Sunday Roast: I’m kind of jealous of the life I’m supposedly leading

I still don’t have much of a voice and added to that I now have a lovely sinus-headache and truly beautiful chesty cough. I think I’ve changed me mind – right now I can only imagine some Dr. doing research in germ warfare would be interested in me.

But all of the above doesn’t impede by Roasting abilities (though it might make me more cynical/bitter than usual). Have fun πŸ˜‰

It’s been a while since I stumbled across a site that genuinely stopped me in my tracks and forced me to read it in more depth because I literally couldn’t believe my eyes. So it kind of gives me the warm fluffies to bring you Stop the ACLU. I say kind of, because the content disturbs ten kinds of hell out of me for many, many reasons. The site might be better entitled “welcome to the Dark Side of the Web”. I could list the pages that most shocked/angered/bemused me but that would (1) take far too long, (2) probably end up with me listing their entire site and (3) give them inbound links and page rank they really don’t deserve. In the spirit of West Wing, which I’m in the middle of re-watching the entire run of for about the twentieth time, I ask you the following – when did being a liberal become such a bad thing?

I sound off with monotonous regularity about the US and the assorted bizarre things that are done in the name of mythic “National Security” so it’s only fair I say something when my own country is going gaga. At Stansted Airport, you have to leave a fingerprint when hiring a car. The line that worries me most is “The police will never see these thumbprints unless a crime is committed”. But when a crime *is* committed I don’t want the police running my fingerprint through their database – I don’t want to be ON that database in the first place! It’s a sad day when I realise I’d know more about my rights if I was American rather than British, but I’m pretty certain we have something analogous to the “not be asked to turn over evidence against ourselves that could, in the future, be used to incriminate us” or some such wording. Illegal search, I say! Illegal search!

Time for something a bit more positive – Baen Books are providing their e-books to disabled readers free of charge.

There’s really no way I can make the following link sound either sexy or interesting, so I’m not even going to try. I just learnt about a new HTML element (new to me, not new-new) and thought I would share in case other people hadn’t heard of it either: Definition Lists for use when you want to, well, list definitions! If you are already marching to the drum of semantic markup etc., then this is for you. If you’re not, go read about semantic markup somewhere and then be happy πŸ˜€

Moose really is earning her title of Head Minion. Rarely a day goes by without some piece of web-arcarna landing in my inbox – the latest being how to prank a telemarketer. (Warning – it should autoplay and is on a loop).

Penguin Speakers. For the iPod. I really don’t have to say anything else do I? (Other than subtly point out that Christmas is just around the corner… πŸ˜‰ )

Apparently the Web is to blame for the current crisis in politics. I think it might have more to do with the current crop of politicians we have, but that’s just little cynical old me. The Internet has certainly made it easier for the dissatisfied to have a voice. Thinking about it, none of the three parties really have a platform I totally agree with or that is applicable to me and my peer group – er, how do you go about creating a new party?

For those who say they are happy with the way personal data is stored and used by our Government, I say look at how easy it was to crack the fancy-pants new biometric passports. The Home Office is reported to have commented “What use would my biometric image be to you?” I ask, so why do you want it in the first place?

Most people are now aware that penguins form lasting relationships with penguins of the same sex and even raise little baby penguins. They may be evil, but clearly they are a very progressive species. Anyway, someone wrote a children’s book about this phenomena, in particular about two male penguins at the Central Park Zoo that adopted an egg/chick (Tango). And now certain people in Illinois want the book banned. They are PENGUINS for jimminy-cricket’s sake! *gives up* There just aren’t the words.

And to end with two movie trailers that caught my eye:
Zodiac – I can pretty much already guess who the bad guy is going to be (the one named actor who doesn’t appear in the trailer…) but it still looks good. Well, it’s got Jake Gyllen-Whosit and Robert Downey Jr. in it, so it’s bound to look good πŸ˜‰
Evan Almighty – I enjoyed Bruce Almighty. Morgan Freeman is an inspired choice as God. The trail did amuse me, but probably only “rent from the Library” amused, not “pay through the nose for the cinema” amused.

6 thoughts on “Sunday Roast: I’m kind of jealous of the life I’m supposedly leading

  1. Great roast.

    I’ve got a few comments.

    Regarding the book about the two male penguins: I checked out the amazon page for the book (here). One of the editorial reviews had this bit in it:

    An author’s note provides more information about Roy, Silo, Tango, and other chinstrap penguins.

    I wonder if the parents who had a problem with the book saw or read the note. I personally don’t have any problem with it, and think that it actually sounds like a charming book. That two male penguins were able to raise a baby penguin together is actually quite inspiring to me. Then again, I don’t have any qualms with gay people, and think that good parents are good parents, regardless of their gender.

    Stop the ACLU: I’m utterly flabbergasted. Also, I must have missed it, but when did liberal become a four letter word? I guess I’m a walking curse word. πŸ™‚

    Evan Almighty: That looks great. I thoroughly enjoyed Bruce Almighty, and will probably thoroughly enjoy the sequel, too. The choice of character for the sequel though seems a bit peculiar. Evan was generally the guy everyone hated in the first movie, wasn’t he?

    Oh, and lastly: sorry to hear that you’re sick.

  2. I got to read that book recently for a class I’m in. It was pretty interesting. Apparently it’s based on a true story, although the two penguins are no longer a couple. A children’s book on a similar theme (but done much better, in my opinion) is King and King. It’s a sweet story, and the illustrations are fantastic.

    As for the trailers, I’m currently waiting for them both to load. I love to watch movies; too bad my local theater only has three screens, and they’re generally dedicated to teen movies. That’s what movie rentals are for, I suppose.

    Oh, and the fingerprint thing is scary. I agree. I just hope our car rental places in America decide that that is okay to do. Don’t go giving them ideas, you hear???

  3. Thank you Josh πŸ™‚

    I’d forgotten Evan was even IN the first movie!

    Caryn, you get to read good books in class! How come I get nasty, icky Angela Carter and you get fluffy children’s books about penguins? No fair πŸ˜‰ And as someone who grew up in a small town where the nearest cinema entailed a 50 minute drive (that’s a long drive in the UK – people go on holiday to places nearer), I agree – DVDs and rental companies are the answer to many a prayer πŸ˜€

  4. How come I get nasty, icky Angela Carter and you get fluffy childrenÒ€ℒs books about penguins?

    Still bitter about that 500 word essay, I see! πŸ˜€

  5. Clearly those penguins are dangerous to us all. Imagine what will happen as soon as other penguins hear about the two dude penguins adopting a chick – they’ll all jump on the bandwagon and no male/female penguins will ever mate again. Then before you know it, all the cows, lions, bears, and emus will also all start pairing up as same-sex couples. These penguins have to be stopped now, before it’s too late!

    Jerry, http://www.JerryKolber.com

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