First?

I'm still waiting for the revelation that Romney was once a Democrat...

:-)

Sorry to say, but I think McCain's time was in 2000. That is, before he was eviscerated in South Carolina by the Bushies.

On Romney:

Oh, baby, you're *so* talented... and they are *so* dumb.

*knitting two boodles together*

On Guiliani and abortion:

Are we awake?

We're not sure. Are we... Black?

Yes we are.

Then we're awake, but we're very confused.

Need some help?

Oh, all I can get...

*tightening the knotted Boodles*

Joel, I missed watching it--how many of them were wearing Red Hats?

And more for Romney:

My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives.

*more tightening and inviting accusations of frivolity*

My Google ads, below:

Why Mommy is a Democrat

How to Convert to Islam

Facial Exercises

This is all well and good, but which of them looks like he can take up the title of Commander Guy?

A consensus when there's only two people present is determined by whose beer fridge is in closest proximity.

And who would look best in a flight suit?

And the jowls haven't gone unnoticed...

Why Mommy is a Democrat
The book George Bush doesn't want your kids to read!
littledemocrats.net

Double Chin Gone in hours
New, lose inches of fat from your chin & neck without surgery. Safe
www.withoutlipo.com

How to Convert to Islam
How to convert and become a Muslim with Live Help by chat
www.IslamReligion.com

Sincerely, Joel, I don't mean to make light of the seriousness of picking a new president, but last I checked, the election is a year and a half away. I half expect that the day after the next inauguration, someone is going to throw their hat into the ring for 2012.

Did Ron Paul try to sell anyone a Pocket Fisherman or a Ginzu knife?

And more for Guiliani:

Pardon me, gentlemen, but the, uh, affairs of state must, um, take precedence over Affairs of State...

I still believe that Rue Paul would make a better candidate. Now, that would be real diversity.

Does the Commander Guy gets to keep his Pope of the American Evangelical Christians title after January 09?

Mitt Romney is really Nathan Petrelli from 'Heroes'. Or possibly Syler using his morphing powers.

Why Mommy is a democrat?

Teacher's union propaganda.

And one for Fred Thompson:

You will be risking your lives, whilst I will be risking an almost-certain Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor.

I'm trying to come up with one for Brownback and the only image I get is the beans scene...

*evil grin*

"They're aging Caucasian men with jowls. Several of them are fighting for a starting position on the All-Jowl Team.

Except, of course, Mitt Romney, with his perfect, comic-book jawline. He looks almost aerodynamic, like something manufactured by Boeing."

I really like this.

And it is a Dick Tracy jawline.

The transcript of the debate, which I have not yet read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/03/us/politics/04transcript.html

thanks for the enlightenment in the previous boodle, now it's all clear...

And now I have to work. On a Friday no less...sheesh...hope to be back soon.

Thompson -- as bad as his hair dye
Tancredo -- an immigrant who hates immigrants?
Hunter -- scary
Paul -- crazy
Gilmore -- nobody's buying
Huckabee -- way too white bread
Brownback -- priest, not president
McCain -- stiff and stuttering
Romney -- very polished, completely phony
Rudy -- he's back... 911 was his defibrulator

"Work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work.....Hey boys, howya' doin'?.....

Boko999 writes: (Note: the U.S. Census did not separate Hispanics from Caucasians until 1970.)

omni writes:
I believe it was the 1980 census that first included Hispanic. Hispanic is not a "race", but an ethnicity.

Don't know which of the either of you is correct, but this I do know:

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/jrh1.html

The Supreme Court accepted the concept of distinction by class, that is, between "white" and Hispanic, and found that when laws produce unreasonable and different treatment on such a basis, the constitutional guarantee of equal protection is violated. The court held that Hernández had "the right to be indicted and tried by juries from which all members of his class are not systematically excluded." This decision was a major triumph for the "other white" concept, the legal strategy of Mexican-American civil-rights activists from 1930 to 1970. Faced with the separate but equal doctrine they argued that segregation of Mexican-origin persons was illegal in the absence of state law. Hernández was the logical extension of that argument.

The case was a valuable precedent until it was replaced in 1971 by Cisneros v. Corpus Christi ISD,qv which recognized Hispanics as an identifiable minority group and utilized the Brown decision of 1954 to prohibit segregation.

I tend to favor omni's date, given the above.

The President's favourite man ho has found his proper place. Helping with the National Day of Prayer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/03/AR2007050302170.html

The first candidate, Democratic or Republican, that announces a platform of abolishing the dollar bill will win my complete and fervent support. I will man phonebanks, wave signs, stop traffic, whatever it takes to get that person elected.

I am so tired of having soda machines reject my dollar bill that I have become a one issue voter.

Bin Laden? I wonder whether he died and was replaced by a full-sized replica, a bit like the surviving defenders of Malta who put dead guys on the ramparts to fool the attacking Ottoman forces.

Supposedly all the Jeb Bush people are working for Romney, so there should be a sense of inevitability for him by now.

Far be it from me to comment on things presidential, but I would like to point out that you are all forgetting to consider voice. Your president whould SOUND presidential.

Fred Thompson may actually be on my list of great presidential sounding voices. If he is not surely it was oversight. His voice is almost James Earl Jonesish in timbre. Of course he cannot hold a candle to the best voice, David McCullough.

Perhaps the boodlers can help me decide an important issue. Tuesday is the BPH, right? Tuesday is also when a community meeting will be held to get input on a proposal that is So Blatantly Stupid I don't think I can remain quiet. I'm not sure that an email expressing my opinions would carry the same weight as physical presence. What to do? What to do?

Loomis | That note was copied from your post so its your date. Nice try:-)

I'm just not sure the its a good idea for the courts to recognize a seperate race to combat bigotry against an identifiable minority.
omni's comment on ethnicity is reasonable only in the real world outside of politics and the law.

The "other white" sounds like a pork commercial.

Raysmom;

Make a cassette tape of your opinion, mail it in, and come enjoy the BPH.

:-)

McCain: "We will do whatever is necessary. We will track him [Osama]down. We will capture him. We will bring him to justice..."

Did McCain happen to mention when we would get around to actually starting this effort? Because this particular objective seems to have had about the same importance as Number 29 on my wife's Honey-do list, i.e., I'll get around to it right after I paint the garage door.

Joel writes:
They're aging Caucasian men with jowls. Several of them are fighting for a starting position on the All-Jowl Team.

I am reminded of this paragraph from Chris Hitchen's XV (15th) essay in his slender book, "letters to a young contrarian."

For years, when I went to renew my annual pass at the United States Senate, I was made to fill in two forms. The first asked me for my biographical details and the second stipulated tht I had signed the other under penalty of perjury. I was grateful for the latter, because when asked to state my "race" I always put "human" in the required box. This led to a yearly row. "Put white," I was once told--by an African-American clerk, I might add. I explained that white was not even a color, let alone a race. I also drew his attention to the perjury provision that obligated me to state only the truth. "Put 'Causcasian,'" I was told on another occasion. I said I had no connection with the Caucasus and no belief in the outmoded ethnology that had produced the category. So it went on until one year there was no race space on the form. I'd like to claim credit for this, though I probably can't. I offer you the story, also, as part of my recommendation that one acts b1oody-minded as often as the odds are favorable and even sometimes when they are not: it's good exercise.

More food for thought this morning on the subjects of race and ethnic labeling.

WHy go after Osama when we have so many "Number 2 Guys In Al Qaeda" on ice to trot out whenever we need a little boost in the polls?

