IOKIYAR

(For those of you reading this who aren't inundated with liberal blogs, the title of this post refers to the fact that minor sins are only minor, and major accomplishments are only major, based on your political affiliation. Guess which party the "R" stands for?)

Obama: too fit to be president?

I'm showing my age here, but I remember when the Presidential fitness test was first started in an effort to at least monitor what negative progress my fat ass was making in terms of my general fitness. I remember Clinton and Arnold (yes, Ah-nold) promoting it. (In fact--more age showing here--I remember Ah-nold going on an episode of a Nickelodeon show I used to watch called Wild and Crazy Kids wanting to be a "wild and crazy kid" while wearing his Presidential Fitness Challenge shirt. OMFG WHY IS THIS STUFF IN MY BRAINS!?!) Mostly, I remember it as being the twice-yearly HELL they put the fat, lazy, inflexible, weak kids through. (Yes, I'm bitter, why do you ask?)

Anyway, I seem to remember some chuckles over Bill Clinton's jogging, though, bless 'im, he kept at it even though he was getting plenty of other exercise. But because he was paunchy, the jogging was mostly seen as a stunt. Dubya Bush, on the other hand, spent so much time exercising and sleeping in his first lack-luster year, no one was really sure he did anything else. A Newsweek article at the time, even before 9/11 when you couldn't question anything the idiot did, soft-balled the issue by going, "Gee, Mr. President, don't you think it looks, well, not great that you barely work 9-to-5, schedule yourself time to exercise, and get eight hours of sleep a night when more than half the electorate doesn't have a prayer of ever getting any of that? Oh, and you spent a lot of time on vacation...." Of course, he didn't see the problem. He delegated! It worked! There were never any problems!

And now Barack Obama's exercise schedule gets more coverage than his positions on anything, and we're finding fault with his dedication to his health? He doesn't do half so much "personal time" shut-down of work as Dubya. The person writing that people won't vote for him out of spite for being less dedicated in their workout habits than he is clearly an idiot, but the fact that this is held up as something to be suspicious of unto the point of note voting for someone when Bush's Jogging for Jesus (and to Stay Off the Sauce) is a miracle and a wonder?

It's O.K. if you are Republican.

Hack journalism to a higher power

Yeah, so the "Is Obama too mindful of his health to be POTUS?" article I mentioned? The "author" is apparently a troll. (And I should know--I read that entirely chilling article bigscary linked to.)

She asked the internet to start her a meme of her own choosing, and then she printed it in a real newspaper as though it were fact. The fact that she would use a Yahoo board--not even! Just ONE poster on a board as proof of concept...it boggles.

It's raining idiots, and it's only August.

Something else besides grumbling

-They're making a CG Gatchaman movie? Or is that CG of a live movie? Why does this show keep getting redone? WHERE IS MY VOLTRON MOVIE ALREADY!?!

(oops, I grumbled. moving on...)

-LOOK! THERE ARE ACTUAL JAPANESE PEOPLE IN THE DBZ MOVIE!!! Well, um, one of them is? And I thought the animated characters looked vacant and insipid...

(stop grumbling, damn it!)

-Watchmen posters! They're a little too Star Wars-prequels-poster-airbrushed-and-soft-lighted for my taste. (And with Ozymandias, it's obvious that Bubastis hasn't quite been realized yet for the film, so the artist is just doing the best he/she can.) However! I declare the Jupiter girls posters, specifically Sally's, to be great. Sally's supposed to look like a hero pinup, and she does! Naughtily! Man, do I love her hair. Sure it's probably wind resistant with all the hairspray, but it looks more real in its gravity-defying curls than Laurie's bangs.

I like the use of the quotes from the associated material in The Watchmen, too. That's the sort of thing you can't always put in the movie itself, but that makes for great advertising mojo. Again, this is an incredibly DENSE source material and anything the filmmakers do to make it at least seem as though they understood the text is a step in the right direction. (Doc Manhattan being nekkid? WORKS.)

(no grumbling here! except the Rorschach poster kinda gives away his identity, but that's not something you would realize if you hadn't read it and no one who's scanning these as much as I am hasn't read the graphic novel. NO GRUMBLING.)