Absolutely Fantastic

Dan Withrow reviews Wes Anderson's newest flick, Fantastic Mr. Fox.  If you haven't seen it yet, go pay the money to see this one in theaters - you won't be disappointed.

The Adults in the Room

Before he went on his break, Andrew Sullivan put up a great post looking at Obama's Nobel acceptance speech from this past week.  Check it out, and give yourself plenty of time to digest - like Thanksgiving with words.

For those with less time, Jon Stewart has you covered as usual.  Via TPM:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Obama's Nobel Speech
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

For all my iPhone junkies...

Via Partick Appel in for Andrew Sullivan, Scott Adams of Dilbert fame roasts our dependence on iPhones, Blackberrys, Droids, and mobile technology today in general. 

Adams mentions a video from the TED conference from this past summer, which I'm pretty sure is this one which was a "Video of the Day" a few months ago.

As cool at I thought this prototype was six months ago (and still do), one always needs to remember that technology itself isn't scary but what people do with it that defines it.  I make fun of "our machine overlords" frequently on this blog, but until someone can replicate human free will and choice and reason in a robot it really is a question of ethics rather than the question of "can we?"

I'll have to write another post about this sometime soon, because I think it deserves more exploration than the few words I've said here.

Until then, Mr. Anderson...

The Yearly Stagecoach Robbery that is the BCS

I'm not a big college football fan.  Maybe it's because my high school didn't have a football team of our own (we shared a program with a neighboring town who kept the rights to not hyphenating), maybe it's because I went to college at school that didn't have a football team (BU tragically cut their squad in 1997, but has led to some great t-shirts), maybe it's because I work at a college now that got rid of their football team earlier this decade.  I don't know what it is.  I love pro ball, and I do understand the game.  When I do watch college football, I root for underdogs or teams I just feel I should root for.  For the diehards out there, I'm a passive college football loser.

But let me make clear - this in no way makes me unknowledgeable about the politics of the sport.  On the contrary: I wrote a persuasive essay in 10th grade about why college football should change to a playoff format and how it could be done.  I got an A on that paper.  And Mrs. Farmer was a college football fan so I couldn't just make it up, I had to know my stuff.  That was a good paper, damnit!

Leading me to this: the BCS sucks.  You know how I know?  Because they make two undefeated, small conference teams play each other in a meaningless BCS bowl game (Fiesta) rather than play against the two other large conference teams who are vying for the DI National Championship.

In no other sport in no other division in the NCAA is this allowed happen.  Every year, the BCS committee is allowed to anoint two teams to play for the collegiate national football championship.  Every year, teams like TCU and Boise State get snubbed in favor of corporate college football programs.  And every year, people are pissed.

Hell, the BCS even hired a spokesman this year to try and do positive PR for it (which was an EPIC fail, considering they chose former Bush spokesman Ari Fleisher to be their mouthpiece).  But no one with a sense of fair play (or empty football trophy cases, for that matter) finds this ridiculous, unsportsman-like system acceptable.  Remember, the BCS without a "Championship" is just a whole lot of B.S.

I'm with Yglesias - it's time for Obama to get involved.  Where's "Big Government" when we need it?!

And go Tide.

UPDATE: This video was sent to me, and I think it relates to the topic at hand.  Via Newsy:

Two-Faced

Via Yglesias, apparently the major health insurance corporations like Blue Cross Blue Shield are playing the game - publicly appearing to cooperate and favor health care reform while simultaneously supporting far-right efforts to ban reform as unconstitutional.

I don't know why this kinda surprises me, but it shouldn't.  As Oscar Wilde once said, "Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative," and who could be more unimaginative than the heads of corporations who are focused on taking as much money from people before they die and definitely don't want the status quo to change, even at the detriment of the people they serve as a whole.  And to put their lot in with those on the right who are just looking to score political points rather than fix what is wrong with our country is just shameful.

It's funny how the mind relates things together, but when I heard how "two-faced" these insurance companies are being and who they're hedging their bets on to come out on top in this struggle, my mind flashed to this exchange from The Dark Knight:

Bruce Wayne: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They crossed the line.

Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.

Like I said, funny how the mind relates things.

Told you...

Via Andrew Sullivan, Slate more or less beats us to the punch to make mad money.

Obama to Zombie Reagan: "Bite Me"

Via Andrew Sullivan:


Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP