Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

“They all knew.”

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

If you don’t believe freedom is for everybody, then the thing you love isn’t freedom, it is privilege.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Consistently wrong since 2002

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Fucking consultants! (of the political variety)

The “burn-it-down” people are good with that until they become part of the kindling.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Night Open Thread

Friday Night Open Thread

by | 244 Comments

This post is in: 

Here’s last night’s sunset: 

 
We’re sitting around reading and watching the Rays play the Texasns Rangers on TV. (Go Rays!)

Got anything interesting planned for the weekend? 

I’ve got to do some work tomorrow, unfortunately, but we’ll probably make time for something fun too. Weather’s supposed to suck and there’s still a lot of flooding, so hiking is out.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

244Comments

  5. 5.

    Mike in NC

    Found several fire ant nests in our yard and the mole activity is out of control. Ready to move into a 10th floor condo on the beachfront where we don’t have to deal with this stuff.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): I kinda like Mingobat, though they say it’s best to keep dog names to one or two syllables for training purposes. You can give the dog a couple of middle names so as to incorporate all the kids’ suggestions.

    My two dogs have three and four names apiece: Patsy Marie Bouvier and Daisy Mayhem Margaret Kennedy. We get funny looks at the vet.

  10. 10.

    srv

    Would that it was a sunset on Hillary:

    Clinton joked at the annual Iowa Democratic Wing Ding on Friday that social media service Snapchat, known for messages that disappear instantly, is perfect for her.

    “By the way, you may have seen that I have recently launched a Snapchat account,” she said. “I love it — those messages disappear all by themselves.”

    The unmitigated gall. Enjoy your Jeb, liberals.

  13. 13.

    ThresherK

    Surely you mean the Rangers.

    Sports nickname pedantry time*: The “Texans” play football, whether the Houston Texans, the CFL’s San Antonio Texans from the ’90s, the AFL’s Dallas Texans from the ’60s, or the 1952 NFL Dallas Texans.

    (*My favorite kind of pedantry.)

  15. 15.

    the Conster

    Just caught up with Mr. Robot, which is fantastic. Now I’ll go out on the deck to watch the sky for meteors and maybe sleep out there all night. It’s a perfect summer night here. For sure the weekend will involve local tomatoes and corn on the cob and a bathing suit.

  16. 16.

    PsiFighter37

    Not to be a stickler, but there’s no baseball team called the Texans. If you’re going by the ‘T’ on the hat, pretty sure you are talking about the Texas Rangers…

  22. 22.

    debit

    Open thread? I’ve been having adventures in bike mechanics. My son discovered that you can get a SRAM Automatix hub in a disc brake option if you were willing to pay shipping from Germany. I was, and did, and wound up then getting an All City Nature Boy frame, then built up some wheels and was pretty happy with the result.

    The hub, for the unaware, is a two speed that shifts automatically once you hit a certain speed. However, the factory set shift point is ridiculously low, like 11 mph, so I had to crack open the hub and attempt to reset it. After disassembling and reassembling about a dozen times, I finally got it to shift at 18 MPH. Not gonna lie, I felt the same maniacal triumph as Nadine from Twin Peaks when she finally perfected her silent drape runners.

  23. 23.

    divF

    @JPL:

    Go outside and call mingobat a few times and it will become clear.

    One-syllable names can be a problem as well. My English-major college roommates decided to name their dog Puck. After shouting that across Sproul Plaza a few times, they realized it had some disadvantages, and gave him another name for outdoor use.

    Within a couple of years, Puck had more given names than an heir to the British throne.

  25. 25.

    ThresherK

    @SiubhanDuinne: Loss of humour?

    Why, there’s nothing funnier than sport nicknames. Even after the Ottawa Rough Riders folded, reducing the number of teams named Rough Riders or Roughriders in the CFL to (1).

    Unless it’s rooting for the SEC’s Tigers or Bulldogs, and realizing you need to choose between five different teams, aggregate, in a fourteen team field.

  27. 27.

    Origuy

    Flew into Halifax last night, played tourist today. I like Halifax; people are out walking around, some good restaurants. Listened to an Acadian band in a brewpub. Tomorrow I drive to Moncton, NB for the start of the Canadian Orienteering Championships. Running around there for a couple of days, then taking off to Cape Breton for some Scottish music and some ceilidh dancing. After that, more orienteering on Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia.

  28. 28.

    Tree With Water

    @Mike in NC: I was in my bare feet, sitting and stirring some paint a week ago when an ant, or ants, took a humungous chunk of flesh (relatively speaking) out of a toe that landed on a the entry hole to their nest. The toe ached for days, and I didn’t develop any Ant Man-type super strength, either.. As soon as I’m through painting my deck, I’m going to kill the little fuckers. All of them…

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Karen in GA:

    Better than Mingobat.

    I have given this a great deal of sober, considered thought, and have come to the conclusion that there actually is nothing better than Mingobat.

  35. 35.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tree With Water: I hate fire ants. I got married outside at a neighborhood garden club, and during the ceremony, unbeknownst to me at the time, fire ants attacked my bridesmaids. God bless them, they maintained their composure until the mister and I were pronounced man and wife (luckily for them it was a short civil dealio rather than a Greek Orthodox ceremony). One of my favorite photos is of the three of them kicking off their shoes and dancing around clawing at their feet as the mister and I retreated up the aisle. The photographer was a sharp one.

  37. 37.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @ Betty Cracker @Debbie from EE open thread.

    A former creative writing teacher (now MD) on Franzen (whom her refers to as “the minor talent”):

    I like the reviews you sent; on the other hand, I could not read more than 2 paragraphs of the minor talent’s comments. I felt physically—not ill—just the very embodiment of ennui fill my soul with each sentence. Ennui with a side of irritability. It’s what I have felt every time I try to read anything of his, even a mere quote of him within another piece. It’s safe to say I’ll never read a novel or an article of his

    That’s probably my fault as I’ve discussed some spiteful comments Franzen’s made about DFW since his death. The “reviews” are reviews of End of the Tour, and I sent him the title essay of Farther Away since he’d not read it (in spite of his New Yorker subscription.

  41. 41.

    Mike E

    I’d like to believe that Engelbert Humperdinck has/had a pet named Mingobat because, reasons.

  42. 42.

    the Conster

    @Origuy:

    We did that same basic trip last summer – 2 weeks through the maritimes, and stayed in all the harbor towns. Halifax has a lot of great history, and is amazingly multicultural and young. PEI is all potato fields, but they go right up to the ocean which is pink at the edge. We stayed a couple of nights in Shediac, and saw Fundy National Park in a hurricane. Have fun!

  43. 43.

    Peale

    Rented a rowing machine today. Since I sold my unused weight bench and treadmill, I’ve been missing something in my life.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    Ouch! Sorry for your bridesmaids, but goddamn that is a funny image!

    A few years ago on a business trip I found myself with a couple of available hours, and went ancestor-hunting in an old cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was summer. I was wearing sandals. The plot was grassy, and antsy, and not as carefully maintained as one might wish.

    My toes burned and itched and wept for weeks.

  57. 57.

    Geoduck

    Finally got a day of much-needed rain here in SW Washington state. Hopefully it at least damped down the fire hazard a little. It would be nice to see all the grass start turning green again, too. Back to sunshine tomorrow, evidently.

  58. 58.

    Peale

    @Mike E: When the pup hits adolescence, he’ll be playing around with lots of different pronounciations until he hits on the more adult sounding “Min” as his preference. Although he’ll go by “Myn” for awhile in obedience school, as the mystery spelling is a good conversation starter with the curs.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    I’m a big fan, you will not be surprised, of the real Englebert Humperdinck. H&G was my first opera — I was given the Jane Powell (Gretel) / Basil Rathbone (narrator/Witch) recording in 1946, and that same year was taken to the Lyric Opera of Chicago holiday production (my dad was in the pit orchestra). It is a great opera for little kids, but it is also musically sophisticated, full of Leitmotiven and harmonic surprises, to keep the adults interested. I never tire of it.

  64. 64.

    ThresherK

    @efgoldman: You don’t mean Jimmy Dorsey, the saxophonist whose band made “Green Eyes”, “Tangerine” and other great stacks of wax?

  66. 66.

    Tissue Thin Pseudonym

    I’m starting to look over the developmental edits on Part II of Becoming Phoebe. The hope is to have a manuscript ready for copy editing by the end of September.

  72. 72.

    ThresherK

    @SiubhanDuinne: I miss WNEW-AM 1130 in New York. Big city music radio for the teenagers in the 70s who weren’t really into that rock and roll.

    Plus Cosmos soccer. (Yes, on the radio.)

  73. 73.

    Mike E

    @Peale: And Myn would eschew bats, opting for a diet of voles…ok, I’ve forgotten what we’ve been talking about :-p

  74. 74.

    PurpleGirl

    Going shopping for a new TV tomorrow. My super neat Sharp began dying on Monday; I have no picture, sometimes just a shadow of one. It still have sound. I think it’s 3-years old so out of warranty. A little surfing on the net found me lots of stories of other people who had the same thing happen. I hadn’t registered it when I bought it so my one phone call to Sharp the other day is it. Sharp tech on the phone implied it was my cable box. Time Warner tech came this afternoon and changed cable boxes. Not a cable box problem. Still had no picture on the TV.

    So shopping it is tomorrow…. damn, argh. Comments are welcome.

  76. 76.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Last dog I owned was Argos, a name many people commented upon as tres cool.

    And to connect this thread back to the one where we were discussing The Iliad and The Odyssey, Argos is the name of Odysseus’ faithful old pooch. When Odysseus shows up at home after so many years away, he shushes Argos because he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s returned. The dog complies, but dies. Such a bittersweet moment. Good dog, Argos. Good dog.

  80. 80.

    Little Boots

    and I know i am a dick. I miss you so much., I know, I am so annoying. but I miss you so much.

  83. 83.

    ThresherK

    @PurpleGirl: Wow! We’re also in the market for a teevee, and for once it’s by choice.

    Not sure what we want, but let’s just say it may be the last one we ever have. The current one is a CRT dating back to 1998. I’ve noticed that sports camerawork isn’t actually framed and zoomed for small TVs with ye olde 4×3 aspect ratio.

    Curious to know what you land on.

  85. 85.

    mclaren

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The modern Englebert Humperdinck is also the old one, but slightly brain-damaged as punishment by the Time Lords for his efforts to kill Hitler and change the timeline.

  86. 86.

    mclaren

    @PurpleGirl:

    . My super neat Sharp began dying on Monday; I have no picture, sometimes just a shadow of one.

    For most TV in 2015, this is an improvement.

  87. 87.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mike E:

    And Myn would eschew bats, opting for a diet of voles…

    “We were someplace around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like ‘I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive . . .’ And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas. And a voice was screaming: ‘Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'”

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @ThresherK:

    I moved away from NYC in 1969. I mostly remember WBAI, WQXR and WNYC. BAI had some crazeball stuff on. I think it was a Pacifica station.

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I’m not a Franzen super fan by any means. I find his early novels unreadable. I thought “The Corrections” was overrated. He often comes across as a narcissistic asshole in interviews and an insufferable, petty boor in essays. But I loved “Freedom.”

  91. 91.

    Little Boots

    I mean, I know I can be a dick, but damn, ruthless sucks. I hate that. and I get that I can be awful, but sometimes ….

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @PurpleGirl

    Bring a familiar DVD and have them play it at the store so that you can see how it looks to you on various sets*. Also keep in mind that the lighting in stores bears scant relationship to the illumination at home.

    *If you also have something on disc which is in black and white, bring that along, too. The display of black elements in a picture can vary greatly on different models, from a near true black to a muddy dark gray-black. Having something you’re familiar with viewing will help point out the differences.

    Oh, and don’t fall for the 4k TV sales pitch if given one. By the time you need the next TV after this new one there should be sufficient content in 4k; for now, an added expense with little payoff.

  98. 98.

    PurpleGirl

    Tomorrow is Clear the Shelters Day. Sponsored by PetSmart and NBC-Universal Group, it is a day to get people to adopt a shelter animal. So anyone thinking of getting a pet, go to a shelter tomorrow and save a live.

    Plug for the shelter whose operator I’m friends with: Anyone in the/near the north-east corner of Connecticut, go to the Petco in Dayville and Cassie’s Kitten Kastle will have 37 kittens and older cats ready to adoption. Cassie’s Kitten Kastle is an unofficial participate because she regularly holds adoption events at the Dayville Petco. She has some adorable kittens ready for their forever homes.

    ETA: Cassie won’t be there but a bunch of her fosters will be there with the kittens.

  108. 108.

    mclaren

    Just in case anyone is interested, there’s a short video series (3-4 mins per) on YouTube about the new book Trekonomics. Features Brad deLong, an economics prof at UC Berkeley.

    Funny stuff. The Ferengi are basically a satire of Ayn Rand fanatics.

    youtube.com/watch?v=9gu3udBD5dc

  110. 110.

    ThresherK

    @SiubhanDuinne: WQXR-AM was another one I could receive anywhere in southern New England at night. I didn’t live within FM distance of NYC, so I missed a lot of the early days of FM there.

