that other guy’s thoughts

ahhh…the loving compassion of moveon.org

In dishonor of Michael Moore’s continued assault on the documentary, I present you with a crap load of quotes about his new film, Fahrenheit 9/11.

Jeff Jarvis “I don’t buy Moore’s Bush. To say that he’s the dark force of the universe only leads to simple-minded over-generalizations and bilious caricatures.”

Christopher Hitchen, Slate “To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of “dissenting” bravery. “

A. O. Scott, NY Times “Mixing sober outrage with mischievous humor and blithely trampling the boundary between documentary and demagoguery.”

Jason Kottke “Fahrenheit 9/11 is so much about Michael Moore’s opinion that it’s difficult to go through that process of finding the truth. The frustrating thing is that Moore has a point, but he’s unable to get himself out of the way enough to tell us the story so we can make up our own minds about it”

Ty Burr, Boston Globe “”Fahrenheit 9/11″ is many things, but for pity’s sake let’s not call it a documentary. To do so abuses the word and shames the good and balanced work done by filmmakers”

Andrew Sullivan “I will generally go see anything. I even sat through “The Passion of the Christ.” But I cannot bring myself to go to this piece of vile, hateful propaganda.”

Jay Reding “Moore’s film clearly is the basest of propaganda, a shamefully manipulative piece that presents only one side of the story. The way in which Moore portrays pre-war Baghdad as being some kind of idyllic setting - no mass graves, no tortures, no rapes, is simply disgusting. Moore isn’t anti-war he’s cheerleading for the other side.”

Byron York, National Review “Fahrenheit 9/11 devotes a significant amount of time to a fantastical theory that the war in Afghanistan was not part of a wide-ranging U.S. retaliation for the terrorist attacks of September 11, but was in fact undertaken for the financial benefit of Texas oil interests”

Kevin Mori “I just can’t support a movie that passes itself off as documentary while deliberately spreads falsehoods and lies, no matter how good the cause or how much I agree with a filmmaker’s personal politics.”

I could go on, but what’s the point?

As a general rule, I’m willing hear out anybody’s opinion, but I absolutely will not pay to see this movie. I fear that Moore will point to his box office numbers and gloat about how great a documentarian he is. I fear he’ll make public proclamation about how many people support his point of view because they went to see his movie. I won’t do it because I will, in no way shape or form, give even the slightest illusion of support to such a man.

Give me a bootleg copy off the internet, invite me over to your house for a Michael Moore rental film fest that your friends are throwing. I’ll watch, but I won’t pay.

KU’s SAE Heavy Lift Team placed 4th overall at the west competition. Lifting 27lbs or weight with a 12 lb airplane. This official starts my reign as evil underlord of the KU team for next year.

Sorry about all y’all getting 404′d for the last week. I had set my web hosting service to automatically renew while I was in Texas, and remarkably it didn’t. So I spent the last week trying to recover all the website as well as restore service. But alas, my will be done, and TOG is back for another year!

I’m taking off for Fort Worth in about an hour for another shot at engineering immortality. I’ll be back late Sunday, so until then, I hope all goes well for you and yours.

Well, I prophezied it though I didn’t think it would be Ralph Wiley. I’ve been reading his stuff from ESPN for a few years, it was good stuff.

TOG will pour out a cold one for you Ralph. You the man dog, you the man.

UPDATE: ESPN’s Page 2 has a fitting remembrance on the front page. Check it out.

Dana’s bun in the oven is about done, and we here at TOG’s thoughts wish her a healthy and happy baby boy. If you haven’t already, enjoy her daily dose good times at Note-It Posts

The first being a distinct lack of people saying nice things to me through my Gmail account.

The second being the few invitations to get a Gmail account that I just can’t seem to get rid of.

hmmm…whatever shall I do?

Since we all know the famous people die in threes, I’m going to go ahead an lay out some official TOG odds.

Over/Under on the the next Famous death: June 17th

Odds on Next Famous Person to Die:

The Pope: 5:3 Sorry Kristi
Elizabeth Taylor: 6:1
Abe Vigoda: 4:1
Fidel Castro: 8:1
Ozzy Osborne: 18:1
Marlon Brando: 24:1
Courtney Love: 12:1

I’m open to other suggestions as well.

previously on Bread Line

Well, its official…sort of

SOECS is taking over something, but nobody knows what yet, not even them.

Nobody knows, because nobody has decided yet. Which sort of seems bass-ackwards to me. Logic dictates that you should have defined and understood responsibilities before you accept a job, not after. But now that SOECS has unveiled their plain to take over the world my job, they are dangerously exposed. And this makes me happy.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? Someone is likely taking over my job and I’m happy?

Damn right I am. And there are three good reasons for me to be

1.) I have a department promise that I will still have a job of some sorts next year, whether it be lab stuff or legitimate research.

2.) I’m getting real tired of the IT world anyway. Professor and Students alike are dumb. Educated they may be, but when mere concept of causality escapes your grasp, your are dumb. There is to much whining and complaining for me to put up with any more. The computers are fun to deal with, but I don’t get paid nearly enough to deal with the people.

3.) I have a full two months to sabotage an entire network of computers. And there is nobody capable of stopping me.

So there you have it, I have 2 months batten down the hatches and make these IT conquistadors’ lives harder. They have no earthly idea what they are getting into. I am therefore officially opening the floor for suggestions of subversion and other general mayhem.

Let the games begin