ragnarokstar games*
as someone who lives in NYC, this has me tickled pink.
and by 'tickled pink' I of course mean 'bring it you hale-bopp** beeyotch!'
*sorry, Ragnarok is Norse mythology. Not Book of Revelation. my bad. whatever.
**sorry, wrong cult. my bad. whatever.
splitting hares
Dutch pedophiles to launch political party*: Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.
Quick! Somebody alert the President!
Speaking of Chasing Amy Animals...
My dog (who hates me) ran away for an hour or two this weekend while out on Long Island. Through vast amounts of dumb-as-rocks luck we found her several houses away. My dog (who hates me) was not trying to get away from me, but was out to find 'Mommy'. We left her at the house with someone to watch over her, but we failed to act on my (prescient and now proven) fears by locking my dog (who hates me) up very securely. We got her back. A couple days later, I still am freaked out by it. Hopefully this will be the end of any attempt at crediting this dog with any common sense. My dog (who hates me) is a flight risk any time 'mommy' is not around. This is fact.
Another fact: We love her. Not in that kind of way you sicko.
*thanks my friend Mr. L.
modern
lovers -modern - lovers - lovers- modern - modern - lovers
She cracked
too short at 2:48 long... I could listen to the 30 minute extended remix if there was such a thing. drone-y like some stereo labish guitars and whatnot**.
yes. I'm up at 5 AM. I will be going home to bed within the hour. huh? not blogging from home? No, I am blogging from my wage-slave-cube-ick-le.* gonna ride the subway home at sun-up.
*nice big flat screen though... and I found a 11 percent alchomohol beer in the mini-fridge. the fruits of my labor? the monster (ale) in a (ice) box? Now look what I've done -- I had to go and ruin my no-sleep, stong-beer buzz by reminding myslef of the poor bastard genius jumping off the staten island ferry.
cracked.
** Update 5/22/2006 11:17 PM: or Velvet-y Underground-ish if you must (must you?).
Oh, and with a nod to this meme I ordered this today to replace a long lost copy. It doesn't really fit the meme (NRO’s Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs: progressive rock songs co-opted by someone at nationalreview.com) because the irony/sarcasm/hyperbole factor of 6FS songs muck it up. Some ultra-nationalist, pro-military, abortion-clinic-bombing freakazoid would take J Ryan's lyrics at face value and, well, I don't think that's the point of the exercise: The obvious progressive/liberal meaning of the song must be completely ignored or misunderstood and secretly replaced with some conservative message and/or folgers crystals.
Anyway... I bought it and hopefully I won't lose it this time.
Maybe "Board The Bus" is a good candidate: "Board the Bus! Board the Bus! No talking!, No talking!" (paraphrasing) seems like something the National Review and its ilk would like to scream (again, without irony) at the working, bus-riding public (70% or more of whom presumably disapprove of President Bush).
Hmm, OK, so maybe it doesn't work - this Sub Pop moog fest would never show up on a list of NRO’s Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs - but it might fit a different, imagined, list: NRO’s Top 50 Conservative Rock Songs To Start Bar Fights And Then Hide In The Corner To And Make Love To Your Baby In A Jar By.
hippy hole
my first link to WFMU's Beware of the Blog and probably not the last.
I can tell this is gradually becoming a music blog (not a *current* music blog mind you) -- I'm listening to an old fav right now - th' faith healers.
Here's an anagram of th' faith healers for you: A LEFT EAR HIT SHH
Update 5/17/2006 9:12 PM: And yes, I was vaguely aware* they were back together/touring and yes I missed these shows: 27 March: Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
29 March: New York, NY - Mercury Lounge
30 March: Philadelphia, PA - The Khyber
must.quit.job.
* Like I've said before - I have defective memory.
Update 5/19/2006 5:22 AM: I can't believe I missed this show. lame.
get down for the downstroke
nothing new - just some dedications...
This one goes out to President King George 'now pass the blame and don't blame me' Bush*.And this goes out to Gen. Michael 'but I still love to wash in your old bathwater' Hayden, architect of the administration's domestic spying program and nominee for CIA director, set to replace Porter Goss thanks to George 'do these national guard troops on the border make me look lame and duck-like?' Bush.
Don't feel like you have to listen to these or make any sense of this post.
It's a nutty post for a nutty world.
*and your little lapdog too!
more bad news
What, it's not enough that my cat is dead?
Now I have to read how the terrorists have won - how they have us gleefully shredding The Constitution?
That's just great.
And when you have an approval rating of 31 percent (and falling)* that's a lot of Americans to spy on - better get crakin' boys. Those political enemies aren't going to drag themselves off in the middle of the night.usatoday.com link via firedoglake.com, atrios.blogspot.com, etc.
Update 5/11/2006 7:01 PM: Dear AT&T. If you don't approve of my little collage of your corporate logo onto the evil bouncing ball from The Prisoner I sincerely apologize. I would've mocked Verizon instead but they've got Darth Vader and I ain't messing with no Darth Vader -
Plus, he's... he's my carrier?!
NOOOOOOO!!!!
* Update 5/12/2006 12:09 PM: Called it! Bush Dips Into the 20s. Do I have a crystal ball... or have I found hope that the American public and press** are waking up? I don't need no crystal ball! Besides, I left it in the basement of the Alamo.*** Link via thepoorman.net (sorry, link shy today).
** Thanks again Mr. Colbert!
*** Also, Pee Wee is funny when he does the whole "I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I?" and "LALALALALALALA - I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" thing. When Bush does it? Not so much.
nine lives my ass
In Memoriam: Pretty Kitty* (1994-2006)
She was suffering. Bad heart. Bad kidneys.
Goodbye kitty.
*not her real name - I would share if it wasn't this household's password for pretty much everything. Pretend it's like Fight Club except we don't have names when we die either -
"Her internets alias is Pretty Kitty. Her internets alias is Pretty Kitty."
*sigh* Lame to make jokes. Sorry.
Anyway, I might post some old photos and memories soonish.
Chuck Hagel Channeling Don Cheadle?
Check this (via dailykos) then pull up a chair for another choice chunk of chicken-shit chin-flap from Chuck...
Sen. Chuck Hagel: Hagel shook up his fellow Republicans by warning that a Category 5 political season was upon them and they had better prepare, or else the voters would do to them what Katrina did to New Orleans.
"We may be faced with one of those elections where a lot of people go down," he said.
from the electronic newspaper Delaware Grapevine 'SEN. CHUCK HAGEL STORMS IN FOR CASTLE (AND HIMSELF)' - April 26, 2006
Don Cheadle: "The dogs are piling on the President. I'm cool with it. I'm one more on the dog pile. How Bush handled this [Hurricane Katrina Disaster] was an embarrassment."
From New York Daily News, Rush & Malloy: 'Leading Blacks label Bush a disaster' - September 8, 2005Chuck is a-sceered! And he should be, dog.
The Dog For Whom I Feel Nothing
I never saw this one before. I think I just found the offical comedy sketch for this blog - Kids In The Hall.
Except, my dog won't sit on the couch be in the same room with me
in praise of tambourines
Tambourine - Wikipedia: The tambourine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a single drumhead mounted on a ring with small metal jingles. It is held in the hand and can be played in numerous ways, from stroking or shaking the jingles to striking it sharply with hand or stick or using the tambourine to strike the leg or hip. It is found in many forms of music, classical music, Roma music, Persian music, gospel music, pop music and rock and roll. The word tambourine finds its origins in the Middle Persian word tambūr "lute, drum" (via the Middle French tambour).
Tambourines rock! They're small, portable and easily held in one hand. They require little to no training to play. The have a pleasing form and the pretty reflective bits aren't just for decoration; shiny bits = jingle, jingle.
Plus, when used properly, they make any song a great song.
Rule of the Tambourine #1: Don't abuse it. Unlike its uncouth cousin, the cowbell, the tambourine must be used sparingly. Please don't get your entire song all tambourined-up. The old adage 'too much of a good thing' definitely applies here. Besides, are you performing some kind of Christmas song? Of course not. OK, so, your song is just starting to groove and you want to kick it up a bit - time to bring in that jingle. That's how it works. Just follow these examples -
Gary Numan 'Cars' and Spoon 'I Turn My Camera On'.
See? It compliments both nasal and falsetto singing styles. It's so versatile and easy to use! It's like the George Foreman Grill of the percussion world. BTW, that Spoon song is the only track I have by them. And no, not because of the Jaguar commercial. I saw the video on NYNOISE.This is the great thing about blogging - I can write about whatever I want. Next up: The Woodblock! The Vibraslap! As featured here heard but unseen in 'Orange Crush' by REM (at the fifty second mark)nota bene: I realize the tamborines pictured lack the single drumhead. I can only assume that this was an aesthetic decision - I blame MTV.
