Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Who knew?...


Evidently, the entire 6,000 year dietary structure of Judaism has suddenly turned around to embrace the dee-liciousness of some dynamite ham. Why, it's an Easteriffic miracle!

Regardless, I send out a hearty Chag Pesach Sameach to my legion of Jewish Passover observers out there in the blogosphere.

And speaking of Easter, here's my lovely wife's favorite seasonal joke this time of year:

Q: What happens when Jesus rises sees his shadow on Easter Sunday?

A: We get six more weeks of Lent.

...try the veal, I'm here all week.

Lance Mannion


The inimitable Lance Mannion has a terrific post on the bloviators from the right side of this bizarre 'Murkan equation.

Read it and weep.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Haiti


Good Lord. I just finished watching Frontline's episode on the effect of the earthquake on Haiti. I'm undone. We have no idea as to the suffering and devastation. No idea.

Paul Collier is interviewed in the piece. He wrote The Bottom Billion. So much suffering in this world of ours.

Take Turns


Don't you just love TED? Do watch this.

Becky


Here's an update from Glenn Beck's Old-Timey Tent Revival this weekend outside Disney, Fl this weekend. The writer likens him to Elmer Gantry in the piece. While wholly appropriate of Beck's style, I'll actually give the nod to Keith Olbermann's take on Beck as being superior. KO refers to Beck as Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes who is the main character in the 1957 Elia Kazan film, A Face In The Crowd.

I've not seen the entire movie, but it's well documented that Andy Griffith gave an Academy award winning performance.

Here's a clip from the film and after watching it, you might well agree, it's probably a better metaphor for the madness that is Glenn Beck.

Matt Taibbi


Matt gives both barrels to Pope Ratfucker and the entire structure of deceit that is the Catholic Church.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Cleveland Rocks


Here's nice little piece from last week's Guardian UK about our fair burg. They've even featured a mention of The Prosperity Social Club. It's one of our favorite haunts primarily due to the fact that it is a carbon copy of our own basement writ large.

(hat tip to Mark from West Park for the alert)

The New Gulag


In our ongoing descent from a formerly free country into a sleek and modern police state, the next time some one asks, "what's wrong with this country?"...you needn't look further than this article from the front page of today's Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Positively criminal.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Bill Maher


Nobody does it better. Great rant from the king of the pissed off Left.

Friday, March 26, 2010

I'd like to cite the case of Rubber v. Glue


Big brother Dave found a sighting of that rare and elusive North American blogger, Billmon.

As some of you may recall, he was the cock o' the walk back in those salad days of Blogsylvania and I'm pleased to report that he's still got his chops.

Friday Random Ten


Rebel Music -- Wyclef Jean
Loss Leaders -- Spoon
The Murder Weapon -- T Bone Burnett
Avenue B -- Iggy Pop
The Troubles -- The Roches
Universally Speaking -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
Troubled Times -- Fountains Of Wayne
Even Flow -- Pearl Jam
The Crane Wife 3 -- The Decemberists
I Could Say -- Lily Allen

Bonus, (it's finally Spring even tho' it fuckin snowed last night) cut...

High On A Hilltop-- Nick Lowe

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Dennis!


My favorite Congressional Representative gives us some straight talk about how he reached his decision on the Health Care Reform bill that president Obama signed this week.

Kucinich, as always, is refreshingly honest, forthright and plain spoken in both his tone and rhetoric. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm proud on a daily basis that he's my Rep.

(tip o' the cap to Mr. B on this one)

Birthday Boy


Thanks to my lovely wife's keen eye to detail, I'm reminded that today, we celebrate the 61st birthday of Mr. Nick Lowe. Arguably, one of the finest song writers of our generation.

Here's Nick with that great Rockpile lineup from 1978. Many happy returns and best wishes for many more days, Basher!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Birthday Boy


Today is Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday.

If you're not familiar with his entire oeuvre, look no further than this far out link to that most Canadian of magazines, MacLeans. Very comprehensive.

