Feel-good story of the evening, from CBS News:
ROANOKE, Texas — Seventy-five-year-old flight instructor Wally Funk has always been a bit unconventional. She’s been around planes since she could walk and earned her pilot’s license as a teenager…
Though she is relentlessly upbeat, there is one thing that still gnaws at Wally Funk: the flight she never got to take.
After the original Mercury astronauts were subjected to a grueling set of medical tests, the doctor who designed those tests used private funding to administer the same tests to women.
“X-raying all over the body, every bone, every tooth, sticking water in your ears,” Wally remembers. “I had to drink radioactive water.”
The women matched — and sometimes surpassed — the results of the men, but not everyone was impressed.
John Glenn told Congress that women pilots were against our “social order.” Vice President Lyndon Johnson wrote, “Let’s stop this now” on a memo to NASA…
Wally Funk hasn’t given up her dream. She’s applied to be a passenger aboard Virgin Galactic’s space plane, which could launch in 2014.
“I’m going, that is my quest,” she says, adding she hasn’t given up. “I love flying, that’s my — that’s my job, that’s what I love, and I’m not a quitter.”
Now that we’ve all got a standard to live up to, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
raven
Game 3 of the NBA playoffs comin right up!
Corner Stone
Thai food. Thinking chili basil with beef.
currants
can somebody ‘splain why we have ice hockey and basketball playoffs all at the same time? something seems a bit off there.
lamh35
Watching So You Think You Can Dance
pokeyblow
Wally?
Corner Stone
@currants: so we only have to clear baseball playoffs when football season gets here.
WereBear
Oh, yeah. What is it about some male people, that being male is so important… yet so fragile… that women actually doing the same damn thing threatens them so much?
I mean, anything that can be threatened by a pink tutu… just how tough is it?
Just Some Fuckhead
Dear Penthouse Variations,
My cat and I were celebrating a rare win by the Steelers last season and we found ourselves holding each other long after we’d stopped jumping up and down..
Chases ur
Is bobo gonna have to write how she is betraying the wisdom of our great fathers Glenn and lbj?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: Crab-fried rice.
schrodinger's cat
@lamh35: I like that show, so much better than Dancing with the Stars.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@efgoldman: the regular season was shorter then, too.
Soonergrunt
Reading Fred Clark’s Slacktivist Left Behind read-through.
schrodinger's cat
@Just Some Fuckhead: Sounds delicious. Did you buy them live?
currants
@Corner Stone: Oh. Of course. (?)
Chyron HR
Filthy Obot lies. LBJ was a true progressive champion without a single black mark on his record, either domestic or foreign.
Corner Stone
@Just Some Fuckhead: Probably going to get Thai style spare ribs to lead off.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Soonergrunt:
lolz
Fred kinda left Slacktivist behind, didn’t he?
schrodinger's cat
BTW I has the review of the new Star Trek Movie.
Warning: It has spoilers.
currants
@efgoldman: Oh, THAT’s it. You know, I thought I remembered the Stanley Cup being much earlier in the year, and that explains it (not that I watched it, but my uncle was a Philadelphia fan, though that was the 70s). (Yep, Philadelphia no matter what sport.) Thanks!
Just Some Fuckhead
@Corner Stone: I always get the crabmeat-fried rice Thai-hot with a few spring rolls on the side. My sinuses love that shit.
spudvol
First Trailer – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Burnspbesq
Futbol! World Cup qualifying double-header. Mexico-Costa Rica followed by USA-Panama.
First game is at halftime,0-0. Costa Rica has been the better side so far, but they hit a post and de Jesus Corona made a huge save.
mellowjohn
@currants: because no one in chicago or boston gives a shit about basketball anymore, and no one in miami or san antonio gives a shit about ice hockey ever.
p.s. when the baseball, football, basketball, and hockey seasons finished sooner, there were a lot fewer teams. only 16 in baseball and just 6 in hockey, for example, (and in the case of baseball, they played a lot more double headers.)
