Using Google to Re-Discover Awesome 1980’s Animated Children’s Movies

Like most children, I enjoyed renting the same movies over and over again from our local rental store when I was growing up. Some of them like Rainbow Brite, My Little Ponies and Lady Lovely Locks had easy enough to remember names, but others took a little more work.

This evening, I spent some time on Google and IMDB and pieced together keywords from my memories to retrieve three lost Gems: Serendipity the Pink Dinosaur, Clementine’s Enchanted Journey and A Journey Through Fairyland.

If reminiscing about kids movies from nearly 20 years ago interests you, I’ve got some video snippets and odd memories after the jump.
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Everett Man Gets Barack Obama Tattoo

I understand what he’s saying about getting a tattoo of an important political figure — although I’d rather see Abraham Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt tattooed on someone’s body than Che Guevara. But the thing about Lincoln, Roosevelt, or even Guevara is that their legacies are more or less set. You either agree with their approach to leadership or you don’t.

With Obama, so much is still unknown. He could be the great man we need in these trying times, or he could turn out to be a total slime bucket. I sincerely believe that he’s the former. I wouldn’t be supporting him if I didn’t. I hope for the sake of our country, the world, and now this kid who has a tattoo of his face that I’m right.

Thanks to reader Cory for sharing.

New Republican Ads Hit Obama on Celebrity Factor, Arrogance

First, an ad from John McCain’s campaign comparing Obama to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton:

Then the RNC launches an ad mocking Obama’s Berlin speech by parodying what his campaign ads would look like were he trying to win an election in Germany:

What do you guys think? Is this an effective tactic?

We all know that Obama’s not an empty suit, but you’ve got to admit that he’s walked right into this one.

Wilshire & Washington: Batman, Oliver Stone’s W, Your Revolution and Obama’s Berlin Speech

Join Ted, Maegan and I, along with our guest Brett Horvath of Your Revolution (Facebook).

Obama’s Political Shrewdness Goes Back to Law Professor Days

One of the more astute criticisms I’ve heard about Barack Obama is that while he speaks with scope and grandeur it’s hard to glean specific positions from much of what he says. He speaks in terms of aspirations rather than tactical maneuvers, and that’s what makes him feel like such a guiding light for the country.

I’ve argued many times before that Obama’s oratory is a presidential qualification in and of itself - not intended to obfuscate so much as to play to the candidate’s strengths.

But it’s true that Obama has always liked to keep his positions a little obscure. As one colleague from his years teaching at the University of Chicago School of Law told the New York Times:

“I don’t think anything that went on in these chambers affected him,” said Richard Epstein, a libertarian colleague who says he longed for Mr. Obama to venture beyond his ideological and topical comfort zones. “His entire life, as best I can tell, is one in which he’s always been a thoughtful listener and questioner, but he’s never stepped up to the plate and taken full swings…”

Nor could his views be gleaned from scholarship; Mr. Obama has never published any. He was too busy, but also, Mr. Epstein believes, he was unwilling to put his name to anything that could haunt him politically, as Ms. Guinier’s writings had hurt her. “He figured out, you lay low,” Mr. Epstein said.

Obama is now slowly revealing himself to be a centrist, capable of political horse trading when necessary. This has disillusioned some of his followers, but you can hardly expect that he’d have gotten this far without learning to play the game.

In fact, it seems to be a game he’s known how to play for quite some time now.

Check out the Children of God Photo Essay

Sorry it’s been all quiet on the Western front for a few days. I took some time to spend with my family in the sleepy town of Ocean Shores and I just got back late last night.

One thing I enjoyed a great deal in this Sunday’s New York Times is the wonderful photo essay by Stephanie Sinclair and accompanying article by Sara Corbett about the women of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who have been displaced from their ranch in El Dorado, TX.

Definitely worth a read.

I’ll be back to my regularly scheduled blogging activities tomorrow.

Obama’s Berlin Speech: Arrogant or Case Making?

There is legitimate reason to criticize Senator Obama’s decision to speak in front of some 200,000 people in Berlin yesterday. After all, he carries no official authority to conduct diplomacy on behalf of the United States. He comes to Berlin as a candidate, not as a president — and yet the spectacle that he and his hosts have jointly created for the purposes of his visit has been nothing short of presidential.

Of course, there are niggling complaints. Ed Morrissey writes that Obama’s choice of the Victory Column over the Brandenburg Gate as the location for his speech was apt to make many Germans uncomfortable because of its association with the Nazi regime. But he also makes the excellent larger point that:

The more basic question is why Obama feels the need to conduct a campaign event among Germans. Meeting with foreign leaders makes sense for a man with no foreign policy experience whatsoever, but that doesn’t require massive rallies among people who aren’t voting in this election. In his rush to look impressive for no one’s purposes but his own, Obama has made himself look ignorant and arrogant all over again.

That’s one way of looking at it. And I can’t deny that Morrissey has a point: Obama has some serious cajones to walk into a foreign city during campaign season and give a speech of such sweeping scope to an audience whose support or lack thereof matters little in terms of votes or even contributions. And if we were living in ordinary times, I’d say that Obama’s behavior in Berlin today was nothing short of inappropriate in the extreme.

But these are not ordinary times.

We’ve spent the past seven and a half years with a president who has arguably squandered more international goodwill than at any other point in our nation’s history. Obama’s candidacy is a near-direct result of George W. Bush’s bungling at a time when the world demanded an adroit diplomat.

This tour abroad is meant to assuage the legitimate concerns of many Americans that a man so young, without any foreign policy experience, can lead the United States and the world through the challenges we now face. McCain argues that his wartime experience and years in the Senate trump Obama’s pretty speechmaking when it comes to our security. This speech was meant to explode that claim.

