Can’t decide whether to ride my bike to this morning’s meeting. Sun is out, skies are clear after a bangin’ thunderstorm last night, but the temperature’s going right back to 90 again today. Which means I’ll arrive a sweaty mess, but? It’s summer, and it already feels too short. I’m going.
Maybe I’ll swing by Grosse Pointe South High School on my way home, see if any movie trucks are there. They’re shooting something called “LOL” with Demi Moore and Miley Cyrus. “Scream 4” is shooting nights somewhere in the Farms, at some rich person’s giant house. And there have been Hugh Jackman sightings here and there; he’s making “Real Steel” in the neighborhood, as well.
“Real Steel” with Hugh Jackman — it only sounds like a porno movie. It’s sci-fi, something about robots. The dirty version will star Jack Hugeman. It’s one crazy Hollywood summer here for sure.
Since I have to leave early, a boring vacation slide show. I finally got around to uploading our Montreal pictures.
This is the Basilique Notre Dame de Montreal. We enforced a rule that no one was permitted to call it “the church where Celine Dion got married.” You are similarly forbidden:
One afternoon drenching rains drove us into the contemporary art museum. They were hosting some sort of avant-garde film exhibit, empty room after empty room showing stupid film loops. I was far more interested in the atmospherics of the dark rooms than anything else. Kate contemplates Art:
A bike ride out to the islands took us past Habitat 67. If Stalin had a sense of humor, this is the sort of concrete housing he’d have built in the Soviet Union:
The Jazz festival was just getting under way when we were there. There are guidebooks:
“Pour les nuls.” Doesn’t “dummy” cross all languages? I guess not.
Some bloggage for the table? Sure:
Has the leak really stopped? I’m skeptical. Extremely.
Is Mark Williams for real? This guy is taken seriously? Are you kidding me?
Kwame Kilpatrick finally cops a feel on the woman he’s supposed to be touching — and gets written up for it.
Time to slurp coffee and run out the door. Have a great weekend, all.
baldheadeddork said on July 16, 2010 at 9:17 am
An overlooked gem of a montage from The Wire (with bonus Prezboluski cursing in Italian…)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-l65IpcG9E
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coozledad said on July 16, 2010 at 9:42 am
That church is at least 85% Liberace on mescaline. Looks like a walk-in auto air freshener.
I’m not familiar with Mark Williams, but I suspect he’s either a latrine troller, or a diaper filler. At any rate, that’s a pretty transparent (head)case of self-loathing.
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judybusy said on July 16, 2010 at 9:43 am
My partner and I got married in Montreal and visited the cathedral. Later, our friend cut and pasted a pic from the ceremony into one @ the cathedral–very funny!
In other news, we have finally adopted a dog after wishing for one for many years. Time and circmstances were finally right. She’s Cora, and a mix of shiba inu and Australian cattle dog.
She has the shiba inu curly tail and the shortish legs of the cattle dog. She’s four, and has had some training, so perfect for us newbies! She also can get up stairs and I am confident could get out from under a blanket! She has not yet licked the floor in a random, compulsive manner. I will stop now because I could go on for pages!
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Dorothy said on July 16, 2010 at 9:53 am
I found this article this morning and it made me think of our discussion earlier this week about The Godfather: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10197/1073040-60.stm
A bonus feature of that article – Richard Rauh came to see his friend Claire Frailey in “Steel Magnolias” at W&J College about 12 years ago. I was in the play, too. He told Claire he really loved what I did with the part of Truvy. I didn’t know it then, but found out later that he had an impressive theatre background himself: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/s_376561.html
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Deborah said on July 16, 2010 at 10:13 am
They’re shooting a movie a couple of blocks from me, on Michigan Ave, from Ontario to Wacker, the street will be closed all weekend. The movie is Transformers 3. There are overturned cars and explosions all up and down the Ave. I’ll probably never see the movie.
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beb said on July 16, 2010 at 10:20 am
Has the leak really stopped? — I’m skeptical myself. But the real fear is that with all this pressure bottled up the oil might blow out the drill casing below the Blow-Out Preventer and then all hell will break loose.
Is Mark Williams for real? Tghe thing to keep in mind is that nothing any conservative has ever said has ever been called out on. Theirs is a never-ending free pass on The Crazy.
