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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Yet Another Open Thread

Yet Another Open Thread

by John Cole|  June 15, 201010:33 pm| 127 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Random thoughts:

– I’d like to thank Randy for his awesome World Cup blogging and remind you all to check out his blog. I think a lot of my renewed interest in the game is due to the fact that he started posting here.

– Sherlock Holmes was a really fun movie, and I’d like to see a follow up.

– Edge of Darkness was better than I thought.

– All this wanking about Obama’s approval rating and handling of the oil spill cracks me up. Is anyone here going to vote for the retrograde jackass the Republicans puke up? Anyone?

– Laurie David is pretty hot. Why was she sleeping with Larry David? Or Al Gore?

– What are the “big games” in the WC the next few days?

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Previous Post: « Some Thoughts on Tuesday’s Games 6-15-10
Next Post: Having it both ways »

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    ellaesther

    June 15, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    I got nuthin’ on any of that. Other than to hope that the rumors about Al Gore and Ms. David are wrong, because I’m over-invested in people being mensches, even people I don’t know, but especially people I respect.

    Oh, and I can watch and enjoy the occasional game but following a World Cup blog is beyond my skill set — but I’m glad Randy’s here to get you guys up to snuff!

  2. 2.

    eemom

    June 15, 2010 at 10:37 pm

    we can haz more New Doggie threads plz? Like all New Doggie, all the time? kthxbai

  3. 3.

    Upper West

    June 15, 2010 at 10:38 pm

    My 9 year old daughter and I loved the (new) Karate Kid.

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    I got sammiches.
    I got baby back ribs.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    @eemom:
    I got doggie.

  6. 6.

    beltane

    June 15, 2010 at 10:41 pm

    If Al Gore was sleeping with Laurie David it means that life really is a sitcom about nothing, which is what I have suspected all along.

    Just did some screaming at people over at DKos. It made me feel better.

  7. 7.

    eemom

    June 15, 2010 at 10:42 pm

    why would ANYONE want to schtupp Al Gore? He’s about as sexy as a melted ice cap.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    Laurie David is pretty hot. Why was she sleeping with Larry David? Or Al Gore? –

    The really important question: Will this make it on to Curb?

  9. 9.

    eemom

    June 15, 2010 at 10:43 pm

    @jeffreyw:

    aaaaawwwww. I luvs me some wet doggie.

  10. 10.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 15, 2010 at 10:44 pm

    For those who didn’t catch it earlier, Lady Smudge is ready for her new hardwood floors (in about 6 weeks).

    I have only been able to catch a few moments here and there of the games on ESPN3, but it has renewed my interest in EA Sports’ Soccer franchise (World Cup now available for the iPad!).

  11. 11.

    Mike Kay

    June 15, 2010 at 10:45 pm

    Laurie David used to work at NBC and that’s how she met Larry david.

    I know what you mean, but I remember when Diane Keaton was hot and a successful actress and she dated the hunky woody allen. Go figure.

  12. 12.

    Keith G

    June 15, 2010 at 10:48 pm

    @eemom: Exactly.

    Can’t say I care much about oil or soccer tonight. I do want to know what the puppies are up to.

  13. 13.

    Mike Kay

    June 15, 2010 at 10:51 pm

    @beltane:

    Just did some screaming at people over at DKos.

    About what?

    I hate to be a bother and ask, but I refuse to go over to that place.

  14. 14.

    planetjanet

    June 15, 2010 at 10:53 pm

    All that rigamarole last night about Avatar vs. Imaginarium and you run off and see Sherlock Holmes? Sheesh!

  15. 15.

    planetjanet

    June 15, 2010 at 10:54 pm

    All that rigamarole last night about Avatar vs. Imaginarium and you run off and see Sherlock Holmes? Sheesh! Feel the love.

  16. 16.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 10:54 pm

    Life is hard, then we die. So why worry?

  17. 17.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 10:56 pm

    @beltane: Oh can we see?

    They’ve gotten pretty delusional over there. I officially threw in the towel with them after yesterday’s Bill Maher “Fuck the coal miners” diary.

  18. 18.

    beltane

    June 15, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    @Mike Kay: It was a response to the bitching about Obama’s speech. Here’s the screaming if you’re interested: http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2010/6/15/21026/0089/13#c13

  19. 19.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 10:59 pm

    @beltane: link broke

  20. 20.

    bago

    June 15, 2010 at 11:00 pm

    Teabagging for Tarballers?

  21. 21.

    Punchy

    June 15, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    Do they eat chili in Chile? Do they call it “chili”, or “homecountryinabowl”?

  22. 22.

    Elisabeth

    June 15, 2010 at 11:01 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    I don’t mind life being hard ~ it’s the death I worry about.

  23. 23.

    beltane

    June 15, 2010 at 11:02 pm

    @jeffreyw: Let me try again http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2010/6/15/21026/0089/13#c13

  24. 24.

    lamh32

    June 15, 2010 at 11:03 pm

    Okay,

    I loved Sherlock Holmes. On my trip to India this past April, I watched in on both the flights to India and back to America. And I’d already seen the movie last christmas when it came out in theatres.

    BTW, I believe I read somewhere that a sequel has already been greenlighted.

    Also, is there anyone who RDJ (Rodney Downey Jr) can’t make more likeable, i.e. Gwenyth Paltrow, Jude Law, Scarlett Jo, etc.

  25. 25.

    williamc

    June 15, 2010 at 11:05 pm

    As a gay enviro-crusader movie nerd, this open thread hit all my buttons: 1) I heard from Sully on Real Time maybe a week or so ago that Al is well-known to be well-hung, though how Sully knows, I don’t want to think about (Big Gay Al? ick…). 2) Laurie David is a well-known environmentalist and I could see the inconvenient truth here being that she wanted to be with someone who understood her craziness about saving the planet (see what I did there, ‘inconvenient truth’? Late night punning, heh). 3) I went into Sherlock Holmes expecting not to like it because I didn’t think I’d believe Downey as the most famous Brit detective ever, but not only was his accent ok, he and Jude Law had a ton of chemistry as Holmes and Watson, so much so I kept expecting them to make out in every scene that they were in together.

  26. 26.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    @beltane: strike 2!

  27. 27.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    @beltane: Still broke. guess Balloon Juice doesn’t like Dkos.

    is it icebergslim’s diary?

  28. 28.

    lamh32

    June 15, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    I’ve actually gotta go to work, so I’m out, but I just had to repost this from the last thread.

    Rachel Maddow brought up the fact that Obama asked for prayers or blessing or whatever for the region, and now people are complaining about that part of the speech too.

    Seriously, is this really worth any mention at all.

    1st of all, take it from someone who’s from that region and who has family there. The prayers and blessings will be appreciated by the majority of Gulf coast residents.

    2nd, I get it, not all of us are “religious” people are “people of faith”, but Obama has written about the importance of his faith, always has and probably always will. So why is it so surprising that he would do it now. Unlike Bush, Palin, et al, Obama doesn’t wear his faith on his sleeve, and he doesn’t seem to use his faith as reasoning for his policy decisions, unlike Bushie and the like. Also, just cause he asked for prayers doesn’t mean he gonna put together “prayer circles”. Way to be condescending to people of faith. Not all of them are crazed conservs. Some of us are flaming liberals as well.

    For my money, if you are complaining about that part of the speech, then you were probably not gonna be satisfied with any part of the speech anyway.

    Good night all!

  29. 29.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 11:06 pm

    @Elisabeth: Understandable, whenever I get to contemplating my mortality, I just think about the alternative, or what it would be like to share a planet with Sarah Palin for eternity.

  30. 30.

    ellaesther

    June 15, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    Ok, Open Thread? Open Thread.

    I’ve posted a couple of things that I think the folks here might appreciate (and you may recognize a certain commenter or two on one of them!).

    The first is about the deeply irritating wrongness of magazines geared toward my demographic (Choose to be happy! Make a vision board!).


    The other is about Jay Smooth
    , a hip-hop video blogger to whom no less a figure than The Grand Pandjandrum himself introduced me (speaking of whom, has anyone seen him lately…?) and about whom I have since been properly schooled. In one video that I posted, he talks about talking about racism, and in another, talks about the arrogance of the politically ignorant — he’s smart and funny and all manner of wonderful things.

    Please, come, read, enjoy!

  31. 31.

    beltane

    June 15, 2010 at 11:07 pm

    @jeffreyw: Forget about that link which doesn’t work for some reason. Here’s a quote from the comment:

    I’m seeing precious few reality-based criticisms and an awful lot of magical thinking in its place. What people really want is for some deus ex machina to swoop down and fix the situation. Guess what? Humpty-Dumpty really cannot be put back together again

  32. 32.

    Nellcote

    June 15, 2010 at 11:09 pm

    I just noticed something about Prez Obama’s schedule. The speech he gave at the Naval Training Base in Florida was covered on cable in whole. Lots of young faces in uniform in the background. During his speech tonight about the Gulf oil situation he made mention of the military too.
    Is there a message in the juxtaposition of oil and sending troops?

  33. 33.

    lamh32

    June 15, 2010 at 11:10 pm

    @williamc:

    You and me both Williamc; re: RDJ and JL, making out.

    It was really funny, kinda reminded of the House and Wilson (get it Holmes & Watson) relationship from the show “House”

  34. 34.

    planetjanet

    June 15, 2010 at 11:11 pm

    @lamh32: Oh, I absolutely loved Sherlock Holmes as well. It had the most amazing fast paced and sparkling dialogue. I love anything Robert Downey, Jr. is in anyway. And that character was made for him.

    My comment was a bit off the wall. I don’t know if you saw the thread last night. John was thinking of watching Avatar or the Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus and there was a long conversation. The consensus seemed to be that Imaginarium was the better movie. I have been curious all day as which John chose. Quite the surprise.

  35. 35.

    Elisabeth

    June 15, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    I can rest easy in the knowledge that Sarah and I will not be in the same place in the afterlife.

    Our Hell is having to listen to her until she finally fades away.

  36. 36.

    Sam Hutcheson

    June 15, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    @ellaesther: Illdoctrine.com is awesome. That is all.

  37. 37.

    ADM

    June 15, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    Sherlock Holmes was fun. Another fun, but under-the-radar movie? Defendor (not misspelled) with woody harrelson.

  38. 38.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 11:12 pm

    @Nellcote: War is the only language the people of this godforsaken country understand.

  39. 39.

    Stroszek

    June 15, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    @beltane: Life is better when you don’t take GOS comments seriously. Find a good book to read instead.

  40. 40.

    ellaesther

    June 15, 2010 at 11:15 pm

    @Upper West: After hearing The Regular Guy’s review on WXRT in Chicago (holla!), I’m thinking of bringing my kids (nearly-7 and nearly-11). I’m apparently the only member of my generation who never saw the original, and I had less than no interest — but Regular Guy has piqued my interest. And now you have too!

  41. 41.

    ellaesther

    June 15, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    @Sam Hutcheson: I agree. Over and out.

  42. 42.

    williamc

    June 15, 2010 at 11:16 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Right on, when can we send her to her Death Panel and put her out of our misery? It just feels more and more every day like she’s auditioning to be the host of a real life Running Man.

    @Nellcote:

    Maybe he’s gearing up for the Nuclear Option. I know the talking butts of tv punditry were all aflutter about this solution to the spill last week (really, an underwater explosion in an oil and gas pipe that is buried in the Earth’s crust, what would go wrong?). They won’t rest till Black President blows some sh!t up.

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    June 15, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    I’ve been pimping this relentlessly, but once again: this awesome World Cup graphic that Calouste linked to a few days ago gives you everything you need in one interactive page. Dial in a day, a team, a group–even a venue–and get all the information you need. Big h/t to Calouste.

    I think South Africa-Uruguay is big tomorrow, because both teams have played one game already and are tied in their group. If one of them can pull out a win tomorrow, they will be much better positioned to handle Mexico and France in the rest of the group play. The outcome–for both teams–will certainly direct how they approach those games.

    ETA: South Africa is six hours ahead of Eastern time, so 2030 there for the South Africa-Uruguay game tomorrow is 1430 EDT, or 2:30 p.m. to you civilians.

  44. 44.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 11:22 pm

    @beltane:
    Here ya go

  45. 45.

    beltane

    June 15, 2010 at 11:22 pm

    @Stroszek: You’re right. The general attitude on the left is very discouraging. If the activists of the past were anything like today’s progressives, women still wouldn’t have the right to vote and Jim Crow would still be the law in much of the land.

  46. 46.

    SectarianSofa

    June 15, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    I liked Sherlock Holmes as well — I had not expected to, based on whatever crap information I was getting from media review osmosis. (I don’t recall actually ever reading a review.)
    Saw ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ or whatever it is called this weekend with the kids — I for some reason didn’t expect to enjoy it, and did. After the fact (the wife signed me on to the gig, so I didn’t research it beforehand), I see the reviews of it are almost all positive, though some whiners believe that it (Just Like Avatar!) is a Hippie Peacenik Scholiast movie that somehow is about hating America and loving forgeigners.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    June 15, 2010 at 11:23 pm

    @williamc:

    Maybe if they spun it as a test run for Iran?

  48. 48.

    PeakVT

    June 15, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    Miniature non-mammalian cuteness.

  49. 49.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 11:30 pm

    Olbermann: “It was a great speech if you were on another planet for the last 57 days.”

    Matthews compared Obama to Carter.

    Olbermann: “Nothing specific at all was said.”

    Matthews: “No direction.”

    Howard Fineman: “He wasn’t specific enough.”

    Olbermann: “I don’t think he aimed low, I don’t think he aimed at all. It’s startling.”

    Howard Fineman: Obama should be acting like a “commander-in-chief.”

    Matthews: Ludicrous that he keeps saying [Secretary of Energy] Chu has a Nobel prize. “I’ll barf if he does it one more time.”

    Matthews: “A lot of meritocracy, a lot of blue ribbon talk.”

    Matthews: “I don’t sense executive command.”

    And this is the liberal bias wingnuts howl about. Tweety didn’t get an executive erection, well boo fucking who?

  50. 50.

    Violet

    June 15, 2010 at 11:33 pm

    @Steeplejack:
    That is an awesome graphic. Thanks for the link.

  51. 51.

    YellowJournalism

    June 15, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    I don’t know if this was addressed in the previous Obama speech thread, but Fox News had Palin on for a response, and one of the things she railed on about (in an obviously previously-prepared speech) was that Obama fucked up by not allowing the Dutch to help with the clean-up, because the Dutch are so good at building dikes.

  52. 52.

    DaveInOz

    June 15, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    Edge of Darkness was better than I thought

    Edge of darkness was based on a UK mini-series from 1985 which I really enjoyed at the time. If you can get hold of it, I’d recommend it, especially for the soundtrack by one Eric Clapton.

  53. 53.

    Nellcote

    June 15, 2010 at 11:34 pm

    @williamc:

    Maybe he’s gearing up for the Nuclear Option.

    I was seeing it as making the connection between oil and the waste of misbegotten wars for people that don’t get it yet. As was said upthread, I don’t think the speech was directed at me.

  54. 54.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 11:37 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: This was pre-planned. They were always going to slam this speech.

    Trust me, I know people who work at MSNBC.

  55. 55.

    Mike Kay

    June 15, 2010 at 11:37 pm

    @beltane: I’ve always felt the lefties who said “there’s no difference btwn bush and gore” are unreliable.

  56. 56.

    Nemo_N

    June 15, 2010 at 11:39 pm

    What are the “big games” in the WC the next few days?

    Slovenia vs. USA, of course (for our American host, at least :P).

    I never expect much from the first week of the World Cup since most teams are weak and everyone is playing for points, even if it means playing for a draw. The final games of this round robin should be interesting though, since most teams will have their survival at stake.

  57. 57.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 11:41 pm

    @Nick: I guess the firebaggers have their own network then.

  58. 58.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 11:42 pm

    @Nellcote: I noticed that. No clue as to what he was actually thinking about, but there are a lot of complaints about disorganized response to the spill, and the military does have a good chain of command. BP ain’t in it. Also, the can do attitude of the no nonsense General (I forget his name) who took charge in the aftermath of Katrina did a lot to sooth raw nerves at the time.

  59. 59.

    LD50

    June 15, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    Life is hard, then we die. So why worry?

    Because we don’t know how hard it will be.

  60. 60.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    @jeffreyw: General Honre. Old school shitkicker general.

  61. 61.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    @beltane: progressives are pretty pessimistic by nature. That’s how they get their policies…everything sucks and we have to make it better.

    The problem is when they become cowards and give up to easily. That’s not a progressive trait. A lot of people have given up, either because they think it’s too impossible, or Obama sold them out, or that they think the progressive movement is dead because of the peope above.

    Progressive in America just aren’t a reliable force.

  62. 62.

    Mike Kay

    June 15, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: how dare you call people firebaggers, doncha know that’s offensive!?

  63. 63.

    ellaesther

    June 15, 2010 at 11:44 pm

    @beltane: Someone on my twitter feed just tweeted “It only takes 20 years for a liberal to become a conservative without changing a single idea” (a quote from Robert Anton Wilson, apparently).

    Or, in other words: Yup.

    Progressive means we progress. As a young woman, I was a well-meaning homophobe who thought those people should be treated well because they were people but they made me feel kinda weird. Now I’m a raging “Gay Rights NAO!” type who has already told her children that, yes, boys can marry boys and girls can marry girls. We’re meant to learn and evolve, no?

  64. 64.

    Nick

    June 15, 2010 at 11:47 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: It’s all based on ratings. MSNBC’s suck, so they’ll try to be like Fox.

    Fox is the highest rated network on TELEVISION. As long as that’s the case, everyone will try to emulate them.

  65. 65.

    LD50

    June 15, 2010 at 11:49 pm

    @Punchy:

    Do they eat chili in Chile? Do they call it “chili”, or “homecountryinabowl”?

    I’m told they call it nosotros.

  66. 66.

    JMY

    June 15, 2010 at 11:49 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    They complain about specifics, but this isn’t a policy speech.

    And wtf is with he wasn’t acting as a commander-in-chief.

    So we are going to discredit of Nobel Peace prize winner, who’s an actual scientist? That’s cool now?

  67. 67.

    LD50

    June 15, 2010 at 11:52 pm

    @Nick:

    progressives are pretty pessimistic by nature

    The fact that serious progressives are just about powerless in American politics will do that.

    Compare that to hardcore conservatives, who own a whole political party, and who are in power more often than not.

  68. 68.

    jeffreyw

    June 15, 2010 at 11:54 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Ah, yeah, that’s him.

  69. 69.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 15, 2010 at 11:54 pm

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:
    I heard that too, and almost had to contemplate how to send MSNBC a bill for a broken computer screen. Tweety is about as bad a host as I can find on MSNBC, and that puts him on par with Morning Ho. That faux populist shit he peddles is just grating.

    And Howard Fineman too. Pasty old white guys reading the tea leaves. Your Village Witches of Endor.

