July 2, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
Posted by alice at 4:14 PM | Comments (2)
July 1, 2008
White Line Fever
After spending four of the last six days in the car, I'm so over this view:
It was a fun trip, it was great to get to see (most of) the family and I'm very happy to be home for the (rest of the) summer. More later!
p.s. Rabbit rabbit and happy Aunt Kay's birthday, everyone!
Posted by alice at 8:51 PM | Comments (4)
June 30, 2008
On the road again...
I'm going to start working my way home this morning. I'll get this blog thing going again soon. Sorry for the unplanned silence -- lots of cool people mixed with inconvenient wifi makes for a very unmotivated author...
Posted by alice at 7:55 AM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2008
Friday Creature
Since I'm posting this from western New York (after two long days in the car) and don't want to miss out on family gathering fun, I'll just let the cats of Turkey speak for themselves.
Have a great weekend (You know the drill!)!
Continue reading "Friday Creature"
Posted by alice at 6:44 PM | Comments (3)
June 26, 2008
Tasha Tudor
I'm late in posting this, but I only just found out that she's gone. I once stood in line (with a very tiny Dear Daughter) at a bookstore in North Carolina for a chance to say hello to this wonderful illustrator. She was 92 when she died last Wednesday (the 18th).
Posted by alice at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2008
Wordless Wednesday
Posted by alice at 12:24 PM | Comments (4)
June 23, 2008
George Carlin
George was one of the truly great ones. My brother bought his albums and I "borrowed" them and it was incredible and exhilarating -- he was innovative, mindblowing, and he thought about stuff (one of my favorite comedians, Eddie Izzard, owes something to Carlin). The hippy, dippy weather man, the seven words... it was all so fresh and brilliant in its time. Carlin died yesterday, after years of heart problems. He was 71.
More: 1967 newscast (audio), commercials (1965), wonderful wino (1966), the hippy dippy weatherman (1966) (and a reprise), on Carson (1972), the seven words, words (1974) - (1976), baseball and football, the sanctity of life, on language, the ten commandments, common experiences, religion is bullshit, on death, and Carlin on Olbermann last year.
UPDATE: from BoingBoing...
Here is a verbatim transcript of "Filthy Words," the George Carlin monologue at issue in the historic 1978 Supreme Court case of FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, prepared by the Federal Communications Commission.
Posted by alice at 9:31 AM | Comments (3)
June 22, 2008
Turkey Travelogue, Part 8: İzmir & the Aegean
So, the whole time we were out exploring all the ruins, we were staying in İzmir. After a day out in in the countryside, we'd spend the evening in the city. As soon as we got cleaned up at the hotel, we'd head out again, walking over to the harbor to find some dinner. Our hotel was not far from Pasaport Quay (Pier), which has a lot of restaurants and cafès, so we ended up down there every night. The pier is lined with tables, filled with people as the evening set in, hanging out, smoking hookahs, and enjoying the wonderful view. Enterprising people mixed with the crowd, selling oysters, tobacco, or (I'm not kidding) fortunes told by live rabbits. The food was awesome (don't worry, I'll post some food porn at some point) and it was wonderful to be on the water -- after the hot, dry days, it was cool and peaceful, even in the midst of the chaos at the center of a big city.
On our last day, as we worked our way back to İzmir from Didyma, we stopped by the seaside for a little while and dipped our toes in the Aegean Sea.
Posted by alice at 11:47 PM | Comments (1)
Quote of the Day & Links!
I read this a couple of days ago at Joe. My. God., and it's been running through my head ever since. It's from E. B. White.
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born threre, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size, its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something....Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.
Speaking of the City, an Ikea store just opened in Red Hook (amid some controversy), and to ease concerns about traffic congestion in the area, Ikea is offering free public transportation to and from the store. Eager consumers are already planning Ikea Hacks to take advantage of the company's ground-breaking strategy.
But enough of the city and on to other random matters:
- The Eagles went and sold their souls to their corporate masters and Chris the wandering geneticist totally busts them for it. Nicely done.
- After jumping all over Michelle Obama's patriotism will the right wing give John McCain a free pass? -- or will they at least finally lay off the stupid non-story of what Michelle said?
- So, Charlie "Manhunt" Crist, caved in to the wishes of the Wonder Twins, McCain and Bush, and now thinks that we should drill for oil off the coast of Florida. But has he thought of the damage this could do to Florida's tourist industry? For new leases that won't start producing meaningful oil for 20-30 years? Maybe we should be truly innovative and think beyond politics: Here's a funny thing. While the Republicans are arguing that drilling every square inch of America will cut fuel costs, study after study has shown that the effect will be both minimal and several years down the road. On the other hand, just dropping from 65 to 55 will net most cars a 10% savings in fuel costs. That's far more than we'll get by turning Florida into the Tar Sands State. Plus, Joe Biden rocks. UDPATE: or for instant savings, close the Enron loophole!
- Al Franken wants "to invest in America again."
- I saw a lot of MSNBC's hagiography (update: see Hitchens) after Tim Russert died, and while I understand that they were only trying to do right by the man after losing one of their own, it also made me a bit uncomfortable to listen to them go on and on about the greatness of Russert in what continues to be a field of failure -- and as great a man as he was, it was a failure that Russert shared.
