I ran into someone at the Eastern Market Saturday, who told me he’d been to Mitch Albom’s miracle event, at which the pint-size pundit laid hands on the thorny and ageless human problem of racism and healed it, healed it I say promoted his new book.
“You know, I like to think I’m pretty good at self-promotion,” he said. “But after that, I’d have to say I’m at maybe a bachelor’s degree level, and Albom has a couple of doctorates.”
The evening wasn’t a total waste, he added, as the admission price included an autographed copy of the Oracle’s new book, just in time for holiday regifting.
All of which was good to know when I read Sunday’s Mitch blurtage, which was, as usual, lazy and phoned-in and dumb in places it wasn’t actually wrong. It was about the Renisha McBride case, and contained the patented repeating-phrase trick. Mitch advises us all not to draw conclusions about the man who shot McBride, because “we don’t know” what happened. All true enough, but it’s incredibly annoying for this guy, who can barely rouse himself to report on sports, much less current affairs, to tell us “we don’t know” when he’s a virtual human shrine to knowing nothing.
Oh, well. Enough of that. It was a long weekend and a tiring one. Kate’s and Alan’s birthday was Saturday, so it was shop/cook/bake from dawn to well past dusk. Cake was prepared and enjoyed. Every morning errand took longer than it should have. I caught every red light, was helped last in every line, picked the wrong checkout, the usual. But at the end of the day? Chocolate frosting.
Now it’s Sunday, the wind is howling and I’m charging all my devices, as we’re told to expect power outages. I feel covered with a layer of grit, probably because I am — an early chore today was mulching a shitload of leaves to spread over our bare backyard topsoil. About a third of it tracked back into the house on our feet; I sincerely hope once it’s wet down thoroughly and starts to go back into the earth, this problem will abate. This is one winter we’ll be spending with gardening books, as we have a whole blank canvas to sketch.
Among the other activities: Watched “Flight,” not as bad as some of last year’s reviews led me to believe, but not great, either. The early plane crash scene is one of the greats. I think I’ve seen three movie plane crashes that made me reconsider flying altogether, and Robert Zemeckis directed two of them — this, and “Cast Away,” of course. The third was “Fearless” with Jeff Bridges, which might have been the best, as it explored human emotions other than terror.
But it’s a deeply flawed, overlong movie, worth watching for one performance — Denzel’s. Which makes it perfect Netflix material.
No bloggage today: I spent all my web time working. If you have something worth posting, feel free.
Let’s have a good week.
Brandon said on November 18, 2013 at 12:38 am
the pint-size pundit
Are you taller than he?
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Dexter said on November 18, 2013 at 1:21 am
You should have heard WJR’s Frank Beckmann’s take on the McBride shooting. It ended with his saying “we have to keep Al Sharpton out of here on this one, so he doesn’t divide the community LIKE HE HAS DONE EVERYWHERE ELSE.” I just cant listen to Frank much at all anymore.
SPOILER ALERT: HBO-Showtime Sunday shows.
“Homeland” shuffles along like a serpent, slowly…then bites you right in the ass and really wakes you up, like instantly. Who ever would have suspected the star to be shot like that?
Kenny Fucking Powers … I was sure he was going to light up a non-filter with a kitchen match , ala Jimmy Caan in “Misery” after he typed that insane, totally hilarious ending to “Eastbound and Down”. Sacha Baron Cohen guested as a big network executive who always got his way…even on airplanes, flashing a huge dong at the flight attendant and well…anyway, Kenny Powers is happy and the show ended what has to be called a madcap run over the past few years, making us laugh all the way through. Brilliant.
Then we have Stephen Merchant’s so-so comedy “Hello, Ladies”. Pretty weak stuff, not nearly as good as “Bored to Death” was a few years ago…this show has to go. Merchant chasing beautiful models all over LA to Malibu and always striking out, well, it’s already played out.
Then we had “Boardwalk Empire”…Nucky Thompson, Eli, Chalkie, and Gillian all mixed up in all those gripping sub-plots, my God, what a brilliant show. Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Narcisse is as horrible a villain as I can recently recall. Poor Gillian was on the road to happiness and BAM! Set up, busted, going off to prison or to death now…several times that show had scenes which sent creepy chills right up my backbone, damn! It’s just gonna get better next Sunday.
