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Increasingly, I'm finding mp3 searches that ONLY take me to MP3Panda. If you don't want to buy a physical disc, and need obscure stuff, this very well may be the way to go. DRM free mp3s @ 160-320kbps. $30 deposit required. 20 cents an mp3 on average.
This is more or less what AllOfMP3 (the legal-in-Russia mp3 site) became.
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They admit it. No longer with quotes around "admit", like with their private admissions months ago.
They just don't admit it where it would get them in trouble. I assume this is new news.
Maybe the UN was hallucinating when it hit 'em. . . :)
Of course, we have 2 sides with 2 diff numbers, as always.
I tend to trust the higher number when dealing with the highest per-capita military on the planet. -
Create charts and visualizations and such with this. I needed a 4-way venn diagram generator, and this worked in a pinch. Doesn't appear to be freeware, however…
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More bullshit disorderly conduct charges.
"Tuma then began his chant. “I hate the police. I hate the police.” One officer took it personal.
“Hey! Hey! Who do you think you’re talking to?” Tuma recalled the officer shouting as he strode across an intersection to where Tuma was standing. “Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?” the police officer said, according to Luke Platzer, 30, one of Tuma’s companions.
Tuma said he responded, “It is not illegal to say I hate the police. It’s not illegal to express my opinion walking down the street.”
Well, police in the capital of the free world seem to think different. And making them pay via lawsuit is the only way to get them to "listen".
Of course, D.C. is the city who arrested people for disorderly conduct for dancing to music on their iPods at the Jfferson memorial. So who the hell knows just how blind justice is…
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This is probably the best anti-Facebook rant I've ever seen. "Mosquito's precum"?!?!?! Hahaha! I even had to look up some of the names he used to verify they were real people… They were. Lol.
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Yup. The record companies, in their infinite wisdom, have declared that if you buy a DRM song and the DRM stops working — too bad for you. You should just buy it again.
I remember everyone re-buying their vinyl collections on cassette, and then on CD afterward. I have multiple albums in all 3 formats.
But now that we've reached close to perfection, with near-perfect digital distribution … They don't have any way of making everyone re-buy their whole collection again.
So they want to DRM stuff, have the DRM fail, and trick you into re-buying the same perfect digital copy over and over again.
They also want to do away with fair use.
Ugh. -
This makes Glen's landlord Cuong look civil by comparison! Too bad you have to read the posts in reverse order, though.
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It's about time this happens. P2P will no be stomped out. Ever.
Tor is an important tool; very popular in Iran lately ( https://blog.torproject.org/blog/measuring-tor-and-iran ).
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Assassination attempt? Religious ire? It wasn't too long ago that someone shot Larry Flynt for daring to show a naked white woman next to a naked black man. Old sentiments die hard?
July 2009
July 31, 2009
July 30, 2009
JOURNAL: YARD SALES: 20090725, DEA encounter
Posted by Claire CJS under Carolyn, Clio, Hobbies & Activities, People, Yard Sales[2] Comments
Started late during this day of yardsaling… Not really getting out the door until after 11AM, when most of the good stuff is already gone.
Had a surreal conversation with an ~80-year-old man who had worked most his career at the DEA. He told me about being a thief in Chicago before working at the DEA; he told me about using marked cards to steal his friends’ money.
He talked about how he was going to open up a bar, but anti-smoking laws meant that the government would be telling him how to run his own establishment, so screw that. He talked about old ladies at the beach coughing because they saw him smoking 30 feet away, even though he was downwind from the ocean current. (I, too, have experienced people who I’ve seen not cough, then cough immediately as soon as they make visual contact with a cigarette — Melanie S’s snobby little friend who’d never drunken a glass of wine or alcohol in her whole life because she was “not interested”.) He talked about how he only has 6 or so years to go to beat how long his dad smoked — some 75 years.
He talked about how the old DEA head banned smoking, so they had to go down 2 elevators to a sub-basement parking garage and smoke in a 10×10 ft painted square… Meanwhile disel engines of cars and trucks parking there caused them to cough on some *real* pollution.
He talked how he’s been giving body parts back one at a time, listing everything he doesn’t have. And how during surgery, he wishes they could have given him 2 puffs off of a joint instead of the crazy anesthesia drugs they give him — because he knows that puts him right to sleep.
I’m not sure, but I think he was drinking Jack Daniels & Coke. I wasn’t gonna ask. He was selling a bunch of belly-dancer vinyl records that belonged to his wife or sister or something, and went on about how the covers were nice to look at. All in all a pleasant conversation — Though like most conversations with the elderly, one is quite ready to leave by the time one has left.
Anyway, it’s really hard to estimate the value of picture frames and action figures… I’m just going to estimate $5 for most of this stuff. The best item was a foldable mini tripod that fits into our camera case — $4 new on Amazon, but 5 cents at a yardsale! Almost a 99% savings :)
- $1.00 Cranium (board/party game): booster box 1 – On Ebay for $12 & $20, but $45 wrapped, and it’s selling at Amazon for a whopping $96, as it is out of print. Will call this an estimated value of $15.
