Month: November 2009

A Risk movie.

As in, a movie based on the board game Risk.  Coming from Columbia pictures, and apparently starring Will Smith.

Belgrad pointed to the success of movies from toys Transformers and G.I. Joe (but not to the dismal movie from the board game Clue) to claim audiences have “shown a great desire for films that bring to life everything that has made these franchise properties stand the test of time. The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make RISK a classic, thoroughly engaging game. Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie.”

I’ve already tried rolling to disbelieve. Didn’t work.

2010 battle maps: Stupak and No on Health care rationing.

Jay Cost (H/T: @MelissaTweets) has written an article on the Democratic party that is impossible to excerpt properly:

How To Divide a Party, In Three Easy Steps!

So, you’ve decided to become the leader of a big political party. Only one problem: it’s too big! What to do?

Well, you’ve come to the right place. Here at the Horse Race Blog, we’ve developed a three-step guide to making that broad party a little more…narrow. Just follow these simple instructions and your majority party will be smaller and a little easier to handle in no time!

…and summarizing said article (the very short version: it’s a bad idea to run a national party as if it were an urban regional one) doesn’t do it justice. Instead, I suggest that you first read it, then take a look at the maps after the fold. Continue reading 2010 battle maps: Stupak and No on Health care rationing.

Book of the Week: Lovecraft Unbound.

I’m in the middle of it now: Lovecraft Unbound is interesting mostly because it’s a Lovecraft-themed collection of short stories, with very little if any Mythos content. It’s always interesting to see who’s gotten ensnared by the writer, often in spite of themselves*: the prejudices and assumptions of HPL are ones that frankly grate on modern sensibilities, and yet… if you have any fondness for the horror genre, you can’t escape Lovecraft. Love him or hate him, you can’t ignore him.

And so, it being Sunday, we replace Torch of Freedom (Honorverse).

Moe Lane

*Michael Chabon and Joyce Carol Oates are the most well-known ones in this anthology.

True Blood’s based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels?

To quote Johnny Carson, I did not know that. Anybody watching True Blood that’s also familiar with the Charlaine Harris series?  I think that I read about three or four of them before the switch to stay-at-home dad put buying them on the wrong side of the disposable income threshold; I wonder if I’ll like the video version better than the written one, for a change.

It was twenty years ago today that the Berlin Wall fell.

Or, as I like to think of it, the day where the Forces of Good and Light hammered the first stake through the rotten black heart of Soviet Communism, pausing only to savor the screams and sobs as the monster futilely begged, with ever-decreasing volume, for its very life.

AND THEN WE USED THE EVENT TO SELL SOFT DRINKS.

WHO BURIED WHO, NIKITA?

Moe Lane

PS: Just for added schadenfreude towards the Commies, HEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRREEEEEE’S RONNIE!

‘Anger is an energy.’ (So is a taste for vengeance.)

Dr. Helen has a definite point:

Often, I hear Republicans and conservatives say that we are “doomed.” This negative cognitive self-talk is pathetic. It is crippling. Don’t engage in it.

You are never doomed until you are dead. There is always something that can be done. The anger of the American public is only just beginning. It is an energy that will be needed in the coming days, weeks and months to protest, stand up, debate, argue and get in the face of every government official, public figure and others who support a bill that leads us down The Road to Serfdom.

(H/T: Instapundit) Not being an intellectual*, I’m going to put my response in somewhat more populist terms. I agree with Helen that anger is an energy. Nonetheless:

“Don’t get mad. Get even.”

Moe Lane

*I thought I was, once: but it turns out that I was just a science fiction geek. Frankly, I prefer it this way.

SEUI goons in Sacramento?

[UPDATE] Err… yes.  Yes, of course that was an intentional typo in the title.

Well, this is an interesting report:

Via @thebcast.  My first inclination is of course to believe this Ken Hamidi fellow… as is my second, third, and fourth inclination. And none of those links directly involve Kenneth Gladney: in fact, not all of them involve right-wing sources.  Nonetheless, innocent until proven guilty… even when it comes to SEIU’s purpleshirts.  If they have evidence to show that Hamidi was at fault, I’m sure that it’ll become obvious soon enough.

Moe Lane

I think that Edward Houck would be a *jewel* in McDonnell’s administration.

Doing what, you ask?  Bless your heart, who cares?  I’m sure that the Governor-elect will find something for him to do.

In the short term, [Current VA Senate Majority Leader] Saslaw’s challenge will be to hold his party’s 21 seats. McDonnell might try to tip the balance of power in the Senate by luring a Democrat in a vulnerable district into his administration.

One key senator Friday did not rule out the possibility of accepting such an offer. Sen. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania) , a longtime school administrator who was considered for secretary of education under both Kaine and Warner, said he would be willing to discuss an administration job.

“I would certainly be willing to talk to the governor-elect and his staff about whatever they want to talk about,” he said. “I’m not looking for that, I’m not seeking that, but I’m willing to talk to them about anything.”

Via NotLarrySabato, who is inexplicably not as happy about this act of potential bipartisanship and outreach as the rest of us.  Of course, it’s not as fun when it’s the other side doing it to you.

Moe Lane