Date: April 1, 2007
Time: 21:30
Place: Straight outta Roosevelt Island
I found this on the web and hope it makes it in to the soundtrack of the next movie in which Ice Cube plays a role that might as well have be filled by Cedric the Entertainer.
http://download.wbr.com/mirror/ninagordon.com/media/sounds/covers-straightouttacompton.mp3
Ice Cube's metamorphosis is no less amazing than that of Christopher Hitchens, literary critic of the Atlantic, unapologetic Trotskyite, former columnist for the Nation, and current Iraq War supporter. I think Bill Clinton pushed him over the edge. Clinton tried to plant the "Monica as stalker" story on him. In response, he wrote a very entertaining short book called "Nobody Left To Lie To" which contained one of my favorite paragraphs that starts something like "The vacuous language of uplift and therapy combined with the tawdry pieties of Baptist and Methodist hypcrisy cling to both Clintons like b.o." He opines that the Clintons have betrayed the liberal cause with their triangulations, left wing words and right wing policies. Not a word from either could be believed.
Unfortunately, he seemed to believe everything from the current administration and now finds himself somewhat homeless. Worse, he's helped promulgate the howlers like a White House appointed NASA press agent. He's pimped the stories of the one-legged Zarqawi and has even ferreted out that a Iraqi diplomat visiting Niger had once been part of the bomb project. (note: the WMD argument was always b.s. A uranium centrifuge facility is about a mile long and can't be missed) He also keeps playing the violin for the Kurds, who even while Saddam was gassing them managed to fight a civil war among each other. He also accepted uncritically the prognostications of Paul Wolfowitz, who appears to have locked up the "dumbest things said in the 21st century" award by 2003.
The last shreds of his credibility lay clotted in the filter of Bill Kristol's hot tub.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Date: Mar 30, 2007
Time: 10:13
Place: Mine
Bill O'Reilly is boldly standing up to pedophiles and their advocates in the liberal media! This is comedy at its basic cable best. As the Iraq body count mounts, the real estate bubble collapses, and the imprint of Alberto Gonzales' strong pimp hand on those eight fired US attorneys gets clearer with every witness that goes before congress, what is there left for for the Faux News channel to broadcast? Who can a "Bushie" look down on these days? Well, at least none of them got caught molesting children (yet), regardless of how much Bill O. might have thought that the kids would have enjoyed it like that kid in Missouri.
As I flip past Faux News these days, which is just north of Comedy Central on the my cable network, I often see Bill now declaiming his ardor against child molesters. Perhaps the sentiment leached over from Steven Colbert's "Kittens in a wood chipper, I'm against it" debate. I'm reminded of a quote from Arlo Guthrie's line about how "all folk musicians steal from each other. We used to call it stealing too until Pete Seeger came along and renamed it the folk process". Unfortunately for Bill though, Colbert's has exceeded his performance art. The envelope has been pushed beyond his limited skills and he is stuck playing old standards to his state fair base.
Time: 10:13
Place: Mine
Bill O'Reilly is boldly standing up to pedophiles and their advocates in the liberal media! This is comedy at its basic cable best. As the Iraq body count mounts, the real estate bubble collapses, and the imprint of Alberto Gonzales' strong pimp hand on those eight fired US attorneys gets clearer with every witness that goes before congress, what is there left for for the Faux News channel to broadcast? Who can a "Bushie" look down on these days? Well, at least none of them got caught molesting children (yet), regardless of how much Bill O. might have thought that the kids would have enjoyed it like that kid in Missouri.
As I flip past Faux News these days, which is just north of Comedy Central on the my cable network, I often see Bill now declaiming his ardor against child molesters. Perhaps the sentiment leached over from Steven Colbert's "Kittens in a wood chipper, I'm against it" debate. I'm reminded of a quote from Arlo Guthrie's line about how "all folk musicians steal from each other. We used to call it stealing too until Pete Seeger came along and renamed it the folk process". Unfortunately for Bill though, Colbert's has exceeded his performance art. The envelope has been pushed beyond his limited skills and he is stuck playing old standards to his state fair base.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
PT 101
Date: Mar 29, 2007
Time: 13:17
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
I started physical therapy for my left shoulder this morning. Not much to report and not as terribly painful as several people insisted on telling me it would be. After just moving it up and down for a bit, he slapped some electrodes on and threw an icepack on over it. He let that cook for about 12 minutes. They wanted me to go three times a week but I think I'll wait for the doctor to get back from Switzerland in two weeks before I commit to that.
The worst part of it was that I slept on my right elbow at some kind of odd angle or something. It's now stiff and painful as well. It will not lower all the way down, preferring about 120 degrees as the default position. Considering the left side will come up to only about 30 degrees, I almost have the spectrum covered.