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Dexter said on November 18, 2013 at 2:38 am
How many folks here know Hebrew? This is some really wild stuff here, musical covers of Tom waits tunes in that old language. It’s remarkable.
http://waits.haoneg.com/
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ROGirl said on November 18, 2013 at 6:54 am
The power flickered on and off at least 3 times last night around 6, but luckily it stayed on.
Waiting for ALL the leaves to come down before clearing them. At this point my lawn is completely covered, front and back.
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beb said on November 18, 2013 at 8:13 am
Thanks to the wind our yard is virtually bare of leaves. Our neighbors… not so much.
The Mitchster is about a week late on writing about the MacBride case. And why is it that every times a white person kills a black person the white pundits always urge “people” (which people those people) to stay calm. No one ever seems to ask: “This was Dearborn fricking Heights – who ever answers the door with a loaded and cocked shotgun?”
Friday the news came out that MacBride was incredible drunk at the time. Two co-workers one white and one black were talking about the case and the white guy was constantly talking about how this had looked like a home invasion, or that she must have tried to get into the house. And I was left to wonder where did he get this information? Who was telling him that? Because none of it was part of any reported news. I guess i shouldn’t be shocked that this co-worker was a racist. He does listen to Rush Limbaugh a lot.
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Basset said on November 18, 2013 at 8:18 am
Dunno about Hebrew but we did hear an accordion band doing “Baba O’Riley” on Sirius yesterday. Got skunked on the deer hunt, will try again at home tomorrow… drove from camp west of Big Rapids to Baldwin to Cadillac and then down through Lansing to the Fort and it rained just about the whole time, fierce thunderstorms around Mt Pleasant and along 69 as we approached Indiana, after that enough wind to shake the Subaru and make me steer right to avoid getting blown left all the way down to the Fort. Pulling out of the Baymont in a few and on home.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2013 at 8:20 am
Dexter, I only know just enough to be amused — thank you!
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 8:58 am
Over the past several weeks, my lovely wife has been watching two or three Grey’s Anatomy episodes at a time, off the Amazon feature on our TV (I think it was $75 for the year, with many many many movies and shows that one can select).
I’ve seen about 15% of what she’s been watching; the show runs 10 seasons, and by now she has made it to the middle of season 9.
My impression is that the show has interesting characters which can draw one in, and every other scene someone is having intimate relations (on a desk or on a cot or whatever else), or else in an operating room with squirting fluids and crunching bones.
And – the writers of that show are somewhat merciless when it comes to killing off key cast members.
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Julie Robinson said on November 18, 2013 at 9:48 am
Here’s a semi-amusing/irritating piece of bloggage: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/11/sarah-palin-war-christmas-book-good-tidings-great-joy.html. #3 is my favorite.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 9:59 am
Julie – I liked the Rockwell-esque Palin portrait; she seems to have ‘party hats’, if y’know what I mean
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Julie Robinson said on November 18, 2013 at 10:22 am
Gosh, I didn’t notice that…
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 10:35 am
Oh yes – Jack Frost is definitely nipping at her (so to speak)
I was reading a book review on a new bio of Norman Rockwell in the Sunday paper, and it almost tempted me to get the book…. and Ms Palin’s somewhat subversive image there reminded me of the original “is he kidding?” person
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 10:36 am
(PS – Julie’s sly sarcasm was received, lest you think I’m a boob) (so to speak)
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Joe K said on November 18, 2013 at 11:31 am
Nancy,
The wife and I also watched flight on net flicks this past weekend. I really liked the story of how do you handle the scenario of a drunken or high pilot that does something no one else could do, do you make him out to be a hero? I thought Deznel did a great job. The flying part was a bit far fetched, although Alaska air did lose a dc-9 due to a jackscrew problem. A better movie about the same problem was one made in the 70s starring Clift Robison who by the way was a accomplished pilot in real life. It was called the pilot, highly recommend it, it was also a book.
Pilot Joe
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Joe K said on November 18, 2013 at 12:09 pm
P.S.
On flight, I thought John Goodman stole his role, he was outstanding.
Pilot Joe
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alex said on November 18, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Julie, Brian…
Those were just nineteen of the most inane things Sarah Palin has ever said. I can’t imagine sitting through four and a half hours’ worth.
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Jeff Borden said on November 18, 2013 at 12:18 pm
One movie we had DVRed a few weeks ago really surprised me. “The Other Son” is a French film about an Israeli infant and a Palestinian infant who were accidentally switched in the incubator when the hospital where they had been born came under rocket attack. A blood test preceding his mandatory military service in the Israeli Army turns up a difference in blood types and the story proceeds from there. I was expecting either grim tragedy or a sappy feel-good fairy tale, but the film walked a nice line.
“Gangster Squad,” on the other hand, well, at least the clothes and hats were cool. Nothing here that “L.A. Confidential” didn’t do a boatload better.
Meanwhile, two quick items about the march of gay rights in America.
While Illinois will become the 16th state in the union to allow gay marriage, the asshole Catholic bishop of Springfield, Ohio, is castigating Catholic lawmakers and declaring he will perform a religious exorcism on Wednesday, I guess to drive out the gayness or something. Our martinet of a Chicago leader, Cardinal George, demised the law by saying, ‘Why bother to talk about it.?’ The new pope must be driving these two crazy.
And there’s a lovely civil war in the Cheney household as the carpetbagging Wyoming Senatorial candidate Lethal Lizzy Cheney declared on some Sunday morning show that she was deeply opposed to gay marriage, despite her sister Mary being hitched to Heather Poe. It appears the little blond sack of poison has ruined the holidays now, as Mary says she has no interest in celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas with her ambitious little gay-baiting ideologue sibling.
With Dick, Lynne and Liz, has any other American family every incubated such a horrible trio of political hacks? There must be some out there, but who can approach the sheer hatefulness of the Cheneys?
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Jeff Borden said on November 18, 2013 at 12:19 pm
Damn, I miss the edit function. The bishop I’m referencing is from Springfield, Ill., our state capital.
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paddyo' said on November 18, 2013 at 12:31 pm
Basset @6: “Baba O’Riley” via accordion band just absolutely makes my day. I’m all wasted!
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coozledad said on November 18, 2013 at 12:37 pm
This woman bears a striking resemblance to my homeboy Jesse Helms, a slightly more famous piece of egregious human trash.
http://www.wral.com/nc-deputies-says-child-routinely-chained-in-home/13124177/
Nothing good can come out of Union County, NC. Nothing.
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Basset said on November 18, 2013 at 12:37 pm
If I remember correctly the band was Those Darn Accordions.
Palin? Smugglin’ raisins.
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LAMary said on November 18, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Joe K.
John Goodman is frequently the best thing about a movie. At least for me he has never disappointed.
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alex said on November 18, 2013 at 1:15 pm
My fave John Goodman role: As Linda Tripp on SNL with guest host Monica Lewinsky as herself.
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LAMary said on November 18, 2013 at 1:21 pm
He was perfect as Linda Tripp.
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MarkH said on November 18, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Nancy, I agree with you on Flight. Washington carries an otherwise flawed film. Goodman and the previously unknown Kelly Reilly were also standouts. Washington is one of my favorites and an actor with range. Juxtapose this performance with his role in Philadelphia, Courage Under Fire (a wholly different performance as an alcoholic), and especially Training Day. I thought the story itself was more far-fetched than Denzel’s solution in handling the crippled plane.
