Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Bark louder, little dog.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Come on, man.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

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

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

This blog will pay for itself.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread

Open Thread

by | 91 Comments

This post is in: 

I was supposed to go to a progressive tapas party tonight where everyone would have a dish at their house, and each hour we would go to a different house, and then the after party was going to be held here at 11, but I have not been sleeping for the past week and just feel run down and crabby, so I asked someone else to host the after party and gave them a couple bottles of wine as a starter kit. I just want to unwind and get on a solid sleep schedule. Not sure how mine got so out of whack, but I have not been able to fall asleep until 2-3 every night. It sucks.

Got my turkey carcass from Thanksgiving cooking down in a big pot, and I am making some turkey rice soup- the only rice I had was saffron, so we will see how that works out. What are you all up to?

GO ARMY, BTW.

Oh, and this made me laugh out loud (Ron Paul as Dr. Seuss). Hilarious. I think my favorite is the Fiat Money Will You Please Go Now.

Reader Interactions

91Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m trying to practice cutting the set of things that does not include my thumb. I am also mourning the ongoing shortage of Tunch pics.

  3. 3.

    BGinCHI

    After a 2 hour ride on the lakefront path, I’m trying to get some work done. It said 20, feels like 9, when I left, and on the bike it felt all of single digits. Thank god for technical clothing and Lake boots.

    Now I is sleepy though.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    Going to the wife’s work party tonite. Free to drink myself into a stupor, and only need to not completely make a ass out of myself. Which may be hard to do. Last year I asked a chick if she was a lesbian, and she wasn’t. Oops.

  7. 7.

    Michele

    John – try some melatonin at about 8 or 9 tonight. Helps you sleep without the nasty hangover feel in the morning.

    Tunch pictures would be lovely, please.

  8. 8.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m taking a break from making gift tags to sell at our company’s craft fair on Friday. I may also try to make a couple more sweater ornaments. Plus I still need to make the tiny hangers for the sweaters. Urgh.

    @BGinCHI:

    We were in Chicago (Oak Park, technically) right after Snowpocalypse and I saw insane people riding their bikes. WTF? When I lived there, my bike went in the garage after the snow fell and didn’t come out again until spring. Of course, I only lived there from birth until age 19, so I’m not sure it was my choice. It may have been a parental decree.

  11. 11.

    BGinCHI

    @Mnemosyne: We try to ride most of the winter. The guys and gals who commute are the real troopers, and there are hundreds throughout the city. We’re a hearty bunch. “Hearty” may be a euphemism for something.

    It’s all about the gear, really. Apart from my face I wasn’t cold at all today.

  12. 12.

    cmorenc

    @Punchy:

    Going to the wife’s work party tonite. Free to drink myself into a stupor, and only need to not completely make a ass out of myself. Which may be hard to do. Last year I asked a chick if she was a lesbian, and she wasn’t. Oops.

    Two things to remember as you’ve knocking down a drink or two or three:
    1) The point in the night where you begin to feel relaxed, confident, and a bit witty is a flashing caution sign of your rising potential to tip over into inadvertent ass-holery.
    2) Your ass-hole potential is an exponential (not a linear) function of the number of alcoholic drinks of any kind you’ve knocked down.

    Ok there’s a third thing to remember:
    As you approach the moment when the above two points become important to remember, your ability to keep them in mind will also decrease exponentially.

    CONCLUSION:
    Drink too much and you’ll become helpless to recognize you’re heading into ass-hole territory until after it’s too late to stop yourself from laying some really stinky verbal turds at your wife’s work party.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Mary

    Yay winter cycling! I didn’t go out today, but I found that layers — and wool socks! — get me through the cold. I’m just playing chicken with the weatherman right now, delaying swapping in my studded tires for as long as possible, because those really slow you down on bare pavement.

  15. 15.

    gmf

    I second what Michele says about melatonin – I started taking it a couple of months ago & it’s made a HUGE difference in my getting to sleep and staying asleep.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Mary

    And adding to cmorenc’s advice: jello shots. Avoid them. Oh my fucking gosh, avoid them, because the next step is randomly mixed drinks that no one else will drink, and then complete memory loss of great chunks of your evening.

    (This only happened to me once — in my forties — and it was the first and last time. Friends don’t let friends do jello shots.)

  17. 17.

    BGinCHI

    @Comrade Mary: Fun to ride the studded tires on the ice. Not as fun to fall down. Knobbies on the ‘cross bike work well, but I had a couple adrenalin-inducing slips today.

  19. 19.

    Punchy

    @cmorenc: I just wrote those tips on my hand. Honestly, the prob is that lots of her friends look to me to say the funny stuff. Only….after a few rounds, I gotta be careful not to slip past the “funny” and into the “offensive”. Fine line, natch. Going in my favor is that everyone else will be sauced too, so the chance anyone remembers an oral A-Bomb is greatly reduced.

  22. 22.

