Overheard at Blowoff

When the drag queens arrive, it's time to buy a round.
When the dwarves arrive, it's time to buy shots of tequilla.
When the dwarves in drag arrive, all bets are off, and you're on your own for intoxication.

That pretty much sums up the evening, although I don't remember seeing any dwarves in drag. The last 45 minutes of Rich spinning pretty much made my year in parties.

September 11th

There's a whole lot of kerfuffle goin' on about "The Path to 9/11." Here's my addition:

Mr. Iger,

The American Broadcasting Company and the Disney Corporation have a distinguished history of providing memorable and effective news and entertainment to America and the world. The goodwill associated with these accomplishments is invaluable.

"The Path to 9/11" threatens that goodwill. The use of any tragic event for partisan purposes is inappropriate. The anniversary of the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon must not be, in any way, be used to further a political agenda of any type -- liberal or conservative.

Please consider the cost to the corporate goodwill and the public trust that the broadcast of "The Path to 9/11" will cause ABC/Disney.

Sincerely,

James Scott Cory

I know people hurt in the Pentagon incident, and I will never forget the black smoke and the streams of people walking home past our apartment in DC.

Revisionist history and infortainment as agitprop have no place in a modern democratic republic. This is exactly what "The Path to 9/11" (and "Fahrenheit 9/11") are.

Genetically engineered pop stars

OK, so I have the flu. And as such, I'm bored out of my mind. While Snakes on a Plane isn't a movie that I'd pay cash money to see (however much I admire and want to be Samuel L. Jackson), somehow, somewhere I've gotten "Snakes on a Plane (Bring it!)" stuck in my head.

Not for the song: for the performers, who appear to have been genetically engineered to appeal to the target market for the movie. Just where do they find -- or create -- these people?

Returning to the sick bed. Ta.

Getting on with life in a mad world

As I posted here, this is my response to the latest terror threat:

We're flying to England at the end of September. And if it happens that the flight is our Satanic Verses moment, so be it. But I will not let the fundamendalists and authoritarians of the world stop my life and my work towards making a better world.

And should the very, very unlikely happen, I will come back and haunt their miserable, small minded lives.

8:50 AM

There are many things in life of which to be afraid, within reason: the loss of a loved partner, family member or friend; the lack of the financial and social support to survive in the modern world; bad fashion choices; and Paris Hilton. I've survived two of the four in the last five years. I intend to keep going, occassionally kicking ass and taking names.

from my correspondence

Once in a great while, one is compelled to share one's correspondence, especially when it is topical, witty, and possibly erudite. Well, here goes.

Received this morning from my best friend but one:

Personal Message:
Definitely giving Alan Murray's WSJ opinion pages a run for their money as the most wing-nutty op-ed page in the country. Fucking sickening.

Mr. Lieberman's Choice

CONNECTICUT Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's decision to move forward with an independent candidacy after his loss in the Democratic primary is a controversial choice but in this circumstance the correct one. The leaders of Mr. Lieberman's party lined up yesterday to endorse Ned Lamont, the political...

My response:

Ms. Graham continues to roll in her grave.

Bushco and Darth Cheney need Holy Joe to support their insane "unitary executive" theory. That the Post has prostituted itself as it has is disgusting.

And while it probably is "coincidence" that the latest aviation terror plot was discovered at this time, the timing is oh-so-convenient.

After attending a wedding in which the vows were modified from "until death do you part" to "until you return to God or you should pass away," I'm far more concerned about authoritarian, fundamentist Xtians and their access to nuclear weapons. Don't even get me started on the grammar, and the sheer number of references to God, Christ, or Jesus.

Feh.

My best friend but one's final word:

Until you should return to God??? That's a bit presumptuous.

Rather than having Newt go on big idea tours, the Republicans should just adopt a simple theme, paraphrasing Snakes on a Plane:

The Motherfucking Rapture -- you either want to see that, or you don't.

Speaking of Heathrowpalloza, did you hear Chertoff on the radio this AM? He actually praised the efforts and coordination of our Federal government on this one, incidentally thanking the British government for sharing information. I mean, did Mary Matalin write that for him? Did he somehow miss the fact that it was wholly the effort of British intelligence and that on our end it was just some third level guy answering the phone. Go Feds!! What a colossal ass.

There. I think we've covered everything: Foreign affairs, popular culture and religion.

Swamp Ass

A weather post is an inauspicious return to blogging. But sweating through a t-shirt while standing still, waiting for a bus is pretty remarkable. The beads of sweat trickling down the small of my back, pausing, accumulating, then accelerating down my ass crack are pretty remarkable, too.

Welcome to Washington in July!

And we wonder why the President is not concerned with torture

From Irregular Times:


The original New York Times Article on George W. Bush's branding policy at the fraternity he led, Delta Kappa Epsilon:

---

Branding Rite Laid to Yale Fraternity

New York Times
November 8, 1967

New Haven, Nov. 7 - A Yale fraternity accused by the student newspaper of burning its initiates with a brand will have its fate decided Friday by student fraternity leaders.

