I hope it says something about this week that my options for this evening are: a) drinks; and b) yoga, and I’m considering the yoga. Seriously. It’s a special full-moon yoga pachage — an hour of kundalini, followed by an hour of gong immersion. I mean, why the hell not?
There was a woman who used to take a weights class at the same time I did a while back. She was, what’s the word? Insufferable. Whippet-thin and toned down to the last muscle, she was the sort who, when the instructor said, “If you’d like an extra challenge, raise your legs into table position,” would raise her legs into table position and add something extra on top of that. Just to be insufferable. She never sweated. During breaks, she’d say things like, “I never have to watch what I eat. Just eat whatever I want. Must be my genes.”
In fine weather, she would ride hr bike to the gym, like me. No helmet. No lock. “Yeah, I should probably get one of those,” she’d say, wrinkling her pretty nose before pedaling off, her unsweaty hair trailing behind her. She never did.
But one day we were doing a yoga strength move, and she confided something someone had told her: “Guys? It’s anti-Christian.” After that, I resolved to do downward-facing dog for the rest of my life, and I will probably think of her skinny ass every time I do.
Yeah, I’m thinking yoga tonight. And then drinks.
Much good bloggage today, so let’s get to it.
Once upon a time, the president was a young man, and he went to his prom. With pictures.
As we’re on a happy hour theme, two booze stories. First, the pricey stuff:
Even though I know it’s coming, it’s hard not to feel sticker shock when I get the bill at The Rye Bar in Georgetown’s new Capella hotel. On my tab: a $22 Manhattan and an $18 Old Fashioned. With tax and tip, the whole thing rounds out to $50. For two drinks.
Don’t get me wrong, the cocktails at The Rye Bar are very good, and the Manhattan is one of the best I’ve ever tasted. It’s made with Dad’s Hat rye, a small-batch whiskey from Bristol, Pa., Dolin sweet vermouth, and French aperitif Byrrh quinquina, all aged together for six weeks in American white oak barrels, making it so smooth that the buzz catches you by surprise.
It so happens I recently interviewed a craft distiller, and the products were wonderful. On the other hand, the day I pay $22 for a drink is the day I go back to Budweiser in bottles.
Now, the cheap stuff:
Twenty-nine bars and restaurants, nearly half of them TGI Fridays, filled premium brand liquor bottles with lower-quality booze and sold it to patrons who thought they were buying the good stuff, authorities said Wednesday.
Worse yet, investigators said at least one New Jersey bar was mixing food dye with rubbing alcohol and serving it as scotch. Officials would not say who used the rubbing alcohol. But they said no health issues were reported.
Nothing about this surprises me, I regret to say. Speaking of which, don’t get the Sno-Cones at Minute Maid Park.
But let’s try to close on an up note — Gene Weingarten observes a neighborhood eviction. As only he can.
Oh, let’s all try to have a good long weekend, shall we?
Brandon said on May 24, 2013 at 2:27 am
Lucky I live Hawaii, then, where we don’t have sno-cones but ice shave made before one’s eyes.
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ROGirl said on May 24, 2013 at 5:52 am
There are diets for Christ; Christian yoga can’t be far away. Bending for Jesus? All the poses will have to be renamed. The plow could be “prostration before the altar.” Downward facing dog could be “saint in torture position.” Etc.
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coozledad said on May 24, 2013 at 6:56 am
The only Christians who would forbid yoga are divorced from their spiritual and philosophical origins going back beyond the Mauryan empire, Chandragupta, and Buddha.
Siddhartha apparently tried the yoga thing early on, as part of spiritual practice, and said it was too much damn work.
It just happens that yoga is an easier way to keep fit than fasting under a banyan tree until you pass out.
Also: Barry Obama+ white wimmenz= the smell of wingnut outrage in the morning.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 24, 2013 at 7:17 am
Yoga in general is anti-Christian, or that particular posture? Or skinny arses are?
Y’know, if we’re going to keep saying – rightly – that extremists can’t be allowed to define Islam, can we also agree to not let Fred Phelps & Pat Robertson function as default summaries of what it means to be Christian? Please?
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 7:18 am
Are Manhattans and Old Fashioneds made with Rye actually Manhattans and Old Fashioneds? Is any drink including anything but gin and vermouth actually a martini? I say no. I have a hard time saying “vente” at Starbucks. How does anybody ever order an apple-tini, and what the hell do those things have to do with martinis?
This great land of ours has certainly managed to produce Christian Sharia, so how far behind can Christian yoga be? I mean soon we’ll be all Dharma Initiative, and unfettered in time.
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Right Speaker Oompa Loompa? One of those Obama stimulus bills you refused to bring to a vote in favor of voting to rescind ACA for the 36th or 37th time might have put people in Washington to work and averted this bridge collapse. Dumbass.
And similar bridge collapses are clearly imminent all over the USA.
