Trendy, trendy, trendy.

Perhaps in keeping with his recent presentation as Barnacle Bill the Sailor, Kid Rock showed up to a press conference in Detroit yesterday on a standing paddleboard. Er, a paddle surfboard. Whatever. A board that you stand on, while propelling yourself with a long-handled paddle. You’ve seen them. They’re a thing now.

He was accompanied by two Red Wings, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the paddling, except that they’d be familiar with holding long sticks.

I’m well-acquainted with paddle sports; our household owns not one but two kayaks. My first marital argument, I remind you, came on our honeymoon, when we squabbled over my front-seat driving in a two-person kayak on Monterey Bay, the front being the passenger seat in paddling. The woman guiding the tour suggested we were both too strong to be in one boat, and no, it wasn’t an omen or anything.

Everything I know about paddling suggests standing is a dumb way to do it. A paddler will encounter a strong current crossing the Detroit River — although less so on that side of Belle Isle, the city park/island where the presser was held — and you want to be low, so that your body doesn’t becomes a sail, taking you someplace you don’t want to go. Also, no PFDs on any of them. Bad role modeling, gentlemen!

A quick Google tells me stand-up paddle surfing is a Hawaiian practice that allows a surfer to see more of what’s coming, wave-wise, which makes perfect sense. On flat water far from a coastline, it’s just a way for everyone to say, “Hey, look who’s coming across the water” and avoid the frequently ungraceful exit from a boat in front of a bunch of cameras.

If they really wanted to look cool, they’d have showed up on horses.

The above demonstrates a problem with modern life. In the past, if I wanted to know something about standing paddleboards, I’d have called someone. We’d have chatted for a while. Maybe I’d get a story idea out of it, maybe not, but it would involve one person talking to another. Now, a quick clatter on the keyboard, all questions are answered, sometimes in way more detail than I ever sought, but no contact with a fellow human.

This technology, it is wonderful, but not 100 percent.

It is Friday, Friday, time for fun-fun-fun-fun, so let’s go to the bloggage. I have a mind to ride my bike to my morning meeting, which means I have to get out of here early.

The mayor of Warren, a suburb here, is sensitive about his age, and a quick Google image search (sorry for bad-mouthing you two paragraphs ago, Professor G.) suggests why — he is an odd-looking duck, given to coloring his hair, twice-daily exercise and a stated preference for dating younger women. This has bugged some people for a while, and this week, some challengers in the current election cycle sued to require him to tell the world how old he is. I can’t wait to hear the final figure.

A biopic about Dick and Liz (which I don’t need to explain to my elderly readership, do I?) is in the works, directed by my man Marty. I’m so there.

Gin & Tacos looks back at one of the odder events of the Cold War — Mathias Rust’s landing of a Cessna on Red Square 24 years ago.

Finally, a great story out of Florida by none other than one of our commenting community, John Wallace:

Today St. Lucie County Sheriff Mascara announced the arrest of a (Subway) sandwich shop employee who was selling marijuana as well as sandwiches to people who asked for “extra meat.”

I don’t know what’s funnier — the extra meat or the fact St. Lucie County’s sheriff is named “Ken Mascara.”

Happy weekend, all. I’m outta here.

Posted at 8:57 am in Current events, Detroit life |
 

71 responses to “Trendy, trendy, trendy.”

  1. Bob (Not Greene) said on June 3, 2011 at 9:08 am

    My favorite part is that the person who wrote that story basically wrote the same sentence twice. The copy editor must have taken a coffee break.

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  2. Dexter said on June 3, 2011 at 9:26 am

    Too bad there isn’t a zip line beside MacArthur Bridge for Kid Rock and Chelios and Nik to ride to Belle Isle. That would make a more lively YouTube.

    For all the coverage the death of Dick, at age 57, and recently Liz received, there is no way to impart upon the young the impact those two had on the public. They dominated the news.
    Year after year, all the marriages, all the gossip, all the magazine covers…and the movies themselves. “Cleopatra” was a truly colossal flop, a box office disaster, a critical shambles. Try to find anyone over fifty who has not seen it.

    The films that Liz made with Montgomery Clift , however, are treasures of the film making art, some of the best acting ever.
    Burton was best on stage, right? I only saw him in films, he was a favorite, but he’s never listed with Olivier as a “great”.
    Liz & Dick dominated the country’s conscience for years, always front page news, always on top of the pile.
    Their lives will be presented well by Marty, I am sure.