Kibbles and Bits
and Gleemonex.
"Gleemonex makes it feel like it seventy-two degrees in your head... all... the... time!" *
Yes. She growls at me now.
* Kids In The Hall: Brain Candy (1996)
Update 5/7/2006 5:56 PM:
"Cat on my Head. Cat on my head!"(not a photo of me)(cat from mycathatesyou.com)
Omar if you want to*
but why would you?
Chicago Tribue 5/5/2006: The name no Iraqi wants.
Omar is a Sunni name. And Omars are turning up dead.
"We hear so many reports of people being killed or arrested just because their name is Omar," said Omar al-Jibouri, who heads the human-rights department of the Sunni Islamic Party.
[...]
"The Sunnis offend the Shiites when they call their sons this name," al-Kaabi said. "But it's not a reason to kill a person. If it's happening, it's happening out of ignorance."
via georgia10.dailykos.com
Know what name I find offensive? Take a guess. I'll give you a hint - it's a surname that starts with 'B' and ends with 'H' and rhymes with 'miserable failure'.
*apologies to The B-52's
goss half empty
or is is the Porter Goss story half full of it? Either way there's something off about the official story - which makes me an optimist I guess.
Kevin Drum at washingtonmonthly.com: After hours of blogospheric speculation yesterday that Porter Goss was forced to resign as CIA director because of some mysterious (and still undetermined) connection to Hookergate, the conventional wisdom in the press today has congealed around something very different: it was just the final act in a long-running turf war with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
[...]
the press seems to have rather suddenly discovered this turf war.
I think this CIA turf war explanation is highly dubious for that exact reason - if it was such an issue why are we just hearing about it now? Why the sudden and immediate resignation? If this story develops the way I hope it does the damage to the Republicans in Congress and the Administration will be beyond repair.
I can only hope.
link via Eschaton
...and I updated my earlier post with far too many fun Florida facts.
let me put it this way
Bush is still getting over 30% approval in the polls so apparently the message isn't getting through to all the hardcore dubya drones out there. Let me put it in terms they might understand: If this Administration, 'Number 43' a.k.a. 'Dubya', was in the Daytona 250 this is what it would like -
2.18.2000, Daytona International Speedway: The truck driven by Geoffrey Bodine of Chemung, N.Y., (15) goes airborne and bursts into flames as he collides with Rob Morgan, front, during the Daytona 250 race Friday afternoon Feb. 18, 2000, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
"I've never had a wreck like that in my life" - Geoffrey Bodine
video - avi
Understand now? He's out of the race.
All you* can do now is pray he's able to walk away from this latest wreck..
Update 5/6/2006 1:35 PM
- *Edit: 'you' meaning anyone who still supports this (worst) President (ever).
- Florida Fun Fact #1: Daytona International Speedway, a superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, is in Florida's 24th Congressional District.
- Florida Fun Fact #2: Florida's 24th Congressional District has been represented by Rep. Tom Feeney(R-FL) since 2003.
- Florida Fun Fact #3: in October 2005 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Rep. Tom Feeney(R-FL) as one of the thirteen most corrupt members of congress (after Delay). Ths list includes Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) who resigned in November after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. On March 3, 2006, he received a sentence of eight years and four months in prison and an order to pay $1.8 million in restitution.
...and then there were twelve.
Bonus Feeney Fiasco Florida Fun Fact: Florida gained two congressional district after the 2000 census. One of them was the 24th District in the Orlando area. It was an open secret that Feeney drew this district for himself [1], since it included virtually all of his state House district and term limits prohibited him from running for the state House again.
and finally, the real reason for this update, a little background info...a link to Kos where it seems the Porter Goss-plus-Watergate Hotel-plus-hookers?-plus-Duke Cunningham speculation gained steam and/or got started.
oh, and Porter Goss was the Representative of the 14th Congressional District of Florida from January 3, 1993–September 23, 2004.
um... oh, and... and Florida was the key to George W. Bush's "victory" *cough*blatant theft*cough* in the 2000 Presidential Election - and his bro is the Governor. Just by coincidence.
