The mass hysteria from the right rolled in overnight, just two days after Wanda Sykes appeared at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and gave Rush Limbaugh a taste of his own medicine. Much like when Limbaugh would gleefully sing “Barack the Magic Negro” on a daily basis or when he rabidly, and brutally ripped into Michael J. Fox and his illness – Sykes decided to take it to the next level in her digs aimed at Rush.

Sykes, who was on fire riffed hard on Limbaugh – claiming she was the 20th hijacker on 9/11 but missed the plane because he was so strung out on Oxycontin, and that while Rush “hoped Obama failed”, she hoped Limbaughs “kidneys failed”. Undoubtedly, it was a fun routine – and with anything funny – all hell has broken loose with commentators and politicians alike chiming in on why they hated what Wanda said.

It’s shocking that right wing politicos/talking heads are taking so much (and I sense, contrived) outrage over Sykes stand-up routine. If you simply add up all things “disgusting”, “vile” or any other adjective being used to describe Sykes routine – that Rush Limbaugh has said just over the year or two you would come up with a compilation that would over shadow anything Sykes said to such a degree, it would be silly to even compare the two, and their public commentary.

Technorati Tags: Comedy News, Daily Show, Daily Show Wanda Sykes, Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart Wanda Sykes, video, Wanda Sykes, Wanda Sykes Daily Show, Wanda Sykes Jon Stewart, Wanda Sykes Rush Limbaugh, Wanda Sykes White House Correspondents Dinner

How much would you pay for a ?

A Russian businessman has trademarked the emoticon – or combination of punctuation marks – used to convey a wink in text messages and email.

Oleg Teterin, president of the mobile ad company Superfone, said Thursday he doesn’t plan on tracking down individual users following the decision by the federal patent agency.

He said in comments to NTV:

“I want to highlight that this is only directed at corporations, companies that are trying to make a profit without the permission of the trademark holder,”

Companies will be sent legal warnings if they use the symbol without his permission, he said.

“Legal use will be possible after buying an annual licence from us,” he was quoted by Kommersant as saying. “It won’t cost that much – tens of thousands of dollars.”

He also said since other similar emoticons - or or – resemble the one he has trademarked, use of those symbols could also fall under his ownership.

Other Russian internet entrepreneurs reacted to the effort predictably – >

“Imagine the next wise-guy who trademarks the 33 letters of the Russian alphabet and then says anyone who uses the Russian alphabet has to send him money. It’s absurd,”

Alexander Manis, the director of a broadband internet and mobile company, told NTV.

Maksim Mashkov, owner of an internet cafe and bookstore, said he doubted the trademark’s legal basis since the symbol has existed in the public domain for years.

Indeed, Russia media said Teterin wasn’t the first to try to trademark the symbol in Russia. Kommersant said a St. Petersburg court in 2005 agreed with an appeal from the German corporation Siemens, which was sued by a Russian man claiming he held the trademark.

Scott Fahlman, a professor at the Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, claims that he was the first to use three keystrokes – a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis – as a horizontal “smiley face” in a computer message 25 years ago.

AP

Technorati Tags: ;-), trademark, winking emoticon

As the economic might of Japan faces up to the global banking crisis, a single cat has boosted the finances of a small Japanese city by millions of dollars, according to a study.

Tortoiseshell Tama is the “stationmaster” of the unmanned Kishi train station where she was born and raised on the provincial Kishigawa Line.

But it is not her labours on the platform which have seen the cash rolling in.

It is rather Tama’s irresistible charm which has brought tourists flocking in their thousands to the western city of Kinokawa to see the feline worker patrolling in the uniform of her office – a Wakayama Electric Railway cap.

With 55,000 more people having used the Kishigawa Line than would normally be expected, Tama’s contribution to the local economy is calculated to have reached as much as Y1.1 billion in 2007 alone, according to a study announced last week.

Katsuhiro Miyamoto, a professor at Kansai University’s School of Accountancy, said picture books and other merchandise featuring the feline stationmaster also produced significant economic effects.

A television appearance and other publicity surrounding Tama – who receives cat food in lieu of a salary – was worth Y280 million ($US2.6 million), according to Miyamoto.

Tama was born from a stray cat brought to the station by a cleaner and kept by Toshiko Koyama, a local who runs a grocery store next door.

