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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / Friday Evening Open Thread

Friday Evening Open Thread

by Anne Laurie|  June 24, 20117:52 pm| 137 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Open Threads

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Line of the day, via Doghouse Riley:

“The Republican presidential field looks less like an assemblage of candidates than a collection of fatal mistakes and irreparable flaws, with occasional embodiments of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins.” — Steve Chapman, Real Clear Politics

So… what’s the agenda for ‘fatal mistakes, irreparable flaws, and embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins’ in everybody’s neighborhood this evening?

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Reader Interactions

137Comments

  1. 1.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    busted back, so by dr’s orders I have to lie down or walk pretty much all the time. no sitting. so reading and watching movies on the ipad.

  2. 2.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 7:57 pm

    Working on hot wing sauce recipes.

  3. 3.

    Trurl

    June 24, 2011 at 7:58 pm

    “…you owe it to yourself to watch these two clips, not because you’ll learn anything but because you’ll be watching a B.S. artist at the very top of his game. Check out how close he gets to endorsing gay marriage without ever quite endorsing it.”

  4. 4.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 7:59 pm

    And here’s a nice doggie.

  5. 5.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 8:01 pm

    Been trying to populate my Netflix queue, looking for recent movies that drew big crowds. About all I have is True Git and the Black Swan. I’m not all that sure about the last one.

  6. 6.

    Martin

    June 24, 2011 at 8:04 pm

    Workin’ as usual.

  7. 7.

    jwb

    June 24, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    @jeffreyw: Black Swan isn’t bad, though it tries a bit too hard at being an art film and all it gains for that is coming off as contrived.

  8. 8.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    @jeffreyw #5: Black Swan was pretty good I thought. A little wierd but good, kind of like a modern version of that old ballet film The Red Slippers.

    ETA: Maybe add The King’s Speech? The Fighter?

  9. 9.

    BD of MN

    June 24, 2011 at 8:05 pm

    since it’s Friday, sloth and gluttony are a given. My 20 songs didn’t completely suck, so I guess we have some pride there. With a little bit of luck perhaps some lust might happen later on, so I’m more than halfway to 7 without even trying too hard…

  10. 10.

    Douglas

    June 24, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    @Trurl:
    Everything that needs to be said about Obama and gay marriage has been said by Dan Savage, so F off.

  11. 11.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:11 pm

    I am also planning on watching the vote on marriage equality in ny live online. I am very moved and excited about it.

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    @Valdivia
    Is this related to your training for the Aqua Velva Invitational?
    BTW, how did the 20 year love bug work out?

  13. 13.

    Gravenstone

    June 24, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    Trurl – Pie you say? Sure, have yourself a heaping helping you one note fuckwit.

  14. 14.

    Neil H

    June 24, 2011 at 8:13 pm

    NY Senate Majority leader says that they’ll finally be voting on gay marriage TONIGHT. I’m manically finding all the Twitter feeds and live-blogs that I can so I can see when (if) it passes, impatiently waiting for the NY Senate to get through all the boring but essential votes on education funding, property taxes and the like.

    Last word on the same sex marriage bill was that the Assembly had voted in favour of the Senate’s proposed “religious exemption” amendments 82-47. If the Senate votes in favour of the legislation as it now stands, then this is it.

  15. 15.

    Peter

    June 24, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Hey, can we have a thread for the Marriage Equality vote going on in the NY Senate?

  16. 16.

    Davis X. Machina

    June 24, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Birthday present came in this week: Ranesh Menon’s two-volume abridgment/retelling of the Mahabharata.

    Funny, despite a life spent steeped like a tea-bag in Virgil, and especially Homer, and all the little fish (Lucan, Apollonius of Rhodes), and some success in work on the Ulster Cycle (Táin Bó Cúailnge), I know diddly-squat about the monster epic of India.

    Actually learning Sanskrit and tackling all 100,000 slokas will have to wait for after reincarnation.

  17. 17.

    jwb

    June 24, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    I just got an ipad and have been trying to find a decent PDF reader/annotator. I’ve worked with 3 so far (iBook, Cloudreaders and neu.Annotate) and haven’t liked any of them. I’m willing to buy as long as I know that it’s better than what’s available for free.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Jeffrey… I find it difficult to recommend movies because of different tastes..yadda, yadda, yadda.. but I liked The Town and recently I watched and enjoyed the Company Men. The Company Men had a few glitches that you have to overlook but the moral of the story was good.

