Photograph: Leadbelly in Prison, Angola, Louisiana

By Jack Brummet, Music Editor

click to enlarge

photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress

Prints and Photographs Division

This photograph, by the great ethno-musicologist Alan Lomax, shows Leadbelly a/k/a Hudie Ledbetter in prison in Angola, Louisiana.  That is Leadbelly in the foreground.  The picture was shot in 1934.  On the back of the photo, in Lomax's hand, is written:   "Prison compound No 1. Angola, La. Leadbelly in foreground."  This photograph is included in the Lomax collection of photographs, mostly depicting folk (country, blues, bluegrass).  The photos of musicians were taken as he traveled the south and recorded local musicians.  This music changed modern American music, and inspired several generations of roots, folk, country, and rock musicians.

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Two paintings: a) Purgatory and b) Night Sweats

click Purgatory to enlarge

click night sweats to enlarge

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Map 28 - Islands of the DMZ

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Self-portrait

By Jack Brummet

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42nd Street, 1986

By Jack Brummet
NYC Metro Editor

Not long before the Times Square cleanup began, there was still a thriving grindhouse row on The Deuce, a/k/a 42nd Street.  Here are some double and triple features that ran on 42nd Street 25 years ago.

42nd Street (North)

Rialto:  Basic Training/Madman
Victory: "3 Adult Hits"
Lyric: Police Academy 3 / The Protector
Times Square: April Fool's Day / Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter
Apollo: Eyes of Fire / Hell Night
Selwyn:  Band of the Hand / The Last Dragon

42nd Street (South)

Cine 42: I: Critters / Deadly Blessing; Theater II:  The Toxic Avenger/ Bloodsucking Freaks
Harris: P.O.W.: The Escape / Exterminator 2/ Delta Force
Liberty: Make Them Die Slowly/Savage Man, Savage Beast / King Dick
Empire: Shaolin Kung Fu/ Shaolin Vs. Lama /Shaolin Red Master

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Daybreak on Mars, at Gale Crater

Image Credit: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory - click to enlarge

This image shows Mars between darkness and daylight, and includes a glimpse of the Gale Crater. Gale is the crater with a mound inside it near the center of the image. Gale Crater will be the landing site for Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory. The mission's rover will be placed on the ground in Gale Crater in August 2012.   Gale Crater is 96 miles in diameter with a mountain rising about 3 miles (higher than Mt. Rainier) above the crater floor. This image was captured from the Mars Orbiter.

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Rick Santorum's crappy problem with the Santorum neologism

By Jack Brummet, Pranks and Payback Editor
with research by Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor
Illustrations by Jack Brummet

Only yesterday, Ex-Senator Rick Santorum publicly asked Google to fix his problem.  He said he KNEW they could suppress the sexual references to his name on the G.I.S. results if they wanted to.  He also implied that if he were a Democrat, they would have eliminated his problem long ago.  As Google pointed out, it's not like they're doing anything other than reporting the search results.  They didn't put up the definition of "santorum." 

Rick Santorum's Google problem started in 2003, not long after he told the Associated Press that "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

Seattle sex advice columnist and best selling author Dan Savage was understandably P.O.'d and decided payback could be fun.  He asked readers for a definition of "Santorum.". The winner was  "Santorum: The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex."  Savage created the website  Spreading Santorum", which soon became the top Santorum result in most search engines.  Years later,  in 2010, Savage offered  to take the website down if Santorum donated $5 million to Freedom to Marry, a group advocating legal recognition of same-sex marriages

And even now, to Santorum's enormous inconvenience, that definition is the top entry when you Google the word "Santorum."  [Ed's note:  We noticed today the definition has slid down six notches in the Google search results, but we're pretty sure it was pushed down in the results due to a lot of searching on Santorum asking Google, basically, to have mercy.  We think the definition will pop back up to the top right after this story dies down (and it will die fast.  No one cares.  ).]

A cranky Santorum appeared on right-wing Steve Malzberg's talk show to express his ire and frustration:

"It's just that. It's filth. It's, you know, this man has, has gone out there and tried to destroy my integrity. I mean, you've heard the whole issue of the Google issue. That's Dan Savage. You know, it's, it's the lowest, you know, debasement of public discourse. It's, it's offensive beyond, you know, anything that any public figure or anybody in America should tolerate, and the mainstream media laughs about it. They, they, they kid about it. They write about it. They say, 'Oh, Santorum's got a Google problem.'

Dan Savage responded on AMERICAblog Gay:

"And you have to love how Santorum is out there mewling about being the victim here and about civility-- this from the man who compared people in stable, loving same-sex relationships to dog fuckers and kiddie rapists, this from a man who would make gay and straight sodomy illegal, ban gay marriage and any other protections for same-sex couples, and prevent loving same-sex couples from adopting children who need homes. This from a man who would literally destroy my family if it were within in his power to do so. And the "Savage Love" gang? All we did was make a dirty joke at his expense. There has been no effort to strip Rick Santorum of his civil rights, no moves to nullify his marriage, no one has suggested that his children be taken out of his home, no one is trying to prevent him from having more children. No one has compared Rick Santorum to a dog fucker or a pedophile. Compared to Rick Santorum, my readers and I have been models of decorum and restraint."

"And don't think you're fooling us, Rick. Now that you're running for president -- eight years after we redefined 'santorum' -- you're whining to attract a little attention to your campaign and because your advisors think that maybe you'll get a little traction playing the pansy-assed victim card, à la Sarah Palin, and rake in a few bucks. Oh, look at that mean gay dude -- one of the guys I want to oppress -- he's picking on meeeeeeeeee."

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Let's Bake! (NSFW)

When we finally start our cooking blog, we're pretty sure this will be the image on the front page.

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Drawing: The Witch-doctor

Drawing by Jack Brummet

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Drawings: The Hook-up

Drawing by Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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A flyover of earth, from the International Space Station

We have really been enjoying the photography coming out of the International Space Station as it orbits earth.  This time lapse video starts over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. 

You can see--in order--Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, various cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon.    You see earth's ionosphere (the thin yellow line), the starts of the Milky Way, and at :55 seconds, a satellite.

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Faces No. 252

Drawings by Jack Brummet

pencil on muslin, 2'x2'

click to enlarge

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