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Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    Svensker

    Glad to hear you’re sleeping, best thing for you.

    Who cares about the Grammys? Even when I worked in the business, they seemed like rewards for selling the most records, not for making good music. Like tits on a turtle — useless and dull.

  3. 3.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    Do what everyone else in our country does when they fuck up, blame it on the drugs.

    It’s the American Way(TM)!

  5. 5.

    henqiguai

    What Svensker said. Um, useless and dull; I’ve never worked in the industry.

    Basically, scraw the grammiesGrammys; off to bed, ’cause 5:00AM is gonna be here entirely too soon (besides, WICN’s new age programming is over).

    ETA: Cleaned up that “grammies”, because I know how you turkeys think ;-)

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Not interested in the Grammys, and I’m another early-to-bedder (have to be up at first sparrow fart to finish packing and drive to Nashville). But John, I’m glad to hear you fell asleep. Again. That’s got to be the best thing for your poor battered body. Plus, it gives Lily and Tunch more opportunities to poon you. (And oh gods, wouldn’t we just love to see a picture of *that.* Mom? Tammy? Devon?)

  13. 13.

    Chad N Freude

    Mark Halperin informs us that

    Boehner tells “Meet the Press” all government agencies should be subject to cuts, including the Pentagon.

    I am now going to visualize the Republican reaction to a Democratic proposal to cut the military budget.
    . . .
    Aieee! My eyes! My eyes!

  15. 15.

    fraught

    Pink on the Grammys: Does this mean that Susan Boyle has to get all wet and acrobatic next year when she’s nominated? can’t wait.

  17. 17.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    It’s brave that you even consider being up long enough to post. Until it heals a lot better, you should barely be conscious enough to go to the bathroom and eat, much less post.

  19. 19.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @Chad N Freude: And when Obama proposes some cuts, Boner will be the first to stand up and cry how Democrats want to make the country less safe. And then Obama will have to go to the Senate Republican retreat to correct them again before it’ll even remotely cost them.

  21. 21.

    MikeJ

    Please nobody tell me downloading is killing the music industry while the showcase for the best of the industry blows this many goats.

  22. 22.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    @MikeJ:

    Not a peep from me, nope. I just worry that too few people are worrying about the poor goats.

  24. 24.

    Jules

    Kinda annoyed that Leonard Cohen and Loretta Lynn only got a mention so we could see Pink spin in the air?

  25. 25.

    Chad N Freude

    @demkat620: If you’re referring to drinking yourself into a stupor, I’m witcha. If you’re referring to the movie, I have to say it is the worst buddy comedy in the history of cinema. (This is not a popular position, but it’s true, Golden Globe notwithstanding.)

  27. 27.

    Ed in NJ

    Well, my wife and I are enjoying most of the performances. And Stephen Colbert opened the show and also won Best Comedy Album.

    Some of you need to calm down. It’s just a show. And contrary to what some claim, the best-selling artists usually don’t win. To wit, Kings of Leon just beat out Beyonce, Black-eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift for record of the year.

  28. 28.

    me

    Pro Bowl – (Colts + Saints) – actually trying to win > Grammys. Sad but true.

    fixed after the AFC pitchingintentionally fumbling the ball.

  31. 31.

    madmommy

    @Jules:

    The Zac Brown Band is pretty good. What I’m trying to figure out is what that sticker was on the front of his guitar. Never could get a good enough view of it.

  33. 33.

    Wile E. Quixote

    Seth Meyers on SNL Weekend Update last night:

    On Friday President Obama appeared before House Republicans in a historic televised Q & A and performed so well, afterwards GOP aides said that allowing cameras to roll like that was a mistake. Come on Republicans, are you on such a Scott Brown high you thought you could take down Barack Obama by debating him? You realize debates are why he is President, right? Seriously, all you do is complain how Obama is all talk and then you invite him to a forum that is literally all talk. That’s like saying “lets see how tough Aquaman is once we get him in the water”. I’m not saying you were out-classed but the whole thing was like the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when the guy charged at Indiana Jones with the sword and he just shot him.”

  34. 34.

    burnspbesq

    Today is the last day of the three-year continuing education cycle for California lawyers whose names begin with A-G, so lucky me, I get to listen to six hours of pre-recorded lectures on ethics, substance abuse, and the elimination of bias in the legal profession. The Grammys, bad as they are, would be a welcome change of pace.

    If you get ESPNU and are a lax fan, there is a game on in eleven minutes, a pre-season exhibition between Duke (pre-season number one ranking) and the U.S. men’s national team.

  35. 35.

    superking

    ME2 is pretty amazing, but it’s not worth it if you have a tube. I don’t have any money to buy an HDTV, and the text in the game is tiny on my TV. It’s kind of hard to understand some of what is going on.

  36. 36.

    burnspbesq

    @Ed in NJ:

    Kings of Leon just beat out Beyonce, Black-eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, and Taylor Swift for record of the year.

    That hardly seems like cause for celebration. “Best of a bad lot” isn’t exactly fulsome praise.

  40. 40.

    Ben JB

    Thank FSM for an open thread, I have a dog question / problem.

    My gf and I adopted a dog a month ago, and she’s totally a teacher’s pet–sometimes she goes into another room with a bone, but otherwise she seems to like to spend most of her time with us when we’re home. (And I’m home a lot.)

    So, for a while she was sleeping in the bed, but that disrupted my gf’s sleep; so we tried putting her in the crate in the living room, but the dog was very unhappy about that. (And since the goal here is to let my gf get sleep, that just wasn’t working.) We put the crate in the bedroom, next to the bed, and after a few minutes of whining, puppy fell asleep fine.

    But yesterday, I tried to move the crate outside the bedroom, though still in line-of-sight of our bed, and the dog was having none of it.

    So here’s my question: I’m guessing the dog will be fine in the crate next to the bed tonight, and I was hoping that I might, in a few days, move it a foot closer to the door, and so on, until she’s sleeping outside the bedroom–is that plan crazy?

  42. 42.

    John Cole

    @Ben JB: Dogs are pack animals, and like to sleep with the alpha. If you make her sleep in another room in a crate, she sense this as you separating her from the pack and punishing her.

    Suggestion- crate her in your bedroom, and if need be, cover it with a sheet to give her a cave like feeling. She will be used to it in no time.

  43. 43.

    Ben JB

    @John Cole: That would work for me, but my gf still is bothered by the dog’s scratchings / moving around. (We take her collar off so her tags don’t jangle, but…)

    Mind, I like having the dog nearby (did anyone see Sully‘s mention of how dog-ownership relates to oxytocin, a relationship-binding hormone), so this is an area of potential friction.

  44. 44.

    madmommy

    @Ben JB:

    If the dog will sleep in the crate in your room that might be the best bet. My Lab has been crate trained from puppyhood and she knows that is her place, though she is with me wherever I am until bedtime. I’d never crate-trained a dog before, and I must say it was the easiest housebreaking of a dog I’ve ever been through.

  46. 46.

    Carrie

    @Ben JB:
    have you tried putting the girlfriend in the crate in an other room?
    If that won’t work, buy her some foam earplugs.
    I can’t sleep without mine….

  47. 47.

    madmommy

    @Ben JB:

    Try some sort of bed/blanket in the crate, it muffles the sound. The downside is when you wash the blankie the dog sits and stares at the washer and then the dryer until it is done. Or maybe that is just my dog that is that goofy.

  48. 48.

    Martin

    @Ben JB: Protip: if the girlfriend is bothered by the collar and jangling tags, don’t insist that she wear them. You can always revisit that topic once you are married.

  49. 49.

    Phoebe

    I think there shouldn’t be an apostrophe in “Grammy’s”, in the headline. Unless this is Grammy’s Open Thread, like Grammy’s Ho-made Biskits. Think of the children. There was a store called Majik Market that sold candy when I was a kid. I have to pause and think when I write “magic”, to this day. For a long time, the j would slip in.

  50. 50.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Nellcote #32: Nope, just a business trip — when I was putting the itinerary together I never gave the Mad Tea Party a thought, and now that it’s upon us, it’s too late to change plans. It would be fun to infiltrate, though . . . .

  51. 51.

    General Winfield Stuck

    @Ben JB: I would say calm and thoughtful as dogs go. He is the most obedient dog I have ever had, and rarely gets too excited, except when he smells of sees Deer. And has only barked a couple of times. He figures shit out to a spooky degree and soaks up affection like a sponge without being needy. I still can’t believe my good luck finding him, and my good fortune. He sometimes gets restless and goes rabbity if I let him off the leash. And my fear is him running off to his previous life as a stray. But I hate to keep him on a leash all the time cause he needs to run now and then.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Wile E. Quixote #33:

    Oh fine. Now that I’ve totally and forever stopped watching SNL they actually do something marginally *clever*?

