Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I am pretty sure Katy Tur wasn’t always such a bootlicking sycophant.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Trump makes a mockery of the legal system and cowardly judges just sit back and let him.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

The lights are all blinking red.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Republicans in disarray!

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Open Thread

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I don’t recall the last time I was in a foul mood from basically the time I woke up until the time I went to bed, but today was one. The weather is really irritating me. The temperature jumps twenty degrees in one hour, it goes from rain crashing against my window to sunny blue skies to purple bruised clouds with whipping wind. I’m all discombobulated.

Think I’m going to turn off the tv, eat dinner, and play Bioshock until I fall asleep.

Reader Interactions

175Comments

  2. 2.

    EconWatcher

    We really, really have to get you a girlfriend (or boyfriend, as you prefer). Surely someone on this site can help with that.

  4. 4.

    R-Jud

    Think I’m going to turn off the tv, eat dinner, and play Bioshock until I fall asleep.

    Solid plan.

    I’m currently locked in a mortal fistfight with copyright.gov, trying to register something I wrote. It’s hands-down the slowest, buggiest site ever. Worse than e-filing your tax return.

  5. 5.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Do you just keel over asleep while yer playing? Because I could never fall asleep like that. I’ve gotta lay in the same position – on my left side – for an hour and hope the Sandman takes pity on me.

  6. 6.

    SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta

    I’m enjoying what a DFH you become when you’re in a bad mood. All your posts today have been fucking spot on Mr Cole.

  8. 8.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I start out lying on my right side for about ten minutes. Then, I switch to my left side for ten minutes. Then, I lie on my back for ten minutes. Then, I repeat until I fall asleep. Once in awhile, I shake things up by sleeping on my stomach. Then, I wake up in an hour or two and have to do the whole thing over again. Good times.

  9. 9.

    Max

    @John Cole – I had a grown-up tell me that if I was in a bad mood, I should watch “Up!”.

    I haven’t watched it yet, but maybe you should.

  10. 10.

    valdivia

    John but you have Lily and Tunch and they surely will make you have a happy before you close your eyes.

    If not you can think about all the delights tomorrow will bring it being Obama Nobel Day and all.

  11. 11.

    R-Jud

    @Max:

    I had a grown-up tell me that if I was in a bad mood, I should watch “Up!”.

    The first twenty minutes or so should give you a nice cathartic cry, for starters. We saw it a few weeks back; I haven’t seen my husband cry that much since a bad punt whacked him in the junk.

  12. 12.

    Carol

    You have every right to feel crappy, John. It’s probably going to be the coldest, darkest, windiest day of the year. The only comforts to be had are food, drink, and heat. If you are already full, drunk, and warm, just sleep the rest of the day away.

    Right now I can hear the wind rattle my windows. It’s gone from 56 to 33 in about 12 hours, from a brief sun break to cloudy. Guess what, the high tomorrow is going to be 22. If it weren’t for Christmas and being able to look at the pretty lights, people would probably go insane this time of year. True, they already do, but I think there’s a reason why just about every religion has some sort of Winter Solstice holiday-the alternative of nothing is too much to think about.

  13. 13.

    Gus

    @R-Jud:
    Ha, I was crying like a baby. My wife was so overwrought she left her purse in the theater, which she never does. A beautiful movie.

  14. 14.

    Thadeus Horne

    @asiangrrlMN: Me, too,grrl.Minus 5 right now. Will probably go down to -20 tonight. Wind at gusts of 40 MPH. Just shut my wind generator off for the evening…pile of wood…glass of bourbon. The world is right.

  16. 16.

    Autboy

    summer will come. the breeze, the river, the heat, the life, the brew… sorry, what do you drink, again?

  17. 17.

    donovong

    @Max: @R-Jud:

    Meh. “Up!” was okay, but it wasn’t even close to “Monsters Inc.” I liked that movie so much, my wife gave me a Boo doll for Christmas and we ended up naming our puppy after her. And I’m 55.

  19. 19.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Thadeus Horne: Where you at? On MPR, the meteorologist was saying, “Optimistically, this may be the worst snowstorm of the season.” Way to harsh my high, dude. This is MN. We have snow and cold. Deal with it.

    jeffreyw, and no pictures? Tsk, tsk.

  20. 20.

    Gus

    @asiangrrlMN:
    I forgot you were a winter lover. Well, you certainly live in the right city. Me, I have cabin fever by February. The only thing that keeps me going is an annual trip somewhere warm.

  24. 24.

    San

    Up was one of the saddest, most depressing movies I have seen recently. In a good way. But still.

    I cried and I cried and the second half (the fun, uplifting part) didn’t help.

    It’s been snowing here too. The snow plow guy tried to maximize his profits and came out to our driveway 3 times in the last 20 hours.

    But at least the dinner is great. It’s the second-day borscht. It’s best on the second day, actually. And I have my sour cream to stir into it, and the minced parsley-dill garnish, and I even used some of the beet greens in the soup this time.

  26. 26.

