disqualified! ...well, probably not
Posted on Friday, February 29, 2008
 From the New York Times...
McCain's Canal Zone Birth Prompts Queries About Whether That Rules Him Out
By CARL HULSE
Published: February 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - The question has nagged at the parents of Americans born outside the continental United States for generations: Dare their children aspire to grow up and become president? In the case of Senator John McCain of Arizona, the issue is becoming more than a matter of parental daydreaming.
Mr. McCain's likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a "natural-born citizen" can hold the nation's highest office.
Almost since those words were written in 1787 with scant explanation, their precise meaning has been the stuff of confusion, law school review articles, whisper campaigns and civics class debates over whether only those delivered on American soil can be truly natural born. To date, no American to take the presidential oath has had an official birthplace outside the 50 states.
"There are powerful arguments that Senator McCain or anyone else in this position is constitutionally qualified, but there is certainly no precedent," said Sarah H. Duggin, an associate professor of law at Catholic University who has studied the issue extensively. "It is not a slam-dunk situation."
Mr. McCain was born on a military installation in the Canal Zone, where his mother and father, a Navy officer, were stationed. His campaign advisers say they are comfortable that Mr. McCain meets the requirement and note that the question was researched for his first presidential bid in 1999 and reviewed again this time around.
But given mounting interest, the campaign recently asked Theodore B. Olson, a former solicitor general now advising Mr. McCain, to prepare a detailed legal analysis. "I don't have much doubt about it," said Mr. Olson, who added, though, that he still needed to finish his research.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and one of Mr. McCain's closest allies, said it would be incomprehensible to him if the son of a military member born in a military station could not run for president.
"He was posted there on orders from the United States government," Mr. Graham said of Mr. McCain's father. "If that becomes a problem, we need to tell every military family that your kid can't be president if they take an overseas assignment."
Continue reading...
image from abcnews.com
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extraordinary
Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2008
I saw Jake Shimabukuro perform on Conan O'Brien a few nights ago, and he was freak'n amazing. This guy wails on the ukulele like I've never heard before. Granted, my knowledge of the ukulele doesn't go much past Tiny Tim ... but check him out. Here he is performing George Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
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my cat is cuter than yours
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008
 Check out more photos of Spring on Flickr.
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the roswell phenomenon
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008
As I posted yesterday, The first Indy trailer hit the net yesterday (watch the high res version @ www.IndianaJones.com) and already people are pulling it apart frame-by-frame. Although with the huge and truly devoted Indiana Jones fan base, who can blame them? Since Lost hit airwaves a few years ago, fanboys (and fangirls) have been tearing apart their favorite shows and movies for the seemingly insignificant information that may serve as hints and clues of future events. Clearly fan updated web technology (i.e. Wiki sites, message boards, forums, etc.) have made it possible for the rabid fans to share their information quickly, which has just added fuel to the fires. Producers like J.J. Abrams are using this fandemonium to their advantage, by staging viral web marketing campaigns to promote their products...... but I digress.
Over the past 24 hours, sites like MTV.com have posted second-by-second synopsizes of the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (find it here -- it's pretty cool, if not a bit obsessive). The money shot of the trailer seems to be the magnetized metal box that reads "ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO 1947" ... which I honestly missed the first 3 times I watched the trailer. Rumors and move gossip seem to think that the 'Crystal Skull' is some sort of alien supercomputer.
 This is all pretty f-ing cool, in my opinion. Though, does the marriage of Indiana Jones, Roswell, New Mexico, Shia Lebeof, and little green men really fit? Only time will tell...
By the way ... there's only 97 days until May 22nd!
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oh my! jane fonda dropped the c-bomb!
Posted on Friday, February 15, 2008
From IMDB.com ...
Jane Fonda turned the air blue on morning talk show Today on Thursday when she uttered the explicit "c" word. The actress, 70, joined Eve Ensler on the show's sofa to discuss the 10th anniversary of the playwright's The Vagina Monologues-inspired V-Day when she stunned viewers by saying an anatomically-explicit word. Asked how she got involved in V-Day and the play, where celebrities act out personal monologues, Fonda explained she wasn't keen on the whole idea at first. She said, "I live in Georgia; I was asked to do a monologue called [c-word] and I said, 'I don't think so, I've got enough problems.'" Fonda said she later saw the play and it "changed my life." The expletive ran during the live broadcast on the East Coast. It was bleeped out for subsequent broadcasts. Later in the show, interviewer/host Meredith Vieira apologized to viewers, stating, "We were talking about The Vagina Monologues and Jane Fonda inadvertently said a word from the play that you don't say on television. It was a slip and obviously she apologizes, and so do we. We would do nothing to offend the audience. So please accept that apology."
