Poetry corner

I don't know what I'm doing
Anymore
If I ever did

Noises from the outside world
Fill me with
Paralysis

There is nothing
There is no one
But letters.
No base
No home

I'm drowning
But the water is warm

--Anon.

I'm stealing this picture just because I like it

I stole it from Tom, on whose blog it's part of a post about climate change. This is an important topic...but I just like the picture.

The rule of threes...

Things that scare me

Three ideas:

-The idea that the current administration really has FUBAR'd things so badly it'll take 20 years to set them right.
-The idea that I'll die here.
-And the idea that something that happened when I was 15 has broken me beyond repair.

People who make me laugh

-Nathan Lane
-Maurice LaMarche
-Mark Evanier

Things I hate the most

-Movies with dialogue that makes me want to give myself a lobotomy just to make the pain go away. Also see: Wars, Star, episodes I and III.
-Hypocrites.
-Japanese comics and anime.

Things I don't understand

-How anyone ever thought John Kerry was a viable candidate.
-The overhyping of Tina Fey.
-" " Kevin Smith.

Things I want to do before I die

-Put together a movie soundtrack with My Favorite on it.
-Get the voices of all the people in my brain into more people's heads.
-Go to England.

Things I can do

-Write.
-This space intentionally left blank-just picture me giving a knowing smile...
-Spot an obscure eighties track within a couple notes.

Ways to describe my personality

-Weird.
-Wise (I'm not saying I've ever described it that way, but it has been so described).
-Lacking in tact.

Things I can't do

-Stop taking shots at Tennessee.
-Wait for the premiere of Studio 60.
-Really play the keyboards (or any musical instrument, but the keyboards is the one that hurts).

Voices I think you should listen to

-Annabel and Keitha. They're much smarter than me. (For newcomers, they're also characters that I created).
-Richard Kiley singing "Dulcinea"
-Kirsty MacColl singing just about anything.

Things you should never listen to

-People choking on their own irony.
-Any music that doesn't move you, no matter how much other people tell you they like it. I like what I like, you like what you like, and there's nothing wrong with anyone who doesn't like what you like.
-Anyone who tells you they don't like Joe Jackson. There's something wrong with them.

Things I'd like to learn

-How to pull out of a spiral.
-How to turn a nervous breakdown into a nervous breakthrough.
-To really play keyboards.

Favorite foods

-Insert
-Cheap joke
-Here

Shows I watched as a kid

-Cartoons both good and bad. Nowadays I try to limit myself to the good.
-Star Trek.
-Doctor Who

I got tagged by the aforementioned Jen, but I don't like tagging people. Anyone who wants to can pick this up...

Well it hasn't been your day, your week, your month...

Thanks to Jen, who sent me the School Reunion: The '80s set from my Amazon.com wish list for my birthday (not that the rest of you should feel guilty or anything).

I wanted this set because it has a bunch of tracks that not having in my collection made me feel like such a failure as an "eighties man.'

Oh, it's very '80s. How '80s?



...This '80s. I don't know about you, but I say these are (in spirit) the same two kids as in the video for that Yes dance remix I posted a while back.

Then there's another little gem, the video for which I once noted has virtually the same plot as Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Only the video does in less than five minutes what the great visionary needed two and a half hours to accomplish.


So thanks, Jen.

Katrina and the Waves

Just go read Krugman. Via the TG Women:

Last September President Bush stood in New Orleans, where the lights had just come on for the first time since Katrina struck, and promised “one of the largest reconstruction efforts the world has ever seen.” Then he left, and the lights went out again.

Apologists for the administration will doubtless claim that blame for the lack of progress rests not with Mr. Bush, but with the inherent inefficiency of government bureaucracies. That’s the great thing about being an antigovernment conservative: even when you fail at the task of governing, you can claim vindication for your ideology.

Maybe the aid promised to the gulf region will actually arrive some day. But by then it will probably be too late. Many former residents and small-business owners, tired of waiting for help that never comes, will have permanently relocated elsewhere; those businesses that stayed open, or reopened after the storm, will have gone under for lack of customers. In America as in Iraq, reconstruction delayed is reconstruction denied — and Mr. Bush has, once again, broken a promise.

New stuff from our man Mariano!

"...the unofficial official 'mystery artist' of Dictionopolis in Digitopolis." You can see more of his recently-posted work here.

You have to get used to losing things in life, or you’re done for

John Kander & Fred Ebb were so linked that the name of one was once a crossword puzzle clue for that of the other. As I've said before, I think they were the greatest show writing team of their generation, and I'm hardly alone in that estimation. But lyricist Mr. Ebb passed away a couple of years ago.

There's an article in the New York Times about what composer Mr. Kander has been doing since. Obstensibly it's about a long-in-progress musical begun with Ebb: Curtains recently opened in L.A. and is planned for Broadway.

I would dearly love to see it; have wanted to ever since Kander & Ebb talked about it in a book they published (and I reviewed) in 2003.

But it (the article) is really about coming to terms with loss. As Kander slowly and at first unsteadily begins writing again to his own lyrics, with the occasional "general ideas, sample lines and help in evaluation" by Rupert Holmes.

Eventually Mr. Kander found the way forward. “I made this switch in my head, quite consciously,” he recalled. “Instead of dealing with it as a big trauma and a big cry of grief, I started to think of it as just a different chapter. You have to get used to losing things in life, or you’re done for,” he added, a thought that evoked what seemed, at first, like unrelated childhood memories. The time his Aunt Rheta put her hand over his to teach him his first chord: C major. And the season, even earlier, he spent isolated on a sleeping porch recovering from tuberculosis. “I’ve always thought that I became a listening person then,” he said. “Listening for the sounds of footsteps coming toward me.”

If your ear, he seemed to suggest, was tuned to the frequency of human contact, it was necessarily tuned to the frequency of human absence as well. Love and loss were not separate channels. “And once I acknowledged that,” he said, “I felt free to go to work.”

Now is the time for all the cool kids to stop watching '24'

You longtime fans...note how he optimistically yet again uses the plural...will know that I've had somewhat divided loyalties on the subject of the '24' show recently. On the one hand, I was genuinely offended by the show's creators and some of the actors getting into bed with the evil wing of the Republican party("Chloe" even accepting a kiss from Rush Limbaugh, the whore).

But, on the other, god, yes, I remember how happy I was during the season finale. It was one of the only series that didn't disappoint me all year. But now it's won (certainly deserved) Emmys for best drama series, best actor for Kiefer Sutherland, and directing.

It's too popular. It's too succesful. It's time to bail. The backlash is coming, and I'm going to be out in front of it. I'm fairly certain I'm right about this, and fortunately I have about five months to think about it.

Other things to say about the Emmys:

Best dressed women...and when I say that, what I really mean is women whose breasts I most enjoyed (low-cut dresses are back in style...but I'll never understand how they ever go out)...
Jennifer Love Hewitt (left) and Katherine Heigl (below)



And speaking of...I do not know Kelly MacDonald. Don't think I've seen her in anything since "Trainspotting" ("Wake up Spud...Sex!! ... casual sex...!!") but, I love her.

Any woman who is sexy, can (apparently) act a bit, and thanks one person and one person only in her Emmy acceptance speech and it's the writer...is my kind of actress.

