So Sarah Palin Thinks That Freedom of the Press is a Dangerous Thing

ABC News' Steven Portnoy reports: In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

Bringing the Halloween Bitches

Bringing the XXX in Trixxxie

What?

A VICAR turned up in agony at a hospital — with a potato stuck in his bottom.

The clergyman told stunned casualty nurses he fell backwards on to his kitchen table while hanging curtains.

He happened to be nude at the time of the mishap.

Mishap ... potato

Mishap ... potato

The embarrassed reverend, in his 50s, had to undergo a delicate operation to extract the offending vegetable.

The spud was yesterday revealed to be among a litany of objects medics in Sheffield have removed from people’s nether regions.

Others include a can of deodorant, a cucumber, a Russian doll — and a carnation.

Like most of the other patients, the red-faced vicar insisted to staff at the city’s Northern General Hospital that his predicament was NOT the result of a sex game gone wrong.

A & E nurse Trudi Watson said: “He explained to me, quite sincerely, he had been hanging curtains naked in the kitchen when he fell backwards on to the kitchen table and on to a potato.

“But it’s not for me to question his story.

“He had to undergo surgery to have it removed.”

She admitted some sex-related emergencies had made staff chuckle. But she urged anyone contemplating sticking something where the sun doesn’t shine to think again.

Ms Watson said: “My advice? Don’t do it.

Dammit. Looks Like I Need to Get a New Excuse

TRELLEBORG, Sweden, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- A court in Trelleborg, Sweden, has ruled that a woman's diarrhea was not a sufficient reason for her to break the posted speed limit while driving.

The district court rejected the 49-year-old woman's argument that she was forced to drive 53 mph in a 43 mph zone because of her digestive issues, Swedish news agency TT reported Thursday.

The court said the speed limit can only be broken in cases of emergency, which it defined as a danger to someone's life or to prevent a serious crime.

The woman was ordered to pay her speeding ticket.

Robocalls? At the Divari House?

Some Movie News

Pulitzer Prize winner to write next film...

Sony is set to hire Pulitzer Prize winning writer David Lindsay-Abaire to write the screenplay for Spider-Man 4. Lindsay-Abaire won his Pulitzer for his play, Rabbit Hole. This seems to be an indication that the next film will return to a focus on the characters, something Spider-Man 3 seemed to go away from.

Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and director Sam Raimi will all return for the film.

Credit: The Hollywood Reporter

AND...

Routh speaks out...

In an interview with IESB.net, Superman Returns star Brandon Routh commented on whether the next Superman film should be darker.

"I don't know, I don't think the character necessarily has to be darker, I think he is kind of dark in a sense, emotional dark, in Superman Returns, and the movie as a whole was slightly dark, they could have had more prowess in it I suppose, and I think that's one thing that can be done in the sequel, so I don't know how much darker you want to make it necessarily. You make the stakes higher, you make the villain darker, I think that's a way to do it. But I don't think Superman himself needs to be darker. He definitely has to struggle, how does Superman be a part of the world? And does he have to make sacrifices to be a part of that world? To fit in and what purpose does he really play in the world? Those are all kind of dark places to explore. But, I don't think Superman should ever be dark and brooding, that's not is nature. And that's now what people what to see. Like Brainiac or something like that, a situation when the villain is..."

From the Venture Camp: James Urbaniak

I was at the L.A. Zoo over the weekend and as I was talking to my toddler son about the gorillas a guy came up to me and said "Excuse me, are you James Urbaniak?" I said yes and he said "I recognized your voice. I'm a big fan of the Venture Brothers!"

Which was nice. Although it gave me pause to think that when talking to my children I sound like Dr. Venture.

BTW, I've recorded three episodes of Season Four so far.

Tee Hee

Fallout 3 Drops Today

The Tao of Ren

A Little Emma Watson for the Q's Birthday

Some Original Concept Art for The Watchmen

Check out the rest HERE

A Subliminal Message? (NSFW Language)

Point. Set. Match.

Teenagers are less intelligent than a generation ago, claims study

The number of exceptionally bright teenagers is significantly lower than a generation ago, a new study claims.

By Charlotte Bailey
Last Updated: 7:48AM GMT 27 Oct 2008

The most intelligent 14-year-old in 2008 is now only on a par with the brightest 12-year-old in 1976, according to the findings.

Researchers at King's College, London, asked 800 children aged 13 and 14 to take a series of tests which measured their understanding of abstract scientific concepts such as volume, density, quantity and weight.

The results were compared with a similar exercise in 1976.

In a test known as the pendulum test just over one in ten were found to have reached top grades which demanded a 'higher level of thinking', a significant drop from the 1976 result of one in four.

In a second test, which assessed mathematical thinking skills, one in five youngsters in 1976 had achieved high grades whereas the figure from the most recent study was only one in 20.

But average achievement was found to be similar in teenagers from both generations.

Professor Michael Shayar, who led the study, said: "The pendulum test does not require any knowledge of science at all. It looks at how people can deal with complex information and sort it out for themselves."

He believes that the decline in brainpower has happened over the last ten to 15 years and could be a result of national curriculum targets which drill children for tests as well as changes in children's leisure activities, such as an increase in computer games and television watching.

Brand New Half Blood Prince Trailer (fixed again)

Legion of Super Dudes New Press Packets

The Door to Hell (Think Vampire RPG)

Door to Hell in Antarctica - Watch more free videos

Are the Canadiens a religion?

Back in the days of Maurice Richard, there were tales of ailing Montreal Canadiens fans who claimed they had been cured by touching his jersey. Today, the young goalie expected to lead the team to playoff glory has been nicknamed Jesus Price. That Montrealers are mad about hockey is no secret, but students at the Université de Montréal will soon be learning that the fervour is religious.

Beginning in January, the university's faculty of theology will begin offering a graduate course titled "The Religion of the Montreal Canadiens." Olivier Bauer, the professor who conceived the course, said that since moving here from Switzerland in 2006, he has been struck by the parallels between Montreal's hockey team and religion. When he saw that the team was about to celebrate its centennial season, he decided the time was right "to finally address the question that nobody dares ask: whether the Montreal Canadiens are a religion," he said.

"Nobody has examined what this really means, all the religious aspects around the Montreal Canadiens. Is it just a metaphor? Is there something deeper? How important is it, and what is the relationship to Quebec's Catholic tradition?"

When he took on the project, not everyone in the faculty was enthusiastic. "At first, people thought it was almost a joke," he said.

Mr. Bauer approached colleagues for contributions to a book on the subject to appear early next year. "Some said yes, others said no. But people made fun of me a little, saying ‘He's not serious. Who is this guy who is interested in hockey?' "

The university offered him a $7,000 grant to help his research and invite a visiting lecturer, but he was advised to tread carefully. "I think the fear was of treating religion with too little respect. Using the word incarnation in the context of a sport, for example, or calling a hockey match a mass, some people might find it insulting."

The doubting Thomases notwithstanding, Mr. Bauer is persuaded that the Canadiens have the characteristics of a religion, beginning with the devotion of their fans. Since news of the course was first reported in Le Devoir, Mr. Bauer has heard from people saying, "Yes, that is me, hockey is my religion." A young woman commenting on Le Devoir's web site said she considers it a sin to miss a Habs game. Last season, when the team was facing elimination in the playoffs, she said she sought to bring the team luck by climbing on her knees the 283 steps to the St. Joseph Oratory.

Mr. Bauer noted that nicknames associated with the team often draw on religion. The jersey is known as the Sainte Flanelle, literally the Holy Flannel. Guy Lafleur was known as the "démon blond" or blond devil, and Patrick Roy was dubbed Saint Patrick. Carey Price, the team's current goalie, was nicknamed Jesus by some last year because Price rhymes with Christ.

What Should Maynard Get next?

