Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Bark louder, little dog.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

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Reader Interactions

176Comments

  2. 2.

    NobodySpecial

    If I had teleportation, I’d have you come here and catalog these CD’s I got dumped on me. Half of them are untagged when iTunes tries to read them, so I get to do all the adding info stuff to them, too.

  4. 4.

    BGinCHI

    Have you thought about rallying the Balloon Juice jackal pack to sponsor a beer truck at the protests in Madison?

    It could have Tunch painted on the side.

    Make no small plans, I say.

  9. 9.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    I have no idea what I want to do tonight.

    I thought we could pick a topic and write limericks.

  10. 10.

    mr. whipple

    Making pizza and sticky buns. Wife told me I’d might as well start the buns while I had the mixer out for making the pizza dough. She crafty that way.

  12. 12.

    John Cole

    God damned hotel bathroom has mirrors all over the place. I get to see how fat I am from multiple angles and all the gray hair I normally don’t notice. Fuckers.

  18. 18.

    Dead Ernest

    John: after planning to do it for too long, I finally went to TED (ted.com) and started watching/listening to talks.

    It has been the greatest new fascination I’ve found in years. Recommend it most enthusiastically. In fact, gonna go back there right now.

  19. 19.

    jeffreyw

    Been ripping CDs to my big network drive. A new TV/Blu-ray combo are internet enabled and can play streaming media from the drive, and have decent menu structures. They found all the media on the drive automagically. About 30 albums ripped since noon, I’ll be several days yet.

    Dinnertime!

  22. 22.

    RossInDetroit

    I want to watch a good film noir tonight, but Netflix on demand seems a bit thin. If I don’t pick something soon my wife will make a choice and I’ll end up clenching my teeth for 110 minutes.
    Maybe she’ll just let me go read in peace while she watches some chick thing.

  23. 23.

    p.a.

    How long has EDK been posting here? Give yourself a Saturday pat on the back by popping open a favorite beverage in honor of helping him metamorphose into (if his latest posts are any indication) Gene Debs. Of course, a lot of the credit must go to the Republican Confederate Party and the ‘don’t tax me to save the earth from an asteroid’ Libertarians. But all change needs a catalyst.

  24. 24.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Serious question: is Jam On It by Newcleus the most amazing song ever or simply the greatest?

  28. 28.

    WyldPirate

    Here’s something to do if you want to get really pissed off–go read Taibbi’s latest at Rolling Stone: Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?

    A sample–and this isn’t even the discouraging part:

    All of this paints a disturbing picture of a closed and corrupt system, a timeless circle of friends that virtually guarantees a collegial approach to the policing of high finance. Even before the corruption starts, the state is crippled by economic reality: Since law enforcement on Wall Street requires serious intellectual firepower, the banks seize a huge advantage from the start by hiring away the top talent. Budde, the former Lehman lawyer, says it’s well known that all the best legal minds go to the big corporate law firms, while the “bottom 20 percent go to the SEC.” Which makes it tough for the agency to track devious legal machinations, like the scheme to hide $263 million of Dick Fuld’s compensation.
    __
    “It’s such a mismatch, it’s not even funny,” Budde says.
    __
    But even beyond that, the system is skewed by the irrepressible pull of riches and power. If talent rises in the SEC or the Justice Department, it sooner or later jumps ship for those fat NBA contracts. Or, conversely, graduates of the big corporate firms take sabbaticals from their rich lifestyles to slum it in government service for a year or two. Many of those appointments are inevitably hand-picked by lifelong stooges for Wall Street like Chuck Schumer, who has accepted $14.6 million in campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and other major players in the finance industry, along with their corporate lawyers.

  29. 29.

    Phyllis

    Dinner, then this week’s reading assignment. Spent the day on the porch reveling in the 77 degree sunshine.

  31. 31.

    Pangloss

    I am currently listening to Clive Tanaka’s “Jet Set Siempre 1” CD and finding it an exceptional complement to my Bombay martini as I browse Balloon Juice. Just my suggestion.

