I got some new knives for Christmas, and boy, are they sharp. Last night I shaved off about a third of my left index fingernail below the quick while chopping vegetables for a roasted-vegetable pasta. Not as much blood as you’d think, but my finger, even wrapped in two Band-Aids, is as sensitive as…something very very sensitive. And the Band-Aid slows my typing speed by about 30 percent. And I have to be downtown at 10, and we had a significant snowfall overnight. All of which is me making excuses for short shrift today. But you knew that.
The pasta? Why, it was delicious. Oven-roasted squash, onion, garlic, sage and kale, tossed with bowties. I’m enough of a pro in the kitchen that I tracked down the fingernail before I dressed the wound.
The snow? They’re saying we got 3-5 inches, I say 3 tops. But over here on the far eastern side of the state, along the Lake St. Clair banana belt, we rarely get the maximum.
So let’s get to the bloggage, eh?
The right has settled on its terms, and we are calling it “blood libel.” First tossed out by Professor Heh Indeed, amplified by the Wall Street Journal’s headline, now passed down to the proles by Sexy Sadie. Too bad she never talks to the regular press; maybe someone could ask her if she knows what the original blood libel was. As Roy points out, “the Southron is the Jew of liberal fascism.”
Why David Edelstein and I would get along like aces: We agree on the greatest films ever shot in New York City — “Sweet Smell of Success” and “Dog Day Afternoon” among them. I think “The French Connection” belongs in the top tier, too, if only for the chase scene under the elevated train.
An old one from Roger Ebert that one of my FB friends noticed; I hadn’t read it yet, so here you go: Standup rules.
And now I must fly. My finger hurts.
Dorothy said on January 12, 2011 at 9:04 am
I’m enough of a pro in the kitchen that I tracked down the fingernail before I dressed the wound.
I’m going to be smiling about this sentence all morning! Glad you didn’t take away more of the digit.
I’ve mentioned Mike’s cousin’s son before – the one who had testicular cancer that took nasty twists and turns, and now Jeff is a double amputee, three years after the fight began. He finally got to stand in his new legs and here’s a video of him hugging his mom and his wife for the first time, from a standing position, in three years: http://www.youtube.com/facelesscog
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Julie Robinson said on January 12, 2011 at 9:31 am
Dorothy, that’s the best kind of standup. What a sweet moment.
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Connie said on January 12, 2011 at 9:43 am
I slice my fingernails regularly. Then there was the wooden spoon that got pulverized in the blender when making guacamole for a Super Bowl party. Can you say strainer?
You guys make me feel like a bad unsophisticated eater. I love green bean casserole. I love kool whip. Oh well.
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 9:45 am
Every now and then you get to witness a joke playing out in real time. I knew this real moke in high school. When an attractive woman walked by he would rub his crotch and mutter some pretty vile stuff. He got on everyone’s nerves. A carload of us were out partying one night and stopped at a McDonald’s. After he finished his food he rolled down the window and threw his trash in the parking lot.
“Buckley, you’re just a nasty motherfucker.”
“Come on man. They PAY these people to pick that shit up.”
About that time, Sheryl Siler walked out of the McDonald’s.
He yelled something unintelligible out the window. She fled.
Buckley: “Man that chick has tits like bowling balls”
“Brew” Meek:”They got holes in ’em?”
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 9:53 am
Connie, as I’ve said here before I love Cool Whip too, so much that I could eat an entire tub of it all by my lonesome. Not that I ever have, but I could.
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 10:19 am
I’d have to see it again, but at the time it came out, I thought “Liquid Sky” was a pretty good take on the New York/Danceteria scene. From this distance it looks like Murnau.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ7gDdoO8o4&feature=related
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jcburns said on January 12, 2011 at 11:06 am
Advice from someone who chopped his fingertip off at a Lawson’s on 5th avenue in 1976: Keep it elevated. And don’t bleed on the customers’ food.
And don’t let people gift you sharp objects.
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Peter said on January 12, 2011 at 11:06 am
Deborah, I was going to take this secret to the grave, but when I was a lad the morning after a big party I would use leftover Cool Whip on my cereal. Best corn flakes EVAH!!!
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 11:10 am
I’m a food snob in the sense that I fresh ingredients or at least ingredients that are easily identified as food. The ingredients of Cool Whip lean towards the long chain polymer part of the food pyramid.
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adrianne said on January 12, 2011 at 11:17 am
Nance, e-mail me the rough quantities of your roasted veggie pasta dish – sounds delish!
We got about a foot of snow overnight, but since we had lotsa warning, the roads were surprisingly driveable. Meanwhile, my no-account kids are enjoying the SECOND snow day of the season. At least the No. 1 son shoveled off the driveway for his workin’ ma.
