TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Drama Bracket / 1st Round Results

drama BRACKET

ROUND 1 RESULTS

(2 Points Per Category Win, 1 Point Per Tie)

1) Manchester by the Sea Vs. 16) The Fundamentals of Caring

ACTING
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

WRITING/DIALOGUE
Advantage: The Fundamentals of Caring

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Advantage: The Fundamentals of Caring

PRODUCTION DESIGN/VISUALS
Advantage: The Fundamentals of Caring

SOUND/MUSIC
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

EDITING/PACING
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

STORY/MEANING
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

DIRECTING
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

TIME MANAGEMENT
Advantage: The Fundamentals of Caring

LASTABILITY
TIE

A FILMS GOAL
Advantage: Manchester by the Sea

FINAL SCORE

1) Manchester by the Sea – 13 (Advances to 2nd Round)
16) The Fundamentals of Caring – 9

*******

Continue reading “TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Drama Bracket / 1st Round Results”

Simple Minded Weekly Recap-ITATION! – 06/18/2017

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

THE EL PASO POLICE DEPARTMENT’S SPECIAL TRAFFIC INVESTIGATIONS UNIT, A.K.A. THE OVERTIME COWBOYS, SHUT DOWN THE FREEWAY FOR OVER SIX HOURS BECAUSE OF AN ACCIDENT INVOLVING ONE(!) MOTORCYCLE.  IF A REAL EMERGENCY LIKE A TERRORIST ATTACK EVER OCCURS, EPPD WILL SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE CITY FOR A MONTH – EPPD’s Traffic Unit shut down ALL westbound lanes on Friday, after a deadly motorcycle accident near Yarbrough, and didn’t open up the freeway until more than 6 hours later.  It’s understandable that they would shut down the area in order to render aid and clean up the mess, but to waste SIX HOURS on an “investigation” in an area surrounded by txdot cameras is just wasteful.  El Paso is the only city in Texas, and perhaps the world, where the policed shuts down an entire freeway to “look for clues”.  More than anything, this sort of thing just comes off looking like blatant overtime fraud with no respect for the taxpayer.  To make matters worse, all the money wasted could be used on the police officers who actually do REAL police work and keep us safe by patrolling and going into rough neighborhoods to stop crime.  At some point, the city and state authorities are going to have to step in and see why these investigations seem to take hours ONLY in El Paso and not anywhere else.  (kvia.com)

CAN WE ALL FINALLY AGREE THAT COHEN STADIUM DOES NOT NEED TO BE A BASEBALL FIELD ANYMORE AND JUST TURN IT INTO AN AMPHITHEATER?  AND LET’S SELL THE LAND AROUND THE AREA AND GET SOME PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT GOING – After years of being put on the back burner, the City of El Paso is seriously starting to look at realistic plans for Cohen Stadium and the surrounding area.  Once City Hall Field was built in downtown, the city had no real use for a baseball field in Northeast El Paso but they were reluctant to proclaim Cohen as a white elephant.  Now it seems the city is looking at logical options for Cohen Stadium and its potential as a performance area are finally being appreciated.  El Paso loses out on many tours because of its lack of an amphitheater and Cohen Stadium is an excellent candidate to be retrofitted for that use.  While the city is just discussing the basic ideas on how to revitalize this property, it’s good to see that they are looking beyond just the canopy repairs and are hinting at some future changes to the venue.  I’m not saying they’re going to turn it into an amphitheater, but the smart and rational move here would be for the City of El Paso to turn Cohen Field into an amphitheater.  (kvia.com)

APPARENTLY GETTING IN THE RIO GRANDE IS DANGEROUS IN EL PASO, BUT IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE TO RIDE FUNNY RAFTS A FEW MILES NORTH IN LAS CRUCES.  AT THIS POINT, THE BORDER PATROL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ARE JUST MAKING SHIT UP AND NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO BE RATIONAL.  WHEN YOU CAN BLAME TERRORISTS FOR ANYTHING, EVERYTHING YOU SAY IS THE TRUTH – For the 18th year in a row, the Raft the Rio celebration took place in Las Cruces this weekend as people captained a wide variety of boats through the stretch of the Rio Grande the runs through Las Cruces.  This seemed like a very fun event and it’s a real shame that the government has turned the river into a no man’s land once it reaches the Texas border and practically a war zone once it reaches downtown El Paso.  A once lively and life-giving river has been reduced to a concrete canal due to the machinations of morons hundreds of miles away on both sides of the divide.  Well, at least Las Cruces gets to have fun with the river.  (kvia.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

IF TERRORISTS AND BREXIT WEREN’T BAD ENOUGH, NOW LONDON HAS TO WORRY ABOUT KILLER FIRES – It seems the UK just can’t catch a break and now a deadly high rise fire in London is the latest bit of bad news to hit the country.  Dozens are believed dead as a massive fire gutted the Grenfell Tower and destroyed most of the 24-storey building.  Cost cutting measures are blamed for this fire as the building didn’t have a sprinkler system and the protective cladding cover used in recent upgrades was not fire resistant.  The building was mainly used for low income housing, so that might be why the government went with “cost” when it came down to the cost/safety ratio.  Unfortunately, you expect something like this from a developing nation in Africa or the Americas.  But when a tragic fire like this happens in one of the richest cities in the world, it really makes you question the system as a whole.  (bbc.com)

