27
Oct
Off to the Rodeo
Here’s a thread for you all- I’m off to catch a flight. I’ll check in this afternoon, but you kids behave.
Also- this has been my earworm for the past two days:
There are worse earworms to have…
Oh, one other thing- Mac users, I can not tell you how much I love Song Sergeant. Merged my itunes folders using the external HD, Song Sergeant went right through and cleaned everything up.
BTW- I think I finally understand phantom leg syndrome. Every time I walked around my house last night and this morning, I kept looking behind me for someone who was not there, but I expected her to be there.
R-Jud
I went down to London by myself yesterday—first time I’ve been anywhere by myself (other than the gym) since the kid arrived—and had a similar experience. Safe travels, Mr. Cole.
ironranger
I’m sure Lily is looking for you at the exact same time. It’s esp or whatever you want to call the mysterious thought traveling from one to another. I’ll be thinking of a friend a lot, pick up the phone to call her & there she is on the other end when my phone hasn’t even rung yet. Happens a lot.
When you are thinking about Lily & how much you miss her, just send her the message that you will definitely be home soon. I bet she gets it & understands.
GReynoldsCT00
Have a safe trip John
The Grand Panjandrum
Music From Big Pink is one of my favorite albums, and anything from that gem is good listening.
cminus
Can Song Sergeant handle the same version of the same song on different albums? For example, I have three identical tracks of “I’m Free” by the Who (from “Tommy”, “Who’s Better Who’s Best”, and the Ultimate Collection), and I would like to somehow consolidate these into a single track that appears on all three albums.
Fulcanelli
Pssssst, John. You may want to move the Amazon ad to the top of the column over here on the left to increase site revenue. You know, above the frackin’ penis reduction pills ad
?
?!
The Band rocks, though. You’re redeemed.
John Cole
@cminus: Yes.
dan robinson
Take the way home, that leads back to Sullivan Street
Past the shadows that fall down wherever we meet.
I’m stuck on August and Everything After by The Counting Crows.
Fulcanelli
I use Tune Up™ to clean up my iTunes library and have come to love it. Now if I could only figure out how to use it on Congress. Can somebody lease un-moderate my post at 7:35 where I talk dirty about John’s website ad content? kthxbai.
SiubhanDuinne
Safe travels, John, and hurry home to your Lily and Tunch. When you greet them, please have your camera handy to capture their reactions, and share with your loyal BJ minions. Kthxbai.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Damn John, you’ve been a ramblin’ man of late. Hope you’re at least getting some good, free meals out of it.
A test. Also.
PENIS!
kommrade reproductive vigor
Yup. Posts that contain the P word have to stand in the moderation corner.
Fulcanelli
@SiubhanDuinne: Great idea. John should video his reunion when he returns with Lily and Tunch respectively. Should be a heartbreaker, at least with Lily. With Tunch I’d expect a withering glare and yowling.
Ash Can
@SiubhanDuinne: Lulz—I’m imagining photos of a madly grinning Lily bounding around and a grumpy Tunch sitting with his enormous backside to the camera.
SiubhanDuinne
So if I were to type an innocent sentence such as My fountain pen is leaking ink but I accidentally omitted a crucial space between the third and fourth words, I would be moderated? Life is so unfair.
Fulcanelli
Hey what’s going on with the voting for Bitsy? I click on it out of habit, but no contest? Please advise… She’s not out is she?
SiubhanDuinne
@Fulcanelli
@Ash Can
Yup, both of you pretty well captured what I was imagining :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@R-Jud #1:
“I went down to London by myself yesterday.” That made me smile. It sounded so Christopher-Robin-all-grown-up.
ironranger
“you kids behave”
Sure, try telling that to the hair on fire crankies that come here to scream fuck you at the top of their lungs for 2 hours straight.
Fulcanelli
Morning lulz: The secret, unpublished Sarah Palin interview from Lynn Vincent’s diary. It’s a beaut.
SiubhanDuinne
@Fulcanelli 8:03 am
I had the same reaction this morning when I went to vote and couldn’t, but I’m pretty sure she’s at least safely in the Top, I dunno, Four. I just check the site regularly. If it let’s me vote, I do. If it says come back tomorrow or she’s a semifinalist or something, I just go away for a while. It’s definitely the most complicated contest I’ve ever seen, but LauraW and Sylvia and Evelyn and Bitsy herself all seem pretty mellow. I’m taking my cues from them.
robertdsc
Happy traveling, you big softie.
Dork
Yes, one-nighters are somewhat ackward in the morning.
