Poor Kristen Stewart. Such a promising start in showbiz — Jodie Foster’s diabetic daughter in “Panic Room,” respectable appearances in “Into the Wild” and “Adventureland” — and all it takes is one franchise to turn her into a joke. Kate and I saw the first “Twilight” movie three years ago, when she would have been, what? Twelve? And even she couldn’t abide all that moony-eyed crap. Stewart looked constipated throughout that one, and from the looks of the publicity stills, she doesn’t look much better in the “Breaking Dawn” thing that opens today. I guess Stephenie Meyer’s teen-sex-tease fantasy is a pretty big thing to have stuck in your gut. I hope the paychecks made it all worth it.
The details I’m reading today sound laughable. They reduce the honeymoon bed to splinters? The Detroit News critic wondered where the clothes go when the werewolf clan shape-shifts, and why they’re always dressed a minute or two after they switch back. These are quibbles, however, compared to the big money scene. Hello:
Meyer’s Breaking Dawn is infamous for its centerpiece birthing scene, where Edward literally gnaws into Bella’s pregnant belly to give her the sparkly vampire equivalent of a C-section. Fans have wondered for years how they’d transfer that to the big screen, and though we don’t want to spoil the climax of the movie, you should set your expectations in check: There will be blood, but there won’t be a lot of gore (or even clarity). In fact, if you’re totally unfamiliar with the book, you may not be able to tell what’s going on by the way it’s been shot. We feel for you, because when it appears that Edward is indulging in some particularly bloody cunnilingus with Bella at the inopportune time of her delivery, you’re going to be really confused.
Mercy.
What movies will our little family be able to see this holiday season? I guess “Shame” is out, but I am looking forward to taking Kate to “The Other F Word,” a documentary about legendary punk rockers as parents, if it ever gets here.
Oy, what a week. The good news is, the next one will be markedly better, Thanksgiving and all.
I have to get moving early today, so let’s get to the bloggage, eh?
From the Department of Stories Whose End You Saw Coming a Million Miles Away, But Still Find Satisfying: It would appear James O’Keefe is having difficulty setting up Stings R Us.
There’s now a Huffington Post Detroit. I can’t wait to not read it.
Finally, the news from Moe’s part of the world isn’t good. Moe, I hope you know that however this disease progresses, you have our virtual community pulling for you, in every way.
coozledad said on November 18, 2011 at 9:42 am
I only watched the trailer, but “Twilight-The Redwingening” looks an awful lot like Dark Shadows humped a mafia wedding. All it needs is for the soundtrack to be played on a Lowrey Genie.
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mark said on November 18, 2011 at 9:43 am
Best thoughts and prayers to moe.
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annie said on November 18, 2011 at 9:47 am
I seldom comment as I live on the West Coast, am rushing around in the morning getting ready for work & don’t get to read Nancy Nall till the afternoon by which time you all have made such interesting & insightful comments that I am amazed (& intimidated). But this morning I am up at 5 am worrying over trivial things & read about Moe’s news. I am sad. Moe, you have handled your situation with grace & courage. I know we are all thinking good thoughts for you.
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Scout said on November 18, 2011 at 9:57 am
Went to see a 7:00 showing of Puss in Boots last night (don’t bother) and there were teenagers camped out into the street for the midnight showing of Breaking Wind or whatever it’s called. I must be old, because I don’t get that at all.
I know that we’re all pulling for you, Moe. As on-line communities go, you have good mojo with this bunch.
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Dorothy said on November 18, 2011 at 10:04 am
Wish I could give you a big hug, Moe. I don’t know what good it would do but theoretically it would make one or both of us feel a little better. But I’d rather grab that cancer out of you and throw it far, far away. And curse it while it was flying through the air into the upper atmosphere.
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Suzanne said on November 18, 2011 at 10:17 am
I don’t know you Moe (heck, I don’t know any of you people!), but know that I am thinking of you and keeping you in prayer. It’s gotta be a hard road to travel, and no one needs to do it alone.
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Deborah said on November 18, 2011 at 10:17 am
Thinking of you Moe. You seem like one strong lady. Cancer is indeed a bitch.
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BigHank53 said on November 18, 2011 at 10:20 am
Some years ago I wandered into a giant chain bookstore late in the evening to discover roughly 6300 teenagers eagerly waiting for the latest Twilight book. It was only slightly less crazed than the Harry Potter releases.
Stewart stands to earn upwards of 20 million dollars from the Twilight movies. She’s got years to work on rehabilitating her image, which will work out one of two ways: either her talent will overcome the stench of Twilight, in which case she becomes the next Julia Roberts, or she tapers off into B-list and eventually C-list status and winds up on reality TV in fifteen years.
Either way, she gets to keep the twenty million.
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Jen said on November 18, 2011 at 10:37 am
Oh Lord, Twilight. I have actually read the books (I was curious what all the kerfluffle was about) and it is a really dopey book. Poorly written and very predictable, at least until Edward gives Bella the vampire C-section. “Breaking Dawn” is actually just full of “WTF?” moments.
I’m seeing the movie on Sunday afternoon with a friend who loves to watch bad movies and make fun of them in the theater almost as much as I do. We’ve seen two of the other three movies together and had a great time. (He and I actually rarely see good movies together – it’s always “Twilight” and “Transformers” and other epically bad stuff. Yes, we are part of the reason Hollywood keeps making truly terrible movies. Sorry.)
I sort of enjoy “Twilight” for its dopey badness, but I also really worry about teenage girls who watch these movies and read these books and think that they represent a good model for teenage relationships. Edward, the main guy, is pretty much the model for an emotionally abusive teen boyfriend. He stalks Bella, plays with her emotions, demands that she have no friends and gets incredibly jealous whenever she spends time with other people, especially guys. And this is glorified in the books! Bella sees this as Edward loving her, rather than him being an abuser. I’ve written about this before online (mostly on Facebook) and had Twihards blast me for it, saying I need to lighten up, but when something is geared toward impressionable teens, parents at least need to know that it’s glorifying some really troubling things.
Luckily, I’m offsetting the “Twilight” badness by seeing “J. Edgar” this afternoon (though it hasn’t gotten great reviews) and “Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil” on Saturday night.
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alex said on November 18, 2011 at 10:40 am
So sorry, moe. I’m unable to link to the particulars because I’m using a crap-ass Web TV keyboard in a hotel room that drops the connection constantly and takes a gazillion years to reboot. I wish you courage and strength.
Wish I’d brought my laptop. They’re charging me a small fortune for the use of this crappy service. And I’m sorry to have missed out on all the link-o-licious fun yesterday.
One of the presenters at a seminar yesterday was going on and on about how the Occupy movement is an anti-government movement and should be put down. I earned his enmity when I piped up and said the Tea Party movement is anti-government; this one is more about the corrupting influence of money on politics. He protested that a cab driver had just made a blanket statement to him about “you all rich people” and that this is representative of the Occupy mind set. I countered that college grads with no job prospects and $100K in debt is more characteristic of the Occupy mind set. Show me a petulant cab driver who hates the rich and I’ll show you a dozen who hate liberals, blacks, etc. When I lived in Chicago just about every third cab driver was an Archie Bunker.
The Occupy movement is benign. It’s authentic grassroots populism whereas the Tea Party was organized and financed by political interests. I don’t like seeing the police battering anyone with batons, but some of the people who show up for GOP town hall meetings would be far more deserving.
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deb said on November 18, 2011 at 10:44 am
Moe, so sorry to hear this news. I hope there is some comfort in knowing so many of us are thinking of and praying for you.
Nance, re holiday movies, have you considered “War Horse”? A friend saw the stage version in New York and raved; the movie trailer looks pretty good, too.
Re “Twilight,” I stumbled upon it while channel-surfing the other night. Two minutes was about all I could stand, but that was enough to come to the same conclusions: constipated female lead, insipid, stoopid. Turned to hubby and said, “Jeeze, how did this become such a phenomenon?” Yew.
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Sue said on November 18, 2011 at 10:50 am
Moe, I was hoping for better news for you. From following your blog I know that you have a wonderfully supportive family, friends and e-network, lots of people you know and (technically) don’t know thinking of you and wishing the best for you.
For what it’s worth we’re with you down this road, even those of us just staring at computer screens around the country and beyond, feeling bad for you.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2011 at 10:54 am
Moe – we’re all with you (whether or not we really know it).
I suppose the fact that we have to designate a day for ‘thanks giving’ indicates at least a glancing acknowledgement of how much of life that most people take for granted. And when a friend falls ill, that also reminds us.
Here’s hoping you feel well enough, despite whatever else is going on.
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del said on November 18, 2011 at 10:59 am
Moe, sorry to hear that news…thinking of you and your wonderful family from afar.
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Julie Robinson said on November 18, 2011 at 11:26 am
Moe, I’m so sorry about this. I’m praying for strength and solace for you.
Read a bit of the first book, saw the movie on Netflix, wikied the rest of the story to avoid more contact. We can bitch all we want about it, it’s not made for us.
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Joe Kobiela said on November 18, 2011 at 11:28 am
Moe,
Throwing good thoughts your way. Wife is a cancer survivor, I know what your going through. Fight hard
Pilot Joe
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Sherri said on November 18, 2011 at 11:44 am
Moe, so sorry.
My daughter read the Twilight books when she was in junior high, and we went to the first movie with another mom and her daughter. Then my daughter got a little bit older and got over them. She’s had no interest in seeing any of the other movies.
What I never got were all the grown women who were so into the Twilight series. I could understand the appeal to 13 year old girls, but not to anyone else.
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Jolene said on November 18, 2011 at 11:53 am
Another new movie to check out is “The Descendants”. Got a great review from Roger Ebert and an even better one from A.O. Scott in the NYT.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/movies/descendants-with-george-clooney-review.html
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coozledad said on November 18, 2011 at 12:00 pm
Some days you have good ideas, others, not so much*:
Every child deserves a good education, Buffy Poon, a Bullis mother of three and former EBay Inc. (EBAY) executive and Merrill Lynch & Co. banker, said in an interview.
“It takes all of us, the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ (I cringe to use such blunt distinctions), to help improve the world.” Poon wrote in an e-mail to the Santa Clara County Board of Education, which oversees the school.
Ahem.
Buffy Poon, what’s it like there on the moon
Could it be you’re blowing smoke out of your ass?
And did I hear you say that you want the poors to pay
to let your weebles wobble on the grass.
She’s Forty-one and her intimates call her “Buffy”
Everyone in Bullis know’s she’s apeshit.
And she wants the poors to send her sprog to school
and provide the basins for their drool.
In her younger days, she went by “Buffy Vag”
With a grocery cart and a great big garbage bag
Till a man named Tommy Poon stood by her side
Made his fortune selling Astroglide.
*Should have just left it there at “Buffy Poon”.
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paddyo' said on November 18, 2011 at 12:12 pm
She’s a bean-flicker git, that Buffy Poon . . .
The moe-est positive vibes go out to you, Moe, as you wrassle that damned Big-C. Cancer’s a wanker and a tosser. All the best . . .
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Jeff Borden said on November 18, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Moe, your grace under pressure makes me ashamed of all the times I let minor issues get the best of me. Keep the faith.
One of my students –a very bright and articulate young lady– handed me her assignment last night, then told me she was skedaddling to catch a midnight showing of the latest “Twilight” film with her boyfriend. My lecture clearly could not compete with Edward and Bella, who I’ve learned about via osmosis.
BTW,in my community college public speaking class, the students were required to deliver a pro or con speech. One of my students chose “Kristen Stewart” and so deliciously destroyed her career, her mannerisms, her breathy longing looks that she had the entire room in stitches. She used a PowerPoint slide to illustrate Ms. Stewart’s range of emotions, but every photo looked like the one next to it. I’m giving her an A.
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Heather said on November 18, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Jen, I don’t see it so much that the danger is that Edward is an abuser (although I can certainly understand your perspective) as that he is total fiction–the boyfriend who is incredibly loyal, rich, hot, emotionally supportive and available 100 percent of the time, etc etc etc. (I’m not slamming men–that’s a lot to ask from anyone!) To be fair, this fantasy hardly began with the Twilight books. It took me waaaaayyyyy too long to figure out that I will never find a guy who is not fallible, weak, and flawed just like I am, and that no one is going to come riding on a horse–or sneak through my bedroom window–to make my life perfect. It’s nice to think about though–that’s probably why her books are so popular.
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Linda said on November 18, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Moe, we are pulling for you. Everything else seems dinky.
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Bowditch said on November 18, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Jolene, much of the footage in The Descendants was shot in my neighborhood. My wife got scolded by the director for taking a Flip video of George Clooney running down the street, but she gleefully shares the clip with envious friends!
Thinking of you, Moe, miles apart, but contiguous in the battle.
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moe99 said on November 18, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Thanks, guys. I’m feeling the love.
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beb said on November 18, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Moe you are in my thoughts. I wish you well.
My daughter was into the Twilight books until her mother took her to see the first movie and – unfortunately – laughed at it. That was the end of that. I’ve neither read the books or seen the movie but I find the comments about how Edwards reflects an abusive boyfriend interesting. Meyers has written a book outside the Twilight series. It’s called The Host. Apparently aliens have conquered the Earth and ride around inside people’s bodies, riding them like puppets. From the book jacket it looks like one young female host starts to fall in love with her puppet master. That sure sounds like an abusive relationship to me.
As for Kristin Stewart surviving Twilight… What ever happened to Elizabeth Berkley? She never did recover from Showgirls did she? Stewart could take the road pioneered by Emma Watson,, cut off her trademark long locks and court a sour disposition as all publicity events.
I had high hopes for Puss ‘n Boots and while I can’t criticize any one part of the movie, overall it just never came together. Maybe it’s because the story was really about Humpty Dumpty, a bad egg I never came to care for.
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Sherri said on November 18, 2011 at 3:35 pm
On the Bullis Charter School, which Buffy Poon’s kids attend…
Bullis Elementary School was a neighborhood school in Los Altos Hills, a very wealthy Silicon Valley suburb. It was part of the Los Altos School District, Los Altos being a not quite as wealthy but still pretty wealthy area. In a period of declining enrollment about 10 years ago or so, LASD made the decision to close Bullis and send the LAH kids to another elementary school in the district. Mind you, this is one of the top-rated districts in the states, and it’s not like any of the schools in the district could be considered anything other than desirable by any reasonable standards.
However, the LAH parents didn’t want their kids going to a different school, and petitioned for a charter school. The LASD turned them down twice, but they eventually got the Santa Clara County Board of Education to grant them one. Since then, they’ve been involved in a protracted legal fight with the LASD over facilities; the original building housing Bullis Elementary is not adequate, so the charter has been in portables, and BCS wants LASD to provide them with an appropriate facility.
Technically, the BCS is open to any child in the LASD by lottery, but preference is given first to the founding families and then to families residing in Los Altos Hills.
I have a close friend who taught at Bullis before it closed, and later has taught in other schools in the LASD, and she was pretty unhappy over the way the Bullis parents acted.
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Mindy said on November 18, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Moe, add my good vibes, hugs and admiration to the basket. You are certainly the portrait of grace under pressure.
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Rana said on November 18, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Add me to those sending good energy your way, Moe.
Re: Twilight, here’s a demographic map showing the distribution of its fans. It’s hard not to escape the suspicion that there’s some correlation between abstinent-until-marriage culture and Twilight appreciation.
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MarkH said on November 18, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Poon? POON?? Are you kidding me? For film buffs:
“What sort of a name is Poon?”
“Comanche Indian.”
moe, all other comments pale today. Prayers and thoughts to you from the snowy Tetons.
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Dave said on November 18, 2011 at 4:54 pm
Moe, always hoping to read something upbeat so let me join in by sending upbeat thoughts your way. Wish I, or collectively, we, could do more.
Alex, always take your laptop. Can’t imagine going without it, if I’m going to be somewhere very long.
No wish to change the subject but I always find stories like this very discouraging: http://tinyurl.com/6rlhe47
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MichaelG said on November 18, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Buffy Poon. Wow.
I’d never heard of the Twilight books before today. I don’t feel like I’ve missed a whole lot.
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 5:40 pm
Pizza isn’t a vegetable? Are republicans ready to just give up to an alternative bunch of shit? Pizza is a vegetable? What the fuck is wrong with these insane pieces of shit? PIZZA IS A VEGEBLE?
SERIOUSLY, HOW INSANE DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO CARY ON THIS REPUBLICAN ANTI-OBAMA AND COMMON SENSE DON’T MEAN SHIT?
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 5:44 pm
http://www.npr.org/2011/11/13/142133269/first-listen-kate-bush-50-words-for-snow?ft=3&f=114113159&sc=nl&cc=mn-20111114d die job. What a jerk.
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brian stouder said on November 18, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Caliban, what the hell, eh?
Lately, I’ve been trying my best to take a wider view – wider than R’s versus D’s, anyway – although not quite as wide as “1% versus 99%” (although I seem to be tumbling their way).
For example, in a society that gobbles up all sorts of ridiculous, incoherent exaggeration movies, such as Transformers or Twilight or Iron Man or Harry Potter, who should be surprised that our “main stream” politics has devolved into similarly incoherent exaggerations?
President Obama rode a “change-year” election as an agent of change, and he delivered on that when he won the office, as far as I am concerned. John McCain would certainly not have represented “change” from President Bush’s disasterous presidency, for example.
And so now we have a clinking clanking collection of caliginous junkyard catch-phrases and carefully combed coifs, all vying for the Republican nomination – and the Head Flying Monkey of the rightwing airwaves is busily exhorting his eagerly nodding ditto-heads NOT to look behind the curtain, because all these people are being MADE to look ridiculous by the left-wing “drive-by media”*…..and one suspects that the Head Flying Monkey actually IS convincing his legions of listeners to go ahead and ignore what their own eyes must surely be telling them. And, really, while I don’t want my dissatisfied fellow countrymen to watch all their fondest hopes melt down before their eyes, still I think they might (privately – and not ever in such a way as anyone can say “I told you so” – which is the worst possible thing) actually not be horribly heart broken to see the son of the girl from Kansas win re-election and take the broom from the Flying Monkey’s melted boss.
Come to think of it, we had some fantastical movies back in the late 1930’s….and we saw how that came out.
*heard that this afternoon on the way to lunch with the lovely wife, before punching it to Rock 104 and Super Tramp singing something or other for the 10,000th time
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Sally said on November 18, 2011 at 6:50 pm
Thinking of you Moe.
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ROGirl said on November 18, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Best thoughts to you, Moe.
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 7:10 pm
What I think about Moe, Somebody I care about a great deal: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/13/142133269/first-listen-kate-bush-50-words-for-snow?ft=3&f=114113159&sc=nl&cc=mn-20111114 Maintenant, mon amis. You fight through everything. I’m on your side forever.
even if I’m some asshole Catholic. I’ve been some shit about somebody I care about, and I do. dealing with Cancer. I am pissed off about this sort of shit. My mom died of breast cancer, and I am not kinda thinking anybody is supposed to take this easy, Moe, you are a strong person that dan take whatever is required. You can put up with this shit. I know I want to think things for my own thinking what makes me feel better. But fuck that. Not in a million years. Are you kidding? Npt in a million ears, you fucking idiots.
bag you morons, if I’m not condidering you have got to be considering.
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Deborah said on November 18, 2011 at 7:37 pm
Bad lip reading Ron Paul. Hilarious Like the other ones http://www.uproxx.com/tag/bad-lip-reading/. Why do I like these videos so much?
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Moe, you have always been kind to me when everybody else was treating me like an asshole. You’re news is difficult, and i think you have the grace and steadfastnes and courage to meet it head on. That is just my ideas\a of you’re character from what I know about you from this blog. I wish I could say something good, but this is beyond me. I hope you feel well. So much as I know you from this venue, I want everything to be as good as possible gor you. hve always found you kind, and this is no shit, but if things are going badly. I do pray. regularly. Mostly for my brothers, that I care about more than anybody. And I am including you. I know you don’t think that means much, but it can’t hurt.
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Deborah, Ron Paul is like watching Suspiria.
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 7:58 pm
He is so damn looney you can’t imagine.
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 8:14 pm
ron paul? the gold bug. I know none of you are that whacko. Ron Paul? How does everything get down to the JSchool? We are assholes that are second-rate citizens to stupid tech pieces of shit? Not the real Tech, That would be MITech, not the electricians. What would we be thinking? What I always think about is second-hand lions. As great a movie as there ever was.
Jan Kemp, please let us explain.
She just thought that kids had no business in the program. She seemed to think that if you tried to help them, you must be some sort of ahole. I don’t figure what she meant. You mean, if you tried to help kids get along, you were wrong? Sorry, but she was full of shit. If I tried to help kids better themselves, and she interfered, she was right and I was wrong? And she can make some horseshit about stabbing herself, She is a nutcase.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 18, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Moe & Bowditch, grace & peace to you both in the struggle, and wish you joy as circumstances allow. The only treatment advice I have to offer is the complete avoidance of Twilight-related movies, since you’ve already got a vampire you’re working to put a stake in. In the grim humor & support department, tho’, I just got to see “Get Low” with Robert Duvall & Bill Murray in 1930s Tennessee, and can’t recommend it highly enough.
Hat tip, Caliban; I really liked what you said and how you said it @40.
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LAMary said on November 18, 2011 at 9:09 pm
Moe, your courage and grace, has been remarkable. My thoughts are with you and I will sic all the more spiritual types at my place of work (not the lame fundie) to send up their best prayers for you.
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MarkH said on November 18, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Yes, caliban, what Jeff(mmo) said about your #40. Also, “Get Low”, yes.
But I do take issue, C.: how would you really know if someone here treated you like an asshole?
And, the end of the world may be nigh. I’ve never seen anyone use “you’re” when they meant “your”.
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Kim said on November 18, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Moe, I think cancer has misunderestimated you. I am humbled to be among the NN.C crew sending you their best.
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Dexter said on November 18, 2011 at 9:50 pm
The fight was over sauce. Yep. Consumer advocates wanted a half cup of tomato sauce per slice, then it was to be Okey-Dokey to list pizza as a vegetable. But that was too costly, and the government people held on to two tablespoons of sauce per slice. So the advocates took it to the Fourth Estate for dissection.
Thinking of you , Moe. My blogging pal Lard Ass Liberal (Sean Holton continues to battle his brain cancer; lately, rough)
http://seanholton.wordpress.com/
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Kirk said on November 18, 2011 at 11:12 pm
Moe, I am facing northwest and launching a serious wave of positivity your way, joining those sent from numerous other corners of America.
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Dexter said on November 18, 2011 at 11:24 pm
“Get Low” is another classic performance by Robert Duvall. Catch it On-Demand before it’s too late!
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caliban said on November 18, 2011 at 11:47 pm
Moe, I’m reminded of a great song by Joan Baez. About the condemned, weongly, Sacco and Vanzetti.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oday_Fc-Gc
I think it’s a great song and a gorgeous performance.
Maintenent. You go.
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Dexter said on November 19, 2011 at 1:55 am
wanna laff?
http://youtu.be/fS7fSL_E4JU
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moe99 said on November 19, 2011 at 2:02 am
Something to share with all of you. Thanks so much for your support.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xHkq1edcbk4?version=3
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MichaelG said on November 19, 2011 at 2:55 am
Ahh, Caliban. You bring up Joan Baez. A truly great person, a wonderful singer and a sublimely beautiful woman in her youth and to this day. I’ve been in love with her for fifty years.
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Deborah said on November 19, 2011 at 5:26 am
Beautiful, Moe. Thanks for that.
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coozledad said on November 19, 2011 at 8:35 am
Here’s a resentful prole taking an opportunity to exercise class grievances. Way to go after those smartypants kids, Officer Knocknees!
I’ve always heard UC Davis is basically in Oklahoma. This confirms it.
This is the same class of educationally retarded dupe the Chinese government hauled in from bumfuck to fire on their own people at Tienanmen.
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coozledad said on November 19, 2011 at 9:06 am
Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WmJmmnMkuEM#!
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Maggie Jochild said on November 19, 2011 at 11:39 am
Coozledad, that video seems to be going viral and it is really fascinating. It will definitely radicalize those participating, and the brilliant phrasing of the young man “megaphoning” with repetition appears to have backed the cops down. I wonder what effect these heavy-handed confrontations are having on the cops at the front line — will polarize some but radicalize others, if past experience holds true. As military planners well know, forcing a group of folks into danger together bonds them like nothing else. This IS the “next stage” of OWS, or one of them. And the power elite cannot help but do their stupid part, because the alternative is the dismantling being called for.
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coozledad said on November 19, 2011 at 12:29 pm
Maggie: Yep. Those kids behaved commendably. I’d have lost my shit.
According to a lot of commenters, several universities have been beefing up campus security and raising tuition rates to do it, sparking earlier protests the national media ignored.
I hope this particular hog and his enablers are on the street panhandling soon.
From an open letter to the chancellor written by a faculty member:
Police used batons to try to push the students apart. Those they could separate, they arrested, kneeling on their bodies and pushing their heads into the ground. Those they could not separate, they pepper-sprayed directly in the face, holding these students as they did so. When students covered their eyes with their clothing, police forced open their mouths and pepper-sprayed down their throats. Several of these students were hospitalized. Others are seriously injured. One of them, forty-five minutes after being pepper-sprayed down his throat, was still coughing up blood.
In reply, the chancellor says she’s proud of her farmboy donut-suckers. I hope the parents of these kids sue her into poverty as well.
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Brandon said on November 19, 2011 at 1:47 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/19/uc-davis-police-pepper-spray-students_n_1102728.html
The article has the name of the officer who sprayed the students.
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caliban said on November 19, 2011 at 6:34 pm
Brandon,
They were clearly dangerous. They weren’t packing AKs as sidearms. Clearly not patriots. I have been guilty of tossing teargas canisters back at agressive cops. In 1968. I was pretty pissed off about a lot of things. Being beaten for no reason by Chicago cops, and Bobby being shot, for two. And, um, I can’t remember the third reason. Back in Grant Park, I fought like a bastard against armed shitheels. I never broke the law until I was assaulted, and I’m not sure my behavior after that was anything but legally defending myself.
The main thing I hope comes from Occupy is that people actually go and vote. Scalia has done his best to remove the representative part from American democracy. Another knee-jerk Republican President would be the final coffin-nail.
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Linda said on November 19, 2011 at 7:05 pm
This is way off topic, but I’d give my eyeteeth to get ahold of one of these tees, especially for my nephew, who worships all things Michigan State and hates all things U of Michigan.
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brian stouder said on November 19, 2011 at 8:43 pm
So, for some reason, I followed Nancy’s link to the Detroit Huffington Post, and then tumbled to a story HuffPo called an “accidental tweet” – by her husband! – of Tori Spelling’s boobs. (fairly unimpressive, as these things go, if you ask me)
Don’t know if this would be best classified as the “Tweet of a twit”, or….well, you get the picture (so to speak).
For the record, I don’t believe it is possible for anyone to “accidently” tweet a photo of a pair of breasts; but – being a confirmed non-tweeter/non-Facebooker (etc), I shall have to defer to the opinion of others.
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Dexter said on November 19, 2011 at 8:59 pm
http://youtu.be/cRUDStCaLTM
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Bob (Not Greene) said on November 19, 2011 at 9:11 pm
@brianstouder And you, sir, would certainly know!
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brian stouder said on November 19, 2011 at 9:23 pm
This Formula One/Texas debacle was always in the pipeline, and I had thought it would be a problem for the secessionist* sack of shit (Perry) as he runs for the presidency…but then Perry shunted his ridiculous “presidential campaign” into the wall without any help from this Texas-sized (and growing) scandal
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15766613.stm
an excerpt:
“We had an agreement with Full Throttle Productions,” Ecclestone explained.
“Everything was signed and sealed, but we kept putting things off like the dates, various letters of credit and things that should have been sent, but nothing ever happened. “Then these other people (Cota) came on the scene, saying that they wanted to do things, but that they had problems with Tavo. “They said they had the circuit, and that they wanted an agreement with me. I told them they had to sort out the contract with Tavo, which they said they would. “But that has gone away now because we’ve cancelled Tavo’s contract as he was in breach. “We’ve waited six months for him to remedy the breach. He knows full well why we’ve cancelled. He’s happy. “But these other people haven’t got a contract. All we’ve asked them to do is get us a letter of credit. “We are looking for security for money they are going to have to pay us. That is via a letter of credit, normally from a bank.
“If people don’t have the money they find it difficult to get the letter of credit, and so we don’t issue a contract.” In her statement, the Texas state comptroller explained that the announcement of a second US race, scheduled to be held in New Jersey for the first time in 2013, made it less appealing to the state to fund the Austin event through its Major Events Fund.
Bernie Eccelestone is a horrible bastard when it comes to money, and no damned “all hat, no cattle” Texans were ever gonna buffalo HIM! Anyway, the spectacle of a 1%er – and Chief 1% Apologist Governor – would lock horns with a Top-1000th-of-one-percent (.00001) guy, and think he could win, is just too delicious! (hint for Top 1% Apologists – you can’t use pepper spray on the “F1 supremo”)
*Speaking of the secessionist sack of shit his-own-self, it is worth noting that today is the 148th anniversary of the speech that the world was supposed to to take little note of, nor long remember, but we digress!
edit – Bob – the subject IS (or the subjects ar’…) one that I have invested more than a ‘glancing’ interest in…!
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basset said on November 19, 2011 at 9:25 pm
Been out for the last week participating in Michigan deer season. Drove nearly 1500 miles round trip, sat in the woods for three days and part of a fourth, about half sick the whole time, saw four deer and didn’t get a shot… stopped at my own hunting lease here in Tennessee on the way home, nothing there but I think my coughing and sneezing probably scared them off. On top of that, I took four shots at deer here before going to Michigan and missed three of them; I attribute all of this to bad luck brought on by my well-used and dirty orange cap, which I will ceremonially burn in the yard tomorrow.
Thought about Joe and the group as I passed through Auburn about seven last night, though… one of these days I will be able to stop there long enough to see all the museums.
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brian stouder said on November 19, 2011 at 9:31 pm
Basset – I respect deer hunters, even as I can say with absolute certainty that I shall never, ever be one myself.
After all the patient preparation and careful and quiet proceedings, if you actually DO get one, then the REAL work begins.
But – I DID hit a deer – with our minivan – one time. And, my understanding is that when you do that, you can have him (or her) (blech!)
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moe99 said on November 19, 2011 at 10:06 pm
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2011/11/dumbass_training_and_the_uc_da033608.php
a former cop on the UC Davis incident.
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brian stouder said on November 19, 2011 at 10:25 pm
An interesting article, and the typo in the header gave me a little chuckle, too!
edit – in case they fix it:
Dumb-ass Training and the U.C. Davis Pepper Spray Incident: Thoughts From a Fromer Cop
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Joe Kobiela said on November 19, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Basset,
Funny you came by Auburn at 7 last night. I got to Nashville at 4:30 this morning.Was gone by 7:30am Some day we will have to get together, and I think you would like the mueseum.
Pilot Joe
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Dexter said on November 20, 2011 at 12:50 am
Deer. They were gone when I was a child, driven out. Then they returned, and it was so sweet to finally see them. What a thrill. Then the thrill was gone. In 1978 a truck driver hit one on US 6 here, the deer flipped up into the cab and kicked the driver to death. It was on…my long career miles away, driving every day, 70 miles round trip, seeing deer nearly every trip for months on end. In the fall, scary…I never allowed enough time to drive 40 or so, so I was careening like a madman over country two-lanes, super-alert, and I began to think of deer as vermin, and I had no ear for animal lovers who abhorred the hunting of them.
So many of them killed on the roadways, and of course I hit one as well, killed it, and it rolled down a steep embankment , still, dead, and I left it and called the county and reported it, and fixed my Ford car with junk yard parts, performing the simple labor myself.
I once saw twenty something deer in a field in the daytime and once I stopped in the road as 37 deer ran across, at the Auburn city limits.
I don’t respect deer hunters, I just have no feelings for them or their prey either way. I just don’t think about deer much anymore. I wish they’d be scarce again, like 1955.
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Linda said on November 20, 2011 at 6:04 am
Basset–My condolences to you–what a long way to drive for nuthin’. An in-law says the pickings were slim, too. OTOH, my sis says that some Amish friends of hers in Michiana (the area where Oh/Mi/In meet had big, fat deer on their property.
Dexter–deer are more plentiful now that exurbanization has created more clearings for them. Suburbia is lousy with them–and they also live in the city in Toledo. I nearly hit one driving near downtown Toledo at dawn a few years ago, on the Buckeye Basin. My sister had one in her driveway near Secor Road.
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basset said on November 20, 2011 at 8:19 am
Looked out back of the house just now and there was a small buck, maybe a four-point, chasing a doe around the hayfield on the other side of the creek. Interesting to watch the mating dance… “The band’s great, aren’t they?” “Yeah, and they came all the way from Stockton! I’m Bambi, what was your name again?”
Actually, if human women would just do what female deer do, pee down their legs and walk around exuding the “I’m ready” smell when they’re in the mood, the game of seduction would be a lot easier. Right now, the deer are in mating season (“rut”) around here, you see a lot more of them hit alongside the road because they are out there lookin’ for love and not paying attention to traffic or much of anything else.
And I believe you can keep roadkill deer here in Tennessee; when we were in Kansas a few years ago one of our friends with the state fish & game division was called out to dispatch an injured deer which we then had made into summer sausage.
The real work does begin when you shoot one; getting it butchered costs $80 at the place I’ve been using so I have “processed” my last few myself and bought a meat grinder to make burgers and sausage. My FIL has told me how his family used to can deer meat in mason jars back on the farm, going to try that myself if I can ever get another one.
Joe, if you ever get here during the day we’ll go to Monell’s restaurant, you can see it from the freight ramp at BNA… Southern cookin’ served family style in an old mansion. You are also just a few miles from Lane’s Motor Museum on Murfreesboro Road, the main street that runs along the south side of the airport… very interesting place for me because so many of their cars are just weird, for example they claim to have the largest collection of Tatras outside Europe. I have been to the ACD museum and was greatly impressed, they even had a Graham Hollywood and a lot of other cars I’d never seen before.