    Thanks for the transcript. It’s actually funny stuff — worthy of The Daily Show in fact.

  53. 53.

    Montysano

    As someone who works in the performance lighting biz, my take on the Grammys is different. Nice looking show this year, very clean, not nearly as cluttered with video as past years. Pink’s performance was stunning. Gaga and Elton were good. Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks also, too.

    But the big excitement here in the Deep South? Here Come The Mummies are coming to town in 2 weeks!

  54. 54.

    South of I-10

    @Ben JB: I have to have a fan going in the room at night when I sleep. Otherwise, every paw hitting the floor and cats knocking stuff off of counters wakes me up. Maybe that would help your girlfriend?

  57. 57.

    Laura W

    @Montysano:

    Pink’s performance was stunning.

    This.

    And This:

    Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks also, too.

    I’ve not stopped thinking about Pink’s segment since it aired. Amazing, powerful and riveting.

  58. 58.

    madmommy

    @Laura W:

    Compared to Stevie, Taylor sounded awful. Flat, out of tune, something. Plus the complete oddness of hearing Stevie singing about being in a t-shirt on the bleachers was just wrong. Maybe it was one of those collaborations that looked good on paper that just doesn’t quite work in the real world.

    But Pink was completely awesome.

  59. 59.

    Betsy

    @Ben JB:

    Ear plugs! I started using them at night a year or so ago. Changed my life. I thought I couldn’t sleep with earplugs; they felt too strange. But after a few nights of trying, I got used to it, and I sleep deeper than I have in years.

    I live on a major artery, a block away from a fire station, across the street from a 24-hr self-serve car wash*, behind which are train tracks. There are also diesel trucks/buses and loud drunk kids singing. We have no A/C, so we sleep with the windows open at night in the summer; our bedroom window is directly over this road. The regular earplugs that you buy at CVS drown out all that, without preventing me from hearing my alarm clock (more’s the pity).

    *Did you all know that people wash their cars at all hours of the night? I didn’t, until I lived here. But they do. And occasionally like to blast their radios while doing so.

  60. 60.

    Montysano

    @madmommy:

    Compared to Stevie, Taylor sounded awful.

    I think that, in the long run, she’ll be known more as a songwriter than a singer.

  61. 61.

    madmommy

    @Montysano:

    I think you’re right. She does do the teenage girl angst thing quite well, and her songs are catchy. Vocally, she’s pretty limited. If I had a pre-teen daughter I’d still rather see Taylor as a role model than Miley Cyrus.

  62. 62.

    mai naem

    I don’t get Taylor Swift’s popularity/talent. I see nothing that stands out about her. She’s pretty but so are a bunch of other singers.

  63. 63.

    burnspbesq

    @Montysano:

    I think that, in the long run, she’ll be known more as a songwriter than a singer.

    God help us all if Taylor Swift has a long run. Especially if it keeps the broader country audience from getting to know the two teenage girl singer/instrumentalists who have real talent, Sierra Hull and Amanda Shaw.

  64. 64.

    Laura W

    @madmommy: Well, see, I look at this kind of stuff differently, I suppose. Taylor is 20? Stevie is 61?
    I’m gonna cut Taylor some slack and give her huge bonus points in courage and guts for pairing up with Stevie in this venue, and I’m gonna cut Stevie a ton of slack for looking and sounding as great as she does at 61. (When I was 20 I was getting busted by campus police for smoking pot under a tarp in the rain on the UCSB stadium grounds waiting for Fleetwood Mac to perform, so, you know…)

    For me, it felt like more of a torch passing of sorts. Or an acknowledgment of the promise of the young talent in Taylor that Stevie was nurturing and endorsing. I did not see it as a vocal competition, but as two artists supporting and respecting each other in very different stages of their personal evolution and life stages.

    But that’s me. Always reading the deep shit into everything and making it all messy and complicated.

  65. 65.

    Montysano

    @madmommy:

    She does do the teenage girl angst thing quite well, and her songs are catchy.

    We’ll see where she goes from there.

    Lady Gaga, only 3 years older, is much more sophisticated as a songwriter. The range of styles on her two albums is astounding.

  66. 66.

    Montysano

    I love a great guitar player as much as anyone (it’s one of the FSM’s cruel little jokes that, as hard as I tried, I would never be one), but I’ve just never gotten Jeff Beck. Yeah, he’s good, but there are a dozen studio players in Nashville that are just as good. Beck is just…. dry and technical.