Soonergrunt
@Just Some Fuckhead: I don’t know. Did he?
Just Some Fuckhead
@Soonergrunt: Yes.
Litlebritdifrnt
Fun fact, I discovered today that you can pick up a cheap keyboard at a Thrift Store (sally army) plug it into the USB port on your laptop and it works! (seeing as a glass of wine and a cat incident killed my laptop keyboard).
MikeJ
@Soonergrunt: He got a night job.
I’m gonna watch the USMNT v Panama, sadly not in person even though it’s here in Jet City.
mouse tolliver
Hugh Jackman can go fuck himself. Seriously. John Legend too. Being a shill for Walmart is bad enough. But if you’re a world famous actor, and you skip your daughter’s first school play so that you can go shill for Walmart, that’s not something to brag about. I hope that new Wolverine movie flops. If it’s anything like the last one, it will deserve to.
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Had that the other night myself. My go-to selection.
JWL
If Funk- and only if- she would be willing to selflessly sacrifice herself if need be, as did Tommy Lee Jones in the movie Space Cowboys, I see no reason to deny her a space flight.
lamh35
Dang, I really was gonna leave this whole brohaha alone, but um ok, so now people are going after Josh Marshall for his editorial essay on why he’s struggling with the Snowden thing.
I have my issue with TPM, but dang. The retweets Josh is posting are something else
Also, someone asked me the other day to link to people comparing Snowden to MLK, well Chris Hayes just did so on his show.
In the context of surveillance, okay, but big difference between the two, MLK was under surveillance not cause he was leaking or whistleblowing alleged national security secrets but for the crime of being Black in America in the 60 -70s and having the nerve to speak up and protest that fact.
Ok, I’m going to just say it, the constant invocation of MLK or Rosa Park, just seem like a coordinated attempt to “shame” or “school” those naive Obama supporters as if to say well “you guys are in denial”.
Are there really no other examples of people to compare to Snowden other than MLK, I’d really like to know.
Oh well, just goes to show you that sometimes it’s not only conservative who uses MLK as a quick reference.
Ugh, anyway back to So You Think You Can Dance
ETA:
YellowJournalism
@WereBear: Real men wear pink. (Although some better than others.)
Redshirt
@mouse tolliver: I liked “Origins”. But I’m discovering lately I like shitty movies. Most of them at least.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow? Really terrible.
the Conster
@efgoldman:
I can still remember (although somewhat vaguely), my father sitting about 4 feet from the 13″ B&W TV watching that series on Ch. 38 (UHF) with the bow tie antenna. Good times. NASA represented the gubmint, not NSA.
Just Some Fuckhead
@lamh35: If you can make the Snowden revelations all about poor Obama, I’d wager you should be ashamed.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Tonight’s agenda: Waiting to hear if non-techie has successfully replaced his power supply and if so, if it solved his problem. I hope so; this is the fifth power supply I’ve bought for someone in the last 48 hours.
RSA
A friend and former student is a helicopter pilot, now a lieutenant colonel teaching at West Point. Her stories tell me that things are still a lot the same. She’s had male students get into a helicopter with her and think it’s a gag, with a woman barely five feet tall in a flight suit “pretending” to be an instructor.
Chris
@WereBear:
Did not know that.
I will now add him to my list of “famous assholes.”
Suffern ACE
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/11/republican-demands-obama-apologize-for-funding-climate-change-research/
Dear God, please spare Sooner the wrath that his state Congressional delegation might tempt you you unleash.
cyntax
I always heard that women make the best chopper pilots since they have better hand-eye coordination. That being the case, they probably would make pretty good astronauts.
ETA: I think the 160th (Nightstalkers) is accepting women pilots so…
lamh35
@Just Some Fuckhead: actually, I don’t make the Snowden revelations about “poor Obama”. I just hate when poeple invoke MLKJr reflexively on either side of the aisle…period.