Groping your wife’s breast in public is not just a violation of prison rules but the act of a really classless person. If Kwane is supposed to be trying to keep on Carlita’s good side — is this the way to do it?
*Three* movies are currently filming in the Pointes! Wow. I guess that Michigan film making deal is working. But like all tax abatements, write-off and credits I’ve got to wonder if in the end this brings in more money that the pay-outs cost. I think of all those factories built with 20 year tax abatements and come thwe 21st year, the factory closes.
Demi Moore and Miley Cyrus together in one mvie. Thart’s like having two of the three ages of Eve. I wonder who plays the Mother?
My laptop at home is so old that the battery is long since kaput. So when the storm Nancy mentioned blew in, lightning struck the power-lines twice knocking out the juice for a tenth of a second. Just long enough to crash the laptop. When that happened the second time I decided maybe it was time to do the dishes instead.
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alex said on July 16, 2010 at 10:42 am
This morning flipped through the channels and landed on FOX, where the attacks on the NAACP are every bit as distasteful as anything said or written by Mark Williams and the issue is presented in an entirely false light. The head of the NAACP was a fool to agree to appear on a show there where he was ridiculed and shouted down. The teaser before this so-called “interview” was a perky chick with big boobs in a top that would get her thrown off most public beaches announcing a “fair and balanced debate” was about to take place.
I have little or no time for television anymore, so this was like a big revelation to me. Bias is hardly a strong enough word for what they’re doing there. I wouldn’t even trust FOX for a weather forecast.
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Sue said on July 16, 2010 at 11:00 am
Deborah, they were in Milwaukee earlier this week. I understand they wanted to incorporate the Calatrava wing of the Milwaukee Art Museum into the movie, because it’s super cool.
http://www.mam.org/info/details/quadracci.php
Alex – forget Fox, what the hell’s been going on at CNN the past year or so? I can’t figure out what they’re trying to do over there. I’ve pretty much stopped watching it.
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Jolene said on July 16, 2010 at 11:02 am
Wow! The Feds have arrested 94 people in five cities for Medicare fraud.
Am glad to see that they are going after this, but the article suggests that, big as this bust is, it’s a small portion of the fraud being committed.
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ROgirl said on July 16, 2010 at 11:08 am
For those who don’t let the facts get in the way of their opinions, this article sheds some light on the phenomenon.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2010/07/11/how_facts_backfire/
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 11:17 am
Jack Hugeman? Oh, a pun. Partially clever, Nancy.
Even a blind squirrel finds nutmegs sometimes. At least nobody can blame this on Lamestream. It’s Rupert’s organ, shriveled and repulsive, the WSJ.
I never heard of this band, but if they can get Bryan Ferry to sing, they must have decent intentions.
If 94 people were arrested for Medicare fraud, that’s about ten times the number of people arrested for those Republican shibboleths, welfare and voting fraud, in the past thirty or forty years.
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moe99 said on July 16, 2010 at 11:27 am
Teresa Nielsen Hayden figured out the basis of the writing quiz:
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/012497.html#012497
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Jeff Borden said on July 16, 2010 at 12:03 pm
The facade that Fox News is “fair and balanced” has been completely washed away over the past couple of years. It was never an honest operation –how could anything created by the loathesome Roger Ailes– but the bias is now being openly acknowledged by the conservatives it benefits.
The teabagging loon who won the Republican primary in Nevada was asked by a sympathetic, conservative-leaning radio host in the Silver State why she was avoiding all media outlets except for Fox. Sharron Angle replied that Fox was the only channel where she was allowed to ask viewers to send in money to her campaign. At least she is honest.
As much as conservatives talk about how they hate Europe, Rupert Murdoch has succeeded in remaking a significant portion of American media reflective of a certain political view, not on the editorial pages or commentary segments, but throughout every aspect of the product. This is very similar to the newspapers in Europe, where coverage is tweaked and twisted to fit the prevailing editorial ethic of the publication. You can read about the same event in four British papers and think you are reading about four separate occurrences, which we noticed when we were in London as the United States sent troops into Somalia.
