Wednesday, September 30, 2009

So I am waiting for my honey to land

So I am between traveling companions. I dropped off Lynnie at the Bangor Airport this afternoon - and Ed flys in tongiht, so I am at Starbucks - being one of those annoying computer people.
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These pictures are all from Acadia National Park. The place is beautiful. Both days Lynn and I were here (Monday and Tuesday) it was cloudy in the morning and really pretty in the afternoon.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Having Fun in Maine




Lynn and I are having a wonderful time in Maine so far...
(KOA hotspot)
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ps to my honey.. Wore the Wisconsin Badger Football T-Shirt and meet 3 Badgers (Wakasha, Madison, Plus "thule East?"

Friday, September 25, 2009

Couger Town is Surprisingly Funny

I know it sounds horrible - but Courtney Cox(-Arquette) is really funny in this show. It is a string of people trying to get laid, but it is so constant it is really funny.
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Give it a shot.

It's Our One Year Marriage Anniversary


So, it's been a year since we made it official. Yeah to us!
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14 years unmarried and 1 married now....

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Just Saw A Steady Rain..

So Eddie and I just got back from "A Steady Rain" with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig.
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It was a beautifully acted show, with a compelling story. It is only a two character show - with the two of them recounted a tale that happened when they were partners as policemen in Chicago.
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Good show.
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Plus it was just shy of 2 hours with no intermission - which Eddie loves.
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Right before the show Eric Balfour (from Six Feet Under) was waiting to go in.
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He is good looking and all, but he totally needs to dump the hat (which he was wearing tonight too).

Today's UN University Symposium

So, via NYU Global Affairs newsletters, I get invited to all kinds of things. Today I went to a UN University Symposium on the effect of Climate Change on Migration.
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The UN University offers symposiums all over. This one was timed to be in concert with the opening of the UN this week. It dealt with the how climate change will effect migration. It also dealt with the problems of migrants who are identified as "economic migrants" because the term "economic refugee" would be too controversial. Apparently "refugee" carries a lot of weight.
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But the Ambassador from Kiribati was in the audience and spoke about their problems. The island will be underwater in a generation - but neither Australia nor New Zealand want to let them migrate there. The guy looked and sounded Australian, but he was not happy with the Aussies.
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So what the island is doing is focusing almost all their resources on education so as to make their citizens desirable migrants.
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It was interesting. I guess the things I was most surprised by was the fact that for most of the world, the migration is "south to south" - that is underdeveloped nation to another underdeveloped nation. AND the US Mexican migration problems will only get a lot worse. Not only are we the largest North / South border, but projections so that Mexico will be subject to server desertification so there will be mass migration pressure on them.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Trevor Does NOT Like It When I Wash His SnuggleBall: Updated - It's all better now (see 2nd picture)

Unhappy before.
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But now all is forgiven....

Kevin Craft (Mascot of the Month) filled in admirably...


So... I know that it was a bit of bad luck to make Kevin Craft the Mascot of the Month (he was immediately dropped as starting QB for Kevin Prince - my new favorite)... but it wasn't horrible luck.
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Poor Kevin Prince, as you know, got hurt when some Tennessee cheap a*hole's (uncalled) foul punched him in the mouth and broke his jaw in 2 places.
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Well, Kevin Craft filled in against Kansas State and we won 23-9. Sure he threw an interception, but he also threw a touchdown and we won - so that is fine.
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He looked a lot better this year than he did last year. The presence of an offensive line clearly helped :-).
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Anywho, we are off this week-end and then Oregon and Kevin Prince hopes to be back - but I feel a little better now than I did when I thought I put the woobie on Mr. Craft.