Genine
I’m sure Lily is having a similar experience, but all is well.
Have a good trip!
Punchy
We have to give up our 2 dogs for 10 days in and around and after our wedding this weekend and for the honeymoon next week. Never been apart so many days. Gunna be tough. At least they’ll be with other greyhounds….
Where you traveling to, Cole?
Jasper
@Fulcanelli:
Looks like the voting is done.
Congratulations Little Bitsy!
Comrade Mary
Have fun on your trip, John.
The Cute Dog voting appears to be—gasp!—over for all the dogs. From the front page:
Read: you can’t click and vote any more. There’s no point in coming to the blog any more,. And for God’s sweet sake, put down the tire iron.
Violet
@Fulcanelli:
From the front page of the Cutest Dog Contest:
.............
Congratulations to each of the semi-finalists. The judges will vote based on the information they have in hand. There is no need to continue to influence their vote. Their choices for the four finalists will be published on the site November 12th per the contest rules. The $1,000,000 Grand Prize winner will be announced on Thanksgiving Day.
Sounds like it’s out of our hands now. Go Bitsy!
Violet
GAH! That didn’t work right. The ….. trick doesn’t work for separating paragraphs in blockquote for me. Trying again:
PTirebiter
@The Grand Panjandrum: Ain’t that the truth.
JGabriel
David Brooks:
Irony lives!
.
Violet
It sounds like we’ve done all that we can do. I hope the judges think Little Bitsy is deserving of being a finalist and, fingers crossed, the grand prize winner! I’m so glad we helped her win the final week. Yay for Bitsy!
Comrade Mary
Violet, try just three periods for an ellipsis instead of more.
Violet
@Comrade Mary:
Thanks for the tip. I thought it was just any number of them. Okay, testing now.
Violet
Okay, that worked. Thanks! I’d edit this comment in, but in Firefox I’ve got no edit function.
Question for anyone that knows – Is the BJ site re-do finished? Or ongoing? Or stopped? Does anyone know the status? It seems like there are some functions (edit for Firefox users, for instance) that might be nice to have.
Forgot in the first post – John Cole, have a safe flight and good trip.
2th&nayle
Ha! Not to be too presumptuous here, but…I wonder how that earworm could have gotten in there? Any notions on that, Montysantos?
RedKitten
Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials, Punchy! I hope everything goes wonderfully and that you have a beautiful, memorable day.
And if there are any tiny snafus, remember, at the end of the day, all that matters is that you wind up married. :)
2th&nayle
@2th&nayle: Ah crap, I meant Svensker not Monte. Any more openings in that “If memory serves?” club? What a maroon.
SGEW
Safe travels, Mr. Cole. I’m sure Lily’s deliriously happy welcome once you return will make up for the separation anxiety.
[And where will I find my daily affirmation of cuteness and goodness if I can’t vote for Bitsy every morning?! It’s amazing how I’ve come to rely on the habitual voting.]
RedKitten
I must be warped, because the title of this thread automatically put “The Rodeo Song” (NSFW) in my head.
Persia
@Violet: If you check out the blog, there was apparently a good amount of vote-rigging going on, or at least attempted vote-rigging, and some wank about a dog whose owners pulled in their Mafia Wars friends. the whole thing looks bananas.
Have a good trip, John C.
jayackroyd
And I now understand about ghosts. My dog died last March. After 15 years of seeing her in her favorite places, I still sometimes see her in those places, briefly.
Violet
@Persia:
Yeah, I’ve been getting a great deal of entertainment from reading the dog blog. Those folks are….um…enthusiastic about their dogs, to say the least. Heh. Lots of folks upset about all sorts of things over there. Hopefully the judges can keep out of all that nonsense and just pick the top dogs based on whatever the criteria is they think best. Who knows what that will be.
Skepticat
My cats travel almost everywhere with me, and there have been some minor excursions that I haven’t taken because I’d have to leave them behind. Not that they’d miss me, but because I hate being away from them. I’m soft as pudding.
Fleem
A Band cover act is playing around here next week. They’re called The The Band Band. For real.
JenJen
Those f’n judges better pick our Little Bitsy, that’s all I have to say this morning.
jibeaux
Is it just me, or is there something about the pose of Dr. Pen Is Reduction Pills that is screaming Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock? Like he’s about to recommend bone shaving and crystal meth for weight loss next?
2th&nayle
@RedKitten: That’s not too bad. I actually read that as “The Cowboy Song”. Doh! Big difference between Chris LeDoux and Thin Lizzy! Need. More. Coffee. Btw, did you see the comment I left you on the Sunday night open thread @172? Just wonderin’?