No real fan of musical theatre am I, but Sondheim is lots different. He writes great lyrics that tell age old stories with a complexity of arrangement unheard of elsewhere in the genre. He is, in no uncertain terms, the king.

Here's a clip from Sunday In The Park With George. Dig the staging, it's relationship to the tempo of the music and it's progress as Seurat "paints" the famous picture. Trust me, you gotta be smart and stuff to figure these kinds of things out.

Vidiots


Okay, last one. You needn't watch the whole thing, but this is a fine representative slice of the folks who opposed the bill passing.

Like shooting fish in a barrel, folks.

HCR


The Health Care bill has passed. She starts off a little shaky, but finishes strong at the end. All hail the steel balls of Nancy Pelosi.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Gene Simmons


What a tool Gene Simmons is. I am so fuckin' tired of all these self righteous, free market, determinists. Blow me, asshole.

Oh, and if you don't believe me, just ask Al Franken, (my italics)...

  • In a February 4, 2002 interview on the NPR radio show Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Simmons said to Gross regarding his claim to have bedded about 4,600 women: "If you want to welcome me with open arms, I'm afraid you're also going to have to welcome me with open legs" (paraphrasing The Who's hit song "You Better You Bet"). To this Gross replied, "That's a really obnoxious thing to say." Simmons refused to grant permission to NPR to make the interview available online on the network's website. However, the interview appears in print in Gross's book All I Did Was Ask (ISBN 1-4013-0010-3), and some unauthorized transcripts are also available.[8] A part of the interview was re-broadcast on Fresh Air on Aug 31, 2007.[9] It is noted that Kiss bandmate and co-founder Paul Stanley has frequently used the phrase "... welcomed us with open arms and open legs", and similar wording, in onstage patter through many years of Kiss concerts.
  • In a later Fresh Air interview, satirist and future United States Senator Al Franken related to Terry Gross his own encounter with Gene Simmons. According to Franken, he was awaiting a racquetball partner at a club when Simmons, whom Franken had not recognized, challenged him to a match, stating "I'll kick your ass", only to suffer an embarrassing loss to Franken. Simmons responded by calling for another match, and when Franken indicated that since his racquetball partner had arrived, he couldn't play Simmons again, Simmons responded by making loud "boc, boc, boc" chicken sounds. Franken then offered to play Simmons with $500 at stake, at which point Simmons walked away.[10] Franken told Gross not to blame herself for her experience with Simmons, and that Simmons' behavior at the racquetball club made him "the most awful person I've ever met."

7 Years Later


Yeah, that's right, it's Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Democrats who are "bankrupting our children's future". Nope, it has nothing to do with the 12 billion dollars a day we're burning in the Middle East.

Not to mention the loss of blood in the sand both from a military and civilian perspective.

Fuckers. So sad and wasteful.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Gulp


Here's a fun little piece about peak oil that the Redman hipped me to this fine afternoon.

We. Are So. Fucked.

Never forget folks, you had a front row seat for the end of the way things were.

Of course, we'll be long dead when it finally gets all Mad Max 'n shit, but I'm 50, I figure that if everything goes according to plan, I'll get to see most of the 1 Act at least.

Friday Random Ten


It Just Dawned On Me -- John Doe and The Sadies
Shake Appeal -- The Stooges
Sgt. Rock -- XTC
On The Other Side -- The Strokes
Jonathon Fisk -- Spoon
Send A Picture Of Mother -- Johnny Cash
A-Punk -- Vampire Weekend
La Ferrassie -- Tokyo Police Club
Beehive -- Jihad Jerry & The Evildoers
Not That Social -- The Von Bondies

Bonus Nearly Spring Cut:

Guiding Light -- Television

Thursday, March 18, 2010

David Pogue


I heart David Pogue.

He's the Roger Ebert of technology reviews and his book on Mac OSX Leopard has been invaluable to me since I made the switch from the dark side.

Plus, he's very funny and from Shaker Heights. Great column this week.

