College
NBC’s Community Just Keeps Getting Better (Videos!)
Oct 9th
Two funny videos from last night’s new episode of COMMUNITY. I loved how Abed just sat there the whole time, calm and collected after 26 hours. This guy has fantastic comedic timing.
And Chevy Chase, though really left in the background for most of the series (so far) is still very funny. I never watch the show and think, hey it’s fletch! I think they’re doing their best to make him look older and sophisticated…or a maybe pretend-refined sort of look.
And did you notice the remark about “doogie seacrest?” (second video below) I heard that last night and immediately thought about all of Joel’s comments on THE SOUP about Ryan! Hilarious.
Best new series of the year? I’d vote “yes.”
Social Psychology [2:37]
Annie confronts Abed about ruining their psychology experiment.
Link: http://www.nbc.com/community/video/clips/social-psychology/1165072/
Dr. Doogie Seacrest [0:34]
Abed and Troy’s leisurely library antics with a desperate housewife and a reggae man.
Link: http://www.nbc.com/community/video/clips/dr-doogie-seacrest/1165032/
Barack Obama Should Have Had the Decency to Reject Notre Dame’s Speech Offer
May 17th
Barack Obama- the one thing people often say about him, seeminly more than anything else, is that he’s a mystery. You never know where he truly stands on many issues. He seems to take the position that stands to gain him more power in his very very short pursuit of the highest office in the land. This is why people from both sides of the aisle sometimes say they like him- it’s so easy to project onto him your own personal views, mainly because he’s seemingly so wishy washy on his own views, and he often refuses to take a firm stance on much of anything.
We do, however, know where Obama stands on abortion. He is radically pro-abortion, despite his insistence that we have fewer of them. In his time in the IL State Senate, we know he voted “present” several times on state bills to help infants born alive after botched abortions. Infanticide is a very radical stance, even among most liberals, but Obama had no problem, again refusing to take a firm stance with a vote. We know that his first couple of acts as president reversed federal rules in place to limit abortions and the use of stem cell lines. Thanks to Obama, your tax money goes to fund abortions overseas now, a rule put into place under George W Bush.
Obama’s radical stance on abortion is why he should have rejected Notre Dame’s offer for him to be their commencement speaker. Notre Dame is arguably the most important Catholic institution in the West. It’s a sacred place for the Catholic Church, and with Obama’s background on abortion, he should have had the decency to politely decline the offer to speak. His address to the students was a slap in the face to Catholics across the nation. Notre Dame’s administration should also be ashamed for its actions in this whole ordeal. Honoring a man whose views contradict basic Catholic teachings with an honorary degree from the nation’s premiere Catholic institution is a disgrace. It shows that some among the university’s administration easily toss basic doctrinal issues aside. One has to wonder what other core beliefs Notre Dame will ignore for political points?
The fact that many of the students chanted, “yes we can” is, in itself, a disgrace to the university as well. Apparently, young people are out to prove the stereotype- to hell with rules, I’ll make them up as I go along. Forget what the Bible teaches, we can ignore the parts we don’t like as long as it makes us feel good. This do-whatever attitude is at the root of our nation’s moral breakdown. Embracing a president whose values completely contradict the very basic values that all life is sacred will, no doubt, lead to the downfall of Notre Dame as a premiere Catholic institution, and as well it should. When even many of the administrators toss aside doctrine on a whim, you know there are serious foundational problems. Obama should have had the decency to thank Notre Dame for its offer and politely said, “no.” Unfortunately, that’s just not the kind of man our new president is.
Photoshop Tutorials- Grass Text
Oct 18th
I’m taking Photoshop as part of my degree. I’ve worked with the program a bit over the years, but I don’t know tons about it or what it can really do when you get into it. I should be taking 2 or 3 more photoshop classes after this initial class, so I should get fairly well versed in it after 2 years and then more so after 2 more years when I transfer to get a bachelor’s (currently working toward an assoc. in visual communicatons with a concentration on film/video).
Anyhow, I’m trying to find as many online tutorials I can for the program and try out some of them myself. I found this one the other day where you make a greenish background with a gradient to a soft yellow, you get a photo of grass, you make letters made of grass, add shadows and accents, etc. It’s pretty cool, so I wanted to see what I could do myself.
I had trouble with step 12 where you use the pen tool and cut away the excess grass. I can’t figure out how to do that. I can trace the first letter of EARTH with the pen, then I inverse the selection…but I’m not sure how you get that tracing to come out as the grass alone and the excess grass deleted.
