Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you can’t control your emotions, someone else will.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

We still have time to mess this up!

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Come on, man.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

This really is a full service blog.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Books are my comfort food!

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

When we show up, we win.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / My (sort of) Butter Lamb for Easter

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58Comments

  1. 1.

    No One of Consequence

    Thought of this this morning. Post was obligatory:
    Tank Ees Bunny Bawk Bawk
    https://youtu.be/_m3eJxZEai0?t=26
    You’re welcome if you remember. If not, watch the whole thing.

    Good will to you all, peace in our hearts, steel in our spines.
    -NOoC

  2. 2.

    prostratedragon

    Henry is a wonderful butter lamb stand-in!

     

    Until, of course, one tries to spread him on a hot roll.

  5. 5.

    TaMara

    Henry is, as always, adorable.

    Prime has the original Jesus Christ Superstar film right now – watching it in the background, and it’s so psychedelic I’m pretty certain I’m getting an acid flashback. (Not as psychedelic as Hair, though)

    Shout out to my 4th-grade music teacher for introducing us to Hair and JCS albums at a tender age.

  6. 6.

    narya

    Happy Easter to those who celebrate. About to start some bread (gonna try the Pain de Campagne for the fourth damn time, plus the Sesame Wheat), and also make a cake for later (dinner w/ Downstairs Neighbor–duck breast, plus I’m making butternut squash risotto). And I have to make crackers or granola; my sourdough discard tried to take over the refrigerator. I think I’m going to make this almond berry cake, except I’m going to substitute some pistachio flour for some of the almond flour, and I’m going to use tart cherries from the farm share. Tempted to add mini chocolate chips . .

    ETA: Last night I watched, for the first time, “All About Eve” Damn.

  7. 7.

    Chat Noir

    Henry is sooooo cute!!

    @TaMara:

    Shout out to my 4th-grade music teacher for introducing us to Hair and JCS albums at a tender age.

    My 4th grade teacher used to play The 5th Dimension’s Greatest Hits on Earth during our seat work time and I love those songs to this day!

  11. 11.

    Nukular Biskits

    As predicted in the previous thread, sitting on the back porch, listening to birds.  According to the Merlin app on my phone, so far there has only been a Tufted Titmouse, although I did hear the call of a Red-bellied Woodpecker.  It’s really breezy today so the app may have problems picking out the bird calls from the sound of the wind.

  13. 13.

    narya

    @NotMax: The whole thing was . . . damn. I’m ambivalent about the end–marriage as redemption–and also struck by how little anything has changed for women in entertainment. Though I’d say that “over 40” has become “over 29.” Quinn Cummings has written a lot about the side hustles that actresses develop (Gwyneth, but also the ones who start their own production companies to help make roles for women available) because they know their window for making any money is extremely small.

  17. 17.

    frosty

    @Nukular Biskits: Red Bellied Woodpecker is one of the few calls I know without Merlin. I hear them everywhere I go.

    Including yesterday, when I drove 75 miles and two hours to a hotspot near the Potomac to see a Purple Gallinule*. And I did! I just had to walk over where there were a half dozen birders looking at a spot in a marsh.

    * which doesn’t belong in Maryland! Which is why over 200 birders have made the trip.

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    @frosty:

    * which doesn’t belong in Maryland!

    Hey, we’re all for inclusion here in Maryland!  We aren’t going to say anybody doesn’t belong here! Or any bird, no matter what the bird books say!

  19. 19.

    prostratedragon

    @narya:

    Bette Davis had a specialty of actresses confronted with the passage of time. Fanny Skeffington wasn’t on the professional stage, but she was nothing if not an actor. Also there were The Star and Baby Jane, a few others if I think about it. All about finding, or failing to find, something real in life to serve as an anchor, beyond the artifices of theater. Margot has a chance by her own standard, which is the most we know about her ever after. Eve has burned all the bridges she would need to get out from behind the 8-ball any time soon, or something.

    Interesting that Eve came out the same year as Sunset Boulevard.

  20. 20.

