Gosh, it seems like the War on Christmas comes earlier every year [via livejamie]

seoulbrother:

10. September

11. January

12. April

13. February

14. March

15. June

16. January (2)

3.  October

2. November

And the number one month of 2008 goes to…

_ 1. July _

Up and coming: December

Just missed: August

Inspired by @jimray

Ok, this is bullshit, we were totally talking about this back in August over some beers and I distinctly remember Albert telling me that he thought June was the best month of 2008. And now he’s talking some shit about July? And June is number five? W. T. F?! Yeah, only ever since fucking PITCHFORK started hyping July did he jump on that bandwagon. Plus, July was all autotuned to hell any damn way. Go line up with all the other sheep.

p.s. love you, SeoulBrother.

The Jackson 5 at home. More photos from Life photographer John Olson.

bullshit:

It’s not strange to disagree about movies that are wildly different, and there are surely a few random movies that are very polarizing. What I find most interesting is which movie people consider the best movie from a particular director, as it is usually very telling and polarizing in a different way, so to this point I will propose a new personality test where you reblog your favorite movie from each of these directors:

1. Joel Coen: No Country for Old Men, The Big Lebowski, Fargo, The Hudsucker Proxy, Miller’s Crossing, Raising Arizona, etc
2. Wes Anderson: The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore, Bottle Rocket, etc
3. Hal Ashby: Being There, Shampoo, Harold and Maude, etc
4. Kevin Smith: Zack and Miri Make a Porno, Dogma, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Clerks, etc
5. Quentin Tarantino: Grindhouse, Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, etc

My results: Miller’s Crossing, Bottle Rocket, Being There, Mallrats, Reservoir Dogs. Judge accordingly.

Miller’s Crossing, Life Aquatic, Being There, Clerks, Reservoir Dogs

Kottke addendum: Stanley Kubrick, P.T. Anderson, Errol Morris :: Full Metal Jacket, Boogie Nights, Fog of War

Bottleworks, my favorite beer store in Seattle, has a blog

It’s good to know what’s going on in the world of local beer

Part of it is just the fine hipster tradition of mocking poor and/or rural people, something they, swaddled against reality with trust funds and hedge fund management jobs, know jack shit about.

—Hipsters have ruined bacon. I must admit, I’ve been a bit over the whole “bacon craze” despite being known as “the bacon guy” on some dark corners of the internet. Doesn’t mean I have anything against my beloved pork bellies, I’m just tired of the over-hyping.

Is that a University of Phoenix thing? [via draxiom]

Talk radio is the only format where the audience can immediately talk back

—Glenn Beck, who has apparently never used the internet, elucidates exactly why talk radio should die if the fairness doctrine makes a comeback.

In a multivariate regression analysis using all the variables listed above, the best predictor of a county’s Republican vote margin is its white racial percentage relative to its state’s black population size. In other words, the counties where Republican margins grew the largest tended to be predominantly white places in otherwise racially mixed states … Racially isolated whites in Arkansas or Alabama may have been more afraid of voting for Obama not because they are more racist than white voters in Minnesota or Montana, but because they perceive greater racial competition with nearby black populations.

—Eric Oliver, University of Chicago professor, guest blogging at the Freakonomics blog about the “bigot belt”. Turns out the belt (more on this phenomenon from the Times) does exist but not for the reasons originally proposed.