Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

If you’re gonna whine, it’s time to resign!

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

In after Baud. Damn.

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Is trump is trying to break black America over his knee? signs point to ‘yes’.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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Open Thread

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On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.

From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.

Submit Your Photos

I have a weird urge to buy one of those cardboard clocks that you see on retail desks when the clerk is at lunch. It will say ‘Gone Galt. Back in…’

In other news, a couple of photos from a walk around town yesterday.

reflection 8

leaf 5

Chat about whatever.

Reader Interactions

96Comments

  2. 2.

    Fencedude

    I really should have linked to this XKCD comic during the OS flamewar thread a few days ago, but its worth pointing out, just in case some people really weren’t clear on how asinine Linux “support” is.

  3. 3.

    Captain Goto

    I feel like I should recognize the neighborhood with the Pizza Hut. North Side? Mt. Washington?

  6. 6.

    beltane

    Just reminding people who feel inclined to donate to their local food pantry. Our public radio station said demand at area food shelves was up 120% over last year, and our state is holding up better than most through this recession.

  8. 8.

    Brian J

    I don’t mean to sound too depressing, but does anyone ever get the urge to just pack a few things, get on a plane, and try to start a new life in some other state? By no means is my life bad, but I’ve been increasingly irritable lately with just about everyone and everything.

  9. 9.

    Allen

    That first picture is awesome. Great use of the so-called rule of threes to make a visually interesting picture.

  11. 11.

    Jack

    Barack’s America is a land in which women would be forced into having abortions, conservatives would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down conservative talk-radio hosts’ doors in raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about American exceptionalism, conservative writers and artists would be censored at the whim of government, and the doors of the federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of conservatives citizens for whom the judiciary is often the only protector of the individual rights that are the heart of our democracy.

    redstate.com/pilgrim/2009/10/16/baracks-america/

    From RS, a “diary” entry.

    The dissonance, it hurts.

    *

    Here’s my thought: it isn’t about fear (though these irrational fears probably do exist). It isn’t just about the threats to security that come from change, or cultural attitudes, or racism.

    It’s about desire.

    Petty, mean little people; or broken, wounded women and men; families reduced to penury by corporate overlords; you name it: desiring adventure, a dualistic enterprise of Good Versus Evil, ultimate meaning.

    Perhaps the same leitmotif which informs conspiracism?

    Think of successful “conspiracies.” Whatever GE is currently developing in its labs. Some out there DARPA projects. The Manhattan Project. Soviet maskirovka games.

    Pretty much no one knew. Because a successful conspiracy is, well, successful. It works.

    Which means, I think, that if anyone and everyone can yip about it on the intertubes, it’s not actually a conspiracy, in the traditional sense.

    Sniffing the public domain for hints and allegations of Obama’s Kenyan birth, blue helmets, black helicopters, yellow fringed flags, secret camps (the Nazis didn’t really hide theirs, for what it’s worth; the Reichsvolk ignored them), Lizard bloodlines and Skousenist-Bircher fantastic subterranean jaunts – these impart meaning.

    The possessor of a minted truth is not just some guy ground down by the quotidian wheels of bills and babies, is not just some harried housewife struggling to please her husband, her boss and the solipsistic poop producing monster that is her latest toddling child.

    That’s a powerful drug – keeper of the secret key.

    Maybe more difficult to kick than the merely chemical varieties.

  12. 12.

    madmommy

    @Brian J:

    Only once a week or so. I blame the economy. The bills. The job. The laundry. The kids. The husband. But then I think, life would be dead boring without all the stuff that is making me crazy.

  14. 14.

    Brian J

    @madmommy:

    I won’t go into the details of why I’m irritable and frustrated, but suffice it to say that I was this close to beating the shit out of one of my brothers this past Saturday. You could say he’s the straw that broke the camel’s back, but he’s pissed me off enough in his own right that he probably had it coming.

    Whatever. I should just channel this frustration into something productive, like getting into the right school. For whatever reason, I’ve started to do better on my LSAT practice sections. I did poorly on one today, but did pretty well on the other two. I’m guessing the fact that I didn’t focus well on the third one was the reason I did poorly. Overall, I’m not sure what is starting to click in my head [knock on wood], but I’m glad to see it. I just hope it continues, even if it’s slow to appear.

  15. 15.

    mistersnrub

    @Jack:

    Yup.