- I remember when my father would not pay more than 19¢ a pound for bananas. Those days are clearly over, never to return, and what's more, the banana as we now know it may soon go extinct.
- Joe Lance is chasing down a story about voting and privacy that was prompted by a card he received in the mail.
- And finally, there's lots more from the Tennessee blogosphere: Carole Borges wonders who we can trust in the medical field anymore, Tiny Cat finds something that's just plain weird, and much, much more!
Posted by alice at 3:07 PM | Comments (1)
June 21, 2008
A random factiod...
The search term "cindy mccain dominatrix" returns about 328,000 results if you "do a Google."
Posted by alice at 10:30 PM | Comments (1)
Some Saturday Videos
- John Hagee Knows Women
- McCain = Bush
- Ten best lightsaber mashups in all of Youtubedom
- Best Advertisement Ever
- McCain: "I do not support Roe v. Wade. It should be overturned."
- I'm Voting Republican
- john.he.is
- Tenn. Democratic Party Official: Obama 'May Be Terrorist Connected'
- Green Screen fun with McCain's awful speech
- Ancient Chinese secret, huh?
- Alex: you can't have him, Gramps!
- Obama's new ad
- One of the McCain homes
- John McCain: "I really didn't love America"
- Where the hell is Matt 2008
- McCain bloopers
- Do you know what McCain called his wife? (He also scolds others for using the same language)
Posted by alice at 3:05 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2008
Friday Creature
It's interesting when visiting countries to observe their attitudes towards different companion animals. In Greece, for example, I saw dogs everywhere -- often riding in the subways with their people. Greek dogs were mostly very well-cared for, too. Spain is another country that displayed a genuine affection for dogs. In Turkey, on the other hand, I didn't see very many dogs at all, but there were cats everywhere (and probably not a lot of rodents anywhere). This week, I'll do the dogs, but the cats are in the cue somewhere.
Have a great weekend, kids! Be safe, well and happy, and as always, check out this week's Friday Ark.
UDPATE: And happy Take Your Dog to Work Day!
Posted by alice at 10:43 AM | Comments (1)
Genghis!
Mongol looks like it could be a gorgeous movie.
Posted by alice at 12:05 AM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
Tennesseans Gone Wild!
Has TN Democratic Party Executive Committeeman Fred Hobbs gone completely around the bend? I have no idea what he could have been thinking when he made comments implying that Barack Obama is "terrorist-connected," but he's certainly an embarrassment to our state and should resign from the committee. I wish I knew why only our state's idiots manage to get national attention. This controversy has been roiling for a week now, and I'm not seeing anyone attempt to contain the damage that's being done to our state's and party's reputation. Hobbs has since apologized, but he won't go away, and Lincoln Davis has been annoyingly quiet through it all -- if he really wants us to elect him to lead this state, it would have been a good idea for him to get out in front of this and act like a leader. UPDATE: Lincoln Davis did finally, on Tuesday, condemn Fred Hobbs' comments (of course, we're still waiting for him to endorse his party's nominee...).
I have no idea what happened to the state Democratic party's leadership on this -- they seem to be satisfied to quietly sit back and watch this performance of the Keystone Cops.
Anyway, with Democrats like these, who needs Republicans?!? We're really going to need a lot of help come November.
So, yeah, Nation, please believe that there are some people down here in Tennessee who would like to elect progressive, smart, transformative leaders. It just seems to be a Sisyphean battle at times. But we'll keep at it.
Posted by alice at 4:09 PM | Comments (2)
Republicans Gone Wild!
So, this is one of the buttons for sale last weekend at the Republicans' state convention in Texas.
The Texas Republican party's response? Whoops.
UPDATE: the TRP has banned the vendor and donated the fee he paid to victims of the flooding in the Midwest.
Posted by alice at 3:37 PM | Comments (2)
The Press Gone Wild!
The National Press Club, which claims on their website to have standards and skills, appears to be determined to play court jester in today's media. Nate has the details, including thier spokesman calling a Pulitzer-prize-winning critic a "cretin," their decision to host a press conference for a lunatic and criminal, and -- get this -- that they have Jeff Gannon (George Bush's favorite gay escort!) blogging on their site.
In the meantime, the AP has gone completely insane, and wants to charge bloggers who quote their articles. Here are some of the people following the story:
- Boing Boing: AP expects you to pay to license 5-word quotations
- AmericaBlog: AP is now lecturing you about how the Internet works
- Michael Silence and R. Neal: AP wants to meet with the media bloggers association
- AmericaBlog: AP: This is journalism, Part II
- Kos: More AP foolishness
- Godless Liberal Homo: Some Alternatives to AP
- Crooks & Liars: The AP walked right into a buzz saw
- Oliver Willis: How Dumb Is The AP?
- Oliver Willis: Media Bloggers Association And The AP Story
Posted by alice at 3:35 PM | Comments (0)
June 18, 2008
Quote of the Day
The man's going to be remembered as a blithering idiot.
-- a British journalist, on Bush's legacy.
Posted by alice at 3:40 PM | Comments (2)
Wordless Wednesday
Posted by alice at 12:12 PM | Comments (2)