Because I could use a little cheering up tonight … some classic Smothers Brothers. Remember, if you’re a folksinger, when someone says “take it” you are obligated to take it. And here’s an updated version of “Cabbage” from the 80s. Now with bonus naked bacon! Poor Tommy … all those years later and […]
Entries Tagged as 'Culture'
Boiling Some Cabbage with the Smothers Brothers
August 8th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Comedy, Culture, Music, TV, Video
Tags:
Bridge to the 21st Century
August 6th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Infrastructure, Media, News, Politics, Public Transportation, TV, Video
Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow say pretty much what I’ve been wanting to say about the Minneapolis bridge collapse story. I hate to say it, but I feel like we’ve just had a “welcome to the 21st century” kind of moment, and this isn’t going to be the last time this kind of preventable […]
Tags:
B-52’s Update: New Album, Cindy & Fred Interviews, and “Glove Slap,” Baby
August 6th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Music, New Wave, News, TV, Video
Yet another piece about the new B-52’s album, all recorded now with 12 shiny new songs, and just waiting for the right record deal to bring it to the public. The super-lucky-ducky writer of the piece got to sit around and listen to the new album with Cindy Wilson in her basement, and offers this […]
Tags:
The Money Power: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama at Yearly Kos
August 5th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Blogs, Chicago, Culture, Media, News, Politics, Video
From a story in the Washington Post on the Yearly Kos convention taking place in Chicago this weekend… I can’t believe Hillary actually said this out loud. Clinton came under attack for declining to join former senator John Edwards (N.C.), who is quite popular with bloggers, and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in pledging not to […]
Tags:
A Message from Ian McKellen
August 1st, 2007 · 5 Comments · Activism, Culture, Film, Human Rights, LGBT, Media, News, Politics, Theater, Video
… to the people of Singapore.
Tags:
Yvonne Zipter: “A Canine Metaphysics”
August 1st, 2007 · 3 Comments · Books, Chicago, Culture, Lit, Nature, News, Pets, Poetry, Spirituality
As a sort of spiritual antidote to the horrible Michael Vicks dogfighting story, here’s a lovely poem by Chicago poet Yvonne Zipter (shared here with her permission). It’s from Yvonne’s most recent chapbook, Like Some Bookie God, which came out last year. A Canine Metaphysics In his meditative moments — nose to the air or […]
Tags:
Good Morning, Day 14
July 31st, 2007 · Comments Off on Good Morning, Day 14 · Activism, Culture, Essays, HCC-DDT, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid
So I’ve been slammed with work for the last week or so, and I haven’t had a chance to update this count in a full seven days. During that time, about 350 more Americans have died because they couldn’t afford health care. That brings the total count to approximately 700 people who have died just […]
Tags:
Golden Compass Trailer
July 31st, 2007 · 6 Comments · Books, Culture, Fantasy, Film, Lit, News, Video
Finally! An “extended preview” trailer for The Golden Compass. Been waiting for-EV-er for a look at this. Hard to tell too much for sure, but it does seem like they’ve gotten the look of it right. And it seems like maybe it’s going to be fairly faithful to the book — fingers crossed anyway. […]
Tags:
A Magical MASH-Up
July 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Books, Comedy, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, TV
Jim over at empty-handed.com finally figured out who this Harry Potter person everyone keeps talking about is. And he has provided no less than five new books chronicling the adventures of this popular character. The results are pure wizardry! With, um, surgical precision. And lucky you, I’ve giving you links to the whole five-book series. […]
Tags:
Lemon Battery
July 26th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Science, Video
Arrggh … so busy with work. But while I’m busy not blogging, you could always go make a bat-tree out of a lemon. (Note — you’re going to need four lemons to fire up that little LED light, so stock up!) If life gives you lemons, hook your calculator up to them! My favorite […]
Tags:
John Edwards on Universal Health Care
July 25th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Politics, Video
Here’s a good example of why I like this guy so much. He gets it. And he lets you know that he gets it. This is Edwards speaking at the Gnomedex Tech conference in 2006: … and from Monday night’s debate: Via this most excellent diary at Daily Kos.
Tags:
Music: Catching Up to Yoko
July 24th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Chicago, Culture, Feminism, Human Rights, Journal, LGBT, Media, Music, New Wave, News, TV, Video
Something I’ve been meaning to post for a couple of weeks now … I’ve long thought that Monica Kendrick is the best music writer at the Reader and the spot-on writeup she turned in just before Yoko Ono’s appearance at the recent Pitchfork Music Festival only reinforces that notion: 9:00 Yoko Ono For decades her […]
Tags:
Good Morning, Day 7
July 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Good Morning, Day 7 · Activism, HCC-DDT, Health, Healthcare Crisis, Human Rights, Journalism, Media, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid
About 50 Americans have died since yesterday because they couldn’t afford health care. That brings the total to 350 people who have died thanks to our profit-focused health care system just since I started keeping this count, six days ago. If 350 US citizens had died in a plane crash this week, we’d be hearing […]
Tags:
Roundup: Picketing Flamingo Edition
July 23rd, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Picketing Flamingo Edition · Apple, Blogs, Chicago, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Design, Essays, Foreign Policy, Health, HIV/AIDS, Illinois, LGBT, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Politics, Roundup, Science, Tech, Travel
“Iraq hasn’t even begun”: Writing in the LA Times, Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European studies at Oxford University, examines the long-term consequences of the debacle in Iraq, and concludes, “Looking back over a quarter of a century of chronicling current affairs, I cannot recall a more comprehensive and avoidable man-made disaster.” Digby on […]
Tags: