October 13, 2007

Not today.

DSC05787_2.JPG

This was some other day. Some warmer day not long ago. Today, I've yet to leave the house. And I really must. So you can take over here. Talk about what you like. I'll join you later.

68 comments:

Unknown said...

Hah!

Mark Daniels said...

I'm going to take a walk. But not on the Brooklyn Bridge.

If I were ambitious though, I could drive to downtown Cincinnati, about twenty minutes from my house, and walk on the Roebling Bridge, designed and built by the same man who designed and oversaw the first portion of construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. As you can see, by following the link, they're strikingly similar to each other. See here.

I'm not that ambitious. I just want to take a walk!

Mark Daniels
Better Living: Thoughts from Mark Danels

Gedaliya said...

The NY Times reprinted a Doris Lessing essay from 1992, and it ends with this line:

I am sure that millions of people, the rug of Communism pulled out from under them, are searching frantically, and perhaps not even knowing it, for another dogma.

I think we all know what it was they found, and who its international spokesman has become: "Global Warming" and the Gore-acle.

Unknown said...

Brave souls, Wisconsonites (or maybe just ignorant). Ran into two at the store this morning, here for the football game. I went out of my way to talk to them, tell them where the dairies were, but forgot to tell them they were taking their lives in their hands wearing those Badgers jackets.

It's homecoming here, plus this is about the most ... how shall I say it ... football crazy place I have ever lived.

Larry Sheldon said...

Never lived in Nebraska, eh?

rcocean said...

Nobel Winners of Literature:
-Pearl Buck
-Sinclair Lewis
-Winston Churchill
-Toni Morrison
-Harold Pinter
-Patrick White
-Nadine Gordimer

Didn't win a Noble prize:
Tolstoy,Chekov, Joyce, Grahame Greene, Waugh, Tennessee Williams, Pound, Auden, Robert Frost, Conrad, Henry James, Woolf, Dylan, Orwell, Forester, Albee, Santayana, Toynbee, Updike, Nabokov, Huxley, Wilder, Blixen.

hdhouse said...

i was a music major at michigan state long ago (10-10 tie era) and i and we did study hard at things (if you flunked out you were drafted so that was incentive enough) but saturdays were magic. band practice early, 1000s showing up to watch it at 9 in the morning, walking across campus after changing for the game (uniform) and not feeling like a dork but people, random strangers, stopping to talk with you, the leaves blowing across Landon field as we did our final preparations, marching to the stadium, the alma mater acappella, running out on that field with 75000 people....

on a day like this in the hamptons, the blue blue sky, the sound of the surf from the ocean just over there, birds galore in the marshlands, leaves, ....

there is nothing like the random saturday morning.

hdhouse said...

mark...

as a colerain elementary school grad and with my sister living in montgomery, i'm well familiar with that bridge and that area.

you should go. i get the riveris gorgeous this morning.

Maxine Weiss said...

Oh, goodie.

Does that mean we can talk about son Christoper, Aunt Dell, Cousin Cliff, Step-Mommy Susan...????

Tonya Brito
Lucas Cates
Britton Rice
Nina Camic

etc etc etc ???????

hdhouse said...

knock one or three back maxine and then knock your socks off

Gedaliya said...

rcocean...

I contend that Churchill was as great a writer as any in the 20th century, and I also believe that Pearl Buck's The Good Earth is a sublime work of art, well deserving of the Nobel.

Two others who should have received Nobel prizes but did not: Somerset Maugham and Patrick O'Brian.

Maxine Weiss said...

Has Xaviera Hollander received her Nobel yet?

Carmen said...

hdhouse- I remember that game! But wouldn't attend State until 4 years later. You're so right about those magic Saturdays, thanks for your post.

AllenS said...

Crisp beautiful day in West Central Wisconsin. I cut wood this morning, and just returned with the trailer full. Fresh air to breath while driving the tractor back. Leaves turning beautiful colors. Saw a mink when I first got out there, and then when I was loading the trailer, noticed an eight point buck standing in the woods watching me.

vet66 said...

Maxine; I can never remember. Maybe you can assist me. Did she write something called the "Happy COOker' or was is it the "Happy BOOker?"

I recall it was something about a search for the "BIG O!"