  32. 32.

    frosty

    Well, you can always do what I planned to do tonight and am stalling and avoiding: taxes. Then the FAFSA form for student loans.

    Hmm. Maybe Firefly on DVD instead.

  33. 33.

    RossInDetroit

    @Dead Ernest:

    I was invited to the TED Motor City event last month because I’m a contributor to Make Magazine and the publisher Dale Daugherty was presenting. It was at the Opera House and the drinks/snacks were nice.
    I like the 18 minute speech format. It forces people to be concise who might otherwise extend their remarks beyond the audience’s attention span. Personally, new ideas stick to me better when they’re presented simply. I came away with a lot to think about. Most of it from the eccentric strangers I met over the hot buffet. And Craig “Craigslist” Newmark is a very nice fellow.

  34. 34.

    Gravenstone

    Been thinking about re-watching Ghost in the Shell for a couple weeks now. Now that Rift beta has gone down for another update today and there’s shit all on TV (aside from AMC showing the Man With No Name trilogy, currently on Fistful of Dollars), now might be a reasonable time to pop it in the player. Hunkering down for another winter storm tomorrow (8-13″ predicted, with 35 to 45 mph gusts), so tonight seems like a nice, lazy sort of night.

  37. 37.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    There was once a blogger named Sully
    Austerity he championed cheerfully
    When asked which was better
    Folks hurt now or the future
    He cried, but the latter could happen to me!

  40. 40.

    WyldPirate

    @Josie:
    No kidding. At least the image of Cole’s hypothetical cellulite helped me take my mind off my myriad imperfections for a bit as well as allowing a smile to crease my face before the wave of nausea hit. ;)

    ETA: To add omitted word and fix misspellings,

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    @RossInDetroit:

    The two I was going to recommend aren’t available for streaming: Out of the Past (Robert Mitchum, best noir ever!) and Dead Reckoning (Humphrey Bogart).

    Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973) is available for streaming. It’s more Gothic than noir, but it’s a nice dark movie. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.

  44. 44.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Well, I was going to suggest that you gather lots of tunchlilyrosie pictures and upload them, but as you’re on the road I’ll cut you a little slack on that request. ::sigh:: AGAIN ::sigh::

    Earlier today I got an email from someone at one of the many lefty pinko DFH organizations that have my email addy, hoping I’d send them some money to fight the Congressional assault on NPR and PBS, and if you can believe it, the e-beg made reference to “our *fiends* at CREDO Action” (emphasis mine). I mean, it’s one thing when the Good Grey Times allows a typo of this kind to sneak through; it’s quite another when someone wants my money.

    (Just noticed, BTW, that my BlackBerry auto-corrects the word spelled L E T S and puts an apostrophe in regardless. After three tries, I changed it to “allows” so you all wouldn’t think the worse of me :-)

  46. 46.

    cathyx

    Here is a comment sure to instigate a fight here. For the last 2 days I haven’t been able to access Firedoglake, I think because they are running an ad that won’t download on my computer unless a change some settings that I’m not willing to change. Has anyone else had this problem?

  48. 48.

    Maude

    @WyldPirate:
    The regulations and laws were removed for the little darlings and that does make me seethe.
    I know people do the greedy dance, but this time, they, for the most part, got away with it.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack

    I just got home from a bracing walk to Trader Joe’s. Temp dropped precipitously after sunset, into the low 40s, wind 20 mph gusting to 40 mph. Right in my face coming back.

    For some reason I bought a lot of things I don’t usually buy, so I will have something exotic to eat later and watch something from the DVR. A pleasantly boring end to the workweek.

  50. 50.

    RossInDetroit

    @Steeplejack:

    Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973) is available for streaming. It’s more Gothic than noir, but it’s a nice dark movie. Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie.

    That sounds very interesting. Like them both. We’re considering Shirow’s Ghost Hound. maybe both this weekend.

  55. 55.

    RossInDetroit

    @Phyllis:

    The Bryson book I linked to was edited and compiled by him. I’m reading a long essay by Neal Stephenson about the supposed feud between Newton and Liebniz. I love Stephenson’s writing, and he seems, amazingly, to have broad knowledge of this strange historical episode. then he gets into analyzing Liebliz’s monads and I sorta zone out…

  57. 57.

    Polar Bear Squares

    You should check out a good documentary on Petey Greene by PBS’s Independent Lens. And another good documentary called This Is My Africa about Londoners and London-based Africans and their view on Africa. Their favorite writers, artists, musicians, etc. Plus anytime you get anytime to groove to some Fela Kuti please take it. And they have a really interesting section on him and what his music means to them. The most interesting take is by Colin Firth, who I didn’t know spent some time in Nigeria during his childhood.

  62. 62.

    Dead Ernest

    @ p.a. – Thanks. topic is on my primary pallate of interests (the bacteria that is, the communication is …a challenge. I know what I want my patients to hear, not sure how they come up with what they think I said)

    @RossinDetroit – Man oh Man, been a treat to watch on-line, hadn’t considered what ‘live’ would be like. Do they have ‘pause’ buttons? Been using that feature a lot as I play talks and get other stuff done around the house.
    18 min time frame, agree with you. Most have been pleasurably crisp. (BTW, fan of Make. Imagine it must be a great group to interact with)

  63. 63.

    srv

    John Le Carre’s A Perfect Spy series and maybe stream some of Intelligence (Canadian The Wire) someone here recommended.

  64. 64.

    debit

    I am going to watch more Cosmos on Netflix streaming. It holds up well, and it helps me not be full of despair.

    Bonus: my dad and I used to watch it together when I was a teen and before he turned into a teabagger. I mentioned it was available and he expressed an interest in watching it again. Maybe he’ll remember what it was like to be tolerant and full of goodwill to the planet and his fellow humans.

  66. 66.

    RossInDetroit

    @Dead Ernest:

    I contributed two electronics build projects to the print version of Make magazine and a math article to the blog.
    Make’s blog was just named #1 educational site on the en-tire internets by the Telegraph newspaper. They are delightful people to work with and I’m looking forward to Maker Faire Detroit in a few months. The blog is outstanding. It’s like Boing Boing for hackers and crafters. I just wrote an embarrassing mash note to the editors about its wonderfulness.

  69. 69.

    Mike in NC

    While some people were busy watching the union thugs gather in Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday, certain Real Americans were focusing their attention on South Carolina:

    Republican presidential hopefuls are starting to make the rounds in South Carolina, though they’re not rushing to the state the way they were in the run-up to the wide-open 2008 race… In addition to Bachmann and Santorum, a crowd of former governors have visited the state: Alaska’s Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Mike Huckabee of Arkansas, Minnesota’s Tim Pawlenty and Utah’s Jon Huntsman. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul have also been here… Santorum’s visit Monday and Tuesday will include talking with Republican women and visits to a private Christian school and an anti-abortion center. They’re timely stops in a state where a Republican-dominated legislature is discussing new limits on access to abortion and ways to put cash into private schools…

    Exactly WTF is an anti-abortion center?

    This story came out the day after it was reported that half of all children in South Carolina live below the poverty level. U-S-A!

    http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/02/19/v-print/1990874/sc-presidential-primary-warms.html

  70. 70.

    cathyx

    @kdaug: I look at Firedoglake as a site that is basically on our side, so I don’t get the real animosity that people have for it. You may not agree with some of their positions, but why write them off completely? You probably don’t agree with Andrew Sullivan completely, but I daresay that many of you still read him.
    There are many posts at Firedoglake that should be of a neutral nature that you could/should be able to read and even agree with it.
    Ok, let the onslaught begin.

  71. 71.

