Jack writing in from Austin, Texas. Getting here was not easy. . .There were thunder storms all over the tri state area, hundreds of planes were cancelled, and the ones that weren't were stacked up waiting to land and take off.
My plane from Boston was two hours late, and I was about to miss my connection in Newark. So, our assistant in Seattle rigged up a plan where I would wait at the airport until 9:30 (my original plane was at 5:30), grab a plane to Cleveland that would take me to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I would wait two hours and hop on a plane to Dallas and then another plane to Austin and arrive in the morning around 10:30. But at the last minute they found a seat on another plane heading to Newark, and I made my connection--because it was two hours late. And I finally arrived in Austin at 1:30.
Of course, I was too wired to go to bed, so I walked over the warehouse district and had a beer. And now I am back in another grim corporate hotel. Hoping to sleep five hours. But all that aside. . .it doesn't matter, because I am here in one of my favorite cities in the world, albeit for about 36 hours. I am going out for music tomorrow night. About which, see the next post. And this one was supposed to be about hobo drawings...so let's get started!
Even though they form the plural of hobo as hoboes [sic], this is a great site! When I was growing up, dozens of hobos tramped through our town, bracketed as it was between the Northern Pacific and Burlington Railroad lines. They would often come to the back door, offering to work for food. The 700 hobos project enlisted 700 artists to each draw a hobo picture.
From the web site: "In the beginning, there were hoboes. Then, a notable non-historian wrote some lies about them in his wonderful and wholly inaccurate almanac. That man was John Hodgman. The book was The Areas of My Expertise. Amongst the lies was a comprehensive list of notable historical hobo names, numbering 700. After Hodgman read the list into a music flattening device, one Mr. Mark Frauenfelder of the Boing Boing teletyped a suggestion that 700 cartoonists volunteer to draw one hobo each as a public service or for no particular reason. And so it was, more or less, and here they are. "
About the website - In March of 2006, 65 years after the end of the Hobo Wars, several members of the 700 Hoboes project decided to build a new, majestic home for these noble hoboes. Check this one out! Love, jack (I'm going to sleep).
You remember the wonderful Saturday Night Live appearance when Elvis Costello burned Lorne Michaels and played Radio Radio? He stopped in the middle of the song Michaels wanted, and started over, playing Radio Radio. This video is a callback to that episode, performed with the Beastie Boys on a Saturday Night Live anniversary show.
According to Microsoft insiders, Robbie Bach will announce in August that Microsoft is pulling out of the game console business. Sources blame sluggish sales and massive losses accumulating from replacing defective XBox 360s, as well as extending the warranty on all XBox 360s. One program manager estimates that, in the worst case, Microsoft will need to replace around 30 million XBox 360s. Although the 360 has sold just shy of 12 million units, Microsoft now expects most of those replacement units to fail as well, and in some cases, fail multiple times.
The decision to jettison the XBox 360 was made after a heated meeting between the part-time executive/full-time philanthropist billionaire and the XBox "team."
Three slides into the Powerpoint presentation of XBox financials, Bill Gates stood up and began screaming:
"What the f*** are we doing here Robbie? All I ever hear from you a**holes is how fantastic the XBox is! How you're so much better than the PS/3 or the f***in' Wii! And look at this! We're f***ing hemorrhaging money on this g**damned thing and now you tell me it will cost ONE BILLION dollars to fix the f***ing things because you had to make it FASTER! You just had to make it the hottest thing and now the motherf***ing things are blowing up and catching on fire! S**t! What the f*** were you thinking, a**hole? Tell me when you're going to turn the corner on this! They make a profit on every f***ing Wii they sell! And they're kicking our asses all over Redmond. So what the f*** are you genuises going to do? How do you fix this? You know how many orphans I could immunize with the g**damned money you lose every single hour on this thing?! You better have an answer in the morning. And you tell Ballmer I'm going to kick his ass all over Medina the next chance I get. How do you think it looks for Microsoft to be getting its ass kicked like this!? Maybe you a**holes think that motherf***ing Zune is going to make up the difference? Take your f***ing Powerpoint and get the f*** out of here!"
