Big Swinging Blog

Some Groovy Musical Vids

2008-04-29T09:33:00.005-04:00

Amanda has demanded updates, and she's right - the blog has been stagnant too long. So here are some cool vids that I've seen recently that I thought I'd share. First, here's one from Skippy's Monday Night Music Club and a fine piece of entertainment it is! It's kinda like Elvis does Nirvana:

And a couple from Boing Boing: Ukulele Blitzkrieg Bop. Now these guys look like they're having fun!

And Inflatable tube man dances to Cream's "Glad". Oddly hypnotic.

So, what does anyone else have? I always love to see cool stuff.

I Lose My Marklar with Marklars without Marklar

2008-03-29T21:32:00.002-04:00

I present to you one of the most classic moments from South Park:

You can find this and everything South Park at the new South Park Studios site, from full episodes to ringtones. Enjoy!

North Korean Cunnilingus

2008-01-31T21:24:00.000-05:00

It's dialectical, has a good beat and I can dance to it. Crank it up.

---> click <---

An Open Letter to Britney Spears

2008-01-31T07:17:00.000-05:00

Dear Britney,

I know you have an image to maintain and all (albeit a bad one). However I have a request from all the folks here in the good old U. S. of A. Can you please just stay out of trouble for a while? How 'bout until after November? Then the dysfunctional mainstream media won't be able to obsess about you, and will be forced to actually report on real issues to fill up the void left by a dearth of news about you. (Hmm, dearth means a lack or absence. Sorry about the SAT word.) I know, I know, the media will still do an awful job of manufacturing controversy out of the useless stuff while ignoring the substantive issues as much as possible. That's a given. But who knows? If you can clean up your act why can't they? Besides, if you can manage to keep away from the police, out of hospitals, and generally out of trouble, you might get your kids back! It's a win-win!
Think about it, OK?

KTHXBYE!

Welcome!

2007-11-30T07:23:00.000-05:00

Hello to all the visitors from Skippy the Bush Kangaroo! I've been fairly bad about posting to the site, and wouldn't you know, I'd missed reading Skippy for a day, and now company has come to call. So welcome to all the visitors from blogtopia (and yes, they coined that phrase)!

The Spinning Girl

2007-11-18T17:02:00.000-05:00

OK, check out this image.

Is she spinning clockwise, counter-clockwise, or both? Answers below the jump.

I see her as only spinning clockwise. The hubby sees here spinning in either direction; it changes if something causes the screen to change. I also found that if I look at the shadow rather than the girl, I see her spinning only counter-clockwise. Weird. For more info, check out this post at Neuroligca Blog. Enjoy!

Where Ya Been?

2007-11-04T09:09:00.001-05:00

We found this mapping tool for listing what states we've visited - very cool! Here's the list of states that Alex has been to:

visited 31 states (62%)

And here is Jeff's list:

visited 33 states (66%)

This year we'll be going to Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Maine, so we'll be filling in a few more states. Here's the link to create your own visited states map. The rules we used for counting a state as visited is that you had to stay at least one night in that state. Simply driving through or being at an airport doesn't count.

The Squirrel Catapult

2007-06-20T19:27:00.000-04:00

I just saw this video linked from Casa BoingBoing yesterday: the Squirrel Catapult! This is just awful! What appalling cruelty to poor harmless.... Oh, who am I kidding? I hate those evil, destructive little bastards, and I want a squirrel catapult of my own, like yesterday! Now all I need to do is find a way to have it trigger and reset itself automatically. And maybe if I aim it at a nearby tree...

Watermelon and Sheet Cake

2007-05-29T19:33:00.000-04:00

The two most useless foods to bring camping. This according to Ned, one of our camp mates from Philly Folk Fest. So if you invite a friend along or a camping trip and ask them to bring food, make sure that they have some idea of what to bring, 'cause that's what they're likely to show up with. Watermelon or sheet cake. After all, you don't need to fuss with prepackaged sheet cake, you just grab it from the bakery section, and what could be more summery than a watermelon? You did remember to bring plates, right? And forks? How 'bout something to cut it with? Or something to cut the watermelon on? How are we gonna store the leftovers? Um, what are you planning on having for dinner? Er, never mind.

So, since we now all know to bring all the right stuff on a camping trip, here's a summer watermelon recipe that we get asked to make all the time, especially at Folk Fest. It's an interesting combination of sweet and salty that Italians call agro dolce, and that really works on a hot summer day. Not everyone will eat it - it's too weird. But the people who will eat it invariably rave about it. Trust me on this!

Watermelon, Feta and Black Olive Salad
Nigella Lawson

1 small red onion
2-4 limes, depending on juiciness
3.5 lbs sweet, ripe watermelon
9 oz feta cheese
bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley
bunch of mint, chopped
3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 oz (1/2 cup) pitted black olives
black pepper

Peel and halve the red onion and cut into very fine half-moons and put in a small bowl to steep with the lime juice. Two limes worth should do it, but if the limes aren't very juicy add more. Remove the rind and seeds from the watermelon, and cut into approximately 1.5 inch triangular chunks. Cut the feta into similar sized pieces and put them both into a large, wide shallow bowl. Tear off sprigs of parsley so that it is used like a salad leaf rather than a garnish, and add to the bowl along with the chopped mint. Add the onions, along with the juice, the oil and olives, then using your hands toss the salad very gently so that the feta and melon don't lose their shape. Add a good grinding of black pepper and taste to see whether the dressing needs more lime. Serves 8.

Link to Nigella's original recipe using metric measurements.