- $1.00 double hinged picture frame (EV:$5)
- $0.75 wooden picture frame (EV:$5)
- $0.50 picture frame – new in packaging (EV:$2.50)
- $0.50 optical mouse ($4)
- $0.50 two large candles with holder @ $.25 ea (EV:$6)
- $0.50 5 votive candles @ $.10 ea (EV:$3.75)
- $0.50 action figure: Batman: Batgirl (EV:$5)
- $0.25 action figure: He-Man: Man-At-Arms (EV:$5)
- $0.25 action figure: Batman: Harley Quinn (EV:$5)
- $0.25 action figure: Spider-Man Venom (EV:$5)
- $0.25 action figure: Star Wars: Chewbacca (EV:$5)
- $0.25 action figure: Star Wars: Han Solo (EV:$5)
- $0.25 alcohol bottle pourers (3: 1 metal, 2 plastic) (EV:$12)
- $0.25 picture frame, large wooden (EV:$7)
- $0.25 picture frame (EV:$5)
- $0.25 picture frame (EV:$5)
- $0.10 flask, plastic (EV:$5)
- $0.10 2 extension cords, 2-pron non-polarized only @ $.05 ea (EV:$2)
- $0.05 mini tripod ($4)
- $FREE small blacklight-respondent stapler – cause Carolyn likes shiny things, and old DEA guy likes Carolyn, and it’s really worthless anyway :)
Total money spent was $7.75, counting an estimated $6 of gas (~30 miles). We didn’t *need* ANY of this stuff, but it was nice to get.
Estimated value of our take is $111.25. In total, we netted $111.25 for $7.75, a profit of $103.5, for about 2 hours work. That’s $25.87/hr per person, or $51.75/hr as a couple. Of course, a job that paid us in stuff we don’t really need probably woudn’t put food on the table. Still, we did better than 2 weeks ago. Remember: To take $111.25 (our profit) home from a job, you would have to earn about $159 before taxes. Things are so much nicer without the government stealing 1/3rd!
Click here for other Yard Sale-related postings.
(more…)
July 30, 2009
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Tamara Vaughan asked him to put out his cigar at the community pool…. So he (allegedly) made a "racial slur and disparaging remarks about her sexual orientation", beat her, and choked her. When backup came, they saw that the girl had a swollen face with red marks on it, and recalled Keith Alfaro saying ,"I wish they'd go back to the East Side where they belong".
They then tried to arrest him, but he ran away. Because he's a cop, they left the scene and simply arrested him the next day.
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Simplistic, yet funny. "Fuck", indeed. This should be an icon everyone uses in appropriate situations.
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Think he really ate him? I kind of hope so. Cat > Fish.
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To quote Slashdot, "One wonders when the Music Business is going to run out of feet to shoot?" and "How can reducing your customer base make any kind of business sense?"
To quote Sex Pistols from the *song* entitled EMI, "There's unlimited supply / And there is no reason why". Exactly. Then later, "They only did it 'cos of fame." Indeed. Still later, "Too many outlets in and out" — well, not quite as many outlets, now that they're "shutting down" the little guy.
To quote Nofx, "Parasitic music industry / As it destroys itself / I'm just fucking glad I'm gonna be there to watch the fall."
Well, I'm off to listen to "Professional Distribution" by Screeching Weasel… Music existed before idiotic industry began, and will continue to exist regardless of circumstance.
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"Are these cookies made from real fetuses?"
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this was one of the treatments I wanted to get for my plantar fasciitis… but it is never suggested, instead just physical therapy ($25 copay per session… do the math… a few weeks would be more expensive!)…. Insurance companies simply hope that I'll go elsewhere and it will be someone else's problem, and just want to stretch things out. And they're right; my insurance changes every couple years. At $2000, it's cheaper than surgery, but they'd never approve surgery for some foot pain anyway, so why should they pay $2000? Pfft.
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A Baptism party?
A noise call during the day, when people can run their lawnmowers, house construction, and generally make what noise they want? Oh, lawnmowers are allowed because people want to be able to mow their own lawn. Funny how noise works not by volume, but by the type of noise.
Charged with public intoxication for being drunk in your own backyard, which is not public? WTF?
Tasing a pregnant woman? Tasing a man who is not under arrest?
Tasers are not substitutions for shooting someone to death, like they said they would be when they were deployed. They are torture devices for compliance and contempt of cop. Or if a person is deaf, or speaks another language — they are punishment for not immediately being able to understand orders given to you.
It's not like being drunk is illegal.
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A private anonymous VPN, with limited use for free users. Let's hope this doesn't become 100% necessary.
July 30, 2009
VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008) (anim)
Posted by Claire CJS under Carolyn, Clio, Media, Movies, People, Reviews, Video[2] Comments
[IMDB link] [Netflix link] Another Resident Evil movie? This time, animated? Sounds like an afterthought, but after watching all 4 Resident Evil movies (including Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which I recently reviewed), of course we’re going to watch this!
PEOPLE: Alison Court is the main voice — people might remember her as Jubilie from Fox’s X-Men:TAS (1990s) series. Crispin Freeman was another voice, and currently plays Electro in the now-airing Spectacular Spider-Man series (by Greg Weisman, creator of Gargoyles). Mostly, these are minor voice actors. One of them was in one episode of Lost. One of them plays BoBoBo’s dad in BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo, the “Japanese Family Guy” (that’s really nothing like Family Guy). But for the most part, all these people are nobodies — even director Makoto Kamiya.
QUIRKS: First Resident Evil movie based on an actual game.
And technically — this is anime, but you’d never know. In one scene, a female laughs and covers her mouth inexplicably (this is a Japanese custom — showing your teeth is bad, probably because customs are based on ancient times when dentistry was very poor). That’s when we both said, “Ohhhhh.. This is from Japan. They just tipped their hand there.” (Of course we were right.) Otherwise, it doesn’t look or feel like anime.
VISUALS: It’s CGI, but there’s not a lot of different settings. So it is actually slightly disappointing, visual-wise.
MORALS: Politicians are assholes, but corporations are even bigger assholes.