The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the line was losing money. But Tama turned this around.

She rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her as “stationmaster”.

Technorati Tags: Tama the Cat

Michael Jackson is reportedly dating Pamela Anderson.

Pop legend Michael, 50, has met the 41-year-old former ‘Baywatch’ star for two dates in Malibu, California.

A source told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper: “It was all arranged by their people in total secrecy, very cloak and dagger. Michael is such a private person. He gets nervous when he thinks people are following him around, so he chose somewhere neutral for their first date.

“They arrived separately at the Shutters Hotel on Malibu beach so no one would suspect anything and then had a few drinks at the bar.”

Jackson and Anderson hid away in a corner of the bar for privacy, and appeared to be enjoying each other’s company.

The source added: “They were very friendly. Pamela was being her usual flirty self and Michael seemed to be responding. They are such a strange couple but they seemed to really hit it off.”

The pair got on so well on their first date, they have met up again already, going for a coffee at the Country Mart in Malibu.

Both Anderson and Jackson have been unlucky with their previous marriages.

Jackson has been married twice, to Lisa-Marie Presley and nurse Deborah Jean Rowe.

Anderson has tied the knot three times, to Motley Crue rocker Tommy Lee, Paris Hilton’s ex Rick Salomon and Kid Rock. None of Michael or Pammie’s marriages lasted more than three years.

Bang!Showbiz

Technorati Tags: Jacko, Michael jackson, Pamela Anderson

Laughter does not describe what I have been through over the course of the last hour or so. Finding myself bored I decided to head over to John McCain’s website/blog and see what our friend had no clue what I was in for, “Old Man Walnuts” was up too. Seeing as though this was only my second time on his site, I had no clue what a good dose of old fashioned comedy I was in for.

I didn’t know how too go about chronicling the pure and unadulterated stupidity being practiced over on the McCain site via his supporters on the “comment boards”, so I decided to simply put together a handful of my personal favorites and roll them out in all their glory, for all of you to marvel, laugh, and yes – throw up a little in your mouth over.

“The floor recognizes Thomas Jefferson! He was truly a remarkable man! Where are the people today like our founding fathers were? Oh, don’t tell me… they’re out there- they’re just too smart to get involved in today’s politics, right? (sigh)”

• What does this even mean? Is there a point being made or am I just missing something?

“I love all my McCain ladies, Karen, SC, Bucky, New O and many others, our romance is John McCain. Hell I got one woman and can’t afford two!! Joe I didn’t leave you out, just didn’t want to sound well you know!! LOL”

• I get it. He left “Joe” out because if he included “Joe” in the list of ladies he “loved” then he might appear to be “gay.” Wouldn’t want that now would we.

“You know, wouldn’t you think BO could find some better trolls to send over? I mean, these guys need their mommies to wash their mouths out with soap… and tan their little bottoms! LOL…. Of course… maybe BO is just sending people he can totally trust… babies like himself!”

• Kind of ironic how this commenter is calling another group of commenter’s “babies”, while at the same time sounding like a 5 year old who is half asleep himself.

“Just ignore the I-D_I_O_T_S!! I bagged and tagged them already.”

• By “bagged them and tagged them” this gentleman (the same one who was afraid of appearing “gay” referenced above) illustrates for us just how bad ass he truly is – he does this by using cliche military lines. Oh, and by the way he is more or less stating that he IP banned any individual whose comments were less then “kissing the feet of” John McCain.

“False modesty or ? ………. A quote from Michelle Obama, when interviewed……………………..” I am Michelle Obama. I live in Chicago. I’m married to this guy Barack. That’s about it. That’s about how I see myself”………….. Anyone with psych 101 want to translate??……………”

• Ya, I’ll help ya with that. It translates out to “two and a half years of high school, with a Devry University degree to boot.”

“John McCain is a true Maverick, just like in Top Gun. He knows that if things get dicey and we get into a flat spin, all you have to do is eject. Everything will be fine.”

• If you ever wonder why a) the rest of the world has a perceived notion that American’s are dim witted and b) a man like George W. Bush got re-elected, I have an answer for you. People like the guy above.

“at least he (McCain) was willing to get into the plane, now what branch of the military was it that obama served in? Nat-ion of Is-lam I think it was.”