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  3. Connie said on June 3, 2011 at 9:38 am

    Local news: Dr. Kevorkian died this a.m.

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  4. 4dbirds said on June 3, 2011 at 9:58 am

    I always thought Dr. K was a serial killer who preyed on sick and depressed women.

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  5. brian stouder said on June 3, 2011 at 9:58 am

    Connie, wow! I’d say that story is gonna go national pretty darn quick! Dr K’s passing presents a glitter-ball of dazzling opportunities to pontificate and reflect on today’s allegorical yip-yapping regarding “death panels” and revocation of Medicare, etc. And – just in time for the weekend.

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  6. Julie Robinson said on June 3, 2011 at 10:26 am

    Dr. Kevorkian died in a hospital after a two week stay. Oh the irony.

    In other news, the winning word in the spelling bee was cymotrichous, which means having wavy hair. Raise your hand if you would have gone down on that one. Yeah, me too, despite being cymotrichous.

    The Warren mayor needs to learn about an important tool for older men, and yes, I’m talking to you Al Gore: eyebrow pencil. A little judicious use of one can remove 10 or 15 years of age as well as that tired look. But just a little. I bet Ken Mascara knows that.

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  7. nancy said on June 3, 2011 at 10:39 am

    Thanks to my buddy Vince, everything you always wanted to know about stand-up paddling.

    Thanks, Vince.

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  8. Mark P. said on June 3, 2011 at 10:41 am

    Richard Burton died at 57? How can that be? I thought he was fairly old when he died, but that would have made him … never mind.

    My wife sometimes orders extra meat at Subway. So far we have not received more greens, but maybe we should be more careful about that.

    I wonder where the name Mascara comes from. It’s not much better in Spanish.

    Julie, based on the pictures of the mayor, he needs more than eyebrow pencil. But let us not judge this man based on his appearance. Maybe he just needs a better photographer, one more experienced with Photoshop.

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  9. 4dbirds said on June 3, 2011 at 10:51 am

    Julie, although I have no stock in them I rave about Smashbox Brow Tech which is a high-end eyebrow powder applied with a brush. Very natural looking and no one would guess a man was using it. (Of course it is only found in expensive places like Nordstroms.)

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  10. alice said on June 3, 2011 at 10:52 am

    Who will play Liz & Dick? Maybe Russell Crowe but ewww! And Liz? Can’t think of anyone who has their volumptuous sex appeal.

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  11. MichaelG said on June 3, 2011 at 10:53 am

    Thanks, Julie. I’ll be looking out for the Avon lady. I should probably get some of that orange dye for my hair while I’m at it.

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  12. LAMary said on June 3, 2011 at 11:19 am

    I think they should call that orange hair dye “California Governor/Actor Orange.” Reagan and Schwarzenegger both used it.

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  13. brian stouder said on June 3, 2011 at 11:35 am

    Leading lady for Liz…..hmmmmmm.

    I think Lady GaGa could pull it off, without breaking a sweat.

    No idea about Dick, though. That guy could make a trainwreck of a movie (think Where Eagles Dare) and STILL one watches to the very end.

    Mary – you got me laughing with the “California Governor/Actor Orange”. I’ve always assumed that the more-intense sunlight in CA accounted for some of that, but indeed it looks ridiculous.

    On the other hand, in the Sunshine State of Florida, the governor looks like Lex Luther*, and indeed acts like him, too.

    *I can’t recall which pundit I heard use that term, but it struck me as very funny, and all too fitting!

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  14. Judybusy said on June 3, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Meanwhile, John Edwards has been indicted. $925,000 to hide Reille and the baby?! Makes that haircut seem like a blue light special.

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  15. ROGirl said on June 3, 2011 at 11:40 am

    For a long time Jack Kevorkian lived in an apartment above a bar/restaurant in downtown Royal Oak. One morning in the early 90’s I was at my bank across the street from the bar. There were a lot of news trucks over there and when I asked a teller what was going on, she said there had been an assisted suicide in the apartment the night before.

    To play Elizabeth, what about Katherine Zeta-Jones?

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  16. LAMary said on June 3, 2011 at 11:50 am

    I’ve witnessed a couple of Arnold’s photo ops here at the hospital and there was nothing about his hair color that was caused by natural forces. Aside from this hospital being across the street from NBC I didn’t know why Arnold chose this place as the location for talking to the local press. He also chose it as the place to have his housekeeper give birth. I don’t think we’ll be using that in our marketing materials.