Boko999, to be absolutely correct to the nit, that parenthesized material with the 1970 date comes from Chris Lloyd, who added the information to his interview transcript with Ken Burns. ;-)

Now that you mention it, I'm sorry I attributed to you. I have much on my mind this morning, such as fooling my husband that I've done more work inside the house and in the yard than I've actually accomplished. :-)

Caucasian is a mighty silly word. My wife drew gasps once when she described herself as oriental. Nobody had told her the word was politically correct. I like that people from the Indian subcontinent are often classified as Arayan. I worked with a Muslim Syrian that kept pointing to his nose and insisting he was as Semitic as any Israeli.

Silly words from a discredited classification system.

Boko, what were they (who recognized prejudice and discrimination and unequal treatment and those in power who recognized the same) to do back in the late 40s and early 50s (except pass laws or make court rulings)? Your thoughts please?

Sounding presidential? Eugene Robinson wonders about that today. His wondering about Bushisms reminds me of the period before the last presidential election when I was starting to wonder whether Bush was becoming unable to express himself, and would have to decline the nomination for a second term. James Fallows speculated about that.

My guess is that articulate candididates somehow come across as tricky (as in Nixon), so aren't electable. Inarticulate fuzzymindedness is taken as sincerity.

I'm back...I wrote my program and itis doing all the work. Unfortunately I have nothing to add to the boodle at the moment. I guess I'll skip on over to the celebtritoloy transc.

BTW, let's not get too hung up on this jowls thing. I, too, have jowls, though unlike the jowls on the aforementioned stiffs, mine are kinda perky. Can't there be, like, good jowls and bad jowls? Santa Claus has jowls. Shar Pei puppies have jowls. Please have some respect for those of us who are maxilliarily challenged.

We're on the home page, by the way. Straighten your cubbies for the nice people. Scotty, prepare to staff the concession stand; I think we need to get out the brie and the "I Like Ike" souvenir T-shirts.

I think the only debate we should worry about is who is going to win the Kentucky Derby tomorrow!!

http://www.docsports.com/kentucky-derby-field-lineup.html

My picks are
No Biz Like Show Biz - to win
Scat Daddy - to place
Stormello - to show

Dave, Its not really about sounding presidential, its about SOUNDING presidential. I have a thing for gents with voices that seem to reverberate as they pass thoguh my ears. Like Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones, David McCullough,Fred Thompson. There are more, but these voices make you listen.

Its more like how I picked my car. (BC, I do hope you avert your eyes) Its yellow. Yeah that is pretty much how it goes.

I figure if there had been more thought given to the sound of the voice in 2000, well they should have looked for a voice of a richer colour.

Being a white pasty guy is a mandatory requirement to be a republican candidate apparently.
I'm not following the US political scene too closely. Have they ever had non-male/non-white/non-Christian candidate in that party? What's-her-name on the Mondale ticket was a democrat I think, no?

Now for a little pom foolishness about bestiality.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article1744570.ece

(note: You've got to read the offended Christian comments and the reply by Anthony: "I praise God every day for His shining light that guides me away from the dangerous temptation of the farm yard. " hehehe)

The Republicans seem to be working very hard to distance themselves from Bush. This is in stark contrast to the Democrats, who are clearly trying to equate support for the Republican Party with support for Bush and His War. I think the party that wins this battle of perceptions will be the party that wins in 2008.

Remember, America is still evenly split between left and right. The 2006 elections were as much about anger as they were about political ideology. If the Republicans succeed in convincing people that a Republican vote does not imply an endorsement of George W. Bush, then the Democrats may be in big trouble.

Dave, your comment, My guess is that articulate candididates somehow come across as tricky (as in Nixon), so aren't electable. Inarticulate fuzzymindedness is taken as sincerity.

This makes me sad to think that as a society we are distrustful of well spoken people (I would say the same applies here north of the border).

I mean really does it make people feel better when someone refers to himself as the "Commander Guy", makes me think of a cartoon character not a world leader. Am I so out of touch?

Raysmom, would an international BPH help sway things?

omni - I used to be very good at getting computer batch jobs to do my work for me. The true mother of invention is laziness.

Shrieking Denizen - I think we pasty white guys have pretty much had a lock on the White House regardless of party.

Loomis | I suppose the episode exposes the law as a very blunt instrument constructed to deal with a complex and nasty species.
That's all I got.

Now I'm off to party with a bunch 'o miners.

Boko999 - Just as long as they are not underage miners, 'cause then they would be..

Oh, skip it.

I used to know all the trivia about those Darby hosses, but nowadays I just pick on the basis of the name and then look at whoever looks in great shape on Darby day.

I notice they never let horses with really crappy names win the Darby, so names are important.

I do roughly as well-- i.e. I tend to pick 1-2 out of the top 5, not necessarily in the right order, and one of my choices always ends nearly dead last because of injuries, bumping, dying, or just sucking.

As for good names I hereby pick:
Dominican, Street Sense, and Hard spun in that order.

I like Stormello, he's probably a relative of Storm Cat, past winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness... but again, this sounds too much like "Bordello", and that family tends to be sprint-heavy stock.

So, you just know he has no prayer.

I will also predict Cowtown cat will be smoking hot early on, and then fade out late, but have a good finish.

I also predict that Cowtown Cat, if he runs in the Preakness, will win it. His relative "Bluegrass Cat" came in second to Barbaro last year.

Also, Bwana Bull will do a nice showing in the Preakness. Everybody knows Pimlico is a cow track, anyway.

For the Belmont, Zanjero and Curlin. Just because horses with Zs in their name or with quirky consonant combos tend to win the Belmont out of nowhere-- see Danzig Connection; Bet Twice, Jazil...

Of course, I'm totally talking through my hat in this one ;).

As for jockeys-- I always look for a horse ridden by our local boy Kent Desmoureaux to do better than expected, so that's reason to hope for Stormello (other than the great name).

Any horse Prado or Mike Smith rides has to be taken very seriously, so that means Scat Daddy and Tiago have to be looked at.

As for looks, I'll look at who looks the most buff and well-balanced and alert yet not frantic or on edge tomorrow. Any horse that burns up a lot of energy by balking at the gate or prancing a lot is going to LOSE before he gets into the gate.

War Admiral is a very rare exception, historically, to the "balk, and the horse walks rather than runs" rule.

That was because he balked for 1/2 hour and let the other horses cool down too much to run. Nowadays horses are loaded within 3-5 minutes no matter what.

And that'll probably be the horse who wins it.

Bill Clinton was one of the more articulate holders of the office and he managed it even with a southern twang. Not to say that he can be trusted, but he was elected twice. Not that that is due to his articularity, as so was the current office-holder elected twice.

Sorry, was that confusing? Maybe I should run...

A bunch of deadenders, that is who they are.

Git yer red hots! Git yer red hots rite heah!!

Oh, sorry, wrong concession stand...

:-)

Wilbrod's post makes a nice case for how most Americans choose who they will vote for in an election. Cool name first, looks second, who's riding on their back slapping them third. Doesn't matter what's in the horse's head or what comes out of his/her mouth.

Me likee.

Joel, I would appreciate it if you could be at Goddard Space Flight Center on Tuesday morning to "view" the Queen, as I will be avoiding the place like a plague of clichés. Somebody has to take the hit for the team, and I can't imagine a better candidate than someone who isn't me. Like, say, you.

Wilbrod, I can think of one Boodler who'll definitely have a sentimental favorite in the Darby... :-)

If Cowtown Cat wins, then that would be the first major horse race, or professional sporting event of any sort, won by a member of the Boodle. I'm all atwitter with antici...PAtion.

did a check on my program and found a bug. fixed it came back here and saw this: celebtritoloy

I'm gonna blame that one on repetitive stress.

Headed back to no pants land. There, that was much easier to type without mistakes.

So, going by name only, whose sounds the most presidential from the All-Jowl Team and its adjunct?