GReynoldsCT00
@Violet:
I was reading some of that last night. A lot of these people are nuts, flaming the organizers and everything else. The contest just got too big. I too hope they make a good decision and that the detractors accept it and get on with life. They’re losing the point over there.
Violet
@jibeaux:
He certainly looks a bit like Dr. Spaceman. What the heck is that product?
ksmiami
Dude have fun, but I have only one request – BOB has been interrupting threads with off-topic racist dreck lately and he needs a serious spanking or time out.
thanks from la vida loca Miami
burnspbesq
This is pretty sweet, IMO.
Peter Orszag, the head of OMB, rips off Fred Hiatt’s head and pisses down his neck. In a manner of speaking.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/.....ntainment/
jibeaux
@Violet:
It would appear to be sugar pills which you take while offhandedly announcing, “oh, wow, 10:00 already. Time for my pen is reduction pills.” It’s recommended by guys in white coats. Mm-hmm.
2th&nayle
@2th&nayle: Along the same line of thought…When I read “Here’s a thread for you all-”. My mind immediately ran to “The Walrus was Paul.”
danimal
@RedKitten: Thanks, redkitten, that’s a great way to start the work day! Off to the rodeo, indeed.
BigSwami
Dogs & people belong together. We grew up together as species. We domesticated them, and they made us what we are too. I am twice the man today that I was before a dog loved me.
That’s all.
r4 ds
You may want to move the Amazon ad to the top of the column over here on the left to increase site revenue. You know, above the frackin’ penis reduction pills ad??!
dan robinson
I know that if I can’t say anything nice, I shouldn’t say anything at all, but, hey people, it is just a dog. That dog has a brain the size of a small apple. Get a grip.
Persia
@dan robinson: And yet, that dog has twice the brainpower and four times the compassion of Brick Oven Bill.
It’s an open thread. People like dogs. Calm down.
Just Some Fuckhead
If dogs could blog, my dog would be reading this one.
I might have to get him that bunny hat.
cleek
off to the rodeo?
ok, now i have this in my head…
Well it’s 40 below and I don’t give a fuck
Got a heater in my truck and I’m off to the rodeo
And it’s allemande left and allemande right
Come on ya fuckin’ dummy get your right step right
Get off the stage ya god damn goof, get off
piss me off, fuckin’ jerk, get on my nerves
Well here comes Johnny with his pecker in his hand
He’s a one ball man and he’s off to the rodeo
And it’s allemande left and allemande right
Come on ya fuckin’ dummy get your right step right
Get off the stage ya god damn goof, get off
piss me off, fuckin’ jerk, get on my nerves
OriGuy
I don’t want to be hated, so I didn’t link to the earworm I had the other day. I was at Walgreens and the song on the speaker was Fernando by Abba.
Fulcanelli
@OriGuy: Damn you! It stuck. Must. Bleach. Brain.
slag
Bon voyage!
@burnspbesq: That post made me very happy.
Ambergris
Charles Krauthammer looks like the grinch.
Also,
@BigSwami:
I agree. Dogs and humans domesticated each other. Cats are probably an extraterrestrial species watching over our progress.
matoko_chan
You should call Lily on the phone so she can hear your voice.
Good journey, Mighty Meme-Warrior.
ellaesther
My current earworm?
The Backstreet Boys.
Yep.
“Get down, get down, and move it all around…!”
inkadu
What is it with Christians? I finally watch TV at 10:00 am and it’s worse than in the evening—five entire channels, all in a row, of Jesus. Religion is recession proof.
I don’t use iTunes. Heard enough people complain about it’s indexing… For Windows, I use Foobar, which is very nice.
The main thing is to keep a folder structure that makes sense to you. I have my “albums” in a separate folder tree from single songs. I recommend it to everyone. Takes the clutter out of “by Artist” and “by Album,” from songs you’re only interested in “by Song.”
geg6
Wow, sorry about all the bad earworms you people are having. Mine today?
AC/DC Back in Black
Heard it on the radio on my way into work and still can’t get it out of my head. Certainly better than Backstreet Boys or ABBA, though. ;-)
ellaesther
@burnspbesq: Peter Orszag is my secret Obama Administration boyfriend.
And only in part because of the super-de-dooper smartness (and stop-with-the-bullshit-already) on display in this post (thank you for linking!)
Click here for Part 1 of his Daily Show interview (when it’s done it’ll move straight into Part 2).
You’re welcome!
