If it keeps on raining, the levee’s going to break.
Chat about whatever.
***Update***
Moved it down a spot, because obviously rock beats scissors and Mayhew beats open thread.
by Tim F| 65 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
If it keeps on raining, the levee’s going to break.
Chat about whatever.
***Update***
Moved it down a spot, because obviously rock beats scissors and Mayhew beats open thread.
Comments are closed.
Belafon
This may have been written by someone here, but the title of this Daily Kos diary is hilarious: America Shocked As It’s Revealed: Bill Kristol May Be Right About Something.
ETA: The gist of the diary is Kristol’s prediction that Clinton’s healthcare bill becoming law would hurt Republicans is true because of what’s happening with the ACA. This is the first paragraph, to save you from going there:
Betty Cracker
Appropriate song for my area today. No downpours yet, but the radar shows it’s a’coming.
RobertB
Nothing beats rock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyCa-LHtIKE
Shakezula
@Belafon: Does Der Blutig acknowledge that any harm is 100% self-inflicted? If not there may still be hope.
p.s. I know that no one is perfect, but I think Bonham got pretty close with his drumming for this song.
Roger Moore
It’s going to have to rain a lot harder than it is right now before any of the levees in my neck of the woods break. I’m actually getting some precipitation- which is a big deal given how dry California has been- but it could rain this hard forever without threatening the levees.
Wally Ballou
Big sports day here in Detroit. The Tigers are playing the Royals at Comerica Park starting at 4 pm local time. Then, right next door at Ford Field, the Lions open the season against the Giants at 7.
Given that Woodward Avenue is currently torn up for the M-1 light rail project, I suspect the traffic situation this evening is going to be “interesting” in the Chinese sense.
raven
Awright, the fucking Enterprise pickup is 45 minutes late!
sheldon vogt
The Katrina anthem.
Chyron HR
Obviously a reference to when
Liv TylerGlorfindel summons a mighty wave to sweep away the Nazgul.Hey, puff and pass, dude. Don’t bogart it.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Transporter is down. Scotty’s working on it.
Cacti
A white teenage thug resisted arrested and assaulted a police officer, after fleeing from a 3-car hit and run in Philadelphia.
Strangely enough, this vicious thug wasn’t shot, tasered, or clubbed repeatedly.
In an utterly unrelated coincidence, the suspect was a female, driving a BMW.
Tractarian
BREAKING:
Based on a transcript of his interview with the President, Chuck Todd may suffer from a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder.
mai naem mobile
We are getting a ton of rain in Phoenix today. I woke up early am and I thought the dishwasher was broken but it was the noise from the rain. At least a third of schools are closed. Freeways are parking lots. Flash flood warning. Jeezus, the end times are here and I’m not going to go to heaven. Oh, well.
Amir Khalid
@Shakezula:
I’m fighting hard to keep my inner Grammar Nazi from pointing out that that should be Der Blutige.
I guess I lost. Oh, the shame.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax is at it again:
Kissinger: Iran Is Bigger Threat Than ISIS
George Will: Putin Is Greater Threat Than ISIS
Hillary: George Michael Is Much More Humonger Threat Than ISIS
OK, I made the last one up.
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid: Go stand in the corner. Or, as they say in Der Vaterland….oh never mind.
Violet
@Tractarian: Chuck Todd was seriously nervous in that interview. In the only clip I saw, he had his left hand pointed up and was rubbing his fingers and thumbs together–sure sign of being nervous. His first time as official MTP host and he interviews the president for it. I can imagine it was kind of nerve-wracking. Doesn’t excuse that “gotcha” style though. Dumbass.
Villago Delenda Est
@Tractarian: You meant a rectal cranial inversion, didn’t you?
Because that’s been known for quite some time now.
Mustang Bobby
@Wally Ballou: Go Tigers.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
But middle-aged gay Greek-British pop singers like George Michael are a bigger threat to the West than any bunch of Iraqi religious zealots could ever be.
Shakezula
Here’s an original version (I think I’ve heard it with Memphis Minnie on vocals).
