Sunday, May 31, 2009

Music slideo: Band of Horses' Detlef Schrempf (with lyrics)




Detlef Schrempf

And take a little walk when the worst is to come
When I saw you looking like I never thought
And say you're at a loss or forgot that words can do more than harm

The town is gonna talk, but these people do not
See things through to the very minimal
But what's it gonna cost to be gone?
If we see you like I hoped we never would

When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way

So take it as a song or a lesson to learn
And sometime soon be better than you were
If you say you're gonna go, then be careful
And watch how you treat every living soul

My eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
When eyes can't look at you any other way,
Any other way, any other way
---o0o---

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Painting: gravity


click to enlarge
---o0o---

Alien Lore No. 153 - Parallel Unverse: earth's twin found



According to a copyrighted story published on May 18th in the Weekly World News, stunned scientists recently discovered two new planets 1,300 light-years away. "One of them is the exact twin of Earth in almost every detail. Some of these experts believe Planet Z is inhabited, by precise duplicates of every human being now living here on earth." Read the full story here.

Dr. Raymond Tufts, an astronomer and authority on the solar system said “It’s as if God were holding a great mirror up to Earth from across the universe.”
---o0o---

Friday, May 29, 2009

Music video: George Harrison performs "Got My Mind Set On You"

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Pablo Fabque: This is a mind f***er of all mind f***ers: David Boies and Theodore Olson get in bed together to fight for gay marriage

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That Jurisprudence and Legal Editor




click to enlarge Messrs. Olson and Boies

I always thought of Theodore Olson as about a shade to the right of Heinrich Himmler or David Duke. I give him a halo for this one. On a side note, as you probably know, his wife, Barbara (a conservative commentator and lawyer), was on the 9/11 'plane that crashed into the Pentagon. And now he has joined up with his old adversary David Boies (you may remember their little case that tossed the entire election George Bush's way--Bush v. Gore) to challenge California's Proposition 8.

It’s pretty cool to see him make the leap—much more satisfying that someone like Arlen Specter, who really did it to save his own skin. Olson can’t be loved by the GOP for this. Maybe it’s the Boalt Hall/Berkeley in him finally coming out?

Olson and Boies's case argues that California's voter-enacted ban on same-sex marriage, known as Proposition 8, violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection and due process.

Numerous gay/lesbian groups and others have said they want to work through the states, and not make a federal case of it! It's too early, they say, and the Supreme Court--where this will inevitably end up (at least the injunction on enforcing Prop. 8 will)--is not ready to hear the case. Boies and Olson think otherwise:

"There will be many people who will think this is not the time to go to federal," Olson said Wednesday at a news conference in Los Angeles. "Both David and I have studied the court for more years than probably either one of us would like to admit. We think we know what we are doing." Cocky, yes, but also probably true.


Their lawsuit in U.S. District Court in northern California last week asked for an immediate injunction against Prop. 8 until the federal case is resolved.

"It's not about liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. We're here in part to symbolize that. This case is about the equal rights guaranteed to every American under the United States constitution," said former Solicitor General Olson, a well=known and connected Republican. "For too long, gay men and lesbians who seek stable committed, loving relationships within the institution of marriage have been denied that fundamental right," he said.

Olson said he asked Boies, a Democrat, to join his team to present "a united front" in the suit filed on behalf of two same-sex couples who wish to be married but, because of Proposition 8, have been denied licenses.

"Our Constitution guarantees every American the right to be treated equally under the law," Boies said. "There is no right more fundamental than the right to marry the person that you love and to raise a family."

"The courts exist to reverse injustices," he went on. "This is not a question of state law. It's a question of federal Constitutional law."

The California Supreme Court Tuesday upheld Prop. 8, the ballot initiative passed by 52% of voters in November. Prop 8 defines marriage as between a man and a woman. California was the second state after Massachusetts to legalize gay marriage. Since then, Iowa and Connecticut have legalized gay marriage, and legislatures in Vermont and Maine also recently legalized gay marriage.

Hurrah for Theodore Olson. You surprised and gladdened me.
---o0o---

Photograph: Vintage Japanese Robots


Click to enlarge
I don't know who took this 'photo (let us know if it is yours), but it is a great! These are vintage Japanese robots. . .
---o0o---

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Poem: The Green Knight



1
You walk the hall of broken mirrors
Upon the walls of which are hung
The skulls of those who walked before you.

2
Filtered grey light pools
On the floor in the distance.
The moans and whimpers of the maimed and wounded

Reverberate against the cold walls.
You come to a burnished oak door.
The door will not open,

And you walk on down the hall.
A green knight walks toward you,
With a battle-axe in one hand

And a branch of holly in the other.
Bercilak de Hautdesert asks if you want to play a game.
He strops the axe on his green leather pants.

3
The Green Knight asks you to roshambo.
"You first," he says. "Take the first swing
And I will be back in a year and a day

To take my turn."

You take the axe and swing. The helmet flies off
And smashes against the stone wall

And his head rolls down the hallway.
The stranger does not die.
The Green Knight picks up his severed head

And the head tells you
To meet him at the Green Chapel
One hear hence on New Year's morning,

So that he may deal his exchange blow.
The Green Knight's head chuckles
As he walks briskly away.
---o0o---

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Jack Handy on Presidents and Robots




"I wish a robot would get elected president. That way, when he came to town, we could all take a shot at him and not feel too bad."


Source: Jack Handy

George W. Bush teetering on the edge of sanity?



By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


According to The Globe, Ex-President George W. Bush is rudderless, and depressed. It probably shouldn't be all that shocking to most of us. How would YOU feel if you'd done what he did to the country for eight years?




"JUST weeks after leaving the White House, depressed and paranoid George Bush is suicidal, insiders fear. In a blockbuster world exclusive, sources tell GLOBE the ex-President is boozing up a storm - and reveal why he is terrified of Barack Obama and his own wife Laura."




---o0o---

YouTube slideo: Band of Horses' Ode To LRC (with lyrics)

Ode to LRC. . .another great song from Band of Horses' second album. This Seattle band not long ago moved back to the Carolinas to be closer to their families. . .BoH have been my recent musical obsession (rock department), along with a couple of other NW bands--Telekinesis!, Throw Me The Statue, and The Thermals.



Ode To LRC

In the lobby of the LRC
Well I knew I'd find something
A hundred stroies sittin there to read
I got my focals out I put 'em on

And all is calm, all is calm

Theres a doggie coming here to eat now
Which dated back to 1993
I don't care what the people say 'cause
That dog he don't come around here anymore

No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone

The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look you in the eyes
The way that you drive by

The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful...

I see everyone before me, there was birthday sex and sleep
Some weren't getting along
Nobody's outside trying to murder
Nobody's outside, there's no one really at all

What the hell i saw, the hell i saw
The hell i saw, the hell i saw

The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look me in the eyes
The way that I drive by

The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
La di da, La di da, La di da, La di da
---o0o---

Monday, May 25, 2009

Eliana Burki on the Alphorn -- wow

A Tradition Jazz concert by Eliana Burki on the Alphorn and her band comprising Arnaud Francelet (Bass), Samuel Siegenthaler (Guitar), Adriano Regazzin (Keyboard), Anthony LoGerfo (Drums and percussion), Astrid Van der Haegen (Management and technicals) live at Someplace Else

At the risk of sounding crude, I have to say this gal knows how to work the pole.



---o0o---

Strange Scenes at Golden Gardens, presented by Lucianeare.org



Lullaby Moon is a "year-long invitation to Seattle to explore a world of dream. A celebration of the night sky, the series of performance events brings bedtime whimsy and wonder to parks and other public spaces throughout the city, enlivening and enlightening the dark time of each month. Performances take place on each new moon for an entire lunar year beginning in October 2008. " Lucianeare.org performs this large scale performance piece once a month, on the night of the new moon. You still have five months to see this oddly baffling, but charming performance.



Lullaby Moon came to Golden Gardens, near my house tonight. We were just walking on the beach when we stumbled into a strange tableau of people with clock-heads, horse and mouse-heads, people in tops hats, people in gauzy white outfits making up one of about fifteen lighted beds, and about ten or so boats. A chamber orchestra and soprano played off to the side. The cast looked like it contained at least 50 people.








---o0o---

Sunday, May 24, 2009

A business presentation goes very wrong when the porn screensaver activates...


---o0o---

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention play one of their greatest songs live with an all star Mothers lineup: Inca Roads (with lyrics)

I don;t know when this was made, or the full band lineup (the YouTube notes are mum on any details). But I do know this is a great rendition of one of Zappa/The Mothers greatest song, including midway through, some off the hook old school animation work. This band was one of Zappa's best, including the stellar Ruth Underwood on vibes, Napolean Murphy Brock, Chester Fowler, and George Duke on vocals, piano arp synth, Wurlitzer 145, and a Hohner clavinet. And all the other people in this classic lineup.... the last words of the song are "On Ruth/On Ruth/That's truth."




Inca Roads
By Frank Zappa

Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Just to land in the Andes?
Was it round
And did it have
A motor
Or was it
Something
Different

Did a vehicle
Did a vehicle
Did a vehicle
Fly along the mountains
And find a place to park itself
Park it
Se-e-e-elf
(PARK IT . . . PARK IT)

Or did someone
Build a place
To leave a space
For such a thing to land

Did a vehicle
Come from somewhere out there
Did a vehicle come
From somewhere out there
Did the Indians, first on the bill
Carve up the hill

Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Just to land in the Andes?
Was she round
And did she have a motor
Or was she something different

Guacamole Queen
Guacamole Queen
Guacamole Queen

At the Armadillo in Austin Texas, her aura,
Or did someone build a place
Or leave a space for Chester's Thing to land
(Chester's Thing . . . on Ruth)
Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Did a booger-bear
Come from somewhere out there
Did the Indians, first on the bill
Carve up her hill
On Ruth
On Ruth
That's Ruth
---o0o---

Friday, May 22, 2009

Point<---->Counterpoint - Obama v. Cheney, or, Crawl Back Into Your Coffin Dick Cheney!

Editorial By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor (Saskatoon/Key Largo)
Illustrations by Jack Brummet, Arts Editor (Seattle)




President Barack Obama said yesterday that the U.S. Point--> "went off course" in fighting terrorism over the past eight years, and said his policies will "better protect" the country against al Qaeda.

And, moments later, across town, ex-Vice-President Dick Cheney crawled out of his coffin in broad daylight, transmogrified into a Republican Talking Points machine, and said Counterpoint--> that he supported the controversial policies "when they were made, and without hesitation would do so again in the same circumstances." "The point is not to look backward," Cheney said. "A lot rides on our President’s understanding of the security policies that preceded him. And whatever choices he makes concerning the defense of this country, those choices should not be based on slogans and campaign rhetoric, but on a truthful telling of history."

Point-->President Obama, in a major address at the National Archives, argued that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods "did not advance our war and counter-terrorism efforts – they undermined them."

Point--> The president then methodically tackled (actually, decimated) the chain of national-security decisions that have drawn criticism from the shrieking banshees political right. He called the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay an inherited "mess" that "has weakened American national security" by providing a rallying cry for enemies.



Point--> The President then turned to one of Republican's most ridiculous but potent and emotional arguments: "Let me begin by disposing of one argument as plainly as I can: we are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people."

Point--> Obama rejected calls for a "truth commission" (as if something confected by the republicans could possibly even have a whiff of truth) about the Bush administration's handling of the war on terror, saying he has "no interest in spending our time re-litigating the policies of the last eight years."

Mr. Ex-Vice-President, isn't it time you put a cork in it? I don't know who out there is clamoring to hear you emit wisdom other than say, Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh.

In every poll since November 2008, the Republicans are rapidly losing ground--and, most importantly, voters--and while Dick Cheney may succeed in drawing support from the lunatic fringe of the party, in general he seems to be helping hammer a stake into the heart of the G.O.P. I'm all for that, but baffled why party functionaries (let's face it, it won't be Michael Stelle) have not yet found a way to muzzle the attack dog, before he drags the entire party of Lincoln into the gutter. On the other hand, keep it up Ex-Veep Cheney! At this rate, by the next election, the Republican Party will have roughly the stature and vote-getting ability of the libertarian, green, or communist parties.
---o0o---

Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance - A Frank Zappa/Mothers YouTube slideo (with lyrics)



Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance
Music and Lyrics by Frank Zappa

There will come a time when everybody
Who is lonely will be free...
To sing & dance & love

There will come a time when every evil
That we know will be an evil...
That we can rise above

Who cares if hair is long or short
Or sprayed or partly grayed...
We know that hair ain't where it's at

(there will come a time when you won't
Even be ashamed if you are fat!)

Wah wah-wah wah

There will come a time when everybody
Who is lonely will be free...
To sing & dance & love (dance and love)

There will come a time when every evil
That we know will be an evil...
That we can rise above (rise above)

Who cares if you're so poor you can't afford
To buy a pair of mod a go-go stretch-elastic pants...
There will come a time when you can even
Take your clothes off when you dance
---o0o---

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Wow. Jimmy Kimmel gets a halo today

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor


I'll admit, I hardly watch TV, and especially not the late night talk shows (after all, late night is for art and sinning). But Jimmy Kimmel--whom I've never especially appreciated--took it to the next level yesterday. I've really only seen him back in the early Conan days, and a couple of times on The Man Show. Jimmy K either has a death wish, or he is channeling Jerry McGuire and Senator Jay Bullington Bulworth.


Jimmy K


Yesterday, Jimmy Kimmel let it all hang out in NYC, at something called The Up Fronts. You read about this every year--this is the big shindig, where TV networks butter up advertisers and sell them their upcoming slate of shows. A bunch of TV "stars" come in and try to convince the ad people that their show will truly be a cash cow, centering right in on their beloved demographic. As the New York Times reported: Jimmy had "A Jerry Maguire Moment." I tend to think of it as more of a Bulworth moment. Here are some quotes from his talk. Unfortunately no one seems to have recorded it. At least it's not on YouTube or any of the other usual suspect sites. He even seems to have taken a few direct shots at sacred cows like Jay Leno.

"Let's get real here. Let's get Dr. Phil-real here. These new fall shows? We're going to cancel about 90 percent of them. Maybe more."

"Every year we lie to you and every year you come back for more. You don't need an upfront. You need therapy. We completely lie to you, and then you pass those lies onto your clients."

"Next year on ‘Grey's Anatomy,' your product could kill Dr. Izzie. It just depends on how much you want to pay."

"I think all our shows are going to work this year. I really do. I don't, really."

"The important thing to remember is: who cares?, it's not your money."

Wow. Despite this, he still appears to be working. At least today. He was either very very high, or he has some kind of iron-clad no-cut contract. Or both. In either case, Excelsior! Jimmy.
---o0o---

Choreography! A wedding dance goes off the hook.

A father-daughter dance at a wedding becomes a choreographed dance routine. Sweet!


---o0o---

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

digital art: Jack Evolved


click to enlarge
---o0o---

All This Is That Reheated: President Bush drunk at Camp David


Photograph: unknown source. If it's yours, let us know!

From All This Is That December 29, 2005

President Bush's Christmas retreat at Camp David devolved into a troubled, drunken "bender," according to sources close to The White House. Unsubstantiated rumors have circulated throughout the year that The President has begun drinking again. These rumors seem to be corroborated by this video hosted by http://www.wimp.com..

Rumors of Presidential tippling died down in December, following the Scooter Libby indictment and The Administration's double digit bump in the polls. However, revelations of massive domestic spying and renewed talk of special prosecutors and impeachment have let the cork out of the bottle, so to speak.

Sources report that the President is drinking frequently as he struggles to map a strategy to survive his next three years in office, as well as attempting to secure a place in the history books, possibly without his close advisors Andrew Card, Rumsfeld and Cheney, as well as a faltering majority in The Senate.

On Christmas morning, the Secret Service unexpectedly cancelled a photo-op and cleared the press from Camp David, allowing only a small pool of reporters and photographers in a cabin half a mile from the presidential compound.

Numerous White House staffers willing to talk off the record, painted a picture of an administration under siege, led by a man who declares his decisions to be "God's will" and tells aides to "f**k over" anyone opposing the administration's nebulous goals.


Hammered, or a little shaky on his feet?

Earlier in the week after sharing bourbon and eggnog[1] with his inner circle, The President reportedly broke down in tears, complaining that Vice-President Cheney "is supposed to have my back, he's supposed to be the brains of the f***in' outfit!. He was supposed to be the grandpa everyone loved. . .and all he's done in the last year is bring a s***storm down on us! Even our f***in' friends are racing for the exits!"

Later the same evening, The President allegedly urged his team to kneel and "pray for the deaths of prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Rep. John P. Murtha, John McCain, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Arlen Specter, Howard Dean, and one more f***in' Supreme Court Justice. . .to fix those pinko bastards and ACLU treehuggers. . .once and for all!"

[1] The Camp David bartenders used the potent recipe for eggnog created by the northwesterner Dean Ericksen, a former bartender, and ironically, a prominent environmental activist.
---o0o---

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Ballard Bear Update


The black arrow shows the location of my house.

From the Seattle Times: "Urban Phantom is the name given by state wildlife agents to a 2-year-old black bear who was first seen in Magnolia late Saturday, and so far has eluded capture as he has been sighted also in Ballard and Shoreline."

The 'bar was tromping around my neighborhood, after possibly swimming from Magnolia to the beach at Golden Gardens, and then climbing the heavily-treed hill. He was spotted near the graveyard up the hill, just a couple of blocks from my brother and sister-in-law, Dean and Mary's house near Blue Ridge. Later yesterday, he made good time, and ended up in a park in Shoreline. I know bears can run fast, but this bear made serious tracks. And so far, no one seems able to find him. At Twin Ponds Park, where he is possibly located now, he will run into a serious roadblock. Interstate 5 probably blocks his path (if he moving to the east, where forests and bear habitat exists).

From The Seattlest: Damn Bear Almost to Jack's House
The black bear we mentioned this morning seems to have somewhere pressing in mind. So far it's cruised from Magnolia, through Ballard, and "made a stop in Twin Ponds Park in Shoreline," says MyBallard, who have created a bear-tracker map. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has put its hunt on hold because there are too many people running around, but that doesn't bother Seattlest Jack: "I am gleeful over the fact that even in a major city, in the 21st century, one might still encounter a bear, or giant bear-like raccoons."

Also from The Seattlest: "Fish & Wildlife officials, meanwhile, have discontinued the search because they don’t believe the small bear is dangerous. The bear had quite a day, swimming across the Ship Canal from Magnolia into Ballard late Sunday night, criss-crossing its way through the neighborhood with police and wildlife officials in close pursuit with tranquilizer guns and tracking dogs. The bear disappeared for several morning hours — wildlife officials believe it was taking a nap — before heading sharply north into Shoreline. There, the media joined the chase, with TV crews on the ground and choppers swirling overhead. "
---o0o----

The Policemen - a children's book. . .


--click to enlarge--

A wonderful, and creepy parody of a children's book. I don't know who wrote it. It seems to be selected pages of a children's book on cops, slightly re-written.




http://www.blameitonthevoices.com/2008/06/childrens-books-policeman.html
---o0o---

Soul Sacrifice by Santana at Woodstock

According to a video interview I saw with Carlos Santana (in an exhibit at the Music Experience Museum in Seattle), Carlos was on acid during his performance at Woodstock. He'd apparently mis-timed the LSD and ended up baked on stage. He said he felt snakes growing out of the guitar. But somehow he pulls it off--and makes some awesomely classic guitar faces while he's doing it.

Note that Michael Shrieve, the drummer, was only 19 years old at Woodstock...



---o0o---

Monday, May 18, 2009

A bear in Ballard!




"Police officers and wildlife agents spent hours looking for a bear that wandered through the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle..." (In the Crown Hill section of Ballard--our neighborhood!). If we was in Magnolia/Discovery Park, that means he either walked right up 15th Avenue (and over the Ballard Bridge), over the Ballard Locks walkways, or he jumped in Puget Sound and swam to the beach in Ballard, just below our house...

The Associated Press story appears here: http://mynorthwest.com/?nid=11&sid=168819
---o0o---

All This Is That Reheated: Square Dance At Kent Elementary



Valley Elementary held two or three square dances a year and they were the coolest thing in town, but the Lettuce Festival, Puyallup Fair (for which we got half a day off school), Kris Kringle Days, and Hydroplane Races were all right up there.

A semi-pro called the steps over a record player or Wollensak tape recorder. Kent was a natural for square dancing; the town was still full of Okies, Clodhoppers, Tarheels, Hayseeds, Rednecks, Yokels, and Hillbillies: my people.

One of the vocals sounded like Tommy Duncan singing. I haven't heard the tune in 40 years. Its lyrics are seared into my brain:

Now you all join hands as you circle the ring
Stop where you are, give your partner a swing.

Now swing that girl behind you.
Swing your own, if you have time to.

Allemande left with the sweet corner maid.
Do-si-do your own.

They we'll all promenade with the sweet corner maid
Singing Oh Johnny Oh Johnny Oh.


Girls wore floofy dresses and boys wore button down shirts with cords or jeans. The adults wore bolo ties and gingham dresses. A couple bales of hay and some other countrified accoutrements were scattered around the gym, along with "refreshments" of soda pop, doughnuts and maple bars.

You got to dance with girls without the potential psychic trauma of actually asking one to dance. They arranged us in a group of partners that changed frequently. However, even those chaste touches and do si dos scrambled our brains with thoughts of girls! The fleeting moments allemanding left, whirling skirts, and whiffs of dime-store perfume all fueled our overheated pre- and mid-pubescent psyches.

I remember square dancing in 3rd and 4th grades, but not so much the 5th and 6th. I do remember seeing The Beatles that year on The Ed Sullivan Show show. I don't know if The Beatles killed square dancing, but after their arrival, square dancing was never quite the same.
---o0o---

All This Is That Reheated: How I became Jack

How I became Jack Brummet

I was working for a magazine in Seattle called Construction Data. On my first day on the job, my boss, McGoo, walked up to me and said "I have your new business cards."

He handed me a box of the cards.

“Jack Brummet. Circulation marketing and feature article writer? Jack?," I asked.

“I like that, yeah. Jack. Face it. . .John is a pussy name. Jack’s the name of a man's man. These are constuction guys named Bill and Biff and Sven. Do you want to sell magazines, or be be some marketing fop named John?”

I became Jack. And I still am.
---o0o---

Sunday, May 17, 2009

All This Is That reheated:

Due to the exigencies of work (I'm slammed!), for the next few days, we'll be posting some of the best of All This Is That. Unless Pablo Fanque actually comes through with some new material to fill the breech. I suspect he will.

From All This Is That, December 4th, 2004:


Poem: The Absence of Footprints

1.
We're not trilliums or daffodils
That spring back up
After a nap in the dirt.

2.
You told me you wanted
To make the crossing
Over to Cold Island
And I could never believe you.

It wasn't the karmic stain
That bothered me,
But the unfathomable fact
You didn't want to be here;
That all this wasn't enough.

All this is that.
And it wasn't enough.

3.
You stare into the ditch
You spent years unloading.

You are afraid to climb in
And stop,

To take something
That isn't working,
and make it not work forever.

4.
It's
so
quiet
you
hear
dust
motes
six
feet
up
bump
in
shafts
of
sunlight.
---o0o---

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Video: I'm going home by Alvin Lee/Ten Years After @ Woodstock '69

I always liked Alvin Lee's over the top, showboat performance at Woodstock, although I have never actually purchased an album by him/them.



---o0o---

Friday, May 15, 2009

I know it was you Fredo.

From The Godfather 2, in Havana. "I know it was you Fredo. You broke my heart. You broke my heart."


---o0o---

What's up with Jeri Kehn Thompson?


click to enlarge Jeri and the cop


Interestingly, over 100 people came to All This Is That yesterday specifically looking for photos of Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn. I can't figure out why. At first I thought she might have died. She doesn't seem to be in the news. Neither has Fred Thompson, as far as I can tell. There're always a couple of people looking, but 100? That seems crazy--and I can't figure out what triggered all the Jeri Kehn searches.

Usually when tons of people come looking for something specific, it is because there was a link on a web site, or that person or thing hit the news. There are about 20 people and things where All This Is That is at or near the top of Google searches (things like the Enumclaw horse case; the Walribi tribe handshake; The cuckoo sign and the shocker; craig's list sex scandal; Alien lore; The Johnson Treatment, etc). Those things get hits all the time. . .but this Jeri Kehn one is baffling. Maybe she was in the news and I am missing it. It looks like we are one of the first Google hits in images, but still something has to drive people to look in the first place. I don't know. This is kind of strange...

In case you're one of those people looking, here are the links to the many Jeri Kehn pictures published here:

Where is Jeri Kehn Thompson? A dearth of photos plagues the internet. . .
Jeri Kehn Thompson On The Road/All This Is That's Comprehensive Jeri Kehn Coverage Continues With New Photos Even Jeri Kehn can't resuscitate her husband's wheezing, tubercular campaign (but it's fun to watch while she tries) This week's photographic update on Jeri Kehn Thompson
Photomontage: Jeri Kehn pressing the flesh (includes one photo of her husband) and links to Jeri Kehn photo motherlode
Latest Jeri Kehn sightings and photographs
Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos
Latest Jeri Kehn sightings and photographs
Jeri Kehn Thompson photo update No. 12--eleven new Jeri Kehn photographs
Two more Jeri Kehn Thompson Photos
A Jeri Kehn Thompson cameo appearance in a Fred Thompson campaign video, four new Jeri Kehn photographs, and a Mrs. Fred Thompson photo roundup
Three additional photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson a/k/a Jeri Kehn
Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)
One More Jeri Kehn Thompson photo
Jeri Kehn Photos, Part 3: Three more photos of Mrs. Fred Thompson
More Jeri Kehn photos--> A follow-up to "Meet the Thompson Twins: Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn (with photos)
Not Jeri Kehn: people who are not Mrs. Fred Thompson, yet who often turn up in search engine searches on "Jeri Kehn"
Three new Jeri Kehn photos; links to Jeri photos; and Fred Thompson describes the beauty of having a hot first lady;
New photographs of Jeri Kehn Thompson on the campaign trail (and a couple of her husband Fred too)
---o0o---

Poem: [It comes and goes like a hit and run driver]



1
It comes and goes
Like a hit and run driver.

An errant bullet's ricochet,
A pickpocket works the crowd,

Your worst enemy gets the drop on you,
The rogue bacteria waits on a doorknob,

Or maybe the crosswalk you don't walk into
As a driver speeds through the light

While you stop to tie your shoe.
Luck and circumstance conspire to save you.

2
Every glorious second you spend here,
You engage in a game of dodge ball,

And bob and weave through a multitude
Of objective hazards, walls, and shoals

Over which you have no control―
Only a fraction of which you ever feel.

3
If we knew of every near-miss,
It could be tough to keep shuffling on,

And somehow, we learn just enough
To mostly keep us on our toes.
---o0o---

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Music video: Booker (bukka) White performs Aberdeen Mississippi Blues

Bukka White (11/12/1909 – 2/26/1977) was a delta blues guitarist and singer--one of the many greats from that fertile region. "Bukka" was a misspelling of White's name Booker, by his record label. When Bob Dylan, John Fahey, and others recorded some of his songs in the mid-60's, he became part of the blues/folk revival. Bukka became friends with Furry Lewis later and they recorded an album in Furry's house (Furry Lewis, Bukka White & Friends: Party! At Home). This is an incredible video of Bukka performing solo, playjng slide guitar and "hammering on."

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for pointing this one out. Wow.


---o0o---

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Word studies, Part 6 - Gaslight/Gaslighting



The term gaslighting comes from a 1938 play Gas Light, where a wife frets over the inexplicable dimming of her house's gas lights. Her worries are dismissed by her husband as an overactive imagination. In reality, the husband is dimming the lights. He begns to manipulate other elements of his wife's life, and insists that she is misremembering. Gaslighting is often almost torture--lies are presented to a victim, and eventually, they begin to doubt their own memory, and eventually, their sanity itself. It's a classic plot device in literature and movies--when you change and shuffle things in a person's environment without their knowledge. When they mention the changes, you tell them they "must be imagining things."

In psychology, gaslighting is sometimes referred to as The Martha Mitchell Effect, after John Mitchell's--Dick Nixon's Attorney General--infamous wife. The Martha Mitchell Effect is what happens when a sbrink or other mental health worker mistakes the patient's perception of real events as delusional and treats the patient accordingly. A psychologist, Brendan Maher, named the effect after Martha Beall Mitchell. When she alleged that White House officials were engaged in illegal activities, her claims were attributed to mental illness and alcohol abuse. Münchausen syndrome by proxy is another disorder with many similarities to gaslighting.

One psychological definition of gaslighting is--according to Wikipedia at least-- "an increasing frequency of systematically withholding factual information from, and/or providing false information to, the victim - having the gradual effect of making them anxious, confused, and less able to trust their own memory and perception."

The psychotherapist Joseph Berke once wrote that "even paranoids have enemies." It is especially easy to misdiagnose a person with a history of paranoid delusions (we could call this something like the Chicken Little Factor).



In the 2001 movie Amélie, Amélie decides to gaslight her local grocer as payback for the way he treats his dim-bulb assistant, Lucien. Amelie switches his lightbulbs with lower wattage bulbs and replaces his slippers with smaller ones, among other pranks.

On their album Two Against Nature, Steely Dan have a song "Gaslighting Abbie" about a husband and his mistress planning to drive his wife insane.

In the 2007 movie The Darjeeling Limited, Adrien Brody's character asks Jason Schwartzman's character "Could she be gaslighting you?" when he discovers his ex-girlfriend had placed her perfume into his luggage.

The play The Mystery of Irma Vep has a scene where Lady Enid tells her husband about the strange things that have been happening in the house. The lights begin dimming. When she mentions it, her husband assures her that the lights are not dimming.



In Roald Dahl's book "The Twits," Mr. Twit tried to make Mrs Twit think she'd contracted a deadly disease.

In some sense, we were probably all gaslighted by Dick Cheney and George Bush, with the mysterious vanishing Weapons of Mass Destruction.
_________________

Excerpted from The Gaslight Effect: How to Spot and Survive the Hidden Manipulation Others Use to Control Your Life By Robin Stern, Ph.D.

"Turn Up Your Gaslight Radar. Check for These Twenty Telltale Signs
Gaslighting may not involve all of these experiences or feelings, but if you recognize yourself in any of them, give it extra attention."


1. You are constantly second-guessing yourself.
2. You ask yourself, "Am I too sensitive?" a dozen times a day.
3. You often feel confused and even crazy at work.
4. You're always apologizing to your mother, father, boyfriend, boss.
5. You wonder frequently if you are a "good enough" girlfriend/wife/employee/friend/daughter.
6. You can't understand why, with so many apparently good things in your life, you aren't happier.
7. You buy clothes for yourself, furnishings for your apartment, or other personal purchases with your partner in mind, thinking about what he would like instead of what would make you feel great.
8. You frequently make excuses for your partner's behavior to friends and family.
9. You find yourself withholding information from friends and family so you don't have to explain or make excuses.
10. You know something is terribly wrong, but you can never quite express what it is, even to yourself.
11. You start lying to avoid the put-downs and reality twists.
12. You have trouble making simple decisions.
13. You think twice before bringing up certain seemingly innocent topics of conversation.
14. Before your partner comes home, you run through a checklist in your head to anticipate anything you might have done wrong that day.
15. You have the sense that you used to be a very different person - more confident, more fun-loving, more relaxed.
16. You start speaking to your husband through his secretary so you don't have to tell him things you're afraid might upset him.
17. You feel as though you can't do anything right.
18. Your kids begin trying to protect you from your partner.
19. You find yourself furious with people you've always gotten along with before.
20. You feel hopeless and joyless."

---o0o---

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Fireworks & Firewater: an All-American Combo


—click to enlarge: photographer unknown—

This business in Evanston, Wyoming, is officially named Porter's Fireworks and Firewater. A whole raft of articles from the Bill of Rights collide right here. On the other hand, it's quite a testimony to one-stop shopping.
---o0o---

Counterpoint: Pablo Fanque: when do we get your retraction on Arlen Specter?



By Jack Brummet
All This Is That Folklore and Poetry Editor

It was less than two weeks ago that you, Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor, befouled All This Is That with a euphoric encomium (Celebrate! Sen. Arlen Specter extricates himself from The Hive--> The GOP begins to succumb to The Sickness) on Arlen Specter, illustrated with The Spec' wearing a halo.

It's been a week since I questioned your sanity on that one (Rebuttal: Pablo Fanque, are you out of your f***ing mind? Arlen Specter: Hero?). And yet, we have seen nothing on these pages even faintly resembling a retraction or apology. Are you waiting for the heat to die down? Or, are you not man enough to stand up and defend your boy now that he has stepped in the proverbial pile? Or have you switched parties yourself?
Since your anointment of the turncoat Senator as The Second Coming, Arlen Specter has:
  • Said on Meet The Press that he never told President Obama that he would be loyal.
  • Voted against BHO's budget only a day after he announced his party switch.
  • Voted against a Democratic bill designed help homeowners in bankruptcy court
  • Told the New York Times has was pulling for Norm Coleman to win in court against Al Franken.
  • Announced his national health plan, based on diet and exercise.
  • Seen the democrats strip away his seniority in retaliation for his disloyalty.
  • Claimed the The President "would seek my advice, especially when I disagree with him.”
  • Virtually admitted he switched parties only to save his own skin. He makes Crazy Joe Lieberman look like a Yellow Dog Democrat.

As Gail Collins said in the New York Times "Specter’s theory is that his propensity to do whatever he wants should not only be tolerated, but constantly rewarded. That’s not character. It’s self-indulgence. "

In the end, Democrats foolishly gave Arlen Specter a face-saving subcommittee; he got off with just a slap on the wrist. And a halo, from you, Pablo Fanque. How do you like your angel these days, Pabs?
---o0o---

How Do You Sleep At Night (with lyrics): John Lennon's volley against Paul in their song war






How Do You Sleep At Night
By John Lennon

So Sgt. Pepper took you by suprise,
You better thru that mother's eyes,
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead,
The one mistake you made was in your head,
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
You live with straights who tell you you was king,
Jump when your mamma tell you any thing,
The only thing you did was yesterday,
And since your gone you're just another day,
How do you sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
A pretty face may last a year or two,
But pretty soon they'll see what you can do,
The sound you make is muzak to my ears,
You must have learnt something all thos years,
How do you Sleep?
Ah how do you sleep at night?
---o0o---

Monday, May 11, 2009

A salute to Golden Gardens - Excelsior!


Orcas ("killer whales") off Golden Gardens in February, 2009 (they
don't usually come this close to Seattle proper) - click to enlarge


a typical scene -- looking over toward Bainbridge Island - click to enlarge


Sunset (a great time to visit), just before the bonfires are lit. The sun becomes an
orange or red ball and fills the sky with pink, yellow, and orange as it slips below
the Olympic Mountains behind Bainbridge Island - click to enlarge


An amazing polyglot mix of people gather every day at Golden Gardens. Golden Gardens is a beach in north Seattle (Ballard) on Puget Sound's Shilshole Bay. It is within walking distance of my house, down a trail and maybe 150 stairs. Its 87 acres contain multitudes, and a lot of Ballard history. It became a key Seattle park early on, since it was at the very end of the streetcar line.

You'll find volleyball players, Christians gathering to pray and sing around the campfire, families cooking over open fires or charcoal, drum circles, solo guitar players, skaters, joggers, bikers, kite fliers, scuba divers, wind surfers, Buddhist gatherings, Wiccan meetings, kayakers, canoeists, and mostly just people walking and sitting on the beach.

The beach ranges from sandy to rocky and littered with shells and driftwood. One section of the beach at the north was restored to what they believe was its original pristine state...a small dune area, freshwater pond, and wetlands were recovered a few years ago.

At low tide you find anemones, sea urchins, limpets, oyster drills, starfish, crabs, clams, sand dollars, oysters, and all sorts of other tide pool critters.

At the very north (the restored part) of the beach are reeds, sea grass, alder trees, salal and Oregon grape, and other native flora, which create some very private areas to hang around in. These areas are rumored to contain, at times, people performing the act of procreation (or just straight recreation without the pro- if you're on the other team).

The sunsets are stunning, as the orange sun falls below the Olympic Mountains after sending rays dancing along the sound.

My mom used to come here and swim in high school on the last day of school. A lot of kids, the polar bear club, and the occasional grown-up still swim here. The temperature of Puget sound ranges from about 45 degrees to around 52 in the summer. It is brutally cold, although there are some hot spots around the sound--shallow areas where the temperature is more hospitable. Golden Gardens is not a hot spot. When you jump in you are instantly numb. But you see people swimming anytime you visit there from May to September. I can't do it. . .mid-calf is about as far as I go.

In the last few years, the park has increased security, and cleaned up the beach. There are now 12 steel fire pits where the city allows park visitors to build fires. This is a big improvement from the days when you could build fires anywhere--which left the beach littered with charred logs and ash.

This is about as good as it gets...you bring in a surreptitious bottle of wine, sit on the beach and watch a sailboat regatta and later, the sun as it drifts downward, and finally slips down into the other half of the world.
---o0o---

11 Stupid Questions From Yahoo Answers That Have Changed My Life from 11points.com

11points.com (or, Sam Greenspan, who also runs the SmashPanda.com site) comes up with some fascinating lists. Sometimes his commentary can be a little snarky...but, he does come up with some pretty fine lists. One from January, 11 Stupid Questions From Yahoo Answers That Have Changed My Life, is pretty fascinating, and spooky, and creepy. But good.

Some of his recent posts include:

11 Ways Ice Cube and I Differ On Assessing What Constitutes a Good Day
11 Questions With Jennifer Widerstrom, Phoenix from American Gladiators
11 Totally Different, and Mostly Crazy, Systems for Calculating Your Age
11 Weakest Official State Items
11 Businesses Selling Two Hilariously Unconnected Items
11 State Laws About Marrying Your Cousins, From Strictest to Loosest
11 Most Profound Quotes in Simpsons History
11 Old School Nintendo Tricks Permanently Burned Into Our Brains
11 Women the Kama Sutra Says You Shouldn't Have Sex With
11 Predictions That Back to the Future Part II Got Wrong
---o0o---

Sunday, May 10, 2009

digital art: the new family


click to enlarge
---o0o---

Happy Mother's Day - John Lennon sings "Mother" live at MSG (with lyrics)


Mother by John Lennon


Mother, you had me but I never had you,
I wanted you but you didn't want me,
So I got to tell you,
Goodbye, goodbye.
Farther, you left me but I never left you,
I needed you but you didn't need me,
So I got to tell you,
Goodbye, goodbye.
Children, don't do what I have done,
I couldn't walk and I tried to run,
So I got to tell you,
Goodbye, goodbye.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home.
Mama don't go,
Daddy come home...
---o0o---

Happy Mother's Day - Frank Zappa & The Mother of Invention's "Mother People".



We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you...
Do you think that I'm crazy?
Out of my mind?
Do you think that I creep in the night
And sleep in a phone booth?
Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person
Do you think that my pants are too tight
Do you think that I'm creepy?
Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person (the verse that really
Goes here has been censored out &
Recorded backwards in a special section
At the end of side one...)
We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you
We are the other people
We are the other people
You're the other people too
Found a way to get to you
Do you think that I love you...
Stupid & blind?
Do you think that I dream through the
Night
Of holding you near me?

Lemme take a minute & tell you my plan
Lemme take a minute & tell who I am
If it doesn't show
Think you better know
I'm another person
---o0o---

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Photo of Stazzi James Cannon: meet the parents


click to enlarge - photographer unknown for the moment

A photo of my brand new grand-nephew Stazzi James Cannon, along with his parents (my niece) Paloma and Von. I don't know who actually took the photo--Grandpaw Dwight? It came in an email...
---o0o---

Father Cutie a/k/a Padre Oprah caught with his pants [not quite] down



Cover of the tabloid TVNOTAS - click to enlarge - [First photos of a priest - Holy God - caught red handed - photo of mistress]

Tabloid photographs of a popular television priest engaged in a clinch on a Florida beach have been published by a Spanish language tabloid, TVNOTAS, and have now--of course--appeared all over the internet. The Padre has literally millions of reader, followers, parishioners, and listeners.




Rev. Alberto Cutié a/k/a Padre Oprah has published books, and hosted radio and television shows ("Padre Alberto") about relationships. He had a recent best-seller, “Real Life, Real Love.” As it turns out, the Father wasn't just talking out of his a**. Perhaps he was just working on his next book? He may have been just performing research with the brunette on the beach.
Photo from the tabloid TVNOTAS - click to enlarge

The tabloid photos show the handsome 40-year-old priest in swim trunks, cuddling with, and smooching on, a dark-haired woman on a Florida beach. The very same day, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami removed him from his post as pastor of a Miami Beach church (he is on leave). As you probably know, the Catholic church has required priests to be celibate since around the 11th century. Interestingly, he got the boot one day after the revelations came out. Earlier celibacy violators in the RC Church were often shuttled between parishes (and have bankrupted--and even closed--more than one Diocese and parish). Many of the molesting priests are still active in the church--but their crime was molesting 14 year old boys, not cuddling up with a consenting female adult.
---o0o---

Friday, May 08, 2009

The Band's final song: Dont Do It - the encore at their final performance

As their final song, after a very long concert with the likes of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Neils Young and Diamond, Emmy Lou Harris, The Staples, Muddy Waters, and many more, The Band played their great cover of Marvin Gaye's Don't Do it, albeit in a shortened version. They'd been on stage for many hours. Rick Danko and Richard Manuel both died tragically years later. And the rest of them are still plugging along, but no one ever came close to the transcendent heights The Band achieved. The movie this clip is from, Scorsese's Last Waltz engendered a lot of hostility from the Band members (except Robbie Robertson). Rick Danko told a reporter that they usually turned Robertson's mike way down--because he couldn't sing. . .something easily verified by a listen to his solo recordings.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Dylan Thomas's Late Poem "Prologue"



This is one of my favorite poems. Dylan Thomas wrote the Prologue with an elaborate rhyme scheme that no really picked up on--to his great disappointment. The hundred line poem rhymes the first and last lines, the second with the next to last line, all the way up to the very middle of the poem--bridging the stanzas--where there is a couplet (Sheep white hollow farms/To Wales in my arms). You fade into his rhyme scheme in the middle, where, for about 12 lines or so, the rhymes chime. . .and then it fades back away, back to where line 2 rhymes with line 99, etc.

Rhyme scheme notwithstanding, it is a gorgeous, dense and lyrical poem, with an amazingly propulsive rhythm. The poem is very much in the spirit of his great late poems like Fern Hill, In Country Sleep, etc.

Prologue

This day winding down now
At God speeded summer's end
In the torrent salmon sun,
In my seashaken house
On a breakneck of rocks
Tangled with chirrup and fruit,
Froth, flute, fin, and quill
At a wood's dancing hoof,
By scummed, starfish sands
With their fishwife cross
Gulls, pipers, cockles, and snails,
Out there, crow black, men
Tackled with clouds, who kneel
To the sunset nets,
Geese nearly in heaven, boys
Stabbing, and herons, and shells
That speak seven seas,
Eternal waters away
From the cities of nine
Days' night whose towers will catch
In the religious wind
Like stalks of tall, dry straw,
At poor peace I sing
To you strangers (though song
Is a burning and crested act,
The fire of birds in
The world's turning wood,
For my swan, splay sounds),
Out of these seathumbed leaves
That will fly and fall
Like leaves of trees and as soon
Crumble and undie
Into the dogdayed night.
Seaward the salmon, sucked sun slips,
And the dumb swans drub blue
My dabbed bay's dusk, as I hack
This rumpus of shapes
For you to know
How I, a spining man,
Glory also this star, bird
Roared, sea born, man torn, blood blest.
Hark: I trumpet the place,
From fish to jumping hill! Look:
I build my bellowing ark
To the best of my love
As the flood begins,
Out of the fountainhead
Of fear, rage read, manalive,
Molten and mountainous to stream
Over the wound asleep
Sheep white hollow farms


To Wales in my arms.
Hoo, there, in castle keep,
You king singsong owls, who moonbeam
The flickering runs and dive
The dingle furred deer dead!
Huloo, on plumbed bryns,
O my ruffled ring dove
in the hooting, nearly dark
With Welsh and reverent rook,
Coo rooning the woods' praise,
who moons her blue notes from her nest
Down to the curlew herd!
Ho, hullaballoing clan
Agape, with woe
In your beaks, on the gabbing capes!
Heigh, on horseback hill, jack
Whisking hare! who
Hears, there, this fox light, my flood ship's
Clangour as I hew and smite
(A clash of anvils for my
Hubbub and fiddle, this tune
On a toungued puffball)
But animals thick as theives
On God's rough tumbling grounds
(Hail to His beasthood!).
Beasts who sleep good and thin,
Hist, in hogback woods! The haystacked
Hollow farms in a throng
Of waters cluck and cling,
And barnroofs cockcrow war!
O kingdom of neighbors finned
Felled and quilled, flash to my patch
Work ark and the moonshine
Drinking Noah of the bay,
With pelt, and scale, and fleece:
Only the drowned deep bells
Of sheep and churches noise
Poor peace as the sun sets
And dark shoals every holy field.
We will ride out alone then,
Under the stars of Wales,
Cry, multitudes of arks! Across
The water lidded lands,
Manned with their loves they'll move
Like wooden islands, hill to hill.
Hulloo, my prowed dove with a flute!
Ahoy, old, sea-legged fox,
Tom tit and Dai mouse!
My ark sings in the sun
At God speeded summer's end
And the flood flowers now.

-- Dylan Thomas
---o0o---

Sarah Palin's new heater: NRA gives the Governor a custom assault rifle





--click to enlarge--
---o0o---

Elvis Costello video: High Fidelity from one of the great albums "Get Happy," produced by Nick Lowe

Knowing Elvis's personality, and knowing how cranky he was back then (remember the Ray Charles Incident?), it's amazing they got Elvis to do so many videos, and seriously dance and emote...here is Get Happy's High Fidelity. . .


---o0o---