Wow. Turns out both those whiskey drinks are traditionally mad with rye. But if you’re adding sugar content otherwise, doesn’t it make sense to use sweeter liquoor, i.e. bourbon. Goes without saying that mixing any of that stuff with sour mash whiskey is revolting.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 7:20 am
Making Scotch.
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basset said on May 24, 2013 at 7:27 am
Roll up a fat one before you try that gong immersion.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 24, 2013 at 7:29 am
A cheerier note: On learning French in your 30s, and about life. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/06/pardon-my-french/309316/
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David C. said on May 24, 2013 at 7:30 am
My sister goes to Christian yoga, whatever that is. Personally, I’d like all Christians to yell as often as possible “I’M A CHRISTIAN, GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME” like Dorothy’s crazy person from yesterday. It could perform the same function as a siren on a police car.
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 7:31 am
When I lived on the Chicago lakefront, I saw my share of people’s lives laid bare on the street and it was always heartwrenching. One time outside my own building there was a mound of very nice furniture and art and a framed doctoral degree from an Ivy League school with a woman’s name on it. Items disappeared bit by bit, but most of it sat there for days in rain and then snow, until finally someone came and hauled it all away. Neighbors were all talking about what a sad scene it made, but no one seemed to know the evictee; in a high-rise containing 750 dwellings, there’s a lot of anonymity. In the elevators, people would inquire if I’d seen anything of the latest suicide by jumping, but these incidents seemed to pass without ever grabbing my attention. Lights and sirens were just a normal part of the neighborhood ambience, background noise like crickets in the country. I’d have to say, anecdotally, that it seemed like there was a lot more insanity per capita than you’d find elsewhere, but then it occurs to me that when you’re living in such a tightly packed environment you’re simply going to be confronted with it in a way that you wouldn’t when living in the relative isolation of suburbia.
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 7:51 am
Y’know, if we’re going to keep saying – rightly – that extremists can’t be allowed to define Islam, can we also agree to not let Fred Phelps & Pat Robertson function as default summaries of what it means to be Christian? Please?
Can we add to that list James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Mike Huckabee and a whole host of others who wield inordinate political influence and hold themselves up as the public face of Christianity?
I find it refreshing when I encounter the occasional holy roller who is apolitical and embraces me and my partner as normal. This is what keeps me from making negative blanket judgments about evangelical Christians; some of them really live what they purport to believe. A fer-instance is the guy who is painting my investment property, a consummate professional. He’s also doing such beautiful work that I could seriously consider swapping houses. He’s grateful to my partner as he has a son who was having some difficulty finding his way in life and had gotten himself into drugs and legal trouble. My partner gave the kid a job and some training and he’s finally making something of himself and his dad couldn’t be happier.
Jeff, I imagine you feel at times as if you’re tarred with the same broad brush as some of these people who wear their Christianity as if it were a costume, hiding behind God while casting stones at the people they hate. Duly noted.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on May 24, 2013 at 7:59 am
Alex, thanks. I wear mine all too awkwardly at times.
But not as awkwardly as I’d look doing yoga!
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Mindy said on May 24, 2013 at 8:00 am
“I just eat what I want, must be my genes” means that she watches every damn calorie and has for years. Don’t let her make you think that she maintains that skinny arse with fried chicken. She doesn’t. I’m willing to bet that she eats rich food only when there’s witnesses.
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Dorothy said on May 24, 2013 at 8:13 am
Barry Obama’s date in 1979 has the exact same name as my daughter-in-law! Gave us all a good chuckle yesterday.
Turns out I wasn’t the only one to meet crazy people in parking lots on Wednesday. Another co-worker had an accident in Kroger lot that evening – a guy slammed on his brakes to grab a parking spot and backed into her car. When she called the police to file a report he started yelling “LOOK WHAT THIS LADY DID TO MY TRUCK! AND SHE TRIED TO LEAVE THE SCENE OF THE ACCIDENT!” And then he got closer to her and dropped his voice and said “See what happens when you call the police when I asked you not to?!” He was extremely menacing the whole time. When the cop got there he pointed out the surveillance cameras and asked the guy (after they’d filled out their report forms) if he wanted to stand by his story. He turned white as a ghost, Mary said, and said he still wanted to stick by his story. But he sounded much less menacing by that point. The cop said to Mary “Not only is he falsifying his report, he lied to a police officer. I can tell what happened here. Try not to worry.” He was headed into get a copy of the surveillance video when Mary departed the lot.
And yesterday my daughter was eating soup in her car before she headed to the office and some old guy pushed his cart right into her car. She was parked beside the damn cart return! She is very non-confrontational, but she told me “I pretended I was you, Mom, and jumped out of that car and shamed him in front of other people. You could tell he did NOT expect to find out someone was in the car he just banged into.” She said she called him “sir” over and over again but kept saying something like “You should not treat other people’s cars like that, sir!”