BAD STUFF: This simply wasn’t as exciting as ANY of the last 5 or 10 zombie movies I’ve seen. It was comparable to Night Of The Living Dead (the 3-D 2006-ish remake). Yup, not that good.
CONCLUSION: Meh. It entertained and got a generic pass, but I would probably rate this 5.5 on IMDB and only begrudgingly give it 3 stars on Netflix.
RECOMMENDATION: If you watched the first 4 movies, played the video games, or love CGI-based zombie movies: see this. Otherwise: Skip it.
SIMILAR MOVIES: Obviously this is somewhat similar to the other Resident Evil movies, and to any zombie movie.
NEXT: Next up we’re going to watch a Highlander animated movie. It seems a lot of the dying franchises that have made 4+ movies can’t get funding for more real movies, but can still get funding for an animated movie. This is part of the power of animation: It allows storytellers (and moneymakers) to continue their stories/profit-schemes for a cheaper price. Often times a franchise’s “last gasp” will be an animated movie or series. (more…)
July 29, 2009
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Inevitable lawsuit ensues, and yes, the government, Correctional Healthcare Management, Officer Ronald Oreskovich, Dr. Peter Elliot, and the hospital SHOULD have to pay for his care for the rest of his life. And more. This is total negligence.
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Go Fairfax County police… I'm sick of tractor trailers driving shittily, threatening everybody, hit and running my friends, hitting me and giving a fake license plate and disappearing and never paying, and in general running roughshod like they own the roads.
22 out of 23 trucks pulled over were placed out of service. That probably cost somebody some money; especially if the goods were perishable. That'll teach 'em.
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The death of his son may be attributed to The "Church" of Scientology, a dangerous cult. Hail Xenu!
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“We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization”.
Jeffrey Michael, Horizon Realty Group
4242 N. Sheridan Rd, Ste #120
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone 773.529.7200
Fax 773.529.7201Yes, an organization that is a litigious asshole.
If anyone wants to rent an apartment in Chicago, I'd suggest making sure it's not run by these douches. Rather than address problems, they seem to simply sue people who talk smack about them.
They obviously never heard of The Streisand Effect. Or maybe they're just thinking "no publicity is bad publicity"?
It's funny that they are more concerned about a tweet from someone with only 20 followers ruining their reputation… Than they are about suing someone over a tweet ruining their reputation. Dinosaurs!
July 28, 2009
JOURNAL: HARDWARE: Things rarely say what features they *don’t* have.
Posted by Claire CJS under Audio, Clio, Hardware, Journal, Media, People, VideoLeave a Comment
Since my new Onkyo stereo has on-screen menus, I thought it would be handy to hook it up to my TV. So I took the s-video out and attached it to my Sharp Aquos 52-inch TV’s s-video in, which I only used as a redundant connection from my computer that I could switch back and forth on to laugh at the difference between s-video and DVI/HDMI.
So guess what? The menus don’t output on s-video; only on HDMI. Nice of them not to include that!
So I order an HDMI cable and hook it up to my TV. Yay, I can see the menus now. They don’t really allow any changes that you can’t make without the screen, but it’s MUCH easier to navigate that way. Though — you can set the menu to be in 1080i, but no matter what, it’s always in 480i. Annoying, because that means waiting for everything to switch. I was hoping it would just appear on the screen instantly.
So I tried running my computer’s HDMI to the stereo, just for the hell of it. Perhaps when watching a movie, it could more correctly carry the audio to my receiver? Granted, the receiver has correctly been receiving 5.1 discrete sound; but maybe with DTS and other “weird” modes, they would work better through HDMI. Maybe, maybe not.
So I plug it in, and my computer warns me: The ATI x1950 graphics card I have only outputs video onto its HDMI. I would have had to go to the next-up graphic card at the time, which was $400 when I built my computer (I paid $215). Of course, the next-up graphic card is only $30 nowadays, and even their highest up is still only $200. So I *could* upgrade, but is there really a point? Most likely not, for 99% of the time.
Optical digital audio’s been good to me. I knew HDMI switching was not really important to me. My TV has 2 HDMI ports. One gets it directly from my computer Hades, and the other gets the output from the stereo. Carolyn’s computer also runs to the stereo — so technically I am using HDMI switching to switch between Carolyn’s computer and the stereo’s output. Of course, her computer can only output 640×480 to the HDTV, not 1920×1080 like mine. She has an even older ATI card, before they went to their “x-series” (which I got the last of, before they went to their “HD” series).
So … At least my initial suspicions about HDMI switching not being super-important to me are confirmed, even if it meant tinkering around for 30 minutes.
Now the OTHER feature not mentioned: This stereo has multi-room out. But I don’t want to send powered speaker wire to the other room; I want to send unpowered RCA cables to the other room, and amp it there. If you send powered out, you can only do 5.1 sound, not 7.1 sound. And I prefer to have an amp in each location, so I can control the volume from wherever I am. So I hook up the RCA-out, run it to the room… Nothing. Open up the manual for my stereo… OHHH, digital inputs wont be converted to analog output. Real frickin’ nice.
So Onkyo has burned me on two different outputs: Their s-video output that doesn’t output their menu, and their “zone 2” RCA outputs, that don’t output my (digital) audio. So I did what I previously did: Ran the audio from my computer. It’s what I always use anyway. But it would have been nice to have used the output to the Onkyo — because then its switching would have allowed me to switch to the other room.
I could have, for example, run *Carolyn’s computer’s* audio to the bedroom, in the event that my computer died. (Her computer also has a complete copy of our music collection, so the music can never die!) But now, I’m stuck just sending my computer there.
