I knew bringing up Missouri would put everybody in a testy mood, so instead, today, for Blessed Friday, let’s go in a different direction, and mourn Carol Doda, the now-departed former centerpiece of the Condor club in San Francisco. Tom Wolfe wrote an essay about her; she’s said to have invented the topless-entertainment dynamic. And now she has gone the way of all flesh, even flesh that’s had silicone directly injected into its breasts. (Shudder.)
It so happens Alan and I were just discussing her the other day; a local burlesque dancer I follow on Instagram was dancing at the Condor. The local dancer is Roxi D’lite, and she posts excellent cheesecake pictures every day or three, although she’s been a little scant this week. She was at the top of my feed when I opened it once, during a break in a staff meeting a few months ago. I think it was to this one:
One of my bosses was sitting next to me. Awk-ward.
So, with cheesecake, let’s go to some quick bloggage:
Neil Steinberg covers a speech by Caitlyn Jenner.
The poop swastika. It does exist.
And I’m outta gas. Don’t spend too much time with Roxi! See you after the weekend.
Dexter said on November 13, 2015 at 12:47 am
Not an ass man here, so I would have no passionate entry if this was a contest, but with a picture like Roxi’s, I offer a contrast. This is Jen Selter, displayer of the consensus best ass in the world. I realize everyone here knows this ass, but to get the full feeling and understanding just Google Image the name. Here’s one image: http://www.jarty.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/167.jpg
Roxi’s face…I have seen it before. 1950s Coca-Cola ads in National Geographic
477 chars
Deborah said on November 13, 2015 at 6:10 am
I can’t wait until Brian checks in this morning.
48 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 13, 2015 at 6:53 am
This is a morning where, sitting in the dim living room, even with the TV on softly and a laptop in front of me, the sounds from outside and the views of thrashing branches through the windows has me expecting a servant to come out of the kitchen to tell me Colonel Mustard has been found beaten to death in the conservatory with a candlestick. Racing clouds and roaring in the eaves, dancing sycamore leaves cartwheeling across an ill-tended lawn.
Is this the whole Midwest, or is it across the continent just because it’s November 13th?
541 chars
alex said on November 13, 2015 at 7:01 am
And Jen Salter apparently doesn’t have augmented boobage, quite unusual among women who take off their clothes for a living these days.
The poop swastika is kind of a bust. I was expecting it to be writ larger and more menacing somehow. And then I read that this is really an old tradition on campuses everywhere, although I don’t particularly remember seeing it at IU in the ’80s.
I thought for sure this had to be a monumental work to cause so much upset because they’re so often etched into school desks and so on. I once worked in a building where they were etched into an inside elevator door and no one bothered to do anything about it for years.
659 chars
coozledad said on November 13, 2015 at 7:37 am
Scatplay is one of the foundations of Frat/jock life. It’s merely one of the cul-de-sacs in the quest for realizing your full potential as an asshole. My father used to talk about his friends breaking in to locked or unlocked cars to shit on the front seat of a love rival, or just as a “gag”*. I would have told him his friends were fucked up and should have been confined in an institution, but it was obvious he thought it was amusing.
When I was on a wrestling team in junior high, you had to carefully check that Salzano hadn’t gotten to the clean hamper first, drawn a towel through his crack, and put it back in.
Way to be, Sally.
*Good candidate for the origin of that word.
691 chars
beb said on November 13, 2015 at 7:56 am
Dexter, if you intentionally combined “not an ass man” with “no passionate entry” then thread winner. If it was accidental … still thread win!
Playing with poop. … will … not … discuss … !!!
Speaking of strippers and other near-naked women, I read recently that Disney is going to ban the use of the Princess Leia metal bikini in future merchandising. And Carrie Fisher apparently regrets agreeing to wear it in the first place. This is kind of sad, even though it is a slave outfit, because it has remained one of the most popular costume for young women to wear at conventions.
596 chars
Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 13, 2015 at 8:14 am
Gotta share this here, and wish I’d written it first.
“. . . if you are wielding “Merry Christmas” as a weapon, then you’re on the wrong side of Christmas.”
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2015/11/13/the-war-on-christmas/
242 chars
ROGirl said on November 13, 2015 at 8:31 am
I never paid attention to butts until someone I was dating brought them to my awareness. It’s still not a constant thing, but I notice them every once in a while.
Public displays of poop probably got a boost from the National Lampoon high school yearbook parody, although it’s probably been forgotten by today’s generation of Mad Crappers. The swastika seems to fit with the frat/jock angle.
394 chars
brian stouder said on November 13, 2015 at 9:00 am
As Meghan Trainor says – it’s all about that bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PCkvCPvDXk
The poopey-doopey thing loses me at the bakery, but a woman with curves will always, always (even if only very slightly, owing to circumstances) turn my head!
The parallel would be a leafy blazing orange tree in October, or a deer crossing a harvested field.
Some things are just intrinsically head-turning
419 chars
Dorothy said on November 13, 2015 at 9:16 am
hahahaha! I opened this page to read at my office this morning and started to step away to use the copier. At the last second I glanced down at the screen and went OHMYGOD in my head. So I had to click on another tab so this page wasn’t visible on the screen should a co-worker stop by with some paperwork. Almost just like you at your meeting recently, Nancy!
It was like that here yesterday, Jeff. Driving home from work on Shafor Blvd. the leaves were chasing each other in mad circles back and forth and back again like possessed demons. And in the morning when I walked the dogs the clouds were low, dark and moving faster than I think I ever saw clouds move.
672 chars
Bruce Fields said on November 13, 2015 at 9:29 am
“Roxi’s face…I have seen it before.”
I thought of Fanny Ardant.
(And, oh good grief, I only noticed the coincidence of her name afterwards. I feel like I owe some apologies for that.)
267 chars
nancy said on November 13, 2015 at 9:44 am
What I like about Roxi is that she’s retro-burlesque. She doesn’t work a pole, she comes out in a full costume, sometimes with props, and strips. Plus, she works very hard to keep a retro body, with just enough subcutaneous fat to look just ’50s enough. She’s obviously had her boobs done, but they look proportional to the rest of the package. She does Theatre Bizarre every year, so that’s where we’ve seen her. She’s from Windsor, I believe.
And she’s a good photographer, which is why I follow her on Instagram. Even her selfies are pretty good.
567 chars
coozledad said on November 13, 2015 at 10:03 am
Here’s some poor stupid hicks taking a shit on other poor stupid hicks. As far as I know, any one of the idiot schlubs out of Ahoskie or Burgaw or Grimesland could have driven to the ECU campus, walked in the library and read some damn books. Nobody would ask them any questions. But hicks don’t do that shit. They just wallow in their swamp-ass ignorance, and now chances are the police will be closely watching the campus for folks without teeth.
http://abc11.com/news/two-charged-in-racist-graffiti-incident-in-ecu-dorm/1081345/
532 chars
alex said on November 13, 2015 at 10:34 am
Purdue–
Where tolerance gets lip service. And free speech too!
208 chars
nancy said on November 13, 2015 at 11:23 am
This is like watching the last performance of Amy Winehouse.
118 chars
Auntie Velvet said on November 13, 2015 at 11:27 am
Alex — I saw Roxane Gay’s tweet mentioned in the Purdue article, and I’ve seen people ask her about it and get the brush-off, so I’m not fully sure of what her beef is. I’m assuming it has to do with her earlier thoughts on Mizzou, which I agree with, that everything the protesters did seemed to be invalidated by one clumsy encounter with the press.
352 chars
MarkH said on November 13, 2015 at 11:31 am
I’ll nominate Jeff(tmmo) for thread win @7. Not humorous, but dead-on.
70 chars
Sherri said on November 13, 2015 at 11:41 am
Call it PC, call it coddled youth, call it people refusing to take it anymore, but whatever you call it, it’s not isolated at Mizzou and Yale: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-claremont-marches-20151112-story.html
224 chars
brian stouder said on November 13, 2015 at 11:55 am
Nancy at 15 – or a scene from Death of a Salesman
49 chars
alex said on November 13, 2015 at 12:13 pm
Roxane Gay’s beef. (Not to be confused with her beef against Mitch Daniels over his congratulating himself for nothing.)
222 chars
Jakash said on November 13, 2015 at 12:33 pm
Well, as a lurker, I don’t get to vote, but as much as I appreciated Jeff (tmmo)’s #7, I’d nominate his evocative Clue reference right out of the gate at #3 for thread win…
174 chars
Deborah said on November 13, 2015 at 12:57 pm
We had severe winds on Weds, 25mph in Abiquiu. It was a good thing that our crane day was Thurs which was perfectly calm.