And CNN? Pathetic. What a fall. The desperation of being pummeled by its competitor has led it to emulate some of Fox’s worst traits. So, you wind up with a creep like Erick Erickson, proprietor of Red State and the man who called retired Supreme Court justice David Souter a “goat-fucking child molester,” as a contributor.
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LAMary said on July 16, 2010 at 12:49 pm
“The facade that Fox News is “fair and balanced” has been completely washed away over the past couple of years…”
Couple of years? How about twenty?
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Deborah said on July 16, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Sue, I agree, “forget Fox” and I also never watch CNN anymore, something weird is happening there. Although I do check CNN’s website from time to time. All I ever watch if anything is Rachel on MSNBC. I can barely stand Olbermann these days.
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Sue said on July 16, 2010 at 1:02 pm
Case in point:
http://www.salon.com/news/tea_parties/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/07/16/mark_williams_cnn
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Jeff Borden said on July 16, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Well, I’m not arguing that Fox was ever legitimate. What I’m saying is that they have dropped all pretense of being fair. The sponsorship of those dumb tea party rallies last year –often featuring Fox News personalities– was the tipping point. It’s only gotten worse.
We are moving fast toward a time when politicians will not have to answer to any kind of independent inquiry. SheWho has been in the forefront of this effort. Ignore all but the house organ a.k.a. Fox and rally your troops with Twitter and Facebook pronouncements that can never be questioned. Rand Paul and Sharron Angle are embracing this strategy. Even an ostensibly “sensible” Republican like Mark Kirk, who is running for the Senate in Illinois, is choosing to hide from the media.
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brian stouder said on July 16, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Fox News? On such a beautiful day? Blecchh!!
Here’s a palate cleanser of a story for you:
My Olds Eighty Eight, a ’98 Eighty Eight, oddly enough, is in the shop for repairs, and was supposed to be back in my possession today.
A few weeks ago, I noticed it wasn’t starting on the first turn of the key, and sometimes not on the second. Then Pam noticed that she was always smelling gasoline (and I pooh-poohed that notion, and said she was out of her mind, but we digress).
Then, a few days ago, I was backing out of the driveway after lunch, and noticed the (expected) puddle where the water from the air conditioner had accumulated, and a second wet spot, well behind that. I stopped the car and found that the second wet spot was gasoline. Looking underneath, I could see one corner of the gas tank was literally dripping wet, and within inches of the hot exhaust pipe, and I thought “hmmmmm. What could possibly come of THIS?”* – and we made the appointment)
The car went in on Tuesday; Pam made the initial arrangements with the manager of the place, after we had dropped off the car and they checked it out, and was told it would be done Wednesday. They quoted her a price (just north of $500) which made Pam hesitate, and she exited that call, so as to call ME, and have ME give the fellow the go-ahead to do the repair.
At that moment, I realized that THIS was an idiot trap; once I make that call, then everything that follows is upon me; but, being an idiot for all these years, I unhesitatingly called the fellow back and said “Let’s do it” – and then I made the ultimately stupid mistake of telling the fellow we’d pick it up on Friday (the better to pay for the thing).
This morning at 7:30, Pam and I merrily rolled into the shop, and were ready to pick up the car which they told Pam would be done by Wednesday – and the owner of the place promptly told us that the car MIGHT be done by 11:00am this morning (Friday). Pam immediately grimaced, and the owner explained that “he” (pointing at me) said we wouldn’t need it ’till Friday, so he pushed it off (the better to do other work in the meanwhile). This caused Pam to glare at me, and then loudly inhale, the better to begin to state her objections to this turn of events –
Whereupon the owner of the place addressed Pam again, in a surprisingly clear tone of condescension, and he used the word “dear” (something like “Now, dear, please understand, I have been in this business for 25 years, and blah blah blah blah”) with her!!
This caused me to audibly chuckle, as I knew what was coming next…and as it turned out, chuckling at that juncture was unwise of me.
And now?
This story hasn’t got an ending, yet.
(writing style I was aiming for: Nancy Nall, of course!)
*Why, an explosion and fireball, of course – which is just what it did cause, although in the more intimate, non-violent sense
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm
I’ve actually slept, eaten, imbibed excessively and engaged in sex in one of those Habitat 67 apartments, and they’re comfortable and pretty cool. Beats Brewster all to hell.
