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Well, it’s a bit more IRL than the last thread… Just seemed appropriate for a Monday morning. Hat tip, commentor Kane.
Another Open Thread – Hot Japanese Girls!
I can’t stop watching. It’s like eating marshmallow while bathing in fairy floss inside a sugar house that David Lynch built inside John Waters brain.
h/t Paul Ryan’s Dirty Sockpuppet
ETA: With script by William Gibson. Does anyone know if this girl is even real?
EATA: I offer this for our electronica minded bretheren, to counteract the sugar.
EOATA: Crikey.
h/t Comrade Mary
Another Open Thread – Hot Japanese Girls!Post + Comments (79)
Music Open Thread
This mashup is doing it for me tonight. I should advise ignoring the video unless you have an anime obsession – it’s the only youtube version of the track I could find.
What else should I be listening to?
Hello? Hello? Is this blog on?
I’ve had a nap, a bath, eight martinis, four lines of blow, two joints and my arse fondled by Marcus Bachmann, and my post from five hours ago is STILL at the top of the page.
Does no one else care that there is important political analysis to be written?
Song of the week
Trying to make it a fun Thursday evening with an early Song of the Week.
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Barbara Lewis, “Baby, I’m Yours” (1965)
Written by Van McCoy. Barbara Lewis was a singer who first caught on around Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the early ’60s. Her first and biggest hit she wrote herself, “Hello Stranger,” but I couldn’t find a YouTube version any better than the one below. (Here’s a Grooveshark version from Bob Dylan’s XM show with somewhat better sound.) I think this might be my favorite anyway, because I actually remember hearing it on the radio. It’s really a sweet one. She had two more hits, “Make Me Your Baby” and “Make Me Belong to You.” There might be a kind of story in them if you get the right order.
Big hit: “Hello Stranger”
More stuff at Can’t Explain.
Early Morning Open Thread: Runaway Train
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Underrated humorist Dave Weigel at Slate wrapped up his coverage of T-Paw’s pining-for-the-fjords campaign with “the statements from Pawlenty’s rivals, bidding him farewell“. All following emphases & shorters mine:
Bachmann: This morning I spoke with Governor Pawlenty to express my respect and admiration for him, and to wish him and his family well. Running for the presidency requires enormous self-sacrifice. Governor Pawlenty brought an important voice and ideas to the campaign, and he served the people of Minnesota and our country well. Our party and our country are better as a result of his service and commitment.
Shorter: How blessed are we true believers that God has called his strong handmaiden, St. Michele, to make that enormous self-sacrifice… rather than some whiny little so-last-week ex-guv!
Romney: Tim Pawlenty and his entire team ran an honorable campaign. I admire his accomplishments as a two term Governor with a record of results for his state. I consider him a friend and I know he has a bright future ahead of him as a leader in the Republican Party.
Shorter: You know who else was a governor with a record of results? No, not Hitler — ME.
Huntsman: Tim Pawlenty is an accomplished Governor, a proud conservative, and someone of tremendous character. Our families became close while we were serving together as governors and we are honored to call the Pawlentys dear friends. I know this wasn’t an easy decision for Tim and Mary, and I wish them nothing but the best. Tim should be proud that he brought to this race ambitious solutions to turn around our nation’s economy and to tackle debt and spending. I hope that all of his supporters continue to stay engaged in this defining election and work with us to ensure that our party wins in November.
Shorter: I hope that by 2016, you guys will have gotten over your fascination with no-hoper novelty candidates and be looking for someone who might actually be able to win an election for the Republicans.
Rick Perry: Tim Pawlenty is a good friend and colleague who I have worked closely with over the years, including visiting our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a governor, Tim stuck to conservative principles despite leading a blue state like Minnesota. He and Mary are true patriots who are committed to our country, and ran an honorable campaign that reflected their integrity. Gov. Pawlenty’s common-sense conservative voice will remain prominent and influential as we work to beat President Obama in 2012 and get America working again.
Shorter: Buzzword BINGO — yee haw!
Johnson: Governor Pawlenty’s decision to end his campaign is his to make, and I respect that decision. He and his many supporters have put forth a great effort, and should be applauded for it. As Republicans survey a new list of candidates today, including the departure of a candidate who is credible, experienced and who had a real record to run on, it is appropriate to question the inflated role of an event like the Ames Straw Poll in the process. That a pay-to-play gathering in Iowa six months before the first real ballots are cast can be such a qualifying — or disqualifying — event is something the media and tens of millions of Republican voters need to think about. A lot of voices have not been heard yet, and it is far too early for the ‘system’ to be picking winners and losers. If there is a message from Ames, it is that this race is wide open and that the vast majority of Republicans and Independents are still looking for the candidate who can win the White House in 2012.
Shorter: Do you slack-jawed novelty-seekers and media enablers have any idea how embarrassing you are to us precious few smart people stuck with the “Republican” label?
Early Morning Open Thread: Runaway TrainPost + Comments (50)
Song of the week
From Can’t Explain.
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Ultravox!, “The Man Who Dies Every Day” (1977)
Somebody, maybe a record store clerk, sold this to me as punk-rock back in the day, but in retrospect it’s much easier to see it as late-breaking glam. It’s hard to imagine anyone playing it without a face caked and streaming with makeup. It’s cartoonish, but irresistible, with its dramatic dynamics, rubber-ball tempo, harmonies at the top of the lungs, and all the B-movie pseudo-noir spy subterfuge affect and gesture. If it’s practically stalking around in a trench coat and fedora, to me that just means it’s in character: “Someone stood beside me for a moment in the rain / A silhouette, a cigarette, and a gesture of disdain,” etc., etc. In the ’80s, Ultravox experienced some personnel changes, dropped the exclamation point from the name, and went New Romantic. That worked too, although maybe left a few purity questions
Pretty: “Reap the Wild Wind”
More stuff at Can’t Explain.