I’m traveling today, so here’s an open thread in case everyone else is sleeping in. If you’re interested in some fun reading, try Your Monthly Periodical, a local effort for the uterati. I like their dueling reviews of 50 Shades of Grey (from the woman’s perspective last month, and this month’s from a man). As far as I can tell, 50 Shades is to sex as Atlas Shrugged is to politics: dull, wrong, too long, remarkably poorly written, yet inexplicably popular. Also, too: Bronies.
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WereBear
I think for some subjects, and for many people, well-written would interfere with what they want to get from a work. Like an action movie that blows things up real good, a lot of folks don’t want to think about it, just absorb it.
As a writer myself, I can’t get past the lousy prose, but I have friends who basically skim it for the naughty bits and get a laugh and a tingle.
A true, deep, literary exploration of an actual relationship with such elements would cut quite close to the bone… and that is not what they want to experience.
Maude
Travel safe.
@WereBear:
We are going to be alooone alllll daaaay.
I am going into a corner and just cry my eyes out.
Baud
@WereBear:
Then I am truly sorry for all my past and future posts here.
Dennis SGMM
@WereBear:
As a writer myself, I can’t get past the lousy prose…
You rang?
hep kitty
House Republicans are Bastards
hep kitty
WereBear: I think he was referring to 50 Shades
Sounds like a complete piece of crap. I’m just ashamed of my sex for being so into shitty writing. It has always been thus, as long as I can remember.
Maude
@hep kitty:
I can’t make myself read it. I don’t read erotica and there is a ton of it on Amazon from Independent writers.
Some Independent writers there have numerous books and I wonder how they write them all in such a seemingly short time.
Phylllis
@hep kitty: Linky go nowhere. You fix pleze.
geg6
@hep kitty:
This. And the fact that it started out as Twilight fanfic just makes me despair for my gender.
And I can’t believe how suddenly s/m p0rn has become mainstream since this “novel” hit. I saw the Anne Rice Beauty trilogy in Walmart the other day. Fucking Walmart!
WereBear
Now I’m somewhat confused. That’s also the book which I was referring to.
Fear not, I don’t sit back and criticize blog comments for their prose style. But when I read a novel, that’s part of the point, for me.
And I never had any tolerance for romances, either, hep kitty. In fact, it was a bit of a joke on myself when I joined a women’s writing group and they loved literary works with a lot of introspection, and when it came to be my turn to mention what I was reading, it was a lot of genre detective and action stuff.
But it’s well written stuff!
Dennis SGMM
@WereBear:
Someone, whose name is lost in the clutter of memory, summed up Jack Kerouac’s On the Road thus; “That’s not writing, it’s typing.”
I haven’t read the book and I have no desire to do so. It is dispiriting, though, when typing gets published while writing goes begging.
EDIT: “The book” in this case being 50 Shades. I have read and re-read On the Road. Mixed feelings about the latter.
debit
@geg6: In Walmart?! Although, it’s been years since I read it. Maybe it’s considered tame by today’s standards.
WereBear
Very true. But I just remember A Million Little Pieces, which had people exclaiming over it. I got it and read it about 2 weeks before the scandal broke; and I’d had the feeling that this was far from a memoir. That is a tricky genre anyway, because of perspective issues, but I just felt the whole thing was a bad screenplay turned prose; and that is just what it turned out to be.
And far from launching the guy’s literary career, it turned out he should save every penny he made from it, because he’s a disgrace now, and worse, a lousy writer.
We live in such a giant Universe that unlikely things happen all the time.
Dennis SGMM
@WereBear:
Memoir is a very tricky genre indeed. I attempted one and it was embarrassingly bad. The only memoirs that I hold in esteem are William Burroughs’ Junkie and Rudolph Wurlitzer’s under appreciated Nog.
the Conster
That brony bit horrifies me. Do I have to stop at every yard sale now and rescue all of the little girl toys? Skipper and Midge aren’t even safe? Meteor, plz. kthx.
NotMax
The way things are desperately careening for the R/R campaign, I almost now can see ol’ Mitt dumping Ryan after the veep debate and replacing him with Fred Phelps.
/obvious hyperbole
JPL
One of the persons possibly responsible for the unrest in the Middle East also has been connected to the attack on Hilary in Cairo this past summer. link
Baud
@NotMax:
I had a thought that maybe Mitt realized at some point that his investments would do better with Obama as president, so he’s trying to throw the election on purpose…
If only the horse-race-promoting media would let him…
Naive and Sentimental
Considering the description on the about page of the site, I’m pretty sure the brony article is some high level trolling.
