Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'News'

In His House at R’lyeh the Ronald Waits Dreaming

May 8th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, History, LGBT, Lit, News, Politics, Theater

Apparently the Republican candidates spent their recent debate going on and on about how great Ronald Reagan was and blah blah “Morning in America” blah blah Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn! blah. Oh, Republican candidates. You silly creatures. You really should know better than that. Because now I’m going to have to open a […]

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In Chicago: Alt Q, Diane di Prima at the Poetry Center, and Fruity Neo-Futurist Fun

May 8th, 2007 · Comments Off on In Chicago: Alt Q, Diane di Prima at the Poetry Center, and Fruity Neo-Futurist Fun · Chicago, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, Lit, Music, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Poetry, Theater

It’s springtime, so naturally Chicago’s fancy is turning toward divorce and debauchery. Oops, I meant to say, fabulous fringe performance, music, and poetry readings! This week the Poetry Center of Chicago is presenting a reading by legendary beat poet Diane di Prima, author of 35 books of poetry and prose, including Pieces of a Song, […]

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EuroTrib on the Sarkozy Victory in France

May 7th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Blogs, Culture, Media, News, Politics

I was looking for some progressive European perspective on the victory of right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in France’s presidential election yesterday, so I went over to the European Tribune (that’s the European sibling blog of The Booman Tribune, for those not familiar with it). Jerome a Paris, whom I know mainly from his excellent environmental diaries […]

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Music: Tim Finn and His Imaginary Kingdom

May 7th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Culture, Music, New Wave, News, Video

I posted a little over a week ago about the forthcoming Crowded House album, Time on Earth, from Neil Finn and his bandmates. But there’s even more Finn news: Last week also saw the U.S. release of a new solo album from the other Finn brother, Tim Finn — the founder of Split Enz and […]

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Roundup: Sunday Potluck Edition

May 6th, 2007 · 9 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Education, Film, Foreign Policy, Hate Crimes, Health, LGBT, Lit, Music, News, Peace, Pet Food, Pets, Poetry, Politics, Tea

Sunday was always potluck day where I grew up, so I hereby present to you this glorious covered casserole of links I didn’t get around to posting this week. With a few fresh ones stirred in, just to keep you guessing. Retired general compares Bush to a deserter: “By vetoing this bill and failing to […]

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Partly Dave Show Tonight!

May 2nd, 2007 · 7 Comments · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, Journal, LGBT, Music, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

This is it — tonight’s the night The Partly Dave Show makes its long-prophesied return, at 7:30pm at The Neo-Futurarium. I’ll dish out one more exciting little fact about tonight’s show: Even in Blackouts will be unveiling* the brand-new Partly Dave Show theme song, hot out of the oven** and never before heard by human […]

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In Chicago: Homolatte, Another Lousy Day, The Joans and More!

May 1st, 2007 · 1 Comment · Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, LGBT, News, Performance, The Partly Dave Show, Theater

First up, don’t forget that the Party Mix Edition of The Partly Dave Show is less than 48 hours away! Wednesday night, May 2nd, at The Neo-Futurarium. All the details are here. Tonight, Tuesday May 1st, Scott Free’s fantabulous Homolatte Cabaret presents Samuel Park and Aaron Mayer Frankel, at 7:30pm at Tweet (next door to […]

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Indiana Teacher Punished for Teaching Tolerance

May 1st, 2007 · 5 Comments · Culture, Education, Journalism, LGBT, Media, News, Politics

Andy Towle is right. This is absolutely sickening. The short version of the story: An Indiana journalism teacher is being punished for allowing a high school sophomore to publish an essay in the school paper that essentially said gay people deserve to be treated like human beings. Here’s a quote from the student’s essay: “I […]

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Doctor Who Season Three Debuts July 6 in the US

April 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on Doctor Who Season Three Debuts July 6 in the US · Culture, Doctor Who, History, News, Science Fiction, TV

The Doctor Who two-part story “Daleks in Manhattan/Evolution of the Daleks” wrapped up this weekend on the BBC, with the Doctor and Martha battling Daleks (and their pig-headed assistants) in the newly built Empire State Building in early 1930s New York, against the backdrop of the depression. The episodes featured some great historical background, with […]

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Roundup: Giant Hourglass Edition

April 30th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Books, Culture, Education, Fantasy, Foreign Policy, Health, Human Rights, Lit, Media, News, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech, TV

As part of an international day of protest over the genocide in Darfur, campaigners in London displayed a giant hourglass filled with “blood” to symbolize time running out. The image at right is from a video featuring Hugh Grant tied to the campaign. More than 200,000 have died, with 2 million displaced and 4 million […]

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The All-You-Can-Eat Crow Pie Buffet

April 30th, 2007 · Comments Off on The All-You-Can-Eat Crow Pie Buffet · Comics, Culture, Foreign Policy, Media, News, Peace, Politics

Tom Tomorrow had a great “special edition” cartoon up on the Huffington Post last week, revisiting some of the things that pro-war pundits had to say at the start of the war. Here’s a small excerpt from the cartoon. That’s just the first four of 12 panels — click on the cartoon excerpt to go […]

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New Crowded House Album Due in July; Johnny Marr on Two Songs

April 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Culture, Music, New Wave, News, Video

Earlier this year it was announced that Neil Finn was getting back together with bassist Nick Seymour and guitarist Mark Hart to reform Crowded House. The new version will of course be missing its original drummer, the late, lamented Paul Hester, whose duties will be taken over by former Beck drummer Matt Sherrod. The band […]

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Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition

April 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Zero Gravity Friday Edition · Apple, Climate Change, Comedy, Comics, Culture, Factory Farming, Film, Food, Guns, iTunes, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Pet Food, Pets, Politics, Science

I have three days’ worth of links accumulated and only one Friday afternoon roundup post to squeeze them into! Help me with the zipper. As many as 6,000 hogs may have been fed melamine-tainted feed: “A USDA official said that so far states have quarantined one farm each in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina […]

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Video: Bill Moyers on Buying the War, Kevin Tillman on Selling It

April 27th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Journalism, Media, News, Peace, Politics, TV

Bill Moyer’s Buying the War documentary on PBS, about how the Washington press bought into the administration’s marketing campaign and enabled it during the runup to the Iraq War, obviously made a big splash this week. I haven’t had time to watch it all myself yet, but you can view the whole show online here. […]

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