Our Adventure So Far

2007-05-17T16:24:00.000-04:00

Germany was a lot of fun! We got to see and do a lot in Berlin and Lubeck. The weather has been a mixed bag, though - it's rained at some point almost every day that we've been here. We haven't had a lot of down time to spend on the computer, but access has been very spotty anyway. The hotel in Berlin offered a jack for modem access - how quaint! We got wireless access in the hotel in Lubeck for 20 euros a day, and it was almost never working. Sheesh! I thought Europe was supposed to be very connected.

The other really weird thing here is the music. Don't you people have any music of your own? Almost everyplace we've been has had American music playing. 60's motown in the Russian restaurant, hip-hop in the Vietnamese restaurant, and standard gay bar music in the gay bar. I've heard It's Raining Men enough for one lifetime, thanks.

Our trip is starting to wind down. We're at our last stop in Copenhagen, where the people are friendly and the prices are scary. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for a change.

Auf Wiedersehen!

2007-05-10T10:29:00.000-04:00

The hubby and I are going on a trip to Europe. We're starting in Germany: Berlin for 4 days, then Lübeck for 2 days. From there, we're going to Copenhagen, Denmark for 4 days, then flying back home. Our flight out is tonight, so of course we're busy obsessing about what to pack. Having been hit with the magical excess weight charge for the baggage before, we're trying to keep it simple and planning on hitting a laundromat during the trip. My problem is that I always try to plan for all kinds of weather, so I take half again as much stuff as I use. So I'm taking stuff for 5 days, and keeping it simple. We'll see if it works.

Maybe the Republicans Need to Send Out a Memo About Not Appearing on the Daily Show Either

2007-04-26T07:20:00.000-04:00

The hubby and I were watching the Daily Show from Tuesday night, which had John McCain as the guest. (video at Crooks and Liars) He has fully embraced the dark side at this point, and it was somewhere between painful and infuriating to watch. Jon Stewart was cutting him no slack, and they spent the bulk of the interview trying to talk over each other. I sometimes find myself wishing that the Daily Show were an hour long so that they could get into substantive talks during the show - it's certainly more informative than anything found on network news.

During the interview, McCain said that he hears from people in the military all the time, and that they support the war, and feel that the mission is a good one. McCain was in the military, served in the Viet Nam war, and spent some time as a POW, so he knows full well what they are going through, and also knows that not everyone in the military holds the same opinion! After the steam stopped coming out of my ears, I thought it might be a good idea to share a link to a post I saw at Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. It's from a Marine who is, shall we say, less than supportive of the mission. (Warning: it is both profane and heartbreaking.) Perhaps Mr. McCain needs to hear from a few of the soldiers who have different opinions.

At any rate, I'm no longer worried about McCain becoming president. At a time when the majority of the country believes the war to be a mistake, he's embracing it. So he's well and truly fixed on a career death spiral. Anybody want to start a pool on when he'll finally auger in?

Does It Come with a Reality Distortion Field?

2007-04-12T21:41:00.000-04:00

I've owned Macintosh computers since the venerable Mac IIci. I currently covet a new MacBook Pro. So when I hear about a new Apple product, I'm definitely going ot cheeck it out. And what do we have here? Why, it's the new iRack!

If only it came in Bondi Blue.

Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual

2007-04-10T21:40:00.000-04:00

I saw this bit of goodness over at Joe.My.God. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the acoustic stylings of Roy Zimmerman and "Ted Haggard Is Completely Heterosexual":

Our folkie friends would also love his video "What If the Beatles Were Irish?" Enjoy!

Gay Bar Drinks

2007-04-10T21:21:00.000-04:00

The hubby and I went out for dinner tonight, and I ordered a gin and tonic for my cocktail. Jeff sensibly got a beer. When the drinks arrived, I took one sip, and said, "where did they get the gay bartender?" Not because there was a frilly parasol and fruit in the drink, but because it was overpoweringly strong. I don't know what it is about gay bars, but they just can't serve a mixed drink without making it a double. Or a triple. I've had the same bad drinks in New York, Philly, Seattle, and Ft. Lauderdale (perhaps the worst of the bunch). Once at the Raven, a gay bar in New Hope PA, I asked for a cape codder, and make it a double on the cranberry juice. I got the usual ridiculous drink, and a small glass of cranberry juice on the side. Sheesh! The only safe drink in a gay bar is beer or wine - something where the bartender doesn't get a chance to screw it up. Seriously, if I want a martini or a cosmopolitan, I'll ask for one. When I ask for a cape codder, it should be red, not pale pink. Just sayin'.

Superthunderstingcar!

2007-04-08T12:38:00.000-04:00

OK, I'm a child of the 60s, so I grew up with the fine TV programming of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. For those of you too young to remember, the Andersons did a series of sci-fi kid shows using puppets, or as they called it, filmed in SuperMarionation. The first one that I remember was Fireball XL5, which was first on U.S. TV when I was 4 years old. Then there was Supercar, followed by Stingray in the mid 60s. Thunderbirds arrived in '67, followed by Captain Scarlet in '68 or '69. Then came the later shows with real actors: UFO in '70, and Space: 1999 in '75. It's been many years since I've seen any of those shows. I got to see some of the opening sequences of the old shows on You Tube, and couldn't believe how cheesey they were. I guess I could be forgiven liking them when I was very young, and the shows did mature pretty much as I did. Which brings me to this gem I found on Boing Boing this morning: Superthunderstingcar!