Yes, there is a very large number of males who enjoy the most current edition of My Little Pony, subtitled Friendship is Magic, made by Lauren Faust. Sadly yes, there is likely a tiny minority of people who ruin it like the internet ruins all things. And there is a lot of baggage from gender stereotypes that makes people suspicious. The truth is it’s just an awesome show. I can relate more later. For now just leave with this.
Perverts generally don’t put in this kind of work That’s the start of a whole Anthology of parody work.
Concerned Citizen
I can’t believe there’s a fucking convention for grown men who like my little pony. WTF? Can anyone explain that?
gnomedad
Wish. I. Could. Unknow. This.
WereBear
@Concerned Citizen: It is a well-written show which explores themes they are interested in.
As I reference above, I like well-turned prose as much as any literary fan, but I find most literary fiction too meandering, plotless, and navel-gazing for my taste. So I wind up reading detective and adventure novels that are well-written; and there are many authors I find enjoyable.
It’s not the subject or the genre which dictates the worth of the work. One of the most gripping and well-written pieces I’ve ever read was by a business writer, detailing the birth and death of the Ford Edsel. I still remember some of the sentences to this day, and the whole thing glows in my memory as a lovely piece of art.
Yet, he was a business writer, and instead of being celebrated for his journalism, he is languishing on a shelf somewhere in a library I have since moved away from. Sadly, I don’t even remember his name.
But his work does live on, in me.
Naive and Sentimental
It’s pretty much the same reason there’s a convention for Star Trek. The long and short of it is it’s an amazing, well made, engaging show.
Trying to find common ground to express that could take some time. For my money this scene here is the fastest way to scrape the surface and express it. They ponies have all been cursed with various afflictions and the yellow one’s curse…well she doesn’t always sound like that.
Another Halocene Human
@Concerned Citizen: It’s called the internet. There’s a subculture now, and they want to meet up in real life. It’s no weirder than anime cons. Considering the kind of weirdness in the dark corners of those, it’s probably considerably LESS weird.
And men (and some women) have been buying/selling weird fantasy and furry fetish art at scifi, comic, media, and anime conventions FOREVER. So. the frick. what. Naughty doodles. Cue the tears.
cathyx
@Concerned Citizen: I can’t understand it myself, but maybe it’s like how some straight men like to dress up as women once in a while.
Concerned Citizen
@WereBear: But why are they interested in it? There’s nothing to it! It’s geared toward children with nothing for adults in mind. It is truly mind blowing to me.
SiubhanDuinne
@hep kitty:
Putting aside the fact that this is Unfair to Actual Bastards!, your link is nothing but a solitary http:// .
Better linkz, plz. (Because I, for one, never get tired of reading about GOPoutrages.)
Concerned Citizen
@Naive and Sentimental: Thanks for the link. Sorry everyone, I’m getting old. I didn’t realize they had rebooted the show. It’s come a long way from the 80’s. (Which is apparently where I still am)
I don’t think it’s good enough to get me to a convention, but God bless em.
geg6
@debit:
I know, right? I always hid my copies (and I’m not even sure I still have them). Of course, just as this goes mainstream, Mittens is out there saying he plans to prosecute people for p0rn. Always out of step with the zeitgeist, our Mittens is.
Another Halocene Human
@Another Halocene Human: Hell, when I was going to cons they always showed “hentai” (porn cartoons) at midnight. When I went to Shoujocon in New Jersey (“Girls’ Con”) they showed the film “Boku no Sexual Harassment” raw (don’t get excited, raw means no English subtitles). Boku no Sexu Haru is the heartwarming tale of a junior Japanese executive who gets sent to the international office in Boston, MA (it doesn’t look like Boston, but let’s use our imaginations) where he gets groomed and then raped by a senior partner, but when junior guy’s (it’s ALL about your seniority in the company in Japan, apparently) old boss/boyfriend finds out, the good seme gets a gang of guys together to kidnap the evil seme and take him to a country house where they videotape themselves raping evil seme with a corncob. Like I said, heartwarming tale about office intrigue and the human comedy…
I don’t believe there is anything the Bronies could vomit up that would rape my soul like that movie.