  19. 19.

    Spaghetti Lee

    June 24, 2011 at 8:17 pm

    with occasional embodiments of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

    I think a commenter on Roy Edroso’s site used a Seven Dwarfs metaphor. Frothy, Shrieky, Cheesy, and Blandy were some of the ones I recall.

  20. 20.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Neil H.. Here is a link to the senate in NY.
    It’s going to be a long night..

  21. 21.

    Dan

    June 24, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    Watching Van Jones on Lawrence O’Donnell. Give Van Jones a show. He really knows the message and how to get it out there.

    Get rid of Cenk. He’s too smug and not that bright.

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    There is nothing more pathetic than the exuberant “pie envoker”.

  23. 23.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    Thanks for asking– yes and no. I have been having back trouble on and off for the last couple of years, nothing major just throwing it out and looking like a pretzel a couple of days and not being very mobile. but the biking seems to really mess me up, plus I had a couple of falls in the last few months (went flying off the bike once, fell by the pool another) so things have gotten a bit worse. I started physical therapy and he thinks I should be all good to go back to training in a couple of weeks, just need to make sure I get the injured back muscles the right kind of strengthening so this doesn’t keep happening. So this week the most exciting thing in my life will be walking twice a day for half an hour and lots of yoga-like exercises for the lower back.

    Mr. Love in the Time of the Cholera is working out rather nicely actually. Not had to call the police yet! ;)
    Seriously though–I am very happy he is back in my life, you know when someone actually makes you smile first thing in the morning, cause you know they’re there even if in the distance? We’ll see what happens though once we;re in the same physical space together, sometime before the summer is out. If you guys don’t hear from me for a while I’m either under a bike broken somewhere or having too much fun with the long-lost-love. Or in jail…

  24. 24.

    Svensker

    June 24, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    @ Davis

    Actually learning Sanskrit and tackling all 100,000 slokas will have to wait for after reincarnation.

    Slacker.

  25. 25.

    Alex S.

    June 24, 2011 at 8:22 pm

    Newt Gingrich alone covers all the sins.

  26. 26.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Find a physical therapist that does deep tissue massage and then follows full back size heat blanket.
    It makes all the difference.

  27. 27.

    gbear

    June 24, 2011 at 8:25 pm

    a collection of fatal mistakes and irreparable flaws, with occasional embodiments of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins

    Can we include republican governors in that description?

    I’m going out for a scooter ride this evening, going to a funeral tomorrow morning, then going to the Pride festival in Minneapolis on saturday afternoon. I’m covering a lot of territory in the next 24 hours…

  28. 28.

    Shinobi

    June 24, 2011 at 8:26 pm

    What is Cole doing to Lily? Just say no to Puns.

  29. 29.

    dmsilev

    June 24, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    jwb:

    I just got an ipad and have been trying to find a decent PDF reader/annotator. I’ve worked with 3 so far (iBook, Cloudreaders and neu.Annotate) and haven’t liked any of them. I’m willing to buy as long as I know that it’s better than what’s available for free.

    I strongly recommend GoodReader. Not free, but it’s an excellent document manager/viewer. If your needs are more towards academia (journal articles and the like), Papers is also very good. Again, not free.

    I use Papers for my professional stuff, and GoodReader for everything else.

  30. 30.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:29 pm

    @Corner Stone–thanks for that rec. This guy did some of that today and it really helped. I also liked that he wants to teach me how to work my muscles in ways that will prevent further injury and not just rack up sessions with him.

    Best line of the session though was when he said the most important muscle for lower back health is the gluteus. I guess if he improves that I won’t complain!

  31. 31.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    June 24, 2011 at 8:30 pm

    At the Trans March in San Francisco with the BF. Sunny and clear here at Dolores Park with awesome views of the city.

  32. 32.

    gravie

    June 24, 2011 at 8:36 pm

    Margaritas with a splash of Cointreau. Yum. But they pack a punch.

  33. 33.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    Anyone else watching Friday Night Lights???

  34. 34.

    jo6pac

    June 24, 2011 at 8:37 pm

    Hard to add to that!

  35. 35.

    RossInDetroit

    June 24, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    Gonna watch the last 2 episodes of True Blood S3 with Mrs. InDetroit, chill with the dog & hit the sack ‘early’ tonight (before dawn).

