Related to absolutely nothing other than my general love for adorable things, here's a video of blue penguins being released on a New Zealand beach. These penguins were lucky to survive the Rena oil spill last month, were cleaned and treated, and should be heading back to their home on Rabbit Island.

Good luck, penguins. Sorry about the oil.

[Mother Jones]

It's more of a novelty than anything—one would have to put away a lot of 30 proof whipped cream to notice any physiological disturbances—but it's a nice way to add a festive tone to the dessert course. It comes in a bunch of flavors as well. More on that here.

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post places the blame for the Super Committee's failure squarely on Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl:

So when the Arizonan was named as one of six Republicans on the debt supercommittee, Democrats feared the worst — and they got what they feared. It exaggerates little to say that Kyl thwarted agreement almost singlehandedly. While some Republicans on the panel — notably Reps. Dave Camp and Fred Upton — were, with House Speaker John Boehner’s blessing, prepared to strike a deal, Kyl rallied resistance with his usual table-pounding tirades.

The tragedy here is that Kyl, who has announced his retirement at the end of his term, could have risen above political pressures to strike an agreement to right the nation’s finances for a generation. Boehner’s House Republicans, aware that voters will hold them to account for inaction, were willing to deal. But Kyl’s Senate Republicans, hoping voters will evict the Democratic majority in the Senate, had no such incentive.

The conclusion:

“Walking napalm” is how one Democratic aide involved in the supercommittee described Kyl this week. And if the senator makes some mistakes as he burns down the village — well, that’s just a cost of doing business. Earlier this year, when Kyl was leading an effort to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, he claimed on the Senate floor that abortion is “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.” The actual number is 3 percent. An aide to Kyl explained: “His remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”

As Kyl leaves the Senate, he will be remembered as a lawmaker who intended to be not factual but destructive.

Spoiler alert: Larry David finds some aspects of Thanksgiving irritating. Also, his mother was obsessed with dark meat.

Over three seasons, the people behind Community set up one joke in the background of an episode based on a reference from a movie that came out in 1988.

In other news, I'm now going to be a little sadder when the show disappears from the Thursday night lineup.

[Reddit]

My former boss (and generally super-smart person) Maura Johnston chimed in on The Roots' choice of intro music for Michele Bachmann Monday night on Jimmy Fallon on the Village Voice's music blog this morning. I have to say, while I have a number of issues with Bachmann [1, 2, 3], it does feel wrong to call a sitting Congresswoman a "bitch", regardless of the context and the depth of her ignorance.

While I appreciate any efforts to get Fishbone back into the public consciousness and punctuate fluffy Entertainment Tonight-style treatment of people who might one day be entrusted with keeping this country in order, and I certainly don't agree with the way that Bachmann views truthfulness as a minor inconvenience blocking her path to righteousness, the marriage of song and target bugged the hell out of me. Sure, this was an attempt to turn a title/hook into a 15-second punchline (leaving out the lyric about the titular character also being a slut), but the fact that this woman was obliquely being called a "bitch" on national television, and that it's an insult that would probably not be flung at her competitors, curdled any mirth that I might have felt.

Bachmann is the first 2012 GOP presidential candidate to be on Fallon, although she's certainly not the only one who's been caught in her own deceptions. She's also the lone woman remaining in the field, which makes me wonder if Rick Perry or Rick Santorum would have been greeted by this particular Fishbone track had they been first to Fallon's couch. The answer, sadly, is "probably not." Casual sexism in politics and entertainment and, you know, the rest of the world is of course nothing new, and it's something that as a consumer of the Internet crushes me on a near-hourly basis—even though I've aesthetically internalized it enough to enjoy songs like, say, "Lyin'-Ass Bitch." But it kills me when it's used by smart people who I respect against someone like Bachmann, who has no shortage of completely legitimate reasons to inspire ire. Calling her a bitch is too easy—it glosses over the actual concrete problems with her as a candidate—and more importantly, the woman-specific use of "bitch" toward people who allegedly "deserve" it only serves to further crack open the door to it being used against any woman who's trying to make her way in a male-dominated field.

There are tons of songs out there that call out liars in their titles without having to get all gender-specific about who's doing the lying—why not use one of those?

My personal choice for an intro for Bachmann:

Public Policy Polling released a second batch of data on Arizona voter attitudes yesterday.

Among the key takeaways: Brewer's popularity is dropping, McCain is very unpopular, Giffords is popular (but voters are unsure if she should seek reelection), voters didn't like the way that Brewer removed Colleen Mathis from the chairmanship of the Independent Redistricting Commission, voters are glad to see Russell Pearce go and SB 1070 is still popular.

Here's the PPP roundup:

Voters in Arizona are unhappy with how Jan Brewer has handled redistricting in the state, and perhaps as a result PPP finds her approval numbers at their worst since before she resuscitated her political career with Senate Bill 1070 last April.

Only 31% of voters support Brewer removing Colleen Mathis as chair of the Redistricting Commission, to 43% who oppose her move. Republican agree with what Brewer did by a 54/16 margin but Democrats are even more unified in their displeasure with her action, 13/72. Independents think Brewer did the wrong thing by a 19/41 margin as well.