WereBear
@Concerned Citizen: Well, then, purpose fulfilled. :) Because art (and I’m being meta here) is supposed to blow your mind.
Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass are “children’s books.” Only, they are not. They are works about the power of imagination, and their images have crept into our common discourse. The concepts of the Red Queen’s Race, “magic mushrooms” and their effects on perception, and “going through the looking glass” and “how deep does the rabbit hole go?” are all incredibly pertinent to us, today. And not on a children’s level.
In fact, your comment illustrates a serious failing of our culture, which is its habit of categorizing concepts that are universal by segregating them into various boxes. The fact that this is a cartoon (children!) about ponies (girl stuff!) that takes place in fantasy (juvenile arrested development!) can prevent people from understanding that the themes the series deals with are actually deep and meaningful to their fans.
They are not getting what they want from other sources. They are getting it from this one.
Naive and Sentimental
@Concerned Citizen: Glad to help. It isn’t quite The Wire, but the quality of the show is way beyond what you expect for a children’s cartoon. That diamond in the rough quality may be part of the catalyst that has created the large appeal but the majority of credit falls on the creative team that made engaging characters and enough world building that nerds can over analyze it.
Another Halocene Human
@Concerned Citizen: There are teenagers on the internet. Trufax.
Another Halocene Human
@Concerned Citizen: Whew. I appreciate you saying that. The 80’s show was pure dreck.
eyelessgame
… I’m getting the sense, reinforced by picking the book up at a Costco (where they are also selling the Beauty trilogy) and leafing through it, that the writing compares unfavorably to Penthouse Letters in terms of both quality and realism.
arguingwithsignposts
Re: the bronie article, once again, it seems someone has never heard of Rule 34.
Omnes Omnibus
@Concerned Citizen: Why are some people attracted to blondes? Why do foot fetishes exist? What is/was the appeal of Pam Anderson? Fuck it I know. People are weird
Mino
Christ on a crutch! MSNBC is making UP unwatchable with all their commercial breaks! Either schedule fewer, longer breaks or start charging more for the time and weed out a few. Damn.
WereBear
While I can’t exactly explain Pamela Anderson, foot fetishes have a physiological origin.
In the “brain map” that organizes and biolocates sensations, the nerve endings for FEET wind up quite close to the ones for GENITALIA, and thus, there can be cross-activating going on.
It explains why there are many foot fetishists, but very few elbow fetishists, at least.
BruceFromOhio
Did you mean…. 50 Sheds of Grey?
‘So,’ she asked eagerly, ‘How do you feel about being in chains?’ ‘It depends,’ I replied, ‘Nando’s is OK but I’m not so keen on McDonalds.’
Being tied to a large wooden cross in just a leather thong felt strange at first. But it certainly kept the crows away from my cabbages.
‘You’re making me so hot,’ she breathed. ‘I know,’ I said, ‘Maybe the shed wasn’t the best place for a barbecue.’
Maude
@Omnes Omnibus:
Don’t tell me we have to start with the bird and the bees here.
jurassicpork
Top 10 reasons not to vote for Mitt Romney, in his own words.
MikeJ
@geg6:
If it;s printed by a major publisher and makes Walmart plenty in sales, it’s not porn.
Pornography is hard to define, but I know it when I see the cash register receipts.
Omnes Omnibus
@Maude: People have bee fetishes too? Wow.
Omnes Omnibus
@jurassicpork: Endorsing Gary Johnson, are we?
WereBear
@Omnes Omnibus: Props for stinging retort.
Maude
@Omnes Omnibus:
Haven’t you heard about people who’ve been stung by love?
Omnes Omnibus
@WereBear: @Maude: /head desk.
Concerned Citizen
@Another Halocene Human: That’s why I was so taken aback. Just so everyone knows, I don’t think cartoons are for children. Fell in love with loony tunes as a kid and have never looked back. Currently my favourites are Adventure Time and the (now discontinued) Misadventures of Flap Jack.
Maude
@WereBear:
WIN
Fezzik
People need to get over bronies. To start with, the VAST MAJORITY are not people who mix sex and ponies: they genuinely like the cartoon show “My Little Pony Friendship is Magic”, and some of them buy the latest incarnation of the toys (bronies tend to dislike the earlier ponies from the 80’s and 90’s). Secondly, ithe VAST MAJORITY of bronies are opposed to Rule 34 uses of My Little Pony, because it grosses them out and makes them look bad.