I swear I have never heard this much invoking of MLK’s name as defense or as argument for everything outside of Black History Month or MLK’s Birthday pre-2008.
Have you?
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: I enjoyed most of Origins, mostly because of Liev Schreiber. The ending fight was, well, bad.
Corner Stone
@cyntax: Probably better shortstops, too.
trollhattan
In honor of good Ms. Wally.
http://fuckyeahfemaleastronauts.tumblr.com/
different-church-lady
…in that order.
cyntax
@Corner Stone:
Now that you mention it that makes sense.
We could always ask shortstop next time she shows up.
=)
Baud
@lamh35:
I blame MLK. ;-)
Spike
Hockey playoffs got pushed back a bit by the lockout this year. The riot here in Vancouver after game 7 two years ago was on June 15.
Chris
WARNING! SPOILERS FOR THE NEW STAR TREK… and all that bullshit…
@schrodinger’s cat:
Khan was the main villain in what’s generally considered the best of all the Star Trek movies, has an interesting origin story that ties into the 20th century, and was played by a charismatic and memorable actor (Ricardo Montalban), so he’s fondly remembered. He was basically a villain-of-the-week from the original series, who stood out from the herd enough that they brought him back and immortalized him in the movies.
I enjoyed the new one, but didn’t particularly think there was a reason to bring Khan into it – someone else from TOS could’ve been fit in without too much reworking. For that matter, not much reason to bring the other main villain from the series, Section 31, into it either. But what the hell, it was a fun movie. At the end of the day I suppose that’s what counts. (Enjoyed it more than the previous one, too).
Redshirt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Against Deadpool? I thought it was interesting, since how can you really make a fight against Wolverine interesting? You can’t really defeat him, normally. I mean, damn, in X-Men 3 he was reduced at the atomic level by Phoenix, apparently, and was able to “heal” from that.
So, Deadpool was interesting because I believed that he could kill Wolverine, somehow, by beheading him. Also, I thought the fight was kinda awesome, what with all the powers on display. I liked that storyline too – stealing mutant powers. Though I have no idea how that’s supposed to work – in comic book logic.
Nerd/
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Soonergrunt: He’s still blogging at his Patheos blog.
Yatsuno
Okay I fess up: a href=”http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/11/world/girl-rising-jordan-queen/index.html?hpt=hp_c4>I really really love the Jordanian royal family.
trollhattan
After the last weekend’s thermal brutality (109 and it’s not even summer yet, WTF Global Warming guys?!?) we’re having a stretch of weather so fine I want to marry it. Daughter-unit is boinging around the joint in anticipation of her summer vaycay beginning Friday and I think I’m getting a contact high off her.
Can I please just not go to work for three months?
schrodinger's cat
@Chris: I haven’t seen much of TOS and none of the movies with the original cast. I am going to give it a try.
Chris
@Redshirt:
Oh, I love that one.
I have a fondness for shitty movies too, especially the steampunkish ones. Legend of Zorro, Wild Wild West, Van Helsing and League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen are four movies like that that I really enjoy as guilty pleasures. I think Sherlock Holmes is the first time a steampunkish movie I loved (they have chemical weapons and radio) has also met with the public’s approval.
Soonergrunt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: that’s where I’m reading it.
Redshirt
What’s the historical algorithm for contextualizing historical people’s opinions given their historical culture? For instance, was Plato evil for being so sexist? Is a 50’s hot shot pilot evil for acting like a 50’s hot shot pilot?
Chris
@schrodinger’s cat:
I recommend avoiding the first one – I love it, but the majority of people find it boring and, if you’ve seen TOS, redundant (it’s basically a TOS episode stretched into a movie). Wrath Of Khan, OTOH, is generally loved. The episode Khan appears in is “Space Seed” if you want to watch that first, but I saw it having never seen a TOS episode and got the idea just fine.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: Well, for one thing, you could let Deadpool be Deadpool.
A mute Deadpool is a terrible thing.