  70. 70.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 15, 2010 at 11:54 pm

    @JMY: If he had given them more specifics, they would have called him a feckless technocrat nerd, and not a gut guy like Bush, or somesuch. And I have never had a clue what people mean with the not commanding enough a CiC.

  71. 71.

    JMY

    June 16, 2010 at 12:00 am

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck:

    But that is something I hear about Obama all the time. “He’s not forceful enough.” “He’s not angry enough.” “He wasn’t specific enough.” How the fuck do you know he’s not angry when he goes back to the residence? Him telling you his mad and not going to take it anymore is gonna help you sleep better at night? Everything thing has become about optics and how this and that is a bad look for whoever.

  72. 72.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 16, 2010 at 12:02 am

    @JMY: Welcome to the digital soundbite age.

  73. 73.

    Emma

    June 16, 2010 at 12:03 am

    Nick: Compare that to hardcore conservatives, who own a whole political party, and who are in power more often than not.

    True, but you know the difference? The hardcore conservatives have spent over thirty years moving the country in their direction. They have invested money, time, and effort in creating and selling their worldview. Relentlessly. Even after major failures like the idiotic “contract with America” fiasco, they regrouped and came back again.

    And one of the things they do best is protect each other. Look at their so-called “intellectuals”. They are the same people who were spouting the same things in the 90s. They are vicious rats and sometimes they have massive internal bloodletting, but the message keeps rolling on.

    I don’t know if it is because they are selling a single worldview while “progressive” can encompass many competing points of view, as so it’s harder to sell. Or maybe it is because they sell feel-good fantasies while “progressives” try to improve things in the real world, which is not anywhere near as satisfying to the general audience. I don’t know.

    But the bottom line is, they have marched in lockstep selling their poison for over 30 years. And now we live in a world in which the underlying perception for many people is “taxes are bad,” “the government is incompetent,” and “my money is going to feed (select minority of your choice)”.

    And we expect it to change in two years because we elected an African-American president. Jesus.

  74. 74.

    Steve

    June 16, 2010 at 12:03 am

    Am I missing something, or is this Al Gore thing anything other than a supermarket tabloid rumor?

  75. 75.

    gwangung

    June 16, 2010 at 12:06 am

    And we expect it to change in two years because we elected an African-American president

    No, we expect it to change, because we elected an African American president, and we thought we were done.

  76. 76.

    Admiral_Komack

    June 16, 2010 at 12:07 am

    I would like to apologize to eyeryone to ruining the last open thread by mistakedly hitting the “delete” key.

  77. 77.

    gwangung

    June 16, 2010 at 12:09 am

    On a happier note for SF fans, Scalzi notes that the Worldcon Hugo packet has expanded with almost all the Hugo nominated material be it novels, novellas, novelletes, short stories, fanzines or graphic novels. All for the price of a supporting membership.

    Hm. Graphic novels alone on Amazon is damn near close to $50. And I get to vote in the Hugos. Um, no brainer.

  78. 78.

    Nick

    June 16, 2010 at 12:11 am

    @Emma: Yes, conservatives are relentless, liberals are far from it. We’re way too cynical to effectively have a movement.

  79. 79.

    Emma

    June 16, 2010 at 12:14 am

    Gwangung: I don’t understand you comment. Did I not do sarcasm well?

    That’s my point exactly. There are people who seem to think that Obama got elected on a sea of progressivism. Obama got elected because, except of the 27% who wouldn’t vote for a Democrat even if it meant curing cancer forever, people were tired of the same people and the same faces, and most people had come to associate Republicans with the Shrub and the Shrub with failure. Obama was new and he was different and he seemed to have less baggage than the rest of them. And he wasn’t a flaming radical or a flaming conservative. Reassuring, steady, and, most of all, something new. And even so,it was, what? 62% of the vote?

    I wish there were liberals/progressives willing to spend as much time creating a message and selling it as conservatives have done. I wish I knew how to get the message across a corporate media that is, at bottom, merely another arm of wealth. But if we want to move that frekkin’ window back, we’re going to have to take the long view.

  80. 80.

    PanAmerican

    June 16, 2010 at 12:14 am

    Anyone checked to see if Somerby’s head has exploded Scanners style?

  81. 81.

    Mike Kay

    June 16, 2010 at 12:15 am

    what obama should have done is called for tax cuts! that would have left the village media drooling.

  82. 82.

    Nick

    June 16, 2010 at 12:16 am

    @Emma: 53%

  83. 83.

    Anne Laurie

    June 16, 2010 at 12:16 am

    @jeffreyw: Buddy’s been GPS’d? I thought Jack was your Wild Rover?

  84. 84.

    Brian J

    June 16, 2010 at 12:16 am

    @ellaesther:

    I doubt it’s true. There are enough people who love to focus on perpetrating “Al Gore is fat, so global climate change is a myth”-type arguments, who also happen to work for New York Post-style outfits that if it were true, they would have discovered it a long time ago.

