Politico is saying that in addition to lifting the debt ceiling for six weeks, John Boehner might be trying to delay the shutdown for six weeks, too: If Thursday night’s meeting with Obama goes well, senior Republican sources say that Boehner could have enough internal political capital to move a bill next week to reopen […]
Paul Constant
Posted inMovies & TV
Most Men Would Kill To Be Played By Benedict Cumberbatch
Yesterday WikiLeaks published a letter sent from Julian Assange to Benedict Cumberbatch in January of this year. Cumberbatch is playing Assange in The Fifth Estate, a WikiLeaks biopic coming out this month. Dear Benedict, Thank you for trying to contact me. It is the first approach by anyone from the Dreamworks production to me or […]
Posted inMovies & TV
Why Aren't There More Female Animated Characters?
Apparently, according to the head of animation on an upcoming kids movie, it’s because “animating female characters are really, really difficult, because they have to go through these range of emotions, but you have to keep them pretty.” He goes on to complain: So, having a film with two hero female characters was really tough, […]
Posted inGay Marriage
Chris Christie Doesn't Think Gay Marriage Is a Human Rights Issue
NJ.com says that Chris Christie was making a public appearance in a diner when a woman named Bert Bueno asked him about gay marriage. Christie, of course, has been busy painting himself as a cross-the-aisle Republican who takes a common-sense stand on issues. His answer to Bueno reveals his conservative roots are sturdy on the […]
Posted inPolitics
Americans Against the Shutdown
The Fix notes that a vast majority of Americans blame the Republicans for the shutdown: Disapproval of congressional Republicans’ budget wrangling after a weeklong shutdown has shot up to 70 percent, with 51 percent disapproving “strongly,” according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Even in crimson Utah, The Deseret News ran a poll that […]
Posted inHealth
I Think Alex Jones Has Totally Lost It, You Guys
The most befuddling part of this video, for me, is when “Obamacare” greets lizard-faced Jones with “How’s your hernia? How’s your homosexuality?”
Posted inGeek
Every Episode of Star Trek, in Poster Form
A sample two-page spread from Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz, with an unsharpened pencil to give scale Star Trek: The Art of Juan Ortiz is a book of posters. Ortiz, an illustrator and graphic designer, challenged himself to come up with one movie-style poster for each episode of the original Star Trek series—80 […]
Posted inPolitics
Shutdown Priorities
As Trevor Timm pointed out on Twitter, the NSA is still spying on you during the shutdown, but you can’t file Freedom of Information Act requests.
Posted inBooks
The Thurber Prize Is Only for Men, I Guess
In his announcement of this year’s Thurber Prize winner, The Washington Post‘s Ron Charles buries the lede: The Thurber Prize began in 1996 and calls itself “the nation’s highest recognition of the art of humor writing.” Previous winners of the prize include David Sedaris, Christopher Buckley and Calvin Trillin. No woman has even been named […]
Posted inTech
How to Dance Your Job Away
So, this happened over the weekend: Her name is Marina V. Shifrin and somebody should hire her. But nobody should feel sorry for her, because, as The Onion explained not so long ago, by leaving the aggregation/pageview business, she avoided a terrible fate.
Posted inLuv
WNBA Players Kiss, Are Called for Fouls
I’m sports-illiterate, so forgive me if I mess this up: WNBA players Diana Taurasi and Seimone Augustus have known each other for a long time. They have an affectionate rivalry, since they play on opposing teams. In the below clip, you can see Augustus and Taurasi preparing to, uh, I don’t know, block each other? […]
Posted inFood and Drink
Barilla Pasta Is Apparently Intended for Homophobic Straight People
Huffington Post says: The chairman of Barilla Group says his company will not feature gay families in advertisements for his products because he likes the “traditional” family. If someone disagrees, well, they can go “eat another brand of pasta.” Guido Barilla made the anti-gay comments during an interview with La Zanzara on Radio24 Wednesday. The […]