So the next time some one smugly tells you they're a libertarian, ask them why they hate the middle class, why they deny in the face of all history that capital accumulates, and if they actually prefer leaving their fate in corporatist hands.
Time: 13:17
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
I started physical therapy for my left shoulder this morning. Not much to report and not as terribly painful as several people insisted on telling me it would be. After just moving it up and down for a bit, he slapped some electrodes on and threw an icepack on over it. He let that cook for about 12 minutes. They wanted me to go three times a week but I think I'll wait for the doctor to get back from Switzerland in two weeks before I commit to that.
The worst part of it was that I slept on my right elbow at some kind of odd angle or something. It's now stiff and painful as well. It will not lower all the way down, preferring about 120 degrees as the default position. Considering the left side will come up to only about 30 degrees, I almost have the spectrum covered.
So the next time some one smugly tells you they're a libertarian, ask them why they hate the middle class, why they deny in the face of all history that capital accumulates, and if they actually prefer leaving their fate in corporatist hands.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Libertarians suck
Date: My best friend Steve's birthday
Time: Too late to call him
Place: Beverly Hills 10044
I consider myself a centrist Democrat, one who realizes that our American economy is a tightly, to paraphrase Paul Krugman, "raveled" phenomenon, and that the broad prosperous middle class is a highly artificial though sustainable construct depending on redistributionist and protectionist government policies, and is in no way remotely a natural offshoot of laissez-faire economics, despite all the braying to that effect you may hear on CNBC or Faux News.
That being said, I realize also that no American politician can say this, for we are a nation of self-deluded, er, sufficient libertarians and if asked to formulate our own beliefs on the point above, would probably come up with stuff like this apologia from St. Ronald Reagan upon being caught with his pants down on Iran-Contra,
REAGAN (3/4/87): A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true. But the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.
How do you argue with logic like that? Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is that I saw Dennis Miller on the Daily Show the other night. To me he epitomizes the desperation of the American conservative movement at this point in time. The poor sad bastard came out trying to spit as many shots at as many Democrats as he could, all so that no time could be left for Stewart to ask, "Man, did you clowns get ANYTHING right about Iraq?" In future posts, statistical correlations between Bush's approval rating and Bill O denouncing pedophiles, Chris Hitchens, and the bizarro world oracles of the neocon movement.
Time: Too late to call him
Place: Beverly Hills 10044
I consider myself a centrist Democrat, one who realizes that our American economy is a tightly, to paraphrase Paul Krugman, "raveled" phenomenon, and that the broad prosperous middle class is a highly artificial though sustainable construct depending on redistributionist and protectionist government policies, and is in no way remotely a natural offshoot of laissez-faire economics, despite all the braying to that effect you may hear on CNBC or Faux News.
That being said, I realize also that no American politician can say this, for we are a nation of self-deluded, er, sufficient libertarians and if asked to formulate our own beliefs on the point above, would probably come up with stuff like this apologia from St. Ronald Reagan upon being caught with his pants down on Iran-Contra,
REAGAN (3/4/87): A few months ago, I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that’s true. But the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.
How do you argue with logic like that? Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is that I saw Dennis Miller on the Daily Show the other night. To me he epitomizes the desperation of the American conservative movement at this point in time. The poor sad bastard came out trying to spit as many shots at as many Democrats as he could, all so that no time could be left for Stewart to ask, "Man, did you clowns get ANYTHING right about Iraq?" In future posts, statistical correlations between Bush's approval rating and Bill O denouncing pedophiles, Chris Hitchens, and the bizarro world oracles of the neocon movement.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
House back in the house
Date: Mar 27, 2007
Time: 22:26
Place: In tall cotton
Thankfully, the pool of American Idol minnows has thinned out enough that they no longer commandeer the 9 PM slot, and the adventures of everybody's favorite Vicodin-addicted, hyper-insulting, misanthropic, crippled pathologist have resumed. House was back in full effect with an episode featuring a guy with vaginosis in his mouth, self-catheterization, laugh-a-minute sexual politics, and a nifty is-it-or-is-it-not-a-dream sequence.
I can't help of thinking of Bertie Wooster when I see Hugh Laurie and think of how here is an actor with exceptional range. In one of Bertie's musings he claimed to prefer to think of his insides as similar to that of a potato, a white homogenous mass. He found the actual structure rather vulgar. Bertie was of course unflinchingly polite as well, drawing an even starker distinction. The way he keeps his Brit in check is worth watching in its own right.
The Jeeves and Wooster series is out on DVD and well worth it.