And if we’re going to talk about Deadpool….
lamh35
@schrodinger’s cat: unlike some here, I actually liked the Star Trek movie. but then again, I”m not big on the original series, so I’m not at as invested in the characters as some who did watch the original were/are
MomSense
We celebrated my son’s acceptance into music school! He rocked his audition this morning and is a very happy and relieved young man. Middle son is probably freezing to death camping with some friends and youngest is complaining about being given homework the last week of school.
Life is good!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
If it’s the same machine 5X and it has a CMOS battery (Usually one of those 25 cent piece sized jobbies in a clip on the mainboard) try replacing that. A dead CMOS battery can yield the same symptoms as a malfunctioning power supply.
WereBear
@Litlebritdifrnt: Yep, that’s how my ancient aluminum Powerbook finally bit the dust.
Baud
@MomSense:
Hey! Congrats to the offspring. Glad it went well.
lamh35
@Redshirt: I heart Hugh Jackman even if he is apart of evil conglomerate Wal-Mart showcase.
I didn’t hate Origins, but i was very disappointed because they did not do much with one of my fav characters Gambit, the original Raging Cajun
Redshirt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yeah, the mute part ruins the charm of Deadpool. But I thought it a was funny, and twisted, move in the movie, given the character’s previous interactions with Stryker.
Cassidy
@cyntax: Not as pilots. They have women in staff positions and support.
CAG OTOH…look up “funny platoon”.
raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: I don’t think that will work with the macbook pro I spilled coffee in last week.
Redshirt
@MomSense: What style is the music again? Sorry if you’ve mentioned it and I’ve forgotten.
WereBear
Very true. It’s like the best of the series stretched into movie form, with follow up from a thought-provoking episode.
And Ricardo Montalban, with his OWN pecs.
And, last but far from least, an iconic Shatner moment, with the famous, “KHAN!!!”
Lotsa good stuff there. :)
Redshirt
@lamh35: Gambit’s kinda after my time. I only vaguely know throwing glittery cards and a thick accent, and by gum we got that in the movie!
Yatsuno
@Redshirt: I think I missed the genre as well. But I haven’t been paying much attention lately.
Cassidy
@Redshirt: @Yatsuno: I believe she said blues guitar.
@MomSense: Congrats.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Nope, five different computers. One, the power supply died from old age. The rest were lightning strikes.
Because of a scheduling conflict, I had to just hand the guy the power supply, give him some instructions, and let him try it. If this doesn’t work, I’ll be doing emergency surgery in the morning; it’s his media center. Can’t let a guy go too long without TV, yanno.
Mustang Bobby
My play “Ask Me Anything” has been selected for the New Theatre’s Miami 1-Acts Festival Summer 2013.
The New Theatre is one of the best theatres in Florida. It was the theatre that first produced “Anna of the Tropics” by Nilo Cruz that went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 2003, and I am beyond words to have my play selected by them.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism:
Gotcha. Well, good luck.
WereBear
@Mustang Bobby: Damn, man. Awesome!
Chris
@lamh35:
Speaking as someone who first discovered superhero comics through the X-Men movie trilogy, I was disappointed because they made Wolverine basically a cranky antihero instead of an outright villain.
The most interesting thing about him by far in the original trilogy was Stryker’s dialogue about how “if you knew the kind of person you were, the kind of things we did together” – and the implication that Wolverine really was a wild animal, who only turned away from that because of an extreme trauma and, eventually, finding himself a surrogate family in the X-Men. In other words, I’d have found him more interesting if he’d basically been the Liev Schrieber character – maybe with a glimmer that he had a few good streaks, but buried deep, deep underneath.
Ah, well.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: Would have worked just as well with a completely new character. You use a character with a past in the source material, you’re going to have problems if you deviate too far from that source.
Case in point: Star Trek Into Darkness.
I didn’t really have a problem with Gambit in the movie, but I’m not a Remy fangirl. I always thought him out of place in the superhero world; he belongs in caper stories.