Villago Delenda Est
@Mustang Bobby: Sorry, but as a Mariner fan, I must insist that the Tigers roll over and repeatedly die.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
Im Vaterland … I’ll go quietly, Officer.
MattF
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m waiting for ‘Obama is a greater threat than…”
chopper
@Tractarian:
CT had that ‘gotcha’ line in the can and was gonna use it no matter what.
Mnemosyne
Blogwhoring for the weekday folks: my Pre-Code movies blog is back and I have an essay about Norma Shearer’s The Divorcee (1930). I may try to also cover Night Nurse (starring Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable) and give my DVR recommendations for this Friday, so stay tuned!
Shakezula
@Amir Khalid: Shouldn’t Grammar Nazi use the German word for Grammar? Or perhaps your entire post.
chopper
man my house has gotten like 8 inches of rain in the last month. this sure aint california.
Mnemosyne
@Tractarian:
We were watching John Oliver’s show last night and they had two segments of “60 Minutes” interviewers prompting people to get the soundbite they want. I know that’s their schtick, but it was pretty striking to have it all edited together.
Villago Delenda Est
@chopper: The narrative must be served.
Always.
Ruckus
@mai naem mobile:
I don’t want to go to heaven. None of my friends will be there. And who wants to make friends with perfect people? Boring.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ruckus: Yes, but the other place will have Jerry Falwell.
Villago Delenda Est
@Cacti: I’m shocked, shocked.
Schlemizel
@Tractarian:
I assume brain damage caused by extended exposure to methane gas. Given where he keeps his head most time I am stunned he is not dead from it yet.
Roger Moore
@Schlemizel:
Methane is mostly harmless, unless it builds up to a flammable concentration. Hydrogen sulfide, OTOH, is a potent neurotoxin and is probably what’s doing the damage.
Suzanne
Today is the wettest day in Phoenix’s recorded history. It has been pouring for hours, and there are floods all over the city. There has been more rain in the last six hours than there was all last year. Across the city, there are stranded cars, flooded roads and washes, canceled schools, collapsed roofs, and thousands without power.
I am eagerly awaiting some dry heat jokes.
Randy P
There was some discussion over the weekend about the new Equalizer movie. I’m looking forward to seeing the new take on the character (and if you’re a fan of the Edward Woodward show and have never seen The Wicker Man, I recommend it)
I’m kind of ambivalent about another upcoming movie, A Walk Among the Tombstones. I love the Matthew Scudder novels and most other things Lawrence Block writes, but am not sure how this will transition to film. Liam Neeson? Really?
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Well, someone gave me an “It’s a dry rain” joke yesterday. See if that fits.
Suzanne
@Steeplejack: Not too bad.
I am really looking forward to the inevitable videos of turd burglars who drive into the washes, get stuck, and have to be airlifted off the tops of their cars. Can’t-miss viewing every summer around here.
trollhattan
Trying to recall whether we’ve had a significant storm this year. I guess the question is its own answer.
Le sigh.
Amir Khalid
@Shakezula:
Hmm…
Ich kämpfe gegen meinem inneren Grammatiknazi, damit er es nicht aufmerksam machen, dass das Der Blutige sollte.
Steeplejack
@Randy P:
Probably badly. Hollywood has a long history of buying good books, throwing away everything but the title and some vestigial trace of the original premise and then flying into the nearest mountain. The Tom Cruise movie Jack Reacher was actually okay as a movie, but it had very little to do with Lee Child’s protagonist or the books. (Example: Movie has an extended car chase with Cruise doing fancy driving; in the books it is a fact repeatedly belabored that Reacher is an indifferent driver at best. Also, Reacher in the books is a rough-hewn giant: 6'4", 250 pounds. In the movie tiny Tom Cruise is tiny.)
Get Shorty was a very good adaptation of the Elmore Leonard book, but I have read that that was mostly because John Travolta was a big Leonard fan, was appalled at the first script he read and through sheer star power forced the project back to the book. And, Christ, an Elmore Leonard novel practically is a script; there’s really not much that you need to change.