Just Some Fuckhead
Looks like Danger Monkey is going back to his first love, cheerleading.
The well-publicized event appears to mark the beginning of a higher profile for Bush.
inkadu
I have phantom back-seat dog all the time, only because his royal dogginess gets a ride to a park once a day. I also have phantom dog anxiety, which is when I’m on my way to the grocery store, assume the dog is in the back, forget I’m going to the grocery store, turn around and see the dog is in fact NOT there, then panic because I’m afraid I left him in the park.
Phantom-antom anxiety.
4jkb4ia
It’s the ropes and the rain, and the joy and the pain, and they call the thing rodeo. (Garth Brooks unretiring is good news IMHO. I did not get to see him live the first time around.)
This bill continues to be slower than molasses. Peter Singer makes an appearance:
GReynoldsCT00
@OriGuy:
Link not necessary… THANKS so much for that
Mako
The Aretha version is better.
ironranger
@inkadu:
I’ve never been able to understand why some who call themselves Christians have to read, watch, listen to doctrine most of their waking hours. You’d think they’d at least have the 10 Commandments memorized by now if not the whole Bible. My guess is that a faulty memory isn’t their problem, it’s self control. They are terrified they will “sin” without being constantly reminded not to.
Violet
@OriGuy:
Oh, jeez. Thanks so much for that. Must.bleach.brain.
Or maybe I’ll go with the tried and true other-earworm-removal song, “Sunglasses at Night” by Corey Hart.
“I wear my sunglasses at night…”
ellaesther
@inkadu: I did this a time or two with the babies, back when they were babies—I would drop the baby off with grandma to go out for dinner with the husband, or some such, and three minutes later, turn around in an absolute froth: Where’s the baby?!
General Winfield Stuck
Newt Gingrich—not wingnutty enough
Who’d a thunk it.
inkadu
@4jkb4ia: Here’s George Bush at that event:
I’m attributing the “not so great” days to my prayers for him to be removed from office. I can’t prove it to you, but I know it by faith.
Bush is a great example of the stupidity of American optimism.
ellaesther
@ironranger: Well, yes. That’s pretty much it! “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”—so you have to do everything you can to keep the flesh in line.
Though one should be careful, I suppose—this is true for a particular kind of Christian, not all of them. Some of my best friends are Christians! More of them are Jews and atheists (or Jewish atheists), but, you know, I’ve got a handful of Christians in there, too!
Violet
@ironranger:
Another thing I don’t get about Christianity – God is apparently all powerful and so forth, but he must be really insecure because he requires praising all the freaking time. There’s even a day set aside to praise him. If he’s so all-powerful, why the heck does he need to be praised so much? Isn’t he okay just going about being all-powerful? Do his feelings get hurt if us lowly humans forget to tell him how fabulous he is?
I grew up going to church all the time. Didn’t get it then. Don’t get it now. No one seems to be able to answer that question.
cleek
@General Winfield Stuck:
the wingularity approacheth.
soon, the GOP will be down to three guys and their manifesto.
Persia
@ellaesther: Oh, yes. I still do it sometimes, and the kid’s eight.
Punchy
Some people have informed me that THIS itself is the snafu….
inkadu
@ironranger: Most Christians don’t read the bible. They read pop psychology dressed up as biblical (with a touch of knuckle-dragging sexism thrown in to keep it truly Christian). Anyone who thinks the Bible is a guide to life or behavior is absolutely deluded and has clearly not spent any time reading it. Outside of some very superficial commandments, most of the “lessons of the bible” are the work of imaginative readers. Which is fine if you’re into that sort of thing. “Everything I know I learned by watching Star Trek,” does the same thing, comes up with better lessons, is more unequivocal, the source material has fewer internal conflicts (most of which have to do with the warp drive, which doesn’t factor into moral/ethical arguments), but there isn’t a single channel devoted to preaching the Good News of James T. Kirk.
I also find Christian music depressing; not because I think religious themes are necessarily depressing but because there worship is so slavish and superficial. Is the only thing you can really say about God how awesome He is? It’s as if the writers have never had a religious crisis in their life.
@ellaesther: It’s good that we’re worried about our backseat passengers as we’re driving. Makes it less likely we’ll leave him in the backseat of the car when we go into work in the morning of a hot summer day.
ironranger
@ellaesther:
There are plenty of people, religious or not, who seem to be able to live & act like decent human beings without even thinking about it. All that drama & angst that hardcore religionistas display sets off my bs detector.
inkadu
@Violet: Church is there to keep you in line (religion is so nebulous that people can come up with their own ideas in 8 days (most studies find)). It’s also there to make sure you pay the pastor. There’s also a very powerful coffee and doughnut lobby. And what’s the point of being Christian if you can’t get together with other Christians and feel superior and of the elect?