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beb said on May 24, 2013 at 8:15 am
bulimia is her friend…
A “hear! hear!” to Jeff@4.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 8:17 am
American Jobs Act. Would have put people to work and fixed that bridge in Washington State. But Boner thought it was more important vote down ACA again and again. That’s an actual scandal.
I did that gong immersion thing once. First row at an ELP show at the old Boston Garden, high as a weather balloon. Carl Palmer knows gongs.
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beb said on May 24, 2013 at 8:30 am
The guy Dorothy’s co-worker met, the one lying to the cops, reminds me of my sister-in-laws’ ex-boyfriend, the father of her first child. He was constantly lying in court about what he had been doing to harass her and what she had been doing. And since he spoke louder and sooner than she did he tended to get away with it. It’s nice to see that some cops are good at reading situations and characters.
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Mark P said on May 24, 2013 at 8:33 am
Jeff (tmmo), there is a real problem with Christianity in the US today, and it’s precisely because the wrong people are defining it. I know for a fact that there are plenty of people who actually try to live according to what they believe their god said, instead of trying to force some non-biblical perversion of it down everyone else’s throats. You almost never hear about things like (for example), the Presbyterian relief effort in the Gulf Coast area that lasted long after the Bush FEMA and the news organizations left. Unfortunately, they had to leave, too, because they didn’t have enough money to fix every problem there before there was another disaster somewhere else. I don’t care what they believe, I only care that they provided a net good for society.
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Dorothy said on May 24, 2013 at 8:35 am
When Mary said she called the police, then he tried to make it sound like SHE was the one fleeing the scene, I knew immediately they would catch him in his lie. The call came from her cell phone. Idiot.
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Dorothy said on May 24, 2013 at 8:35 am
ooops. Dammit. Time for a refresher in html.
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Deborah said on May 24, 2013 at 8:38 am
Jolene, I missed your comment a couple of days ago about the chemo and radiation. I’m so sorry you will have to go through that, but I’m glad to hear that the outcome will be a good one.
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Julie Robinson said on May 24, 2013 at 8:54 am
That bridge collapse, in Mount Vernon, Washington–that’s where our daughter lives. She posted several times last night, as she was watching the rescue helicopters on TV and hearing them overhead outside. I-5 is the big highway that runs between Seattle and Canada, with a lot of commuters in between, so it’s gonna be a mess.
I’m not a holy-roller, in fact it’s the antithesis of being Lutheran, but Alex, you would be very welcome at our church. We believe and practice that God’s love is for all, period. No exclusions, no second-class citizens. My church: ELCA.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 8:57 am
Jeff’s point is well-taken. Actual Christian. Bishop Gumbleton was a friend of my mom and dad and came to dinner once in a while. Mad hockey player to, when he was an Associate Bishop in Detroit. I love it when a guy like this tells the fogies to go screw themselves. It’s my opinion that claiming to be Christian surely requires being outspoken and taking action. And leaves no room at all for being judgmental. Or judge-a-mental, if you’re the ginormous colossal head of Jerry Ford
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Heather said on May 24, 2013 at 9:01 am
Well, maybe I was the confrontational one the other day, but it was for a good cause and I didn’t act crazy. I was riding my bike on a major Chicago street, but I’d actually chosen it because it was a quieter alternative to other major streets (and I had no choice about my route for that section because I had to go over the river). A guy in a black SUV came up suddenly behind me and veered so close to me that I was sure he must be intentionally buzzing me. The law says you’re supposed to give bicycles three feet of space. He turned right not long after, so I thought I’d take a look to see if I could catch up with him and say something. (I know, not the smartest idea these days but I was irked.) He had parked, and I waited as he got out of the car, and I said mildly, “Uh, you drove a little close to me back there.” And he seemed genuinely surprised and apologized, so I just nodded and rode off. Hopefully I was polite enough about that instead of being angry, he’ll think twice when he passes bikes in the future. But it’s still a little scary that he was so oblivious.
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Suzanne said on May 24, 2013 at 9:12 am
It’s kind of amazing to me how many of my Christian friends don’t even know who Fred Phelps is, but try to convince them that many Muslims don’t know who some of these Islamist kooks are either and you’ll be given the stare of shame. (How COULD you think that?)
I also get really tired of hearing, “Well, Huckabee says this…” or “Huckabee says that…” It saddens me to see people who don’t realize they are being played like a fine violin.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 9:18 am
Leakers are not necessarily either “whistleblowers” nor “sources”. In fact, when they are flat lying to promote ulterior motives, they are neither. Journalits that are taken in by such shinola deserve no protection, nor do the alleged sources. Understanding the difference is a minimal requirement for standing as part of the Fourth Estate.
Couldn’t see this bullshinola coming from several miles away.
