People of Egypt: between a rock and a hard place

If you are watching the Egyptian uprising and don't feel like this about the possibility that the dictator could be deposed, I am not sure I really want to know you (or about you).

When, on the other hand, you consider the most probable replacement of the current regime, which is the notorious Muslim Brotherhood (the latest Pew poll gave Islamists majority of the votes), if the thought of the largest Arab country falling into the fundies' hands doesn't bother you, I surely don't want to share my pita with you.

Other choices? Slim to nonexistent. Check out this clip (via JudeoPundit):



If you consider the guy speaking from London to be a London-specific exception - think again.

P.S. Consider this too:

If you believe that al-Baradei, with no real political experience or any organized movement behind him, can dominate the Muslim Brotherhood, I have a bridge over the Nile I'll sell you. But it's even worse than that. It has been well-known in Egypt that much of al-Baradei's presidential campaign has been run by the Brotherhood. He's certainly not their puppet but to a considerable extent he is their pawn.

Spirit orb of Ghost seen over Jerusalem

From the Hebrew article in NRG:

Initially Jerusalemites didn't consider it strange, but soon the shining ball started moving over the old city and the Western Wall and especially over the Temple Mount. Suddenly it descended and stopped over the Western Wall / Temple Mount. "It was like the ball stopped at the Western Wall, left a prayer note there and returned to the skies", a witness said.

Was it a portent? The UFO appeared on January 28, and we've had the gas price hike this midnight. So it figures...

My favorite UFOlogist is already notified.

How do you get an agent?

By far the question I get asked the most is how do you get an agent?

I wish there was an easy answer. But the truth is you need persistence, sometimes a little ingenuity, and luck.

There is a directory of agents that the Writers Guild offers. Some smaller agencies will accept new submissions. Contact all of them.

Try to distinguish yourself. And by that I don’t mean grab a sign and stand on the interstate. This is a writing career, not voiceover work. Bizarre stunts like billboards and Mardi Gras float cars just scream that you’re a loser and need to be hospitalized. That is not what you want.

Get yourself noticed by entering and winning contests, be the pride of your college’s writing program, write a play or short film or YouTube video that attracts positive attention.

Networking and contacts are important. That’s one of the reasons it’s so much easier if you’re in Los Angeles. You can work out in the same gym as an agent. He's the guy on the Stairmaster texting.  A fellow parent at your kids’ school could be a tenpercenter (I always loved that expression). Get into any pick-up basketball game in West L.A. Chances are you’ll be slamming a WME agent into the boards before too long.

Do you know a working writer who is a big fan of your work? Ask him to recommend you to his agent. Do you have a professor who loves your work and is willing to make a few calls on your behalf?

Date Anne Hathaway.

Find out where agents went to college. Maybe you and a CAA guy both are Southwest Arkansas State A & M alums. Use that as an introduction.

Do you know anyone on the crew of a multi-camera show? See if they’ll get you on the floor during a filming night. There are always a few agents milling about. They’re the guys in nice suits hanging around the craft-services table. Texting.  Casually make their acquaintance.

Go to work in an agency mailroom.

Keep an eye out for Learning Annex, UCLA extension, and WGA classes and lectures.

Freeze your ass off at the Sundance film festival.

Date Aaron Sorkin.

Of course, connecting with an agent means nothing if you don’t have the goods. Most agencies want three writing samples – two current show specs and original material like a pilot, play, or screenplay. If you are lucky enough to have an agent consider your scripts, make sure they’re the very best work you’ve ever written. Sometimes you only get one chance.

Good luck. I know it’s hard but talented writers do find agents. You be one of them.

Egypt revolution: so this is what it's all about...

There is this guy, I shall call him for brevity Pissed Cousin. Full name is As'ad Abu Khalil, according to himself he is a professor of political science at California State University, Stanislaus and visiting professor at UC, Berkeley. Which goes a long way to explain Berkeley. I need no more explanation about this peculiar branch of science called "political science". This is just one more case of this widespread malady. But in general, I wouldn't know Pissed Cousin from an Amazonian spotted crawfish if not for Judeopundit who tends to mention him from time to time.

Well, the point is that somebody else linked to one of his posts today, and, while looking at it, I have noticed a certain trend on his page of January 29 (when lots of Egyptians were killed in the clashes with the army and the police):

Notice there are six separate posts on this page. I'll leave the rest of the analysis to you, but I am certain that at the end you will figure out the anomaly. You shall also figure out what the whole Egyptian brouhaha is about, at least according to the Pissed Cousin...

You will also understand better the battle cry of the Pissed Cousin:

Every fighter for justice in the world should ask himself/herself daily: what have I done against Israel today?

