Nick Baumann

1990s Kirsten Dunst wearing a Jumanji t-shirt, via Buzzfeed.

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:45:13 -0500

1990s Kirsten Dunst wearing a Jumanji t-shirt, via Buzzfeed.

"[T]he Academy comes across as awfully over-sensitive about what is, at its core, a deeply silly and..."

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 09:57:47 -0500

“[T]he Academy comes across as awfully over-sensitive about what is, at its core, a deeply silly and self-celebratory promotional event for its products”

- Not just in this case!

Sacha Baron Cohen Has Been Banned from the Oscars

"Iceland’s economy will this year outgrow the euro area and the developed world on average, the..."

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:34:10 -0500

“Iceland’s economy will this year outgrow the euro area and the developed world on average, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development estimates. It costs about the same to insure against an Icelandic default as it does to guard against a credit event in Belgium. Most polls now show Icelanders don’t want to join the European Union, where the debt crisis is in its third year.”

- This is a story about how unorthodox policy measures can work.

Icelandic Anger Brings Debt Forgiveness in Best Recovery Story

"At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he..."

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:34:04 -0500

“At 9, he settled a dispute with a pistol. At 13, he lit out for the Amazon jungle. At 20, he attempted suicide-by-jaguar. Afterward he was apprenticed to a pirate. To please his mother, who did not take kindly to his being a pirate, he briefly managed a mink farm, one of the few truly dull entries on his otherwise crackling résumé, which lately included a career as a professional gambler.”

- In case you haven’t already read the obituary for the actual most interesting man in the world.

John Fairfax, Who Rowed Across Oceans, Dies at 74

"Smith did not comment on ongoing rumors that Jonah Peretti is planning to replace him with Horse of..."

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:21:48 -0500

“Smith did not comment on ongoing rumors that Jonah Peretti is planning to replace him with Horse of Horse ebooks.”

- Buzzfeed Hires ‘Online Curiosity Collector’ and Diaper Expert Katie Notopoulos

"This is an excellent idea and would be a good idea even if the money were simply heaped up in a big..."

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:30:13 -0500

“This is an excellent idea and would be a good idea even if the money were simply heaped up in a big pile and lit on fire.”

- The Secret Policy Victory Buried In The Payroll Tax Compromise

"The West Wing writers room would not have come up with the idea of running a presidential campaign..."

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:14:00 -0500

““The West Wing writers room would not have come up with the idea of running a presidential campaign in which an African-American gets elected. Because the realism view would have said that’s not possible. And I say that with no disrespect for the creative process, but rather with a greater respect and awe for the real world.””

- I love this.

West Wing Writer Lawrence O’Donnell: ‘Of Course’ Obama Is A Better President Than President Bartlet

I want a girl who reads.

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:12:11 -0500

I want a girl who reads.

Game of Thrones Valentines. (Which I put on the MoJo Tumblr...

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:06:16 -0500

Game of Thrones Valentines.

(Which I put on the MoJo Tumblr instead of on my personal Tumblr by mistake. Sorry. Here’s my review of “A Dance With Dragons,” the latest book in the series, to make it up to you. —Nick Baumann)

Well, this was a must-share. Every Wes Anderson Slow-Motion...

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:55:04 -0500

Well, this was a must-share.

Every Wes Anderson Slow-Motion Shot, Set to Ja Rule (by Slacktory, via Spencer Ackerman).

Most of Obama's "controversial" birth control rule you've been hearing about was already law during the Bush administration

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:11:41 -0500

Most of Obama's "controversial" birth control rule you've been hearing about was already law during the Bush administration

“You never paid dues, you barely pay taxes.” This...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:37:47 -0500

“You never paid dues, you barely pay taxes.”

This is pretty well done.

NYC vendor who alerted police to bomb seeks office

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:22:56 -0500

NYC vendor who alerted police to bomb seeks office:

This is nice.

Aww, Kristen Bell.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:00:05 -0500

Aww, Kristen Bell.

"Are you the sort of person who can only be friends with people who share your politics? If so, I..."

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:21 -0500

“Are you the sort of person who can only be friends with people who share your politics? If so, I pity you. You’re going to live an unchallenged, introspection-free life, congratulating yourself on your purity while never engaging in good faith with people who don’t see things your way. You deny yourself the richness of the world. I refuse to join you. And if you fuck with my friends, you will regret it.”

- Preach, brother.

"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot...."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:03:06 -0500

“We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam. The earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of the dot on scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner of the dot. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity – in all this vastness – there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. It is up to us. It’s been said that astronomy is a humbling, and I might add, a character-building experience. To my mind, there is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly and compassionately with one another and to preserve and cherish that pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

- Carl Sagan

"When Christ performs the miracle of the loaves and fishes do we condemn him for depriving..."

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:41:39 -0500

“When Christ performs the miracle of the loaves and fishes do we condemn him for depriving fishmongers of hypothetical income?”

- This is my favorite copyright-related metaphor yet.

Matthew Yglesias: Caleb Crain and I actually agree on copyright law. - Slate Magazine

Genius. foodonmydog: Cracker Jack.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:29:25 -0500

Genius.

foodonmydog:

Cracker Jack.

Miss Piggy and Kermit answer questions about Fox News. This is...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:28:31 -0500

Miss Piggy and Kermit answer questions about Fox News. This is wonderful.

Ranking the Members of the U.S. Senate (According to Their Smiles)

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:44:59 -0500

Ranking the Members of the U.S. Senate (According to Their Smiles):

Poor Al Franken.