Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: Choose Your Own Reality

The first US Presidential campaign debate is tonight. I won’t be watching because I’m starting to get electioned out and we’re still a month away from voting day. Remember, folks, voter fatigue is part of the Romney plan so make sure to vote Obama on November 6th. In the meantime, let’s start today’s links with Candice Swanepoel.

The Republicans consider the Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) the root of all evil. However, seeing as President Obama didn’t switch the health care system to single-payer, an op-ed suggests that maybe Obamacare is something the Tea Party should be happy about. (New York Times)

“Choose your own” is a genre usually limited to books and video games. However, conservative political pundits are living in a world of choose you own political reality. (Politico)

Let’s take a short break from politics. This is a great story by a man who was tormented off the internet before finally meeting and confronting his troll. (The Guardian)

After the jump, unskewing the polls (by skewing them in favour of your candidate), more insight on the BioWare resignations and The Simpsons’ take on the election. Continue reading →

1 Comment Posted on by Steve Murray News

Not News of the Week

If it’s not worth talking about, then it must be the Not News of the Week.

I didn’t realize it but the Canadian government’s economic stimulus program, the Economic Action Plan, still exists. It turns out that they’re advertising it in unusual spaces. Someone found an ad for the EAP on infamous torrent sharing The Pirate bay alongside ads for gambling and dating websites. The government says they didn’t ask for an ad on The Pirate Bay but one of their online ad networks bought one there on their behalf. I actually think advertising on TPB is a good idea. After all, if you’re pirating stuff online, you could use a couple extra bucks. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Randominity

Lowdown Monthly – September 2012

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 30 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 September. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Sunday Link-Off: Having A Laugh

Well, last week was interesting for me. It’s not everyday that former TV game show host Chuck Woolery calls me stupid. Apparently I’m stupid for not agreeing with him that Mitt was actually joking when he said airplane windows should be able to roll down. If Mitt’s wife having to make an emergency landing because of smoke in the cabin is what Mitt and Chuck consider funny, they’d make a perfect writing team for a CBS sitcom. Anyway, let’s troll the Tea Party again with Miranda Kerr. The Republicans don’t have women that look this good.

Samuel L. Jackson has a message for everyone who isn’t concerned about the Presidential election because they think Obama will be handily re-elected: WAKE THE FUCK UP! (WTFU 2012)

The Republican’s think one year’s tax return is enough for Mitt Romney to release. However, it’s not about prying into his personal life. It’s about finding out what bias’ Romney might harbour in making policies which might help his personal finances. (The National Memo)

The GOP hates the Affordable Car Act even though it was based off the health care reform that Mitt Romney passed in Massachusetts as governor. In order to keep the support of the GOP, Romney keeps flip-flopping on whether or not he likes Obamacare or hates it. (Talking Points Memo)

After the jump, Todd Akin continues to try to lose his Senate election, baseball’s most biased announcers and two epic Gangnam Style parodies. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Entertainment, Link-Off

Entertainment Link-Off: A History…

Welcome, my friends, to the show that never ends. The Entertainment Link-Off rolls on with me in place for Jackie this week. I promise that I’ll keep most of the politics out of it this time. The state of discourse in the US Presidential Election is bad enough that we all need a reprieve from the lies, mud-slinging and general bullshit at some point.

Anyway, it’s been an interesting week in the world of entertainment. Most networks chose to have their premieres this week so that means that primetime TV is only slightly less of a wasteland than it was during the summer. Hollywood is doing a bit better this week. Opening over the weekend are Looper starring JGL and Bruce Willis (yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker), Hotel Transylvania (which thankfully spares us from Adam Sandler in drag), Won’t Back Down and Pitch Perfect which stars blog favourite Anna Kendrick.

After the jump, the history of James Bond movies, the history of Cheers, some news on NBC prime time shows and the worst movie death scene ever. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Humour

Caption This: September 22 – 28, 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 →

3 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns, Sports

Despite TV Ratings, IndyCar Is On The Right Track

Normally, I wouldn’t respond to posts on another blog but I couldn’t help but note an oversight of facts in an Awful Announcing post about IndyCar’s ratings on the NBC Sports Network. While noting that IndyCar’s ratings are down by 27% on NBCSN and 17% on ABC compared to the 2011 season, author Joe Lucia suggests IndyCar’s management needs to consider big changes heading into the 2013 season to right the course.

There’s one big problem with that suggestion: IndyCar’s brass has already made it the best North American racing series on-track. Continue reading →

4 Comments Posted on by Steve Murray Columns

Greed isn’t Good: Why Supply-Side Economics Doesn’t Work

Despite his numerous gaffes, including but not limited to offending foreign allies, calling 47% of Americans freeloaders, suggesting that airplanes need windows that roll down and blaming Obama for the unrest in the Middle East that resulted in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, Mitt Romney is still reasonably close to President Obama in the polls.

The main reason why Romney is still in the race (apart from bias of the electorate) is that he is being portrayed as the candidate with a plan for economic recovery. The problem I have with Romney’s economic plan is that there’s no detailed plan in place. However, we know the basic of the Romney plan. It will involve tax cuts for the rich and corporations and government spending cuts to balance the budget. This is called supply-side economics. Recent history shows that supply-side economics don’t work. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Link-Off

Wednesday Link-Off: Roll Up Your Windows

If you hate my political coverage, you’ll hate my Friday column in which I explain why supply-side economics doesn’t actually work and give you the evidence to back that claim up. Anyway, on with the show. Let’s start with the newly single Amy Poehler who’s making Will Arnett look like a fool for divorcing her.

Mitt Romney has the perfect replacement for Obamacare. Since emergency rooms have to provide care people who come in, they can just go to an emergency room if they need it. The irony is that was the same logic that led him to create Romneycare. (Gawker)

Romney is all about cutting back government subsidies but did you know that government subsidies were the only thing that gave him enough money to get the Salt Lake City Olympics to actually happen. (Deadspin)

One of the arguments for the high pay of corporate executives is that they have special skills and experience that entitles them to that pay. However, a new study shows that these skills are specialized to one company and circumstance so there really isn’t any demand for their services. (New York Times)

After the jump, Romney’s epic airplane window fail, a tutorial with Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt Al Bundy and the original worst referee call ever. Continue reading →

Leave a comment Posted on by Steve Murray Humour

Fails of the Week

Every so often, we take a look at the most epic fails from the week that was in the Fails of the Week. This week, we have five pictures and GIFs that we think are the most epic fails of the week. Continue reading →