Actual facts. This business about Obama and sinking polls is tremendously misleading. 25-30% of the disapprovers are the Naderite, navel-gazing solipsists that insist on Progressivism because being an old-fashioned hardcore Liberal is just too pre-Lakoff. These dumbasses insist that their uninformed idea of perfect should always trump good. Exceptionally stupid, and pretty much the exact opposite of Progressive.
Holy crapthis woman is certifiable. This combination of delusional personality with abject stupidity is probably pretty rare. How do people that vote for her rationalize her behavior? And why in the world shouldn’t they be excluded from voting on the basis of voting for Bachman?
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MarkH said on July 16, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Jeff Borden @16:
I will wholeheartedly agree with you as long as you include President Obama in the crowd:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20005414-503544.html
Also, Jeff, here’s what you missed 4th of July:
http://www.planetjh.com/news/A_106329.aspx
It’s a little scary.
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Jeff Borden said on July 16, 2010 at 2:28 pm
There are many looney tunes in our Congress, but Michele Bachmann may well be the looniest. That said, if she delivers a high-level of constituent services, she can continue to win elections.
The four years I lived in North Carolina did not coincide with the senatorial elections, so I was never able to cast a vote against Jesse Helms, R-Cracker. But while he was one of the vilest Republicans in history, he had a crackerjack staff in N.C. that delivered the goods for people. I imagine there were some folks who might’ve been appalled by his race-baiting, but still cast a vote for him because he took care of their issues.
It may be the same for Bachmann.
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Jeff Borden said on July 16, 2010 at 2:32 pm
MarkH,
I absolutely include Barack Obama among the politicians who are avoiding the press. At the moment, the most egregious practitioners of this strategy are on the right, but the left is learning the same lesson.
It’s too bad our nation doesn’t have the tradition the British embrace, where the prime minister and other high-level politicians must stand and answer questions from opponents. I recall footage of Tony Blair undergoing intense interrogation in one of the Houses and he was drenched with sweat by the time it was over. No ducking or hiding behind consultants or commercials or policy papers. The politician stands and must deliver.
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Dorothy said on July 16, 2010 at 2:38 pm
brian your Pam and I are twins separated at birth! Please do tell what she said when she ripped into the condescending s.o.b. Paraphrase if you must. I hope he’s learned his lesson!
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Linda said on July 16, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Jeff Borden@21 :
And you know what’s the ironic thing about that? The constituents who were being so well served by Helm’s staff loved him because…he was crackerjack at making sure the govt. didn’t do anything for anybody else.
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Julie Robinson said on July 16, 2010 at 3:57 pm
There have been studies that prove that women are treated worse and overcharged more by auto repair shops. That said, my DH has such a kind and honest face and demeanor that I’m pretty sure he gets overcharged more than me.
It’s too darn hot to think about anything but getting cool.
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mark said on July 16, 2010 at 5:08 pm
Sorry Jeff B, Sheila Jackson Lee sets a pretty high bar for congressional absurdity. http://www2.nationalreview.com/video/video_homie_071610_C.html
Or perhaps she is correct and I’m stubbornly clinging to my previously digested false information about the Fall of Saigon.
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brian stouder said on July 16, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Dorothy, Pam went into ‘cool’ mode, with her authoritative, I’m-no-fool voice – and I stopped chuckling (but I still was smirking, I fear), knowing what that signal portended; and she very calmly and deliberately explained her perspective on the matter – they had told her that the car would be ready Wednesday; whereupon the manager fellow persisted with the “dear” schtick. Pam very (very) specifically and unalterably expressed her rejection of his perspective, probably three times.
No exaggeration – I think the guy used the term “dear” with her 6 times, so that I was all done smiling, as I realized that the fury that he had unleashed would ultimately have to be dealt with by me, sort of like a gulf coast shrimper with regard to BP/Haliburton (et al)
Finally, Pam decided (I think) that it was futile to waste any more time on him, and so we turned and left, and then in the post-game discussion, I shouldered much of the blame, while attempting to divert or capture her high-pressure reaction to the situation. I told her that I don’t think I’ve ever called her “dear” that many times in that short a period, which got a laugh from her, but then it was back to the post-game analysis.
