June 29, 2008
Batman decapitates kid in Atlanta
I know what you're thinking: Batman lives in Gotham City! Why would he decapitate a kid in Atlanta? Well, obviously I'm not talking about Batman: The Person, but rather Batman: The Ride.
Sorry James, I don't have any news insider secret sexy details on this one. But I do have this:
June 27, 2008
Well it looks like something... caught her. YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Hey guys, sorry I haven't had time to post the update on how I finished in the pinball tournament a few weeks ago. Spoiler alert: I finished 4th, and was very happy to do so. Traditional pinball photo essay to come.
In the meantime, here's an endless series of David Caruso one-liners from CSI: Miami.
June 26, 2008
Let's broaden our minds. Lawrence!
Those of you who are going to Vegas with us in September are implicitly agreeing to see Purple Reign, the Prince tribute band also known (by James) as "Half-Blood Prince". This show also has a fake Morris Day and a fake guy who holds up a mirror for Morris Day.
It's not easy to find a good video of Purple Reign in action, so instead here's the super-extended version of real-Prince's music video for Partyman from the soundtrack to the motion picture Batman. Why the extended version? Because at about the four-and-a-half minute mark, Prince psyches out a chimpanzee with a fake banana, and that chimpanzee is dressed as Batman. Was there any way to not make that a run-on sentence?
June 24, 2008
Church and state, blah blah blah
Big Pinzur, in full Instigator mode, writes:
"I had dinner with Chan over the weekend and we predicted that your answer would involve the home state's lack of acknowledgment. We figure you'll eventually clarify your position to this: as soon as it's legal in all 50 states and recognized by the Catholic church and blessed by the Pope..."
Oh yeah, that's fair.
First off, you're the one who suggested that, since California allows anyone in the country to wed, I might be appeased. How could you not expect me to care that those out-of-state weddings wouldn't count in most cases? That is ridiculous.
As to the part about the 50 states: if you want a line drawn, well, I don't think I can do that. I'm not sure how much progress it'll take for me to feel comfortable that marriage isn't a prejudiced and intrinsically religious institution. The repeal of anti-miscegenation laws was a twenty year process that started with California's State Supreme Court and ended with Loving v Virginia, so clearly these things can take time -- although I like to think we're a more progressive and accepting culture than we were in the 50s and 60s.
(I find it shocking, by the way, that just over 40 years ago -- and just over 13 years before I was born -- it was illegal in sixteen states for whites to marry blacks. That is truly, truly amazing.)
Just like in 1967, I'm aware that there's a certain pathetic backwater region of our country, henceforth referred to as the Shame of our Nation, that will have to be dragged into the 21st century kicking and screaming. I don't necessarily need to wait for that day, but I would like to be a little more confident that it will ever come. It would also help if, at the very least, the state I was living in allowed equal rights. These are just a couple of basics.
On to the last bit: I know you were joking about the Catholic Church and the Pope, but dude. Dude. My whole statement of purpose here is that I, [supposedly] like our government, want nothing to do with religion. As far as I'm concerned, the Catholics can continue to practice homosexuality only in secret and only with the illegally young, and the Pope can continue to pretend that the Bible allows for life on Mars. But I think one of the biggest roadblocks in the struggle for equal rights is the fear that we intend to change the way the church does its business. I just want the church out of our law, like it's supposed to be.
In other news: Today I overheard a woman talking with disgust about "the gays." (We just had the Fremont Fair, sort of a celebration of freakiness and rampant nudity, and apparently it ruffled this woman's feathers.) I then overheard her mention (almost proudly) that the father of her two children is a "pervert" and that it would be illegal for him to come near their children. That's God's America.
Last and also least, here's a joke I came up with a couple of weeks ago. You can use this at snooty cocktail parties. Here goes:
"Did you hear that Gov. Bobby Jindal, possible Republican VP candidate, was once an exorcist? Well, it is the party of Regan!"
If you can figure out how to tell that joke without hyperlinks, I swear it'll have people shooting martinis out their noses.