    Deer John

    Never give up, Never Give Surrender. Oh Crap…if you feel like either of the above…WTF…You are the Captain of the SS Balloon Juice. We’ve got you’re back. Unless like there’s this hottie at the bar in case – like you expect from us nothing you would’nt expect from yourself – right?

  27. 27.

    Jim Once

    This time of year, I’m reminded (brutally) of how sensitive to weather and climate we all are. We’ve been in winter lockdown today, like asiangrrlMN – 14 inches of snow, 60 mile an hour gusts, and -25 degree wind chill tomorrow. Schools all over the area are already closing down for the third day in a row. Husband and I just made reservations for Florida – $37 one way – leaving Sunday (unless we can somehow get out tomorrow).

    Re the sleep problems – try all that while using a CPAP machine. Ugh.

  28. 28.

    Svensker

    A few days ago it was in the 70s. Tonite’s supposed to get down into the 20s and there have been occasional showers of different forms of water — we’ve had 2 inches of snow, rain and a few minutes ago hail. I just realized I never turned off the outside water faucet and now I gotta go put on the boots and crud to go do it. But we had roses blooming last Friday. Now we have iced roses.

    The only good parts of winter are Christmas and warm drinks — hot chocolate and hot toddys in various forms.

  29. 29.

    D-Chance.

    So, in the final analysis of the Issue of the Day: We got health care reform that doesn’t reform health care, a public option where no one will be able to opt-in, a Medicare buy-in where you aren’t really going to buy in to Medicare, all done in a bipartisan effort that won’t include one single vote from one of the two parties.

    God, I love politics!

    Maybe they can give Mark Penn another few million dollars of stimulus money to sell this to the American people.

  31. 31.

    MichaelR

    When I get in that sort of mood, I’ll either go to YouTube and watch older Formula One race or in-car videos, or fire up Battlefield 2 and get my ass kicked for hours on a variety of different servers.

    Either way, it takes my mind off what is currently bothering me. Unless it’s the cats, in which case they’ll continue to piss me off during either distraction.

  32. 32.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    I was that way yesterday; woke up late, all the animals were being extra annoying, numerous technical problems at work, most of which involved screaming (literally, not figuratively) at VMware, all of which resulted in a 10-hour day in which I accomplished exactly dick, topped off by Sonic giving me the wrong order yet again.

    This is a bad time of year for me for any number of reasons (SAD, holiday bullshit, bad memories) so I’m in a perpetually pissed off mood as it is, but yesterday nearly sent me over the edge. And I didn’t even pay attention to the news.

    So, yeah, except for me it’s Ratchet & Clank.

  34. 34.

    Leelee for Obama

    @bago: The comments made me laugh so hard, I almost fell of my office chair! Wonder whose little treetus it was?

  35. 35.

    Thadeus Horne

    @asiangrrlMN: I’m in the Rockies in No. Co., grrl. And I sure didn’t mean to bring you off your high. Sorry if I did.

    “..worst storm of the season.” A couple of years ago, I got five feet of snow in one storm in Dec. I didn’t see the ground until the following April. Worst storm? Well, maybe.
    +2

  36. 36.

    Jim Once

    This is a bad time of year for me for any number of reasons (SAD, holiday bullshit, bad memories) so I’m in a perpetually pissed off mood as it is, but yesterday nearly sent me over the edge. And I didn’t even pay attention to the news.

    Yeah, this is a hugely sucky time of the year, one I have to really work at actually celebrating. But maybe this time it’ll be different . . . young grandchildren all together (ages 4, nearly 2, and 3 months) at our house Christmas Eve. I’m thinking it shouldl be very sweet – and very crazy.

  37. 37.

    General Winfield Stuck

    We’ve had some rough weather here for a couple of days, but now gone to cause havoc in the midwest and NE. But still chilly in the forties.

    Going to finish building a doggie bed from some old Aspen logs I have. Purl the Parakeet will be supervising.

    Then finish watching “Rabbit Proof Fence”

  38. 38.

    donnah

    Well, our temps dropped like a stone today from the fifties to the twenties and we’ve had spitting snow and ice. Still, it’s not nearly as bad as the rest of the country, so I ain’t complaining.

    Anyhoo, after supper, my husband and I are going to pick up the 50″ LG plasma tv we bought Sunday as a Christmas gift for our family. We aren’t even waiting until Christmas to give it to the kids; it’s too big to store and we can hardly wait. We got a Wii system for them, too, and that’s what they will have as a surprise on Christmas morning. Yay!

    I can’t wait to see Survivor on the big screen, where the mosquito bites will look like a mountain range.

  39. 39.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Global Warming Update:

    Frost depth here is eighteen inches. This has provided protection for water systems for decades. Today eighteen inches was not enough.

    This is why I am unshowered.

    I kept the water running overnight in anticipation of this possibility, but mistakenly shut it off for two hours this morning. That was all it took.

  40. 40.

    Alex S.

