Conservatism in this decade

The first article I've read in quite some time that takes aim at a disaffected political Right.  While it could just as easily be rewritten as a critique of the Left's blindspots, such is the value of a good political narrative.

Show background: Arrested Development

After about 100 recommendations to watch the series, I finally got around to checking it out and was not disappointed.  An excellent behind the scenes bit gives some analysis as to why the show hit so many home runs.

Job hunt tips (sort of)

Having done a lot of interviews, I really enjoyed these helpful suggestions.

Why I hated "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

This movie essentially pulls the same stunt that created Star Trek: Into Darkness (by the same Director):

1. Pick out the best of the series (in Star Trek, the Wrath of Khan is widely celebrated as the best of that cannon) and re-do it.  The Force Awakens is a tweaked copy of the original 1977 movie.
2. Follow roughly the same basic plot points, but make it hip and cool.  Cram in a bunch of referential jokes and a romance that doesn't really belong.

To be clear, this had excellent special effects, I really enjoyed seeing Harrison Ford play Han, and I think the character Finn (John Boyega) was genuinely excellent and has a great career ahead of him.  None of that prevented me from being really bored at the end.

Other issues:

• This force goes to 11.  Ray is now essentially Marvel's Jean Gray, meaning the force is now essentially a mutant psychic superpower similar to the X-Men character, where before it was a latent ability that required loads of training.  Also, you get to mysteriously know how to fly a space ship
• Dialog.  Even though I wouldn't call the original series dialog excellent, this script was particularly hammy and well out of step with the color of its original characters.
• Loads of plot errors.  Skywalker's location doesn't correspond to any known star charts ... oh wait, there it is.  Then there's a weapon that shoots across massive distances without entering hyperspace.  Later, R2-D2 wakes up a the convenient time to move this BS forward.
• Photography.  Changes dramatically over the course of the film.  It starts out looking very similar to the original Star Wars and then turns into a dyslexic and tedious laser festival.  Pew pew pew.

If you want to see J.J. Abrams do a very personal, beautiful sci-fi movie that's clearly HIS, go watch Super 8. Don't watch this movie made by committee.  Disney thinks if you put all the right sci-fi elements into a stew that it will taste good.  Instead, it's disjointed and lame, and nobody's going to be talking about it in 5 years.

Also see: Why Action Movies Suck - this also underlined a great deal of my angst.  You can cut to 4:40 to hear someone hit the nail on the head.

Comedy both big and small

Two of my favorite moments from two of the greats

• One of my favorite interviews with LouisCK
• The best thing I've seen come from Jerry Seinfield

... and a lesser known but beloved writer/performer on Conan: Brian McCann

• Audience kayaking 
• Eyeballs O'shaughnessy 
• A bunch of mess ups on the Conan show (some involving Brian)

Blinding headlights

I have especially sensitive night vision (I actually wear those ridiculous yellow, anti-glare over-glasses) so the ultra-bright headlights are *especially* annoying to me.  Still, I'm glad I'm not the only one.

Selling your privacy, buying theirs

I found this really painful: rich people using their influence to keep their privacy when they made their riches on buying and selling other people's privacy. The irony is bitter. I realize that when you're rich the rules really are different (for good and bad), but it's hard to escape how hipocritical it is. That privacy is only important if and only if one has money is a dangerous preceedent and a very slippery slope.

Yet another shooting with 9 dead.

There's a story background but this particular quote from a Chicago Tribute article unfortunately sums it up:

The sheriff has been vocal in opposing state and federal gun-control legislation. In 2013, Hanlin sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden after the shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school, declaring that he and his deputies would refuse to enforce new gun-control restrictions "offending the constitutional rights of my citizens."

Also thought what the President had to say was a worthwhile read.

To fight the general sense of impotence around this topic, you might want to donate to someone who got shot trying to help.

Conan: blues songs with kids

A rather simple idea yields some of the best work I've seen from late night in a while.

Teh Feelz

This one gets me every. single. time.

Some analysis of global warming trends

... from Bloomberg.  If nothing else it's a great data analysis tool and it's views like this that scientists will be watching closely in the years ahead.

It's fake, we all know it's fake, and why that's bad

An article written in the same over-the-top style it's criticizing, but a lot of the comments here are spot on.  Maybe that's the point.

"Political coverage that ignores actual policy in favor of gauging public perception and election prospects often is called "horse race journalism" for treating politics as a pure competition, the only goal of which is electoral victory. That's a pretty apt descriptor of how this stuff gets covered, except in one respect. The reporters who cover actual horse-racing have the dignity and professional pride not to grant phony import and stature to an early show that sprints out of the gate but has no chance of hanging around to decide the outcome. The reason is pretty simple: They value not making themselves look like craven f--king idiots. Maybe that's why they cover farm animals running in a circle, rather than presidential campaigns."

Short version: giving time and energy to a fake candidate is cynical, empty, and ultimately bad for an honest media that's necessary to facilitate productive elections and thereby a stable government.

Free speech isn't easy

Some interesting thoughts on free speech from Bill Maher.  I'll admit recently falling into the gap on this topic myself.

Movies that could do it better

Two great videos that solidify and underline a lot of disconnected thoughts I've had on digitial effects and the way fighting is portrayed.  I wish they would have mentioned every Borne Identity sequel, which were all a step down from the original.