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Maggie Jochild said on November 20, 2011 at 9:21 am
BRILLIANT nonviolent organizing is occurring on the UC Davis campus. Enormously effective long-range and long-term.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmfIuKelOt4&
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Dexter said on November 20, 2011 at 11:51 am
Linda, I live about twenty minutes from what the unofficial Michiana border is, and I just got back from a drive-and-walk with my dogs. On Williams County Road 12 about six miles NW of Bryan , a deer ran in front of the van and high-tailed it west.
In the high growth all I could see was the white rear end bouncing rapidly as the deer was movin’ out.
I guess my frustration from all the years of dodging deer is gone…it was actually kind of cool to see that one today.
I eat pork and beef, but I cannot stand the thought of eating rabbits, squirrels, and deer. Conditioning, I suppose.
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moe99 said on November 20, 2011 at 12:10 pm
http://wonkette.com/456726/a-childrens-treasury-of-american-cops-brutally-attacking-citizens#more-456726
Our First Amendment rights are absolute. Only where there is immediate danger to the citizenry or pornography, can they be curtailed. Yet we are outstanding hypocrites in that we have roundly condemned other countries who do not have a First Amendment, for responding to peaceful protestors with violence, yet that is EXACTLY what we are doing in our very own country. When will folks wake up?
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coozledad said on November 20, 2011 at 12:40 pm
Moe: Part of it is a national psychosis when it comes to adolescents and young adults. After they’re out of the womb, it’s open season on the young. Many of our cherished institutions seem like places to sequester them so they can be beaten or fucked with impunity. In the sixties, it was popular to kill them outright.
Maybe that’s what authoritarian cultists mean when they keep screaming Fah-reee-dum! The freedom to indulge in sexual abuse, torture and theft? Who the fuck knows with these people. I know we don’t need them.
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Jolene said on November 20, 2011 at 1:17 pm
On PBS tonight, an analysis of “crusaders” in TV dramas featuring David Simon talking about Omar of “The Wire”.
http://watch.weta.org/video/2132337386
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caliban said on November 20, 2011 at 1:54 pm
How the recession came about. Nothing whatsoever to doe with Fanny, Freddie, Barney, the CRA or ACORN. Plain and simple, why those lies pervade American consciousness.
GOPers will not admit to the idea that government is a social contract intended to provide for common good. And against all logic, they invoke Jesus Christ while preaching selfishness as patriotism.
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Jill said on November 20, 2011 at 2:17 pm
Moe, I’m a lurker at NN.C who’s been following your story and hoping for different news. You’ve got lots of good thoughts coming your way from Chicago.
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caliban said on November 20, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Breaking Dawn is not doing well with critics.
Semi-intelligent GOPer take on the primary field.
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caliban said on November 20, 2011 at 4:21 pm
How ’bout them Lions.
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brian stouder said on November 20, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Caliban, thanks for the Washington Post link about the origin of the mortgage market collapse; it is brief and to the point, and effectively answers back a very popular Big Lie being trafficked by the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Airwaves.
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Dexter said on November 20, 2011 at 5:08 pm
Lions, presente!
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caliban said on November 20, 2011 at 5:41 pm
Right Brian, the piece is unusual for its consiscion and precision. Claear as a bell. Newt is on video claiming Rep. Frank should be in jail over Freddie and Fannie. Slimy bastard.
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Jolene said on November 20, 2011 at 6:42 pm
More of what’s on TV: A two-part retrospective on Woody Allen and his films. Beginning tonight on PBS.
See Hank’s review at http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/television/pbss-woody-allen-the-resilient-horn-rimmed-genius-opens-up-at-last/2011/11/05/gIQATRDdYN_story.html
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alex said on November 20, 2011 at 9:51 pm
cooz @ 19:
(with apologies to Barry Manilow, even though he and Bette Midler did bawdy revues in NYC bath houses in the ’70s)
It’s a va-JAY-JAY
If you’ll only believe
It’s a va-JAY-JAY
Just slick it up with some grease
It’s a va-JAY-JAY
Just stick it up in my crease
And let it slide, slide, slide
All around the world
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moe99 said on November 21, 2011 at 12:02 am
Dexter and Basset: This is for you:
http://themetapicture.com/yeah-slap-it/
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Brandon said on November 21, 2011 at 5:09 am
If you’re so inclined, please sign this petition:
https://www.change.org/petitions/police-pepper-spray-peaceful-uc-davis-students-ask-chancellor-katehi-to-resign
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coozledad said on November 21, 2011 at 7:06 am
Alex: “Buffy Poon” sounds like the name of a Vietnamese crotch wax shop.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 21, 2011 at 7:14 am
Romney is leading Obama 46-41 among likely voters in Michigan? (according to CBS News online) Talk about “no good deed goes unpunished” . . .
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nancy said on November 21, 2011 at 8:09 am
Yes, my thoughts exactly. I also have a problem giving Mittens a home-field advantage — he’s no George, that’s for sure — but no one asked me.
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