Cassidy
As an Xmen fan it from way back, I hate the movies.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mustang Bobby: Wow, gratz!
@MomSense: And gratz to your son!
lamh35
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: self-proclaimed Remy fan-girl here…lol How can I not be, I’m a NOLA girl born and raised, Remy and all his Cajun “chere” and affectation were so cool to this lil bayou girl, that of course I love him…lol.
Besides, I was also a teen-aged girl, so the whole Remy/Rogue “love affair” made my lil heart flutter…lol
Redshirt
@Cassidy: Did you see First Class? I thought it was great.
cyntax
@Cassidy:
Really, not as pilots? That seems a tad arbitrary but what can you do?
PsiFighter37
Eating ice cream after drinking 4 beers. I’m on a binge of drinking…have another set of farewell drinks to go to tomorrow (loads of friends decamping from NYC this summer), so have to pace myself for that.
I feel like life is finally starting to get ‘real’, at age 27.
PF37 +4 and contemplating one more time
Redshirt
@Chris: I don’t think in any of the history of the character Wolverine’s ever been portrayed or hinted at as being truly evil. He does shit, and ain’t always the hero, but he’s seldom the bad guy, and when he is, it’s usually some kind of mind control or mutant wizardry.
ruemara
@Mustang Bobby: Woot! That’s spectacular.
@Cassidy: It only helps to consider it an alternate universe Xmen, because that is not my Ororo.
Redshirt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Yeah, probably. I read some X-Men graphic novel recently that had the X-Men skipping all through time, and it turns out in one of these futures Deadpool’s been locked in a room for like 500 years, and then is finally freed. Cray-Cray.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Cassidy: Just keep repeating to yourself “This is not Earth 616. This is not Earth 616.”
How far back do you go? I was a fan of the original Kirby team and still remember my elation when the book was revived with the New X-Men.
I enjoyed the first two movies. The third tried to cram too much in. And I got a huge kick out of First Class, even if they did time-shift Alex and Angel and Emma.
Chris
@Redshirt:
I haven’t read anything to that effect either (outside of the Ultimate universe, where he starts out as one of Magneto’s assassins). Like I said, though, I saw these movies before pretty much anything else in the Marvelverse, and that’s what I found interesting about the character. Ah, well.
Redshirt
@Chris: You say “Magneto’s Assassins”. I say “Magneto’s Freedom Fighters”.
Magneto was right, man.
Chris
@Redshirt:
Why can’t they be Freedom Assassins?
Freedom is messy, after all.
Yatsuno
@Mustang Bobby: Just remember one thing: Little Peeps. Little. Peeps.
lamh35
@Redshirt: I loved First Class if for nothing else other than they really did cast young Xavier and young Magneto…perfectly. But then again, I heart Michael Fassbender, so I’m a little biased…lol
mclaren
“Secret Court Document Finds Spy Techniques Unconstitutional, Justice
Department Fights To Keep It Hidden” 2013
“Barack Obama has promised the most transparent administration ever.” 2008
Beware whenever Obama promises some good thing. He always does the opposite.
? Martin
@mclaren:
Indeed. Remember when he promised to get his girls a dog and instead choked you out with a strap-on?
Did. Not. See. That. Coming.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@lamh35: Oh, the gal manning the counter at our FLGS is soooo pissy over Rogue right now. She’s a Gambit/Rogue fan.
I…had real trouble buying his move into the super-hero world. He was supposed to be a bad boy turned good, more like what Chris wanted from Wolverine, but I never really felt the writers at the time pulled it off. But then, I never really caught Luke and Laura fever, either, for some of the same reasons.
@ruemara:
OMG, can you imagine Halle Berry with that mohawk?
YellowJournalism
@? Martin: LMAO!
The prophet Nostradumbass
@? Martin: well that was, uh, something.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: Yeah, like he’s not cray-cray enough already.