BECAUSE HOLLYWOOD LOVES A GOOD PLOT TWIST, IT TURNS OUT THE PRODUCTION COMPANY BEHIND THE WOLF OF WALL STREET MIGHT BE A HORRIBLE MONEY LAUNDERING OPERATION THAT STOLE MONEY FROM THE MALAYSIAN PEOPLE TO CREATE A MASSIVE SCAM OF A COMPANY.  THE RED GRANITE MOVIE IS GOING TO BE AWESOME! – Red Granite was a production company that made some big movies over the years and that is now on the brink of having all its assets seized as the U.S. Government continues with its case against the company.  Red Granite is accused of a massive money laundering scheme that involved pumping tons of money out of Malaysia, reserved for economic development that the country REALLY needed, in order for the relatives of Malaysian government officials to pretend like they were Hollywood big shots.  The case is pretty large and complex, so you should do yourself a favor and read the full report to get all the juicy details on just how far these guys went.  As it stands, the government is seeking to seize assets that include paintings worth millions of dollars and movies such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Daddy’s Home and Dumb and Dumber To.  As an added bonus, the investigation also involves Leonardo DiCaprio and parties in Las Vegas!  (deadline.com)

GET READY FOR QUANTUM SPY SATELLITES – THE NEW SAFE WAY TO SECURELY TRANSMIT PICTURES OF YOUR DICK TO RANDOM GIRLS! – The Chinese government has successfully tested a new type of satellite communication system that uses the laws of quantum science to create a virtually un-hackable communication network.  The Micius satellite has been working since last August and continues to show positive results.  This all is a bit too hard to explain in a smarmy paragraph, but the system basically uses photon pairs to hold the encryption keys that cease to work if any detection is attempted on the message.  But just read the full report for more information on how this fascinating system works and ignore my half-assed summary.  Not to be outdone, Donald Trump has announced that he will create a coal-powered satellite system that uses coal encryption in order to counter this new spy satellite from China.  Because the only way to advance the country and Make Murica Great Again is by using 19th century technology!  (bbc.com)

 

Simple Minded Weekly Recap-ITATION! – 06/11/2017

 

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

EL PASO’S VOTERS (ALL FIVE OF THEM) HAVE SPOKEN AND THEY HAVE DECIDED TO CHOOSE STABLE, AVERAGE CANDIDATES OVER INCOMPETENT, ILL-INFORMED OUTSIDERS.  AT LEAST EL PASO VOTERS GOT IT RIGHT – The runoff election for El Paso mayor and city council took place on Saturday and Dee Margo, Alexsandra Annello, Cassandra Hernandez and Sam Morgan were some of the major winners in their respective elections for mayor and city council.  While this election didn’t feature any spectacular candidates, the voters elected the most solid choices available and rejected some of the over the top morons that were running in some of the races.  The City Council District 8 race was the only one not decided on Saturday, but the runoff features two decent-ish candidates that won’t (hopefully) do amazingly stupid things at council.  So the upcoming El Paso government should be MUCH better than what we had before.  (elpasoheraldpost.com)

IN HINDSIGHT, CHARGING MONEY FOR PEOPLE TO GO INTO ASCARATE PARK FOR A FESTIVAL THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE A COPIOUS AMOUNT OF DRUGS IS A PRETTY STUPID IDEA – El Paso County Parks and Recreation Director Eric Storrie was fired right after the completion of this year’s Sun City Fair and some sources are saying it was because of the lackluster results of the event that many attribute to his poor management.  Regardless of the situation, Eric Storrie is a useful scapegoat for Ascarate’s troubles but the main issue still remains that El Paso County should not be in the “parks” business and should stop wasting taxpayer money on this and merge their few parks with the City of El Paso.  El Paso County charges a fee to enter Ascarate and the Sportsplex and their parks are STILL in worse condition than the City of El Paso parks that are completely free!  Just save everyone’s tax money and create a metropolitan parks and recreation department run by the city that runs all the parks in the area.  Maybe if the parks were free and not run by incompetent El Paso County officials things like this wouldn’t happen.  It says a lot when you can make the City of El Paso government look amazing in comparison.  (cbs4local.com)

CONGRATULATIONS TO UTEP’S TOBI AMUSAN AND EMMANUEL KORIR FOR BRINGING TRACK AND FIELD NATIONAL TITLES BACK TO THE SCHOOL – The 2017 NCAA Track and Field National Championships are in the books and UTEP came back with a pair of major wins.  Emmanuel Korir repeated as 800m national champion and Tobi Amusan won the 100m hurdles national championship (the first championship for UTEP in that event).  UTEP also had some other athletes with good finishes at the meet and it was a great end to the season for the Men and Women’s Track Team.  Those performances were flashbacks to UTEP’s dominant track teams of the ‘70s and ‘80s that brought multiple national titles to El Paso.  Shine on, UTEP!  (elpasoheraldpost.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

IN NEWS OF THE HYPOCRITICAL, SAUDI ARABIA HAS ACCUSED QATAR OF FUNDING TERRORISM.  THE SAME SAUDI ARABIA THAT ENCOURAGES RADICAL MOSQUES ACROSS THE WORLD AND THAT PRODUCED MOST OF THE 9/11 HIJACKERS – Because the world is stupid and Donald Trump seems to have emboldened all the dictators of the world, Saudi Arabia has pushed other gulf states to join in on an economic blockade of Qatar because of “terrorist links”.  Nobody is going to point out Saudi Arabia’s hypocrisy because this is obviously just Saudi Arabia bullying Qatar as a way to show dominance in the region and engage in yet another dick measuring contest with Iran.  But just to reinforce the hypocrisy, the very same Saudi Arabia that supports its own weirdo extremist sect of Islam around the world and that is currently driving Yemen to a catastrophe for selfish reasons is accusing another country of having “terrorist links”.  (bbc.com)

THE BRITISH PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN WITH THEIR VOTES AND THEY DON’T TRUST THEIR CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT.  THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT HAS RESPONDED BY JOINING FORCES WITH A BORDERLINE RIGHT WING EXTREMIST GROUP TO GET A MAJORITY.  FUN TIMES IN ENGLAND! – Last week the British people went to the polls after Prime Minister Theresa May called for an election and they responded by voting out multiple members of her party from parliament and eliminating their majority in the government.  So it was a borderline disaster for her and her “mandate” going into Brexit.  Not to be outdone, she has joined forces with the Democratic Unionist Party to get enough seats to have a majority government.  Up until a few years ago, DUP was considered a fringe, right wing, extremist party from Northern Ireland.  But now they are partners in Britain’s leadership as they head into Brexit negotiations!  Good show, Theresa May.  That’s leadership straight from Trump University!  (bbc.com)

MAYBE WE SHOULD JUST LET THE BUMBLEBEES TAKE OVER DETROIT.  THEY CAN’T DO A WORSE JOB THAN THE HUMANS – A recent study of bee populations in Michigan by Paul Glum at the University of Michigan found that bees are now being found in higher concentrations in Detroit than have been found in other urban or suburban areas of Michigan.  The main theory is that the urban exodus in Detroit has left pockets of unused lots that are now filled with native overgrowth that provides tons of areas for bumblebees to gather pollen.  Either that or bees would rather chill in Detroit than other cities in Michigan for some reason.  (blogs.discovermagazine.com)

 

TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Action Movie Bracket / 1st Round Results

ACTION MOVIE BRACKET

ROUND 1 RESULTS

(2 Points Per Category Win, 1 Point Per Tie)

1) Elle Vs. 16) Chongqing Hot Pot

ACTING
Advantage: Elle

WRITING/DIALOGUE
Advantage: Elle

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Advantage: Chongqing Hot Pot

PRODUCTION DESIGN/VISUALS
Advantage: Chongqing Hot Pot

SOUND/MUSIC
Advantage: Elle

EDITING/PACING
Advantage: Chongqing Hot Pot

STORY/MEANING
Advantage: Elle

DIRECTING
Advantage: Elle

TIME MANAGEMENT
Advantage: Chongqing Hot Pot

LASTABILITY
Advantage: Chongqing Hot Pot

A FILMS GOAL
Advantage: Elle

FINAL SCORE

1) Elle – 12 (Advances to 2nd Round)
16) Chongqing Hot Pot – 10

*******

Continue reading “TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Action Movie Bracket / 1st Round Results”

Simple Minded Weekly Recap-ITATION! – 06/02/2017

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

AFTER GENERATIONS, HUECO TANKS STILL KEEPS ON REVEALING NEW AND EXCITING DISCOVERIES – Hueco Tanks is one of the area’s most prized treasures that offers an amazing outdoor recreational experience complete with thousands of years of cultural history reflected in the rock paintings throughout the geologic formation.  A survey last March used advanced imaging technology to try and find any previously lost pictographs and succeeded in finding “new” pictographs in 29 sites throughout the park.  The bad news is that those areas will now be closed off for recreational activities, but the good news is that Hueco Tanks now has more archaeological treasures that we can all admire and learn from.  If you ever want to get away for a quick day trip, Hueco Tanks is the place to go.  (elpasoheraldpost.com)

MAYBE TECHNOLOGY CAN FINALLY LOWER CROSSING TIMES AT THE BRIDGES LEADING TO EL PASO.  LORD KNOWS GIVING MORE MONEY TO THE BABY HUEY POSSE “PROTECTING” THE BORDER DIDN’T REALLY CHANGE ANYTHING – In another valiant attempt to try and reduce wait times at the international border, the City of El Paso has teamed up with Metropia to create the PDNUno.com website that promises to give instant data on the wait times at all the bridges that connect El Paso and Juarez.  Although many websites and methods have been used in the past to try and monitor bridge wait times and release the info to the public, they weren’t always accurate or easy to use.  The PDNUno is very easy to use and the color scheme and layout makes it look like a playschool app that anybody with half a brain can use accurately.  In addition, the website gets its information from the Metropia app that sources data directly from commuters in real time – so this should be waaaaaaaay more accurate than the “official” times that the bridges themselves give out.  Trying to lower bridge wait times has been a decades long struggle for the City of El Paso and maybe technology and crowd sourcing will finally be the magic key to a more efficient border crossing process.  (elpasoheraldpost.com)

GOD BLESS THE EL PASO GAY COMMUNITY FOR MAKING CHICO THE CHIHUAHUA THE GRAND MARSHALL FOR THE SUN CITY PRIDE PARADE.  IF YOU ASK ME, CHICO THE CHIHUAHUA SHOULD BE THE GRAND MARSHAL FOR EVERY PARADE AND SHOULD ALSO BE THE MAYOR AND EL PASO’S REPRESENTATIVE TO CONGRESS – The El Paso Sun City Pride festivities are in their 10th year and the events have grown a substantial amount over the years.  These are great events that offer support for the gay community and act as a showcase for the community as a whole to get to know the gay community in El Paso.  In addition to the parades, there will be multiple events all across El Paso to celebrate the Sun City Pride Fest, so check these events out if you get the chance.  It should be noted that Texas State Senator Jose Rodriguez will also be part of the parade but Chico the Chihuahua was chosen as the Grand Marshal!  God Bless the El Paso gay community and their admiration for Chico.  (elpasoheraldpost.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

WANT TO LIVE A LONG TIME?  STOP EATING FOOD! – One of the more interesting things to come out of recent research into ageing is that if the amount of food consumed is lowered then the test subject lives a longer life.  Not only that, but the years added are “healthy time” that are mostly free of disease.  This doesn’t mean that you should go off and starve yourself, but a simple 30% reduction in calories consumed can lead to a longer and healthier life if these studies turn out to be transferable to the real world.  So don’t eat that much if you want to live a long and healthy life, but ask your doctor first or you might accidentally starve yourself to death.  (bbc.com)

“COWBOY” BOUNTY HUNTERS WERE A STUPID AND DANGEROUS IDEA BACK IN THE 19TH CENTURY, SO IT BOGGLES THE MIND THAT THEY ARE STILL AROUND IN TODAY’S DAY AND AGE – Three people died in a shootout this week in a suburb of Dallas as two bounty hunters tried to “take down” a suspect in a crowded car dealership.  The three people that died were the two bounty hunters and the criminal suspect, but this could have easily ended with civilian deaths – especially when you have idiots that see men with guns and then run up to them to record it with their cells.  You’d think the bounty hunters would have had the common sense to avoid “capturing” someone in a public place surrounded by innocent people.  It should be noted that if this would have happened in El Paso, racist Texas Republicans would have already been bitching about border violence, cartels and national security.  Hell, Greg Abbott would have flipped his wheelchair over trying to get to his computer to fellate Donald Trump via Twitter before Ted Cruz and beg the fascist leader of America for a border wall to stop this big, bad border violence.  But since this happened in a Dallas suburb, Texas Republicans and others were eerily quiet on all this and wrote it off as a freak accident.  Maybe Rick Perry will use his magic geography powers and say it happened near the Mexico border.  (kfoxtv.com)

THE IDIOT DONALD TRUMP HAS TURNED AMERICA INTO THAT ALIEN OCTOPUS CORPSE AT THE END OF WATCHMEN THAT UNITES THE WORLD AND LEADS TO WORLD PEACE.  MAYBE THAT’S HIS PLAN, TO BRING WORLD PEACE BY UNITING THE ENTIRE WORLD IN THEIR COMMON DISDAIN FOR AMERICA – In his continued attempt to make the worst possible decisions imaginable, Donald Trump has started the process to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord and will join Nicaragua and Syria as the only other countries who think that global warming is a hoax and that the rest of the world is wrong.  Even fucking North Korea is part of the Paris Climate Agreement!  Donald Trump made up some bullshit economic reasons for his stupid decision, but this will not have any significant positive impact on the economy as a whole and will just make his high ranking buddies in the energy sector more money at the expense of the environment and the common man.  And if people were hoping that this would destabilize the agreement, the world has actually united in supporting this cause and will now work closer together if only just to spite the idiot in the White House.  So now oil and natural gas prices will go down even further as a result of less regulation and over production which will result in more losses as the rest of the world embraces renewable energy and cuts its demand for fossil fuels.  It’s like Donald Trump read about the collapse of America’s Whaling industry in the 19th century and didn’t learn a damned thing.  He didn’t actually read anything, he just looked at the pictures of the whales and the boats.  Donald Trump is a complete, fucking cunt.  (bbc.com)

 

 

Simple Minded Daily Recap-ITATION! – 05/28/2017

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

IT WOULD BE AN INJUSTICE IF JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL DIDN’T NAME IT’S NEW STADIUM AFTER EDDIE GUERRERO – After decades of having to play “home games” at Bowie High School, Jefferson will finally get a stadium starting in the 2017-2018 school year.  The stadium doesn’t have a name yet and the district is working out the details, but it would be a travesty if the stadium were not named after Eddie Guerrero.  I can’t think of any famous football or track athletes to come out of Jefferson, but Eddie Guerrero was on the Jefferson wrestling team and eventually became a professional wrestling champion and a WWE legend.  Sure, wrestling doesn’t happen on the field but it’s still a part of Jefferson’s athletic legacy.  And for those of you who say professional wrestling isn’t a real sport, feel free to get in the ring and let the wrestlers know how you feel.  Let’s make Eddie Guerrero Stadium a reality!  And if you go by Wikipedia, the only other famous Jefferson alum is Richard Ramirez the Night Stalker.  So Jefferson either names its stadium after Eddie Guerrero or a serial killer.  Hopefully Jefferson High School makes the right choice.  (kvia.com)

A GREAT WEEKEND FOR WATER LEVELS AT ELEPHANT BUTTE MAKES FOR A NOT SO GREAT WEEKEND FOR RV CAMPERS PLACED TO CLOSE TO THE WATER – Officials at Elephant Butte Dam say the lake is at the highest level seen in 8 years and the waters continue to rise thanks to the high amount of snow that fell in the winter up north that is finally melting and flowing to the Rio Grande.  The lake is over 24% full and increased flow should make the levels rise until it reaches its peak in the summer.  This is great news for a region that has been hit by drought and dry conditions over the past few years.  This is, however, bad news for people that decided to put their vehicles and campers close to the water days in advance in anticipation of Memorial Day crowds.  The rising waters mean that some of these people will arrive to partially submerged property once they get back to the lake.  But if ending the drought means a bunch of dumbasses get their fancy camping equipment flooded, then so be it.  (kvia.com)

IT’S LIKE CANNES IN THE DESERT – The 6th annual EPISD Student Film Festival was held recently and the submitted films have been placed online.  Hundreds of films and videos were submitted by students from around the region and the results are pretty damn good.  Though the festival comes in under the radar, the films and students deserve much more attention than they currently get.  So if you have some time, go to the official film festival website to check out the selected submissions and find your own favorites.  I recommend the fake movie trailers.  Some of those trailers are so good I’m actually disappointed that I’m not able to see the fake movies they are advertising.  (kvia.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

WORLD’S DUMBEST TERRORIST ATTACKS ARIANA GRANDE CONCERT.  YES, THE STRATEGICALLY SIGNIFICANT AND EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ARIANA GRANDE CONCERT – Tragedy struck in Manchester when an idiot suicide bomber blew himself up outside of an Ariana Grande concert as fans were starting to leave the arena.  Of all the important political meetings and events occurring in Europe this week, a suicide bomber decided to end his life attacking a fucking Ariana Grande concert.  If they weren’t so stupid and worthless, terrorists might be an actual threat to the government and western society as a whole.  Fuck the terrorists and long live all the innocent people who died in Manchester this week.  (bbc.com)

YOU MEAN I NOW HAVE TO WORK UNTIL I’M 70 TO GET A CUSHY RETIREMENT?  I QUIT.  I’M JUST GOING TO BUY A BUNCH OF LOTTERY TICKETS AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS – According to the World Economic Forum, the increase of life expectancy in the developed nations to 100+ levels is having a serious impact to retirement ages.  It is recommended that retirement ages be raised to at least 70 in most developed nations to try and minimize the impact of rising life expectancy around the world.  Even then, the rate of young workers to retirees is getting smaller and drastic changes will have to be made to our system to ensure that retirement plans exist for future generations.  To summarize, unless all the old people die from some crazy pandemic … we are screwed.  (bbc.com)

FIRST THE ROBOTS CONQUERED CHESS, THEN THE ROBOTS CONQUERED GO AND NEXT THE ROBOTS WILL CONQUER LIFE ITSELF – Google’s AlphaGo AI super program has defeated many great human Go players and it can now add the world number one, Ke Jie, to its list of victories.  Google’s DeepMind has already reached the peak of Go artificial intelligence and now the world of AI research seeks to find the next peak to climb.  I recommend that the next game they take on is Battletoads for the NES, that game is hard.  Many people fear the rise of artificial intelligence but I, for one, welcome our new game playing robot overlords.  (bbc.com)

 

Simple Minded Daily Recap-ITATION! – 05/21/2017

PASO DEL NORTE CENTRIC-NEWS

I ALWAYS THOUGHT I WOULD BE OUTLIVED BY THE BRASS ASP.  IN FACT, SCIENTISTS ORIGINALLY BELIEVED THAT ONLY A METEOR IMPACT COULD DESTROY THE BRASS ASP.  HOW WRONG WE ALL WERE – The Brass Asp and five other central El Paso bars are “no more” as a TABC investigation has found illegal activity in the bars that required them to be shut down.  Although not caught in any “alcohol related” offenses, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission found that employees at these places were engaging in illegal drug sales inside the premises and it was prevalent enough that they decided to shut them down.  The TABC don’t fuck around and all bar owners should make sure that they don’t put their business at the hands of people who would be this bad at decision making.  To make matters worse, the bars were within 1,000 feet of “drug-Free Zones”, such as schools or daycares, and that made the punishment that much more severe.  A reminder that even though these places were less than a 1,000 feet from a school, the bars never abducted any children or forcefully gave them alcohol and forced them to work as prostitutes.  “Drug-Free Zones” and school zoning laws – fear mongering at its finest!  Rest in peace, sketchy central El Paso bars.  If anything, maybe Max Grossman will start a petition to save the historic Brass Asp Bar, which has the same amount of history as “Duranguito” and doesn’t need a fake marketing name.  (kvia.com)

AFTER MORE THAN A CENTURY, A RECENTLY DISCOVERED DOCUMENT MIGHT FINALLY SHED SOME LIGHT AS TO WHO REALLY KILLED PAT GARRETT.   EVEN WITHOUT KIKI VIGIL, THE DONA ANA COUNTY SHERIFF’S MANAGED TO TURN A CASE WITH A FULL CONFESSION INTO AN ACQUITTAL AND A CONSPIRACY THEORY CLUSTERFUCK – A document recently unearthed in the Dona Ana County archives promises to shed new light on the murder of Pat Garrett back in 1908.  The coroner’s jury report was found in an un-archived box and is one of the few official documents that have information on the murder.  Pat Garrett gained recognition as a lawman when he killed Billy the Kid, but his life was marred with financial troubles and his life ended when he got involved in a skeevy land deal involving goats and some of the more sketchy residents of southern New Mexico.  The same sketchy residents that were friends with Albert “Teapot Dome Scandal” Fall and that were loosely involved in all the hazy happenings in the area at the time, including the disappearance of Albert Jennings Fountain.  Even though Jesse Wayne Brazel confessed to the killing, he was STILL acquitted and a mystery developed regarding what happened that day in 1908.  Even back then, Dona Ana County Sheriffs and prosecutors were already finding ways to mess up cases and let killers go free.   With this find, Dona Ana County hopes to secure more funding to restore this, and other, historical documents and increase its search for other antique treasures in its archives.  The document is set to be officially unveiled this summer in case any history buffs want to take a look.  (lcsun-news.com)

