Just got back from my friend’s house- the food was good, the music was better (we listened to a bunch of Wilco). The last thread is over 300, so I thought I would fire up a new one:
I’m rocking Oysterhead right now.
by John Cole| 88 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Just got back from my friend’s house- the food was good, the music was better (we listened to a bunch of Wilco). The last thread is over 300, so I thought I would fire up a new one:
I’m rocking Oysterhead right now.
Comments are closed.
Crusty Dem
That’s toooooo many comments. Enjoying Lewis Black now on the left coast…
General Winfield Stuck
Was beginning to wonder if Tunch had run off or something. This is a good rendition of His Majesty upon his throne.
Hoya
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/28/AR2009082803526_2.html?hpid=topnews
Basically says that we have to massive cut spending and raise taxes to fix the country. Camacho ’16!
JK
John,
Did you see any of Ted Kennedy’s memorial service and do you have any reactions to share. I was struck by the irony today – hours after reading your post lamenting Obama’s continuation of Bush’s policy of seraching computers, Glenn Beck is pacing back and forth, mugging it up big time for the camera, and saying that communists are working in the White House.
John McCain will always be a swine in my book, no matter how many hosannas and wet sloppy kisses he keeps getting from the MSM.
McCain Throws in With Sarah Palin: Agrees That VHA Pamphlet is “Kind of a Death Panel”
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/mccain-throws-sarah-palin-agrees-vha-pamph
Mornington Crescent
Photograph of a single molecule. It appears to move, when I look at it.
r€nato
Today I bought a shank washer for a ballcock.
cbear
@r€nato: That’s just waaaaay too easy…..
Fulcanelli
@Mornington Crescent: Scientists say the search for Sarah Palin’s brain is over, details at eleven…
bedtimeforbonzo
Watched a somber but gripping war movie on cable last night: In The Valley of Elah.
Safe to say it is an anti-war — anti-Iraq War — film by director Paul Haggis, done as a murder mystery showing how young men thrust into a battle that doesn’t make sense can be morally, and mentally, corrupted.
But mostly it’s the story of a father’s anguish. You can’t take your eyes off Tommy Lee Jones, the pained dad in an Oscar-worthy performance.
I recently re-watched the great TV mini-series Lonesome Dove and was reminded how — even though he was overshadowed by Robert Duvall — Jones carried the last third of that eight-hour event.
Call me old-fashioned, but I love Westerns.
John Cole
@JK: Watched none of it. Hung out with friends and ate salsa.
I’m really beat down by death. I just don’t want to deal with any more memorials, especially people ten years older than my parents.
I’m really trying to focus on the living. I go to animal friends every weekend an d bring 20-40 lbs of food and walk the dogs, but I think I am
also going to start dealing with meals on wheels. I’m really on edge- I have no patience for the past or for bullshit. I want to focus my energies on positive things. Watching TK’s funeral would have just sapped me.
This world really, really, sucks. I’m really burnt out on society.
Sentient Puddle
Y’know, I’m now sort of curious how Glenn Beck followed up “OLIGARHY” tonight. Anyone know if he even acknowledged it?
Bill H
May be the best Tommy Lee Jones movie ever, and Susan Sarandon ripped my heart out.
Fulcanelli
@bedtimeforbonzo: Caught that a few months ago while just flipping through the channels. I agree, really good. Tommy Lee Jones’ scarred mug was born for that role.
wasabi gasp
Some days ago, on a thread here, I asked for some advice on a digital camera purchase for my GF’s birthday. Today the UPS guy dropped of one of these. Having no patience, I gave it to her early. And right after all the squeaky thank yous and smooches were done, she said “we can send a picture of Puddin’ Pop to Marshmallow’s place now.” That killed me.
*Puddin’ Pop = our cat, Jezebelle.
*Marshmallow = the proprietor of this blog, Tunch.
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
I had that bad yesterday, and everyday lately to varying degrees. Nature and our animal and bird friends usual keep me reasonably sane. Nature never lies, cheats of steals. It just is. This afternoon I took down one of my hummer feeders and sat in a chair with it in my lap, and these beautiful tiny flying jewels became so used to me they landed on my hands,, arms, and one even perched on top of my for a second or two. Took my breath away and I didn’t give two shits what Glenn Beck, or any of the hateful sob’s I see and hear on my teevee had to say. They are vexations to the spirit, whatever that spirit is to each individual, and they don’t mean nothin’ in the grand scheme of things.