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  17. ET said on June 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm

    Not sure what this says about me (or anyone else), but when I read the line about the Liz and Dick biopic I immediately thought it was about Dick and Liz Cheney. I have no excuse….

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  18. Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on June 3, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    This isn’t involving Liz, but it’s a great story (if third-hand) from Dick Cavett about Richard Burton.

    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/richard-burton-a-regretful-au-revoir/

    (It’s a good day to be called elderly, having just helped this morning to dress a good friend, one year older than me, in his casket. Funeral home wanted to make sure the Scout uniform was on right, but no one can make a neckerchief look decent when you’re laying down. Safety pins from under the shirt are apparently a mortician trick I didn’t know. And any men who are putting off their physical and/or stress test — move your butt to the doc’s office, now.)

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  19. prospero said on June 3, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    Mr. Ritchie seems like a decent guy, given away bundles to Detroit causes. To this point, making fun of the guy seems silly. I mean, there is still GaGa and P whatever. I’m no fan, but Kid can actually play guitar and drums. If he’d been a child of the 60s, he’d have found the Hideout. Now if you come from Detroit and don’t get Ramblin Gamblin, well you probably aren’t from Detroit. He may have made some tripe country crap more recently, but he made Night Moves, which is almost Van-class.

    Alice,

    Russell Crowe would work, and Courtney Love, got the bosom for it, post-surgery. That’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Then again, Captains and Commanders is a truly great movie.

    And this Thurston Mooresong is the best thing I’ve heard in quite a while. Maybe he should write Velvets songs instead of just going nuts.

    Question: Has anybody ever seen Kevorkian and Darth Nader in the same place, same time? He just elects Republicans, to fuck over everything he supposedly stands for, because what Ralph stands for is own umbelicus. Most obvious solipsist ever. The world orbits this asshole, and he knows it. He doesn’t care if his bullshit gets W elected, he does not give a shit about anything but himself.

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  20. beb said on June 3, 2011 at 1:17 pm

    According to one of the local fish-wrappers the mayor of Warren was born in 1944, according to other sources of public information. Which makes him 67. The reason he’s being sued is because the application for running as Mayor requires giving a birthday and by refusing to give a date it is contended that he has not properly filled out the application.

    There was another candidate got mayor of Warren, a woman who scratched off his date of birth. She is also being challenged. The goal to get these people off the ballot, which is easier than trying to beat someone in an open election.

    Kervorkian was a nutter, of course, someone willing to do something that everyone drew away from in horror. I have not idea what his standards were for assisting someone to die. I suspect it wasn’t that rigorous but….

    (Of course was a but…)

    My wife, who works in a nursing home, tells me that patients frequently tell her they just want to die, or ask her to help them die. She never has and never will. But before Kervorkian no one every talked about how we can keep people alive by artificial means but at what suffering. But now we realize that quality of life is just as important and extent of life. And in many ways that’s an important step to make.

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  21. nancy said on June 3, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    Thanks to Jason T., who just reminded me, via Facebook, that it’s Ode to Billy Joe day:

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  22. Dexter said on June 3, 2011 at 1:38 pm

    If you are near a satellite radio, XM 105 will be running the Ron Bennington interview with Jack Kevorkian at 2:00 PM, in just a few minutes.
    Or, just click this link. It might open the eyes of any haters lurking. It’s probably just my pc’s glitch, but Firefox is currently blocking access to the interview page, but IE is working fine.
    http://www.ronbenningtoninterviews.com/jackkevorkianaudio.htm

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  23. coozledad said on June 3, 2011 at 1:47 pm

    Billy Joe jumped off that bridge looking for a contact lens.

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  24. prospero said on June 3, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    Beb, Seriossly Warren has a mayor? Warren MI? Hootin’ Holler?

    Pretty much the same song, but Maybe she turned into Sarah Baracuda. How in God’s name does anybodyy by any of the shit sarah’s selling? If people are that freaking’ stupid, the entire idea of democracy is a piece of crap.

    And Tony Joe did this song better.

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  25. Julie Robinson said on June 3, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    Jeff, what a lousy way to spend the day; I’m so sorry for you and his other friends and family.