121 chars
Scout said on November 13, 2015 at 1:30 pm
Jeff (tmmo)’s #7 link is so good. And I say this as a mostly secular humanist.
78 chars
Jolene said on November 13, 2015 at 1:38 pm
Feeling overwhelmed with all the items on your to-do list? Could be worse. You could be Barack Obama. A WaPo reporter tells us what’s on his list of things to do before leaving office. Good thing he has a lot of energy and a sense of humor.
418 chars
Jolene said on November 13, 2015 at 1:42 pm
And yes, Jeff’s post is both touching and powerful.
51 chars
Auntie Velvet said on November 13, 2015 at 2:10 pm
Alex, I’ve been linking to that article as well, but was still trying to connect every dot in terms of Daniels’ email specifically.
This piece is a good follow up on it. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/13/mitch-daniels-draws-praise-and-criticism-his-comments-yale-and-u-missouri?utm_content=buffer601e0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=IHEbuffer
389 chars
beb said on November 13, 2015 at 2:51 pm
While the airport reported 51 MPH winds last night we apparently didn’t get any of that because the leaves are still on the maple in our front yard and that have fallen were not blown into a neighbor’s yard. Guess I’ll have to rake thisd weekend…
248 chars
coozledad said on November 13, 2015 at 4:10 pm
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/11/ex-cia-director-bush-ignored-months-of-warnings-about-911-to-avoid-leaving-paper-trail-of-culpability/
134 chars
coozledad said on November 13, 2015 at 4:19 pm
Source article for prior post:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353#ixzz3rO6PQuSE
I remember when to suggest that Bush willfully ignored the threat was treason. It’s too bad none of the people at the heart of this catastrophe have any honor. Seppuku might approach being an acceptable remedy.
348 chars
alex said on November 13, 2015 at 4:42 pm
Auntie Velvet, I assume Daniels is shitting himself watching these eruptions elsewhere and is fearful of being ousted should such unrest come to Purdue, and it very well could. His appointment was controversial, he’s not well liked by the faculty and his right-wing politics would make him a lightning rod in the current atmosphere. And his effort to preempt it with spin may have only served to hasten it. We’ll see.
417 chars
brian stouder said on November 13, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Cooz – at the end of the day, we’d be agreed about Bush-43. First we’d stipulate the difficulty of being a brand new president (let alone president, in any case!) and the reluctance to start squawking like Chicken Little.
Imagine the uproar if Uncle Sam had begun flailing about, pre-9/11, making everyone think of Genral Jack D Ripper. Imagine if Bush (et al) SUCCEEDED in thwarting Sammy bin Laden’s minions, and there was no attack.
From our all-knowing perch in 2015, he’s a hero – but to history he’s a lunatic!
That said – some large portion of the Republican party has forgotten the presidency is a hard-as-hell job, and not one for a buffoon like Trump or a nabob like Carson or a used-car salesman like Cruz.
You’ve gotta LOVE going into the weeds and conducting think-tanks and READING the reports and then shouldering the responsibilities and deciding issues.
Aside from all that, bad Friday the 13th in Paris, apparently
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-police-report-shootout-and-explosion-in-paris/2015/11/13/3288452e-8a4c-11e5-bd91-d385b244482f_story.html
the lead:
PARIS — Police officials in France on Friday reported a shootout in a Paris restaurant and an explosion in a bar near a Paris stadium. It was unclear if the events were linked.
And
BFM television reports there were several dead in the restaurant shooting in the 10th arrondissement of the capital. Two police officials confirmed the shooting but had no information about casualties. Also late Friday, two explosions were heard outside the Stade de France stadium north of Paris during a France-Germany friendly football match.
1679 chars
Sherri said on November 13, 2015 at 5:21 pm
Many have speculated that Mizzou football coach Gary Pinkel had no choice but to go along with the African American football players who were boycotting football because to do otherwise would ruin his future recruiting chances with African American football players. Now we know that wasn’t why he did it. He has lymphoma, and had already decided that this was his last season.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/14122405/coach-gary-pinkel-resigning-missouri-tigers-health-reasons-cited
501 chars
Charlotte said on November 13, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Meghan O’Rourke, Yale grad on the residential colleges, which are specifically supposed to be “intimate” and “home-like” environments: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/yales-unsafe-spaces
That said, all my non-white, non-wealthy friends who went to Yale had to, at some point, take a mental health break. The elitism is pretty hard to live with on a day-to-day basis. And Roxane Gay went there from Exeter, but even so, by her own account sort of flipped out and fled after 2 years.
