Everyone is #Eastwooding

The trend of the day, following last night's odd speech by Clint Eastwood at the Republican National Convention (RNC) is #Eastwooding. During Clint Eastwood's speech, he compared President Barack Obama to an empty chair (because he's not there) and went as far as to have an empty chair alongside the podium as he spoke -- on television -- where people could actually see this going down. With the internet and Twitter being nothing more than a meme factory, #Eastwooding took off today with thousands of people snapping photos of themselves or others talking to, alongside, pointing at or getting angry with empty chairs. It's a hell of a way to end the week. Let's get #eastwooding and see some of the photos.

A Clint Eastwood Obama-style hope poster declaring, simply "CHAIR".

Yep, Eastwood actually, at times, spoke to an empty chair

This dog gets in on the #eastwooding action

Pee Wee Herman was #eastwooding before it was even cool

This Texas television news anchor at KSTX-TV takes part in some #eastwooding on set.

This woman cook breakfast for Invisible Barack Obama this morning

Even young children are getting in on some #Eastwooding action

Clint Eastwood's speech at the RNC is best compared to this screengrab from an old episode of The Simpsons... "Old man yells at chair"

Worst video editing job ever

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Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
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Note to Fox News: If you want to inflate the number of attendees at a rally using video, at least try to match the clips when it's blatantly obvious that they are from completely different seasons. Nice work by Jon Stewart's crack team of researchers on finding this insane attempt at driving home the message that Fox News is determined to deliver to its legion of viewers.

If the movie is called porno, just say it

Let's get back to the fundamentals of the world as we know it. Sex. More specifically pornography. Call it porn, porno, naked lady films, nudie films, etcetera.


This weekend is a landmark of sorts for the American film industry. Friday is the release date of Director Kevin Smith's raunchiest film to date, Zack & Miri Make a Porno.


I know that given Smith's history and the casting of Seth Rogen as the lead character Zack that the movie will be funny. The dialog will be filthy. The movie will be huge as far as comedies go.


What really has my undies in a bunch is the mainstream advertising for this film.


At some times on various big television networks, the film's title appears in full, other times -- sometimes on the same network (most notably NBC) -- the title is simply displayed as Zack & Miri. What has me puzzled the most is that in early evening hours (7 PM) I saw the film's full title displayed in the commercial touting its upcoming opening and the abridged version was seen past 11 PM during an episode of Saturday Night Live.

Is it just me or it this backwards? The movie isn't a porn flick nor is it any more sexually graphic than anything else released in the past few years. We can view television shows on the major networks during prime time that depict sexual acts and feature phrases which lie just outside of George Carlin's Seven Words such as penis, vagina, nipple, camel toe, slut, whore and a whole host of phrases which wouldn't have been acceptable in the relatively tight-laced 80s but we can't see the word porno typed out in a damn commercial? Where is this supposed secular culture that the ultra-religious feverishly bitch about? I just want to see porno typed out on my hi-def tv.

Alas, there is no porn at MinnPics but there is a wealth of stunning photography from across Minnesota.

When the election season hits bottom

Political campaigns are dirty. There are TV ads from candidates filled with outright lies about their opposition. Political action committees get involved and often time they fight dirtier than those trying to win a seat as an elected official.

No matter what the case, I've never actually seen a candidate or committee wish death upon the opposition's supporters. I guess doing so would probably alienate quite a few folks on both sides.

But I feel that an all-time low was struck recently as City Pages reported.

I won't name the blog who said...

If you are biking to save the environment, keep it up and the law of averages says we'll have a few less Obama voters in November.

and

If you are biking because you are poor, get a second job and take the bus. Odds are you might just be seriously hurt and then you'll be even poorer.

because the people who write such imbecilic sentences only do so because they are incapable of reason. They see no value in someone who doesn't view the world exactly as they do.

People who write such vile words aren't worth of even a mention but they win because the only reason they write such utter garbage is to get a reaction out of people. An even sadder fact is that the people who write trash such as this do truly believe the words they type.

Maybe one person who truly matters in the Twin Cities will read this as well as the link and the actual blog entry I am referring to and call these hate-mongers out. Maybe some day they'll realize that there are other ways of living outside of their own. Maybe someone will leave a truly sarcastic comment here that makes me laugh because after reading those quotes I could use a truly odd take on this.

Oh yeah, and all this because I went looking, haphazardly, for the City Pages nightlife expert who was billed by casual observers an a failure from day one. For the record, she logged a whopping three posts.