Before I gave up on god altogether, I decided He didn’t need a church. Heck, sometimes I’d just go to the empty parking lot where I felt a lot better than standing up, sitting down, singing halfheartedly and being bored to death.
Hm. No hyphen in halfheartedly.
geg6
@inkadu:
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Gene Roddenberry provides more and better guidance to a good and moral life than the entire Bible and everything ever written analyzing it.
Tax Analyst
The Band – good stuff, John.
Enjoy your trip.
Chad N Freude
@Violet: God doesn’t need the praise for Him(/Her/It)self. Constant praise from His Children is required to prevent them from getting grown-up ideas about themselves and forgetting their place. Hubris and all that. I have this on good authority, as I am a friend of God’s psychotherapist.
slag
@ellaesther: Yeah. It seems that Orszag is practically everyone’s secret Obama Administration boyfriend. I liked that interview back in April, but it’s amazing at well it’s held up. The Administration’s line on healthcare’s impact on the budget has been fairly consistent.
Also, as much as Jake Tapper deserves indefinite amounts of scorn and ridicule, this is a pretty good catch (via Sullivan):
If this is true, I’m pleased as always to see all these smart, results-oriented people doing the job. More like this.
Chad N Freude
@inkadu:
Except for a lot of really great Gospel singing. The Blind Boys of Alabama come to mind.
ironranger
@Violet:
“No one seems to be able to answer that question.”
That’s the sticky wicket. God or Allah or whoever is the answer but there are unanswerable questions.
ironranger
btw, what is the protocol/blog etiquette for changing a screen name? I know there is at least one other ironranger in my area (commenting in a local newspaper online) & could very well be more. More likely to be rightwing too which is a good reason to ditch the name.
MikeJ
Anyone who hates xtian music should go to Al Green’s church.
CaseyL
sniffle
I imagine Lily feels much the same way, only more strongly, because you’re the center of her universe. Oh, what a reunion you two are going to have!
You’re going to a rodeo? Really? Have you always been a rodeo fan, or is this something new? Did you ride dem hosses as a li’l kid?
inkadu
@Chad N Freude: Gospel is not on the radio nearly enough. I don’t
I did occasionally watch a gospel show on one of the make-up fundie channels. It was an “old time” show, meaning mostly white, and not only was the music great, I was sure that most of the men in the choir were obviously gay.
If you watch some of the Christian channels, they will occasionally have videos of old singers, perfect hair, wearing blue suits on a blue set singing Christian songs. They’re a great window back into the fifties and sixties. I’m not sure if they still play those though; they probably have better content.
FYI - Gospel and Christian music are separate categories in Billboard’s charts—http://www.billboard.com/#/charts
Chad N Freude
@ironranger: I esperimented with a new screen name last night. See here. The protocol seems to be just do it. You’ll be thrown into moderation, then released to spew your venom at will under your new ID.
ellaesther
@slag: Well, I have it on good authority that Jon Favreau, Rahm Emmanuel and Mr. Obama himself are in fact the secret boyfriends of many.
Frankly, it’s a good looking White House, no matter how you swing.
ironranger
@Chad N Freude:
Each blog is different so thought I’d better ask. Thanks.
inkadu
@ironranger: What I’ve seen is for switching names on this blog is: [new name] (formerly [old name]).
The commenter formerly known as ironranger is also acceptable.
ironranger
I saw the most astonishing thing. A Christian bank (called Riverview, I think) failed in Minnesota & this bank had a painting displayed of bankers & Jesus in an office together. The mind boggles. I’m link ignorant but saw it on cucking stool blogspot.
Betsy
@Violet:
As my boyfriend, who grew up a devout Presbyterian, once put it, “Why do they think God has a self-esteem problem?”
ironranger
@inkadu:
How long do you have to keep up with the formerly add-on?
burnspbesq
@ellaesther:
Not so much for straight guys. Michelle Robinson is kinda taken.
Cain
@Punchy:
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! Good karma to your dogs as well :)
cain
BigSwami
@Violet:
Did you see A Serious Man yet?
It’s been troubling me ever since I saw it this weekend. Pretty much tackles that exact subject.
