Last night’s presidential debate turned out to be about Joe the Plumber.  An interview has been making the rounds online in which Obama talks to an Ohio plumber, who is considering buying the business he’s been working 12-hour days for over the past years.  Joe says he would be dissuaded from buying it under Obama’s economic plan, where Joe’s tax rate, on his profit above two hundred fifty thousand dollars a year, would increase from 36% to 39%. Or maybe Joe is predicting that, under Obama, he might not be able to borrow money to buy the business.

Check out the original interview here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFC9jv9jfoA&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/

I like . . .

Continue Reading »

You might’ve seen these avatars floating about on the web (the electronic image type not the incarnation of a Hindu deity as Vishnu, although  . . . these days . . .you never know especially considering the last caption contest). I don’t know if this is old hat since I am in Finland and there is a lag where much of American “culture” is filtered down over time which is a good thing. Anyway a friend of mine had a Simpsons avatar of himself on his website and I thought that’s neat. So instead of doing real work I decided to waste about an hour or so creating my . . .

Continue Reading »

Grade:  A

Two episodes in, I unequivocally love this show.  Reaper makes Chuck pale in comparison.  The two share a basic concept—male underachievers who unwittingly enter a world of high intrigue and danger—but where Chuck rips off Alias hardcore, Reaper more gently takes off from Buffy International Airport.  On his twenty-first birthday, Sam Oliver (Bret Harrison) fends off his suddenly solicitous parents and heads to The Work Bench, where he punches a clock with his goonish best friend Sock (Tyler Labine) and love interest Andi (Missy Peregrym).  After a number of mysterious occurrences—Sam develops telekinesis and has odd . . .

Continue Reading »

Chuck grade:  A –

Journeyman grade:  C +

Of the two new shows that bracket Heroes on NBC’s Monday lineup, Chuck is the one that dares to ask, “What if Sydney Bristow didn’t mean to become a secret agent?”  Chuck (Zachary Levi) is a computer tech at Buy More who hasn’t gotten over the time his college roommate Bryce stole his girlfriend.  Eventually Bryce graduated to stealing government intel, and emails the goodies to Chuck just before dying at the hands of Jayne from Firefly.  Somehow the intel downloads into Chuck’s brain, and suddenly Chuck is the . . .

Continue Reading »

Grade:  C +

God, the WB lives.  Its teen-centric programming philosophy rises again in the form of Gossip Girl, a nighttime soap (based on a YA book series) about fabulously rich New York City teenagers who don’t get along, or have just met.  The hive’s former queen is Serena Van Der Woodsen, a (reformed?) bad girl who ran away to boarding school in Connecticut after sleeping with:  Nate, the boyfriend since kindergarten of Serena’s (now ex-) best friend:  Blair, the crowd’s reigning queen who is possibly opening her orbit to include:  Jen, the school’s new girl, daughter of . . .

Continue Reading »