This:



Or This:



Or Back To This:



Or Something New Like This:



Or a Blast from the Past:

Doctor Mrs. The Monarch

Coming Soon (To My Living Room)

Nailed it

Maynard Can't Wait for the Election to be Over

THE Absolute BEST Litte Rascals Episode EVER

Unfortunately they have the embed feature disabled. So:

Hook and Ladder Part I

Hook and Ladder Part II

Here is the rarely seen Spanky versus the Wild Man episode

Andrew Shall Inoculate

Check out a few new stills...

Entertainment Weekly has 11 new shots from JJ Abrams' Star Trek, three of which are below. The movie opens May 9th, 2009.

John McCain Pulls No Punches at this Debate, Attacking Obama's Character and his Connections

What?

InsiderAdvantage: McCain 49%, Obama 47%

West Virginia is very clearly in play now. This was a state Obama lost by over 40% in the primaries and yet is now another red state that McCain will now have to defend. West Virginia tends to vote Democratic in times of economic crisis and we're starting to see that pattern hold true.

Muppet Noir?

Henson's Muppets set for Happytime Murders...

Brian Henson, son of the late Jim Jenson, is moving forward with a project that will plant muppets into the film noir world for a new movie called Happytime Murders. The movie will mix muppets and real people, be aimed at adults, and be about a detective investigating a string of murders involving the cast of a children's show called the Happytime Gang.

Credit: Variety

This Video Brought Back Many a Memory of Coach being Plastered. It Almost Made me Weep.

Podcasting Baby

Check out our paranormal investigation webpage for our very first podcast!

http://www.ohiopervs.com/

One of Wooster's Finest Chimes in on Barack Obama

Editor:

There are so many people praising Obama for what he has done. Just what has he done?

Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin have done more than Obama has. Obama scares me. People want him to run the USA? Think about it.

It isn't a good idea to stick your head in the sand like an ostrich and not see the reality of the situation. I encourage all of you to do your homework and not just listen to the media. I would sure rather have McCain and Palin running the country than someone who doesn't even have the smarts to leave a church that has radical people in it and listens to that garbage.

Obama's wife says that for the first time in her adult lifetime she's proud of her country. Is this because her husband is running for president? To me, this puts me in mind of a terrorist.

Sen. McCain has served our country for many years and continues to do so. He laid his life on the line for our country. He dropped everything to go to Washington to encourage passage of the financial bill. He speaks from his heart.

Gov. Palin is an honest, hard-working, straight talking, refreshing individual. She makes me feel good and I have a renewed sense of hope in our country. You want change? That is the kind of change we need. She's not part of the "good 'ole boys" network in Washington.

It is so sad to look at the Wooster paper that doesn't give Republican's viewpoints. The media doesn't print all the news and it is obvious that information is biased.

I never thought when the president was from the Democratic Party that we did so great. President Clinton disgraced the White House with his hanky-panky.

You think we have it hard here in the USA. Just go to other countries and see how really wonderful the USA is.

Anita Spencer

Best Tramp Stamp Ever

The Dude Days:

Smart Shell Shotguns

Judge Dredd smartshell shotguns to hit Iraq in '09

'XM-25' wireless airburst slugs hit round corners

By Lewis Page • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 8th October 2008 11:04 GMT

It's quite difficult to make guns - portable ones, anyway - convincingly hi-tech. Sure, you can add a laser sight, you can attach all kinds of crazy lights and optics, you can even have a boresight camera and helmet heads-up display for shooting round corners without sticking your neck out*. But at the end of the day it will still, basically, be a gun. Lumps of metal driven by expanding gas will fly out of the end at high speed, and make holes in things or people which they hit.

You'd better be hiding around two corners these days.

Judge Dredd, one of relatively few sci-fi gunmen to stick mainly with projectiles rather than moving to rayguns of some kind, does a bit better. Placing Justice Department boot to perp arse on the mean streets of Mega-City One, he uses implausibly reliable voice commandware to select different types of ammo for his Lawgiver pistol. In some of the stories he had extremely exotic rounds available, too - rubber ricochet bullets for tricky bank shots, high-explosive warheads, even infrared heat-seekers. But mostly it was just bullets.