  36. 36.

    gbear

    June 24, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    can we have a thread for the Marriage Equality vote going on in the NY Senate?

    I’ll second that request. I’ve been jumping around news sites trying to find the result of the vote.

  37. 37.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    gbear.. here is the link so you can watch live but be prepared to wait for houts. link

  38. 38.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    @gbear : I third it, Also: Sully has a live blog going for it with good links.

  39. 39.

    RossInDetroit

    June 24, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    Oh, and reading Jonathan Lethem’s novel Gun, With Occasional Music. Purchased on the strength of Chronic City.
    I’m not sure how speculative fic detective noir will go down but if anyone can do it it’s him. Or Pynchon (Inherent Vice).

  40. 40.

    gbear

    June 24, 2011 at 8:46 pm

    WaPo is streaming the debate live too. They’re voting now.

  41. 41.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 8:49 pm

    Hmmm …

    “fatal mistakes” — Honestly believing I can finish the “Super Bowl Sunday” Madden Moment in Madden 2011. Whoever designed the onside kicking setup in that game needs to be hit real, real hard. Repeatedly. With something that is real, real hard. One has no control other than the power, making it a literal “push the button and pray” scenario, instead of being based on anything resembling skill. Assholes.

    “irreparable flaws” — engaging my brother in law (my wife’s sister’s husband, who is one of the most reprehensible “humans” I have ever met; a bigot, racist, and general misogynistic fucknugget) in a discussion about politics … on Facebook. Shoulda just slammed my dick in a door a dozen times to get the physical equivalent of what I’ve gone through intellectually.

    “and embodiments of the Seven Deadly Sins” — Well, The Mrs is out having a few drinks (this is “Ladies Night” week), so lust will probably be involved later, as will gluttony (for punishment; see “fatal mistake” above), and pride (see “irreparable flaws” above).

    Oh, and agree with others about Black Swan — a good movie, but a very, very strange one. Wasn’t sure what to think … and still not 100% sure, to be honest, since it left me so … off kilter. YMMV.

  42. 42.

    gbear

    June 24, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    It passed! It wasn’t even close. Something like 41 to 27.

  43. 43.

    Roger Moore

    June 24, 2011 at 8:50 pm

    On the Seven Deadly front, I’ll agree that gluttony and sloth are definitely on tap for the weekend. I’d be happy if I could get some lust in, but it doesn’t look likely. Pride, anger, envy, and avarice, meh, not so much.

  44. 44.

    Dennis SGMM

    June 24, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    Much-loved Miata’s engine seized at only 246,000 miles.
    Our mechanic: “It’ll cost more for another engine than the car is worth.”
    Me: “Not to me.”

    It will have the new engine in a week or so. Until then I feel like my legs are broken.

  45. 45.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    I think they are in recess now no? I don’t think they have voted yet right?

  46. 46.

    jwb

    June 24, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    @dmsilev: thanks, I’ll check them out.

  47. 47.

    TooManyJens

    June 24, 2011 at 8:52 pm

    @gbear: Wait, what? I’m still getting the “Senate stands at ease” picture/music on the livestream.

  48. 48.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    gbear.. What passed? I don’t think they have voted on the marriage equality amendment yet.

  49. 49.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    @Valdivia :
    We watched The Fighter last night and The King’s Speech last week. Both very good.

  50. 50.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    Me too @TooManyJens. No vote yet.

    ETA: jeffreyw –loved those 2.

  51. 51.

    Davis X. Machina

    June 24, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    @ svensker:

    Slacker.

    Well, saṃdhi my prince will come…

  52. 52.

    gbear

    June 24, 2011 at 8:57 pm

    Maybe I got it wrong, they could have been voting for an ammendment? I may have screwed up.

  53. 53.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    30 lashes for gbear for getting hopes up!

    Unless he or she would consider that a reward.

    ;-)

  54. 54.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    Athfest started and lighting struck!

  55. 55.

    MikeJ

    June 24, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    At the Trans March in San Francisco with the BF.

    I always thought it was a seriously underrated Neil Young album, but I guess if they have parades for it there are more fans than I knew of.

  56. 56.

    Trurl

    June 24, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    Top U.S. admiral admits we are trying to kill Qaddafi

  57. 57.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:03 pm

    @Mark D–bad bad bad :D

  58. 58.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    why is doghouse riley always right? why is that?

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    @Dennis SGMM
    What are you dropping in?

  60. 60.