Everyone can be horrified at Rule 34 pony stuff, just don’t lump all the bronies together or think that it’s all about sex and hipster irony—generally, it isn’t.
How do I know all of this? I’ve been researching brony fandom (I’m an academic) ever since being exposed to MLP from my pony-mad four year old daughter. The show is great, and most bronies are perfectly normal people (some are female) who are just adult fans of a kid’s cartoon show—hardly a rare thing these days.
Maude
@Omnes Omnibus:
To bee or not to bee. HAHAHAHAHA
Poopyman
@BruceFromOhio: Thanks for that linkie. I suspect I’m going to be wasting some time there.
“‘Use me,’ she whispered, moistening her lips with her tongue. ‘Alright,’ I said, ‘Hold the ladder while I creosote the shed roof.'”
amk
@jurassicpork: egg.cellent. tweeted.
danielx
I could have happily lived the rest of my life without knowing that there was such a thing as a My Little Pony fetish. I’m going to an IrishFest tonight and I just know I’m going to be looking at everybody I see and thinking “okay, what kind of deeply twisted stuff are you into?”
Aside from the usual quaint Irish Catholic tendencies, that is.
danielx
@geg6:
And you started noticing this when, again?
hep kitty
@SiubhanDuinne: @Phylllis: I’m sorry, went out for a haircut then gro store – here’s linkie! Apparently forgot to paste!
hep kitty
Oh, they were talking about 50 Shades of Gray at the hairdresser’s – his wife is trying to read it and he is listening to it on audio! A customer who I got chatty with has read it and said it was really good! :p
jeffreyw
Thread needs moar kitteh. Homer pretending to be a good kitteh.
Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (formerly Horrendo Slapp, Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
Does anybody have a little girl who can come over and play with our 5 year old daughter? She wants somebody to come over to “play and watch shows and have a sleepover, ’cause my little sister is too little to play, she can’t even walk!”
Please, send somebody to play with her. Her sister kept us up all night, and we’re desperate to get some sleep. And now she’s sprinkling fuzz she found somewhere in my hair. Help…
jeffreyw
Thread needs moar breakfast.
Peter
@Concerned Citizen: Have you given Gravity Falls a look? It’s like Twin Peaks and Mystery Inc. had a baby, and it’s really good.
hep kitty
My neighborhood has changed since I came here about 9 years ago. We used to be a lot of unmarried, middle-aged people. I have 4 spinsters on either side of me. One sister bought the other end of the duplex next door to live next door to her sister.
Also, an older bachelor, I’m going to say in his sixties or early seventies lives across from me.
But we have rentals, more rentals maybe(?) not sure, filled with people in their 20’s and 30’s.
We used to be mostly a cat neighborhood, now everybody has a dog! Which is all cool and stuff. It certainly makes things more interesting. We have no kids, all single people. I dont’ feel so weird not having kids.
Before the neighbor bought the other half of the duplex, one side which faces me, the guy renting on my side used to keep his blinds open 24/7 and walking around with no shirt on with the lights on at night. And then I started seeing lots of shirtless guys walking around in short shorts. Doing athletic things like running, cycling and roller-blading. But he had to move of course. Haven’t seen as many of those around.
They were in pretty good shape but too skinny for my taste. I typically don’t start lusting until I get to know someone and like their personality. I’m not totally shallow. :)
I used to wonder, the lights on at night and the half-nakedness, I had to wonder if he was doing it for the guys or the girls.
Things have changed but it makes it more fun to live here since there are still a bunch of oldies around. Too bad Cole doesn’t live in my ‘hood. Lotsa cute young girlies running around with dogs! Everyone single one of them has a dog!
Schlemizel
@Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (formerly Horrendo Slapp, et al.):
We had 2 kids 15 months apart (hey we planned! the second came 10 months after my vasectomy!) Both were problem sleepers & the older went through quite a few ear infections. I think we went about 3 years without a single nights sleep. Learn to love being a zombie! It passes eventually. I always ask people how old their kids are & sympathize at how whatever age they are is a tough age . . . and then add “but don’t worry, it gets worse!”
Villago Delenda Est
@Concerned Citizen:
Rule 34.
You’re soaking in it.
scav
@Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (formerly Horrendo Slapp, Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.): Ah yes, the subtext is you provided her with sub-standard companionship, so hop to! All high-stakes deals should be negotiated by 5-year-olds (and maybe are).
hep kitty
@jeffreyw: Aw, what a bundle of precious.
hep kitty
On a personal note, I have been seeing a hypnotherapist and he is helping me somewhat but I can’t deny I have developed a crush.
I’m going to have to find another hypnotherapist if I continue with this, but his price is good. It’s almost worth the money just to sit across from him and look into his eyes and listen to his soft soothing voice. :)
(sigh)
:(
hep kitty
Oh, and I am getting a promotion at work. :)
Am I better off than I was 4 years ago? Hell yes.
Ben Franklin
Cops nab Coptic…..http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/anti-muslim-film-nakoula-basseley-innocence-muslims.html
Interesting that he was arrested for bank fraud and convicted in 2009. He had two previous arrests in California; a three-strikes State, yet he was sentenced to 8 years.
Hmmmm. something really smells about this whole thing.
hep kitty
@SiubhanDuinne:
Not a poutrage this time but they’re being bastards alright, the cruel kind.
I’m starting to worry about the election. Talk that R’s don’t really care if they lose the election, because they have so many mechanisms in place on state levels to steal votes, pour massive amounts of cash into campaigns, and draft and pass legislation. It’s already sewn up in their interests.
Heard a radio caller the other day say that was one of the main goals of getting rid of ACORN which would have stood in their way of voter suppression otherwise.
If you look at the Romney campaign, really, do we need further evidence that they don’t care all that much about the presidency?
SiubhanDuinne
@hep kitty:
Thanks! No problems, and your hair looks GREAT!!
Spaghetti Lee
As far as MLP goes, I just don’t think it’s that great on an artistic level. The animation isn’t that great (I don’t like that super-shiny Flash stuff in general. No soul.) and I don’t think the characters are as well-made as the fans say. (The smart one! The tomboyish athletic one! The crazy one!)
I don’t think it’s because I’m trying to avoid ‘girly’ stuff. I did like Sailor Moon when I was younger (not a popular position among 8-year-old boys). But you have to understand, I’ve got a DeviantArt account, and MLP is like wallpaper there. Shiny, occasionally unsettling wallpaper.
raven
@hep kitty: You can worry yourself to death. It’s Saturday, enjoy yourself.
Mnemosyne
@MikeJ:
Congratulations! You are today’s winner of the internets.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ben Franklin:
Hmmm….is this guy black? Is he hispanic?
Not being one of those would explain his mysterious exemption from “three strikes”.
Dennis SGMM
I just want to thank the poster who mentioned “Gangnam Style.” I ain’t had so much fun since the Macarena.
dance around in your bones
@BruceFromOhio: That site is fucking hilarious.
Who knew there were so many undiscovered comedy writers in this totes Exceptional Nation?
Ben Franklin
@Villago Delenda Est:
Not being one of those would explain his mysterious exemption from “three strikes”.
How’s that?
lamh35
Anyone else kinda afraid that Romney/Ryan will start receiving intelligence briefing soon? After this past week, I suspect that Romney is outsourcing his FP creds to his advisors. Whatever they say he should say he does. So I fully expect that Romney will hand off the classified briefings to those advisors and I would not be surprised to have Romney use this classified information to score political points.
“Romney Campaign in Crisis”
http://nymag.com/news/politics/powergrid/mitt-romney-middle-east-unrest-2012-9/
SiubhanDuinne
@hep kitty:
Congratulations!
dance around in your bones
@Anatoliĭ Lъudьvigovich Bzyp (formerly Horrendo Slapp, Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.):
Oh, do I sympathize. I was left with the two littlest grandkids for over 5 hours yesterday, and their mom was texting ‘are you ok?’ and I said sure, except the 2 yr old won’t keep his diaper on, has peed in the house 6 times (once right on the floor by my bed) and is currently jumping on my back and shouting “Hello! Hello!” in my ear.
This was after two little boys bursting into my room at 6am wanting to play WAR! with their newly discovered card decks.
They are all just so cute in retrospect ;)
plosin
@Dennis SGMM: Truman Capote
Cassidy
Im not a briny, but I have been exposed to MLP through my kids, including the boy. It’s a great cartoon, funny and well written, second only to Pjineas and Ferb IMO. I enjoy watching it.
arguingwithsignposts
@lamh35:
You know, I get what the person is writing, but that bit was just uncalled for and, frankly, stupid beltway conventional wisdom.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ben Franklin:
Well, he’s not one of “those people”, you know.