    Something uplifting:

    Ben Nelson says he’s got no serious objections to the public option compromise:

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/nelson-no-serious-objections-to-public-option-package-sent-to-cbo.php?ref=fpb

    I know he isn’t the most popular guy around here, but the health-care bill won’t fail because of him. I believe he filed the abortion amendment even though he knew it would fail just to give himself cover. Also remember that he wasn’t opposed to the opt-out public option either.

    With Senators Landrieu and Lincoln on board,

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/09/lincoln-landrieu-hint-at_n_386133.html

    that leaves the health-care bill in the hands of Olympia Snowe and/or Joe Lieberman.
    Remember that Ben Nelson is a Democrat for a reason. Lieberman and Snowe are not (anymore).

  41. 41.

    jeffreyw

    @MichaelR: LOL It does look kinda drab, I was in too big a hurry to eat it before it got cold or I may have thought to put the sprout salad on the plate just for some color.

  43. 43.

    nodakfarmboy

    @Thadeus Horne: -10 (ambient air temp) here in Nodak. Made -20 last night. The “high” was -7. The wind is supposed to pick up later tonight, too, which will add insult to injury. Sounds like a good night to stay indoors.

    Hope all our neighbors to the south are weathering the storm safe and sound. Stay warm- it blows a bit thin out there.

  44. 44.

    JenJen

    I was at the CVS this afternoon, in the makeup aisle, when the power went out because of the high winds. I had no idea a CVS could transform so quickly from an Extra-Bucks-Rewards land o’ wonderment to a dark hole of bewilderment so quickly, but I’m thankful for the experience.

    Kudos to the staff for immediately having their shit together, kicking on some emergency lighting system and shuffling everyone out of there pronto. Even the pharmacy staff came out from the shadows, with flashlights (I swear), but those checkout clerks were the ones who ran the show. It wasn’t your normal Wednesday afternoon at the ol’ CVS, that’s for sure, but the Loss Prevention Department would be proud.

    This is turning into a BOB post right before my eyes, isn’t it? Ah well. All I really wanted to say was that the weather sucks here, too.

  45. 45.

    Martin

    @D-Chance.:

    You’ll be surprised how much health care reform is in there.

    Sorry, I’ve the benefit of health care execs in the family to distill the legislation down for me, but there’s a lot at work in there, but most of it not being consumer level stuff. The cost issues are buried deep and are hard to get to. That’s where the reform is trying to reach.

  46. 46.

    Jim Once

    I’m with you on all of that, Alex – even what you say about Nelson. I’m thinking we’re going to get something moderately good out of all this – but Joe Lieberman can still eat shit for breakfast for the rest of his life.

  47. 47.

    geg6

    Hallelujah, a thread with no Kossack teenagers whining and throwing tantrums and displaying no sense of history or reality or, hell, logic. I just can’t take that shit, it makes me so angry. As for the weather, I have the exact same as you, Cole, but it worked out okay. The 54 mph winds knocked out the campus’ electricity and we got sent home at 3:30pm. So I am sitting in my recliner with a nice afghan my sister crocheted, sipping coffee I got fresh roasted and ground at the little coffee shop here in town and listening to the wind blow all around and anticipating with much glee tonight’s Top Chef finale, the cherry on top of perhaps the best season ever of the best cooking competition show ever broadcast. And I am cheering for a Voltaggio twin competition to the death with Brian triumphant in the end. All in all, a good day if I overlook all the stupid that invaded BJ today. And even that wasn’t bad as you, John Cole, made sense from the start and had good backup from Angus, Stuck, Elie, and others. Fuck those assholes for proclaiming that only they are liberals and the base. I’ve been a liberal in the Democratic base longer than they’ve been alive. Fuck them until they’ve been fighting these battles as long and hard as I have. Fuck them sideways with a rusty chainsaw.

  51. 51.

    Blue Raven

    I realize this isn’t the “Obama is to the right of Bush” thread of doom, but that’s why I’m putting this here.

    I will note that to many pagans, this isn’t the best site in the world. It’s also not my home trad by any means. But that doesn’t negate the fact that the Obama administration sent representatives to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia and chatted with pagans and others about improving interfaith relations in the US. I think Bush would’ve expected his people to wind up set on fire for doing the same thing by teh evol witchez.

  54. 54.

    valdivia

    @geg6:

    what you said, except for the weather part. Here in nyc we got nothing. Cold yes, rain yes, bit no snow or biblical winds.

  57. 57.

    Jason Bylinowski

    Bioshock. Bioshock, really? What, did the rain drop the year 2007 on your doorstep, or are you just revisiting an old favorite? It’s certainly a very good game, and I wish I could play it for the first time all over again.

  58. 58.

    Tattoosydney

    @Max:

    I should watch “Up!”.

    Yep. Wonderfully bittersweet opening, irascible old codger, stupidly adorable kid and the best animated dog ever (“Squirrel!”).

    The perfect balm for grumpy times – a truly wonderful film.

  60. 60.

    Jim Once

    Holy shit – the wind just shook our house like it’s never been shook before. Hunkering down – opening a bottle of wine – starting the fireplace. Still snowing, too, even though the weather folk swore it was supposed to end three hours ago.