Fred Thompson, Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter (who is he, anyway?), Ron Paul, [?]Gilmore (I don't know his name!), Mike Huckabee, Sam Brownback, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani

I say Ron Paul is immediately disqualified because he has two first names. Mitt Romney is low in the pool because - well, because he goes by "Mitt". Even the Dick Tracy jaw can't overcome that. Tom Tancredo sounds like a superhero, or an action figure, or both. Of course, maybe we need an action figure president. Sam Brownback's name always collapses in my mind into an unfortunate combination of "brownshirt" and "greenback".

Loomis, with all your geneological ties, you must be closely related to QE2 somewhere. Are you in line for the thrown? (Or are they still holding a grudge over Hotspur's descendents because of that whole unfortunate Shrewsbury rebellion/Owen Glendower thing?)

Um, Commander Guy sounds kinda actiony figuriney to me, so my thinking is no, we don't need an action figure president.

Mudge,
are you suggesting Loomis stands in line waiting to throw a midget?

On the no pants chat someone had asked about King James I ancestry and that he isn't a Tudor, but according to Wiki his Paternal Great-grandmother is Margaret Tudor and his Maternal Great-grandmother is Margaret Tudor. I know there is a lot of incest that goes on in the royal families, but this isn't the same woman is it???

A conflation in my mind, Shriek, and a bit of an obscure reference to Hotspur (Henry Percey), who helped overthrow on King (Dick 2) and tried to overthrow another (Hank 4). So it's throne and thrown.

I dunno, I kinda liked "in line for the thrown." OK, maybe it was just me.

Ummm, I think they're called little people these days, and most of them don't like to be thrown.

I wouldn't mind taking part in a "World's Strongest Man" competition in which they throw full-size people. I can imagine the announcers discussing the arc made by my limp body as Magnus ver Magnussen tosses me.

The traditional Republican Part is dead-slain by those who wear the cloak of conservatism, but who are really Fascist's.

Let the arguments begin...

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20037541,00.html

:-)

Omni, according to Wiki, Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VII, married King James of Scotland, then was widowed and remarried to Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus (himself a widower).

This outraged nobles enough that civil war broke out in Scotland. Worse, Angus cheated on her, and she filed for divorce and was finally charged with high treason and exiled to France, then escaped to London.

Makes the Simpson affair slightly more understandable...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Douglas%2C_6th_Earl_of_Angus

Margaret Tudor later took a third husband, too. She had one child by all 3 husbands, although the last, Dorothea was considered to have died young.

I see she was Henry VIII's sister through and through...;).

Enjoy the reading. This lady would have been perfect for a Shakespearian play, if it weren't that writing about the Tudors would have gotten Shaky in trouble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Tudor

The Simpson affair? I thought Homer and Marge were on stable ground.

Wilbrod said: As for looks, I'll look at who looks the most buff and well-balanced and alert yet not frantic or on edge tomorrow.

Picking up on Gomer's excellent observation that your method is not unlike an American presidential election, that means that McCain is toast.

I can't believe that no one has mentioned yet that three of these guys claimed not to believe in evolution! It saddens me to think that it's still possible to get elected president with such a dim grasp of reality.

Raysmom is going to watch "World's Strongest Man" tomorrow??? What???

*particularly confused*

:-)

God, Scott bakula in drag. Good memories. Loved Galaxy Quest too. Most of those series, it appears I haven't watched.

Sci-Fi geekitude factor: How many of those series you've actually seen....
(books don't count instead of movies, but bonus points for series + book combos).

If you score a perfect score, aliens want you for experiments.

Raysmom, McCain is already toast.

His "sincere look" into the camera reminds me of a cross between Francis Urquhart and a bulldog who's trying to pry food out of you by mind control.

Re Urquhart reference: see PBS miniseries "House of Cards"; "To Play the King" and "The Final Cut".

But most particularly pick the first one. It's the best, very Richard IIIesque.

I refuse to watch "Starship Troopers."

:-)

Scotty, ???? (your 2:55)

Haven't seen Starship Troopers, and won't. The Matrix was lousy. I've only seen a couple episodes of the new Battlestar Galactica.

There were some real dogs on that list, and I don't mean lovable loyal creatures.

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNN

The Matrix made number one? Come on.

But, bb, to comment on the content of the All-Jowl (and Adjunct) Show we would have had to watch the thing. Show of hands? I thought not.

Okay, the few of you who did are responsible for substantive discussion. The rest of us, bowing to the SHEER ABSURDITY of having something called a presidential candidate debate in MAY 2007, will discuss ephemera, which is, in my opinion, what the made-for-television event was about. Oops, I'm ranting again. Sorry.

Ivansmom is right, we should reserve the debates for when we have them winnowed down to two or maybe three, if we can get a Perot/Nader kooky type thrown in for good measure.

Raysmom;

Sometimes I really AM confused... *L*

Gomer had mentioned World's Strongest Man, and you said "most buff and well-balanced," yes of course about the Darby. What few grey cells I have saw a funny garbling there. As usual, my grey cells need glasses.

:-)

And "KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN" is NOT the best part of that movie.

It's the "death" scene in the engine room, of course. I tear up every time.

:-)

I despise Heinlein, yet I thought Starship Troopers was a brilliant satire - even if some believe it wasn't supposed to be.

I mean, it was so wonderfully over the top that it never occurred to me to seriously consider it as any kind of "fascist endorsement."

I thoroughly enjoyed the film, although the shower scene did stretch my sense of credulity.

Yeah, S'nuke: ..."I have been and always will be your friend..." *sniff*

Of course. Spock dies bravely... but it's harder to quote than KHAAAAAAAAAAANNNN!

I like "Rest, perturbed spirit" quote at the end too-- that's from Hamlet, so not original to the script.

I like 'Kirk' every time Khan thinks he's killed the Enterprise off but hasn't. For a "superior intellect". he sure has an endless capacity to be surprised.

Scottynuke, clearly you are forgetting "They put creatures in our bodies."

Yep. They just don't write stuff like that any more.

Reading this Boodle is a hoot. I don't understand a single post!

And, oddly enough, I worry about the Wrath of Khan pretty much every day.

RD, maybe the anti-gravity machine wasn't working properly.

Yoki, I am wandering in the fog with you!

RD, actually that bug-in-the-ear scene does get harder to watch on every watching-- I tend to leave the room nowadays if I'm watching that movie.

But yeah, good creepy-crawly scene.

Shatner is Canadian, you know.

Thank goodness, dmd. Let's go for tea.

'sokay Scotty. I thought I was having a blond moment there.

"Cowtown Cat?" Is my name being used in vain? It's not me, I can't even win the race to the bathroom in the morning. I'm so very sorry I missed the Republican Candidate Forum the other night. I must have had something important to do. I just think it would be a lot of fun if they had a Dem/Repub debate jointly moderated by Dennis Miller and Steven Corbert. At this point, there's nothing the candidates won't do for some exposure, so let's take advantage of it. Thoughts?

I hope you two order Earl Grey. 'cause that was, like, Picard's favorite.

JA

It hurts to breath, but reading this kit, I am bent over bad. I cannot stop laughing. If these folks read your kit today, they will certainly try to find a good plastic surgeon, do whatever he or she wants, throw in their wives, sell their grandmothers, whatever. Jowls, my, my, oh, it does hurt to laugh. These are folks that are running for President of the United States, and in this kit you have reduced them to comic characters, and we are so joining in with you. Oh, it hurts to laugh, but I can't stop.

JA, you've outdone yourself with this one. If I was nearby, I would certainly give you a high five, in spite of the pain.

Slyness, good op-ed piece, especially coming from this guy. Folks sometime beat up on him because he comes across as real conservative, more red than red.

Good to hear from you Cassandra! Hope you have a chance to relax and heal.

Loose Earl Grey, in a porcelain tea pot, with milk not cream.