Well, I, personally think that Pissed Cousin could (and should) do better than mere 3 posts out of 6. On the other hand, he might get overexcited, and this could lead to a misunderstanding with his female students at Berkeley - it's tough there nowadays with all kinds of correctness, you know...

Psychopathology of anti-Israel discourse

On what must have been a pleasant autumn evening, a group of moderately educated young people met and discussed favorably the following propositions:

• The Red Cross is a bad organization because it is neutral. Neutral organizations are bad.
• The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a sexist document.
• The Middle East peace process is bad for the Arab Palestinians.
• Foreign aid is bad for the Palestinians.
• The sure path to liberation of the Catholic Philippines and gay people is to join the cause of Muslim extremism and wipe out Jewish self- determination.Only Zionism stands in the way of liberation of these oppressed peoples.
• Bad people are always white and probably Zionist. Good people are colored and are therefore oppressed.

This meeting did not take place in the closed ward of a mental institution or in Kim Il Sung University in PyongYang, People’s Republic of Korea, but in an American University campus financed by the state of California. The attendees were undergraduates and graduate students, America’s leaders of tomorrow.

Yeah... but read the whole post by Ami Isseroff.

Shuggy living in George Monbiot's house?

Not likely, at least not immediately. But Shuggy's cool (and short) post reminded me about something ancient: a novel Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the very few up there at the writers' Olympus. One of the chief protagonists is a scientist and a surgeon Dr. Preobrazhensky. A quote from Wiki to set up the background:

Despite the Professor's blatant anti-communism, his frequent medical treatment of the CPSU leadership makes him untouchable. As a result, he refuses to decrease his seven room flat and treats the Bolsheviks on the housing committee, lead by Shvonder, with unveiled contempt.

Now I can proceed to a rather lengthy (but one of the most enjoyable in Russian literature) quote from the book itself:

"We are the new house management committee for this block," said the black-haired fellow with controlled fury. "I am Shvonder, she is Vyazemskaya, he is Comrade Pestrukhin and that's Zharovkin. And now we..."

"It was you they settled into Fyodor Pavlovich Sablin's flat?"

"Us," replied Shvonder.

"Ah, God, how is the house of Kalabukhov fallen!" the Professor cried out, flinging wide his hands in despair.

"Are you joking, Professor?" Shvonder asked indignantly.

"It's no joking matter!" cried the Professor, then, in despair. "Whatever will happen to the central heating?"

"Are you making fun of us, Professor Preobrazhensky?"

"What is your business with me? Tell me and make it brief. I am about to go and dine."

"We, the house committee," Shvonder began with hatred, "have come to you after a general meeting of the inhabitants of our block at which the question of reallocation of living space stood..."

"Who stood on who?" Philip Philipovich raised his voice. "Be so good as to express yourself more clearly."

"The question of the reallocation of living space stood on the agenda."

"Enough! I understand! You know that according to the resolution of 12 August of this year my flat is excepted from any and every reallocation and resettlement?"

"We know that," replied Shvonder. "But the general meeting, after due consideration of the question, came to the conclusion that, by and large, you occupy too much space. Much too much. You live alone in seven rooms."

"I live alone and work in seven rooms," replied Philip Philipovich, "and I should very much like an eighth. It is quite essential to house my books."

The four were lost for words.

"An eighth room! O-ho-ho," said the blonde, stripping off his hat. "That's cool."

"That's indescribable!" exclaimed the youth who had turned out to be a woman.

"I have a reception room and note that it serves also as a library, a dining room, a study — 3. A consulting room for the examination of patients — 4. An operation theatre — 5. My bedroom — 6 and the maid's room — 7. On the whole — it's not enough. My flat is exempt and that is all there is to it. May I go and dine?"

"Excuse me," said the fourth who looked like a sturdy beetle.

"Excuse me," Shvonder interrupted him. "It is precisely about the consulting room and the dining room that we are here. Our general meeting requests you voluntarily, in the interest of labour discipline, to give up your dining room. Nobody in Moscow has a dining room."

"Not even Isadora Duncan," the woman affirmed in ringing tones.

Something came over Philip Philipovich as a result of which his face became a delicate crimson and he did not pronounce another word, waiting for further developments.

"And also that you should give up the consulting room," continued Shvonder. "Your study can double perfectly well as a consulting room."

"I see," Philip Philipovich murmured in a curious voice. "And where am I supposed to partake of food?"

"In the bedroom," all four replied in chorus.

Philip Philipovich's crimson flush took on a tinge of grey.