Time to update my internal document of what to look for in a receiver. But if they don’t advertise things they don’t do very well, I wonder how I can avoid something like this happening with my next purchase? (more…)
July 28, 2009
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…And then they left him in a parking lot 6 hours later with no explanation.
Notice that they used tasers and pepper spray — so-called "non-lethal" weapons. Before the invention of those, do you think they would have shot him? Nope. This is an example of how the existence and use of tasers has allowed officers to escalate the force used against people, all in the name of saving people. (Yet, officers still shoot people to death very regularly, despite the tasers existing.)
It's funny how in the comments some people are saying that the cops did nothing wrong; he should have had his caretaker with him, and thus it was the caretaker's fault. So mentally disabled people aren't allowed to go to the bathroom alone anymore, and if they are, any violence done against them is the caretaker's fault? That's like blaming a rape victim for how she dressed! Pathetic backwater Alabama conservative logic.
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They did eventually air the jew episode, however.
Will they eventually air the abortion episode? -
Interesting stuff! Sounds plausible. And might help explain why camping leaves you feeling mentally refreshed — once you get over the initial physical tiredness of it all.
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Yet another hypocritical religious person. Trying to force his viewpoint on the world via politics — saying gay couples should not adopt because they are not fit to raise children — while not even adhering to his own beliefs and cheating on his wife. I wonder how fit his own 2 kids think he is as a parent?
“You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (Matt. 7:5) (If he did take heed to that scripture, he would probably have to sacrifice goats as well.)
Now, an atheist cheating on their wife would be a bad thing. But that atheist almost for certain will not be entering the world of politics to try to influence public policy to discriminate against other groups of people, like gays. Nor are atheists so utterly idealistic as to thing abstinence is at all a realistic policy to preach. It's amazing how much the idealism of religion perverts people's sense of practicality.
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They *said* they had to tase her because she wouldn't unfasten her seatbelt, but that's not what happened. Douchebag officer Rob Zarrett tasered her for not getting off the phone.
The judge agreed that this was her principal offense for getting tasered, rejected the defendents' bid for immunity, and ruled that the tasering was illegal. Hear that, Zarrett? YOU broke the law.
Sounds like if the polie there had a the slighest clue on how to properly police, that the taxpayers would not be out a lawsuit settlement because Sandra wouldn't have called 911 in the first place.
You don't just grab someone from a vehicle, throw them against the car, and cuff them without telling them why, Rob. And now you lost in court. Haha. Bad cop, no donut.
And time for the taser rant: You think that pre-taser, they would have shot her or beaten her with a nightstick for not getting off the phone? Nope. Unlikely This is how tasers create extra violence that wouldn't have existed without them.
July 26, 2009
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The article states that it is unlikely the investigation started under the Bush Administration. This must be more of that "change" that Obama promised.
Our tax dollars are still going to fight porn, even though the porn industry is larger than all other "legitimate" movie industries on the planet combined.
[sarcasm]I suppose this has nothing to do with religion either…[/sarcasm]
The RICO act? Really? Sending porn is racketeering?
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Broke his nose, Broke his jaw, broke his teeth — and still employed as guards. Why aren't they named? Why are they still employed when caught on video doing this?
This is going to cost them a lot of money. And all over smoking a damn flower.
Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k00SwHK7mzc
July 25, 2009
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What an idiot! Maybe veterans should have some rigorous mental screening?
This guy totally hallucinated that he was shot, said "I'm hit", fell to the ground, and started shooting…
…Except he wasn't shot, they didn't have a gun, and he was full of shit.
All over a broken taillight.
How about we just photo broken taillights and send people a picture, like with speeding cameras? I mean, if we're going to shoot at couples over broken tail lights… Jesus.
The real irony being — this guy may very well just be fucked in the head, and he's getting a felony. Meanwhile, cops who are mean just because they want to be mean are often NOT charged. Sighs…
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They tout the encryption like it's worth something — but police will get unfettered access to your data, as can any skilled hacker in 2 minutes. And these are being used in the military? Scary.
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A review of Ween's Dewey Beach show, which was after the Baltimore show we went to. Several people I know went to Dewey Beach to catch them a 2nd time, and we were even asked if we had Dewey Beach tickets for sale by people in the Baltimore parking garage.
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Yup. Even on an island nation, drugs cannot even be kept out of a prison. So in a health bid, they are installing methodone vending machines inside prisons.
This should tell you something about how unwinnable the drug war is.
July 25, 2009
VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Cheech & Chong’s Corsican Brothers (1984)
Posted by Claire CJS under Carolyn, Clio, Media, Movies, People, Reviews, Video1 Comment
PEOPLE/QUIRKS: Everyone knows who Cheech & Chong are, and what they do in their movies…
BAD STUFF: …Well, they don’t really do any of it in this movie. I don’t even remember anyone smoking pot. And it takes place during the French revolution. Say goodbye to anything topical. If you thought 1970s Cheech & Chong movies were dated, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
CONCLUSION: SKIP IT!! OH DEAR GOD! 2 stars! 4/10 on IMDB!
RECOMMENDATION: Watch ANY OTHER Cheech & Chong movie. They are great. It’s only due to their greatness that a piece of shit like this could ever be squeezed out between the 2 cheeks of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong.
MOVIE QUOTE: Corsican Brother #1: “I’m so hungry I could eat a bowl of lard with a hair in it!” — Given that IMDB quotes for this movie only list 3 quotes, and this is one of them — that really says something about the quality of dialog here. (more…)
July 24, 2009
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As if the first list wasn't bad enough…. This has a few repeats, but also many new entries. And it's not from Cracked.com, so there's no comedic dialog. Just disturbingness.