    And BTW Jeff, I am thinking you would enjoy the Holy Week lectures (about Narnia) of the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, he of the magnificent eyebrows and voice who is also known as the guy who married those pretty young royals back in April. http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/1703/archbishop-of-canterbury-discusses-narnia-in-holy-week-lectures

    We got a classic thank you note for a high school graduation gift. Sincerely spelled a couple of different ways, then crossed out, ended with Love instead.

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  26. Dexter said on June 3, 2011 at 2:03 pm

    …at least the dirty dusty delta grit was washed off by the Tallahatchie River water. I bet ol’ Billy Joe just popped that lens right back in.
    And if Cooz is correct, it was probably Billy Joe’s black-rim eyeglasses they were throwin’ off that bridge.
    I would guess that no cornpone hillbilly song like this received more airplay except Jimmy Dean’s “Big John”.

    Oh…a side note. Many of you (y’all on B.Joe Day) have travelled through Bryan, Ohio and stopped at Lester’s Diner (Home of the Big Cup on the huge neon marquee) .
    After 46 years of serving good coffee and a full menu, the place shut its doors forever on May 31. It was a landmark here, an official tourist attraction, jukebox selectors at every table. A real 50’s joint. It is really odd to ride past there on my bike and see an empty lot and the marquee not showing “MEAT LOAF AND MASHED”—“FRIED COD AND TATER TOTS” and “TURKEY AND DRESSING”.
    Lester’s Diner, home of the Big Cup, R.I.P.-1965–2011

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  27. alex said on June 3, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    We got a classic thank you note for a high school graduation gift. Sincerely spelled a couple of different ways, then crossed out, ended with Love instead.

    An aspiring television journalist, no doubt.

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  28. prospero said on June 3, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    Anybody that doesn’t like this song has no soul.Big John. And for hillbilly songs that dominated am airwaves, how ’bout Jeannie C. Riley? I think this chick really meant it.

    Pro sports: Shaq is very funny, but will he ever play again? I doubt it. Great baller, great guy. If you didn’t like Shaq, the Big Shamrock, you don’t like life. This is a great guy and I pray that he decides on politics as a way forward, if he’s a Democrat, Kobe will be a teabagging Republican, like MJ. Shaq is one excellent human being.He’d be the perfect Pres to follow Obama in 2016. If the Supreme Court can appoint W, I think proposing Shaq is not so ridiculous.

    Dexter, sorry about the demise. Head for Miss Woo in Worcester MA for the Special VC with red. And why is this day McCallister day? Well, and what’s the big deal? How would you end things by jumping from a swamp-small bridge? You’d have to bury your snout and piehole in the muck.

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  29. brian stouder said on June 3, 2011 at 3:21 pm

    Marshal Dillon – aka James Arness, Rest in Peace

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  30. MarkH said on June 3, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    Indeed, Brian. All the regular Gunsmoke cast members are gone, now. All except Burt Reynolds.

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  31. Suzanne said on June 3, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    John Edwards indicted. How many Democratic prayers are ascending to heaven to this day thanking God that he was beat out for the nomination by Obama? Whew! Can you even imagine what a mess that would have been?

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  32. Dexter said on June 3, 2011 at 4:59 pm

    I just heard that the interview I linked here at #22 was the last interview, period, with Doc Kevorkian. It was conducted last June 24. CNN was apparently bragging that they had the last interview, but that one was June 14. Too bad, CNN.
    And, since I mentioned CNN, I have found myself watching more and more of both Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan.
    For years I sort of ignored Cooper and who the hell was Piers Morgan? On further review, they are both top notch, excellent TV journalists. Let the bombast fly! 🙂

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  33. moe99 said on June 3, 2011 at 5:02 pm

    Reagrdless of the merits of this ‘brou ha ha’ (‘brou ha ha? ha ha ha–an old Firesign Theater reference), this is a win headline:

    http://cnsnews.com/news/article/speaker-boehner-will-not-comment-weiner

    ps: you have to click to see it

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  34. prospero said on June 3, 2011 at 5:11 pm

    That coal-mine shit, I still think Blankenship should serve several terms for murder. Anybody want to argue. He knew they’d die and he profited. He’s a murderer. Any of you guys ever read Sunlight Dialogues?

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  35. Dexter said on June 3, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    Am I the only naller who did not click nance’s link at #21?

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  36. Maggie Jochild said on June 3, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    Ending months of lurking to announce Coozledad’s comment made me PEE myself. Not the first time.