June 17, 2008
Gay marriage in CA: will it stick?
The gay marriage train started today in California. That gives gay couples about five months before their unions are potentially annulled in November by a vote to change the state constitution.
That sounds grim, since gays can only marry in California because of those lousy willful activist judges. Last month Slate had a good article with an optimistic spin: over the coming months, as homosexual marriage becomes mainstream, voters won't remember what all the fuss was about and it'll stay on the books. (Apparently that's basically what happened in Massachusetts.)
Also in same-sex marriage's corner, as we've discussed on this blog: the economy. Marriage is an expensive business, after all, with all those inedible cakes and whatnot.
Place your bets now. My money's on the gays. Too bad for them.
June 13, 2008
Darn those willful judges and their love of rights
Yesterday those stinking activist judges -- or as McCain calls them, "willful judges" (presumably to be replaced one day by impartial robot tribunals) -- asserted the rights of Gitmo prisoners to a
And only six years after the fact! What's the rush, Supreme Court? Did deciding the 2000 election take too much out of you? Did you need a nap after that or something?
June 12, 2008
FOX: Fair and racist
Well, I've been patiently waiting for McCain and/or his supporters to throw their first racist stone. No luck as yet, but FOX news is not disappointing us. Earlier this week, they introduced the phrase "terrorist fist jab" into the lexicon, but yesterday they one-upped themselves by referring to Michelle Obama -- that's Senator Obama's wife of almost 16 years -- as the Senator's "baby mama." Please note that the following exchange is entirely fabricated, but eerily plausible.
FIRST FOX PRODUCER
I need a graphic about how mad liberals get when we smear Michelle Obama.SECOND FOX PRODUCER
How about "Outraged Liberals: Stop Picking on Obama's Baby Mama!"FIRST FOX PRODUCER
"Baby Mama"? What does that mean?SECOND FOX PRODUCER
You know...it means...his wife, but black.FIRST FOX PRODUCER
Ohhhhh.
June 11, 2008
It Brings On Many Changes
Convicted hedge fund manager and movie-trivia lover Samuel Israel III (Sammy 3 to his friends) may have faked his suicide by parking his car near the Hudson River and then writing in the dust on his car the heartbreaking message, "Theme from MASH".
June 9, 2008
Happy One'th Birthday Alex!
Happy birthday, Alex...even though you can't read.
On this day in history, the national gas price average broke the $4 barrier -- a scant four years after your daddy quaintly complained about $2.15 per gallon. In other words, by the time you're old enough to drive, it'll be that or college. Not both.
June 8, 2008
The most frustrating pinball game ever
I've been having lots of fun this weekend participating in a tournament at the Northwest Pinball and Gameroom Show, a short bus ride away from my apartment. I think I've made the playoffs, although they were still tabulating the results tonight when they closed the exhibition hall. But in the midst of qualifying for the playoffs, I experienced the most frustrating game of pinball I've ever had.
And understand, I've had some bad ones. I've had games where the ball went down the outlane without me touching it three consecutive times, in playoffs... but I blame those more on me than the machine. In this case, I couldn't help but feel the machine was out to get me.
The game in question is called Whirlwind, a Pat Lawlor game from 1990 that I really enjoy. It was the first game I played in which I discovered the joy of the three-way combo (the game is smart enough to award bonus points if you hit the left loop, upper loop, and side ramp shots in quick succession), but I hate seeing it in competition because it's so damned hard. There are three fairly large spinning discs right in the center of the playfield, and they choose inopportune times to spin as the ball passes over them, flinging it unfailingly towards an outlane or straight down the middle. Combine that with the fact that games in tournaments tend to have really bouncy flippers and wide gaping outlanes, and it really becomes an exercise in futility trying to get a good score.
So, of course, there's one in the bank of games for qualifying in this tournament. And the whole weekend, the damn thing was eating my lunch. I would string together a shot here and a shot there, but nothing consistently good, and starting multiball, which has the greatest scoring potential, was proving ridiculously difficult.
