Next virtual meeting of the Balloon Juice Book Group is Monday evening, February 7, 9pm EST, because a bunch of participants (including Rick Perlstein) are going to be busy watching the Superbowl on Sunday afternoon.
We’ve only up to the third chapter (“The Stench”), so it’s not too late to download the enchanced e-book edition and join the discussion. Lurkers always welcome!
Mr. Anonymous
Very faintly off-topic, but a rich guy just offered me nine grand to write a (short) book for him. We could use the money, but we don’t need the money. (Not yet, at least.) I’d say yes in a second except he’s rich, so nine grand means nothing to him, and I resent that he’s not willing to pay more. And that it took me a week to talk him up from seven grand.
What should I do?
General Stuck
Won’t receive Nixonland until sometime next week, am reading The Family now. And last night down to 10 degrees BELOW FUCKING ZERO. Survived it and left the faucets dripping so H20 didn’t freeze.
But just got a call from the landlord and we can expect gas outages of low pipeline pressure from main line out of El Paso. If that happens, I will pitch my pup tent in the living room and me and the dog will huddle it out with the tiny space heater. This would not be happening if Obama wasn’t a Muslim Brother and Al Gore would leave a smaller carbon footprint.
MikeJ
@General Stuck:
Out in the west Texas town of El Paso
There was no pressure in the gas line
Night time would find me in a small pup tent
I would just shiver and doggies would whine
(someone else will have to continue)
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
enchanced? Is that sort of like enchanted and enhanced or enhanced and unchanced?
General Stuck
A Hazy Shade of Succession
Subterranean 10th Amendment Blues
stuckinred
Welsh Corgi Tetheball for your enjoymentQ
Maude
@General Stuck:
Wouldn’t it be great to cut AZ out of the country with a giant cookie cutter?
NM is colder than NJ. I hope it ends soon, but I doubt it will, unless Obama resigns.
Nicole
I’ll be joining in this week. The BJ book club finally got me to make use of my NYPL card. Speaking of, I found out one can borrow some books from the NYPL on line! Like, for reading on a Kindle or listening to on an mp3 player. I think of my little blue card with the metal strip from childhood and it’s just so… quaint.
Maude
@Nicole:
Unless the intertubes go down. Then it’s back to pencil and paper to check out books.
The online library catalogue is great.
piratedan
@General Stuck: I tell ya General, living here is like one long real time version of Ron White’s “You can’t fix stupid” rant. I thought Az had jumped the shark with the election of Ev Mecham, but noooo, he got his fanny impeached and you thought we would have learned, the next thing you know, we elect another Republican as Govenor, Fife Symington and wouldn’t you know it, he gets impeached and convicted. Did Arizonans learn? Nope, some Rethug marketing campaign waved the red shirt and now we have Cactus Barbie as our Governor who is pretty much just a prop for Russ Pearce and his know-nothing crowd. Now we have to wait for someone to connect the dots and find out what’s illegal with the private prison crwod and their kickbacks to both Cactus Barbie and Russ Baby before we can get a government in this state that doesn’t just represent people with tee times.
Linda Featheringill
@General Stuck:
To conserve body heat:
Hat on head of some type.
Extra layers over your breastbone and heart.
Mittens are warmer than gloves. No mittens? Wear socks on your hands as you sleep.
Actually, the pup tent inside the house sounds good. Sort of like they do in yurts in inner/outer Mongolia.
General Stuck
@Linda Featheringill:
Maybe Julia Roberts will show up and keep me warm. And bring her Wild Mongolian Horse.
jeffreyw
Yay! Book circle! I’ll bring the snacks.
Mnemosyne
I’m going to try to participate this week (I’ll have plenty of time to read chapter 3 on the plane) but it’ll be from my iPod Touch, so my comments will be nice and short. For once.
The Dangerman
@General Stuck:
If the dog goes hunting for the warmest place on the body (the nads), um, no pictures, please.
Be safe with the heater.
gbear
Oh great. Books come with bonus tracks now…
gbear
I was talking with my boss the other day about how he’s on a waiting list for an e-book at the Mpls library. He’d already checked out a couple of books but realized he had no idea how to ‘return’ them to the library and they were overdue for all he knew. How do you return an ebook to the library?
Mnemosyne
@gbear:
According to my local library, an e-book automatically “returns” itself (vanishes from your computer) unless you renew it.
JPL
OT..According to the NYTIMES Obama Administration Discussing Plan for Mubarak to Quit Immediately
I’d link but for now that’s all they are saying under a breaking news banner.
gbear
@Mnemosyne: That’s what my boss was hoping.
