The blogosphere is abuzz and the tweets are flying about the House's historic vote to pass the health care reform bill. First, let me say that I'm very happy the bill passed, even though it isn't perfect. While my feelings shouldn't be a surprise, I did want to go a step further and share some of the many thoughtful reactions that I came across today.
Continue reading "Some thoughts on the health care reform bill"...Posts tagged "whatever"
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March 22, 2010
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January 12, 2010
I'm with Coco by Mike Mitchell
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November 25, 2009
Damn, there are some great Black Friday deals @ Amazon this year...
Movies (DVD and Blu-ray)
Planet Earth
Continue reading "Black Friday @ Amazon"...on Blu-ray for $40?!?! That's 60% off... 2001: A Space Odyssey
for less than $10?!?! I just bought both, done and done. There are a lot of other options, perfect for early holiday shopping.
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September 25, 2009
Just wanted to share this awesome project: Designing Obama, by Scott Thomas, the former Design Director of the Obama campaign. It's a 360-page, hardcover collection of art/designs from the campaign, from the campaign itself as well as from grassroots supporters. They need to raise $65,000 to pay for the first run of books, and as of this post they're about halfway there. If you enjoyed the art from the campaign, or just want a piece of history, chip in.
Continue reading "Designing Obama"... -
March 26, 2009
Did anyone else notice that the rich guy's office in tonight's Law & Order ("Anchors Away") looked familiar?
Well, it seems they shot at the same location as Flight of the Conchords did, for the Season 2 premiere where Murray was working at the record label ("A Good Opportunity")! Not sure if it's a real office or a set, but replace a little bit of mirror with marble, and you too can be a hotshot hedge fund manager!
Check out the screencaps after the jump, and sorry for the bad quality — the first was from funnyordie.com and the second was from my Slingbox.
Continue reading "Best. Office. Ever."... -
March 10, 2009
Just got an email from Hilton re: their new “lifestyle brand” of hotels: Denizen Hotels.
As vague and as “markety” as the email was, it seemed interesting enough to click through to the site. Unfortunately, it just gives an “Invalid Hostname” error… Guess the launch isn’t going as smoothly as planned? Anyway, here is a funny chunk of the email…
Denizen Hotels will become a cultural epicentre at each of its destinations, cultivating community within its walls. Eclectic, social and humbly authentic, each property within the brand will be smart in design, cultural in character and sensitive in service delivery. Developed as an international intersection of business and pleasure, Denizen Hotels will redefine how guests stay and play.
Really?!?!?! I want to be an “international intersection of business and pleasure…”
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March 03, 2009
I swear, Justin Timberlake does the best Michael McDonald impression... Between this and the quick SNL Weekend Update riff, he's totally spot on. Although with The Roots as your backing band, it's hard not to sound awesome!
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January 21, 2009
Change is here. History has been made.
Today was the first day of President Barack Obama’s term as the 44th President of the United States of America. And, for the first time that I can remember, the inauguration ceremony itself was a significant and moving event… I only wish that I could have been there to experience it in person.
At least I can keep re-living it via some amazing photos: The Inauguration of President Barack Obama @ The Big Picture…
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November 09, 2008
Yeah, that’s not true… But it is hilarious.
Are you as sick of these conspiracy theories as I am? If so, check out Peter Sagal’s blog, where he’s got one of the most well-reasoned arguments against the conspiracy theorists… And even if you buy into the craziness, give it a read to see what’s really going on.
In the real world, Barack Obama seems like he's going to be elected President. This, as unlikely as it might have seemed as little as two years ago, is easily explained: the Republicans have done a poor job running the country, have a very unpopular incumbent President, and our nation likes to switch parties about every 8 to 12 years. Plus, Obama is a charismatic politician who's run a very competent campaign. Nonetheless, this reality is intolerable to some, and they have created an alternative narrative. In this narrative, Obama is "a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters." Once elected, presumably, will reveal himself to be the monster that he is, in the manner of Kang and Kodos in that classic 1996 Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons.