  85. 85.

    Cacti

    June 16, 2010 at 12:16 am

    I thought the Downey/Law Sherlock Holmes flick had quite the strong undercurrent of the “love that dare not speak its name.”

    Holmes was way too interested in keeping Watson away from the marriage altar for there not to be something more than friendship at work.

  86. 86.

    gwangung

    June 16, 2010 at 12:19 am

    @Emma: Eh, may have been misreading on my part—just wanted to emphasize that progressives tend to have ADD when it comes to follow through.

  87. 87.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 12:19 am

    @jeffreyw: That’s it, Mister. I’m making the trek to your home, camping out on your doorstep, and I’m not leaving until you cook a twenty-course meal for me that will be eaten over five days. That blueberry turnover sent me right over the edge.

  88. 88.

    Emma

    June 16, 2010 at 12:19 am

    Cacti: I heard that the Conan Doyle estate had the hissy fits to beat all hissy fits over that. Supposedly (and I’ve been out of the loop for a long time in many of those areas, so take it with a grain of salt), they have refused permission for a sequel.

  89. 89.

    Emma

    June 16, 2010 at 12:21 am

    Nick: I knew as soon as the “edit” thing disappeared that my memory been too optimistic :(

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    June 16, 2010 at 12:28 am

    @SectarianSofa:

    Saw ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ or whatever it is called this weekend with the kids—I for some reason didn’t expect to enjoy it, and did. After the fact (the wife signed me on to the gig, so I didn’t research it beforehand), I see the reviews of it are almost all positive, though some whiners believe that it (Just Like Avatar!) is a Hippie Peacenik Scholiast movie that somehow is about hating America and loving forgeigners.

    Dude, we do our best to make this a full-service blog… :)

  91. 91.

    Mark S.

    June 16, 2010 at 12:29 am

    @YellowJournalism:

    [Palin] railed on about (in an obviously previously-prepared speech) was that Obama fucked up by not allowing the Dutch to help with the clean-up, because the Dutch are so good at building dikes.

    Please tell me you’re joking.

  92. 92.

    Kermit

    June 16, 2010 at 12:29 am

    This post was + what???

  93. 93.

    ellaesther

    June 16, 2010 at 12:34 am

    @Brian J: Fingers crossed, my friend. I genuinely pull for couples that everyone else wants to see fail, and dude, it’s bad enough that the Gores separated after 40 years. If it’s because Al’s a cheating douchebag? Well, that will make me very sad.

  94. 94.

    hamletta

    June 16, 2010 at 12:35 am

    @planetjanet: I, too, am a fan of the RDJ — ever since I saw Less Than Zero in the theatre. He was the only one who came off as a plausible human being, rather than A Character.

    If you haven’t seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I highly recommend it. The script is this goofy murder mystery riddled with allusions to classic movies and makes no sense whatsoever (which is itself an allusion to The Big Sleep). RDJ and Val Kilmer are a great team, and the girl, Michelle Monoghan, is wonderful. That she’s not a huge star already is proof we live in an unjust world.

  95. 95.

    handy

    June 16, 2010 at 12:36 am

    @PanAmerican:

    He’s still got his one “thing” for Rachel and his other “thing” for Algore. Still.

  96. 96.

    ellaesther

    June 16, 2010 at 12:37 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Can I come? Since about December, I’ve been longing to have someone cook for me regularly.

    Oy. The lecture my nearly-7 year old had to endure when she dared to complain that we were having hamburgers the other day (I love hamburgers, the children do not. This means I make them about [and I am not kidding] four times a year. Plus about four meatloaves. You DO NOT COMPLAIN when Mommy finally makes a meal that she likes!)

  97. 97.

    hamletta

    June 16, 2010 at 12:39 am

    @ellaesther: Laurie David vehemently denied the story and said she’s been involved with someone since shortly after her divorce.

  98. 98.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 12:41 am

    @ellaesther: Ha! Yeah. I can see how that would grate on the nerves. By the way, I was wondering if you would be OK with me adding your blog to my blogroll. I’ve been meaning to ask for awhile, and then I noticed today that you added mine to yours (ta for that), so I wanted to do it tout de suite.

  99. 99.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    June 16, 2010 at 12:45 am

    @hamletta: I don’t know. The Star gets it’s scoops from the stars, literally. Gore’s moon must have risen into Laurie’s worm hole.

  100. 100.

    handy

    June 16, 2010 at 12:46 am

    Proof that real life is ripe for Hollywood scripts.