You’d think this was a bright line thing, but somehow, it doesn’t seem to be, at least in his case. Perhaps his crimes, being financial in nature, aren’t quite as bad as selling joints within 100 miles of an elementary school?
Ben Franklin
@Villago Delenda Est:
I thought that was your point. He’s only being held for questioning, but he is on probation and the terms were supervised internet use, which seems a violation. If he walks, I am gonna get real suspicious.
scav
@lamh35: Look at the damage he can do without them — because a case can be made in this over-determined mess that his linking the events to the actions of the president and focusing the election-focused media upon events overseas added air to to the fire allowing for a bigger blowout (anyone wanting to stage a high-visibility protest probably leapt on this). So no, not particularly worried on exactly this point because there damn well likely should be some impressive statements to sign before he gets to peep at them. Small chance that might convince him there might be actual consequences to him personally if he mouths off again.
Brachiator
@lamh35:
I don’t know what the rules and traditions are with respect to this. I can understand giving the winner of a presidential election this info in advance of the January inauguration, but otherwise don’t see any point in providing this info.
But I am sure that Romney can get info from other sources. And yes, he will politicize it. And even if he didn’t get info, he will make shit up.
Perhaps like 50 Shades of Grey, Romney’s foreign policy stuff is indifferent fiction that surprisingly appeals to a core of voters.
raven
Butterflies.
arguingwithsignposts
On the other side, I assume Obama was receiving national security briefings during the 2008 campaign, along with McCain. I don’t see any reason to worry about that. Dipshits in Congress receive those briefings and do stupid shit anyway.
raven
@arguingwithsignposts: People will find something to worry about no matter what.
rlrr
@arguingwithsignposts:
They were both Senators at the time, if that makes a difference…
hep kitty
@SiubhanDuinne: Thank you! I’m really looking forward to it. Actually, 4 years ago, I never would have dreamed that things would turn around like this!
I was in total despair, trying to figure out what to do with my cat in case I had to move in with relatives. That was the real rub and a source of intense heartache.
But in the end, I didn’t have to do that (altho I wanted desperately to move and get out of this town).
I wish there was a blog dedicated solely to comments from people who are better off now than 4 years ago and how their lives have changed for the better. But of course the trolling would probably crash the site.
Cacti
Since it’s an open thread, I have to share.
Blood is boiling from a facebook fight with my Mormon/Republican in-laws. My wife posted a meme of Mitt in his smirking glory, with the caption “Dead Ambassadors Make Me Smile!”.
I added in the comments: Mitt would show the same brave leadership he showed during the Vietnam draft. And: I think after his 4th deferment, he was awarded the distinguished fleeing cross.
Since then, it’s been on and popping.
rlrr
Last night at a local arts festival, I noticed the local Republican club had no Todd Akin material, as if he never existed…
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Villago Delenda Est:
That’s pretty much it — in California, the felony has to be committed in person in order to be eligible for three strikes. (It’s supposed to be “violent crimes,” but it’s pretty much worked out to “crimes committed in person.”) So stealing $10 of batteries from a store is eligible for 3 Strikes, but stealing millions via computer is not.
hep kitty
@raven: Yeh, thx. Actually, the spectacle of the Romney campaign helps keep me upbeat most of the time.
jeffreyw
@raven: Nice! Bugs are fun!
Ben Franklin
@Cacti:
Yeah. I’ve had some internecine bouts on FB, and it’s probably not the place for political gotchas’
jake the snake
Bronies? Rule 34/36, that is all we need to know.
Other than the fact that Bronies are likely to be
Republicans.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ben Franklin:
They have prima facie evidence that he violated his terms of probation (use of the internet) so this should be, should be, a no brainer. Away he goes into the hell that is the California Penal System.
If it isn’t, well, something is up.
Cacti
@Ben Franklin:
Generally speaking, I agree about the political gotchas. But my Mormon friends/family think of Mitt like the second coming of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ rolled into one, and have been very free with anti-Obama posts.
Turn about is fair play.
scav
@Ben Franklin: I don’t know, at least on the FB there are no actual turkey carving knives and horse-radish sauce readily to hand. Scheduling inevitable spats before TDay might be filed under preventative care.
Dennis SGMM
@plosin:
Thank you! My search-fu is weak today and I couldn’t even find the quote.
Ben Franklin
@Cacti:
Oh, I believe in payback, and have found when the sting is returned, the bullshit subsides.
