The Economist today endorsed John Kerry for President. Why is this significant? Well they endorsed Bush in 2000 and Dole in 1996, so this is a bit of a departure for the magazine. And if a widely respected and usually accurate publication like The Economist is endorsing someone other than the incumbent, what does that say about the state of the American economy or its outlook?

The video for Eminem‘s new song “Mosh”, which I mentioned the other day, has hit the net. Check it out at MTV!

Read: Gen Kanai

I am pretty pissed right now. The spammers have moved from email to blogs. I know this isn’t JUST happening, its been going on for a while now, but in the last two days, my blog has been hit hard. I don’t mind if real people are leaving comments. What I cannot stand are automated programs leaving comments for dugs or poker or whatever. In the last two days, over 100 of these spam comments have appeared on my blog.

I really don’t want to have to turn off comments completely. Since .Text has not been updated in ages, it lacks any sort of spam protectection. For the moment I have just written an SQL script to go through and remove all of the offending comments, but this will require constant attention from me, which isn’t ideal either. If it gets really bad, I might have to delve into the source code and rig something up myself.

My guess is that things will only get worse from here 😦

Looks like the politicians are not the only ones hopping on board the blogging bandwagon:

Although political blogs have received the most attention, advertising agencies and communications professionals are using blogs to create discussion about ideas within their industries.

The biggest fear is of an uncontrolled message slipping out, said Steve Rubel, vice president for client services at CooperKatz & Company in New York, a public relations agency with clients including the Association of National Advertisers, JPMorgan Chase and Wendy’s. “Do they allow comments or do they not? Is there an implication if it is a publicly traded firm? Who is the one who should blog for us? How might that choice be received in the company?”

All problems that should be considered, but which must be solved. Blogs are to 2005 like websites were to 1999 – if you don’t have one, you’re going to be left out, behind, and forgotten. I personally think that trackbacks, comments, and feeds should be standard on ALL blogs, but that isn’t happening even today so I doubt it will in the future. Without those community or interactive features, another question can be posed that Steve Rubel did not ask: Will our blog seem contrived?

Read: CNET News.com and NYTimes.com

It has been a while since the last news show was posted, so I figured it warranted a post on my blog. You can check out the new episode here. I guess in a way this is a “We’re Back!” post, as we haven’t done any shows for a while. We have two Vlog episodes coming up this week (I just need to mix them), and hopefully a new Blogoversial episode as well.

Thanks for listening!

Apple today announced two new members of the iPod family. Meet The Ugliest iPod Ever Conceived (this is the U2 branded version), and also The Biggest Waste Of Money Ever (this is the so-called Photo iPod).

Seriously, why would you buy an iPod anymore? If you want a good portable media player, get the Creative Nomad Zen Touch. Similar size and weight to an iPod, much longer battery life, much better media file support, and much, much cheaper.

Tonight I decided to watch Team America: World Police and I must say, this movie is not at all what I expected. Actually, to be completely honest, I am somewhat disappointed with it. I really like Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and I am a big fan of South Park. This movie however, misses a golden opportunity.

Instead of making a statement in American politics, Team America instead acts merely as a stage for Stone and Parker to share their dislike for some members of Hollywood. You might think that the movie is an attack on the Bush Administration’s foreign policy, but it really isn’t. Alec Baldwin and Matt Damon have nothing to do with the US starting wars around the world. While somewhat funny that these actors are part of the Film Actors Guild, or F.A.G., it seems pointless. Also pointless is the way the actors all die, or the fact that they are in this movie at all.

Actually there are very few things in this movie that are not pointless. The puppet sex scene was mildly funny, the fact that Intelligence is a computer that gets things wrong was only mildly funny. I suppose the way Kim Jong Il spoke and killed Hans Blix was mildly funny, but not really. I didn’t find the Michael Moore jokes funny at all. The elongated puking scene was disgusting, not funny. I suppose the speech at the end was somewhat funny, but even then, it felt forced.

Perhaps I had the wrong expectations before I started watching the movie. I was expecting a cross between Michael Moore and Jon Stewart – making fun of the election, the campaigns, the candidates, etc. Instead what I watched was a poorly made movie about dislike for a few actors and movies. If you want to see something because you are in election mode, this movie is not the one to see. If you want to see something funny, go watch South Park instead.

Team America had a good opportunity to make light of some of the issues surrounding this year’s election. To say that it failed miserably would be an understatement. Perhaps it succeeded at accomplishing whatever Stone and Parker set out to, but I can’t see what that could possibly be. All I can say is that I am glad I didn’t pay to watch this movie.

Looks like Eminem‘s new anti-Bush song “Mosh” has been leaked on to the net. Interpret leaked however you want. Anyway, if you are following the election, you might want to give it a listen (Real Audio, Windows Media) and also check out the transcribed lyrics. My favorite part:

And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm
In these closing statements, if they should argue, let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences, and assemble our own army
To disarm this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president for the present
And mosh for the future of our next generation
To speak and be heard – Mr. President – Mr. Senator!

Read: BoingBoing

If you missed SNL on Saturday or have been living under a rock since then, Ashlee Simpson got caught lip syncing. I got the video from Dickson, and it really is quite funny, but I refrained from posting until I read this:

At the close of the show, Simpson deflected the blame, telling the viewing audience “I feel so bad. My band started playing the wrong song.” Geffen issued a statement blaming a computer glitch that should have played pre-recorded percussion rather than the “Pieces of You” vocals.

Simpson was reportedly singing a different tune Monday. MTV, home to her reality series “The Ashlee Simpson Show,” reported on its Web site that Simpson admitted to lip syncing on the show because her voice has suffering from the stresses of a heavy promotional schedule.

Take the blame when you need to, and people will respect you for that. Glad to see Ashlee is beginning to realize that (hopefully).

Read: Reuters

I actually had a somewhat productive Sunday! One of the things I did was create a CD for our Camping Trip which happened almost a month ago now. I burned a few copies tonight, so ask me in CAB for one. The CD has all of the pictures and video, as well as a musical slideshow of some of the best pictures.