Missing the Big Picture

So, I don't know if you heard, but a British Talk Show Presenter (and naturalist) Chris Packham suggested that people leave Pandas to die out.
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His point, poorly made though it was, is that a ton of money is spent on the Panda that could be better spent saving other - more adaptable - species.
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I don't disagree with the point that, perhaps, that money could be spent to save more species, but what he is missing is that the money wouldn't really be there without the big cuddly Panda and her sad eyes saying "Help Me."
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This debate aired a long time ago in California. The Los Angeles and San Diego Zoos spent a shitload of money to save the California Condor from extinction. The Zoos, the Feds and the State pulled in all the birds in the late 1980 (there were less than 25) and did a captive breading program - now introducing them back into the wild. There are over 150 in the wild and another 100+ breeding again.
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Could the money have been used to save more species, of course. But donors don't really give a crap about saving 10 extra species of field mice, or buying habit areas for 10 species of sparrow. People give money to save cuddling Pandas and iconic California Condors. And the EXTRA money that is then used for other species is more than you would raise if you just had a fund raiser for endangered pygmy New Guinea Salamanders.
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Just as people respond more to the picture of 1 or 2 children in pain that the idea of Dafur - people respond to a big animal with emotional heft over 234 Mangrove Species that might die out. But the money from the big fund raisers is used for everything.
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If the World Wildlife Fund let the Pandas die out - and everyone knew - then donations to the WWF would dry up quicker than you can say heartless bastard.

One of the released Condors with a 10 foot wingspan soaring over the San Gabriel Mountains.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Elise: Look what you made me do!

So my cousin Elise "forced' me to watch Tool Academy. And we watched series 1, but we weren't going to be sucked into Series 2.
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But Tivo grabbed it during the summer slow season and... well... I'm hooked.
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So we watch this week's (I don't know when it airs - I just find it on Tivo) and I got to say, Miss Leah here - she should enter Tool Academy.
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I mean her boyfriend is a playah - but she is a stripper train wreck.
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After a night of sitting and shooting the shit with the girls - she got all "Oh no you dint!" when one of them said she thought strippers facilitated bad male behaviour.
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Well, Miss Leah went into the other room (with the other stripper - who was a total Jewish American Princess from Long Island - and I could NOT believe she was a stripper) and Miss Leah worked herself into a profanity laced tirade. By the time the other girl walked in - to apologise and try to explain herself if she hurt Leah's feelings - Leah was all up in her face and pushing her around.
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Hot Mess.

Cool Class: Identity, Integration and the Muslim Diaspora


I started a class last night on the effects of migration and integration of Muslims into the Western World.
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The professor is a really smart woman, 1st generation American (her parents are Indian migrants (dot, not feather)). She is Hindi, but has studied migration patterns of South Asia, primarily Muslims, and this is the first time the class has been offered.
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It is a small group of really diverse people (2 Cultural Anthropologists, 2 Non-Profit Workers, 2 UN workers, 2 retired people, 3 people leaving (or pushed) from the financial sector) - and full of talkers. Which is great and what the Professor wants, and interactive discussion.
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We talked about a lot of things, but one thing I thought was interesting was that the civil rights history in America gives immigrants a legal framework for non-discrimination that is not found in other western countries.
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One other thing, in the 60's - 90's, most migrant communities self-identified as "Lebanese" or "Turkish" or "Arab", not as Muslim. How did this change? How much was "typical" 2nd generation re-discovery and how much was imposed on these communities after 9/11?
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One other useless fact. Did you know the majority of Middle-East migrants to America are NOT Muslim. The biggest majority are Christian (from Lebanon and other places).
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It was an interesting class.
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Sorry I continue to blah blah for a moment....
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We also talked about remittances. Not just monetary, but how culture was also a part of this. After the Oil Boom (we see it as the Oil Crisis :-), lots of Syrians, Lebanese, etc. went to work in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. Apparently, before this much of the Eastern Mediterranean (like Lebanon and Damascus) were pretty Western in their attitudes, dress and entertainment. But the people that went to work in the Gulf and SA came back much more conservatively religious because they had spent so much time in that environment.
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It was a great class.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Everyone Has a Parade: Even the Pheasent Men

Everyone in New York has a Parade Day.
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I think the biggest are (in order) Puerto Rican Day, St. Patrick's Day, Domnican Day, Gay Pride and Brazilian Day... but everyone gets a Parade if they want.
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Und zo... this week-end was the German Day Parade - in concert with Octoberfest (the wisely choose to avoide all those German Nationalistic Days - no Kaiser Parade here!).
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So these lovely ladies are part of the Salzberg Austria Group. It was generally a lot of fun - although Octoberfest itself in Central Park was sold out.
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But there was an odd group of men in funny hats that "hurrah"ed on the parade. It was like the Masonic Order of the Pheasent Men. It was a kick.