AS ONE TIGER PASSES AWAY AT THE EL PASO ZOO, TWO WHITE TIGERS ARE BORN IN SAN JORGE ZOO IN JUAREZ.  IT’S ALMOST POETIC – El Paso Zoo’s Belahat the tiger passed away last week at the age of 18.  He had suffered from kidney disease for the past two years and just wasn’t able to recover from the most recent troubles he had with the disease.  But don’t feel too bad, he lived a decent amount of time in tiger years and sired 4 male and 3 female cubs in his lifetime.  So he did his part.  And in more happier local tiger news, 2 white tiger cubs were born in the San Jorge Zoo recently and the zoo is celebrating their arrival.  The cubs were born to Jazmin Tigre and Sascha Tigre and the whole tiger family is doing well and on display at the zoo.  The cubs don’t have names yet, but the zoo is planning on holding a contest for local schoolchildren to submit their suggestions soon.  We recommend the names “Pancho Pantera” for a boy cub and “Niurka” for a girl cub – kids, start stuffing the ballot box with those names NOW!  So make sure you visit the El Paso Zoo and the San Jorge Zoo if you like tigers of all colors.  (elpasoproud.com / cbs4local.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

LOOKS LIKE WE MIGHT BE GETTING A NEW REVOLUTION IN AFRICA.  HOPEFULLY THIS DOESN’T END BADLY LIKE THE PAST 500 “REVOLUTIONS” THAT HAVE OCCURRED IN AFRICA – In what is perhaps one of the largest prison breaks in history, sources say that over 3,000 prisoners escaped from Makala Prison in Democratic Republic of Congo last week.  What makes this prison break so important is that the religious/political/revolutionary group Bundu Dia Kongo is believed to be responsible for the attack on the prison and that the escapees include Ne Muanda Nsemi, who is considered a major leader of the group, and many of his followers.  Bundu Dia Kongo seeks to “revive” the ancient Kongo Kingdom in parts of DR Congo and surrounding countries.  One cannot condemn a group of people for trying to claim their sovereignty, so let’s just hope this is a noble fight and not a shameless excuse for ethnic cleansing as has been seen in most “revolutions” in the last few decades.  (bbc.com)

CHRIS CORNELL IS DEAD.  LONG LIVE CHRIS CORNELL – Chris Cornell was a legendary rocker that had enormous success with Soundgarden, Audioslave and as a solo artist.  He was one of the founding fathers of Seattle’s grunge music scene and was instrumental in the alternative music boom of the 1990s.  Tragically, Chris Cornell died last week and it is alleged that he committed suicide, adding yet another casualty from the list of grunge pioneers.  I grew up during the heyday of that amazing ‘90s alternative music scene and Chris Cornell and Soundgarden were one of the nostalgic musical highlights of my youth.  His amazing voice transcended rock music and he will be dearly missed.  Rest in peace, Chris Cornell.  (bbc.com)

FOR THOSE KEEPING TRACK, THAT WEIRDO STAR THAT DOES WEIRD THINGS THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE RELATED TO ALIENS IS STILL DOING WEIRD THINGS – Star KIC 8462852 (aka Tabby’s Star, aka WTF Star) is a star that has defied explanation and that has been observed to dim up to 20% by something larger than a planet.  To date, there have been many theories to explain its behavior but nothing has really been finalized.  The thing is so weird that a theory involving aliens creating a Dyson Sphere around the object is just as viable as most other theories.  Well, it’s still doing weird things and it has started to dim all over again – so act accordingly.  I vote for giant cosmic cloud made of a weirdo substance as the source of the dimming, but it would be pretty cool if the source was a giant alien structure.  (blogs.discovermagazine.com)

 

Simple Minded Daily Recap-ITATION! – 05/14/2017

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

ALL HAIL NOLAN RICHARDSON!  THE NEW KING OF THE SEGUNDO BARRIO! – Congratulations to Nolan Richardson who was named the Segundo Barrio person of the year and was honored with a parade this weekend.  Nolan Richardson grew up in the Segundo Barrio neighborhood and went on to play basketball at UTEP, coached at Bowie and then had a hall of fame career at the University of Arkansas where he won a national championship.  Nolan Richardson is one of the city’s favorite sons and it’s good to see his old neighborhood honor him in such a great way.  (kvia.com)

BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IN THE UPCOMING MAYORAL RUNOFF ELECTION IS “WHICH CANDIDATE IS THE BOYS & GIRLS CLUB OF EL PASO ENDORSING?” – Things were going nice and civilized in the one on one mayoral match-up between Dee Margo and David Saucedo, but once the current mayor and six city representatives endorsed Dee Margo – David Saucedo threw a tantrum.  Seriously, minutes after the vast majority of the city government said that Dee Margo would be the best choice for mayor, David Saucedo started accusing the city government and staff of corruption and implied that Dee Margo was a part of the corruption and would make things even more corrupt in City Hall.  David Saucedo offered no evidence for his stupid allegations (probably because he pulled the “information” out of his ass during the tantrum) and started babbling about anonymous sources that were too scared to come forward about city inspectors and staff taking bribes to get things done.  If he does know about specific acts of corruption in the city, he should go to the authorities immediately or he would be considered to be aiding in the alleged corruption.  But since he’s just making things up in a desperate attempt to get votes, it’s best just to ignore him.  Along with his creepy “Old Guy Trying To Fit In At Tipsy Tiger” look, it’s almost as if David Saucedo is doing everything in his power to turn people off and lose the election.  This can’t be stressed enough, David Saucedo is coming off as less likable than a guy who referred to the ugly, overkill border security near the Segundo Barrio as a fucking “Freedom Fence”!  (kvia.com)