  67. 67.

    Annie

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Thanks for the Charlie picture. Keep them coming. It is hard not to love that little guy…

    I understand that Charlie needs to do what Charlie needs to do at times — go off the leash and run — but, I guess I think he also needs you to be the pack leader and help him not do something stupid — like get lost. He clearly is one happy pup to have you, and you can see it in his every expression. I think ultimately he loves you more than he loves his freedom of expression, and he trusts that you understand that, too.

    So let him run, but have a good fence, so he can run to his heart’s content, but not too far that he cannot see you in the distance.

  68. 68.

    madmommy

    @Montysano:

    Not to mention Lady Gaga actually seems to have a vocal range. I don’t want to completely bash Taylor. She’s fine, so far as it goes. She’s a very pretty girl with songwriting talent and a passable voice that will take her pretty far.

    @burnspbesq:

    Amanda Shaw is an amazing talent.

    @Laura W:

    It definitely takes guts for a barely 20 year old to take the stage with Stevie Nicks. Stevie can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. She is the shit.

  70. 70.

    Ben JB

    @General Winfield Stuck: just the few pics of Charlie I looked through reminded me of my newly-adopted Blackie (cocker spaniel / schnauzer), who has gotten tagged by other people walking dogs & the vet as “serious,” “solemn,” and “earnest.”

  71. 71.

    Montysano

    @Laura W:

    When I was 20 I was getting busted by campus police for smoking pot under a tarp in the rain on the UCSB stadium grounds waiting for Fleetwood Mac to perform, so, you know…

    Yeah, I know what you mean. When I was 23, I was a hormone-addled dumbass. At 23, Lady Gaga has been working her ass off for most of the last decade.

  73. 73.

    alone in the dark

    @mai naem:

    I see nothing that stands out about her. She’s pretty but so are a bunch of other singers

    Which is why she’ll have a long run.

  77. 77.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Ben JB: New girlfriend! I keed, I keed. I actually second Betsy’s recommendation of earplugs. I use them. Plus, I use a white noise machine as well, which is a miracle machine as far as I’m concerned.

    The Grammys: I am DVR’ing them (why yes I did just make DVR into a verb, thankyewverymuch), which is the only way to watch awards’ shows. I can get that sucker down to an hour’s worth of viewing! I know I’m getting old, though, because when I turn the radio on these days, I don’t know half the songs playing.

    P.S. Cole, sleep, man, if you must! Listen to your body.

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I actually second Betsy’s recommendation of earplugs. I use them.

    Too many transatlantic flights, first from DC, now from SeaTac. I can’t sleep without earplugs and eyeshades because Virgin/BA force them on me. Oh yeah, I also can’t sleep without a quart of booze, because they force that on me too.

  79. 79.

    asiangrrlMN

    @MikeJ: Ha! I like the way you think. I also wear an eye-mask when I sleep as well as a mouth guard. I just didn’t mention them because they don’t really help with the not hearing-any-noise thing.

  81. 81.

    Yutsano

    @Linkmeister: It may not be as insidious as the Bush fallout. All of them have been having kids. Plural. Plus one got a divorce. It wouldn’t shock me if an album was forthcoming soon however.

  83. 83.

    Yutsano

    @Linkmeister: They are WAY too talented to fade off into the sunset. Plus they’ve been working on their career for a very long time, I can’t imagine them walking away for really any reason.

  84. 84.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ben JB: Yup, those are all excellent suggestions. (The Spousal Unit has never been able to sleep without some kind of white-noise generator — it took ME a few nights to get used to it but now I kinda miss it when he’s away.) Between the noise-box, earplugs, and a drape over the puppy crate, you should all find it easier to sleep. Two other things: First, be sure puppy gets a long walk not too long before bed, so she’s tired enough to sleep. And second, remember that as she grows up & gets used to a regular schedule, she’ll find it easier to settle down at bedtime. Of course, then she’ll start “prompting” you both to go up to bed at The Usual Time, and sighing audibly if either of you wants to stay up late, but that’s another issue…

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    @Anne Laurie: LOL. My parents’ Lab Kasha would go up to us at bedtime and nose us mercilessly until we either followed her up or we sent her to the kennel. We refuse to recognize it, but dogs train us as much as we train them.

  86. 86.

