The same day Hillary goes up with her red-phone ad, her campaign is asked on a conference call to give an example of when she was tested by a foreign policy crisis.
Silence ensues.
The "experience" card was always a tough one for Clinton, because, really, she has about the same amount of experience as Obama or Edwards. I think "fame and familiarity" are a much better way to encapsulate her actual advantage over them. It may explain why she tends to lose support as voters become more familiar with her rivals: if all she has to offer is being better known, that's a pretty easy advantage to lose.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Listening to...
Man or Astro-man? - Theme from Eeviac
I'd say this album was the best retro-sci-fi-surf-rock album of 1999.
Hillary Clinton's "3 A.M. Phonecall" Ad
It seems like this scare-mongering new ad would be a lot more effective if the final image of Hillary picking up the phone was able to reassure me instead of scaring me even more. Like, maybe if this ad was run against McCain, it could be effective (cut to: red button being pressed).
It's a last-minute Hail Mary from the Clinton people (and I have little doubt who is behind it) but I'd be shocked if it's able to stem the tide. Maybe she hangs on in Ohio, but I think for Texas, this is too-little-too-late.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Bill Simmons for NBA GM
A fantastic idea that I hope someone takes seriously. Normally, I'd say taking a fan to run an enterprise is a poor idea, but considering some of the jokers who managed to score jobs managing top flight sports franchises, you couldn't do much worse.
If the Bucks pass him up, I'd take him for GM of either of the sorry franchises I root for.
If the Bucks pass him up, I'd take him for GM of either of the sorry franchises I root for.
Not that this should surprise you...
But the record labels haven't given a dime of the piracy lawsuit money to their artists. Something to think about the next time they come whining to Congress about bankrupting the talent.
Yellow License Plates for Drunk Drivers
This seems like a pretty poor idea to me. The whole "shaming people who have committed crimes" thing seems to be too harshly punitive and medieval, and in many cases, I think, misunderstands how lawbreakers think. When the consequences for getting caught are already so high, adding a humiliating little extra punishment seems, well, cruel and unusual.
The aspect of this that I like is letting law enforcement know who is a former drunk driver. Maybe if there was an infra-red beacon instead of a shaming device, this idea is practical. Obviously, it'll result in a lot more repeat offenders getting pulled over late at night (even when they don't deserve it), but wouldn't that prospect deter you from trying again, knowing that the likelihood of getting caught has substantially increased?
The aspect of this that I like is letting law enforcement know who is a former drunk driver. Maybe if there was an infra-red beacon instead of a shaming device, this idea is practical. Obviously, it'll result in a lot more repeat offenders getting pulled over late at night (even when they don't deserve it), but wouldn't that prospect deter you from trying again, knowing that the likelihood of getting caught has substantially increased?
Numbers from Nowhere
Mark Halperin reports on the latest word out of Hillaryland. Pretty much what you'd expect from her top advisors (what are they gonna do, admit that morale is low?) but there's one item that deserves more scrutiny than the press is giving it.
Is there any independent verification for this number? If this were true, then it would hardly explain why the Clinton campaign is acting a lot like it's almost out of money altogether. My gut says that a huge percentage of the $35 million is maxed-out contributors (who constitute a majority of Clinton's donors) double dipping by contributing money earmarked for the general election. Romney tried the same trick after his loss in New Hampshire (later admitting that 3/4 of what he announced he raised was general election money).
It would certainly gibe with the Clinton campaign putting more effort into pretending they're winning than actually, like, winning.
Update: Aides say that "almost all" of the money is primary money. I'll believe it when I see the hard numbers at the end of the quarter.
Plus: McAuliffe announces campaign has raised over $35 million with 200,000 new donors in February. They’ve raised $167 million total, $145 million for primary campaign.
Is there any independent verification for this number? If this were true, then it would hardly explain why the Clinton campaign is acting a lot like it's almost out of money altogether. My gut says that a huge percentage of the $35 million is maxed-out contributors (who constitute a majority of Clinton's donors) double dipping by contributing money earmarked for the general election. Romney tried the same trick after his loss in New Hampshire (later admitting that 3/4 of what he announced he raised was general election money).