Cutting to the chase, I now have the car back (Ta Da!!!), and Pam is much more relaxed than she was at lunch time. The guy at the repair place didn’t look young, but I’m guessing he has no wife (or he has an ex or two)
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coozledad said on July 16, 2010 at 5:55 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve been to church. I remember a few choirs where the singing could be described as microtonal, but this is almost Harry Partch. http://www.durbanbud.com/blog/archives/2010/06/intrepretive-wo.html
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paddyo' said on July 16, 2010 at 6:01 pm
Prospero @18: Re: Habitat 67 . . . in that order?
BTW, one last “I write like . . . ” test, since they’re playing with it right now on NPR’s “All Things Considered.” (BTW, Robert Siegel writes like — all together now — David Foster Wallace.) I plugged in the first few chapters of Genesis from the King James version of the Bible, and . . .
I KNEW IT!
It’s science fiction, people:
The unnamed author writes . . . like . . .
Arthur C. Clarke!
Re: Fox and other cable-TV “news” . . .
I have had, since permanently dividing a household and moving about four years ago, the rock-bottom-basic-cable “package” from Comcast — the $16-a-month version withOUT cable news channels, or The Weather Channel, ESPNs 1 or 2, or most of the other non-premium cable entertainment channels (TBS, Spike, FX, etc.). Oddly, I still got AMC and TNT, but Comcast must’ve been slow on the uptake about “MM” and “BB,” as well as “The Office” and “Family Guy” reruns.
Anyway, about a year and a half ago, I was flipping through my channels when suddenly I noticed that I had begun receiving again, without explanation or additional charge, most of the full array of non-premium channels — MSNBC being an odd omission/exception, but still . . . most everything in the two-digit channel spectrum except for the HBOs and Starzes and Showtimes and such.
Well, Comcast giveth, and Comcast taketh away. The conspiracy theorist in me thinks they tried to hook me on all this so that, under the guise of “upgrading our digital network,” they could begin taking stuff away 2 or 3 months ago and encourage me with on-screen “crawls” to get the “new” digital equipment I need “to view this channel” . . . (When I phoned in, I discovered it would cost nearly FOUR times what I now pay, just for this standard on-your-hotel-room-TV stuff.)
First to go was AMC, then a mess of entertainment channels (Comedy Central, Golf, TBS, History, SciFi, etc.), and then the news channels.
No surprise, I won’t miss any of the latter. Not CNN or The Channel Formerly Known As CNN Headline News (best ever “your world in 30 minutes” in its heyday, but now a NAYY-yunnceee GrrrRAIaayyyce schlockfest), and especially not Fux.
The last to go, last week: The ESPNs and another sports channel or two.
So, I’ll miss some of it, but hey, for $18.89 a month including tax, I’ll survive.
Plus, my girlfriend has the important stuff (HBO, AMC) AND DVR . . .
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Jolene said on July 16, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Ta-Nehisi Coates has been writing thoughtful pieces about the Tea Party vs. the NAACP flap. An excerpt from his conclusion:
Scroll down for earlier, very thoughtful, comments. As I’ve said here before, Coates is one helluva thinker and writer.
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MarkH said on July 16, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Jeff B. @21 —
Not buying that, Jeff. By virtue of the fact that he is president and got there on campaign promise, after campaign promise of transparancy on which he is refusing to deliver, Obama is the most egregious practitioner of press scrutiny avoidance. Otherwise you’re right; it is too widespread across the political spectrum.
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Paddyo, probably had a few brewskis and got high first.
Why parties matter when you vote. Republicans represent almost nobody, and they’re willing to just make shit up in defense of obscenely rich people that don’t recognize the social compact that the Constitution and being an American is supposed to bind us to each other.
Transparency? We know what the government is doing now, and we sure didn’t back in the days of Rove and three years of 5mil disappeared White House emails. You don’t have to go back very far in time to find less transparency. Tell me who attended Dickless Cheney’s energy luncheon before you criticize the current administration. And the Supreme Court aided and abetted the bastards it appointed (Dickless appointed himself) sans voting, while just calling balls and strikes.