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  37. LAMary said on June 3, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    No, you’re not.

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  38. MichaelG said on June 3, 2011 at 6:43 pm

    Me neither.

    Priceless, Moe.

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  39. brian stouder said on June 3, 2011 at 7:25 pm

    I used to really like that song; it projects a compelling, spare and simple style and power. And when I hit the Google, this photo – which is at once old and familiar and strikingly modern – jumped out at me.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BobbieGentryBridge1967.jpg

    The best laugh, followed by the best insight, bit was this bit in the Google article:

    When Herman Raucher met Gentry in preparation for writing a novel and screenplay based on the song, she confessed that she had no idea why Billie Joe killed himself. Gentry has, however, commented on the song, saying that its real theme was indifference:

    “ Those questions are of secondary importance in my mind. The story of Billie Joe has two more interesting underlying themes. First, the illustration of a group of peoples’ reactions to the life and death of Billie Joe, and its subsequent effect on their lives, is made. Second, the obvious gap between the girl and her mother is shown when both women experience a common loss (first Billie Joe, and later, Papa), and yet Mama and the girl are unable to recognize their mutual loss or share their grief.”

    Her focus on interpersonal gaps and chasms makes the symbolism of a tragedy at a bridge all the more compelling, to me.

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  40. basset said on June 3, 2011 at 7:51 pm

    Sometimes a song is just a song. I didn’t click on it either.

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  41. Connie said on June 3, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    Me neither.

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  42. Deborah said on June 3, 2011 at 10:07 pm

    Sorry entering the thread late today, Busy day. I’m curious why this is Billy Joe day? I remember like it was yesterday when that came out as a teen in Miami, FL. But I don’t get the significance of the day. it’s probably obvious but I’m clueless.

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  43. Deborah said on June 3, 2011 at 10:13 pm

    Moe, Brou ha ha is a part of my lexicon dating back to my Firesign Theater listening days back in the 70’s. Hope things are going well for you after your surgery.

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  44. Dave said on June 3, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    Lester’s is gone? Stopped in there for breakfast several different times over the years while taking the back-country routes to somewhere else. Sorry to learn of this.

    My mother-in-law spent much of the last weeks of her life telling us she wanted to die and she didn’t use hushed tones. It was painful to hear her yelling out and telling nurses to give her something and never tell anyone. It was painful when she yelled at me when I said they couldn’t do that because of the law. I saw Dr. Kevorkian in a new light after that.

    Bobbie Gentry’s analysis of her song is much more impressive than that of my 18 year old self talking to a girlfriend about what they threw off the bridge

    LAMary, it’s obvious to me, Arnold used your hospital because you were there, you outdistance all other posters here in up-close-and-personal brushes with celebrities.

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  45. brian stouder said on June 3, 2011 at 10:39 pm

    Deborah said “I’m curious why this is Billy Joe day?” – and I was, too; but the very beginning of the Ode provided the answer:

    It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
    I was out choppin’ cotton and my brother was balin’ hay
    And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
    And Mama hollered out the back door “y’all remember to wipe your feet”
    And then she said “I got some news this mornin’ from Choctaw Ridge”
    “Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge

    Sometimes a song is just a song?

    Yes.

    And other times, either because of a particular lilt from within the lyrics or the music, a song is something more.

    I always liked Eddie Vedder’s attitude about the (brilliant, by my lights) ‘real meaning’ of this or that piece of music from Pearl Jam. He said (more or less) that once Pearl Jam and he release it, ownership of the meaning passes to the listeners, and away from whatever it meant to them.

    As I get older, I find that even music I didn’t really like ‘back in the day’ is evocative of memories and moods; much the way that well-made older movies become emblematic of their times (think John Hughes/Breakfast Club/Pretty in Pink etc).

    Firm grasp of the obvious – I have

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  46. Crazycatlady said on June 3, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    A biopic of Liz and Dick? Starring Marty. You mean Martin Short. An obvious choice!

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  47. Dexter said on June 4, 2011 at 1:12 am

    Good one, Crazycatlady. Now let’s see…Liz could be played by one of those Kardashian sisters. The older Liz would be played by Paula Deen.