It would certainly gibe with the Clinton campaign putting more effort into pretending they're winning than actually, like, winning.
Update: Aides say that "almost all" of the money is primary money. I'll believe it when I see the hard numbers at the end of the quarter.
Obama's Branding
Newsweek's Andrew Romano interviews typography expert Michael Bierut about Barack Obama's branding strategy. Very interesting piece. A particularly stunning passage:
One of the most consistantly amazing things about Obama's campaign so far is just how relentlessly competent it is. It gives me a lot of confidence going forward. While a lot of bloggers seem to deride the notion that running a campaign well means you'll run the country well, I think it holds a lot of weight. Getting all your signs in the same typeface probably isn't as tough getting health care for every American, but if you can't even handle the signs, what hope is there?
Is Obama's stuff on the level with the best commercial brand design?
I think it's just as good or better. I have sophisticated clients who pay me and other people well to try to keep them on the straight and narrow, and they have trouble getting everything set in the same typeface. And he seems to be able to do it in Cleveland and Cincinnati and Houston and San Antonio. Every time you look, all those signs are perfect. Graphic designers like me don't understand how it's happening. It's unprecedented and inconceivable to us. The people in the know are flabbergasted.What does that say about his campaign?
My feeling, in my own narrow sphere as a professional graphic designer, echoes a little bit what Frank Rich wrote in his column on Sunday, where he was talking about Hillary Clinton's argument that Obama doesn't have the experience to run the country properly, and how you only needed to look at how her own campaign has been managed to see the flaw in that argument. I sort of see the same thing. I'm not sure that the commander-in-chief proves his mettle by getting everyone at his rallies to set their signs in the same typeface, but as someone who knows how hard that is, I'm very impressed.The specific choices are also made in really good taste and I'd say to certain degree they also philosophically align with what his position is.
One of the most consistantly amazing things about Obama's campaign so far is just how relentlessly competent it is. It gives me a lot of confidence going forward. While a lot of bloggers seem to deride the notion that running a campaign well means you'll run the country well, I think it holds a lot of weight. Getting all your signs in the same typeface probably isn't as tough getting health care for every American, but if you can't even handle the signs, what hope is there?
Barack Hussein Obama
Slate's Trailhead blog meditates on the use of Barack Obama's middle name. Something that I think is worth pointing out though, is that the familiar "full name" abbrievations like FDR, JFK and LBJ that we're so used to hearing came about mostly because those presidents had names too long to fit inside newspaper headlines. Like "Nixon", "Obama" is short enough to make it a non-issue (and sounds a lot cooler than "BHO").
There's a simple and arbitrary reason that hardly anyone (besides the creators of the Simpsons) knows Richard Nixon's middle name, and yet "Delano" seems instantly familiar.
William Jefferson Clinton seems like a separate case, in which the full name was embraced cause it sounds better than "William Clinton" when "Bill" was too informal to use. "William Clinton" just doesn't sound right, rhythmically.
There's a simple and arbitrary reason that hardly anyone (besides the creators of the Simpsons) knows Richard Nixon's middle name, and yet "Delano" seems instantly familiar.
William Jefferson Clinton seems like a separate case, in which the full name was embraced cause it sounds better than "William Clinton" when "Bill" was too informal to use. "William Clinton" just doesn't sound right, rhythmically.
Listening to...
Professor Murder - Cam'ron's New Color (part 3)
Band gets bonus points for being named after a character from a Mr. Show sketch.
Bloomberg to sit this one out
Finally, we get an announcement from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that he won't run for President as an independent this election.
The timing of this announcement makes me wonder, though: is Obama's increasingly inevitable-looking lead the deciding factor here? It's an intriguing theory, but I think he would've done equally miserably in a McCain-Hillary election as he would in a McCain-Obama election.
Maybe if it had been like Paul - Kuchinich, Bloomberg's plan would've made sense. In basically any other scenario though, it seemed like a Steve Forbes-esque vanity run.
The timing of this announcement makes me wonder, though: is Obama's increasingly inevitable-looking lead the deciding factor here? It's an intriguing theory, but I think he would've done equally miserably in a McCain-Hillary election as he would in a McCain-Obama election.
