I thought this attempt by Google to summarize Bert Cooper was pretty funny. And here’s an Oscars story for those who give a shit.
Archives for March 2014
Your Late Night Steve
Steve is now fond of sitting on the highest peak of the cat tower and attacking the bird like toy on the string, which, as you can see is swinging from his latest assault.
I attribute this new found interest in the fact that we have been feeding the birds every time it snows, and he has discovered that looking at them through the glass sliding doors meow-chirping is a solid way to spend the day.
It is so weird how both he and Tunch are magnificent beasts, yet in completely different ways. And if your cat does not weigh 16 lbs+, it’s just a kitten. There. I said it.
Attention: Subaru and Ad Execs
I have an ad for you. The scene, two bearded and middle-aged Army buddies sitting on a porch seeing each other for the first time in decades, and it is snowing, and they are just shooting the breeze drinking coffee.
Shawn: Been a while.
John: Yup. Too long.
Shawn: Good coffee. Better than what we were used to.
John: No doubt. Were y’all getting a bunch of snow in Maryland?
Shawn: Yeah, it was tough getting here. You know they banned chains on your tires in Maryland?
John: No, why?
Shawn: They tear up the roads so they were banned. Makes a mess for the people who live in the country. Are they banned in West Virginia?
John: Man, I really don’t know and never thought about it. I drive a Subaru.
I will sell you that commercial for two brand new fully loaded Subaru vehicles of our choices. And it would work.
Well, THIS is concerning.
In a New York Times article about the current events going on in Ukraine and the President’s efforts to deal with this situation, there is the following passage regarding a phone call that the President took today from German Chancellor Angela Merkel:
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told Mr. Obama by telephone on Sunday that after speaking with Mr. Putin she was not sure he was in touch with reality, people briefed on the call said. “In another world,” she said.
I don’t know what bothers me more–that Merkel said that she thinks the leader of one of the most powerful nuclear armed states in the world, who has embarked on a very dangerous course of action is not playing with a full deck, or that staff thought that this was something that needed to be put out into the world.
Updated–added a link to the article.
Long Read: “The Murders Before the Marathon”
For those who don’t watch the Oscars and / or True Detective. Susan Zalkind, in Boston magazine:
It’s nearly midnight in a nondescript condo complex a few blocks from Universal Studios in Orlando, and Tatiana Gruzdeva has been crying all day. Though neither of us knows it yet, as she sits on the corner of her bed and sobs in tiny convulsions, the fact that she’s talking to me will lead to her being arrested by federal agents, placed in solitary confinement, and deported back to Russia.
Next to us on the bed are nine teddy bears. Eight of them came with her from Tiraspol, Moldova. The ninth was a gift from her boyfriend, Ibragim Todashev. Today would have been Ibragim’s 28th birthday, but he is not here to see it, because in the early hours of May 22, 2013, a Boston FBI agent shot and killed him in this very apartment, under circumstances so strange that a Florida state prosecutor has opened an independent investigation. According to the FBI, just before Ibragim was shot—seven times, in two bursts, including once in the top of the head—he was about to write a confession implicating himself and alleged Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in a brutal triple homicide that took place in Waltham, Massachusetts, in September 2011.
I’m sitting awkwardly at one end of the twin bed. She’s crying quietly, cross-legged at the other end, wearing shorts and a white shirt with sequins. Most of her outfits have sequins or rhinestones. She’s 19. I’m 26. We both have long blond hair. We’ve both been close to men who were in trouble with the law, and lost them violently. We’ve been talking for about an hour, mostly about men, and parties, and moving forward after a tragedy. Ibragim was a good man, she says. He could never have committed a murder…
I try to comfort her, but it’s complicated. We both want to know why Ibragim Todashev was killed. She wants to clear his name. For me, and for the families of the Waltham murder victims, Ibragim’s shooting may have snuffed out the last chance at finding out what really happened that night. In the back of my mind is this question: Did her dead boyfriend kill my friend Erik?…
If you believe the FBI’s account, then you must also believe this: If Waltham police had figured out who hacked three men to death on September 11, 2011, there’s a good chance we would not be talking about the Boston Marathon bombings. Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Ibragim Todashev might be alive and in jail. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev might be just another mop-headed, no-name stoner at UMass Dartmouth. There would be no One Fund. Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, and Martin Richard would still be alive. Sean Collier would have graduated from the MIT police department to the Somerville Police Department by now. And for the friends and family of the three men who died in Waltham, perhaps their grief would not still be paired with such haunting questions…
Warning: Graphic photos at the top of the second page of the link.
And you thought the True Detective storyline was weird and convoluted… Zalkind’s report was done in collaboration with This American Life, which will be broadcasting its own report this Friday, March 7. The independent investigation by the Florida prosecutor is due for release ‘by the end of March’. Since the FBI is best known in the Boston area for more than thirty years of aiding & abetting Whitey Bulger, our hope of getting honest information are understandably not high.
Long Read: “The Murders Before the Marathon”Post + Comments (19)
Oscar Predictions / Red Carpet Open Thread
By request. The Fug Girls liveblog for NYMag is going on now; the Vulture critics blog of the ceremony itself goes up at 8:30pm EST.
Anybody got links to other good blogs and/or streaming video?
Predictions about winners?
Speaking of winners, the Razzies ceremony was last night. Per the Washington Post:
Will and Jaden Smith have something they can bond over. They were both awarded Razzies for their performances in “After Earth.”…
“After Earth,” which was directed by M. Night Shyamalan, tied with “Movie 43” for the most prizes with three awards. The raunchy comedy anthology featuring the likes of Halle Berry, Richard Gere, Kate Winslet and Naomi Watts earned Razzies for worst picture, screenplay and director…
Tyler Perry also didn’t receive any good tidings from the Razzies . Perry — as feisty alter-ego Madea — was picked as worst actress for “A Madea Christmas,” while Kim Kardashian was designated worst supporting actress for her role in the drama “Tyler Perry’s Temptation.”
Despite being the year’s biggest box-office bomb, “The Lone Ranger” lassoed just one prize: worst remake, rip-off or sequel.
Uncharacteristically, Adam Sandler went home empty handed at this year’s Razzies…
Some years, the competition is just too intense!
Oscar Predictions / Red Carpet Open ThreadPost + Comments (428)
NYC Meet-Up, Tuesday, March 4th
Commentor Abo Gato and her husband are visiting NYC, and area resident Diana volunteered Ballaro in the East Village, on Tuesday evening, as a good place for a meet-up.
Anybody interested in showing up, leave a comment below (or email me by clicking on my name in the right-hand column) so Diana can get a rough headcount for reservations.