The hilarious thing is just how dead on this spoof was. My parents have both passed on, but if they were here now, I would give them both a great big apology for making them sit through this dren. Enjoy the video, if you dare!

The (Un)Lamentable Death of the Recording Industry

2007-04-06T20:48:00.000-04:00

There was a very good opinion piece in the New York Times on the sorry state of the music industry these days. It's written by a couple folks who had an independent music store and sadly had it fold because of the change in how music is bought and sold. Here's a choice quote:

The major labels wanted to kill the single. Instead they killed the album. The association wanted to kill Napster. Instead it killed the compact disc. And today it's not just record stores that are in trouble, but the labels themselves, now belatedly embracing the Internet revolution without having quite figured out how to make it pay.

Lord knows that I don't buy music they way I used to. I don't buy a lot of stuff from iTunes, either, although I might now that they are going to offer DRM-free songs at 256kbps. We do have a subscription to eMusic, which is pretty cool even if it doesn't have a lot of more well known stuff. Anyway, the article is well worth the read - check it out before it disappears behind the paywall.

Two Bits of Python

2007-04-02T19:27:00.000-04:00

The hubby and I were just in Philly last Saturday with the in-laws to see Spamalot, the musical by Monty Python's Eric Idle. A fine time was had by all! It wasn't quite was I was expecting, but that was more my expectation of a play rather than what I should have been expecting of a production by a member of Monty Python. I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for a fun night of theater.

I also just read a scathing op-ed piece called Call That Humiliation? in the Guardian by Terry Jones, also of Monty Python fame. Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark. "No hoods. No electric shocks. No beatings. These Iranians clearly are a very uncivilised bunch!" Indeed.

Sad Kermit

2007-03-31T12:12:00.000-04:00

I saw this at Shake's place yesterday: Kermit the Frog doing a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt. It's so very, very wrong, and yet right.

I like the original NIN version of this song, and the Johnny Cash cover of it, so I guess seeing Kermit do it isn't such a stretch.

My First Chuckle of the Day Today...

2007-03-31T10:59:00.000-04:00

I surfed over to Dan Savage's slog today, and what did my wondering eyes see? Well, this:

Hmm, maybe this is a kind of worship I can get, er, behind.

And to you vandals who did this heinous thing to a church, well, naughty, naughty!

Recipe - Dry Okra

2007-03-13T20:12:00.000-04:00

This recipe is for our friend Doodles. We were talking about our gardens last summer, and it turns out that we had all planted okra. They are interesting looking plants with very pretty flowers, but just what do you do with all the okra? There's only so much gumbo you can eat. The hubby and I love Indian food, and Jeff has a great cook book by Madhur Jaffrey which he makes awesome stuff from all the time. This is one of my favorites!

Dry Okra
Sookhi Bhindi
By Madhur Jaffrey

1 lb fresh okra
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
6-7 oz. onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Wipe the okra pods dry with a damp paper towel. Cut off the top and tip of the pods, and then cut the pods crosswise into 1/2 inch segments. Put the oil into a large non-stick frying pan and set on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, toss in the cumin seeds and let sizzle for 10 seconds. Add the okra and onions, spreading out evenly. Fry, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes. The onions should begin to brown by this point. Turn the heat to medium and continue to stir gently and fry for another 5 minutes. Add salt, ground cumin, coriander, lemon juice and cayenne. Cook, stirring gently, for another 5 minutes, and serve.

On Nylon Walls and Privacy

2007-03-12T21:43:00.000-04:00

The hubby and I go camping quite a bit. Our specialty is car camping: load the truck up with tent, sleeping bags, air mattresses, awning, stove, tiki torches, various chairs, food and booze coolers; drive to a campground somewhere, park, unload, set up, and have a cocktail to celebrate. We also camp at large multi-day festival concerts: we've been to the Philly Folk Fest and Bonnaroo. We volunteer at Folk Fest. Fest is a somewhat different beast - you can't leave your car in the camping area. If you're a volunteer like us, you can drive in early, drop your stuff off, and then set up. Paying customers have to carry everything in, which leads to an amazing assortment of carts and wagons, both handmade and store bought. It also leads to amazingly dense campsites - throughout most of the campground, the tents are placed edge to edge, with small clearings in the middle of different clusters for living space. So privacy is pretty much out. If you want to have a little nookie, you've got to have seriously repressed tent sex, 'cause everyone in the vicinity is going to hear you if you don't.

Read on for more tent sex... (you pervs!)
Of course, around 4:00 am after a night of drinking, sometimes you just kinda forget and go with the moment. The hubby and I woke up to the sound of some chick whose tent was opposite ours in the next campsite arriving with her hot date of the evening. "See, I told you it was a mansion," says she. "C'mon, honey, indoor voice," I mutter. The zipping sound of the tent door opening and closing, and then the hot date says "wow, the air mattress is so cushy." "Yeah, and I got blankets coming outta my ass!" Jeff and I have a good chuckle. Better see a doctor about that. So after a little more small talk, they settle in and get down to business. "Uh, uhh, Uhh, UHHH, UHHHHHH, uhhhhh...." "Uh, uhh, Uhh, UHHH, UHHHHHH, uhhhhh...." "Uh, uhh, Uhh, UHHH, UHHHHHH, uhhhhh...." At this point, no one in the area has any pretense of sleeping, we're just listening to the show. "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" he goes. Ruh roh, you may be done, but ya didn't get her there yet buddy. Not to worry, he obligingly lends a helping hand. We're tempted to applaud when she finally does get off, but refrain from spoiling the moment. Now they can cuddle close, kiss, and go to sleep in each others arms. "I guess I better go back to my campsite," says he. The cad. "Better go wash your hand," she helpfully advises. Oh. My. Gawd. How we managed not laughing out loud I'll never know.