    My acute tuning ear tells me that the AM side of most radios or receivers are for crap now. But the more I find out about modern-day AM programming, the less I miss it.

  111. 111.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    I have never traced this down, but because Odysseus was one of Jason’s Argonauts, I have always kind of assumed Argos the dog got his name from that grand adventure. Have not studied Greek, though, and I might be way off base on this.

  114. 114.

    mclaren

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Argos was the name of Odysseus’ dog, but also the name of a Mycenaen-era city-state.

    At a strategic location on the fertile plain of Argolis, Argos was a major stronghold during the Mycenaean era. In classical times Argos was a powerful rival of Sparta for dominance over the Peloponnese, but was eventually shunned by other Greek city-states after remaining neutral during the Greco-Persian Wars. Numerous ancient monuments can be found in the city today, the most famous of which is the Heraion of Argos, though agriculture (particularly citrus production) is the mainstay of the local economy.

    In 700 BC there were at least 5,000 people living in the city. In the fourth century BC, the city was home to as many as 30,000 people.

    The city-state predates the Homeric dog by a fair stretch.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mclaren:

    BTW, in case you want to follow a terrific takedown of Atlas Shrugged, check out patheos.com/blogs/daylightatheism/

    Every Friday there’s an update, a close analysis of a scene or chapter in AS. I’ve been following it for about a year, and find myself counting down the days to Friday each week. Everything is archived, so it’s easy to go back and cTch up on earlier chapters. Bonus: reviews of the films.

  119. 119.

    NotMax

    Fixeth we must.

    @efgoldman

    The name of the fellow who did the first show of the day on WBAI for many, many years escapes me, but it was always a gamble as to what time he would wander in and flip the transmitter’s on switch.

  122. 122.

    Redshift

    I’m going to be spending the weekend getting ready to go to WorldCon (with a side trip beforehand.) Also trying to make the house slightly more presentable for the pet sitter. Hopefully I will succeed enough that I won’t be up late in Sunday night. That should be easy to avoid, but somehow it never is.

  126. 126.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @efgoldman:

    I’ve never performed in KMK, but I know it as well as I know any musicals apart from the R&H and L&L canons (not counting G&S). Tough tunes, but what a joyous piece of theatre!

  128. 128.

    ThresherK

    @efgoldman: From IMDB’s entry on the MGM movie:

    In supplemental information on the DVD mention is made that Keenan Wynn and James Whitmore neglected to rehearse their “Brush Up Your Shakespeare” number more than once or twice because they thought it was silly. When it came time to shoot it they made numerous fumbles and mistakes which the director thought was on purpose. He later complemented them on making it look like something a couple of thugs would perform. They never told him the truth.

  131. 131.

    Amir Khalid

    The Biggest Jackass in Football Today, Chelsea FC manager Jose Mourinho, held his weekly press conference while refusing to take questions about the biggest story affecting his club: his universally-condemned punishment of Chelsea’s first team doctor and physiotherapist for merely doing their jobs at last week’s match. The man’s a bully and a coward.

  133. 133.

    different-church-lady

    @Mike E:

    I’d like to believe that Engelbert Humperdinck has/had a pet named Mingobat because, reasons.

    If your name is Engelbert Humperdinck you don’t need reasons.

  134. 134.

    NotMax

    Soon as the cheese gets to room temp, gonna vigorously whisk together the ingredients for the butternut squash-mascarpone gnocchi to accompany tomorrow’s dinner at our weekly gathering. Have to refrigerate it overnight before cooking.

  141. 141.

    Steeplejack

    @PurpleGirl:

    Love my Samsung something-something-model-number.

    Prices have come down a lot in the last few years, so you should be able to find a good, (relatively) inexpensive TV at whatever size you need.

  142. 142.

    Little Boots

    omnes, sometimes, yeah, I get it, I suck sometimes, but sometimes so do you. man, sometimes you can be less of a dick.

  144. 144.

    Mike J

    @Omnes Omnibus: When I was 17, I visited a friend of mine who was at U of S Mississippi, and we took my Chevette to NO for Mardi Gras. My main memory of it was being the most sober person to to drive back to Hattiesburg, and yelling about bats. Also I got to make out with a college girl. And drive through daiquiri stands. But mostly the bats.

