It’s time to once again take a look back at the past month here on the blog with Lowdown Monthly. Considering the amount of content we’ve pushed out over the last 31 days, I thought now would be a good time to bring it back. So here’s our look back at our favourite and the most popular posts of August. Continue reading
Author: Steve Murray
F1 Belgian GP: Lights to Flag
While overtaking was plentiful in this year’s Belgian Grand Prix, there was one driver who was not passed all day. Jenson Button scored his first pole for McLaren this weekend and followed that up by scoring a win while leading all 44 laps of the race. While the race for the lead may not have been exciting, the fight for every other position was anything but dull. Continue reading
Sunday Link-Off: Grab A Chair
Between Romney and Ryan’s lies and Clint Eastwood’s invisible President on a chair, it’s been an interesting week in politics. With the Democratic National Convention this week, it’s not going to be any less dull. Anyway, let’s start this post off with Canadian model Nicole Williams.
What if the critics are wrong and Mitt Romney isn’t actually a flip-flopper but an opportunist who uses that appearance to mask his true intentions? (Rolling Stone)
Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech for the Republican VP nomination was so full of lies that even Fox News called him out on his bullshit. (Fox News)
Last Wednesday, I linked to an article asking if Reagan was too moderate for today’s Republican Party. It turns out that suggestion is gaining some traction. (New York Times)
After the jump, more GOP fact-checking, some fun with politics and all shouting on The Newsroom. Continue reading
Caption This: August 25 – 31, 2012
Inspired by the Globe and Mail’s caption writing person, we waste our time writing funny picture captions for some of the more interesting photos we come across when blogging. So here are some of the best pictures from the past week with a funny (-ish) caption. Continue reading
The Newsroom: Sorkin’s Modern After School Special
Whenever I see a blogger or TV critic wax poetic about an older network comedy, they often bring up episodes that touched on more serious topics. These episodes that touched on controversial or social issues were called “After School Specials” after the ABC TV movie series of the same name.
After school specials (or “very special episodes” as they were occasionally called in network TV) have essentially disappeared from the network TV landscape. Sure, kids shows will touch on an important topic every now and then but when was the last time you saw something you would call an After School Special. One of the few shows on TV that does touch on important social issues is The Newsroom. Continue reading
Man Lab Kitchen: Labour Day Grilling
This Monday is Labour Day. Since this marks the unofficial end to summer, there’s no time like the present to fire up the grill. So we’ve reopened the Man Lab’s kitchen for the first time in nine months to give you some of our favourite grilling recipes. If you’re looking for recipes that say “turn on grill and slap on steak,” you’ve come to the wrong place. That little bit extra effort means a lot when it comes to flavour and impressing your friends.
Continue reading
F1 Power Rankings: Belgian Grand Prix
It’s been five weeks since the most recent race on the 2012 Formula One World Championship calendar. Before we last left you, Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag at the Hungarian Grand Prix in a race that could hardly be described as a parade with some pit stop strategy-enabled passes. This week, the F1 season gets back underway with a return to the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit. While Ferrari and Fernando Alonso looks strong, Red Bull are still a threat and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton is mounting a late season charge for the title. Continue reading
Wednesday Link-Off: Fight For Your Right
This week marks the GOP convention which is a gathering of rich white men who fail to understand any issues facing someone who isn’t a white man with a household income greater than $250,000. Yet, nearly inexplicably, they still exist. Why do people support a party that is anti-people and borders on anti-freedom? The only freedom they allow are the freedoms they believe in. If they could, they’d outlaw any non-Christian beliefs and religions. Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox and start this post off with Canadian model turned professional wrestler turned model again Maryse Ouellet.
Somehow this story has been kept quiet. A whistle-blower says that the NSA is secretly spying on all US domestic electronic communications. In other words, the American government is spying on you. (The New York Times)
MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews finally takes the GOP to task for their disrespect of President Obama and continuously insinuating he’s not American. It’s about time a Democrat grew some balls. (Think Progress)
With the Tea Party dragging the Republican Party farther and farther to the right, would Republican hero Ronald Reagan be too moderate for today’s GOP? (Bloomberg Insider)
After the jump, Republicans say more dumb things about rape, Lisa Ann brings her Sarah Palin act to the RNC and a look inside first class airfare. Continue reading
Not News of the Week
If it’s not worth talking about, then it must be the Not News of the Week.
Mountain Dew recently launched a poll to name a new apple-flavoured Mountain Dew. What could possibly go wrong? Enter 4chan. They caught wind of the contest and had their trademark fun. They spammed the poll to get such unusable names as Fapple,” “Gushing Granny,” “Diabeetus” and “Hitler did nothing wrong” to the top of the charts. They also hacked the site to display a banner reading “Mtn Dew salutes the Israeli Mossad for demolishing 3 towers on 9/11!” and added a pop-up which Rickrolled people. This is what happens when the marketing department is too lazy to name a new drink and leaves it to the internet. After all, we did rig a contest to send Pitbull to Alaska. Continue reading
Before The Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC: The Indoctrination Theory – A Documentary Extended Cut
In our examination of the controversy surrounding the release and ending of Mass Effect 3, we included a brief examination of the Indoctrination Theory and included the Indoctrination Theory documentary. We looked at it again after the release of the Extended Cut DLC but we may have been wrong to declare The Indoctrination Theory dead. Ahead of tomorrow’s release of the Mass Effect 3 Leviathan DLC (the first paid ME3 DLC since the From Ashes DLC), Julian Kluk of CleverNoob.com is back with the third part of his epic documentary series examining Mass Effect 3’s ending with The Indoctrination Theory – A Documentary Extended Cut. Continue reading
The Lowdown 