  101. 101.

    russell

    June 16, 2010 at 12:52 am

    my general open thread comment is “I’m freaking sick of this sh*t”.

    for “this sh*t”, pick pretty much anything you like, the available options are pretty broad.

    regarding laurie david, I’ve run out of patience with people who think of themselves as “environmentalists” but who fly a private jet between their homes on opposite coasts and pave wetlands on Martha’s Vineyard.

    do no harm, or STFU.

    seriously, just STFU. take the train, or live in one house. at a minimum, just fly on a commercial airliner, instead of on your very own personal dedicated airplane.

    if your level of commitment to the environment can’t extend to taking a commercial flight to travel between your various homes on various edges of the god-damned continent where you’ve paved some wetlands to accommodate your very own special needs, you are well and truly full of shit.

    heads up: laurie david is full of shit.

    you heard it here first.

    saw Sherlock Holmes twice on Comcast “On Demand”, it was kicking. can’t wait for the sequel.

  102. 102.

    ellaesther

    June 16, 2010 at 12:53 am

    @hamletta: I am now taking this as Gospel. I will plug my ears and yell LA LA LA LA for a few weeks, and all will be well.

    @asiangrrlMN: Oh my goodness, sure! That would be lovely! After a commenter at Ta-Nehisi’s place gathered all the names & URLs of the bloggers there, I realized that, hey-oh, I could created dedicated blog rolls. The one for here is pretty short, I’m sad to say, mainly because I haven’t had enough time to click on everyone’s links since I hatched the plan. But yeah, it’s been there awhile! And aside from anything else, having it all listed right there on my own front page gets me to my internet pals’ sites a LOT more consistently. I need things to be made easy for me…. (And thank you so much for your comments! I’m always so happy when I see it’s you! The week of the flotilla proved to me the wisdom of my “I don’t comment in my own commenting section” rule, but it does also prevent me from replying to lovely folks such as yourself…!)

  103. 103.

    ellaesther

    June 16, 2010 at 12:58 am

    Must.go.to.bed.NAO!

    Thank you Balloon Juice for helping me to get through an annoying evening of finally dealing with all those emails that I’ve been putting off (well, most of them…).

    May the FSM bless and keep you, held tight in His noodly appendages. And may FSM Himself avoid the fate of Touchdown Jesus. Amen.

  104. 104.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 12:59 am

    @ellaesther: Excellent. I will post it right away. I was wondering why I never saw you commenting in your own comment section! Now, me, you can’t shut me up. Not that that would surprise anyone. My policy is to reply to all the comments on my blog. Then again, I’m a control freak, so there is that.

    So, cool! I will put it there now. I might even steal Cole’s line about ‘killin’ all your doodz’.

    Night! Sleep well.

  105. 105.

    Steeplejack

    June 16, 2010 at 1:02 am

    @ellaesther:

    May the FSM bless and keep you, held tight in His Her noodly appendages. And may FSM Himself Herself avoid the fate of Touchdown Jesus. Amen.

    Fix’d.

  106. 106.

    Calouste

    June 16, 2010 at 1:04 am

    @Steeplejack:

    Thanks for the shout out.

    It something else than the standard wall chart, and very user friendly. Only nitpick I have found is that they don’t show the current standings in the group.

  107. 107.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 1:08 am

    @Steeplejack: How about His/Her? Too much?

  108. 108.

    Calouste

    June 16, 2010 at 1:09 am

    @Emma:

    Wonder how much power the Conan Doyle estate has, considering the man died 70 years ago next month and copyright usually only last that long.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    June 16, 2010 at 1:12 am

    @Calouste:

    Agreed, but that’s a minor nit. I think the thing is Edward Tufte*-level genius! Thanks again for posting it.

    &#150&#150
    &#042 The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward R. Tufte, 1985, revised edition 2001.

  110. 110.

    Steeplejack

    June 16, 2010 at 1:15 am

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Too much, too sloppy. I’m down with “Her.” But, actually, I am really a follower of Ceiling Cat.

  111. 111.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 1:21 am

    @Steeplejack: I am an adherent of Basement Cat, myself, but to each her/his own.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    June 16, 2010 at 1:30 am

    @asiangrrlMN:

    Heh. I knew you leaned to the dark side, but we are nothing if not ecumenical here at Balloon Juice.

  113. 113.

    ruemara

    June 16, 2010 at 1:34 am

    I missed the speech but I’d been seeing the negative reviews since yesterday, so I will spare myself that chattering classes for today and tomorrow. This means I will focus only on things that bug me. So am I the only person who can’t stand the idea of trolls and worgen being druids. I mean, really, what’s next, gnome priests? For pete’s sake, I mean, they’re trolls and humans! The whole neighborhood is going downhill.

  114. 114.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 1:55 am

    @Steeplejack: Leaned? Leaned towards the dark side?? Oh, it’s more than a lean, my friend.

  115. 115.

    Steeplejack

    June 16, 2010 at 2:37 am

    @asiangrrlMN:

    I get that.

    Out of here. Weird night, so I am going to bed relatively early for me.

  116. 116.

    tkogrumpy

    June 16, 2010 at 2:48 am

    As for who slept with who, far as I can tell pretty much everybody sleeps with somebody and who can keep track of that many people.