Chad N Freude
@inkadu: A nicety, but only if you really care about permanently reminding everyone of who you used to be. Krista/Redkitten is a counterexample. I intend to use You don’t believe exactly as I do, so just shut up whenever I engage makewi. (She used that sentence in one of her carefully reasoned attempts at persuasion in another thread.)
dfd
It helps if you understand that worship isn’t for God, it’s for the worshippers.
Chad N Freude
@ironranger: You don’t really “have to”. See @Chad N Freude:
slag
@ellaesther: That’s the first time I’ve heard Favreau. I figured that dude gave everyone a bit of the wiggins. Must be just me.
And this:
made me laugh. I never thought their looks to be their main attractions. But I guess it’s all relative.
ironranger
@Chad N Freude:
I started getting hysterical when the you stupid shit stuff started. Hilarious.
Violet
@BigSwami:
No, I don’t know anything about A Serious Man. Is it a film? Been kind of busy, haven’t seen any films in ages. Off to teh google to check it out…
inkadu
@Chad N Freude: I, like God, have low self-esteem, so I like to maintain my identity.
I’m pretty sure nobody else would care. I love the comments and people here, but I really struggle with personalities. The best I can hope for is, “Oh, this person’s really familiar.” I actually only remember people who annoy me.
Internet aspbergers.
danimal
Most Christian music sucks. The musical craftsmanship is usually high quality, but Christian music often lacks, um, soul. Given the choice, they too often choose to offer bland derivatives of secular music. The top Christian artists almost always sound like the musical parallel of the big box suburban churches: market-tested, business-planned, image-conscious dreck for the masses.
Chad N Freude
@ironranger: I think that sentence is probably the best non-sarcastically-intended sentence ever written on this blog, and I have adopted it as a weapon in the losing battle against stupid incivility and uncivil stupidity.
LD50
@Chad N Freude: As much as I love kicking Makewi, didn’t she say that satirically?
LD50
@danimal:
I can only assume you’re not including Black Gospel in this statement.
bemused (formerly ironranger)
@Chad N Freude:
The longer it went on, the more hysterical I got.
Chad N Freude
@inkadu: One of the best features of BJ is the willingness of others to keep your self-esteem low so you don’t have to.
ellaesther
@burnspbesq: But so are all the men I mentioned! (Most notably Michelle’s husband!) That’s why they are our “secret” paramours, my darling. (Indeed, I’m married myself, now that I think of it!)
Also, don’t forget Kathleen Sebelius, Desiree Rogers, Susan Rice and Valerie Jarrett. Just to name a few. I mean, I don’t know that they’re anymore available than Ms. Robinson, but what I’m saying is: Obama Administration Team Nice To Look At has depth. That’s all I’m saying.
@slag: It kind of depends what blogs you frequent…! Over at Jezebel, when I frequented Jezebel, there was constant geek lust over the guys and gals of the White House—followed almost immediately by remorse that we weren’t being serious-minded enough! I say: The brain is a sex organ. One needn’t be blind to be serious.
Chad N Freude
@LD50: She might have. I always have difficulty separating sarcasm from real opinion in her rants. I think she may be a first-rate spoof, but she often gets so seriously-sounding angry that it’s impossible to tell.
danimal
@LD50: As a general rule, black gospel artists still got some soul in them. I think that’s why Billboard separated “gospel” from “Christian” music.
LD50
@Chad N Freude: Last night the horrifying possibility occurred to me that Makewi was BOB’s sock puppet. After all, the two never seem to post much in the same thread. If so, his ability to speak in two completely different voices is nothing short of brilliant.
Svensker
@inkadu:
Are you talking “praise” music? Or? Cuz I’m thinking Bach’s St. Matthew Passion goes pretty far beyond “my God is an awesome God” if you KWIM.
Steeplejack
@Violet:
Use two underscore characters instead of the ellipsis. They don’t show up, and they still keep the paragraphs together in the blockquote .
Also, if you want to prevent your blockquote from appearing in boldface, don’t leave a blank line between your last line of “normal” text and the opening <blockquote> tag.
Svensker
@Violet:
God doesn’t need to be praised, humans need to be aware that THEY need to praise God. To be in “right relation with God” is to be aware of the awesome glory of the Creator—and to be so aware means one feels full of praise and joyful worship. So, God doesn’t need praise but instead wants it because that means that God’s creation is in harmony.
It’s a matter of emphasis, but it means a very different way of looking at the relationship between God and creation.
slag
@ellaesther:
So true. But I do wonder whether many of these guys and gals would get a second glance if no one knew a little something about their brains as well. It’s so hard to tell sometimes exactly which aspects of people turn us on or off. I, for one, could rarely discern whether GW’s simian qualities were more external or internal. And if he looked different, I wasn’t sure if I would respond differently to him. Same is true for if he exhibited different behaviors. Dunno. But I would say that relative to the previous administration, this one’s far more praiseworthy on pretty much any level. Appearance and otherwise.