"To partake of food in the bedroom," he began in slightly muffled voice, "to read in the consulting room, to get dressed in the reception room, to perform operations in the maid's room and to examine people in the dining room. I can well believe that Isadora Duncan does so. Possibly she has dinner in the study and dissects rabbits in the bathroom. But I am not Isadora Duncan!" he roared suddenly, and the crimson turned yellow. "I will continue to dine in the dining room and operate in the operating theatre. Pray inform the general meeting of this and I would humbly request you to get back to your own business and leave me to go on partaking of my meals where all normal people do so, that is in the dining room and not in the hall and not in the nursery."

[Skipped a part here]

The three, mouths open, gaped at the humiliated Shvonder.

"Shameful, that's what it is!" he said uncertainly.

"If there were a discussion now," said the woman, flushing hotly, "I would prove to Pyotr Alexandrovich..."

"I beg your pardon, but do you wish to open the discussion this minute?" inquired Philip Philipovich politely.

The woman's eyes sparkled.

"I understand your irony, Professor, we will go now... Only I, as the chairman of cultural department of our house..."

"Chairwoman," Philip Philipovich corrected her.

"Would like to ask you," at this point the woman pulled out of her coat-front a few brightly coloured journals, still damp from the snow, "to take a few journals sold for the benefit of German children. 50 kopecks each."

"No, thank you," replied Philip Philipovich briefly, glancing at the journals.

The four indicated total amazement and the woman went the colour of cranberry juice.

"Why do you refuse?"

"I don't want them."

"You have no sympathy for the children of Germany?"

"On the contrary."

"You grudge fifty copecks?"

"No."

"Why then?"

"I don't want them."

There was a short silence.

"Do you know what, Professor?" said the girl, heaving a deep sigh. "If you were not a luminary known to all Europe and if you had not been interceded for in the most disgraceful manner by... (the fair man tugged at the end of her jacket but she shook him off) by people who, I am quite sure, we will eventually get to the bottom of, you should be arrested."

"And what for?" inquired Philip Philipovich with some curiosity.

"You are a proletariat-hater!" said the woman proudly.

"Yes, I do dislike the proletariat," Philip Philipovich agreed sadly and pressed a knob. A bell sounded. A door opened somewhere in the corridor.

"Zina," called Philip Philipovich, "you may serve dinner. You will permit me, gentlemen?"

And another link, this one to the recent events:

Facing a wave of criticism from business leaders, President Hugo Chavez is defending his order for government officials to seize control of residential complexes. Chavez promised Sunday to crack down on construction and real estate companies that he accused of unjustly boosting prices, which he labeled "housing fraud."

Granted, both Bulgakov's story and the Comical Hugos' case are not precisely what Monbiot is going on about.

But getting there in the end of the day...

Haveil Havalim No. 302: A McFalafel w/Mustard

It is yummy, and it's all good: the latest Haveil Havalim by Chaviva. Enjoy!

The background story on the "We Will Rock You" CHEERS teaser

Dan O'Shannon, now an executive producer of MODERN FAMILY, was a producer on CHEERS when the "We Will Rock You" teaser was shot.  He dropped me a note with some more details. 

When we shot it, we weren't intending to fade out during the song. Instead, the song just kind of peters out, and that's when Cliff comes bursting in singing "we will rock you", too late to join in. When we looked at it in editing, it didn't seem all that funny, so someone (Cheri or Bill Steinkellner, I think) decided to cut out early.

Thanks, Dan!

Don't Fear Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood

In fact, embrace and engage.

The secretive Islamic opposition group has long renounced violence and may be the most reasonable option.

If it were one of the Daily Beast regular morons, I would have hardly dedicated a post to that crapola. The problem about the author:

Bruce Riedel, a former long-time CIA officer, is a senior fellow in the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution. At Obama’s request, he chaired the strategic review of policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2009.

Yep.

Hat tip: Blazing Cat Fur.

My radical new texting policy

My friend Kevin has a policy that I have recently adopted. I will not carry on a text conversation. Text messages are great for short alerts.

I’m running late. 

I’m at baggage claim. 

I’m pregnant. 

But they’re not designed to replace conversations. After a couple of quick back and forths, if you want to continue to converse with me I will CALL you. You’re obviously there. You just texted me two seconds ago.

Yes, the ability to send text messages that are received instantly is pretty amazing. Clearly, the purpose of human thumbs is to communicate. But even more amazing is that by simply pushing a few buttons you can actually TALK to the person. Imagine, carrying on a dialogue in real time. And hearing the other person’s voice. Not having to decipher what ob meant when the person hit the wrong key. Being able to express a thought longer that a tweet.

Since I adopted this policy, there have been a few times when someone has tried to engage me in a text conversation. So I would call them. And they were always startled. Completely in shock.    It’s like, “Ohmygod, did somebody die?” Has it been that long since people talked to each other that it is now awkward?

So if you want to tell me you’re on your way, the team bus leaves in ten minutes, or my hair is on fire, then by all means text me. But anything else, let’s talk by smartphone.

If this policy works I then might suggest something really insane – we actually get together and talk face to face. I know.  WTF? 2M2H.

"Black Widow" suicide bomber vs phone company's spam

This sounds like a feel good X-mas story:

A "Black Widow" suicide bomber planned a terrorist attack in central Moscow on New Year's Eve but was killed when an unexpected text message set off her bomb too early, according to Russian security sources.

And I usually get pissed off by these SMSs... no more.

History of Cuba in one sentence

You, all of you what complain about The Guardian: look how much you can learn from comments made in passing by some luminaries there:

Cuba was another corrupt American backed state until the revolution has suffered from a trade embargo.

Admirable brevity and depth of analysis, ain't it?

Thanks, robi.

PLAAF 15th regiment emblem

From the photo, we can see a head of a leopard with wings--flying leopard, is this unit related with FBC-1 fighter bomber?

indelible moment: Wilder's "Some Like It Hot"

Jerry (to himself): "I'm a girl. I'm a girl. I'm a girl."

His eyes stray down the aisle. In Upper 2, Sugar is getting ready for bed. All Jerry can see is her legs dangling out of the berth as she removes her stockings. But that's all the indenitification Jerry needs.

Jerry (calling down the aisle): "Good night, Sugar!"

Sugar (sticking her head out): "Good night, honey."

Obama's birth certificate for sale, or Hawaiians' sense of commerce wins the day!

Let's see. If there are, say, ten million birthers, but only one in ten (to be conservative) forks out $100 for Obama's birth certificate, it makes... wow, I will be...

Methinks Obama should share some of that bonanza. After all, it's his certificate!

PLAAF & Turkey airforce exercise patch

Megan Fox Berpose Sexy Di Iklan Armani

- Emporia Armani kembali memilih aktris seksi nancantik Megan Fox menjadi ikon pakaian dalam dan jeans Armani untuk koleksi musim semi dan musim panas 2011. Fox berpose dalam foto hitam putih berbalut pakaian dalam super minim hasil jepretan fotografer Mert Alas dan Marcus Piggot. Nantinya, foto-foto seksi Fox akan ditampilkan dalam majalah Emporio Armani edisi Februari dan Maret mendatang.

Terpilihnya istri Brian Austin Green sebagai model Armani terhitung untuk keduakalinya. Pemeran film ‘Jonah Hex’ sebelumnya pernah tampil dalam iklan kosmetik Giorgio Armani. Sedangkan untuk model pria terpilih petenis Rafael Nadal yang menggantikan pesepakbola Christiano Ronaldo.

Petenis Spanyol berusia 24 tahun tersebut juga pernah menjadi model produk olahraga Nike dan parfum L’Homme Sport produksi rumah mode Jeanne Lanvin. Selain itu, penampilan Rafael yang selalu terlihat macho itu juga dapat disaksikan di video musik single Gypsy milik Shakira.

Bintang Sex Jerman Cora, Tewas Gara-gara Operasi Pembesaran Payudara

– Bentuk payudara yang besar mungkin menjadi obsesi sebagian besar wanita, namun nampaknya anda harus berhati-hati. Seorang artis film porno Jerman yang cukup terkenal, Sexy Cora, tewas setelah operasi pembesaran payudara. Dua dokter yang menanganinya pun dikenai tuduhan melakukan kelalaian hingga membuat seseorang meninggal.

Dilansir CNN, Sabtu (22/1/2011), perempuan berusia 23 tahun itu mengalami koma saat operasi di Alster Clinic, Hamburg, Jerman, 11 Januari lalu. Demikian disampaikan tim penyidik pemerintah, Wilhelm Moellers. Sexy Cora meninggal dunia, Kamis (20/01) pekan ini.

Dokter yang menjawab panggilan darurat di klinik tersebut menelepon polisi dan kemudian menyelidiki kasus tersebut yang dimulai dari pihak klinik. Sedangkan pihak klinik mengeluarkan pernyataan bahwa dokter mereka kecewa dengan kematian pasien bernama CW dan akan memberikan dukungan penuh untuk penyelidikan. Otopsi akan dilakukan pekan depan dan penyebab kematian belum diketahui. Demikian keterangan yang disampaikan Moellers.

Sexy Cora dikenal memang suka memamerkan payudaranya kepada publik. Dalam beberapa kesempatan selain membintangi film porno, Cora sering melakukan pameran payudara dan tubuh melalui ajang body painting dimana bagian payudara selalu menjadi hal yang ditonjolkan.

---

Rachel Maddow explains why SDI will never work

I was flabbergasted by this explanation. I had to look up Ms Maddow credentials, and this is what Wiki says:

A graduate of Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, California, Maddow earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994.