Next morning, we hit that point around 9:00 am when it just gets too hot in the tent to keep sleeping. Everyone starts moving about; the first pot of coffee is brewed, and we slowly start becoming verbal. So it doesn't take long to start talking about the sexcapades from the night before. "Man, did you hear that last night?" "I thought it was you!" "No, it was from that tent over there." We never did see who was actually in that tent, which is probably for the best. But the best thing out of the whole, er, affair was when our fearless leader Ned told us how to avoid such embarrassing situations: a bachelor tent! You set up a small tent out in the middle of the campground where you don't know anyone, and just go there when you want some privacy. Since no one knows who you are, and you're never there any other time, you can have all the noisy fun you want! Now that's my kind of tent sex!

OMG Shoes!!

2007-03-12T21:19:00.000-04:00

I know that it's been around for a while, but it still manages to make me laugh and sure gets my toes a-tappin...

Phun with Physicians!

2007-02-16T20:05:00.000-05:00

It's been almost three years since my last eye exam, and my old guy eyes aren't getting any younger, so I decided it was time to get my scrip updated so I can get a new pair of eyeglasses. Simple process, right? No, not exactly. Let me start right out by saying I have some issues with health care in America. My mom had a prolonged illness and passed away several years back, so when I say I have more than a passing acquaintance with hospitals and health care providers, I really mean it. Still, I don't currently have any real health problems, so my interactions with doctors aren't too frequent. Having thus set the stage, let's raise the curtain of this production.

I belong to an HMO, so I have to get a referral from my primary care physician to see the Ophthalmologist. So I dutifully call the G.P.'s office to ask for a referral. This on Monday. Silly me, of course I get voice mail! Having left a message with my name, phone number and request, I figure that it generally takes a while to get an appointment, so I call the eye doctor's office to set that up. Turns out it was my lucky day - they had an opening first thing Thursday morning. If I couldn't make that, they had openings in April. Sheesh. OK, so I take the one on Thursday. Tuesday comes, and no call from my primary doc's office. I try calling, and do get through, but it's not Bonnie, the usual receptionist - I can tell right away because she didn't put me on hold. She tells me that I'll have to wait until tomorrow to talk to Bonnie. I tell the nice lady that I have an appointment on Thursday, so I really need to get the referral by the next day. She tells me that I'll have to wait for Bonnie, and assures me that it isn't that much of a deal any more - the referrals are now electronic and I don't absolutely have to have it before my appointment, it can be within a few days.

Continue reading post...
Having had more than enough fun with the rapidly mutating stories that you can get from health care professionals, I of course called the eye doctor's office for confirmation. Color me surprised - they had a slightly different take. I could show up without having the referral in hand, but I would have to sign a waiver, and they would need the referral within 48 hours of the visit. OK, so it seems safe enough, the referral is in the works.

Wednesday we had snow. No referral for me. OK, so on to plan B.

I show up early as requested at the eye doc's Thursday morning - been so long that I've gotta fill out the forms all over again, don't ya know? So the usual eye chart, eye drops, bright lights, yadda yadda. Then we get to the part about the long time since my last visit. Tisk tisk. Well, the doc has concerns about my eyes - I have an enlarged optic nerve or some such that can be a sign of glaucoma, although they have tested me for glaucoma in the past and I don't have any other symptoms, thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I remember all that glaucoma stuff they put me through 4 years ago - not fun, and involving several additional visits, including an extra one when the doc rescheduled on me the day when the medical photographer took pics of my retinas. (Please pay the additional co-pay on your way out, thanks!)

Interesting thing about the enlarged optic nerve, though. The next time I went in for an exam, they had a new electronic gizmo. It allows the doc to examine your retinas without using the drops to dilate your pupils. However, the HMO won't pay for it, so you have to pay an additional $35 out of pocket. But you do get to have the digital pics of your retinas saved to your file, so they can always look at the pics to see if there is any change. Well, I gave it a shot. They were very proud of their new, toy, and made a big show of the glorious images on the computer screen showing my "perfectly normal retinas!" Uh, last visit I had an enlarged optic nerve, which entailed extra visits. Did I get better? Later, I googled the name of the gizmo and found the manufacturer's web site, expounding the virtues of the machine - as a profit center for your practice. Huh.

The physician trade has been in an interesting squeeze of late. Insurers are requiring ever more paperwork, and putting downward pressure on what docs will be paid for what they do. Meanwhile, the additional paperwork has caused the doctors' staffs to devote an increasing amount of time to doing said paperwork, thereby increasing overhead. So doctors have been looking at alternate ways to increase revenue, and those have given me an unsettled feeling more than once. I didn't go to the G.P. to buy vitamins, or the eye doc to buy wrinkle cream, so I'm somewhat put off when they pitch me for it. And my G.P. has never met a prescription he didn't like - we call him doctor pusher because of his fondness of sending you away with at least three scrips and a handfull of sample after every visit. Hell, the pharmacy once refused to fill one of his scrips because it was too many pills! I keep wondering if he's on some crazy incentive plan.

Meanwhile, back to the eye doc and my enlarged whatchamacallit. She wants me to come back in a year for an exam with their specialist to make sure that I'm still not at risk for glaucoma and to take more pics of my eyes. OK, but didn't you get enough already with the $35 gizmo. Oh no, that doesn't take the right kind of pictures - but they do have a new machine, made in Germany, that does take the right kind of pics. I wonder what I'll find on the manufacturers web site if I google it?