@lamh35: I’ll second that casting in First Class. They made that movie.
And Hank. I’ve always loved Hank.
lockout
I didn’t know the president needed a strap-on. Anyway, speaking of strap-ons, tonight is dedicated to women who call themselves Wally.
ruemara
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: She. Would. Be. Fierce. Gawd, now I could stand for that to be in a movie. Morlock Queen Ororo. Negress, please.
? Martin
Actually, that was a bad example. Choking mclaren out with a strap-on would actually be an example of him doing a different good thing.
Corner Stone
@YellowJournalism: Me too!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
That shit is too funny dawg! Too fucking funny for words man! Martin, you fucking scamp, you slay me bro! Fucking slay me out the motherfucking ass man!
Love your witty shit in relentless defense of authority! Love it! Can’t get enough of that nut cuppage!
Keep it up bro! Love that shit dawg!
Yatsuno
@? Martin: That sort of evening eh?
Suzanne
@MomSense: Hey! Congrats to yr dude! That’s fabulous!
Tonight, I am studying for my next licensing exam. It is on June 24. If I pass, it will be 4 down, 3 to go. I told my husband that I want a vacation when I finish.
Yatsuno
@Suzanne: Europe. Just leave the kidlets with Grandma for a month.
Suzanne
@Mustang Bobby: Fuck yeah,that is AWESOME!
Damn, lots of good news around here tonight.
In my good news, it is my mom’s 63rd birthday, and she survived to see it.
Suzanne
@Yatsuno: Europe is always an ENRICHING vacation. I was thinking maybe Rio or somewhere else in South America.
lamh35
Redshirt
@lamh35: Yeah, everyone was great, especially Fassbender.
I really dug the “Mad Men” swinging early 60’s feel.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@ruemara: She’s cut her hair in the comics. ‘hawk Storm is BACK.
Chris
@Redshirt:
I loved the Nazi-hunting scenes.
“Blood and honor. Which would you like to shed first?”
trollhattan
Holy crap, I just turned the game on and SA is kicking some Miami butt.
It’s a good thing.
Bob In Portland
I grew a sinus headache as the novocaine from the dentist wore off, so I’m going to look for something to ease my pain. That’s my plan for tonight.
lamh35
@ruemara: when I was younger, I always had Iman in my mind as being perfect to play storm, she had the accent, the deepish voice and of course to my young eye, the earlier artist renditions of Storm resembled a young Iman alot.
Of course I had no idea if she could act, but her look just screamed Storm to me and unlike Halle Berry, she not a short lil stump…lol I mean isnt Storm supposed to be taller than Wolverine???
MikeJ
How about the fightin’ USMNT? one nil at the interval.
lamh35
@Redshirt: I truly do love Fassbender, even if he may actually be a shark (I really do love that tmblr and my God the man really does have a mouth full of teeth, but damn if they aren’t sexy on him…lol)
Burnspbesq
@MikeJ:
That was an exquisite bit of business from Bradley and F. Johnson.
Redshirt
For the record, I quibble with the supposed fact that the Virgin Galactic will get to space. It’s more of a fancy “vomit comet”.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@lamh35: Wolverine is only 5’4″. It’s not that hard to be taller than he is.
Todd
I finally tried Pappy Van Winkle tonight. Ordered a glass of the 20 year old (neat, of course) was prepared to be underwhelmed.
Wow! It was all that. It is sweet by nature, multilayered and had hints of a floral quality. Usually for super premium bourbon I’ll go with Woodford double-Oaked (vanilla and smoky at the same time), but this was a special treat. Wish I could afford it all the time.
Corner Stone
Damn. Danny Green of the Spurs is dropping some knowledge on these mofos.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
@Yatsuno:
I’m almost afraid to ask, but how’s she doing?