    Comrade Kevin

    June 24, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    Every time I see “Trurl”, I think of “Terl”, the John Travolta “Psychlo” character in that ridiculously bad movie, “Battlefield Earth”.

  61. 61.

    Roger Moore

    June 24, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    @Turl:

    Republican Congressman claims Top U.S. admiral admits we are trying to kill Qaddafi without any additional confirmation or evidence

    FTFY. And, FWIW, the “we” he’s talking about is NATO in general, not the US specifically. Of course details like that might get in the way of your Obama hate fest, so feel free to ignore them.

  62. 62.

    futzinfarb

    June 24, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    @jeffreyw

    True Git

    If memory serves, that’s the subtitle of GW Bush’s memoir, no?

  63. 63.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    The vote is on marriage equality is suppose to come up as soon as the Senate reconvenes.

    edit ..Senate Bill 5857.

  64. 64.

    jnfr

    June 24, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    @Valdivia

    Very sorry to hear about your back. Please take care of yourself!

  65. 65.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    Senate back in session. They should start voting soon.

    As a former nyc denizen I have to say I am amazed they passed the livery law that allows these cabs to get hailed in the street. Til now it was illegal.

    ETA–@jnfr thanks! funny thing is the first time my back went out it was the BJ crew that got me through it since i was in bed without mobility for 2 full days. you guys rock.

  66. 66.

    Linnaeus

    June 24, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    For me tonight: wine, pasta, and some preparations for the movers coming tomorrow morning.

  67. 67.

    El Cid

    June 24, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    “[President George W. Bush] looks less like a [statesman with an] assemblage of [leadership qualities] than a collection of fatal mistakes and irreparable flaws, with occasional embodiments of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

    – A lot of the major media, after it became fashionable to criticize the former God-leader, sometime between Katrina and the worst violence of the successfully waged ethno-sectarian cleansing in Baghdad.

  68. 68.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    The video feed is still standing at ease??

  69. 69.

    Constance

    June 24, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    Steak dinner, glass of really good cab with a fun and interesting friend, then home to watch The Vikings. I suspect it’s not going to hold up as well as “Sweet Smell of Success” but maybe with another glass of wine it will at least be hilarious. And I will mourn the passing of Peter Falk.

  70. 70.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    @JPL: I added The Town, the other looks OK on paper, dunno about the theme. Thanks.

  71. 71.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    I’m eating a fuckton of Popeye’s fried chicken for dinner tonight and there ain’t shit all anyone of youse can do about it.

  72. 72.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    @ Corner–never had that. Is it any good?

    ETA–vote about to happen.

  73. 73.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Corner Stone

    mac rebennac is proud

  74. 74.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    stuckinred according to the NYTIMES.. they are asking everyone to sit now.

  75. 75.

    jeffreyw

    June 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    @futzinfarb: Hee hee, you are correct, sir!

  76. 76.

    MikeJ

    June 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    Valdivia @ 66: what’s a livery cab? Is it like a minicab in London?

  77. 77.

    Dennis SGMM

    June 24, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    @Corner Stone

    My car is a B series (1999) and I’m upgrading it slightly to a 2004 C series engine. It’s the same displacement and is rated at the same HP but, it has variable valve timing which gives you a bit more oomph at low RPMs. The engine is a racer friend’s backup piece. He races in a box stock class of the SCCA so the engine is just damned good rather than hot. Long term plan is to drop in a five liter Chevy aluminum V8 but the savings for that one are only half way there (Parts + labor = $20K).

  78. 78.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:21 pm

    Only “medallion taxicabs”, those painted in distinctive yellow and regulated by the TLC, are permitted to pick up passengers in response to a street hail. The TLC also regulates and licenses for-hire vehicles, known as “car services” or “livery cabs”, which are prohibited from picking up street hails (although this is less often enforced in outer boroughs)[42] and are supposed to pick up only those customers who have called the car service’s dispatcher and requested a car.

  79. 79.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    @MikeJ: car service. you can call them to come to you (specially good in ‘remote’ parts of the city but you could not legally flag them down on the streets. now you can. great improvement, less likely to get fleeced this way if they have to obey by fares etc.

    or what stuckinred said. who beat me to it.

  80. 80.

    jnfr

    June 24, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    I so want this vote to go right. I need something positive to think about.

  81. 81.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    that’s hot, corner stone.

  82. 82.

