Barack the (White) House

A couple of stupid things first.

Stupid Thing #1: Hmm, it seems like it's been almost a week since I posted anything here. Off with his head, the lazy lazy blogger. I do not post out of obligation. I post when I feel the urge. Sometimes there are dead spots in my urginess. Forgive me. Use your extra time wisely.

Stupid Thing #2: Apparently this is my 100th post. Huzzah! If we were on base 6 instead of base 10 I would have reached this milestone 64 posts ago and I now wouldn't be writing about my exciting 244th post. But we're not.

So... Anything happen recently?

Oh, yeah. BARACK FUCKING OBAMA IS THE GODDAMN PRESIDENT. I'm still knocked out by this. It took a presidency as corrupt and incompetent as The Idiot's to bring it about, but that's usually what it takes.

Some folks are disappointed with BO's speech. I'm not. Because he's such a good speaker people think he's going to hit rhetorical home runs all the time and keep the folks at Bartlett's busy with their newest section. I'd rather he give me the truth. And he did. Lordy, he did.

How much fun was it to know that The Idiot himself had to sit RIGHT THERE and listen to the President (I love typing that!) bitchslap him and everything that happened over the last eight years. And the Reagan era too, for good measure.

He had a whole passel of zingers that basically negated everything that was wrong with the Bush administration, including hostility to government, torture, general belligerence, arrogance, lack of compassion, free-market absolutism, dishonesty and fear-mongering. There are way too many pull quotes that I love, but I'll drop in my favorite bit. Okay, my two favorite bits.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

Holy shit. With The Idiot and The Dark Lord sitting right there, he told the whole freaking country that they were gigantic failures and we were all going to start cleaning up their industrial-sized mess. Yowza.

Even better...

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so, to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and we are ready to lead once more."

Shit! The first line is perfect. And the last line is both harsh and beautiful. We're ready to lead once more. Because, you know, we haven't been. And we reject as false the Bush/Cheney scare lines. Awesome.

This is one of those speeches that may not have knocked anyone out immediately but will probably become more and more well-regarded as time goes on. Particularly if BO manages to act on it.

Much as I despise the outgoing douchebag, I was a bit uncomfortable when the crowd booed The Idiot and Mrs. Idiot on their entrance. A bit tacky, that. But I did think it perfectly appropriate (and funny) when they sang "Na Na Hey Hey" as his helicopter whisked him away, Wizard of Oz-style, to somewhere else where he can practice being a big fucking fraud.

Good riddance, motherfucker. Don't come back, unless it's for your war crimes trial. Dick's invited too.

The new boss is here. And I feel good.

For now.

I'm Back

Did you even notice I was gone? I spent a long weekend at a music conference, so blogging was just not happening. It was filed right next to "sleeping" in things I wasn't doing.

Like you care.

I Said PLEASE Pass the Popcorn

So, if you don't know already, there's a blog over on Word Press to which I contribute called Please Pass the Popcorn. It's about movies (duh). I had originally intended to plop some of my movie thoughts here at the Den but once this site popped up I decided it would be more fun to use that forum and share with some other cinephiles. The site's been live for several weeks now and lots of fine folks contribute, including Mrs. Chili and Kizz. My contributions so far have been posts on Truffaut's "Day for Night" and Wendell B. Harris' "Chameleon Street".

But the real news is that Saintseester, one of our other contributors, will be running a contest over there next week. Like contests? Like movies? Like the potential for free stuff? Check it out here. Go have some fun for a change.

Still Figuring This Thing Out

I've adjusted some of the settings on this here blog-type thing. Previously, those of you who did not have Google IDs could not post comments. This has been rectified. Now any old moron can post comments. Sleep easy, dear readers.

And check out that adorable little cartoon MAB I added. Way better-looking than real life.

The Title

Okay, so Spanky McSchmanky's Cub Scout Den of Iniquity may not exactly be a world beater of a name for a blog (or a movie or a cat or a baby). Or maybe it's the greatest name in the history of the known universe. But, ya know, when I was setting this thing up I didn't know I was going to have to make such a decision. This is what I came up with on short notice.

Got something better? Let me know in Comments World. If I like your idea and actually change the name I'll give you a shout-out and possibly a nice firm handshake. But keep in mind that I'm the type of guy who tends to stick with things.