Looks like we could use an open thread.
In case you missed this from Subaru Diane… she is definitely our BJ poet laureate!
BALLOON JUICE TURNS TWENTY
Balloon Juice is really as good as it gets
(Come for the politics, stay for the pets)Sometimes it’s cheerful and sometimes it’s rude
(Come for the animals, stay for the food)It’s for excellent jackals — plus assholes and dicks
(Come for the recipes, stay for the flicks)It’s for interests, hobbies, and fun of all sorts
(Come for the movie nights, stay for the sports)It is run by a fellow who doesn’t wear pants
(Come for the football and stay for the plants)It’s for brilliant professors and every-day loons
(Come for the gardens and stay for the tunes)We argue the redistribution of wealth
(Come for the music and stay for the health)So many smart people! So many good deeds,
So many great outcomes we planted as seeds.
This place fits as comfortably as an old glove,
So come to Balloon Juice and stay for the love.
I love this so much! Open thread.
Starboard Tack
Time for dinner.
WaterGirl
@Starboard Tack: Now that you mention it, I am kind of hungry. What’s for dinner?
Poe Larity
You had many plans
But then there was a new post
Must set someone right
Ohio Mom
@WaterGirl: Smitten Kichen’s roast chicken and cabbage. The noodles are holding everything up, needs another eight minutes.
That is a fabulous bit of verse. Bravo, S.D.!
Math Guy
Love it!
burnspbesq
Manafort is back in the news, and potentially back in deep shit with DOJ, in ways that aren’t covered by his pardon.
https://www.justsecurity.org/79799/paul-manaforts-book-deal-may-breach-his-plea-agreement/
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: Subaru Diane is a national treasure.
Joy in FL
Subaru Diane, your poem is so clever : )
JPL
Love it!
WaterGirl
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): She really is!
trollhattan
???????
WaterGirl
For the first time ever, in 6 years, my little Henry chose to be in the other room all by himself, rather than in the room I am in. I wonder if it’s something I said?
Cowgirl in the Sandi
This poem is sooooo good! And I love Subaru Diane. Should’t the story of how she got that name be in the 20th Anniversary stories?
MazeDancer
Wonderful poem!
WaterGirl
@Cowgirl in the Sandi: Maybe someone will remember it?
dexwood
@WaterGirl: I don’t remember a story, but I have a memory of a regular calling her Subaru Diane when that person couldn’t remember how to spell her nym. Others picked it up and rolled with it.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Excellent! ?
WaterGirl
@dexwood: I agree that it was a regular. I want to say Steeplejack, but I really don’t recall.
eclare
What a wonderful poem!
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Cowgirl in the Sandi:
I think it was either John Cole or somebody else who called her that because of autocorrect
karen marie
@burnspbesq: “Time will tell how the Department resolves these issues.”
We’ve been here before. The Department will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
germy
There was a young man named Cole
Who played an important role
He unleashed some jackals
To laugh, moan and cackle
And chase away every last troll.
germy
@karen marie:
What sort of country do we have if a wrongdoer can’t profit from his book deal?
VeniceRiley
Lovely!
Hunkered down at work. I don’t have anything interesting to say or share really. Been watching cooking shows in my downtime. Anyone watching Alex Cornacelli’s (sp?)new show? It’s more in the hardcore serious iron chef type than then fun whimsy of Bobby Flay or Guy’s Grocery Games.
Betty
The poem fits Balloon Juice to a t. Well done!
Old School
@Cowgirl in the Sandi:
The question I’ve always had is whether she likes being called “Subaru Diane.”
But I agree is that she’s a treasure.
Omnes Omnibus
@dexwood: I think it was General Stuck.
stinger
SiubhanDuinne, what a perfectly constructed poem — meter, rhyme, transitions — love it!
Also, good job, Poe Larity!
NotMax
@Old School
As that was how she chose to identify herself within the most recent B-J Zoom I’d hazard a guess she’s more than okay with it.
;)
Anne Laurie
Thank you, SD, for the perfect ribbon to tie up WaterGirl‘s 20th anniversary gifts!
WaterGirl
@Old School: Just recently Subaru Diane told me she is fine with being called that. :-) She said she even thought about just changing her nym to that!
NotMax
Suggested alternate title for the work of craftwomanship:
HARK, HARK, THE SNARK
:)
Old School
@NotMax: @WaterGirl:
Well, that’s good. I can stop worrying then.
germy
Victor Borge playing eight pianos in his first film (1937)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1hgXlWlA98
dexwood
@Omnes Omnibus: Could be. I was thinking perhaps Immannentize. Maybe SD will clear it up.
ETA: I’m not sure if I spelled his nym correctly.
SiubhanDuinne
Oh wow, thanks, everybody — to WG for front-paging my doggerel and to all who said such nice things about it.