Time: 22:26
Place: In tall cotton
Thankfully, the pool of American Idol minnows has thinned out enough that they no longer commandeer the 9 PM slot, and the adventures of everybody's favorite Vicodin-addicted, hyper-insulting, misanthropic, crippled pathologist have resumed. House was back in full effect with an episode featuring a guy with vaginosis in his mouth, self-catheterization, laugh-a-minute sexual politics, and a nifty is-it-or-is-it-not-a-dream sequence.
I can't help of thinking of Bertie Wooster when I see Hugh Laurie and think of how here is an actor with exceptional range. In one of Bertie's musings he claimed to prefer to think of his insides as similar to that of a potato, a white homogenous mass. He found the actual structure rather vulgar. Bertie was of course unflinchingly polite as well, drawing an even starker distinction. The way he keeps his Brit in check is worth watching in its own right.
The Jeeves and Wooster series is out on DVD and well worth it.
Monday, March 26, 2007
BSG halfway over shark tank
Date: March 26th, 2007
Time: 21:22
Place: Welfare Island Silverfish Hatchery
The greatest literary achievement of the 21st century will be if the writers of Battlestar Galactica can salvage anything less than horribly lame from last night's cliff hanger ending. The writing started to wobble badly this year, with the Starbuck/Apollo soap opera, culminating in the "boxing ring" episode that had Fonzi's bike halfway up the ramp over the shark tank. It was followed by a great episode about the hyper-radioactive nebula that retrieved the show's visceral grimness with ships being lost and vomitting pilots dying of radiation sickness.
During the last two or three episodes, a few of the crew members started hearing a strange song coming from the walls. Toward the end of the show, in completely different parts of the ship, one says "There must be some kind of way out of here", the next says "said the joker to the thief", the third "there's too much confusion", the fourth said "oooo, foxy lady!", no just kidding, she said "I can't get no relief". In a nod to the better written shows, she vomits. They then all run to the same room, start humming "All Along the Watchtower", and for some reason decide that they're Cylons. Thankfully, they stopped short of having the one-eyed alkie colonel start jamming away on air guitar.
Of course, Starbuck pops back to life after pretty convincingly exploding in a previous episode.
Usually, the best BSG episodes ended with forbodings of doom hanging over the human characters in the next episode, but this episode foretells crap awaiting the audience in the next season.
Time: 21:22
Place: Welfare Island Silverfish Hatchery
The greatest literary achievement of the 21st century will be if the writers of Battlestar Galactica can salvage anything less than horribly lame from last night's cliff hanger ending. The writing started to wobble badly this year, with the Starbuck/Apollo soap opera, culminating in the "boxing ring" episode that had Fonzi's bike halfway up the ramp over the shark tank. It was followed by a great episode about the hyper-radioactive nebula that retrieved the show's visceral grimness with ships being lost and vomitting pilots dying of radiation sickness.
During the last two or three episodes, a few of the crew members started hearing a strange song coming from the walls. Toward the end of the show, in completely different parts of the ship, one says "There must be some kind of way out of here", the next says "said the joker to the thief", the third "there's too much confusion", the fourth said "oooo, foxy lady!", no just kidding, she said "I can't get no relief". In a nod to the better written shows, she vomits. They then all run to the same room, start humming "All Along the Watchtower", and for some reason decide that they're Cylons. Thankfully, they stopped short of having the one-eyed alkie colonel start jamming away on air guitar.
Of course, Starbuck pops back to life after pretty convincingly exploding in a previous episode.
Usually, the best BSG episodes ended with forbodings of doom hanging over the human characters in the next episode, but this episode foretells crap awaiting the audience in the next season.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Freedom and the Fred-ster
Date: March 25, 2007
Time: 09:35
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
Huzzah and great cheers. I'm mostly out of the immobolization sling now! The doctor wants me to wear it when I'm travelling and there is a chance my arm might get jostled, but this is a small inconvenience. I don't have to sleep with it anymore (is there a country-western song in this?) nor do I have to contort my body so I can get my left hand into the necessary proximity to the keyboard.
I drove my car around a bit yesterday. Since my left arm only has a few degrees of motion, I had to contrive a way to get the access pass out the driver-side window so I can get in and out of the garage. I eventually improvised a solution using a rubber band and an old putter. My right side front tire was flat after a month off. I tried filling it but I think the air machine was not adequately powerful.
Speaking of putters, Tiger Woods may have won the tournament today, but he stunk up the greens at Doral. He better not bring that game to Augusta in two weeks, or everybody is going to speculate about what's wrong with him again.
Of course, that's just one less guy for Fred Couples to defeat. Go, Fred!
