“The one concession I’ve made to maintain some form of sanity is that I’ve taken to censoring my news, just like the old Soviet Union.”

Larry David on the countdown to the election:

Five times a day I’ll still say to someone, “I don’t know what I’m going to do if McCain wins.” Of course, the reality is I’m probably not going to do anything. What can I do? I’m not going to kill myself. If I didn’t kill myself when I became impotent for two months in 1979, I’m certainly not going to do it if McCain and Palin are elected, even if it’s by nefarious means. If Obama loses, it would be easier to live with it if it’s due to racism rather than if it’s stolen. If it’s racism, I can say, “Okay, we lost, but at least it’s a democracy. Sure, it’s a democracy inhabited by a majority of disgusting, reprehensible turds, but at least it’s a democracy.” If he loses because it’s stolen, that will be much worse. Call me crazy, but I’d rather live in a democratic racist country than a non-democratic non-racist one. (It’s not exactly a Hobson’s choice, but it’s close, and I think Hobson would compliment me on how close I’ve actually come to giving him no choice. He’d love that!)

More here. Just hilarious.

Just not feeling it…

I was going to post something interesting today. But I’m just not feeling it. I have early 19th century religion on the brain.

So instead, I’ll point you to two excellent pieces of snark from Randy Lauder.

Go. Read. Enjoy. Come back tomorrow.

Stunned…

I am in a link-blogging sort of mood today.

This is one of the finest pieces of history blogging I’ve read.

I’ve been mentioning this since at least last fall but you really should be reading The Edge of the American West. They really are the gold standard.

Digest O’Crap II: The Electric Boogaloo

Below are some of the things I should have blogged about but didn’t (along with a much of random thoughts…):

I absolutely love that they kept the glasses

Did you know there are some sweet new pictures from the Half-Blood Prince Movie up on these here internets? Exciting! And yes, that’s why I have used them in the last two posts. (Via Club Jade).

This is stupid, a fake scandal if I’ve ever heard of one.

I saw Wall-E and it was one of the most beatiful things I have seen in my entire life. Honestly, Pixar out did itself. Truely a “family film” in that kids get cute, fun robot action & adults get cute, fun robot action and an important message. Oh, the machines are more human than humans!

I saw Hancock and it was bad. The movie couldn’t figure out what it was. Was it an action-comedy? A straight forward superhero flick? Or a serious drama? And the backstory, ugh. Stupid. But Will Smith and Jason Bateman are very watchable. So the movie was more bad than horrid.

I’ve been going back and forth between believing we are facing utter DOOOOOM in November and a sort of giddy triumphalism with a shot of depression. When is the Democratic convention again?

Speaking of the election: Isn’t John McCain a great man for joking about killing Iranians? I think you know the answer! (The answer is absolutely yes)

Heroes was a great con, I wish I’d had the energy to write up a whole big thing about it. But I just couldn’t do it. Needless to say though, we’ll be doing again next year. Hopefully that time I’ll actually do some live blogging from it!

I think the lines at Baltimore this year will be crazy.

I am excited about one piece of news at San Diego this year: The Scott Pilgrim title & cover announcement.

Where I saw the fireworks on THE FOURTH they played “Proud to be an American” the 9/11 remix. I drunkenly had to stop my friends from laughing. And failed. Does this make me a miserable person?

I bought the Vampire Weekend cd and it is awesome. There are three tracks right at the beginning (Oxford Comma, A-Punk, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa) that are just beyond catchy and make it worth 9.99 ITunes download. The whole ablum is pretty sweet too.

The last two weeks of Venture Brothers has been some of the best the series has produced. “The Buddy System” episode made me laugh so hard and the writing was so sharp. Damn Doc Hammer and Jackson Publick and their amazing writing abilities.

Brilliance, hilarious brilliance.

I’ve become re-obsessed with Scott Pilgrim and am sort of planning an extended post on the subject.

Lord, I am going to flunk out of grad school because of this. I know it. Damn you Lucasarts! (Via Club Jade, again)

Anybody else excited for Hellboy II?

More later.

Coyness is nice, and coyness can stop you, from saying all the things in life you’d like to…

In this edition of our link-blogging feature “Wish I’d Said That…” we enter a new era. Done are the Star Wars titles for these posts! It is a BRAVE NEW WORLD folks.

Can anyone tell me where I got this title from?

On to the links:

• Matthew Yglesias on contingency & patriotism.
• Now I think I’ve made it clear that in this crazy Presidential contest that I support Obama. Now here Historiann highlights some of the sexist treatment Clinton has received from the press and Obama supporters. This is something I completely agree with. Clinton has gotten a lot of sexist shit (some of which I have witnessed first hand) from my fellow Obama supporters. It needs to stop. Not only is it as bad a the racist shit that’s been thrown at Obama but it makes our candidate look bad and we should be better than that. The racist cant directed at Obama is wrong and the sexist cant directed at Clinton is wrong. And everyone should say that. Even if you don’t support Clinton.
• Warren Ellis on his superhero work.
• Required Eric & Ari link: Eric on the past & future of American liberalism.
• New site design for Scary Go Round.
• Eric Alterman on the future of the newspaper.
• (Via Ezra Klein) Why CNN continues to allow this man on the TV baffles my tiny brain.
• An interesting  Mario Kart (Wii) review.
• Fan reaction to the Superman legal cluster-fuck. Somehow, this is not surprising. Fans want their comics, goddamn it, and we can’t let a little thing like creator rights or justice get in the way.
• Marvel B0y fake!!?!?! Oh noes!