    I think the best casting agent would recommend Michael Sheen to play the Richard Burton role. It could be done.
    http://www.topnews.in/files/images/Michael-Sheen2.jpg

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  48. Dexter said on June 4, 2011 at 1:56 am

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150186636997462&set=a.430520492461.213322.596437461&type=1

    Deborah, here’s a recent photo of the new Chicago mayor with my nephew, who’s married to his public schools information director.

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  49. Dexter said on June 4, 2011 at 2:04 am

    Here’s my nephew’s wife with Rahm, nine years ago at the swearing in of Congressmen , in D.C.
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150199961852881&set=a.441369587880.206579.553602880&type=1&thea

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  50. Deborah said on June 4, 2011 at 6:31 am

    Dexter, I couldn’t get those links to work?

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  51. Michael said on June 4, 2011 at 9:14 am

    Returning to the stand up surf phenom, I noticed it last fall when I moved into the house on the lake and one of my hedge fund tycoon neighbors was doing it every night after work. When it got to be later in the fall, in a full dry suit. I never see him return, but he goes out each evening about 5:30. I am glad that this little community of ours has helped me realize that he is not eccentric, but cutting edge.

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  52. prospero said on June 4, 2011 at 2:58 pm

    Palin and Bachmann. One cretin, and darn proud of it, one candidate for a lobotomy, together, they’re Pink Elephants on parade.

    Bachmann can tell PalinPaul Revere had a long cold ride all the way up to Neh Hamsha.

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  53. Dexter said on June 4, 2011 at 4:17 pm

    Deborah…sorry, I guess I don’t quite understand how Facebook linking works.
    Wow, what a change…it’s 93 here, feels like 99F w/ heat indexing, but it really feels like freakin’ 110. I had three stores to shop and after two I came home, put the stuff away and had to sit down a bit to cool down.

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  54. basset said on June 4, 2011 at 4:44 pm

    All week I have been coming home from work and saying “I have to mow the yard,” immediately followed by “it’s too damn hot.” Parts of the back yard have not been touched this year, and at 96 degrees with stifling humidity it’s not gonna happen today either.

    The yard, of course, backs up to the river which flooded last May; it is a state Scenic River and carries various protections and privileges, which came in handy when a former neighbor got on me for letting the grass get a little long. I told him that there was a tax break for letting properties adjacent to scenic rivers go natural, and let him believe it for a few more weeks till I finally got around to mowing.

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  55. brian stouder said on June 4, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    Dexter – it is hot indeed. I thought of you today; it was like a cross between Memorial Day and Veterans Day today, in Fort Wayne today.

    A wounded young Marine (Brandon Long) was returning home. The young fellow lost most of both legs in an IED attack in Afghanistan 7 months ago – and the plan was that his plane would land at the airport (southwest of Fort Wayne), and then he’d have a big motorcade north right through the city, and then on to his home in Leo. The public was invited to come out and welcome the young man home.

    My lovely wife and I disagreed a little bit on where to go, to accomplish this. One of us thought the place to go would be where all the people are, and join them in honoring the young man’s sacrifice and cheering his return; the other thought there’d be miles of motorcade route where no one was standing, and that we should go downtown and pick such a spot.

    So we ended up by ourselves on Lafayette Street, in a shady spot just beyond the FWCS Anthis career center – and it was a genuinely tremendous procession. There must have been two miles of motorcycles and police cars and fire trucks, accompanying the Marine and his family through Fort Wayne.

    It was a surprisingly affecting event, wherein the public thanks and appreciation could be accepted by a living person; the community embraced this young Marine’s return, and honored his sacrifice, and that of all service members…which reminded me of you, and of my mom’s longtime neighbor, and of a recently retired colleague from work, and of Pam’s uncle, to name a few combat veterans we know.

    It was a great event, and another reminder of how much people like me – who have only ever paid taxes to their country – truly owe to our veterans (talk about a “national debt”!)

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  56. MichaelG said on June 4, 2011 at 7:06 pm

    I don’t know what to think about the weather. Here in Sac Town it’s in the sixties and has rained steadily all day. It’s still raining. We usually just don’t see rain from May to Dec other than an oddball little dribble here and there. It’s supposed to keep raining through Monday. Avg temp on this date is 86. It’s 62 right now. We’ve been running fifteen degrees or more below normal all year along with getting unbelievable rain. I just hope Ma Nature doesn’t decide to make it all up to us in July and August.