• This all-star can’t even keep up with the attack ads of his own candidate. The whole “Muslim” thing went out the window months ago – it’s all celebrity, celebrity, celebrity now. Get with the picture Einstein. His willingness to “get in the plane”? Did I miss this issue debate when Bush was running against Kerry?

DONE. Sorry, but I’m spent folks. There’s simply too many of these ramblings/”what did he just say?” for me to capture all of them. There’s so many in fact that I realized I needed to either wrap it up – allowing you to check McSame’s site and the amazingly articulate and well educated comments that grace it’s comment section – or plan on spending the next three and a half weeks reading meaningless babble. Needless to say I decided on the first option, that is, leaving the decision completely up to you.

Moreover, I have come to the conclusion that if you are ever soul searching as too why you are in fact a Democrat, simply re-read some of these comments and you will quickly remember why.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Breaking news, Breaking political news, funny mccain comments, john mccain, mccain supporters, mccain supporters funny, rednecks, rednecks talk politics, republicans are dumb, why I am glad to be a Democrat

As Denver and the Democratic National Convention that will take the city over just a few short weeks from now have seemed to trigger somewhat of a “reload” which has Hillary Clinton supporters doing what they do best – making demands: some want Hillary to somehow get all those delegates supporting Obama to just, ya know – “change their minds,” and decide Hillary should be the Democratic candidate, while others are less demanding (basically the lesser of two evils) is crying out for a roll call vote on the convention floor with Hillary’s name on the ballot. This of course is the equivalent to the New England Patriots demanding a shot in sudden death overtime after the clock hit zero, and the Giants had won.

So with all of this irrational banter spewing from just about every orifice of media (the internet, TV, newspapers, etc, etc.) who better then Stpehen Colbert to weigh in on the topic, and provide us with some of that superior intellect he has become famous for.

Technorati Tags: bill clinton, Clintons plans for the convention, Comedy Central, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Primary, Hacking the convention, Political satire, political video, Politics News, Stephen Colbert

The Associated Press – Bernie Mac blended style, authority and a touch of self-aware bluster to make audiences laugh as well as connect with him. For Mac, who died Saturday at age 50, it was a winning mix, delivering him from a poor childhood to stardom as a stand up comedian, in films including the casino heist caper “Ocean’s Eleven” and his acclaimed sitcom “The Bernie Mac Show.”

Though his comedy drew on tough experiences as a black man, he had mainstream appeal _ befitting inspiration he found in a wide range of humorists: Harpo Marx as well as Moms Mabley; squeaky-clean Red Skelton, but also the raw Redd Foxx.

Mac died Saturday morning from complications due to pneumonia in a Chicago area hospital, his publicist, Danica Smith, said in a statement from Los Angeles. She said no other details were available.

“This is a very sad day for many of us who knew and loved Bernie,” said Don Cheadle, a member of the “Oceans” gang. “He brought so much joy to so many. He will be missed but heaven just got funnier.”

Mac suffered from sarcoidosis, an inflammatory lung disease that produces tiny lumps of cells in the body’s organs, but had said the condition went into remission in 2005. He recently was hospitalized and treated for pneumonia, which his publicist said was not related to the disease.

Recently, Mac’s brand of comedy caught him flack when he was heckled during a surprise appearance at a July fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate and fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama.

Toward the end of a 10-minute standup routine, Mac joked about menopause, sexual infidelity and promiscuity, and used occasional crude language. Obama took the stage about 15 minutes later, implored Mac to “clean up your act next time,” then let him off the hook, adding: “By the way, I’m just messing with you, man.”

Even so, Obama’s campaign later issued a rebuke, saying the senator “doesn’t condone these statements and believes what was said was inappropriate.”

But despite controversy or difficulties, in his words, Mac was always a performer.

“Wherever I am, I have to play,” he said in 2002. “I have to put on a good show.”

Mac worked his way to Hollywood success from an impoverished upbringing on Chicago’s South Side. He began doing standup as a child, telling jokes for spare change on subways, and his film career started with a small role as a club doorman in the Damon Wayans comedy “Mo’ Money” in 1992. In 1996, he appeared in the Spike Lee drama “Get on the Bus.”

“The majority of his core fan base will remember that when they paid their money to see Bernie Mac … he gave them their money’s worth,” Steve Harvey, one of his co-stars in “Original Kings,” told CNN on Saturday.