...Continue reading
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just in case you're living under a rock...
Posted on Wednesday, February 13, 2008
from E! News...
Writers Say Yea to Ending Strike
By Natalie Finn
Tue, 12 Feb 2008 07:34:02 PM PST
So let it be written.
As expected, members of the Writers Guild of America have voted to end the writers' strike that has been plaguing the entertainment industry for more than three months, meaning film and TV scribes can go back to living off of caffeine and adrenaline as soon as Wednesday.
Per the official tally of those who weighed in Tuesday in Beverly Hills and New York, 92.5 percent of WGA members approved the measure, with 3,492 saying yea and 283 voting against pulling the plug.
"The strike is over. Our membership has voted, and writers can go back to work," WGA West president Patric Verrone said Tuesday evening.
“This was not a strike we wanted, but one we had to conduct in order to win jurisdiction and establish appropriate residuals for writing in new media and on the Internet. Those advances now give us a foothold in the digital age. Rather than being shut out of the future of content creation and delivery, writers will lead the way as TV migrates to the Internet and platforms for new media are developed.”
But while most everyone was in agreement that returning to work is the way to go, the writers have not yet officially approved the terms of the new three-year contract hammered out last week by guild leaders and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
Writers in New York and Los Angeles were briefed on the arrangement on Saturday and a separate contract ratification ballot will be mailed out over the next few days. Members have until Feb. 25 to cast their votes. Meetings will be held that day to vote in person, as well.
In the meantime, the scribes can get to scribblin' again.
While the late-night talk show scene has been back in business since New Year's, now the shows not presided over by David Letterman or Craig Ferguson will again have writing staffs in addition to beleaguered hosts scrabbling for jokes.
Although campaign season perked up when The Daily Show and The Colbert Report returned to TV, the 2008 presidential hopefuls will have to enjoy these last few days of comparable peace. Saturday Night Live, in all its candidate-spoofing glory, will be back in business Feb. 23. Ellen Page, an Oscar nominee for Juno, will host the first new episode since the strike began Nov. 5.
And then Page can go to the Oscars on Feb. 24. With the news over the weekend that the warring parties had struck a deal, the 80th Annual Academy Awards once again became something to look forward to.
Free from the fear of picketers, boycotting SAG members and an embarrassing ratings plunge, the soft breeze you felt Saturday was the telecast's producers breathing a sigh of relief.
"I am relieved that the men and women of the entertainment industry are going back to work," Sid Ganis, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said in a statement, "and I am ecstatic" that the Oscars can proceed "full steam ahead with talented writers working on the show, a fantastic array of presenters and performers and, most importantly, the ability for all of our honored nominees to attend without hesitation or discomfort."
On the sweet and sour side of things, production can resume on dozens of sitcoms and dramas that have been shut down for weeks—but not on all of them. While more than 60 series were affected, not all of them were established enough to weather the storm.
...Continue Reading
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google goatse
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2008
I'm not sure how long Google Image Labeler has been around, but it's mildly amusing. Google randomly pairs you with a online partner and for 2 minutes you view a set of images, provide as many labels you can, and receive points for each of your label matches. Basically Google is conning you into adding labels to their images, to help improve the quality of Google Image Search. I was playing this afternoon during a lull at work (because my work computer won't let me update Flash), and I stumbled upon this:
 So I guess that Google doesn't censor their Images in this 'game.' Either that, or Google is a little slow ... and doesn't know what Goatse is. Either way, I was amused enough to take a screen shot.
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i voted -- did you??
Posted on Tuesday, February 05, 2008
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crossing my fingers!!!
Posted on Sunday, February 03, 2008
 From TVSquad.com...
Talks of a potential movie featuring the dysfunctional Bluth family first started even before the show's finale aired. However, nothing really officially had been done about it until recently. This past week, rumors of an Arrested Development feature movie have resumed but, this time, it is the cast talking!
Kristin Dos Santos from E! Online confirms that the cast members were asked by the show's producers if they would be willing to star in the motion picture. AD's leading man, Jason Bateman, confirmed to the gossip columnist that preliminary talks had begun. Elsewhere, Jeffrey Tambor admitted on the Ron and Fez Show on XM Radio that he was approached by Ron Howard to see if he was willing to reprise his role(s).
Dos Santos' sources also revealed that no script has been written yet but that creator Mitch Hurwitz has a good idea of what he wants the movie to be like. Supposedly, Universal is interested in the feature and all cast members seem to have agreed to reprise their roles.
Continue reading...
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