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Thursday, November 18, 2010
support group
OK. I have friends on both sides of this equation. . .and you have to admit these--put up at someone's office--are pretty funny (well, the carnivore one, anyhow). Image from http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Governor Crist plans Jim Morrison pardon--Morrison tells how his penis ended up where it did
By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor
As you have probably heard, the outgoing Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, just announced that he will pardon Jim Morrison, who died 40 years ago. Morrison was convicted of exposing himself at a raucous 1969 Doors concert in Miami. Here is a photo of him holding a lamb at that concert. It got far crazier after the lamb.
Everyone I've read seems to think Jim attempted to expose himself during the Miami show, but was probably prevented from doing so by band members and handlers, and--maybe--never really intended to go all the way. He was charged with exposing his penis to the crowd, and with a felony morals charge. He could have been imprisoned for 7 years in that notorious Florida hell-hole, Raiford Prison. For some reason, rock critics and historians believe he did not expose himself as charged. After he was sentenced to sx months in prison, he moved to Paris, I think pending appeals, and died not long after that.
Social Mores Editor
As you have probably heard, the outgoing Florida Governor, Charlie Crist, just announced that he will pardon Jim Morrison, who died 40 years ago. Morrison was convicted of exposing himself at a raucous 1969 Doors concert in Miami. Here is a photo of him holding a lamb at that concert. It got far crazier after the lamb.
Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't. In No One Here Gets Out Alive (1980, by Danny Sugerman and Jerry Hopkins), you can read The Lizard King's version of the story. The authors write about one night Morrison was out drinking with a group of friends. His friend Tom Baker started hectoring him about Miami. This is an excerpt from the book. I've always loved this story.
"You’re a pussy, Morrison," said Tom, baiting his friend. "You’re a ******* no-count pussy."
Jim ignored the taunt. Frank and Babe stared into their drinks.
"Tell us now, Mr. Jim Morrison, rock star," Tom went on, a voice that traveled the length of the bar, "tell us what happened in Miami."
It was a tiresome subject for Jim. He glared at Tom, took another swallow from his drink.
"Come on, Jim, tell us once and for all."
"Yes," said Jim quietly, "I did it."
"Did what, Jim?" Tom’s voice was strident, triumphant.
"I showed my **** ."
"Why, Jim? When I showed mine in my movie, you said it wasn’t art."
"Well," Jim said in a low voice so everyone present had to strain to hear him, "I wanted to see what it looked like in the spotlight."
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Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The Dry Run
It's old news (one of the hazards of the press--do you write about it immediately, with maybe 1/7th of the facts, or do you wait and let the story--and, presumably, the truth--to evolve?), but do you remember the suspicious packages on the cargo planes in Europe a couple of weeks ago? The early speculation was that these packages/printer cartridges were a dry run [1] by a terrorist group. Soon enough, we found out they weren't really a dry run at all. The packages (printers and toner cartridges) were fully armed with high-powered explosives. One was allegedly defused 17 minutes before it was set to explode.
All this talk made me think of the concept of dry runs. In the final episode of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano discussed this with a fed--Agent Dwight Harris. The FBI Agent explained that they frequently received anonymous tips or bad Intel on terror activity, and even found dry run packages in the cargo or luggage where the terrorists were "just testing our response."
It hit me that the dry run and the trial balloon is an ingrained and central social mechanic [Ed's note: and this mechanic is often flagged in the 21st century as "passive-aggressive" and various other related labels.] You use these mechanics in human transactions. I see it in my work all the time--where what we do has a lot of latitude and room to be creative, loose and indefinite. Wherever you look, you see instances of dry runs and trial balloons. You may try them on your spouse/partner, your boss, your parents, your co-workers, your kids. And at the same time, those same people may well be performing their own dry runs and floating their own balloons over and upon you. In my work, and really, in my life everything is a dry run for what comes next. Sometimes you float a trial balloon, and sometimes you leap, frightened and overjoyed, into the promising murk.
[1] dry run. Noun. 1. (Military) Military practice in weapon firing, a drill, or a manoeuvre without using live ammunition. 2. Informal a trial or practice, esp in simulated conditions; rehearsal. (Collins English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003)
All this talk made me think of the concept of dry runs. In the final episode of The Sopranos, Tony Soprano discussed this with a fed--Agent Dwight Harris. The FBI Agent explained that they frequently received anonymous tips or bad Intel on terror activity, and even found dry run packages in the cargo or luggage where the terrorists were "just testing our response."
We see dry runs every day. Whenever The White House or other politicians send up trial balloons (the most recent one I remember is the old Hillary-Joe Biden switcheroo trial balloon), they too are testing our response.
It hit me that the dry run and the trial balloon is an ingrained and central social mechanic [Ed's note: and this mechanic is often flagged in the 21st century as "passive-aggressive" and various other related labels.] You use these mechanics in human transactions. I see it in my work all the time--where what we do has a lot of latitude and room to be creative, loose and indefinite. Wherever you look, you see instances of dry runs and trial balloons. You may try them on your spouse/partner, your boss, your parents, your co-workers, your kids. And at the same time, those same people may well be performing their own dry runs and floating their own balloons over and upon you. In my work, and really, in my life everything is a dry run for what comes next. Sometimes you float a trial balloon, and sometimes you leap, frightened and overjoyed, into the promising murk.