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 11:22 am
Oh I know LAMary, it’s totally chemicals, but delicious chemicals. Speaking of which there are certain things that I demand chemicals be in, like deodorant and toothpaste. I’ve tried the organic kind and they don’t do the job.
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Sue said on January 12, 2011 at 11:24 am
Hmmm, Roger Ebert seemed to be giving rules for telling jokes as opposed to doing standup. He seemed to be making that distinction.
I know two brothers who are constant joke tellers and after watching them in action I have come to think that sometimes jokes can be a means of blocking communication. You can’t really talk to someone who steers every conversation to scripted jokes.
I once had to kick one of them out of my office because we were discussing the weather and the term ‘black ice’ was used. He said “Speaking of black…” and you can guess where he started to go.
As for the New York movie thing, I freely admit I know nothing about it, but the Ricky Gervais movie “Ghost Town” showed a truly beautiful New York through things like ice on statues and leaves changing.
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Sammy said on January 12, 2011 at 11:27 am
Sorry about the sharp-knife incident, Nance. I’ll skip my lemon-halving story—scariest because I had no insurance and no money, and I knew I probably should have had a stitch or two. Elevation and compression did the trick, but the alignment…eh, I’ll skip that. The ice is melting in the sunshine here in ATL….
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nancy said on January 12, 2011 at 11:29 am
The fateful roasted-vegetable pasta recipe. It’s from the Splendid Table.
I should add my notes: I omit the cream, lower the oven to 400, and don’t add the greens until the last 10 minutes, so they don’t burn to a crisp.
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ROgirl said on January 12, 2011 at 11:38 am
Yeah, right. $P knew what blood libel was before her staff showed her the copy?
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 11:45 am
That looks like a good recipe, but I have to admit I find Lynn Rosetto Kasper really annoying on the radio. I think it’s her laugh.
We’re having butternut squash ravioli with sage butter tonight. Must be the cool weather that brings on the winter squash craving.
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nancy said on January 12, 2011 at 11:49 am
Ditto on the LRK annoyance, Mary. She and Susan Stamberg are my two least-favorite NPR voices, especially Stamberg. It’s the smug self-satisfaction that comes through.
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 11:54 am
That’s it. The smugness.
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Holly said on January 12, 2011 at 12:03 pm
My son told me that one of his friends mother’s said that Sarah Palin would make a wonderful president because she is soooo pretty. What the #### kind of a comment is that.
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jcburns said on January 12, 2011 at 12:10 pm
The voice of Susan Stamberg has been provided by Lynne Rossetto-Kasper for the past 6 years as a budget-saving move. Also, all those snarky-sounding 20-something NPR women are voiced by one actress in Ann Arbor.
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Linda said on January 12, 2011 at 12:14 pm
I kind of like The Splendid Table, but since Saturday Night Live did the Shwetty Balls skit, my sis cannot listen to it with a straight face.
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 12:19 pm
I want to hear sensitive males Scott Simon and John Boehner have a weep-off.
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Suzanne said on January 12, 2011 at 12:22 pm
Funny, Holly. My son said the deciding factor for him to NOT vote for the McCain/Palin ticket was the number of friends and family who told him they liked her because she was HOT. “Don’t cry for me…” Oh wait, wrong pretty, dictatorial,conniving…never mind.
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Meeee-shell Norris annoys me too. I still like NPR, but sometimes I let that membership lapse a few months. Like when I heard Scott Simon’s salary. Or when they fired Juan Williams. I never cared much about Juan Williams but it was a bonehead move to can him. I like John Burnett’s reports and his manner of speaking.
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Carter said on January 12, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Can the self-satisfied guffawing of Steve Inskeep be any more annoying?
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moe99 said on January 12, 2011 at 12:35 pm
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting still is full of Bush appointees. Which explains the rightward drift of their news in the past 4-5 years.
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jcburns said on January 12, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Just finished reading ‘This is NPR’ which bothers me for reasons not relevant here, but seriously, Moe, “rightward drift” of NPR or CPB? I sure don’t see it. Didn’t see the leftward slant either…just have always had a sense of people trying to tell the story as straight as possible. Not always well, but not spun, either.
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nancy said on January 12, 2011 at 12:45 pm
I’m glad to see the “blood libel” whopper is being properly scoffed at elsewhere. It’s like the way people misuse words like “infamous” and “superstar” — add another syllable, and it becomes, like, BIGGER! It’s not just libel, it’s SUPER libel!
I would bet $500 she had no idea what the original blood libel was. Unless maybe she read it in the Spotlight.