Maybe if it had been like Paul - Kuchinich, Bloomberg's plan would've made sense. In basically any other scenario though, it seemed like a Steve Forbes-esque vanity run.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Plagiarists on Plagiarism
Slate highlights the insanity of having admitted plagiarist Doris Kearns Goodwin defend Barack Obama on accusations of plagiarism. Between this and the roasting he's taking over his moderation of the Democratic debate, it's been a bad week for Russert.
Song I'm listening to today
Sunshine Underground - Borders (2006)
The music video is borderline incomprehensible, but it's a pretty catchy song.
Running for President since they've been in the Senate
How ironic for Bill Clinton to call out Barack Obama for "running for President since he got in the Senate." It's because Hillary Clinton is guilty of just that that she positioned herself (disastrously) as such a hawk for the run-up to the Iraq war.
Obama, on the other hand, seemed legitimately torn about whether it was the right time to run for the Presidency in 2008. I hardly think it's accurate to say that he's been running since he got into the Senate.
Also, what happened to the Clinton campagin muzzling Bill? Guess they can't even manage that any longer.
Obama, on the other hand, seemed legitimately torn about whether it was the right time to run for the Presidency in 2008. I hardly think it's accurate to say that he's been running since he got into the Senate.
Also, what happened to the Clinton campagin muzzling Bill? Guess they can't even manage that any longer.
Best Weak (pun) Ever!!!
Today while perusing the inter-tubes I realized that the media outlet seemingly made for internships, VH1, has it's own blog.
It's not particularly interesting until you notice the Top 25 Tags on the left hand side of the blog. In the interest of textual modesty, I'll only reprint the top 10...
1. Kim Kardashian's ass: Fine, I suppose it's a fine ass. But there's an ongoing discussion about the ass? That should take up 3, 5 posts to update the ass at most. Apparently Paul F. Thompkins goes on anal rants
2. Sex tapes: I mean, that Gene Simmons sex tape was worth at least a few thousand words. Don't keep your shirt on Gene, you're not me at the beach.
3. Deelishis: ???
4. Photos: "You mean vh1 has those new fangled insta-paintings!?!"
5. Tila Tequila: oh, why flog a cultural dead horse
6. Television: seriously again, we have a tag that technically fits, but no one would search. I don't go online and just blanket search 'Movies'.
7. Movies: Goddamnit
8. Video: seriously, VH1 must have the most vaguely interested readership. "i dunno, i just kinda wanna look at a moving picture."
9. Celebreality: Ok, i cede this point. At least this term is sort of honest.
10. Music: hahahaha
It's not particularly interesting until you notice the Top 25 Tags on the left hand side of the blog. In the interest of textual modesty, I'll only reprint the top 10...
1. Kim Kardashian's ass: Fine, I suppose it's a fine ass. But there's an ongoing discussion about the ass? That should take up 3, 5 posts to update the ass at most. Apparently Paul F. Thompkins goes on anal rants
2. Sex tapes: I mean, that Gene Simmons sex tape was worth at least a few thousand words. Don't keep your shirt on Gene, you're not me at the beach.
3. Deelishis: ???
4. Photos: "You mean vh1 has those new fangled insta-paintings!?!"
5. Tila Tequila: oh, why flog a cultural dead horse
6. Television: seriously again, we have a tag that technically fits, but no one would search. I don't go online and just blanket search 'Movies'.
7. Movies: Goddamnit
8. Video: seriously, VH1 must have the most vaguely interested readership. "i dunno, i just kinda wanna look at a moving picture."
9. Celebreality: Ok, i cede this point. At least this term is sort of honest.
10. Music: hahahaha
Department of Hyperbole
Don't journalists usually wait until someone dies tragically and unexpectedly before writing articles like the one that recently appeared in Slate about Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum? Aeroplane is indeed a beautiful album, but I'd hardly stake it as a work of a rare and mystical genius, despite Mangum's semi-disappearance. It's a well-put-together and gorgeous album by a talented singer and songwriter, and I hope Mangum's intriguing personal life doesn't distract from the record, the same way it has for the likes of Kurt Cobain and Nick Drake.The fact that for the tenth anniversary of this landmark album we get to read about the singer instead of the music seems to indicate otherwise though.