Time: 09:35
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
Huzzah and great cheers. I'm mostly out of the immobolization sling now! The doctor wants me to wear it when I'm travelling and there is a chance my arm might get jostled, but this is a small inconvenience. I don't have to sleep with it anymore (is there a country-western song in this?) nor do I have to contort my body so I can get my left hand into the necessary proximity to the keyboard.
I drove my car around a bit yesterday. Since my left arm only has a few degrees of motion, I had to contrive a way to get the access pass out the driver-side window so I can get in and out of the garage. I eventually improvised a solution using a rubber band and an old putter. My right side front tire was flat after a month off. I tried filling it but I think the air machine was not adequately powerful.
Speaking of putters, Tiger Woods may have won the tournament today, but he stunk up the greens at Doral. He better not bring that game to Augusta in two weeks, or everybody is going to speculate about what's wrong with him again.
Of course, that's just one less guy for Fred Couples to defeat. Go, Fred!
Saturday, March 24, 2007
I solve the world's problems
Date: March 22, 2007
Time: 23:50
Place: Deep in Thought
The famed historian Arnold Toynbee wrote this in his 1970 article "Human Savagery Cracks Thin Veneer"
"We realize now that Hitlerism was not just an isolated aberration. It was an ominous sign of the times. It portended the present resurgence of the savage human nature that is breaking out, through the veneer of civilization all over the world today."
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1103-05.htm
The "thin veneer" is a common metaphor for civilization, a pleasingly finished surface that is not very deep nor strong. When a society is under stress like that created by a depression, tribalism reasserts itself and people will seek a "them" to blame for the problems of "us". The Jews, with their complex religious-ethnic-national identity, presented an easy target for Hitler and his bumper-sticker "Deutchland uber alles" hyper-nationalism.
There is an article in the April 2007 Atlantic by Stephen Faris called "The Real Roots of Darfur". The article identifies the real stress as desertification probably caused by global warming.
What we normally hear about Darfur is that an Arab population is commiting atrocities against an African one is not quite true. The two "ethnic" groups are genetically identical! "Arabs" refers to a group that lives a nomadic, livestock-herding lifestyle. "Africans" refers to farmers. Before the desertification, the farmers tolerated the herders coming across the land. Once the land started to dry up, they tried to block the herders, and the war ensued.
The trick is apparently to avoid such stresses. Fortunately, according to a flood of e-mails I've gotten, all these people have to do is invest in Nanking Telecom (NKT OTC:BB), which is guaranteed to skyrocket! Also, they're right over near Nigeria, and anyone with a bank account can earn thousands on each transaction assisting the former finance minister ...
Time: 23:50
Place: Deep in Thought
The famed historian Arnold Toynbee wrote this in his 1970 article "Human Savagery Cracks Thin Veneer"
"We realize now that Hitlerism was not just an isolated aberration. It was an ominous sign of the times. It portended the present resurgence of the savage human nature that is breaking out, through the veneer of civilization all over the world today."
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1103-05.htm
The "thin veneer" is a common metaphor for civilization, a pleasingly finished surface that is not very deep nor strong. When a society is under stress like that created by a depression, tribalism reasserts itself and people will seek a "them" to blame for the problems of "us". The Jews, with their complex religious-ethnic-national identity, presented an easy target for Hitler and his bumper-sticker "Deutchland uber alles" hyper-nationalism.
There is an article in the April 2007 Atlantic by Stephen Faris called "The Real Roots of Darfur". The article identifies the real stress as desertification probably caused by global warming.
What we normally hear about Darfur is that an Arab population is commiting atrocities against an African one is not quite true. The two "ethnic" groups are genetically identical! "Arabs" refers to a group that lives a nomadic, livestock-herding lifestyle. "Africans" refers to farmers. Before the desertification, the farmers tolerated the herders coming across the land. Once the land started to dry up, they tried to block the herders, and the war ensued.
The trick is apparently to avoid such stresses. Fortunately, according to a flood of e-mails I've gotten, all these people have to do is invest in Nanking Telecom (NKT OTC:BB), which is guaranteed to skyrocket! Also, they're right over near Nigeria, and anyone with a bank account can earn thousands on each transaction assisting the former finance minister ...
The Great Republican Hope
Date: Still Friday in Tucson
Time: Late, I'm too old fir this
Place: Back Home, Finally
The other day I mentioned the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project. Senator Lisa Murkatowski of Alaska (you know you're old when you think a US Senator looks that HOTT!) mentions it frequently in special session on CSPAN. Others ignore it (Chuck and Hillary, I'm looking at you!). The current on the east side of Roosevelt Island, or "East Channel" as we locals call it, is damn fast. A company called Verdant Power tried to install some underwater propellors to capture the power, but the blades on both protototype turbines snapped. Those are some powerful currents.