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kayak woman said on January 12, 2011 at 12:51 pm
jcb said: “Also, all those snarky-sounding 20-something NPR women are voiced by one actress in Ann Arbor.”
I’ve always wondered why those voices annoy me so much. Worst moment? Five years ago or so, when one of those A2 NPR women with a sort of a sing-song voice bragged about her new minivan on the air: “Now that I’m a mommy, I had to buy a mommy car.” Blech!
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Kath said on January 12, 2011 at 12:59 pm
I usually don’t get apoplectic about Sarah Palin because that’s just what she wants. But the Blood Libel? Was invoking the gas chambers or “hearing the hoofbeats of the liberal Cossacks bearing down on the Shetl of Wasilla” just not sufficiently monstrous to convey the harm inflicted on poor Sarah that you had to use a phrase that calls to mind centuries of oppression of the Jewish people? Who writes this crap, and what position are they jockeying for in the Palin Whitehouse?
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Kirk said on January 12, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Let us never forget what we owe the brilliant John McCain for believing that a perky gal from Alaska could help him slither into the White House.
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I suspect the same genius who tweeted for Bristol using the word “canard” and making a twenty year old gay reference.
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Julie Robinson said on January 12, 2011 at 1:11 pm
I just looked at that recipe. Imported bow tie pasta? Is there no decent bow tie pasta made in this country? It sums up LRK as a poseur. Wouldn’t a true foodie make the damn pasta herself?
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on January 12, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Mmmmm . . . long-chain polymers. With sprinkles . . .
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Dorothy said on January 12, 2011 at 1:35 pm
When someone talks about pasta it always takes me back to one of the first episodes of “The Sopranos”, when A. J. sat down to the Sunday dinner table and complained “What?! No fuckin’ ziti?!”
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 1:37 pm
True foodies use dried pasta all the time. So do Italians. I make my own filled pasta sometimes but for stuff like bowties, spaghetti, penne, I buy it.
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Little Bird makes fantastic home-made pasta. The difference between it and dried is night and day. Fresh morels in a cream sauce on fresh made pasta… heaven.
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prospero said on January 12, 2011 at 2:02 pm
“Blood libel” has a very specific definition. It’s the accusation that Jews sacrificed children, innocents. By some transferrance this became Jews killed Jesus. This bastardization by alleged conservatives is pretty much obscene, and completely blasphemous.
LAMary, Juan Williams was a twinkie like Colmes, allowing himself to be displayed as a pet liberal with no backbone whatsoever. If conservatives aren’t lame, why do they find these plush-toy punching-bag liberals for alleged legitimacy? Why not get somebody that will call them on their busllshit and won’t just resort to fetal position. Why don’t they employ somebody like Jim Hightower? Because he’d kick their idiotic asses with facts. Juan Williams was mealy-mouthed crap. Fired for cause, not his opinions.
Coopting the term “blood libel” is particularly ham-handed. As this bullshit is being deployed, it’s exactly the race card in reverse. We’re victims because we talk about murdering people we identify as tyrants and just generally making random shit up. They are mostly black people and liberal politicians. That’s not our fault, they’re the ones that are unAmerican. Becknation is threatened, because they have some claim to truth? Horseshit. It’s like Happy Jack. They lie, lie, lie,lie, lie, lie.
They, and I mean whacko rightwingers that buy the peculiar odoriferous bullshit sold by the Mormon Mountain Glenn Beck, how does anybody lobby for the 30-shot clip? What sort of grunting Ted NUGENT DO YOU HAVE TO BE? and I can understand being born and raised a Mormon, but how do you choose such a joke to convert to. Seriously, what a tool. The “Well , he was unbalanced” excuse doesn’t fly. That’s why we use our inside voices. We’re surrounded by whackjobs that might do our bidding, even if we’re not quite sure we actually want these people dead. If they find a crumpled copy of Palin’s map in the detritus of Loughners life, will these bastards buy it. Deluded people frequently take cues from real life. No shit, and Sirhan acted alone, and Lee Harvvey Oswald fired a single bullet that caused four wounds. Bullshit. People are loony.
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 2:05 pm
A big plus to making homemade pasta is being able to directly add freshly ground pepper and minced garlic, and olive or sesame oil. I also like that chewy, bready texture in the fresh stuff. But the pasta I wind up with is a lot more like Asian dumplings than linguine or spaghetti.
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Kim said on January 12, 2011 at 2:18 pm
When I want to crack myself up I put on my best Lynn R-K voice and say things like “tamarind paste” and “yuzu aioli truffle essence” or just read the Trader Joe’s labels in my pantry. Aloud.
Cooz @6 – Thanks for the trip in the way back machine. I’d almost forgotten my night at Danceteria, and that would’ve been a shame.