Robert J. Bach, President, Microsoft Entertainment & Devices Division in happier days
Sources say Microsoft will continue to support the XBox and XBox 360, mainly to prevent the flood of class action suits sure to follow the cancellation. All hardware development on the 360 has now been ended. Software titles still under development will be released, however, all game titles that have not reached an "alpha" stage may be cancelled. Some insiders told us that Microsoft is exploring porting 360 games under development, as well as top selling titles like Halo 2, to both the PS/3 and Wii platforms in a move similar to Sega's strategy when it pulled out of the hardware market. ---o0o---
My brother and sister-in law, Dean, Mary, and their young children Declan. Althea, and August are on a two month trip to Nicaragua. Read his harrowing and endlessly fascinating account of life in Central America in his sporadic dispatches right here on BlogSpot.
It's been a bad month for Rudy Giuliani. First the firefighters come out swinging, blaming Rudy's decisions for causing deaths and health problems following the World Trade Center collapse and cleanup, and now Fred Thompson leaps in and surges to the top of the field.
Senator, Reagan wannabe, and husband to Jeri Kehn, Fred Thompson has soared to the top of the Republican presidential nominees in national polling done by John Zogby.
For the first time since February, the former mayor no longer leads the Republican field. Thompson's support comes at the expense of Giuliani and John McCain, who has fallen to fourth place after losing massive support over his positions on immigration and ther Iraq war. Only a short year ago, McCain was the presumptive nominee.
The Republican Fred Thompson has grown his lead with support in his homeland, the South, and the Midwest. And maybe just a little bit because of Mrs. Thompson.
Jack, Sr. in the army, shortly before World War II, clowning with a serious looking buddy
Jack, Sr. in "dungarees" displaying his rifle and bayonet at boot camp, in about 1940.
Jack, Sr. a/k/a John Newton Brummet II clowning with Navy buddies in about 1943. World War II began just after he was discharged from the army. He immediately enlisted in the navy. I'm not sure the army wanted him back. He served in the Navy for the duration of the war.
Betty Echo Jones Brummet, with her twin brother Bill a/k/a William Raymond Jones. Bill enlisted in the Navy the day after Pearl Harbor. He was a senior in high school. This picture was taken in the spring, when the Navy allowed him to return to Ballard High School to graduate with his class, and sister.
Betty Brummet on leave from her post in the Marine Corps. Betty worked for a while during the war as the iconic Rosie The Riveter at The Boeing Company in Seattle. During the war she enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in Santa Ana, California, and Cherry Point, North Carolina. She followed my Grandfather, William Jennings Bryan Jones into the Marine Corps. Grandpa Bill served in the Marines in both World War I and World War II. In this photo, she is walking in downtown Seattle with my step-grandma Sally Jones. ---o0o---
Former CBS News producer Mary Mapes said she is "uncomfortable" watching Katie Couric conduct the evening news because the anchor looks like she has been "drugged, kidnapped, and is making a hostage tape."
Not long ago, searches for photos of Fred Thompson's wife, Jeri Kehn Thompson soared to the top of various search sites "most popular searches," along with the usual suspects. . .whoever got into hot water that week, and whoever was in the news for whatever reason (often folks like Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Anna Nicole Smith, Osama bin Laden, Scooter Libby, and other "newsmakers" or news-victims).
The rumbling has quieted down somewhat, as people have learned that Kehn is a smart attorney who has consulted for the G.O.P. and worked for one of the largest political consulting firms in Washington. The speculation now focuses on whether the G.O.P., the neo-cons, and the red state denizens can accept a smart, good looking first lady who barely looks 40 years old alongside a husband who looks every day of his 64 years. Let's not even go into their tans!
Only a handful of Jeri Kehn photos are extant, and many of them are not photos of her at all. When the Kehn story first broke, there was an explosion on blogs and websites of people debating whether or not she would be a fit first lady, whether she was "just a trophy wife," and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough (a conservative I normally like) speculated that she might "work the pole." This might have been Scarborough's Don Imus moment, but somehow he survived this execrable moment of misogynism.
SCARBOROUGH: Have you seen Fred Thompson's wife? CRAWFORD: Oh, yeah. SCARBOROUGH: You think she thinks she works the pole? CRAWFORD: That's what a Hollywood career will do for you, I guess. SCARBOROUGH: What do you mean? CRAWFORD: You get wives like that.