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  57. MaryRC said on June 4, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    Prospero, the funniest thing about Palin’s Paul-Revere-warned-the-British flubadoo is the lockstep response of her faithful following. After an initial flurry of claims that they were all British back then, they’ve seized on an account of British troops stopping Revere at the end of his ride and getting him to admit that colonists were waiting for them after he had sounded the alarm, and are cut-n-pasting it everywhere. “See? SEE? Paul Revere DID SO ride through the night from Boston to Lexington to warn the British! Sarah was RIGHT!”

    I don’t really believe that Palin was confused about what side Revere was on. I think she heard this story about British troops questioning Revere from her tour guide, probably for the first time, was impressed and tried to turn it into a teachable moment about the importance of the Second Amendment. But she wasn’t able to express her thoughts clearly, partly because she has to load buzzwords like “free” into every utterance she makes and partly because, well, she can’t express her thoughts clearly.

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  58. Dexter said on June 4, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    brian, it’s great you took the time to pay tribute to this young man. It’s so complex. When one hates a war, all sorts of feelings arise. It’s really simple on the level I want to stay at right now, meaning that for centuries people have been sent to war for all sorts of reasons, basically to fight for the honor of their flag, and to represent the people of the nation they are from.
    I don’t care, and I mean at this stage I do not give a good god damn if it was WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Shock and Awe, or this war in Afghanistan…soldiers, Marines, sailors, who were drafted or joined in wars past or joined in recent wars, deserve respect for the sacrifices they make.
    And this means even if you protest these wars, if you hate the commander in chief, if you would disown your own kids if they joined…if you are a decent human being you must try to understand that this is about a much bigger thing than a beef you may have with the war strategy or the President .
    Aside from the fact that I am a veteran of the Vietnam War, I have deep respect for our own MichaelG, who did multiple tours in Vietnam and who learned a lot about that country.
    My grandson in in week six of Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood in the wilds of Missouri . I respect my grandson too, for trying to make a man of himself as well as doing what he views as defending his country.
    My point is this: If you take a stance for peace and protest the US government, fine. However, the facts are that when you are in a war zone for an extended period of time, and when the time comes to finally lay down arms and retire or move on, a soldier deserves at least a modicum of respect for his or her service. brian, I am proud of you and your wife for taking a stand, too.
    I learned something last year that was sobering: 2.8 million US people served in Vietnam. Only 800,00 are still alive. Wow.

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  59. jcburns said on June 5, 2011 at 8:24 am

    I think Christina Hendricks in a black wig could do a credible Liz Taylor.

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  60. LAMary said on June 5, 2011 at 11:59 am

    Michael, it’s cool here too and it might rain later today, but it’s weird that my first response to this weather is how much I like it and the second is dread that we’ll still hit summer average high temperature by having a month of 100 plus. Last year was pretty good, mostly cooler than normal. I’m sending offerings to the CA weather gods to have a repeat.
    JC, Christina Hendricks has the intensity and sexiness, but she’s pretty tall. I think Liz Taylor being short but still astonishing in her presence is an important casting consideration. Maybe Scarlett Johannson? She’s got some of that power and is showing some Liz Taylor like attitudes in her relationships with men. She’s a bombshell too.

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  61. prospero said on June 5, 2011 at 1:50 pm

    Whoever plays Elizabeth Taylor will need tinted contacts. That was not a natural eye color for a human being. Christina Hendricks is suitably callipygous.

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  62. nancy said on June 5, 2011 at 4:20 pm

    Height means nothing in the movies. As many a leading man who kissed a woman while standing atop a box could tell you.

    I’m with Roger Ebert: Kate Winslet to play Liz. She’s got the acting chops and the bod for it.

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  63. Joe Kobiela said on June 5, 2011 at 5:36 pm

    67yrs ago tonight, around 8pm eastern time a lot of very brave men started unloading from 800ft into a black night filled with enemy fire, A lot of paratroopers gave all, and soon they will all have taken their last jump and will just be memories. Take a moment tonight and offer up a quiet thank you.
    CURAHEE!!!!!
    Pilot Joe

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  64. prospero said on June 5, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    Well , there was Shane and he was about 5′-2″. And Robbie Coltrane, and Hagrid was not a giant. So who’s supposed to play Richard Burton? The most obvious choice immediately is Russell Crowe, because of a distinct resemblance and a similar combative attitude. He’s been good occasionally, but Only in Master and Commander, far and away his best movie, did he approach Burtonesque, and oh, it could have been the Welsh boyo. A ridiculously great performance in a very fine movie. Well the Math wizard nutcase movie was close.