I thought Hal Ashby’s Eight Million Ways to Die (1986) was a pretty good movie, and Jeff Bridges did a fair take on the Matt Scudder character (ex-drunk ex-cop), but it had been so long since I read the book when I saw it that I couldn’t compare the plot points. I do know that Scudder is a quintessential New York guy, and the movie is sun-drenched California.
That said, my interest is piqued by A Walk Among the Tombstones. I’ll probably try to forget that it’s based on a book and just feel good for Lawrence Block getting a big check.
Also: The new Reacher novel, Personal, which just came out last week, is a big disappointment, in my opinion. Lee Child has reached the dreaded “phoning it in” phase. At least it took him 19 books to reach that point (although some of the other recent ones have been a little underwhelming).
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
damit er es nicht aufmerksam macht, goshdarn it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Steeplejack: THEN there are books that have no business at all being adapted in any way, shape, or form recognizable to the readers of those books.
The entire Ayn Rand oeuvre, for example.
ranchandsyrup
Once again, I endorse the A Perfect Circle version of when the levee breaks. I also renew my objection to the name a perfect circle in a strict mathematical sense.
Shakezula
@Randy P: As in the T.V. show?
Without spoiling the book (too much) I am not surprised Tombstones got tapped for a movie make-over, it has lots of the right kind of violence.
I wonder if Neeson got picked for this one since he was in another movie about women in the hands of bad dudes. He sure as hell isn’t my idea of Matt Scudder.
BlueNC
@Amir Khalid:
dass es Der Blutige sein sollte.
better would be:
dass Der Blutige korrekt ist.
Amir Khalid
@BlueNC:
I am standing corrected.
BlueNC
@Amir Khalid: I dont’ have anything useful to contribute, so I’m going with this. Maybe I should change my handle to Grammatikprofi. (BTW, “Nazi” is pretty much the N-word of Germany. Not to be used, ever.)
Unrelated: Ray Rice. Good Lord.
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
I remember seeing those most winters while visiting my parents in AZ. Lots of talk about friggin’ idiots who think they can drive through a wash because they have four-wheel drive.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
For me, the choice for Best Elmore Leonard Adaptation is a toss-up between Jackie Brown and Out of Sight. Plus Michael Keaton plays the same character for two different directors in two different movies, which is the kind of inside joke I always love.
The Thin Black Duke
@Mnemosyne: Speaking of Michael Keaton, I’m hearing very good things about the upcoming Birdman. In spite of what F. Scott Fitzgerald said, I think Mr. Keaton is enjoying an exceptional “second act” of his career.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Both of those are great movies. I particularly like Out of Sight, but I like almost all things Soderbergh. And it’s very true to the (excellent) novel. I think Jackie Brown took more liberties (from the novel Rum Punch), but it’s still very Leonardesque.
Footnote to history: Back in my newspaper days I interviewed Pam Grier at the height of her ’70s blaxploitation phase. ¡Caramba! And very intelligent and articulate. Too bad she couldn’t get better material for so long.
Gene108
@Chyron HR:
Elrond summoned the wave
Mnemosyne
@The Thin Black Duke:
I’ve always liked Michael Keaton — I still think he was a great choice to play Batman. Birdman looks interesting, though González Iñárritu wouldn’t be my first choice to direct anything comic.
@Steeplejack:
I still love the story that Grier told about getting the call from Tarantino to say he was going to send her a script and she should look at the part of Jackie Brown. The script arrives and right there on the cover page, the title is Jackie Brown. She was great in it and she and Robert Forester had terrific chemistry together.
ETA: One of the big changes Tarantino made was to set it in Los Angeles instead of Florida, but I thought it really worked. It helped that I was working in South Bay at the time so I recognized a lot of the locations.
Bob In Portland
On the BBC overnight I heard what is probably a test flag of what the MH17 report will be. The reporter spent a lot of time comparing Putin to villains in a Dr. Who episode, and pointed to two local eyewitnesses on the ground who claimed to see a BUK battery and people speaking Russian.
Note: Nothing about the black boxes. Nothing about the air tower recordings that the Ukraine government seized. Nothing about Ukrainian fighter jets in the area. No intel satellite photos, no Ukrainian civil or military radar.