EARLY REPORTS SUGGEST THAT AN EL PASO POLICE OFFICER FLIPPED HIS CAR ON SCHUSTER BECAUSE WAS CHASING A BALD HEADED MAN IN A NEON COLORED MUSTANG WHO WAS DRIVING “FURIOUSLY FAST” – El Paso police officer J. Andrew Morales lost control of his vehicle and flipped it over near El Paso High School because he was driving too fast and not paying attention.  There was no other cars involved and there is no logical reason why someone would be driving that fast on a residential street, but the officer still managed to do it.  If he can’t blame the wreck on a cool car chase he should just double down and tell people he was practicing to be in the next Fast and the Furious movie – SCENIC DRIVE DRIFT!  The officer was cited for “failure to control speed” which will be rapidly dismissed once it goes to court.  At least he wasn’t drunk, because drunk driving is apparently the only thing that causes any outrage among El Paso’s ankle biters.  (cbs4local.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC

PHISHING SCHEMES ARE SO 2016, RANSOMWARE IS THE HIP NEW THING THAT ALL THE COOL KIDS ARE DOING – A massive worldwide computer attack occurred this weekend as businesses and government offices in over 100 countries have been hit by a ransom parasite that locks and encrypts files on a computer and asks for bitcoin in order to unlock them.  The attackers are unknown at this time, but they are pretty cheap considering that they are only asking for the equivalent of around $300 in bitcoin to “unlock” the files.  Lazy hackers, back in my day hackers used to work hard and con people in elaborate phishing schemes to scam companies out of millions of dollars.  Nowadays they just download ransomware programs stolen from the American government and get paid in their fancy pants bitcoin.  Get off my lawn, hackers!  (bbc.com)

WHILE AMERICA WANTS TO BUILD WALLS AND ALIENATE ALL ITS NEIGHBORS, CHINA IS NOW WORKING TO IMPROVE ROADS AND INFRASTRUCTURE FOR NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES IN ORDER TO ENCOURAGE TRADE AND PROSPERITY.  I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY THAT AMERICA WOULD BE THE CLOSE-MINDED AUTHORITARIAN AND THAT CHINA WOULD BE THE OPEN-MINDED CHAMPION OF FREE TRADE AND PEACE – China has pledged $124 billion for their long gestating Belt and Road initiative that seeks to improve transportation and trade between China, the rest of Asia, Europe and Africa.  Part of the funding will include aid for less prosperous countries in order for them to improve ports, roads and other critical infrastructure.  Chinese President Xi Jinping has long stressed the importance of trade and the belief that China should aid other countries without getting involved in their internal affairs.  Contrast this with the Donald Trump shit show and its fear mongering and obsession with walls and you start to wonder who is the progressive, democratic leader and who is the authoritarian?  Hell, even the Communist party doesn’t allow a leader to fire someone that is investigating them for treasonous actions.  (bbc.com)

I LIKE TO THINK THAT ROBERT MILES FLOATED UP TO HEAVEN AS AN ARMY OF ANGEL DJS PLAYED “CHILDREN” – Acclaimed DJ, Robert Miles, passed away earlier in the week after a tough bout with cancer.  DJ Robert Miles, born Roberto Concina, was a Swiss/Italian electronic music maestro who is best known for his epic track “Children”.  He had an amazing career with many electronica hits and contributions to film soundtracks.  He was a pioneer in trance music and the electronic music scene and also had a profound social impact through his music.  Be sure to read the full BBC article on his passing which includes an excellent story on how “Children” came about and how the song helped save lives during the hectic rave scene of the ‘90s.  Rest in peace, Robert Miles.  (bbc.com)

 

TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Comedy Bracket / 1st Round Results

COMEDY MOVIE BRACKET

ROUND 1 RESULTS

(2 Points Per Category Win, 1 Point Per Tie)

1) La La Land Vs. 16) One Man and His Cow (La Vache)

ACTING
TIE

WRITING/DIALOGUE
Advantage: One Man and His Cow

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Advantage: La La Land

PRODUCTION DESIGN/VISUALS
Advantage: La La Land

SOUND/MUSIC
Advantage: La La Land

EDITING/PACING
Advantage: One Man and His Cow

STORY/MEANING
Advantage: One Man and His Cow

DIRECTING
Advantage: La La Land

TIME MANAGEMENT
Advantage: One Man and His Cow

LASTABILITY
Advantage: La La Land

A FILMS GOAL
Advantage: La La Land

FINAL SCORE
1) La La Land – 13 (Advances to 2nd Round)
16) One Man and His Cow (La Vache) – 9

*******

Continue reading “TOURNAMENT OF FILM 2016 – Comedy Bracket / 1st Round Results”