I second Joe’s recommendation of The Pilot, directed by and starring Cliff Robertson, a different take on the same issues. Robertson also starred in a more lyrical flying movie, Ace Eli and Rodger of The Skies. Not as good, but good for aviation buffs.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079719/combined
Jeff Borden, you don’t know the half of it regarding Lizzie Dearest. As a result of her daddy-backed shenannigans, she has all but ensured her demise in the primary next August. It should be enough that she ruined the political process and a long-standing family friendship with Mike Enzi by curb-kicking him as her entrance into Wyoming polictics. Or that she has been caught in at least two big lies so far: she is NOT a 4th generation Wyoming native (she never lived here until a year and a half ago earning her carpetbagger status), and she lied to get a fishing license, claiming ten year residency only a month after actually moving here (you need at least a year of residency to qualify for a resident license). Now this whole thing has devolved into a feud with the Cheneys’ oldest political ally and friend after Cliff Hansen passed away four years ago, former Senator Alan Simpson. Simpson has publicly refused to endorse Liz, and when he publicly endorsed Enzi, Liz’s mom, Lynne, publicly told him to “shut up!”. What’s really going to be her achilles heel, oddly enough around this state and IMHO, is her inability to tapdance around the whole gay marriage issue. She flip-flopped from a stance years ago when she refused to endorse a gay-marriage ban. The inter-family squabble with her sister Mary and her partner is real and it could be that anyone on the fence about her will back away due to the controversy. This is an easy call here in Teton County, the only blue county out of 23 in the state. But Cheney’s numbers in the rest Wyoming are abyssmal and turnout for her public appearances is very low. Her base is the “tea party” and that is not carrying her even in this red state as that is not the base here.
WyoFile ahs a good selection of detailed articles on her escapades if anyone’s interested:
http://wyofile.com/?s=liz+cheney
Irony: my wife is running for public office next year, to replace her boss who is retiring. This will put Deb’s name on the ballot with Liz. Oh, fun.
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Basset @r: The kings of incongruous genre covers is surely Dread Zeppelin. They play this pretty much straight, and it’s a pretty good version, I think. Robert Plant is a fan of Dread Zep.
Bluegrass Led Zep reggae song covers are also pretty tasty. I have heard When the Levee Breaks as elevator Muzak once in Atlanta, and I almost puked. Any mention of accordions always reminds me of the great comic and cordeen player, Pete Barbutti
We get power outages on clear nights all the time. Too many clocks to reset. Today is dead calm, 72 degF, and humidity is? Whatever indicates total saturation of the atmosphere without actually raining. Not a good day to be outside. I heard some news report that there were 84 confirmed tornados in the Midwest Sunday. That seems unusual, to say the least. While I was listening to that, I read a report that belief in anthropogenic climate change has gotten through to 58% of Americans finally. But what is with that 42%.
Martin Bashir’s suggestion that somebody should defecate in $Spalin’s mouth so she can better understand slavery was pretty funny, and sure got the conservatrons in a snit. When these dicks start accusing somebody of misogyny, it’s invariably humorous.
That bishop in Springfield will get smacked down by Pope Frank if he pulls anything like that.
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Peter said on November 18, 2013 at 2:13 pm
Jeff, that may not be a typo. Sure, it’s the bishop of Springfield, IL, that’s doing the exorcism, but for all you know the bishop of Springfield, Ohio, is trying to do the same thing….
UPDATE – maybe not. Springfield, OH, is part of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati…
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Excellent Pete Barbutti joke.
Neil Young ‘s annual Bridge School benefit was a few weeks ago, and Tom Waits performed. Somebody asked Waits how his participation came about, and Waits said, “Back in the day, I borrowed a lot of money from Neil. One of the songs Waits played was Telephone Call from Istanbul, off of Frank’s Wild Years , a masterpiece of an album, with the gorgeous Cold Cold Ground. I had this on tape years ago when my daughter was a little kid, She loved Istanbul for the line “Never drive a car when you’re dead.” I saw Waits at a club called The Channel in Boston years ago, and was struck by his penchant for effortlessly riffing on his own songs and rearranging them. A jazz genius. And a little bit scary.
I have watched the ultra-violent potboiler Man on Fire several times, for two reasons: the performances of Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. Inside Man was a better movie, but was primarily watchable for the interplay between Denzel and Jodie Foster. Anybody that likes Denzel Washington should not miss his turn as Easy Rawlins in Devil In a Blue Dress, with Jennifer Beals, and Don Cheadle as Mouse Alexander. One of my favorite TeeVee shows ever, Edward Woodward’s The Equalizer is a movie in post-production, with Denzel playing Robert McCall. Chloe Moretz and Melissa Leo are also in the cast. Now that sounds like a remake worth making. My dad was a big fan of Denzel Washington, partly because they were both Fordham alums and he met the actor at a reunion. Of curse, another celebrity my parents met at that weekend bash was G. Gordo Liddy.