President Bush and Sheikh Osama bin Laden in happier times
A new al-Qaeda videotape posted Sunday on a militant Web site featured a short, undated clip of Osama bin Laden praising martyrdom. An A.P. report said bin Laden looked weary.
Bin Laden glorified those who die in the name of jihad, or holy war, saying even the Prophet Muhammad "had been wishing to be a martyr." "The happy (man) is the one that God has chosen him to be a martyr," added bin Laden, who was filmed outdoors wearing army fatigues.
You may remember Donald Rumsfeld's spontaneous poem on finding Osama:
Where is Osama bin Laden?
We do know of certain knowledge That he is either in Afghanistan Or in some other country Or dead. ---o0o---
I can't find the video yet, but did locate Osama bin Laden's appearance on The Family Guy.
Recent posts on All This Is That about Osama bin Laden:
I recently bought a new copy of Bob Dylan's remastered Bringing It All Back Home. This replaced a cassette copy that had long ago had enough oxide scrubbed off to alllow you to just barely identify the song.
I forgot what a stone masterpiece this album was. And it wasn't the first Dylan masterpiece that year. My favorite song on the record is It's All Right Ma (I'm only bleeding). Here is a video of Dylan performing the tune the year the record came out. If you get the chance, you need to hear the pristine re-mastered version. Dylan nailed it on the record, and I've never heard him do a better version than what he originally recorded. I was brought back to this song because David Chase used it in the last episode of The Sopranos. . .as A.J.'s $30,000 erupted in flames and exploded. . . The kids said something like "Can you believe this was recorded 40 years ago?!"
The lyrics are magnificent. This must be one of his ten best songs (but the competition is formidable). Dylan was at the height of his powers with the long form song and dense, imagistic--not yet surrealistic--lyrics. His guitar, on the record at least, is fluid and tasty. Maybe the only flaw in the song is, as my friend Kyle Lingol, pointed out, "He never writes bridges!"
Darkness at the break of noon Shadows even the silver spoon The handmade blade, the child's balloon Eclipses both the sun and moon To understand you know too soon There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn Suicide remarks are torn From the fool's gold mouthpiece The hollow horn plays wasted words Proves to warn That he not busy being born Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door You follow, find yourself at war Watch waterfalls of pity roar You feel to moan but unlike before You discover That you'd just be One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear A foreign sound to your ear It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall Private reasons great or small Can be seen in the eyes of those that call To make all that should be killed to crawl While others say don't hate nothing at all Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark As human gods aim for their mark Made everything from toy guns that spark To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark It's easy to see without looking too far That not much Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates Teachers teach that knowledge waits Can lead to hundred-dollar plates Goodness hides behind its gates But even the president of the United States Sometimes must have To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged It's only people's games that you got to dodge And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you Into thinking you're the one That can do what's never been done That can win what's never been won Meantime life outside goes on All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear You suddenly find you got nothing to fear Alone you stand with nobody near When a trembling distant voice, unclear Startles your sleeping ears to hear That somebody thinks They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy Insure you not to quit To keep it in your mind and not fergit That it is not he or she or them or it That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules For the wise men and the fools I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority That they do not respect in any degree Who despise their jobs, their destinies Speak jealously of them that are free Cultivate their flowers to be Nothing more than something They invest in.
While some on principles baptized To strict party platform ties Social clubs in drag disguise Outsiders they can freely criticize Tell nothing except who to idolize And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire Gargles in the rat race choir Bent out of shape from society's pliers Cares not to come up any higher But rather get you down in the hole That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault On anyone that lives in a vault But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs Limited in sex, they dare To push fake morals, insult and stare While money doesn't talk, it swears Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see With a killer's pride, security It blows the minds most bitterly For them that think death's honesty Won't fall upon them naturally Life sometimes Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards False gods, I scuff At pettiness which plays so rough Walk upside-down inside handcuffs Kick my legs to crash it off Say okay, I have had enough What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen They'd probably put my head in a guillotine But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only. ---o0o---
Jack writing in from Austin, Texas. Getting here was not easy. . .There were thunder storms all over the tri state area, hundreds of planes were cancelled, and the ones that weren't were stacked up waiting to land and take off.
Jeri Kehn
