Of Course Not

Let the backpedalling commence. Will our "war on terrorism" extend to China now? Will conservative hawks and shills turn on the Shrub if he doesn't treat China like he promised to treat all countries that aid and support terrorists? Or, will they reset their spin engines and fall into line in support of their clown prince? Whatever happens I pray this doesn't turn into an even bigger mess than it already is.

Recognizing the work of an obsessive fan...

Somebody must've put a fair amount of time and energy into this map of Springfield. I can't speak to it's accuracy and I was hoping it would have links to screenshots or at least episode numbers (guess the fan isn't that energetically obsessive after all) -- still, it's an impressive accomplishment. (via Ultimate Insult)

Peter Jackson delivers...

Fellowship of the Ring was pretty amazing. You knew it would be a visual triumph with Jackson at the helm and the budget to do it up fancy ... though there are two or three spots where the effects break down: Gandalf and Frodo talking, but obviously not being able to make eye contact appropriately due to the sizing effects; one scene where a cg orc is duplicated on top of himself a bit off center; an unconvincing Legolas dummy riding the cave troll .. that sort of thing. Nice job tightening up the story, though without the background, you don't get a full apprectiation of Merry and Pippin's characters. So, yeah, some nitpicks, but only nitpicks ... it was rousing, rollicking, occasionally ethereal, and sly. This is one I'll go back to the theater to see one more time.

Where do you score...

on the political compass?

I tested out at Economic Left/Right -6.00, Authoritarian/Libertarian -6.56. You'll have to check the sight to see what that means; it plots you on a graph. My nearest historical figure was Ghandi, but they've only got a few plotted.

(link via Why Oh Why)

Lord of the Rums

I did a geekish thing the other day (astonished gasp!) and bought one of those Lord of the Rings light-em-up "goblets" from Burger King. It was a total spur of the moment thing and I still don't know why I did it because I'm not a collector of this sort of stuff, or even really that big of a Rings fan. But I did it. So today I'm looking at what's in the fridge the drink and there's fruit punch and ginger ale and rum and I'm thinking they'd all go well together so I pours a healthy dose of each into my fancy goblet and I end up with this illuminated rum punch to kick back and watch football with and it's kinda cool 'cos it's so full of rum and I tell myself it's literally glowing with how full of rum it actually is and you all must think I'm some kind of alky Frodo freak and I don't care. Look at the rum a'glowin'! Mmmmmmmmm.....