@JPL: God I hope that’s true, but Mubarak doesn’t exactly seem to have his finger on the pulse of popular sentiment.
JPL
@gbear: Well fuck ..now they have an article by bumiller up which I refuse to link to.
It does allude to the role of the military and the military can force him to leave.
okay..now i’m seeing things..it’s not bumiller but
HELENE COOPER and MARK LANDLER.
Suffern ACE
@MikeJ:
Late in the night I would rise for a pee,
The cold air sends chills to my fa-ay-ay-ay-ace.
Dancing and swaying, I tip up the cover,
Only to make a stream frozen in space.
Gina
@Nicole: Fun fact: Anyone in NY state can get a free NYPL library card and membership to borrow online books ‘n stuff.
Suffern ACE
@gbear: I don’t think he’s stayed in power this long without having some sense of what the popular sentiment is. Hence the employment of loyal thugs.
Elizabelle
@jeffreyw:
Found a great cooking (Thai, mostly) website today and thought of you.
http://www.shesimmers.com
eemom
@Nicole:
in MY childhood, a library card was just a little cardboard thing. No scanning technology, therefore no metal strip.
AND, we had to ride our dinosaurs to the library. Uphill both ways. : (
JPL
@Suffern ACE: If President Obama can convince the military that Mubarak is ineffective than Mubarak’s days are numbered as dictator of Egypt. Lots of ifs though.
General Stuck
It was only a matter of time
One small step for grifting, one giant leap toward Peak Wingnut
Elizabelle
Very next morning there’s ice in my kitchen
Parakeet’s dead; there’s a sheen on the floor
A random gunshot just took out my window
Packing my car, Arizona, goodbye
I will not miss my damn Tea Party neighbors,
Walnuts McCain or Jon Kyl at all
Give me a home where the people are smarter
Call me a socialist, don’t call me Rand Paul
Elizabelle
my comment’s in moderation
it barely rates freeing
JPL
@General Stuck: I’m shocked….
mr. whipple
I don’t remember that, but do remember the little card in the pocket they’d hand stamp with the due date.
Violet
@General Stuck:
I can’t wait for Sarah to realize she’s being discarded by the GOP. She won’t be able to handle it. The meltdown is going to be interesting to watch.
And her daughter Bristle is nothing by herself. She was dull as dishwater when she was on DWTS. She’s got zero personality. No way she can carry any kind of show by herself. I wonder if she’ll realize it before she crashes and burns. There is only so far her mom’s crazy supporters can take her.
geg6
So glad that we are accommodating us crazed football fans. I’d hate to miss the book club. But miss my Steelers in the Super Bowl? Seriously? Hell, things here are just kicking into high gear. Tomorrow is Black and Gold Day on campus, with faculty and staff, along with students, encouraged to wear Steeler swag and a special menu at the Bistro of typical Burgh cuisine, including free Eat ‘n Park Smiley cookies, Steeler edition. You can’t go wrong with Smiley cookies.
Maude
@eemom:
You had dinosaurs? I’m jealous.
@mr. whipple:
I have a lot of them and use them as bookmarks. Some of them have dates that go back a bit.
jeffreyw
@Elizabelle: Now I have a craving for some Thai.
Phoebe
I’m going to miss this because of class, but I’ll be happy to read what the people said. I am digging this book more and more. Nixon seems like the 13th fairy that wasn’t invited to the princess’s christening and so put a curse on her, just to spite the other fairies/Franklins. Always invite the 13th fairy, y’all.
Wiesman
I missed the last discussion but I hope to make the next one. I’m guessing that everyone else who is reading this book is getting a sick sense of foreshadowing about Sarah Palin?
If there was ever anyone determined to succeed so she could rub the Franklins’ noses in it, it’s her.
Shudder.
The Dangerman
@Elizabelle:
Charlie?
General Stuck
@Violet:
Bristle is dumb as dirt, but Sarah has shown some cunning in seeing an opening to promote herself and taking it for monetary gain. It will be interesting to see if her celebrity with idiots and fickle press jackals, goes to her head and she runs for president. She will crash hard then, and it would take some kind of narcissist to take that step after Tucson. If she just maintains bullshitting the tea tard rubes, I figure her star won’t come crashing down for the time being and she can set herself as a sort of Rasputin for crazy people.
Elizabelle
@The Dangerman:
funny
Also: Violet and Gen Stuck: I love how you are misspelling Bristol.
Works for me.
suzanne
@Violet: Bristol has apparently been offered a job at one of our local radio stations. The girl is dumb as a stump. I can’t even imagine what a snooze-fest she would be on a morning radio show.