Trooper York said...

I was hanging out at O’lunney’s Time Square pub last night and there were three kids from Belfast drinking at the end of the bar. This older Irish guy. comes in and starts drinking hand over fist, pints, shots, Irish car bombs, the works... After a while he goes up to the other Irish guys points at the one in the middle and says, in a drunken slur, "I've shagged your Mum." The three guys look bewildered and the old dude goes back to drinking at the bar. I really thought there was going to be a fight. Ten minutes later he comes back and announces, "Your Mum has sucked my penis." The three guys try and ignore him and he goes back to the bar. After another ten minutes he comes back and shouts, "I've had your Mum up the ass." By now these guy’s have had enough and the one in the middle stands up and screams, "Look, Dad, you're pissed. Now fuck off home."

ricpic said...

Thornton: [drunk] Woman-of-the-house! I have brought the brother home to supper!
Mary Kate Danahar: He is kindly welcome.
"Red Will" Danahar: [also drunk] God bless all in this house...
Mary Kate Danahar: Wipe your feet!
"Red Will" Danahar: Thank you mum!

--The Quiet Man

Trooper York said...

Thornton: There'll be no locks or bolts between us, Mary Kate... except those in your own mercenary little heart
(The Quiet Man)

rcocean said...

"I contend that Churchill was as great a writer as any in the 20th century, and I also believe that Pearl Buck's The Good Earth is a sublime work of art, well deserving of the Nobel.

Two others who should have received Nobel prizes but did not: Somerset Maugham and Patrick O'Brian."

My post was merely informational. We all know the Nobel prize committee rewards great literature on merit alone.

titus23 said...

Good afternoon fellow republicans.

I walked the dogs forever today.

One of them has the craps and it is nasty. Try picking up watery poop on the sidewalk, while trying to look fabulous-very difficult.

One of the dogs has had to go out 5 times today.

It is absolutely beautiful here. Fairly warm with a little crispness in the air.

How long is the Al Gore bashing going to go on? Your heads are exploding. We have a Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd op ed coming up which will likely move us past Gore.

Today, because the dog's shit problem I was unable to do my normal Saturday where I take inventory of myself through yoga etc.

Instead I folded t's and hung shirts and pants in alpha order by designer.

Now all my Prada, Mui Mui, Ben Sherman, Diesel, Penquin, Izod (retro, of course), Gucci, Armani, Marc Jacobs, John Bartlett, John Varvatos, Commes des Garcon, Heidi Salome, Jill Sander, Banana (when I am slumming), FCUK, Armani Exchange, Burberry, Perry Ellis (again slumming), Marc (by Marc Jacobs, Prada Sport, Kenneth Cole, Theory, Sisley and Bennetton are among friends. They feel safe and comfey that way.

I also finished Sartre's The Age of Reason and absolutely loved it.

Now I am reading John Cheever's The Wapshot Scandal. Next up is Jean Genet's The Maids and Deathwatch.

I a preparing to go to a Red State this week. Obviously, I will need to buy the proper attire. Prada doesn't make sense and will probably be way too obvious. They would hate me for being glamorous and I want to come back home alive. Also, would a Yankees or Red Sox baseball cap be too blue state? I was actually thinking of (gulp) buying some piece of trash at Express or Macy's. Any recommendations for what is appropriate attire for a red state would be much appreciated. I want to try and assimilate as much as possible and come home alive.

I am leaning towards Banana long sleeve plain t's, not athletic fit, and levis, yankees baseball cap and addidas samba sneakers. Wish me luck girls.

titus23 said...

Now that it is getting cooler out I think I am going to lay off on the sex a little bit.

Probably just jerk off to a couple of porno websites that I frequent.

Don't get me wrong. If something happens on the street with a little looksy wooksy I may invite them back or go back. One time I was walking the dogs and looksy wooksy took place with this hot guy. We talked for approximately 5 seconds and went back to his place. I was too far from my apartment so he said it was ok to take the dogs to his place. He had the most beautiful loft I had ever seen. He was some big wig at Time Warner. We left the dogs in the main living area and went into his bedroom. When we returned one of my dogs chewed a big chunk out of his fancy couch and another one took a big shit on his fabulous floors. Needless to say the queen was livid.

titus23 said...