The news out of Paris is terrifying.
543 chars
Deborah said on November 13, 2015 at 6:16 pm
We have some friends who moved to Paris from Chicago recently. They’re OK but shaken up considerably. Holy cow.
111 chars
alex said on November 13, 2015 at 6:37 pm
I know an upper-middle-class white woman from the midwest who went to Brown for a year and then transferred to IU because she couldn’t handle the elitism, and she was the daughter of a Dartmouth father and a Vassar mother.
In the run-up to the 2008 election, there was a very good New Yorker piece about Michele Obama’s experience at Princeton. When she arrived there she was placed with a roommate whose mother threw at tizzy over her daughter having to room with a black girl and insisted that her daughter be moved. This is the sort of instance where the school should stand firm and tell people they can go shop for another school if they don’t like the accommodations.
678 chars
susan said on November 13, 2015 at 8:49 pm
I wonder why western media has wall-to-wall coverage of the Paris bombing(s), and this, not so much. The latter is horrible, too. More horrible.
No I don’t.
292 chars
Dexter said on November 14, 2015 at 12:40 am
nance, lead the charge; you’re closest. http://www.laweekly.com/music/henry-rollins-lets-invade-canada-6266644
112 chars
susan said on November 14, 2015 at 12:59 am
Something to make you think: “The First Question to Ask After Any Terror Attack: Was It a False Flag?”
189 chars
Brandon said on November 14, 2015 at 11:44 am
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2015/11/13/siamese-twin-separation-that-launched-ben-carson-fame-ended-poorly-for-twins/miZSU7XaINfDWFXWsfYLDO/story.html
162 chars
beb said on November 14, 2015 at 11:47 am
Susan you are linking to World News Daily, a cesspool of misinformation, bigotry, conspiracy theories and christian fascism.
Why would the French government fake an attack on Paris? A significant part of Paris’s economy is based on tourism. A terrorist attack will kill tourism for months or years to come. And what does the government get out of this? An excuse to declare war against ISIS? As if France or any other country needs an excuse to fight ISIS. Are they trying to make Islam an outlaw religion so they can ban the wearing of scarves or full-body robes? They were doing that anyway. This theory is insane. You’re insane. Just go to hell and die….
665 chars
Deborah said on November 14, 2015 at 1:19 pm
Well Beb, that’s pretty strong. I’ll admit I clicked on that link and thought it was bizarre. I don’t understand how people can jump to the conclusion of false flag. It serves no purpose that I could imagine.
208 chars
susan said on November 14, 2015 at 1:58 pm
Wow, Beb. That was pretty harsh. I know about “World Nut Daily.” I saw a link to this, and read it with circumspection. But I am also so cynical about stuff like what happened in Paris that I thought his point was interesting to contemplate. I have lived in the era of government lies getting us into and staying in Vietnam, in Iraq. When, maybe not false flag operations, but definite agent provocateur infiltrations of Vietnam protests, World Trade protests (Seattle 1999), Iraq war protests, and Occupy took place. And who knows what others. Plants encouraging a protest to turn to a riot… So yeah, I don’t automatically believe what is fed to us.
658 chars
MarkH said on November 14, 2015 at 3:53 pm
For a second there I thought Prospero was haunting the site.
60 chars
Deborah said on November 14, 2015 at 4:03 pm
And if they’re offering discount airfares to Paris and discount hotel rates, I wouldn’t hesitate to go. Thinking there might be another possible attack wouldn’t stop me from going. I love Paris, the most beautiful city in the world. Now I have friends there, it’s even more appealing to go.
290 chars
brian stouder said on November 14, 2015 at 7:22 pm
Susan, point well taken.
In this world of “Uber” – wherein any jackass can simply say “I’m in” and they’re magically a cab driver…the traditional paradigm of nation states may well have to be revised.
If we say this attack was the work if ISIL, then what is the correct response?
In the old days, if a nation-state did a thing like this, then you turn your military assets loose on their homeland, an flatten some buildings and kill some leadership.
But in 2015, when the aggressor is some ethereal actor like ISIL, what do you hit?
America’s drones and the associated targeted killing campaigns seem to be the only reasonable thing we can do.