That's generally how it's been in the real world, too. Most small-arms manufacturers reckon it's a good day if they can make a shoulder weapon which will shoot fairly ordinary bullets accurately and not need too much maintenance. Sometimes they can't manage even that. Generally speaking, even the most fashionably equipped soldiers and cops today are still armed with weapons which were on offer sixty years ago and more - assault rifles or carbines, submachineguns, low-velocity grenade launchers of one kind and another, light machine guns.

There is a bewildering array of portable missile and rocket launchers, but these are generally meant for shooting up aircraft, vehicles or buildings - not people. For that, you're normally still firing boring old kinetic energy bullets, devoid of any major differences from those of World War II and earlier. (One might say that nothing much has changed since the late 19th century, unless you happen to be a gun dork and up on all the intermediate-power cartridges guff.)

But those who like a bit of mad science fiction technology in their gun news will be pleased to hear that - according to reports - a long-stalled 1990s plan to kit out US soldiers with a truly wack new firearm has come back to life.

Essentially, the idea is to have a gun which shoots special, extra-big 25mm slugs - sort of a cross between a normal bullet and a 40mm launched grenade. The projectile is thus big enough to put clever stuff in it, but small enough that a weapon carried by a normal person can shoot it a long way without the recoil knocking the user flat. (Everyone loves 40mm grenades, but they are so tubby that a shoulder launcher of reasonable weight and recoil can't throw them very fast - hence not very far either).

What you put in your big fat .98-calibre** slugs is a small HE-frag warhead - but that's not the clever bit. The clever bit is the electronic precision time fuse, which is set wirelessly by the gun's systems at the moment of firing. This means that the slug will explode at exactly the distance from the muzzle you want.

Hey Squid, Are You Qualfied to Coach the Raiders?

1. Why in heaven's name would you want this job?

2. How is your John Madden impersonation?

3. When you were a kid, did you ever dream of being in a circus?

4. When was the last winning Raiders team? If you wish, round off to the nearest decade.

5. Name three men in the NFL more important than Al Davis. Extra points if you can't think of that many.

6. Are you personally related to any of the former Raiders coaches who couldn't cut the mustard?

7. Are you prepared to make the tough decisions on the questions Mr. Davis gives you sole authority to answer? For instance, tie color. Very important. And when it comes to how you like your eggs, the buck stops at your desk.

8. Would you say the fact the Raiders have not won a Super Bowl in nearly 25 years is due to coaching error, league conspiracy or global warming?

9. Wouldn't you agree that given the honor of working for the Oakland Raiders, getting paid isn't really all that important?

10. Which golf course will you be playing on NFL draft day, so the Raiders can find you and let you know who you've drafted?

11. When you're fired, would you prefer it be by e-mail or cellphone?

12. Were you ever in the jury pool for an Al Davis lawsuit?

13. If things go south, what names will you not mind being called on national television?

14. Did you watch the press conference, when Mr. Davis dismissed that lying, no-good Kiffin?

15. Did you notice that the background behind the podium was a wee bit Spartan? And the presentation was a tad long? And the owner was often on the grim and worn side? Matter of fact, did it bother you that when some viewers first saw it, they mistook it for a May Day speech from Kim Jong-il on North Korean television?

16. How quickly can you pack?

17. Don't you still think Los Angeles should have built us a new stadium?

18. If you lose at home to the Denver Broncos and Mike Shanahan very often, will you do the honorable thing and fall on your sword?

19. What will be your deadline each week for suggestions to be faxed from the owner's box?

Thank you for your answers. We'll be in contact soon. Just wait, baby.

(usatoday.com)

Andivari, Everyone Has Three Mortgages These Days

The Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 For Sale

Posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm by: Peter Sciretta

Someone is selling a restored Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 which was used in Universal Studios Florida for over fifteen years.

“This car is one of three Sony/MGM authorized Ghostbusters 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor Ecto-1. There are the two original cars used in the films and this one built exclusively for the Universal Studios Theme parks. This car has a rich history and thousands of fans have been photographed with this car. The only major change made to this car was the roof rack. We modified the roof rack to resemble the screen used Sony Ecto-1 original car. Other upgrades are cosmetic and mechanically it’s very sound.”