This is an example of lunar power. National concensus will admit that for at least the last 5000 years, the moon has rolled by overhead, lifted the oceans up by three feet and dropped them.
The world is awash in free energy, we just have to get better at harvesting it. Anyway, the next four turbines (with enhanced blades) will be going down in April. To me, every turn of the blade drags back some greenhouse gas back ino the ocean. Every turn of the blade is a strike for American engineers and manufacturers. Best of all, each turn of the blade points an upraised middle finger to all the oil powers from Prince Abdullah to Osama to Dick Cheney.
Time: Late, I'm too old fir this
Place: Back Home, Finally
The other day I mentioned the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project. Senator Lisa Murkatowski of Alaska (you know you're old when you think a US Senator looks that HOTT!) mentions it frequently in special session on CSPAN. Others ignore it (Chuck and Hillary, I'm looking at you!). The current on the east side of Roosevelt Island, or "East Channel" as we locals call it, is damn fast. A company called Verdant Power tried to install some underwater propellors to capture the power, but the blades on both protototype turbines snapped. Those are some powerful currents.
This is an example of lunar power. National concensus will admit that for at least the last 5000 years, the moon has rolled by overhead, lifted the oceans up by three feet and dropped them.
The world is awash in free energy, we just have to get better at harvesting it. Anyway, the next four turbines (with enhanced blades) will be going down in April. To me, every turn of the blade drags back some greenhouse gas back ino the ocean. Every turn of the blade is a strike for American engineers and manufacturers. Best of all, each turn of the blade points an upraised middle finger to all the oil powers from Prince Abdullah to Osama to Dick Cheney.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
RIP LBM
Date: March 22, 2007
Time: 21:30
Place: Right near the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project
Poor old Larry "Bud" Melman from the David Letterman Show died yesterday. His real name was Calvin DeForrest. He used that on his occasional appearances on the CBs show because I believe NBC had a copyright on the L"B"M name. It didn't matter. The dyspeptic little lisping character with the odd stilted phrasing needed no name.
My two favorite Larry Bud Melman bits were:
Job Interview Do's and Don't's - Don't insult photographs on the interviewer's desk "What a hideous (sibilants + LBM = comedy gold) looking family. Yuck. Do you mind turning that around?" Don't cry and plead - On cue, Larry starts sobbing and begging
Larry goes to London - after a vacation to England, Letterman asks him to compare the theater in London with the theater in NY - "Of course the theater in London is fabulous, David, but what could compare to the theater in NY? The heavy curtains, your own private booth, and as many choices as you have quarters, and all around the felicitous aroma of men enjoying themselves!"
That joke may be aging since the advent of the Disney-fied Times Square, but LBM will stay with me always.
Time: 21:30
Place: Right near the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project
Poor old Larry "Bud" Melman from the David Letterman Show died yesterday. His real name was Calvin DeForrest. He used that on his occasional appearances on the CBs show because I believe NBC had a copyright on the L"B"M name. It didn't matter. The dyspeptic little lisping character with the odd stilted phrasing needed no name.
My two favorite Larry Bud Melman bits were:
Job Interview Do's and Don't's - Don't insult photographs on the interviewer's desk "What a hideous (sibilants + LBM = comedy gold) looking family. Yuck. Do you mind turning that around?" Don't cry and plead - On cue, Larry starts sobbing and begging
Larry goes to London - after a vacation to England, Letterman asks him to compare the theater in London with the theater in NY - "Of course the theater in London is fabulous, David, but what could compare to the theater in NY? The heavy curtains, your own private booth, and as many choices as you have quarters, and all around the felicitous aroma of men enjoying themselves!"
That joke may be aging since the advent of the Disney-fied Times Square, but LBM will stay with me always.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
What up with Sanjaya, yo?
Date: Spring, for freaking cryin out loud
Time: 21:15 or sp
Place: Above the madding crowd
I just got through watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and apparently the answer to Prof Kinsley's friend, who posed the question above, is that he or his handlers are now employing screaming teary young girls to show up when he performs, not unlike professional mourners who wail beside the casket of anyone no matter how big a bastard they may have been.
The Beatles did it. They were essentialy a hair band when they broke, and they're venerated. Frank Sinatra did the exact same thing and everybody, especially retired Italians, want him canonized. The galling part to me was that Sanjaya was covering "You Really Got Me" by one of the greatest song-writers of the "British Invasion", to me far greater than Lennon and/or McCartney, nor the truly sphincter sucking Jagger/Richards, Ray Davies of the Kinks. This song was also covered by an all-time great guitar virtuoso who never gets his due respect, Eddie Van Halen.