If the 19th century marked the rise of industrially-supplied mass armies and big wars, and the 20th century made the lethality of those mass armies exponentially higher – to the extent that humanity could actually end its own existence on this planet –
then the rise of the 21st century’s nihilistic bands of marauders and coldly-franchised, soft-target murderers could be viewed (from a safe distance) as a step forward for humanity (writ large)…..requiring precise, measured, well-targeted and relentlessly delivered lethal responsiveness from the united civilized world.
My bottom line is – always bet on the good guys and gals. That, and – perspective, perspective, perspective.
1362 chars
beb said on November 14, 2015 at 9:06 pm
I’d like to thank Nancy for not banning me for my intemperate comments this morning. False Flag conspiracies include the idea that the federal government blew up the World Trade Center and that the feds also faked the Newtown massacre. Such claims are despicable. In my angry I wrote as if Susan was promoting these ideas. Proving that one should never blog while angry. Susan, I am sorry I blamed you for ideas which you do not have.
434 chars
susan said on November 14, 2015 at 9:37 pm
Thank you, Beb. I guess I could have more fully expressed that post with the Nut Daily link. I could see how you took umbrage, because some of the Nut’s stuff is execrable. But I still do look askance at the intense movement to more goddamned USA military involvements in places of dubious responsibility. Obama and his Dem. minions seem to be on that trajectory, all the ReThugs are. They gotta feed the war machine, after all. There has been too much of a lull. And so we move forward to the next killing fields.
514 chars
brian stouder said on November 14, 2015 at 10:10 pm
A nice moment, in Fort Wayne, Indiana
http://wane.com/2015/11/14/city-shows-support-for-france/
98 chars
Dexter said on November 15, 2015 at 1:47 am
Guess where John Carlisle (Freep) is? https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1015761828470054&set=p.1015761828470054&type=3
134 chars
coozledad said on November 15, 2015 at 9:11 am
David Sirota, with an important reminder:
Twelve years ago, as the United States launched a war in Iraq, France opposed the conflict, citing fears that such aggression would destabilize the Middle East and incite terrorism against the West. That stance drew the ire of American conservatives, who derided France in terms typically reserved for enemies, turning “French” into a synonym for cowardly and disloyal.
http://www.ibtimes.com/after-years-insults-us-conservatives-now-express-solidarity-france-2184851
526 chars
coozledad said on November 15, 2015 at 10:02 am
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a39724/paris-terror-attacks-civilization/
83 chars
Deborah said on November 15, 2015 at 11:01 am
It’s supposed to snow in Santa Fe Mon and Tues. We have to leave SF at 4am Tomorrow to get my husband back to the airport in Albuqurque for his 6am flight back to Chicago. LB and I should be back in SF before the snow starts, at least I hope so. I hate driving in snow, scares me to death. They’re predicting high winds with the snow, possible white out conditions. This should be fun, NOT.
390 chars
Deborah said on November 15, 2015 at 11:26 am
This is hilarious, but scary too when you think of all the people out there now saying Trump can’t possibly win https://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/11/04/798696/-Why-Obama-will-never-ever-be-elected-president
208 chars
coozledad said on November 15, 2015 at 12:13 pm
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a39727/paris-attacks-middle-eastern-oligarchies/
It’s time for this to stop. It’s time to be pitiless against the bankers and against the people who invest in murder to assure their own survival in power. Assets from these states should be frozen, all over the west. Money trails should be followed, wherever they lead. People should go to jail, in every country in the world. It should be done state-to-state. Stop funding the murder of our citizens and you can have your money back. Maybe. If we’re satisfied that you’ll stop doing it. And, it goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway – not another bullet will be sold to you, let alone advanced warplanes, until this act gets cleaned up to our satisfaction. If that endangers your political position back home, that’s your problem, not ours. You are no longer trusted allies. Complain, and your diplomats will be going home. Complain more loudly, and your diplomats will be investigated and, if necessary, detained. Retaliate, and you do not want to know what will happen, but it will done with cold, reasoned and, yes, pitiless calculation. It will not be a blind punch. You will not see it coming. It will not be an attack on your faith. It will be an attack on how you conduct your business as sovereign states in a world full of sovereign states.
1368 chars
David C. said on November 15, 2015 at 1:52 pm
That is pretty funny Deborah, but of the names I recognize, none are well known for being as one with reality.
110 chars