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T

Sunday, September 20, 2009

The Anger of Impotency (Common to Right and Left)

Today the New York Times had a great opinion piece about Glen Beck. And I mean that it looked at the rage of the recent demonstrations in Washington, not from a Right Wing / Left Wing, but as the manifestation of anger about things not being stacked against the little guy in this country.
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So I thought, there is something to this line of reasoning.
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After all, hadn't I felt that same anger during the Bush Administration? If the Left had a Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh that rallied all of us, wouldn't I have marched on Washington? The answer is yes I would have. But there is no Left version of Rush Limbaugh. We are either too honest or too wishy-washy. But we were freakin' mad.
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And the difference between this administration and W Bush's is, quite honestly, tiny in the scope of things. We are pulling out of Iraq on a compromise of the Bush and Obama time frames. We are doubling downing in Afghanistan. And big business still own the government.
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The media, perhaps misunderstanding this originally, as jumped -rather too quickly - on the new "accepted knowledge" that populism on the right (an echo of earlier times) will flame out.
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I gotta say, the media's most amazing accomplishment has been to keep the populism on the right and the populism on the left at odds. We both feel the government is intruding too far into the people's affairs. That the deck is stacked against us. But the fine dance of having those who actually are in power blame the opposite idiolgical side is amazing to step back and watch - in order, no doubt, to avoid the true arbiters of power in this country, corporations that pour untold billions into our elected leaders' coffers.
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Gays or illegal aliens aren't keeping the Republicans from fulfilling their desires. Republicans were controlled the House, the Senate and the Presidency and spending, government intervention and government control (wiretapping, detaining etc.) went up!
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Just as conservatives and religious nuts aren't keeping Democrats from fulfilling our desires. We have a Democratic House, Senate, President and NOTHING has changed. Not One Thing.
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At some point maybe the people will decide to run this country again. But I can't see it happening within the current system of unbridled corporate money. Maybe we could get a few congressional elections or even a President - but the grease of the country is built on corporate money now.
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I suppose that this is their game and we just must learn toplay the best we can. It would be like being born in a Kingdom in the 1800s. It does no good to protest the King, you have to succeed within the system.
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The happiest people I know are people that don't care. I think they are the smart ones.

Whats-a-matta-U


The New York Times has a story today that Obama has asked New York Governor Patterson to not run again so that Mario Cuomo's Son can run for Governor.
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"Unidentified" sources say that Patterson's bad ratings, choice of a Senatorial Replacement for Hillary Clinton and "snub" of Caroline Kennedy all lead him to this decision.
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To which I say, bug off.
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I like Patterson. Sure, his blindness leaves him looking a little weird, but he seems like a pretty honest, straight shooter to me.
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He was right about Caroline Kennedy, who - uh - gave - uh -one the awfulest - uh what I mean is - uh -worst uh ummm what do you call it... interviews ever.
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As for Kathleen Gilcrest, our new Senator. Whatever, I like her. So she is from upstate and a little more conservative that you. At least she says what she means (she is fine with hunters AND gay marriage) and introduces bills to act on it. Unlike some Presidents I can name.
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I kind of want to throw a fund raiser for Patterson now.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Scott in Vermont Yesterday for the Day

Yesterday I went up to Vermont with a neighbor who wanted to look at a home builder.
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Vermont was pretty. We had to drvie from Burlington down to Middlebury. Some of the trees were just beginning to turn.
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I did LOVE the homebuilder (Corrnor Homes). They do brand new homes in the old East Coast archtectitural enaculiers - Cape Cod, Colonial, Georgian, Rustic. The build a complete unique house in pieces (designed by Architects, and then itemized by computer) to be constructed on site.
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I was massively impressed by the operation and the homes.
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As for Vermont, it was beautiful and made me very excited to my trip (with Lynn!) to Maine next week (in the RV!).
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On another note, the little puppy wakes me up every morning to take an early walk. I usually get up after the walk. On week-ends I read a little bit of the paper, then go back to bed.
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But I have to fight for my side!
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Friday, September 18, 2009

Miranda Lambert's has a new album and unplugged video....


