No particular reason for embedding this particular video, other than I enjoy crosswords and get excited when I see people on TV filling them out. It makes me feel like a cool kid for a moment.

[NYMag]

Along with screwing up Elvis' birthdate and attacking Warren Buffet, new GOP presidential darling Michelle Bachmann has promised Arizona a fence along every inch of the border. That has been challenging, what with sovereign Native American nations, environmental concerns and geographic problems. But costs be damned!

Bachmann said lax enforcement of immigration laws was a threat to the nation's security. She agreed with a town hall questioner in Greenville that U.S. troops should be redeployed from South Korea to south Texas.

"How do you solve it? You build a barrier, a fence, a wall — whatever you want to call it. You build it," Bachmann said. "As president of the United States, every mile, every yard, every foot, every inch will be covered on that southern border."

The "problem is not our laws on immigration," Bachmann said. "The problem has been in our unwillingness to enforce the laws that are on the books."

She followed up today with a dazzling use of Spanish:

Appearing in Columbia, South Carolina, Bachmann cast herself as "one little fighter."

"We need one strong hombre or hombre-ette, and I'm the hombre-ette to go and stand for you in Washington DC," Bachmann said. Earlier, when Bachmann referenced that she would be a woman in the White House if elected, a cheer went up from the audience.

Hombre is the Spanish word for man. The Spanish word for woman is mujer.

• Cardboard Shell stalking her prey.

She surfaced again when she finished the Sugar O.D. Challenge at Something Sweet Dessert Lounge, and she had a salad beforehand. This put the girl, who goes by the cryptic moniker “Cardboard Shell,” in the league of gods or superhumans in my book.

Then she went and dominated a Nathan's Hot Dog's qualifier, but failed to win the main competition in Coney Island, which you can read about on her blog. It's under the heading "Gobbling Wieners." The Shell, it could be said, is not without a sense of humor.

The only other thing that has taken her down was a ridiculous eating challenge at Boca that included eating like 17 tacos and a one-pound loaded baked potato.

And now, it appears she has also demolished the Hog Trough Challenge at the Hog Pit Smokehouse out on Tanque Verde. This challenge has decimated many, many diners. From the account on the Hog Pit’s Facebook page:

It finally happened. Yesterday a petite female came in to try the HOG TROUGH CHALLENGE and astonished everyone in the place. Not only is she the ONLY one to complete the task, she completed the task in a record time of 12:40, thats right just over the half way mark of the alloted time of 25 minutes required. Congrats MICHELLE CLESCO!!! Your fame will be remembered at the HOG PIT!!

They spelled her name wrong, but we all know who they’re talking about. Cardboard Shell is unstoppable.

Jimmy Valiant: Scions of Danger Full-Length Trailer 1 from NDFilmmaker on Vimeo.

Introducing Jimmy Valiant, the hero of a TV pilot bringing some of the ideas from the Bourne series of films, but shoehorning the PG parts into a Christian-friendly theme. Are you tired of seeing James Bond have so much fun, drinking, gambling, and all the sex? Jimmy Valiant is here to save the day!

After a tragedy in the family business, young Jimmy Valiant (Brant Harris Disharoon) seeks independence as an international soldier-for-hire. An anonymous client recruits Jimmy to shadow a controversial Texas State Senator trying to rescue a group of children who have been kidnapped from their Christian parents. Jimmy must overcome his myopia as he initiates an investigation that unconvers some startling truths, and brings him face-to-face with the last man in the wold that he ever wanted to meet again. Soon he finds himself caught up in a conspiracy that threatens to undermine everything that he has come to trust.

Crazy, unexpected and thoroughly welcome news:

WREG-TV has learned an agreement has been reached to release two of the West Memphis 3.

Multiple sources, including the father of one of the victims, have confirmed this will be announced at a special hearing Friday.

That hearing is scheduled to be held in Jonesboro, AR.
Damien Echols was sentenced to death, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. was sentenced to life imprisonment plus two 20-year sentences, and Jason Baldwin was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Stevie Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers were found murdered and mutilated in a wooded area in West Memphis, Arkansas in May 1993.

Recent tests on DNA evidence, including material from the crime scene, was found to not be a match to the defendants.

If you haven't seen the Paradise Lost documentaries about the West Memphis 3, they're among the great documentaries of our time. Must see film making.

