This is it, the last post for Jokers to the Right! This blog has served me well for 4 years of college, but now it's time to hang it up.

I'm moving to The Watchtower, at ryansilberstein.com!

Come say hi!

Labels: Announcements

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:42 PM | Permalink | |

It seems some foul play is afoot in tomorrow's Republican 8th district Congressional primary in VA:
Amin Singh's campaign is accusing Ellmore of falsifying quotes in order to make Singh seem like a more extreme libertarian than mainstream conservative:

A flier put out by Mark W. Ellmore's campaign days before Tuesday's U.S. House Republican primary in Northern Virginia falsely attributes material to The Washington Post, an error pointed out by his opponent and confirmed by Ellmore's staff yesterday.

Ellmore is running against Amit Singh in the primary for a chance to challenge Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a nine-term incumbent.

The flier, which hit some mailboxes Friday, attributes the following photo caption to The Post: "Amit Singh with his political mentor Libertarian Ron Paul, who reportedly has plans to disrupt the Republican Convention in Minneapolis." Those words never appeared in the newspaper or as a quote elsewhere, and the photograph was not taken by The Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/07/AR2008060701801.html

This is really sad.

For more on this race, this Reason article is a good summary:
http://reason.com/news/show/126799.html


*Sorry for the subpar formatting, as Blogger is being really slow...I'll be back to fix it later.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Virginia

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:03 AM | Permalink | |

My hero this week is Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is now a member of the KISS Army:

Rice was in the Swedish capital Thursday for an international conference on Iraq. Kiss had a sold-out concert to play Friday.

"I was thrilled," Rice said of her late-night encounter with Kiss frontman Gene Simmons and bandmates Paul Stanley, Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer in the executive lounge of the Sheraton Hotel where they signed autographs and handed out backstage passes and T-shirts to her staff.

That's just cool.

My hack this week is Florida Congressman Bob Wexler. He's been extremely vocal about the Bush-Gore debacle in 2000 in his home state, and now he's sounding off against counting the Florida delegates from the Democratic primary, as Hube points out. Why the switch in 'getting all the votes counted?' Wexler is a big Obama supporter, and the Florida delegates only help Clinton.

Labels: Barack Obama, Hero/Hack, Hillary Clinton, Music

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:57 AM | Permalink | |

The ones I've seen are bolded. Count at the bottom.

The list as taken from the IMDB. Movies I've seen in bold.

Click to show/hide.

42 (including The Usual Suspects, as I plan on watching it tomorrow or Wednesday)

h/t Hube (again).

Labels: Meme, Movies, Pointless things online

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:05 PM | Permalink | |

So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiam and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So must you do to carry anything else to an end worth reaching. More than that, you must be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhpas a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out. All that is required of you is that you should go somewhither as hard as ever you can. The rest belongs to fate. One may fall-at the beginning of the charge or at the top of the earthworks; but in no other way can he reach the rewards of victory. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Labels: Troops

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:21 AM | Permalink | |

The Indiana Jones movies are a big part of my childhood, even moreso than Star Wars. The only other movie I could even anticipate as much as Indy IV would be a Ghostbusters III, but it looks like I'll just have to play the video game for that (which looks amazing!). Needless to say, I tried to do my best to lower my expectations going into this movie, being wary of a sequel after 19 years.

Briefly, I thought this movie was good, but not great. Better than Temple of Doom, but falling short of Last Crusade. And certainly better than any of the Star Wars prequels.

The review below contains massive SPOILERS. If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest not reading it until you do.


Click to show/hide.

Labels: Indiana Jones, Movies

Posted by Ryan S. at 3:01 PM | Permalink | |

List your favorite bands from A to Z:

A. Arcade Fire
B. The Beatles
C. Cream
D. Dylan, Bob
E. The Eagles
F. Fleetwood Mac
G. Goo Goo Dolls
H. Hendrix, Jimi
I. Incubus
J. Joel, Billy
K. The Kinks
L. Led Zeppelin
M. Muse
N. Nine Inch Nails
O. Old & In The Way
P. Pearl Jam
Q. Queen
R. Rush
S. Springsteen, Bruce
T. Traveling Wilburys
U. U2
V. Tie: Vampire Weekend & The Velvet Underground
W. Weezer
X. Since I don't have an 'X's I'm taking the liberty of making this #. Therefore: The 13th Floor Elevators
Y. Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Z. Zevon, Warren

I listen to a LOT of classic rock.

H/TL Hube.

Labels: Meme, Music, Pointless things online

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:28 PM | Permalink | |

Well The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was apparently a box office disappointment, 'only' making $56 million in its opening weekend. Usually sequels gross higher, but the first Narnia flick scored $60 million in This comes after Speed Racer made only $20 million, opening a week ago. What gives?

First, Iron Man is a freakin' juggernaut. Moviegoers (and I suspect industry types as well) are shocked by how well that movie is doing, as the sheer amount of positive reviews for a "genre" film are astounding. Usually superhero movies make a big splash when all of us geeks go, and then fade fairly rapidly.

Second, all three of these movies (after the first weekend for Iron Man) have the same audience. Families. Mom and Dad take their 2.5 kids to the movies, that film gets 4.5 tickets sold. You pull in families, you make a lot of money. For kids older than kindergarten age, most PG-13 action flicks are not out of the question.

Third, I don't think people "get" Speed Racer. It's an animated film, akin to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. Just because human actors are in it doesn't mean it's a 'live-action film.' I went into seeing it with the cartoon mindset, let myself go, and absolutely enjoyed it.

Fourth, as for why Caspian didn't manage to match Wardrobe, what else was out December 9-11, 2005, when TLTL&TW premiered? Syriana, Walk the Line, Yours, Mine and Ours, and Aeon Flux. Oh yeah, and one of the Harry Potter movies that had been out for a month. The first Narnia film had great timing. Early December, after everyone has seen Harry Potter and there is nothing else to go see. Caspian has too much else to compete with.

Lastly, the box office last weekend may have experienced a slight dampening because of Indiana Jones anticipation. If everyone is going to the movies this weekend, they may not choose to have gone last weekend, especially as I paid $10 to see Caspian.

Labels: Movies

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:03 PM | Permalink | |

My hero this week surprises even me...it's Angelina Jolie. She's got a cool head on Iraq:

The request is familiar to American ears: "Bring them home."

But in Iraq, where I've just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.

In the six months since my previous visit to Iraq with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, this humanitarian crisis has not improved. However, during the last week, the United States, UNHCR and the Iraqi government have begun to work together in new and important ways.

No hack this week....couldn't find anyone sufficiently hack-worthy.

Labels: Hero/Hack, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:01 AM | Permalink | |

Here's something to think about over the weekend:

If President Bush wanted to hurt Barack Obama's chances in November, then instead of attacking him, shouldn't the President just endorse him?

Seems like that would hurt him more...

Labels: Pinstripe Politics

Posted by Gary at 10:10 AM | Permalink | |