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Little Bird said on January 12, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Speaking of making pasta….. I was thinking of doing that this weekend.
I agree also with the notion that certain items require chemicals. Cool Whip is one of those items. So is Mac & Cheese.
I had a conversation with my crazy cousin the other day. He claims those cross hairs on that map were surveyors markers. I sometimes forget that my family is crazy. Then they remind me.
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Dexter said on January 12, 2011 at 2:32 pm
I loved “riding with Travis” in 1976’s “Taxi Driver”…the shot in which Travis drives through the spray of an open fire hydrant and his wipers clear the way to see the lights of 42nd Street…priceless…as was Bernard Herrmann’s soundtrack.
Marty’s soundtracks always rule.
I disagree with none of the choices in the article. I also think the 2003 TV miniseries, Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America” was a great NYC filming project. I love Bathesda Fountain and movies shot in Central Park in general.
A few years ago an amazing film was released. It was filmed just days before the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. Take a gander…
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=NINOxRxze9k
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moe99 said on January 12, 2011 at 2:45 pm
All but one of the current CPB board were appointed by Bush.
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/leadership/board/
One hopes that the conservative agenda at CPB has lightened since this:
“In 2004 and 2005, there were complaints by people within PBS and NPR that the CPB was starting to push a conservative agenda [7][8], while board members counter that they are merely seeking balance. Polls of the PBS and NPR audiences in 2002 and 2003 indicated that few felt that the groups’ news reports contained bias, and those that saw a slant were split as to which side they believed the reports favored. The president of CPB, Patricia Harrison, is a former co-chair of the Republican National Committee; between 2001-2010, its chair was a Republican.
The charge of a conservative agenda reached a head in 2005. The point man of the controversy, Kenneth Tomlinson, was the chair of the CPB board from September 2003 until September 2005. During his time as Chair, he drew the anger of PBS and NPR supporters by unilaterally commissioning a study of alleged bias of the PBS show, NOW with Bill Moyers, conducted by a conservative colleague, and by appointing two conservatives as CPB Ombudsmen.[9] On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board in the face of allegations of scandal. A report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General, Kenneth Konz, requested by House Democrats, prompted his resignation. On November 15, the report was made public. It found evidence that “the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) former Chairman violated statutory provisions and the Director’s Code of Ethics by dealing directly with one of the creators of a new public affairs program during negotiations with PBS and the CPB over creating the show.” It also “found evidence that suggests “political tests” were a major criteria used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices”.[10]”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporation_for_Public_Broadcasting
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 3:13 pm
My right wing sister just e-mailed me in all caps and asked me if we were moving because she was concerned for me that Illinois just raised it personal income tax to 67%. She called it confiscation not taxation. I calmly responded that no, they raised it 67%, from 3% to 5%. What a doofus. I’m sure she got that term “confiscation not taxation” from some right wing blog she reads.
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jcburns said on January 12, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Yeah, but does any of that CPB stuff translate to “rightward drift” in terms of anything you hear on the air from an NPR reporter/anchor/commentator?
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ROgirl said on January 12, 2011 at 3:21 pm
They probably used blood libel instead of crucified to avoid offending Christians. If some Jews got offended in the process, oh well. Not part of her constituency, apparently.
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Peter said on January 12, 2011 at 3:23 pm
Good old Sarah – that blood libel remark is just exhibit number +/- 6000 in her a Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing dossier.
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Jolene said on January 12, 2011 at 3:36 pm
From Josh Marshall, via Andrew Sullivan:
Today has been set aside to honor the victims of the Tucson massacre. And Sarah Palin has apparently decided she’s one of them.
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MaryRC said on January 12, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Little Bird, if you have the patience, you can ask your cousin why Sarah herself called them “bullseyes”:
http://twitpic.com/3ofie7/full
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Jeff Borden said on January 12, 2011 at 3:56 pm
There’s no way SheWho writes the stuff that appears on her Facebook page. It’s far too complex and sophisticated to be penned by a semi-literate grifter whose library consists of Glenn Beck books and the Bible.
As noted earlier, she employs a ghostwriter named Rebecca Mansour. My guess –and, yes, it’s a guess– is that Miss Mansour or some other ghost concocted the “blood libel” line and Moosezilla simply regurgitated it.
And I’ll just add an amen to Kirk’s earlier post that we would not be suffering through overexposure to this walking political cold sore if not for the cravenness of John McCain.
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Dorothy said on January 12, 2011 at 3:57 pm
oooohh SNAP MaryRC!
