Is it just us, or are Flight of the Conchords actor Rhys Darby and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd actually the same person?

It’s a sad week already. First Tom Snyder passed away. Now, Ingmar Bergman has died. Rest in peace Ingmar and Tom. A big hat tip to Gawker for posting this video that features Tom interviewing Elton John, Ali, Charles Manson and many more:

We’ve been enjoying Cracked.com‘s newish website. Today they pointed us in the direction of some of the web’s strangest online communities. Here’s our *favorite,* from boytaur.net (NSFW)

There’s something wildly, almost primally, attractive about a guy with four legs: the crowding of long, sculpted thigh muscle, the four calf muscles bobbing and working in rhythm with his four-legged walk, the four strong male feet supporting his powerful boytaur body. Boytaurs know this attraction well, and it is our constant joy, both to have and to share.

Related: The 8 Strangest Communities on the Web

Our sister site EvangelicalRight.com has been following the Rapture Ready pastor John Hagee (leader of Christians United for Israel) for some time now. Be sure and check out this MUST SEE VIDEO from Hagee’s annual Christians United for Israel summit. It’s illuminating, but very disturbing.

TV On The Radio are set to play a free show at McCarren Park Pool this Sunday. More information at mccarrenpark.com.
Going.com is giving away VIP passes here.
In other McCarren Park Pool news: Grizzly Bear are now slotted to play with Feist, Wed, Aug 29, 2007 06:00 PM. More info here.

GYMKATA

Thank Greg G.

From the Vulture

For his new clip for the single “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” Kanye West tapped the talents of famed lip-syncher Zach Galifianakis, along with those of noted choreographer Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy), to create what will surely go down in history as the greatest rap video ever to be filmed on a farm in rural North Carolina.

Uh, just go Watch the video. it rules

In case you missed it: [hat tip Lindsayism]

That’s why we’re pointing you in the direction of two patchouli-friendly concert downloads on Aquarium Drunkard. Both of these shows are amazing:
Bob Marley & The Wailers :: Los Angeles, CA – 1976
Ryan Adams :: La Maroquinerie, Paris, France, 2007

illustration: Tim Jessell
Apparently, Dubya and his neocon lunatics are the ONLY people who still think we can win this insane war. From NYTimes

While Washington is mired in political debate over the future of Iraq, the American command here has prepared a detailed plan that foresees a significant American role for the next two years.
The classified plan, which represents the coordinated strategy of the top American commander and the American ambassador, calls for restoring security in local areas, including Baghdad, by the summer of 2008. ‚”Sustainable security” is to be established on a nationwide basis by the summer of 2009, according to American officials familiar with the document.
The detailed document, known as the Joint Campaign Plan, is an elaboration of the new strategy President Bush signaled in January when he decided to send five additional American combat brigades and other units to Iraq. That signaled a shift from the previous strategy, which emphasized transferring to Iraqis the responsibility for safeguarding their security.
That new approach put a premium on protecting the Iraqi population in Baghdad, on the theory that improved security would provide Iraqi political leaders with the breathing space they needed to try political reconciliation.
The latest plan, which covers a two-year period, does not explicitly address troop levels or withdrawal schedules. It anticipates a decline in American forces as the ‚”surge” in troops runs its course later this year or in early 2008. But it nonetheless assumes continued American involvement to train soldiers, act as partners with Iraqi forces and fight terrorist groups in Iraq, American officials said.
The goals in the document appear ambitious, given the immensity of the challenge of dealing with die-hard Sunni insurgents, renegade Shiite militias, Iraqi leaders who have made only fitful progress toward political reconciliation, as well as Iranian and Syrian neighbors who have not hesitated to interfere in Iraq’s affairs. And the White House’s interim assessment of progress, issued n July 12, is mixed.
But at a time when critics at home are defining patience in terms of weeks, the strategy may run into the expectations of many lawmakers for an early end to the American mission here.
The plan, developed by Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American commander, and Ryan C. Crocker, the American ambassador, has been briefed to Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. William J. Fallon, the head of the Central Command. It is expected to be formally issued to officials here this week. [Keep Reading]