Helen Mirren also had some nice things to say in praise of writers and writing, especially those who write big parts for women. And the star-studded Los Angeles audience listened with the greatest of interest to everything she had to say, and then they went home and hoped their agents would get them a guest-star bit on "America's Got Talent."

You "fans" will also know I stopped watching "The West Wing" about three years ago, nevertheless, I'm pleased to learn that with Alan Alda's win last night the series set a new record for overall Emmys won by a drama series.

And I don't watch “Entourage,” but I've been a fan of Jeremy Piven's since "Cupid," so...

As for Blythe Danner winning again for "Huff"...well, as I think I said when the nominations were announced: If anybody from this season's misfire deserved a nomination it was Hank Azaria or Andy Comeau, their work was often the only thing worth watching.

But nobody from this season's misfire really deserved a nomination, much less the win. Sorry, Blythe. Nothing personal.

I thought Conan O'Brien did a teriffic job as host; actually much better than Jon Stewart did at the Oscars. Yet Stewart's presentation with Stephen Colbert was funnier than any of O'Brien's running bits.

It occurs to me that Stewart may be at his best when he's the contrast to the establishment, as he was last night and as he is on his own program, not when he is the establishment, as he was on Oscar night.

I'll have more to say about the Emmys later, but...

...did Kate Jackson really just evoke 9/11 in her tribute to Aaron Spelling?

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_3280

"All right. Now for the last time, pay attention. I'm not going through this again. You put your right foot in..."

Original source here.



In retrospect, Betty would come to see the amount of time Jake liked to spend hiding in closets as a rather telltale sign.

Original source here.

And yes, I'm still very depressed. A state of emergency in Florida. Hezbollah. The continuing exploitation of 9/11. The Democrats. Once again, it makes you wonder what's really worth staying alive for, doesn't it?




...Kitty!

Original source here.

2006, ladies and gentlemen

Via TalkLeft:

Coushatta, LA:

Nine black children attending Red River Elementary School were directed last week to the back of the school bus by a white driver who designated the front seats for white children.

For God's sake, people...

Won't you please give generously so Mariah Carey can afford to buy some clothes?

An obscure and gratuitous reference I only expect 3% of you to get

President terrified of women, “Washington Whispers” reports…

He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we’re learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he’s still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can’t get enough of fart jokes.

And his favorite "Doctor Who" episode? Love & Monsters.

Thank you.

Quote via Wonkette.

Oh dear

Unsure of her next career move, Tara Reid confers with her two closest advisors.





Click to enlarge, if you're into that kind of thing.

Always in time, but never in line for dreams

What Your Soul Really Looks Like

You are a wanderer. You constantly long for a new adventure, challenge, or even a completely different life. You are not a very grounded person. You prefer dreams to reality. For you, it's all about possibilities. You believe that people see you as a bit small and insignificant. People pay more attention to you than you think. Your near future is in a very different place (both physically and mentally) from where you are right now. For you, love is all about caring and comfort. You couldn't fall in love with someone you didn't trust.

Inside the Room of Your Soul

You know, as a rule, I look at these blogthings as being something like horoscopes. Fun if you don't take them too seriously. But sometimes I could almost wonder if they are getting inside my head.

New life, new love
Where's the heart I was dreaming of?
I need a new hope, new dream
Another part in a different scene
A new life, it's so hard to find
-Pet Shop Boys, "A New Life"

I've been thinking recently about how lately it seems all I'm living for is possibilities. Every time I check my email, answer the phone, go downstairs to check my regular mailbox-is it the publisher?

And in a broader sense-sometimes the only thing that keeps me getting up in the morning is the possibility that I will find a way through all my stuff. God knows how, because when I think about it, all I see is...well, see my random Flickr blogging for this week.

But I still have, within me, some spark of faith left that still glimmers.

There's a flame of hope
Burning in my heart
There's a strange emotion
Tearing me apart

Cause I know...

OMD, "Flame Of Hope"

No prizes for being the first one to say "He'd know."

Kerry Calls Lieberman "out of step" with voters

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_0736

images & words:

Let's take the boat out
Wait until darkness
Let's take the boat out
Wait until darkness comes

Peter Gabriel, "Mercy Street"

Original sources: 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors-Robert Frost

JOSH
Is that what Frost meant?

DONNA
No, he meant that boundries are what alienate us from each other.

Aaron Sorkin & Eli Attie, The West Wing, "Red Mass"

I've had two dreams in three days that center around failed communications. The frustration of talking to someone on the phone when you can't quite make them hear you. And then the fearful alarm of seeing the words that you're trying to send to someone turn into soup before your eyes.

There is, believe it or not, one truly great scene in Spring Break, a movie that is otherwise a below-average '80s teen sex "comedy." It's a moment where one of our erstwhile "heroes" has met a girl he likes and who seems to like him, and they repair to her hotel room.

Thirsty, or perhaps anticipating that they are about to work up a thirst, she requests a soda, which he gentlemanly goes to get from the machine down the hall...before realizing that not only can't he remember the room number, he doesn't know her name!

Nightmarish, at least for me, and I'm being quite literal when I say that. Because I do have recurring dreams where I seem to have found someone (at last) and then, usually not long before I wake up, something happens to separate us. I've had them since I was a kid.

Anyway. This is one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands.



It's obvious to me why I was thinking about it this morning when I woke up. Whether or not it's obvious to you I leave up to you.

What do you want?

(As always, click to enlarge or for clarity)

(If only real clarity were that easy)

Whatever happened to me?

I've got Lindsey Buckingham on one shoulder and Howard Jones on the other

Two kinds of trouble in this world
Living... dying
I lost my power in this world
And the rumors are flying
-Lindsey Buckingham

The old man said to me
Said you can't change the world single-handily
Raise a glass enjoy the scenery
Pretend the water is champagne
And fill my glass again and again
While the wolves are gathering round your door
-Howard Jones

The Seattle Public Library Lake City branch will be closed Friday, September 1st

They say it's "for staff training," but I choose to believe it's in honor and observance of my birthday.

Be well, Roger

Film critic Roger Ebert suffered another health setback earlier this month, but friends and coworkers of the "Ebert & Roeper" co-host remain guardedly optimistic about his condition.

Ebert, who has been hospitalized in Chicago since June, underwent his third surgery in as many months on Aug. 6. He was treated for a recurrence of salivary cancer in June; the following month, surgeons repaired a burst blood vessel. His wife, Chaz, characterized the latest procedure as "minor" in a letter posted on Ebert's website, but media insiders are buzzing that doctors removed at least part of his jaw and that the ailing critic's recovery could take many months.

John Barron, editor in chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert's home paper, said coworkers are taking it one day at a time. "I don't think any of us know what the situation will be," he said. "I don't think two months ago any of us thought Roger would still be in the hospital."

Via Channel Island.

"we make them laugh but we can’t make them happy"

Just something that caught my eye from this interesting interview with Maurice LaMarche. LaMarche is a voice actor with about six dozen credits, you can hear him on

• Futurama as Kif and a bunch of others
• The Critic as Jeremy Hawke and most of the celebrity impersonations
• Pinky & the Brain as a certain little mouse who wants to "Try to take over the world! Yes!"
  
