Pivot?

Sometimes I see something that I agree with but still have questions about.

Meghan McCain: I've Had 'All The Sarah Palin I Need For One Lifetime'

Meghan McCain is quoted as saying that on a show she has on Pivot. I agree with Meghan McCain on her sentiments about Sarah Palin, but I still have some questions. Meghan McCain has a show? What's Pivot? Can I watch Pivot and the show on which Megham McCain appears on my regular TV or do I have to power up my internet TV device?

About Drug Testing

Report: NFL Drug Testing Is Screwed Up And Screwed Josh Gordon

I read this story yesterday and I've been thinking about it ever since. This is not because I'm a Browns fan, a Josh Gordon fan, or because I'm a football fan. This is because there's a situation that I've been following ever since the media started reporting it.

Utah's welfare drug testing saved more than $350,000 in first year, officials say

In recent years several states, including my own, have been implementing policies that require beneficiaries of certain public assistance programs, most prominently welfare, to undergo drug screening in order to get on and stay on public assistance. The ethics of such requirements has been in debate, but the Josh Gordon situation brings up an even more troubling question. Does drug testing even work? Do the mechanisms that are in place to deliver and test a sample even work in giving consistent reliable results? Does drug testing give consistent, reliable, and accurate results? Can the results of drug testing be trusted? If a multi-billion dollar sports league has systemic problems with a system that it has and currently is spending millions of dollars to set up, run, and maintain, do states suffer from similar problems, or perhaps even worse ones?

Juggalos

Magna, Utah is known for many things. It is the headquarters of Kennecott, which is a major employer in the state of Utah. (Insert additional thing that Magna is known for here) Magna is also known as a center for the juggalo population in Utah.

For the uninitiated, juggalos are ardent fans of Insane Clown Posse, who go so far as to paint their faces in a style that is similar to the two frontman of their favorite rap group. Juggalos have often been associated in the media with many kinds of deviant behavior, including criminal conduct, drug use, and listening to Insane Clown Posse. Despite knowing several people who are self identified juggalos, I have never met or even seen a juggalo that I find to be sexually attractive.

NSFW PHOTOS OF SEXY JUGGALETTES AT THE GATHERING OF THE JUGGALOS

And I still haven't. Also, what's with all the sex toys? I haven't seen this many dilldos in one location since the last meeting of the Utah State Legislature.

What I Really Do In The Sims

It was recently announced that pool and toddlers were not going to be included in the upcoming EA game The Sims 4. As someone who has played The Sims in the past, I am actually in favor of this move. This move will give developers of the game time to focus on two aspects of the game that are critically important to it's success. One: That it actually works.

Two: The ability to pursue, entice, bed, and then leave a long string of unintelligible digital beauties. If I do nothing else in The Sims, what I do is try to "woo-hoo" many many many many many many many many many many people. I'm not alone is doing in video games what I cannot do in real life. Why do you think shooters are so popular? Why do you think sports games are so popular? Why do you think world saving RPGs are so popular? Hell, why is Minecraft so popular? Seriously, why is Minecraft so popular? I just don't get it.

New Album From Styx

It appears that a another band once popular in the eighties is gearing up for a revival. Styx, known for such hits as Lady, Come Sail Away, and that one song that your friend Jeff won't stop singing at the top of his lungs, is putting together plans for a tour to support a followup to their 2005 release Big Bang Theory. The new album, entitled Master Of Shadows, is expected to piss off fans of Metallica coming this holiday season. There's even been a trailer prepared for the upcoming tour, which is provided below.

?

There are some things that I see that I honestly do not understand. There are some things that I see that I look at for a long time, longer than most people would, trying in vain to understand what exactly it is that I am looking at.

Who on Earth would pay $115 for a bra, $105 for a corset bra, $170 for leggings, and $185 for geometric leggings? I just- I mean- No- Really? I mean sure buying this contributes money to charity, but still- What?

Dear Mr. White

Jack White's Third Man Records Starts Publishing Wing

Third Man Books

Dear Mr. White,

I am currently working on a poetic collection that I am calling Bad Love Poetry. The premise is as follows:

You've heard the saying "Better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all". People often reply with something like "Have you ever tried it?". By that they mean going through a period of loss, but what if you take it another way. What would it be like to be the kind of person who has never loved at all? What kind of perspective would a person like that have on things? Romance? Normal parts of life? Things that normal people think of as insignificant but would be to somebody else? How would a person with that perspective on love express themselves poetically? What kind of bad love poetry would be produced?

