Someone got screwed at the airport...and it WASN'T me.

So, my friend called me this morning from Atlanta where he was on a pointless business trip. The main story he shared that I wanted to pass on was about a 'buddy trip.' There were two guys flying as friends of someone that worked for the airline and they were trying to get onto a flight with one free seat. The last part of this conversation my friend overheard was them talking about who they knew in the airline.

He boards the plane and takes a seat just behind first class. He's there for a few minutes when someone comes on the plane and informs one of the first-class passengers (FIRST CLASS!) that he needs to leave the plan to speak to TSA about the rifle that he has checked on the plane. He was apparently on a hunting trip. His bags had been removed from the plane and he and his wife left with security.

Just after this the ticket woman brings aboard the two buddy trip guys. They take the two first class seats and my friend overhears the woman saying "Are you crazy? I could lose my job for doing this!" Two coach passengers are offered the first class seats and move up and the buddy passengers take their seats in the rear. So, yeah, she screwed over some guy with the TSA and make him miss his flight. Remember that if security pulls you from your plane for no adequate reason.

I really need to stop watching the Simpsons

I don't know if anyone else has made the mistake of watching this season of the Simpsons or not but, goddamn, has it been awful. Between the iPod jokes (welcome to 2003) and Bart's cell phone crisis (welcome to 2001) was jammed the absolute worst episode I think that they could ever produce, Homer meets the Muslims (welcome back to 2003). Jesus, this has been an awful cesspool of malformed jokes, flat characterizations and piss poor writing. I firmly believe that the writers of the show are now kids who grew up writing fan fiction on some Yahoo user group in 1997 and think they can translate the same skills as professionals that got them beardo kudos online.

The thing that brought this to mind now, though, was the opening credits of the show. They've only changed twice of which I am aware in the show's history. First, because they were long and never changed save the Bart-writes-on-the-blackboard gag and the couch gag they just cut to the chase and showed those two basically. But now they have actually extended and refined some of the little jokes in the new credits, making them three times longer than before. And when I noticed this on this week's episode my first thought was, "Good, that will make the show's run time shorter." That's when I knew that the show, or at least my viewership, should really stop. When I resort to being more entertained by memories of when this was good television than I am by the actual new production I have officially lost interest. Good night and God bless.

P.S. Stop making Futurama movies, too. Those plotlines don't hold up for ninety minutes. Go back to episodic TV. You're very good at it.

Catholicism admits defeat

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/4588289/The-Vatican-claims-Darwins-theory-of-evolution-is-compatible-with-Christianity.html

What better way to celebrate the 200th birthday of Darwin than by saying told-you-so to the Pope? I know I should more gracious in victory but, seriously, fuck you, your stupid hats and your bubble car.

Never do anything nice for strangers- Denny's proves why

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/03/BAIC15MLMT.DTL

I have no idea what these kinds of promotions are intended to prove. You can surmise from the evidence presented that this will result in no extra Denny's business. That guy who felt entitled to a free steak for no good reason? He won't be back and he won't be missed. That cop who's complaining that Denny's should have organized this better? He's pissed off that he can't just go in and lean on them for a free Denver omelet like he would normally do every day. The waiters got gypped, no one paid for anything and any goodwill that might have been generated was washed away in paranoia over the possibility of rioting over free eggs. And if you've ever eaten at a Denny's you know that the first thing they thought afterward was not, "Hot shit, that was awesome! I can't wait to come back and pay for that!" It was likely closer to, "Oh my lord! Do people do this to themselves regularly?" So, why did Denny's do this to themselves and their community? Hell if I know.

Superhero movie barrel finally gotten to the bottom of

http://www.newsarama.com/film/020909-YOungblood.html

Holy shit, what possible interest could anyone have in this? Young-fucking-blood movie directed by Brett Ratner...I can't even begin to fathom this. Has Rob Liefeld even been heard from in ten years? “Most of the great graphic novels are gone...” Ratner told the trade. You ain't fucking kidding, buddy, if you paid money for the rights to a crap comic that died out back when Image was still something people didn't snicker about. But how authentic will it be? Can they capture the feel of the comic? Will one actor take multiple parts with different wigs to display Liefeld's trademark inability to draw more than three faces or hairstyles? Will all the actors have some kind of grass and rocks attached to their shoes to really feel the essence of his complete lack of aptitude at drawing human feet? The silver lining in this story is that if he is off making a Youngblood movie at least Ratner isn't busy fucking up another, better comics property.