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brian stouder said on January 12, 2011 at 4:10 pm
Well, I called up our local AM-radio lip-flapper yesterday, and got past the screener*, and got my inning. If nothing else, it made me feel better; and as a bonus, when the call ended, our local yip-yip guy spent the next few minutes reiterating his attack upon Rep Giffords’ husband (again!), for having the affrontery to voice his opinion!
Anyway, it is tempting to think that the “Palin comparison” (we should trademark that pun, I think) will pull the GOP back toward calmness, but one notes that it took Pawlenty about 24 hours before his fairly innocuous criticism of her bulls-eye ad (ie “I wouldn’t have done that”) got walked back.
I almost think She-Who is actively working to sharpen the “Palin comparison”, on the notion that we, the people, don’t WANT any namby-pamby, afraid-of-an-ad, book-wormy elitist for our president. She seems to think actual credentials will pale in comparison to her red-blooded, visceral, sexy appeal. Otherwise, why on earth would she double-down on this horrible game she finds herself in?
I truly do think she has jumped the shark, and that what she’ll really become is this century’s rabble-rouser in chief, but we shall see.
*I learned that the absolute least you can get away with telling the screener, the better
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MarkH said on January 12, 2011 at 4:13 pm
moe, we went through this two years ago. I can’t remember exactly when, but I posted here a summary of all the backgrounds of the (then) CPB members and only one firmly stood out as a political appointee. I forget her name, but she is not on the board now. The most blatently poitical appointment by Bush now may be Chris Botkin:
http://www.cpb.org/aboutcpb/leadership/board/boskin.html
I can’t speak for what you wrote about Tomlinson, but the board makeup now seems pretty apolitical. JC is right; whatever’s there in any bias, little of it advances to the air.
At the time I posted, Nancy chimed in to remind us that as long as the Widow Kroc is around, there will always be a monetary safety valve for overt politicization at public radio. Remember, CPB sends grants to NPR, the their funding is mostly from contributions.
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Julie Robinson said on January 12, 2011 at 4:15 pm
And Josh Marshall! That was a laugh-out-loud.
Everyone has crazy family, just different types of crazy. I have an uncle in Iowa who is proud that the only book he has in his house is the Bible. King James, natch, the finest biblical scholarship available in 1604.
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Sue said on January 12, 2011 at 4:25 pm
Anyone see this? I do love Dan Savage.
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/01/11/sneak-preview-of-the-cover-of-the-stranger-this-week-created-by-dan-savage-and-aaron-huffman
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mark said on January 12, 2011 at 4:30 pm
Palin’s comments, and the reference to “blood libel” in particular, were pretty stupid. Ghostwritten or not, the woman attempts to communicate in platitudes and slogans, often inartful or inappropriate and almost always superficial. It is one of the reasons she has no future as a national candidate.
Characterizing her comments as the “right settling on its terms” is wishful thinking. The thoughtful pieces by George Will and David Brooks on the inappropriateness of the hate speech Tucson shooting link are a little more nuanced, and more typical. But please, keep building your Maginot line in the direction of Sarah Palin and ignore people like NJ Governor Christie, who gave a compelling performance on “Morning Joe” today.
A few voices have broken through the blunder to raise the issue of our (US) tendency to invoke martial and violent terms in our everyday endeavors, and to question the appropriateness of that line of metaphor. I think it is an interesting point. I’m 50 and I was raised, coached, mentored and counseled by men for whom WWII and Korea were life and country defining events. Sports, business, politics and life were compared to martial events and war imagery and language was used to support, guide and inspire. “Battle,” “target,” “take no prisoners”, “enemy,” “war,” “drop a bomb”, “kick ass,” “attack,” “over the top”, “nuke”, “hand-to-hand”, etc. were and are commonplace.
I think Obama’s “bring a gun to a knifefight” reference came out of that tradition.
While I doubt there is any strong causal link to any given act of violence, I think it probably is time to rethink and perhaps retire these rhetorical devices.
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Jeff Borden said on January 12, 2011 at 4:35 pm
I’m on record numerous times as arguing SheWho will NEVER again run for a public office. It’s hard work and she clearly shies from anything requiring real effort. On the other hand, being a political figure is not only effortless, but quite lucrative. She needn’t study global political perspectives, understand the throw weights of various missile delivery systems, learn the differences between Sunnis, Shias and Sufis, etc. She just reacts to events and –voila– she makes money.
She is way too thin-skinned to ever make it through a national election without a total breakdown and she is far too greedy to walk away from a life of wealth, comfort and privilege to embrace the hard, dirty life of campaigning and governing.
So, she can afford to keep riling up her small but passionate base without fear of looking “unpresidential” because she’ll never seek that office or any other. Like so many other agent provocateurs, she is useful to the GOP to keep the dummies angry enough to keep voting against their own self interest.