  64. 64.

    geg6

    demkat620 @51: Girl, if you missed it, be happy. I didn’t comment on it at all because I couldn’t figure out how to punch people in the face and then the neck over the Intertoobz. Oh, and Blue Raven! I’m a deist, but I’m very happy about respect given to pagans. All the pagans I know are generally nicer and much more civilized than most of the Christians I know. I heart pagans.

  65. 65.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @geg6:

    All the pagans I know are generally nicer and much more civilized than most of the Christians I know. I heart pagans.

    Here’s a question: how many pagans are Republicans? I honestly don’t know the answer to that question, but I’d imagine the answer could be counted on a couple of hands.

  67. 67.

    Jim Once

    @Blue Raven:

    the Obama administration sent representatives to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia and chatted with pagans and others about improving interfaith relations in the US

    I love this! More than anytime since Little Lord Pissypants was Deer Leader, this brings home how much better life is now. I’m only just realizing lately what a deep and prolonged state of depression I was in from 2000 to 2008.

  68. 68.

    Joe K.

    My SO and I have an ongoing discussion re “Movies with perfect endings”. “Monsters, Inc” is high on the list. I can’t think of any of the others right now.

    Yesterday here in West Texas we had sustained winds exceeding 50mph. No Country For Old Men With Umbrellas.

  70. 70.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Blue Raven:

    the Obama administration sent representatives to the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Australia and chatted with pagans and others about improving interfaith relations in the US.

    Wingnut head explosion in 3…2…1…

  71. 71.

    YellowJournalism

    @R-Jud: My husband and I watched Up! with our two-year-old son a few nights back. At the end of the montage when *SPOILER* the wife is in the hospital bed, my son called out “Night night!” I was on the verge of tears and the sweetness of that moment would have sent me over the edge if our 3-month-old hadn’t chosen that exact same moment to poop as I held him in my lap. Although I’ll probably leave out the pooping part when I tell the story to my oldest son’s future girlfriends to demonstrate what a sweet child he was.

    The rest of the movie is great, too, but never touches that first part for impact. I think the movie would have made a great short of the man meeting his wife, the montage, and everything up to the moment the house lifts off. They could have left it up in the air (pun slightly intended) as to what was going to happen next to the old man.

    I really wish the Academy would get rid of the best animated feature film category so a movie like Up! could get the Best Picture of the Year nomination it deserves.

  74. 74.

    geg6

    arguingwithsignposts @65: I would venture that one hand would be more than you’d need to count them. I actually am friends with several pagans and none of them are GOPers. Can’t even picture a pagan who’d vote Republican.

  75. 75.

    Joe K.

    @Blue Raven

    Holy shit. As a Unitarian, I can hardly contain my shock and delight.

    (BTW is there a simple easy way to get the “@post” refs into a comment without manually copying the comment URL and using the “link” button in the comment box?)

  76. 76.

    Indie Tarheel (mobile)

    Playing with my grandnephew, waiting for him to shift gears from ludicrous speed to dead stop. I’m exhausted but life is good.

  77. 77.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Joe K.:

    (BTW is there a simple easy way to get the “@post” refs into a comment without manually copying the comment URL and using the “link” button in the comment box?)

    There’s a little arrow next to the timestamp in the comment. Click the arrow and it will automatically add the @post reference.

  79. 79.

    Joe K.

    @arguingwithsignposts 78

    El Paso. The town that sucks so much, no one can leave.

    Actually I love it here. Beats the shit outta Atlanta, where I sat in traffic 3 hours a day. And still one of the safest cities in the US, despite the fact that just across the river in Ciudad Juarez there were 25 homicides just last weekend — and that was a good weekend. We think we’ve got problems…

  81. 81.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Joe K.:

    Beats the shit outta Atlanta

    Which ain’t saying much, from the times I’ve had to drive through there. El Paso, been there a couple of times. A few steps up from M-O and most of the rest of W. Texas – which is a land only an oil baron could love.

  82. 82.

    YellowJournalism

    @Joe K.: Funny, just watched that one, too! My husband had never seen it. And I totally agree, one of THE most perfect endings in a film, animated or live-action. I would say Iron Giant has a pretty good ending. And I know that people think Citizen Kane references are trite, but that ending is damn perfect. There’s a reason it’s constantly referenced as one of the most perfectly edited films.

    But my favorite ending of all has to be from Some Like it Hot: “Nobody’s perfect.”

  83. 83.

    danimal

    To all the grumpsters out there, including our host:

    Season’s Greetings!

    (Am I fighting in the War on Christmas yet?)

  84. 84.

    Jim Once

    @YellowJournalism:
    Just out of pure desperation, to keep wild grandbabies happy and occupied, I downloaded Bolt from Netflix. Ended up having to watch it three times with the kids, and enjoyed it every time. I loved Up as well, but it was just too much for a hyper-anxious four year old (we think he might be Asperger’s). Bolt, now – he begs for it every time I see him.

  85. 85.