Just Some Fuckhead
@ironranger:
Here is the original NY Times profile of the bank. From the article: “bank president, Duane Kropuenske, whose office wall features a large color print of two businessmen with Christ..”
Chad N Freude
@Svensker: You have a more positive view of this than @I do.
SiubhanDuinne
@jayackroyd: @inkadu:
It’s not just people who have “phantom pet” experiences. Many years ago when we lost my dear Kitten Kaboodle, the second cat (Pounce de Lion—why yes, he was a big yellow cat, why do you ask?) would walk past places where he would normally see KK sleeping. He would leap up in the air and do a very funny crabwise-sideways walk (cancrizans, for you music majors) and get the most hilarious feaked-out scaredy-cat look in his eyes. This went on for a good six weeks after KK died, but finally subsided. But when it happend we always said, “Oops, Pounce saw the ghost again!”
bystander
Is this an open thread?
Sure seems that this might be another competition opportunity for Little Bitsy. Via Crooks and Liars:
Eg; http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal/open-thread-268
LD50
@Svensker:
The idea that people are punished horribly forever for not providing this praise kind of wrecks the beauty of this scenario for me.
LD50
@Chad N Freude: Or try early (1950s) Staple Singers with Roebuck Staples amazing blues guitar, or the Swan Silvertones mind-boggling quartet singing.
Svensker
@Chad N Freude:
Yup, I do. But yours is amusing!
Svensker
@LD50:
Some people believe that. I don’t. I don’t think God believes it either, but humility forces me not to claim knowledge of that.
dfd
@LD50: More generous flavors of Christianity would say that no one is damned. Everyone is saved regardless of faith.
inkadu
@Svensker: Yes—praise music would be another word for it. Songs with unintentionally hilarious lyrics:
I wish all my girlfriends took that Christian attitude.
I don’t consider classical music really “Christian,” since almost nobody listens to it for religious reasons (with some notable exceptions around Christmas time). Even Rufus Wainwright has a version of Agnus Dei.
For those interested in experiencing the horrors of Christian music, you can hear it at the Billboard site:
http://www.billboard.com/chart.....tian-songs
Laura W
@bystander: Oh Good Lord I hope Sylvia doesn’t see this. That’s all we need, huh?
But since you brought her up again, seems we just can’t stop pimping Bitsy, now to the judges, of course. Within minutes of each other Sylvia and I just posted stories of Bitsy’s rescue (and my Annie’s, also thanks to Evelyn Bridges) over on the whacky dog blog. I thought you might enjoy Sylvia’s since it’s the most complete version of Bitsy’s past I’ve seen in one place. (I’m in moderation at #575 since it’s my first comment over there. Lookit our JenJen at #574!)
577
Sylvia and Little Bitsy Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 8:51 am
When we woke up Sunday morning and saw we needed to get the troops back out to vote for Little Bitsy one more day, we really neglected to celebrate Little Bitsy’s 12th week win.
Way to go Little Bitsy and to all your supporters!! It took a village… it really did! Getting Little Bitsy’s rescue story out to everyone has been a wonderful experience. Having Bitsy come into my life has been one of the most rewarding things that has ever happened to me.
Now we are celebrating
In case anyone missed Little Bitsy’s story, let me tell it again.
Just 3 months ago Little Bitsy was found by my friend and coworker, Evelyn. My husband and I happened to be the lucky ones to foster Little Bitsy. Her back leg was crimpled and hung useless from an accident that had happen weeks before. Because she had not had proper care the leg had tried to heal itself and it was too late for the vet to do anything except amputate. But the amputation was delayed for several weeks because Little Bitsy was too malnourish and could not survive a surgery. So it was our job to feed, care and love Bitsy until she could have the surgery and find a forever home. She also had not been spayed and had already had at least one litter of pups. ( She is only 1 1/2)
We introduced Bitsy to the rest of our crowd here – 3 other rescue dogs and 4 rescue cats ( yes, we are crazy). They all seemed to realize Little Bitsy needed to be handled with care. It was an amazing thing to watch! This precious dog that had not been fed, loved or cared for trusted us all. Within minutes she was comfortable and we new we had another dog in the family!
