Hollywood Cold

I know Hollywood lies a lot, but fiction's approach to cold is a personal affront to me. Very rarely will a character wear anything more than a light jacket, and almost never wear a mask or large hat.

I suppose the wardrobe decisions are for the benefit of recognizing characters and seeing their faces. This doesn't excuse the simple fact that people should be reacting to cold weather. If it's blowing snow in your face, you don't just walk into it, idly looking around. Your body hunches up, and you bury your face in whatever you can, turning away from the wind whenever possible.

Whenever I see someone blithely walking through a snowstorm in a light jacket, my suspension of disbelief is ruined.

OK, Star Wars May Still Suck

I know I've been praising the latest Star Wars cartoon. I have to issue a partial retraction: Episodes that don't star Jar Jar Binks are pretty good. The episode with him is the worst piece of Television programming I've seen in a long time. They took a character that was already CGI, and brought him to a CGI world, and made him look monstrous. And for some reason, he was wearing a purple tie and sleeves that he must have stolen from a prostitute.

Carsonist The Merchant

Do I have a Deal for YOU!

Yes, I do.

You may have heard that Left 4 Dead is out. In particular, you can buy 4 copies on Steam for 150$, a savings of 50$, which brings the price down to 37.50 per person. If you want in, drop me a message.

Also, do you want hundreds of rubber bands? I have those too. In fact, I have access to a supply of hundreds of rubber bands every week. If you want lots and lots of rubber bands, drop me a line.

Wii Time Is Me Time

Have you heard? The Wii has finally reached its saturation point. You can go to a store today and get one. Or two. Or three. They're all over, and they're not getting picked up as soon as they arrive in stores.

I was thinking about getting Mario Galaxy, but it still costs $50, or $45 used. That's ridiculous. I'm going to check the internet now to see how it looks there.

No Marriage

There's all this mess about Gay Marriage. Here's the simple and good solution: The state shouldn't recognize marriage. Allow churches to marry people, but don't give it the force of law.

If people want to raise a child, or form an economic union, or give someone else visiting rights in a hospital, have a generic form for those things.

Ta-da! No more problems.

Some Thoughts On The New Star Wars Cartoon

This new Star Wars cartoon is actually rather fun. I don't know if you've seen the latest episode, but it looks like they've done another layer of graphics. The models are improved, and so is the lighting. Even the humans don't look too bad any more, and the spaceships and robots look genuinely good.

Some random thoughts:

• I'm falling in love with General Grievous. He's so deliciously over the top, he cracks me up. Whenever he encounters a setback, get ready for an "Impossible!" delivered in the classic super villain style.
  
• I know that it's a tradition to say it, but when your spaceship is on fire, and you're about to crash, you don't get to say "I have a bad feeling about this." You don't have a bad feeling; you're on fire.
• Asoka still hovers between being a good character and being more annoying than she's worth. I think she's making positive progress though.
  
• Speaking of Asoka, it seems like the only way her story can be resolved is with her death. I understand this part of the canon isn't really defined, so we'll see.
• Why must the droids be stupid and insolent?
• I'm impressed by the show's willingness to have a pretty large cast and a setting that spans over a lot of plots and subjects. I'd have expected less from a 22 minute cartoon.
• Is there some law that expansion material for the show can only exist between Star Wars II and III?
  

It's Over

I think even Republicans are glad the election is over. Even more than that, I think we're all happy that it's immediately and decisively over. There's no accusation of theft, no contested states, a vote so solid that there's not hope of overturning it.

I'm sure accusations of theft are being quietly broadcast now, and will become more public in time, but at least we know who the next president is, unambiguously.

Calling The Election

Here it is, 11:20 AM, and I can't find a single site definitively calling the election. What happened to news agencies? They used to call elections as soon as they became aware that there was going to be one. Now I can't even find a single state being called, even though some of them are leaning 95%+ in one direction.

Who Will Don The Republican Mantle

I think I can safely say that McCain is going to lose this election. The real question is this: Who will come to embody the soul of the Republican party while they're essentially a non-entity in government?

I think we can divide the choice into two categories:

The True Believer: Someone like Sarah Palin. Charismatic, outgoing, extremely popular with the Republican base, but completely insane. This would be best for those who want the Republican party to die like some vestigial limb. Sarah Palin in particular will only be a fading star insofar as she remains in the spotlight.

The Practical Operator: Someone like Newt Gingrich. Although he has his own views, completely willing to project a public image of a centrist with bare Republican leanings. If McCain had run a less vicious campaign, I could imagine him falling into this position. This is the position that will rebuild the party, and the sooner they adopt it, the quicker they'll come back into the majority.

I don't think there's any realistic chance of getting a new party to replace the Republicans, like the Whigs in the 1800's. There are simply two many laws that embed the Republican/Democratic system into our political structure. A third party today has an essentially impossible task.