    KRK

    John, did you accidentally put regular dishwashing soap in the blog today? ‘Cause there’s ass rabies all over the place.

  87. 87.

    Eric U.

    I just got an annoying push poll from some organization trying to kill health care reform. Damn, I was having a bad day before.

  88. 88.

    2th&nayle

    @nodakfarmboy: Yah, yes! The Northern Frontier. I remember it well. I got to Minot in May. Thought to myself, “Hey, this ain’t bad at all”. Woke up one morning in early October with 2″ of snow on the ground. Thought to myself, “Southern Boy, you’re in whole lotta trouble!” haha! Truth is though, once I got acclimated to it, I really enjoyed living there. Seeing the awesomeness of the Aurora Borealis in full bloom made it worth any minor discomfort the weather might have held.

  90. 90.

    Blue Raven

    @geg6:

    arguingwithsignposts @65: I would venture that one hand would be more than you’d need to count them. I actually am friends with several pagans and none of them are GOPers. Can’t even picture a pagan who’d vote Republican.

    I can, but I know of some rather reactionary neopagans. They tend to cluster in the Norse and Celtic traditions’ more conservative spaces, which is best translated as “places the Stars and Bars still flies.” Some of them have been going Galt for so long they could teach classes on the subject, so they’re actually closer to libertarians.

  92. 92.

    Tattoosydney

    @asiangrrlMN:

    It was lovely. Drunken, full of all of my friends, my mother crying (in a happy way for a change) – I don’t remember most of it…. it’s all a blur.

    We got upgraded to the second best room in the Intercontinental – views of the Opera House, suite the siz of our house, a grand piano (still with Britney Spears footprints on it). Very glam.

    Lots of photos here – lots of random family and friend shots, but it will give you the idea.

    Flying out to Bangkok, Amsterdam and Lisbon in a week… Woo!

    How you? Are you recovered from your dread lurgy?

    OT: God, the “I don’t get this at all” thread is full of whingers (and usually under names I have never seen on BJ before)… I say it proud:

    “I am a Minion of Morons”.

  93. 93.

    nodakfarmboy

    @2th&nayle: Yes, the Northern Lights can be spectacular. I’ve seen them fill up the entire sky, dancing in colors from aquamarine to blood red. Unfortunately, the sun is in it’s quiet period, and solar activity has been exceptionally low.

    NASA- Deep Solar Minimum

    Low solar activity= less northern lights. Which is a bummer.

  95. 95.

    Blue Raven

    @YellowJournalism:

    But my favorite ending of all has to be from Some Like it Hot: “Nobody’s perfect.”

    Yes. Brilliant ending. Also, Men in Black. Universe in a marble.

  97. 97.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Tattoosydney: ‘Scuzi, but I need an invite to view.

    It sounds like you had a lovely time. I’m so happy for you! And, for your REAL hubby, of course (though I hear you and FH#2 might be meeting for realz!). You still have the honeymoon, eh?

    I am in the third incarnation of whatever it is I have, so, no, I am not recovered yet.

    I am also staying out of most threads right now as I am pretty much at my nadir of tolerance for…well, lots of things.

  99. 99.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @arguingwithsignposts: Wow, you know that area? My dad used to be conductor/music director of the Midland-Odessa Symphony Orchestra (this was something like 40 years ago). I visited him once, I think it was in 1969. Except for his house, which was very cool, I wasn’t impressed. I guess neither was he, as he departed west TX within a year or so.

  102. 102.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    GPs lived in Monahans, an even smaller hell-hole than either Midland or Odessa. Your dad was a very wise individual. I rag on the gulf coast of Texas for the heat and humidity, but I’d take it over W. Texas any day or night, just for the trees.

  103. 103.

    geg6

    valdivia @94: I haven’t seen Glee at all, but my sister looooooves it. That said, anyone else excited to see Robert Downey Jr. (yummy yum yum) as Sherlock Holmes? I mean, really really excited? Like more excited than a woman over 50 ever should be? Though I am conversely immensely disappointed that they’ve teamed him with a Watson who is completely devoid of looks, charisma, personality, and talent. Jude Law makes me gag. But RDJr. Has enough of all of those that I can just ignore the icky guy.

  105. 105.

    JenJen

    @valdivia: Right after I watch that crying manipulative jerko Ryan and his wife Ashleigh get kicked off of “So You Think You Can Dance”, absolutely.

    This show is so much better in the summertime, when I’m not so persnickety.

  106. 106.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @geg6:
    LOL:

    Like more excited than a woman over 50 ever should be?

    Green balloons! ;)

    (I don’t know why I’m in a good mood tonight – perhaps because I gave at least $100 to progressive causes yesterday, thanks in part to AngustheGodofMeat, and I’m just loving this community.)

  107. 107.

    Max

    @geg6: OMG! RDJ fan here. Big Time. Ever since he was Julian in Less Than Zero.

    I am far more excited than a 38 year-old girl should be.

    I agree on Jude Law, but then again, accents don’t do it for me.