    Anne Laurie

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    He sometimes gets restless and goes rabbity if I let him off the leash. And my fear is him running off to his previous life as a stray. But I hate to keep him on a leash all the time cause he needs to run now and then.

    I have known people to rig a light line (like fishing line) to give their “persistent runaway” dogs a chance to stretch their legs. Being as I’m a chickenheart, also old & slow, my runaway rescue Zevon doesn’t get off his lead unless he’s in a securely fenced area, not even at the indoor dog-training gym unless I’ve got a ‘spotter’ to make sure nobody opens the gym doors at the wrong time. But one other thing you could try — pick out something very desirable to Charlie, like a piece of cooked chicken or some stinky cheese (or even some of the high-sugar Beggin Strips if those are what turns him on), and use a special phrase like “Time to go” or “Homeward bound, Charlie” that you can remember to use ONLY when you’re going to give him that special treat. Then, for at least a couple of weeks, use the Magic Phrase and give him a goodie just before you pack it up & go home. The idea is to instill in his mind the connection between Magic Phrase and TASTY!, because next time he thinks about going after a deer, you want to be able to yell the Magic Phrase and break his concentration long enough for his stomach to overrule his “prey drive”. Not a guaranteed cure, but every little bit helps…

  87. 87.

    Nellcote

    @Linkmeister:

    via Rolling Stone mag:

    With Natalie Maines on an indefinite hiatus, the other two Dixie Chicks — guitarist-banjoist Emily Robison and her sister, fiddler Martie Maguire — have recorded an album on their own, as Court Yard Hounds (a reference to the best-selling novel City of Thieves). … The duo will debut their new band at South by Southwest in March, with the album dropping in May and a tour to follow.

  90. 90.

    gwangung

    Hm. Well an old college friend of mine has a son who appeared on the Grammy’s, with the Dave Matthews Band. She’s pretty proud of that, for some reason…

  91. 91.

    mak

    @gwangung

    Your friend should be proud. The DMB song (You and Me) was the highlight of the show for me (though I missed the first half hour, and hence the Pink performance). He had a full string section, some horns, and half a choir of up there with the band, and everyone on stage looked like they were having the best night of their lives. It was infectious.

  92. 92.

    Wile E. Quixote

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Oh fine. Now that I’ve totally and forever stopped watching SNL they actually do something marginally clever?

    That’s the great thing about Hulu, you can watch the marginally clever bits of SNL without watching the other 80 minutes of the show.

  93. 93.

    Thlayli

    @Wile E. Quixote:

    You realize debates are why he is President, right?

    Of course they don’t. They think he’s President because of teleprompters and ACORN. And because that meanie Katie Couric was nasty to poor widdle Sarah. Also.

  94. 94.

    Gravenstone

    re. ME2, there are 88 credited voice actors so it’s not surprising you can find a few from any given show you might like. I think my personal fave (at the moment) is Joker – Seth Green.

  95. 95.

    Sentient Puddle

    I think Adam Baldwin has a fairly minor role, but Yvonne Strahovski does Miranda, which is a pretty big role (she’s the lady on the otherwise terrible box art). I didn’t know it was her at first, and all the while when I heard her speak, I was thinking “I don’t know why, but Miranda speaking makes her seem that much hotter.” Now I know why…it’s freakin’ Sarah.

  96. 96.

    nickgb

    Casey also did a voice in Halo 3, though that seems to be a Firefly-related appearance (Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk also appear).

  97. 97.

    Linkmeister

    @Nellcote: Huh. Thank you. I wonder why Natalie is taking time off. Surely raising a child is less important than making music for the band’s fans, isn’t it?

    Separately, Neil Young gets the first Grammy of his 40+ year career, and it’s for Art Direction? Grammy fail!

  98. 98.

    The Chief

    I don’t know where people are getting the idea that Taylor Swift has a “passable” voice. Every time I’ve heard her sing in any kind of live venue (award shows, televised concerts, SNL), she sounds terrible — flat, out of tune, and very soft (i.e. drowned out by her band). I’ll give her that she at least writes songs for herself, but she’s frankly an awful singer; the studio wizardry saves her on the albums, but her limitations are laid bare in live shows.

    Pared up with Stevie Nicks, who still sounds pretty good even in her 60s, made the talent gap dreadfully obvious.

    Lady Gaga, meanwhile, has a great voice and is actually trying to do something interesting and unusual in a mainstream music genre . . . so naturally, she’s not going to win a major Grammy (Best Dance Record for you!).

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