  Anyway, he also used to be a standup and good friends with Sam Kinison, which is where this story comes from.

  We both had gotten quite smashed one night, and Sam was actually very sad. He was actually in tears. His girlfriend was consoling him because he was wondering about whether what we did meant anything. And he said, “Maurice, we help people, don’t we? We make ‘em happy?” And I said, “No Sam, we make them laugh but we can’t make them happy.” He went, “Yeah, yeah,” and he kept balling because he really felt like his life was meaningless. (laughing) Mr. Cheerful helping Sam out! But it’s the reality. There’s a huge difference between fun and happiness. Fun is momentary. Fun happens in little short spurts and then it’s over.

  
  

Ok, you know the scene in "The Shining" with those horrible twins?

I want you to imagine if they mutiplied about a half a dozen times. And then I want you to look at this image of the next batch of contestants for America's Next Top Model. Is it me, or is that the most frightening thing you've ever seen in your whole entire life?

Now there's the kind of news that makes you sit up and take notice

Seattle port terminal evacuated

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A terminal at the Port of Seattle was evacuated on Wednesday and a bomb squad was investigating a ship container that alarmed bomb-sniffing dogs, a port spokesman said.

The container first raised suspicion when a screening using gamma ray technology about the contents' density did not match the items listed on the ships' manifest.

Should this be my last blog post, I think I'll leave you with this:

I hate the nail polish Jessica Biel is wearing in these pictures

Fortunately, no one is going to notice, as she is also wearing a dress that makes her ass look incredible.

Sir...in my heart, I know I'm funny.

The actor Bruno Kirby has died. This news item identifies him as best known for his work in "City Slickers," but I remember him for a small part he played in an episode of "Columbo," and especially as Robin Williams' antagonist in "Good Morning, Vietnam."

That film gets remembered mostly as the first film that had the sense to wind Robin Williams up and let him go. But I think it's a much better film than that. One of the reasons is that director Barry Levinson had the rare good sense to surround Williams not with stand-ups who might try to compete with him for laughs, but with actors, who knew how to pick their moments and get laughs on their own terms.

Kirby was among them. His deadpan delivery made for some of my favorite lines in the picture.

...comedy is kind of a hobby of mine. Well, actually, it's a little more than just a hobby, Reader's Digest is considering publishing two of my jokes.

I mean, how can you beat that?

Anyway, all I really wanted to say is that I'm very sorry to hear about this.

What is it about Bill Clinton that makes winning feel like losing and vice versa?

That's what I'm wondering after reading this story, Clinton Sounds Off on Terror, Republicans.

Madonna is trying to draw my fire

I am presented with a poser. You longtime fans of this blog ("fans"...what an optimist...in the pural, yet) will know that not long ago I declared a cease fire on, shall we say, witty observations about she whose film director husband's career coincidentally went into the toliet right after they worked together.

It's times like this I just know God is testing me.

Madonna Quits Acting

But I sit here with one hand (metaphorically) over my mouth, not giving voice to any of the reactions I might have to this piece of news...like that it's only a few years after acting quit her...but no, I'm better than that...aieeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Giving 'em the old razzle-dazzle

I think John Kander and Fred Ebb were the greatest show writing team of their generation; only Stephen Sondheim beats them, IMO, and he's not a team. I talked a lot about why I think that in my review of an autobiographical book they published a few years ago.

So when I hear that there was a PBS "Great Performances" documentary on their work, I think to myself, "How'd I miss that?"

Bob Fosse was also one of my favorite choreographer-director-dancers.

So when I hear that there's a clip from this documentary online, all about the original version of Chicago, written by Kander, Ebb and Fosse and directed and choreographed by Fosse, I'm fascinated.

I hope you are, too.


With a tip of the Fosse derby to Mark Evanier, who has a cheap sex joke to tell about his friend, cartoonist Sergio Aragonés.

Isn't that always the way?

(Click to enlarge)

Special K

Recommended reading, by Paul Krugman:

We now know that from the very beginning, the Bush administration and its allies in Congress saw the terrorist threat not as a problem to be solved, but as a political opportunity to be exploited. The story of the latest terror plot makes the administration’s fecklessness and cynicism on terrorism clearer than ever.

But whether or not there was something fishy about the timing of the latest terror announcement, there’s the question of whether the administration’s scare tactics will work. If current polls are any indication, Republicans are on the verge of losing control of at least one house of Congress. And “on every issue other than terrorism and homeland security,” says Newsweek about its latest poll, “the Dems win.” Can a last-minute effort to make a big splash on terror stave off electoral disaster?

Many political analysts think it will. But even on terrorism, and even after the latest news, polls give Republicans at best a slight advantage. And Democrats are finally doing what they should have done long ago: calling foul on the administration’s attempt to take partisan advantage of the terrorist threat.

And Teddy Kennedy:

Vice presidents are notorious for serving as an administration's chief attack dog, and time and again Dick Cheney has been unleashed to accuse anyone who is opposed to the Bush administration of aiding the terrorists. But this time he has gone too far.

Ned Lamont's victory in Connecticut scares Cheney for one simple reason: It demonstrates that a free and independent people can and do hold public officials accountable for their words and deeds.

The November election will teach Dick Cheney and others of his ilk that they cannot use fear to cling to power. As Will Rogers said, "It's no disgrace not to be able to run a country nowadays, but it is a disgrace to keep on trying when you know you can't."

Tammy's Meme

Via Mark.

First, the rules as laid out by Tammy...

Book meme
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog, the title of the book, the author and these instructions.
5. Don’t you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.

The Human League gave us both sides of the coin. At the end of the day their lesson is summed up by Philip Oakey's response to an assertion that they were a very different concoction to Bucks Fizz. 'Are we?' Philip said.

From Designer Boys and Material Girls: Manufacturing the '80s Pop Dream by Dave Hill.

Oh, like you don't own a copy.

How the mighty, etc

If you're in NY, please, for the love of god, when you're throwing out your trash...think of Boy George and wrap it neatly in well-tied plastic bags. He's already suffered so much.

Let this be a lesson to all of you, ladies

If you wear loose-fitting clothing with big holes in the sides for sleeves, and you don't wear a bra...we can and will see your breasts. I offer the following...



...strictly for illustrative purposes. The fact that this particular breast used for an example happens to belong to one Ms. Lindsay Lohan is, of course, the merest coincidence.

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_5929

At the risk of sounding like Marvin, I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed. Quite aside from the emotional yo-yo I'm on till I hear back on my query letter, the state of the world...

Israel vs. Lebanon. Renewed fears of terrorism in the skies-and the fact that thanks to five years of the GOP exploiting fears of terrorism for political gain, we can never be sure what's real or not. What laughingly passes for a "free press" in this country. And of course, the continuous needless bloodshed in Iraq.

It makes you wonder what's worth staying alive for sometimes.

Kitty!

Original source here.

Carl realized with a heavy heart that his father was, indeed, the corniest man in the world. Shortly after this photo was taken, he was bashed to death on the rocks and his body was thrown into the river behind them. It was better for all concerned that way-even the judge agreed.

Original source here.

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_5929: Words and image edition

Your lover lies beside you fast asleep
The moonlight falls upon the tears you weep
And you can hear the waves crash on the beach
At night, oh at night
So all you really need is love
Love to give, receive above
And then the waves will soothe your heart
Your one true love will never part
True love (Is the answer to everything
True love is the answer true love is the thing)
True love (Is the answer to everything
True love is the answer true love is the thing)
And we will lie together both asleep
The moonlight will provide the tears we weep
And as we breathe the waves crash on the beach
At night
-The Waves, Wang Chung

Original source here.

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_5929: "I believe the children are our future" edition

Revealed at last! The answer to the question of whether children are born gay, or...

Original source here.



Much to her dismay, Judith realized no one really cared she'd just walked across the water.

Original source here.



"Now I suppose you're wondering why I've called you all here. I've called you all here to discuss something of the gravest importance which has only recently come to my attention. I have gone pee-pee in my pants. I want to see options on the table, gentlemen, within the next 24 hours."

Original source here.

So I stole a meme

1. had your first kiss with?
If we mean post-puberty, then I think it was with the girl mentioned in the post below. Pre, I think it was a girl named Michelle.

2. What would you do with 1,000 plastic spoons?
To be honest I'd probably save them. I'm always breaking or losing those things.

3. What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school?
Elementary school? Lots and lots of show tunes-like Jesus Christ Superstar, Annie, Godspell, Barnum. No, I am not gay. The Star Wars soundtrack, and the "story of the film" albums. The Flash Gordon soundtrack by Queen. I swear I'm not gay. Olivia Newton-John. Muppet Show cast albums. The Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie soundtrack. Alvin & the Chipmunks. Men At Work.

With only a few exceptions, I didn't really get into pop music till Jr. high.

4. What is the best thing about your job?
Job?

5. Do you like more than one person right now?
The question is vague...

6. Are you against same sex marriage?
Why, yes. Yes I am. Fortunately, the couple of gay women who live in my head are quite in favor of it.

8. Where are you going on your next vacation?
Vacation?

9. Do you feel sad now?
No, but I have good deal of denial about the realities of my situation going for me.

10. Are most of the friends in your life new or old?
Again, the question is vague...define your terms!

11. Do you own any furniture from Ikea?
No, I don't think so.

13. If you could be an animal what would you be?
A dolphin or a wolf.

14. What state/country are you from?
California, dude.

15. Tell us about the last conversation/s you had?
An offensively stupid call from the video store telling me something I never checked out was late.

16. Where do you see yourself in one month?
Another year older (September first, he said, glancing towards the Amazon.com wish list) and deeper in depression.

17. What is your favorite smell?
Grass (the kind you find on a lawn, not a euphimism for anything).

18. What is your favorite sight?
Bodies of water. Or just bodies.

19. Do you consider yourself bi-polar?
No. I do, however, have one or two friends who might have differing thoughts on the subject.

21. Have you ever done anything vindictive to your co-worker?
Not in reality, no. But in my fantasies there's a little dwarf who hides under tables with a razor and cuts the tendons of people I feel have humiliated me. Which brings me to the next question:

22. Have you ever gone to therapy?
It's funny you ask that, actually. Yes I have, and yes I am.

23. Have you ever Played Spin the bottle?
No, but I did see a terrible movie by that name a few years ago. It was on DVD, and I had to push "play" to watch it, so I guess you could say I...no. No, I never have.

24. Have you ever Toilet papered someone's house?
Oh, yes. Better yet, someone's car the night after it rained. Have you ever tried to get wet toilet paper off a car?

25. Have you ever liked someone but never told them?
You want the list or should I just say yes?

26. Have you ever gone camping?
Yes. And I'm resisting the urge to make a limp-wristed joke playing on the word "camp" here.

27. Have you ever had a crush on your brother's friend?
No brother, so no.

28. Have you ever been to a nude beach?
No.

29. Have you ever had sex on the beach?
Not to go all Clintonesque on you here, but define "sex." In other words, not to completion, but one or two things have started there...

30. Have you ever had a stalker?
Yes, actually. Or at least, I had a girl from my past hunt me down in order to finish something we'd started a few years ago and that she thought unfinished...

31. Have you ever gone skinny dipping?
No.

32. Have you ever laughed so hard you cried?
Yes, I suppose I have. It's not exactly a common occurence, though

33. Have you ever gone to a party where you were the only sober person?
Yes.

34. Have you ever been cheated on?
Not to my knowledge if we're talking cheating=sex. But I've had girlfriends of mine make out with other guys.

35. Have you ever felt betrayed by your best friend?
What else are best friends for?

36. Have you ever lied to your parents?
Yes, certainly. I think it was the first time a child has ever lied to their parents.

37. Have you ever been out of the US?
Yes, once, but unfortunately it was only to Canada (nothing against the lovely country, but...). Also, I've been to Tennessee, which is not so much out of the US as it is out of the realm of fathomability.

38. Have you ever thrown up from working out?
No.

39. Have you ever gotten a haircut so bad that you wore a hat for a month straight?
I'm just going to pause here while everyone reading this who is familiar with the hair that I walk around with on a daily basis has a good, long laugh.

40. Have you ever eaten 3 meals from 3 different fast food places in 1 day?
I don't think so.

42. Have you ever spied on someone you had a crush on?
Not really, unless surreptiously gazing at girls in high school counts as "spying."

43. Have you ever slept with one of your co-workers?
No. Slept with a girl I was in a Rocky Horror Picture Show cast with once.

44. Have you ever seen your best friend naked?
No, and it's probably for the better. Over the years I've had a number of "best friends," but only one of them I'd ever have wanted to see naked. I never did, but I don't want to get into that now...it's all in my first play...

45. Who was the last person you kissed?
Technically, my four-year-old nephew, when I was saying goodbye after baby-sitting him at the park.

46. When was the last time you slept for more then 12 hours straight?
I don't think I ever have.

47. Have you ever been to jail?
No.

48. Who is/are your best friend(s)?
Don't know that I have one at the moment.

49. Have you ever stolen anything?
Yes.

50. Ever drank egg nog?
Never.

The things you find when you're egotistical enough to do a Technorati search on your name

A girl who had her first kiss with me has recorded it in a meme in her MySpace...

1. had your first kiss with?
If I recall correctly, it was Ben Varkentine, behind the Peninsula School after music class. He had rubbery lips.

Immortality.

I second that emotion

Mark Evanier recommends this Eric Boehlert article on what's wrong with the punditry of today, as seen through the prism of their presumptious and logic-impared coverage of Lamont's ascension.

So do I. Now I'm even more anxiously awaiting my copy of Boehlert's Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush book at my local library. Here are a couple of excerpts from the article.

Equally far-fetched is the assumption that a candidate in Connecticut will impact races in the other 49 states. Since when do voters in Oregon, for instance, vote in retaliation for whom citizens in Arizona elect in their primary? Perhaps that was true when the renegade candidate was KKK honcho and Republican David Duke. But Lamont is a multi-millionaire and fourth-generation Harvard graduate. Why would voters in Tennessee be concerned about Lamont, let alone care about him? There's absolutely no proof that the choice Connecticut Democrats made Tuesday is going to influence elections around the country. No proof, that is, other than the fact that the Republican National Committee's Ken Mehlman says it's so.