    Raven

    @BGinCHI: He went to Proviso East, 2 years ahead of me. My old man taught over there. No where have I ever heard “close the light” except the West Side of Chicago:

    Well, I leaned on my left leg
    In the parking lot dirt
    And cathy was closing the lights
    A june bug flew from the warmth he once knew
    And I wished for once I weren’t right
    Why we used to laugh together
    And we’d dance to any old song.
    Well, ya know, she still laughs with me
    But she waits just a second to long.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    Sorry to hear about the insomnia. That is life-affecting.

    Have you tried Ambien or Lunesta with any success?

    I cannot take any other sleeping aids, but neither leaves a “sleep hangover” for me. Maybe use them once or twice a year.

  32. 32.

    Garbo

    Making Apple, Pear, Maple butter so the house smells heavenly. Even the magma-like sound of it burbling awayt is soothing

    Sorry you’re having sleep troubles, JC. Hope the tryptophan from the soup is some help. And I never think saffron is a mistake. Yum.

  34. 34.

    RossInDetroit

    John didn’t ask for my advice but that’s never stopped me.
    I endorse Melatonin. If I go three days without normal sleep I’ll knock myself out with that once to see if it gets me back on track.
    YMMV. In any case I know it sucks to have sleep problems.

  36. 36.

    Raven

    @BGinCHI: I couldn’t listen to him for a couple of years after my dad died.

    There’s a rainbow of babies
    Draped over the graveyard
    Where all the dead sailors
    Wait for their brides
    And the cold bitter snow
    Has strangled each grassblade
    Where the salt from their tears
    Washed out with the tide

    And I smiled on the Wabash
    The last time I passed it
    Yes I gave her a wink
    From the passenger side
    And my foot fell asleep
    As I swallowed my candy
    Knowing he was in heaven
    Before he died

    and

    So if you’re walking down the street sometime
    And spot some hollow ancient eyes,
    Please don’t just pass ’em by and stare
    As if you didn’t care, say, “Hello in there, hello.”

    Ever see this with Michael, Natalie and Billy Bragg?

  37. 37.

    BGinCHI

    @Raven: I think Blue Umbrella is one of the most underrated songs ever.

    Prine has never gotten the recognition he deserves. Guy is amazing in concert.

    Great video, too.

    Saw Billy Bragg play two nights in a row at the old 40 Watt. Oh man, was he great. 1990 I think. Or ’89.

  38. 38.

    Svensker

    @Raven:

    No where have I ever heard “close the light” except the West Side of Chicago:

    My Joisey rellies all say this. It drives me mad.

  39. 39.

    graz

    Whoa!
    Saffron is a fine addition to a Risotto Milanese, but the grain itself might be Arborio or Carnoroli.
    Mistake, test, or are you morphing into McMegan?

  40. 40.

    Phylllis

    Yay Navy! We’re fixing to pop The Apartment into the dvr. Tomorrow it’s Stalag 17. We have several Christmas movie traditions, including one I introduced him to, It Happened On 5th Avenue. Charming movie–it’ll be on TCM a couple of times this month.

  42. 42.

    BGinCHI

    @Phylllis: Love, love, love The Apartment.

    One of Wilder’s best. It’s one of the most savage American comedies ever made. Right up there with Some Like it Hot.

    Anyone who likes Mad Men really ought to see The Apartment.

  44. 44.

    Benjamin Franklin

    Some of you may not be familiar with Craig Murray. He’s good.

    http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

    “The planned scenario for a war with Iran is playing out before our eyes at frightening speed now. Unfortunately. as I have frequently said, Iran has a regime that is not only thuggish but controlled by theocratic nutters: the attack on the British Embassy played perfectly into the hands of the neo-cons. William Hague is smirking like the cat who got the cream.”

  45. 45.

    jharp

    I cooked my turkey carcass for 36 hours at 180 degrees. Broth came out awesome. Turkey and noodles and carrots and celery and onions and more.

  47. 47.

    Svensker

    @Raven:

    Greeks.

    I always yell back “the frigging lights aren’t open, so you can’t close them!”

    We all have our little foibles.

  49. 49.

    burnspbesq

    For one day, Arte Moreno supplanted Barack Obama as the biggest brown-skinned threat to the Real Amurkin Way of Life, but things are back to normal.

    Never been to an Angels home opener. May have to change that.

  53. 53.

    BGinCHI

    @Svensker: I always thought it came from the switch opening and closing the circuit, but now I think about it that would be backwards. Right?

  55. 55.

    SIA

    @Raven: There used to be a bar in Athens called Tyrones. Before that it was a hippie restaurant called the Chameleon. Wonderful food. Were you there then? I waitressed there while at school, usually under some kind of influence, I’m afraid. Ahhh. Memories.

  59. 59.

