Little Pied Cormorant, Cat's Eye Sea Shell

Over at my Aussie site.

Boiling down the RW response to Loughner

Joe Scarborough of all people finally helps me to boil down what's so wrong the RW response to the Tucson shooting. What they all are really saying:

The fact that I'm an irresponsible and offensive asshole doesn't make me responsible for the Tucson shooting!

Yeah, well, they may be right.

"The *educated* ruling class"

One well known commentator, on Obama's speech at the Tuscon memorial:

It was, it was all the things the educated, ruling class wants their members to be and sound like.

"Educated" is a bad thing, apparently.

Haate crime

The Washington Post had a word contest years ago in which they invited readers to take a word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition for the word. Here's one:

Haate crime: What Dutch Nazis get charged with.

Opossums, Possums, and the Art of Photoraphy

A post at my other place.

"Blood Libel" Experts, Table of Two Million!

Today is going to be another stupid day in media world.

What I Want on my Gravestone

If I actually planned to have one:

[sic]

That oughta do it.

GO DUCKS!

They don't have the game on the telly in Sydney, but I'll be keeping tabs online.

Oh well. Hell of a try.

Rage Against the Dying of Lead Paint

This guy would protest government regulation off uranium in children's toys.

My Own Best Friend (The Dog Song)

"My Own Best Friend," the video. (Warning: Contains words that cause cancer in laboratory mice.)

Happy Birthday: Long Tough Blog!

This lesson in internet distraction began on New Year's Eve, 2005. Happy Birthday to us, and a sincere Happy New Year to anyone passing by.

It's New Years Day in Australia, we had a fabulous time on Collaroy Beach watching the fireworks and families with Tin and her friend Di, had a few beverages, watched the fireworks at the Harbor Bridge on TV. Had a swim this morning - it's about 90° F - got some work down, now Im having a beer and listening to Penguins on a Rock.

I love my life.
 

The zombies: "Time of the Season"

I woke up with this song in my head and it will not go away. Maybe I dreamed about listening to the radio when I was four.

I love this song, for childhood memory reasons, and for that opening riff: "dum dum dum (tick) ahhh! dum dum dum (tick) ahhh!" But: "Time of the season"? I'm as relaxed as the next guy about lyrics and odd usages of phrases, but that just seems lazy. Might as well say "period of the period of time."  Then the "Who's your daddy"" business. Never did quite get that. But hey, we'll let that pass.

Because this, my friends, is a legendary video (go here if it doesn't play):


The Zombies - Time of the Season
Uploaded by peakers. - Watch more music videos, in HD!



 

Australia: Where Even the Turds are Alive [update]

My Australia blog has a new post about turds.

I've moved to Australia, and I've got a new blog about it

Take a look: Little Australia.

Announcing: a Leak!

Why does Wikileaks announce that they're going to release leaked material they have? Doesn't it at least kind of defeat the purpose of the leaks? Especially in the case of a private entity like "a big U.S. bank"? Doesn't it give those being leaked from time to fix the damage that might be caused? In the case of the government, if the leaks could actually put people in danger, this is understandable, but even then you wouldn't have to announce it publicly. I don't get it.

Trying to Touch and Reach You...

Just for that one line, a beautiful George Harrison folk song for my beautiful far away girl.

Richie Havens: "License to Kill"

This song has possibly the weirdest line Bob Dylan ever wrote: "man has invented his doom, first step was touching the moon..." What, Neil Armstrong let loose the curst of the moon sphynx? Or is it space travel? Or am I missing something?

Probably missing something.

Anyway, it's a beautiful and haunting song, and the odd and slow tempo for some reason suits Richie Havens'guitar style in a very nice way.

It was legal "because the lawyer said it was"

You know, we really needed another one of these:



Thank you, George W. Bush. Thank you.

Twenty-Nine Dollars (and an Alligator Purse)

I'm not sure how I feel about this song on the cassette player for the ride to work on an early morning. I may not be right all day:

Tracheotomy

I wrote a song many years ago called "I Can't Wait to do a Tracheotomy." It's a love song. Some of my friends here might know it. I was just thinking about that song, and about my father, while looking out over a wide expanse of our Rogue Valley from the deck of my friend Eric's house - he's in Argentina - smoking a Seneca brand filterless cigarette that I bought on the Tonawanda Indian Reservation in Western New York recently. I was in Western New York to visit my father, and various other wonderful elements of my family. 


My father, it turned out, actually had a tracheotomy some years after I wrote that song. Some years after that he presented me with the metal tracheotomy contraption that he'd had to wear during that episode. The grandkids tell me he blew bubbles through it now and then. Dad gave the device to me because I'd written a song called, "I Can't Wait to do a Tracheotomy," and he thought I might like to have it. 


I still have that metal tracheotomy contraption; I saw it recently while going through my possessions in preparation for our move to Australia. I found it in a sandwich bag. Still shiny as ever. I think I'll take that contraption with me to Australia. Why not? 


I tell you this only because: There are some moments, some events, some memories, some combinations of moments, events, and memories, that make this weird painful thing called Life worthwhile. For me, that's one.