I think that’s all for now.

Episode VI: Return of the Links

Lots Star Wars title for this feature, let me tell you. *sniff* I know I’ll miss them.

Anyway, here are some things other people wrote.

• 4000 American service persons are now dead because of the Iraq War.
• Now I need some levity: how did I miss this? I believe it is the most awesome, most hilarious thing I’ve seen about Marvel this year. I guess they should just treat their low-level employees better. Or this is a fake. Either way, hilarity.
• (Via Blog@Newsarama) Here is a review of the script for the Scott Pilgrim movie. I remain ambivalent about the how project. The script review does nothing to change that.
• Here is a great discussion of Obama’s now-famous speech on race and the conservative reaction to it. There’s a bit more here. (While you’re at Crooked Timber check out this bit on economists and lay people)
• A very great piece on the historical  memory of Reconstruction at the Edge of the American West. Honestly, I don’t think we could have this feature without linking to something by either Eric or Ari.
• Ok. More on Obama & race. Holy shit this is awful. I think this whole Obama/Wright thing brought out the worse in people.
• Reading this brought back bad memories from day’s in comic retailing. Honestly, people  if you shop at decent comics store you should thank them for all the hard work that is required to get you your books week after week. Of course, there are bad comics shops out there.
• (Via Yglesias) Did you know that John McCain almost became a Democrat once? And now he is the nominee of the Republican Party? Bush’s America is a strange place.
• Alright. More Obama, race, conseravatives, and the rest.
• Perhaps the best thing I have ever read on Clinton and gender. Wow, wow, wow.
• Newsflash: Captain Cold likes his women hot. Blargh.

The question now is… what sort of scheme will I use for titles in the future?

Episode V: The Links Strike Back

Another Star Wars reference, more links:

• @Washington Monthly: Kevin Drum forgets about George Wallace.
• @Everywhere: D&D creator passes away.
• @postbourgie: Another fake life story?!?
• @Blog@Newsarama: Buffy news! Spoiler warning & submitted without comment…
• @Club Jade: News about Whedon’s new show. Hopefully it won’t suck.
• @Written World: What Ragnell likes about the Green Lantern franchise right now
• @Shortpacked: I thought nobody else remembered this game!
• @Raising Kaine: Never forget how fucking crazy Virginians are about their guns. Thankfully, Tim Kaine has some good sense.
• @Edge of the American West: Seriously, our national anthem kind of sucks.

More soon.

Episode IV- A New Link

All Star Wars, all the time today! Come on kids, I only get a little more mileage out of those titles.

• @Club Jade: In my review of the latest Star Wars novel I hope that author Karen Traviss would be given the chance to write another post-ROTJ book. Could this be it? One can hope!
• @Comics Should Be Good: A fair review of the who recent Spidey mess. And yes, I still can’t quite just get over it.
• @Occasional Superheroine: Why no Batwoman?
• @Raising Kaine: Will Virginia ever ban smoking in restruants and bars? Unlikely. Which fucking sucks.
• @Matthew Yglesias: Fox News porn.
• @Washington Monthly: The surge, it keeps going and going and going…
• @Edge of the West: A long and very good (what else is there from Ari and Eric?) discussion of Obama and Iseral. Also: McKinley.

Until next time!

Episode III – Revenge of the Links

I know, I know, I said I’d come up with a better tittle but, honestly I can’t.

…and I love Star Wars references. Even easy ones. So, sue me (no, wait, don’t!)

On to the links!

• Heady! @Edge of the West: The nature of historical investigation as searching for one’s keys.
• Debate! @The comics blogosphere: Race and Superheroes! Here, here and here.
• Obviousness! @Blog@Newsarama: Is Mark Millar full of shit when he talks about his own work? Hmm….
• Discuss! @Historiann: Are women better leaders in monarchies than in democracies? Also: did Krisof write a column that was actually valuable?
• More Obviousness!: @Club Jade: In case you missed it – The Indy Four trailer. Cross  your fingers kids!
• Interestingness!: @Postbourgie: The shadow of The Cosbys?
• Veganism!: Again, another reason I don’t eat meat anymore.

Until next time! (Maybe with a better title?)

Episode II: Attack of the Links…

I know that’s a lame title for our second link-blogging entry but I couldn’t think about anything else.

Here is a bunch of great stuff from the internets:

• @ Edge of the American West: Because I can’t get enough of Ari and Eric, here’s a great piece on MLK and another on the history of the Federal Reserve
• @ Blog@Newsarama one learns that Garth Ennis’ The Boys is up for a GLAAD award, for reasons I can not understand or comprehend. Wasn’t the lesbian member of their Teen Titians send-up very stereotypical & treated very poorly?
• @ Matthew Yglesias: Can History hesitate?
• Via Penny-Arcade: Perhaps the funniest thing I’ve read in years.
• @ Club Jade: Look for a Indy 4 Trailer next month
• @ Progressive Ruin: Is the Flash a man-whore? The answer is clearly yes.
• Very interesting (and tense! for a Stewart interview) A Daily Show with Jon Stewart Interview with Jonah Goldberg. That’s a mouth (brain?) full of a sentence.

One day I am going to have something clever to put at the end this feature.