  146. 146.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @PurpleGirl: @Steeplejack: I have a new Vizio something or other. It was a gift so I have no Idea of prices or anything. I just notice the improvement on the 2004 Sony Trinitron and I haven’t even started playing with the smart TV capabilities.

  150. 150.

    Mike J

    @NotMax:

    Fans of comic books are eternally grateful that the first animal Bruce Wayne spotted in that cave wasn’t a roach.

    If only it had been a tick. Ben Edlund (pbuh) is a genius.

  152. 152.

    Mike E

    @Omnes Omnibus: A 3 year old’s imagination can be approximated by HST-style debauchery, but at a tremendous price…flash forward to Miss E getting her own rescue pet and naming her Freya, a big change from her first namesake that got it’s nod directly from Blue’s Clues. Still, classic, nonetheless.

  155. 155.

    different-church-lady

    Just get the Bravia — they’re not expensive, they look good, and the menu system is and configuration is better than just about anything else out there.

    I say this as someone who’s set up a lot of consumer-grade flat panels in trade show booths.

  157. 157.

    Thoughtful Today

    Bernie’s 50 State Strategy details:

    reddit.com/r/SandersForPresident

    Bernie’s in Iowa tomorrow, Saturday, August 15:

    Boone, Iowa, Boone Town Meeting @ 10:30 AM
    Des Moines, Iowa’s State Fair @ 2:00 PM

    Iowa, Sunday August 16:

    Eldridge, Iowa, Scott County Democrats Picnic @ 1:00 PM
    Dubuque, Iowa, Dubuque Town Meeting @ 6:00 PM

    NEW: Reno, Nevada stop on August 18 @ 7:00 PM

    South Carolina Friday, August 21:

    Greenville Rally @ 11:00 AM
    Columbia Town Meeting @ 7:00 PM

    South Carolina Saturday, August 22:

    Sumter Town Meeting @ 11:00 AM
    Charlston Rally @ 7:00 PM

    TBD for August: Mississippi, Alabama

    [copy & paste at will]

  165. 165.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Steeplejack:

    Ann Miller has always rubbed me the wrong way. Dunno why.

    I’ve always thought she was all wrong in Kiss Me Kate, completely miscast as Bianca / Lois Lane, but terrific in On the Town.

  167. 167.

    Mike J

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Iowa City 3rd precinct Quadrangle Residence Hall University of Iowa
    Iowa City 5th precinct University of Iowa Main Library
    Iowa City 9th precinct UI Athletic Hall of Fame

    Bernie is a mortal lock. Probably a couple in Ames, too.

  170. 170.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Little Boots:

    i don’t think I’m that bad, really.

    I saw your apology earlier. I didn’t see the thread that caused you to feel the need to post it though.

    We reinvent ourselves every day. We can’t change the past.

    Please don’t continue to beat yourself up over whatever it was. Be better instead.

    Thread needs more chariots (6:09).

    Nighty night. :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  171. 171.

    Mike E

    @efgoldman: Nah, poor typing on my part…it’s her newest adoptee, tho she must’ve remembered the name from my friend’s daughter being named thusly.

    The Blue’s Clue cat’s still with us btw…Periwinkle!

  186. 186.

    Steeplejack

    @different-church-lady:

    Don’t know if you were being snarky, but that’s pretty much it. She always projects “trying too hard” and a sort of “I’m distracting you with my hotness” fake quality that gets in the way of whatever is really supposed to be there.

  191. 191.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mike E:

    Well, I didn’t adore her. I admired her, which is quite another thing; and I can see why her, um precociousness would appeal to efgoldman. But I always pictured someone a little more subdued in that role (which would then make the torchy numbers be that much more powerful. In my opinion.)

  195. 195.

    Steeplejack

    @mclaren:

    I was replying to this:

    I have never traced this down, but because Odysseus was one of Jason’s Argonauts, I have always kind of assumed Argos the dog got his name from that grand adventure.

    But, thanks, your condescension is noted.

  199. 199.

    Mike E

    @PurpleGirl:

    Going shopping for a new TV tomorrow

    The Brevia sounds really good, but I opted for the on sale basic 39″ Samsung with a media reader…greatness. I have lots of [coughBorrowedCough] digital content which this teevee plays like a champ. Not top quality, but blueray and 1080i over-the-air broadcasts look very nice. Dunno if it’ll last 3 years, but it’s my 1st newfangled flat screen and I’m pretty pleased with it.

  203. 203.

    Suzanne

    Spawn the Elder is being a total shithead. Just a complete dick. Lord.