Are Wyoming bookstores stocking up on Mrs. Dickless’ novel Sisters in advance of the election? Does Alan Simpson actually possess a shred of principle?
Maybe Alfred E. Jindal should handle that public exorcism. There are only a handful of priests in the entire Catholic Church trained and authorized to do exorcisms, and the rite is rarely performed. If the Bishop in Springfield is a careerist (they pretty much all are) he should understand he’s committing career suicide if he pulls that sort of cheap grandstand play.
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LAMary said on November 18, 2013 at 2:30 pm
I don’t recall which UK comedian said this, but if there was no letter D, Edward Woodward would be Ewar Woowar. For some reason I find this funny. It’s stupid.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 2:50 pm
Of curse, another celebrity my parents met at that weekend bash was G. Gordo Liddy.
Whenever I see that guy hawking gold bullion on the cable channels, I remember the anecdote that he would hold his hand over a cigarette lighter flame to impress people at parties. So, Prospero, did your folks ever get to see ol’ G-Gordo’s big he-man trick?
Aside from that, I’m noticing an ice-cold, stony silence regarding the outcome of the Georgia Bulldogs’ football game*. (crickets)
*I know nothing more than the headline that I saw, about their wrenching last-second come-from-ahead loss to Auburn. But like any good gadfly, I thought I’d pull Prospero’s finger
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Deborah said on November 18, 2013 at 2:52 pm
Coozledad, Holy cow, the poor kid was handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck?? And the foster mother worked for Social Services?? That reminds me of a really disturbing story I read via the website Gangrey about a horrendous child abuse case http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/2013_October/lauren/#.Uopu-9R5mSO. The original story was an 8 parter in The Dallas Morning News. After I read the full story before bedtime I had a very hard time getting to sleep. The abused child is 20 years old now, she was rescued when she was 8, but was the size of a 2 year old.
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Singapore live performance by Last of the Great Beat poets, Tom Waits at the Bridge School Benefit. Demented, in a really good way.
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Judybusy said on November 18, 2013 at 3:12 pm
Jeff Borden, thanks so much for reminding me of The Other Son–I’d seen a preview last year and forgot about it. Just ordered it from the library. We’ll be watching The Quartet later this week, too.
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 3:32 pm
George Zimboman arrested. How’d you like to look in the mirror every morning and know you’re looking at someday that was on the jury that acquitted this sociopath loser? He is going to kill someone else, and he still has his gun. Wayne LaPierre ought to be able to figure out this bastard should not have lethal weapons.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 18, 2013 at 3:37 pm
In case there’s any doubt that Walmart pays shitty wages: They’re hosting a canned food drive for their own employees.
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LAMary said on November 18, 2013 at 3:45 pm
I read G. Gordon’s autobiography a long time ago and wondered how someone so crazy could end up with so much power.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2013 at 3:47 pm
Y’all better look out — I’m stockpiling snowballs for the war on Christmas. Nobody’s gonna take me down, NOBODY!
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Julie Robinson said on November 18, 2013 at 3:58 pm
Judybusy, I loved The Quartet, hope you do too. I also loved Much Ado About Nothing, the new Jos Whedon version. It was out of my hubby’s wheelhouse, having no car chases or explosions, and he bailed halfway through. I even watched a couple of the special features and learned that the Whedons invite friends over on Sunday afternoons to read Shakespeare together. How lovely is that?
Part of a movie about G. Gordon Liddy was filmed in my hometown and we went to the gala screening at the local theater. There was an lot of uncomfortable silence as we watched the boy Liddy torturing animals in the historic home they used for the shoot. It took the room down fast.
Re Walmart, our son reminded us yesterday that at Costco he gets time and a half for working on Sundays. And they’ll be closed on Thanksgiving.
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 4:12 pm
Fux News’ Elizabeth Hasselbeck says Obamacare is bad for pregnant women older than 65. I figure that is a minuscule portion of the population. It’s probably bad for pregnant men in their 60s too.
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MarkH said on November 18, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Prospero @28 — Yes and yes.