I worked on finding a solution over a period of a few hours while doing other things online, and I couldn’t get a solution. I found many others in the comments of that tutorial had the same issue. I thought about it, and I worked around that issue. Instead of using the pen tool, I simply used the lasso tool, traced around in the same manner, copied that selection, hid the text and grass picture layers, pasted the E of earth, then unhid the grass and text layers, and went to the A in earth, and so forth. Should come out the same way in the end.
Here is what I have so far as the background…I hid the grass layer which I’m working on now just so you can see the background I came up with by using the textured paper photos supplied in the tutorial, rotated and duplicated a few of those texture layers, added some black paintbrush to the corners as instructed, etc.
I scaled this image down so it’d fit the screen here, The final pic I’m creating will be 1280 x 800 at 600ppi. Click image for fullsize version
I’d recommend checking out more of the tutorials on this particular site. Check out the videos for You Don’t Know Photoshop on youtube (easy to follow, funny, and informative while entertaining at the same time), there are some podcasts I downloaded but have yet to listen to. I have a couple of books as well, so that should add to the basic book I have for the class. Nice material to supplement the textbook itself.
I got the master collection, so I now have Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and all the rest…hopefully I can get some of the “for dummies” books and learn each program. Trying my best to become as well rounded in the field as possible. Beef up the ol’ resume and all that fun stuff…I’m off to get some sleep for now.
Whiny IUPUI Ninny Complains Book Offends Black Workers
Jul 16th
[Updated with book cover below]
Oh dear God in heaven, I live in a world surrounded by morons who seem to have had their heads split open and their brains completely removed.
An incident at IUPUI (Indiana University Purude University Indianapolis- the longest and possibly worst school name ever) started when a white janitor named Keith Samspon read a book called Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan during a break. The book features a klansman on the cover, a burning cross, and Notre Dame’s campus. It’s the story of a riot in the 1920′s between Notre Dame students and the kkk, in which the students prevailed and apparently forced the klan off campus. It’s a positive story against racism and bigotry that happens to feature negative symbols on the front representing the history.
A co-worker complained to the school and Samspon was sent a warning letter.
But Sampson says his union official likened the book to bringing pornography to work, and the school’s affirmative action officer in November told Sampson his conduct constituted racial harassment.
“You used extremely poor judgment by insisting on openly reading the book related to a historically and racially abhorrent subject in the presence of your black co-workers,” Lillian Charleston wrote in a letter to Sampson.
It’s so sad that in 2008, ANY public institution, let alone a university has a “affirmative action office.” Think about that- the democratic presidential candidate is a black man the media adores. Yet, we have an office…an entire office at a public school dedicated to a form of instutionalized racial preferences. You can still get into school in this day and age by having a certain skin tone, often times over more qualified students with a different skin tone. We still pretend in this country that racism abounds when it clearly does not. Isn’t Obama proof that there’s certianly no need for skin tone-based bonus points? It boggles the mind.
And what does this officer think? That blacks in the community are the most thin-skinned people on earth? I’d wager that most blacks in the school probably support the idea of a book about the positive aspects of FIGHTING the KKK! To be warned by a school official for reading a book of history is absurd. If someone is offended, they need to get a clue, a life, and thicker skin, because if a book AGAINST the klan offends you, you’re never going to make it in the real world.
Sampson says he’s interested in history and wants to educate and better himself. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union and The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education took up the case and defended Sampson’s rights. The fact that school even sent a letter to begin with is a shame, and that they kowtow to whiners who make stupid complaints is a tragedy. A little common sense would go a long way on the modern college campus…but common sense is one major ingredient that seems to be missing on far too many campuses today.
The school eventually sent Sampson a letter apologizing, but only after bloggers took up the case and the Wall Street Journal wrote about the situation. Sounds like a bunch of cowards who screwed the pooch then went to hide under their desks, not wanting to admit they acted like boneheads with this case.
How do people so seemingly clueless get such high paid jobs? I’ll never understand this sad fact of life.
UPDATE: Saddest thing? THIS below is the book cover. I googled the title, and I could only find one book cover for the title, and it fits what the story describes- campus of Notre Dame, burning crosses, and white robes. Notice, though, how the main focus is the campus and the klansmen are a small part of the photo at the very bottom. No matter- such a cover shouldn’t have been reason for a warning, let alone a whiny complaint…but seeing the cover it makes it even more absurd to me.