Also:

In 2001, she earned a Doctorate in Philosophy (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University. Her thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons.

This must be the explanation. Or excuse, whatever. In any case, I have to remember that interpretation of missile defense, it will be the in thing for the next month or so. I bet.

Tunisia and our wishful thinking

Vox populi, which we are applauding as a matter of ingrained knee-jerk response, is a bit more complex phenomenon than our Westernized upbringing and overly optimistic school history books led us to think. Check it out.

The Council Has Spoken!

Here are this week’s full results:

Council Winners

• First place with 2 2/3 votes! – The Razor --Japan Will Not Be Saved Through Immigration
• Second place with 2 1/3 votes –BookwormRoom-Comparing apples and oranges — federal projects old and new
• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Joshuapundit – Handling the Dragon Better – A Few Words On The China Visit
• Third place *t* with 2 votes – Right Truth – If you don’t want your daughters Westernized…
• Fourth place with 1 2/3 votes – Simply Jews – Hamlet – A Lebanese Version
• Fifth place with 2/3 vote-The Glittering Eye- Theodore Vail’s America
• sixth place with 1/3 vote-VA Right- America: : A Nation of Losers, but We All Get a Trophy
• Sixth place with 1/3 vote-Rhymes With Right- About That Cohen Speech

Non-Council Winners

• First place with 3 votes! – Sultan Knish- Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem? submitted byRight Truth
• Third place with 1 2/3 votes – New Zeal – Obama’s Radical ‘Go To’ Man Moves To The DNCsubmitted by The Noisy Room
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Muth’s Truth’s – CPAC Committing Hari Kari by Allowing Conservative Menace In? submitted by Rhymes With Right
• Fourth place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Zombie/Pajamas Media – Human Rights Imperialism: Leftist Satire or Moral Collapse? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Fifth place with 1 vote – Mark Steyn – Dependence Day submitted by Joshuapundit
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Pirate’s Cove – Snap! Obama Plans To Reboot On Economic Advice submitted by Snapped Shot
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Discriminations – Obama And The Left’s Single-Issue Libertarianism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• Sixth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Iowahawk – CSI: Tucson submitted by The Glittering Eye
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Michelle Malkin – The Philadelphia Horror: How Mass Murder Gets A Pass submitted by The Razor
• Seventh place *t* with 1/3 vote – Danger Room – U.S. Navy Chief Isn’t Sweating China’s Sea Power submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD

See you next week!

Charlie Sheen rushed to Los Angeles hospital

According to this. While the man is sometimes mad as a bedbug, I wish him well.

Iranian Book Celebrating Suicide Bombers Found in Arizona Desert

This sounds mysterious somewhat, and the article doesn't clear the mystery:

A book celebrating suicide bombers has been found in the Arizona desert just north of the U.S.- Mexican border, authorities tell Fox News. The book, "In Memory of Our Martyrs," was spotted Tuesday by a U.S. Border Patrol agent out of the Casa Grande substation who was patrolling a route known for smuggling illegal immigrants and drugs.

To help you with the solution, I have prepared here a multiple choice quiz. So, the way this book got to US territory was:

1. Dropped from a plane / hot air balloon by a forgetful passenger
2. Lost by a drug smuggler on the way into Arizona
3. Lost by an illegal alien on the way into Arizona
4. Fell from a Jeep, being a personal possession of the Border Patrol agent and got lost during a chase
5. Some darn tourist from Boise, Idaho lost it
6. The book got slung into Arizona by a catapult these dastardly boys of Sinaloa drug cartel use near the border fence. This is done to demoralize and to confuse the troops
7. A Muslim martyr(s) to be is(are) loose somewhere in US, and somebody better do something about him(them) soon
8. Allah willed the air and sand atoms to rush together to create the book, just because

Mau Telepon Gratis Lewat Facebook Coba Install Aplikasi Ini !!!

Enak banget Telepon Gratis lewat Facebook dengan SonePhone dan juga ente bisa lakukan panggilan gratis ini bukan hanya di facebok tetapi diluar jejaring sosial tersebut. Yang pernah denger VoIP mirip banget tuh ama itu selain nelpon gratis,.. bisa SMS juga loh.

Ente dan sobat sekalian akan diberikan free coin buat nelfon dan SMS ke seluruh teman dan konco-konco di dunia.. so.. cobain dech.. asik banget.


Siapin perangkat microphone dan headset buat di colokin ke komputer ente, kemudian install aplikasi facebook SonePhone.

Beres..bos.. silakan coba nelfon gratis via facebook.

TV review: EPISODES

Reader Travis Puterbaugh wrote: "Ken, how about a column on "Episodes," the new Showtime series. Have you seen it yet?"

