Remmy Sleeping

Vanity Fair: The Godfather Wars

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

The story and songs in this program were written by Zack, Joss and Jed Whedon, who come from a long line of screenwriters. According to Wikipedia, the Whedons' grandfather wrote for the Donna Reed Show and his father wrote for the Electric Company and the Golden Girls. Solid legacy.

Joss Whedon wrote Firefly which is a very cool science fiction show which was strongly influenced by the Western genre. It was also one of the first shows filmed in HD and helped me break-in my HD TV when I first got it. Below is a link to a blog I came across that republished a Joss Whedon interview with 10 of his top writing tips.

http://dannystack.blogspot.com/2009/01/joss-whedons-top-10-writing-tips.html

Fresh Beats

Against the Law: Using a flip-throw in a game.

Also Against the Law: Trying to block throw-in. This kid gets whats comin' to him.


Trick Soccer Throw-In Destroys Kid - Watch more Sports Videos

Bobby's World vs. Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Is A Cartoon Character - Watch more Free Videos

Our President

Does this man have any idea?

Let the Great Experiment Begin!

America, I'm afraid we just blue ourselves.




As I ponder the election results and consider that President Obama will take office on January 20th, I'm beset by Tobias Funke quotes for some reason. Here's a Tobias soundboard if you'd like to hear the quotes from the Doctor's mouth.

Personally, even though I supported Senator McCain, I'm encouraged by the enthusiasm and excitement surrounding President-elect Obama, both at home and abroad. (I studied a broad once...)

Many of my concerns regarding President-elect Obama have been addressed through the debates and his campaigning this Fall as he fleshed out his previously nebulous platform. Nevertheless, I still have serious reservations about the prospect of raising taxes in the face of a recession. If President-elect Obama intends to "rollback" President Bush's tax cuts and increase government spending, as indicated, I hope he has the sense to wait until our economy and the U.S. dollar both stabilize.

I also hope that our new President-elect recognizes the need to fix the housing market first. http://fixhousingfirst.com/ Since our economy has transitioned from manufacturing-based to service-based and retail oriented (following the lead of most European nations), consumer confidence/sentiment has become more critical to our economic health. When people are happy and optimistic they spend more and are more apt to expand existing businesses or start-up new ones, which ultimately stimulates the economy. In order for that to happen, consumers, entrepreneurs, and all Americans have to feel secure about their homes.

President-elect Obama now has four years to back up the rhetoric and charisma with substance. Here's hoping he does.



Below are the Fix Housing First talking points for any TGS readers who want to educate themselves some more about this important issue (of course, that assumes you weren't led here to The Spike by a Google Image search for Dave Charvet).

The Problem: Falling home values are at the core of the current economic crisis. Home prices and property values continue to dramatically decline across the country, affecting hard-working Americans everywhere. Americans are hesitant to buy homes now because they fear prices won’t stabilize anytime soon. Existing home inventory is nearing an all-time high and increasing as foreclosures flood the market. All sectors of the economy are affected because housing is so central to our daily lives. Thousands (soon to be millions) of jobs across all industries have been lost as a result of the housing crisis. Consumers have stopped purchasing, and small businesses are failing.

The Solution: Short-term, targeted incentives will encourage Americans to buy homes again.

[In 1975, Congress passed a short-term $2,000 tax credit for all new homes ($12,000 adjusted for today’s median home prices) coupled with subsidized mortgage rates. The stimulus jump-started the depressed economy and the effects continued long after the measure expired.]

What’s needed now to create a housing recovery:

• Enhance the Home Buyer Tax Credit
  
• Eligible purchases: primary residences between April 9, 2008, and December 31, 2009.
  Credit amount: 10% of home price capped at 3.5% of FHA loan limits (geographically dependent) ranging between approximately $10,000 and $22,000.
  
• Eliminate recapture.
  
• Monetization: credit available at time of closing.
  