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basset said on January 12, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Y’know, Photoshop is a wonderful tool… not least because you no longer need to have those number-11 X-Acto knives within reach to do a layout.
does anyone even say “layout” any more? Process camera? Wax roller? Benday? Hello?
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moe99 said on January 12, 2011 at 4:40 pm
mark, actually Obama’s “bring a knife to a gunfight” was courtesy of a character in The Untouchables who was commenting on “the Chicago way.” Obviously his saying this phrase once is completely comparable and much worse than the violent rhetorical excesses displayed by Limbaugh, Beck and Palin over the last few years (at least ten for the first two) or so.
And Mark H, NPR still seems to me to be bending over backwards to make false equivalences in their news programs. I think it is a reaction to the constant attacks they are bombarded with by FOX news. So in that case, the FOX strategy seems to be working. I would agree that the NPR broadcasts are not as tilted as they were several years ago, but I still think that they are afraid.
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Sue said on January 12, 2011 at 4:50 pm
Jeff Borden, I think Palin for awhile now has been focusing on kingmaker activities. Mixed results in the last election but enough to keep her important and viable. Until last Saturday, anyway. Frankly I was surprised that she got hit so hard, but I try not to follow her many comments and proclamations.
I think the phrase she used was another attempt at finding something catchy and memorable through shock value, like death panels.
I think this one might do her in. She has become politically incorrect for most people and the groups who have been paying her to speak might now be uncomfortable with her canned but still incendiary speeches. The National Association of Shoelace-Tip Manufacturers will think twice before highlighting her as a keynote speaker at their national meetings not because so many people have finally had it with her but because they’re afraid of the headlines the next day: “Sarah Palin calls for Obama’s Head at Convention of Shoelace-tip Manufacturers, Later Claims She Just Wanted To Measure Him For a Hat”, that kind of thing.
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mark said on January 12, 2011 at 5:04 pm
moe-
I don’t think Obama’s remark was “bad” much less “worse”. I also don’t think the “Target” ad was excessive. Beck and Limbaugh (and Hanity, Olberman, “Ed”, etc.”) are excessive a lot, but Palin was the particular target of the initial outrage. The gun/knifefight comment predates movie dialogue, but what is your point? Does the average “ready to go postal” psychopath readily understand that references to fighting political opponents with guns and knives is a harmless euphemism to describe traditionally rough and tumble Chicago politics, but easily misunderstands a political map with congressional seats/members in cross-hairs as a call to actually bomb things?
I’m at least marginally aligned with the pro-life side, but the use of the term “murderer”, to describe doctors and sometimes the women seeking the procedure, by (too) many in the pro-life movement has always alarmed and appalled me. I think that kind of language can and probably has incited some of the attacks against clinics and physicians. I feel the same way about describing Palin as a “murderer”, which occurred here and elsewhere.
While I realize blogs generally have smaller audiences than Palin or Limbaugh, condemning their speech with criticisms that are even more hateful and incendiary seems to miss the larger point.
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Jolene said on January 12, 2011 at 5:11 pm
“Sarah Palin calls for Obama’s Head at Convention of Shoelace-tip Manufacturers, Later Claims She Just Wanted To Measure Him For a Hat”
Hysterical, Sue. And I think you are right. I think she is becoming less and less attractive to the kind of people who bankroll the early stages of presidential campaigns, and her second book has, apparently, sold poorly. And, as her credibility as a political figure wanes, her appeal as a speaker and commentator will likely fade as well–not least because she is not very good in either role. She can’t speak extemporaneously about without sounding like an idiot, and her opinions are simplistic in the extreme.
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Jeff Borden said on January 12, 2011 at 5:12 pm
Sue,
We’re on the same page. I’ve no doubt SheWho is sincere in her warped political beliefs and she has demonstrated enough of a messianic view of herself to believe she might be able to help push those beliefs forward.
The bottom line is her intellectual laziness. The shocking shallowness of her world view was revealed for all to see in 2008, but she has not spent any time since working to address those shortcomings. She is an unserious person, period.
Smart Republicans know she can be counted on to drive the sheep who worship her to the polls. She can use her star power to raise a shitload of money for GOP candidates. They also know she is a non-starter for any national office.
I see her as a female Newt Gingrich. He has mastered the art of milking the system without ever running for office since he left Congress in shame. Like Newtie, SheWho will be a constant, irritating presence on some talk shows and at political powwows, but that will be the extent of it.