  109. 109.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, I need to ask a question about this new (or restored) edit function that everyone seems to be so happy about. It used to be that you’d type something, maybe it had a few typos in it, or something you didn’t quite mean to say, but there it was in all its glory. You hit the Submit button, it showed up in the thread just as pretty as youn please.

    But now, after I hit Submit, it enters the thread with two new buttons: Click to Edit, and Request Deletion, plus a clock counting down from about 5 minutes (an eternity in the fast-moving blogosphere, I think you’ll agree).

    So here’s my question: assuming I don’t want to edit anything, and don’t want to delete the message, is there any way to bypass the clock and just get the thing posted properly?

    I’ll look for your answers in about 5 minutes from now :-)

  110. 110.

    Robertdsc-iphone

    I’m sour too, but for different reasons. On the bright side, Modern Warfare 2 is growing on me. I’m playing it more & more. Got my first match MVP today with a 21-12 score.

  113. 113.

    valdivia

    @Max:
    yes there has been some drift. my favorite episode was the wheels one, and last week had some awesome moments. I am looking forward to seeing what happens at sectionals tonight.
    For some reason I missed Top Chef this season, though I heard it has been great. Last season at the end was such a disappointment that I guess I got skittish.

    @geg6:

    Glee rocks, really, the music is great and it just makes me smile. a very weird different kind of show.

    as for sherlock holmes. I am very excited, mostly because I love mysteries. I do have to defend Jude Law–I have never been a fan–too pretty–but I just saw him on the stage doing Hamlet and he blew me away. The guy has deep acting chops that come out when the material is worthy. Just saying he is worth a second look. :-)

  114. 114.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @2th&nayle:

    Flat is about the best word for the Permian Basin. When your two biggest selling points are a bunch of sand (sand dunes national park) and a huge concrete hole in the ground (the concrete was meant to store oil, but never used for that), it’s a good bet tourism isn’t going to be a big industry.

    ETA: the McDonald Observatory is worth something. But overall, it’s a pretty barren area.

  115. 115.

    geg6

    Max @107: We must be long lost twins or something. RDJ began for me back then, too. I think I’ve seen every film he’s ever been in. Not all of those are good films, but his work always rocks no matter what. Even in the darkest depths of his addictions, he was better than anyone else out there. Not to mention gorgeous. Just a beautiful, beautiful, sexy as hell man.

  116. 116.

    MikeJ

    from GOS:

    Right now, 20 percent of Americans “support the impeachment of President Obama for his actions so far.” That number includes 35 percent of Republicans, to only 15 percent of independents and 10 percent of Democrats.

    Imagine what happens when the republican percentage goes up ~%10.

  117. 117.

    geg6

    arguingwithsignposts @106: Green ballons indeed. I’d surely play that green balloon game with RDJ just like in the trailer for the Holmes movie. However, I’d want to trade places. That’s more my style.

  119. 119.

    Joe K.

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Flat is about the best word for the Permian Basin. When your two biggest selling points are a bunch of sand (sand dunes national park) and a huge concrete hole in the ground (the concrete was meant to store oil, but never used for that), it’s a good bet tourism isn’t going to be a big industry.

    Well we do get some lovely skies out here, and large expanses of it (sky, that is). When I go back to the east coast I always feel like I’m in a box.

  120. 120.

    Cat Lady

    I love this blog John Cole. It veers from kinky sex protocols to reactionary neo-paganism, then to bad 80’s music and pet pictures, to recipes and media criticism, all while keeping the eye on the prize of progressive policy and beating back the mind numbing stupidity, then on to satisfying movie endings, all without missing a beat.

    I think I’m the only one who totally loved the ending to Castaway. I think there’s another complete movie there, with the Tom Hanks character building a whole new life with that sculptress. I’ve also been waiting for Matt Damon to write the sequel to Good Will Hunting, with Will Hunting married to Minnie Driver the doctor in California working on their class issues in sunny LA. If there are any wanna be screen writers here, you’re welcome.

  123. 123.

    geg6

    asiangrrlMN: I’m withholding judgment on how it fits the literary Holmes. He was pretty much a big freak, old Holmes. But the big attraction for me is RDJ. He never gives a bad performance, IMHO. Plus, he’s hot.

  124. 124.

    arguingwithsignposts

    @Cat Lady:

    I love this blog John Cole. It veers from kinky sex protocols to reactionary neo-paganism, then to bad 80’s music and pet pictures, to recipes and media criticism, all while keeping the eye on the prize of progressive policy and beating back the mind numbing stupidity, then on to satisfying movie endings, all without missing a beat.

    DFH. I’m thinking ACORN is really behind this blog. Also.

    ETA (just because I can): I LOVE the Jon Stewart smackdown of Gretchen Carlson. I only wish she’d listen.

  126. 126.

    asiangrrlMN

    @geg6: No can comment since I deleted my comment! Yeah, I am not a big RDJ fan or a big Sherlock Holmes fan. I am a huge British accent fan, though. Alan Rickman, what? But Jude Law does nothing for me.

    MikeJ, Guy Ritchie is directing? Deal-breaker for me!