    Yutsano

    @efgoldman: It’s a finer point of sadomasochism, to find your pain tolerances an boundaries beyond the physical. Since I have never seen said show in question, I have no opinion one way or the other. I’m trying to break off of TV anyway.

    At the ranch torturing the dog as I eat summer sausage and smoked cheddar in front of him.

  73. 73.

    Cat Lady

    Peter Weir retrospective. Start with Picnic at Hanging Rock, then The Last Wave, then The Mosquito Coast. Dude can make interesting movies.

  74. 74.

    kdaug

    @debit:

    I am going to watch more Cosmos on Netflix streaming. It holds up well, and it helps me not be full of despair.

    I’d recommend follow-up courses of Connections and The Day The Universe Changed (both available on YouTube, BTW), but I wouldn’t want to come off as a shameless shill. (No vested interest, just a fanboi).

  75. 75.

    stuckinred

    @Yutsano: I am the one that started us on it. I misread Cole saying it sucked him in like The Wire and thought it was LIKE The Wire. It a silly ass crime-mystey-soap opera. . .and they keep showing a scene of a dog they killed off early.

  76. 76.

    Dead Ernest

    @RossInDetroit: Haven’t been, to Makes’ blog. Looking fwd to visiting. With Mark Frauenfelder’s influence (and my ignorance of Make’s blog) I think of BoingBoing as Boingboing for hackers and crafters.

  78. 78.

    JPL

    @Mike in NC: half of all children in South Carolina live below the poverty level. U-S-A!

    Yeah but if that money wasn’t trickling down they would be eating cat food. They should appreciate the fact that they don’t live in Somalia.

  81. 81.

    hilts

    @debit:

    I am going to watch more Cosmos on Netflix streaming.

    @kdaug:

    I’d recommend follow-up courses of Connections and The Day The Universe Changed

    To this great list, I’d add The Ascent of Man with Jacob Bronowski.

  82. 82.

    PurpleGirl

    @RossInDetroit: Make had a sister magazine named Craft for about a year (two?), then they decided to discontinue it. I really liked it and it’s full explanations of how to do things. I believe the web site is still up though. (Haven’t checked in a while.)

  83. 83.

    Yutsano

    @Maude: Oh he already knows I’m the easy mark. He’s gotten several pieces already. So torturing is probably not the best word. Spoiling is more accurate.

  88. 88.

    RossInDetroit

    @Dead Ernest:
    The thing I like most about Make magazine and the blog is it’s by/for enthusiasts. People who want to invent and create on their own. Hang around that can-do attitude long enough and the lazy negativism elsewhere starts to look small and mean.
    Mark Frauenfelder’s influence has been key. He’s unabashedly enthusiastic about creating and tinkering. Sort of a hacker’s pied piper, but with a cigar box guitar.

  91. 91.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus: Flickr is temperamental. It’s not a very user-friendly interface to begin with, coupled with the pain of uploading. So it’s not just you, Flickr is much like WP in its capriciousness.

  95. 95.

    Suck It Up!

    I just found a channel that is showing 4-5 episodes of benny hill followed by several episodes of the three stooges.

    antenna tv

  97. 97.

    J. Michael Neal

    The Gophers end the regular season tonight in Grand Forks. I’ll be watching the streamed broadcast. Last night’s game was closer than it should have been, but fortunately, Sara Dagenais took a really dumb checking from behind major and we scored the last two of our goals in a 5-3 win while on that power play.

    Clinched a second place WCHA tie last night, but we’d lose the tiebreaker to Duluth, so we really need another poin tonight.

  98. 98.

    stuckinred

    @Suck It Up!: Speaking of funny

    John Strauss, Composer of ‘Car 54’ Theme, Dies at 90

    There’s a holdup in the Bronx,

    Brooklyn’s broken out in fights.

    There’s a traffic jam in Harlem

    That’s backed up to Jackson Heights.

    There’s a scout troop short a child,

    Khrushchev’s due at Idlewild.

    Car 54, where are you?

