The Gospel of I Don’t Know

4 Oct

God, Bill Maher, and the director of Borat walk into a church … No, that’s not the setup for a joke, it’s the basic premise of Religulous, a documentary in which Maher goes in search of answers to the question of Is religion good or bad for society? He travels to Israel, to a truckstop church in North Carolina, to Washington, D.C., Salt Lake City, Amsterdam, and other places, and talks to members of most of the world’s more popular organized religions. Suffice it to say, everyone gets skewered. Maher pokes all the expected holes in the idea of faith, in the double-standard that says God loves but he hates gay people, in the sexism that is so common, in the obsessiveness of some people, and then some. Much of the movie is quite funny — dare I say it’s funny as hell? — and director Larry Charles makes great use of archival and related film clips to enhance the humor. Ultimately, though, Religulous is tainted by Maher’s negative attitude. Healthy skepticism is good, and some aspects of religion are certainly ripe for questioning. But Maher doesn’t really seem to have a point here, other than saying religion is bad, and the film’s last five minutes leave the viewer with such a bad taste that it corrupts the humor that previously was so engaging. I was tempted to give Religulous a higher grade, but ultimately I’m going to stick with a B. If you’re looking for a warmer look at religion’s place in modern society, may I highly recommend A.J. Jacobs’ The Year of Living Biblically.

About Last Night …

3 Oct

In case you missed it (and apparently, not many people did, since about 70 million people watched), here is the VP debate in about three minutes, courtesy of Keith Olbermann.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/27015706#27015706

Enough Wining

2 Oct

Alright, so maybe I’m overdoing it with the political blogging lately, but I thought this was an amusing story worth posting. Seems there’s a Chilean wine called Palin Syrah (of course it’s a red wine), and ever since John McCain picked his running mate, sales have been off. How off? Well, that depends on who you ask and where you go. According to Fox Noise, sales are down in San Francisco but up in Houston. And according to this Associated Press story, sales are up just outside San Fran in North Berkeley. The Palin (pronounced pay-LEEN) Syrah is a 100 percent organic wine, so given Sarah’s views on the environment, I’m thinking she wouldn’t like this wine anyway. But that said, on this, the day of the much anticipated VP debate, I’m guessing you can tell who people are rooting for by what’s in their glass.

By the way, what would your name be if Sarah Palin was your mother? You can find out by clicking here. You can call me Log Justice Palin. (Actually, don’t call me that. Thanks.)

Stump the Candidate

2 Oct

For your viewing enjoyment (or, more likely, horror), here’s a collection of Sarah Palin’s pre-debate greatest hits (more like misses, if you ask me), courtesy of Keith Olbermann.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/26982680#26982680

It Continues …

26 Sep

David Letterman continued beating up on John McCain last night. Enjoy!

Huh????

26 Sep

Sorry to go all politics all the time all of a sudden, but this short clip of Sarah Palin’s recent interview with Katie Couric was just too good to let slide. If you support this woman, I’d like to know why. She can barely answer a question.

http://www.cbs.com/thunder/swf/rcpHolderCbs.swf?partner=userembed&vert=News&autoPlayVid=false&releaseURL=http://release.theplatform.com/content.select?pid=hdkxamTi8l_uCAJ2ORKSzF3marEPn7Ul

And just in case you missed it, here’s a transcript of the clip. (Thanks to David Poland.)

COURIC: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

PALIN: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border between a foreign country, Russia, and on our other side, the land– boundary that we have with– Canada. It– it’s funny that a comment like that was– kind of made to– cari– I don’t know, you know? Reporters–

COURIC: Mock?

PALIN: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

COURIC: Explain to me why that enhances your foreign policy credentials.

PALIN: Well, it certainly does because our– our next door neighbors are foreign countries. They’re in the state that I am the executive of. And there in Russia–

COURIC: Have you ever been involved with any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

PALIN: We have trade missions back and forth. We– we do– it’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia as Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just right over the border. It is– from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there. They are right next to– to our state.

Jews for Obama!

25 Sep

This clip is NSFW and not kid-friendly either, so watch when you can turn this up and hear every word. Join me and Sarah Silverman on the Great Schlep. Get your bubby to vote for Barack Obama!

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1808434&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Where’s McCain?

25 Sep

I love David Letterman. Check out this clip from last night’s show. McCain was supposed to be Dave’s guest, but he bailed at the last minute, leaving Dave scrambling and not the least bit happy.

“Hey John, I’ve got a question: Do you need a ride to the airport?” Wow … Dave’s true colors really came out during the show, and he replaced McCain with my boy, Keith Olbermann. Continue reading →

Best. Campaign. Slogan. Ever.

24 Sep

Just saw this at Jeff Wells’ site and wanted to repost here. Obama should have someone somewhere take this image and plaster it all over the country. This is awesome. Maybe I’ll make my own posters. Oh boy, I can’t wait until an unprepared McCain has his ass handed to him Friday night. Barack Obama is the man.

Oh, The Places He’s Gone

23 Sep

I’ve always had a fondness for Waldo.

You know, the bespeckled wanderer and star of the Where’s Waldo? series of books by Martin Handford.

Back in the day, I was a little obsessed. I collected the books. Most of my college admissions essays tackled the same theme: that I was very much like Waldo, an explorer who still hadn’t found what he was looking for. Freshman year (and maybe sophomore year too) of college I had a poster of Waldo in the Land of Waldos on my dorm-room wall.

And when my hair was longer and parted like so, people used to tell me I looked like Waldo. (No, I never did dress up like him for Halloween. I knew you were going to ask.) Continue reading →

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