Finally!

Alberto Gonzales has officially tendered his resignation to the President. In a way I would have hoped he stayed in office, because then the Congress could have brought him to court, but that would be under the belief that Congress had some zeal, of which they have close to none. While his resignation underscores a lot of failings of the current Presidency and further invalidates many of the ideas of its supporters, it is most importantly to me the just end to the fatally flawed residency of Alberto Gonzales.


BBC

Total Eclipse of the Moon

On Tuesday between 5:52 in the AM and 7:22 in the AM the Moon will be totally eclipsed.
I'll most likely get up super early to see it. Look below for a chart showing the times and stages of the upcoming eclipse.

Map

EDIT: This isn't as cool as I imagined. All that happens is the moon gets blocked out. I'm still for it, but I've lowered my expectations.

Another Edit: It was actually pretty cool. At around 1:00 am it was really bright outside; as though it was dawn. Then, right at 4:51 the shadow starting creeping over the Moon. About an hour later, when the the eclipse was almost total, the Moon turned red. The bottom was a gold, coppery color and the rest was deep red. It was really neat to see. I am, however, incredibly tired.


Actual picture of eclipse.

Did You Get Those At Ikea?

So, I've finally settled on a pair of shoes. I felt like going pretty classic, so I looked through all the "Converse" type shoes to see what worked. I settled on a pair of Tretorn shoes, which are Swedish. I had no idea until I read up on them. Seeing as there's a Swedish-type flag stitched onto the tongue of the shoe, it's pretty obvious. One of the cooler details is that the main fabric is actually recycled cloth from sails; so it's tough, water proof and already a little beat up which adds some nice character. They're also pretty comfy, which is rare when you buy classic shoes. Now if only I knew how to pronounce the name.

In Subtle Contrast

Here's a video reminder from the hilarious Kristen Schaal.

The Things We Think But Do Not Say

This is so ridiculously romantic it hurts a little. This guy has made the best real life wedding proposal I have ever seen or of which I have ever heard.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

This three-piece out of New York sounds straight of of the mid-eighties and it's awesome. Mix The Cure, The Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine together and you get awfully close. It's noisy, reverb-drenched, super catchy noise-pop. The guy-girl vocals and the adorable name don't hurt either. The only subtle detraction may be the fact they use a drum machine. It sounds fine most of the time, but having a real drummer would be nice.



They've also got two free mp3s to download.

Doing All The Things That Wouldn't Make Your Parents Proud
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

The Autism Spectrum Quotient

MSNBC and Newsweek made a quiz to test for potential Autism. On the scale of 1 to 50 I scored 24, which is apparently above average, but only slightly. I doubt it means much, but it's interesting.

Quiz

YES!!!

The "Dark Knight" treats just keep coming. Here's a few pictures from the set.

Rainbows, Sunshine and Lollipops? Do It!

The Go! Team have released a video for their new song "Doing It Right" and my life in now more livable. How does The Go! Team do it? Do they have concentrated sunshine in a little vile? Probably.

The 'Ye

There's been all kinds of Kanye action lately. He's playing with Peter Bjorn and John in Sweden, 50 Cent said if Kanye outsells him he'll quit releasing records (let's hope for that one) and Kanye of course has a new record coming out.

So, I was listening to Kanye's new single, "Stronger" that is, and I noticed this amazing line.

"And you don't give a f*** what the all say right?
Awesome..."

Add that to "You can live through anything if magic made it."

And "So I parallel double parked that mother f***er sideways."

Night Runner

So the Duran Duran, Timbaland and JT track has hit the internet.

It sounds like Timbaland trying to copy Duran Duran and falling short. The absurdly tight and funky rhythm section is nowhere to be heard and the super chic synth layers of Nick Rhodes are barely there. It's not a terrible song, and it captures more of the spirit of early Duran Duran, which is good, but this could have been so much more. Timbaland already takes his pop sensibilities from Duran Duran and other 80s pop heavy-weights - I just wish he stuck by that here. I think the best description would be that it's something like a bad Duran Duran remix. I could those French cats Justice throwing a nice bass groove on this and speeding things up and having a killer track. I can only hope that actually happens.

Night Runner

Be Kind Rewind

I guess I'm being a blogasaurus today. I'm making post three right now.

Michel Gondry is back on the scene with a new film. It stars Jack Black and Mos Def. Somehow, which is revealed in the trailer, all the films at a video shop which Mos Def runs are erased. In an attempt to save his business, Mos Def and Jack Black recreate the films through some amateur film-making. It seems like the most main-stream film by Gondry so far, but it also looks like it probably has some quality laughs.

Trailer

Post-Debate Analysis

I'm not sure about the amount of coverage given, but Logo, a channel focused towards the gay community, held a debate with most of the Democratic candidates tonight. Not surprisingly, all the Republican candidates declined the opportunity to be involved in a similar debate. The format was fifteen minutes for each candidate and they were given questions by three guests and the moderator. It was pretty much a conversation.

I can't say I have a stand-out favorite of the Democratic candidates that spoke. Dennis Kucininch and Mike Gravel were the only candidates to openly support gay marriage. Everyone else was all for civil rights. While Kucinich and Gravel will never win, they did both make a point, which has been an important reason why I support gay marriage, being that the love between two gay people is no less legitimate than the love between two straight people. It's obviously a very romantic way to view things, but I stand by it.

Onto the people can actually win. I liked John Edwards the most. He seems to be the most genuine candidate. He talked about visiting a center in LA for young gay people that have been kicked out of their homes after they came out, and how that affected him. Of course just being a likable person doesn't mean you know how to run the country, but John Edwards has solid policy as well. His health care plan is probably the best proposed yet.

Barack Obama did a pretty good job, but he didn't inspire those warm cozy feelings, and seemed to be a bit too rehearsed.

My girl Hillary was a bit dull. I really like the idea of having a woman in the White House being a badass, but Hillary didn't really say anything firmly. She probably will work to further gay rights, but I didn't feel she was as passionate as the other candidates.

It was great to see an issue that's important to me being well addressed by the candidates. It was especially nice to see issues being tackled thoroughly by candidates and not just having press releases and sound-bites. I'm still waiting for a debate about education.

Madonna, JT and Timbaland

"He said: 'We just did Madonna's record. Me and Justin did the records for the album.'

'She's great... she's got her hot album. Her album is up there with Justin's album.'

The super-producer said they wrote ten songs together for the record, expected later this year."

First Timbaland cut tracks with Duran Duran and now he's cut tracks Madonna. I'm crazy excited for both.

Exploring Campus

So, after quite some time, and a whole lot of uncertainty, I finally bought some new shoes. I'm honestly not crazy about them, but generally like them. Same shoe as I've had, but different colors. I'm also not sure if I should use the yellow or green laces. Wow, I actually feel like returning these now.

Update: Shoe return unsuccessful. Ebay?

Political Corner

Why hasn't Alberto Gonzalez been fired yet? Truly, there are plenty of reasons, the chief being that if he was fired the Department of Justice would be open for investigation and there's plenty of dirt to be found. But really, Alberto Gonzalez couldn't be more disliked. Maybe that's what happens when you lie to Congress, repeatedly.