Now I'm really worried about Cassandra. Take care of yourself, my friend, and do what the dr recommends.

I can't say I disagree with a lot of the SciFi choices - especially in the top ten. It had all my picks - Aliens, Blade Runner, The Thing. I think The Matrix deserves at least to be top ten, notwithstanding Keanu of the wooden method acting school.

I thought the movie Starship Troopers was a poor compromise between the fascistic satirical fantasy and campy sci-fi possibilities.

Hi, Cassandra! Laughter is good, pain is bad, and right now these guys are comic characters, if not action figures.

I've seen parts of perhaps 11 on that list of sci-fi shows or movies. Where is Babylon V (or "B-5" as we say)? That show was conceived and written as a whole from the first episode, most unusual for TV.

CP, you there? Your cousin Colm T. has another fine effort in next week's New Yorker. I don't know whether the story, "One Minus One" appears in Mothers & Sons, or is being published for the first time.

Excellent! I must admit I like Earl Grey myself. Alas, being a barbarian, I tend to make it using tea bags.

Also, and I kid you not, the guy in the cubicle next to me is making some even as I type.

Well, gotta tie up some loose ends and then I am outta here.

Have a great weekend everyone. My goal is to stay outside and off the computer.

Yeah.....right.....

A personal favorite:
Where do you keep the nuclear wessels?

RD, so that means we'll see you tomorrow morning, as usual? :)

RD, now you have me in a quandry I enjoy Earl Grey but lately have become hooked on Vanilla Tea or Chai Tea. Also it is beautiful here, something cold is in order.

Is it OK if I stick with the Earl Grey? Here, it is pelting rain, cold and dark (not that there is anything wrong with that) and a hot cup of tea is in order.

I have to say that I am with RD on "Starship Troopers." I liked the flashy commercial/propaganda style of it. Except I enjoyed the shower scene. I'll take just about any chance I can to see some jumblies.

Scotty thanks for the suggestion on my Tuesday dilemma. I decided to take the neighborhood-rabble-rousing route. That is, distribute a summary of the issues, complete with meeting details and important e-mail addresses. Many e-mails is (are? Mudge?) so much more effective than just mine.

Yoki -- joining you for tea, but with ice, as today is warm. I, too, am confused with the boodle-goodness today but am happy to see so many having fun.

I will check out the Colm Toibin piece. He was in New York about three weeks ago; I fielded an early call from arty-painter cousin who sports the Americanized Tobin. She was on her way to hear him read and wanted the backstory on him. She introduced herself and he said, "why are all the Tobin cousins in America so red-headed and beautiful?" She blushed and was very happy.

The funny part of the story, Yoki, is that several times he refers to our branch of the family in novels ( Blackstairs Mountains, near Mt. Leinster) as the "backward, country cousins." Apparently, we descend from the hillbillies while darling, silver-tongued Colm is from the Wexford Townies.

--
I now return you to your SF references fest.

I saw the face of Diana Rigg on the front page of the Times, and just couldn't resist the link. I thought of 'Mudge (why?) when this was the first paragraph.

"The leather catsuit I wore in The Avengers was a total nightmare; it took a good 45 minutes to get unzipped to go to the loo. It was like struggling in and out of a wet-suit. Once I got into the jersey catsuits they were very easy to wear but you had to watch for baggy knees; there is nothing worse. I got a lot of very odd fan mail while I was in that show, but my mum used to enjoy replying to it. Some of the men who wrote to me must have been a bit startled because she would offer really motherly advice. I would get a letter from a teenage boy, say, who was overexcited and my mother would write back saying: "My daughter is far too old for you and what you really need is a good run around the block." "

Now is a time of great decision
Are we to stay or up and quit?
There's no avoiding this conclusion:
Our town is turning into s***.

Your choice was fortunate, not fortuitous. Fortuitous means by chance.

By golly, Ivansmom is right: where's my B-5? Naming the psicop Alfred Bester was genius, pure genius. That show was fabulous, way-the-heck better than Wrath of Khan or V.

Quantum Leap? Cute, but poor science fiction. Clone Wars? Please. Heroes? You're kidding me. Total Recall as a seminal movie? Oy. Close Encounters waas better science fiction than most of these. The Last Starfighter, even. Night of the [epithet] Comet was better! And where was The Quiet Earth?

Hmmm. All those movies may be older than 25 years.

What about Max Headroom? A brilliant, brilliant show.

Even Stragte SG-1 (the first few seasons, at least) is better than much of this drivel.

"Stragte?" Oh, dear.

That would be "Stargate."

"Are," Raysmom.

Yoki, you thought of me because at the mere mention of the name Diana Rigg I am wont to swoon. Describing her spending 45 minutes wriggling out of that cat suit--now, that's just plain cruel and malicious. Do it again.

Having seen some if not all of every show/movie/series on their list oughta tell something about me. I don't know what,but something.

The Matrix, while a good movie, I don't feel was #1 material. All in all though the list they built is fairly accurate.

Personally I have to agree with Ivansmom about Babylon5. It was a superior show, well written and you could tell the story was being told as intended. I was far superior to V. I really did not like that show.

The only show on the list I don't particularily like is LOST. Just couldn't be bothered to follow it beyond the first season.

IMHO Blade Runner should have recieved top honours.

Trying to keep my vow of occasional-kit-connectedness. Here goes:

I think that of the red hat gals, more might vote republican.

Wheezy said that McCain's time was about seven years ago.

Fred Thompson sounds like a Caucasian James Earl Jones. (I cannot believe I wrote the C-word!)

Mitt is a bad name for a Pres. Period. I keep thinking of Mo plus lacy sex kitten mitts.

Tommy Thompson, a double name, only works in the Upper Midwest where Scandihovian descendants sometimes bestow:
Eric Erickson
Ole Olson
John Johnson
Andy Anderson.

And now to my Yoki-Mudge reference: Diana Rigg wouldn't be caught dead in a red hat ala those gals.

Yoki, let us found our own secret women-of-the-best-age society. It shall be cross border, and hence, contain multitudes.

Please tell me that as a Britishism, "a good run around the block" refers to eliminating excess energy through strenuous non-sexual exercise, and that this wasn't some euphemistically earthy advice from Diana Rigg's mother.

Oh my, the nerdy flame wars may begin soon... I must quit myself of this place for today lest I be dragged into it.

I feel real sadness for McCain...After being gang banged by his fellow Repugs in 2000 I can*t fathom his kissing up to the far-right now...Doesn*t he see that these guys hate him and disdain his hard won hero status..Chicken hawks can*t stand a real hero it high lights their weaknesses. McCain circa 2000 was a real *straight talker* that*s why they couldn*t let him win over their puppet.

I loved the opening sequence with Diana Rigg in sillowhette (I like how that could be spelled) with her cute little ballet-poise karate kick.

I feel real sadness for McCain...After being gang banged by his fellow Repugs in 2000 I can*t fathom his kissing up to the far-right now...Doesn*t he see that these guys hate him and disdain his hard won hero status..Chicken hawks can*t stand a real hero it high lights their weaknesses. McCain circa 2000 was a real *straight talker* that*s why they couldn*t let him win over their puppet.

Tim, it definitely means healthy outdoor activity. Very public school view of releasing tension!

I*m old enough to remember Diana Rigg as a young woman....Every schoolboy*s dream.

it looks to me as if McCain is emotionally wounded..

If you want to see what he is kissing up to , look at the first chapter of John W. Deans book, "Worse Than WaterGate," Bush played the race card on John McCain in the South Carolina Primary race...

and John McCain said nada...

then he tries to look like bush and supports him no matter what.

heart connection , doesnt mean clarity or truth... McCain is infested with the same evil that is online with bush...

whatever the biggest influence is pulls and directs the tribe...

