Portman Drops Bombs

Dude, Natalie Portman totally owns you:

Drunk Soccer Ref

In Russia, of course:

Googling The Tour

Google Maps has set up a feature that allows you to view the entire route of the Tour de France from a rider's eye viewpoint. With 360 degree rotating street views you can even click on the route to follow it through the streets; this one's for you, BD my friend:

Ireland: Ahead Of The Curve Since 2004

This interview of President Bush is from 2004 but it's very telling even today; it's refreshing to see a journalist who isn't worried about a return interview or maintaining access when asking the President of the United States hard and pointed questions. That's one reason the White House Correspondent's Association Dinner has always made me so uncomfortable; aside from Stephen Colbert's masterful performance a few years back, it's always seemed like a big love-fest between the press corps and the very people they've been tasked with policing.

Notice how he has to continually interrupt her to be able to throw out the prewritten talking points he's usually able to spout off without any challenge from the cowtowing American media. Erin Go Bragh:

Something I Wish I'd Said

"Although Obama is likely to be more vocal about issues of racial discrimination as president than he has been as a candidate, his speeches about the importance of strong families and the responsibilities of parenthood carry a decided echo of the gospel according to a certain Mr. Cosby. In this sense, instead of sparking a revolution in black political strategies and agendas, an Obama presidency might simply lend further weight to increasingly frequent suggestions that the old knee-jerk response of treating most difficulties facing black Americans as a product of white racism has long since grown stale and counterproductive." -James C. Cobb, Spalding Distinguished Professor of History, University of Georgia, Athens

The old Boomer narratives of black victimology and self-pity espoused by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are becoming increasingly irrelevant in today's political climate. Check out The Cos speaking about taking personal responsibility in the black community here.

3 Uninterrupted Minutes Of Goodfellas

A favorite blog has been posting some of cinema's best continuous tracking shots and I had to do the same with this one from Scorsese's Goodfellas; absolutely beautiful:

Black Communists

When smearing a prominent black politician with racial slurs and stereotypes isn't enough, thank the gods that there's always the evil specter of communism to fall back on; Andrew Sullivan puts together some telling quotes from the right, including one from this recently deceased douchebag. Was there ever a time when American politics wasn't this dirty and malicious?

Perceptive Pixel

A revolution in the field of human/pc interfacing:

Abraham Obama

This mural by guerrilla artist Ron English features composite portraits of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln, their faces melded in a rainbow of color. The mural was legally commissioned by a local Boston art gallery but the enthusiasm of many younger fans illegally posting flyers all over the surrounding neighborhood set off a flurry of complaints from other galleries and business owners. Of course, this isn't the first comparison made between the two Illinois senators; this winning political ad from MoveOn.org focuses on the similarities of the two men. You may also remember this post about Ron English and his usually subversive street art; perhaps it's my distaste for authority but there's something a bit unsettling about seeing him creating legal art. I suppose the guy does have to put food on the table though.

Norm Macdonald, Chairman Of The Board

This clip of Norm Macdonald and Courtney Thorne-Smith with Conan O'Brien is a decade old but I just saw it for the first time and nearly pissed myself watching it. It seems that Courtney was quitting Melrose Place to film one of the worst movies ever made with prop comedian Carrot Top and Norm just unloads on the entire idea as if she wasn't there to promote it on that television show and sitting within earshot of his jokes. That's why I love this guy: he's completely unfiltered and never even bothers to look at where the lines are drawn, much less whether he's crossed one; the really funny stuff starts at about 1:45 in: