I was having office hours today when the department secretary stuck her head in the door.
“You haven’t responded to your invitation to the diversity awards,” she said.
“I never got an invitation to the diversity awards,” I said.
“It’s in your mailbox.”
“I have a mailbox?” Kidding. I learned I had a mailbox about six months ago, maybe longer. I hadn’t checked it since. So I found it — it’s in an office I never visit — and pulled out the invitation to the diversity awards. Also, one to the department Christmas party and something from the president informing us of the rich menu of learning experiences available on campus. I reached all the way back, just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.
And pulled out something that looked like the paychecks I used to receive before I signed up for direct deposit. Surely it was some sort of tax document. Dammit, already filed, I thought, ripping off the zip tabs on the ends, wondering if I’d have to file an amended return.
Unfolded it. It was a check. Made out to me. For several hundred dollars. Dated April 27, 2011. I have no idea why I was paid by check when it was supposed to be coming electronically. Don’t know why I didn’t notice I was short, except that adjuncts are paid through the term and when the term stops, the money stops, and this was likely the last one of the term. I probably thought it just stopped early.
I could go on at great length explaining my budgeting process to you, but it would only serve to make me sound even stupider. As it was, the two or three people I had to explain this to by way of getting it voided and repaid looked at me like I’m some silly rich twit who didn’t even know she was short an entire paycheck a whole year previous.
“I’m not rich!” I told them. “I’m just dumb.”
In three to five days, I will have a brand-new check. In four to six days, I predict a bill will arrive for precisely that amount.
One of my longer-term resolutions this year is to get certain financial ducks in a row. So if you owe me any money, please send a check now. Or just order lots of Amazon through the Kickback Lounge.
The WSJ had a story Thursday about how high schools are dealing with the prom-dress problem, i.e., enforcing the dress code necessitated by the new prom dresses.
“New prom dresses?” you ask. “How new can they be?”
How about this new, to use an extreme example, but not all that unusual, evidently. The story says that the trend toward cut-down-to-there, slit-up-to-here, tight/plunging/see-through dresses is coming out of Hollywood, driven by “Dancing With the Stars,” the Real Housewives and J-Lo, mainly. I urge you to take a walk through the Promgirl online catalog, and marvel — at the models, all of whom look like Kardashians on the far side of 30; at the cutouts; at the boob jobs; at the…whatever this is. Do any of the girls whose mothers permit them to walk outside the house dressed like this have any sense of propriety? Or are they all raising their girls to be sold into white slavery? I tell Kate if she wants to dress like this, I will teach her to say, in Russian, “My name is Olga, and I cost two hundred dollars.”
Best line from the story:
Southmoore High’s guidelines say male students must keep their shirts on all night. “We don’t care that you work out,” the guide states.
OK, then! Got any bloggage? Yes, and a wide variety of it.
From New York magazine, President John Tyler, born in 1790, our 10th president, has a living grandson. Yes, grandson:
Both my grandfather — the president — and my father, were married twice. And they had children by their first wives. And their first wives died, and they married again and had more children. And my father was 75 when I was born, his father was 63 when he was born. John Tyler had fifteen children — eight by his first wife, seven by his second wife — so it does get very confusing.
A T-shirt company in town sells a wide variety of shirts promoting various parts of the Metro — one emblazoned Taylortucky, for a downriver community; another showing a sombrero-wearing cactus for Mexicantown. But it wasn’t until it released one for Dearborn that featured the city’s name in Arabic letters that the shit hit the fan. Maybe that’s too strong. It was more like a vile fart in front of an air conditioner. I still want one.
Dig it: A nice piece on a Detroit urban farmer, and mine on the Mower Gang, if you missed the link in the comments yesterday.
There’s a second Mad Style post today! T-Lo, the gift that keeps on blogging.
A good weekend, all. Sorry I’ve been so uninspired, of late. It’s been a killer week.
Suzanne said on March 30, 2012 at 7:48 am
If I could, I’d get rid of prom altogether. It’s gotten to be an industry. And the dresses! I saw pictures from my kids’ proms. High end hooker dresses. That and the renting of limos so the kids can drink on the way to the prom and not get caught.
And it doesn’t start in high school. I could tell stories about the confirmation dresses I’ve seen. Thank God they wear robes during the service. I am mystified why anyone thinks its a good idea to put a strapless dress on an adolescent for a religious ceremony or one that barely covers the backside, but I’ve seen it more than once. I don’t consider myself a prude, but I don’t get it. I live in rural middle America. I can only imagine what it’s like in the big city!
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beb said on March 30, 2012 at 8:08 am
I feel tainted just looking at your boobage, I mean bloggage.
This sounds a lot like a recent yearbook photo story where the girl wanted to wear a scanty two piece dress and lounge provocatively. And she was surprised when told the yearbook would not accept her picture? I blame Madonna. I don’t know why, I just feel like blaming her.
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Laura said on March 30, 2012 at 9:06 am
I’ve always contended that you can tell an awful lot about a town by looking at how their high school students dress for prom. You’d be hard pressed to find skanky dresses in tony, old-money suburbs.
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Minnie said on March 30, 2012 at 9:31 am
Your Mower Gang and the urban farmer stories were a nice palate cleanser after the god-awful prom dresses.
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brian stouder said on March 30, 2012 at 9:36 am
I dunno what the Proprietress is thinkin’ about – with this “uninspired” talk.
She was out ahead on the columnist that simply made stuff up, earlier this week; and she’s pointed to lots of interesting cultural things this week, like the Obamaville ad and the Madmen styles, all of which I’d not have seen otherwise, and all of which was interesting.
And she had great Detroit stuff, with the lawn-mowing guys (although I wondered if drinking a beer while operating a mower is DUI…I seem to recall George Jones getting a DUI on his lawn tractor, a few years back)
Plus – boobs! Pam and I have gotten pulled into The Voice, and my bet is that Christina Aguilera will have “the girls” put away next week, for the “LIVE” shows, since up to this point (so to speak) she always looks like she’s one sneeze away from a double-breasted blow-out…
By way of saying – it’s been a fine week, up here in the cheap seats
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MarkH said on March 30, 2012 at 9:38 am
I think it was CBS Sunday Morning that did a story on Harrison Tyler over a month ago. Astounding, really. Some mega-genes being passed along there.
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Prospero said on March 30, 2012 at 9:54 am
What Nancy Nall has in common with RMoney. Paycheck? What paycheck?
My prom dress color? Gunmetal/pink. And that two-piece comes in size 16. Like Nancy Grace on DWTS. And isn’t that a fine contradiction in terms. Where the hell is a guy supposed to pin the corsage.
My prom was a great night, at Greenfield Village. My mom and dad were chaperones I had a midnight blue tux.None of the young women dressed as hos. I drove my mom’s ’63 T-Bird convertible. No limos, no hotel rooms, scant alcohol. Music was by the great Detroit power trio Third Power, and I was in love with my date, who wore a gorgeous tangerine colored dress.
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adrianne said on March 30, 2012 at 10:04 am
My prom picture instantly dates me to 1979 – a white polyester halter dress, with feather-boa lined jacket. And my date – God help me – is rocking the baby-blue tux, with dark blue piping.
Stayin’ alive! Stayin’ alive!
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coozledad said on March 30, 2012 at 10:33 am
Now that the smear campaign against Travon Martin has brought the Republican Party’s union with Stormfront into the open, they seem to be running short on turd polish. Why, Rick is even starting to sound genuinely Pennsylvaniaesque here:
http://gawker.com/5897725/did-rick-santorum-almost-call-barack-obama-the-n+word
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Deborah said on March 30, 2012 at 10:55 am
I didn’t go to my senior prom because my boyfriend at the time was at Annapolis. I did go to his senior prom the year before, I wore a long pink satin dress that had a matching cropped pink satin jacket that buttoned up the back with 3/4 length sleeves. The dress had spaghetti straps and I was way too thin to look good in that, thus the jacket. I had my hair done at a beauty salon and it looked horrible, when I came home in tears I got one of my girlfriends to completely redo it. I wore flats because my boyfriend was exactly my height and heaven forbid back in those days if you were taller than your date. I’ve lost the photo taken at the prom, I had it for years, it was cute.
Last spring it was fun watching the kids arrive at the various hotels around us where their proms were held. I don’t remember seeing many girls who looked like hos but some of the boys sure looked like pimps.
edit: Turd polish! that’s fantastic and also “one sneeze away from a double breasted blowout”. And it isn’t even noon.
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Bob (not Greene) said on March 30, 2012 at 11:02 am
Cooze, he positively did a Gabby Johnson!
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Julie Robinson said on March 30, 2012 at 11:06 am
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Heather said on March 30, 2012 at 11:10 am
Wow–those are some bad dresses. Makes me think some fashion history wouldn’t be out of place in art class. Show the kids some Chanel, YSL, even Halston, and maybe they’d appreciate good design a little more. Although who am I kidding–they don’t teach art in schools anymore, do they?
I don’t think I’ll ever be a parent, but this is the kind of thing that would scare the bejesus out of me: trying to balance the healthy, perfectly understandable desire of teenage girls to look attractive and sexy with the over-the-top messages of the outside world.
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Julie Robinson said on March 30, 2012 at 11:10 am
It’s hard not to feel old and prudish, looking at the pictures in the
Victoria’s Secret, I mean Promgirl catalog.I tried four times to make Victoria’s Secret a strikethrough and none of my methods worked. Would someone enlighten me?
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Connie said on March 30, 2012 at 11:17 am
All three of my assorted prom dresses for four different were sleeveless, high waisted and high necks. I can’t even remember the name of one of my dates. Flat shoes always.
As for being one sneeze from a double breasted blowout I am still recovering from the sight of Brooke whatsername’s boob revealing dress on Dancing With the Stars the other night.
Which leads me to the news that the TV I bought in early January has died and so far Target is not being helpful. Earlier in the week my husband dropped his camera in Wolverine Lake. The new camera has cost more than the new TV is likely to. He is a man who can not live without a camera. For example, early one morning recently he found a sandhill crane playing baseball. http://aroundcommerce.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-03-22T14:57:00-07:00&max-results=7 . I can’t seem to get a link directly to the picture only to the page it is on. If you care just scroll down to March 16.
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MichaelG said on March 30, 2012 at 11:17 am
We had a tractor/mower in Auburn. It had a cup holder that was perfect for a beer can. Drinking beer while mowing is nice.
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Connie said on March 30, 2012 at 11:21 am
My husband’s cousin had already lost his license and served a jail term when he was arrested again while driving his tractor to the liquor store.
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LAMary said on March 30, 2012 at 11:28 am
I made my prom dress in 1971, and it was a little scandalous because it didn’t accomodate a bra. Looking at the prom photos from that year the Jessica McClintock high neck long sleeve look seems to have dominated. My dress was high halter neck that tied in a long bow in the back. Lots of shoulder showing. It was lined so the braless issue was no big deal. My date wore a white drum major jacket we found in the costume bin at school. I bought him flowers.
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coozledad said on March 30, 2012 at 11:42 am
Bob(not Greene): I was telling my wife he needs to hire a staffer with lightning reflexes and a bell.
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LAMary said on March 30, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Off topic:
http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/181137/86-year-old-gymnast-kills-it-at-the-cottbus-world-cup/
I think this lady is so good at what she does because she’s had a long time to practice.
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beb said on March 30, 2012 at 12:39 pm
brian stouter @5: I think it’s OK to drink and mow as long as you are on private property, But the minute you take the ol’JD on the street then street law applies. Remember the guy arrested for drunk driving on a motorized bar stool?
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Julie Robinson said on March 30, 2012 at 1:05 pm
It’s good that I saw this after lunch: Rick Perry eating a pink slime hamburger.
http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/12/40/20/2753553/5/628×471.jpg
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Little Bird said on March 30, 2012 at 1:33 pm
I checked out the dresses. If half of them can be called that. I saw one that absolutely precluded the ability to wear any undergarments at all with it. And these are intended for girls that are a MAXIMUM of eighteen?
Those dresses make what I wore look as if it had been fit for a nun!
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jcburns said on March 30, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Strikethough? You put a tag that says <del> at the beginning and one that says </del> at the end.
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Sherri said on March 30, 2012 at 1:55 pm
As the mother of a high school junior, I have only one comment on those prom dresses: over my dead body!
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Julie Robinson said on March 30, 2012 at 2:01 pm
Thanks, JC!
All the other directions I tried didn’t work.Sherri, as a mother of a son you can guess they don’t thrill me either. Do young men really need titillation?
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brian stouder said on March 30, 2012 at 2:11 pm
No comment! Nooooooo comment!40 chars
Laura said on March 30, 2012 at 2:11 pm
What the non-skanks are wearing to prom: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=379489562321&set=a.379489432321.161292.542237321&type=3
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Sue said on March 30, 2012 at 2:18 pm
I think we should take away those prom girls’ access to women’s health care and get Rush and Patricia Heaton to publicly shame them.
That would be much more effective than a conversation about the increasingly creepy sexualization of young American girls. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m sure “Toddlers and Tiaras” or some variation is on somewhere.
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Deborah said on March 30, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Laura, I couldn’t get the Facebook link to work.
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Bob (not Greene) said on March 30, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Oh, see what you did now JC? I predict a rash of “fixed that for you” comments, now that the cat is out of the bag.
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Deborah said on March 30, 2012 at 3:32 pm
Nancy, with your run of luck you should buy a lottery ticket, Mega-Millions is up to $640 million. But according to CNN your chance of winning is 175.7 million to 1. Your chance of getting hit by lightning is 3 million to 1.
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brian stouder said on March 30, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Or, if you get in your car and drive one mile to the store to buy a ticket, you have a much better chance of being killed in a crash during that trip, than buying a winning ticket.
Still, I threw one dollar away on it, yesterday (and survived the drive home)
(Hoping for “Luck, or something else”, indeed!)
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Dorothy said on March 30, 2012 at 4:00 pm
I used to know how to do that.Thanks for the reminder.66 chars
MarkH said on March 30, 2012 at 4:43 pm
Since you all brought it up, here is the list of 15 things more likely to happen to you than winning Mega Millions:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/30/15-things-more-likely-to-happen-than-winning-mega-millions.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_afternoon&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_afternoon&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet
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Deborah said on March 30, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Look on the bright side you have a better chance of winning the lottery 1:175.7 million than getting attacked by a shark 1:280 million. I found that reassuring Mark H.
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David C. said on March 30, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Of course, the chance of being hit by lightning statistic that is always used is, I believe, the chance in a lifetime. If you played the lottery at every chance for a lifetime, your odds would be a bit better than 1 in 3 million. Lies, damn lies and statistics as they say.
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beb said on March 30, 2012 at 5:20 pm
Drunk man sings Bohemian Rhapsody from the back of a police car! I was ROTFLMAO!
http://youtu.be/fqymcJRSbxI
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LAMary said on March 30, 2012 at 5:26 pm
I bought ten tickets. I’m a fool.
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Little Bird said on March 30, 2012 at 5:39 pm
Of course I have a better chance of winning the lottery than being attacked by a shark! I play the lottery sometimes. I do not swim anywhere there could possibly be a shark!
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Prospero said on March 30, 2012 at 5:41 pm
Lee Trevino managed to get struck by lightning twice. When he was asked what he’d do if he was on a golf course and an elecrtrical storm struck, Trevino said he’d point a one iron at the sky, “because even God can’t hit a one iron”, which is actually funny for a golf joke.
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David C. said on March 30, 2012 at 5:53 pm
I thank god I don’t understand golf jokes – funny or not.
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Prospero said on March 30, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Romney Dangerfield is a truly creepy son of a bitch.
Strutting little chickenhawk GOPer ahole Paul Ryan pisssed off thewrong general., and he’s proud to be slashing $11bill from the Administrations request for funding Veteran’s Affairs.
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Prospero said on March 30, 2012 at 7:11 pm
How’s about subliminal advertising images for good-old-fashion family values? Sleeze beyond comprehension. Why not go ahead and do a Willie Horton on the President?
What is the hell is wrong with Cong. Deadbeat Dad. I mean, there is something wrong with this guy.
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Dexter said on March 31, 2012 at 1:30 am
I won the Mega Millions $640 million dollars!I didn’t win the Mega Millions, nor even come remotely close to winning the thing.
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Basset said on March 31, 2012 at 8:52 am
Topic switch… Where’s that recipe for prune and something stuffed pork roast that was here a few days ago? Lots of em on the google but not the same, I think.
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basset said on March 31, 2012 at 10:32 am
And yes, I know search is right over there… didn’t find it. Got reminded about neti pots, though. Yuck.
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coozledad said on March 31, 2012 at 11:01 am
I am not coozledad but I am using his computer.
Basset – one recipe is here:
http://higginrocki.wordpress.com/category/cooks-illustrated/
courtesy of Bob (not Greene) on December 2, 2011 but that’s well more than a few days past so I don’t know that it’s the one you want. But it is pork and prunes.
Did you get some fennel?
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Prospero said on March 31, 2012 at 11:33 am
Revitalizing cities the smart way.
Frothy loses it with a reporter.
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Prospero said on March 31, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Marco Rubio is a mendacious shitheel. This is really meretricious and vicious GOPerism. If I were a Hispanic proponent of the Dream Act I would find Rubio to be a traitorous viper for pushing this modern version of indentured servitude.
If I were the Royals, I’d be more concerned about a prince that gets hammered at parties and dresses up like Hermann Goering.
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Prospero said on March 31, 2012 at 1:52 pm
Apparently there were three tickets sold with the winning numbers. Damn, only $213 million plus some RMoney change. Back in the early days of the Mass. Lottery, there was a drawing that turned up about 50 winning tickets for a $mill and a half jackpot. To this day I wonder about the abject suckup calls that had to be made to get jobs back from abused bosses when the awful truth surfaced, and which of the hearty pioneers just may have taken the $30grand and headed off to Cabo instead. More power to ’em.
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LAMary said on March 31, 2012 at 3:53 pm
I won ten dollars with my ten lottery tickets. I break even.
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MichaelG said on March 31, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Better than most, Mary. Better than most.
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basset said on March 31, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Not-Coozledad, appreciate the link but that’s not it… saw that when it first appeared here and was gonna try it, even did track down some fennel at Whole Foods, then realized it was related to anise and dropped the idea, licorice is one of the few foods I don’t like.
Found one that’s pretty close, http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Roast-Pork-With-Apricot_prune-Stuffing-My-Recipes. We are about two hours away from guest arrival so I better get after it, was just watching a YouTube video from the pork producers’ organization demonstrating the butterfly and the roll cut. Might even take my Rapala filet knife and just poke some slits in the roast endways, several recipes I ran across called for that.
Prospero, I like the “revitalizing cities” link – one of my responsibilities at our local planning department is publishing three links a week to green-development-related stuff and I use the Atlantic probably more than I should. We have been making that tax-base argument for some time and it is starting to get a useful amount of traction. I won’t advertise my weekly “digest” here but if anyone wants to see it and the archive of back issues the Proprietress can tell you how to reach me.
Prune and apricot pork roast, here we go… report later…
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Prospero said on March 31, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Some nutjob NH lege Rep. is claiming that men that have sexual relations with women on contraceptives are at increased risk of prostate cancer. This one pretty much beats all for unadulterated toxic waste from the GOPers.
Basset, the Atlantic Cities newsletter is pretty much cutting edge on bringing back cities. Much of what’s wrong with the USA can be traced directly to that first Levittown, in my opinion.
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Suzanne said on March 31, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Fennel is only mildly anise-like. It is awesome. That French pork stew is one of my favorite recipes of all time!
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MichaelG said on March 31, 2012 at 7:39 pm
Basset, I don’t like licorice either. But fennel doesn’t really taste like it and adds a certain – something to the dish. I used it and was glad I did. Try it next time. I think you’ll be pleased.
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brian stouder said on March 31, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Pam wanted to see Hunger Games, so this morning we caught the 11 am matinee at The Rave, a very nice stadium-style theater; so we literally were in the “cheap seats”, along with maybe a dozen other movie-goers.
The movie was quite good; I liked it. And, Jennifer Lawrence was wonderful. I think True Grit presented us with an intelligent and powerful young woman, and Hunger Games does the same, and what do we read?
http://news.discovery.com/human/hunger-games-criticism-encourage-anorexia-120331.html
“The Hunger Games” is the smash success it was expected to be, but amid the generally positive reviews, some writers have claimed that film critics’ comments suggesting that actress Jennifer Lawrence is miscast in the lead role sends a “toxic” message that might encourage eating disorders in teen fans. (Lawrence’s character, Katniss Everdeen, is supposed to be hungry and starved, yet appears well fed and even a touch overweight.) A blogger at Slate.com called the criticism “a baffling, infuriating trend.”
Huh? What?
and then
Marikar quoted two film reviewers, including one in The New York Times that included the passage: “A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission.” A second expert quoted by Marikar stated that such comments “make young girls who are very susceptible to eating disorders think twice about how they look.”
What?
I suppose the depiction of the “haves” and the “have nots” in Hunger Games struck a little too close for home, for some folks.
edit – and, I don’t like the word “dystopian”, only because you cannot read anything about the Hunger Games movie without it popping up. That said, Donald Sutherland and the guys playing the TV hosts that dope-up the public did a great job portraying how their particular dystopia operates
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Deborah said on March 31, 2012 at 10:25 pm
I’m having a dinner party on the 14th and we’re serving the pork/prune dish. I’m looking forward to making it and eating it. Thanks to Bob NG for bringing it to my attention, back when Nancy had a post about prunes. A person who I presume to be Mrs. Coozledad reposted it here, welcome by the way Mrs. C. Do we know you by another name?
I’m up to episode 2 of season 2 of Downton Abbey on DVD and am enjoying it. There are times when I think it’s a bit predictable but for the most part it’s highly entertaining.
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basset said on April 1, 2012 at 12:39 am
Well, the pork dish and roast veg went over for neighborhood dinner and a movie night even though I got distracted and left out the rosemary. Good excuse to try it again. Bet it’d work with venison, assuming I do better this season than last.
Watching “Citizen Kane” with a lighting expert is interesting as well… hadn’t seen it since freshman film class close to forty years ago. no berets in sight tonight, though.
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brian stouder said on April 1, 2012 at 10:06 am
And by the way, Nancy’s article on President Tyler’s grandsons indicated that TWO are still alive – or at least as of January of this year – although one of them was said to be in bad shape.
Here was the funniest passage, wherein the guy (understandably enough) offers a rationale by which grandpa might NOT be called a traitor(!)
He’s been maligned in some ways, because he was elected to the Confederate Congress, so people say he’s a traitor. But actually, he should be known for his efforts as the organizer of the Peace Conference in Washington in 1861. He tried to get the uncommitted states to all agree on a program, and then get the other states to join in, and get everybody back together. That’s not generally recognized. That’s the thing that he really should be known for. And he did not serve in the Confederate Congress. He was elected, he went to Richmond, where the Confederate Congress moved in January of 1862. He went to take his seat, but he unfortunately had a stroke and died a week later. So, see, I have to argue with people — “No, he didn’t serve.”
That’s pretty wonderful, I think(!!) (We’re probably boarding [so to speak] poor bastards at Gitmo for offenses lots less serious than being elected into AQ leadership)
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Prospero said on April 1, 2012 at 10:34 am
If you taake a bite of raw fennel bulb, it’s flavor is pretty close to the black licorice Chuckle nobody wanted from the parti-colored pack, though I loved them. When it is cooked, fennel is a whole different flavor, aromatic as can be and complementary to all sorts of herbal combinations. I’ve cooked turkeys and chickens with Fennel bulbs in the breast cavity, along with chunks of sourish apples, and the effect is superb.
I know she’s still a kid, but if Jennifer Lawrence is “a touch overweight”, bring on zaftig. That is nuts. Me, I live with a woman with an Audrey Hepburn figure, so what do I know?
I can think of a large crowd of current politicians who could do worse than have their epitaphs echo this sentiment: “Died before she could really betray her country.”
Dystopian is misused by literary and film critics frequently when they really mean post-Apocalyptic, but I guess they don’t mean that either, literally, since it never involves the beast and the Seven Seals. Frequently they mean, as I take itwith the Hunger Games, post-nuclear-bomb, or post-worldwide plague. Dystopian is The Handmaid’s Tale. Post nuke seems like The Road Warrior, though that could just be post-using up-all-of-earth’s-resources-by-thoughtless-greedy-humans. Blade Runner, post-rejection-of-climate-science. Post-plague, The Road, The Pest House (and the latter is as good as the former, if not better). Post-nuke, post-plague, post-ecological-disaster, those are parbly going to be dystopian by default.
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Prospero said on April 1, 2012 at 12:27 pm
These are pencil drawings, not photographs. Astonishing.
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Prospero said on April 1, 2012 at 1:45 pm
Noted journalistic hoaxes for April Fools Day.
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Kirk said on April 1, 2012 at 5:15 pm
Among my contributions to our April Fools’ Day paper was talking a guy out of writing a fake science story.
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LAMary said on April 1, 2012 at 7:38 pm
One of my favorite salads is thinly sliced raw fennel, slices of orange, a few fitted kalamate olives and some olive oil. A lovely quick meal is a rotisserie chicken from the store, that salad, and a good baguette. I buy costco rotisseried chicken and a loaf of the whole grain La Brea bakery bread on the way home from work. I usually have oranges and olives on hand and I grab a bunch of fennel from the Armenian grocery down the street from costco.
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Deborah said on April 1, 2012 at 8:43 pm
I know it starts season 2 this evening but I started watching season 1 of Game of Thrones with Little Bird today. I bought the DVD at Barnes & Noble on our way back from a long walk this afternoon. She has HBO so she’ll be watching the new episode of the second season tonight.
So not only am I watching season 2 now of Downton Abbey, as well the new season of Mad Men with episode 2 tonight, but now Game of Thrones too. A lot of soap operas at once I’d say.
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Bitter Scribe said on April 1, 2012 at 9:21 pm
Prospero, I wonder how Rubio would like it if that second-class citizenship he so breezily proposes were applied to Cubans?
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brian stouder said on April 1, 2012 at 10:31 pm
I wonder how Rubio would like it if that second-class citizenship he so breezily proposes were applied to Cubans?
I’m becoming an emotional old man, I think.
I’ve read the first half of Hazel and Elizabeth, about the Little Rock Nine generally, and Hazel (the angry white girl) and Elizabeth (the resolute black girl) from the famous photographs, specifically; and the damned book has made my eyes water repeatedly.
It is a tremendous book, and it will break your heart.
Indeed, the story is as American as apple pie, and quite apart from the fact that it didn’t really happen very long ago, it remains as timely as today’s news. (If you can – with impunity – now shoot a black kid for being in your neighborhood, we have arguably lost ground since the days when Governor Faubus had his National Guard troops block the doors at the high school in Little Rock)
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Deborah said on April 1, 2012 at 11:10 pm
So was January Jones wearing a fat suit or did she gain weight for the part? Her full face and neck sure looked real.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on April 2, 2012 at 6:44 am
She was near the end of a pregnancy when they filmed, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have augmented things a bit.
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