    JPL

    June 24, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    Okay.. Can they please turn on the microphones.. GEE

  83. 83.

    piratedan

    June 24, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    @61 yeah but Travolta had better dialog

  84. 84.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    JPL

    aren’t you happy watching the meter spin?

  85. 85.

    lamh34

    June 24, 2011 at 9:25 pm

    Saw “Bad Teacher”. Cameron Diaz totally made up for “Knight & Day”. Jason Segal was cute & dumpy.Still h8 Timberlake, but he wasn’t bad! B+

  86. 86.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:26 pm

    exciting, would be better with actual sound though.
    wish I were in nyc tonight!

    ETA @Mark D thanks so much. Hope your back is ok now?

  87. 87.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    Valdivia: As someone who has gone through not one, but two back surgeries, my thoughts are with you.

    Sadly, I don’t have many movie suggestions, but if you can get your hands on the first season of Game of Thrones, do it! (I have never, ever been into a series, since I usually couldn’t care less if I missed a show. But … wow. I got uber hooked.)

    Not sure if the books are as good as the series — have heard both “better” and “not quite as good.”

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    @Valdivia
    For a poor single boy like me, with no one to give long sweaty massages to, it’s pretty damn good.
    Personally, I like Popeye’s chicken. And I love their mashed potatoes and gravy w/ biscuits.

  89. 89.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    Valdivia

    gone again

  90. 90.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    Long term plan is to drop in a five liter Chevy aluminum V8 but the savings for that one are only half way there (Parts + labor = $20K).

    Oh hell yes. I’d love to do that sometime, though it’d take years since I’d really like to do it myself.

    / car nut without the ability to even save/obtain $10K for, say, a ’66 Mustang GT or ’68 Cougar convertible that needs some engine work (’cause bodywork = teh debil’s doing)

  91. 91.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    @Dennis SGMM
    Holy balls. The proverbial bathtub w/ a V8 that was the original Cobra design.
    What are you going to do with 300+ BHP in a 1500LB fishwrap?
    Wait..wait…don’t answer that.

  92. 92.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    audio on

  93. 93.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:32 pm

    @Corner Stone–sweaty massages eh? ;)

  94. 94.

    MikeJ

    June 24, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    @Valdivia: thanks. Yep, that’s like minicabs v black cabs in London. Drivers of black cabs have to take a test on “the knowledge” and will always be dicks when you tell them you want to go south of the river. I’ve had Cab drivers drop me in the middle of Blackfriars bridge.

    Minicab drivers are pretty much any immigrant with a car who thinks he can argue fares better than I can (even though they are almost always wrong on this point.) And they usually aren’t afraid of Southwark.

  95. 95.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    even hotter. oh, cornerstone.

  96. 96.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    Anyone seen “Falling Skies” on TNT? The cast looks ballsy, and I want to love it. But haven’t watched any of it yet.

  97. 97.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    Hope your back is ok now?

    Ummmm … no. Actually worse now — eight years on from the first surgery — than I was before it.

    I typed up the story, but really don’t want to scare you. My results aren’t typical since, quite frankly, my body in general decided to stage a coup a few years back.

    Shoulda got the extended warranty.

    // bangs head on desk //

    I’ve got problems with everything but blood pressure, which is around 90/55 most days (that sound you heard was me knocking on wood). Which is oddly low, given how much I pay attention to politics …

  98. 98.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:37 pm

    @MikeJ–good to know the difference, for when I go to London. :)

    In NYC cabs are supposed to be obligated to take you anywhere in reality they get very snobby about certain parts of town–Harlem, Brooklyn etc.

    @Mark D–oh no! well how about some republican guards to beat back the coup? I hope your blood pressure stays low and you get healthy soon. I hate being ill and immobile so I totally get you.

  99. 99.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:39 pm

    whatever happened to that reply feature? why does John Cole hate reply? why?

  100. 100.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    BUT TEH CHURCHES WILL BE PUNISHED!!

    Give me a break. Churches already get over by abusing their tax-exempt status all the time. I really don’t think teh gheys are going to go around trying to get all the churches in NY closed. G

    Just stop it, GOP. Just … stop.

  101. 101.

    Mike in NC

    June 24, 2011 at 9:42 pm

    @Constance

    Steak dinner, glass of really good cab with a fun and interesting friend, then home to watch The Vikings. I suspect it’s not going to hold up as well as “Sweet Smell of Success” but maybe with another glass of wine it will at least be hilarious. And I will mourn the passing of Peter Falk.

    “The Vikings” is premium 1950’s Hollywood cheese but with an awesome cast: Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine & Janet Leigh.

    Peter Falk was good in “Attack & Retreat”, a rather obscure 1964 war movie about unfortunate Italian troops serving on the Russian Front. They ran it a lot on local TV when I was a kid. Some great images there.

  102. 102.

    James E. Powell

    June 24, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    Don’t how far back you need to go to catch up with films, but my favorite last year was Winter’s Bone.

  103. 103.

    Salcam

    June 24, 2011 at 9:44 pm

    Game of Thrones series- immeasurably better in book form. TV show was better than expected but the books are a delicious read. Bottle of mid-grade sauv blanc and the Everest teevee series via Netflix tonight. Anyone else hate that blowhard Tim? Eeesh.

  104. 104.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 24, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    @MikeJ – Black Cab Sessions – so they’re good for something.

  105. 105.

    LGRooney

    June 24, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    Just as I announced plans to get myself back in shape and join some mud runners at end-Summer/ early-Fall, my wife says, “I don’t even want to hear it,” hexes me, and it looks like my weekend will be spent with hot compresses well attached to my lower spine as my sciatica acts up again.

    Damn it! I don’t want to watch what I eat to stay in relative shape, I want to eat whatever I want and know that I am so relentlessly exercising my ass off that it doesn’t matter.

  106. 106.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:45 pm

    the churches will be fine. but seriously, if they have to throw a few words into the bill, do it. who cares, really?

  107. 107.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:46 pm

    And I really, sincerely hope your problems improve, Valdivia. It. Sucks.

    PROTIP: Avoid a spinal fusion done through the back. Lots of muscles need to be sliced, and the screws don’t always hold or get put in straight (just for one random and not-at-all-based-on-my-life-or-anything example). Instead, use as much PT, massage, even a TENS unit, etc., as possible. If surgery is needed, use a front-mounted (for lack of a better term) spring/cage unit. Everyone I know who has had it done the latter way have been successfully treated.

    That’s just for lumbar, however — the thoracic region is a whole other animal.

  108. 108.

    Ken

    June 24, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    Corner Stone @97: Managed to get through the 2-hour premier, but I missed it last week. It’s not bad, though I was hoping more for something like ‘Dark Skies’. I’ll give this one some time.

    Jeffrey; I’d suggest putting The Kings Speech in your roster. We watched The Company Men this evening. Not exactly a light-hearted musical, but pretty good story and cast.

  109. 109.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    wow Saland is a yes. this passes!

  110. 110.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    Agree, Little Boots — if that’s what it takes to get every vote needed, DO IT. Now.

    Thanks, Salcam — will definitely check them out, then. Was worried they wouldn’t match what I’ve already got in my head; but that’ll probably make tracking the characters/families a lot easier.

    (*And sorry for hogging the thread. I gotta go get The Boy to bed, so no more hogging for me.)

  111. 111.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:49 pm

    Mark D

    I had a t-6 compression fracture in 1975. Spinal fusion, harrington rods, 9 months if a full body cast. I’m 61, played hoops until I was 45 and I swim a mile a day 7 days a week.

  112. 112.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    roll call

  113. 113.

    Dennis SGMM

    June 24, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    @Corner Stone

    I’m in my 50’s so when Cobras were even near to being affordable I didn’t have the money. Now that I have a little money they’re out of sight. Although I considered a replicar I’d rather have a real V8 Miata than a fake Cobra.

    Bodywork? We loves it! I still usually use lead rather than bondo along with heat/cold, hammers and dollies. I have succumbed to the fender roller rather than pop-riveted fender flares though.

  114. 114.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    I know, Mark D. I’m not sure of the objection. what is that, do you think?

  115. 115.

    stuckinred

    June 24, 2011 at 9:52 pm

    Dennis SGMM

    Wanna do the rocker panels on my 66 fleetside?

  116. 116.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:53 pm

    thanks so much @ Mark D

  117. 117.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    I dunno guys, I think we gays will get everything we want, very soon.

    The working class? that worries me. what the hell will happen with income inequality. what the hell can we do about that? anything?

  118. 118.

    Valdivia

    June 24, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    omg here comes Diaz, he is bitterly against it.

  119. 119.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 9:58 pm

    I know gay marriage is important, but I really do want to know what you guys think.