So if you have $45,000 to spare, check out the auction on ebay.com.

Sexiest Woman Alive

Halle Berry was honored by Esquire magazine as the sexiest woman alive for 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Halle Berry may be a mommy of a certain age, but the men's magazine Esquire says the Oscar-winning actress is still the Sexiest Woman Alive.

In an article posted on Tuesday on the magazine's website (www.esquire.com), Berry poses in a parody of a 2000 cover photograph of former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and writes about what she thinks of winning Esquire's annual honor for the first time.

"Well, I don't know exactly what it means but being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it," Berry wrote.

Not to make Skippy feel left out:

He gets dirty, does filthy jobs and gets all hot and sweaty doing it. You want him. You know you do. You would cheat on your hubby or beau for 15 minutes with Mike Rowe on top of you (or power bottoming) and you know it! Hell, I'd invite him for a 3-way. Why be selfish?

Yes, Mike Rowe is The Man, kids that are making gay hearts go pitter patter. And--here is what Mike Rowe had to say about it. Do I detect a not of hope?

"What can I say? I'm honored. I would, however, like to take a moment to clear something up. Even though I got my start in theater, sang for years in The Baltimore Opera, moved to San Francisco and never married, I must tell you all again, for the hundredth time ...

"I am NOT a celebrity.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that... "

Fantastic

Sadly, This Did Happen to Quatto in Rolemaster

Why I Love Prison Break by Stephen King

By Stephen King

Stephen King

Here's a truth that should be self-evident: There can be a big difference between what you think is great and what you actually like. When it comes to TV, the finest series currently on offer is — in your Uncle Stevie's humble opinion — Breaking Bad (not AMC's other series, Mad Men, which is just soap opera with a great retro feel). But when it comes to what I'd walk over my grandmother not to miss, the answer is Prison Break. Simple as that. I love Prison Break madly, deeply, truly.

Before you rush to catch up on everything you've missed, let me warn you: If you picked up the first three seasons on DVD and watched them all at once, your frakkin' head would explode. I've scoped the entire run, and even I have only the dimmest idea of what's going on. And that doesn't detract from my pleasure even a little bit. Here's a rough summary of Our Story So Far, concocted not with help from the usual Internet sources but from my own little Break-obsessed head. EW fact-checkers will try to fix this. I won't let them.

So okay, there are these two brothers, Lincoln Burrows and Michael Scofield (I don't remember why they don't have the same last name). Linc gets convicted of murdering the Evil President's brother, and is sentenced to death at Fox Mulder Memorial Prison (or maybe it's Fox River; I know there's a Fox in there somewhere because the show's on Fox). Michael commits a robbery so he can also go to prison and bust his brother out. The escape plan is tattooed on Michael's body. (It gets lasered off in season 4: the whole thing, all at once. Ouch!) Michael befriends the warden, who's making a Taj Mahal out of Popsicle sticks, and falls in love with the prison nurse, Sara. In season 3, Sara gets her head chopped off, but it's mistaken identity and she comes back in season 4.

With me so far?

Anyway, Michael and Linc escape with a bunch of assorted fruits and nuts. The most over-the-top is T-Bag, a degenerate Night of the Hunter-type psycho brilliantly played by Robert Knepper. There's also this one guy who's a few fries short of a Happy Meal and wants to live in a painting. Of Holland, I think. (He jumps off a water tower.)

The second season is the best, a Sam Peckinpah shoot-out with the escapees looking for some money buried by — I think — mythic skyjacker D.B. Cooper. They are chased by a badass prison guard named Bellick and a pill-popping FBI lunatic named Alex Mahone. Mahone killed and buried a guy in his backyard, but that's another story. (Oh, and T-Bag lost a hand and had a vet do a transplant, but it didn't work; the hand now looks like something swiped from a department-store dummy.)