The queen was so proud of all of her furniture. She had to point out where she purchased everything and how much it cost. Very materialistic-I hate that.

I was like I don't care, just get on your knees bitch and show me your ass.

Now back to my books my little doves.

Ann Althouse said...

Titus, that was hilarious.

hdhouse said...

carmen

then you know of sparty and the red cedar..the botanical gardens and beaumont

i went back last fall for a visit while on business...several times in fact...it is still the same and still magic.

Kev said...

hdhouse: "i was a music major at michigan state long ago"

Two questions:

1) What was (is?) your instrument?

2) Were you ever actually in the music profession, or did you go straight to something else? What prompted you to make the change?

(...asks the guy with two music degrees who's perservered in the field this whole time, but has seen a lot of friends go elsewhere.)

hdhouse said...

hi kev...i played trumpet there but wanted to be a conductor. after my masters i came east and went to teachers college/columbia and julliard. went to university of kentucky to teach and finish my doctorate but transferred the credits back to columbia. did that for a while until a business partner shot a shotgun off right next to my right ear and i can't really hear...so went into international trade by a silly route and then into advertising.

An Edjamikated Redneck said...

Trooper & ricpic- Quotes from a great movie; I might have to pop in the DVD after dark.

Can you beat John Ford as a story teller?

Smilin' Jack said...

I can't believe no one has yet commented on the most striking aspect of that picture. Sometimes I think I'm the only straight guy around here.

blogging cockroach said...

smilin jack...yes you are.

titus...if your're worrying how to behave
in red states and other unfamiliar places
you should follow my mother's advice...
'when in doubt, act like myrna loy.'

john said...

Is this for ramblin?

Inspired by getting caught up in troll baiting here a while ago with some of the regulars who have not yet contributed on this thread, and then finding out that by doing so I became what I tried to belittle:

What I want to do is a time plot of a typical or large posting, say about 125 or more posts, to see if they follow the pattern that I think exists in Althouse land:

1. First 5-10 posts happen very fast, and are usually right wing knee jerk responses to whatever Ann has tossed out, and very much to form.


2. Second is a mixture of left wing responses, also very predictible, lame, and to form. Both this set and the earlier one are almost canned in their content.

3. The scattershot between the first two groups is joined by the more interesting, intellegent, and regular posters here, of both stripes. Kind on like rolling up the 12-pounders after the skirmishers have spent their wads.

4. The intellegent give-and-take quickly degrades into name calling as each finds his pithy points are being ignored. Everyone now becomes a skirmisher.

5. High altitude bombers Maxine and Titus have little effect as they cant see the battlefield through the overcast.

6. Mark Daniels calls for a truce and a visit to his website.

7. A certain poster enters, causing most leave the battlefield. Some of us dont.

So my question is: how can I post this type of plot with the limited resources here? I earlier tried to copy an Excel chart and past it, but it came out as a string of messy text and symbols.

Regards,

Gedaliya said...

I think the bigger question is why titus22 has transmogrified into titus23.

An anxious world breathlessly awaits the news.

titus23 said...

Fellow Republicans,

I am now watching the Bosox.

Schilling is looking a little old.

Manny is being Manny.

Varitek is sucking.

Carmona is pitching pretty good, hanging in their with the dynamic dominican duo.

Did that sound kind of straight?

rcocean said...

Since someone brought up knee jerk left-wing responses. Where is the left-wing "outrage" over Ann Coulter's latest dust up?

She was mean to Danny Deutch. She insulted (somehow) Jews, and she talked about Christ on CNBC.

I guess the left is suffering from Coulter fatigue. Or maybe no one watches CNBC.

titus23 said...

Coco Crisp hasn't done anything tonight.

I love that name-Coco Crisp. He is a Bosox player.

Sounds like a drag queen name.

My friends drag name for me is "Desire More".

My favorite drag queen names are:

Hedda Lettuce
Scabola Feces
Ming Vase (she is asian)
Sparkle Gem Stone
Evian Waters

My favorite drag queen is The Lady Bunny. She is fierce.

Whats your fellow conservatives?

titus23 said...