Ray Davies had a real empathy for London and its citizens. It shows on "Village Green Preservation Society", the first rock opera. Pete Townsend himself suggested that if England ever does appoint another poet laureate, it should be Ray Davies. Unfortunately, there's only about 20 words in "You Really Got Me", so it's a bit hard to prove your case on that alone.
"Dedicated Follwer of Fashion" and "Waterloo Sunset" were unanticipated and in the formulaic world of pop, heretical and never duplicated (ReJoyce by the Jefferson Airplane doesn't count because Grace Slick is from another and cooler planet than the rest of us).
The current standard is set by, unsurprisingly, Rodney Anonymous of the Dead Milkmen.
Click this link and then "Watch This Movie"
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=86889
Time: 21:15 or sp
Place: Above the madding crowd
I just got through watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and apparently the answer to Prof Kinsley's friend, who posed the question above, is that he or his handlers are now employing screaming teary young girls to show up when he performs, not unlike professional mourners who wail beside the casket of anyone no matter how big a bastard they may have been.
The Beatles did it. They were essentialy a hair band when they broke, and they're venerated. Frank Sinatra did the exact same thing and everybody, especially retired Italians, want him canonized. The galling part to me was that Sanjaya was covering "You Really Got Me" by one of the greatest song-writers of the "British Invasion", to me far greater than Lennon and/or McCartney, nor the truly sphincter sucking Jagger/Richards, Ray Davies of the Kinks. This song was also covered by an all-time great guitar virtuoso who never gets his due respect, Eddie Van Halen.
Ray Davies had a real empathy for London and its citizens. It shows on "Village Green Preservation Society", the first rock opera. Pete Townsend himself suggested that if England ever does appoint another poet laureate, it should be Ray Davies. Unfortunately, there's only about 20 words in "You Really Got Me", so it's a bit hard to prove your case on that alone.
"Dedicated Follwer of Fashion" and "Waterloo Sunset" were unanticipated and in the formulaic world of pop, heretical and never duplicated (ReJoyce by the Jefferson Airplane doesn't count because Grace Slick is from another and cooler planet than the rest of us).
The current standard is set by, unsurprisingly, Rodney Anonymous of the Dead Milkmen.
Click this link and then "Watch This Movie"
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view.php?id=86889
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
A Tale of Woe
Date: March 20, 2007
Time: 21:36
Place: The Welfare Island Swankadero
I''ve just gotten past three weeks in the immobilization sling required to allow my severely damaged rotator cuff to heal. This is really annoying. Prior to last night, the straps on it functioned like a stickball bat hitting me in the kidneys all night long. I've arranged a formidable slope of pillows that seems to work. I didn't feel like Franklin Roosevelt (for whom Welfare Island was renamed in 1974) when I woke up this morning.
I stopped taking the pain pills two days after the surgery (sold the spares for a nifty profit down at the high school!) but I had to take one the other night over this damn sling.
I suspect it's messing up my elbow, wrist, and back. I think the hospital is using this to drum up future business. It's like those car mechanics who slit your serpentine built while they're changing your oil. I'll bet there's a secret schedule book where these bastards have me slated for surgeries out until 2020. Paranoid, am I? Like a fox, I say.
Time: 21:36
Place: The Welfare Island Swankadero
I''ve just gotten past three weeks in the immobilization sling required to allow my severely damaged rotator cuff to heal. This is really annoying. Prior to last night, the straps on it functioned like a stickball bat hitting me in the kidneys all night long. I've arranged a formidable slope of pillows that seems to work. I didn't feel like Franklin Roosevelt (for whom Welfare Island was renamed in 1974) when I woke up this morning.
I stopped taking the pain pills two days after the surgery (sold the spares for a nifty profit down at the high school!) but I had to take one the other night over this damn sling.
I suspect it's messing up my elbow, wrist, and back. I think the hospital is using this to drum up future business. It's like those car mechanics who slit your serpentine built while they're changing your oil. I'll bet there's a secret schedule book where these bastards have me slated for surgeries out until 2020. Paranoid, am I? Like a fox, I say.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Mr Douglas, I am shocked!
The PAX network has been showing episodes of Green Acres recently. One of the fictional characters I've always admired is Mr. Haney. There was a certain truth to his character I've discovered in all the truly major BS artists I've met throughout my life. The real artistes have no shame at all about getting caught. It will not abate the ferocity of their shoveling one little bit the next time you deal with them either.
One of the great things about all the news channels is that you get to see these people all the time. I never get tired of it. You get Bill O'Reilly saying that kid who was held captive was actually enjoying the lifestyle, then it turns out the kid was raped and the kidnapper threatened to kill his family if he escaped.