Also, was it you who asked many weeks or months ago for suggestions of non-sticky non-greasy pretty-colored moisturizing lip gloss? And did you find anything? Because I really like Neutrogena MoistureSmooth Color Stick. They are like chubby crayons, come in a nice range of shades, and are the only thing I’ve yet found that don’t eventually start shredding and drying my lips.
trollhattan
@Corner Stone:
Rim must look four feet wide tonight.
Redshirt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: {nerd] Yeah I’m still pissed they cast Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. He’s CLEARLY not 5’4″. [/nerd}
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: Better than the first guy the cast for the part.
Todd
@lamh35:
Land of the free. After all, Barack Obama is history’s greatest monster according to Glenn from Brazil.
Redshirt
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Who was it?
Mike E
Today was my 2nd favorite day…Miss E graduated from high school!
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Mike E:
Congratulations! How many gray hairs do you have?
Narcissus
@Todd: As an amateur Russia watcher, I feel like Russia must have done something really bad in a past life.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike E:
Congratulations to Miss E! And because someone has to be first to ask, What was your most favorite day EVAH?
Dead Ernest
@different-church-lady:
Having:
A) spent age 15 to 20 in Maryland,
B) the greatest admiration for acrobats,
Seem the right order to me.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Redshirt: First casting reports pegged Stuart Townsend. Not long after the ink dried on those articles, he’d been replaced with Dougray Scott. Then Scott decided MI2 would be a better career move.
trollhattan
@Higgs Boson’s Mate:
Default answer: all of them.
lamh35
Todd: Russia, ya know, that other bastion of civil liberties is allegedly considering granting Snowden asylum
Russia ready to consider asylum for NSA whistleblower Snowden
ruemara
@lamh35: Yes. Oooohhh Iman would be sweet.
&
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Oh hells yeah. Fuck yeah. I now want to read it. Spiral and Psylocke. You know, the really great heroines of comics are never going to be in the movies. Bastards.
And I go back to Chris Claremonte. Fuck Jim Lee with a rusty pen nib and a book of anatomy for artists. I bear grudges.
lamh35
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: hmmm IDK about Dougray? Aside from the height issue, I actually do like Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but I def had to let go of the shorter image of Wolverine.
Scott Alloway
FSM bless her. You go, Funk!
fleeting expletive
Chris Hayes is sporting a toupee. The Village has scarfed up the new hotness.
Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)
Geez, the Spurs just spanked the Heat by 36 points!
JustRuss
Longest hour of my life was watching John Glenn address the graduating class of Oregon State University about a decade ago. “Back in those days, we didn’t have the internet!” Seriously. I was surprised he didn’t tell the graduates seated on the football field to get off his lawn.
Mike E
@SiubhanDuinne: Miss E’s d.o.b. natch!
srv
Mongolian Beef with pork pot stickers.
And I have to trudge over to the art bar for beer and some 5-piece funk band with a Hammon B-3.
Just another boring Tuesday.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mike E: I figured it was either that, or the day you met her mom.
Suffern ACE
@Todd: with turkey on my tv all day, it’s kind of thuggy authoritarian Tuesday. Not a good dat to be young. Well at least Putin and his oligarchs will only be around 20 more years tops. Maybe 10. How much can there be to loot?
SiubhanDuinne
@fleeting expletive: I was just watching him and thinking much the same. Except it took me a while to get to “Oh FFS, that’s a rug!“
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@ruemara:
Then how will you react to this word: Liefeld.
@lamh35: Looking at him now, I don’t think Dougray would have had any staying power as the character.
And while we’re on the subject of Marvel movies, this intro for Tom Hiddleston for an award that has nothing to do with the God of Mischief left me giggling. With bonus Cumberbatch.
fleeting expletive
@SiubhanDuinne: Do you think it’s an MSNBC thing? Can’t have normally-aging white men on tv whose hair may be thinning? Or is it just, Hell, I’m on big media tv and I can’t go bald in front of them? It looks comically stupid to me.