Rove's Right
Marc Ambinder reports: Karl Rove warns against calling Obama "Hussein:"
Seems like solid advice to me. Honestly, I still think Rove is one of the brightest political minds of the age, and Republicans would do well to listen to him. I'm afraid, however that in the last 7 years, the right-wing-noise-machine has become too decentralized to control itself on this point. It's hard to appear to be not bigoted if you have some high-profile bigots like Coulter and Savage in your camp.
No less an authority figure than Karl Rove has warned Republican operatives from demagoguing Barack Obama's middle name.
At a closed door meeting of GOP state executive directors in late January, Rove said the safest way to refer to Obama would be to use his honorific, "Sen. Obama."
"The context was, you're not going to stimatize this guy. You shouldn't underestimate him," one of the executive directors said. Rove said that the use of "Barack Hussein Obama" would perpetuate the notion that Republicans were bigoted and would hurt the party.
Rove also said that Republicans should refer to Hillary Clinton as "Sen. Clinton," rather than "Hillary."
Right wing figures are set to ignore Rove's advice. Rush Limbaugh used Obama's middle name more than a year ago, and Ann Coulter regularly uses the middle name, once calling him "President Hussein." So does Michael Savage, who once asked whether Obama was a "so-called friendly Muslim" or one more "radical."
Seems like solid advice to me. Honestly, I still think Rove is one of the brightest political minds of the age, and Republicans would do well to listen to him. I'm afraid, however that in the last 7 years, the right-wing-noise-machine has become too decentralized to control itself on this point. It's hard to appear to be not bigoted if you have some high-profile bigots like Coulter and Savage in your camp.
It's Wednesday!
So that means a new Zero Punctuation. Shockingly, we actually get to see the normally-disembodied game reviewer Yahtzee, and it oddly enough sort of breaks the spell of hilarity that these videos normally possess. Here's hoping he doesn't do that much in the future.
On the other hand, ZP is one of the only widely-read game review sources that has the balls to bash big-budget titles when they deserve it, and this week is no exception, with Yahtzee ripping into Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It seems like most reviewers will only bash games like this when they're obviously broken, like the infamous Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, for fear of offending advertisers.
Video games will only pull out of their death spiral of mediocrity if there are more reviewers like Yahtzee pushing the medium in the right direction.
On the other hand, ZP is one of the only widely-read game review sources that has the balls to bash big-budget titles when they deserve it, and this week is no exception, with Yahtzee ripping into Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. It seems like most reviewers will only bash games like this when they're obviously broken, like the infamous Kane and Lynch: Dead Men, for fear of offending advertisers.
Video games will only pull out of their death spiral of mediocrity if there are more reviewers like Yahtzee pushing the medium in the right direction.
To catch a "To Catch a Predator"
NBC is getting sued for $100 million by the family of a man who killed himself after being ambushed in his home by the "To Catch a Predator" crew.
For those of you who still think that this show is anything but a way to exploit ruining people's lives to entertainment, read this amazing article on the show's shady practices in the Louis Conradt case. As for the Perverted Justice people, they come off as pathetic and sad more than anything else, more like a bunch of guys with nothing better to do than like a group of elite vigilante superheroes. And someone should tell this guy that if you're going to change your name, pick something less stupid sounding than "Xavier von Erck" if you want people to take you seriously.
For those of you who still think that this show is anything but a way to exploit ruining people's lives to entertainment, read this amazing article on the show's shady practices in the Louis Conradt case. As for the Perverted Justice people, they come off as pathetic and sad more than anything else, more like a bunch of guys with nothing better to do than like a group of elite vigilante superheroes. And someone should tell this guy that if you're going to change your name, pick something less stupid sounding than "Xavier von Erck" if you want people to take you seriously.
My (evan's) contribution
In terms of any sort of mission statement, I'd only like to add that hopefully we'll strike the right balance of entertaining and well, something worth reading. Blogging tends to veer from self-serving to self-indulgent, so I'll try to keep my contributions as anonymous as possible.