    Chuck Butcher

    @Comrade Mary:
    My bike is in the garage, it’s 37F and that’s a bit cool for much Harley riding…

    Clothing that works at 20mph is an abject failure at 60mph. Every once in awhile I bite the bullet out of addictive withdrawal, but it takes a bunch of serious clothing…

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SIA:

    It was great! I’ve only been back a week but it feels as though I was never away! The weather was mostly closer/snowier in the US than it was in Canada, at least while I was there ( it may have shifted some).

    How are you doing? Let’s talk sometime soon and see if we can meet up.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne

    @Phylllis:

    Love The Apartment, but it’s more of a New Year’s movie to me. Our holiday tradition is The Shop Around the Corner. “Doctor, do I call you a pill peddler?”

    (Checked IMDb and corrected the quote)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Yep. I’ve lived in California since 1988 but Chicagoland is still “home.”

  65. 65.

    BGinCHI

    @Raven: Was it the Killbillies who sang that song “I hate the Grateful Dead/I’ll be grateful when they’re dead”? Some Athens band….

  67. 67.

    Elie

    @Raven:

    Yeah!

    I am making Cheasapeake Bay rock fish baked in marzano tomatoes, pancetta, onions, capers and vermouth. I am going to also do some polenta with parmesan…

    I’ll let you know how it turns out!

    PS – I have been in and out on BJ. Started a new job and while my projects are very interesting and healthcare related, the pace is up there and I havent had much time.
    I do lurk and read at least daily though and comment as I am able…

  68. 68.

    SIA

    @Raven: I put the plug in the jug in 1980 and moved to Atlanta in 81. I did see some great groups there, I believe The Dixie Dregs played at Tyrones. Saw them later when they opened for Zappa at the Fox. I dated “Tyrone” for a while then moved on to someone even crazier. The music scene in Athens was phenomenal around then. Was The Last Resort still there in 84? Saw George Thurogood, Tom Waites, Gregg Allman (drunk as can be) and lots of others there. Fantastic.

  70. 70.

    burnspbesq

    Arrrrrgh! There are two of the guitar I’m jonesing after on eBay at a price I can easily afford. But where am I going to make time to practice???

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    @Elie: I don’t know enough about rockfish to determine if that is going to overdo the flavour profile of the fish itself, but some fishes can handle those strong accompaniments. Oddly enough I bet pernod would be fantastic in that too! Are you doing individual packets? I LOVE that!

  73. 73.

    SIA

    @SiubhanDuinne: Ha! I was just wondering “What did she mean by “closer”? Although my least favorite weather in GA is that warm, muggy and gray day which I always think of as “close”.

    Mr. and I are going to Alabama for the last week of the month so let’s shoot for sometime after that? It will be the first real vacation of 2011, and just in time too!

  74. 74.

    catclub

    @BGinCHI: A fairing is of course illegal for racing. But who races? Get a Zzipper and you will stay much warmer.

    Speaking of cold faces, swam in 54 deg water yesterday and learned that I will have to pull the caps forward to cover my forehead.

    (and why do forward and forehead have different spellings at the start.)

  76. 76.

    SIA

    @Raven: Happy Valley folks were friends with some of the people I knew, who lived near Lexington. Wasn’t it a pottery place? I can still see some of them clear as day, though much of my few years there is a blur. :)

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @Phylllis:

    Billy Wilder always said he never would have become a director if Lubitsch had lived — Wilder would have been more than happy to write for Lubitsch for his whole career.

    I’m really into pre-Code movies right now, and Lubitsch’s pre-Codes are some of the ones that steered me to that obsession. Trouble in Paradise is a perfect film, IMO.

    But now I have to get back to the gift tag and mini sweater sweatshop I’ve built for myself. Sigh.

  81. 81.

    Lysana

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m from Highland Park/Libertyville.

    My husband spent some of his formative years in Libertyville during the late 60s-early 70s. His father was a student at Trinity Evangelical after he got the calling.

  82. 82.

    Elie

    @Yutsano:

    OHHHH — I didnt think individual packets!

    The Chesapeake rockfish is mild/medium fish with a little oily backnote…

    I put in a fair amount of acid to balance the oil taste. Its gonna be a wait and see if I overdid it… I will let you know..

    Pernod is like perfect — wish I had thought of it but will think of it in the future…

    I like more “herbal” white wines than most folks and hence the use of vermouth…

  84. 84.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Raven: That’s a wonderful video. And John Prine is a gift few of us really deserve. My husband once met a high school teacher of Prine’s – he had some great stories to tell about him. You may be surprised to know that he was not a stellar student. Spouse and I (and sons) have seen Prine perform at least a half-dozen times, each concert better than the last. The first was with Steve Goodman.

  88. 88.

    burnspbesq

    @Raven:

    And Ohio State went down earlier today, Carolina is struggling against Long Beach, and Duke looked very ordinary against U-Dub.

    Number one Syracuse?

  89. 89.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Raven:

    What was funnier, in a wicked kind of way, is that we had drinks/dinner earlier and he introduced me to Brandy Alexanders, which you will recall play a key role in the movie.

Comments are closed.