2010

Happy New Year, y’all.

-Ian

Kung Fu – Redux

Having just been on a plane I was thinking this very same thing when I heard the “sentence which god originally intended to be a belch” come out of Tweety’s mouth.

Now, I don’t know if Chris Matthews has ever actually been on an airplane, but it’s a pretty tight, confined space. A dangerous martial-arts display would be exceedingly difficult in the aisle of even the largest jumbo jet.

And even if a kung-fu-trained terrorist were to start beating up a passenger or crew member, there are still all of the other passengers and crew members to contend with.

I seriously thought the guy behind me on the flight home looked a little twitchy but then I realized that he was in the window position and crammed into a space about one foot by one foot. Seriously, maximum security “holes” have more fucking room. Plus, he would have to fight his way through about four-hundred pounds of Taco Bell stuffed Americans just to get to the aisle that a normal human can barely fit down sideways.

Good fucking luck throwing a spinning stiff leg.

-Ian

Rick Sanchez vs. Sen. Ensign

All he wanted to do was demagogue the terrorism issue.  Rich Sanchez not havin’ it.

Classic.

-Ian

Vacation

Fuck it, I’m taking the rest of the decade off.

-Ian

Take A Look Inside

Still one of the best skits of the decade.

-Ian

Signs Signs

The 50 best protest signs of the 2009.

My favorite:

The rest here.

-Ian

Adaptation

Matthew Yglesias is just fucking wrong. I loved Iron Man also, but no way is it better than Dark Knight, and he must be smoking to think Batman Begins (which I also liked) is better than DK. SMOKING!

People don’t think it’s better because it’s darker; they think it’s better because it’s better.

We had a lot of comic book adaptions in the zeros, and the best of them, contrary to what you might have heard, is Iron Man. I promise you that this is a better movie than The Dark Knight. Go back and watch them again if you don’t believe me. I’m not sure what’s led people to get confused about this—I think maybe people have decided that the use of a darker color pallet makes Dark Knight more serious, which is itself a lot sillier than using bright colors in your comic book adaptation. Dark Knight isn’t even as good as Batman Begins!

Let the great geek wars of 2010 begin.

-Ian

Update (Jason): I dunno.  IM was pretty damn good, actually, and DK, while excellent, is a bit on the overlong side and suffers from some pretty substantial scripting issues (not to say that IM doesn’t also.  The “plot,” such as it is, is weakness itself and the reveal isn’t any surprise at all).  Still, yes, overall an excellent piece of comic book adaptation, but I think it’s safe to say that I probably had more fun at Iron Man.  I’d also second the commenter who puts forward Spider-Man as the best of the decade.  At least I think you can make a case in that direction.

As for the rest, Matt is dead on about The Wire, far and away the best of this wretched decade. As for the band of the decade (Matt says Yeah Yeah Yeahs), I won’t even go there, except to say that I’d give these guys a good looking-at.

Update 2 (Ian): Steve Benen adds his two cents.

They’re both wrong. The adaptation of the decade was “Spider-Man 2.” Doc Ock was infinitely more interesting than the Goblin; the train sequence was one of the best of the genre; Peter’s existential crisis of confidence made for a more meaningful arc; and the nerd didn’t really get everything he wanted until the sequel, making the conclusion that much more satisfying.

“Iron Man” was all matter of fun, but c’mon, it didn’t really have a script and Iron Monger wasn’t well thought out. Both “Dark Knight” and “Batman Begins” were superior. For that matter, “X2″ is widely underappreciated — Brian Cox always makes good movies even better — and deserves to be part of the mix for the decade’s best.

Let’s also not overlook some other fairly strong showings, including the “Hellboy” movies, “Watchmen,” and “300.”

Party Like It’s…

Because we must.

-Ian

Kung Fu

Wow, and just under the wire, Chris Matthews wins the “dumbest thing said in this decade” award.

MATTHEWS: And I think we have got to get serious about catching terrorists, not just catching weapons. I‘m waiting for the terrorist who knows kung fu or something that gets on an airplane without a weapon. God knows what that is going to be like.

Just when you think this guy might not be an utter douche bag he goes and says something that you wouldn’t even think about saying in the darkest recesses of your brain.

Chris Matthews version of terrorist training:

And reality:

-Ian

QotD 2

Word.

“If an underwear bomb means we’re not safe under Obama, does a shoe bomb mean Bush didn’t really keep us safe after 9/11?”

-Ian

I Pull Off Your Jeans, And You Spill Jack and Coke In My Collar

—Jason

Whiskey Rumination

Fuck this decade.

-Ian

Today’s Drained Box of Wine

Althouse:

AND: Rush Limbaugh has said on his show many times that once the government runs health care, there is a threat that life-or-death decisions will be made based on politics, and people will worry that if they  criticize the government or espouse the wrong opinions decisions will go against them.

Exactly, and as soon as rude blog commenters somehow manage to seize control of the national healthcare system, I’m sure this will turn into a real problem.  Making fun of Althouse is a little like making fun of your insane old uncle who puts trout on his feet and eats his socks with lemon slices, but, Jeebus, even she must know what a crock this is.  Rush Limbaugh is, clearly, a wealthy enough individual to afford the very best healthcare on the planet.  Even under a government-run system, Rush Limbaugh would still be able to secure all the healthcare he wished to pay for.  The idea that somehow HCR is really about abrogating personal healthcare choices (and on the basis of espoused political opinions, no less!), and not simply about making those choices available to a wider range of consumers, is paranoid wankery of a very high order indeed.

—Jason

QotD

Duncan Black, calling the Oughts the Worst Decade Ever:

Oh I’m sure there were probably worse ones, but I definitely completely lack any end-of-decade nostalgia.
A whole bunch of death and horror.