Mac went on to star in the hugely popular “Ocean’s Eleven” franchise with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, playing a gaming-table dealer who was in on the heist. Carl Reiner, who also appeared in the “Ocean’s” films, said Saturday he was “in utter shock” because he thought Mac’s health was improving.

“He was just so alive,” Reiner said. “I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Mac and Ashton Kutcher topped the box office in 2005′s “Guess Who,” a comedy remake of the classic Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” Mac played the dad who’s shocked that his daughter is marrying a white man.

Mac also had starring roles in “Bad Santa,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle” and “Transformers.”

But his career and comic identity were forged in television.

In the late 1990s, he had a recurring role in “Moesha,” the UPN network comedy starring pop star Brandy. The critical and popular acclaim came after he landed his own Fox television series “The Bernie Mac Show,” about a child-averse couple who suddenly are saddled with three children.

Mac mined laughs from the universal frustrations of parenting, often breaking the “fourth wall” to address the camera throughout the series that aired from 2001 to 2006. “C’mon, America,” implored Mac, in character as the put-upon dad. “When I say I wanna kill those kids, YOU know what I mean.”

The series won a Peabody Award in 2002, and Mac was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Emmy. In real life, he was “the king of his household” _ very much like his character on that series, his daughter, Je’niece Childress, told The Associated Press on Saturday.

“But television handcuffs you, man,” he said in a 2001 Associated Press interview before the show had premiered. “Now everyone telling me what I CAN’T do, what I CAN say, what I SHOULD do, and asking, `Are blacks gonna be mad at you? Are whites gonna accept you?’”

He also was nominated for a Grammy award for best comedy album in 2001 along with his “The Original Kings of Comedy” co-stars Harvey, D.L. Hughley and Cedric The Entertainer.

“From very early on I thought he was destined for success,” Albritton said. “He never lost track of where he came from, and he’d often use real life experiences, his family, his friends, in his routine. After he made it, he stayed a very humble man. His family was the most important thing in the world to him.”

In 2007, Mac told David Letterman on CBS’ “Late Show” that he planned to retire soon.

“I’m going to still do my producing, my films, but I want to enjoy my life a little bit,” Mac told Letterman. “I missed a lot of things, you know. I was a street performer for two years. I went into clubs in 1977.”

Mac was born Bernard Jeffrey McCullough on Oct. 5, 1957, in Chicago. He grew up on the city’s South Side, living with his mother and grandparents. His grandfather was the deacon of a Baptist church.

In his 2004 memoir, “Maybe You Never Cry Again,” Mac wrote about having a poor childhood, eating bologna for dinner, and a strict, no-nonsense upbringing.

“I came from a place where there wasn’t a lot of joy,” Mac told the AP in 2001. “I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn’t a lot of things to laugh about.”

Mac’s mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

“Woman believed in me,” he wrote. “She believed in me long before I believed.”

Mac’s death Saturday coincided with the annual Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago, a major event in the predominantly black South Side that the comedian had previously attended.

“It’s truly the passing of one of our favorite sons,” said Paula Robinson, president of the Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. “He was extremely innovative in putting his life experiences in comedic form and doing it without vulgarity. He was an ambassador of Chicago’s black community, and the national black community at large.”

Below are a handful of clips in tribute of Bernie Mac, a comedian and actor that in all reality never put on a bad show, and a person who will be missed by many.

(there is some foul language in the stand up clips. Nothing outrageous or any different from the usual stand up routine by any comedian, but I figured I would offer a fair warning in case you were at work.)

• Clip #1: Bernie Mac “Original Kings of Comedy”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC4ul_FYnlQ

• Clip #2: Bernie Mac w/ Chris Rock in “Head of State”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQYiYVC-Ol0

• Clip #3: Bernie Mac w/ Ashton Kutcher in “Guess Who”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djGLBzR4FDg

• Clip #4: Bernie Mac w/ Sugar Ray Leonard “The Bernie Mac Show”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xeckni5DiBg

• Clip #5: Bernie Mac w/ Entire Cast “Oceans 11″

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPF1r3aVHBc

___________

Associated Press writers F.N. D’Alessio, Daniel J. Yovich, Caryn Rousseau and Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.