JK
“I’m reading this thread and wondering why people do not have comments. Why blog without them?” – John Cole, August 29th, 2009 at 12:18 am https://balloon-juice.com/?p=26110#comment-1348062
John Cole meet Douglas Bailey
“As satiated as I am with the enormous and varied flow of available information, I’ve concluded there’s one outlet that should be abandoned: those comment forums at the end of articles on newspaper websites… I realize these forums have their advocates. Publishers apparently believe forums help drive people to their website and provide opportunity for interactive exchanges of ideas, comments, corrections, and expansion of debate and topics… Instead, these forums are insidiously contributing to the devaluation of journalism, blurring the truth, confusing the issues, and diminishing serious discourse beyond even talk radio’s worst examples…Don’t bother posting any comments directed to me when this article appears on the Web. I won’t see them. Instead, go start your own website or blog or buy a legitimate newspaper, or write a letter to the editor, or an op-ed (and sign your own name to it).” – Douglas Bailey, July 15, 2009, Got a comment? Keep it to yourself, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2009/07/15/got_a_comment_keep_it_to_yourself
John Cole
@General Winfield Stuck: It’s all good. I have a cat on my lap, a dog on my feet, and I am cranking Little Feat.
Waiting for Columbus has never, ever let me down.
JK
@John Cole: I feel the same way. You took the words right out of my mouth, especially with your last sentence.
Morbo
Unedited Reno 911 on Comedy Central tonight. They could (and they frequently do) do worse for the secret stash.
SixStringFanatic
Oh, thanks for the earworm, Cole. Now I have to get out my own copy of Oysterhead. I would be upset but it’s such an awesome album that I can’t.
Seen any of the YouTube clips for Them Crooked Vultures yet? Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones. Need I say more?
Comrade Kevin
I am on edge tonight, after seeing one of the single worst performances by a first base umpire I have ever seen, in the A’s-Angels game.
Warren Terra
@JK, #16
In fairness, to Mr. Bailey, blog comment sections often function as a community, and can be great. For whatever reason, the comments I’ve seen appended to newspaper articles are often awful.
John Cole
My God. Lowell George.
He is dead and Fred Durst lives.
Why?
Eric U.
you will, very occasionally, find some useful information appended to newspaper stories in the comments. But usually it’s just hateful nonsense.
Crashman06
@John Cole:
For what it’s worth, John, I’ve been feeling the same way lately. A couple days ago, someone quoted TS Eliot on one of the open threads. “August is the cruelest month”
This one feels like it has been.
mcd410x
“All the leaves will burn and autumn fires then return.
All the fires we burn, all will return.
Music is my savior.”
Oct. 10, Memphis, can’t wait.
Fulcanelli
@John Cole: True, dat. Durst was up here in downtown Providence a couple of summers ago directing that film abomination “Under Dog”. Epic Film Fail. Like his music.
People suffer and die of starvation and health problems even with health insurance in this country and yet there’s tons of money floating around to finance garbage like that movie.
Oh yeah, that’s right… Free Market. Invisible Hand. And Tax Cuts!
Also.
JK
Interesting post for Zappa and/or Little Feat fans
Frank Zappa and Little Feat
h/t http://ristocrats.blogspot.com/2008/12/frank-zappa-and-little-feat.html
Hana
I feel the same way. I know too many people who are struggling too hard, who are way underwater with medical bills, or just underwater enough with illness and loss of work that they can’t get back above water. My husband and I are giving probably a bit more than we can really afford to people we know, but can’t let our own friends go without food and clothes. My very own friend called me a few months ago and told me she was hungry.
John Cole
I’m to the point now that everything in Animals, the Wall, and the Final Cut are validated.
And with that, I am off to bed.
wasabi gasp
@John Cole: I love my parents dearly, and sometimes when I lay my head on the pillow, thoughts of mortality and my love for them comes crashing together. It’s sad, heartbreaking, it is what it is. And then I hear my mom’s voice in the back of my head, “Snap out of it!”
General Winfield Stuck
I saw Little Feat in concert circa 1975 in Nashville. I think Lowell George had already died by then. I had heard of the group but hadn’t listened to much of their music. Oddly enough they were the opening act to an Elton John concert we were there to see. Don’t ask why, but LF should have been the marquee group and they sold me on their music quickly.
And then Elton took the stage in his giant orange tophat and cartoon pink sunglasses and jacket with blinking christmas tree lights. I said Wha’ the fluck since it was a new getup to see, at least for me.
Crashman06
@wasabi gasp: I’ve been having those same thoughts lately. My dad’s voice says the same thing that your mom’s does for you. Tough advice to follow sometimes.
asiangrrlMN
Omigod! Tunchie is teh cutest non-black cat evah! He makes me smile so hard, my cheeks hurt.