The fraternity, Delta Kappa Epsilon, could face the temporary closure of its house and a $1,000 fine resulting from alleged violations of rules previously passed by the Interfraternity Council, which consists of Yale's five fraternity presidents.

The charges against Delta Kappa Epsilon were made last Friday in a Yale Daily News article that accused campus fraternities of carrying on "sadistic and obscene" initiation procedures.

The charge that has caused the most controversy on the Yale campus is that Delta Kappa Epsilon applied a "hot branding iron" to the small of the back of its 40 new members in the shape of the Greek letter Delta, approximately a half inch wide, appeared with the article.

A former president of Delta said that the branding is done with a hot coathanger. The former president, George Bush, a Yale senior, said that the resulting wound is "only a cigarette burn."

---

Looks the President has some experience with sadism. I'm sure his mother must have approved.

Late to the party, or why iPod Shuffle is really and truly terrifying.

I ran across this meme here. I’d seen it appear in part at Mr. Sean’s place, and here. I guess I’m a little late in getting around to it.

I’ve always been a fan of what I describe as “minimal prophecy.” The hints and signs that one finds through any number of techniques often are useful in shaping what one does and how one does it. So I’ve been amused in the rise of the use of the iPod as a prophetic tool. My only comment is that I still want to know what kind of algorithm Apple uses to “randomize” the shuffle function.


How does the world see you?
Une Histoire d’amore, Gabin
Christ on a cross, an Italian boulevardier? Must be the Armani, Zegna and Zanella.

Will I have a happy life?
Through Hollow Lands (for Harold Budd), Brian Eno
One of the eeriest actual songs Eno wrote – although isn’t channeling composition by chance (editor's note -- that's "Oblique Strategies" for you Enophiles) through iPod shuffle an example of meta meta? I suppose this means my life is spooky – but not this kind of spooky.

What do my friends really think of me?
Mutterlandelei, Richard Strauss/Kiri Te Kanawa
My life as a leider. Hmm. Does the German really cut through the Scots and the French and the Russian?

Do people secretly lust after me?
Acetone, The Crystal Method
Oh dear. Not quite sure where to go with this.

What should I do with my life?
Giant Steps (Alternate Take), John Coltrane
Given that I believe Coltrane was a bodishattva, and his music is the embodiment of what practice really means, I get it. And am flattered.

Will I ever have children?
Andar Com Fe, Gilberto Gil
This damn song always brings tears to my eyes, of joy, for reasons I don’t understand. Of course, it would help if I studied Portuguese more. At least it’s happy. Not sure about the kid thing, though.

What is some good advice for me?
Anyway, Telepopmusik
Be contrary.

How will I be remembered?
The Sheltering Sky, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Full on romanticism meets Piazolla. Jacques Morelenbaum’s high register cello and David Nadin’s violin sound as much like a bandoleon as I can imagine. The Satie bit has always bugged me. The novel is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever read. One could be remembered in worse ways. Perhaps Motley Crue’s “Come On Feel the Noise”?

What is my signature dance song?
The Wrong Band, Tori Amos
Tori playing a waltz about infidelity and sexual perversity: Sounds about right. Surprised “Leather” didn’t spin up, though. Or “Vertigo.”

What do I think my current theme song is?
Daddy’s Gonna Pay for Your New Car, U2
Well, there’s the U2. “Daddy only gives you as much as you can take.” I’m shaking – this is wayyyyyy too close to the bone. Only Bono can make a song that’s about God sound downright dirty.

What does everyone think my current theme song is?
Stop Running Away, Telepopmusik
OK, this really needs to stop.

What song will play at my funeral?
Under the Cherry Moon, Prince
Is my iPod possessed? Or is it a function of the music I’ve selected for it?

What type of women do you like?
Bonita, Bossacucanova
Brasilian(-ish) music. Brasilian women. Beauty. Enough said. I wonder what it would have done if the question were, “What type of men do you like?”

What is my day going to be like?
Predictions, Suzanne Vega
Sweet baby Jeebus. I guess we need to add the iPod to Vega’s litany of prophecy.

Why I love Sasha Frere-Jones

"I saw Jessica Lange and Sam Shephard downstairs, afterwards. They should donate some of their good-lookingness to charity because they are fucking up the whole curve just by walking around and being bodacious. Maybe when Keith Richards falls down, God foxies each of them up a little more."

Wow. I can't add to that.

In an unrelated note, more regular posting may resume shortly. Work has been kicking my ass, and the black dog has not yet given up on our families.

The triumph of snark

Via Popbitch (the best source for snark on the internets):

>> Lap of Luxury <<
New in America: bottled dog water

On sale now in America - vitamin enriched
bottled water for dogs. Toilet Water, has
a chicken flavour; Gutter Water is beef
flavoured; Puddle Water has a liver flavour
and Hose Water is lamb flavoured. A four-pack
sells for $7.49, a 12-pack costs $19.99.


(FYI US aid to Africa is approx $3 per taxpayer.
There are 300 million people in Africa without
regular access to safe water.)


There really isn't much more to say.

www.popbitch.com