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Gee, I thought Obama was pro-science? I guess he's going to ignore the AMA, as well as many studies on the topic, huh?
I still remember the High Times potheads arguing with me that there's no way Obama wasn't going to legalize pot. What the hell were they thinking?
This guy's own son is in jail due to marijuana, and he still wont budge. Wow. He hasn't spoken to him in a decade. Even though Kerlikowske is an improvement compared to the last people in his position — he's still a prick holding America back.
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Don't forget, they've changed their name to "Xe" to try to escape the bad sentiment. It's not going to work, fuckers.
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He didn't hear THAT.
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Yup! Better not loan to those druggies! They'll never pay their mortgage!
Surprisingly enough, The Bush Administration issued an executive order to prevent this from happening in America. Go Bush?!?!?!?!? How rarely do I get to say that?
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A great article about the destructive case of religion.
In fact, the great slowdown of science probably cost us many achievements that could have saved many lives. Yet another way in which religion kills. Unfortunately, there's no way to measure this: For example, how many people died of cancer because religion thwarted the sciences, setting us back centuries? There's simply no way to know.
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The 4th definition (1st on this page) really sums up WW2 in the most concise way I've ever read!
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…Which is exactly why you need to burn 2 copies of everything. The odds of the very same disc being bad with both copies is thusly reduced from 10% to 1%. And having a set of discs that you never touch increases their odds compared to discs laying around that you use.
Remember: If you haven't tested your backup system, you don't HAVE a backup system.
Stuff you really care about should be replicated onto two harddrives AND burned, with a 2nd copy kept offsite in case of fire.
July 23, 2009
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Yup. They left a taser in his ass, and "in" his balls. He ended up with burns on the inside of his ass, still visible 13 days later.
And another cop who taped an interview with him at jail? Erased the tape.
Were the named? No.
Were they fired? No.
Were they charged? No. This is sexual assault.The conclusion? They need more training. I guess they forgot the "don't rape people who are innocent until proven guilty" chapter in the training book.
If I did this to a helpless girl, I'd be named, arrested, charged, and in jail right now.
The Thin Blue Line protects them. Looks like a lawsuit and the FBI are going to have to be involved. Police often wont police themselves.
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But if you're not a virgin, it's okay to kill you…If you're Islamic and following Iran's interpretation of Sharia, anyway.
Disgusting.
Good people do good things, and bad people to bad things — but religion helps make good people do bad things.
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C'mon people. We're fucking human beings. Sex is what we're built for and supposed to do. GET THE FUCK OVER IT ALREADY.
Special thanks to religion, for telling us sex is bad and something we should be ashamed of. You've done your purpose, religion… Now fuck off.
Fuck the Fore Myers city council, and fuck prudes–who are all almost certainly religious or religiously guided.
What the hell business is it who you're married to? The implication is it would be okay for them to have a relationship, as long as he didn't marry her? Really. Please.
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Told ya so.
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Their HDMI cable selection+price beat both Monoprice (which wouldn't specify if the cables are HDMI 1.3b, HDMI 1.2, etc) and newegg.
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Utterly ridiculous. Riot gear and helicopters used against 15 people who hadn't even turned the music on yet, at 4PM. Look forward to something like this in America. Nevermind the right to peacefully assemble — somehow someone else hearing noise they don't want to hear is not "peaceful", and 1 asshole's rights trump a greater number of assholes' rights.
July 22, 2009
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Interview!
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7 months for a consumer investigator to get her hands on documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Something wrong with that picture? Apple wants to hide anything bad, so that they seem cooler than they really are.
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Yup. Let’s forget the concept of whistleblower protection. Instead, let’s make it harder to oust bad cops. That’s just what our society needs… More barriers between removing abusive cops.
This effectively means that any good cop that wants to out a bad cop will also be outed himself!
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Ahh UK. Showing us what the US will be doing in 5 to 15 yrs. But they would be hard-pressed to pull this off with legal success in the US.
This is pretty sickening. As if the Olympics haven’t been corpratized enough, now people can’t even own material protesting it? In their own home?
Sports: Bringing out the stupidity in everyone; distracting people from real issues, like their civil liberties.
I wont be watching a goddamn minute of the Olympics anyway. Utterly uninteresting trite crap.
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1) New Dethklok album, Dethalbum 2, on 9/8/2009.
2) New season of *HALF HOUR* episodes.
3) Dethgame on XBOX360/PS3.
4) Comic coming out.
5) Another tour.
Wow.
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This is actually a *TENTH AMENDMENT* article, not a second amendment article. If you don’t know what that is, then you don’t understand how our government works and need to read the article.
Yet another Obama Administration fail. Sure, they’re doing some good. But mostly just by Not Being Bush.
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The stereo I got.
The only real caveat is that it only does 1080i, not 1080p upscaling. But who cares? I play all my video on my computer, which is already upscaled to 1080p, and new consoles don’t need upscaling because they are HD already.
And the “B” at the end of my model number means it’s been modified to not have the buzz problem that the 606 (no B) is infamous for. Doing research really makes a difference with these things.
And if I don’t like it? I’ll simply move this downstairs and get a new one for upstairs. My downstairs Sony STR-DE915 cost $1000 and has broken in a myriad of ways in the 12 years I’ve owned it. (remote doesn’t turn volume, backlighting failed, right channel only gets 10% of the volume on normal balance).