    As Mencken said, “The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts. He ascribes all his failure to get on in the world, all of his congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall Street, or some other such den of infamy.”

    Faulkner pegged these teabaggers years ago with his Jason Compson character, a low-down dirtbag blaming the New York City Jews for scheming him out of his well-deserved cotton-speculatin’ money. Conspiracism is just a means of existential justification for powerless dimwits.

  16. 16.

    Ash Can

    @Jack: Very, very nicely written, but that’s not dissonance, that’s just plain mental illness. I don’t know how else to characterize that thorough a break from reality.

  17. 17.

    Max

    Catching up on my dvr shows.

    I’m not sure how many of you watch Iron Chef or the Next Iron Chef, so, forgive me if this means nothing to you.

    Jeffrey Steingarten is a pompus, misogynistic douchebag.

    That made me feel better. Thank you.

  18. 18.

    Svensker

    @Brian J:

    You bet. Lately I’ve been feeling like heading out — scarily enough, the hub does, too. We’re talking about it seriously.

  19. 19.

    madmommy

    @Brian J:

    Funny how family can make you crazier than any stranger off the street. There’s so much history and baggage there, every situation comes pre-loaded with issues going back to childhood.

    The hardest thing in the world is to walk away from these types of confrontations. Especially if you’ve got to deal with that same family member at the next holiday gathering. Better channeling the frustration into productive things than punching holes in the walls!

  20. 20.

    Jack

    @Ash Can:

    Thank you.

    *

    I’m still wary of the “mental illness” tag. I don’t think social reality is so objective that Consensus is a given. I have a very close friend who believes the dogma of a religion which is plainly hogwash to me. None of the tenets of this faith are verifiable. None can be confirmed the way a rock can be held, coffee tasted, or a flower scented.

    But that she holds as true some pretty daffy beliefs doesn’t mean she denies the concretes of observable experience. Our realities have some overlap, some consensus. But the correlation is not complete.

    Neither of us is mentally ill, just because we don’t define reality in the same terms.

    So, too, I think with the conspiracists. The same people who can hold that the President of the United States is a Manchurian candidate, born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia, smuggled into Hawaii in advance of 40 years of groundwork and coverup, including false birth notices, and a rash of useful murders, indoctrinated both as a literalist Muslim and a socialist, using Americorps as a vanguard of fascist and communist overthrow of Wallbuilder America which has never actually existed, can also manage very ordinary, healthy and otherwise sane lives.

    Just like my friend who believes that the God of the vasty vast Universe made a world which fell out of kilter with the divine plan because one of his own perfect creatures became imperfect, corrupted a complete innocent who had no metric by which to measure guilt or innocence, this sin condemning all of existence to eternal and fiery punishment, that this God of All then decided against his own judgment, took the maidenhead a thirteen year old girl, conceived another flawless creature in her womb, that he might live long enough to be offered up as human sacrifice so that anyone who believed this exact story might avoid the otherwise certain damnation of everlasting torment – can also live an otherwise sane and ordinary, healthy existence.

  21. 21.

    burnspbesq

    @Brian J:

    A trick that somebody taught me when i was studying for the bar, that really helped on the multistate, might also help on the LSAT.

    There is only one right answer to a question, so it two of the possible answers are substantially identical, they are both wrong.

    Now go forth, kick its ass, and get into your first choice school.

  25. 25.

    Elie

    The leaves are sublime….

    Airy, light, aspiring and core, deep and grounded into what matters

    Thank you

  26. 26.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Tom:

    Dear gawd. The inmates have taken over the asylum and today we are all Balloon Boy.

    @MikeJ:

    Fine looking dinner sir. I am eating my specialty tonight. Stuck Gumbo. Black eyed peas, Lentils and anything leftover in the fridge that hasn’t turned moldy. In a big slow cooker. No roadkill meat though.

  27. 27.

    asiangrrlMN

    @MikeJ: Oh my god oh my god oh my god! I WANT! jeffreyw, looks like you got a little competition! Hey, what kind of pie is that in your gallery? It looks yummy.

    Man, do I love people who cook. Furthermore, I love people who share pictures of the luscious food they cook. Yum.

    @Brian J: Yes. I am considering NYC because it’s my favorite American city. Unfortunately, it’s also the second-most expensive one. Sorry about your bro. Family members really know how to get under your skin, don’t they?

