Musical Treat

The Flamingoes, I Only Have Eyes for You.

Because things lost may sometimes be found, and because there's just not enough group harmony on the Net.  Pun intended. 

(via Jill @ Brilliant at Breakfast, although she has the version from Dames.)

Day Game

Baseball should be played in the daytime.  Sunshine seems to impart a coating of peace to the proceedings, so that even a manager/umpire argument seems benign (the umpire did not throw the manager out--it seemed a pro forma disagreement) and the winning sacrifice fly is almost an aesthetic moment.

Also, this midsummer day game was the occasion for clubs, recreational entities, leagues, and whatnot to bring sizable numbers of children.  Almost every person in the area under the age of 13 seemed to be in the ballpark.  The concessions ran out of hot dogs a couple of times.  (They have, however, reinstated sauerkraut.)

The home team, alas, lost.

Warning Note 2

Someday there will be writing here and maybe stuff in the form of:

3(

5(iamb)n, n+1, n+2

5(iamb)x, x+1, x+2

5(iamb)x, x+1, x+2

5(iamb)n, n+1, n+2

)

2(

5(iamb)y

)

Don't count on it, though.  It's been a long time.

Time Machines Not Wanted

I do not wish to visit the past unless I can be invisible.

(Reading Anthony Boucher over a weekend will do that.)

Warning Note

One of the reasons I will probably not write about politics here is that I prefer to research facts rather than just make up a lie.

However, I'm always snark-edelic.

Eclectic

We keep no pigeons here.

More of the Same

Remember this?

New York Times with another feature, same subject.

Maybe persuading Mt. Vesuvius to erupt in clear plastic might help (it wasn't the lava; it was the gases and the mud).

Still being a nuisance elsewhere.  I want to go and rent Busby Berkeley DVDs.

Oy.

Sorry, I'm off blabbing in comments on other people's blogs today. Besides, catastrophic pitcher failure is never pretty.

One of the Ways of Politics

On the horns of a dilemma--"flavored" cigarettes (except menthol) and the Congressional Black Caucus.

Pardon me while I spit.

Hum of rushing blood

This life, this life; brief

candle flame snuffed by a breath

of iris in June.

I cannot take pride

in not knowing how to play

this squall'd instrument.

This Music

Taking a brief vacation from All Eric Clapton, All the Time to listen to jazz.

Nina Simone in the morning.  Priceless.

Why Movies Are Crap

Week before last, I picked up some DVDs because well, sometimes it helps, and I hadn't seen The Mask since whenever it came out.  (It's blessedly short.)  Some store had a 3-for-20 dollar sale so I also got Blazing Saddles (wheee!) and the first Austin Powers flick (the other two weren't funny.  Sorry).

Of course Jim Carrey's character when in the mask is a Trickster figure.  Got that.  It's just...Jim Carrey is a little too good-looking to be a believable schlemiel.

But most of what else was on sale at that store was dreck.  Detritus.  Flotsam.  To use the technical term, junk.

One of the reasons for this situation is simply Sturgeon's Law.  

This is another.

Companion piece for deeper understanding. Which contains the terrific statement:

Even more frightening is the prospect of letting into the industry people who don’t have a beef against women. Because you know what other traits non-bigots tend to share? Intelligence and self-confidence.

-- Hathor Legacy, via Echidne of the Snakes, via Avedon Carol.  Because sometimes I have that taint myself.

Irrelevant Factoid #1

Since 1964, no President has had a surname with more than two syllables; since 1960 only three Presidents have had more than 6 letters in their last names.

Mondays Honor the Moon

In spite of my mentioning (several times) the 39th anniversary of humans walking on the moon yesterday, I forgot to make a note of it here.  Happy belated Moon Day!  (And may more people walk on the Moon in the lifetime of those who have already been there.)  (To steal a botched argument:  Why are we spending all that money in Iraq when we could be solving our own problems at home?  Or is that why?)

Reference to "Mr. Costello, Hero" also refers to the gutting of the Fourth Amendment.  (I like my wordplay to work.)

(I know; I don't really want to do politics here.  But I'm just so mad this morning!)

Video video (Thank you, Mr. Costello, Hero)

Just doing my part to make this viral.

NB:  It runs for five minutes, so...

Old Loops

Nothing to see here,

noble liars, Nobel choirs

know Belle Quelle surprise.

cobblestone alleys 4 ayem

composted trash since 

the Herod Administration

is love

what knows

she possibly

Two Things

1. I miss the Apple ads that used to run on Fridays in The New York Times. 


2. Joe Blanton has been traded to Philadelphia.  The man must have insulted a leprechaun.

Hummus

A disquisition on hummus by Hanne Blank.

And Such Small Portions

I talk too much.

All in Linear Time

That is, the stuff that wants to get written about will eventually appear as the last written paragraph first and this, which is next to "And ALL IN CAPS, Too" although it is not (quite) a rant, will be buried in the middle.  So it goes.