Not only does Bill not offer an apology or a word of self-criticism, he goes and accepts an award for helping abused kids. I don't know who the group was but I would not be surprised if Bill was just the alternate. The award was probably intended for Florida congressman Mark Foley, but he couldn't make it to the ceremony.
One of the great things about all the news channels is that you get to see these people all the time. I never get tired of it. You get Bill O'Reilly saying that kid who was held captive was actually enjoying the lifestyle, then it turns out the kid was raped and the kidnapper threatened to kill his family if he escaped.
Not only does Bill not offer an apology or a word of self-criticism, he goes and accepts an award for helping abused kids. I don't know who the group was but I would not be surprised if Bill was just the alternate. The award was probably intended for Florida congressman Mark Foley, but he couldn't make it to the ceremony.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Nasty Rabbits
Greetings, teenage tuba tooters!
That's not my own, but comes from Rodney Anonymous, former lead singer of the Dead Milkmen and perhaps America's greatest poet. I recommend the Beelzebubba album, particularly "Stuart" as evidence of this claim.
One of his other greetings was "Greetings, teenage thrill-killers" which reminded me of a teenage thrill killer movie called "The Sadist" that actually is considered good. The remarkable part of that is it invovled a lot of the same people who were involved in "The Nasty Rabbit" which makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" look like "Citizen Kane".
This is truly the worst film ever made. I found it in the Blockbuster "Le Bad Cinema" aisle amidst a population predominated by the 1950's girls-in-reform-school genre. It seemed like a combination of "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and "Mad, Mad, Mad World" with lamer humor and less continuity. The basic plot is as follows. A nuclear device is smuggled by Russian sub into the US. It heads for a dude ranch on the continental divide as a variety of spies try to track it down.
It is most notable as one of the first roles for Richard Kiel, noted for his role as "Jaws" from the James Bond movies. He plays a ranch hand who does little but guffaw and slap a Russian diplomat on back repeatedly and forcefully.
See it if you dare!
That's not my own, but comes from Rodney Anonymous, former lead singer of the Dead Milkmen and perhaps America's greatest poet. I recommend the Beelzebubba album, particularly "Stuart" as evidence of this claim.
One of his other greetings was "Greetings, teenage thrill-killers" which reminded me of a teenage thrill killer movie called "The Sadist" that actually is considered good. The remarkable part of that is it invovled a lot of the same people who were involved in "The Nasty Rabbit" which makes "Plan 9 from Outer Space" look like "Citizen Kane".
This is truly the worst film ever made. I found it in the Blockbuster "Le Bad Cinema" aisle amidst a population predominated by the 1950's girls-in-reform-school genre. It seemed like a combination of "The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming" and "Mad, Mad, Mad World" with lamer humor and less continuity. The basic plot is as follows. A nuclear device is smuggled by Russian sub into the US. It heads for a dude ranch on the continental divide as a variety of spies try to track it down.
It is most notable as one of the first roles for Richard Kiel, noted for his role as "Jaws" from the James Bond movies. He plays a ranch hand who does little but guffaw and slap a Russian diplomat on back repeatedly and forcefully.
See it if you dare!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Go Bragh Yourself
Date: March 17, 2007
Time: 15:40
Place: O'Roosevelt Island Penthouse
Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!
I used to drain a considerable amount of Guinness but due to my immobilization brace from the notorious rotator cuff surgery, I will not be able to share a jar with the crowd on this one.
The first place I acquired the taste was Tom O'Reilly's Pub on Lexington Avenue in the early 80's. The legend is that when St Patrick's Day fell on a weekend they moved something like 28 barrels of Guinness, which was an impressive total for a bar that size.
At some point in the 90's, Guinness came up with a new gas system for its taps. Prior to that, it was very important to only go to places where they would kill a barrel in no more than two, preferable one, day(s). The beer (I know, it's stout) would go flat pretty quickly and acquire a sour and unctuous taste, sort of what I'd imagine lemon juice in milk would taste like. I've never tried lemon juice in milk so I can't say for sure. It's one of those things that the poison control center suggests as a rapidly effective, home-made emetic.
The nitrogen taps did a lot to improve the barrel life of the Guinness. You can get drinkable Guinness in many more places now. It still helps if it moves quickly.
Slainte.
Time: 15:40
Place: O'Roosevelt Island Penthouse
Happy St. Patrick's Day to one and all!
I used to drain a considerable amount of Guinness but due to my immobilization brace from the notorious rotator cuff surgery, I will not be able to share a jar with the crowd on this one.