  99. 99.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Patrick:

    John – How about teeing up a few brandy old-fashioneds in honor of Wisconsin?

    It’s Wisconsin. Paint thinner will do.

  100. 100.

    hilts

    @WyldPirate: @Mark S.:

    My first reaction to reading these idiotic poll results was Game, Set, Match. If Americans can rank Ronald Reagan as our greatest president, there’s no fucking hope for this country. We’re living in a dumbocracy.

  103. 103.

    Arundel

    Salon just put up a post of about 15 (smallish) pics of the past few days in Wisconsin. Which is cool in theory. Just that two of them feature Jesse Jackson, and one of them has protesters doing yoga in the Capitol rotunda. They brought mats and everything. Looking at it through the eyes of the opposition..yeah, you’re not helping, Salon. Jesse Jackson and yoga. There must have been hundreds of other shots to pick; these almost seem a parody; supposed liberal innefectuality/hippiedom. I just cringe to think of what rightard bloggers will make of that. Yoga is unAmerican! guh.

    http://www.salon.com/news/the_labor_movement/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/02/19/wisconsin_protests_in_images

  104. 104.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Steeplejack:

    The two I was going to recommend aren’t available for streaming: Out of the Past (Robert Mitchum, best noir ever!) and Dead Reckoning (Humphrey Bogart).

    Don’t know Dead Reckoning but Out of the Past is a personal favorite… one of the very, very great Jacques Tourneur’s better films… along with Curse of the Cat People and The Night of the Demon…

    Ann Miller: She can’t be all bad. No one is.

    Jeff Bailey: Well, she comes the closest.

  105. 105.

    hilts

    I have no idea what I want to do tonight.

    Just started at 8 pm on C-SPAN, Jimmy Carter looks back on his Presidency in an interview at the LBJ Library
    9 pm On C-SPAN-2 Evgeny Morozov discusses his book The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom
    10:25 pm On C-SPAN, a rebroadcast of Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House

  106. 106.

    J. Michael Neal

    Anne Schleper puts the Gophers up 1-0 at 3:08 of the first, making our power play 4-7 on the weekend.

  108. 108.

    Steeplejack

    @Gravenstone:

    I saw the movie a long time ago, really liked it and keep thinking I should pick it up on DVD. Procrastination.

    The series is okay, but I get enough of a fix DVR’ing the two episodes on Adult Swim on Saturday night.

  115. 115.

    kdaug

    Before we descend into our collective rabbit-hole, a minor bleg:

    Anyone here working with Khronos Group stuff?

  118. 118.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Steeplejack:

    Yes… Night of the Demon is also kinda suspect as a title, but the film itself is totally kick ass.

    Interesting side note… the rather schlocky demon in the opening sequence was actually forced into the flick by Lewton after Tourneur was done w/ it, and Tourneur was so upset w/ what Lewton did to his movie, he disowned it and I think, never worked w/ Lewton again.

    Filmmaking is a strange avocation…

    Tourneur said he was always more interested in fear than terror in filmmaking, that what we IMAGINE is always more frightening that what we’re actually shown…

  119. 119.

    Steeplejack

    @hilts:

    I have always loved Terry Kath’s solo on the long version of “Make Me Smile.” Used to kill me every time I heard the short version on the radio and they jumped right past it. Almost as bad as hearing the single version of “Light My Fire.”

    Guitar solo is at 2:45 in this clip, but the whole instrumental bridge starting at 2:15 is great.

  120. 120.

    gbear

    @Mike in NC:

    Exactly WTF is an anti-abortion center?

    They’re also called Crisis Pregnancy Centers. They’re christianist ‘family planning’ ‘clinics’ that limit the options of the women who come to them. There is one about 4 doors down from the Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul (the one that the republican legislator recently got caught walking around with a gun in his belt).

  122. 122.

    Violet

    @John Cole:
    I stayed in a hotel last fall that had a TV embedded in the mirror in the bathroom. It was really weird. Kind of like ghost TV or something.