  132. 132.

    Autboy

    feel the love. 100 people react immediately to your down mood! well, balloon is now one of my go-to blogs…what the hell

  133. 133.

    geg6

    MikeJ @125: I’ve not been a huge Ritchie fan (prolly cuz I detest his now-ex), but I saw saw Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels recently and think he and RDJ might make a good team. Both quite audacious and willing to take risks. Could be Ritchie will hit box office big time and will now be seen to have earned it without the Madge baggage.

  135. 135.

    valdivia

    @James K Polk, Esq.:

    ditto, that part was the best of the whole episode. What I like is that you never can really predict what they will do, where the show will go. I am curious to see if the other teams do tonight since they have the set list already. is it too much to hope they won’t cheat?

  136. 136.

    arguingwithsignposts

    BTW, I have to give props to Huckabee for appearing on TDS (but not as much as if he’d appeared on Maddow) to address the optics.

    I wouldn’t vote him within two states of the presidency, but he is at least a bit better than the average GOPer.

  137. 137.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Tattoosydney: Sniff sniff. I am all verklempt now. Lovely, lovely, lovely. I love the cake . Which one is you?????? P.S. Listening to MPR, they had an Aussie scientist on talking about cap and trade. Aussie accents are teh yummy, too.

    arguing, I LOVE the Brits! Scottish, Irish, English accents…all teh hawt.

  140. 140.

    demkat620

    @geg6: I hear ya. Sometimes people go way the fuck over the edge before anything has even happened.

    Let’s see the bill before we flip out, ‘mkay.

  141. 141.

    MichaelR

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    I LOVE the Jon Stewart smackdown of Gretchen Carlson. I only wish she’d listen.

    Nah, she gets paid too much for pretending to be a ‘normal’ Republican.
    “I didn’t know what Czar meant, so I Googled it…” indeed.

    All 3, no matter what day or cast, play as idiots, but why must the female almost always play at being the one who is most ambitious at finding the wrong description that so happens to meet Faux News’ slant.

  143. 143.

    The Moar You Know

    San Diego today: high of 72 degrees at my house, low of 44.

    I don’t know what you’re all ranting about. The weather is awesome.

  144. 144.

    Jim Once

    I do have to defend Jude Law—I have never been a fan—too pretty—but I just saw him on the stage doing Hamlet and he blew me away. The guy has deep acting chops that come out when the material is worthy. Just saying he is worth a second look.

    Yup. No denying those chops. Son and husband both hated him, but had to admit to his worth in Breaking and Entering.

  148. 148.

    WereBear

    Aw, Jiminy; so much (perspective) Win.

    Climate wise: we finally got snow. For a ski area, a big deal.

    Family wise: Just on the phone with my mother and father-in-law: with my biological dad in the throes of Alzheimer’s, the fact that I have another Dad, means much.

    He assured me our car can last a long time with a daily dose of motor oil; maybe we’ll get to the rainbow; ie, the congruence of “out of medical debt slavery/needs a car” to get to the friggin’ job because there’s not public trans in the rural area that keeps the husband alive.

    My mother: she’s taking in children who are living in the pine forests of Florida, as an interim foster parent: she’s cleaning the blue-black pits of insect bites of a ten-month-old whose parents are living in the pine barrens because they can’t get a job.

    And she said to me: What’s happened to our country?

    I said to her: your former job as a real estate agent got eaten up by people who see the market as a Big Casino. Your interim job as a Wal-Mart associate is down to 19 hours a week because they make more money that way. Your health insurance, guaranteed for that two-week bout of pneumonia in a hospital from a Dirty Friggin’ Hippie President from the pine barrens of Texas, because he lived his whole life cognizant of what it meant: priceless.

    Me: getting kudos because I took the company vehicle with the current VIP to the closest airport (2 1/2 hours away when it’s not a blizzard) back and forth, eleven+ hours of driving with a bad hip to keep a job where 4 (count ’em four out of twelve) people got laid off because no one can go on vacation to a vacation area: priceless.

    Grateful: at the magic age of fifty, I still have a job with health insurance because young people with coding skills won’t live in Back of Beyond. Because young people with HTML knowledge (and I go to lunch with them and hug them and counsel them that the loss of their high school sweetheart is not the end of the world) are leaving in droves because they can’t make what they need in this forgotten corner of the world. Go, I tell them, Go to the Big Metro Area; go to the FUTURE; go and understand that there are Others who understand.)

    +8 Pinot Grigio, an Italian wine which was on sale at the local wineshop owned by a former NYT’s wine expert who retired here: priceless.

    Priceless: because my broken down lumpy body, allied with med insurance because of the situation, I am still valuable because no one else will live here; go go go said the bird.

    Humankind cannot bear too much reality.

  150. 150.

    Tattoosydney

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I love the cake . Which one is you??????

    The cake was gorgeous, and yummy too (mmmm, fruit cake with marzipan and royal icing)…

    I iz teh monkey.

