From the special edition DVD, perhaps?

Via LeisureGuy, one of the most wonderfully sick and twisted things I've seen in a long time: an alternate ending to A Charlie Brown Christmas.

An endorsement.

I don't usually watch continuing-plot-format television series. Even the much hyped and critically acclaimed cable-TV series of recent years such as The Sopranos, Deadwood, and The Wire have gone unwatched by me. The main balking point for me has been the time commitment involved. First there's the need to schedule your viewing. Sure, I know I could get a TiVo and this problem would disappear, but as of now I still don't have one. Yes, I could use my VCR to record each episode and watch it at my leisure, but I don't feel like making the effort. OK, OK, I know that past seasons of these shows are available on DVD, but the sheer bulk of the accumulated material intimidates me. According to Amazon.com the DVDs of season 1 of The Wire have a run time of 780 minutes! Yes, I've done the math, and that's only 13 hours, but 13 hours is a lot of time. Time I could fritter away quite unproductively on the Internet, thank you. To sum up, I've got all my excuses lined up, and I will not be watching any of these series any time soon.

But I have made an exception.

I happened to catch one of the first episodes of Showtime's new series Dexter. I kept watching, and now I'm hooked. I find everything about the show to be exquisitely well done. The central premise (a Miami police forensics expert who leads a double life as a serial killer) is one that a mediocre writing team could have made into something gimmicky, but the writing has been consistently sharp and delightfully dark throughout. The multiple plot lines are well balanced and engaging. The production values are great, and the casting is excellent; though I admit that the actress who plays Dexter's sister annoyed me at first, she has grown on me. In short, the show is fucking awesome. I almost hope that they limit it to one season, though, because it's hard for me to imagine that they could maintain this level of quality over multiple seasons. I would prefer to see this show end its run at the top of its game.

Is sending more troops to Iraq the solution?

Not if the additional troops we send are anything like these dickheads.

To be clear, I support the troops, and I know the vast majority of our men and women in uniform are not insensitive bastards like the ones who made this video. But goddamn, as an American it pisses me off that anyone who represents my country thinks pulling shit like this is even remotely funny. This is the kind of insulting treatment that causes kids to grow up to be terrorists.

Link via LeisureGuy.

I am one-to-twenty with the universe.

The fact that we grew up watching stuff like this, and especially this(!!!), on Sesame Street is one of the many things that has made my generation so awesome.





God, I love YouTube. I've been wanting to see those clips again for years.

OWL Music Search

I haven't actually tried this out myself yet, but when Lawrence Lessig describes something as "easily the coolest technology I’ve seen in years", I know it has to be pretty amazing.

A step in the right direction.

Thank you, fellow voters of the United States of America, for coming to your senses.

Amerika Votes!

If you want me to believe that the U.S. can establish a democratic government in Iraq, first prove to me that we can hold free and fair elections in Ohio.

Bonus points to the first Republican to claim that nobody could possibly have foreseen these problems.

Via apostropher.