As for your commentary, I am with you a kajillion percent. I am about to impose a self-ban on politics because I really can’t take it any more.
Oh, and bourbon is the elixir of the gods. I will brook no argument on this score.
+2
Crashman06
@asiangrrlMN: Blasphemy. Beer is the nectar of the gods.
bedtimeforbonzo
Before I head off to bed, I wanted to say the reason In The Valley of Elah stays with you is it seems so damn real: I don’t think we’ve come close to seeing how the Iraq War has damaged, and ruined, countless families.
Tommy Lee Jones’ portrayal of a father reminded me of my own dad — stoic, always wanting to say more but never finding the words or the ability. I know my dad loved me more than he ever fully expressed, but it’s a shame he was never comfortable in his own skin with his own children. I guess men of his era felt that showed weakness.
Bill H was right about Susan Sarandon, who hasn’t always been my cup of tea. She ripped your heart out.
trollhattan
“Fat man in the bathtub, with the blues”
Yup, there it is.
I had the pleasure of wandering through a teabagfest today at the state capitol. I didn’t think it possible, but they were older and whiter than the April 15 crew, probably Downy soft too. In addition to how much they really don’t like paying taxes (and boy howdy, I sure LOVE paying mine) they complained about swapping human lives for fish (it’s a water thang), health care that would simultaneously make them commie and unhealthy, CO2 controls that would make them…something bad fer sure, and fussin’ over whether Obama is a socialist, a communist or a nazi–maybe all three? Oh yeah, they also don’t like Arnie anymore.
Too bad the irony cops weren’t there, as there would have been arrests for the super-angry white guy speaker (rep. Tom McClintock I think) quoting Fredrick Douglass and the endless string of semis circling the capitol mall belching diesel soot while protesting…wait for it…increased diesel emission regulations.
The only thing missing was McMegan waving an AK and quoting John Galt. Okay, that and Cliff Clavin. I missed Cliff.
asiangrrlMN
@Crashman06: Beer is piss water. Blech. Bourbon on the other hand is smooth, sexy, and a hint of raw. Yummmmmmmmm.
Gin and tonic is very good, too.
Full disclosure: I am allergic to alcohol with hard liquor being the easiest on my system.
Tunch Tunch Tunch. I luuuuuurve that kitteh!
Fulcanelli
@asiangrrlMN: Gotta find you some of the Green Fairy, girl. And be sure you hide your car keys first.
JK
@General Winfield Stuck:
Jimi Hendrix was once the opening act for The Monkees.
asiangrrlMN
@Fulcanelli: Would that be the absinthe? A friend suggested it to me, and I would love to try it. I didn’t drive tonight, so it was allllll gooooood.
Crashman06
@asiangrrlMN: Ewww. Bourbon is like someone put out a cigarette in a glass of good Irish whiskey. But I suppose we can agree to disagree.
Hard liquors not my thing but when I must, I’ll take a gin and tonic.
wasabi gasp
@Crashman06:
Yes. It is.
Fulcanelli
@asiangrrlMN: It WILL fuck your shit up sideways, in a rather mysterious way. Your mileage may vary.
asiangrrlMN
@Crashman06: Then there’s more for me!
Crashman06
@Fulcanelli: I know they say the whole hallucination thing around absinthe isn’t true, but the last time I had a bit of the Green Fairy, I had the weirdest buzz I’ve ever experienced. So, something’s going on there.
asiangrrlMN
@Fulcanelli: Hm. That sounds intriguing. I wonder if I can get it in any local bar.
A friend suggested it to me tonight, so obviously, it’s meant to be.
Crashman06
@asiangrrlMN: It’s slowly starting to pop up in many places. I’ll bet there’s a good chance that you can find it somewhere within your radius.
Dugmoor
Good food, good drink, Wilco, universal healthcare and Oysterhead? Good lord, John, how was it you were ever a conservative?
asiangrrlMN
@Crashman06: I looked it up. There is a store quite nearby that sells it. I’m gonna give it a try, and I’ll report back here what happens–if I remember.
Indylib
@asiangrrlMN:
“Bourbon on the other hand is smooth, sexy, and a hint of raw.”
That was my drink back in the days that I imbibed. Wild Turkey to be specific. I’ve been sober 16 years and I can still recall the taste and smell after all these years.
