A movie about computer dorks, with a male protagonist of Filipino descent ... and it co-stars a former Superman?

“You ever hear of the ‘I Love You Virus’? It’s based on that. It’s the American girl and the Filipino boy and I leave the Philippines and there’s not much Internet or cell phone stuff going on at that time over there and he tries to track me down and his friends come up with an idea of him sending out a virus."
- Actress Briana Evigan on her latest project, Subject: I Love You

Too bad it appears the lead role has already been cast.

If you ever find yourself asking how a particular music video relates to the song behind it, then you'll probably find this (via) refreshing. My only concern: the author reinvents the song based on the video - shouldn't it be the other way around?

Bullseye has a gift card that doubles as a disposable digital camera and More Better Purchase offers one with built in speakers. I'm not sold on either of these concepts. Make one that drives like a BMW and then we can talk.

Is the rhetoric rhetorical? A look at the first 100 days of every president since FDR via kottke.

I can't settle on a good personal policy regarding magazine subscriptions (worth the waste? will I recycle?), but I think GOOD is at the top of my list if I finally make the plunge.

Dear Mr. President Elect,

Congratulations on your election by the great people of this United States of America to be our nation's 44th president. Your victory, while historic, brings with it greater challenges than those you faced in the days, weeks and months leading up to it. You inherit a nation at war - at war with terrorists responsible for unimaginable acts of violence, at war with nations over the right to harness nuclear arms, at war with itself over taxes, abortion, health care, and purpose. You inherit a nation struggling to pay its bills, its mortgages, its salaries, and its pensions. You inherit a nation that is tired. Tired of bickering. Tired of blaming. Tired of being marginalized.

Fortunately, that is not where your inheritance ends. Because amidst all of the fighting, all of the anxiety, and all of the fatigue there is a nation that is characterized most by its hope, by the value it places on opportunity, by its optimism. But in order to harness the power that lies beneath you must be smart, prudent, and most importantly you must listen. You must energize our country first in order to bring about the change we need.

I am not characterized simply by my vote - I am more complicated than that - and so are the millions of voters out there, the millions of Americans, that make up this great nation. For every vote cast in your favor, it is likely there was an equal and opposite vote cast against you. That is not an unequivocal mandate. Your ideas inspire many Americans, but they are not perfect. Those of us who checked, touched, or connected the line to your name did so because we believe you are a harbinger of hope and change, not an ascendant to unchecked power. Those of us who did not will respect your authority as President, with the hope that you will respect each one of us as citizens with a voice to be heard. Unify us. Seek out our strengths so that we may overcome our weaknesses. Stand up and fight? Yes we can. Stand with us and I am confident we will.

Eight years ago, I stepped up to the booth and shouted at the top of my voice. As loud as the pen and ballot would allow me, I declared my choice for the office of President of the United States of America. Four years later, I again stepped up to the booth. This time I shouted demonstratively louder, my mark on the page bolder, darker and screamed, "Enough is enough, it's time to move on." I refuse to believe I was unheard or that I was ignored. Simply put, America disagreed both times and I was disappointed. Looking back, it's hard to justify the feelings of absolute anguish and hopelessness I carried with me following those elections. But there is a competitive fire in many of us - if not all of us - that leads us to this agony in our hour of defeat. What I have now, though, is the power of retrospect.

The days, weeks, months, and years that followed were not as dark and dire as I predicted. I was, in fact, able to graduate from college - twice even - once as a bachelor, the second as a supposed master of the science of something. I paid a relatively low cost for my education, the best years of my life passing me by without leaving my financial life in debt-decimated ruin. I transitioned to a job with decent pay and was promoted into management with a company that has, technically speaking, never laid off management employees. I received my first ever stock bonus. I proposed to an amazing woman, she said yes, and we got married. Together we live a middle-class lifestyle, our bills are paid on time, we have our choice of food on the table, and we enjoy what 95% of the world calls luxury.

The truth is, that whatever you have decided the decision is not yours alone. And yet whatever this great nation decides, whether it agrees or disagrees with you, everything will be okay. Because when the votes are counted, and the fiery rhetoric of yesterday subsides into the great sea of tomorrow's unknown there is only One who truly knows what lies ahead. With the foresight of retrospect, that is where I will put my trust - in He who "rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom He will and sets over it the lowliest of men." (Dan 4:17)

Things you know by subtraction ...