[1] dry run. Noun. 1. (Military) Military practice in weapon firing, a drill, or a manoeuvre without using live ammunition. 2. Informal a trial or practice, esp in simulated conditions; rehearsal. (Collins English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003)
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Monday, November 15, 2010
President Obama's one term?
By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor
"If the president goes down the reelection road, we are guaranteed two years of political gridlock at a time when we can ill afford it," Pat Caddell and Doug Schoen wrote in yesterday's Washington Post. "But by explicitly saying he will be a one-term president, Obama can deliver on his central campaign promise of 2008, draining the poison from our culture of polarization and ending the resentment and division that have eroded our national identity and common purpose."
Really? I like the premise (and it is not unprecedented....just ask LBJ--the last voluntary one-term President), but what would really happen is that the GOP would see this as the ultimate capitulation and weakness and would then proceed to steamroll the President for the next two years, leaving us in worse shape than if he went ahead with what to some might seem to be a futile campaign and election. Or, I guess, he could "pull a Palin," and just quit now and leave Hillary and Smilin' Joe to sort out the mess...
All This Is That National Affairs Editor
Really? I like the premise (and it is not unprecedented....just ask LBJ--the last voluntary one-term President), but what would really happen is that the GOP would see this as the ultimate capitulation and weakness and would then proceed to steamroll the President for the next two years, leaving us in worse shape than if he went ahead with what to some might seem to be a futile campaign and election. Or, I guess, he could "pull a Palin," and just quit now and leave Hillary and Smilin' Joe to sort out the mess...
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Sunday, November 14, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Ex-agent Gerald Blaine says in book: "I almost shot LBJ hours after JFK murder"
By Jack Brummet
Social Mores Editor
Thanks to Dean Ericksen for pointing out this story.
Blaine's nearly fatal mistake left him, naturally, chilled. Only 14 hours after losing one president, the nation had almost lost another one. Gerald Blaine says his book is the first account of the assassination by a member of Kennedy's security detail. I think that's true. I have read a lot about LBJ and never heard this one before. Wow.
Fortunately, Blaine didn't fire, and Speaker of the House, John W. McCormack, did not become President. As great as LBJ was, who knows...maybe McCormack could have somehow avoided escalating the Vietnam War...but I doubt it. The tragic juggernaut was already inexorably gathering steam.
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Social Mores Editor
Thanks to Dean Ericksen for pointing out this story.
Gerald Blaine, a former Secret Service agent, says in his new book—The Kennedy Detail — that he nearly shot President Lyndon B. Johnson hours after John F. Kennedy's assassination.
In his new book, Blaine remembers standing guard outside the Washington home of the just sworn-in President Johnson in the wee hours of Nov. 23, 1963. He heard footsteps approaching.
Agent Blaine picked up his submachine gun in the darkness and aimed it at the chest of a man who turned out to be the new President.
Blaine's nearly fatal mistake left him, naturally, chilled. Only 14 hours after losing one president, the nation had almost lost another one. Gerald Blaine says his book is the first account of the assassination by a member of Kennedy's security detail. I think that's true. I have read a lot about LBJ and never heard this one before. Wow.
Fortunately, Blaine didn't fire, and Speaker of the House, John W. McCormack, did not become President. As great as LBJ was, who knows...maybe McCormack could have somehow avoided escalating the Vietnam War...but I doubt it. The tragic juggernaut was already inexorably gathering steam.
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Friday, November 12, 2010
Dr. Suess show in Laguna Beach
I went to a show of Dr. Seuss's fine art works on Monday in Laguna Beach. It was pretty cool to see his work on a large scale, along with about a dozen sculptures of his unique animals. While the prints were nice (many of them come from actual paintings he did that he never sold), it was also clear Seuss himself had little to do with the prints. He didn't supervise the making of screens, or even select the works. It was also clear that they were being marketed as investments (similar to all the prints of, say, Dali and Chagall that have flooded the print markets). The guy who worked in the gallery said they were a good deal. $1,500 to $3,000 for a work where--"some of the early prints have gone up in value to $25,000 in a few years." Which, naturally, made me suspicious. Worth seeing, but not buying...
From a press release: "In 1997, The Chase Group acquired exclusive worldwide rights to publish the work of Dr. Seuss as limited edition prints. Along with publishing certain book illustrations, Chase is making available editions of Seuss’s, "Secret Art". These are paintings that Geisel painted for his own pleasure and never before shown to the public and exhibit a more sophisticated, technically accomplished and quite unrestrained side to his talent."
From a press release: "In 1997, The Chase Group acquired exclusive worldwide rights to publish the work of Dr. Seuss as limited edition prints. Along with publishing certain book illustrations, Chase is making available editions of Seuss’s, "Secret Art". These are paintings that Geisel painted for his own pleasure and never before shown to the public and exhibit a more sophisticated, technically accomplished and quite unrestrained side to his talent."
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