Chelsea Clinton Has no Right to Dodge Lewinksy Questions
Mar 31st
Chelsea Clinton was again asked about Moica Lewinsky on the campaign trail She refused to answer and claimed it was “personal family business.” In the video here, the MSNBC anchor says she’s well within her rights to dodge the question. Is she tho? I don’t think so. The Lewinksy affair is an issue that the American people have a right to talk about and question Hillary on…
Chelsea is out there as a Hillary campaigner, so the questions aren’t really being asked of Chelsea but more of Mrs. Clinton. One could argue that the question was posed as how it made Chelsea feel, but to me it’s the same as someone asking a Hillary staffer what they think of the affair or how it makes them feel about Hillary and her character.
it goes to the root of the problems with the Clintons- they’ll do anything for power, and they’ll do anything to protect the power they have. Hillary was in charge of hiring thugs to harass and threaten Bill’s “bimbo eruptions”. That goes to her character.
If Chelsea is adult enough to campaign nonstop for her mother, she’s adult enough to answer the questions the people have concern about. It’s sort of like saying- ‘I don’t care what legit matters are important to you, voter…I will only answer questions I think are important.’
The affair is an important issue. It raises many questions about both Bill and Hillary and how far they will go to achieve power and to what means they will use to keep it. If Chelsea can’t stand the heat of campaigning, she needs to get out of the kitchen (and yes I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself for even daring to use that phrase right there).
Columbia University’s Backwards Reality
Sep 24th
Here’s the scene at Columbia University:
They will not allow military recruiters onto the campus to invite young men and women to join the US military (this is enough evidence for me to suggest that liberals hate the military). But, they will gladly allow a terrorist to come and give a prepared speech.
I was thinking- one of the most common reasons I hear for banning military recruiters on college campuses is the don’t ask, don’t tell policy (signed into law by President Clinton)…I wonder if the liberals in question (Bollinger, for example) care to explain why this policy is so evil, yet they’ll gladly invite a man who leads a nation that takes homosexuals and STONES THEM TO DEATH!! ????
You’ll never get a straight answer on that or any other rational question, because the people that have invited Ahmadinejad are in no way “rational.”
Better yet- a man who calls for the destruction of the Iraeli state and all Jews is fine to come on campus and spread his hate…BUT, would Columbia allow a speaker who calls for the deaths of all blacks?? Even better- fitting their liberal ideology to accept any and all behavior as “normal”- what if the speaker called for the deaths of all gays? I guarantee you that speaker would never be allowed to speak!
Why did Bollinger allow students to rush the stage and attack the Minutemen founder when he came to speak? Why wasn’t he allowed to speak, allowed to finish his statements? Why weren’t the students who rushed the stage suspended or booted from the school altogether? Why the double standards?
These are all good questions. All very rationa queries. I go back to the fact that there is no rationality to be found here. That’s the most reasonable explanation. College campuses gone wild. It’s a sad day when frat parties are actually more rational than the university president himself.
Columbia University to Host Hitler, Err I Mean Ahmadinejad
Sep 21st
Liberals never cease to amaze. They bitch and moan about demanding that you tiptoe around “women’s issues” because dammit women are just as good as men in every level at every job. But, these idiots will gladly invite a terrorist to their college campuses to speak. A terrorist who presides over a regime that routinely stones to death women for any reason they so choose. Liberals are all for feminism and similar ideas, as long as it doesn’t get in their way of hating the US or appeasing terrorists.
Yes, by now I’m sure you’ve heard that prestigious (read: snooty and insane) Columbia University has invited terrorist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of terrorist nation Iran to come and speak to (gullible and dazed) college students on campus. Yes, folks, as William Kristol pointed out in his piece in The Weekly Standard, Columbia Univ President Lee Bollinger’s reasoning behind the event makes little to absolutely zero sense. Bollinger claims it’s good to have a debate and to ask pointed questions of people, even if you might not fully agree with them (I have a sense these idiots agree more than they disagree with ol Iranian almond joy). This doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot of sense, because it just gives terrorists legitamacy they don’t deserve.
As the guest on The O’Reilly Factor pointed out, and it was my first thought as well- this is akin to inviting Adolph Hitler to talk or having Zawihiri live in a video teleconference for the campus.
There’s absolutely no reason to have Ahmadinejad on campus. Zip, zero, nada. Would they invite the KKK to campus to speak? Hardly. As Kristol points out- Columibia University will glady invite Ahmadinejad to speak, but they refuse to allow the ROTC on campus. Backwards? Only if you’re in the real world outside of the walls of the modern day liberal college campus.
Shame on President Bollinger and shame on Columbia University. Remind me to make sure none of the young adults I know never consider your university.
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