Because tea is a moment’s distraction and it’s still too early (where I sit) for stronger stuff, here’s a bit of pure visual pleasure to provide some relief from the bathetic wreck that is our politics right now.
I show this to my students every year in the first meeting of my advanced documentary class. I try to lead them to two points: first, given that my students are almost all writers, and this is their first exposure to film making, to think about the specifically visual techniques used to tell the story here. The second is what sound does in film — which is to convey so much of the emotion and meaning that the silent pictures alone would not convey, or not nearly so well. I think there’s one spoken word in the above — and yet, at least for me, it tells a fabulous tale.
Oh — and for those of you keeping score at home, it won the documentary short Oscar in 1959.
Anyway, beats thinking on the nazgul orbiting the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue that runs from Mr. Lincoln’s dome to the House the Brits Burnt.
Mnemosyne
Sitting in Panera after finishing some chili and salad. I have one more errand and then I have to go home and do laundry. I hate laundry.
Tom Levenson
@Mnemosyne: Laundry has always spoken well of you.
Mike J
Who two’ed the Oscar?
Tom Levenson
@Mike J: Arrrgh. Tired. Shitty proofreader.
raven
@Mnemosyne: We ate at True Food. Nicest bathroom I’ve ever seen.
Mnemosyne
@Tom Levenson:
Laundry lies.
@raven:
You should have gone to Nordstroms! Nursing mothers hang out in their bathrooms just for the couches.
raven
@Mnemosyne: My bride would have loved it! I was way more into the street rods on NYED.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
Hoping someone can help identifying the jazz sample used in this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpqMBytdjSg
Mnemosyne
@raven:
There are classic car shows out here all the time since we have a good climate for preserving cars. There’s a huge one in Glendale every July.
That restaurant is a couple of blocks from where G and I had our wedding reception and a lot of our pictures are in the various stores and alleys around there.
(In Old Town Pasadena, an alley is primarily a pedestrian walkway, so it’s not as weird as it might sound in other cities.)
raven
@Mnemosyne: Yea, with 4 trips up there we got to know Old Pasadena pretty well. My brother’s Pink Floyd band is playing the Rose tonight.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
If you got up towards the civic center and city hall (Pasadena’s city hall was used for the exterior shots on “Parks & Recreation”), that main library is the one where G works.
Another Scott
Neat film. The editor certainly was busy. As was the (whatever the title of the person who prepares the closing credits).
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
David Anderson
Tom, thanks for the link. My 5 year old planted himself in my lap for the last 9 minutes and eighteen seconds. We were fascinated by it
Mike J
@David Anderson: you can watch the hot shop from Tacoma’s Museum of glass on their web site, after you put in phony name/email.
https://museumofglass.org/glassmaking/live-from-the-hot-shop
raven
@Mnemosyne: We drove it the day before but I think the bleachers were up, no?
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
get rabies and die Dean:
eemom
Weeeeell. What have we here……
Look out Susie — the Mansplain Brigade, “Liberal” Division, is marching your way, fingers wagging.
eemom
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Sounds like a sandwich.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@eemom: Ground bull-pizzle haggis soaked in Budweiser. Ask for it by name at Arby’s.
Or a secret motorboat-to-rosebud massage ending in emesis up the orifice. Oddly enough, also offered at Arby’s.
Mnemosyne
@raven:
The civic center is about a block off Colorado, but I think they had already started closing nearby streets off to cars. The library is on Walnut, if that sounds familiar.
Mike J
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): Arby’s is actually a play on words, R. B.’s short for RoseBud.
Mnemosyne
I probably shouldn’t have gotten frozen yogurt at Menchie’s in addition to lunch at Panera but, what the hell, I decided to treat myself. Their Banana Pudding yogurt is excellent — real bananas for real banana flavor.
Doug R
AHEM: The house the CANADIANS (with British help) burnt.
Edit: But the flag was still there.