Mickey D's


Do. Not. Eat. At. McDonalds.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Alex Chilton


R.I.P. Mr. C. Big influence for all you indie kids out there.

Dennis!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


Yeah, yeah, I know, he's a bit of a twink and yes, we're all aware that in 2008 when he was running for President that Jon Stewart said of Kucinich, "This is a banner election year...we have our first African American candidate, our first woman candidate and now with Dennis, we have our first candidate from Middle Earth".

Funny stuff.

That said, I am proud and honored on a daily basis that Dennis Kucinich is my Congressional Rep. Watch the video. It's not so much that he switched his vote. It's more that he speaks the truth, he speaks it from the heart and he's as honest a politician as you're going to find in America.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Annoy Glenn Beck


C'mon, you know ya wanna...

The Cleve


Mr. Kunstler was in town this past weekend giving one of his rants at the Public Library HQ. I had a Cavs vs. Celtics game to watch Sunday afternoon so I missed his chat.

Here's yesterday's post. You just knew he was going to mention the Cuyahoga catching on fire, right? Sigh.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Is it just me...


...or is Tiger an even bigger fucking idiot than I took him for?

Ari Fleischer? Really? The first of many faces of failure for the Chimperor, wrote a horrible book and was a probable link in the Plame case? The guy who botched Mark McGuires "outing" bad enough to actually match his pustule pocked face? The guy who left Jeff Gannon in the "back door" of teh WH press room?

This is the guy you want managing your triumphant return to the links?

Eldrick, dude...listen, if your goal is to dig your reputation further into a giant hole, why not just hire Roy Cohn's fetid corpse as your PR flack and do the job right?

Wow.

Tracey


This song appeared on the Ipod today. Tracey Ullman cut a great "girl group" record way back before anyone in the States knew who she was. It was released during the last gasp of Stiff Records and produced by none other than Nick Lowe.

It's always been a fave disc of mine and the single is instantly recognizable to those fans of her HBO show. Here's the unfortunately grainy video of the song circa 1983. If you've never seen it, stay tuned in until the end. It's worth it.

Cheeky girl.

Celluloid Hero


Well, despite taking a header off of the front of the stage, Ray Davies was just great last night.

As reflected by NYMary's review of his show
in the "the provinces", Ray is the consummate showman and his fans as Mary said, albeit fiercely loyal, really like to drink their booze.

Two other things I will add to her excellent post on the Ray Davies experience...one, the demographic on the crowd was wild. You saw everything from aging long hairs, (chatted up Daffy Dan briefly in the lobby) to a young, very earnest and very stoned couple from Youngstown I chatted up in the concessions line who were seeing Ray for the third time on this tour. Put succinctly, Ray Davies has as far reaching an influence as anyone I've ever seen.

Secondly, the final chunk of the set was truly glorious when he rocked out those tunes with The 88 made all the more special by the cover of The Jam's David Watts which many in the crowd seemed to assume was an old Kinks tune they didn't know, but for those of us with a keen ear, it was nearly the highlight of the evening.

Oh, and by the by, Ray seemed fine after his spill into the front row. Lot's of loving fans out there to cushion the blow.

Ray Davies, forever may he wave...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Friday Random Ten


Big Sky -- Ray Davies
Whenever God Shines His Light -- Van Morrison
I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor -- Arctic Monkeys
I Can Do It Without You -- Kaiser Chiefs
U Can't Touch This -- MC Hammer
Everyone's At It -- Lily Allen
Every Valley Is Not A Lake -- Cold War Kids
Apple Tree -- Wolfmother
It's Summertime -- Flaming Lips
Badass Bug -- The Cramps

...I gotta say, even for me, this is one of my more eclectic lists evah.

Additionally, Blondie and I are going to be seeing Mr. (Sir) Ray Davies this evening with Mr and Ms. B.

Ray is probably my favorite songwriters of the modern era and I've never seen him. Color me excited.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Apologies all around


Hi everyone, er, I mean, both of you readers.