I put on my shades, squint my way into work, and get on the phone to Bonnie. She tells me that she'll get me the referral, but that it's hard copy, not electronic. Huh, where did I ever get the idea that it was electronic? So she'll put it in an envelope in a drop box outside the office and I can pick it up on my way home from work. I swing by after work and pick it up, and what do you know? There's other stuff in there. First, a note telling me about the new 5 day notice policy on referrals. Oopsy. Second, forms for some blood tests and a note telling me that since it's been two years since my last visit, I'll need to get the tests done and schedule a follow up visit with the doc, or they will have to archive my files and they won't be able to give me any more referrals. Huh.

So here's the bottom line out of this long meandering tale - is this stuff all for my benefit, or theirs? I'd like to think that the doctors only concern is the well being of their patients, but I am very uncomfortable with some of the stuff that they do. I mean, come on! Wrinkle cream? Thinly veiled blackmail so I'll schedule a visit? (Please pay the additional co-pay on your way out, thanks!) This is all just more symptoms of our screwed up health care system. It's really time for change. Long past time.

No More of the Hapless Victim Routine!

2007-02-14T16:09:00.000-05:00

OK, this post has been building in me since last week. It's an elaboration of a comment I made on Big Brass Blog in response to a post by Chet Scoville. The pseudo-controversy over the Edwards campaign hiring two people who were bloggers has finally come to a conclusion, with Amanda of Pandagon and Melissa of Shakespeare's Sister resigning. This saddens me for the lost opportunity for two good people, but it also has me completely fed up as well. So here goes.

Mr. Edwards, you have lost my vote. You have plenty of time to regain it, but I am dubious that you will be able to. The reason could have been the way that you tiptoed your way through the recent controversy, but that wasn't it. It could have been that you chose to apologize, and had Amanda and Melissa apologize, but that wasn't it. Here's the thing - if you aren't capable of defending yourself or those who work for you from low class bullies, you have certainly given me no confidence that you are capable of leading our nation. Hell, you weren't even able to stand up for yourself, Amanda and Melissa in a battle of words; you certainly don't appear up to the task of making Amanda and Melissa feel secure in their persons or families against the threats of death and violence that they have been receiving. And that's why you will lose!

Say what you will about President Bush (he's stupid, obstinate, arrogant, dishonest and incompetent, but I digress), at least he has shown that he will stand up for the people who work for him. This is true even long after the jury has come in about them. Witness Donald Rumsfeld's tenure. This makes Bush appear to be a stand up guy. He and Dick Cheney have no problem getting out in front of the media and fighting back against any accusation or negative comment made about them - even if it's true! Watching the Wolf Blitzer interview where Cheney denies having said things in the past which he most certainly did, and telling Blitzer that discussing Mary Cheney's pregnancy is out of line, which it most certainly is not, you can see how they play the game. Poor Wolf was left stammering. They can stand up to media critics successfully, even when they are patently wrong!

Time and again, Democrats have been the hapless victims of right wing thugs and a biased media. You know what? Hapless victims don't win. You certainly are deserving of, and do receive sympathy. You just don't receive sympathy votes. Nobody ever gets sympathy votes. You get votes because you convince people that you have the cojones to lead! In 2000, when the right wing thugs sabotaged McCain's primary campaign in South Carolina by accusing him of having a biracial child out of wedlock, he could have kept going if he fought back like hell, but he didn't. And in so doing, he lost. In 2004 when the right wing thugs did the same to Kerry, the infamous "Swift-Boat Vets," he could have fought back like hell, but he didn't. And in so doing, he lost. This is where things like false accusations of scandal or dishonorable conduct succeed - not in that the accusations are false, but that you don't fight back!

Here's a great idea: from now on, any and every Democratic candidate, officeholder, and spokesperson, upon encountering an example of the right-wing hit machine doing its thing, don't waste your time explaining and defending yourself. Instead, immediately point out that this is an extremely partisan player once again performing a hit job, and that the media giving this person air time is yet another example of "Right-Wing, Fox News Type Bias" or "Right-Wing, Fox News Bias." All caps. Repeated as loudly and as often as possible, and in every instance of any wingnut doing another hit job. Make absolutely certain to include the Fox News reference between the words "Right-Wing" and "Bias." We want Fox News to become synonymous with bias. This is exactly how the right wing hit machine works, and it has proven very effective.

So when Nancy Pelosi is accused of ordering a large luxury jet for herself to travel in, the correct response is not to defend herself from the charge. The correct response is to say this, and only this: "It is outrageous that the media is giving air time to such an outrageous and obviously false story. This is yet another example of Right-Wing, Fox News Type Bias." And that's it. No further comments, no explanations, just that. This leaves the media with just this tape to run. Nothing else. They can't cut out the parts they don't like, and leave in the ones that support their spin. They either run with this, or they go with no tape at all, just talking heads in front of a photo giving their own spin.

Of course, Fox will go ballistic about being referred to this way. They will respond with the talking heads in front of a photo, spinning furiously. However, since they are already a highly biased right-wing news organ, it's not like they weren't already going to do as much damage as they could. Just look at the "Barack Obama went to a madrassa" debacle. I can't imagine anyone daring to attempt that with Bush or Cheney - certainly not since Dan Rather destroyed his career with the false evidence of Bush failing to fulfill his Air National Guard obligation. And yet, I haven't heard of any repercussions of the false Obama story.

So, seriously, to all you Democrats out there - stop rolling over for the right wing hit men. Regardless of the bloggers working on the Edwards campaign, Donohue was never going to vote for or endorse Edwards, ever. Neither was Malkin. Responding to their machinations in any way other than pointing out that they are highly partisan cronies without a shred of credibility does you little if any good. So take back some control of the discourse!

At least you will look like you have some backbone! And that will get votes!

Update: Jeffrey Feldman has a post which is far better than mine, and is well worth the read.

The Cat is Under the Table

2007-02-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

She haunts my dreams, this cat. She obsesses my waking hours. She consumes my thoughts. Who is this cat? Why is she under the table? Does she simply vant to be alone, or is she up to something much, much more sinister. I need to know. "The cat is under the table" the voice drones. "Die Katze is unter den tisch." "Die Katze is unter den tisch." "Die Katze is unter..." But I digress.

We're going to Germany in a couple of months. I've bought some learn-German-in-90-days software. So far I've learned how to say great things like "The dog is in the airplane", "The girl is running" and "The boy is on the horse." Money well spent, nicht?

I keep wondering when I'll get to the really useful things. Things I'll actually use. Important things. Things like "The strudel tastes like ass. Please refund my money", "Thank you, but I do not wish to view your scheiße video.", "I would like to procure a blow-job please." and "I'm sorry Officer, my German is very bad. What I really meant to say was: 'the cat is under the table'."

What do you think would happen if I walked up to a Berliner, with a big grin on my face, hand extended and said "Die Katze is unter den tisch?" Would they back away slowly, smiling and nodding, frightened, trying not to excite me? Would they pat my head and smile patronizingly, thinking "it's nice we leave people like this in our country." Or would they nod solemnly, recognizing me as one of their own, a member of the cabal, and let me in on the secret? The secret about what that damn cat is really up to. But I digress.

Aqua Teen Hunger Farce

2007-02-02T19:19:00.001-05:00

I don't know if everyone has been following the great Aqua Teen Hunger Force debacle in Boston. For those of you who don't know, ATHF is a bizarrely surreal cartoon on Adult Swim, the evening adult part of the Cartoon Network's programming. The short version is that there was a guerrilla marketing campaign launched a couple weeks ago to promote the upcoming ATHF movie, and in Boston, they discovered the black battery powered ad thingies which looked like mini Lite-Brites. I saw a post linked off of BoingBoing, and was really amused by another video post I found there. Enjoy!

To date, this post on the Huffington Post the most level-headed post I've read about the incident: Another Reminder, They've Won. Meanwhile, while I sometimes watch ATHF, guilty pleasures being what they are, I'm much more entertained by Morel Orel and The Venture Brothers. Thank God for ReplayTV - those shows are on late!

Impressions of New Orleans

2007-01-27T22:48:00.000-05:00

OK, here are some belated impressions of New Orleans now that we've had time to think about it.

The city is damaged. You can tell. The French Quarter is all gussied up so that the tourists will feel good, but it just seems odd. There are almost no grifters or homeless people about. We did see some homeless folks in Fauberg-Marigny, but not in the Quarter. And there was a certain desperation in all the shops. We consistently had people saying thank you for coming - and spending money - now please tell your friends that it's safe to come down - and spend money!

In Jackson Square, the number of artists and tarot readers was way down. Also, there were quite a few galleries on Rue Royal with Going Out of Business Sale signs. Ordinarily, I would tend to be skeptical of this, and in New Orleans, it pays to be skeptical. But I had the feeling that this was the real deal. Walking down the streets in the Quarter, it seemed like there were way fewer people than I remember. We got to talk to a few shop keepers, and they agreed with that - one said that there were about half the number of tourist that you would have expected for this time of year pre-Katrina.

Continue reading about NOLA...
We also noticed that a number of businesses were off their game. We ate at Nola one night, one of Emeril's restaurants. We had eaten there before, and it was one of the best restaurant experiences either of us had ever had. This time, the food was good, but the service was not the effortless ballet that it had been before. I think that part of the problem is that many of the people who used to work in the quarter have not returned. When we were at the Crescent City Brewery, there was a guy doing the oyster bar, and a few folks were welcoming him back. Turns out that he'd only returned to his job there 2 days before - a year and a half after Katrina!

The changes were more stark once you got out of the French Quarter. We rode the streetcar out to the Business District to Julia Street to check out the art galleries. There were only about a half dozen people on the streetcar, all of us tourists. When some folks started chatting with the driver, he told us that they had only gotten the streetcars working again for a 10 block distance - out of the original 7 miles! You can forget riding out to the Garden District. We did get to check out some nice galleries, but some that we had seen before were just gone.

Fauberg-Marigny and the part of the French Quarter fronting on Armstrong Park were much worse off. There was no pretense of gussying up for tourists. Marigny was alway kinda dicey - some nice places, and some not so nice. Now, there were some very nice places side-by-side with some wrecked places. Shattered windows, a balcony that had clearly fallen off so now the roof was propped up by temporary beams that were now anything but temporary. And yet, some places were showcases. We were admiring one particularly nice place when someone pulled up in a car, handed us his card and asked if we wanted to buy it - he was the realtor. This bespeaks a certain desperation, and he did tell us that the price was originally $650K, but now it was more like $500K. Not a good market to be selling in. Over the weekend we heard several similar stories.