Fulcanelli
@Crashman06: I could see the hallucinations happening for real habitual users over time, but I never had any… I’ve got a bottle of some green French stuff that’s 100 proof that I take a nip or two from once in a while. I had some 128 proof gold colored, citrus flavored stuff from Germany a couple of years ago that would make you believe you could jerk off a lion with a hand full of thorns if you had more than two…
Crashman06
@asiangrrlMN: Let us know! It’s been a while since I’ve partaken. Supposed to hit up a bar tomorrow night that serves it, so perhaps I can give some updated impressions then.
Anne Laurie
@John Cole:
Well, there’s always the Big Brothers. Or if you can’t make that much of a commitment, the local library probably has some kind of reading-with-kids program set up. Some of my friends in the Midwest get to bring their dogs to a weekly program where the primary kids are given the high privilege of reading to a dog… believe it or not, some “reluctant readers” make real progress reading to someone they know isn’t going to judge or criticize, and for those dogs that just love being around kids, it’s also a reward.
asiangrrlMN
@Indylib: I was told I had to try Wild Turkey, too. Tonight was Jim Beam, and I have a bottle of Maker’s Mark at home. I am fairly late to the bourbon game, but I love it.
@Crashman06: Oooh, yes! Do tell. I have a hunch if I try it (I am a lightweight), I won’t remember a thing.
Anne Laurie
@John Cole:
My Irish granny used to say, “Heaven won’t have him, and Hell doesn’t want him.”
Fulcanelli
@asiangrrlMN: Ya ain’t lived until you’ve had a fine, small batch single malt Scotch Whiskey after a good meal, lassie. Smooooooth…
asiangrrlMN
@Fulcanelli: Dang. I have to add it to my growing list of alcohol that I want to try. Like I said, I don’t drink much, so I have a lot of catching up to do.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
@Fulcanelli:
While true, I always recommend bourbon first to my friends that are trying to get into whiskey. I think the sweetness makes it easier to accept some of the more unique whiskey flavors to the uninitiated.
Crashman06
@The Main Gauche of Mild Reason: I’ve never quite been able to come around to bourbon, but I love me some Irish whiskey. I think it’s the smokeyness that drives me away.
r€nato
Before I go to bed, I would just like to say thank FSM that Blagojevich’s 15 minutes finally elapsed.
Now if only we could say the same about Sarah Palin…
wasabi gasp
A Simple Song – Lyle Lovett
gopher2b
@John Cole:
I was in California a week ago and went hiking in a national park. I came across the most magnificent Redwood. Beautiful tree. I went up to it and gave it a hug. I really did. It helped.
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
@gopher2b: And then Cole’s DFH transformation will be complete.
JackieBinAZ
@John Cole: We need to take up a collection and get you your very own “Going Galt” bucket.
JK
@JackieBinAZ:
I’d love to see Megan McArdle stop writing her stupid blog and start her own Going Galt fashion line.
Chuck Butcher
@asiangrrlMN: my growing list of alcohol that I want to try.
I can’t remember anything I didn’t try out, but I always went back to Jack Daniels with beer back. It’s been 21 years clean and sober so there have been a lot of addtions that weren’t around then.
I do remember a German Pear Brandy that would kick your ass while going down very easily, very. The only thing I found was that liquor was quicker, otherwise it was just alcohol. ‘To-kill-ya’ never made me any crazier than Jack or Johnny Walker Black or Miller, but that crazy was something most would take a pass on or not survive, so…
Chuck Butcher
There are bars that are happy see you, bars that will kick you out, and bars that don’t let you out and I’ve been to all three, now a days Iced Tea w/Lemon keeps them happy to see me and me out of the ones that don’t let you go.
I tried valiantly to single handedly support Miller and Jack Daniels and the sons a bitches never sent me a Thank You card or Christmas card or anything, the mail I got in that regard was from the Court System and they were getting a tad testy. Just a Tad. Testy.
OriGuy
One of the roots of my logon name is orienteering (the other is origami.) It’s a sport that involves running cross-country while navigating a course using only map and compass. At the international elite level, it’s highly competitive, with the top runners going full-speed through the forest. Suffice it to say that I’m not at that level.
Anyway, at the World Championships Relay in Hungary last week, something happened that should get wider recognition. During the anchor leg, the leader, Martin Johanssen of Sweden, got a stick 10cm into his thigh. Thierry Gueorgiou (France), Anders Norberg (Norway), and Michal Smola (Czech Republic), who were close behind, stopped to help. Other runners were out of earshot and unaware of what was going on.
They managed to stop the bleeding. Norberg ran straight to the finish, while Smola got a cellphone from a hiker. He didn’t know a way to contact the organizers, so he called a friend in CR, who called the Czech coach. An ambulance came quickly and got Martin. The three who stopped, any one of whom could have won the race, ran the rest of it together and finished 25th-27th.
