Dana Gould wonders: 'Is Obama literally Hitler?'

Dana Gould was on Real Time with Bill Maher last Friday and showed this clip in which he visits some town hall protesters and a Remote Area Medical station in Inglewood, CA. Compare and contrast:



In case that clip gets pulled you can watch it here as well.

There was so much 'Hitler'...And this one guy I was talking to, I said like 'Why Hitler?' and he goes 'Well Hitler also wanted to restrict medical care for people." But was that what he was the most known for though?

Oh and in case you didn't already know, Obama Is Literally Hitler.

Why everything sucks.

Auto-tUuUne (shortee!)

I know Auto-Tune in the News has been around the net now for a few months but this one is one of the best. Featuring the climate change bill, Sarah Palin's resignation and Michael Jackson "waking up dead."

Here's Neil deGrasse Tyson explaining how Auto-Tune works, and I'd also highly recommend the excellent music documentary Before The Music Dies featuring a segment on the use of Auto-Tune in pop stardom.

Fun With Editing, Part 3

The Great Dictator

I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible—Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say, "Do not despair." The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers: Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel; who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate; only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers: Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written, "the kingdom of God is within man"—not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men, in you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers: In the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Jon Stewart on "socialized medicine"

"God forbid someone replace the health care plan I had before I was 32 and actually qualified for real health care, I believe it was called Excedrin PM and Colt 45."

How to make a beat!

A priest, a rabbi and a minister walk into a bar...

...featuring Adam Carolla, Larry Miller, and Lenny Clarke.

The Road Trailer

The Road is the epic post-apocalyptic tale of a journey taken by a father (Viggo Mortensen) and his young son (newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee) across a barren landscape that was blasted by an unnamed cataclysm that destroyed civilization and most life on earth.

In theaters October 16. Can't wait.

Zach Galifianakis Between Two Ferns with Natalie Portman

I have never seen a celebrity this uncomfortable in my life...

"Let The Beat Build" by Nyle

By the way YouTube now has re-enabled embeddable HD (for some videos, anyway) with the simple code &hd=1. Check the embed options on a video's page to see if the code is available. Possibly related, the new beta of iPhone's 3.0 software will now stream the high resolution version of a YouTube video over 3G, where previously that quality was reserved for wifi.

"Hey! I'm tired of Gibbs screwing this thing up."

President Obama making an impromptu appearance at the daily White House press briefing last Friday to detail the announcement of Justice David Souter's retirement. This is how you make an entrance:

Obama could nominate Souter's replacement as early as the end of this week according to Republican Senator Orrin Hatch, member of the Judiciary Committee. Signs point to the selection of a woman justice since Ruth Bader Ginsburg was left the lone female on the Supreme Court when Sandra Day O'Connor retired in 2006. You might recall two weeks ago during a case about the strip search of a 13-year old girl. Ginsburg let loose on Justice Breyer for suggesting that girls, like boys, shouldn't have an issue being naked in front of an adult of the same sex because of the similarity to a locker room:

According to NPR's Nina Totenberg, who was in the room, Ginsburg's eyes "flashed with anger" at Justice Breyer's question. "She seemed to all but shout, "Boys may like to preen in the locker room, but girls, particularly teen-aged girls, do not."

Souter will retire in June and his replacement should assume office when the court reconvenes in October.

Wondering what Miho Hatori and Cornelius have been up to?

They're both featured on the new Towa Tei album Big Fun released in February. Here's the music video for the track "Mind Wall" featuring Miho Hatori:



Try it before you buy it.

(via Zeon's Music Blog)

The Credit Crisis: It's All About Risk

If moving pictures work better for you than text this infographic-style video will clarify the economic collapse. It all came down to reselling risky repackaged mortgages.

Lucy McLauchlan

This woman has an awesome way with black paint.

(via Wooster Collective)

"We Made You" by Eminem

I don't listen to Eminem much if at all, but there's a lot going on in this music video, especially Bobby Lee dressed as an Inuit hiding in Sarah Palin's bed and vomiting...

"Heaven" by UNKLE (dir. Spike Jonze)

Where the Wild Things Are Trailer

Jaw: dropped. Here's a direct link to the 1080p .mov on Apple's trailer site weighing in at 150mb.