• Below market 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for home purchases
  2.99% rate available for contracts closed between now and June 30, 2009.
  3.99% rate for contracts closed between June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2009.
  
• Continue foreclosure prevention measures to keep people in their homes, help stabilize home prices and bolster the economy.
  

The Effect:

Reviving demand positively affects the global economy.

• Stops the fall in home values.
• Encourages people to buy NOW instead of later.
• Restores consumer confidence and gets them spending again.
• Enhances the hard work that has been done to shore up our financial system.
• Creates jobs opportunities across the country in every sector.
• Energizes the economy!

Elegant F!@# You Clothes

I know enough real-life Gordon Gekkos to grasp the concept of f!@# you clothes. Indeed, if clothes are cursing at me, I endure a sartorial reaming every time I board the elevator in my building. The pocket square is, in my opinion, the most offensive male accessory (although the offensiveness is limited to a business setting - pocket squares are less haughty when worn socially). The pocket square a bitch slap of condescension and, as far as non-verbal insults go, it's practically on par with the middle finger. Suspenders or "braces" are a close second.

OP-DEAD

There has been a rumor circulating around central NJ that The Star Ledger will stop printing in January 2009. However, the WSJ reported last week that the rumors of the Ledger's death have been greatly exaggerated. According to the WSJ:

The Star-Ledger newspaper in New Jersey said about 40% of its newsroom staff
will depart in a buyout wave, among the steepest cuts in the continued downsizing of the newspaper industry. The Star-Ledger earlier this month said it had secured enough buyout offers and labor concessions to ward off a threatened sale or closure of the paper, the country's 15th-largest by weekday circulation.

It's no secret that newsprint readership and circulation has been waning over the past decade. This is the result of 3 independent catalysts which have converged to change the way America does its "business." First, breakfast cereals and smoothies have been fortified with fiber. Second, Al Gore gave birth to the Internet. Third, women started infiltrating the white collar workforce.

In 1992, when a white collar worker wanted to kill some time, he would grab a paper and head for the head. This morning ritual was referred to by many as "a morning constitutional", "a gratifier" and eventually, crudely, "dropping a deuce." An average male professional in 1992 could spend anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour catching up on news and sports while enjoying the solitude of a restroom stall.

In 2008, with all the fiber supplements being crammed into breakfast cereals and 20 ounce cups of coffee now considered "small", the necessity to draw out the length these "constitutionals" has diminished. Additionally, the Internet now affords office workers an opportunity to waste time at their computer terminals, more discretely and with pants on. Finally, there are more women in the office. These women are constantly monitoring the length of a man's time away from his desk. It's as if women believe that monitoring the lack of productivity of their male counterparts will help them break through the glass ceiling. (Good luck sisters!)

The upshot of these trends is that newspapers are dying. That's lamentable, I suppose. Nevertheless, I am not disturbed in the least by the inevitable death of the Ledger. I'd love to see that rag fail. IMO, the Ledger has only done 2 things competently over the past 10 years: 1) report sports results and 2) recap Sopranos episodes.

While the growing popularity of the Internet has eroded away the Ledger's readership during this time (which I logically chronicled above) and advertisers have fled from print media, the balance of ads sold by the Ledger were related to the auto and real estate industries. Failing to recognize their growing dependence on the revenue generated by real estate ads, the Ledger continued to rail against real estate developers and builders through op-ed pieces and biased journalism as well as repeatedly endorsed politicians supporting anti-development agendas. The writers and editorial staff at the Ledger vilified and demonized everyone in the real estate development and construction industries (two of the only remaining viable blue-collar industries in NJ). Now that the real estate market has softened, it's no surprise that the Ledger is in it's death throes. After years of biting the hand that fed them, the hand has finally pulled away.

I will not miss The Star Ledger when it's finally gone - I find an iPhone much easier to read on the throne than a newspaper (remember that the next time you ask to play with my iPhone).

A Few of My Favorite Things

Via Lil' Thunder, two guys I like perform a song that I love.