There’s a lot of controversy about whether the results should have been voided, but everyone agrees that these guys are champs. A severe injury in the middle of the forest could have been a tragedy.
http://news.worldofo.com/2009/08/28/wrap-up-woc-2009-relay/
(By the way, the USA finished 24th, Canada was 29th.)
freelancer
@John Cole:
In the last two months or so, between my education, skepticism, being scorned by an intolerant fundie, and the conflagration of the perils of globalization, I’ve been a heavy promoter of the “we’re fucked” tag. And in the midst of this existential dread that has been ever-present, yet subconscious, I’ve felt that need to keep going. It doesn’t matter if I make it, so to speak. I just need to keep that fire lit. I need to keep the anger, to retain the humor.
I’m ten years younger so replace Little Feat with “Say it ain’t so” and I understand. Consider yourself blessed.
There’s a lot of sadness in this late night thread. I wish I could hug you all and even though I’m of the opinion that we’re all fucked in the long run, I still feel the need to assuage your concerns. We’re gonna be okay for now.
When our grandkids ask us Why The Fuck We Spent So Much on Gas, we can point to the stupid, and be like, well sweety, the wingnuts invented this thing called NASCAR…
The Grand Panjandrum
I haz a sad:
Reading Rainbow Reaches Its Final Chapter
WereBear
I ha@The Grand Panjandrum: I az a sad too, especially this:
Why did I see that coming when I clicked on the link?
Bush Hate: It’s not Irrational.
Xenos
Spelling… on TV? Spelling and ‘the mechanics of reading’ are need schools to be taught correctly. TV is the wrong medium for that. And the idea that ‘phonics’ is the only way to teach reading is ridiculous right-wing political correctness.
Xenos
Me need edit button.
J.
I love a good Tunch action shot. Thx JC.
Poopyman
Are you people still up?
Now that I’ve fed the cats and they’ve stopped pestering me, I’m debating whether or not to go back to bed. It’s a kind of a crappy day out there, but appropriate for a funeral.
From down below:
Because the people that don’t want comments just want you to be in awe of their wonderful writing. Any comment on it would be a waste of time.
When I get that way I go stand under the stars. For like an hour or so, until you get the sense of them wheeling over you. A lawn chair is permitted.
Poopyman
Me no understand why one blockquote is bold and the other not. Me want editor.
SiubhanDuinne
@ Sentient Puddle/12:48 am
According to Newshounds (“We watch FOX so you don’t have to”), Beck spelled OLIGARCHY correctly last night. The C stands for Czar.
http://www.newshounds.us and it will be a story near the top of the page.
arguingwithsignposts
@WereBear:
Coming from Bush’s administration, that is high irony indeed.
Poopyman
… And Watertiger wants you to know about cat spanking, although I would call it cat bongos. Or maybe just cat abuse.
EnderWiggin
@J.:
Action of course bring a relative term
asiangrrlMN
@Chuck Butcher: More to try. I didn’t drink until I was out of college, and even then it was very sporadic. Until a few months ago, I hadn’t tried anything in the whiskey family, so it’s a whole new world for me.
My dreams last night were bad. I kept getting into one car crash after the other. Some were really bad. Today doesn’t feel like a good day.
Dog is My Co-Pilot
I’ve been somewhat depressed by the hate spewing from the far right. When I pick up my little dog, a Pomeranian rescued from a puppy mill, and I look into her eyes, it gives me faith that all can be right with the world.
burnspbesq
@John Cole:
“Waiting for Columbus has never, ever let me down.”
And it never will. I got to see those guys on the last tour before Lowell passed away, on a night when he showed up sober and Bonnie Raitt sat in to do backing vocals. That night at the grimy old Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey was the best rock and roll show I’ve ever seen.
Speaking of Wilco, if you have a good analog set up, get the new record on vinyl. The differences betweeen the record and the CD are not subtle. And Nonesuch is releasing all of Wilco’s earlier albums on vinyl.
Bob In Pacifica
I’ve got a friend who swears by Wilco. Someone please point out why, other than my deep friendship, I should keep trying to figure out what’s so great about Wilco.
Or better, give me your favorite tracks and tell me why you like them. I really do want to develop an appreciation of them. It just hasn’t happened so far (except their backup work with Billy Bragg).
arguingwithsignposts
@Bob In Pacifica:
I’m not a huge Wilco fan, but I also liked their work with Bragg.
Comrade Darkness
@gopher2b: It may have been older than Jesus.
grumpy realist
We love the Tunch!
Thanks again, John, for having such an eclectic (and profane) blog.