Little Bitsy had quite an appetite and started gaining weight very quickly. After about a week we noticed that leg didn’t seem to be quite so crimpled and she was using it more. We watched it and decided it didn’t look like it was causing her pain. She was running, playing ball, and stepping into the alpha dog spot. The leg still wasn’t perfect but she was using it more. We made the decision to cancel the appointment for amputation and not rush into anything. Just give it some time.
Best thing we ever did! The leg is still not perfect – it’s a 1/2 inch shorter than the other but that’s alright! She’s happy, it doesn’t hurt and she can run faster than any dog I’ve ever seen!
When we saw this contest Little Bitsy had only been in our lives a few weeks and I thought what a perfect way to celebrate her. Then it occured to me, if she won we could help so many other animals get the second chance that Little Bitsy has gotten. Little Bitsy would not have survived if Evelyn had not picked her up that day just 3 months ago!
Here is the link to the Little Bitsy’s video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....-main-area
I thank you all that have voted and supported us through the many weeks of the contest. This contest has brought our whole community, several blogging communties and friends across the country closer together all to support animal rescue in WNC. It’s been wonderful and enlightening experience!
Thank you all!
Just one more thing — Go Little Bitsy Go
Sylvia
fidelio
How quickly that pup has pwned you, John!
Danton
Well.. back to The Band.
As of 2005, Big Pink was still standing. And it was still pink. The trees around the house were a bit taller than they were in the photo on the album cover.
Luthe
All this talk about Christian worship music reminds me of the Neo-Platonists. You see, Neo-Platonists believe that there are gods, but that their concerns are so far removed from the mortal sphere that what we do doesn’t really matter to them. However, what we do matters to us, and so our actions in worship of the gods are not wasted, because they make us feel better. A kind of sympathetic magic, if you will.
Of course, I take it a step further and embrace agnostic pagan Neo-Platonism, making anything I do a form of Pascal’s Wager, but hey, if makes me feel better about the Universe, which is what counts.
Little Macayla's Friend
@ironranger: @Just Some Fuckhead:
and the cucking stool link: http://thecuckingstool.blogspo.....erves.html
/ironranger, simplest is just copy & paste url, and when comment is posted, it appears as hyperlink. If there was a linky question.
/and good catch!
RedKitten
@2th&nayle
Yep—I didn’t get a chance to listen to it the whole way through yet, as Sam the Stomach required my services, but I’m going to listen to it again later.
With regards to changing one’s handle, for a couple of weeks I referred to myself as “RedKitten—formerly Krista.” I figured that’d give people enough time to get used to the new moniker. I’m three-quarters tempted to just go back to “Krista” anyway, though, as that’s what most people here use.
And most contemporary Christian music sucks ass. But good gospel—you don’t have to be religious to enjoy that. I’m as agnostic as all get-out, but put on some Mahalia Jackson, and I am there.
Calming Influence
Late to this thread, but my story will still be preserved for posterity, so it’s all good.
I grew up in a small town in New York, close to Woodstock. I started playing the piano when I was nine on an out-of-tune upright in our basement. By the time I was sixteen I had learned to (sort of) tune the piano myself, but I longed for an instrument that was always in tune, like a Fender Rhodes or a Hammond organ. Jr.High and High School were in Kingston, NY, so 2 or 3 times a week I would hitch-hike to the Kingston Music Center after school to noodle around on their keyboards, shooting the shit with other music people.
One rainy winter afternoon I showed up and the place was almost empty, with only this one guy hunched over an organ playing church music, cranked up and coming out of a slowly rotating Leslie speaker (sorry, but details are important). As I was moseying about/listening, sales-guy comes over and says “do you know who that is?” Church music dude is wearing a long wool overcoat and his head is practically on the keys, so he might have been Quasimodo for all I knew. Sales-guy says “go up and sit next to him – watch how he plays.”
So I go up (the organs/pianos were arranged on different level platforms), pull a piano bench over, and start watching the guy play. His head is down almost touching the keyboard, and his eyes are closed. His fingers are curled under (picture someone gripping bicycle handlebars) and he’s not using his pinkies – no formal training? But it’s hypnotizing, with the “church” music now morphing from blues to jazz and from jazz to rock. And church music dude has a full bushy beard.
It’s 1970, and I’m sitting next to Garth Hudson while he’s putting an organ through it’s paces. And for an hour, I’ve got him pretty much all to myself.
x
The Band and Traffic were my lifeblood once upon a time
x
Calming Influence
@x:
Hey x, either light up or leave me alone.
Calming Influence
glad.
Calming Influence
Glad.
Calming Influence
Oh, and would that be a Hammond organ Mr. Winwood is playing? What a coincidence!