    @jeffreyw: And where are your food pr0n pics for the night?

  29. 29.

    MikeJ

    For those who missed the description of what that food is:

    balloon-juice.com/?p=28443#comment-1407787

    I just rubbed chili powder, cumin, and some garlic on my loin. My pork tenderloin that is. I then lightly dusted with a tad of chocolate.
    …
    Onions are ready to sweat in the pan where I will sear the meat, then I will cover the pan and braise in tomato sauce/coffee. Serve over black beans and rice.
    ..
    Pair with: Shiner Bock.

  32. 32.

    asiangrrlMN

    Ok, late-night music peeps. I need a song that is about being broken. Not breaking up with someone. Not having money. But having your soul broken. Thank you in advance.

  35. 35.

    Fulcanelli

    @Brian J: There’s no revenge like success, bro.

    Work hard, get into the school you really want to, graduate, save enough money and then buy three of the cars HE always wanted. In different colors.

    If that doesn’t put ‘prickly burrs up his tailpipe’ (as Yosemite Sam would say), then I can’t help you. The well trained eye will notice I left hawt females out of my revenge formula… Now why did he do that?

    Family: Irrefutable proof God has a cruel sense of humor.

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    @Tim F.

    Dude, not cool having a post with the exact same title as one only a few hours before. Especially the generic “Open Thread.”

    I kept seeing comments being posted to “Open Thread” but wasn’t finding them. Then I realized I was on the old, crappy, “happy news” open thread. Ex-cuse me. Now I know where all the cool people are.

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    Did anyone else catch the PBS Newshour segment tonight on the White House taking on Fox News?

    Josh Marshall (TPM) asks some good questions.
    talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/news_at_fox_news.php?ref=fpblg

    The Newshour segment was very odd, for them, mainly because of guest Tom Rosentiel, who seemed to be tripping over false equivalencies — maybe in hope of being “objective.” The second guest, an American U media professor who appeared frequently on Fox, was far more forthright and believable. She at least addressed the difference between Fox’s evening pundits, chat show hosts and their hard news operation (such as it is). She called Glenn Beck out, something Rosentiel never touched.

    Fox News and its reach/impact in the cable era is quite unlike anything we’ve seen before.

    Here’s a NYTimes Opinionator blog roundup on the topic.

    opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/19/fox-hunting/

    I just don’t see how ignoring Fox’s influence and outright propagandizing is “unpresidential,” as some media critics (and Helen Thomas!) would have you believe. The manipulation and misinformation and all opinion 24/7 is changing the environment in which President Obama can operate in. In very perilous times.

    Sorry for the long post. I was very surprised and disturbed, though, at the Newshour’s dodgy coverage. Unusual for them.

  41. 41.

    asiangrrlMN

    FYWP and fuck the moderation.

    @jeffreyw: Yours was apple. You label your pics.

    @MikeJ: So yummy looking.

    @Jack: Wow, I really like that. It’s not quite right, though. I’m looking more for a song that talks about someone who’s damaged by early life.

  42. 42.

    jl

    @Elizabelle: Being considered ‘presidential’ by the Village is very important. Look at Theodore Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, and LBJ. They were very unpresidential, each in their own way, and look what failures their admininstrations were.

  43. 43.

    Jack

    @Elizabelle:

    I think Digby offers a useful perspective:

    The truth is that FOX is just more honest about their biases than the rest of them. They may be wealthy celebrity aristocrats, but they’ve decided to play a blatantly partisan game instead of pretending that they are “objective.” And they reap the rewards of doing that by gaining an intensely loyal audience. In a world where so-called objective journalism is perceived to be as trustworthy these days as Bernie Madoff, it’s a smart business move. (The fact that they spent many years creating that market is also a smart business move.)

    Weisberg calls FOX unamerican because they have adopted the combative, openly partisan style of the European and Australian press. But until you ask whether the true blue “American” style of journalism is any better, whether it’s the old style of robber barons dictating coverage for their own profit or modern celebrity elites following their own class and social biases, you haven’t begun to get to the nub of the problem.