Simple Minded Daily Recap-ITATION! – 05/07/2017

PASO DEL NORTE-CENTRIC NEWS

THE FIRST ROUND OF ELECTIONS ARE IN THE BOOKS AND IT LOOKS LIKE MOST OF THE RATIONAL CHOICES EITHER WON OR HOLD A LEAD HEADING INTO THE RUNOFF ELECTIONS.  THANK GOD – Dee Margo was the top vote-getter in the El Paso mayoral election, but just missed the 50% cutoff to avoid a runoff and must now face David Saucedo in the final match-up to determine who will be El Paso’s next mayor.  Yup, the same David Saucedo who was deeply involved in the Boys & Girls Club of El Paso during the years when it suddenly became an inefficient mess and who was the “leader” of the non-profit in those final moments when it went headlong into the abyss.  To his credit, Dee Margo has never done something that amazingly incompetent and by default should get everyone’s vote.  Among the other elections, most of the rational candidates ended up with the most votes and have a healthy lead heading into the runoff.  God willing, none of the attention seekers who have made “save the neighborhood, say NO to the arena” their only campaign issue will be elected to office.  It really is amazing when someone from a district that is miles away from downtown decides to spend 90% of their time talking about how the arena should move to the Cohen Stadium site even though none of those areas would have any impact on their district.  But in happier news, Lily Limon lost her city council seat and we anxiously await to see who will wear the crown of most incompetent council member now that she is gone.  GO OUT AND VOTE ON JUNE 10 – THE CITY STILL NEEDS YOUR VOTES TO ELECT THE MOST COMPETENT AND RATIONAL INDIVIDUALS TO OFFICE!  (kvia.com)

THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT TEXAS TECH IS EXPANDING THEIR MEDICAL SCHOOL WITH THE ADDITION OF AN $83 MILLION BUILDING OFF ALAMEDA.  THE BAD NEWS IS THAT THEY USED EMINENT DOMAIN TO BUY OUT A BUNCH OF PEOPLE IN THAT AREA – It’s good to see that Texas Tech plans to expand its research capabilities at their central El Paso medical school, but it still sucks that they keep on using eminent domain in the area to transform the area in their image.  Where are all those “Save The Barrio” and “Anti-Arena” types when it comes to the neighborhoods around Jefferson High School?  I guess the Union Plaza area is more important than central El Paso.  The growth of the medical school shows the bittersweet side of progress, but it is nice to see the medical school/research campus start to grow in this often neglected part of the city.  (elpasoinc.com)

THE RIO VISTA FARM IS STILL ON TRACK TO BE PRESERVED AS A HISTORIC LANDMARK.  THIS BEING SOCORRO, IT’S ALSO POSSIBLE THAT THE PROJECT WILL COLLAPSE IN THE LAST MINUTE AND THEY’LL JUST BUILD A MINI-MALL COMPLETE WITH A BIG 8, A WHATABURGER, A FAMILY DOLLAR AND 20 RANDOM MEXICAN RESTAURANTS – One of the few bright spots among the Socorro government’s constant stream of scandals is the city’s push to restore the Rio Vista Farm and create a historic attraction in the process.  $50,000 in state and federal grants have recently been secured for the project and the planning stage is well on its way for this great development.  Let’s just hope the city doesn’t change its mind and decides to turn the land into an ineffective drainage pond instead.  (kfoxtv.com)

REST OF THE WORLD-CENTRIC NEWS

THIS WEEKEND, THE FRENCH PEOPLE DECIDED TO USE THEIR BRAINS WHILE VOTING AND ELECTED A COMPETENT INDIVIDUAL OVER AN OVERBEARING, RACIST MORON WHO WANTED TO BLAME ALL THEIR PROBLEMS ON OUTSIDERS.  MEANWHILE, IN AMERICA … – Emmanuel Macron has been elected president of France after defeating nationalist Marine Le Pen this weekend.  Macron was a centrist candidate who stood against most of Le Pen’s vile and ignorant views about “outsiders” and her skewed view of the problems facing the world.  He received over 66% of the vote and many saw this as a referendum against horrible “nationalist” movements that had swept through England and America over the last year and threatened to spread to other developed nations.  Now the tough part starts for Macron and it appears he will need to form a coalition of different parties to run the government because his party is so new that it has no representatives in the government and getting a majority in the next election will be a tough challenge.  Good luck, Monsieur Macron.  (bbc.com)

FOR GLOBAL WARMING’S NEXT TRICK, IT WILL CHOP OFF A HUGE CHUNK OF ANTARCTICA CREATING THE WORLD’S LARGEST ICEBERG – A massive 110 mile long crack in an ice shelf in Antarctica is rapidly widening and this will soon lead to massive chunk of ice sliding off the continent and into the ocean.  This event will push sea level rise, impact climate and ocean temperature in the area, confuse satellites and cause mapmakers to go back to their workshops and re-draw Antarctica.  There is very little that can be done to stop this and scientists are just monitoring the situation and hoping that the breakage slows down.  This isn’t an end of the world scenario, but it goes to show the many changes that global warming can cause on a global scale.  It’s amazing that even with things like this in the news, people still refuse to acknowledge that global warming exists.  Then again, these are the same people that believe the Devil is responsible for homosexuality.  Because Lucifer has nothing better to do than to go down to Buttfuck, Alabama and tell people where to stick their dicks.  (bbc.com)

THIS IS PROBABLY A LOW POINT FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY, BUT THE NIGHT IS STILL YOUNG – This week, Republican congressmen banded together to “kill” Obamacare even though few, if any, of them had read the bill that would take health care away from many innocent people.  To summarize, most of the Republicans in Congress would gladly let people die just so they can lick Donald Trump’s ass and make him feel good.  This is pretty horrible, but it should be noted that many Republican Congressmen voted against the bill and the bill is already being viewed with contempt by many people on both sides in the Senate.  Now we wait to see if the Senate will modify the bill to try and force it through or if they will actually do the decent thing and allow the thing to die so that sick people don’t have to lose their health insurance.  Here’s hoping the Republicans in the Senate have balls, brains and heart – because the ones in Congress are practically Ken dolls in Donald Trump’s toy box.  (bbc.com)