I feel bad reviewing a show that’s on SHOWTIME since not all of my readers can watch it. But I see that you can go on line to Hulu and places like that and screen episodes, so what the hell?

I have seen EPISODES, and I enjoy it. I do have some issues but first the good stuff. Kathleen Rose Perkins, as the network VP of Comedy is so pitch-perfect dead-on that it makes me cringe and roar with laughter every time she opens her mouth. Creators David Crane and Jeffrey Klarik know of whom they write.  Ms. Perkins portrayal is nothing short of inspired character assassination.

Her assistant, played by Daisy Haggard, also kills me. She’s a network executive in comedy development with zero sense of humor and less-than-zero personality. You may watch it and think, “Well, then how does a person like that get that job?” And the answer is, “I’ve been wondering the same thing for twenty years!” (In fairness, not all network comedy execs are blank like that, but in any given meeting there always seems to be one.)

The other revelation is Matt LeBlanc. He’s smart! Who knew? He plays a (hopefully) distorted version of himself -- the self-centered asshole star. But what I really like is (a) the real-life Matt is a good sport for allowing himself to be portrayed like that, and (b) he knows to play the character equal parts monster and equal parts charming. That’s what elevates him from a villain to what America really loves to see -- a true psychopath.

The premise is loosely based on Steven Moffat and his wife Sue Vertue, who created COUPLING for the BBC. (COUPLING is my favorite sitcom from the last ten years.) It was a big hit in England and NBC talked them into overseeing a U.S. version. NBC, and by that I mean Jeff Zucker, then proceeded to change and ruin every single aspect of the show. Similarly, in EPISODES, a British couple with a hit series are seduced into making an American version, and they too are thwarted at every turn.

My only problem is this (and I had the same problem with the movie TV SET): At some point, the showrunners (in this case, the British couple) are going to say no. When the network won’t approve the British star of their series (HISTORY BOY’S extraordinary Richard Griffiths) and instead force Matt LeBlanc upon them, it’s very very funny, but the truth is the showrunners would say, “Fuck no! We’re going back to London. Kiss our ass!” And when Matt LeBlanc wants to change the character from a boarding school teacher to a hockey coach, I laughed, but again, the showrunners would say, “We’re so outta here.  Cheeri-fucking-oh!”. It just makes me uncomfortable to see showrunners portrayed with absolutely no spine. Because here’s the dirty little secret: You might as well fight and do the show your way because even if you do all of their suggestions, and even if you surrender to them at every turn, if the show doesn’t work YOU still get blamed.

So that’s my issue, and I know it’s a personal one. I understand that you need to exaggerate, you’re doing satire, and you have to take some creative license. But that’s why I’m so in love with Kathleen Rose Perkins. As outrageous and horrifying as her character is – it’s not an exaggeration. She’s real!

EPISODES is worth watching. It's a fun send-up of television.   You'll laugh till you hang yourself. 

Yellowstone Meletus, Amerika Bakal Tenggelam !!!

Taman Nasional Yellowstone di negara bagian Wyoming, Montana, dan Idaho, Amerika Serikat berada tepat di bawah puncak salah satu gunung api terbesar di dunia, Yellowstone. Sebuah supervulkano atau gunung api super.

Para ahli mengkhawatirkan, gunung yang masih aktif ini bakal meletus. Apalagi, kaldera Yellowstone menunjukkan tanda-tanda peningkatan aktivitas sejak tahun 2004 lalu.

Apa yang terjadi jika Yellowstone meletus? Jawabannya, tragedi. Kekuatan erupsinya diperkirakan ribuan kali lebih kuat dari letusan gunung St Helena pada tahun 1980.

Yellowstone akan memuntahkan lava ke langit, sementara abunya yang panas akan mematikan tanaman dan mengubur wilayah sekitarnya hingga radius 1.000 mil atau lebih dari 1.600 kilometer.

Tak hanya itu, dua per tiga wilayah Amerika Serikat bisa jadi tak bisa dihuni karena udara beracun yang berhembus dari kaldera. Ribuan penerbangan terpaksa dibatalkan, jutaan orang menjadi pengungsi.

Ini adalah mimpi buruk yang diprediksi para ilmuwan, jika Yellowstone kembali meletus untuk kali pertamanya dalam 600.000 tahun. Berita buruknya, ini mungkin terjadi di masa depan.

Penelitian menunjukkan, kaldera Yellowstone telah meletus tiga kali dalam kurun waktu 2,1 juta tahun.

Kekhawatiran para ahli bukannya tanpa dasar. Peningkatan terekam sejak tujuh tahun lalu. Juga, dalam tiga tahun terakhir, lantai gunung naik tiga inchi per tahun. Ini tingkat peningkatan tercepat sejak pencatatan yang dimulai tahun 1923.