    I have been totally overwhelmed at work this week. I should spend the weekend working, but I have lots of family stuff to do. I made plans with some friends to play games tomorrow, and the plan is that I will finally pop my nerd cherry and play D&D for the first time. I hope it’s fun.

    It was 117 degrees today. Yesterday, I had to go to one of our government offices, and I was driving back to my office, and I decided to get something to drink at McDonald’s. As I was pulling through the drive-thru, I saw a man searching through the trash looking for something to eat. I took him inside and bought him a meal, with an extra-large drink. This heat literally kills. I am so worried about it.

  204. 204.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suzanne:

    I saw a man searching through the trash looking for something to eat. I took him inside and bought him a meal, with an extra-large drink.

    Good for you.

  207. 207.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I wasn’t trying to be deliberately adversarial. I just looked at the clip and was reminded that she’s one of those stars whose persona—for me—gets in the way of whatever it is she’s trying to do. Like—heresy alert!—Meryl Streep.

    Obligatory hate-link to the trailer for Ricki and the Flash.

  211. 211.

    Suzanne

    @Jordan Rules: We’ve had haboobs this week, so everything is dirty. It’s so hot that it makes me want to throw up. Literally get stomach cramps.

  212. 212.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, I’m going to bed. But if tonight is anything like the last few, I may wander back around 3:30-4:00 a.m.

  219. 219.

    Amir Khalid

    @Steeplejack:
    I feel the same way about Nicole Kidman; I find her Great Beauty looks distract me from her acting, and when I finally get past the former I tend to find there’s really not that much of the latter.

  225. 225.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SiubhanDuinne: In the Ocean’s Eleven remake, they gave her the big build up and the classic “movie star entrance”– everyone turns to look up the escalator and…. THERE SHE IS! Trouble is, she has rarely looked less impressive on screen. She looked like a real estate agent specializing in upscale gated communities

  228. 228.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Amir Khalid: I just hate everything about that movie. I spent it wishing that Kidman’s character would just die already so the movie could end. I am not a Luhrman fan.

  231. 231.

    cckids

    @PurpleGirl: We had great luck getting a refurbished set on Amazon. Still came with a warranty, shipping was free; I think we saved something like $280-300 by getting one that was about a year old. Had been bought & returned.

    We’ve had it now for 2 1/2 years; no issues at all.

  232. 232.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike E: also one of two good Matthew Broderick performances, that and War Games.

    The Producers musical… /shudder/

    And as I type, I’ll add The Freshman, but that’s Brando’s movie. And the lizard’s.

  233. 233.

    different-church-lady

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes, hating literally everything is literally posible. One day the DVD of Moulin Rouge was hanging around the shop I was working at. I though, “Hey, let’s find out what this is like.” Honest to god, I didn’t make it past the studio ident sequence before I hit eject.

  234. 234.

    Steeplejack

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The movie is a played-out pop-culture cliché now, but Broderick was good in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

    ETA: Maybe you have to remember it from the first five or 10 times you saw it.

  236. 236.

    Suzanne

    @SiubhanDuinne: Oh, you and this entire city. When the meteorologists started using that word in earnest a few years ago (before that, we just called them dust storms), there were many, MANY jokes. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a proper name, like the ones hurricanes get, and I was ridiculously amused by the idea that there was someone, somewhere, named Haboob.

  238. 238.

    Anne Laurie

    @NotMax:

    Last dog I owned was Argos, a name many people commented upon as tres cool.

    I renamed one of our rescue papillons Zevon, after Warren, because he deserved it. Might’ve reconsidered if I’d known how difficult it would be for vet techs & groomers to deal with — he usually gets referred to as “Devon” or “Seven” or in one case “Zerox”…

    (Actually, I might’ve picked a different name, but no way he was keeping the one his original owners stuck him with. It just wasn’t worthy of a wild & crazy dude with a great sense of style and no sense of self-preservation… )

  239. 239.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @different-church-lady: Wow. I don’t remember that commercial at all.

    I was asked to replicate one of her costumes for a teenage dancer who had won some big award, and they insisted she dress very much like the costume in that commercial. I only have vague memories of the project but it was a red leotard base with lots of sparkly stuff added, probably a red fringe skirt. I remember the girl, just don’t remember the details.

  240. 240.

    Pie Happens (opiejeanne)

    @Amir Khalid: Still hasn’t done that? No, of course not.

    He doesn’t understand, even though it’s been explained repeatedly.

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