    ETA: You can see that it was an entertaining night. Best of all, because our friend had set up his lights in the back room, we now have photographs of us with almost all of our friends. We just shuttled everyone out the back over the course of a few hours, and got pictures…. which got steadily more stupid as the drinking progressed.

  152. 152.

    RedKitten

    @geg6:

    That said, anyone else excited to see Robert Downey Jr. (yummy yum yum) as Sherlock Holmes?

    I’d be excited to see Robert Downey Jr. reading the phone book, kthxbai.

  154. 154.

    valdivia

    @Jim Once:

    haven’t seen that. As I said Jude Law is not my usual cup of tea, and I never thought of him as really an actor’s actor. That has totally changed for me now. He really can act.

  155. 155.

    2th&nayle

    @The Moar You Know:

    San Diego today: high of 72 degrees at my house, low of 44.
    I don’t know what you’re all ranting about. The weather is awesome.

    Just got 2 words for you Moar: San Andreas

  156. 156.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @arguingwithsignposts 7:59 pm
    @asiangrrlMN 8:15 pm

    Thanks to you both (tick tick tick)

  157. 157.

    Jim Once

    @WereBear:

    “My mother: she’s taking in children who are living in the pine forests of Florida, as an interim foster parent: she’s cleaning the blue-black pits of insect bites of a ten-month-old whose parents are living in the pine barrens because they can’t get a job. And she said to me: What’s happened to our country?”

    Your mother=a sweetie. My granddaughter (now15) spent her early years in those piney woods, and I can’t tell you how sick with worry we were about it. It’s all good now – new stepdaddy who knows her worth, and wants her to know and love us. But that place, that time . . .

  158. 158.

    Kryptik

    I honestly just want to say that I quit.

    From Health Care, to Economy, to Evolution, to fucking ClimateGate, it seems like there’s no point in trying to be reasoned and measured, because it all comes undone because liars and morons are given more credence on any and all issues, precisely because they’re liars and morons, and somehow more accessible than people who know there shit and use fancy language.

    I just….it’s just so god damn depressing and hair-tearingly, soul crushingly pointless sometimes.

  159. 159.

    WereBear

    Ah, Jim Once:

    I know. It’s amazing to me that my mother, with a very dicey upbringing and a great effort to do better for her own children: has enough left to give to others. Yet, she does.

    And, in whatever way: I give, but not biologically. She gives: not biologically.

    But in the big picture; GIVES. And gives.

    And the ones who need the most: get.

  160. 160.

    Jim Once

    @WereBear:

    Such great luck to have a parent like this – whatever goodness I may have and can give is because of my mother and father.

  161. 161.

    SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta

    @geg6: Jeremy Brett was SO perfect as Holmes it’s hard for me to picture anyone else in the role. That being said, I’ve liked RDJ in everything he’s been in that I’ve seen. The new Holmes movie trailer makes it look like a lot of special effects and more of an action film, so will have to wait and see.

  162. 162.

    Joe K.

    @Cat Lady:

    Nope, “Castaway” is another one on the Perfect Movie Ending List for my SO. I’ve only ever seen the last 25 minutes of “Castaway”, so I can’t speak to its ending’s perfection with respect to the movie that precedes it. I can think of lots of movies it wouldn’t be the perfect ending for. “Speed” comes to mind.

  163. 163.

    SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta

    @WereBear:

    And she said to me: What’s happened to our country?
    __
    I said to her: your former job as a real estate agent got eaten up by people who see the market as a Big Casino. Your interim job as a Wal-Mart associate is down to 19 hours a week because they make more money that way. Your health insurance, guaranteed for that two-week bout of pneumonia in a hospital from a Dirty Friggin’ Hippie President from the pine barrens of Texas, because he lived his whole life cognizant of what it meant: priceless.

    This is like the Grapes of Wrath for Balloon Juice. This is a beautiful comment and very moving. Blessings, WereBear.

  172. 172.

    Steeplejack

    @valdivia:

    [Jude Law] has deep acting chops that come out when the material is worthy. Just saying he is worth a second look.

    I agree. He was excellent in Wilde (1997), as Lord Alfred “Bosie” Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s reprobate lover. (By the way, Wilde is a very underrated movie, and Stephen Fry deserved an Oscar nomination in the title role.) And Law was very good in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). I have seen other things that I have liked him in, but he’s not the sort of actor that can overpower bad material and stand out in anything (as Robert Downey Jr. can). He needs good material, and by choice or chance he hasn’t gotten it that often.

  173. 173.

    Steeplejack

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I love the Jon Stewart smackdown of Gretchen Carlson.

    That was satisfying. Watched it on the DVR last night and had my faith in Stewart restored. (Haven’t been watching much lately, mostly because of my own crazy schedule.)

  175. 175.

    Steeplejack

    @SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta:

    Jeremy Brett is the definitive Holmes for me, too, and that whole series was excellent not only for the acting but for the writing (very faithful to the original stories) and general mise-en-scène.

    I am looking forward to Downey as Holmes, but there’s no way in hell the movie looks like anything “true” to the original.

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