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MarkH said on January 12, 2011 at 5:21 pm
Point taken, moe, but I still don’t see it, and didn’t see it at the time you mention. I enjoy NPR, much to the teeth-grinding of my REALLY conservative friends. When I ask them the last time they really listened to anything on NPR, the conversation usually stops. And I don’t think NPR really gives a s*** about Fox. Unless they make real news. News is a judgement call; I trust their judgement.
Also, we are blessed with a really good outlet state-wide in Wyoming Public Radio.
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Snarkworth said on January 12, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Mark, I think Palin and the rifle sight ad were the early focus because Rep. Giffords herself is on record, and on video, objecting to the ad. Palin’s people immediately scrubbed the archive and launched their “who me?” weaseling.
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 5:25 pm
We should never forget that $P endorsed Sharon “Second Amendment Solution” Angle.
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 6:09 pm
Arm chair psychologist that I am, I found this on the Mayo Clinic website. The symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder:
* Believing that you’re better than others
* Fantasizing about power, success and attractiveness
* Exaggerating your achievements or talents
* Expecting constant praise and admiration
* Believing that you’re special and acting accordingly
* Failing to recognize other people’s emotions and feelings
* Expecting others to go along with your ideas and plans
* Taking advantage of others
* Expressing disdain for those you feel are inferior
* Being jealous of others
* Believing that others are jealous of you
* Trouble keeping healthy relationships
* Setting unrealistic goals
* Being easily hurt and rejected
* Having a fragile self-esteem
* Appearing as tough-minded or unemotional
Remind you of anyone? Hint: has the initials SP.
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Dexter said on January 12, 2011 at 6:12 pm
After I read that Scott Simon pulls down 300K per year I realized what a sucker I was for sending in dough to Public Radio. Doing my part, I just do not listen anymore, either. I couldn’t help but to think of swindling radio preachers…I am done with the whole damn thing.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2009/09/scott_simons_salary_and_steak_1.html
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Jolene said on January 12, 2011 at 6:59 pm
On another topic, have you all been following the stories on the flooding in Australia? It’s really shocking to see cars tumbling end-over-end in rushing water. The flooded area is the size of France and Germany combined. Sixteen people have died, and another 70 are missing. I once heard Bill Clinton say that some of the earliest effects of climate change would be felt in Australia, so I wonder whether we are seeing an “ordinary” extreme event or something more.
On still another topic, just heard that David Nelson, son of Ozzie and Harriet had died at 74. Farewell to another piece of the Fifties.
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prospero said on January 12, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Funniest man ever was not in Monty Python
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=416o9b_pjQk
That would be Ernie Kovacs, and I’m old enough to remember the Nairobi Trio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8BmsDbIh68&NR=1&feature=fvwp
How Republicans make sure the Senate does not work at all. They get paid nearly $200grand for this bullshit? Plus a great healthcare plan? Major league assholes, n’est ce pas? They also get away with crimes, like Kyl bribind his es-staffer. C.mon. Tell me he didn’t and that his parents werem’t criminally compliant. These bastards cpu;d mpt care less about the law they expect everybody else to respect.
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del said on January 12, 2011 at 7:17 pm
Cooz at 6. Liquid Sky? Saw it when it came out. Who’d have thought that a movie about aliens feeding on the brainwaves of humans shooting up heroin or having orgasms would be so dull?
One of the comments to the video clip you posted was from a guy who said that his purchase of the soundtrack of the movie was Exhibit A at his divorce proceeding; offered by his ex as justifying a divorce “for cause.”
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 7:34 pm
Del: I can see that. I always had a soft spot for films with that homemade feel. Especially if “home” was the guest bathroom of Warhol’s Factory. I tried to get my wife’s input, because she almost has to have seen it, but she says she probably rented it and dozed off.
The divorce story reminds me of one Steve Simels told about one of his friends who obsessively listened to some gloomy shoegazer band. One day his girlfriend walked in and lifted the headphones from his ears and asked, WHY?
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Deborah said on January 12, 2011 at 8:11 pm
My husband and I are up to episode 8 of season one of The wire and we are enthralled. I watched the first episode a couple of months ago and have been trying to get my husband to watch. He resisted because he’s a snob but over the weekend I got him to watch with me. He was hooked immediately and now it’s 2 or 3 episodes every night. I’m ordering the full set from Amazon, through the nn.c kickback lounge, of course.
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prospero said on January 12, 2011 at 8:16 pm
I always thought Moscow on the Hudson was a terrific NYC movie, and a really good movie period . And I seriously love NYC. It’s not Boston, but noplace is. Nobody’s supposed to like a Robin Williams movie, but he’s made a bunch of very good ones. How do you make a decent movie out of Garp? Get John Lithgow to play Roberta Muldoon, fly a plane into a house, and have a sublime actress like Glenn Close play the perfectly insane Jenny Fields, and put most of it in NYC. The City rules.