  117. 117.

    Yutsano

    June 16, 2010 at 3:03 am

    @asiangrrlMN: Snicker. You two is rather cute sometimes.

    My work has until August to do something positive for me, or else I take my bonus check and run. I’ve already decided my brother and I are moving to Seattle some point soon after. Better job market for me, better educational environment for him, plus we both have emergency cushions that can sustain us for awhile. I’m only staying until August for the money. I thought I had another point there but meh.

  118. 118.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 3:26 am

    @Yutsano: Who two? Me and Steepman? He is my ‘guy standing out in the rain, smoking a cigarette while gazing longingly at my window’, you know.

    Cooooool that you made a decision about your job and life in general. YAY!

    @Steeplejack: Night. I’m hitting the sack pretty soon as well.

  119. 119.

    Yutsano

    June 16, 2010 at 3:34 am

    @asiangrrlMN: The worst part is having to tell my head boss the reasons why I would be leaving. The fact that it’s reasons and not just one major cause seems almost odd to me. I really did enjoy it at first, maybe because it was fresh and new and exciting, but the more I learned the more I saw some real deep structural flaws in the company. Getting passed over twice for promotions by people less qualified than me (which I’d be even more upset about if I didn’t adore both of them, honestly it does salve the wound some to see someone you like succeed even if it’s at your own expense) is just cementing that decision in my head. Plus I still have the IRS gig as a possibility, that hasn’t been ruled out (but good Gawd are they taking forevah to decide!) so I could be moving and resigning for totally positive reasons. I’m just taking it one small step at a time at this point and rubbing in just what they’re letting go by exceeding my performance goals.

    Yes I’ve been thinking about this seriously for awhile why do you ask? :)

  120. 120.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 3:41 am

    @Yutsano: It’s good that you have been giving it some serious thought and not just quitting on a whim. You sound like you have looked at it from all angles and are making the right decision for you. You and your brother. Seattle, here you come!

  121. 121.

    Yutsano

    June 16, 2010 at 3:58 am

    @asiangrrlMN: I just took a gander over on Craigslist and fell in love with a housing listing that is slightly far from where the IRS gig would be but the rent would be quite doable for both me and my brother plus it’s a three bedroom. I only say slightly far because it would be at least a half an hour drive if the traffic cooperated (snicker) but since we would both be going more or less to the same place in the city it may yet be workable. It’s like the FSM is tapping me on the shoulder and gently nudging me into action.

    Oh and just a little something to make you hate me:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffej15-Dgl0

  122. 122.

    WereBear

    June 16, 2010 at 7:42 am

    @jeffreyw: can do attitude of the no nonsense General (I forget his name) who took charge in the aftermath of Katrina did a lot to sooth raw nerves at the time.

    Very true. I’ve never had a favorite general… until him.

  123. 123.

    WereBear

    June 16, 2010 at 7:48 am

    @Emma: I wish there were liberals/progressives willing to spend as much time creating a message and selling it as conservatives have done

    We do. But we have one whopping problem; we don’t lie.

    The conservative movement lies its ass off. To quote Father Ted: “great big whopping lies with fecking bells on them!” They do not hesitate to tell whatever lie will sell the most, and next week, it’s a new lie!

    Progressives don’t do that. They have never done that. And I faced it long ago: people prefer a soothing lie to a harsh truth.

  124. 124.

    Randinho

    June 16, 2010 at 8:44 am

    @LD50: There’s one good Chilean restaurant here in NYC. My wife and I went there for our anniversary a few years ago. She had the ribs (which were incredible) and I had the tasty Corvina Margarita. They also gave us complimentary cherimoya margaritas.

    John, thanks for the kind words.

  125. 125.

    Bostondreams

    June 16, 2010 at 9:32 am

    Well, I know our host is a gamer, and here is something I stumbled across through a gaming website:
    The signup for Fallout Online beta!

    Oh, I do hope we get to play as Dogmeat!

  126. 126.

    Emma

    June 16, 2010 at 9:34 am

    WereBear: Oh, I agree with you that they lie. AND that people prefer a soothing lie to a harsh truth. BUT… I have a feeling that if our message were uniform and constantly out there, we would have a better success. Notice that the TeaBaggers get only lip service in the media. The conservative movement puts out its spokespeople (Liz Cheney????) and they are accepted immediately.

    We fight among ourselves in public and so serious damage to the brand. Maybe it’s the nature of the beast and progressives have to accept that we are the nation’s fix it people and, as such, only appreciated when it hits the fan and we step in. BUT… in that case, we should realize that it’s going to be a long incremental process and stop calling for a “dictator of progressivism.”

  127. 127.

    asiangrrlMN

    June 16, 2010 at 11:27 am

    @Yutsano: It’s the Lily cold shoulder for you after that video, Mister! On the serious tip, I’m really happy that the signs are pointing to a brighter day for you and your bro.

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