I am sure that this makes sense to only about 15 of you... none the less.

>Diana Rigg wouldn't be caught dead in a red hat ala those gals.

You can leave the hat on... da da DA da DA da DA DA

Yoki, it's English Breakfast for me. Sugar (Splenda, actually), no milk. I'll bring scones and real butter.

Of course, I haven't watched Star Trek since the original TV series, so I know nothing.

Secret woman-of-the-best age club? With a required outfit?

I'm guessing it won't involve wearing leather catsuits. Thank god (Down Mudge! Good boy!).

Hmm, about a nice two-piece dress with pearls and a flowered blouse?

That way you can do covert options and identify each other only by (specified color) carnations in the lapel according to the day of the week.

Hmm, all of these Star Trek references and SciFi in-jokes are affecting me like Diana Riggs' catsuit does Mudge. Or maybe it's just laughing this much in the heat. *fans self*

I've already shared a link with some harp tracks on it to boodlers that have been kind enough to post mask emails here so I could communicate with them without posting mine. This made me feel guilty - everyone's braver than I am.

So I now have a mask email set up at sevenKhans at hotmail dot com and I will be happy to provide the link to any boodlers that email there.

Carry on...

:-)

What a repulsive idea.

Wilbrod, I was thinking less of required clothing and more a secret handshake....

EFlynn: My brain hurts....what does the da Da da Da, etc. mean?

(Brain hurts because SUDDENLY with about six days to go, students show up to office hours to plead and beg and cajole...I listen but must be firm. I may go to the pub and lift a pint of say, Harp, with other teachers who feel similarly brain-dead.)

CP, point of pronunciation. Don't you think it's "Scandihoovian"?

I absolutely cannot(or more precisely will not) participate in anything that requires a uniform or secret symbol.

Why yes, SoCarl, you are correct!

...and I forgot the most important double names:

Carl Carlson
Carla Carlson

Charles Carlson
Charlie Carlson
Charlotte Carlson
Carly Carlson
Chuck Carlson
Chuckles Carlson
Chaz Carlson
Chick Carlson

and just to mix it up

Karl Carlson

I will stop now.

I'm familiar with about half the list. I'm going to make my commentary a blogpost this weekend, but I have to add to the notable omissions Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dark Angel. Kick-@ss heroines for those of us not old enough to remember Diana Riggs from the first time around.

That reminds me that I have a best of The Avengers box set I have never watched. It may be time.

>EFlynn: My brain hurts....what does the da Da da Da, etc. mean?

CP, it's a reference to a Randy Newman song.

"Baby take off your dress
Yes yes yes
....
....
You can leave the hat on. da da etc.

Sounds good to me, Yoki. But... not even berners as a secret symbol?

CP,

Think of the Randy Newman/Joe Cocker/Full Monty song. It's a Boodle Inside Joke classic.

To quote (or at least paraphrase) the great Homer Simpson: "I understand. I don't CARE, but that doesn't mean I don't understand."

Yoki -- I already am in a segment of sorts: women who

go mad over growing flowers,
live happily with dogs (not cats, sorry, but I am now outed),
wear gardening hats half the year, slightly embarrass their children
suffer blythly with bibliomanai

I thought about Buffy, but it's too much a fantasy-based show, with magic and whatnot. Only one season had a significant science fiction element.

YJ and EF -- Now I understand. Laughing. Inside joke before my boodle-debut....deboodle...

I see my spelling has gone to H E double matchsticks. Better quit. Have accepted invite from teach-buddies to meet at a watering hole. Will go by bike. The place is sorta Cheers-like: always somebody there that knows you by name.
---
ScTim and others: I have never seen Buffy, but wrote an entire series of grammar lessons featuring Buffy characters and situations. Won a small teaching prize with that.

Yellojkt, I incline to agree regarding quality, although many would argue that Buffy is more of a fanasty category.

Babylon 5 is nice, but the first time I saw I didn't like it, since it was very hard to make sense of the episode, especially with how human the Centauri are.
When I finally watched it, I personally always preferred G'Kar. It won emmys and other awards.

And I did like some episodes, which were very tight. This one I rather liked. Especially since it was good to see Brad Dorif playing a well-written role.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_Through_Gethsemane

The pilot of Babylon 5 was of pretty shaky quality, but I was impressed by the way that they reincorporated the plot of the pilot, and its various loose ends, in the regular series.

And, of course, there was the B5 episode in which Scott Adams appeared as a man who wants to hire Garibaldi to investigate his dog, who he is convinced plans to take over the world. Very, very geeky stuff.

Didn't see that bit. He had only 3 lines in the episode in question.

http://www.visi.com/~wildfoto/synopsis/414.html

Somehow I don't think Garbaldi took the job.

I could never see GiraBALDi without thinking of Bruce Willis in the last season of Mooonlighting.

I could never stomach the quality of the acting on B5. When you have to fire your lead to bring on Bruce Boxleitner, you are in big trouble talent-wise.

The Star Trek producers had the genius idea to hire underemployed Shakespearean actors as captains. It's no coincidence that when they strayed from this formula and went for name recognition that the franchise fell apart.

True about the acting. That may be why the Gethsmane episode stuck in my head-- it's a guest-star episode with somebody who can really act.

What could be more perfect? The town of Vulcan, Alberta just released registration for it's annual Star Trek festival, Galaxyfest (aka Spockdays).

Spockdays/Galaxyfest 2007

June 8-10, 2007

Featuring Special Guests:

Max Grodenchik (Rom of Deep Space Nine)
Aron Eisenberg (Nog of Deep Space Nine)

http://www.town.vulcan.ab.ca/events/galaxyfest.html

MHughes976 writes: "Your choice was fortunate, not fortuitous. Fortuitous means by chance."

I went to a school play and found a parking spot that happened to be in front of my friend's house. Preparing to drive home, I thought maybe I should check on my friend and he said let's watch the debate. So to me it was all kind of a chance thing. Fortuitous.

When I got to Texas I found out that I was an "Anglo." A lot of the Mexican American citizens called themselves "Skins." Taking a lemon and making lemonade I guess.

Now in North Carolina I find myself describing someone and I will say he's Anglo and the natives don't know what I'm saying.

I'm one of those who has written "human" on forms. Maybe I will write "Anglo" one day. If someone tells me I have to follow that with "Saxon" I'll pretend I hate the Saxons. Just to be difficult.

Or maybe instead I should write "Shirt" for my race.

Men of Harlech,
Can ye see them
Saxon bowmen
Saxon spearmen

Where IS my brain??? Of course B5 and Stargate should be on the list...
______________________

No no, don't shoot him, you'll only make him angry.

I am by no means the sci-fi aficionado that many of you folks are, but I've been waiting for somebody to say it (other than the ladies), but nobody has: that list of the "best" 25 movies/shows really sux. It sux on its own merits as a list, and it can be seen to suck because of its 25-year limitation (i.e., it was designed mainly for Gen-Xers and the "younger" group). The proof of this latter point is that if you opened up the time span, damn few of this entries would make it into a 50-year list.

On its own merits, the lists sux because it omits: Starman (1984), I, Robot (2004), Independence Day (not the world's greatest movie, by any means, but better than some of the turkeys in the list by a damn sight), Men in Black, Jurassic Park, and Batman. I might even throw in Spiderman. Quibble with some of these? Sure, be my guest. But ALL of them? Starship Troopers was better than ALL of these? Are you mad?

Second, the list sux because of what it includes: cartoons, and Lost. Whatever the hell Lost is, it ain't much science fiction. Just because it has some weird stuff and some technology in it doesn't make it science fiction. Smoke Monsters and inexplicable Polar Bears don't make it for me. (But yes, I admit to being a "strict constructionist" when it comes to defining sci-fi.)