  120. 120.

    Little Boots

    June 24, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    they’re voting now, I hear.

  121. 121.

    Dennis SGMM

    June 24, 2011 at 10:12 pm

    @stuckinred

    The problem with rocker panels is that they’re usually rusted through, or close to it in several places. First, you have to arrest the corrosion. next, you need to hog out the rusted through portions to regular shapes so that you can form sheet metal flush patches. Finally, you tack weld the patches in place, grind the welds smooth, fill, then do another anti-corrosion treatment, sand, prime and paint. It’s a laborious process to get right and unless you have access to a bending brake and a sheet metal roller it’s nearly impossible for you to do on your own – unless you go with fiberglass.

  122. 122.

    El Cid

    June 24, 2011 at 10:16 pm

    Buddy of mine’s got a 4-banger Miata, but he’s got a fiendishly tuned turbo kit, and it moves, well, bat, hell, etc. Still pretty light, too.

    But fuck all that shit.

    Real men get more power & fuel economy by buying a Georgia chiropractor’s magic bean machine, I mean, “Fuel Vapor Pressure Enhancer”.

    And you know it works, because his county of Paulding, GA, just sunk over $16,000 into them for their vehicle fleet.

    It all happened because no one ever thought about the relationship between pressure and vapor forms of liquid fuels and efficiency. No one. Ever. Ever. In fact, I bet no manufacturer even knows that gas goes into the cylinder in a vapor!

    So one this one time in college he started talking with his friends about this sort of stuff and boom there was this magic idea in his head, waiting to be made someday.

    And somehow or other this device talks its way past all those fuel injectors and stuff so it can blast its super vapor pressure straight into the cylinder.

    It’s good of Paulding County to invest all this tax money into these genie lamps, instead of keeping libraries open during their normal hours.

    After all, we’ve all got to make sacrifices, and contracts to local inventive chiropractors don’t award themselves.

    Selano, the inventor, also proved that by chiropractically wiggling your neck around, he could increase CD4 counts in patients with HIV by 48%!

    [Modified for too many links / triggering moderator.]

  123. 123.

    Anne Laurie

    June 24, 2011 at 10:17 pm

    Valdiva: Have you talked to your doctor and/or physical therapist about back supports? My back problems started because I’m overweight & underexercised (the exact opposite of you). But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve graduated from sleeping with an extra pillow under my knees to this contraption, and it’s been a life saver, dorky as it looks. You probably don’t need anything as extreme, but the right prop or pillow can make a huuuuuge difference in your comfort level. And in my case at least, keep me from re-stressing the injury as I thrash around in my sleep trying to find a ‘comfortable’ position…

  124. 124.

    Corner Stone

    June 24, 2011 at 10:18 pm

    @Valdivia
    I have many good pros going for me, and strong hands are one of them. Also, bail money.

  125. 125.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    I had a t-6 compression fracture in 1975. Spinal fusion, harrington rods, 9 months if a full body cast. I’m 61, played hoops until I was 45 and I swim a mile a day 7 days a week.

    // blank stare //

    Ya know, that was an awfully round-about way of calling me a pansyass.

    j/k

    I have six screws and twelve rods holding my back together from L4 – S1. The issue is that the 2nd doc (who was an alleged expert a fixing botched fusions) managed to trap a couple of nerves in the bone tape they used to reinforce the sides of the vertebrae. Not the most … pleasant thing when it kicks in.

    I’m actually fairly active, working around the yard and house, and playing with The Boy. The issue is that I pay for it the next day.

    Hopefully, a TENS unit will solve the issues with the pain, so I can address the issues eight years of pain pills have caused my stomach.

    // sigh //

    Bodywork? We loves it!

    Yeah, but you’re freaking insane. ;-)

    I’ve tried it, and I hated it. I lack the patience required to do it well (or even mediocre) and, thus, would rather farm that out. Anyone who can do it well, and likes it, has my respect.

    So … do you work on Hondas?

    ;-)

  126. 126.

    Mark D

    June 24, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Yes, I’m back to hogging the thread until The Mrs gets home!

    ;-)

    The working class? that worries me. what the hell will happen with income inequality. what the hell can we do about that? anything?

    Oh dear … other than cloning Bernie Sanders about 65 times (and about 20-years younger), the rich finally developing some sort of collective conscience and giving up more of their money by lobbying for increased taxes on their income, and/or the media/some politician with the media’s undivded attention* spending a solid month going off about inequality to the point where people who don’t believe or act do both, I have no clue.

