Get Cynical

From CBS4.com:

WASHINGTON (AP) ― The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 5.5 percent in May – the biggest monthly rise since 1986 – as nervous employers cut 49,000 jobs.

The latest snapshot of business conditions showed a deeply troubled economy, with dwindling job opportunities in a time of continuing hardship in the housing, credit and financial sectors.

“It was ugly,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus Research.

With employers worried about a sharp slowdown and their own prospects, they clamped down on hiring in May, said Friday’s report from the Labor Department. The unemployment rate soared from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May. That was the biggest one-month jump in the rate since February 1986. The increase left the jobless rate at its highest since October 2004.

A fascinating interactive graphic from the NY Times showing how different states and groups lined up during the Clinton/Obama race.

(via Monkeyfilter)

Careful. It looks like a seven iron but it’s really a toilet.

This may sound like a joke, but it’s not. I am a Board Certified Urologist, practicing in Florida, a place where Golf is played year round. Every day I hear these same complaints from my patients because they suffer from urinary frequency (a condition that can begin in men, as early as their mid 30’s). Even if you don’t have this problem, let’s face it, there are not too many bathrooms on the golf course.

These are the very patients that inspired me to create the UroClubâ„¢. A camouflaged portable urinal, designed to be discrete, sanitary and create an air of privacy! It looks like an ordinary golf club and comes equipped with a unique removable golf towel clipped to the shaft that functions as a privacy shield!

(via Gizmodo)

From Vanity Fair:

Curious to see what labels were name-dropped in the movie, VF Daily sent two reporters to a screening of SATC: TM to count the number of times the promotional products were seen on the screen, along with other brands that were blatantly mentioned. Here’s the unscientific breakdown of the many, many goods in Carrie Bradshaw’s fantastical world.

(via Waxy)

Despite home foreclosures going through the roof (note, roof now owned by bank), our Preznut has decided to rub salt in the wounds of those with mortgage problems by declaring June to be National Homeownership Month.

National Homeownership Month, 2008
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

For many Americans, owning a home represents freedom, independence, and the American dream. During National Homeownership Month, we highlight the benefits of owning a home and encourage our fellow citizens to be responsible homeowners.

My Administration is committed to helping Americans achieve their dreams of homeownership. We have worked to ensure that the mortgage industry is more transparent, reliable, and fair, and in order to sustain homeownership, we have launched initiatives to help responsible homeowners keep their homes. The FHASecure program has given the Federal Housing Administration more flexibility in refinancing mortgages for homeowners who have good credit histories but cannot afford their current payments. In addition, the HOPE NOW Alliance connects struggling homeowners with lenders, loan servicers, and mortgage counselors to help families stay in their homes. Homeowners deserve our help, and these initiatives assist those in need.

(via Shakesville)

From Dezeen.com:

The design calls for an exciting new cultural centre in the new Seven Pearls district of Dubai. This landmark development will accommodate an opera house, playhouse, arts gallery, performing arts school and themed hotel on an island in Dubai Creek just off the mainland part of the district. All of these facilities will be state of the art to host world class performances and exhibitions. The opera house will have a seating capacity of 2,500 while the playhouse will have a seating capacity of 800.

The arts gallery with 5000m2 of exhibition space is indeed a full size exhibition facility comparable to the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The hotel will accommodate guests in a 6 star setting. Sited on an island in Dubai Creek, the development will be connected to Greater Dubai by a road connection to the mainland.

(via Gizmodo)

Wired has a gallery of Drive-In Theater shots to celebrate the Drive-In’s 75th birthday.

(via Boing Boing)

From The Guardian:

Clint Eastwood has advised rival film director Spike Lee to “shut his face” after the African-American complained about the racial make-up of Eastwood’s films.

In an interview with the Guardian published today, Eastwood rejected Lee’s complaint that he had failed to include a single African-American soldier in his films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, both about the 1945 battle for the Japanese island.

In typically outspoken language, Eastwood justified his choice of actors, saying that those black troops who did take part in the battle as part of a munitions company didn’t raise the flag. The battle is known by the image of US marines raising the American flag on Mount Suribachi.

“The story is Flags of Our Fathers, the famous flag-raising picture, and they didn’t do that. If I go ahead and put an African-American actor in there, people’d go: ‘This guy’s lost his mind.’ I mean, it’s not accurate.” Referring to Lee, he added: “A guy like him should shut his face.”

From Cineleet:

For whatever reason, be it a deep-seated desire to act, a lack of a casting budget, or just “if you want something done right, do it yourself”, many directors at some point in their careers have stepped out from behind the camera to act. This is typically in a smaller, cameo role, and often with varying degrees of success: sometimes they’re completely natural and sometimes they bring the film to a screeching halt. And sometimes you’d never even know they were there.

The criteria for the examples below is that for the most part, acting is not their first career, so you won’t see Warren Beatty, Clint Eastwood, or Rob Reiner on this list. So, in no particular order, here we go…

This list inexplicably leaves Spike Lee off the list whose cameos are so bad they would have ruined any film that hadn’t already ruined by his hack directing abilities.