Sarasota Film Festival 2009 Preview

The 2009 Sarasota Film Festival starts tomorrow, March 27 and runs through Sunday, April 5.  Here are the films and shorts I’m going to watch in the order I plan to see them:

	Shorts 1 (for “I Am So Proud of You”) : A lonely stick-figure, Bill, experiences life at its most bittersweet, humiliating, glorious, and sad. Directed by Don Hertzfeld, creator of “Everything is Going to Be OK”, “The Meaning of Life”, and “Rejected”. (reviews)
	Tokyo Sonata : The story of a family on the ropes; when Ryuhei Sasaki (Teruyuki Kagawa) discovers his job has been outsourced to China, he begins an elaborate charade to keep up familial appearances. But he's not the only one with a secret; his young son Kenji (Kai Inowaki) wants to become a classical pianist. How can the family find peace and still keep all of their dreams alive? Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.
	We Live in Public : Internet pioneer Josh Harris, founder of Pseudo.com, one of the first online media companies, never saw himself as a dot-com tycoon. Instead, Harris used his growing fortune to explore the artistic implications of emerging technology, creating two prescient projects that would come to shape the future of the Internet forever. Directed by Ondi Timoner.
	Shorts 5 (for “Treevenge”) : Fans of B horror films rejoice: the trees are angry, and they want revenge! Directed by Jason Eisener.
	Examined Life : How can philosophy answer the ethical concerns that dominate our times? Interviewing some of the most profound thinkers of our times, director Astra Taylor explores a wide range of issues, from the ethics of consumption and ecology to the questioning of the limitations of the physical body in determining our identities. Interviewees: Cornel West, Avital Ronell, Peter Singer, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Martha Nussbaum, Michael Hardt, Slavoj Žižek, and Judith Butler.
	Treeless Mountain : Jin, a carefree elementary school student in Seoul, South Korea, is the older sister of Bin, a precocious toddler who follows her sister’s every cue and direction. When they and their mother are evicted from the family apartment, the girls are left with their reluctant aunt, a small town hustler whose resentment of the girls is matched only by her negligence. Directed by So Yong Kim.
	Trust Us, This is All Made Up : Hailing from Chicago and the famous Second City comedy theater, TJ Jagodowski and Dave Pasquesi create absolutely hilarious hour-long improvisational pieces that are almost too polished to believe. The film features one of their wild and hysterical New York performances from beginning to end, and they promise, it’s improv, so it’s all made up. Directed by Alex Karpovsky. (review) (site)

And here are other films playing I’m interested in but can’t attend for one reason or another:

Kimjongilia : North Korean émigrés uncover the harrowing secrets of a closed country in their own words, and discuss the painful and traumatic division between North and South after the Korean War. Using images from North Korean films and propaganda, this explosive documentary examines the workings of the powerful machine that is the North Korean dictatorship. (trailer) (review)

The Missing Person : In a pitch-perfect interpretation of the classic private detective, Academy-Award nominated actor Michael Shannon plays John Rosow, a struggling alcoholic who is hired to tail a man on a train from Chicago to Los Angeles. Before long, Rosow realizes that he’s been deceived about the job and the identity of the man who he is following, and the new evidence chillingly evokes some of Rosow’s own demons. (trailer)

Old Partner : Documentary about the final days of a long, happy friendship between a South Korean rice farmer named Mr. Lee and his faithful ox. Under the watchful eye of his ever-present wife, Mr. Lee embarks on a daily journey to his small patch of land in his ox cart. Soon, as age catches up with the animal, Mr. and Mrs. Lee must confront the issue of mortality head-on; how could they continue on without the partner who has served them so well? (trailer)

Sorry, Thanks : Kira (Kenya Miles) is in between jobs and in between boyfriends when she has a one-night stand with Max (Wiley Wiggins). Max, who has a steady job and a steady relationship, recognizes his moral digression but can’t help viewing Kira as a much-needed spark. Kira and Max realize that they are still figuring it all out when it comes to love, and to their dreams. (trailer)

Stingray Sam : Sci-fi western rock-and-roll musical, a journey into a world of space travel, male cloning and comedy that borrows equally from John Ford’s The Searchers and the classic Flash Gordon serials of the 1940’s and 50’s. Watch as Sam and his partner The Quasar Kid span the galaxy in search of a kidnapped child! Thrill as Sam and Quasar battle the evil forces of Fredward! (trailer)

Winnebago Man : In the world of viral video, “Winnebago Man” Jack Rebney is the height of celebrity. Rebney’s disintegration into a torrent of expletives during a Winnebago corporate marketing shoot became famous when this footage was released and duplicated onto VHS. Rebney became an underground celebrity whose fame only took off further with the advent of the internet. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer set out to find the real Jack Rebney and discovers that this living internet star was surprisingly difficult to uncover. (review)