Monthly Archives: August 2009

Marvel Comics Biggest Problem

I’ve said it before, but the biggest problem I have with Marvel movies is that they waste so damn much time on origin stories. Give us a Star Wars scroll with “Peter Parker was bit by a spider and got powers”. As much as I enjoy the characters, most of the origin stories are just plain dumb and stupid and repetitive as hell.

____ was ____ and got powers.

Hulk was irradiated (gamma bomb) and got powers.

Fantastic Four were irradiated (solar radiation) and got powers.

X-Men were mutants and got powers.

Daredevil was blinded/irradiated and got powers.

Punisher’s family got killed and he got guns.

via Commenter on MetaFilter

Invisible Elderly

In this country of twittering youth, Mr. Singh and his friends form a gathering force: the elderly, who now make up America’s fastest-growing immigrant group. Since 1990, the number of foreign-born people over 65 has grown from 2.7 million to 4.3 million — or about 11 percent of the country’s recently arrived immigrants. Their ranks are expected to swell to 16 million by 2050. In California, one in nearly three seniors is now foreign born, according to a 2007 census survey.

via NYTimes.com.

More Taibbi on Thomas Friedman

I wish I had the balls to first spend six long years madly cheering on an Iraq war that not only reintroduced Sharia law to the streets of Baghdad, but radicalized the entire Islamic world against American influence—and then write a book blaming the spread of fundamentalist Islam on the ignorant consumers of the middle American heartland, who bought too many Hummers and spent too much time shopping for iPods in my wife’s giganto-malls.

via Flat N All That.

Chris Wallace Fellates Cheney

Now look: there are softball interviews; and then there are interviews like this. It cannot be described as journalism in any fashion. Even as propaganda, which is its point, it doesn’t work – because it’s far too cloying and supportive of Cheney to be convincing to anyone outside the true-believers. When it comes to Cheney, one of the most incompetent vice-presidents in the country’s history, with a record of two grotesquely botched wars, war crimes and a crippling debt, Chris Wallace sounds like a teenage girl interviewing the Jonas Brothers.

via Andrew Sullivan.

Manny Pacquiao Stops Crime

When he fights, the entire country watches — literally.The police in Manila say that crimes drop drastically during Manny Pacquiao’s fights, which means that even criminals stop their dirty work to watch.There are also regular squabbles between communist insurgents and Muslim secessionists, but even they put their battles on ice to watch Pacquiao fight.In simpler terms, nearly the entire country of roughly 90.5 million stops to watch the Pac-Man fight, which is simply astounding.

via AskMen.com.

3 Types of Workers

“There are only two types of worker, no matter where you go: careerists, who are loyal to their own ambitions, and technicians, who are loyal to their work.” no, there’s a third type – those who are loyal to their paycheck and will do as little as possible for it

via Commenter on MetaFilter

Geek Squad Screws Customers Over

We bought the extended warranty for the computer so we brought the tower in to the (redacted), NH store to get the CD replaced over 3 weeks ago. We declined backing up the data (a $100 charge) since replacing the CD drive is not a big deal, and does not require any work to be done to the hard drive. … We found out this week that there was actually more work done to the computer than just what we had requested. In fact, our entire hard drive was replaced, thus all of the data is now gone!

via Couple Says Best Buy Is Holding Data Hostage For $1,500.