The first place I acquired the taste was Tom O'Reilly's Pub on Lexington Avenue in the early 80's. The legend is that when St Patrick's Day fell on a weekend they moved something like 28 barrels of Guinness, which was an impressive total for a bar that size.
At some point in the 90's, Guinness came up with a new gas system for its taps. Prior to that, it was very important to only go to places where they would kill a barrel in no more than two, preferable one, day(s). The beer (I know, it's stout) would go flat pretty quickly and acquire a sour and unctuous taste, sort of what I'd imagine lemon juice in milk would taste like. I've never tried lemon juice in milk so I can't say for sure. It's one of those things that the poison control center suggests as a rapidly effective, home-made emetic.
The nitrogen taps did a lot to improve the barrel life of the Guinness. You can get drinkable Guinness in many more places now. It still helps if it moves quickly.
Slainte.
Friday, March 16, 2007
just in time
Date : March 16, 2007
Time 22:00
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
Blogspot.com is in le crapper so I'm typing this off net.
Hopefully, this is not causing excessive angst among those who are awaiting today's flash of insight. Paul Krugman is on vacation from the Times today so there is a clear dearth of intellectual leadership in cyberspace today. Hopefully, blogspot will rise before midnight so that I can post this, and March 16, 2007 in the Eastern Daylight timezone will not go down in history as having been an entirely benighted affair.
The weather today sure did suck. Talk about putting the "ugh" in ugly. I know it's still technically winter for another 5 days but this snow-ice-rain-cold mixture is gratuitous. Please, one or two aspects of crappiness at a time. This does make for good speech writing weather. It's not like one would be tempted to go out and stroll along the ever so lovely Welfare (now Roosevelt since the mid-70's) Island promenade.
This took two hours to post. Never block the cookies from this site.
Time 22:00
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
Blogspot.com is in le crapper so I'm typing this off net.
Hopefully, this is not causing excessive angst among those who are awaiting today's flash of insight. Paul Krugman is on vacation from the Times today so there is a clear dearth of intellectual leadership in cyberspace today. Hopefully, blogspot will rise before midnight so that I can post this, and March 16, 2007 in the Eastern Daylight timezone will not go down in history as having been an entirely benighted affair.
The weather today sure did suck. Talk about putting the "ugh" in ugly. I know it's still technically winter for another 5 days but this snow-ice-rain-cold mixture is gratuitous. Please, one or two aspects of crappiness at a time. This does make for good speech writing weather. It's not like one would be tempted to go out and stroll along the ever so lovely Welfare (now Roosevelt since the mid-70's) Island promenade.
This took two hours to post. Never block the cookies from this site.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Ten-Minutes-o-Brilliance
Date: March 15, 2007
Time: 10:06
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
This is the first in a series of daily posts for Professor Kinsley's SPCH275 class at DeVry-LIC.
In it I shall attempt to share 10 minutes (writing time) of enlightenment, humor, uplift, and perhaps some insightful self-revelations.
Allow me to start with the title of this blog, Good Thinking Al. This comes from an episode of "Bewitched" that I must have seen over 30 years ago. Some colleague of Darren's (named Al apparently) was boasting that this was his nickname at work, because they were always exclaiming "Good thinking, Al". Thus (in way of disclosure, my name is Al as well, I had not stated so explicitly) this phrase stuck in my brain. I dust it off and bring it out every now and then when I come up with a flash or flicker of brilliance.
My ISP RoadRunner has been having trouble coming up with 10 minutes of continous service, so I'm almost at the threshold of borrowed time now. Perhaps in the future I will cheat a bit, and first type these pearls up in Word using the local spelling and grammar check to appear more polished.
I do intent to stick to the 10 minutes though.
Time: 10:06
Place: Welfare Island Swankadero
This is the first in a series of daily posts for Professor Kinsley's SPCH275 class at DeVry-LIC.
In it I shall attempt to share 10 minutes (writing time) of enlightenment, humor, uplift, and perhaps some insightful self-revelations.
Allow me to start with the title of this blog, Good Thinking Al. This comes from an episode of "Bewitched" that I must have seen over 30 years ago. Some colleague of Darren's (named Al apparently) was boasting that this was his nickname at work, because they were always exclaiming "Good thinking, Al". Thus (in way of disclosure, my name is Al as well, I had not stated so explicitly) this phrase stuck in my brain. I dust it off and bring it out every now and then when I come up with a flash or flicker of brilliance.
My ISP RoadRunner has been having trouble coming up with 10 minutes of continous service, so I'm almost at the threshold of borrowed time now. Perhaps in the future I will cheat a bit, and first type these pearls up in Word using the local spelling and grammar check to appear more polished.
I do intent to stick to the 10 minutes though.
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