Continue reading "obama wants to turn the white house into a pyramid"... -
November 06, 2008
A great series of articles by Newsweek reporters, including one titled “Barack Obama: How He Did It” which outlines how Obama got into the race, and how he worked his way to victory.
This is part one of a seven-part in-depth look behind the scenes of the campaign, consisting of exclusive behind-the-scenes reporting from the McCain and Obama camps assembled by a special team of reporters who were granted year-long access on the condition that none of their findings appear until after Election Day.
Check out the whole series, as it appears…
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November 05, 2008
By now, I’m sure you’ve heard that Barack Obama has been elected our next President! Go-bama! Of course, to say I’m excited would be the understatement of the year… I’m still in a bit of shock that things worked out, particularly after all the distractions offered up during the campaign. Thankfully, reason won out and hopefully we can get our country back on the right track.
That said, there is one thing that can top Obama winning the election… Being there in person to see it happen!!! Thanks to an email I received on Sunday night, I learned that I had tickets to the Election Night Rally in Grant Park. They arrived via email on Monday, so Elena and I made plans to spend Tuesday night in the middle of everything.
Continue reading "yes we did!"... -
October 22, 2008
David Sedaris, on undecided voters in this election:
To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?"
To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.
(via The New Yorker via Gruber)
Continue reading "undecided? really?"... -
October 20, 2008
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February 05, 2008
well, i just got back from voting, and suffice to say obama just got one more in IL! here’s hoping the rest of the state (and country) feels the same way.
the process was pretty straightforward as usual, although this time around there was some confusion amongst the poll workers. one woman told me i needed my voter’s ID card, which isn’t true… since i didn’t have it, she tried to look up my name in her book, and i was nowhere to be found. turns out she was looking in the wrong precinct, so once that got sorted out i was all set.
Continue reading "happy super tuesday 2008!"... -
December 04, 2007
guess it had to happen at some point… it’s not the first snow of the season, but this one looks to be the first “real” accumulation we’ve had, with about 2-5 inches forecast. it’s only been falling for a few hours, and it looks like there’s already a couple inches out on my deck.
at least it gives me a chance to catch up on tivo, and maybe watch the “highlights” of the victoria’s secret show: you know, the ridiculous costumes and huge production value sets… in other words no seal, no spice girls, no stupid interviews, and most importantly no fake “behind-the-scenes” drama. that should boil it down to about 15 minutes of actual content!
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February 14, 2006
i staged a small photo shoot tonight, using a toy car and a wine bottle as my models. pretty minimal on the equipment front (just the D200, SB-800, SB-600, and a small reflector) but that was part of the challenge, and i think the results are pretty decent… either way, i really like the nikon “creative lighting system” since it lets me just concentrate on the look i want to achieve. of course, i’ll be ordering an umbrella and various other accessories (larger reflectors, clamps, and some small tripods) to give me some more flexibility, so naturally i’ll be posting more pics.
read on for some details on the photos i made tonight…
Continue reading "fun with flash(es)"... -
September 01, 2005
i’m sorry that this needs to be done again, but the destruction that hurricane katrina has caused is simply horrific. i’m sure you’ve all be watching CNN and the other news sources, so you know that any donation you give will be greatly appreciated.amazon has again setup a page to make it easy to give. the american red cross is also accepting donations, just make sure to select “2005 hurricane relief” on the form.
as always, feel free to steal this badge for your site.
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March 20, 2005
although the shot night machine reached new heights with SN4, we knew that we had to break even more new ground with SN5. and so not only did we plan “an international affair” this time, we did a little bit more: we registered shotnight.com and built a whole freaking web app. geektastic, i know, but would you expect anything less?!?! before i show you the screnshots of the scoring app, though, here’s the recap.
first, let me say that everyone puled their weight. if it hadn’t been for our new DQ rule (i.e. “puke and you’re done”) the results would’ve turned out completely differently. the top 3 finishers, sarah (14), brian (12), and elena (11) all wound up losing… if you know what i mean… so a big congrats goes to brad, aka “silent stalker” who held his 11 shots down (without any problem) to win. matt, our previous winner, took 2nd place with 10 shots, and jeff and i rounded out the top 3 with 9.
as always, photos are available. now, on to the screenshots.