Nicole
@eemom: Heh. The little metal strip on mine was for imprinting the card that was in the back of the book with my card number. No electronics involved. Kinda like the old credit card things- remember? Ah, good times.
Rick Perlstein
GO PACK GO! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3pFD-xdPRE
gbear
@suzanne:
1. girl is dumb as a stump.
2. job at one of our local radio stations.
3. Profit!!
Svensker
@Mr. Anonymous:
Send him to me.
frosty
@Suffern ACE:
So at last here I’m
Beating the chill overcoming El Paso
Warm though the temperature’s dropping so low.
But my dog is strong and he pushes me outward
Out of the pup tent to freeze on the floor.
Violet
@General Stuck:
Sarah is cunning, but her narcissism is her downfall. She’s not smart enough to know her own limitations. She’s got enough yes-people around her that are going to tell her what she wants to hear I suspect she thinks she can do pretty much anything.
Money is going to be the issue. If the GOP pulls the plug on the gravy train for the election, she really can’t run. Her greed is in direct conflict with her narcissism and hubris. Which will win? I don’t know. It’s going to be interesting to watch.
@suzanne: Has she definitely been offered it, or is it just one of those ratings-ploys: “Hey, we’ve got Bristle on the radio! Let’s offer her a job!” But when push comes to shove and it becomes obvious that not only does she have to show up every day, she’s also got to be there early (it was a morning show, right?) I suspect the “terms” won’t be acceptable to Bristle. She’s not exactly a hard worker, no matter what load of crap they tried to sell America on DWTS. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree on that issue.
I really can’t imagine they’d give her a radio gig. She’s a dull as can be. She answers questions with one or two word answers. She doesn’t reply in any way that can be a springboard to continue the conversation. She was dire as an interviewee on DWTS. I can’t imagine her doing anything but maybe reading news from a prepared script on the radio, if that. But her voice isn’t going to help her any. It’s thin and flat and monotone. It’s not a voice for radio in any way whatsoever.
Radio is a highly competitive business. The station might get a momentary bump in ratings just from curious listeners, but she’s not going to be a long term draw. And her voice and personality aren’t anything that would draw anyone in. There’s no way she keeps that job, if it ever materializes.
suzanne
@Violet: It’s definitely been offered—the station confirmed the offer to the AZ Republic. I think it’s for a morning show because that station doesn’t have any other named DJs than their morning show hosts. And I concur with everything you said. She is Teh Suck.
General Stuck
@Violet:
She’s a Palin Princess to the tea tards, and could likely get an audience with that crew, simply by showing up and farting The Star Spangled Banner.
Phoebe
@Violet: My kneejerk reaction is to say it’s a lie. Then figure out how it’s a lie. OK. That was fast. Palin people said she had an offer, but she didn’t, because radio people want people who can talk, but Palins said she did in order to whip up some kind of bidding war. Or at least an actual offer. Of something.
Elizabelle
@frosty:
cruel but a true possibility
Phoebe
@suzanne: Ok, my thought is now: how can this still be a lie? OK here goes: the station confirmed it [another lie] because they were too scared to say “we didn’t offer that fool a job” because of the fan base, and in exchange for not saying that, Bristol agreed not to “accept”.
Violet
@suzanne:
Heh. I’m trying to imagine Bristle getting up early enough to get to the radio station for a morning show. Don’t they start at 5 a.m. or something? Not gonna happen.
@General Stuck:
Sarah’s “I’m Seeing Alaska For the First Time” TV show didn’t have very good ratings in the end. If they couldn’t stick around for Saint Sarah, ain’t no way they’re going to put in the hours for her spawn.
The reason Bristle did well on DWTS is that it involved voting, so it was a proxy for voting for Sarah and the P-bots wanted to prove she could get votes. There was no cap on voting for DWTS if you voted online. All you had to do was invent fake email after fake email. So it was easy for the P-bots to stuff the ballot box for Bristle, as a proxy for voting for Sarah, and they did. They even had tutorial posts and bragging/celebratory posts about it on pro-Sarah sites.
But if you’re only one person, you can’t suddenly become 100 people the way you can if you’re stuffing a ballot box. I just don’t think there are enough P-bots who will devote every morning to listen to Bristle’s whining voice on the radio to give the ratings any kind of bump.
frosty
@Phoebe: Twisted, definitely twisted. I likes it!
Paul in KY
@Elizabelle: I guess Kentucky is off the list of prospective destinations :-)
Paul in KY
@Violet: She certainly has the face/body for radio.