Art Machine
Just another former infatuation junkie

I’m working on a list of dysfunctional Christmas songs. So far, I only have two – any suggestions? The two I’ve got are:

1. Merry Christmas from the Family – Jill Sobule
2. Fairytale of New York – The Pogues

A friend suggested “Holiday in Cambodia,” but I always thought the “holiday” suggested was less the holiday season and more holiday like “let’s take a holiday to Hawai’i” – making it more of a dysfunctional spin on the “what a nice place” genre of songs.

Leave suggestions in the comments.

I forgot how long it had been since the last 10 (no, not last week’s – the one before that). Anyway, answers have been posted now, and I find it amazing that with the massive number of mp3’s in my iTunes how many artists keep repeating. Just an observation.

Still plenty of lyrics in the current 10.

I don’t know if he’s joking, or if he’s genuinely campaigning to be my generation’s Bing Crosby. But Billy Idol has been possessed by the Christmas spirit. Free-yow.

It’s ten! Guess the artist and the song, leave it in the comments, and nobody gets hurt.

1. You wanna do what I do, and I doubt it.
2. Their fat and psychopathic wives would thrash them within inches of their lives.
3. I heard the people who live on the ceiling scream and fight most scarily.
4. Papa thinks she’s pretty, but he’s almost blind.
5. You’ll spend hours practicing your smile.
6. The summer sun looked down on our love long ago.
7. There’s good folks here, good folks there, most everywhere I go.
8. We fall down on the inside; pretty on the outside.
9. Every time I think about you, Heaven knows I fall into a groove.
10. I asked for hope and a chance, you gave the key to your heart.

Seen Casino Royale yet? Possibly the best Bond film in recent memory.

In the meantime, check out this pilot for German television, made available in English for the first time. And if you like it, show your support by buying a DVD – Cheap!

... and I couldn’t resist.

Modern, Cool Nerd 65 % Nerd, 60% Geek, 43% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd. Nerds didn’t use to be cool, but in the 90’s that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn’t quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and “geek is chic.” The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)! Congratulations! Also, you might want to check out some of my other tests if you’re interested in any of the following: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Professional Wrestling Love & Sexuality America/Politics Thanks Again!—THE NERD? GEEK? OR DORK? TEST

I had to find something that expressed as much joy as the dancing banana.

That will do nicely.

[Tip o’ the hat to Aaron Williams’ Cat Gallery]

In this video at ThinkProgress, is Bush really saying that he purposefully lied to reporters – as in knowingly misled them and fed false information to the public through them – because he wanted to change the subject?

Okay.

Just checking.

Apparently it was 64 days ago (has it been that long? Really? Time flies when you’re rehearsing Macbeth) that I wrote about the Painter of (B)Light Thomas Kinkade and suggested that just because you’re a Christian and the person you’re dealing with is a fellow Christian doesn’t mean they don’t want to cheat you.

And now, here’s Dr. Dino. Dr. Dino runs a theme park combining Dinosaurs with Creationist rhetoric. It’s “Where dinosaurs and the Bible meet!” Not to mention tax evasion, as it turns out Dr. Dino hasn’t been withholding taxes from his employees’ paychecks and has been paying them in cash. [link via BoingBoing]

Kent Hovind, founder of Creation Science Evangelism and Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, was found guilty of 58 counts, including failure to pay $845,000 in employee-related taxes. He faces a maximum of 288 years in prison.

Jo Hovind was charged and convicted in 44 of the counts involving evading bank-reporting requirements. She faces up to 225 years in prison but was allowed to remain free pending the couple’s sentencing on Jan. 9.

First of all, let’s ask what Jesus would do. Actually, that’s not so hard – the issue actually comes up in scripture. Reach into your wallet and pull out a bill. Who’s on the bill? Right. Then render unto God what is God’s and render unto Benjamin Franklin what is Benjamin Franklin’s (or, in my case, render unto George Washington what is George Washington’s). Yes. Pay taxes.

Second, if you decide to work for “a brother in Christ,” don’t let him pay you in cash without reporting your income to the IRS. I know it seems cool. Hey, you’re screwing over the secular (have you seen the cat that’s in office now?) government and getting to keep more of your money!

But without reporting your income and withholding taxes, there’s also no Social Security being paid out, there’s no retirement plan (in case you had a hankering to make dinosaur-driven Creationism your career path) and as far as the IRS is concerned, you’ve never been employed. Never. So you have little to no claim on government support later in life. Allowing your “brother in Christ” to pay you in cash without reporting to the IRS is stealing from your own future to line the pockets of your present. And that’s just foolish.

Again. And this goes for all religions and cultural backgrounds. When someone dealing with you in business starts harping on being a “brother” or “sister,” you don’t have to mistrust them right away – but it’s a fantastic time to be scoping the small print.