But what I think is essential to understanding the Lieberman media phenomena is that, for the most part, the pundits who assailed Lamont's rise during the campaign were the same ones who signed off on the disastrous war in Iraq and now appear spooked that voters in Connecticut finally decided to hold Lieberman, the de facto Democratic co-sponsor of the invasion, responsible for that foreign policy debacle. They're spooked because for the last three-plus years there's been something of a gentleman's agreement that nobody inside the Beltway, whether at the White House, Congress, the Pentagon, or inside the corporate media world, has been asked to pay any sort of professional price for backing the disaster that is Iraq. But suddenly Democrats in the Nutmeg state have decided enough's enough. That's not a trend Beltway insiders want to see spread nationally, which is why so many pundits were eager to marginalize Lamont and his anti-war backers as "crazies" and "elitist" "bomb throwers."

I am shining in the sky

"I am the sun
and the air
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the sun and air
Of nothing in particular"

"Here comes the me..."

You Are The Sun

You represent the best of life - vitality, success, and and truth. You tend to have a strong, centered, balanced personality. Inspiration and discovery are your fortes. You are very mentally strong. A talented mind, you tend to excel at math, philosophy, and music. Your fortune: As well as you have done in the past, the future is going to be filled with more success. A new creative project is coming your way. Feed it, and it will grow into something huge. Great riches, recognition, prosperity, or happiness is coming your way. And it's possible that a fantastic vacation, or a new baby, is coming sooner than you think.

What Tarot Card Are You?

No, I don't think I will

Stephen Baldwin on God:

"I like to ask friends of mine, happy couples who seem to have a pretty good marriage, I will ask them, 'How's your sex life?'" Alec Baldwin's little brother writes in a new book excerpted in the upcoming Esquire mag. "They will say something like pretty good or okay or no complaints here. Here's what I tell them: Imagine taking a healthy sex life and inviting the power of God into that exchange."

Via the New York Daily News.

BTW, in that same column you'll see an item about how Elle Macpherson and Heidi Klum are fighting over which of them gets to be known as "the body." Isn't that the sort of thing that's best settled with a cheerleading competition?

For the record, just call me "team Macpherson"...

Those wascally Jews

Mel Gibson's next movie...

Joe Jackson is 52 today

Jackson is great, so here's an a cappella version of one of his biggest hits. This version appeared on the Night And Day Tour of 1982/83, and is performed "Without the aid of any musical instruments, save for a lone tambourine...he (drummer/percussionist Larry Tolfree) can't sing, you see, he's gotta do something."

A slightly different version (I believe) appears on the beautiful "Live 1980/86" two-album set.

Dullards and "sense"

Paul Krugman (via TN Guerilla Women :

After Ned Lamont’s victory in Connecticut, I saw a number of commentaries describing Joe Lieberman not just as a “centrist” — a word that has come to mean “someone who makes excuses for the Bush administration” — but as “sensible.” But on what planet would Mr. Lieberman be considered sensible?

So what’s really behind claims that Mr. Lieberman is sensible — and that those who voted against him aren’t? It’s the fact that many Washington insiders suffer from the same character flaw that caused Mr. Lieberman to lose Tuesday’s primary: an inability to admit mistakes.

Imagine yourself as a politician or pundit who was gung-ho about invading Iraq, and who ridiculed those who warned that the case for war was weak and that the invasion’s aftermath could easily turn ugly. Worse yet, imagine yourself as someone who remained in denial long after it all went wrong, disparaging critics as defeatists. Now denial is no longer an option; the neocon fantasy has turned into a nightmare of fire and blood. What do you do?

You could admit your error and move on — and some have. But all too many Iraq hawks have chosen, instead, to cover their tracks by trashing the war’s critics.

They say: Pay no attention to the fact that I was wrong and the critics have been completely vindicated by events — I’m “sensible,” while those people are crazy extremists. And besides, criticizing any aspect of the war encourages the terrorists.

...in his non-concession speech, Mr. Lieberman described Mr. Lamont as representative of a political tendency in which “every disagreement is considered disloyal” — a statement of remarkable chutzpah from someone who famously warned Democrats that “we undermine the president’s credibility at our nation’s peril.”

There’s an overwhelming consensus among national security experts that the war in Iraq has undermined, not strengthened, the fight against terrorism. Yet yesterday Mr. Lieberman, sounding just like Dick Cheney — and acting as a propaganda tool for Republicans trying to Swift-boat the party of which he still claims to be a member — suggested that the changes in Iraq policy that Mr. Lamont wants would be “taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England.”

Bush's nickname among Republicans: The Anchor

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted this week found the president's approval rating has dropped to 33 percent, matching his low in May. His handling of nearly every issue, from the Iraq war to foreign policy, contributed to the president's decline around the nation, even in the Republican-friendly South.

More sobering for the GOP are the number of voters who backed Bush in 2004 who are ready to vote Democratic in the fall's congressional elections — 19 percent. These one-time Bush voters are more likely to be female, self-described moderates, low- to middle-income and from the Northeast and Midwest.

"I don't feel like the war was the answer," said Paula Lohler, 54, an independent from Worcester, Mass., who is inclined to vote her opposition to Bush. "It seems like it's going on and on and on and nothing's being done."

In the South, Bush's approval ratings dropped from 43 percent last month to 34 percent as the GOP advantage with Southern women disappeared.

Those dixie chicks are the best. Long may they live.

Okay, the "foiled terrorist plot" thing

Recommended reading: This Agence France-Presse about how...well I think the headline speaks for itself.

Bush seeks political gains from foiled plot

Key excerpt:

"Weeks before September 11th, this is going to play big," said another White House official, who also spoke on condition of not being named, adding that some Democratic candidates won't "look as appealing" under the circumstances.

Is it any wonder I fear the exploitation I know is going to follow the apparent success of the World Trade Center movie?

I'm so confused

Gwyneth Paltrow. As I may have mentioned once or twice in the past, never really on my personal "hot stuff" list. Some people just do it for you more than others and she rarely has. So you can imagine my confusion when I saw this image of her early this afternoon, in which I actually think she does look pretty damn hot.

I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the "Adam Ant appearing in a road company production of Godspell" makeup on her cheek. But you can understand that this was as nothing to my confusion when I scrolled down and saw the caption at the bottom of the picture...

Gwyneth Paltrow is African? I wouldn't have thought it. A closer look at the fine print under the caption reveals this to be a charity pitch to raise money to send AIDS drugs to Africa.

So she means, "I am African" in an "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together" sense. So that's fine.

Except that it means I've just been sexually aroused by a plea to save lives. To reiterate: I'm so confused...

Some evenings you just feel more isolated from your culture than others

Being the fourth in my intermittent series of posts that might also be called "Why I don't want to see it." In these I talk about movies that I find myself with surprisingly little desire to see, despite the fact that they're well-reviewed, have a story or a kind of story that has been of interest to me in other formats, or both.

I always feel the need to draw the perhaps-thin distinction that I am not criticising these films, because I haven't seen them. I'm just talking about my response to what I have seen about them.