Here's the part that kills me: All the survivors except Linc wind up in a Panamanian prison! Yes! It's called Sona (Spanish for ''Fox Mulder''). This is the strike-shortened third season, and it's gotta be the sweatiest 13 episodes of TV ever filmed. As an added taste treat, the swag-bellied Bellick (Wade Williams) stumbles through the first two in a pair of filthy undershorts. Not a yummy picture.

Needless to say, there's another escape. T-Bag gets lost in the desert and is forced to chow down on his running buddy. When The Bag finally catches a ride, the driver sizes up his nausea and inquires, ''What's wrong, man? Eat some bad Mexican?'' Classy! Well, you know what they say: If you can't eat the one you love, eat the one you're with.

Turns out the president's brother was murdered by a shadowy outfit called The Company, and now Linc, Michael, the resurrected Sara, and their cohorts must take the bad guys down, including dragon lady Susan B. Anthony (sometimes known as Gretchen — don't ask).

What makes this so much damned fun are bright exteriors, crisp cutting, outrageous action sequences, and, most of all, the acting ensemble. I especially enjoy William Fichtner as Alex Mahone — Fichtner's probably the best character actor on TV. These guys play it straight, so the audience does the same. There's also a crazy existential subtext: No matter what these hapless escapees do or how fast they run, they always end up...booya!...back in prison.

For season 5, I hope it's a gulag in Siberia.

Movie News~! from 411Mania

Latest on new Daredevil flick...

20th Century Fox head Tom Rothman, in an interview with IESB, says that the success of The Incredible Hulk has convinced him that "if you really do it right the audience will give you a second chance. That it is possible. And I think that you see that when they did Batman Begins, the first [Christopher] Nolan movie, that you can have made some mistakes along the way or movies that the audience wasn't that crazy about and then given the proper amount of time and the right creative vision behind it, you can, to use your word, reboot."

Rothman added that the new Daredevil needs "a visionary at the level that Chris Nolan was. It needs someone, it needs a director, honestly, who has a genuine vision."

Yeah, another one.

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Harrison Ford says George Lucas is currently thinking up Indiana Jones V.

"It's crazy but great. ... George is in think mode right now [about Indiana Jones V]. It's automatic, really, we did well with the last one and with that having done well and been a positive experience, it's not surprising that some people want to do it again."

And Kevin Spacey will be back...

The Independent reports that Warner Bros. is paying Kevin Spacey big bucks to have him reprise his role as Lex Luthor in yet another new Superman movie that could start filming in 2009 for a 2011 release.

As reported earlier, Warner Bros. plans to push the next Superman movie in the direction of The Dark Knight by making it darker and more gritty.

Latest on sequel....

300 director Zach Snyder recently told IESB that he is waiting for Frank Miller to write a graphic novel sequel to 300 and that once that is done, he will begin working on the script for the 300 sequel and will then direct the project.

Snyder added that the sequel will take place between the Battle of Thermopylae (the main focus of the original movie) and the Battle of Plataea right at the end of the film and will explore the year-long period between these battles, with the valour of the 300 Spartans inspiring the Greek kingdoms to unite in the face of the might Persian army.

Director talks villains...

Iron Man director Jon Favreau participated in a web chat today at the LA Times website.

On villains: "We're playing with who the villain should be and what we should incorporate from the comic book. And how it will lead into The Avengers. I think we need some version of 'classic villains' in these movies. Many don't hold up well to time and to the big screen, but their essence should inspire the characters."

He continued about Mandarin, saying the villain "is still an important figure in the Iron Man universe. We have an interesting take on him that allows us to incorporate the whole pantheon of villains. The whole 10 Rings thing in (Iron Man 1) was a good tease for it."

On a female villain such as Madame Masque being used in the sequel: "Female villain... Now there's an interesting notion."

On the sequel: "The sequel is shaping up to incorporate Tony's vision for the future. What happens after he says 'I am Iron Man?' Iron Man is indeed a celebrity. He announced who he was and we have now officially departed from the standard secret ID superhero. Tony was already famous before the announcement. What would really happen if this went down? Fun to explore."

