I was at the Landmark shop in Andersonville yesterday, and the nice lady behind the counter asked me to guess how many jellybeans were inside the glass human head and write my answer on a slip of paper. I guessed 425. No wait, 450! 17,034! A zillion! Oh my heavens, the pressure. I seem to […]
Entries from March 23rd, 2007
In Chicago: The Return of the Partly Dave Show, Plus Jellybeans, Oobleck, and Jane Goodall
March 23rd, 2007 · 4 Comments · Books, Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Journal, LGBT, Lit, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Poetry, Theater
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The Big Pet Food Recall, Continued
March 23rd, 2007 · 10 Comments · Advertising, Business, Cats, Factory Farming, Food, Health, Kiwi, Mr. Blue, News, Pet Food, Pets, Politics
In the comments to my post about the Big Pet Food Recall earlier this week, AmyC pointed out that the pet food industry isn’t regulated by the FDA; instead it’s self-regulated by an industry group called the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials). And then Grendel posted this link: What’s Really in Pet Food, […]
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Music: The Best Kind of Madness
March 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, iTunes, Music, New Wave, News
Madness has a new single out! Released on their own label, Lucky Seven Records. The new song is called “Sorry,” and the even better news is that there’s a full album on the way this summer. Amazon has the CD single with four versions of the song available now. Or you can download it from […]
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News: The Pleasure of the Preznit
March 21st, 2007 · 1 Comment · Blogroll, Blogs, Books, Business, Chicago, Culture, Film, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, LGBT, Music, News, Politics, Science
• Preznit Bush is stonewalling and hurling threats of a constitutional showdown over subpoenas. Ocelopotamus say: Call. His. Bluff. If he refuses to obey the rule of law, commence the impeachication. Meanwhile, over at Crooks and Liars, we read this: President Bush kept making the point over and over that allowing his staff members (i.e. […]
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Ian McKellen Tackles King Lear
March 21st, 2007 · 1 Comment · Culture, Doctor Who, LGBT, News, Performance, Theater
Ian McKellen, profiled in The Observer, is finally ready to take on the role of a lifetime: King Lear. McKellen and Trevor Nunn, who have known each other since they were at Cambridge together in the 1960s, have been planning this production for a long time. ‘McKellen has said that for him, Trevor Nunn is […]
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300: A Reader’s Horrifying First-Hand Account
March 21st, 2007 · Comments Off on 300: A Reader’s Horrifying First-Hand Account · Culture, Film, LGBT, Politics
An update to my earlier post about 300: I noted that I haven’t seen the movie myself — and in fact would rather chew tinfoil than be subjected to it — but it turns out my friend Jason S. in San Francisco has actually undergone this harrowing ordeal and is a first-hand witness to its […]
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Cats: Kiwi, Mr. Blue, & Menu Foods
March 20th, 2007 · 7 Comments · Advertising, Cats, Food, Health, Journal, Kiwi, Mr. Blue, News, Pet Food, Pets
I hear the cool kids like to post pictures of their cats on their blogs sometimes. Except I think you’re supposed to do it on Fridays. In 2005. Well, never let it be said that Ocelopotamus colors inside the lines! Anyway, here’s Barabajagal (aka Mr. Blue) and Kiwi, even though they don’t really deserve the […]
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News: A Hive of Spam and Villainy
March 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on News: A Hive of Spam and Villainy · Activism, Food, Health, Heroes, Internet, LGBT, News, Peace, Politics, Science, Science Fiction, Tech, TV
• A pair of hackers are promising to expose a month’s worth of MySpace bugs to draw attention to security problems with the site. … two hackers going by the names of Mondo Armando and Müstaschio promise to begin disclosing security vulnerabilities in MySpace, News Corp.’s popular social networking site, every day next month. “The […]
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Music: Roddy Frame, Western Skies
March 20th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Music
you can get them online. Here’s a video of Roddy performing the album’s title track live in a small club. It looks like a video someone shot on their phone, so the sound quality is dodgy and sometimes you can hear the audience talking over the music. But it’s good to enough for you to […]
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Where No Trek Has Gone Before
March 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on Where No Trek Has Gone Before · Culture, Film, HIV/AIDS, LGBT, Science Fiction, TV
Good news for gay Trekkers: David Gerrold’s infamous gay episode of Star Trek, “Blood and Fire,” is finally getting made, as part of the online fan series New Voyages. You might recall Gerrold as the man who wrote the episode often cited as the most popular Star Trek story of all time, “The Trouble with […]
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The Two Faces of the Tribune
March 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Two Faces of the Tribune · Chicago, Media, News, Politics
Media Matters calls out the Chicago Tribune on its Clinton/Bush double standard: We’ve previously detailed the bizarre Bush-era tendency of major newspaper editorial boards to disregard principles they held dear during the Clinton administration. The Chicago Tribune, for example, editorialized in 1998 that Clinton should resign because his statements about the Monica Lewinsky matter would […]
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News: Three Rings, No Waiting
March 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on News: Three Rings, No Waiting · Books, Culture, Food, LGBT, Lit, Media, News, Politics
• Karl Rove may be facing a subpoena this week if he doesn’t agree to appear before the Senate to testify in the fired prosecutors scandal. The chairman of the judiciary committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, wants White House officials on the record, under oath. The final decision on putting on the agenda subpoenas is mine,” […]
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The McCain Candidacy in a Nutshell
March 19th, 2007 · 1 Comment · HIV/AIDS, Media, News, Politics
This particular incident just so perfectly captures the essence of John McCain, 2007. A reporter asked him for his opinion on using government funds for “contraceptives” (i.e., condoms) as a means of HIV prevention. McCain needed to dispatch an assistant to find out what his position was, and help him remember what positions he might […]
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Chicago: Oobleck, Rogue 8, and Too Much Light
March 16th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Chicago, Comics, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Neo-Futurists, Performance, Poetry, Theater
Earlier this week we had one of those days when the temperature suddenly rocketed into the 70s and it felt like spring was a-busting out all over. Of course it’s cooled back down a scooch since then, but it reminded me of this photo I took with my phone early last winter on a similarly […]
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