I don't much care for the notion that comic book heroes are "science-fiction" just because they are in comic books. But if you include Heroes, then there's just no freaking way you can omit Batman and Spiderman.

I'm not too crazy about the notion of time travel in the past (as opposed to the future) as a sci-fi category, because all you really do is cook up a mcguffin that permits it (per Quantum Leap), and then you're really doing a history or alternative history piece. To me, sci-fi needs to look to the future, not put Scott Bacula at Pearl Harbor. But be that as it may if you buy the premise, you buy the bit. In that case, where was "Timeline," a very nice little movie.

Matrix AND Battlestar Galactica II were better than Bladerunner? In what universe does that happen? Galaxy Quest is in--but Spaceballs isn't?

Harrumph.

Everybody have a good weekend. Scotty and mo and Kim (?) and I are off for a day of insane wine-purchasing in the Virginia countryside tomorrow.

Oh, yeah, forgot "12 Monkeys."

I look forward to your report and recommendations from the wine festival, Mudge.

Jumper, you made me LOL. Nope, Anglo isn't a term you hear much in NC.

Ummm... Spaceballs is okay, but I actually liked Galaxyquest much better. You gotta split the fingers to understand, I guess.
Alternative history in fact is a valid Sci-fi genre, Mudge. Never heard of those movies. Yeah, I think most of us agree with you-- in fact we're commenting on the rare non-turkeys on the list (and offlist).

Usage note from the American Heritage Dictionary:

"Fortuitous is often confused with fortunate. What is fortuitous happens by chance or accident or without plan; fortunate and lucky are not thus restricted in meaning. What is fortuitous can also be fortunate or lucky, but to employ fortuitous in the sense of those terms, without clear indication in the context of the operation of chance or accident, is loose usage. The following example, in which there is no such indication, is termed unacceptable by 85 per cent of the Usage Panel: 'The meeting proved fortuitous; I came away with a much better idea of my role.'"

Frostdottir: Is fortuitous the right word to use here?

Frostbitten: If you can use serendipitous then fortuitous would work.

Frostdottir: You said you would help me. (with eye roll and heavy sigh)

They're really out to get your glaucoma meds, and cart you off to the loony bin.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6606931.stm

It's all a government conspiracy to curb pleasure gardening, because they're worried that the herbs will help people see it all, man, and know that everything is connected, including the funny way the mailman looks at you and that grimace Bush keeps doing on TV at you exactly when you scratch yourself.... The universe is sending you a message and you must act...

(Tongue in cheek-- I've never been a glaucoma test pilot.)

Sigh... Think Cho inhaled?

mudge - u there??? e-mail me at my yahoo addie!

Some people will do anything to keep their name in the press:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/05/04/paris.hilton.ap/index.html

Great retrospective of a couple weeks of Tredeau gently lampooning Halberstam in the late '70s:

http://doonesbury.com/strip/halberstam.html

yeah, paris is going to jail. good times.
maybe this will spawn another reality show.

Goodness. Not ANOTHER Republican prezident. Four MORE years of G.W. Bush policy? I think not.

Wilbrod, I most certainly do not think the murderer of Liviu Livescu inhaled. :)

Pot makes you happy and relaxed, usually. Cho could have used some of that. Some people do get a paranoid reaction, but it's very short-term.

I want to note that the above is my *very first* emoticon. I've decided to capitulate and use them, since they're, well, ... useful.

Thanks for that link, bill e. When the literary history of the 20th century is written, Trudeau will be at the top. The man is genius.

De nada, Slyness. Each of those strips had me snorting. Thanks for not pointing out my "irregular" spelling of the cartoonist.

Kinda what "Mudge said about SF. But I dip in because people I care deeply about swim in SF. Actually, they live and breathe and have their being in SF.

I adore William Kinsella's stuff:
Shoeless Joe
The Iowa Baseball Confederacy

John Crowley's
Little Big

But my favorite disappear-into-another-word books would be Sigrid Unset's
Kristin Lavransdottir (Trilogy)
The Axe (Quartet)
*These books transport me to medieval Norway.

And, in what may be called the "Frederica" novels by A.S. Byatt (_Posession_ amazes but pales in comparison to these books):

A Whistling Woman(2002)
(But still in print are these earlier books)
The Virgin in the Garden(1976)
Still Life (1985)
Babel Tower (1996)

You can read in any order, actually.

So, I like to be transported to other worlds -- SF does this, but so do other books and writers.

CP, I loved Kristin Lavransdottir, too! I bought the trilogy once for x-mas for my husband's 13 yr old niece. The family was bookish in a best-seller kind of way, and my very proper m-in-law pulled me aside and asked if the books were "suitable" for a 13 year old. I said that, if memory served, they would be fine. Finally realized it was "Mistress of Husaby" that got her going! Later found that the recipient never bothered with them, but her older brother told me once how much *he* had enjoyed them!

The article will be interesting to you, then, Wheezy. The origin of paranoid, anxious, and non-relaxed behavior in marijuana users have been of interest.

Since pot has been becoming much stronger compared to the pot grown in the 60's and 70's, they're seeing more and more cases of people on bad trips, and cases of anxiety and paranoia.

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/mari.html

The research indicates that the paranoia is from an excess of THC, and this acts on a specific type of receptor in the brain.

I spoke to a scientist who was doing research in that very field-- cannabinoid receptors, and she gave us a very thorough presentation on what cannabinoid receptors (which are activated by marijuana) do, and how precisely they were able to track a sudden increase in anxious behavior to an excess of marijuna even more than baseline normal.

Fascinating stuff. Basically, CRs do a lot to help buffer stuff that could damage the brain in excess-- GABA release, calcium uptake, etc. They are still investigating the precise relationships and how the CR system helps balance the brain.

The long-term effects are unclear, but what IS clear in a recent british study was that schizophrenics smoking pot had their symptoms worsen to the point they had to terminate the trial as it was too unsafe for schizophrenics to participate.

Now second question: do repeated pot use and "Bad trips" have a long-term effect or not?

Well if marijuana is not addictive (that is, the body does not physiologically adapt to the increased exposure to marijuana), then the answer would be yes.

Decline in cognitive function has been recorded in long-term heavy pot smokers, although some dispute this, generally the ones who smoke it.

Anyway, because the CR plays a role in brain self-regulation of balance (homeostasis), a already vulnerable brain would be more apt to be pushed over the edge by using pot, should enough be taken to induce psychosis.

Whether the brain can "come back" is unknown, but the evidence indicates that any psychotic episode tends to leave some degree of brain damage.

And now it is proven that marijuana does cause damage on brain scans.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/01/health/main2746434.shtml

Interestingly, the schizophrenics thought pot helped them, despite objective assessment to the contrary.

Wheezy! Ain't boodle-peeps amazing? SU books usually draw total blanks, although she won the Nobel Prize in the teens, twenties, or thirties....

This young man must be special to read KL. Can you make sure he has the _Axe_? A young man is banished from Norway after killing a man in a bar brawl....how he makes his way in the world as an outlander is good stuff.

>(Tongue in cheek-- I've never been a glaucoma test pilot.)

Uh yeah, bad trip man. Pass me the ice cream.

Why EF -- I am finishing my rhubarb sauce with a bit of vanilla ice cream -- this moment.

I too, have never served as a test pilot.

But I would work tirelessly for the liberalization of rhubarb laws, if need be.

Wilbrod, your link on THC and the other compound in pot was interesting, although not quite convincing to me. For one, it sounded as if they were giving these folks this pure chemical at least every day for a long time. That's way more than social users would get.