We also noticed the markings on many of the buildings or sidewalks indicating that crews had been through checking for bodies and not found any. Or, in some cases, how many they found. We weren't quite sure about that because the marks were done inconsistently. Keep in mind that Marigny was one of the more well-off places as far as flooding was concerned. The markings were conspicuously absent in the Quarter - can't upset the tourists! We tried talking to a shop keeper in Marigny, who wasn't really interested in sharing stories of the aftermath and recovery with us. What was interesting was when another local came into the shop while we were there and started talking to the guy behind the counter about a meeting at the town hall earlier in the week. It dealt with the sudden spike in crime. Turns out that Anderson Cooper was there. The local said that he had watched the newscast to see what kind of spin Cooper would put on the story. He went on to say that sometimes Cooper is good for the city, sometimes he's not, and this time he was not good for New Orleans.

We wandered about quite a bit after that, and then returned to the Quarter. The next morning, we saw on the news that the 10th murder this year had happened in Marigny at 6:00 am that morning. They showed a map of the location, and the hubby and I had walked right by the house the day before - twice. It was a dispute between a father and son over money that turned deadly. The newscaster went on to report on the measures that the city was taking to reduce the crime wave - roadblocks and checkpoints. Uh, sorry folks, but there is no way that checkpoints could have prevented the killing that day. They did manage to hand out some traffic violations, though.

We had noticed how the Quarter was crawling with police - both LA state police and city police. We did not notice the heavy police presence anywhere else. I can understand the desire to protect the Quarter - it's a great source of revenue for the city. However, people are hesitant to go to New Orleans because of the crime wave. They'll never see the police if they don't come! Which brings us to the heart of the matter with the crime wave. A large part of the problems that New Orleans is facing is the same problem that our nation is facing, only greatly magnified. The problem is poverty, and no amount of police presence will solve it. People don't choose to be poor. Sometimes they are born to it, sometimes it is thrust upon them. But they will try to deal with it in whatever way that they can, and frequently we will consider those ways bad - desperate times do indeed call for desperate measures. However, you won't solve this by telling them it is a bad way, or by punishing them for choosing the bad way. We'll solve it by giving them some better option!

You Going to the Big Game?

2007-01-18T19:41:00.000-05:00

It was the oddest thing, but a few days before we left for New Orleans, people started asking us if we were going to see the game. Uh, game? Yeah, the NFC divisional championship game at the Superdome on Saturday - Saints versus Eagles. Uh, the Eagles? Please tell me you're joking. No, huh. Nope, not going to see the game, and if I knew the Eagles were going to be in town, I probably wouldn't have gone.
There has always been a blank spot in my head where team sports would ordinarily go. Yeah, beefy guys in tight outfits, it's not bad to look at, but I just don't usually get what's going on in the game until they show the score on the screen. However, it's the Eagles fans who hold a special in my heart - a very bad one. I've been to a number of concerts in the Philly area where the Eagles fans hang out in the men's rooms and spend the night doing the Eagles cheer. Over and over. And it's not just one group of guys in one loo, it happens all over. Paying $40 plus to spend the night in the men's room cheering - how gay is that? Sheesh.
Fortunately, the Eagles fans seldom managed to rise over the usual Bourbon Street hubbub, and the Saints fans didn't really get crazy until Saturday night. You shoulda heard the commotion when they won! And a good time was had by all. Best of all, the men's rooms weren't any crazier than usual in New Orleans. Trust me, that's crazy enough!

Checking Out the Big Easy

2007-01-18T19:03:00.000-05:00

The hubby and I went to New Orleans over Martin Luther King weekend. I'm really glad to have gotten the chance to see it with my own eyes. The first quick impression was that things didn't seem as bad as you would have expected. Our flight arrived at 6:00 pm, so we got to see all the street lights illuminating the area, and it didn't look like there was anything astray from the air. When you got into the airport, nothing much looked odd there either, but you would expect anything that tourists would see to be all gussied up. The drive into town was interesting - again, everything obvious looked OK, it was when you had a gap in the concrete highway barrier wall that you saw empty damaged houses. The Superdome looked fine, but the Hyatt on the other side of it had many of the brown tinted windows replaced with white panels - odd. Once we got to the French Quarter, everything looked quite normal. The only odd thing was that it seemed less crowded than it should have been. So, once we checked in, we walked over to Bourbon Street and had our first (and only) Hand Grenade. Yuck. So we wandered and drank, and sat and drank, and chatted and drank, and... well, you get the picture. So began our long weekend adventure. I'll be posting more about our great NOLA adventure.

Some New Years Humor

2007-01-02T19:31:00.000-05:00

Some New Years humor from Illiad over at User Friendly:

Go see the whole strip. Meanwhile, I'm going to feel guilty. "Clogger." Yup, guilty as charged. OK, so I'm gonna try to be good, and get at least one post in a week. Maybe that's not reaching too far. We'll see. Meanwhile, Happy New Year everyone!

And Once Again, the Reality Doesn't live Up to the Hype

2006-09-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

So we decided to watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann. We didn't make it all the way through. The clips we saw on Crooks and Liars were awesome, but the regular show isn't the same stuff at all. Ah well, at least there's still The Daily Show and Colbert. Good stuff!

Olbermann's Latest

2006-09-12T20:55:00.000-04:00

Damn! Olbermann is on a tear! Check it out:

It needed to be said, and I'm damn glad he said it so well. I hope the bigwigs at MSNBC don't decide to can him for disturbing the status quo. From what I've read, his ratings are doing well. MyDD has a good post about it. Check it out! Also, there is a transcript and better quality video at Crooks and Liars

Kirk/Spock Slash Video (No, not that kind. Sickos.)