Some other enjoyable drag queen names for your Saturday viewing pleasure:

Amanda Playwith
Iona Sextoy
Tess Tosterone
Holly Mackerel
Bertha Venation
Sofonda Cox
Tequila Mockingbird
Hope Heelcum
Ivana Kutchakockoff
Clare Booth Luce Change
Snow White Trash

blogging cockroach said...

john,

welcome to the vortex.

you can write spreadsheets.
you can make flowcharts.
you can do regression analysis.
you can even model it and make a javascript simulator.

you're wasting your time.
althouse is way ahead of you.

she's brilliant.

she's figured out a way to make -you-
supply the content.
she knows just where to hit the bell
to get it to ring the loudest
with the least effort.

start arguin' bastards,
was an old army joke in wwi.
it works for althouse.
you're not going to change her
or 'improve' this blog.

i used to be a sincere and thoughtful regular.
now i'm a blogging cockroach.
vortex-wise, that's a big plus.
if you had any sense,
you'd become an alley cat of dubious morals.
we'd make a great team.

of course that's just sparkle and froth.
if you want to really help the vortex suck 'em in,
...now don't get all hot on us, titus...
become a wingnut or moonbat asshole
and get good at machine gun insults
and content-free posting.
300-comment food fights, here weeeee come.

ooh. speaking of food fights,
i've got to crawl back under the fridge
and wait for cyrus.

Trooper York said...

As I walk through the valley of the kitchen cabinet
I take a look at a crumb and realize there's not much left
'Cuz I've been runnin' and hidin' so long
That even the exterminator thinks his mind is gone
But I seen that guy crunch a roach that didn't deserve it
Me be fooled by a Roach Motel you know that's unheard of
You better watch where you flyin' and where you walkin'
Or you and your homies might get stuck and be caught
I really hate the sink, cause water makes me choke
In the disposal, I see myself drowning in Coke, fool
I'm the kinda roach the little maggots wanna be like
Runnin' around in the night
In the cabinets when there is a light

We've been spending most our lives living in the roach's paradise
We've been spending most our lives living in the roach's paradise
Keep spending most our lives living in the roach's paradise
Keep spending most our lives living in the roach's paradise

They got the extermination
They got me facin'
I can't live a normal life
I have to cower in the pipes
But they still might get me with a laser beam
The Discovery Channel showing them about what microwaves can do to me
In a microwave roaches explode into bits you cannot find
Got my antennae feelin' for food because I am blind
I'm a moped-out roach trap-tripper in Bangor
When Raid prices are down, it arouses my anger, fool
Death ain't nuthin' but a bug zapper away
I'm livin' life for a limited time, what can I say?
I'm 23 days old, now how will I live to see 24
The way things are goin', I best run out the door

Tell me why Raid is blind to see
That roaches, too, have feelings

We've been spending most our lives
Living in the roach's paradise

Devour the groceries, groceries to devour
The exterminator has been called, and will be here in an hour
Everybody's runnin', but half of them ain't lookin'
The new Roach Motel has begun overbookin'
But I don't fancy myself cookin'
They say I'm gonna die, but the exterminator can't reach me
All I can do is hope he doesn't use D-E-E-T
I guess he can
I guess he will
I guess I'm done
That's why I know my life is outta luck, fool

We've been spending most our lives
living in the roach's paradise

Tell me why Raid is blind to see
That roaches, too, have feelings

Tell me why Raid is blind to see
That roaches, too, have feelings
(Aaron Dodson 1997)

blogging cockroach said...

sniff...sniff...
that really chokes me up, trooper.
it's all so true.
thank you for that.
it's nice to know somebody understands.

blogging cockroach said...

another thing, trooper...
that is real inspiration to cultivate my soul before it's too late.
my grandfather archy was a poet, but i'm a modern cockroach,
too caught up in the...pardon the expression...rat race
to stop and smell the roses, or at least the rotting banana peel.
too analytic...thinking, thinking, thinking all the time.
i need to stop and listen to music, to the wind rustling in the trees,
to the rats rifling through the garbage,
just sit back and let the cosmos unfold without all this strife and trouble.

and to do my part for the vortex, i promise to improve my language.
an idea has just popped into my mind.
blank verse would be the perfect thing
to inspire and discipline my neglected inner poet.

tell you what.  my next comment will be in blank verse.
if that works, all i can say is, look out, will shakespeare.

in fact, it's an idea i'd recommend for everybody.
althouse should have a blank verse thread,
where all the comments have to be in pentameter...
hmmm...'you suck' would work in an iambic line,
so we wouldn't be totally without the usual ways of expressing ourselves.