    At this moment of crisis in the business of journalism, the media has to decide whether they are going to A) straightforwardly take a piece of ideological ground for themselves, B)continue to pretend to be phony exemplars of the All American heartland (while serving ruling class interests) or C) try to create an honest style of journalism that openly confronts the ingrained class prejudices and phony constructs of the last few decades. With all the navel gazing that’s been going on I see little of the kind of pragmatism that would lead to A or the soul searching that could lead to C. They continue to assume that they can best be objective by being more attentive and respectful to conservatives. So, it looks like we’re going to be stuck with B for the foreseeable future.

    digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/knowing-thyself-by-digby-everybodys.html

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    Phillies just topped the Dodgers in a 9th inning home run. 5-4 final. Take a 3-1 series lead.

    At least the Angels had a good afternoon. Dang.

  46. 46.

    MikeJ

    . I need a song that is about being broken.

    Big Star’s Holocaust from Sister Lovers.

    Your eyes are almost dead
    Can’t get out of bed
    And you can’t sleep
    ..
    You’re sitting down to dress
    And you’re a mess
    You look in the mirror
    …
    You look in your eyes
    Say you realize
    …
    Everybody goes
    Leaving those who fall behind
    Everybody goes
    As far as they can,
    They don’t just care.

  47. 47.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: I used to believe that about god.

    Family: Irrefutable proof God has a cruel sense of humor.

    So does Depeche Mode. Then I decided that God with a capital G didn’t exist, and I was much happier.

    P.S. I love that version of Hurt, but I just used it recently.

  50. 50.

    Brian J

    @Svensker:

    I’d say my situation is a little different, only because it seems like I’m trying to get away from everyone I now see. You at least have someone to escape with.

    It’s weird, because deep down, when I think about it, I don’t really hate anyone. Take work, for instance. I think of how I really don’t associate with people I work with outside of work primarily because I’m sick of seeing them so much, and I wonder if I hate them, but then I think of various individuals who I really like.

    @madmommy:

    There’s really only two people in my family I find myself continually frustrated by: one brother and my mother. This brother and I have had a terrible relationship for years, and much of the blame certainly lies with me, but most of the recent trouble lies with him. With my mom, it’s different, because the problems are so stupid, but they are usually what causes trouble between us.

    But yes, with family it’s definitely different.

    @burnspbesq:

    That’s something to consider, as I’m trying to focus more on strategy now.

    At this point, I feel like a lot of the problems I am facing go back to confidence and not panicking during the test and also focusing. It’s not an easy test, but it’s also not neurosurgery. The answer is there in one of the five questions, and I keep telling myself that if I can narrow down the possibilities just a little, I’ve got a good shot at getting it right even if I forget a particular technique. I’m not kidding when I say that I’ve either fallen asleep for 30 seconds when doing a practice section or come close to it, which is among the many reasons I may miss more questions than I normally would.

    All of this is important because I’m thinking my target range involves me missing about 15 to 20 questions. I’m not sure yet, but I might skip one logic game out of the four entirely. If I do, that’s five or six, but if I spend more time on the other games, I think I’m a lot more likely to get 18 right. If I can nail the reading comprehension, that’s at least 24 or 25 right out of perhaps 26 to 28 questions. That leaves me a lot more room to mess up a few in the logical reasoning section, so I can also slow down a bit and focus on getting more right. I’m trying to naturally limit myself to 33 minutes instead of 35 and going through some questions at a slower pace even if it involves not getting to a few, which seems to be working. I’m also spending a lot of time trying to figure out why I got some questions wrong.

    I’ll see what happens, but I keep trying to tell myself that, as I said before, the answer is there and I just need to find it. Slow but steady improvements are what I need to keep me going and I might, might, just be seeing that.

    That, and the fact that for some reason, I can bring it home on standardized tests, like getting a higher score on my final ACT than I ever got during a practice test, gives me hope.

    Anyway, I’ve rambled on enough, and I completely missed my target of getting into bed at 11:00, so good night, and thanks for the good wishes.

  51. 51.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Brian J: Elaborating on my point on #27. I have difficulty with multiple choice tests because I much prefer explaining myself. I get tripped up in, “In this situation, A is the answer. In this one, B is.” I think if you can avoid that, it’ll help.

    I don’t have any significant other or children and my life is in great flux right now, so I am more amenable to leaving MN than I otherwise would be. I love the weather, my friends, and my family, but I yearn for NYC.

    Good night.

  52. 52.