With this in mind, my daily metaphorical youtube link is as follows... my contribution to this website is best represented through this music video my little brother made.
That's right, I'm the sexy one
Sorry, that's the last I'll ever reference myself or my family so overtly, but he needs the traffic.
With this in mind, my daily metaphorical youtube link is as follows... my contribution to this website is best represented through this music video my little brother made.
That's right, I'm the sexy one
Sorry, that's the last I'll ever reference myself or my family so overtly, but he needs the traffic.
Laszlo Panaflex
We won't go into any details about our plans for this blog, because basically, we have no plans. We'll post things that interest us, regardless of topic, relevance, or being in our area of expertise. However, I can lay out a couple things:
Things that Laszlo Panaflex is not:
Things that Laszlo Panaflex is not:
- A personal blog. If you know Evan or me, don't expect to be able to follow our lives by reading the blog. If you don't know us, don't expect to find out about us by reading the blog. We're planning on going out of the way to not mention anything about our actual lives.
- An avenue for us to promote ourselves, or our products. We don't have products, and if we did we wouldn't tell you about them. We aren't selling books or T-Shirts or anything like that.
- A partisan political blog. We're usually pretty liberal, but we don't do the dailyKos cheerleading/fundraising/rabble rousing thing.
- A fascist police state regarding our comments. So far we don't have any commenters (or readers, I assume), but when we do, we'll only delete obvious spam, or posts that our lawyers insist we get rid of. I don't like the idea of censoring anything, so if you want to make an ass of yourself by posting racist screeds, obscene words or any other manner of idiocy, knock yourself out, we don't take responsibility for it.
William F Buckley Dead at 82
The father of the modern conservative movement is dead today at 82. I'm too young to reflect on his heyday, but I have to say that I admired his intellect, despite his conservatism. He also gets extra credit for being one of the only conservative intellectuals not to display cognitive dissonance on the Iraq war.
He'll be missed.
He'll be missed.
Poll of the day - New Pennsylvania Numbers
New poll out of Pennsylvania shows Obama within single digits of HRC. So much for that firewall. She needs to win at least two of the three remaining big states by a wide margin to stay in this thing, and it's increasingly likely she wins zero.
Not that I expect it to last that long. She's already out of money (not a good place to be as the establishment front-runner) and narrow wins in Ohio and Texas aren't going to do anything to change that. It'd almost be better for her to get beat in one or the other next Tuesday -- winning would almost force her to fight on, while a loss let's her get out with some dignity.
Not that I expect it to last that long. She's already out of money (not a good place to be as the establishment front-runner) and narrow wins in Ohio and Texas aren't going to do anything to change that. It'd almost be better for her to get beat in one or the other next Tuesday -- winning would almost force her to fight on, while a loss let's her get out with some dignity.
One last thought on tonight's debate
I think tonight highlighted what's put this election out of reach for Hillary, she was never meant to be behind in the polls. Clinton was adept at deflecting attacks while seeming presidential and inevitable when she was the presumed front-runner, but she has become increasingly vitriolic as her numbers have declined. Tonight highlighted this when she lashed out at the moderators for "always asking her the first question." While it's nice to see genuine emotion out of a candidate, one has to assume her handlers didn't send her in with this gem, it came off as petulant and well, bizarre.
As with many things in the Youtube era, my point can be made through viral video. Here, her response to an attack in one of the New Hampshire debates is intercut with a video of a screaming cat.
Thanks Yongrel.
As with many things in the Youtube era, my point can be made through viral video. Here, her response to an attack in one of the New Hampshire debates is intercut with a video of a screaming cat.
Thanks Yongrel.
Damned if you do...
What really seems to doom Clinton's candidacy at this point is that she's presented with no-win situations like tonight's debate. Fight to a draw and you fail to stop Obama's momentum (which may have already produced a decisive lead in Texas). Go on the attack and risk a huge potential backlash that could doom any future candidacy (including one for Senate Majority Leader).
It's tragic, but all she can do at this point is wait for Obama to make a huge blunder, something he seems unlikely to do.
It's tragic, but all she can do at this point is wait for Obama to make a huge blunder, something he seems unlikely to do.
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