Ben Franklin
@scav:
*chuckle* If you wait until after the Turkey to argue, most will fall asleep before they think of the knife.
arguingwithsignposts
@rlrr:
I’m not sure if it does. Did GWB receive security briefings after he won the R nomination in 2000? That’s the closest analogous situation I can think of.
hep kitty
@Cacti: I want to ask these folks a few simple questions:
Remember when Bush was “elected”? Of course we believe the election was stolen, but whichever you believe, was there anybody in Democratic leadership who stated publicly that the number one priority was to destroy the Bush presidency and pray for it’s failure, immediately after he was sworn in? I have the quotes if you don’t believe me.
Did anyone in the Dem leadership ever, at any time, express such a sentiment during the Bush presidency, even as it grew more and more dangerous.
How do you reconcile that? (you may have to explain what reconcile means) it’s a 3-syllable word.
Brachiator
@Cacti:
Sounds like fun. Keep up the good work. It is understandable that political fights can erupt on FB, and counterpunching can be effective against those who live in the Fox News bubble.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti:
It’s the fucking White Horse prophecy that these cultists are so eager to deny has anything at all do do with anything at all.
scav
@Ben Franklin: alas, my lot has insomnia and can kill with whipped cream.
Villago Delenda Est
@arguingwithsignposts:
It’s been custom for the major party candidates to receive these briefings once they’re the nominees of the major parties. As both a courtesy, and as an acknowledgement that they might need this information soon because the burden of acting on it may fall on their shoulders.
I don’t think the briefings get very detailed, so detailed that sources and methods are revealed to the candidates, only the information, which is usually already out there in the media. The briefings have the cachet of being based on detailed information from confidential sources that is filtered to conceal those sources, and furthermore is filtered by those familiar with the sources’ histories to cull the bs from them. One of Cheney’s intense desires was to get the stuff he wanted to get without the analysts putting in their two cents on the credibility of the source, that’s the whole “stovepiping” thing…he wanted do do the analysis himself, without those underlings cutting out the juicy stuff he could then present to the deserting coward to get him to “gut react” in the right way so as to further enhance Halliburton stock values.
Cacti
@Brachiator:
My favorite moment was when my brother-in-law tried to pull rank on me and ask me if I’d ever served in the Armed Forces. He served two years in the Air Force, but his occupation was overstaffed, and he was offered an out before getting sent to Iraq, which he took without hesitation.
I just happened to bring that up, since he wanted to make it personal, and puff out his chest for being a “veteran”.
Todd
@hep kitty:
In the past, Americans wanted there to be a successful presidency, at least in principle. This years’ campaign flipped that noble sentiment on its ear, and the normal policy opposition stuff has given way to outright ratfucking – I wonder why?
I will also point out that it took Franklin Roosevelt more than two terms (with a cooperative Congress) to haul capitalism out of the Great Depression and to save us from the brilliance of laissez faire financial policy. Obama has been working on the Bush recession for under 4 years with a Congress made up of treasonous obstreperous fucktards, and salvaged a shitload.
OT – just spent the past two hours trying to give directions over the phone to an obstinate, ornery, demanding and accusatory 17 year old with no sense of direction and no filter on her mouth. I think I know how Obama feels when he has to deal with House Republicans.
raven
@jeffreyw: Hell yes!
raven
@Cacti: Sounds like bullshit to me, what MOS was riffed?
Chris
@WereBear:
This.
I went on a binge of “classic” French detective and adventure novels recently (Alexandre Dumas, Maurice Leblanc, Jules Verne). You know what? If my French teachers at the lycee had assigned any of that stuff instead of Balzac, kids would fucking read.
(Translated to English: I’ll read Arthur Conan Doyle over Herman Melville any day).
Joel
Lede from the LA Times article on Mitt Romney’s latest:
raven
Pitt is slappin my Hokies!
Applejinx
@jake the snake: Okay, NOW you’re a complete bastard ;)
Juiceponies represent! (and I’m not talking about Fluttershy with juice boxes!)
Bronies are as awesome as any freaky internet subculture, with a helpful liberal spin provided from the source, Lauren Faust, who clearly does not agree that women should be doing laundry and being legitimately raped, and who has put together a lively and really human show (considering that it’s all ponies)
And I’m not sorry for spoogey Rarity at all. Dude, you know that’s her fetish. The spa ponies, Aloe and Vera, will clean her right up: win/win. How dare you judge what a consenting pony chooses to do behind the closed doors of her bedroom or the secret back room of her boutique where she keeps the kinky bridle-wear they don’t let her model in the TV show?