    Comrade Mary

    Oh, those are gorgeous, Tim! You definitely have an eye for composition. What camera is that again? And did you tweak them at all in Photoshop? The saturation is incredible.

  53. 53.

    bago

    Linux is a perfectly reasonable research OS. You want to do something weird and experimental, go for it, you can rewrite whatever you want to kludge together a solution.

    Just that’s not always what people want.

  54. 54.

    Fulcanelli

    @asiangrrlMN: Hey MEH, your use of the word ‘used’ has me a little concerned. Don’t be doing anything that would deny the world the gift of your spark and humor, even if it is only over the ‘tubez’… Promise?

    Talk to us, were here.

  55. 55.

    Elizabelle

    Jack: interesting piece by Digby.

    Although I don’t hear Fox being “honest” about their “biases.” I hear them saying, well, maybe our stars are opinionated, but it’s not like that’s filtered into our “hard news” gathering. Right.

    PBS guests did think cable owners realize there’s $$$ in opinion-heavy programming; less (apparently) in presenting facts.

  56. 56.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Fulcanelli: Oh, sorry. I am blogging about issues from my past, and I want videos to match the experiences. I used Elvis Costello’s I Want to Vanish yesterday. It’s nothing more than that. Sorry for the confusion.

  57. 57.

    IndyLib

    Well, my boys won a Monday night game in San Diego. I’m thrilled, but still surprised. I thought the offense was going to suck this year. I can’t decide if I love Eddie Royal or Elvis Dumervil more tonight.

    asiangrrlMN – Hard to believe both of our teams are undefeated, it’s surreal.

  60. 60.

    Brick Oven Bill

    The first photo indicates clay soil, and settlement. The catch basin to the upside of the puddle, most surely was designed at a lower elevation than the puddle. Is that an empty case of Coors in the puddle?

    Should have specified more aggregate base.

    One more reason why Pittsburg sucks.

  62. 62.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Jack: Hey, don’t apologize. The BJ late shift will tell you that I am notoriously picky when it comes to music. I like the River Man very much, and I am keeping it on the short list.

  63. 63.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Curbs should have expansion joints every 4 or 6 feet. This Pittsburg curb was poured straight. Thus the uncontrolled crack at the lower right. This is a compression crack, indicating a lowereing. See the puddle.

  66. 66.

    Ash Can

    @Jack: Fair enough, but I would argue that there’s a lot more evidence to disprove what conspiracists believe than to disprove what your friend believes. In your friend’s case, her belief is based on faith, which exists despite a lack of supporting evidence. In fact, I would guess, based on my own experience, that her belief exists independently of the “observable experience” you describe, and is neither contradicted by it or contradicts it, or at at the very least not in any appreciable way. In a conspiracist’s case, however, the belief exists despite evidence to the contrary; i.e., despite this “observable experience.” The two belief systems may seem equally wacko to you, but there are different dynamics involved.

  68. 68.

    Brick Oven Bill

    I can almost guarantee you that this particular curb was designed by somebody back a hundred years or so, and was recently redesigned by some person at the Public Works Department.

    The people at the Public Works Department are more accountable than those at the federal level.

    You do not want these people having control over your life. See the puddle.

  73. 73.

    Warren Terra

    And I’d say something about food, but let’s face it: for vivid mental imagery, nothing I’ve got to say is going to top MikeJ rubbing chili powder, cumin, and some garlic on his loins.

  76. 76.

    Betsy

    @asiangrrlMN:
    Also, Antje Duvecot’s song “South,” for which I can find neither lyrics nor video, frustratingly enough.
    Rough approximation of lyrics:

    Mother, mother take good care
    ‘Cause there are jagged shards of glass out there
    And the ones who wear the shoes don’t seem to give a damn
    It’s hard to find a place to stand.

    Mother, mother take good care
    I’m sure you know by now how many things get broken out there
    When you’re sending out your barefoot little girl
    Won’t you say a prayer for her

    You can hold onto your cross, get down on your knees
    Pray to your Jesus
    He packed his suitcase long ago
    Threw up his hands, and thus he spoke:
    It’s just no use, all of my love can’t cure these blues
    I’m going South
    Sunshine south

    Mother, mother take good care
    ‘Cause all they’re handing out are tickets to nowhere
    So teach your daughter how to be all she can be
    And how to cry when it don’t come easy

    You can hold onto your cross, get down on your knees
    Pray to your Jesus
    He packed his suitcase long ago
    Threw up his hands, and thus he spoke:
    It’s just no use, all of my love can’t cure these blues
    I’m going South
    Sunshine south

    Who’ll carry the blame?
    Who’s gonna take up the campaign?
    The politicians in command are washing their hands
    They’ve gotta tend the marching band.

