Thanksgiving survived

I fucking hate the "holiday season". This should be of no surprise to anyone who knows me even casually.

I find Thanksgiving especially loathesome, because in addition to the lack of gifts, there was always the mandatory church-going followed by the long-ass trip to my uncle's house for dinner. Sure, there's the meal, but at some point grandma always had to make sure that we were aware of her mortality and declare how happy she was that we could all be here for one more year while weeping.

For a while, The Iron Giant was the best part of Thanksgiving. Hell, it was the only good part of Thanksgiving. Cartoon Network would air it all day long in a continuous loop. You could catch part of it in the morning, another segment after church, and watch the whole thing in it's last airing of the night when you got home from your awkward dinner. It was the soothing medicated balm that calmed all the irritations of the day. You could pour yourself the first super-boozy eggnog of the season and be swept away by the film's unending charm.

Don't get me wrong, I had my doubts: Jennifer fucking Aniston, Vin goddamn Diesel, Harry Connick Jr. But then I remembered: Brad Bird. He of The Simpsons, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille. Watch and behold:

Iron Giant Trailer
by duracelleur

Now, go out and get yourself the special edition DVD.

Not my Milwaukee

See ThisisMyMilwaukee
originally found via Metafilter

I'm guessing it's actually New York.

When I was a kid, while watching an episode of Laverne & Shirley together, my father turned to me and said, "That's not Milwaukee. There aren't brownstones like that here."
That moment was pretty much the only thing I could think of while watching that video.

I seriously have no idea what the hell is going on there. I assume it'll end up being a viral ad for something lame.

A Gay President in 2084

Florida, Arizona, and California all voted to ban same-sex marriage. And Arkansas voted to ban adoption by gay couples.

Jebus fucking christ. Just when I thought I could stop hating this country, I have to start hating it again.

Apparently, the voters who won Florida and California for President Obama forgot about his ongoing opposition to the Defense of Marriage Act. I only hope that he remembers.

America. Fuck Yeah!

It's like this...



...only, Apollo Creed beat the shit out of Ivan Drago. Or something.

I honestly don't know what they're basing this on.

But now I feel like I should give it a try.

Ward 56, Voter #113

My polling place is about half a block from my apartment, and I usually vote just before leaving for work; when the polls have been open for about an hour. I get in and out within a few minutes, and my voter number is usually in the 20's.

This morning I went to my polling place about ten minutes before the polls were scheduled to open. The line, in addition to snaking around a courtyard that can't be seen in the above photo, went around the corner and halfway down the block. The wait was a brisk 45 minutes, and the line looked exactly the same when I left as it did when I arrived. When I got home from work some 8 hours later there was still a line down the block.

After spending all day reading the latest headlines on Democratic Underground, I immediately turned on CNN when I got home. And then I broke out in a cold sweat and felt nauseous. 6:00 pm is too early to know anything, and it's sure as fuck too early for an unnecessary panic attack.

Current projection has Obama at 175 to McCain's 46. I'm going to watch some Futurama and open another beer.

Gobama.