Mnemosyne
@Doug R:
Actually, it was the British troops fresh off the Peninsular War who burned it. There’s a darn good book about it written from the British POV.
ETA: The flag was in Baltimore, which was the next stop on their East Coast tour. But the Baltimoreans had time to prepare since it took the Brits extra time to make it down the river to them.
Doug R
@Mnemosyne: Whatever you say, eh.
MoxieM
Lordy I swear I saw that in Jr. High. The opening tones … (Lexington MA was ever so advanced in its pedagogy etc.. And its Jill Steins, alas.)
The Dangerman
@raven:
Oh, more info please; I recently saw a PF band out of the Bay Area (House of Floyd, IIRC) and it was a fun show (I never saw the original, sadly).
FlyingToaster
@David Anderson: If you’re ever up in Vermont, they still blow glass while you watch at Simon Pearce in Quechee VT (right off Rt 4). His son Andrew has a bowl-carving shop down the highway in Taftsville.
rikyrah
The FBI is Cracking Under Pressure, and Time is Running Out
by David Atkins January 6, 2018
In the year since Donald Trump moved into the White House, one of the key questions was how long the institutions of American democracy would hold up if he tried to create an authoritarian state centered around himself. For a long time things seemed to be largely OK: the institutions of state were mostly able to resist Trump’s incursions into their necessary roles and perform their duties more or less as intended. Sure, Trump’s appointees were hyperpartisan in their deregulatory and corporate-friendly fervor, which often put them at odds with the purposes of the agencies they were in charge of. Yes, talented employees are leaving in droves and some key functions are going unfilled, and yes, agencies with authoritarian powers like ICE have been behaving cruelly and abominably with horrible consequences for those affected. But overall, American democracy itself has not been on the verge of unraveling. The president has found himself at least partially constrained by the courts in his racist immigration decrees; the Justice Department and FBI have been doing their duty in pursuing investigations into the President’s malfeasance; the states effectively scuttled Kris Kobach’s voter suppression commission; and the other agencies aren’t fully dysfunctional even if they are perverted in serving the interests of the rich and powerful rather than regular Americans.
But all of that started to change this week. The seams are beginning to come apart, and the danger of autocracy is far nearer than it was just a few days ago. This, even as the publication of Michael Wolff’s new book shows just how dangerously unfit this president is even under normal circumstances.
Republican Senators who began last year by pretending to want investigations into Russia’s interference in the election are now actively scuttling those investigations. Two Republican Senators, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham, have now made a criminal referral to the FBI against Michael Steele, the longtime intelligence officer who provided information designed to expose Russia’s crimes and accomplices. This is nothing less than a coverup designed to muddy the waters, protect those truly guilty of collusion with Russia to undermine our democracy, and intimidate anyone else who might come forward in the future under similar circumstances. It’s particularly galling coming from Lindsey Graham who at one time was one of the president’s harshest critics, but is now serving as his political hit man even as Trump’s unfitness for office has never been clearer.
Meanwhile, reports surfaced the FBI wilted some months ago after ongoing public pressure from Donald Trump to prosecute his political opponents for nonexistent crimes by reopening investigations into the Clinton Foundation and the Uranium One nothingburger. The investigations were halted due to lack of evidence of wrongdoing, but the mere fact that the FBI could be pressured into harassing the charity for purely political reasons is troubling.
On the real collusion front, the integrity of the FBI’s investigation in Trump and his associates is being hampered by Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ blatant attempts to acquire sensitive documents held close by the FBI, and to subpoena FBI officials whose public testimony would harm the investigation itself. Nunes is already widely suspected of having passed sensitive information to the White House and having lied about it, but he is being backed up in this coverup by Paul Ryan himself.
If (like our illustrious president) video is more your thing than text, Rachel Maddow provided a good rundown of these and other disturbing developments on her show last night. It makes for disturbing viewing.
It’s clear that the country has reached a dangerous inflection point. Republicans have decided en masse that their best chance at political survival is to hew closely to President Trump. But the president is so clearly unfit for office and in such obvious legal and ethical peril that they cannot protect him without violating basic principles of accountability and democracy.
rikyrah
Quick Takes: Grassley and Graham Are On Board With a Cover-Up
A roundup of news that caught my eye today.
by Nancy LeTourneau
January 5, 2018
* In case you were wondering whether Senate Republicans would do anything to hold this president accountable, you got an answer today.
Two Republican senators have called for the investigation of Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer who compiled a dossier on alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
In a letter to the US justice department, Charles Grassley and Lindsey Graham claimed there was reason to believe that Steele had misled US authorities over his contacts with journalists and called for him to be investigated.
The letter, the first criminal referral from Congress since it started investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, comes at a time when Republicans are seeking to divert those investigations from scrutinising Donald Trump’s links to Russia to focus instead on whistleblowers, the FBI, and the special counsel investigating the issue, Robert Mueller.
raven
@The Dangerman: Which One’s Pink. He’s the manager and screamer, perfect for a lawyer. They have been around way longer than they thought they would be and, frankly, just love what they do.
raven
COMFORTABLY NUMB/WHICH ONE’S PINK/The Canyon Club 1/7/2017/Ultra HD
Yarrow
@Mnemosyne: Menchies! Yum! I love their plain yogurt because it’s actually a little tart instead of just sweet. I also like their dulce de leche.
oatler.
@rikyrah: ‘Panic mode’ sounds right. Also, RIP Stacey Petrie.
karensky
Loved “Glass”. Thanks. There’s. Place in NJ about an hour from Philly that has a small glassblowing operation. Great place to visit on a cold day.
WaterGirl
@Tom Levenson: That was a charming bit of humor, Tom. thanks for that, it made me giggle out loud.
WaterGirl
I just woke up from my nap, and it’s a balmy 8 degrees. Can’t wait for tomorrow. I turned on the faucet in my dreams, and nothing came out – the pipes were frozen – then a small trickle started and I ran to all the other faucets in the house to see if they were all frozen. No idea whether they were or not.
So that’s my exciting Saturday. When I closed the computer for my nap, I wondered if I would wake up to Sessions fired and the attempted coup in our country moving rapidly forward. So far, no news on that front, so that’s good!
raven
There’s some fancy glasswork history down the road from Cole.
Travel through nearly a century of Wheeling glassmaking history. This four-part series of classes is led by OI Glass Museum curator Holly McCluskey and offers the rare opportunity to study representative pieces of glass up-close.
raven
@oatler.: They are from over in Danville.
Mike J
https://twitter.com/TheBillyWest/status/949775804757557248
Another Scott
@Mike J: Hilarious. Thanks.
(Er, … Sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
frosty
@Mnemosyne:
Up the river, technically. Or maybe up the Bay is better since the Patapsco is tidewater by Ft McHenry.
/Bawlmer pedant
Steeplejack
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD):
Gave it a shot, but no luck.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: If you can’t find it, it can’t be found.
Yarrow
This thread is amazing. Click through to see the images of the pop up book.
Spanky
@frosty: No, down the river is right, although said river is the Patuxent. The troops disembarked at Benedict and marched west, overnighting at The Brickyard before engaging militia and Barney’s bargemen at Bladensburg. The militia defense quickly crumbled and they fled, allowing the Brits to cross the Anacostia and burn various buildings in DC, including the Navy Yard and, obviously, “House the Brits Burnt”. Or alternatively, “The Preznit’s Reznitz.”
/Patuxent dweller
geg6
Too fucking cold to even hit the grocery store. I can’t take another day of this shit. We’re getting pizza tonight and drinking a bottle of wine and hitting the sheets early. Hope I don’t wake up to single digits tomorrow. I really want to try this Debi Mazar recipe for spaghetti with shrimp and lemon that I got out of the newspaper but I have to hit the store to make it.