Ruth Anne Adams said...

Blogging cockroach: Are any of your relative dung beetles? Or, for Althouse, dung Beatles?

Gedaliya said...

Does anyone else (besides myself, I mean), hear titus' voice in the postings of blogging cockroach?

titus23 said...

Genitalia love Titus

titus23 said...

I am currently watching the Red Sox/Indians and I am trying to figure which Red Sox player and which Indian player I most want to do.

blogging cockroach said...

o ruth, i said the comments that you'd see
would only be in poets' meter'd feet,
to give my thoughts a polish that perhaps
unready, paltry talents should not try,
yet caught in life's entangled web we each
must cut the cords that bind us to the earth,
and struggle up toward heaven's promis'd light.

yet there is one, no friend of mine, who ne'er
can do nor fathom higher things in life.
like sisyphus of old, his fate consists
of rolling, pushing, struggling all his days
at tasks without reward and without end.
the beetle's ball of dung roll'd round and round
puts us in mind of punishments that wait
for all the damn'd who sin by wasting time
in front of glowing screens by day and night,
and think there is a life that may be found
somewhere inside the whisp'ring, bright-lit box.

Trooper York said...

For a vortex to win in the Bloggers League
The commentators need to be versed
In the skills of sweeping the diamond
At shortstop and second and first.

Oh, where would Wingnut Fun Club have been
In two thousand and seven
If the men who patrolled up the middle
Could only curse and rail at the Heaven?

If with tongue not of gold and facts lined with lead
Each knocked down logic with knees or with head;
Then reached down to launch a sub-orbital throw
To the home team dugout or seventeenth row?

Then Cyrus and Lucky would score on these terrors
Four runs on no hits but five or six on errors,
On Titus, on Maxine, on Pogo; and Pallaides,
An infield double's your double-hop bonus.

And how would Franklin P. Adams describe
These choreographers' dance?
Why, just slap the ball up the middle.
Linkers to Althouse? No Chance!

titus23 said...

Ok, I have decided which baseball player from the Sox Indians I want to do most:

Sizemore, from the Indians.

Then

Manny Ramirez from the Bosox.

john said...

Blog. cock.

Can I call you that? Thanks for the insight, and I didnt know you were that old.

I will continue with my multiple regressions nonetheless.

Titus, I think, had a birthday. Happy birthday Titus! You are a lot younger than most of the people who cruise this bathhouse. Be careful in here. You know if you say your name 3 times fast what it sounds like? Am I the last one to figure that out?

Finally, the Indians smoked what has to be the ugliest team in baseball. Why in hell do TV cameramen think we're interested in ultra HD closeups of managers chewing, spitting and drooling?

john said...

Also, why cant multimillionaire baseball players shave? They all look like the same bobblehead you get at the ballbark, the one from Frys.

Gedaliya said...

Genitalia love Titus

Ah Titus...if only you weren't a figment of your own imagination.

Kev said...

hdhouse--sorry to read about your hearing loss. I've lost a little bit here and there, being in front of big bands and jazz combos and so on, but it's not a big problem so far. *knocks wood*

Nobody talked about it when I was in college, but hearing loss has become such a problem for musicians that my alma mater opened up a center for music and medicine that specializes in hearing-loss issues.

Kev said...

can't believe no one has yet commented on the most striking aspect of that picture. Sometimes I think I'm the only straight guy around here.

Not at all, Smilin' Jack. I saw what you saw, but I didn't feel right bringing it up in mixed company, previous posts on the subject notwithstanding.

titus23 said...

Genitalia, want to private in another chat room?

What are your stats?

Remember no pic no dick.

titus23 said...

Yea, the Indians are definitely cuter than the Red Sox.

Gedaliya said...

No Titus, I'm as straight as a grunge-chic model's hips. But thanks for the offer.

What's with the 23?

Ann Althouse said...

Said to Titus: "You know if you say your name 3 times fast what it sounds like?"