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Judybusy said on November 18, 2013 at 4:29 pm
Julie, thanks for reminding me of Much Ado–we forgot to see that this summer!
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MarkH said on November 18, 2013 at 4:38 pm
Prospero, I was going to respond to your Palin/Bashir note @28 but, incredibly, Martin Bashir has done it for me.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/wholly-unacceptable-martin-bashir-apologizes-to-sarah-palin-for-response-to-her-slavery-remarks/
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MarkH said on November 18, 2013 at 4:39 pm
26, not 28.
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Prospero said on November 18, 2013 at 4:41 pm
Sorry, Mark H, but what SPalin said about slavery was ridiculously offensive. Somebody must be crappin in her mouth, because that is all that ever comes out of it. Yeah, Bashir’s comment was rather crude, but nowhere in the vicinity of $Palins asinine remarks.
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Deborah said on November 18, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Good God, George Zimmerman has a girlfriend.
There must have been someone important at the Penninsula Hotel a few blocks from here. On my way back from Trader Joes I saw a bunch of cops and black SUVs out front. I stopped and waited awhile to see who it might have been (hoping for FLOTUS) but I kept getting the stink eye from the guys with the curly things coming out of their ears so I moved along.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Interesting article about Mr Bashir.
I’ve never seen his show, and don’t know much about him. Still, I wonder if Sarah Palin (an official Fox News commentator) is ever going to apologize for saying that the president used to pal-around with terrorists – essentially calling the president a terrorist in the process?
Or whether Bill O’Reilly or shit-for-brains-Sean or their morning twits will ever apologize for any of the endless twaddle they spew? (I’m guessing not)
Aside from that, and given the destruction in Illinois, it well could have been anyone from POTUS/FLOTUS to Senator Durbin or Kirk – or who knows who?
Anyway, given the choice (and I indeed was once faced with such a choice) – gimme FLOTUS (for a handshake and a “hello”) and I’m happy!
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coozledad said on November 18, 2013 at 5:08 pm
MarkH. I thought you was tired a hearin’ about your old Veep candidate. Plus c’est change.
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coozledad said on November 18, 2013 at 5:23 pm
It does strike me as funny how “Over” Sarah Palin the Republicans can be, but when push comes to shove, she’s their by turns bullied, by turns bloody clawed avatar. Impervious to information, shrunken and addled, she’s their picture of Dorian Gray.
And when she gets caught in her Vaterland act it’s time for the brotherhood to shed those business casuals, daub themselves with a little “frontier foundation” and take complete LEAVE OF THEIR SENSES
banjo intro while camera tracks though trailer park overrun by broom sedge, poison ivy and cow-itch vines. Children (some with dead chickens strapped to their necks)play in a stream coming from a heap of wrecked cars. Zombie John Hartford sings:
There’s a little crick way out there in the country
Where the feral dogs go to do my sister Durr-lene
It runs right past the Murdoch’s
Up agin’ the county farm
Where the skinny little monkeys sip their liquid methedrine
Come down from the tree, you itchy little monkeys
Pull yourself a Mason jar, all you need’s a little bit.
There’ll be time enough later for picking at your scabies
We’re here to talk Freedom
If they’s freedom
You is it.
LEAVE OF THEIR SENSES (title in frontier stick lettering flashes over primates cannibalizing each other and throwing feces)
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Deborah said on November 18, 2013 at 5:42 pm
Hilarious Coozledad.
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MarkH said on November 18, 2013 at 6:10 pm
Coozledad – Hee. Yes, hilarious. I AM tired of hearing about (not my) former VP candidate/terminal dunce. If that changes, I know one place I can go for accomodation. My point was about Bashir. He (and you, and Prospero, and everyone else) is correct, of course, on her lame-brainedness. He just went way below even her level to demonstrate it. I’m sure msnbc saw that, and it’s been corrected.
When there’s nothng more to be acknowledged about the aforementioned female, why continue to acknowledge it? Let FOX do it.
Meantime, more important things to discuss here at nn.c, like yesterday’s punking of WBBM in Chicago, warning residents of more than tornados.
http://www.mediaite.com/online/sign-warning-of-mansheep-sex-shows-up-in-chicago-tornado-broadcast/
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alex said on November 18, 2013 at 6:51 pm
Mad props to MarkH for the funniest link of the day!