    You can hold onto your cross, get down on your knees
    Pray to your Jesus
    He packed his suitcase long ago
    Threw up his hands, and thus he spoke:
    It’s just no use, all of my love can’t cure these blues
    I’m going South

    Mother, mother take good care
    Cause there are jagged shards of glass out there
    The ones who wear the shoes don’t seem to give a damn
    It’s hard to find a place to stand
    It’s hard to find a place to stand
    It’s hard to find a place to stand
    It’s hard to find a place to stand

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I am looking for something from the first person perspective, though

    2 by Peter Gabriel

    Best Song ever about a damaged soul, Mercy Street (Anne Sexton’s reading of her poem “All my Pretty Ones” mixed with Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street),

    youtube.com/watch?v=5Y5KELHc0Hw

    First Person, broken and hope offered, Don’t Give Up, Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush

    youtube.com/watch?v=uiCRZLr9oRw

    Joni Mitchell – The Magdalene Laundries (w The Chieftains)

    youtube.com/watch?v=JORv2ocjQ5c&feature=fvw

    Joni Mitchell-Lession In Survival

    youtube.com/watch?v=4CFksy54n1w&feature=related

  80. 80.

    BethanyAnne

    @Max: I want to see him offer his opinion first one damn time. Talk about your basic idiotic contrarianism. I think he just disagrees with whatever the other 2 judges say on principle.

  82. 82.

    asiangrrlMN

    Ok, peeps. You get to be the judges tonight, though I am the final judge. I have four songs in contention for tonight’s blog entry. The topic is being broken. Not by love or not out of money, but by events in your life. The choices (in two posts since only two links can be in each post):

    Tori Amos, Silent All These Years

    Korn, Alone I Break

  86. 86.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Betsy: Oh my god, that’s a sad, but beautiful song. No,it’s not quite what I wanted, but thank you for sharing it, anyway. I really…resonate with it.

    Except for the whole Southern, red dirt, married with five kids, whiskey, pills part, of course.

  88. 88.

    Betsy

    @asiangrrlMN:
    I actually can’t listen to it very often, because it is just so achingly sad and real. But I love it. I would say it’s a work of genius, except that sounds too sterile.

  90. 90.

    Betsy

    @asiangrrlMN:
    I’m really glad you like it. One of the many things I love about folks here is how wide-ranging people’s musical taste is. No one thinks it’s odd to love Emmylou Harris equally as much as Public Enemy or The Magnetic Fields (or whatever).

    Anyway, I’m for bed, but good luck with your project. I’m enjoying these musical assignments. :) Although I’m sad that you needed tonight’s theme.

  92. 92.

    RedKitten

    Tori Amos, Silent All These Years

    Definitely one of Tori’s best, IMHO. I played the living crap out of “Little Earthquakes” during my last year at university — so many great songs on there.

  93. 93.

    Gravenstone

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Ok, late-night music peeps. I need a song that is about being broken. Not breaking up with someone. Not having money. But having your soul broken. Thank you in advance.

    I can’t access youTube from work, but I suggest you give Damaged by Queensryche a listen. It may (or may not) fit your bill of particulars. Plus, I rarely miss a chance to plug them where applicable.

  94. 94.

    Tim F.

    @Comrade Mary: Thanks, Mary. The camera is an Olympus E-P1 with the kit zoom lens attached. In fact photos like this are a great example of why I chose this camera. It was a nice day (for photos – clear, cold and partly overcast) so I threw the camera in a jacket pocket for the walk to work. Despite the small form factor many people say that the E-P1 has the best image quality of any Oly DSLR.

    I always shoot in RAW mode. RAW doesn’t provide the auto image improvements that JPEG mode does, so I generally fix sharpness, contrast, saturation and the tone curve (slight ‘s’ to enhance contrast or, in the case of the top image, reduce it) myself for each pic. It takes a while but I’m picky. The leaf pic, for example, needed pretty strong contrast enhancement, which is why it came out relatively grainy.

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