I always think of this old song:

Just as tight a$ you can make it
Hard and slow ain't hard enough
Just as tight a$ you can shake it girl
Git it on and do your stuff

Tight a$ you can get it
Tight a$ got it made
Uptight's alright but if ya can't stand the heat
You better get back in the shade


No one plays that one anymore.

Ann Althouse said...

blogging cockroach has come out as a bitter sock puppet. that's so less interesting than a new comer who decided to be a cockroach... too bad!

Gedaliya said...

Ann...

Don't keep us in suspense...who is the cockroach's alter ego??

Gedaliya said...

"Tight As"...the second track on the Mind Games album...Beatles 1973.

(I looked it up).

Gedaliya said...

oops...sorry...John Lennon solo album...not Beatles.

KCFleming said...

The 'Archy and Mehitabel' series was among my favorites as a kid. I don't know why. I still find Don Marquis' work poignant. Mehitabel the alley cat claims that she was a reincarnation of Cleopatra. Archy the cockroach types it up, one key at a time (he cannot work the shift).

from the song of mehitabel
i once was an innocent kit
wotthehell wotthehell
with a ribbon my neck to fit
and bells tied onto it
o wotthehell wotthehell
but a maltese cat came by
with a come hither look in his eye
and a song that soared to the sky
and wotthehell wotthehell
and i followed adown the street
the pad of his rhythmical feet
o permit me again to repeat
wotthehell wotthehell



Mehitabel seems alot like Titus.

Ann Althouse said...

"Don't keep us in suspense...who is the cockroach's alter ego??"

I don't know. He just admitted it, didn't he?

Ann Althouse said...

We could try to guess who left in a huff but still longs to play here.

Ann Althouse said...

By the way, I have the original hardback of "archy and mehitabel." My parents loved it. I inherited it.

KCFleming said...

Luckeeee.

I love the drawings by cartoonist George Herriman, better known for his comic strip Krazy Kat, of which I am also fond.

Come to think of it, I feel like Krazy Kat coming here sometimes, with adversarial mice plunking bricks on my noggin', but I keep coming back, looking for love in all the wrong vortices.

P.S. Finally saw "Across the Universe" last night. Great song interpretations, but I only liked the Liverpudlian's story. Everyone else's seems like it was copied from the Generic Sixties Template.

Didn't anyone actually just go to class and get drunk in 1968? It's like how whenever someone claims to have been reincarnated, they always used to be Napolean, rather than his bootmaker. I know there were camp counselors in their early 20s that year; they didn't make bombs or protest signs in the artandcrafts tent that I can recall.

Colored yarn makes for good Gods Eyes, but not Molotov cocktails.

blogging cockroach said...

oh we all have our alteregos.
just depends where you are and what you're doing.
when i'm typing helpful hints relaxed at home
i'm a whole different cockroach than when
i'm scurrying around the basement of st. eulalia's
looking for leftover doughnut crumbs.
they have cake doughnuts yum.
last week i went to st. paul's
very high church and stuffy
i was a very dignified cockroach
i had to be.  there was nothing to scurry after.
they'll give you a glass of water those anglicans.
now you should have seen me at the party last friday.
but we're not going there.
anyway, everyone on the internet knows about
keeping up appearances.

and pleeeze...i'm not bitter, just realistic.
that was the problem with old archy
too much of the romantic.
insects should be relentless,
but archy had a human soul and that of a poet to boot.
i'm trying to work on my poet side,
but blank verse is hard as you can see.
maybe i'll try haiku next.
hope that will help keep up the interest.

i want to do my bit for the vortex
and anyway, where else on the internet
could you find titus

john said...

I'd like to amend my 7 step Althouse post pattern. Using the word "Gore" in any context in the original post will cause the comment thread to go immediately to the 7th step.

john said...

4th step

blogging cockroach said...

john,
you're right of course
but i really don't see the point of analyzing this place.
there's nothing to be done with you've learned.
it's a bit like knowing how your car works
you know it
i know it
even lao-tsu knows it
but can you fix a modern car
without a special computer and lots of tools
they don't sell at napa...

i'd just take it for a spin if i were you.
watch out for the potholes
and don't hit any pedestrians.

welll...maybe one or two if you aim right.