Burnspbesq
USA 2-0 Panama. A very impressive performance for our guys.
ruemara
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: O. Mah. Gawd. Triple Fuck Him With A CHAINSAW! Hate his work, hate his influence, hate his goddam warming ribbons buttfloss o’thon wierdo legs like knives things.
I am so close to being able to get a ComicCon pass this year. I better not run into Leifield. Last time I told Lee he was a hack.
Edited to add: http://www.progressiveboink.com/2012/4/21/2960508/worst-rob-liefeld-drawings
YellowJournalism
@SiubhanDuinne: I was wondering what looked so different about him! Thought maybe it was the strange assortment of glasses he’s been sporting.
@Corner Stone: Aww, I still love ya, you old poop.
TCM is showing “Woman of the Year” in a bit for all you Hepburn and Tracy fans out there.
mai naem
@fleeting expletive: I don’t think its a toupee. I think they’ve just used product on his hair to pouf it up. What I want to know is whether Rand Paul wears a toupee. I think he may have been wearing a toupee before but got a hair transplant.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: My mom is doing awesome. She’s still at my house, but her siblings were able to scrape together enough dough to keep her out of foreclosure, so she’s going back to her pad, which is about 15 minutes away. She’s medicated, and we’re hoping to get her into a residency psych program at a psych hospital about 15 minutes away from her house. She’s talking about volunteering at the animal shelter and/or fostering, and she’s maybe getting a loan mod. She’s currently getting her house cleaned up and she’s repainting the interior, and she’s looking for a couple of roommates.
Thank you for asking. This has been a hard road. Not there yet, but we have definitely turned a corner.
SiubhanDuinne
@fleeting expletive:
I doubt it’s only MSNBC. But it’s a silly decision IMO. Unless he suddenly went completely bald overnight, I would imagine any receding hairline would be so gradual as to be almost unnoticeable by most viewers. And those who did notice likely wouldn’t much care. Whereas with a toop, that’s all anyone will look at. Can’t help it, no matter how much you don’t want to be all shallow like that.
LosGatosCA
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
No. The NBA season has been about 80 games since at least the 60’s. but the season started sooner, mid-October, and there were many fewer teams (12-14), shorter playoffs with only 8 teams involved. That’s where the saying ‘Fo, Fo, Fo’ comes from 12 wins in 3 rounds used to mean championship.
Now there a twice as many teams – 16 in playoffs and that means any extra round.
Start season later and longer playoff means games in June.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne: That sounds like very promising progress. Good on you and your sibs for tenaciously looking after your mom’s best interests. She definitely did something right when she raised her kids!
Oh, and best of luck in your remaining three exams. You should party hearty when you finish the last of them.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
@Suzanne:
Oh. HER siblings, not YOUR siblings. Sorry for the reading comprehension fail, and FYWP for not letting me edit.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: Ha. Yeah. I’m an only child, which normally doesn’t bother me…..but I have to admit that this episode has cast in sharp relief how difficult it can/will be. I really wish I had a sibling now.
Cassidy
@Redshirt: I did not. The first X-Men class is Cyclops, Jean Gray, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. If that wasn’t the premise of the movie, I was not interested.
@cyntax: It may be changing with them now allowing women into Combat Arms, but I’ve heard nothing solid as of yet. There are women in Special Oeprations, so it wouldn’t be unheard of.
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: I started in th elate 80’s, early 90’s, but my parents had a bunch of old comics, so I’ve read a lot of the Kirby era stuff. I thinkthe movies had some excellent casting, but I wish they had been a little more true to the source material.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Cassidy: Lucky. My parents weren’t readers. My collection started when my mother discovered that a quarter and stop at a convenience store on the way to her brother’s was all the bribe it took to get me to help clean his house.
And ya know what? They were right. Comics are subversive.
gammarae
@JustRuss: As a female Ohioan, I can give John a break on this. When all the others in Congress were screwing around and trying to get as much camera time as they could, he was sitting around actually reading–and working to pass–all the boring legislation that benefits so many of us today. Thanks in part to him, the social order has come a long way.