The way I figure it, I'm about 78% of the way done with my collection. I don't really have a date that I'm shooting for to be done, but I can be persuaded otherwise. Examples of my poetic works can be found at these links. I've self published in the past, finding no financial success as I do so, but I believe I can find success if I have the right people backing me. I've tried finding financial success myself but I simply cannot market myself in any form or fashion. If you are in any way interested in continuing your publishing of poetry, and if Bad Love Poetry piques your interests, contact me and we can discuss bringing my work to your publishing wing.

Twitter: @Hunter Red
Facebook: Hunter Red
Google+: +Hunter Red

Sometimes You Just Need A Cute Video Of A Kittie

Red Review- Tyrant

During the World Series, my TV screen was awash with ads for a upcoming series on FX called Tyrant. The ads were vague as to what the show would be about, but nonetheless I was intrigued to see if this new show would follow in the tradition of great dramas on FX, a tradition that includes Rescue Me, Sons Of Anarchy, and The Americans. Tyrant debuted on June 24th. I usually try to watch three episodes of a show before I make a judgement about whether or not I will continue to watch it. The third episode of this series debuted on July 8th. I believe I can make a judgement as to whether or not I will continue watching it.

Tyrant is a drama set in a fictionalized Middle-Eastern country and focuses on the two sons of the President of this fictionalized country, the older of whom is groomed to inherit the country upon his father's death. The younger son, Bassam "Barry" Al Fayeed, fled the country, and his family's opulent wealth, to become a pediatrician in California. Even though he is strongly opposed to it, Bassam's wife, Molly, convinces Barry to travel back to the country of his birth, after nearly twenty years of being away, to attend the wedding of the eldest son of his older brother, Jamal.

Jamal, as it turns out, is not a very nice person to the citizens of the country he is to inherit, as well as the people around him. About a half-hour into the pilot episode, we find Jamal raping a woman in her house with her husband and son sitting outside the room where this is taking place, hearing everything that goes on. After he's done, Jamal exits the house set in this impoverished neighborhood, steps into his clean red Ferrari, turn on some 80's hair metal, and drives off with his security detail in tow. The rest of the pilot episode doesn't paint Jamal in a very good light. There is a scene where Jamal enters a room where his son's soon to be wife is getting ready for the ceremony. Jamal talks to his soon to be daughter-in-law about how important it is to his son that his wife be pure, and then reaches up her dress and breaks her hymen. The reason that he does this is never really conveyed, other than to make Jamal look like a psycho.

While Jamal is abusive to all people, Bassam is much different. Bassam stands in stark contrast to nearly everyone else inside the power structure of this fictionalized Middle-Eastern country. Bassam wants to solve everything through talk and mutual agreement, while everyone else seems more than willing to use their power and influence to put down any perceived threat by force. In such a situation, Bassam could serve to calm the fires of dissent that exist among the general populace. However all Bassam is interested in is getting back to America and away from his family. Even when his father dies, Bassam cannot be wavered from this point. It takes Bassam's uncle, the leader of the military in this fictionalized country, sending armed military forces to the plane that Bassam tries to flee in to get Bassam to stay for, at the very least, his father's funeral. The end of the pilot episode of Tyrant sees Bassam and his family stuck in a situation that Bassam wants desperately to leave, but is momentarily unable to do so.

The next two episodes see Jamal ascend to the Presidency upon his father's death. Jamal's ascension comes despite him being laid up in the hospital after an assassination attempt involving Jamal drunkenly driving his Ferrari off of a steep embankment after the woman who he had previously raped bit through his penis while giving Jamal oral sex. Bassam continues to begrudgingly go along with his role as consolt to the new President, but comes to accept his role after he sees the rampant wanton violence inflicted on the military by the populace, as well as his brother's cruelty to others and wanton sexual depravity. Bassam stays in the fictionalized Middle-Eastern country, keeping his family nearby as the emotional support he will need in order to endure his family and what they have done with their power and wealth.

This all sound like the basis of a great long-running dramatic series. Many characters with rich backstories waiting to be unveiled to the watching public, all in conflict with global political intrigue throughout. The problem comes with the articulation of the characters that drive this series.

Tyrant was created by Gideon Raff, the creative force behind the Showtime series Homeland. Homeland has received criticism over the way that it portrays people of Muslim and Middle-Eastern descent, pointing out how the series portrays some Muslims as being backward, behind the times, and unfit to exist in decent society. Some of those criticisms can be laid at the feet of Tryant, except for one problem: The vast majority of the characters in Tyrant are of Middle-Eastern descent. The only characters that aren't of Middle-Eastern descent are the ambassador from the United States and Bassam Al Fayeed's wife Molly. The rest of the characters carry the taint of being portrayed in a way that is, in one way or another, based on some stereotype that the West has of people of Middle-Eastern descent. That is the problem that I have with this series.