Namun, kurangnya data tak memungkinkan para ilmuwan memprediksi kapan gunung super itu bakal meletus.

Ahli vulkanologi dari University of Utah, Bob Smith mengatakan, pengangkatan itu luar biasa karena meliputi wilayah yang cukup luas.

Awalnya, tambah dia, para ilmuwan khawatir peningkatan itu bisa mengarah ke letusan. Untungnya, "kami melihat magma berada di kedalaman sepuluh kilometer, kami tidak begitu khawatir," kata dia, seperti dimuat Daily Mail, Selasa 25 Januari 2011.

Lain halnya jika magma berada di kedalaman dua atau tiga kilometer, para ahli bakal panik.

Sementara, Robert B. Smith, profesor geofisika di University of Utah, mengatakan, ruang magma gunung super itu terisi batu yang mencair.

"Tapi kita tidak tahu berapa lama proses ini berlangsung sebelum akhirnya terjadi letusan, atau sebaliknya aliran batu cair berhenti dan kaldera kembali rata."

Para ilmuwan yang memantau Yellowstone percaya, ruang penyimpanan magma atau reservoir yang membengkak di kedalaman enam mil di bawah tanah mungkin menyebabkan pengangkatan itu.

Para ilmuwan juga mengamati gumpalan seperti kue panekuk yang terbentuk dari batuan cair seukuran kota Los Angeles di lokasi itu.

Karena kondisinya yang ekstrem, sulit bagi ilmuwan untuk menentukan apa sebenarnya yang sedang terjadi di bawah Yellowstone.

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Megan Fox

34C
Armani Underwear
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방위사업청--DAPA

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On the fallout of Tucson tragedy

So far the best on the consequences of the shooting I've seen - by Peter Risdon:

A vicious, insane attack by a lone gunman in Tucson, Arizona, was seized on as an excuse to attack opponents in terms devoid of moral and intellectual integrity, leading to days where the political debate seemed a matter simply of wading through ordure, hurling handfuls at long-standing opponents.

Read the whole post. I promise that it's good.

Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus in a Tortilla

Yep. Believe it or not:

While heating up some tortillas Tuesday afternoon, a mother in Starr County, Texas, says she was surprised when some unexpected visitors turned up in her kitchen -- the Virgin Mary and the Baby Jesus.

I wonder whether getting a tortilla like that automatically causes pregnancy?

In related news:

Experts believe this reptile was likely a pet that got away -- and they hope the owner will come and pick it up soon.

If the owner doesn't, please send it to me: I need a pet my neighbors will take heed of.

Resistant starch foods?

This is what... oh boy...

Meera jasmine(HQ) hot honeymoon song from Nepaali

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Warning: This is another one of my rants

Last week I went to a restaurant I’ve been going to for years. Some great entrees and it’s a block from Cedars-Sinai hospital so if I have any kind of attack during dinner I’m covered.

There are three or four dishes I always like and their soups are m-m-m good (which is the official standard for soup). I hadn’t been there in a few months but when I picked up the menu I was shocked. They had completely changed it. Now there were a million appetizers and only four main courses. And none of my favorites made the cut. What the fuck? I asked the waiter what soups they had and he said, “Not sure we still have soup. Let me check.” (They did, much to his surprise)

I guess this is a new trend. Skew towards tapas items, “small bites”, or whatever cute name they have for charging you $9.95 for a crab cake the size of your eye.

So today’s topic: Things that change for the worse, or, as I like to call it -- “the New Coke Phenomenon”.

For those unfamiliar, Coca Cola decided for some inexplicable reason to change its formula in 1985 and sales plummeted. People were so upset in the south that there was almost a second burning of Atlanta. Coke eventually went back to its original “classic” formula.

Side note:  It should be noted that the original formula was not the first version of Coca-Cola.  My grandmother used to say that Coke was the greatest drink ever when she was a kid.  Somehow they ruined it.  Uh, yeah... in that initial formula there was cocaine in it.  

Meanwhile, the Necco candy company has now ruined Chocolate Necco Wafers. They’ve made them different flavors of chocolate and they’re awful. Who are they even kidding with “flavors”? It’s chalk. Chocolate Necco Wafers never tasted like chocolate. Sweetbreads don’t taste like sweet breads. And Rocky Mountain Oysters sure don’t taste like oysters. So what? Chocolate Necco Wafers tasted good. Now they don’t. Were Chocolate Necco Wafer sales down so alarmingly that the stockholders demanded a change or heads would’ve roll?

When you think of industries that have changed for the worse, you have to put airlines at the top of the everyone's list. At least when restaurants change their menu it’s with the hope of attracting new and more customers. But the airlines don’t give a shit. If they could get away with just strapping you to the wings and filling the cabin with more cargo they would.