My favorite thing about Huckleberrybee is how he and his wife had a recommitment ceremony when he was governor of Arkansas. They sent out invitations and registered at Walmart and some other stores, soliciting gifts. Beyond weird to tacky, beyond tacky to unseemly, beyond unseemly to probably illegal for a public official, all the way to openly soliciting bribes.
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Connie said on May 24, 2013 at 10:04 am
Remember our earlier discussion about the Detroit Zoo and Institute of Art? According to the radio story I heard this morning the Emergency Manager IS looking at the value of the Art Institute’s collection.
This is a really bad idea.
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LAMary said on May 24, 2013 at 10:18 am
I just can’t take the smug self righteous selfish form of Christianity. The tight smile statements that assume you know that whatever that person’s version of Christianity is, it’s the only correct one. I can’t go into detail about a conversation I had with my fundie office mate on Wednesday without naming names, but suffice to say Calvinism and Catholicism are not actually Christianity according to this person. Only the non demoninational evangelical beliefs she holds are real Christianity.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 10:34 am
Years ago, I read a great (in its own way) book called The Cosmic Code, by Heinz Pagels.
It provided an accessible explanation of quantum physics (which is, no doubt, out of date by now) which taught me that there can be multiple views of reality*, all of which differ, and all of which are genuinely true nonetheless.
*one example utilized is a theoretical cosmic dancer, who is 8 light minutes tall. As she dances, observers embarked on vessels at different points, moving at the speed of light, watch her.
At the end of the dance, the observers compare notes and find that they don’t agree about what she did first, second, third –etc; and the dancer herself would have a different version – and they’d all be objectively true
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 10:39 am
Tejas health care plan. Sneak across the border into Mexico.
But God will intervene. Meanwhile, the bonehead legislature here in SC passed a law that makes it illegal to implement any facet of ACA. Take a Civics Course, you fracking idiots.
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Joe K said on May 24, 2013 at 10:39 am
They can’t find his birth certificate or college transcripts but no problem finding prom pictures. Go figure 🙂
Pilot Joe
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John (not McCain) said on May 24, 2013 at 10:47 am
“Also: Barry Obama+ white wimmenz= the smell of wingnut outrage in the morning.”
They better not rage! Otherwise just yell back “CLARENCE & GINNY! CLARENCE & GINNY!”.
“I have a hard time saying “vente” at Starbucks.”
Every time I order a vente dark roast I expect them to bring me a drag queen, but apparently it’s coffee.
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 11:08 am
I trust you’re only joking, Joe. God help you if you really believe no one has ever seen his birth certificate or college transcripts. He was the president of the Harvard Law Review, ferChrissake. No one can fake that.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 11:09 am
Pssst – Joe – the birth certificate has been out for years!
I’m not sure what the question about his transcripts
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Bitter Scribe said on May 24, 2013 at 11:12 am
I just knew someone would dig up that “Mr. Roberts” clip, if it existed on YouTube. (And what doesn’t?)
Alex: He became president of the Harvard Law Review for the same reason he became president of the United States: Because he’s black. Everyone knows black people get all the breaks in this country. Just ask Rush Limbaugh.
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coozledad said on May 24, 2013 at 11:21 am
Has anybody seen Mitt’s taxes yet?
And while we’re at it, has Roger Ailes ever seen his own cock?
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 11:26 am
No, but I’d bet Sarah Palin has. And I don’t mean Mitt’s taxes.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 11:27 am
Religion hijinks in AZ. Great goggly moodily, as Frank Zappa used to say.
Joe, nobody’s college transcripts are anybody else’s business, and politicians certainly are not expected to publish them. As far as the birth certificate, anybody still doubting that is braindead. And questioning President Obama’s academic performance is racist horsepuckie, not veiled in the slightest. At this point, neither of those things should require any explanation. And by the way, Shrub got into Yale as a legacy. That’s affirmative action for stupid rich white guys.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 11:32 am
Spell check decided moogly meant to be moodily.
Pardon me for wasting space responding to Joe’s lamo joke, but that shit is just annoying as hell, and it’s not funny in the slightest.
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 11:37 am
Nance, are you embellishing the Yoga class incident a little? Was your classmate’s objection specifically to downward-dog pose or was it a broader objection to a class that is perhaps led by some gaia-earthmother-hippie-piewagon instructor who is nouveau-steeped into the spiritual side of Yoga and who perhaps likes to say a lot of stupid crap like, “Now, place your hand over your ‘spiritual heart'”?
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nancy said on May 24, 2013 at 11:42 am
Nope. We were in a weights class. The teacher said his wife, a distance runner, found yoga invaluable to her conditioning, but he thought it was just fancy stretchin’. That’s when the armchair theologian piped up, probably to show she was able to speak in a normal voice while hoisting a million pounds over her head one-handed while standing on one foot and doing donkey kicks with the other. Without sweating.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 11:40 am
And while we’re at it, has Roger Ailes ever seen his own cock?