Spanky
@Spanky: ETA: “down the river” to the mouth of the Patuxent, obviously, before turning up the Bay towards Balmer. Of course, they weren’t in a terrible hurry since they burned DC on August 24, and the Battle of North Point wasn’t until September 12.
Spanky
@geg6: Temps break early this coming week, and get warmer over the next 3-4 days. Hang in there!
Immanentize
@geg6: @Spanky:
Tonight near Boston it looks like -7 or so, then warmer over the next few days finally reaching the 30’s mid week.
Mnemosyne
@Spanky:
If I remember the book correctly, torrential rains and poor conditions on the river delayed the Brits, plus an American sniper took out Richard Ross, the British commanding general, and some delays followed from that.
delk
@Mnemosyne: We are buying a new washer and dryer tomorrow. That will make the first few loads somewhat fun.
Mnemosyne
@frosty:
I freely admit that i have a poor grasp of the geography between DC and Baltimore, particularly in the good ol’ days when almost everyone traveled by water because the roads were so bad. One of these days I’ll get out to Charm City and see Edgar Allan Poe’s grave.
Immanentize
Re: Glass — At Corning Glassworks, kids (and you too!) Can blow their own large glass ornaments, choosing their own colors, etc. It’s really neat. The whole public side of that facility is great. And hiking the gorges and the Finger Lakes and Watkins Glen…. Great summer trip destination.
Mike J
@Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD): I’d call it more old school soul than jazz, in the Bobby Womack/Curtis Mayfield vein. On the same album he samples Al Green and Marvin Gaye. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday night than listening to the I Want You album.
Shana
@Mnemosyne: I find laundry weirdly satisfying. Something about emptying the hamper, folding and ironing things at the end and having everything done.
Mnemosyne
@delk:
Did you get the Samsung ones that play you a little tune when they’re done? I still remember Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s story about that. She was replacing a washing machine that was over 20 years old, so she was amused by the change in technology.
Shana
@Mnemosyne: Don’t miss the American Visionary Art Museum either. And there’s a great deli not far from Little Italy called Attman’s.
Sab
@Mnemosyne: I have a Samsung that plays a tune from the Trout Quintet when its is done.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
You’re too kind.
delk
@Mnemosyne: Going to ABT tomorrow. Sales run until the 10th so we will see what sort of deals they have. Then lunch at Bob Chinn’s!
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Just calling it like I see it.
Steeplejack
@geg6:
Amen, sister. I was going to go out to get something to quell the urges I’ve been having for food that I didn’t have in the house. Probably didn’t help that I was watching cooking shows to avoid the political mess. Never got the momentum, so I said screw it and ordered pizza.
I am so sick of hearing the HVAC blowing nonstop. It’s 16° now in my corner of NoVA, going down to 4° overnight. But that should be the worst of it. Up to 24° tomorrow, then 37° on Monday and into the 40s the rest of the week. Normal winter weather.
geg6
@Shana:
I do too. I like to iron, too. It’s satisfying to me to have everything all crisp and smooth.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
So did you end up liking the blanket your niece got for you? I’m fond of it even though it’s a little warm for CA.
mainmata
I love films celebrating skilled crafts people and glass blowing is exacting and unforgiving, it is so exciting to watch. With the light jazz music with the tinkly, glassy notes, it is just right. But boy is the look so 1950s.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I left you a comment about the blankie on some thread last week. I thought the blankie was nice, but I would give it a 4 out of 5. It kept me warm at my niece’s, and I loved the color – it was kind of a dark teal color. It was a nice price point, too. But I wouldn’t rave about it. How about you?
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
I like it a lot, but I wouldn’t marry it like some people on Amazon seem to want to do. I was mostly curious if it really was warm enough for colder climates since sometimes things that are warm enough for Southern California winters are not warm enough for other locales. I may get one for my mom or mother in law (or both!)