    I really don’t. I wish I did.

    Millions of middle class families claim, in poll after poll after poll, that their financial situation sucks and that inequality should be addressed through higher taxes. Yet those same millions turn around and elect people who make both worse for most people.

    It’d be like someone complaining about how their thumb hurts, only to turn around and slam it in a door for the 12th straight time.

    All I’ve figured out to do — other than support candidates who truly want to address the issue — is share knowledge with EVERYONE I CAN. It’s not always fun or easy, but my in-laws (notably, my father in law) have gone from uninterested, casual observers to damn-near socialists in just the past year or so. And it’s thanks to the stuff I post on FB about inequality, which I try to do every day.

    Sure, I’ve lost some “friends,” but if they don’t think it’s a problem, or that big of a deal, I don’t want to be friends with them anyway — they’re part of the problem, IMHO.

    And if I had the dedication I showed I lacked with my first two blogs, I’d start another just on that topic. (Is there one out there already … ? Anyone know?)

  127. 127.

    DougW

    June 24, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Gay Marriage in NY!

  128. 128.

    El Cid

    June 24, 2011 at 10:46 pm

    Somebody needs to sue the fuck out of Paulding County.

    They just handed this a**hole $16K for yet another bullshit ‘free energy’ scheme to use electrolysis to make hydrogen and oxygen from water, which, as we all know, takes no energy and just leaves you with more energy somehow or other, and also no one ever thought of this before.

    How could you be skeptical after seeing his precisely, carefully designed CAD layout of this fantastic machine’s engineering on the patent application?

  129. 129.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    June 24, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    .
    .
    @jeffreyw
    I like my hot wing sauce simple – butter, vinegar, tabasco. Wings salted and peppered strongly, deep fried until golden. Combine.
    .
    .

  130. 130.

    Jebediah

    June 25, 2011 at 12:22 am

    El Cid @ 129:
    Well I dunno. Those drawings look pretty pro to me. Plus there’s numbers and arrows and such, so I am sure the device works great. Plus American exceptionalism and a shiny carburetor on a hill and Georgia is full of real Americans who know science works on faith in the baby Jesus and what are you anyway,a libtard?!?!?

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    June 25, 2011 at 12:40 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    [. . .] what’s the agenda [. . .] in everybody’s neighborhood this evening?

    Just got home from work about an hour ago, and I am looking at my second three-day weekend in a row. Sheer luxury! The Big Box Bookstore is having a bit of a rocky transition with a new store manager and some other changes, but in the meantime I am loving the fact that whoever is doing the scheduling doesn’t have the kung fu grip yet and has given me these sweet Saturday-Monday blocks off.

  132. 132.

    bob_is_boring

    June 25, 2011 at 1:19 am

    Line of the day, via Doghouse Riley

    That’s a lot of redundancy for such a short post.

  133. 133.

    AxelFoley

    June 25, 2011 at 1:26 am

    @ Dan:

    Watching Van Jones on Lawrence O’Donnell. Give Van Jones a show. He really knows the message and how to get it out there.
    Get rid of Cenk. He’s too smug and not that bright.

    This.

  134. 134.

    Xenos

    June 25, 2011 at 1:59 am

    UCT- fried wings in butter sauce? This is a back surgery open thread. The heart bypass open thread is scheduled for next weekend.

  135. 135.

    Uncle Clarence Thomas

    June 25, 2011 at 2:20 am

    .
    .
    @135 Xenos

    UCT- fried wings in butter sauce?

    It’s just your basic original Buffalo Chicken Wing thing. I didn’t invent it, although I would be proud to have done so.
    .
    .

  136. 136.

    mick

    June 25, 2011 at 2:37 am

    thanks for turning me on to doghouse, annie l. that is a fine blog.

    should be on cole’s blogroll, methinks.

  137. 137.

    El Cid

    June 25, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    @ Jebediah, 131, verse 3… So it came upon the land that he sayeth…
    __

    Well I dunno. Those drawings look pretty pro to me. Plus there’s numbers and arrows and such, so I am sure the device works great. Plus American exceptionalism and a shiny carburetor on a hill and Georgia is full of real Americans who know science works on faith in the baby Jesus and what are you anyway,a libtard??

    How are you so sure it’s a New Testament fuel vapor pressure enhancer?

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