    Nukular Biskits

    @frosty:

    At my old place, I had a willow that had several large dead limbs. Every year, a woodpecker family would build a nest in one of the limbs.

    That’s why I know their call/song by heart.

  21. 21.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @narya:

    Last night I watched, for the first time, “All About Eve” Damn.

    Watched it between 12 & 15 times. One of the most quotable films of all time.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Another Scott:

    Obligatory Cowsills – Hair (3:49)

    Their version cuts out my favorite part:

    Hair as long as Jesus wore it, hallelujah, I adore it,
    Hallelujah, Mary loved her son, why don’t my mother love me? Hair!

    The Cowsills aiming for the sort of (family-friendly) audience they did, it’s not surprising that they excised this part.

    I remember it was really funny, all the pretzel logic conservatives at the time came up with to argue that long hair on men was bad, even though every last picture of Jesus in every last church showed him with long hair.

  24. 24.

    NotMax

    @prostratedragon

    Sunset Boulevard trivia.

    Erich von Stroheim purportedly didn’t know how to drive so any scenes with him behind the wheel in the Isotta Fraschini took place while it was being towed by a separate vehicle off camera.

  27. 27.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @NotMax:

    Thanks for the recommendation.  I’ve met them several times, they’re a staple on the “Happy Together” tour which has a semi-rotating line up of acts from that era.  They have a backing band, that’s my entry as I know the lead guitarist and keyboardist from waaaaay back.

    They’ve always been nice and when the break into a brief rendition of “Love, American Style”, the crowd laughs it’s collective ass off.

  29. 29.

    narya

    @prostratedragon: Also have not seen Sunset Boulevard . . . I’ve been keeping an eye on TCM, sorta, to find these things I haven’t seen. I also have In the Heat of the Night and 12 Angry Man waiting in my list. What I’ve been thinking about, though, still, is Blazing Saddles. I’ve decided that the reason (supposedly) “it couldn’t be made today” is how damn subversive it is at its core. Richard Pryor (!) has a scriptwriting credit, and, only five years after Mr. Rogers shares a pool with a black man, Gene Wilder shares a joint with Cleavon Little. The racist language eventually serves to make the racists look ridiculous, IMHO, which is set up early on with the “sing us a song” bit. And, at the end, Cleavon Little insists that everyone gets a plot of land, “even the Irish.” None of us is free until all of us is free. Still, apparently, a radical notion . . .

  30. 30.

    AM in NC

    Soooooo adorable!

    Went for a run in the woods this morning. Closest thing to God I got. That and gardening.

    Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates!

  31. 31.

    narya

    @AM in NC: Nice. I went for a run–to the coffee shop where I left my credit card on Tuesday. I couldn’t find it yesterday, so I called the place, and, sure enough, that’s where I left it. The customer after me noticed it, and the guy behind the counter today was the same guy as Tuesday. So, thanks to people doing the right thing, no matter how small it seems.

  32. 32.

    HinTN

    @Another Scott: Oh.My.Word – I had never encountered that before. The original is still my favorite but that’s campy good.

    And for our hostess with the mostest, today’s image is magnificent.

    Happy green day in these hills, with windows open and birdsong, y’all.

  35. 35.

    tobie

    Gosh…both pictures are adorable. I don’t know which one to gush over more. Happy Easter to all celebrating today.

  36. 36.

    Matt McIrvin

    @narya: A joke I heard recently: “Blazing Saddles couldn’t be made today! People would read the jokes and say, ‘This is just a knockoff of Blazing Saddles!‘”

  37. 37.

    TheOtherHank

    Last night I wanted to watch something to cheer me up. So I watched The Death of Stalin.

  40. 40.

    trollhattan

    @narya: Not only was Pryor a co-writer, he was originally supposed to be sheriff Bart but they cast Little instead (which, when you think about it, is critical to the movie’s success).

    Pryor and Wilder of course made their very successful buddy movies afterwards, so win-win.

    Trump’s cabinet always has me thinking of the scene with the rabble lining up to apply for jobs to attack Rockridge.

  43. 43.