Moment of cognitive dissonance:  Cover band, in which the singer is of color, doing "Sweet Home Alabama."

The fact of the matter is there may well be lots of anti-war songs this go-round, but they will not be on the radio because fragmentation of audience, niche formatting, and corporate media noticed that that stuff worked last time and they're not up for a repeat of Vietnam.  (Notice that most of the lesson learned about the Vietnam War is not "Don't get into this situation," it's "Keep everything under wraps and yell louder!")

Which reminded me of Phil Ochs.  One of whose songs ("Love Me, I'm a Liberal") refers to Les Crane, who died a few days ago (link is to obit).  (Certain neo-cons fit that song.)  Mr. Crane recorded "Desiderata," but of course what's on that node in memory is Ken Nordine's recording of "Deteriorata."   

And a little messing around got Mr. Nordine talking about Fibonacci numbers.

Heavy makeup is another thing that won't work in high definition digital filmmaking ("Mommy, that man has sand all over his face, and it moves!").  High def digital may have to be reserved for sporting events, live concerts, and documentaries.  

Everything else just makes me sad today.

And ALL IN CAPS, too.

Too much, dahling, too much!

Linguistic Oddity

Guy on the bus yesterday had a Praha Beer Drinking Ceska Republika t-shirt.  

Why, no, I didn't ask him where he got it.

What it did inspire, though, is the From which language did English get that Name game.

English mostly got geographic names from French, with Slavic language words transliterated into German.  (The only spelling I would be willing to simplify would be Chaikovsky.  Although that's not as recognizable as Tschaikowsky, even though the difference is one of transliteration again.)  This is why French cities are the same in English and French, but Italian cities have extra letters and odd pronunciations, and some German cities are rendered mumbly in English.

So.  How'd the 'z' get into 'Czech'?  Czech has supplementary diacritical marks to indicate pronunciation--the reader has to know how to pronounce the word.  Probably the Polish side; Polish has 'cz' and 'sz' although 'zs' seems to be mostly Magyar.  French has 'ch' but in the days when French was a heavy influence on English, that region was called Bohemia, so that's no help.  Dvorak (one of the three Czech composers who wrote in this curious rhythm) is known to be pronounced Dvor-zhak, with a swoop on the o and a dingbat on the r, but somebody somewhere decided that wasn't going to work for the name of the country.

Mmmmm, research...

Happy Bastille Day!

Drat; they don't start the parties until 9.

Allons enfants de la Patrie!

History and lyrics of La Marseillaise, via Wikipedia.  Because you'll want to practice for tomorrow.

Also in case you have to outsing Major Strasser and his posse.

Saturday Afternoon (Forever)

I took a chance and went down to the Hayward/Russell City Blues Festival.  (Hey, it's the second weekend in July--Bastille Day is Monday--good times.)  This group played. And cooked!  (Link, entirely coincidentally, thanks to Avedon Carol)

Confidential to CG:  I have seen the goats!

No Water in the Pool

Yes, this has been, so far, discursive.  No, I have not bothered to introduce myself.  Someday there may be pictures, although I am still fine-tuning composition.

Meanwhile, I observe the antics of the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front and remark that for whatever reason/hardwiring in the brainpan, humans cannot stand to work together toward political goals past certain points...

Oh, and...  (I find the "we need demographic data so we can sell you something, and don't want you if we can't sell you something" attitude to be repulsive.  In case you need to ask.) (Further:  money has no gender.  It had better not.)  ETA:  via Whump.

And let's see if I can do this...  Beatles Day in Liverpool, via the BBC.

Rises and Falls

William L. Shirer.

Edward Gibbon.

The City of Mahagonny.

Lessons for us all.

Oh, and:  Bruce Fein.  Conservative Constitutionalist.  (Articles appearing in Slate.)

There's new Journey product on the radio.

Why?

Drifting like Dust on the Mental Landscape

Silk calls my name.

Eh-h-h, What's up, Doc?

Just reading some Steve.

And you?

Paging the Cathedral of Chalesm...

So in the course of my peregrinations, I stumbled across this article on Pompeii.

And of course, neglect and active vandalism is what happened to lots of ancient cities and sites.

By devious means, these thoughts led me to the Landmark Preservation Commission for Nineveh.  Because it's never too soon to preserve the treasures of civilization.  Although I don't think that Assur should have dumped their garbage there during the strike...

Independence Day, 2008

A reminder.(1)

Another reminder.(2)

Third jogging of memory.(3)

1.  via S. Silver, via A. Hlavaty; 

2.  Elfnet; 

3.  via A. Carol

'Nuff said

Today is the hundredth anniversary of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall's birth.

La Vie Quotidienne

1. Soap
2. Church
3. Breakfast
4. Messing around with the Web
5. Soap
6. Lunch
7. Soap
8. More messing around with the Web
9. Job Hunting
10. Soap
11. Dinner
12. Soap
13. Sleep
14. Three ayem sudoku
15. That'll bring us back to Doe.