Continue reading "shot night 5"... -
December 30, 2004
amazon has made it easy to donate towards the relief effort underway in east africa and south asia following the horrible tsunamis on december 26th. an absolutely staggering 116,000 people are estimated to have lost their lives, and that’s just as of this posting… please take a moment, find something you can do without buying in upcoming weeks (a fancy dinner, a round of drinks, a video game, your morning latte) and make your way over there to contribute. feel free to use these badges to help spread awareness, which is oh so difficult during the holidays. thanks for your time. -
December 29, 2004
jerry orbach died today of prostate cancer, which he’d been battling since earlier this year. orbach, as lennie briscoe, was an amazing fixture (so much more than an actor) on law & order, one of my favorite shows (as many of you know). gothamist has an excellent post, so i’ll just send you over there instead of copying the links… and if you haven’t had a chance to watch him in action, flip on TNT for syndicated episodes — they’re on every night.
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December 18, 2004
on SNL tonight the tv funhouse was a spoof on rudolph, and i’m honestly still laughing… rudolph was doing his thing, yelling “merry christmas delaware! next stop virginia and north carolina!” but santa said “no rudolph, we’re skipping them this year! screw the red states, voting for that dumbass president just because of that moral values crap. i don’t want any part of them!” then he wipped out a map of the us, which had the blue states labled “america” and the big red blob of bullshit labled “dumbf***istan.” they even changed rudolph’s nose to blue, and santa met up with natalie merchant, moby, al franken, and margaret cho. all i can say is i’m glad santa is stopping up here at least! :)
update 12/20/2004: the skit was done by bent image lab — thanks to melissa for posting that before i could get home! as for the episode name, i couldn’t find one…
update 12/22/2004: bent image lab has posted the skit on their site, just look for SNL. thanks to everyone that has stopped by, and enjoy!
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November 02, 2004
so my voting experience today was completely painless. no long waits, no confusing instructions, no badgering outside the polling place… then again, all i had to do was walk downstairs and across the street to the fire station and get my vote on. everyone was nice and efficient, although it was kinda funny when a fire truck backed into the station beeping… apart from the stupid punch machine (come on fool-proof electronic voting) i’d say it was a nice way to spend a tuesday evening. how’d you all fare? any horror stories?
oh, and btw, nice to see things go the dems way in illinois this evening. in case you didn’t know which way i was leaning, now you do. ha. i’ll be keeping my fingers crossed the rest of the night, too — and probably for the next few days at least…
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November 02, 2004
i heard about this monday morning while on the way to the airport in palm beach, and it’s making its way across the news wires. hard to believe this sort of thing can happen at all, let alone in a state so under-the-microscope as florida is this election. way to go teresa lepore (who “gained notoriety as the creator of the infamous butterfly ballot that confused thousands of voters in the chaotic and controversial 2000 election”) — another brilliant way to get yourself some attention. read the full story here and prepare to be disgusted.
WEST PALM BEACH (ABC News Online) - A sheriff's deputy has tackled, punched and arrested a US journalist for taking pictures of people waiting in line to cast early ballots in West Palm Beach, local media has reported. A sheriff's spokesman said later the deputy was enforcing a new county rule prohibiting reporters from interviewing or photographing voters lined up outside the polls, The Palm Beach Post said. The incident happened on Sunday and the deputy tried to grab the camera of James Henry, a freelance journalist who has written for The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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October 31, 2004
now, why would i say something crazy like that?!?! because green bay beat the washington redskins this fine sunday, thereby prophetizing kerry’s win on tuesday. i wasn’t expecting such a huge turnout in the press, but i guess i didn’t think they’d blow something completely out of proportion. oh wait…. :) so, as proof, here’s the article from reuters, published a couple hours ago:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Washington Redskins lost their final home football game before the U.S. presidential election on Sunday -- and that's great news for Democratic Sen. John Kerry and bad news for President Bush. In every presidential election since 1936, the Redskins' last home game has accurately predicted the winner. If they win, the incumbent president's party wins. If they lose, the challenger wins. The Redskins lost to Green Bay 28-14 and Kerry quickly celebrated. "I couldn't be more thrilled with the Packers win today," Kerry said in a statement. "The Packers have done their part, this Tuesday I'll do mine." The loss by the Redskins was made sweeter since it came to the Green Bay Packers of Green Bay, Wisconsin -- a swing state where Packer football is akin to religion and one Kerry might need to defeat Bush in Tuesday's voting.
