“Misunderstood”? The man was a goddam Stalinist. And the HUAC people didn’t know the half of it. Yeah, I know Seeger apologized later on, but his apology was of the “Whoopsie!” variety. 20 to 40 million of Uncle Joe’s “whoopsies” could not be reached for comment.
Category: Culture and anti-culture
The stupidcallafragilisticexpeallidumbass stupidity hammer
John C. Wright watched the second Hobbit movie, “this craptastic jerktrocious smegbladder of a film“:
To be quite honest, the actress Evangeline Lilly is not only quite attractive, she handles both the demands of the acting and a physical stunts very well. Indeed, I am afraid I have a bit of a crush on her, with her long lustrous hair, her finely chiseled cheekbones, her kissing-soft feminine lips, her soft curves aching with the promise of luscious loveplay … Oh, wait a minute. I am think I am looking at Orlando Bloom. Er, never mind. Sorry, Miss Lilly.
… But I am glad that Ishmael and Queequeg will appear in the sequel.
(For the record: I found Jackson’s version of The Fellowship of the Ring barely tolerable and was disgusted with the rest of his Ring cycle. You’d have to pay me to watch him trash The Hobbit, and pay me well.)
Afterthought: Lousy though they are, Jackson’s movies did make DM of the Rings possible.
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My more economically savvy readers may think that all of this is so obvious as not to need to be said, but listen around next time you hear some far less savvy young people talk about what people “should have” and what people “need” and what things “should cost.” You might get a surprise. Nobody has, apparently, ever explained to these people that neither money nor pharmaceuticals nor fully-trained doctors grow on trees. It’s just an astonishing thing, but the fairies don’t distribute goods and services.
I thought immediately of Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita, in which the fairies sometimes do distribute goods and services. This may be related to the fact that the English-language title of the show is “Humanity Has Declined.”
Continue reading “The stupidcallafragilisticexpeallidumbass stupidity hammer”
Sid and Carl, with Uncle Goopy
Anthony Sacramone thinks this is the funniest sketch ever performed, and perhaps it is. R.I.P., Sid Caesar.
A tune for Jamie
Here’s a curiosity I came across, the “Know Nothing Polka,” ((There’s at least one other “Know Nothing Polka,” archived online, as well as a “Know Nothing Waltz.”)) composed by “Nobody” and dedicated to “Everybody.” I dedicate this arrangement to Jamie Stiehm.
Linkety-link
Course evaluations for the Sermon on the Mount:
The instructor pandered to the lowest common denominator – “meek” and “poor.” As an AP student, I did not feel adequately challenged.
Way too demanding for Gen Ed requirement. Prof expected us all to exceed best students in the class?! LOL. Not even my major!
Best prof ever! Loved it. Changing my major.
(Via Eve Tushnet.)
Spengler’s Universal Law #11: At all times and in all places, the men and women of every culture deserve each other.
Spengler’s Universal Law #14: Stick around long enough, and you turn into a theme park.
Spengler’s Universal Law #17: If you stay in the same place and do the same thing long enough, some empire eventually will overrun you.
(Via AoSHQ.)
Death by ellipsis: annotating Dan Brown.
(Via First Thoughts.)
After all this, if you still feel the urge to experience dimethylcadmium – stay out of my lab – you can make this fine compound quite easily from cadmium chloride, which I’ve no particular urge to handle, either, and methyllithium or methyl Grignard reagent. Purifying it away from the ethereal solvents after that route, though, looks like extremely tedious work, which allows you the rare experience of being bored silly by something that’s trying to kill you.
Too much snake wine
In case anyone has missed it.
In praise of the market
In the ninth episode of I Couldn’t Think of a Proper Title, Fino, the daughter of the Demon Lord, receives her first paycheck in the human world and goes shopping. (If the pictures are not visible, click on the boxes where they should be.)
50 years ago today …
… Dr. Who debuted. If it had been an anime, it might have looked something like this:
What’s the word? Oh, and stop by Google today if you haven’t already. Update: the doodle is archived here.
Suggestion
If you want do something special to observe the fiftieth anniversary of November 22, 1963, I suggest rereading Brave New World or Till We Have Faces.
What about giant sea sparrows?
“In an article on Saturday headlined ‘Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ’, we stated ‘two flat silver discs’ were seen ‘above the Church of Scientology HQ’. Following a letter from lawyers for the Church, we apologise to any alien lifeforms for linking them to Scientologists.”