While the political intrigue in Tyrant is something that I would normally find compelling, the jingoistic portrayal of the people that fill out this series is something that I cannot abide. Tyrant could have served as a way for Gideon Raff to show the deep knowledge of the people that he, as a Israeli, grew up around. However, Tyrant will do nothing to silence those critics, critics that include me.

Tyrant: D

Distracted Donations

I'm distracted right due by the shopping process in Project Buy A House, as well as by The Open Championship, but I did hear about the plane disaster in Ukraine.

Donate to the Red Cross

HNSM

This is a horrifying NO SHIT! moment.

Snowden: NSA Workers Routinely Share Your Nude Photos

\/\/0rD (r1/\/\3$

It's not a good sign when the parody is more tolerable than the original......

...for the person who did the original.

:O Means Surprised, Right?

Perez Hilton ‏@PerezHilton 23h

RT SUPER pregnant #ChristinaAguilera goes incognito! Is her ballooning bump about to burst? http://goo.gl/1PWZkZ
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IRS SMH

IRS Surrenders, Won't Check Whether Political Nonprofits Are Breaking The Law

So rather than figuring out a way to do their job in a fair and judicious manner, the IRS just won't do their job. This is the kind of shit that only the government can get away with. SMH.

Moving In Slow Motion: 100% Complete

This blog post is going up a little bit late, and it's rather short. That's because yesterday Moving In Slow Motion was completed. Moving In Slow Motion was the portion of Project Buy A House that involved me saving enough money for a down payment for a house. I knew going in that this was going to be the thing I would be spending the most time doing in my pursuit of Project Buy A House, and I was right. Now I have a down payment, I have a pre-approval for a loan, and now I'm going to go shopping. I'm meeting with realtors, and I'm going shopping. This is a something that I've been working on for a long time, and I expect this not to be the end, but I can see the end in sight. I know what I want is there, I have the necessary materials in order to achieve it, I just have to go and get it. This is going to be the greatest accomplishment I will have in my life.

Okay, second greatest, but this accomplishment will help me attain the greater one.

Found Questioning #3

The premise. This Found Questioning comes courtesy of Vice Magazine.

Why do many soft drinks taste like Teletuby blood?

The Teletubbies are characters from a British children's television series that began running in 1997 and still runs to this day. What many people do not realize about these iconic television characters have undergone a series of changes over the years. In fact it could be reasonably said that the Teletubbies are a lot like Menudo.

Menudo was a Puerto Rican boy band whose members include Ricky Martin and Draco Rosa. There have been thirty-nine members of this five members boy band due to the requirement that the members of the band leave the group when they turned sixteen. This requirement lead to a lot of internal conflict, as well as power struggles and different members of the group aged. The process of replacing members of the Teletubbies was significantly less delicate.

The four Teletubby characters are members of an alien species from the planet Teletubby Land. The four colours of the Teletubby characters represent the four different majority races on the planet they come from. This gives the producers of the Teletubbies TV show a wide selection of replacements to choose from. Rather than age, producers replace characters on the Teletubbies show based on salary. Once time comes for a Teletubby to receive a higher salary, that Teletubby is quietly done away with. Due to the Teletubbies being space aliens and the lack of legal status given to creatures from other planets, this quiet process can be quite loud.

When a former character on the Teletubbies has fulfilled it's usefulness, that character is fed into a woodchipper. This woodchipper is located at The London Studios of the BBC. Despite being located at a major television studio, no footage is allowed to be shot of Telletubies being fed into a woodchipper. Occasionally cellphone footage does leak, but those videos are quickly taken down, either by way of a copyright claim or a direct threat to the uploader.

After the woodchipping process, the material that once constituted the former Teletubby is collected and pulverized once again. Once that process is done, the new soup-like material is process and turned into a wide variety of products, including various flavors of Fanta. Yes, Fanta Strawberry is made out of Teletubbies.

That is why many soft drinks taste like Teletubby blood. They are in fact made from Teletubby blood.

Seventeen Questions To Live

Once again I am looking toward a magazine for questions that would be embarrassing for me to answer and would make my audience squirm. I read the July/August 2014 issue of Playboy Magazine, the one with Bianca Balti on the cover, pictured above. I poured over this issue looking for anything resembling a collection of questions that would potentially be embarrassing for anyone to answer, specifically embarrassing for me............ and I found nothing. Nothing that I found in this issue constitutes something low brow that only serves to embarrass the subject. Perhaps that is why Playboy is called "Entertainment For Men", as opposed to "Entertainment For Boys"....