2006-09-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

I saw this oddly cool video linked off of Boing Boing. It's a weird slash fiction takeoff in video form. Slash fiction is a story typically written by a fan which involves romantic relationships with well known charcters from TV, movies or books. Oddly enough, the stories are more often than not gay stories, but are more often than not written by women. The term "slash" comes from the use of the slash between the names, e.g. Kirk/Spock or Batman/Robin. This one uses the Nine Inch Nails song Closer as the music and visual style. It's surprisingly well done. Enjoy!

Geek Humor

2006-09-08T19:56:00.000-04:00

I have links to a few good geek humor sites, but this comic got me to laugh today:

Check out XKCD, A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. While I was making the rounds, I ran across the Nerd Test, which of course I had to take. And the results? Hah! As if there was any doubt.

No doubt I lost points for having a significant other, going out on a Friday night, and not living at home with my parents.

I Never Thought of Using a Treadmill That Way

2006-09-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

I hadn't heard of the band OK Go until this past week. They've got some really cool quirky self made videos that are making the rounds on the YouTube. Check this one out:

I like their music as well. They've got that retro-pop vibe going on, like The Vines, The White Stripes, and The Hives. I think I'll see what they have up on iTunes - maybe I'll buy some. Gee, maybe we're seeing the future of the music industry, and it doesn't involve the major labels.

Loving Life at the Moment

2006-09-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting here sipping on a fine cocktail and contemplating how much I love my hubby. He made me a Satan's Whiskers, which is mighty tasty! He's also making meat loaf with scalloped potatoes and green beans for dinner. Mmmm! Great food for a cold, wet, rainy day. We both love to cook, so dinner around here is never boring. Having herb and vegetable gardens out back helps - fresh ingredients are awesome! My sister, bro-in-law, niece and nephew are coming over for dinner tomorrow. I was going to make grill roasted leg of lamb with rice pilaf and grilled tomatoes & eggplant with strawberry pavlova for dessert, but everyone other than my sis is a snouse*, so that's out. Instead, we're going to have lasagna with a green salad, and spumoni ice cream for dessert. Still mighty tasty, and actually a little easier to make. Damn, dinner is smelling good! Did I mention how much I love my hubby?

* Snouse: a Pennsylvania Dutch term for a picky eater. The hubby is from Lancaster, PA, the heart of Amish country. I've been picking up the lingo from him.

Humph...

2006-09-02T17:09:00.000-04:00

Being witty and engaging is harder than I thought. I've got 3 different posts going right now, and I can't seem to finish any of them. Maybe I'll start by linking to Keith Olbermann's kick-ass commentary about Rumsfeld's speech at the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City last week. Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark.

Whaddaya know, Olbermann does it again. My sister has been telling me for a while that I should watch his show. Perhaps she's right.

Random Observations - Opening Bands

2006-09-02T13:52:00.000-04:00

So what is it with opening acts at concerts? Sometimes they can be quite good - I own Ben Harper, The Greenhornes and Filter CDs because I saw them open for someone else, and they rocked! But mostly, opening acts seem to be the bad stuff you have to sit through to prove that you're worthy of being up front in a general admission concert. Does the headliner choose a weak opening act so that they seem better in comparison? Here are some that stand out in my mind. Northern State (3 white chicks rapping badly) opened for Cake last time we saw them. John McCrea scolded the audience afterward for dissing the girls. Bright Eyes (gawd, they were depressing) opened the Vote for Change show in Philly. Fortunately, with the number of acts playing that night, no one was on stage for all that long. However, the worst had to be Children's Hour, who opened for Billy Corgan's defunct band Zwan.
I remember noticing before the show started that Zwan's equipment on the sides of the stage was covered in black tarps and the stage had a harp in the middle, and not much else. Hmm, that's odd. So someone comes out and introduces Children's Hour as "Billy Corgan's favorite band." Gee, with an intro like that, they must rock, right? Sadly, no. They were a singer/songwriter folk/rock act - the harp, a guitar, and other assorted folksy kinda instruments. If they were in a nice small venue playing to an appreciative audience, I'm sure they would be a good act to see. However, the wispy sound drifting around in the Electric Factory was just painful. By the 2nd or 3rd song people started shouting "you suck!" By the 5th or 6th song, people started throwing stuff (OK, that explains the tarps). They soldiered on to finish their set, but it was really just getting it over with. They got off the stage to everyone's relief, Zwan's crew came out and set up, and then a miffed Billy Corgan came out and got on with the show, which was awesome! It a shame that Zwan didn't last, cause they seriously rocked the Electric Factory that night.
So here's an open note to artists and concert promoters: I know you'd like to showcase talented young bands, and perhaps help promote friends. However, we learned a long time ago that even when the opening act is actually good, like say Jimi Hendrix, you still can't reasonably expect a crowd with different tastes, like say fans of The Monkees, to warm up to something that just isn't their taste. And when the band sucks, well, they just suck. Just saying.

Well, Here Goes...

2006-09-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

Welcome to our blog! After enjoying so many others, my hubby and I decided to try our hand at this blogging thing. We were supposed to go camping this weekend at The Woods Campground, a gay and lesbian campground near Jim Thorpe, PA, but given the shitful weather for the next couple of days, we figured it'd be better to stay dry, er, home. Both. So it seemed like a good night to set up a blog. We'll be tweaking stuff and getting used to how this Blogger thingy works, so the blog will be in flux for a bit. Stay tuned!