  128. 128.

    J. Michael Neal

    Gophers up 1-0 after the first period. We killed off four penalties in the period, including 1:10 of 5-on-3. Yeah, we have a great penalty kill (91.6%), but we really need to try staying out of the box.

  129. 129.

    SoINeedAName

    How about try gaining a little maturity, and stop your toddler twaddle rants WRT Sullivan?
    Probably take more than a night, but it’s worth starting.

  130. 130.

    Farah

    FYI- Stranahan or a gnome pretending to be him responded to the ‘Useful Idiocy in Action’ post from this morning. I am not sure how anyone could justify working with a slime-ball like Breitbart and think it would be taken with any merit.

  133. 133.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Steeplejack:

    Ahhhhh yes… the late, great Mike Bloomfield…

    Nice solo here, from the Monterrey Pop DVD (left out of original film)…

    W/ Harvey Brooks, Nick Gravenites, and Buddy Miles (looking very much like a young Don King) on drums, if I’m not mistaken…

  142. 142.

    Poopyman

    Here Cole, this should make you homesick:

    >Cousins busted with carload of stolen beef jerky
    Friday, February 18, 2011
    The Associated Press
    __
    SOMERSET, Pa. — Two West Virginia cousins have been jailed after Pennsylvania State Police say they were stopped with a carload of stolen beef jerky and tool sets the men were selling for gas money.
    __
    Michael Graham, 37, and John Barry, 35, both of Milton, W.Va., were pulled over in Somerset Wednesday evening because their license plate was dangling from their car.
    __
    Police say in an affidavit they saw “a large amount of boxed and packaged beef jerky” and socket sets on the car’s rear seat. Police say the cousins acknowledged stealing the items from auto parts stores and gas stations — and were trying to sell the items for gas money to get to Westmoreland County.
    __
    Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11049/1126334-100.stm#ixzz1EPIDorB2

  146. 146.

    Elizabelle

    Recommend watching “Winter’s Bone”, the $2 million indy film up for FOUR Oscars. Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay.

    Deserves to win any and all, but will probably lose to more mainstream competition.

    http://www.wintersbonemovie.com

    My co-favorite movie this year (with “The King’s Speech”).

  147. 147.

    RossInDetroit

    @hilts:

    I haven’t heard the long Sweet Jane intro in years and had forgotten it existed. Thanks for that link, which I immediately spammed out to music loving family.

  148. 148.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @jwb: I don’t see how, even with the multiplier, that they could claim more 150,000 or a million. On the other hand, they could McEstimate it and then apply the multiplier.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    @Poopyman:

    Police say the cousins acknowledged stealing the items from auto parts stores and gas stations—and were trying to sell the items for gas money to get to Westmoreland County.

    Take me home, country roads.

  153. 153.

    gbear

    @Steeplejack: I think I’m gonna stick with the original for ‘Dreams’…

    I saw Buddy Miles in concert around 1970. I know this is hard to believe, but he was second on the bill in between Uriah Heep and either Deep Purple or The Faces. I saw both of those bands so often in the 70’s I forget which one was headlining that night. I know Uriah Heep opened. I was stoned enough to like them.

  155. 155.

    Elizabelle

    There once were some vitriolic jackals
    Teatards and glibertarians raise their hackles
    They congregate at John Cole’s
    Discuss all manner of ashmoles
    Drinking, linking and pet querying amidst cackles

  157. 157.

    J. Michael Neal

    1-1 after two. The Gophers’ penalty kill is now 1-7, so they aren’t staying out of the box. However, the officiating isn’t exactly even. I only have a problem with one of the calls against us, and even that one probably looked like a penalty from the ref’s POV. However, *if* the refs are going to call things that tight, they need to call it both ways. They missed some really obvious hooks, one where Amanda Kessel would have had a breakaway, and one where Kelly Terry was blowing past the defenseman.