Is this question metaphorical or literal? ‘Cause hes got multiple metaphorical wangers on tv every night (shit-fer-brains-Sean leaps to mind; or Bill-O)…
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 11:42 am
Crap, I missed that Storm Thorgerson died a few weeks back. RIP to both he and Ray Manzarek.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22210378
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 11:49 am
That’s when the armchair theologian piped up, probably to show she was able to speak in a normal voice while hoisting a million pounds over her head one-handed while standing on one foot and doing donkey kicks with the other. Without sweating.
You are absolutely killing me… I love you!!! Too funny.
You commented earlier this week about the college boys making lots o’ noise around the weights and that reminded of this one guy at the local gym years ago that used to make such a grunting noise that everyone… and I do mean EVERYONE… in the gym rolled their eyes. It sounded like he was birthing octuplets through his penile canal.
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coozledad said on May 24, 2013 at 11:49 am
Sarah Palin’s college transcripts are tattooed over her arse.
I never got washed in the blood of the lamb at a yoga class, and was never asked to believe in a three headed god who loved the world so much he drowned it.
But there’s some silly shit out there, that’s fer sures!
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 11:50 am
EDIT…”who used to”
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 11:54 am
Tonight for part of our anniversary celebration:
http://www.sandiegojazzfest.com/
Can’t wait!
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nancy said on May 24, 2013 at 11:55 am
My brother once told one of those guys it was “No-Grunting Tuesday,” but got no response. I think Planet Fitness has no-grunting as their brand identity. It’s like the lazy person’s gym.
I once had toddler Kate at a public playground in Fort Wayne on a Sunday, a radically different experience than our usual weekday visits — lots and lots of dads, which I attributed to a combination of custody weekends and giving mom a break. One knucklehead started using the playscape as his own fitness structure, chinning up on the zip-line bar and so forth. He started doing triceps dips on the monkey bars, doing the AOOOGHAHH thing on every one. Maybe he thought women would notice him then. We did. Not in a good way.
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Peter said on May 24, 2013 at 12:07 pm
I am sorry for being so late, but I have to put my two cents in on Ray Manzarek –
Nancy’s description of her yoga buddy made me think of it – if you had to describe Ray in 25 words or less, insufferable would work.
I mean I loved his keyboard work – I even have CD’s of Other Voices and Full Circle, for chrissakes, and I can understand a 60’s-70’s musician having to sell out – they weren’t paid well back then and I’m sure Bruce Botnick and Jack Rothchild took their fair share. And I can even tolerate the comeback tours. But oh my gosh, whenever he opened his yap and went on about how maybe Jim isn’t dead after all, then maybe he still lives because we still Iive, and I just want him to shut up and play.
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coozledad said on May 24, 2013 at 12:08 pm
I think Notre Dame cathedral’s just trying to boost attendance. One day it’s a suicide, next day it’s titties. Sort of.
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2013/05/femen-mock-notre-dame-suicide.html
That woman needs a sandwich.
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joe k said on May 24, 2013 at 12:09 pm
Alex,
Yes a joke, hence the smilly face.
Pilot Joe
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 12:14 pm
Just checking, Joe. I know a crazy lady who actually believes those things. Linda Shimek from Auburn. You know her?
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 12:24 pm
Peter, thankfully I was blissfully unaware of Ray’s latter-day annoying behavior, but as with you, I respected his earlier body of work.
I probably stopped listening to the Doors right after high school.. they were just too angry and negative for me… but I really dug some of the lines from “An American Prayer” like:
Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we once had ravens claws
Words dissemble, words be quick, words resemble walking sticks…plant them… they will grow… watch them waver so
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Okay, here is the exact quote according to some web page. It’s been 30 years since I last listened to “An American Prayer.”
Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as raven’s claws
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Joe K said on May 24, 2013 at 12:39 pm
Nope
Pilot Joe
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LAMary said on May 24, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Hey Danny, here’s something from your part of the state:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/12/encinitas-union-school-di_n_1961578.html
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 1:14 pm
I see in today’s NYT there is a new documentary about George Plimpton out. One hellaciously great magazine writer who perpetrated one of the most ingenious hoaxes of all time, The Curious Case of Sidd Finch. If you’ve never read it, treat yourself. If you have, you’ll enjoy it just as much rereading. And it fits with the yoga theme.
Happy Anniversary Danny. That show looks great, have fun.