Tonight I'm talking about World Trade Center, directed by Oliver Stone. By RT consensus, this is

...a visually stunning tribute to lives lost in tragedy, World Trade Center succeeds unequivocally, and it is more politically muted than many of Stone's other works.

Maybe. But when I've seen ads for it, all I can think is that they've taken one of the most unforgettable events in recent American (hell, world) history in recent memory and turned it into dumb, Hollywood horseshit.

Part of my problem may be feeling that if this was a film that needed to be made (and I consider that a pretty big "if") then it should have been cast with absolutely no movie stars whatsoever. Because as long as I'm looking not at a police officer who risked his life trying to save others, but at Nicholas Cage...dumb, Hollywood horseshit.

And if this is a film that needed to be made I guess I would rather it had been made in handheld, almost "cinema verite" fashion rather than the apparently mythologizing way it has.

And what does it tell us about the five years that have followed that I'm also worried about how Bush supporters will exploit this film if it succeds?

The New Republic on why Lieberman was defeated

It's not because he supported a war that middle America has come to see as a terrible mistake we should get out of as soon as possible. And it's not because he embraced (both metaphorically and literally) an unpopular president.

No no, it's because Clinton endorsed him.

Oh.

So you want to see...

1. Glowing, chirping orbs?

A visitor to the SIGGRAPH 2006 technology fair walks through an interactive installation

2. A woman sitting under over 50,000 polystyrene balls?

Australian artist Nike Savvas sits under her art piece consisting of over 50,000 polystyrene balls at the New South Wales Art Gallery in Sydney August 3, 2006. The sculpture titled 'Atomix - Full of Love, Full of Wonder' , vibrates with wind from 10 fans and represents the different 'shimmering' colours in a hot, outback landscape. It is part of a sculpture exhibition 'Adventures with Form in Space' that will open to the public next week. REUTERS/David Gray

We here at Dictionopolis in Digitopolis have anticipated your every need.

Blood in the water (Okay, the Lieberman thing-UPDATED)

Update: Mark has a thought.

A quick survey of pundits commenting on the Ned Lamont victory shows that no one has a clue what it all means. Neither do I but I know what I hope it means. I hope it means that Democrats will wake up to the idea that the mainstream view in this country is that the War in Iraq has been a colossal mistake. It is not a fringe, extremist view or even an exclusively Liberal view that any good office-seeker would be wise to keep at arm's length...More Democrats need to stop hedging their statements in this area for fear of being accused of being branded unAmerican or pro-Saddam...I just think the Lamont victory legitimizes the majority view a bit more tonight and makes it seem more politically viable. At least, I hope that's what it means.

Original post: In case you haven't heard...

Apparently Joe Lieberman has been defeated in the primary. Good. Even Andrew Sullivan thinks-

The notion, advanced by Lieberman, that criticism of the president's war leadership is somehow inappropriate when the country is in danger gets it exactly the wrong way round, I think. It is precisely because the danger is still so great that criticism is so necessary. That's democracy's strength.

-and that was in the course of endorsing Lieberman (being a gay "conservative independent," Sullivan is, as you might imagine, a bit of a masochist). Here's what a supporter of Lieberman's opponent, Ned Lamont, had to say.

"People are going to look back and say the Bush years started to end in Connecticut," said Avi Green, a volunteer from Boston. "The Republicans are going to look at tonight and realize there's blood in the water."

One other thing.

Lieberman has said he will run as an independent in the fall if defeated in the primary. His falling poll numbers spurred some Democratic colleagues to make last-minute campaign appearances, including former President Clinton, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California and others.

At The Huffington Post, a "Business Futurist"/film and Star Trek fan named Steven G. Brant asks the good questions like-

"Will the Democrats build or destroy themselves based on this result?"

Will Senator Dodd now support Lamont? Will Senators Clinton and Schumer? Senators Kennedy and Kerry? What about Bill Clinton? What about Howard Dean and the Democratic Party?

-and says this to soon-to-be-former Senator Lieberman:

I say to Joe, "Learn from Al Gore. Retire to private life. And work for what you are passionate about from that place in society. Al has done pretty well for himself and for our country in that role, wouldn't you say? Do the same thing, Joe. Set an example by showing people that you can put your party...and your country...ahead of your desire to stay in power. Be a good loser, Joe. That's how you can keep 'the old politics of partisan polarization' from winning."

Me, I say this to Bill Clinton and Sen. Boxer: Mr. President, I'll always think you got a raw deal. Senator, I generally feel pretty good about having helped elect you that first time back in California. But you need to understand something. There's some new sheriffs in town and they don't like people who support the Iraq war or who apologize for the Bush administration.

When it comes to endorsing a DiNO like Lieberman...run and hide.

Incidentally, this page from CBS New contains a web-video report by a correspondent named Trish Regan. She suggests that Lamont's victory may lead more Democrats to come out against the war-and that Republicans will try to use this against them (soft on national defense, you know the drill.)

I don't know anything about Trish Regan but a quick trip to Yahoo! shows me that she certainly seems to aggravate the conservative blogs like "NewsBusters," which naturally makes me like her just a little bit more.

And she used to work in San Francisco, which makes me like her a lot more. I suppose there are some who would tell you she is quite delectable to look at (A former Miss New Hampshire in the Miss America Pageant, apparently)-but I ask you-would I be that shallow?

Meanwhile, since I opened this post by quoting someone on the short list of right-wing louts I could learn to like, I might as well close with another, the ever-wiley Joe Scarborough, who earlier tonight wrote a piece that begins:

The conventional wisdom for tonight's Connecticut primary seems to be that a Joe Leiberman loss will yank the Democratic Party so far left as to make other Democratic candidates unelectable this fall. The logic is laughable and similar to what I heard from Republican leaders in 1994.

That was the election year when the most conservative wing of the GOP took over the party and swept into power in the US Congress. None would have predicted that outcome just two years earlier.

Quote via Kos, who observes,

While one may wonder why Scarborough is so intent on giving good advice to Democrats, it bears noting that 1) his advice contracits that of every other "well meaning" conservative eager to defend the Democratic Party's good graces, and 2) it does line up nicely with his own experiences in 1994.

If nothing else, food for thought. Though I don't disagree.

What the hell...?

Actually it's a picture of the newly single-again Sienna Miller on the set of an upcoming movie called "Camille." But that's a horse of a different color.

(Image via A Socialite's Life)

This can't be right

According to this item, the Hollywood studios are starting to rebel against high salaries for movie stars because they're out of proportion to reality.

Studio executives are increasingly frustrated by hit films that leave them impoverished because the stars, as well as directors such as Steven Spielberg, grab most of the profits.

Most recently, Paramount Pictures has allowed a long-standing deal with Tom Cruise whereby-

Paramount has paid Cruise-Wagner Productions, Cruise's private film development company, up to $17.5 million a year to base its office on the Paramount lot in Los Angeles. It also paid for 10 staff. In return, Paramount gets the first bite at any Cruise film.

-to lapse.

The item further goes on to say that

Studios are feeling more bullish because many northern summer hits, from Cars to Superman Returns, have been driven by strong scripts and computer effects rather than celebrities.

Emphasis mine. Well, I'd like to believe that, I really would...but I think we all know that even as we speak Will Ferrel is being offered something like 13 million (I'm guessing) a picture.