Today, Obama gave us a taste of how he’d conduct foreign policy. He’d rebuild damaged partnerships and reach out to people all over the world and wage the war of ideas as only an articulate, visionary leader can.

And don’t underestimate the importance of the war of ideas. Because while the role of Commander in Chief of our military is no laughing matter, the United States has always done best in times of peace and in times of war when we’ve lead by holding up the ideals of liberty, democracy and equality for all the world to see.

SlyDial Would Be Cool if it Actually Worked

When I first read about SlyDial, I was really excited. Just between you and I — and now the rest of the world — I’ve never been a big fan of talking on the phone, with the exception of a few people.

So the prospect of being able to route myself directly to someone’s voicemail and leaving a message without having to actually talk to them sounded wonderful. Too bad that when I tested SlyDial by dialing my cell phone from my home phone, it not only rang my cell, but showed my number on the caller ID.

SUCH a tease!

Changes to the Home Page

If you monitor TeresaCentric via RSS, it might be time to click on through and check out our homepage.

We’ve moved a few things around to display the conversation happening among our wonderful commenters much more prominently. Lower down on the lefthand side, you’ll find a widget from lifestreaming site FriendFeed that aggregates my activities from a dozen different social tools, including Twitter and Google Reader.

Below that, you’ll find Andy’s very own Twitter. That’s right. Andy has a Twitter account, but he needs to step it up.

Feedback is always welcome below.

Wilshire & Washington: Obama’s Trip Abroad, McCain’s Portrayal in the Media and Editorial Judgement

Join Ted Johnson, Maegan and I — along with guests Greg Mitchell and David Horsey — for a discussion on Obama’s trip to Afghanistan and the Middle East, McCain’s portrayal in the media and the judgement of the news media.

Where the Devil is Andy?

I’ll bet a lot of you are asking, “where’s our favorite loudmouthed liberal?”

Andy’s been taking a little break from blogging to get his house in order. He moved last weekend and is also in his second week of a new job. As if that weren’t enough to juggle, he’s also been in a lot of physical pain from a combination of playing sports without stretching and using a less than ergonomic workstation during countless hours of programming at home.

That’s not to say he’s not in good spirits. I spoke to him last night and overall he sounds happier than I’ve seen him in a long time. But doing any more typing than strictly necessary is just not in the cards for him right now.

I’m sure, however, that he’d appreciate getting some love in the comments. So if you have some words of advice, support or just plain love for Mr. Sparrow…give it up!

[Updated with Player Archive] Wilshire & Washington Live Now!

Join us for a half-hour of conversation with Greg Mitchell, Editor in Chief of Editor & Publisher and two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey, plus the political chatter of the week.

New Startup Aims at Ad-Supported Fuel Consumption

Doesn’t it make you sick every time you pull the receipt out of the gas pump after filling up? Mile after mile you drive! To and from work, school, running errands, meeting with friends, how about everyday LIFE!!! Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a way of compensating YOURSELF for all that driving?

So begins the pitch to drivers for a new venture Gas for Free, which pays drivers up to $299 each month to place advertising on their cars.

I can’t decide what I think about this from a business perspective. It’s entirely possible — although I hope not — that Gas for Free’s founders have hit on the next big trend in advertising and are going to make a mint. It’s also possible that their target driver audience — people who are so attached to their cars that even $4.35/gallon gas won’t make them take the bus — will not be willing to deface their precious shiny automobiles with crass slogans.

From an environmental perspective, this makes me utterly sick. It’s bad enough that this venture aims to artificially support the completely unsustainable practice of driving fossil fuel-powered vehicles everywhere rather than taking public transit. (I love that they call themselves “eco-ethical.”) But on top of it, it further clutters the already overwhelming mental and emotional experience of driving. Billboards are bad enough. Now I have to stare at advertising on someone’s car as well?

This kind of reminds me of the GOP’s ham-handed attempts to reduce gas prices which includes:

1. A gas tax holiday.
2. Releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserves.

and last but not least…

3. The supply-and-demand-defying Find More, Use Less campaign, which asserts that if we excavate for more fossil fuel resources at the same time that we all voluntarily work together to conserve them, we can keep the price of gas low.

All in all, it’s ludicrous. We’re all grasping at straws trying to fix a system whose time is beginning to pass. Let’s pull out our thinking caps and use some of that innovative brain power to actually solve our energy crisis, rather than putting yet another band-aid over a gaping wound.

[Via Mashable.]

Fallujah Gets a Kentucky Fried Chicken

What’s next? Strip clubs?

David Horsey Joins us on Wilshire & Washington this Wednesday Morning

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve worshipped at the altar of two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning Seattle PI editorial cartoonist David Horsey for some time.

Today, he brought us this particularly apropos cartoon given Barack Obama’s calls to draw down troops in Iraq and move them to Afghanistan:

Horsey will be our guest, along with Greg Mitchell, Editor in Chief of Editor & Publisher. Should be a really fantastic show. Be sure to join us.

Obama “Gets an Eyeful” of Acceptance in Iraq

McCain said last week that he expects Obama to get an eyeful in Iraq, including the effectiveness of the surge.

But it looks like Obama’s getting an eyeful of acceptance for his troop withdrawal schedule from the Iraqi government.

I usually have something more insightful to say about stuff like this, but this time, the contradiction says it all: Bush and McCain support staying in Iraq for the sake of staying. Obama proposes leaving and the Iraqi people agree.

Looks like this time around — just like in the runup to the invasion of Iraq — McCain’s experience leaves him on the wrong side of history.

It’s time to give up the ghost, stop wasting time, money and blood in Iraq and bring our people home.

Mulder & Scully are Almost Back!!!!

I really can’t deal with how hot this is:

I cannot wait for this movie to open on Friday.

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