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How about some kind of RICO/racketeering charge? Isn’t this basically organized crime? A company that posts record profits while raising prices on every american helps mess with the “free” market by reducing supply and sabotaging wells. Fucking amazing.
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CENSORSHIP: 4chan and Scientology protest group ‘Anonymous’ targeted in internet blacklist crackdownSo much for Australia. I want to live somewhere where *I* get to choose what I see and read, not some government entity. Australians should be rioting, but nobody gives a shit about protecting unpopular speech.
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yum?
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I love how in the end, it was okay, because the kids were under 16.Not because in a capitalist country we can’t actually engage in true free-market capitalism.
I’ve been at countless yardsales selling brownies or lemonade — and not necessarily people under 16.
Permits and licenses are great when you WANT government protection, but to force it on people is unconscionable and violates basic free-market principles.
We’ve had people arrested for driving someone somewhere for $20, because they are “operating an illegal tax service”, churches in trouble for selling pies for charity without a food license, and people fined for daring to sell items on Ebay without a business license.
True freedom means being able to choose whether you want government protection when making a transaction.
This also reeks of Police State-ism, as if the cops don’t have something better to do.
And William Nickerson, who called the cops on these kids? What a douchebag.
Sgt. Joe Hagan? Also a douche. Pretty cool, actually.
July 21, 2009
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Alberto Lopez Jr., Alberto Lopez Sr., the other cops who visited the store and intimidated the clerk for having surveillance video, every member of internal affairs, the District Attorney, and anyone else involved in this should not just be fired, but jailed for corruption.
Had this not been caught on video, this girl would have had a police for assaulting an officer, possibly serving over a year in prison and facing untold horrors, permanent underemployment, and a ruining of her life.
All because police have power over us, are willing to lie, have greater weight in a court of law, and have the Thin Blue Line of corrupt internal affairs and district attorneys to protect them.
I wonder what will happen next? I'd say if a city tries to ruin your life and you are only saved by a random camera, that you are owed millions. The only way a city will change its practices is if it gets sued enough that their insurance jacks their rates, since lawsuits often cost a city $0 due to insurance.
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I'm kind of surprised this isn't from Cracked.com
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Amazingly, tho, they don't seem to break their bones more. But they do grow vaginas all over their body, like in the South Park episode. [plays spooky music]
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those things are real? siiick!
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You couldn't make this shit up if you tried. Anyone hvae an example of this happening to white people? Anyone? Bueller?
"Loud and tumultuous behavior", huh? I think every American has the right to scream at a cop trying to arrest them for breaking into their own house. And if standing on a soapbox and addressing the public is legal, it's certainly legal to do so from your own fucking property.
Isn't it awesome how your property is private property at tax time, but public property if you're yelling? I'm always amazed at how the private/public definition changes depending on what is more convenient for the establishment.
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Yup, they have insisted for "several times" what they used to make. So this is the voice actors being selfish.
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Many people are whining about "how dare fox this"…But I can't help but find Billy West, John DiMaggio, Katy Segal, et al — as being really selfish.
$75,000 an episode? Of course if a show's budget is lower, the actors are going to be paid less… But $75,000 is quite a lot. Sure, they may deserve it… But with fans of their show wanting the show to continue, their loyalty should be to their fans first, pocketbooks second.
I'd say something different if these were struggling actors, but even at $5K an episode (let alone $75K), they'd be making damn good money for the amount of time it takes to earn it.
I'd rather see it come back with the right voices, but I'm not one of these sour grapes whiners who says "I'd rather not see it at all with different voices". Futurama's brilliance comes primarily from the writing. An inferior Futurama would still be far superior to most shows out there.
Let's hope they work this out.
It might cost Fox more money in the long run to NOT pay up.
July 20, 2009
VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
Posted by Claire CJS under Carolyn, Clio, Media, Movies, People, Reviews, Video[5] Comments
[IMDB link] [Netflix link] We watched this at Evan‘s parent’s cabin in December.
PEOPLE: Directed by John Landis (The Kentucky Fried Movie, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Thriller, Coming To America), and staring John Belushi. John Belushi! John Belushi! We don’t need to go any farther than this, tho I will say this was Kevin Bacon’s film premiere. He spent the money in a week.
QUIRKS: A total college party movie. Girls, beer, and douchey authority figures. And of course a good deal of physical comedy too. Also, the IMDB trivia for this movie is more interesting than usual. It was originally going to be called “Laser Orgy Girls”?!?!?! And yes, they got in a real fight with real frat boys (after being INVITED to party with them so that they could study their parts for the movie). Wow.
VISUALS: Yes, in the form of nudity. :) But this is mostly a party movie, not a sex movie.
MORALS: I’m not really sure there was a moral to the story, other than it is possible to triumph over douchebags.
BAD STUFF: Well, the movie is from 1978, so it looks a bit dated at times. But not nearly as much as I would have imagined. At first I tried to convince Evan not to watch it, because I felt it would be dated. But no. The subject matters covered are pretty timeless. So it’s a stretch to even call this “bad stuff”.
CONCLUSION: This is a classic 5-star comedy movie that everyone should see. I was wrong to underestimate it. It turns out my appreciation for this movie — which I’ve seen several times before, but didn’t remember — has grown considerably over the past decade.
RECOMMENDATION: If you like college party movies, this is a MUST SEE. Also, don’t forget to watch the DVD extras. They have all the actors from the movie, in character, discussing what they are doing these days. Evan & I were both pleasantly surprised at just how entertaining that was. DVD Extras are improving; they’re doing more “mockumentary” type stuff these days — straight interviews can be kind of boring.