And actually, I don't mind that so much. His picture is bringing in a lot of money and it's fair to say he's responsible for a good amount of that and that Americans like him. Whereas Tom Cruise:

Hollywood studios are influenced by Q Scores, an annual poll of a celebrity's likeability. In the last poll, the percentage of Americans who liked Cruise fell from 30 two years ago to 19, while people who disliked him jumped from 14 to 31. The next Q Score, due to be released confidentially to the studios next month, is expected to be even worse.

Henry Schaffer, of Marketing Evaluations, which carries out the Q Score polls, said Cruise had suffered in particular with young women, especially compared with more low-profile stars such as Tom Hanks. "The two Toms used to be neck and neck at the top of the Hollywood tree, but the more flamboyant Tom is in danger of crash and burn," he said.

The more "flamboyant" Tom. Cough cough. Anyway, the problem from my point of view isn't just that actors (and some directors) are paid such a huge percentage of the costs for any film-it's the other valuable contributors to a film that aren't.

And the fact that these big paydays contribute to cart-before-the-horse filmmaking where something gets made not because somebody (a writer, perhaps), has a good idea for a story or some characters but because somebody sees a market.

I suppose, in a utopian, almost Communist world, everybody who worked on a film would be paid almost the same up till and unless it began to show a profit. Which brings us to the well-nigh legendary feats of Hollywood accounting, which are well known for contriving to show that virtually nothing shows a profit.

Which is another reason why so many actors, once they are in the position of one of the Toms, insist on getting so much beforehand. It's a screwed-up system (he's just getting this now?). And much as I would like to believe this item, that wants me to believe studios are realizing strong scripts are at least as important as movie stars and SFX...

I just don't think there's a lot of talk of that going on in the deal-making for Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Jamie Fox, Colin Farrell or Michael Mann at the moment...

La de fucking da

You Have Your Sarcastic Moments

While you're not sarcastic at all times, you definitely have a cynical edge. In your opinion, not all people are annoying. Some are dead! And although you do have your genuine moments, you can't help getting your zingers in. Some people might be a little hurt by your sarcasm, but it's more likely they think you're hilarious.

How Sarcastic Are You?

I think we all knew this

You Are a Mermaid

You are a total daydreamer, and people tend to think you're flakier than you actually are. While your head is often in the clouds, you'll always come back to earth to help someone in need. Beyond being a caring person, you are also very intelligent and rational. You understand the connections of the universe better than almost anyone else.

What Mythological Creature Are You?

Random Flickr-Blogging: IMG_7281

Chris had, quite simply, finally had enough. "Goodbye, cruel-waugh!"

Original source here.



Come Mardi Gras, the chandelier liked to tease the flowers.

Original source here.



I don't really have a caption for this, I just, um...yeah.

Original source here.



Baby, you can drive my car.

Original source here.



"Are you taking me to The Big Place?"
"Yes, Ben. You'll like it at The Big Place. There's lots of room for you to run and jump around."
"I know. Hey, where are ya goin?"

Original source here.

It's only the end of the world again

I'll say this for "Three Moons Over Milford," the series that premiered on ABC Family tonight: At least they're not going to any special trouble to disguise the fact that they're a blatant rip-off of "Gilmore Girls."

The channel even scheduled the heavily promoted pilot episode tonight following another of their periodic marathons of "Gilmore" reruns. The producers of "Moons" clearly want me to compare it to "Girls." Bad move.

On the bright side, now I know more about what a "Gilmore" produced without the Sherman-Palladinos will look like...

The (seemingly scientifically-dubious) premise is this: After being hit by a meteor, the moon has broken into three pieces which are going to crash down to earth, ending "life as we know it." This could happen in a matter of hours, or it could be years-no one really knows for sure.

Therefore, the inhabitants of a small town are acting even more self-conciously "quirky" than usual.

One of the things that bothered me about "Commander In Chief" wasn't its certain unavoidable similarities to "The West Wing" but the way they seemed to go out of their way to accent them rather than standing clearing on their own.

What's most blatant about "Milford"-it was obvious even in the commercials-is the star performance by Elizabeth McGovern. McGovern is a talented and lovely actress in her own right, but in this part her hair has been cut and dyed, her makeup has been done, and she has been dressed so that if you squint, she is a virtual twin of Lauren Graham's Lorelai Gilmore. And just because the producers really think we won't notice the difference (or they simply do have no shame) they've actually gone so far as to name the character Laura. Making her a Laura-lie, as I like to think of it.

Will the real Lorelai Gilmore please stand up?

The similarities continue.

Lorelai comes from a monied family but ran away to muddle through on her own.
Laura used to be married to a rich man but he's just run away leaving her to muddle through on her own.
Lorelai is a single parent and now, Laura is too.
Lorelai's daughter Rory is an overachieving bookworm.
Laura's son Alex is a computer genius.
Lorelei's love interest is a truck-driving, handy but smart and sensitive diner owner.
Laura's love interest is a truck-driving young lawyer who moonlights as a plumber and whose best friend is a diner owner.
Lorelai attends town meetings packed with comical, gently scolding townsfolk.
So does Laura.

If there is any reason to watch the remaining episodes (and that is a mighty big "if") it's the performance of Samantha Leigh Quan, an actress whose name is new to me. She plays a young professional woman who falls for McGovern's son without realizing he is only 16.

Her character had one of the worst parts of a pretty bad script-a speech where she has to tell the boy that he's so cool and smart she can barely keep her hands off him. Why yes, two men did write this script, why do you ask? Yet Quan somehow remained both appealing and (almost) belivable.

Which is more than I can say for the show's one big name. Though I meant it when I said McGovern is talented-I refer you to "Ordinary People"-judging from her performance tonight, one of three or four things (or possibly a combination) has happened:

1. She's had bad plastic surgery that leaves her less able to move her face.
2. She's zombie-walking through a money gig she doesn't think will be picked up beyond its initial eight episode order-and it can't be good for the ego to be asked to so neatly replicate the appearance of another actress.
3. Or she simply hasn't aged well.

None of these things are crimes, of course, just unfortunate at best, disappointing at worst.

Larry Gelbart on Mel Gibson

Via Army Archerd:

Larry also told me: "The reason ABC canceled Mel Gibson's new version of the holocaust -- in his version, the Jews killed six million Nazis."

Today's "Doonesbury"

(Click to enlarge)

Recommended reading (if you can take it)

If you haven't had enough of people expressing their opinion on the Mel Gibson thing (and if you have, I completely understand), in Scanners, Jim Emerson has a couple. In the first, he quotes the most complete report I've seen yet on what Mr. Gibson said to the arresting officers, including this interesting little gem, given what we know about how often homophobic=latent:

The actor also berated the deputy, threatening, "You motherf----r. I'm going to f--- you," according to Mee's report.

In the second, Emerson offers this conclusion:

Last week, in my hometown Seattle, a man who was estranged from his Muslim family, who had left the Islamic faith and been baptised as a Christian, walked into the downtown of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and shot five women, including one who is pregnant. One person died, another is on life-support. The killer said he was upset about the fighting in the Middle East. So, with these events hitting so close to home, maybe I'm a little less tolerant of Gibson's brand of intolerance just now. As I said before, quoting "Under the Volcano": "There are some things you just can't apologize for."