Which is what Maxim appears to be, because when I went looking in the July/August 2014 issue of Maxim for embarrassing questions I quickly found the material I was looking for. The questions I am answering come from an article done with Mark Wahlberg entitled "24 Hours To Live", which appears on the last page of the July/August 2014 issue of Maxim Magazine.

So how do you want to go?
Why do you ask? Also, why do you have that gun?

Now give us the Michael Bay-directed, high-octane, explosion-packed version.
Okay. Turn the camera on for three hours and I'll do nothing that people find to be interesting.

Do you have any deathbed confessions?
Yes, I am the Zodiac Killer. Also, I am DB Cooper, Jack The Ripper, and the Walrus. Coo coo ca choo.

Do you think that's enough to send you to hell, or will you be going to heaven?
Being an Athiest, I don't believe in Heaven, or Hell for that matter.

If you could take one Transformer with you, which would you take and why?
There's a transformer up the road that supplies power to my neighborhood. If they don't have power where I am going, can I take that with me?

You're an avid golfer. If you make it to heaven, who would you most like to tee it up with in the afterlife?
Someone who I could beat, so no one.

How would the Entourage crew fare in a Decepticon attack?
I have no idea how to answer any part of that question.

What about your furry pal Ted?
Is Tedakin furry? I've never thought about that.

What did you spend the most money on during your lifetime?
I've never really thought about that. The most expensive thing I've ever bought was Rubi, my car, but that's about to be eclipsed when I accomplish Project Buy A House.

Name one thing you're glad you'll never have to do again on Earth.
Answer these questions.

What's the wildest thing you ever did while you were alive?
This one time, I went to bed WITHOUT BRUSHING MY TEETH! Hahaha, but seriously, Allison.

Do you spend your last day in Boston, New York, or L.A., and why? And how are you spending it?
Given the choices, spending my last day in Boston watching a Red Sox game seems appealing to me. But, again, why are you asking me this? Also, why do you have that gun?

If you could come back and spy on someone who's still alive, who would it be and why?
If I wanted to spy on people I would have taken that job with the NSA.

What is your proudest accomplishment?
Paying off my car loan a year and a half early. I could say Project Buy A House but I haven't quite accomplished that yet.

What is your biggest regret?
Answering these questions.

What there anyone on Earth you wanted to punch in the face?
Yes, and I did. Then I ran.

Got any last words?
Look, you need to put that gun away, you're concerning me.

PUT THIS IN YOUR EARHOLES!!!

Death From Above 1979- The Physical World

Available September 9th. Pre-order the physical version in various forms here, or pre-order it digitally on iTunes.

I Have A Quick Question

E3 occurred last month, and at that convention many video games were announced which many people still have questions about. However there is one game that was announced last week that I have one question about, a questions who's answer may decide whether or not I end up buying this game.

The Witcher: Battle Arena is a MOBA coming to iOS, Android, and Windows Phone ‘soon’

Will there be fucking?

Satire?

As a self identified satirist, the kind of satire I go for is straight-faced satire. This is the kind of satire that is told in such a convincing manner that you don't know whether it's real or not. This can involve slight exaggerations, connections between people that, while reasonable, are false, and other forms of creative fiction, otherwise known as lying. I also appreciate when this kind of satire is deftly pulled off by others. This can also create problems. Sometimes I read something that I think sound completely reasonable, but also contains slight exaggerations that could make it satire. Slight exaggerations can happen organically in our society, just follow the local politics in your area for examples of that, but deft satirists can make it so that slight exaggerations of facts, people, and situations can be seen as alone could not happen but collectively are completely reasonable, even sometimes expected.

I Wrote an Amazon Bestseller in a Week

I legitimately cannot tell if this is satire or not. If it is, bravo John Blumenthal for pulling off some great satire. If it isn't, bravo John Blumenthal for actually being a successful self published writer on Amazon, something that I have yet to accomplish.

Staycation, All I've Ever Wanted

Since I'm not taking a formal vacation this year, I have a lot of leave time saved up from work. I could use this time to go to a concert or other event, but that would require me to increase my entertainment budget, which is something I'm not doing as a pursue Project Buy A House. I could stay home. There's a lot of good TV that I have on my DVR, my Media PC is filled with movies, and I have books that I own but have never actually read. I could take a week, or two, and indulge myself with all of the different forms of media that I have at my disposal. I don't even have to curl up with a nice bottle of booze, the books will be intoxicating enough. Staycations never really appealed to me before, but they seem to now.

Anti-gay group plans Salt Lake conference in 2015

I have my eye on late October 2015 for my staycation. Something tells me there's something I want to stay in town in order to see. Hopefully it won't be snowing hard at that time. Snow makes protests difficult.