I have no recollection of who first turned SiubhanDuinne into Subaru Diane, but I always thought it was cute. Could very well have been Stuck.
debbie
Love the poem!
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Only because it is blockquoted in the post,
How Much Is That Doggerel in the Window?
;)
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Hahahahaha!
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
See #39.
SiubhanDuinne
@germy:
???
H.E.Wolf
Wonderful poem! Long may you write!
germy
@SiubhanDuinne:
He’s still young, right?
zhena gogolia
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Yes!
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: And the winner is…
BrucefromOhio in 2017!
To which she replied:
germy
dexwood
@WaterGirl: Good job.
SiubhanDuinne
@Poe Larity:
Nice. I’ve never had success at writing haiku.
debbie
@germy:
That’ll freak him out.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Nice.
Next, can you link to the post where Cole left her in the middle of a field?
BigJimSlade
@SiubhanDuinne: Wonderful job! What really impresses is how each parenthetical phrase begins by pointing to the couplet before it :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Sheesh, dude. Ever heard of a trigger warning?
SiubhanDuinne
@BigJimSlade:
Oh, I am SO GLAD you noticed that!! ?
WaterGirl
@Baud: I’ll get started on that right away.
phdesmond
an excellent tribute!
Poe Larity
@SiubhanDuinne: I’ve never had success at poetry, except Vogon. Had a college roommate who had a breakup, bought a book of depressing poetry and then highlighted the worst of it. Somehow it ended up in my box and it took years before I threw it out.
So other than here, I associate it with the sad.
raven
GO DAWGS!!!!!
Anyway
@dexwood:
I think it was Steve-WhereIsHeNow. Nickname is easier to spell (and say) than the ‘nym!
Love the anniversary poem.
Dorothy A. Winsor
What an excellent poem!
JoyceCB
SiubhanDuinne – that is wonderful! Proud to lurk here!
hilts
Bob Saget was not of an age, but for all-time. May he rest in peace and may his memory be a blessing.
Benw
Noice Subaru!
Waldo
Latest New Yorker podcast is about how we are headed for a 2nd civil war.
I guess it’s good that they’re recognizing the threat. The bad news is they conclude that the only people who can defuse the threat are Republican leaders.
So, yeah, arm yourselves.
japa21
@raven: Tonight, I am in full-hearted agreement with you.
The Dangerman
@raven: I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a better football game than last night’s Chargers and Raiders. And why hasn’t the Chargers Coach been fired yet for that last timeout? Good grief.
Anyway, I want another good game tonight, i.e. getting beat down like they were a few years ago against (I don’t remember). I’m greedy that way.
Tony Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
I have a stinking cold and a gummy scratched eye and generally feel pretty low, so thanks for this verse, it’s a literary nurse, I feel better, I thought you should know.
laura
That’s some fine poet’n right there. Good words limber phrases and stuff!
Brachiator
Great poem!
raven
@hilts: This is not in anyway to be negative but I had no idea who he was when people started posting about him dying. Then again lots of people here never heard of Nanci Griffith or Commander Cody.
mrmoshpotato
Sunday Night Football broke my parents’ 60″ TV.
narya
@VeniceRiley: Guarnachelli is the spelling :-). I’ll check out the show; I find her interesting–she obviously has the cooking chops, but a lot of what she’s done more recently doesn’t necessarily display that.
The Dangerman
Oops. Bama getting beat down and it was Clemson.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@raven: ROLL TIDE!!!
Winston
So last week, I was taking a nap and fell off the couch and landed on my face. Yes I had been drinking. Recovered enough to call 911 which responded and hauled me to the ER. 11 stitches above my right eyebrow and a CT said I had a something something brain damage bleeding thing and I still remember nothing about it. I’ m better now and somewhere along the line someone relieved me of 160 dollars. I called to file complaints with the Hospital and police about the theft.
raven
@The Dangerman: We lost in the 2017 National Championship after winning the greatest Rose Bowl ever. We had sacked Tua and it was 2nd and 26 and he hit future Heisman winner DaVonta Smith for the win in OT.
raven
@The Dangerman: I thought going for it on 4th down on the 20 was worse.
C Stars
@Tony Jay: Ugh!! Hope you’re feeling less gummy and crummy soon.
Thank you for the poem,
@SiubhanDuinne
raven
OK, I’m out, Go Dawgs!
Starboard Tack
@raven: Yeah, Commander Cody. Asleep At The Wheel. Spider John Koerner & Willie Murphy.
The Dangerman
@raven: yeah, that was a WTF was he thinking, too, but the timeout cost him the playoffs. NFW was Oakland gonna try a 50 yard field goal (a block and a run back for TD would have been Joe Pizarcek The Sequel)
I’m sure I screwed up Joe’s last name. Shoulda been named Smith.