Then... finally... I was in the middle of another poor game when everything just started to click. On ball three (my last one), I hit a million point shot, started multiball, and hit a two-million point shot. My score to that point alone would have been good enough for the top score so far in the tourney. So, of course, the machine decides right then to call it quits. The game suddenly power-cycles and resets during my great multiball, and my three balls helplessly drained past dead flippers.
I was miffed, obviously, but I knew I'd had a decent score to that point and was willing to use those points as my final score for the scorekeeper to record. I've had games reset on me before dozens of times. It famously happened one time to me playing Addams Family in a league playoff match back in Maryland; I was having a great first ball that time, and the machine heartbreakingly reset on me, although by that point it didn't matter because I was already out of the running for the title. That time, I was able to keep the points I had scored up until the malfunction, because normally the game at least has the decency to remember your score when it powers back up.
But not this time; my heart sank as a big double-zero flashed up on Whirlwind's display, as if to taunt me.
The scorekeeper confirmed that the score was null and void; nobody had been watching my game, so nobody could vouch for what the actual score was (I estimated 4.8 million at that point). Once again, Whirlwind had found a way to defeat me... during the one good game I had on the damn thing all weekend.
I did come back later in the evening and put up about 3 million in a game, which ranked roughly 10th among all entries. But still... I'm never going to forget that evil, evil game, and how it has scarred me permanently. Whirlwind is officially, and will forever be, my nemesis.
(Whereas Getaway is my friend.)
June 5, 2008
From the desk of Furdell & Furdell, up-and-coming marketing firm
Dear Barack Obama,
We at Furdell.com have worked tirelessly to bring you the greatest campaign slogan ever. Feel free to use it, as long as you credit us appropriately, and give us some kind of kickback when it makes you the most powerful man on Earth. Like give us Guam or something. (It's just an itty-bitty place, Mr. Luthor.)
Ahem. Your new slogan:
Get ready to ride the changercoaster!
Eh? Ehh? Yeah? Whaddaya think? Sleep on it maybe? You sleep on it, and get back to me.
Love,
Furdell.com
Entity
In other news, here's a message from Hillary Clinton to you, her supporters:
On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.
(emphasis mine)
June 4, 2008
My oh my
Did somebody ask for inventive cursing? Well, this isn't it: the Mariners' latest loss finally sent manager John McLaren over the edge.
I think the most compelling argument in favor of firing him is that he sounds like he's using profanity for the first time.
You love us! You morons!
If there's one proven by my recent post about Hillary fanatics flipping over to McCain, it's that my mother isn't the only person who reads this blog. (And if humor is measured in inventive cursing1, this blog was much funnier before my mother started reading it.)
Unfortunately it seems that some of our readers don't understand what Furdell.com is all about.
I understand if you don't agree with my decision, but don't insult my intelligence. Posted by Mary at June 3, 2008 7:41 PM...just because we don't agree doesn't mean we have to insult her views. Grow up. Posted by jen at June 4, 2008 12:31 PM
Ladies, if you're looking for a blog that makes calm, rational arguments without insulting your intelligence, may I suggest this YouTube video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."
That's right, reader: I so completely don't acknowledge your intelligence, that I'm pretty sure I can rick roll you without even making an effort at deception. That's exactly how stupid I think you are.
Now that that's out of the way: in the interest of further angering Clinton supporters, and to further promote the use of inventive cursing, here's the video that reimagines the movie Downfall to be about Clinton losing the nomination, which she totally just did.
1 It is.
June 2, 2008
Does Stan Lee work for the New Yorker?
New Yorker cartoonist plagiarizes Jack Kirby, and thus also plagiarizes Stan Lee -- who, up until now, had the market cornered on taking credit for Kirby's work.
STAN
Superheroes are popular again! I need an idea fast!JACK
I did a comic about a team of four adventurers who challenge the unknown. Maybe we could do something like that, but with super powers and --STAN
You're fired!