OK - I'll stop now.
youtube for brains
umm... 'youtube' sounds like an insult to me right now. Like 'You idiot! You tube!'. Confused? Let me explain. I'm old. Not super old mind you. Just sort of old. I had no idea what coachella was until a couple months ago. I saw the website and the lineup of bands and thought - hey, that's pretty awesome! Why the hell does it have to be so damn far away? So now, in an odd role-reversal here at chez-greenthoughts, where we like to enjoy groovy tunez from time to time, I am the hip one and my spouse, Mrs. Greenthoughts to you, is ready to smack me because I should have told her about this concert - she would have insisted that we go - meaning we would have bought plane tickets and possibly camping gear too. I had her watch Sigur Ros (sorry, that's probably spelled wrong and lacking in a few accent marks) on youtube and I quickly realized that I made a mistake. She starts watching and then she seems far away. She's imagining the music, the crowd, the palm trees against the sunset. That's right - she's quite pissed at me for not telling her. I don't want to be melodramatic (yes I do - it's fun to have something to post about) but this may be MY LAST POST! eh, jut kidding, she's not the vengeful type. But I have a feeling we're not going to go gently into that lame stay-at-home adulthood (he says as he types away on his half-assed blog at home in his cotton 'ritz-carlton' slippers). I have a feeling we may be at the next Coachella - even if I've never flown cross-country just for a concert and even if I have to go with my kid strapped to my chest.*
Anyway, here is a link to a pretty good Bloc Party video from Cochella. 'Pretty good' as it's still a homemade video but you can see the band and the sound is not completely scraggly -
link.
[Oh shit. I actually just got scolded. I shit you not. "In the future, if you ever see something like that - you need to tell me." Awesome. I am an ass. Excuse me while I change the name of this blog to 'My Dog Hates Me And My Wife Is Not A Huge Fan Either'. Just kidding hon'.]
*I don't have a kid (yet).
[Edit - fixed the link]
PS: Coachella has a wiki page and it started in 1999 so when I say there's been a role-reversal and I am the hip one now you understand that this measurement of hipness is a relative one. By all other standards I should feel ashamed of my ignorance, of the life I have been living under a rock. But now that I've come clean (anonymously on my blog) feel free to tip me off to any east coast equivalent to Coachella in the comments if you like. Carry on.
Update 5/3/2006 12:51 AM: Oh great. I've never heard of music festival being compared to a tradeshow - sounds wonderful: Coachella crowds are leisure mavens used to exercising choice, and they favor small designers, like Junker and NaCo, rather than Nike logos or keepsakes from old rock concerts. But exercising prudent choice is not the same thing as declaring love. Coachella is not a rock festival for communal bliss: it can feel almost like a trade show, filled with informed and fairly dispassionate consumers sampling a band, checking it off a list, moving on.
Often this was a peculiarly tepid response to brilliant shows. Several bands, including the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Duke Spirit, Animal Collective, Cat Power and Deerhoof, gave it everything they had, each staging remarkable, potentially career-changing performances. The sense of informed caution was everywhere but onstage.
Discouraging. Who stole all our hipsters from Williamsburg and shipped them to LA?
must... not... update...
must... create... new... post!So I finally caught an episode of the new Dr. Who on SciFi. No Daleks in this one, dang it, just some bat-like things that swoop down and chomp on you after some time traveler (sorry) Time Lord comes to your village and starts mucking around with the time-space continuum. I'm glad they kept the theme song intact. And the Tardis is the same, complete with the overloaded-washing-machine sound effect. I was never a major devotee to the show, it just always stuck me as unique and a general impression has stayed with me over the years. It's probably just that there was more talking than car chases and explosions - i.e. it was not American television*. Mrs. Greenthoughts remembers Dr. Who as one of the few showed that her parents allowed her to watch growing up - PBS being the closet thing there is to 'good-for-you' television (That was the case in those pre-cable TV days anyway). So, anyway, looking forward to getting to know the new Doctor.
*Don't think I am bashing American TV (even though I am). I was a proud owner of one of those die-cast red Ford Gran Torino model cars with the white stripe. Sweet.
Washington postcoital
That was rough. Now who's going to sleep in the wetspot? Scalia photo from here and Colbert photo from here.
Yes, I realize it was primarily Bush who was (thoroughly) reamed -
I just like these pics
Here's a link if you wish to say "Thank You Stephen Colbert".