On synergy between these comic films: "Now that Marvel is making its own movies, every movie has to fit into the Marvel universe. The Avengers incorporates not just Iron Man, but Thor, possibly the Hulk and traditionally Captain America as well. As it is, it's scheduled Thor will come out the same summer as Iron Man 2 and Captain America will come out a few months before Avengers. All the films have to come together to create a consistent universe. That's very important to everyone involved."

Favreau also said that the film would hopefully be released in 2010, that Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. would remain important parts of the franchise, and that Iron Man 2 needs War Machine.

The Pundits Weigh In

Rachael Ray...You Dirty Little Minx

The Swift Boating of John McCain

Make-Believe Maverick

A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty

McCAIN FIRST

This is the story of the real John McCain, the one who has been hiding in plain sight. It is the story of a man who has consistently put his own advancement above all else, a man willing to say and do anything to achieve his ultimate ambition: to become commander in chief, ascending to the one position that would finally enable him to outrank his four-star father and grandfather.

In its broad strokes, McCain's life story is oddly similar to that of the current occupant of the White House. John Sidney McCain III and George Walker Bush both represent the third generation of American dynasties. Both were born into positions of privilege against which they rebelled into mediocrity. Both developed an uncanny social intelligence that allowed them to skate by with a minimum of mental exertion. Both struggled with booze and loutish behavior. At each step, with the aid of their fathers' powerful friends, both failed upward. And both shed their skins as Episcopalian members of the Washington elite to build political careers as self-styled, ranch-inhabiting Westerners who pray to Jesus in their wives' evangelical churches.

In one vital respect, however, the comparison is deeply unfair to the current president: George W. Bush was a much better pilot.

Read the rest of the article at ROLLING STONE

25 Minutes of The Watchmen

Some guy posted his reaction to seeing 25 minutes of The Watchmen. Click HERE if you want some spoilers.

Farker Photoshop Goodness from the Palin-Biden Debate Tonight

Uh Oh

Voting for bailout bill has some on the right pissed...

We won't know the full impact of this until the rightwing talk shows hit the air tomorrow, but a quick browsing of Republican sites and forums across the internet seems to reveal a lot of anger towards John McCain over his decision to vote for the bailout bill Wednesday night. For example, several posters on the hannity.com forums, which is as rightwing as it gets, said that they will no longer vote for McCain because of his vote, saying that Republicans sat back and did nothing while Bush threw out conservative values and now they won't do the same this time with McCain. Some are coming out and calling McCain a fake conservative, adding that at least Obama admits what he is. Even those who say they will still vote for McCain now say they will do so because he is the "lesser of two evils." Republican backlash against McCain is obviously the last thing he needs right now, but it's somewhat unavoidable as he has spoke out against the government interfering with the market for over a decade, and now has turned around and voted for what is probably the biggest market intervention bill ever.

That. Is. Cool.

Inpex to Use Bacteria at Old Oil Wells to Produce Gas (Update2)

By Shigeru Sato and Yuji Okada

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese researchers have developed a method of using bacteria found in depleted oil wells to turn leftover crude into natural gas, a technique that could help meet 10 percent of the country's demand for the fuel.

Inpex Holdings Inc., Japan's largest energy explorer, has produced methane using microbes and crude residue from the 139- year-old Yabase field in northern Japan, said Haruo Maeda, director of a laboratory operated by Teikoku Oil Co., an Inpex unit. A 2 billion yen ($19 million) trial will start in 2015 to decide if gas can be produced commercially at Yabase, he said.

Oil prices have more than tripled since 2002, making it attractive to invest in fields and technologies previously thought unviable. Inpex's trial at Yabase, Japan's biggest field in the 1950s, may help the world's fourth-largest energy consuming nation cut its $30 billion annual liquefied natural gas import bill.

``If oil stays above $100 a barrel in years ahead, it may be worth trying this unique technique,'' Hirofumi Kawachi, senior energy analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co., said in Tokyo. ``Development costs are the key for Inpex to determine whether or not to push ahead with this project.''