I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.
Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack, Say Anything

[Editor's Note:] Live blogging the debate was cut short - but I think you got the point. Clearly it wasn't very necessary (the live-blogging, not the debate)

I'm no Andrew Sullivan ... but here's my attempt at live-blogging the final debate ... call it a Joe Six-Pack Plumber perspective ...

10:18 p.m. I'm terrible at this ... I was concentrating so hard on my abortion thoughts that I missed the meat of the education question. And I'm certain I won't be able to work backwards through the answers I'm hearing. Heard any good songs lately?

10:13 p.m. Abortion is a polarizing issue in this country and I think even within many individuals. Because it is so polarizing, it always turns into an emotional debate. I'm just not convinced that abortion should be such a decisive issue in deciding who should lead our country.

10:08 p.m. Selecting SC justices based on their qualifications is a novel idea. I think I like it. Do I believe it? Hmm.

10:06 p.m. These guys can go back and forth all night on this and a lot of issues. Maybe you should just turn off your TV and go to FactCheck.org to sort all of this out. (This is not a paid advertisement)

10:02 p.m. Sen. Obama must have access to my health plan info.

10:00 p.m. Sen. McCain's reaction to Sen. Obama's claim of a small business health care exemption is one of complete bewilderment. If he's not really bewildered by that, he does a fantastic job of playing the part.

9:59 p.m. $5,000 refundable tax credit for health care. My health plan, if not for my employer's subsidy would cost me $12,000.

9:54 p.m. Sen. Obama's not wowing anyone tonight, but conventional wisdom says he doesn't have to. How wise can convention be?

9:51 p.m. "Drill, baby, drill"

9:50 p.m. I'll admit I don't have the experience of being swished around the bottom of the ocean under the power of a nucular reactor, but nucular power as a primary source of energy freaks me out. (Note: I live within 30 miles of a nuclear power plant)

9:45 p.m. Interesting retorts here ... First Sen. Obama knocking Sen. McCain's spending freeze proposal by bringing up special needs funding, then Sen. McCain questioning Biden's judgment in his bread and butter area (foreign policy) and somewhat effectively?

9:43 p.m. Who am I kidding. Sen. McCain's pick for VP is a disadvantage to him on this question.

9:42 p.m. Is Sen. Obama trying to steal the Joe Six-Pack narrative from the McCain camp on his description of Joe Common Man Biden? Might have been a disadvantage for Sen. McCain to go second on this questions.

9:41 p.m. The running mate question. This should be interesting. I think I like this question.

9:36 p.m. Congratulations to ACORN for pulling off the greatest voter registration coups in the history of the United States. Forget about the years in this great country when people of a certain race or gender were not allowed to vote or have their vote counted fairly.

9:34 p.m. Is Sen. McCain playing hangman on his notepad? When he's looking down and smirks, is that when he figures out what the word is?

9:32 p.m. I don't think Sen. McCain should have gone down this road ... [bringing up Congressman John Lewis' remarks]

9:30 p.m. I don't think McCain has been 100% negative overall - probably just in some markets.

9:27 p.m. Sen. McCain has repudiated every "out of bounds" remark made by Republicans ... what about the ones that he and his running mate have been making?

9:26 p.m. I wish we could have seen the candidates "say it to their opponent's face" without prompting from Moderator Bob. Guess we'll never know.

9:23 p.m. Not sure if it's convincing or not, but Sen. Obama needed to address Sen. McCain's Bush line [and he did]

9:21 p.m. "If you wanted to run against [Bush] you should have run 4 years ago" - Sen. McCain ... in my opinion, McCain's best non-closing statement in the debates.

Watermelon - balled or cubed, chilled; strawberries - sliced, lightly sweetened or covered in chocolate; apples - Fuji, sliced; oranges - kissed by the sun, peeled and lacking seeds; grapes - red or green (white?), frozen; cantelope - (see watermelon, same applies to all melons); grapefruit - halved, sliced (in the peel) and lightly sweetened.

I'm not one who enjoys fruit the most as it "fell from the tree/vine". This means maximum enjoyment for me requires a little bit of prep work. What are your favorite fruits and how do you like them?

It doesn't matter who you're voting for this November, I think we've all felt like this at some point during the campaign season (now included). And it's probably even worse if you're undecided.



If only we all had our own Zack Morris to comfort us in our time of need.