Yeah, it’s sucked on pretty much every level I can think of.  My niece was born last year; that was one pretty damn nice thing.  Everything else—political, international, environmental, personal, etc.—has pretty much been one goddamned nightmare after another.

—Jason

Friday’s Random Ten: No More Stories / Are Told Today / I’m Sorry / They Washed Away / No More Stories / The World Is Grey / I’m Tired / Let’s Wash Away

Ten for 2010.

10.  Look Out Cleveland – The Band

9.  Like a Sunset, Pt. II – Phoenix

8.  The Wait – Pretenders

7.  1940 – Submarines

6.  House Where Nobody Lives – Tom Waits

5.  Everyone’s Gone to the Movies – Steely Dan

4.  Rain King – Counting Crows

3.  Nope (Acappella) – Nas

2.  Dirty Boots – Sonic Youth

1.  I Can’t Get Next to You – Al Green

Bonus:

—Jason

Fundraiser

I guess this is no surprise.  If the Democrats had tried to pull this crap, etc., etc.

—Jason

What Is America, To Them?

Seriously, if not its institutions, values, rules of order, etc., what?

—Jason

I Am Waiting for Linnets and Planets To Fall Like Rain

I Am Waiting

by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

I am waiting for my case to come up

and I am waiting

for a rebirth of wonder

and I am waiting for someone

to really discover America

and wail

and I am waiting

for the discovery

of a new symbolic western frontier

and I am waiting

for the American Eagle

to really spread its wings

and straighten up and fly right

and I am waiting

for the Age of Anxiety

to drop dead

and I am waiting

for the war to be fought

which will make the world safe

for anarchy

and I am waiting

for the final withering away

of all governments

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Second Coming

and I am waiting

for a religious revival

to sweep thru the state of Arizona

and I am waiting

for the Grapes of Wrath to be stored

and I am waiting

for them to prove

that God is really American

and I am waiting

to see God on television

piped onto church altars

if only they can find

the right channel

to tune in on

and I am waiting

for the Last Supper to be served again

with a strange new appetizer

and I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for my number to be called

and I am waiting

for the Salvation Army to take over

and I am waiting

for the meek to be blessed

and inherit the earth

without taxes

and I am waiting

for forests and animals

to reclaim the earth as theirs

and I am waiting

for a way to be devised

to destroy all nationalisms

without killing anybody

and I am waiting

for linnets and planets to fall like rain

and I am waiting for lovers and weepers

to lie down together again

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the Great Divide to be crossed

and I am anxiously waiting

for the secret of eternal life to be discovered

by an obscure general practitioner

and I am waiting

for the storms of life

to be over

and I am waiting

to set sail for happiness

and I am waiting

for a reconstructed Mayflower

to reach America

with its picture story and tv rights

sold in advance to the natives

and I am waiting

for the lost music to sound again

in the Lost Continent

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting for the day

that maketh all things clear

and I am awaiting retribution

for what America did

to Tom Sawyer

and I am waiting

for Alice in Wonderland

to retransmit to me

her total dream of innocence

and I am waiting

for Childe Roland to come

to the final darkest tower

and I am waiting

for Aphrodite

to grow live arms

at a final disarmament conference

in a new rebirth of wonder

I am waiting

to get some intimations

of immortality

by recollecting my early childhood

and I am waiting

for the green mornings to come again

youth’s dumb green fields come back again

and I am waiting

for some strains of unpremeditated art

to shake my typewriter

and I am waiting to write

the great indelible poem

and I am waiting

for the last long careless rapture

and I am perpetually waiting

for the fleeing lovers on the Grecian Urn

to catch each other up at last

and embrace

and I am awaiting

perpetually and forever

a renaissance of wonder

Call On Me, Call On Me, Call On Me

—Jason

Fear and Loathing

This morning’s reading assignment.

—Jason

The Way It Is

I think John Cole sums up our political reality nicely.

“This is just the reality we have to deal with- one party is filled with shameless hypocritical liars who will do or say anything, they are aided by a lazy and corrupt media, and the other party must spend all their time reacting to yesterday’s bullshit charges while new ones are launched their way today. It is what it is.”

Very fucking sad, and very fucking true.

-Ian

Punching Back – Massa Redux

Ouch.

-Ian

An Example

… of what happens when our press actually does their job.

He sounded like a ’63 Studebaker trying to start up after that question.

-Ian

Punching Back – White House Redux

I guess they are sick of Republicans taking free nut shots.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer:

“The difference is this: President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we [are] at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies. And we will prosecute that war as long as the American people are endangered,”

More of this please.

-Ian

Running Against Reform

Include me in the crowd that thinks the GOP is looking at the politics of this strategy all wrong.

Newt Gingrich said on “Meet the Press” the other day that “every Republican in 2010 and 2012 will run on an absolute pledge to repeal this bill.” The party’s right-wing base will apparently tolerate nothing less — they hate the reform package (or what they think they know about it) and expect their allies to make “Obamacare” go away.

This just seems fucking insane to me. Yes, the reform package isn’t all that popular right now. But that is largely based on the fact that the public has been lied into believing that health care reform will cause their grandparents to be summarily killed, we will all be put into socialist gulags, and doctors will be seeing one patient every thirty-two years. When they realize that, in fact, none of these things are evenly remotely true they will begin to… you know… like some of the plans bonuses.

While several provisions of the health care reform initiative wouldn’t kick in until 2014, the really popular measures would kick in almost immediately in 2010. Consumers would have all kinds of new protections, including a ban on discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, the elimination of rescissions, and a ban on annual or lifetime caps.

-Ian