Archive for November, 2011

Five Steps Back of the Day: A church in Pike County, Kentucky, voted this week to ban interracial couples from becoming members of the congregation, as well as from participating in worship services.

Melvin Thompson, a former pastor at the ironically named Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church, asked that a proposal stating unequivocally that “the church did not condone interracial marriage” be brought to a vote. It passed 9 to 6, with several members abstaining.

Thompson was apparently incensed that the daughter of church secretary Dean Harville brought her Zimbabwean fiancé to church. Harville said the decision was clearly motivated by racism. “It sure ain’t Christian. It ain’t nothing but the old devil working,” he told the Lexington Herald-Leader.

“Most of us thought that we’d moved well beyond that,” said Pike County Ministerial Association president Randy Johnson. “The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance,” responded 18th century Irish orator John Philpot Curran.

[kentucky / video: buzzfeed.]

Stop-Motion Short of the Day: Kalle Mattson, Kevin Parry, “and Friends” created this adorable “arts and crafts history of the world” for Mattson’s latest single, “Thick as Thieves.”

Ah, the Great Robopocalypse of 2342. I remember it well.

[hyst.]

Unreasonable Warmth of the Day: I’m no doomsayer, but Maine was the hottest state in the continental US this morning.

[reddit.]

Movie Trailer of the Day: [SEIZURE WARNING] First official teaser for Tim & Eric’s big-screen debut, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie. Surprise! It’s really weird. But is also apparently a real movie that is going to be in real theaters for real.

Co-starring  Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, Jeff Goldblum, John C. Reilly, Erica Durance, and Will Forte, B$M reportedly tells the story of “two guys get a billion dollars to make a film, only to watch their dream run off course.”

Then again, with Tim & Eric, who knows. It could end up being a child-molesting mop handle in a muumuu singing enka standards for three hours.

In theaters March 2.

[@timheidecker.]

Sign Of The Times of the Day: Subway announced today that it will soon begin selling $2 six-inch subs in an effort to match fast-food rivals who already offer their customers more “economy-friendly” options.

The deal will only apply to Subway’s meatball and cold-cut subs, but, as USA Today points out, two six-inch subs would beat the $5 price point of the restaurant chain’s popular foot-long.  

In what seems like related news, horse meat might soon be back on the market in the US after Congress quietly lifted a ban on horse meat inspection funding that had been in place since 2006.

[usatoday / ap via time.]

Jack Of All Awesome of the Day: Animator Aung Zaw Oo, AKA AZO, AKA the closest thing Earth has to an honest-to-goodness superhuman, has just released his annual stunts and tricks showreel, AKA yet another reminder of all the incredible things your body can’t do.

[thd.]

Earlier: 2008, 2009; 2010.

Street Skiing of the Day: From Sherpas Cinema‘s award-winning film All.I.Can, JP Auclair skis the streets of Trail, Rossland, and Nelson, BC, to “Dance Yrself Clean” by LCD Soundsystem.

[kottke.]

Occupy Movement News Update of the Day: Just under 350 people were arrested in twin raids on Occupy encampments last night.

In Los Angeles, more than 1,400 LAPD officers dismantled the Occupy LA encampment that had been set up on the south lawn of Los Angeles City Hall since early October.

Some 290 people who refused police orders to evacuate were arrested.

Click to see more… »

First Impression Failure of the Day: Gallant politely asks a girl if she would be so kind as to accompany him to their high school’s spring formal.

Goofus does this.

[arbroath.]

This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: That local news outlets trade in fearmongering and shameful “ambush journalism” is nothing new.

But FOX 25′s “investigative reporter” Mike Beaudet may have gone too far with his latest “undercover” piece exposing the alleged pornographic past of a charter school English Department chair.

Kevin Hogan was suspended with pay from the top-rated Mystic Valley Regional Charter School in Malden pending an investigation into his previous career as a gay porn star. This, despite the fact that the school admits his references “Were flawless” and, according to at least one parent, “the kids really love him.”

Though Hogan’s extracurricular activities are clearly legal, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which handles teachers’ licenses, said it would be looking into the matter. “We expect teachers to hold a very high moral standard,” said a department spokesperson. “They are role models for students.” 

This latest story of porn-star shaming comes after an LA-area elementary school attempted to cover up a visit by Sasha Grey upon learning that she was once an adult film actress.

[myfoxboston / jmg.]