Young Man 'Freezes to Death' Making Film About Homelessness

Oy weh:

Lee Halpin, 26, was found dead in a disused hostel in Newcastle where overnight temperatures fell below -4C. Local media reported he had likely frozen to death, although the exact cause of death has not yet been determined. [...]

Halpin recorded a video describing his plan to experience street life as part of an application for a journalist position with the UK's Channel 4. 

In the video, Halpin said he hoped his willingness to sleep rough would demonstrate the "fearlessness" required by selectors for the channel's investigative journalism program.

There appears to be some kind of drug link as well. Just terrible.

This is the video he made explaining his decision to spend a week on the streets:



More here.

Two Thumbs Up to The Onion

Onions are supposed to make you tear up, right?

CHICAGO—Calling the overall human experience “poignant,” “thought-provoking,” and a “complete tour de force,” film critic Roger Ebert praised existence Thursday as “an audacious and thrilling triumph.” “While not without its flaws, life, from birth to death, is a masterwork, and an uplifting journey that both touches the heart and challenges the mind,” said Ebert, adding that while the totality of all humankind is sometimes “a mess in places,” it strives to be a magnum opus and, according to Ebert, largely succeeds at this goal.

Image from here.

U.S. Judge Strikes Down Morning-After Pill Restrictions

Good news:

A federal judge ruled Friday that the government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and younger. In his ruling, he also accused the federal government of “bad faith” in dealing with the requests to make the pill universally available, and said its actions had been politically motivated.

This is opposed by abortion-rights foes as a kind of abortion. It's unfortunate that this still has to be pointed out, but that is not true. A video:



A point about the anti-abortion forces that cannot be made too often: They cannot claim to be about "saving babies" or "protecting the sanctity of life" when they are also against contraception.

If you're against abortion, and you're also against contraception - and that's you, Pope and Catholic Church, as well as a lot of non-Catholic Christians in the anti-abortion forces - then you prove that this is about your religion, not about "babies." You have every right in the world to put up a fight against a woman's right to and access to abortion, however misguided I and others find it, but we should not have to put up with lies about "saving babies" or "protecting the sancity of life," when it is clearly proven by your opposition to contraception that it is not about that. This is about your religious beliefs—and how those beliefs relate to women, and what they're "supposed" to do in this world. If you'd admit that (perhaps to yourself?), we'd all be in a lot better shape.

Update: Oh for - errrg: Obama and his administration are still backing the restrictions! What the hell?

Obama is a very weird dude.

Man Shoots and Kills Chihuahua in "Self Defense"

Wow:

A 14-year-old Detroit girl is mourning the loss of her pet Chihuahua after her neighbor shot and killed it.

The teenage owner had let 1-year-old Jojo outside earlier, and went back to retrieve him when the shooting occurred.

The neighbor is claiming self-defense saying the dog charged him.

The guy was a licensed gun owner. The dog was a 1-year-old Chihuahua. It had to weigh about 5 pounds, maybe less. God almighty. That should bring charges, but it apparently did not:

Rudolph said police responded to the scene but after interviewing both the owner and the neighbor, officers concluded that he was within his right to use his firearm.

Put whatever feelings you have or don't have about the dog aside - how is it legal to discharge a firearm in a crowded neighborhood - to kill a chihuahua? Especially given that the owner was standing right there? Are we supposed to believe the guy actually believed he was in danger - to the point where he needed to defend himself with a firearm?

That is gun culture gone completely, cowardly, nuts.

The Jeremy Irons Apology Countdown [update]

Update: Irons has responded. Not apologized, but responded.

* * *

Hey, who knew, Jeremy Irons is an asshole. When asked about his feelings on gay marriage, Irons answered:

"It seems to me that now they're fighting for the name, and I worry that it means somehow we debase, or we change, what marriage is. I just worry about that."

But wait—there's more!

"I mean tax-wise is an interesting one because, you see, could a father not marry his son?" 

Um, what?

Jeremy Irons, first: In what sensible way does a question about gay marriage lead to a question about sons marrying fathers? The answer is that it makes no good sense, it makes only the obvious bad sense—it is the kind of remark so often used to slur gay people by associating them with things like incest (and bestiality).

Jeremy Irons, second: Even if we did grant you that your question is a fair and sensible one - why wouldn't you ask it about a daughter marrying her father (for tax purposes or any oher) - because heterosexual marriage is legal?

The answer to that question is that you're an asshole. An offensive and dim one, too.

So: The Jeremy Irons Apology Countdown for being a dim, offensive asshole begins right...now.

Sets watch to 10:38 a.m. on March 5, 2013, Sydney, Australia, time. 

Because as dim and offensive a dick as he is, he will of course issue an apology to stave off whatever damage the remarks might do to his repuation and career. (Tomorrow at the very latest is my guess.)

P.S. I am very certain that it is illegal to marry a member of your immediate family in both the UK and the U.S. I'll get the specific text of the specific laws just to be thorough. (Here and here: "Despite his concerns, a 2004 amendment to the Marriage Act 1949 specifically prohibits a father marrying his son and the same sex couples bill will not alter what is already enshrined in law.")

Update: Oh he is getting hammered on FaceBook.

[image]

The video:

Video: Michelle Shocked on Piers Morgan [full video]

This is just the very beginning of the interview (it's all they've put up so far).

Hard to understand why he didn't play what followed immediately after the audio of the Yoshi's show he did play:

If someone would be so gracious as to please tweet out, 'Michelle Shocked just said from stage "God hates faggots".' Would you do it now?

That came right after what Morgan aired. Why not play that?

Anyway, she defends her words by saying the audience "requested reality." As I said here, she has apparently given "reality" a new meaning. And that makes all this the audience's fault.

• More video and commentary here.

Update: Full video:



For what it's worth, her last line, "The apple tree's got some strange fruit Even Adam would not try," is from her own song, "Peachfuzz," which has the line, "...called them fags 'cause that's what they was." I don't know exactly what the song means, just wanted to note that.

Michelle Shocked on Piers Morgan Tonight at 9? [update]

TONIGHT, @mshocked speaks to @piersmorgan in an exclusive interview after her anti-gay remarks sparked nationwide outrage. She explains at 9
— Piers Morgan Live (@PiersMorganLive) April 1, 2013

Don't get your hopes up (if you had any). (She showed! See below.)

Michelle Shocked tour meltdown history:

• The cancelled shows
• Page II
• The statement
• The audio that proves she is not telling the truth in her statement.
• MS vows to show up at cancelled Santa Monica gig (she didn't)

And holy crap, she showed up at her cancelled Santa Cruz gig on Thursday:

“And suddenly she’s coming in the side door, and she’s on stage,” said Vnes. Shocked was wearing a thin white cover-all suit with a head covering, tape over her mouth and sunglasses. “She was waving this tablet around and she wanted to communicate. You could tell she was kind of frustrated.”

Vnes, Moe’s owner Bill Welch and co-producer Michael Horne of Pulse Productions were discussing how they might respond if Shocked showed when she quietly walked in the side.

There's some video of her outside the club:



She is obviously determined to drag this out, isn't she? (And thank you anonymous commenter, for those links.)

Update: Looks like she's there.

• Well, that was weird. She blames her outburst on the fact that the audience asked for "reality." It's worth noting that Shocked appears to have redefined the word "reality" (follow this, if you can) - and blames the audience for not knowing this. Or something.

Video when available. (Got it - new post.)