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October 10, 2004
shot night 4 was in full effect this weekend, and broke all previous attendance records… there were a lot of fresh new faces, not to mention DDR (ok, stepmania, whatever). by all accounts, things went pretty smoothly, especially in the “puke in andrew’s kitchen sink and/or bathroom” department!mad love to matt, who made it all the way up from bloomington to capture the SN crown with 16 shots. hopefully we’ll follow through with the trophy idea and get him something to defend next time… elena managed to hold down 2nd place with a strong score of 14, showing what can happen when you arrive on time.
if you’re interested, photos are posted here and i’ll have the detailed scorecard posted soon.
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August 31, 2004
wow, stephen colbert really laid into the RNC on the daily show tonight. because i'm incredibly dorky, here's the transcription (J is jon stewart and S is stephen)...
J: what'd you make of last night's focus on 9/11?
S: well, remember john, 9/11 and it's aftermath bring to mind a time of unprecedented national unity, when from the crucible of an unthinkable tragedy, there arose a steely patriotism, transcending ideology and partisanship. that stuff kills in the swing states. those nascar dads suck it down in a feeding tube.
J: so you had no problem with it?
S: john, i found it crass-tastic. the message was delivered by republican's most popular figures, john mccain and rudolph giuliani, two men of bravery and leadership, qualities the president would very much like associated with him.
J: what is tonight's theme?
S: tonight, they took last night's theme ("a bush victory would bring closure to the 9/11 families") and built on it with a theme of compassion. we heard from widows, orphans, the enfeebled, the limb-less, all raising their voices in support of the president, whose compassion, like the olympics, triumphantly springs forth every 4 years. you see, it all goes with the overall theme for this convention: "a time of unmitigated gall."
J: but stephen, to be fair, aren't all political conventions manipulative?
S: no. john, to call this convention manipulative would be to call marcel marceau a little quiet. these people are artists, operating at the peak of their abilities. take for example thursday night's theme: "fuck you, what are you going to do about it?"
J: that can't be right, stephen, that sounds absolutely awful!
S: yeah, but... ya know, fuck us, what are we going to do about it? -
August 26, 2004
with all the recent press about dave matthew’s band’s tour bus dumping waste from the kinzie street bridge, this photo has been getting me a ton of traffic. mostly from bastards linking to it from bulletin boards like this across the web… a google search for “kinzie street bridge” does yield me as the top hit, for some crazy reason.
way to go, all you peeps taking credit for my photo. keep up the great work. :)
update: on a related note my walsh and may stand ready photo is currently #4 in a google images search. booya.
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August 26, 2004
this online movie was made for america coming together, and features will ferrell’s classic gee-dubya impersonation… “straight talk! from white house west in crawford, texas.” there are some other interesting shorts there (like an american voice) so be sure to stop on by. oh, and remember to vote. :)
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July 26, 2004
here’s to tim and jenn, on both their wedding (mucho belated) and their reception! if you didn’t know, they got married last january at the garfield park conservatory, and then had their reception this weekend in bloomington at central station. eating, drinking, dancing… all the good stuff you’d expect but with a unique mills' twist including some quality dinner music (post that playlist, punk). there was also, thanks to tim, a strong aversion to common reception muzak. even still, the DJ managed to squeeze in YMCA and the chicken dance, ha!
for more info swing by the wedding site. if you don’t care about tim’s awesomeness (the site rocks) you should at least stop by for some of my photos. and bug tim about the dinner music playlist, would you?
thanks to indy junior, developed by bryan boyer, it's a breeze to keep you all on the up and up...
note: this is a smaller version that fits into the site. the full map in a usable size is located here
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April 15, 2003
looking for something to take your mind off world events? why don’t you give gulf war 2 [the game] a shot? you get to play our fearless leader bush and see what can happen when you take on the rest of the world… and if you’re still lookin for more, you can play with ashcroft online 1.0. what fun!
and p.s. i promise this will be one of the only war-related posts i make.