    Sure Lurkalot

    Re: Gavin Newsom’s contention that Kilmar Abrega Garcia’s abduction is just a distraction

    The Bulwark‬ ‪@thebulwark.bsky.social‬
    1h

    Q: “How do you respond to Governor Newsom?”

    Sen. Van Hollen: “I think Americans are tired of elected officials or politicians who are all finger to the wind…Anybody who can’t stand up for the Constitution and the right of due process doesn’t deserve to lead.”

    Precisely. Stop letting monsters frame issues and responses. If there are 20 million  “illegals” who are violent criminals, why is ICE stalking students with visas?  Push back on all of it.

  44. 44.

    Rusty

    We got the best Easter surprise from our oldest.   It’s still a little early, but with some luck we will be grandparents by Thanksgiving.   Babies are the greatest sign of hope in the world.

  45. 45.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @raven: Yeah, like that!

    Also chiming in to congratulate your sweetie on her art show, her “threads” are amazing.

  50. 50.

    Melancholy Jaques

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    Newsom has been a big disappointment. If he is under the impression that any of this helps his chance to get the next Democratic presidential nomination, he is way off.

  52. 52.

    TheOtherHank

    Newsom does good things just often enough that I want to like him, but he does stupid shit often enough that I don’t trust him. So if wins the 2028 nomination I’ll vote for him, but he doesn’t get my vote in the primary.

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    @TheOtherHank:

    Gav’s an enigma, to be sure. Friday, for example.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom granted 16 pardons and nine commutations of sentences on Friday, including a Yuba County man convicted of attempted murder. Californians bestowed with clemency include individuals convicted of murder to those who racked up drug charges. Newsom also posthumously pardoned a Sonoma County veteran who served in the Vietnam War, but was sentenced to a three years of probation after selling a controlled substance.

    Newsom commuted the sentence of Yuba County man Corey Fernandez, who in 2010 shot one victim and assaulted another, according to the Newsom administration. He was convicted of attempted murder and assault, and received a sentence of 34 years and four months in prison, of which he has served more than 14 years. Fernandez, an Olivehurst resident, was convicted of shooting his friend in the stomach and hitting another person with a rifle, according to Marysville’s Appeal-Democrat newspaper. Both victims survived.

    Fernandez, 63, committed to “extensive self-help programming” and completed vocational training, according to the order granting his commutation. “This act of clemency for Mr. Fernandez does not minimize or forgive his conduct or the harm it caused,” according to the order. “It does recognize the work he has done since to transform himself.”

    The Board of Parole Hearings must determine if Fernandez’s sentence can be cut short. He is incarcerated at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad.

    The governor also recognized the extraordinary service of a former Army veteran who Newsom said faced severe struggles after serving his country. Sgt. Richard “Butch” Penry saved 18 people while under siege from rocket and mortar fire, according to the Newsom administration. The attack in 1970 killed or wounded most of Penry’s platoon members, and resulted in the death of his company commander.

    Former President Richard Nixon in 1971 awarded Penry the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. But Penry struggled to adjust to civilian life and endured harassment related to his military service, according to the pardon. Penry died in 1994. He was 45.

    “I further acknowledge that Sergeant Penry’s legacy, which includes both his heroic actions in combat as well as his personal struggle with the resulting trauma, serves as an inspiration to other veterans to seek treatment and support their fellow veterans,” Newsom wrote in his pardon order.

    Newsom has granted 224 pardons and 150 commutations since becoming governor in 2019, according to his administration. He has traditionally announced clemency actions on the Friday before Easter, including last year.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article304581751.html#storylink=cpy

    The inverse of emptying the Jan 6 traitors onto the streets IMHO.

  55. 55.

    Half Past

    The next time there’s a site overhaul can we ask the developer to have a rule that displays Betty’s username as “ButterCrafter” on Easter Day?

  56. 56.

    Miss Bianca

    @narya: I too recently experienced All About Eve for the first time! I can’t believe it took me so long, as a hard-core theater person.

  57. 57.

    lowtechcyclist

    @HinTN:

    I always heard it as, “Hair like Jesus wore it”

    I just pulled out my CD of the original cast recording, and you’re right. Good catch!

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