XM radio used to be much better. The minute Sirius merged with them the cost cutting began. Less live talent, less musical variety, and more syndicated fare. There used to be a baseball-only talk channel. Now they just simulcast MLB-TV in the late afternoons and evenings. So this is a highlight they might now feature: “Whoa, will you look at that? Can you believe it?” And I’m paying good money for this?

Speaking of baseball, what was wrong with stadium organs? Going to a big league game used to be a night of Americana. Today it’s like stepping into TRON. Kudos to those few clubs that still have stadium organs. Is the ballpark experience really better with Snoop Dog?

And closer to home, Blogger “improved” their format and now it’s impossible for me to upload pictures if I’m in Firefox. And every time Facebook changes something I worry that all my private settings are being viewed and mocked by Mark Zuckerberg, Sean Parker, and the rest of the drunk nerds at Mark’s rented party house in Palo Alto.

Has anyone used “Advanced” Cascade on their dishes? “Advanced” means crusty film on your dishes. Nabisco Ginger Snaps are now awful. With all the things in the world that really do need changing, why start with Ginger Snaps? And Campbell’s Bean with Bacon soup used to be m-m-m-m good. Now the “new improved” version is eh-eh-eh ech!!!

These are just a few examples, the Chocolate Necco Wafers being the most disturbing. I bet you guys can name others.

Richard Falk - preposterous, but still a UN Rapporteur. Go figure...

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, got a confession out of UN Chief re the 911 troofer Richard Falk. The full text of the letter is here, so I shall quote only a piece that counts:

You specifically refer to Mr. Falk’s allegations of an “apparent cover-up” related to the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. The Secretary-General condemns these remarks. He has repeatedly stated his view that any such suggestion is preposterous — and an affront to the memory of the more than 3,000 people who died in the attack.

And (But...):

You are aware, no doubt, that the Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts who represent the Human Rights Council are appointed by the Council, not by the Secretary-General. Their continuance in their jobs is thus for the Council to decide.

Every person who knows what travesty the Human Rights Council is will know that prof Falk is exactly where he is meant to be. So what's left? To quote myself:

I invite you to click on the above too. Have you ever seen a finer portrait of a natural born boozer? My heart has immediately warmed up to him, I swear.

Watcher’s Council Nominations – State Of The Union Edition

 Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

So, let’s see what we have this week….

Council Submissions

• Rhymes With Right – About That Cohen Speech
• Snapped Shot – Fireworks
• Joshuapundit -Handling the Dragon Better – A Few Words On The China Visit
• Simply Jews – Hamlet – a Lebanese version
• The Noisy Room – Just Seein’, Just Sayin’
• The Razor – Japan Will Not Be Saved Through Immigration
• Bookworm Room – Comparing apples and oranges — federal projects old and new
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – Boring!
• Right Truth – If you don’t want your daughters Westernized…
• The Colossus of Rhodey – Vision of the Anointed in action
• VA Right - America: A Nation of Losers, but We All Get a Trophy
• The Glittering Eye -Theodore Vail’s America

Honorable Mentions

• Liberty’s Spirit-Obama, Islamists and a New Middle East
• The Political Commentator – State of the Union address: Send in the clowns

Non-Council Submissions

• Muth’s Truths – CPAC Committing Hari Kari by Allowing Conservative Menace In?submitted byRhymes with Right
• Pirate’s Cove – Snap! Obama Plans To Reboot On Economic Advice submitted by Snapped Shot
• Mark Steyn – Dependence Day submitted by Joshuapundit
• Rubin Reports – SCOOP: Explaining How The “Palestine Papers” Story Is A Fabrication That Teaches Us The Truthsubmitted by Simply Jews
• New Zeal – Obama’s Radical ‘Go To’ Man Moves To The DNC submitted by The Noisy Room
• Michelle Malkin – The Philadelphia Horror: How Mass Murder Gets A Pass submitted by The Razor
• Zombie/Pajamas Media – Human Rights Imperialism: Leftist Satire or Moral Collapse? submitted by Bookworm Room
• Danger Room – U.S. Navy Chief Isn’t Sweating China’s Sea Power submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Sultan Knish -Anglophobia or Islamophobia – What’s the Real Problem? submitted by Right Truth
• Discriminations – Obama And The Left’s Single-Issue Libertarianism submitted by The Colossus of Rhodey
• American Thinker – Mark Fitzgibbons – How To Make Liberal Democrats Vote for Smaller Government submitted by VA Right
• Iowahawk – CSI: Tucson submitted by The Glittering Eye
• James Taranto–Palinoia, The Destroyer submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy!