Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast,

To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.
- William Congreve, 1670-1729

music is one of the most essential things in my life. it should be in everyone's life. it reflects moods, gives surprises, indicates significance, excites, reveres, and mollifies. kinda like sex.

music is probably the most important thing in our lives, at least in mine. i wake each morning with a song playing in my head. i connect songs to things that happen, people i meet, and events that occur. a song can bring back a memory - good or bad. i connect music to every part of my life.

that's how i subtitle my new weblog that focuses on music - macarthur park

macarthur park? yeah. my favorite song.

sweet, green icing flowing down...? left the cake out in the rain...? never have that recipe again...? huh?

don't get it? i certainly can understand. it's existential. it was one of those things that struck me up the side of the head the second i heard it. there is a rather long autobiographical explanation. it revolves around, you guessed it, sex.

suffice it to say that when i came up with the idea for a music blog, there was no other title to choose.

macarthur park check it out...

Savage, er, sage advice...

If you're not familiar with Dan Savage's sex advice column, Savage Love, in the Stranger: Seattle's Only Newspaper, you're missing a treat, great advice and splendid entertainment. He deals on straight forward & uncensored sex topics with wild abandon, explicit commentary and humor.

It's not for the timid by any means. He recently finished an entire series of question-answering and advice on cuckolding and people who love to watch their spouse/partner having sex with other people.

Here's an example of the kind of off-the-cuff sensible advice he gives:

What's the biggest difference between a gay and a straight marriage?

Straight Boy Wants To Know

The only significant difference is the likelihood of any given husband hearing these 11 magic words: "Honey, it's been way too long since we had a three-way."

in olden days a glimpse of stocking
was looked on as something shocking,
now heaven knows, anything goes...

maybe, we know too much?

what happened to mystery? to discovery? to naivete and innocence?
have we been depraved on account of we're deprived?

just asking...

hoodoo voodoo...

keep it in mind...

VotedBestBeerCommercialoftheYear
Uploaded by jmi2000

ever been involved in a vindictive breakup?

keep this in mind if you find yourself in that predicament and you start to sweat.

i hope the beer doesn't taste like that...

bounder vs flounder...

I would be a bounder if I didn't post this as I am a Mac-Addict and have been since the IIe. These ads are popping up as posts on Andrew Sullivan.com, The Conjecturer, and other blogs not only lauding the Mac but also as an example of how ads can be so much better in other countries.

You can find most all of them over at gizmodo.com.

Having grown up with British grandparents, I get what most Americans miss in British humor and subltey.

This one is may favorite from the series. check out the rest...




now tell me. wouldn't you rather have a mac?

just asking...

wow...

i've managed to go almost more than an entire week without saying...

Impeach the bastard!

i'm impressed.

how about you?

just asking...



[of course, others are mentioning it now.]

mad...

the most incredible opera performance i ever saw was a production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor sung by Sumi Jo. It was also a total fluke.

i was in paris on one of my annual jaunts and had purchased ticket for the Opera Bastille. Each time i go to opera in paris it seems that something doesn't work right. once, i went when the country was having a rolling series of grêves, ie "strikes." each night a different type worker went on strike. One night it was the lighting people. another night it was the stage hands. it's always fun.

this night, of Lucia di Lammermoor, the entire main cast had the flu and couldn't perform. after all of the disappointment sighs from the announcement ended, the replacement cast was announced. Sumi Jo was going to sing the Lucia. There was instant excitement.

excitement was too mild of a term. this spectacle (the french word for "performance") was the most extraordinary happening i've ever been to hear. to this day, i still don't remember who was in the original cast.

Sumi Jo's portrayal in what is known as the mad scene brought about a 20 minute standing ovation in the middle of the opera. i had never been witness to this. american audiences are polite and will only applaude for a conservative amount of time. the europeans let a performer know when they have done something memorable. not only do they do it through extended applause but also, the ultimate, with the entire audience clapping in unison.

this night and this performance was by far the most incredible musical experience i've ever had.

so, i give to you Sumi Jo in the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. Sadly, this is not the perfomance i saw. that was a once in a lifetime happening. it is splendid none the less.




gives a whole new meaning to mad, doesn't it?

new government seal...

Official Announcement:

The U.S. Government today announced that it is changing its emblem from an Eagle to a CONDOM because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance.(?)

A condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed!

Damn, it just doesn't get more accurate than that.

the eagle has landed!

bloody buggery, if you ask me...


thanks, floyd

addictive behavior...

Research has come up showing that addictions are controlled by a very specific part of the brain and can completely go away if it is damaged. A story in the New York Times, In Clue to Addiction, a Brain Injury Halts Smoking, lays out the basics:

Scientists studying stroke patients are reporting today that an injury to a specific part of the brain, near the ear, can instantly and permanently break a smoking habit. People with the injury who stopped smoking found that their bodies, as one man put it, “forgot the urge to smoke.”

All research in the field had been looking at areas of the brain's cortex. The injury in the case presented was to the insula that lies deep within the brain. The scientists seemed surprised.

Great news for some, not hopeful for others, especially for what has become the number one health concern in the US - obesity. It seems that the brain makes a very particular distinction:

The patients’ desire to eat, by contrast, was intact. This suggests, the authors wrote, that the insula is critical for behaviors whose bodily effects become pleasurable because they are learned, like cigarette smoking.

The article also makes a point that they're are not going to go around and injure people's brains to stop their addictions. BUT, aren't they already injured, or at least damaged?

As an amusing aside, a friend sent me this cartoon that befits the story and also reminded me of my all time favorite joke. Both follow below.

Two drag queens were waiting for the no. 141 bus on Broadway when a german shepard sat down next to them and began licking himself.

One of the girls noticed this and said to her girlfriend, "Wish I could do that."

Her friend looked down and replied, "Looks like a friendly dog. Go ahead..."

oh, my...

again, be careful what you wish for...

je sais pas...

Celine dion - je_sais_pas

in north america, celine dion is thought of as mostly pop and fluff, especially since her las vegas arrangement. in europe, especially france, they know her beyond the pop and fluff.

i had never seen the video above until this morning but i have the The French Album and it is really great.

My favorite on the album is Vole. I chose it as the recessional for my sister's funeral and totally lost it when it started. If I can find a video of it I'll post it along with dion's story behind it's making.

in the meantime, i hope you enjoy je sais pas

i don't know...

gratuitous blond joke...

been too serious lately; Constitutional issues have my dander up; meeting after meeting happening at school; and the countdown is at 29 days until i leave the world of work. i'm excited and frightened at the same time.

if you've been reading for a while, you'll remember that i have a penchant for blond jokes. This one could easily become my new favorite considering the content:

A georgous blond was driving round and round the block trying to find a parking space with no luck.

In desparation on what seemed like her 400th turn, she raised her eyes to heaven and prayed, "Lord, I'm really late for my meeting, If you can help me find a parking place, I'll go to church every Sunday, never drink tequila again and stop having sex."

Immediately, a parking space opened up in front of her.

Raising her eyes up to heaven again she said, "Never mind. I found one."

i almost wet my pants when i first heard this one. i couldn't stop laughing...

it goes to show - be careful what you wish for...

conspiratorial elitism...

A quote from an interesting website - hatecrime.com:

Fully 60 percent of gays surveyed were college graduates, compared with 18 percent of the general population. This is not the profile of a group in need of special civil rights legislation in order to participate in the economy or to have an opportunity to hold a decent job. It is the profile of an elite. An elite whose insider status has permitted it to abuse the political process in search, not of equal opportunity, but of special privilege and public endorsement." - Joseph Broadus, religious right representative George Mason School of Law, testimony before US Senate Labor Committee, opposing legislation to protect gay Americans from job discrimination, July 29, 1994. [the bold section is mine]

With the Republican Foley debacle didn't we hear a lot about the so-called "Washington gay-elite" who were embedded in the highest echalons of Republican offices?