I always thought the Doors displayed a good sense, somewhat twisted, of humor. (They got the guns but we got the numbers,…trade in your nickels for a handful of dimes.) There was a power trio Detroit band I used to see when I was a kid called Third Power that did an astounding cover of Five to One. We always thought it was cool that Manzarek played bass on Doors records on the pedals. Steve Winwood did the same in Spencer Davis Group. I would never have thought the Doors had a lot of potential for selling to marketeers, but if somone can advertise a cruise ship line with Iggy music (about heroin and sex with members of both genders), I suppose anything’s possible.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 1:24 pm
Didn’t the Doors have a deal with Buick? (I still recall the print ads with some iteration of the “Light my Fire” tag line)
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Sherri said on May 24, 2013 at 1:27 pm
I would hope that a bridge collapse would convince the Republican state senators holding up the replacement of the Columbia River Crossing on I-5 between Washington and Oregon to back off their opposition to all things tax and light rail, but no, it doesn’t seem so: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/05/24/2609839/lawmakers-lack-answers-on-bridge.html
It’s not solely the fault of the Republicans, though. The only reason they control the state senate is because a couple of Democrats joined up with them to take over, in exchange for becoming majority leader and a key leadership position. Yeah, that’s right – a Democrat is the majority leader for the Republicans. Well, sort of a Democrat; he was originally elected as a Republican, then switched parties, and now claims to be a Democrat but is effectively a Republican.
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Basset said on May 24, 2013 at 1:31 pm
When the Doors or Springsteen come up on my car radio… instant channel change.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 1:47 pm
Basset – interesting comment.
I have several that make me hit the button, but couldn’t tell you now which ones they are.
But I am definitely familiar with that unpleasant shudder that such a song induces
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Peter said on May 24, 2013 at 1:49 pm
Brian – it was a Ford commercial.
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Dexter said on May 24, 2013 at 1:49 pm
brian stouder: John Densmore (the drummer)has current lawsuits pending over control of The Doors music. Admiral Morrison, Jim’s dad, is siding with Densmore to not blatantly package and sell The Doors’ catalog to the highest bidder. Densmore/Morrison will listen to requests to use the music in great movies as part of a soundtrack, but to sell cars and junk, they are fighting Robbie Krieger and (now) the estate of Ray Manzarek, who apparently will sell the music to the highest bidder. The court proceedings have already stopped many deals which would have netted The Doors franchise HUNDREDS of millions of dollars. True.
The sno-cone dude? That shitty story reminded me of guys who would religiously carry cardboard cups of machine coffee into the stalls with them in the factory.
One image I cannot shake is from over fifty years ago. An upperclassman at old Waterloo High would always take a crap at noon. He’s buy a pack of peanut M&Ms at the school candy store (I worked there over the noon hour) and eat them while doing his business. It just sickened me , and I never forgot that filthy guy.
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Connie said on May 24, 2013 at 1:50 pm
I will not listen to Rod Stewart.
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Dexter said on May 24, 2013 at 1:52 pm
Hit the button, Basset!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DX42_3ZKv8c
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 2:04 pm
Dexter, I was told by some work friends at my company that there is a guy who places his morning doughnut on thee top of the urinal while peeing. Ewwww!
Mary did you see the story that LA’s outgoing mayor is desperately searching for a follow-on gig because he lived a lavish lifestyle and did not save any money?
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/05/23/report-mayor-didnt-save-any-money-casting-really-wide-net-for-jobs/
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 2:10 pm
I will not listen to Rod Stewart disco post-1969, but I’ll listen to the yellow album (the one with Old Raincoat) or Gasoline Alley whenever anybody wants to play them. That’s rip-roaring rock ‘n’ roll. Almost any Talking Heads album gets a quick hook for me, especially Burning Down the House. Any Michael Jackson after Jackson 5, but I love ABC and all of those sunny J5 songs. Mellencamp Cougar makes me actually wretch. Every single Doobie Bros. song other than China Grove, particularly if Michael MacDonald is singing causes a rejection at the speed of light.
Sherri that specific bridge repair was funded with fed money in the AJA if GOPers in Congress hadn’t been afraid the bill might put somebody to work and improve the economy.
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Dorothy said on May 24, 2013 at 2:15 pm
I’m with Connie. I can’t even stand to look at him.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 2:59 pm
That’s Weill and Brecht, Dexter. Practically classical music.
Louie Gohmert is a vicious and evil little piece o’ caca. GOPers never learn. One of his fellow congressmen should have knocked Gohmert’s ignorant ass out for this.
San Francisco public art brouhaha. This sculpture is pretty niggling next to the monumental work of art the view of which they impede.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 3:05 pm
Where babies are having babies in the USA. How’s that abstinence only shit working out for ya?
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Further to Nancy’s main-body booze links & comments – there’s this not-new story (and we’ll skip [for the most part] the easy Molotov cocktail pun)
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/churchill-and-stalin-in-all-night-wartime-drinking-session/480451.html
“There I found Stalin and Churchill, and Molotov who joined them, sitting with a heavily laden board between them: food of all kinds, crowned by a suckling pig and innumerable bottles,” wrote Sir Alexander Cadogan, permanent under-secretary at the Foreign Office, of the visit.
The mood was “merry as a marriage-bell,” he added, though Churchill was complaining of a “slight headache” when Cadogan came to find him at one in the morning, and “seemed wisely confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine.”