Steve in the ATL
I no longer feel welcome here.
frosty
@raven: @The Dangerman: Good luck to your DAWGS!! There was a moment last night when the @#$% Steelers* could have been knocked out but the damn Raiders decided to win the game instead of tie.
(Wrong league, I know)
*Ravens fan here. 8-1 then 0-8 so 8-9 for the season? Argghh. As a friend said yesterday, time to change it up and be disappointed by the Orioles.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
You used to feel welcome here?
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: No longer?
Steve in the ATL
@raven: word up!
/1986
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: hahaha
You are always welcome here!
WaterGirl
@Baud: @Omnes Omnibus:
Great minds and all that.
Steve in the ATL
@Baud: @Omnes Omnibus: apologies—I realize now that my statement made you feel like failures. To clarify, as long as I have posted here I have felt unworthy, inadequate, and unwelcome. I’ll now seek solace in my bottle of fine wine, a 2022 Charles Shaw.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Deranged ones too. Or so it seems.
Steve in the ATL
@frosty: is Dave Casper still on the team? He was always entertaining.
I may be old.
Baud
@Steve in the ATL:
Dad?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Dad in the ATL!
Steve in the ATL
For anyone who digs a superstoned guy playing some Omnes/Baud style bluegrass gitfiddle, I give you Billy Strings’s “Dust in a Baggie”, loosely based on the life of Subaru Diane
frosty
@Steve in the ATL: I don’t recognize that name. Lamar Jackson, who is worth watching win or lose, was out the last four games. The second QB, Tyler Huntley, was almost as good a scrambler, but a little bit slower. Coach Harbaugh, asked if he would have to change up the game plan with Jackson out, said nah, Huntley’s the same kind of player, we’re good.
They lost three of their last games by one point. Arrgghh again!
ETA: compared to most blog posters, including yours truly, you’re not old, whippersnapper!
CarolPW
@raven: Nanci’s death was really hard, even though I didn’t even know her name except I knew her songs and loved them. Way too many musical, TV, film and stage artists lost over the last few years.
Steve in the ATL
@frosty: hint: he caught passes from Kenny Stabler
zhena gogolia
@Winston: I hope you’re getting some care.
Gin & Tonic
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Hey, at least it’s in a bottle, not a box!
That’s an ego boost right there.
Baud
@Winston:
Ouch.
frosty
@Steve in the ATL: Stabler? Wasn’t he with the Baltimore Colts? :-)
Before my time as a fan … when my sons started watching and I got dragged in.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I didn’t really understand why he would make such an unrealistic request until I clicked and saw what he was responding to.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic: sure, and throw in a unicorn and a rainbow
Steve in the ATL
@WaterGirl: and even a box is a step up from the corn squeezins I normally drink!
SteveinPHX
@SiubhanDuinne:
Loved the poem. Being a recent arrival in these here parts, it’s also a history lesson.
Thanks!
Brachiator
@frosty:
I think that was “Snake” Plisken.
Kalakal
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s a great description of BJ, thank you
Kalakal
@Tony Jay: Not fun. Hope you ungum and unsniffle speedily
MomSense
@WaterGirl:
I think it was Steve in the WTF
Jay
How’s Suzanne and her family doing?
anybody know. Missed a bunch of the comment treads today.
catclub
@Steve in the ATL: Fred Biletnikoff and Bob Hayes – wide receivers back in the day when I was kid watching NFL.
Steve in the ATL
∼@MomSense: no, because (1) I am a pedant, (2) I have shared a number of glasses of cheap wine with [real name redacted], and (3) I know the real story of her nym, so I am not the wag who coined the nickname. That said, props to whomever did because I am way to drunk to spell “SiubhanDuinne” correctly right now. Go Dawgs!
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL: Don’t go to Phoenix, ok?
Steve in the ATL
@catclub: stickum!
WaterGirl
@Jay: Last I heard, Suzanne was waiting to hear from the insurance company, the loony guy was still under medical care, and Suzanne and Mr. Suzanne had boarded up the broken door in some way.
They seem to be hanging in there.
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):
UncleEbeneezer
Heading up to Mammoth this Thursday and really looking forward to actually having a vacation for ourselves (Texas trip was fine but really more for our elderly in-laws).
Gonna go snow-shoeing for my wife’s 50th Birthday!, get a couple growlers of good local beer, make some yummy dishes (chili, pan pizza, fondue and Korean tofu soup) and mostly just stay in our condo and avoid everyone else. We’ll do all our shopping in LA before we leave, to really minimize any trips to market etc., once we get there. It’ll be nice to see some real snow.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: Have a good vacation.
I heard today that we are having a crazy amount of Covid cases here in Champaign county – apparently 1 in 5 people in the county has Covid????
How is that even possible? In any case, I am not even going out to the grocery store. I am eating out of the freezer and making do with what I have. Yikes.