    Oh, and I really dislike the Lamoureux twins. They’re dirty. The way they transferred to UND was pretty sleazy, and Jocelyn just decided to mispronounce her former teammate Noora Räty’s name. (It’s RAH-too, not RAH-tee. Damned Finns.) Classy.

  160. 160.

    RossInDetroit

    @hilts:

    The unmistakable Richard Lloyd. From this distance, there isn’t a lot of difference between TV and Talking Heads, but there was then.

    I was listening to a Matthew Sweet CD the other day and said “I’ll be damned if that doesn’t sound like Richard Lloyd on guitar” Looked it up and it was.

  165. 165.

    asiangrrlMN

    @Omnes Omnibus: I gotta tell you–it’s inspiring. With so much crushing news, it’s really fucking cool to see a bunch of my neighbors getting out there and protesting. P.S. Did you see I commented on a few of your pics?

    @Yutsano: Hi! Lexie with you? You feeling better?

  166. 166.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @asiangrrlMN:I haven’t looked yet. Over on FB, my wingnut cousin wanted to know it the signs asking Walker’s wife if she knew that he was screwing them were being held by teachers. I explained that in addition to teacher a large number of people would be affected in many ways by the bill and then told her that I had no idea if they were teachers or not.

    ETA: Hey, you commented on that one. I think wingnut cousin (lives in AZ and has a business selling lady gun supplies) was offended by it. I doubt you were.

  167. 167.

    Yutsano

    @asiangrrlMN: She did something totally cute on the drive over. On the way over, I let her out of the kitteh prison. She jumped around the car and howled and howled at first, then she settled down around my neck and laid out on my shoulders for a good hour. I had a living neck warmer for a spell.

    My voice is about 90% back, I think I’ll be back to normal come work Wednesday. I’m gonna enjoy four days of goofing off.

  171. 171.

    RossInDetroit

    We watched the movie Don’t Look Now, which was very good. Now we’re watching Ghost Hound but having trouble with streaming.

  172. 172.

    Steeplejack

    @RossInDetroit:

    Glad you liked Don’t Look Now. My existence seems vindicated at some small level, at least for today. Probably should quit while I’m ahead and go to bed.

    ETA: Wasn’t that the greatest sex scene ever? Sort of intercut with them getting dressed to go out. Just sayin’.

  173. 173.

    RossInDetroit

    @Steeplejack:
    We didn’t expect that, and it was well done. Sutherland and Christie made a very believable couple, with good married-people chemistry.
    My wife found the dwarf character sort of gratuitous, but I thought the incongruity was consistent with the mysterious nature of the story and the spooky presentation.
    The city of Venice looked really great, and was well used to support the supernatural undercurrents in the film.
    The NYT review is pretty good:
    http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E0DEFD61239E73ABC4852DFB4678388669EDE

  174. 174.

    Steeplejack

    @RossInDetroit:

    Vincent Canby sounded a little crabby in that review. Certainly many, if not most, thrillers “depend on a twist” that can look a little hokey in hindsight. The Blair Witch Project? Check. The Sixth Sense? Check. Etc. It’s practically a requirement of the genre.

    One of Roeg’s other films, Walkabout, is/was on cable sometime this weekend, but I can’t find it now.

  175. 175.

    RossInDetroit

    @Steeplejack:
    The standard for psychological thrillers is pretty high, and there are few you couldn’t find something wrong with. The plot was OK but not great. For me, the movie was saved by good performances from 2 very charismatic leads, excellent cinematography that used POV in creative ways to create mood, and the city of Venice.
    The movie’s handheld shots looked very modern and contributed to an atmosphere of agitation and claustrophobia that was appropriate to the story. I’m sure that some of the camera work choices were due to shooting in very small spaces, but it worked nonetheless.

  176. 176.

    Steeplejack

    @RossInDetroit:

    The plot was OK but not great. For me, the movie was saved by good performances from 2 very charismatic leads, excellent cinematography that used POV in creative ways to create mood, and the city of Venice.

    Wholeheartedly agree.

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