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Brandon said on May 24, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Other brands also depend on snob appeal, but Abercrombie was stupid to be so overt about it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/24/abercrombie-sales-ceo-controversy_n_3332601.html
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paddyo' said on May 24, 2013 at 3:21 pm
The Doors forever! (Sorry Basset . . . )
In my late-1960s R.C. high school seminary days, free-flowing post-Vatican II experimentation meant we could do things like stage the Good Friday Stations of the Cross in a mountain meadow above the farmlands where our Monterey Bay area campus was located. One year, we brought a boombox and played portions of “The Unknown Soldier” and, at the climactic crucifixion moment, “The End” (no, not the Oedipal part!).
Best. Stations. Ever.
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 3:44 pm
If my age had been double-digit in those days, I’d a been a Doors man.
Back in the early ’80’s I was a Police* man, and in the ’90’s I became (and remain) a Pearl Jam guy.
Of all of them, Eddie Vedder (& co) strikes me the deepest. Jim Morrison was that era’s self-destructive Kurt Cobain; Eddie (and Sting) has the courage to do what we mortals do – grow old!
*have you noticed how the Plice are all over the radio, these past few months? Is it the thirty-year anniversary effect?
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Police
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 3:57 pm
Not trying to be a smartass or start an argument, but can any of y’all that think on the Right explain what the GOP is after in pushing raising student loan interest:
http://www.politicususa.com/republicans-court-young-voters-passing-bill-raises-student-loan-interest-rates.html
I mean, is it antipathy toward a voting demographic they know already despises them and won’t vote for them until hell freezes solid? Seems completely fracking loony.
I like a lot of songs by the Police, but Roxanne is like fingernails on a slate blackboard (remember blackboards?). Stuart Copland was the musical genius of the group and shows up frequently for the music on TeeVee shows. His music for The Equalizer was terrific. Another guy that used to make a livelihood in that way was Randy California, the singer and guitar player from the iconic 60s band Spirit, and I won’t hear any arguments about calling Spirit iconic.
Paddyo’: Like playing Suzanne at the folk Mass.
Here’s Eddie Vedder with the doors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n23YU6dFBsE
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 4:16 pm
Prospero – superb!
a non-sequitur: I dearly love Fort Wayne’s Community Schools, and our district’s leadership, and our son’s high school (which was also mine) – South Side.
So this story, concerning a teacher that Grant had last year, pulls it all together, and makes me smile:
http://www.fwcs.k12.in.us/admin/release.php?postingid=9987
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Sherri said on May 24, 2013 at 4:33 pm
Pros, that bridge needed to be replaced, not repaired, as does the bridge crossing the Columbia River. The bridge over the Skagit River was deemed “functionally obsolete” even though it was considered structurally sound, because the design was such that a single point of failure in the support structure could take out the whole span. That appears to have been what happened. An oversized load hit one of the steel beams, which then failed, and the whole section just dropped in the river. The driver of the truck saw it happen in his rear view mirror. Luckily, not many cars were on the span at the time, and only three people had to be rescued. Still, this is going to be a mess; there aren’t really any good alternatives between Seattle and BC. I-5 is a major trucking route along the west coast.
The I-5 Columbia River bridge between Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR is similarly functionally obsolete, but carries twice as many vehicles per day as the span in Mt. Vernon that collapsed (~130K/day vs 70K/day). Oregon has already committed their portion of the cost of replacement, but the Washington state senate has refused so far, and it’s because Republicans hate light rail. Putting light rail on the bridge would allow an extension of Portland’s incredible light rail system into Vancouver (WA), but the state senator from Vancouver is one of the biggest opponents.
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alex said on May 24, 2013 at 4:53 pm
Skagit. Sounds like a cross between skank and faggot.
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Scout said on May 24, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Happy Memorial Day weekend, all! This summarizes the whole theme of Nancy’s post:
http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Boy-I-m-going-to-pay-for-this-tomorrow-at-yoga-class-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8543410_.htm
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nancy said on May 24, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Good one!
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Sherri said on May 24, 2013 at 5:18 pm
It’s a soft g, Alex, so it’s ska-jit.
Just one of the tricks to fool the newcomers, like the pronunciation of Sequim, WA (it’s only one syllable – sqwim).
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 5:19 pm
Never liked Facebook much, but this is beyond anything I’m really willing to put up with. They shut down the Daily Beast’s page and those of all their editors because they posted a picture of the Bea Arthur boob painting, but they want to label pro-rape messages fracking “humor”? I’m going to miss the automatic pictures of my grandchildren, but the aholes of Facebook ought to be nuked for this policy.
I just came across the news there is an album called Seven Moons, with Robin Trower and Jack Bruce. Holy Crap.
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David C. said on May 24, 2013 at 6:20 pm
I hope this doesn’t come to pass. The DIA is the first real art museum I ever visited. The joke art museum in Grand Rapids doesn’t count.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130523/NEWS01/305230154/DIA-Kevyn-Orr-Detroit-bankruptcy-art
The once unthinkable is suddenly thinkable.
Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr is considering whether the multibillion-dollar collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts should be considered city assets that potentially could be sold to cover about $15 billion in debt.
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Dexter said on May 24, 2013 at 6:27 pm
brian, I was a big Police fan from the start, and also played Pearl Jam every chance I got…I still do. A big part of my day is taken listening to the dedicated Pearl Jam radio station on XM Satellite Radio. I listen to it even more than I listen to the Bruce channel.
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Danny said on May 24, 2013 at 6:43 pm
A tribute to my dear wife.
Robin tearing up some waves last year in Kaua’i. Not bad for 53 years old!
http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l231/gearsmith/P1010466_zps2f4eaebe.jpg
I love her more today than yesterday:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuqHlv1YPe0
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brian stouder said on May 24, 2013 at 6:50 pm
Dexter – once, years ago – a guy I work with won free tix to see Pearl Jam at West Lafayette (whatever the music hall is called at Purdue)….for a Thursday night. The guy asked me if I wanted ’em – for free.
I think I stopped short of LEAPING at the offer….but indeed I snapped ’em up.
Wow.
It was good stuff.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 7:00 pm
The guy running for Lt. Goober-nor in VA is crazy as a loon, even more nuts than Cuccinelli, which hardly seems possible. The candidate for AG thinks women that miscarry should face criminal charges.
Toys in the attic.
Another thing that gets an instant button push from me: any Aerosmith ballad, and Love in an Elevator. God those are horrible records.
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Prospero said on May 24, 2013 at 7:15 pm
I’ve heard lots of jokes about wingnuts claiming President Obama was responsible for the OK tornado, but you had to know somebody would assert such an asinine theory eventually.
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Deborah said on May 24, 2013 at 7:32 pm
Danny, your wife is quite the babe, happy anniversary.
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Deborah said on May 24, 2013 at 8:32 pm
Is this for real about Scalia? If it is, it’s really sad http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2013/05/scalia-resigns-post-as-scoutmaster.html
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LAMary said on May 24, 2013 at 8:51 pm
Nah, Deborah. Andy Borowitz writes a humor column. It’s a joke.
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Kirk said on May 24, 2013 at 9:04 pm
If it’s the Eagles, I’m definitely hitting the button.
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basset said on May 24, 2013 at 9:18 pm
I could not identify one Pearl Jam song. Police I’m aware of but never much cared for, although Andy Summers did do one album with Robert Fripp that I really liked – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOiuh2Upa8s
I remember when Mellencamp was still Johnny Cougar and playing at the Bluebird in Bloomington.
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Bob (not Greene) said on May 24, 2013 at 11:44 pm
I spent a semester at IU in Bloomington during my Big 10 tour (long story, not that interesting). I went to the Bluebird regularly. Can’t recall any of the bands i saw there, though I remember going to the weekly blues jam often. Loved the campus. The town, not so much. Left IU to go to Wisconsin. Never needed to look anywhere else after that.
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brian stouder said on May 25, 2013 at 12:39 am
Basset – I once caught John C Mellencamp at (what used to be called) Deer Creek – an outdoor arena north of Indy. The opening act was Blind Melon, and they had basically one hit – before the lead singer ended up dead later that summer (if memory serves).
Blind melon was a mess; incoherent, disjointed noise; the lead singer was rolling around on the stage – a genuine train wreck.
And then Mellencamp came out – all professional and ‘on’, and he absolutely rocked that place. It was a sublime evening, watching him sing ‘Small Town’ and ‘Little Pink Houses’ – etc – smack dab amidst an Indiana cornfield.
Prospero – thanks for the Eddie/Doors link; it was quite good, and lead me to several more really good Eddie Vedder/David Letterman videos, and other good stuff.
A very pleasant 15 minutes of stuff, indeed
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Dexter said on May 25, 2013 at 12:50 am
Ron Bennington interviewed Mellencamp in New York yesterday ; it was a live broadcast off the satellite (XM 103) promoting the new album It’s not up on the site yet, so I will share a great short interview with Tom Jones which Ron also did last week.
http://theinterrobang.com/2013/05/tom-jones-finds-the-magic-again/
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Dexter said on May 25, 2013 at 12:57 am
Oh yeah…now this is a real buzz-kill, but this interview Ron does with Temple Grandin made me think for a long time…whether you know it or not, you do know someone “on the spectrum”. The topic is autism. It’s a real eye-opener, much more so than the movie.
http://theinterrobang.com/2013/05/temple-grandin-and-the-autistic-brain/
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alex said on May 25, 2013 at 9:04 am
By the time I got to Bloomington, Johnny Cougar was driving around in a Corvette stretch limo and making appearances with top-heavy plastic surgery victims on his arm.
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