I’d suggest harvesting organs from legislators, but that brain-death issue would still be a factor.
Time, crime and princesses
The government finally returned the hour they confiscated from me back in March. Let me offer a small suggestion to whoever is in charge of clocks in this country: how about making daylight “savings” time a local option? DST might make sense in the eastern regions of a time zone. However, I live near the western border of the central time zone, where the clock is already ahead of the sun, and turning the clock forward an hour in spring leaves me sleepy and irritable.
A related, depressing factoid:
Research based on time use surveys found Americans’ schedules are determined by television more than daylight.
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The flashing lights of the park ranger vehicle were on, another vehicle as well, and four rangers were there in case I attempted to flee after the dastardly crime of _______.
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Even if I should someday visit Japan, manifold orthopedic problems make it unlikely that I will ever climb Mt. Fuji. Fortunately, Google Maps street view has already done so. (Enter “Mount Fuji, Fujinomiya, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan” in the Google Maps search box to get there.)
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We need more princesses, not more lawyers.
(Here’s a tune named for the Irish pirate queen: Grace O’Malley.)
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All hail Captain Justice. (Via Dustbury)
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Some good free music I recently found:
Dudeldrum — a low-budget, energetic Russian Corvus Corax.
Los Jekes — something like Chilean gypsy jazz.
Also, if you haven’t yet downloaded the first Diablo Swing Orchestra album, what are you waiting for?
A heart-warming picture
A sort of tribute to Thomas Kinkade, the “Painter of Light.” (From here.)
Miscellany
Guys und Panzer:
(Via the Borderline Boy.)
The Sailor Senshi meet the Jetsons. (Via Project Rooftop.)
“I think that when a human engineer lives a good life, he’s reincarnated as a beaver.”
Full disclosure: I am a creature of the sinister right-wing Koch brothers, just like Michael Mann. Both universities I attended, plus the one where I studied and photographed ballet and the one where I took part in the annual Renaissance Faire, have all received money from the Kochtopus.
Don’t expect a Calvin and Hobbes movie.
You probably shouldn’t expect another VEI 8 blast from Yellowstone, either.
I haven’t had a haircut in 20 years. Perhaps that is why I’m still alive despite riding my bike every day on the wild streets of west Wichita.
Notes on growing biochemical weapons.
Pride and Prejudice for academics.
Today’s musical interlude, lunatic bassist edition:
… the paradigm of the parable of the model of the metaphor
A couple of toys I recently came across:
And a useful how-to:
Word of the day
Nibiruistic (adjective), used to describe postulations, interpretations and opinions on natural phenomenae coloured by a wish for disasters on a Doomsday scale rather than based on scientific merit. The word is derived from Nibiru, the fictional planet invoked as the root cause for the disaster predicted by the Mayan calendar that would end the world on December 21st, 2012. Since the Mayan calendar was very ambiguous, it could be said to be the archetype for a Nibiruistic interpretation. Nibiruism (noun), a statement based on a wish for a disaster on a Doomsday scale rather than on scientific merit.
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Now that we’ve considered what the fox says, what does the moose say? ((“Hey, Rocky.”))
The furry anthem is not the first crime the Norwegian Flight of the Conchords has commmitted. Here are some earlier outrages (N.B.: rough language and worse):
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I abandoned Stella blah blah blah several episodes ago when it ceased to be fun. Ken the Brickmuppet stuck with it, and he has figured out what it all means:
We at Gainax hate you.
Our childhoods were miserable because we were a bunch of geeky, socially inept otaku who grew to hate our hobby (which we blame for all our lost opportunities). Nothing makes us sicker than seeing those who watch and enjoy anime for they remind us of our selves and our many personal failures. We hereby dedicate our lives to making you hate the medium as much as us, for we are transgressive and enlightened hipsters who understand the nihilistic futility of everything…Well…everything except the cruel pleasure we derive from getting you gullible fools to first enjoy something we create and then watch helplessly and despair as we dismember it without anesthesia before you. That is the greatest joy in all creation.That we are paid to do this is icing on the cake. It’s an ephemeral joy though. Your innocence thus defiled, you can bring us little amusement from this point on, but there are always others that follow the likes of you. Now get thee along, Aokigahara beckons you.
Today’s fun fact
You can buy a new paperback edition of Smith’s book for $7.19.
Update — Today’s fun quote:
The book most fibbed about, says the survey, is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, which seems forgivable in these Orwellian times: apart from some character names, reading the news is almost exactly like reading the book.