A month or so ago, I started getting a good deal of Chinese characters and Viagra spam in my comments section so I enabled the "must approve comments" feature on LMS. I haven't gotten a single notification of any sort and thought that all of you had just forgotten about l'il ol' me.

Sniff.

Now, thanks to my brother and our friend, Cleveland Jeff, I realized that there were actually comments, I just needed to "moderate" them. So, sorry about all that. I think it's called "user error' in the software biz.

Anyway, I'm gonna leave the back door open for a while and leave the "approval" feature on stun. So feel free to comment away to your heart's delight.

Thank you.

The Management.

Monday, March 08, 2010

Zack Galifanackis


I've been watching SNL on and off for 35 years. I don't recall ever having laughed at a single one of the opening monologues. I laughed at this one...

Friday, March 05, 2010

Bruised Apple


Betcha Steve Jobs ain't none too happy about this online CCN poll...

Quick vote
Do you plan to buy an Apple iPad?

No 92% 80398
Yes 8% 7442
Total votes: 87840

Colbert

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - James O'Keefe & Sean Hannity
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorSkate Expectations

Great stuff as always.

Krugman


The Perfessor takes down that crazy som' bitch from Kentucky.

Friday Random Ten


Friction -- Televison
Wake Up -- Arcade Fire
My Girl -- The Mamas & The Papas
You Fucking Love It -- Pretty Dirty Things
Love Knows -- The John Doe Thing
In Spite Of Me -- Morphine
Rollercoaster -- Sleater-Kinney
Slow Down -- Wyclef with T.I.
Susie Q -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
Town Called Malice -- The Jam

Bonus Opening Spring Training Games day cut:

The Down Low -- Nellie McKay

Thursday, March 04, 2010

No Future


The Sex Pistols sang about it 35 years ago and they're still right in vogue.

Aside from this guy making easily twice what I did and a monster severance to boot, this is my story as well. All I can say is thank goodness for my beautiful wife who has us hanging on by a thread.

Oh, and don't forget to get the fuck out of the US before Health costs drown us all.

The dingo ate your baby


The Rude Pundit provides us with some scary numbers about the rise of hate groups in these uncertain times.

That, coupled with the forward march of really stupid new carried and conceal laws has me yet again looking northward for asylum from a country that is fast turning into one. Plus, Canada is better at hockey so they've got that going for them.

Anyway, to augment Rudie's point, I've also attached Nick Lowe's best song ever about dogs eating their owners, replete with lyrics...

Marie Provost did not look her best
The day the cops bust into her lonely nest
In the cheap hotel up
on Hollywood West July 29
She'd been lyin' there
for two or three weeks
The neighbors said
they never heard a squeak
For hungry eyes that couid not speak
Said even little doggie's have got to eat
 
She was winner
The became the doggie's dinner
She never meant that much to me
Oh poor Marie
 
Marie Provost was a movie queen
Mysterious angel of the silent screen
And run like the wind
the nation's young men steam
When Marie crossed the silent screen
Oh she came out west from New York
But when the talkies came
Marie just couldn't cope
Her public said Marie take a walk
All the way back to New York
 
Those twin balms didn't help her sleep
As her nights grew long
and her days grew bleak
It's all downhill
once you've passed your peak
Marie got ready for that last big sleep
The cops came in
and they looked around
Throwing up everywhere over
what they found
The handywork of Marie's little dachshund
That hungry little dachshund
Poor Marie, poor Marie, poor poor Marie

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Chapelle Show


EMBED-If The Internet Was Real - Watch more free videos
Quality of the clip stinks. The material is however, hilarious.

Django


That's it.

I'm hereby finished with Winter and am dropping everything to light out for the city of lights with GG to swing to Django, drink great wine and smoke Gauloises.

Who's with me?

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

OK Go


The boys from OK Go have turned out another remarkably clever video. It's really quite spellbinding to watch.

(hat tip to TC from the McKinley)

Spanking Machine


Ladies and Gents, I give you the current brain-trust of America's right wing.