SIMILAR MOVIES: I’d actually say that Revenge Of The Nerds 1 shares a lot of traits with this film.
MOVIE QUOTE: Dean Vernon Wormer: “The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.”
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Evan, Glen, Wayne, and Christian D loved it. Ian and Benj liked it. (more…)
July 18, 2009
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Bad news, folks.
Let's hope it doesn't come to this. Let's hope the talent doesn't allow their ego to dictate to their wallet what work they can and cannot accept. Fans first! -
device for sending 2-channel audio over network cable in a balanced fashion, so as to have no signal degredation — essentially, this is a balanced audio run, like with XLR cables
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This is pretty gross!
Obama is flagrantly disregarding victims' rights, because it's politically convenient for us to ally with Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that almost every 911 terrorist came from Saudi Arabia.
But ohhh, we're big business buddies. So let's ignore past precedent (Boim V. Holy Land Foundation), law, the 911 famliies' wishes, and common sense… Let's block lawsuits against financing terrorism! It's about Big Business — something neither the Democrats nor Republicans want to upset. Because money is more important than justice.
And also note that the Clinton Administration, Bush Administration, and Obama Administration have all blocked similar lawsuits in the past. Despite there being a precedent (Boim V. Holy Land Foundation) for suing those who finance terror that kills your family, three different administrations — Republicans and Democrats — have all blocked such lawsuits when politically convenient to do so.
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"It doesn't make sense, because if they re-offend they could snatch a kid and bring them back here to these woods and no one would ever know".
Exactly. This does nothing to protect children, it simply forces sex offenders underground. Nevermind that even murderers get treated better than this.
I'm sorry, but murder is worse than assaulting your crotch. If you really believe otherwise, then if your kid is molested, I guess you are duty-bound to kill him/her, huh?
This is cruel & unusual punishment. Nevermind that you can become a sex offender for ridiculous reasons, like sending naked pictures OF YOURSELF while you are a child. That can mark you as a sex offender–for exploiting YOURSELF. Wowie.
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Gee, consenting adults not being allowed to do what they want, because they might suffer workplace harm? Sound familiar? It's the smoking ban all over again.
Nevermind that anyone who doesn't want to take the risks of their job — be they a taxi driver, coal miner, porn star, police officer, or bartender — can simply NOT WORK THERE if you don't want.
Legislating morality. It never ends.
Simple fact of the matter is — a lot of people absolutely do NOT want to see ANY porn where condoms are used. This is a fact. Go to a porn torrent site and read comments. People leave comments to make sure there are no condoms, and await for an answer before downloading a porn movie.
But forget freedom! Let's legislate morality instead. This from the state that put people in jail for selling bacon-wrapped hotdogs. And if we have socialized medicine, expect that to be used as another excuse to suppress freedom. To which I say: "Freedom isn't free!"
July 17, 2009
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The big mistake here? A mother thinking she could trust police to deal with her daughter's problems.
Remember when tasers were introduced, and the liberal left complained that these would be used as torture devices? And the conservative right said, "No, these will be used as a *substitute* for deadly force, and will save lives."
Can these same conservatives sit here and say with a straight face that, pre-tasers, the officer simply would have shot the 14-year-old girl in the head? I'd like to see someone try saying that with a straight face. I'd like to see Police Chief Roger Hatcher say that with a straight face.
Oh, and by the way, Roger Hatcher said he had no choice, because she was about to run into traffic. OH I GET IT! He was *protecting* her by tasering her! But then the video came out, and showed no traffic. Nor did he even shoot until they were already across the road he claimed he was "protecting" her from.
VIDEO INCLUDED.
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This isn't a simple mistake. Jail staff categorically refused to give this man the medicines he needed to prevent the types of seizures that ultimately killed him. He was in jail for SIX DAYS, inspected be medical staff, and repeatedly denied his medicine.
It's time to remove immunity from the people who cause things like this to happen. Lawsuits often come out of a city's insurance, or from the taxpayers themselves. Meanwhile, the people who's negligence causes people to die do not have any incentive to change their behavior.
This happens all the time, and it will happen again. It doesn't matter what crime Roland Mayes committed — under the constitution, sentences are carried out by judges and juries, not by jailers.
If you want a country where jailers determine your fate, then please renounce your citizenship and emmigrate to Saudia Arabia or North Korea.
July 16, 2009
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The guy has had 5 excessive force complaints against him before, with 4 determined to be "unfounded" (despite several witnesses at one), and 1 withdrawn by the woman who made it (suspicious).
Looks like the abusive ways of Officer Christopher Childers were finally got caught on video. Too bad he was allowed to run roughshod in other cases. It's amazing that the word of one police officer overrides the word of multiple witnesses.
It's kind of hard to override a camera, however.
He beat the shit out of someone who was already handcuffed. He is now on leave. The Thin Blue Line has trouble defending you if you're caught on video acting like a criminal.
OTHER ARTICLE, WITH MORE INFO, BUT WITHOUT THE VIDEO: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090715/ARTICLE/907151037/-1/NEWSSITEMAP
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I always thought this song originated out of the 1950s/1960s surf rock movement… But no. I was wrong. It's a Greek song that originated in Athens in 1927, and has cult-like popularity in 5 different styles of music: rebetiko, belly dancing, Klezmer (Jewish wedding music), surf rock, and easy listening (exotica).
This page has mp3s you can download of many different versions of this song–which was used in Pulp Fiction.
The Wikipedia page is informative to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miserlou -
A collection of pictoral and text reports from X-Day. That photo at the top is my photoshopped photo of Rev. Panik's art depicting the scene at the bonfire Saturday night. Awesome.