I meant what I said and I said what I meant: A Seuss fan is faithful, one hundred percent. That's why I can't wait for seven "lost" Dr. Seuss stories to be released Sep. 27. The stories were published in Redbook Magazine in the early '50s and will be compiled into a book for the first time.

More from ABC News:

The tales, full of whimsical new characters — such as a gluttonous duck named McKluck — and Dr. Seuss' signature rhyming style, will be bundled together in a book called "The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories."

"The stories are complete and satisfying. They are not at all second-class citizens," Cathy Goldsmith, vice president and associate publishing director of Random House/Golden Books Young Readers Group, told Publishers Weekly.

"The Bippolo Seed" will feature Dr. Seuss' original illustrations, but enlarged and with added color.

Other than George Lucas and his constant work-in-progress tinkering with the Star Wars films, has there been a movie presented in as many versions than Blade Runner? Wikipedia lists seven, but it seems like there have been hundreds.

Well, guess what? While there isn't a lot of information out there yet, it looks like Scott is revisiting the story again in some fashion:

After revisiting his classic Alien with the upcoming 3D Fox film Prometheus, Ridley Scott is committing to direct and produce a film that advances his other seminal and groundbreaking science fiction film. Scott has signed on to direct and produce a new installment of Blade Runner....

I’m not getting a clear sense at this point whether Scott intends to do a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Also unclear is whether they start fresh or reach out to Harrison Ford. The original took place in dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, in which organic superhuman robots called replicants escaped and are hiding somewhere on earth. Ford played Richard Deckard, a burnt out blade runner assigned to hunt them down. His tired life gets altered when he himself falls for one of the replicants and struggles to keep her from being destroyed.

The film was not a blockbuster when first released—it grossed $32 million in its original run—but the film has gained esteem over time. From the bleak but breathtaking visuals to the complex storyline and themes of mortality, Blade Runner became a classic. There has periodically been talks of doing a sequel but those never really went anywhere. After injecting state of the art 3D in reviving Alien, imagine what Scott can do with Blade Runner? Now, the filmmaker is ready to engage.

Scott is already working on a new take on the Alien saga, Prometheus, that apparently not part of the direct narrative, but related somehow, and that might be a better way to go with Blade Runner, as well. Maybe someone wants to see a straight remake, jazzed up with 3D, CGI, and all the other new filmmaking tricks, but I certainly don't.

I don't know what my favorite aspect of this ad that ran in the Austin Chronicle today, but there are a number of contenders.

a) The Star Wars font.
b) That the guy who paid for the ad claims to have knowledge of Rick Perry's infidelity because he is "a patron of Austin strip clubs” who has “excellent contacts in the Austin strip club community.”
c) The seemingly unnecessary and somewhat indecipherable Hillary Clinton reference
d) That the ad is willing to take down Perry on either hetero- or homosexual fronts.

It's going to be a long road to the 2012 election, so I'm willing to accept any form of amusement to make the time go by quicker. Thanks, Robert Morrow!

[Mediaite]

The audio from this clip is wildly NSFW, but it's crazy to see Ol' Dirty Bastard and RZA kicking a freestyle from the pre-WuTang days, possibly in a high school cafeteria or something. I guess there's not really much holding the old crew together these days, but watching this video reminds me just how mindblowingly different (and great) they were back in the early 90's. We miss you, Big Baby Jesus.

RELATED...one of the greatest guest verses of all time:

[Egotrip]

Scooter wants you to scoot on over to the Humane Society! This perfect companion has all the right qualities to become your new best friend. Scooter is an absolute gentleman who is fully housetrained, loves playing with toys and gets along beautifully with other dogs and cats. Surrendered with a heavy heart when his lifelong family had a baby that Scooter was uncomfortable around, Scooter now needs a home without young children. However, he got along great with the 10-year old in the family and would love to meet all of the members of your household in one of our visiting yards. Scooter’s previous family took him through obedience school, visited the dog park several times a week and enjoyed taking their grateful canine companion on walks and hikes. Above all, Scooter simply enjoys being with people. Why not make him your trusty sidekick today?

Here's a video of Scooter playing in the yard.

Come meet Scooter! He's currently living at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd. The Humane Society is open Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Their phone number is 327-6088.