I just downloaded the new OS X Mavericks operating system for my Mac and it’s been a royal pain in the butt, but I notice that performance has just gotten a whole lot zippier. Or maybe it’s the new visual effects creating an illusion of speed. Went through the hassle of backing up photos, e-mail, music, etc. all weekend but it looks like they all came through just fine. I’m already liking what it does for iPhoto. Put your cursor on one image and you can scroll through the entire event.
Out of the blue I’ve begun receiving phone messages again from my old high school classmate who is schizophrenic. Last I spoke with her many months ago, she had called in the early morning sans meds and was talking crazier than a right-wing Republican. I called 911 and asked that someone pay a social services call on her to make sure she was alright. Some weeks or months subsequently she left me a rambling voice mail about how the police barged into her apartment and beat the living shit out of her, which I take about as seriously as anything else she says. I’ve avoided responding because she is at turns abusive, and she’s just plain insufferable. I can’t get a word in edgewise even when she’s at her most level-headed. She keeps demanding that I score some weed for her and I’ve told her that I’m doing no such thing and not to ask again, but she’s relentless. As it is, I feel as if I don’t have enough time for the people I’d like to spend time with and I have no patience for her shit. I feel terribly for her as she is pretty much completely alone in the world, and I wish I could help her somehow, but it’s beyond my capabilities.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 8:44 pm
What Alex said about MarkH’s link; I didn’t immediately see it – and then laughed ’til Pam came over to see what the hell was so funny!
Well played, all around
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2013 at 10:48 pm
Brian (and anyone else who wants to know): my son and I are almost to Gettysburg tonight; pulled him out of school for tomorrow, and we’re gonna be there for the Nov. 19, 1863 anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.
If you can’t be here at 10 am tomorrow, and would prefer not to stand in a cemetery for an hour and more for a one hour program, there is a livestream: http://www.nps.gov/gett/planyourvisit/150th-anniversary-events-2013.htm
Info on the program: http://www.lincolnfellowship.org/
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2013 at 11:11 pm
Jeff – …that is marvelous and superb!!
I never get over standing at “the copse of trees” (or the angle) on the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, where the rebels struck the line, after a very, very long assault across the rolling open ground between there and Seminary Ridge.
And, it always chokes me up to see all those markers and memorials on the one side, for Virginia and North Carolina and Georgia and Alabama and Texas; and then on the other side – Ohio and Wisconsin and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Indiana and Illinois…..and then pondering how in the hell things ever came to that rock-ass bottom of an event. Those “honored dead” didn’t die in vain, did they?
The ones in blue didn’t, anyway.
One wonders
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2013 at 11:26 pm
I just posted this elsewhere in response to the question “you went there to celebrate a two minute speech?” Why does it matter? Lincoln’s address is a distillation of a project that began back at his Cooper Union speech, and which became a national understanding now so essential we don’t realize how revolutionary it was: to point back to the Declaration of Independence as one of our “Charters of Freedom.” The Constitution was and is our fundamental law, but the idea that the Declaration had co-equal status to it and the Bill of Rights is largely due to the fact that Lincoln kept using it as the basis for holding the Union together, on the basis of ending slavery & increasing freedom. The Declaration is not “law” in the usual sense of the term, but Lincoln’s weaving of it into the stature of the Constitution made both a stronger basis for American ideals. With the Gettysburg Address, the “self-evident truths” Jefferson spoke of as to equality under the law, and the Creator’s endowment of all people with rights which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, all become part of what now we take as a given — that the 1776 Declaration is part of our fundamental body of self-understanding. For that, we owe Lincoln and his address a debt of thanks.
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Basset said on November 18, 2013 at 11:57 pm
Went to a Michael Nesmith concert tonight, in a 300-seat Art Deco theater with honestly the best live sound system I have ever heard anywhere. He is playing somewhere around Detroit later this week, I think Ferndale – Nance, you need to go. I mean it. Take your young bass player. I’ll look up the location tomorrow, drove from the Fort to Nashville today and then went to the show, too tired right now.
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