What press scrutiny actually exists? Kerry was a decorated war hero and W was unquestionably a draft dodging cokehead, and Wapo and the NYT made people believe that SwiftBoat was legitimate and Dan Rather slandered the pointy-headed little dickwad.
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coozledad said on July 16, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Another reason to like Thom Yorke. It’s a little bit of an awkward fit with a choir, but I can see why folks are going for it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evG2DDmSdxM
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LAMary said on July 16, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Brian, about twenty years ago I went car shopping with the then spouse. It was my car we were shopping for with my money, paying cash. My previous car was totaled and I had a fat insurance check from the guy who hit me. At two dealerships the salesmen listened to what I was looking for, what options etc, and then they replied to my husband. It was like I wasn’t there. I didn’t buy a car from them. I told both of them that clearly they wanted to sell a car to the spouse and as far as I knew he wasn’t buying one, so ciao for now.
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Cooz, the best reason to like Thom Yorke is that he wrote There, There.
Just because you feel it doesn’t mean it’s there. Remarkable, haunting song. Thankfully, not everybody can be Coldplay.
Kinks were likely better than Beatles, Peter Green Fleetwood Mac put the Lindsay Buckingham version in the ground, Graham Parker and Joe Jackson were just as good (though not as prolific) as Elvis. People get these things wrong all the time. How many people even know about Yo La Tengo? Georgia Hubley is either the best or the second-best girl drummer ever. There is always Mo Tucker.
And Raymond Douglas Davies made an album with a choir, and it’s very affecting. I still think he’s better with
Dave.
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basset said on July 16, 2010 at 8:00 pm
While you all were trying to out-clever each other, Hank Cochran died… I suppose his assembled work (pardon me, his… oeuvre), was not sufficiently refined to be worthy of criticism, but those of us down on the blue-collar end of the scale know it and love it. You could Google him.
Cars… Mrs. B. has totaled two Volvos, nothing more to say after that.
I heard that “worthy of criticism” line in another context awhile back, don’t even remember where but it still p***ses me off. somebody’s out there giving it their best effort and some froggie in a beret decides it’s not even fit to hold his attention… maybe if I could make up some BS about auteurship it might get a few more hits.
anyway, Hank Cochran’s songs speak to me. you don’t see why, your loss.
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MarkH said on July 16, 2010 at 8:10 pm
Not buying that from you, either, prospero. What’s past is past, good or bad, and I don’t disagree with your words on the past administration. But, again, Obama was going to cure those ills. Why grade him on a curve? I would suggest that we don’t indeed know everything the government is doing now in the way we should. We all just like the party in charge better than the last one.
LAMary, as a reformed car retailer, I feel that pain. I started in the buiness just about the time all that condescension to females started to wane. Believe it or not, up until the early ’80s, it was required by some lenders to have a husband sign on the note for a car a woman wanted to buy. Some dealers would not even talk to single women alone. I always practiced the number one rule of sales no matter who the customer was, no matter what I was selling: Find out what the customers want and get it for them. Once car sales people found out how powerful the female customer base was, they started to come around. However, neanderthals do flourish to this day in the car biz, unfortunately.
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Hank Cochran didn’t just write country music, he was connected at the hip with his “brother” Eddie.
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Mark, I really think it’s a good thing to have an intelligent President instead of a nitwit. Republicans hanging the deficit on Obama is just spectacular mendacity. Bush ran the wars off the invasions and occupations off the books. And Bush tax cuts benefitted the richest 1.3% of Americans. And tax cuts don’t need to be accounted or paid for. They increase revenue. Yeah, right. Even David Stockman says trickle down and the Laffer Curve are ludicrous.
This is a transparent government to anybody with a functioning brain beyond the stem and a computer, dealing with the fact that the partisan greedy aholes that caused all the current problems did it in secret, and pretty much on purpose.
The PNAC-installed a government and they invaded, occupied, tortured, enabled, kissed big corporation’s asses for profit, and subverted the Constitution for years, without being held fiscally, morally, or Constitutionally responsible by anybody. They redistributed wealth upward at an obscene rate. And they don’t think voters should know about their plans to go back to business as usual.