And that was my other (unarticulated, sorry!) point in my response - it's a social drug which you usually only get from *friends* and people who trust you enough to share it with you. Cho, it sounds like, never had any friends. Of course, he may have bought it from some street dealer. I doubt it, though. BTW, I don't do drugs at this stage in my life, but I've seen enough long-term users not to doubt the failing memory and loss of brain-power associated with it. I'm not saying it's harmless.

CP - said "boy" is now 35 and a translator for the Navy. Nice kid.

>vanilla ice cream
Vanilla and orange sherbert for me - a Creamsicle!

Wilbrod, I just went back and re-read your first link - it was the other, calming compound that they administered for a month. Sorry. I'll shut up now.

'Mistress of Husaby' ellides in the brain, perhaps to, 'Mistress Hussy.' So, MIL was worried. Makes me laugh.

I bought a Joyce Carol Oats paperback once at a used bookstore, despite the full-on bodice ripper cover. _BelleFluer_ perhaps. Hard to follow but I had very sick children at the time, so I could barely read _Cat in the Hat_ and sustain the plot line. My MIL remarked that she was surprised that I went in for that sort of "vulgar trash."

Another immersion book set would be Larry McMurtry's _Lonesome Dove_ books. Fabulous. Should be read if you want to understand the expansion of the country. The Robert DuVal/Tommy Lee Jones mini-series is pretty darn true.

I also like to read _The Godfather _ each year. When I see the first movie, I am so struck by the softness of young Al Capone, playing Michael Coreleone.

Whoopsie! Got me bleeding Eye-talian Albertos mixed up.

Al PACINO (of the baby face long ago).

Al CAPONE (I cannot comment on his youthful complexion).

Wheezy, my dumminess trumps your dumminess. Better go to bed!

CP, I'm afraid I'm one of them. Someday I'm going to have to get through the whole Nobel Prize for Literature list.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/

...On second look, probably not.

Toni Morrison-- very uneven. I cannot express how much I hate "Beloved".
William Golding, "Lord of the Flies".
Sinclair Lewis.

On the list I stand up in applause for the playwrights, the poets, and maybe 5-10 other authors who have been known to write anything funny.

So it looks like the odds are on being any random Nobel-prize winner's book being describable as "melancholic" "tragic" "haunting" or "painting a portrait of society" and such isn't-this-so-profound-stuff.

If I want a mirror to society, I can just read non-fiction. Or Science Fiction.

I mean, I know humor is hard to translate, but do you have to channel Ibsen to win a Nobel Prize?

For fiction, I'd rather read something like Horatio Hornblower instead. Or Mark Twain. Or Issac Bashevis Singer. Mind you, I'll look up some of those poets on the list. I always loved international poetry.

CP, I really think it was the word "mistress." We found out later that she was in the early stages of Alzheimer's when she said that, but I still found it funny.

By the way, CP, I stopped reading Joyce Carol Oates with "Bellefleur" - that was about the time when, to my mind, JCO went over the edge into sadistic weirdness. Dipping a toe in with her stuff since I've been frightened and disgusted.

Wilbrod, I'm curious - what is it about "Beloved" that made you hate it so much? I read it about 15 years ago and really can't remember it, but I liked it. I gave my copy away so haven't had a chance to look at it again since.

By the way, this is not meant as a disrespect to Ibsen. I actually love Ibsen.
He's so stark in his dialogue in translation, it shines forth, and I can enact his plays in my head, every nuance, body language and so on.

I have to remind myself I haven't actually seen his plays when I flash back to the image of Nora wearing a cheerful, lemon yellow but rather thin and tawdry dress, or to the wooden stage slat where people are enacting "Ghosts". It's just so much for the imagination there.

But if Ibsen was writing a novel instead of a play... he'd be hard for me to take for 200 pages with the slow sketching of detail. Just saying.

Wilbrod -- I, too, like the humor genre.

Wheezy, yes, "mistress" is enough. My grandmother addressed letters to us thusly:

Mistress Lassie CeePeeClan

Brothers warranted this:

Master Laddie CeePeeClan

I feel spelling errors coming on, so will wish all a restful eve.

Mo, I just e-mailed ya. Whassup?

I am torn. Ambivalent.

I think the Frederica books are amazing (and get better over time -- there might yet be more we don't know about).

And still. But still... Possession is the closest thing to a Victorian, richly textured universal novel (CP: cf: Middlemarch, George Eliot, Blackwell) we have in our lifetimes. I love AS Byatt. As I love George Eliot (Maryann Evans, Mrs. Lewes) more than I love Byatt.

Sad, reely.

Wheezy, thanks for the confirmation about JCO "Belleflower" I thought something stunk but as I say, not in full form.

The sheer laziness of the author.

I'm swearing, she cut and pasted the same block of description again and again in a few different chapters. 99% the same. It was pretty and lyrical at first, but not worth repeating. It felt like the whole book is a rewrite of one chapter, over and over again.

A girl of my age agreed with me, "it's boring, like tasting the same taste over and over again."

I heard this book termed a "cyclic novel". Me no gusta. It's recycled writing and a waste of my time.

I actually found myself becoming flat-out furious halfway through at how static it was. I finished it and managed somehow not to hurl it across the room.

Toni Morrison can write-- I read "The Bluest Eye", which is very tragic, but Beloved is not her best work. Her most daring and oddest work, maybe. Not her best.

Stupidest Drug Story of the Week
Is Reuters drinking bong water?
http://www.slate.com/id/2165198/?nav=fix

I thought Beloved was an amazing book - I even liked the movie. It's a horrifying story about slavery, though, so it is hard to read some parts. But it's based on a true story, I believe.

Twelve Monkeys is one of my favorite movies - that list was pretty strange.

I've never heard "tripping" associated with pot. And I would have to wonder if being given a dose of pure THC would be very different from smoking a joint. Not that I have recent experience with any of this, mind you, but I was around in the '60s (actually it was the '70s till I tried any of that).

Way back to Jethro Tull - I thought Aqualung was creepy, to the point where I always say I like Tull's first 3 albums (This Was, Stand Up, Benefit), which were more bluesy, too. Although Aqualung does have some good cuts on it. It was sort of infuriating that Aqualung was more of a commercial success here - there's just no accounting for taste, I guess.

>This Was, Stand Up, Benefit

mostly, they're my favorites as well. Although I did like "Living In The Past" a lot too. I sort of lost them around "Minstrel" days.

mostly, that is what my grandma used to say. "No accounting for taste." I *love* Aqualung. And I smuggled it into Eastern Europe in 1969 to the daughter of one of my Dad's agents. Excellent! She was the only teenager in Prague who had subversive music.

'night all. I can't bear it any more.

Tomorrow is a big day around here, our baby bird is flying back to the nest for the summer. My boodling will be severely curtailed for a while, even ceasing altogether in a week or so when we take a 10-day camping trip, that's right, off the grid for 10 days. Imagine.

I didn't want my final comment to be some stupid dictionary quote, so I'm popping in to say good night and best wishes to all.

Cassandra, I hope your medical ordeals are over for a while. Keep laughing and praying, and you'll be okay.

All you wine festival attenders, remember to be moderate and have a designated driver. Have fun and report back in detail!

I only made it to page 16 out of 44 of the Republican debate transcript--it was uphill from the time Huckabee made the comment about generals with "mud and blood on their boots" and then it got more and more difficult and I gave up--but I still have it and I will look it over.

Vaya con brio, todas las enchiladas...

Or is that taken, I should just say "hasty banana"

Good night, all.

Ugh. Jim Gilmore. I thought he'd gone away.

It's interesting that the "liberal" media failed to mention the fact that there are 3 GOP candidates who, by opposing evolution, are in effect barbarians.

kb, have a great time with your daughter!