    So who plays Eddie Fisher? We were just watching Mayberry about a Little League contest between Mayberry and Mt. Pilot, and Opie clearly scored the winning run and Sheriff Andy called him out at home. Sports in movies or TV when they screw up the most basic facts are incredibly annoying. I played just about everything not soccer, so I know the rules inside and outside. When directors screw up the rules, it’s more or less infuriating. Why is it difficult to get this shit right? Screwing up easy shit. In The Verdict, a superb movie, Paul Newman and his partner go to interview a crucial witness “in Arlington” But the nurse lives on a steep hill in a two-family with what appears to be the ocean at the bottom of the hill. Ain’t Arlington in a million years. How do these people spend all that money and get crap like this wrong? Another reason why cancelling Detroit 187 was unconscionable. That seemed like a lot of authentic Detroit to me. If somebody thinks they’ll get two better actors in an ensemble cop show than Michael Imperioli and Lieutenant Fancy, they are deluded.Fat asses grunting and groaning about moving an inch or two on their hands and knees, “Reality” TV, sorry, this is freaking idiots beaten to a pulp by relentless stupidity to get ’em ready for Palin and her loony twin. These are not rational human beings.

    Can somebody make anythink like a remotely good case why actual dramas written for actually good actors weren’t better TV than revolting people speaking scripts and claiming it was all off the cuff? What outrageous bullshit. The idea there was ever a reality show that wasn’t purely scripted is hilarious, but not really. It just means people are morons. Who can sit through this shiThink about Columbo. Jack Cassidy? Patrick Mcgoohan, Brilliant opponents. Anybody that would prefer made up horseshit is an idiot, probably a white trash Sarah dumbass. White trash. What I think and what is unquestionably a fact.

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  65. prospero said on June 5, 2011 at 6:24 pm

    If they really wanted to look cool, they’d have showed up on horses. I’d like to see the crew come charging from the hold of Firefly on horses with pistols. It’s not as intelligent and complicated as Babylon-5, but it’s way smart. And what’s this ad about Picture’s of Matchstick Men? Are you deluded? What we mean is

    http://www.google.com/search?q=itchycoo+park&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

    No kidding?

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  66. brian stouder said on June 5, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    D-Day, indeed. When I attended South Side high school (many years ago), we learned that our gym teacher, Mr Stebing, was a veteran of Omaha Beach (a particularly unpleasant place to have been, on June 6, 1944).

    And in Googling him just now, I found this –

    http://thewaynedalenews.com/featured-waynedale-news/celebrating-glen-a-humble-man.html

    which reports that he drove a truck – the first truck – onto Omaha Beach that day.

    It’s amazing, isn’t it? We were suitably impressed (we thought) at the time – The Longest Day in real life, and all that – but in thinking back, good heavens! I mean, Good Heavens!

    My kids will have odd memories of this or that combat veteran from Vietnam that they talked to*, whereas second world war veterans will be consigned exclusively to history books, for them. As I get older, it never ceases to amaze me how fast time moves past.

    *and as Dexter points out, those numbers are dwindling fast

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  67. Dave said on June 5, 2011 at 11:23 pm

    I worked with a man who was there but never knew it until he passed away and they put it in his obituary. I was floored by learning he had landed on D-Day, I had once gotten into a heated discussion with him about Kent State.

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  68. moe99 said on June 6, 2011 at 12:57 am

    Weiner was framed:

    http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-do-media-take-these-poeple.html

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  69. Jolene said on June 6, 2011 at 7:08 am

    Liam Neeson would be a good Richard Burton, but he may be too old. Burton was only 39 when he first married Liz, and Neeson is almost 60. Russell Crowe has the right demeanor, but not the right angular look. Gerard Butler has the right kind of roughness, but not the depth and, again, not the right facial angles.

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  70. alex said on June 6, 2011 at 7:37 am

    I’m with Roger Ebert: Kate Winslet to play Liz. She’s got the acting chops and the bod for it.

    Too bad about her other chops. Jawline is totally wrong. She needs a teensy chin like Reese Witherspoon.

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  71. brian stouder said on June 6, 2011 at 9:21 am

    Reese Witherspoon… Brilliant! SHE could pull it off; I’m not kidding – she was marvelous as June Carter Cash, and I believe she could capture the Liz-magic, too

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