Damn, I thought Liquid Sky was lame. If Coozledad liked it, I may need to reconsider. He has such good taste in culture, even if it’s on the skids. But I really thought the movie was sorry, And it had about as much to do with NYC as Vanilla Sky, but it was not nearly that godawful. A truly atrocious movie. Best NYC movie is Midnight Cowboy. I’d say Dog Day Afternoon, but that’s more of a Brooklyn movie, and also way better, NS Brooklyn is not the city. Maybe Inside Man, which was outstanding and had Jodie. In my opinion, Dog Day Afternoon is about as good as anybody can make a movie, aside from Blade Runner, and Brazil. The two best movies ever made. I can say that because it’s my opinion. Some Republican ahole can light me up, who knows what might happen. Maybe that Richard Gere movie about the Julia Roberts hooker is supposed to be a NY movie. That certainly sucked. And not just because Richard Gere was in it. He made the best movie ever about Beijing. The Red Corner. Best Detroit movie, no doubt, Blue Collar, with Richard Pryor, Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel. Don’t try to hand me 8 Mile, unless you think Warren and Southfield aren’t redneck heaven and somehow represent Detroit..
I’d throw in a vote for Boston in any episode of Spenser for Hire. It’s the most cinema-friendly city. Copley Square, the Pru. Everything’s recognizable. But they are all gonna shoot in Vancouver so long as it’s cheap and looks generic. Sure as shit doesn’t look like NYC or Detroit or Boston to anybody that’s ever been in the real thing. I’m kinda sick of this horsecrap. Don’t know ’bout y’all. Bet y’all find this all vexing as well.
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LAMary said on January 12, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Dog Day Afternoon is about as good as it gets. Love that movie.
The Julia Roberts hooker movie with Richard Gere is set in LA I think. Pretty Woman. I think it mentions her working on Santa Monica Boulevard or Sunset. I’ve only seen transvestite hookers on Santa Monica but I haven’t spent much time looking.
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coozledad said on January 12, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Prospero: Midnight Cowboy is splendid. Also one of the greatest drunk movies of all time, right there along with Pat Garret and Billy the Kid.
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prospero said on January 12, 2011 at 9:01 pm
But hey, if it’s Lombard St., we’re in Frisco. What a crock. Let’s see the ballpark or some other landmark. If it’s Cambridge, how bout Harvard Square subway sation or Harvard common. Is this too much to ask? Faking cities in movies sucks bigtime. Show is the real deal. If you claim to be in Boston, let’s see the Christian Science church. If you’re supposed to be in NYC, we want the Brooklyn Bridge. ≈ Chicago, show the loop. These are mandatory. Don’t spend your cash in Toronto or some other astonishingly bland Canadian city and try to make it look like America. I’ve been in these cities. I know the difference. This is cheap, money-grubbing crap, and it’s annoying as hell. Watch Gone Baby Gone . That is Southie. Dahchestah. You can fake accents and dialects, you can’t fake settings.
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prospero said on January 12, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Cooz: I love Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, for Knocking on Heaven’s Door, a totally gorgeous song on a par with Tom Waits’ Cold, Cold Ground. James Coburn and Kristofferson facing down? Awesome. Not sure what you mean by a drunk movie. but for a drunken guy movie, I’d say that Gayle Sayers/Brian Piccolo movie. But Pat Garret ain’t McCabe and Mrs. Miller, the greatest western ever made.
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Dorothy said on January 12, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Mary – can’t resist name dropping to mention that Dog Day Afternoon was based on an article in LIFE magazine (based on a true story) written by Kenyon English professor and noted writer, P. F. “Fred” Kluge. His wife’s office is across from my desk.
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joodyb said on January 12, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Nice qualifier, LAMary.
Also give props to the Chi-town cityscape in new SHO effort “Shameless,” featuring a scenery-devouring Wm H Macy…
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brian stouder said on January 12, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Well, I really, really, really liked the memorial service from Tuscon.
Our nation has hit some pretty big bumps in the past few decades, and this horrible event was certainly one of them; but tonight things look at least a little better; a little more hopeful.
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Dexter said on January 13, 2011 at 1:04 am
For 42 years I have been waiting for a movie to knock off Midnight Cowboy from my #1 rating. Ain’t happened yet. Also, a little movie called Coogan’s Bluff was filmed in NYC, lots of great scenes. It was a 1968 release. McCloud the TV show was modelled after that movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062824/
But really…THE true New York City movie, filmed in a revolutionary style for the year 1948, is “Naked City”. It is astounding. If you love film history of New York, you must see this.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040636/
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