John McCain said something about some crap...

...but who cares the man's bumbling to the point of pity:

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! (1978) Getting Remake

The people behind Ask A Ninja are for some reason behind an upcoming remake of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!, the 70s comedy about a plague of mutated tomatoes kind of... touching people and killing them. Tried rewatching the original and I couldn't stand the unfunny jokes and mugging so I stopped halfway through, but maybe this will actually be good. Maybe.

60
Days until Election

Foundphotos

Foundphotos finds pictures accidentally shared over P2P, plucks out the cool ones and throw them up for all to see. It's kind of voyeuristic, and I love it.

Cover Art: Voodoo Suite Plus Six All-Time Greats by Perez Prado & Shorty Rogers

(click for larger version)

RCA Victor
LPM-1101
1955.
No cover artist listed.

Excerpt from the back:
"The Suite opens with soft, mysterious beatings on the tom-tom, depicting an African dawn—the throbbing becomes increasingly more frantic until it is joined by a series of softly chanting voices. The drums become more fiercely predominant, introducing a heated vocal exchange. The music recedes and starts to build slowly again, with brass and percussion still predominant, spelling out the early African setting. A fast jazz figure enters, featuring a walking bass, after which the entire band pours in, preluding an extended sax solo. The part ends with a jazz figure punched out by screeching trumpet notes."

I found this at a Salvation Army without a record inside but I liked the cover so much I shelled out 25¢ for it. Really wish I had a chance to hear the music, but Perez Prado stuff is easy to find. I wonder where that LP is now...

Aug. 27/29 Polls: Palin more unfavorable than Biden

A new Gallup/USA Today poll pits Sen. Joe Biden against Gov. Sarah Palin. Biden leads Palin by a twelve percent margin in favorability, though he also leads in unfavorability due to Palin's relative anonymity (half say they've never heard of her).

Those polled also say Biden is more qualified by an 18 percent margin, whereas Palin is deemed unqualified by 15 percent. More female disaffected Hillary Clinton Democrats say Palin's attachment to the Republican ticket actually make it less likely they will vote for McCain than those who say the choice now draws their vote. There goes the "he did it for the Clinton supporters" argument. "Over the past two decades, only Quayle received lower ratings after being picked for a ticket."

Personally speaking, as a PoliSci graduate and politics fiend this is the weirdest move I've seen in politics since Sen. Ted Stevens called the internet a series of tubes, Congress renamed french fries "freedom fries" in their cafeterias, and the FBI found $90k in illegal funds wrapped in foil in Rep. William Jefferson's freezer and he won reelection.

10 Minute Mail

10 Minute Mail is an awesome free service. It creates a random e-mail address that stays active for 10 minutes, giving you a throwaway you can use to register with forums or sites you don't feel comfortable providing with a real address. Make sure you keep the window open after generating in case you need to click a verification link.

Los Simpsons

I could translate it, but it's creepier if you don't understand anything...

Sen. Barack Obama

"John McCain likes to say that he’ll follow bin Laden to the gates of hell, but he won’t even follow him to the cave where he lives."

Awesome.

DNC Update

I've been watching the Democratic National Convention this week (on their site and on PBS) and the prime time speakers have been awesome, tonight especially. Michelle Obama declaring "this time...we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be." Hillary Clinton with this: "It makes perfect sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days they're awfully hard to tell apart."

Tonight Bill Clinton, John Kerry and Joe Biden tore the opposition to shreds. If Kerry had spoken that forcefully back in '04 he might have won (instead we got people dressed as flip-flops and this stupid shit). Here is my favorite bit from Bill:

Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than one-fourth as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?

America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will. But first we have to elect him.

Transcripts: Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, Joe Biden. Also the DNC site linked above should have archive videos of the speeches if you prefer the TV lookybox over text.

Threadless Sale

Just wanted to point out that my favorite naked chest covering outlet Threadless is having a sale, tees are in the twelvish range. I picked up a long sleeved skull and some blurry curse words. Also, this is how mythology gets made:

Death Cookies

The Journal of Consumer Research recently reported on a study by two social psychologists showing people with low self-esteem shop more and eat more cookies after mulling over death. Volunteers were given the task of writing about either death or going to the dentist, those with high self-esteem were only marginally effected.

"When you indulge in shopping or eating, it helps you forget yourself. One would hope that companies do not exploit this by putting food ads straight after the news," says Dirk Smeesters at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

That seems to be the modus for most compulsion, fear and anxiety. Addiction means doing something to the point of interference with one's life including self regard, so the experiment would probably work with sex, gambling, drugs and alcohol, though I wouldn't want to test it.

(via New Scientist)

Hey!

Let's Play the Drums!

Y = Tom 1 U = Tom 2 I = Cymbal 1 O = Cymbal 2
F = Bass Drum J = Snare 1 K = Snare 2
M = Hi-Hat

<alternate set>

(click for full size)