Interesting...

These elitists worked to destroy and block the phantom gay agenda for not just the "Grand Ole Party" but also the rightist-christianists and their real agenda. The elitists' work should have limited the chimeric gay agenda itself, of which these elitists are part. They were doing the work of the right to destroy any kind of equality, difference and originality.

Or is there greater malice and cabalistic planning behind all of this? Maybe, just maybe, the gay elitists in leadership positions really weren't functioning for the Republican party but actually were infiltrating the party as part of a vast gay agenda conspiracy. horrors. the plot of the gay agenda thickens...

Will Mitt Romney be able to assuage the fears that he really is gay-friendly? Will James Dobson attenuate the downfall of the rightist-christianist mission? Will John McCain convince them that he really is a true conservative Christian? Will Mary Cheney have a girl or a boy? Or twins, one of each? For the answers to these and many other perplexities be sure not to miss the next installment of this fascinating adventure...

Oh, wait, we've got 22 months before we know the answer.

As Katherine Hepburn playing Eleanor of Aquitane in the movie The Lion in Winter said,

Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected,
anything is possible.

Or Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve

Fasten your seat belts. It's going
to be a bumpy night.

i have bachelor's & master's degrees. have i been sufficiently elitist with this post? just asking...



Note: The website hatecrime.org is interesting for itself. The quote above is from a page entitled "Nazi Anti-Jewish Speech VS.Religious Right Anti-Gay Speech." It compares quotes "from 'The Eternal Jew' with Christian conservatives' modern-day quotes about gay Americans." Take a look. It's really an eye-opener as to how close the language is between Hitler's regime and the language of the rightist-christianists. In some places it looks as if they are acually quoting the Nazi's.

scary...

authoritarian criminal-cryptofascist intimidation...

speaking of Cheney.

A "perfectly legitimate activity" is how the vice-president described the government's most recently revealed intrusion into civil liberties - that of the Pentagon and CIA's snooping into financial records of "suspect" Americans - an intrusion that the New York Times bluntly reported is "barred... by law...."

To Cheney, the U.S. Constitution is an impediment to good government, what with all those bothersome, civilly liberating amendments and all.
Muscling Away Our Liberties by P.M. Carpenter

And behind all of this Cheney said that, "And if an institutiton that receives one of those national security letters [a written Pentagon or CIA demand for private financial records] disagrees with it, they're free to go to court."

Like that will happen. Or as Carpenter puts it in his article: It's a lot like Al Capone telling you you're free to buy your speakeasy beer from Bugs Moran.

where IS the outrage from our protectors? why are they waiting to rid us of "authoritarian criminal-cryptofascist intimidation?"

The Declaration of Independence, the Consititution and Bill of Rights were put in place by "the people" with the express intention of being protected from the tyrannies of George III and any further possibility of it happening again. Not so slowly anymore, we are seeing the tyrannies of George W eroding all that Jefferson, Adams, Madison etc. worked hard and couragously to secure. Everyone is tiptoeing around the obvious...

Impeach the bastard!

troglodyte apologizes...

Charles D. "Cully" Stimson sent a letter to the Editor in the Washington Post apologizing for his remarks on attorneys for detainees.

A Pentagon official who criticized large U.S. law firms for representing terrorism suspects at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has apologized for his comments, saying that his discussion on a local radio program does not reflect his "core beliefs"....

"Regrettably, my comments left the impression that I question the integrity of those engaged in the zealous defense of detainees in Guantanamo," Stimson wrote. "I do not."

huh?

his core beliefs?

he doesn't "question the integrity of those engaged...?"

i repeat the money quote from the previous troglodyte post:

I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.

what are his core beliefs? that the Constitution does not guarantee basic representation in legal matters? that not everyone has the right of haebeus corpus? that politics trumps all else?

who has the real integrity? not Stimson. he's a lout who has been given the task of dealing with legal matters for the federal government. a government whose main task is protecting the people.

mr. stimson - apology not accepted.

he still needs to be fired and as far as mr. bush

Impeach the bastard!

what's going on here (part XVIa)...

can someone explain...

Yet Another Prosecutor Leaves

More fishiness with the U.S. Attorneys Office? U.S. Attorney for San Francisco Kevin V. Ryan is out, according to the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). His office is handling the investigation into back-dating of stock options, among other high-profile cases.

U.S. Attorney Vacancies Spark Concerns

As the Bush administration enters its last two years, a number of U.S. attorneys are departing, causing concern that some high-profile prosecutions may suffer.

What's the White House Doing to Prosecutors?

During a floor speech on the topic moments ago, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said the White House has told her it was replacing from five to 10 Senate-confirmed U.S. attorneys with its own interim appointees.

Feinstein Speaks out on U.S. Atty Firings

Watch the video here: Sen. Feinstein on U.S. Attorney Appointments

WH Moved Swiftly to Replace US Attorneys

The administration is replacing U.S. Attorneys throughout the country. How'd they get that power?

It was an obscure provision in the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act, and it didn't take them very long to use it. The president signed it into law in March of last year -- by June, they were already moving to replace unwanted prosecutors.

and finally this from Joshua Micah Marshall in his Talking Points Memo

Okay, so we already know that the White House has now taken the unprecedented step of firing at least four and likely seven US Attorneys in the middle of their terms of office -- at least some of whom are in the midst of corruption investigations of Bush administration officials and key Republican lawmakers. We also know that they're taking advantage of a handy provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the White House to replace these fired USAs with appointees who don't need to be approved by the senate.

Given that these new USAs are being plopped into offices currently investigating Republicans and other administration officials and others into states with 2008 presidential candidates, there's certainly ample opportunity for mischief.

aaye... there's the rub. it's happening in places investigating Republicans, the Bush administration AND in the home states of some potential presidential candidates for 2008.

more Constitutional crises...

can George W pardon himself before he leaves office?

just asking...




Impeach the bastard!


Sources: TPMmuckraker, Wall Street Journal, youtube.com, Talking Points Memo

troglodyte...

Jonathon Hurley, Professor of Law, George Washington University, appearing on Olbermann tonight called Charles Stimson a troglodyte and for good reason. Here's the video.

and the moneyquote:

I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.

actually this last line is not accurate. he actually said fun to watch.

King George W again makes King George III look like a liberal, democratic, progressive politician. He makes himself look more like Saddam...

we are in a real mess. each day this administration outlaws, or tries to outlaw, rights fought for centuries, even the Magna Carta.

i think it's time to say

Impeach the bastard!


Update: Jan 16, 2007, 5:33 pm

Andrew Sullivan makes a comment on this mess. However, he only asks for Stimson to be fired. He's only in place because of his boss, George W. It's not getting to the root of the overall problem.

He should be fired, if the deep damage that this administration has already done to the rule of law in America is not to be compounded. Andrew Sullivan/Daily Dish

A USA Today editorial weighed in also:

If the department's point man on detainees thinks the best use of his time and pulpit is stirring up resentment for detainee lawyers, he has a seriously skewed view of reality. America has huge problems at Guantanamo Bay. The presence of pro bono lawyers trying to ensure justice for detainees is not one of them. An Appalling Threat

The editorial also gives this addtional quote from Stimson that I missed:

In his interview with Federal News Radio, he (Stimson) suggested darkly that some of the firms "are receiving monies from who knows where, and I'd be curious to have them explain that."

Okay, I'll give Andrew a thumbs up on firing Stimson as a first step, then

Impeach the bastard!