchdown and does a little dance in the end zone? Is this any different? Honestly, because he's Jamaican and he beat the U.S. world record, people are complaining. He's doing what Carl Lewis did in 1984, and it is remarkable. In 1984, we cheered on Lewis as a champion, and we should do the same with Bolt.

Did you also know that he has become the most drug-tested athlete in Beijing? He has undergone more than 35 tests since breaking the world record in the 100m at the end of June. The fact of the matter is no one can believe that this man is as fast as he is. Jogging across the finish line in the 100m at the Olympics, he beat the pack by .2 seconds! That is an eternity in the 100m.

Congrats and Happy Birthday to Usain Bolt, the man faster than lightning.

McBride FTW

Danny McBride is a name you should get to know. His acting career has been short thus far, but he's stolen the show in a number of big name movies so far this year.

McBride played the drug dealer Red in Pineapple Express, and practically stole every scene he was in. James Franco did a tremendous job in this stoner comedy, but it was McBride who had the memorable funny line of the flick: "You just got killed by a Daewoo Lanos bitch!"

In Tropic Thunder, McBride played Cody, the demolitions expert, and had some of the best lines of the movie. Danny McBride proved he could hang with the likes of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Tom Cruise, and Matthew McConaughey). His lines may be R-Rated ("Mother Nature just pissed her parts!"), but his delivery is what makes them so hilarious. The mullet also helps.

His next part is in an HBO series East Bound and Down, which he helped write and will lead in. From there, it's on to a little known franchise called Land of the Lost, where he'll play Will (of the Marshall, Will, and Holly fame). You can also see him in The Fist Foot Way, a 2006 indy comedy that he wrote and starred in.

He's a rising star for sure!

Greatest. invention. evah.

Oh yes, you can now go commando style with the new Beerdolier! Now you can carry your favorite sixer anywhere you want, and look good while doing it.

Best of all, this bad boy is only $15!

Highway Robbery

The folks at Best Buy are ready to take advantage of your technology illiteracy. For all you luddites out there, Best Buy will pair your phone with your bluetooth headset for a paltry $10. I'll tell you what, if you're willing to pay them, come over to my house and I'll do it for you for $5. Then I'll beat you over the head with your phone.

Just do it already

Photo of the Week

A little lower Mr. President. Pay no mind to Russia, hang with us and be our sand boy for the week!

The Incredible Phelps

It doesn't sound much like a superhero name, maybe Superphelps is better?

Say what you want about the Olympics (I've been trashing them rather heavily), Michael Phelps is a machine. Man, this guy has not only become the greatest Olympian of all time (well, maybe behind Hercules), he's destroyed every record he's come up against. He's making other swimmers and teams look like high school freshman, and he's given them all severe wedgies. Even with his goggles busted, he pulls off a gold medal and a world record. He and the rest of the U.S. 800 freestyle relay team demolished the previous record, and became the first team in history to swim the 800 in under 7 minutes. The silver medal team trudged in five seconds later.

Phelps has three more races to go, which, if he wins gold in each, would put him at a total of 14 gold medals. The next group of athletes with top honors have 9 medals. And to do it in swimming events. What a tiresome sport. Listen, I tried the butterfly last week and almost drown after five minutes. This guy calls it his "signature swim". Gotta hand it to him.

Milli Vanilli - China style

We know you're watching the Olympics. And we know that you were enchanted and mesmerized by the little girl who sang during the opening ceremony. Well, you were duped. Chinese officials have admitted deceiving the public, as the picture-perfect schoolgirl who sang was performing to another girl's voice.

Lin Miaoke, 9, lip-synched at the opening ceremony over the voice of Yang Peiyi, who was considered unsuited to the lead role because of her buck teeth. The show's musical designer felt forced to set the record straight. He says the real singer won a grueling competition to perform the anthem. At the last moment they made the switch. Even in China, and at nine years old no less, are you scrutinized for looks.

Poor kid!