There was also a mention about the photo montage put together that Amir linked to (for the Daily Beast, I think, which the Russians dissected as another false bit of evidence, pointing out that the photos weren’t where they were supposed to be but were in areas controlled by the Ukrainian army).
Will BJers accept an investigation that’s lacking air tower recordings, black boxes, intel satellites et al?
I’m guessing so. But if in fact all these things are included how much will I accept? Well, we’ll have to look at the evidence. I’ll be interested in how the world reacts.
Meanwhile, it appears that this weekend’s kerfluffle over truce violations seems not to be very much of a story after all. However, most commenters I’ve seen believe the truce won’t hold. The rebels won’t give up their territory or put down their weapons, and while the Ukrainian army seems to have been reduced, and there’s no hope for a fresh influx of weapons to stem the tide.
Does that mean that there will be a long war? Yes, and no. It won’t end, but the longer the truce lasts the more attention will be turned to the failing economics of the Kiev government. It appears that Poroshenko, or whoever takes his place after the next coup, will need the civil war as a distraction, but it won’t have the means to execute it.
Then there’s talk about a second front opening in the Carpathians. I don’t think that there’s enough unrest there (yet), and besides, the various parts from which Ukraine was constructed will break off as the central government loses control over the edges of its territory.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Bob In Portland: Here’s a BBC link that discusses what BiP is talking about…
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Damn it! FYWP is killing my responses. Will try later.
ETA: Okay, this one went through. Must be something in the others that it didn’t like. But I’m pretty sure they’re free of the forbidden words.
Mnemosyne
@Steeplejack:
I got caught up in one of the weirder FYWP words the other day — you can’t post the last name of Sherlock Holmes’ doctor friend. No clue why.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Mnemosyne: Interesting. You’re right. But is Wattson Ok?
Looks like it. Hmm…
Cheers,
Scott.
Bob In Portland
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Here is an article from The Nation
Does anyone think that this expansion was coincidental? What are the US’s national interests in eastern Europe and central Asia? As long as BJers continue to believe that this is merely white hats versus black hats the never-ending war is inevitable.
Bob In Portland
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Scott, did you notice how there was no mention of the black boxes, Ukrainian radar, and especially the air tower recordings? Why do you think that the Ukrainians have withheld them? I’ll also note that in the article there are three unidentified witnesses instead of the two mentioned on BBC overnight, which is stronger proof, right?
Is that enough for you to hang your helmet on?
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Bob In Portland: If you would loosen that tinfoil wrapped around your head, you would know that the interim report on MH17 is due out tomorrow. Give it a try! Then you’ll be able to answer these repetitive questions yourself, if your friends at
Putin TodayRT let you, I guess.HTH!!
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne:
Okay, here goes:
The move from Florida to California didn’t hurt Jackie Brown. Similar sun-drenched settings and requisite lowlife supporting characters available.
Robert Forster hits a nerve for me, because he was great in Jackie Brown and represents a bunch of actors who get short shrift because (back in the day) they were “on TV” or (nowadays) they’re known for only one type of role.
My inner casting director is always saying, “He/she would be great in x,” followed by my inner studio exec: “Yeah, no. That’ll never happen.”
ETA: I ran some tests in an old, dead thread, and it turns out that what FYWP didn’t like was the phrase “reality checker” (instead of “studio exec” above). WTF.
Bob In Portland
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Yes, the report is tomorrow. If the report doesn’t include the air traffic recordings, radar, or intel sat photos, will you presume to have gotten the full story?
My original post on the BBC report was to indicate that it was precisely a trial balloon to see if they could fly this version, without all the other data, and would the world be satisfied. I suspect that Russia has a package of information that will be released simultaneously. We know that Russia’s radar covers Ukraine. I would guess that they have satellite photos too. They may also have a copy of the air control tower’s conversations. I would guess that Russia has plenty of operatives in Ukraine.
My point was to mention what WASN’T in the BBC report. Unidentified witnesses don’t trump pictures or recordings.