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coozledad said on July 16, 2010 at 9:57 pm
Prospero:And don’t forget the bootlicking Bush got from the likes of Cokie Roberts and David Gergen. Bush got a free ride from the opinion press until they figured more astute people would notice they’d been complicit in the coup de dumbfuck.
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basset said on July 16, 2010 at 11:03 pm
≥≥Hank Cochran didn’t just write country music, he was connected at the hip with his “brother” Eddie.
As I said, while you all were trying to out-clever each other… Prospero, can you name one Hank Cochran song without a search? Can anyone here, excepting Coozledad? Didn’t think so.
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prospero said on July 16, 2010 at 11:27 pm
I think Hank Cochran wrote I Fall to Pieces, great song, but that was definitely a case of the singer not the song. Make the World Go Away? Maudlin crap. I could be wrong about these, but I think I’m right, and I sure didn’t look anything up. For some reason, I actually just know useless things like this.
For a fact, the only reason I know anything about Hank Cochran in the first place is that I think Eddie Cochran was a genius nearly in the realm of Gene Vincent. And I’ve got a vinyl copy of the Monument Sessions album. Not even trying to be clever, but, you know, when you assume.
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coozledad said on July 17, 2010 at 8:34 am
Basset: I have to confess total ignorance of Hank, except for his Patsy Cline numbers. I didn’t even know they buried Carl Smith this year!
There was a huge, copiously tattooed biker guy in our band we were always trying to get out front to sing a couple of tearful songs (I fall to pieces, There goes My Everything), and maybe some Leslie Gore. But it was veering dangerously close to pissing him off, so we stopped.
He was probably right: I don’t think humor had a place in our act.
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Dexter said on July 17, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Clear your calendars, nallites . Grab your Earth Shoes. Slather on the SPF max, buy a new water bottle. It’s almost time.
http://www.artfair.org/
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Deborah said on July 18, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Another Sunday morning sighting: we went to the Contemporary Art Museum a couple of blocks from our place with my husbands daughter and grand-daughter who’ve been visiting us, my husband’s daughter spotted Stedman, Oprah’s beau (former?). I realized that I’ve seen him a million times around the neighborhood but never knew who he was.
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Dexter said on July 18, 2010 at 12:17 pm
deborah: did he look like this?
oops, this is steAdman, sorry!
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LAMary said on July 18, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Deborah, Stedman isn’t Oprah’s ex beau. He’s her long time beard.
Then there’s Gayle.
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Deborah said on July 18, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Good one Dexter, I love the illustrations of Ralph Steadman. And LA Mary, I had heard those rumors, who knows if they’re true. There are so many rumors about Oprah floating around.
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Dexter said on July 18, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Deborah: My favorite Steadman illustrations are in “The Curse of Lono”, one of Dr. Thompson’s coffee table sized books.
A local artist is peddling his art, paintings . They are just a rip-off of my fave pop-artist Peter Max. Art plagiarism is more technical than blatant plagiarism of the written word. Nobody around here ( my small city) will say anything, I am sure, but it grates me all the same.
http://datenshikurai.deviantart.com/journal/21493555/
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Dexter said on July 18, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Pure Michigan Bayview Macinac Race is on
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A. Riley said on July 19, 2010 at 12:37 am
Years ago I had a little old beater Toyota, and the Aamco shop wanted me to spend 800 dollars to replace the auto trans. Har. The car wasn’t worth that much, but they wouldn’t hear it from me. So I got one of the men I worked with to impersonate my father on the phone and tell them so. That’s all it took. They topped it off with trans fluid and I drove it home. About halfway home it quit shifting into third, then second — so I crawled home in low and parked it for the winter. It was a neighbor who discovered what the bastards had done — they’d simply overfilled it with trans fluid. He drained some off and I drove that car for another year.
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Dexter said on July 19, 2010 at 2:34 am
A. Riley, that must have been the standard charge. Aamco charged me exactly $800 for a transmission for my 1981 Chevy Citation. This was an Aamco in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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Fadi said on August 11, 2010 at 4:47 pm
I GO TO GROSSE POINTE SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL IN GROSSE POINTE MICHIGAN. I CANT EVEN BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE FILMING ON MY SCHOOL!!!
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