If you're looking for less anger, try MinnPics. It's a shiny, happy place full of stunning photography from around Minnesota.

Fun not gone during the RNC

In case you've been living under a rock, the Republican National Convention comes to St. Paul, Minnesota beginning Tuesday. It's inevitable that some of the stodginess of the Republican party will spill into Minneapolis and many Twin Cities suburbs but that doesn't mean it's going to be all gay airport sex and high-end prostitutes with the guys paying for these services publicly berating these exact same behaviors.

Above and beyond Jon Stewart bringing "The Daily Show" to town, there's going to be a plethora of killer music (and fun) to irritate the stuffed shirts of the "do as I say, not as I do" party.

The biggest name coming to town and likely to ruffle some feathers with their rather politicized lyrics is Rage Against the Machine playing Wednesday at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

However, a little heard of mini-festival hits St. Paul's Harriet Island on Labor Day. Entitled, ironically enough, Take Back Labor Day featuring the likes of local rapper Atmosphere, Billy Bragg, Lupe Fiasco, Steve Earle and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello as The Nightwatchman. Of course if comedy's more your thing, foul-mouthed and angry comedian Lewis Black takes to The Orpheum Thursday evening and one can guess that his routine will have a certain current bite to it to poke fun at the convention across the river.

See, just because the Republicans have managed to shut down a chunk of downtown St. Paul with barricades doesn't mean that the fun is taking a week off in the Twin Cities.

Be sure, too, to take plenty of photos and post them to Flickr because it's folks like you that keep MinnPics going!

Random gripes

Sometimes, the stupidity of the world gets my blood all riled up, but just short of boiling. That means that it's time for me to vent about the random bullshit in the world today that has my head spinning, wondering just what the hell people are thinking.

7-Up soda
Yes, I know that it's been about two years since your revolutionary "All Natural" revision to your sludgy but clear soda but there's one glaring item in the list of ingredients that has me wondering? Where in the hell do you get off calling High Fructose Corn Syrup a natural product? Sure, it's a derivitive of corn but it is just shy of a poison that ties up your liver by spending tons of energy to process the gloppy substance that, for one reason or another, took over natural sugar's stranglehold on the marketplace. I, for one, trust sugar. Sure, it can cause the occasional cavity but it's NATURAL.

China
Dammit, don't you own enough of the world's marketplace of poorly made products already? Why do you feel the need to shave another 3 cents off the cost of everything and use poison as paint? Yea, lead has a place but that is in another deadly product -- bullets! Listen up China, we made do a few decades back without your shit cluttering up every retailer across this once prosperous country and I am sure we can vanquish you to being nothings again.

Emo Kids
Get over it. You have nothing to mope about. Most of you are just fucked up suburban kids who have too much time on your hands. Sure, it might not be 'cool' to ride your bike somewhere but it will pull you outside. Yep, people still are active in the great outdoors because there is more to life than shitty music that, to you, has 'meaning' in the ultra-deep lyrics. If you want to be all depressed about something, study up on an area called Darfur and go buy the John Lennon tribute double disc where some real artists covered some fantastic tunes.

VH1
Dear GOD, what the fuck happened here? Has even the idea of music scared you? I have plenty of beef with MTV but, damn, I saw five minutes of I Love the 70s and I know it's supposed to be ultra hip because it lacks production values but I could create that bile using my mediocre Flash skills and a cell phone camera.

Larry Craig
You fucking CONFESSED to soliciting male sex in a rather public space. A space that children use. A space that the general traveling public at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Int'l Airport uses. You also confessed to never being gay after you solicited that very same male sex from an undercover officer. Sure, in hindsight it might look like a sex sting but you knew exactly what to gesture and tap. I know that I would have been more than a little weirded out to have some random dude flirting with me while I tend to my business in my stall. And let's say that you, Mr. Craig, had solicited sex from a random gay guy. That, to me, seems a bit beyond risky. Shouldn't a person in a somewhat high elected office be setting an example instead of trolling the men's room for some nookie outside of your marriage.

The same goes for Senator David Vitter who admitted to sliciting the services of a prostitute. You two, and likely others too, are a bunch of damn hypocrites. Preach family values and the sanctity of marriage all you want but until you can practice what you preach, the American public should have ZERO respect for you.

There, I feel better. Did I miss anyone? Do any of you have any gripes of your own?