Josie
@jeffreyw: I love that picture of Homer. I remember when his ears were bigger than he was, and now he is all grown up. Sigh….
Alison
@Joel: To borrow a phrase, talk about being for it before you were against it.
Ben Cisco
@Cacti: Kudos.
Ruckus
@dance around in your bones:
except the 2 yr old won’t keep his diaper on, has peed in the house 6 times (once right on the floor by my bed)
I have heard that there are grown men(and women) who do the same thing. Some people never had the
childinfant removed when they get older.Jebediah
@Peter:
I’m watching that right this minute. Kristen Schaal is fantastic as the voice of Mabel.
Dennis SGMM
@Chris:
And I’ll take Nathaniel Hawthorne over either of them. His short story, “Wakefield” still nails me to the wall.
dance around in your bones
@Ruckus:
I knew a guy who used to pee in the potted plants when he was hammered. Made him REAL popular.
eta: This is gonna be one of those days where we get no new posts for 9 hours, right?
JPL
@raven: yup.. today I sorta miss cable since the cal/ohio st sucks..
JPL
@dance around in your bones: Was it Kinkaid? He got himself into trouble at disneyland doing that a few years ago. Not anymore though.
raven
@JPL: I’ve got 2 games on the tube and the Illini on the iPad. Check ESPN 3 online.
raven
@JPL: You should get 9 right?
dance around in your bones
@JPL: Nope.
I will not reveal his identity which would further embarrass his hammered ass.
♩ ♪Oh let me tell you ’bout the Mystery Piss♫ ♬
suzanne
@Cacti:
Those words alone raise my blood pressure. You have my deepest sympathies, and if we’re ever in the same bar, I’ll totes buy you a drink to cry into.
Don’t back down.
Brachiator
@Dennis SGMM:
Still does not make up for the pain and suffering that The Scarlet Letter inflicts on school children every year.
Cacti
@raven:
I don’t know. That’s his story anyway.
It was awfully convenient that he was able to get the hell out of Dodge right before he was slated to go into harm’s way.
JPL
@raven: I’m not sure what 9 is but the games showing are the same that I can stream online at espn3. Espn3 blacks out a lot of the games now. I will watch the Alabama game later to see if Arkansas can do anything against them. That should be interesting.
raven
@JPL: Channel 9, Peachtree TV.
raven
@JPL: Bama will moider da bums. Meanwhile we play another goddamn high school team so I’m going to eat my tickets and watch Fla-Tenn.
raven
Hooo baby, devastating block on a 95 yard punt return for the Hokies!
burnspbesq
@hep kitty:
Outstanding! Congrats.
burnspbesq
Also too, the new Bob Mould album is one of his best ever.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@JPL: Arkansas’ QB is out. The Tide will roll.
the Conster
@Cacti:
My sister has been subject to the Obama is a seekrit Kenyan Muslim thing by friends that she has to see a lot, and she’s been able to shut them up by saying that she could never vote for Mitt because he’s half Mexican and his ancestors were ex-pat polygamists with all of these Mexican relatives he won’t talk about and his religion is really really weird with strange secret rituals. With the added benefit of being all true.
JPL
@raven: Thanks Peachtree is seventeen and cw is 69. They are showing Conn/Maryland
Jebediah
@Cassidy:
Wouldn’t that be a Spongebob fan?
Jebediah
@Todd:
I admire your patience. I see myself making it about ten minutes into the obstinate, ornery, etc. before saying “fucking find it yourself, then.”
nickgb
I never have and never will read the 50 shades garbage, but this woman wrote some fantastic reviews of them: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/340987215
It’s worth the whole read, but the word counts she did are my favorite part:
Word Count:
“Oh My” – 79
“Crap” – 101
“Jeez” – 82
“Holy (shit/fuck/crap/hell/cow/moses)” – 172
“Whoa” – 13
“Gasp” – 34
“Gasps” – 11
“Sharp Intake of Breath” – 4
“Murmur” – 68
“Murmurs” – 139
“Whisper” – 96
“Whispers” – 103
“Mutter” – 28
“Mutters” – 23
“Fifty” – 16
“Lip” – 71
“Inner goddess” – 58
“Subconscious” – 82
Kat
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