10,000 cases here in the past two weeks. That seems like a lot. (insert bug-eyed emoji here)
Avalune
Bravo
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: In addition to minimizing any interaction with the public, we’ll be wearing N95’s any time we do need to enter a public space, which should be no more than 10-20 minutes for the entire trip. Flying to Texas was way more dangerous, so we aren’t too worried about this trip given all the precautions we will be taking.
trollhattan
@UncleEbeneezer:
Beautiful area. Forecast has all the storms tracking well north and you should probably catch a break in the weather. Plenty of snow, for shoeing.
Another Scott
@Steve in the ATL: Excellent!!
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jay
@WaterGirl:
thank you:
Steve in the ATL
@Another Scott: I am here to serve
ETA: and also to be served, if anyone has some quality cab!
WaterGirl
@Steve in the ATL: Which one is Baud and which one is Omnes?
mrmoshpotato
@Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant): ROLL TIDE!
karen marie
@raven: You’re missing out if you haven’t seen “The Aristocrats” documentary. I can’t remember where I saw it – it’s been several years at least, possibly longer – but it’s absolutely brilliant.
debbie
@karen marie:
I remember renting it from Blockbuster. Amazing that the same joke can be told so many different ways.
trollhattan
@karen marie:
Thought I could not have loved Sarah Silverman any more than I did before watching that. Something about the cumulative effect of having the joke re-retold worked especially well.
Mary G
At the urgent care. Covid test negative ? BP 90/71, pulse ox 96, no fever. Checking for pneumonia now since so much coughing. Then home sweet home.
WaterGirl
@Mary G: That’s great news, Mary G!
Except for the possible pneumonia part. :-) But no Covid is great.
zhena gogolia
@Mary G: ???
Starfish
@Mary G: Yay for being COVID negative. I hope they are able to figure you out.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: Fingers crossed here.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDiunne: The first hit for “subaru diane” in Google
:-)
We are indeed so proud of you. Very well done.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Starfish
@Waldo: I was watching some video that mentioned that polarization happens in pandemic events. Here is a paper by that speaker.
Another Scott
@Mary G: It’s good you’re being checked out. Glad you’re negative!! Here’s hoping you’re back to normal soon!!
Hang in there, and rest easy.
Best wishes,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@Mary G:
So glad and relieved you’re Covid negative. I hope there’s no pneumonia. Feel better soon.
CaseyL
@Mary G: Yay! for the negative Covid test. If they’re checking for pneumonia, I assume they’ve also checked for bronchitis…?
Hope you feel better soon!
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Nice poem. How are your brothers?
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Hey, I told Valdivia about the course you were planning. She has taught a similar one in the past. She wondered if you might be interested in some scholarly intro materials. She sent me a pdf to forward if you want.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Tony Jay: I saw what you did there. Well done.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Fantastic! How nice of her. My nym (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks so much to both of you.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@Mary G: Hoping for a quick and easy recovery.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: On its way.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Thank you for asking. The brother who was hospitalised (twice) and had a heart attack while he was there is recovering at home, slowly but steadily. His body is pretty damaged, but he’s in good spirits and has even said he might think about getting vaccinated :-)
The anti-vaxxer (and flat-earther, RWNJ, everything-NASA-does-is-fake) brother had mild lingering symptoms for several months, but seems to be living a cheerful, happy, delusional life. I love him, and he makes me SO GRRRR MAD!
schrodingers_cat
@SiubhanDuinne: I have RWNJs in my family too (in the Indian context), so I understand the frustration. Although no one is antivax.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Got it! Looks great! Ta again.
Starfish
@SiubhanDuinne: You are sending the everything-NASA-does-is-fake brother a James Webb Space Telescope Christmas tree ornament next year, right?
John Revolta
I love this poem very much but especially I love how the one parenthetical leads into the next parenthetical. *chef’s kiss* Top-shelf poetin’ there.
SiubhanDuinne
@Starfish:
A few days ago I came across a really stunning picture of Chicago and Lake Michigan at night. It included the Milky Way, a nice green Aurora Borealis, and all the lights of Chicagoland lighting up the night. Emailed it to my cousins and siblings with a comment about how beautiful I thought it was. Everyone else wrote back “Ooh ahh, beautiful.” He wrote back “Beautiful, yes. FAKE, YES.”
I remain baffled as to how a smart, decent guy like my brother could end up marinating in this toxic stew of beliefs. I mean, yeah, Limbaugh and Fox and that whole rabbit warren of anti-reality conspirators, but how did he get so hooked in to begin with? I despair of him.
suffragette city
I salute @SiubhanDuinne with my jar of mustard.
Bravo!!
HeartlandLiberal
That is one heck of fine poem and ode to Balloon-Juice. Nailed it perfectly. Why it is a daily read, and why I chip in from time to time. Worth it.
No One You Know
@germy: From “nothing to hide” to “nothing to say,” I’d expect there’s be something to see here.