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If civilians engage in a car chase running away from the FBI, you can bet they'd get charged. Felony evasion, reckless driving, etc, etc.
If cops do it, they simply get to resign and not get charged.
Thin blue line at work.
Cops are above the law; even when they break it.
So why should they bother to abide by it? If you're of a criminal mindset, the best thing you can do to facilitate your crimes is not to join the mob, but to become a police officer.
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aka Jane la putain du roi, La Donna del re, The King's Mistress, La Putain du roi, Jeanne, putain de roi, The King's Favorite, La Favorita del re
This movie is impossible to find. I've been looking for it for years. It's one of my favorite revenge flicks — or at least that's how I remember it.
If anyone has this, please let me know.
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This is unprecedented for many reasons. Including it being in the corrupt good ol' boy state of Texas!
Looks like a Texas judge took the word of an exotic dancer over that of Sgt. Randy Sundquist, Senior Cpls. Jerry Dodd and David Durica. In part, because the DA's office released a letter stating that Sundquist shouldn't be trusteed to testify in court. Wowie!
Maybe the judicial side of our government is wising up to the abuses of the executive side of our government? Or maybe this is just a lucky fluke.
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Rolling Stone said The Church put U2 to shame? Awesome.
July 15, 2009
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What a corrupt fucking jurisdiction! The current police chief is a convicted drug offender who got a pardon from the former governor who is now on prison. We have criminals responsible for bringing criminals in! Anything wrong with that picture?
And then there are the lies in the police report. The man said he was high on PCP and crack (he's black! must be a crackhead!), and had asthma. Except the autopsy said otherwise.
Baron "Scooter" Pikes — don't forget that name. Another victim of thug america, where criminals have the right to summarily execute you in the name of the law, and have legality on their side to legitimize their actions.
And then we have the forensic pathologist who investigates these kinds of deaths–so scared he wears a gun at all times. Thank god for 2nd Amendment rights, or he'd be dead. He's been shot at ****19**** times due to his investigations into police misconduct.Let's hope Officer Scott Nugent, now fired (but I'm sure he'll appeal), has a heart attack.
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Make sure to view the page source for an extra laugh… so wrong, so wrong. hahaha
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Another random thing that uses your twitter feed as input.
I am 98% hetero according to this, while Carolyn is 86%.
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I've heard most of these stories separately, but together they make a damning statement against the incompetent and abusive Maryland SWAT teams.
Jack Johnson is a major asshole. It would be funny if the cops shot HIS dog.
And how about them killing Cheryl Lynn Noel? First her daughter gets murdered, then she gets killed by police. I feel sorry for her husband. All she did is exercise her *constitutional rights*. THEY GAVE THE OFFICER WHO SHOT HER A FUCKING MEDAL, and a lawsuit was lost because you're supposed to know that anyone coming in your house at 5AM were police, not burglars, or, say, the people who murdered your daughter. WHAT THE FUCK.
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I remember when BadCopNews.net went down due to undisclosed circumstances; now the InjusticeEverywhere feed is in danger too, as the maintainer is having financial troubles.
If anyone wants to help keep these feeds alive, inquire within. Otherwise, police misconduct may be swept under the rug once more.
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…But it still remains illegal under federal law. Nevermind that the government TOLD everyone to grow hemp (marijuana) during World War 2 in their film "Hemp For Victory", which they denied existed until it turned up on YouTube and such (whoops!). The rest of the world allows this, and instead of giving american farmers jobs and income, we export our money to other countries to buy their hemp.
BTW, hemp makes 8 times more paper per acre than trees. Which is exactly why I refuse to recycle paper. 100% recycling would still equal 87.5% waste, given our stupid policy! What the hell?
Notice how Republicans had nothing to do with this.
July 15, 2009
VIDEO: MOVIES: REVIEW: Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)
Posted by Claire CJS under Carolyn, Clio, Media, Movies, People, Reviews, Video[5] Comments
[IMDB link] [Netflix link] Watched 1 (right around when I watched The Hills have Eyes remake).
PEOPLE: Henry Rollins. This is the coolest thing he’s ever done, and the only thing I’ve ever been able to tolerate. I once bought a Black Flag cassette around 1991 that I hated so much that I physically ingested the entire cassette cover, and strung the tape down my entire street (10 houses or so?). He’s only been allowed on my screen when Beavis & Butt-head watch the video of him.
QUIRKS: Henry Rollins becomes “Rollambo” in this movie; a military guy who goes on a killing spree.
VISUALS: Special effects? Not so realistic (not enough blood), but disturbing nonetheless.
MORALS: Stay out of West Virginia.
POLITICS: Pollution is bad. The government should not ignore the detrimental effects of birth defects on people who want to not be eaten.
BAD STUFF: The framework for the movie is the filming of a reality TV show (with Henry Rollins as the host). I hate reality TV.
CONCLUSION: Despite the bad things, the killings start FAST, and it doesn’t let up. While only a generic pass of a horror movie, there’s certainly not as many dull or boring moments as their could have been.
RECOMMENDATION: I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this, unless you enjoyed the 1st and want to see more.
MOVIE QUOTE: Nina Papas: Birth defects? No shit.
[looking at a barrel of toxic waste that reads may cause birth defects]
COINCIDENCES: (House Of 1000 Corpses, Wrong Turn 2) Two movies in a row with fucked up rednecks who kill, and who wore a mask of the skin of one of the victims while engaging in sex-related activities.
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Ian didn’t like it [same as Wrong Turn 1]; thanks for trying, Ian :) (more…)
Claire's blog 