The unhappiness with Brewer's actions shouldn't be taken as an endorsement by the Arizona electorate of the Congressional maps that the Commission proposed. Only 25% of voters express support for the proposed lines with 34% opposed to them and an unsurprising 42% holding no opinion on this decidedly insider baseball issue. Voters don't necessarily disagree with Brewer that the House map was flawed, they just disagree with the action she took to deal with the problem.

Brewer's approval rating has sunk to 42% with 49% of voters disapproving of her. The last time PPP found her with numbers that bad was in April of 2010, shortly before the signing of Senate Bill 1070, when she was at 35/46. There are two things helping to drive Brewer's poor ratings: Democrats (77%) are more unified in their disapproval of her than Republicans (69%) are in their approval and independents split against her by a 34/51 margin as well.

Despite Brewer's declining poll numbers there's little support for a recall of her. Only 32% of voters would support such a move to 58% who are opposed. There are a lot of voters don't like Brewer, but don't think she should be removed from office either. This is particularly clear with independents who oppose a recall 25/59, even as they simultaneously give Brewer poor marks for her job performance.

In other Arizona polling findings:

-Voters in the state have a very positive opinion of Gabrielle Giffords, 61/17. She's seen favorably by Democrats (84/7), independents (49/15), and Republicans (46/26) alike. Despite Giffords' popularity there is significant doubt about whether she should run for reelection though- 32% of voters think she should seek another term in the House while 46% think she should not and 22% are unsure. It's hard to imagine Giffords losing if she does run again given her popularity and the fact that she managed to get reelected in the tough climate of 2010, but clearly there is some concern about her ability to serve.

-Arizona voters continue to support last year's sweeping immigration legislation, Senate Bill 1070, by a 57/35 margin. Republicans are pretty unanimous in their continued favor for the bill and independents (62/31) and even 30% of Democrats are happy with it as well.

Despite SB 1070's popularity voters are also happy that State Senate President Russell Pearce, one of its key proponents, was recalled from office two weeks ago. 47% of voters were happy with the outcome of the recall election with 28% displeased and 25% having no opinion one way or the other. The disparity between public opinion about 1070 and Pearce himself suggests that Pearce's style may have hurt him with voters more than some of his actual positions.

-John McCain continues to be the most unpopular Senator in the country out of 87 current ones that PPP has polled on, at 34/55. His problem is that Republicans are pretty unenthusiastic about him with only 50% approving to 38% who disapprove.

I thought brides were supposed to want a dress that didn't look like anyone else's, but then again, who doesn't dream of being just like Bella Swan?

An official replica of the Carolina Herrera-designed wedding dress that Kristen Stewart wears in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" hit stores on Tuesday. It was designed by bridal retailer Alfred Angelo and sells for $799.

The liquid satin sheath has long, lace-trimmed sleeves and a dramatic plunging cut-out illusion back detailed with a Chantilly-inspired lace applique, fabric-covered buttons and a chapel train. It's available in Alfred Angelo stores nationwide in sizes 0-30W.

If you're not quite ready to go all the way with your sparkly-skinned beau, Alfred Angelo has a line of Twilight inspired prom dresses as well. Each comes with a free ticket to watch the work of past feminists crumble to the ground.

[CBS News]

I've said this before, but The Great Cover Up is absolutely one of my favorite events on the Tucson calendar (and I'm not just saying that because [FULL DISCLOSURE] I know nearly everyone involved in organizing it). The money goes to a great cause (the Tucson Artists and Musicians Healthcare Alliance) and this year, the event is going to bigger than ever, not just sprawling over three nights, but also now including performances Saturday during the day and probably some sort of food truck event. It'll just be a lot of fun and one of those weekends where you realize why you live here after all.

While another year is going by without someone taking on the Happy Mondays catalog, I'm going to preview this year's Cover Up in the least helpful manner possible: by looking at the list of bands being covered and then telling local bands which songs they should be covering.

First up, Wings. I agree with Alan Partridge that Paul and Linda McCartney's 70's rock exercise was "the band the Beatles could have been", so here are five songs I hope to hear December 15-17.

Brian Taraz is a local actor, parent and musician with a penchant for what he calls scripture rock inspired by all faiths. He's also a great storyteller you can catch once in a while as part of Odyssey Storytelling. Taraz, unemployed (if you need some tile laid give him a call) was inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement and wished he could be more involved, hard to do when you're helping to raise two kids and look for work. He started the blog Occupy God, a shot of spirituality (his style) he thought the movement could use a bit more of.

The blog quickly focused on a series of videos he recently completed. However, before you freakout because of the word "god", don't rush to judgement. Sure, it may be one of his favorite topics, but he presents his case in a way you've never seen before that's part performance art, spiritual rant and philosophical debate.

When Brian asked what I thought of the final seven videos of his series, I admitted I had become a bit obsessed and was surprised someone like me, whom he'd probably describe as an atheist with a little "believer," could get sucked in. I think it's because his videos remind me of those coffee-infused nights with the college roommates smoking cigarettes and covering almost every topic our twenty-something hearts once cared about — belief, philosophy, love, heartache, music and dreams. Besides the coffee jitters, those nights weren't too bad, were they? So, grab some coffee, and be warned, by the end you'll likely crave a cigarette.