Technorati Tags: Bernie Mac, Bernie Mac clips, Bernie Mac Died, Bernie Mac Dies, Bernie Mac Pneumonia, bernie mac video, Entertainment News, tribute to bernie mac, video of bernie mac

I try not to do multiple clips a day that come from the same show – but every once and a while it is out of my control, and frankly the scenes are so good that I simply don’t have a choice in the matter and am forced to post two or three. That’s the case today with Comedy Centrals “The Daily Show w/ John Stewart”, where I posted a clip earlier and now am posting a second.

So while I am double dipping in regards to the ole video content, I think that you will see why I had no other option when deciding to toss it up or not. It really is that funny.

Watch Stewart chronicle the Clinton’s return, or attempted return, to the Presidential fray in a way that only John Stewart can:

Technorati Tags: 2008 democratic convention, bill clinton, Clinton in the news, Clinton on Obama, Clinton to speak at Democratic convention, Comedy Central, Funny political video, John Stewart, Political satire, The Daily Show

Here’s an hilarious clip from Comedy Centrals “Late Night w/ John Stewart” that has the comical host poking fun (aka: doing what he does best) at just about everyone involved in the election – McCain, Obama, liberals, and most of all – the biggest culprit when it comes to the dumbing down of Political discourse – the mainstream media.

He points out that they (the media, talking heads, “experts”, etc) are playing literally every “card” one could imagine. These include the race card, the Europe card, the age card, the elitist card, the experience card, the change card, the populist card, the fear card, the patriotism card, the women card, the class card, the Maliki card, and so on, and so on…

John Stewart: “McCain just played the ‘Get the f*ck out of my face card!!!”

God I love this show, I mean the race genie at the end, and the highlighting of just how inept, and uniformed the mainstream media is in their complete and utter failure in reporting the “news”, opposed to the sensationalized trash mag style they have come to adopt over the years.

Technorati Tags: barack obama, Comedy Central, election 08 coverage, Funny political video, indecision 2008, john mccain, John Stewart, political video, the age card, the change card, the class card, The Daily Show, the elitist card, the Europe card, the experience card, the fear card, the mainstream media, the Maliki card, the patriotism card, the populist card, the race card, the women card, video

So ya I was watching FOX (don’t ask me why cause I couldn’t tell ya) and they had their favorite “theologian” come on to address the issue of candidate flip flopping. While clearly this issue falls directly inline with any ordained Priest’s realm of expertise, I couldn’t help but notice just how creepy Father Jonathon Morris really is.

Before I share multiple examples that back my notion up, I want to also include that today was not the first time I had the pleasure – or should I say unfortunate turn of events – of catching Father Morris on FOX. Over the past year or so I have seen this man of the cloth brought on to discuss everything from the War in Iraq to global warming. Granted it’s FOX News, and their product is laughable to begin with, I still can’t wrap my head around their fondness for this man – and as you will see for yourself the reasons why.

Exhibit A) “Pope Benedict tells Catholic pharmacists that they shouldn’t provide drugs, like Plan B, to prevent or terminate a pregnancy. Should pharmacists or doctors be allowed for their conscience to dictate what medicines should be provided or withheld? Fox News contributor Father Jonathan Morris weighs in on this heated debate. (2 Nov 07)”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx0tlQpx0JE

Exhibit B) “Father Jonathan Morris discusses the new campaign ad by John McCain that equates Barack Obama to a savior-life figure, and the controversy behind blending too much politics and religion.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoiSUNAQMS0

Exhibit C) “Father Jonathan Morris on how focusing on the right things and keeping the proper perspective can make things a little easier in a tight economy.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUBE3ua3_rc

Exhibit D) “Father Jonathan Morris on Fox News presenting his fallacious arguments against atheism.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIjuEmpnVpw

So there are just a couple of the many examples of Father Morris’ “creepiness”. I want to note that I am not saying that every point he makes is wrong, or off base – he has made great points in the past, not as many as his asinine statements, but he has none the less provided useful insight from time to time.

But man is he a oddball – maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. But something about him reminds me of the guy in videos warning kids not to take candy from strangers.

Technorati Tags: Atheism, birth control, Christianity, Economy, Father Jonathan Morris, fox news, greed, interfaith dialogue, islam, materialism, Morning After Pill, Pharmacists ethics, Plan, Pope Benedict, Recession, richard dawkins, RU-486, the god delusion, Vatican, world peace