Like I said: Recommended reading if you can take it.

There's something in this about all women # 3

I don't have anything else to say about it, other than that it is a very nice photo of Jennifer Aniston.

Look Jodie, just come out already

From the Celebrity Movie Post blog:

Jodie Foster worked with Mel Gibson. Mel Gibson is a friend of Jodie Foster's. And Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster says, is no anti-Semite.

"Absolutely not," Foster said in Friday's Los Angeles Times. "Mel is honest, loyal, kind, but alcoholism has been a lifelong struggle for him and his family."

Foster, who costarred with Gibson in 1994's "Maverick," is the highest-profile Hollywood star to publicly vouch for the troubled actor-director who faces charges for a drunken-driving arrest--and scrutiny for an accompanying rant that disparaged Jews and women.

Okay, let me see if I have this.

Number of times Jodie Foster has stood with a multi-millionaire mega-star whose inexcusable behavior includes (besides this most recent) a pattern of homophobic treatment of gay characters in his films, and anti-gay statements given in interviews (when he didn't have the "defense" of being drunk, BTW):

One.

Number of times Jodie Foster has stood with people whose inexcusable treatment includes not being allowed to adopt children with or marry the men or women they love, gay-bashing and other "hate crimes" and not being allowed to serve in the military:

None.

So good to know that girl has her priorities straight. I was about to say, play on words not intended, but you know what? I think it is.

Say-I haven't done this for a while.

If you look over to the right there and click the View my complete profile link you'll find, among other things, a link to my Amazon.com wish list. If you're amazed at the quality of posts on this site (I know I am), please consider making a small donation to the Buy Ben CDs And Books Fund. I thank you.

Not So-Random Confessions Of The '80s Man (that's me, actually)

You may or may not have noticed, but two of the last few music videos I've posted here recently have a lot in common beyond just being by synth pop bands that I like: Heaven 17's "Let Me Go," which I posted here, and the Human League's "Life On Your Own," which I used as part of my reaction for the last Random Flickr Blogging.

• Both feature their lead singers wandering through the empty streets of post-apocalypticesque cities; in one or two shots, they could almost be the same streets.
• They were released within a year of each other (Heaven in 82, Human '83.)
• And, as any synth pop fan worth a bag of oranges knows, Heaven 17 was formed when two of the original members of the Human League split to make their own group.

So what does it all mean? Damned if I know. I mention all this, though, not just because I think it's interesting (although I do), but...because I wasn't mindful of much of those things when I was deciding to post them.

I posted Heaven 17 because I wanted a song that spoke of failure, trouble and resignation. The watched phone that never rings, the rising price, the sense ot time passing...it's all there. I posted the Human League video because it details isolation, which seemed to fit organically with the images I selected from the random number.

And by pure coincidence, the videos that my subconcious came up turned out to have these things in common; it just seemed to be where I was going. Funny, that.

the sound Precious and real and Ooo that's nice

Doug Fieger, best known as lead singer and songwriter for The Knack, of "My Sharona" fame, underwent brain surgery recently. Much to my surprise, I find I care. Not because of "My Sharona," that's always seemed second-rate to me.

But because I only learned recently that he wrote a couple of English lyrics for The Manhattan Transfer's Brasil, their homage to songwriters of the region. I first saw the video for one of the songs, "Soul Food To Go," as part of a continuous loop playing on the monitors of a plane. That was about to start my journey to Tennessee.

The lyrics are complete dada if read (see headline above). I found this about why in an online article from Goldmine:

One of the tracks on Brasil, "Soul Food To Go," a duet between Tim Hauser and Brazilian songwriter Djavan, received major airplay on adult contemporary stations. The English lyrics for "Soul Food To Go" were written by, of all people, former Knack frontman Doug Fieger. "Doug Fieger had been over to my house visiting," said Tim. "He was trying to be friendly, and I said, 'We got a couple of songs here, and we've got to get writers to do them.' We just came back from Brazil, and we've been talking to Djavan over dinner, and Djavan said, 'The way you want to write my material, my suggestion is when you listen to my tunes, when you hear an English word that sounds like a Portuguese word that I'm singing, write that English word down and then just keep listening until you hear another English-sounding word. Then connect the words by a stream of consciousness, try to find the relationships through abstract thinking.'

"And both Doug and I found that very interesting. And he said, 'Can I take a crack at that?'

When heard sung they're almost unbelivably cool. Check this out. I apologize in advance because the video's kind of cheesy; an obvious knock-off of Better Off Dead (and Tim Hauser looks just like Veronica Mars' dad)...



...but I don't apologize for loving the song. Along with Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly Now" (also on the same loop), it became a source of great comfort to me during those arduous journeys back-and-forth to The Land of Unhappiness.

So get well soon, Fieger.

Okay, so this is easier than thinking about fish in a barrel

Nevertheless, via the good people at Media Matters...

On his Fox News program, Bill O'Reilly called Mel Gibson's recent anti-Semitic comments "inexcusable," but said it is "more important" to discuss the "point where the media and individual Americans start to enjoy the suffering of rich and powerful people."

“Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Look it up, Bill: It's the role of the reporter. And of the satirist. Speaking of which:

Guest Geraldo Rivera later...asserted that Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert "make a living putting on video of old ladies slipping on ice and people laughing"

I've been watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart for around six years and The Colbert Report since it premiered. That is not their shows. Perhaps Mr. Rivera is thinking of America's Funniest Home Videos.

and that they "exist in a small little place where they count for nothing."

I'm assuming most of you reading this are familiar with Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert's accomlishments, if not, I direct you to the links in their names. I should count for such nothing. You don't suppose Mr. Rivera is still smarting from such remarks of Stewart's as:

(After Rivera hinted during a remote broadcast that he was in fact packing):

The four most dreaded words in journalism: "Geraldo's got a gun."

Or-

"The United States Central Command of the Armed Forces has asked Geraldo Rivera to leave Iraq. It should also be noted that the only three other people that the U.S. military has asked to leave Iraq are Saddam Hussein and his two sons."

-do you?

Lord knows, it's not that I don't trust The Daily Show

...but this one, I had to look up. Sure enough:

A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified. [...]

On Dec. 2, investigators formally interviewed Copas and asked if he understood the military's policy on homosexuals, if he had any close acquaintances who were gay, and if he was involved in community theater.

And in what state did this take place?

Now say it with me, children. Duck-humping, homophobic, racist, rock-stupid, anti-sex, illiterate, flag-burning hillbilly idiots!

Tennessee. The state that keeps on giving.

Two cheap shots, no waiting

1. "Excuse me, Miss-your dress has slipped a bit."



(Kate Moss in Vanity Fair)

2. In the event of a water landing, Mrs. Aguilera may be used as a floatation device.

Give 'em hell, Hawkeye

Larry Gelbart says that...

Waking up is hard to do.

So much harder than it used to be.

So hard to start the day gagging on a body count before breakfast.

So hard looking into the bathroom mirror, still trying to absorb the sight of so many lifeless bodies on the tube at the foot of my bed.



Who am I that I should still have the privilege of brushing my teeth?

After seeing the sight of so many who died while I slept?

Read more here.