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April 14, 2003
first it was snoop almost gettin himself shot. then it was one of suge knight’s boyz eating his roommate in an attempt to be more “gangsta…” yes, you read that right:
An aspiring rap star who has been charged with murdering his roommate and eating part of her lung did so as part of his record label's plan to cultivate a "gangsta" image for him, the victim's mother charged in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.
looks like the rap industry is getting itself some excellent publicity. soooooooo glad i got out of that life when i had the chance…
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April 13, 2003
thanks to jeff for these hot new tracks:
welcome to india
in da pub -
April 12, 2003
when you get to read quotes like these…
"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait." "NO! We have retaken the airport. There are NO Americans there. I will take you there and show you. IN ONE HOUR!" "There are no American infidels in Baghdad. Never!"
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April 10, 2003
scalping is illegal, right? turns out, it depends on who’s doing the scalping! on steve dahl today, they were talking with greg couch, a reporter for the sun times. greg did a story today about the cubs scalping their own tickets for as much as $1500 at “wrigley field premium ticket services,” just up clark from wrigley. this all comes from a lawsuit filed last october against the cubs for fraud and scalping… go cubbies!
Continue reading "cubs scalping exposed!"... -
April 09, 2003
recently, tourism offices in hong kong ran an ad campaign with a classic slogan. or at least one that will be remembered forever: “hong kong will take your breath away.” so, who do you think got fired for that one? read the full story here…
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April 03, 2003
for the last two days, we’ve been without cable tv. what’s more, due to our “let’s put all our eggs in one basket” mentality, we’ve been without cable internet. sure, it seems like a good plan to only have to deal with one service provider, one installation, one bill… but when one freaking cable gets disconnected from the pole in the alley, you’re in the shit.
the only good thing about cable internet i’ve found so far is the speed. hopefully the neighborhood won’t see an explosion in the number of cable internet subscribers, so we’ll be able to keep downloading at will. so why don’t we switch to dsl then? because the real reason we don’t have dsl is that we don’t have a phone. at least not a landline. since the 3 of us each have a cell, there’s no point in paying for a phone.
Continue reading "thanks comcast!"... -
March 26, 2003
thanks to tim for sending me this pic from the sxsw web awards. big ups go to john halcyon styn for coming up with the idea, and for liberating the parking garage mirror. if you look closely, you can see us in the first row…
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March 24, 2003
no, i’m not going to post my oscar predictions the day after the oscars aired, although that’d be about the only way i could get one right… i’ll be honest, the only contender flick i’ve seen is chicago. adaptation, the hours, the pianist — they’re all on the to-do list as soon as i can get up the will to go. i would like, though, to give some props to joe for his predictions. congrats on nailing the actresses.
Continue reading "oscar, what the crap happened to you?"... -
March 23, 2003
last night we went to the shriner’s circus @ the UIC pavillion, and what a magical evening it was. from the gap-toothed carnies to the zoo-like aroma, there wasn’t one detail left to the imagination… if you haven’t been to the circus lately, i’d highly recommend it. no really. the acts are fun, sure, but the best part of the evening is just making fun of people.
Continue reading "the circus"... -
March 20, 2003
it started tonight while joe and i were at the hawks game… at least part of it, and from watching cnn tonight, it looks to have been interesting. the cia thought they “had a bead on saddam” so bush let loose $40M of hell in an attempt to end things quickly. if only it had actually been him…
we’ll see what the news is when i wake up tomorrow!
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March 19, 2003
has the travel channel sunk to a new low? i know, i know, their offering of “bikini blast: ujena 2” wasn’t exactly stellar television, but they typically have some quality stuff.
we just finished watching the “world’s best: top 10 outrageous bathrooms”, since everything else is war war war… all i have to say is “wow.” the sad part, apart from us getting hooked, was that the bathrooms weren’t even that good!
Continue reading "what has tv come to?"...
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