I saw this story about a golf course in Front Royal, where I used to live - and was thinking about what you said about golf courses in your area. It's true they're green, but to me they're just a bad sign of overdevelopment. Ah, progress...or not. Anyway, I'm just gasping at the thought of a ritzy "destination resort" in humble little Front Royal.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/02/AR2007050201156.html

Hasta banana!

And for the local BPH'ers, you might get a glimpse of the Queen Tuesday. From today's chat about the Queen:

Washington, D.C.: Is it possible to see the Queen during her visit to Washington, D.C.? Will she be doing any public events?

John Geiger: Most of the schedule is invite only, but obviously she is visiting around D.C. and there will be plenty of opportunities to see her in person. The biggest chance might be at the World War Two memorial on Tuesday afternoon, where she will lay a wreath.

kb, have a wonderful time getting caught up with your daughter and fun camping.

Mostly I am torn as much as I am ambivalent about the Queen, the laying of wreaths at the WWII memorial is something I am considering attending if it fits in my schedule, if for no other reason than to honour those in my family and my husbands family who served.

Have fun kb

Tull was described as a blues band on a compiliation album called "Oct 17, 1967."
also on the album:
Peaches and Regalia-Zappa (my mother loved it. His other stuff. Not. So. Much)
Spirit in the Sky- Greenbaum
Rattlesnake shake- Tull
Something or other? Fleetwood Mac

The album's long gone and nostagalia must be stamped down.
That might have been 1969. No wonder I couldn't google it.

Ron Paul is the only candidate worth voting for. Every other candidate bends over for big business at the expense of the common people

The Jethro Tull tune cootie made me go out and buy their "Very Best Of" album. I also picked up greatest hits packages from Atlanta Rhythm Section (I used to live in Doraville) and Elvis Costello. My wife got the new Michael Buble album. So now I am ripping them all to my iPod so I can listen to them tomorrow while watching the Kinetic Sculpture Race.

dmd, the WWII memorial was a new one for me. We walked by it, but didn't stay long, as we had miles to go to see other things. It's quite impressive. Hope you have a great time.

Disagree with the characterization of McCain being too intense and hot. Why shouldn't McCain be intense against Osama Bin Laden? After all, we are fighting a war against him.

It is generally agreed that OBL is in Pakistan, but we have no war there. If the focus of the fundamentalist's war (Christian v. Islamic) is embodied in an individual, then who is the focus of Christendom; surely not GWB.

Back from work and enjoyed the moonrise tonight. There is something very cool about the moon a few days after it has been full.

Seems like a nice night for a walk.

"Gunism" (still more on VT) --

http://chronicle.com/temp/reprint.php?id=hhd082zwll82fgp4vjt4dvlmdy0nqxj6

I actually have come to feel, if not pity, then some sympathy for Paris Hilton over time. I'm almost profoundly uninterested in her, but she exists as a cultural phenomenon that I've certainly noticed.

I don't really think that she sought all of the attention that she has gotten, but has often had it thrust upon her, and is sometimes a bit demonized just for having decided to be a good sport and play along.

Somehow, I suspect that she and her lawyer will survive the awful ordeal of a jail sentence relatively intact.

LTL-CA. Very good article.

I've been struck by how the first impulse of some people is "more guns!" as though it protects against baddies.

A gun is NOT a defense. It's only a psychological defense through the threat or potentiality of death.

You want to threaten people all the time in public, there's something wrong with you, not society.

Nearly all police officers carry guns, and work with partners. And they die on the job anyway.

That's because guns will not defend you against an attack, it can only hurt or kill the attacker, assuming you are awake, conscious, and within reach of the gun and able to use it. This is a big IF whenever somebody gets the jump on you or breaks in while you're asleep, etc.

Yet, way some people talk about guns, you'd think guns were people's friends who'd have their backs all the time.

A gun's a hunk of metal designed to kill, okay? It has no loyalty. Drop it wrong, and it can kill you. Lots of weird accidents happen with guns. Just ask Dick Cheney's friend.

Wilbrod, what in the world were you doing up at this hour? :-)

> LTL-CA. Very good article.

Yeah, I wanted to quote the whole thing, but it's a bit long.

Hey LTL-CA! *slowly caffeinating waves*

Ron Paul 2008!

ronpaul2008.com
Check out this man's policies, they're a wonder to behold.

Only white Caucasian males? What's the name of the party again? Republican party?

Good morning, friends. Enjoy your day, Kbert, and you too, Mudge. I hope all of you enjoy your weekend. We have rainy weather here, but we need the rain.

In our morning newspaper here, we got a letter from an angry resident because fire has burned cabin and property belonging to this person. The anger stems from lack of resources given to this fire from the city and county. The writer accuses government of wasting money on schools, health care, and the Seaboard station, and not enough money given to the protection of private property. The writer accuses the local government of only being interested in private property when there is road to be had or taxes to be paid. I, for one, do not believe money is wasted when used for health or schools. I'm not sure about the Seaboard station. I am sorry that this person lost their cabin and their land was burned.

Have to get dress, have a meeting at the church. The pain has stopped for now. I hope for good. It is time for Vacation Bible school, and we have a lot to do to get ready. I can't believe school will be out soon. The kids have twelve more days before the "end of the year test", and some of them really need to work. I will pray and do all I can to help. I so want them to have a good outcome.

Morning, Mudge, Scotty, Slyness, and all.*waving* And what's up, Martooni?

Have a great weekend, folks. Give God some of your time, show your family you love them, and try to get some rest.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Good mornin' all...

And I mean it.

If these mornings don't quit being so beautiful, I just may have to say "to hell with it all" and go fishing. What's really scary is that they're calling for three more days of it (in a row, no less -- not just three nice days randomly scattered over the whole summer). This just isn't natural. Ohioans across the state are stockpiling canned goods and toilet paper, nervously keeping an eye to the sky for the arrival of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Of course, nice weather means "busy, busy" for Handy Hippie (which also means "cha-ching, cha-ching") so I'm off to the races.

Peace out, my friends...

(and today makes 39) :-)

I have a feeling Handy Hippie is going to be phenomenally successful in the short and long run...go for it, Martooni!

Cassandra, your town has a volunteer fire department, right? So any tax funds that go to the VFD are pretty low? You get what you pay for, even in delivery of fire services. This is not to denigrate the volunteers in any way! If you want a four-to-six minute response of resources necessary to extinguish a structure fire, you're going to have to pay a career department. That's why we have insurance, and why the rates are different in different places. To give you some idea of the cost, in Charlotte we figure $1.2 million per year to staff a fire company. A first alarm assignment is two engines and a ladder, so figure $3.6 million annually. I'll bet the elected officials would have a cow before they would approve a tax hike for those kinds of resources.

No, I don't think spending money on schools and health care is stupid. Gotta do it. But if you want public safety services too, gotta pay for those also. It's a matter of balancing what you can afford.

My husband read that the Georgetown library fire was started by workmen who tried to fight it for 10 to 15 minutes before they called 911. Starting a fire is no big deal, it happens all the time. Delaying a call for help is stupid, stupid, stupid. That also happens all the time.

Slyness-your comment struck a chord with me as our small city (pop 99) works with the volunteer fire dept. to try to come up with the 6k a year it takes to pay the mortgage on our community center/fire hall. We could collect 100% of everyone's income, including social security, welfare and treating food stamps like cash, and we still wouldn't have enough to pay fire fighters. Then again, when people choose to live here they know what they're getting into and we jokingly say the dept. motto should be "We save basements." To our north a department refused to respond to a call where no lives were in danger because the property owner had not paid the voluntary fire protection fee they still use for their "unorganized townships" (no government to pay township fire protection to the dept). MN courts ruled in favor of the fire dept. when the owner sued.

On the other hand, I never could understand why NoVA's urban counties still rely on volunteers. There are some paid firefighters, particularly on the day shift, but