News not as bad as originally thought?

Well, regarding my last post, it seems that the horrific practice described may not be as widespread as initially reported. Nobody is saying it doesn't happen. But the practice, "while not unheard of", is not as common as the reports seem to indicate. Here's the Snopes link. Don't click on it unless you really want to know/see some horrible cruelty:

Snopes link.

I sent off a quick note to PETA just in case they hadn't heard about it. They had. They replied back quickly with a form letter saying authorities on the crappy little French island where it was happening are aware of, and acting to end the practice, and prosecute those who may have taken part in it.

I still may not sleep well tonight.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!

If you're one who likes animals (in general) or dogs (in particular), or you're just somebody who can feel empathy for other living creatures, please please please do yourself a favor and DO NOT look at the Cellar's Image of the Day for Oct 24, 2005. Please. Seriously. You'll sleep better at night not knowing things like this are going on in the world. I am not kidding.

It's these rare occasions that I really hope there is a God. And a Heaven. And a Hell. And that Hell really is worse than we could ever possibly imagine. And I hope people who do things like what is seen in the IOTD image get the shittiest corner room in Hell when they arrive there. And that my room is just above theirs. And that my toilet is simply a hole in the floor leading to their room. And their room is only 2x2'. And all they serve in Hell is Budweiser and chili.

Serenity

So I saw the movie Serenity again today. (I also caught it opening night, but I haven't been able to come up with a decent review or outpouring of thoughts, so I haven't mentioned it here). Goddamn I loved that movie. I loved the TV show, as well. If you're a sci-fi fan, or a fan of action movies in general, you *really* owe it to yourself to see this movie. And see it on the big screen. It will still be a great movie when it hits DVD, but it's definitley worth seeing LARGE and LOUD.

If you saw any of the last three pieces-of-shit that Hollywood tried to pass off as Star Wars movies, or any of the last 100 "blockbuster" which are just rehashed, regurgitated versions of prior action movies, or any Nicholas Cage moive ever since Raising Arizona, you owe it to yourself to see a *great* action/sci-fi/character-based movie. (For those saps bilked by the Star Wars crap-quils (myself included, so I feel your pain), email George Lucas and demand your money back. You may not get it, but it will make you feel better). Then, take that money and go immediately to your local theater and buy your tickets for Serenity. And do it soon. Sadly, there's no telling how long Serenity will last in the theaters. I guarantee you'll like (if not love) Serenity.

As a matter of fact, I'll put my money where my mouth is. If any of my loyal readers (and I know who you are) go to see Serenity and honestly hate it, I will *personally* refund your ticket price*. I'm 100% dead serious. I wish I would have thought of this a week or two ago when it would have helped the box office numbers. But I'll do what I can now.

So, go see Serenity. If you hate it, email me, and I will PayPal you a refund of your ticket prices. You lose nothing, and I get a warm fuzzy karma feeling knowing I tried to help out a movie I really enjoy, and I think is being overlooked. (Also, there's a chance for two more Serenity movies. At this point it looks like a long shot. But I'll do what I can to help get those made).



* Fine Print: Offer only valid for people I know and trust, up to 4 tickets, $10/each, $40 cash outlay by me total...I'm not made of money, you know.

Ben's got mad skillz. Updates eighteenpercent.net

Ben (the brains behind eighteenpercent.net) posted a blurb on his blog about some tweaking he did to the RSS for the site. He added thumbnails of the photos to the RSS feed. Props Ben. Sorry Blogger won't give you a trackback from my post.

Best disguise ever

In a million years, I'd have never guessed who this was:



Talk about hitting the wall.

The answer... for the curious.

OK, one more quickie

File under "Reasons we don't deserve to exist any longer as a society":

D.C. Lawsuit Wants Warning Labels on Milk.

Quickie Politics

Allow me to mention a couple political things briefly...

Is it just me, or is it kinda coincidental that days (hours?) after King George II gives a speech telling the American public how good of a job we're doing in Iraq, how well the effort is going, how we can all sleep safer in our beds at night and how important to global security his ever-vague "War On Terror™" is there's a specific, credible terror threat in NYC? Wag the Dog, anyone? Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age. Ah, hell...who am I kidding. I've been cynical since I was 18.

Also, we're being led by a man who claims God told him to start wars. God. I don't care *who* you think the voices are...if you're hearing voices telling you to do shit...you should *not* have access to nuclear launch codes. You should *not* be "leading" a country. Any country. Particularly *my* country. Maybe you can have Albania.

This is dumb

DT pointed out a link that I found a bit annoying...

http://www.untitledname.com/archives/2005/10/nypd_bicycle_th.html

Seems the NYPD saw fit to cut a bunch of bike locks off of legally parked bikes, and steal (impound?) the bikes.

So I emailed the NYPD and asked what was up:

"I recently saw a report about the bicycle removal from city signposts around the Bedford Ave L station in Brooklyn: http://www.untitledname.com/archives/2005/10/nypd_bicycle_th.html. I was curious as to why this took place? It seems (from the report above) the bicycles were locked in legal places.

Being a avid cyclist and somewhat an environmentalist, I can't understand why the NYPD seems to put up any roadblock it can to discourage cycling in the city, and thereby encourage more vehicle traffic."

We'll see if they bother to respond. If they do, I'll post it here.