So my favorite, Mirand Lambert, has a new album out at the end of the month. Yeah!.
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And - one of the good things about being a facebook fan is that she told us where the "unplugged" version of a song was...
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So, (lisa) if you like Miranda Lambert listen to this.
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Thursday, September 17, 2009

My Friends In Films: Relatives and In-Laws

So, as I discussed before (here), I thought that I should create some test that would tell the important people in my life who they would have been in old movies. But then I decided that I knew best - so I just put them there myself.
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First the in-laws and out-laws.
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Julie: Constance Bennett in Topper
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It's hard to place a woman who is a sassy and take charge as you in old movies, but Constance Bennett proved every bit the equal to Cary Grant.
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Cary and Constance were ghosts who forced old man Topper (their friend) to have more fun.
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And she looked charming doing it.
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Susie: Ruth Hussy in The Philadelphia Story...
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Now, if you haven't seen this, you must. Ruth is the photographer for the magazine that Jimmy Stewart works at.
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Katherine Hepburn is the star of the movie, but Ruth Hussy is the girl with smarts, the level head and subdued sex-appeal.
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And she gets Jimmy in the end.
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Ursula: Oh, I know you haven't seen it (no one has) but Linda Darnell was channeling you when she made "A Letter to Three Wives."
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She is from the wrong side of the tracks, but demands to be treated with respect. (When her rich date shows up to pick her up, he honks. The mother and friend go crazy for her to go to the car. She says, "He can come inside and pick me up like a Lady. This ain't no drive through!"
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She's hard on the outside, but a sweetie inside. Plus I bet she cursed like a sailor when she gave birth too!
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(like an in-law via Patti)
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JoANNE: Joan Blondell.. (in pretty much all the Gold Digger Movies)
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Joan Blondell was the bombshell best friend in all the Gold Digger movies (Gold Diggers of 1933, 35 and 37.
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And she lasted forever. She was Lottie in "Here Come the Brides" in 1968, and Fantasy Island in 1979.
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And she was always a ball of fire.
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Jo: Well, it has to be Joan Crawford from Mildred Pierce.
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Joan was a mother first, but a lady a close second.
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And when she marries for the status, just to get her daughter back. Well here is a woman who doesn't stand for any nonsense. She knows what she wants and goes after it.
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Plus she could scorch you with those eyes.
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Kathy: Well the little sister must be Joan Crawford then in "The Bride Wore Red."
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Still venerable.
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Already the sparkle she would keep forever. Joan in The Bride Wore Red was a symphony of sweet and tart.
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She was fun!
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MATC: Well you have to keep with the theme of the Theilen girls, so it must be Joan Crawford in Flamingo Road.
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Still beautiful and still tough. She is the perfect wife - once she finds someone up to her.
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Plus she has the best line of all time when talking to Sydney Greenstreet. He has just told her that "We small town sheriffs don't forget so easy." And she (the old carny girl) says "We used to have an elephant like that. Never forgot when a trainer was mean to him once. One day the elephant attacked the trainer. Had to be put down. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get rid of a dead elephant." In the end, Joan saves her husband's job and her marriage.
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(cousins)
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Kanoe: I don't even know if you can get this in Hawaii (do they have old movies) - but you are Miss Torchy Blaine.
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Torchy was a hard working, fun loving "girl reporter on the go".
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In a time when women were wives or mistresses Torchy was her own boss.
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Lehua: Well you're young - just like Miss Scarlet in Gone With the Wind.
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So young we don't know which way you're going to turn out yet -so not from the whole movie. Not yet.
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But you'll grow up plenty fast - live the fun life right now. Have those twins fight over you.
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Alana: Now don't be mad, even though Rosalind Russel looks old in Auntie Mame.
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Remember Auntie Mame was the coolest person. She traveled the world. She opened eyes.
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She was fabulous!
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Elise: Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
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Easy.
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If you haven't seen it you must.
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Just a few more left... but these are the complex women (Teri, Joc, Connie, Katherine, Bridget - you know you are)

I Love Jimmy... but....


I don't know how this man ever became President. I mean he is whip smart and affable - but he doesn't know when to shut up. Perhaps only after Watergate - when we really did want full transparency for a few months - could he have been elected.
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In case you missed it, Jimmy Carter said that much of the anger and criticisms directed towards Barak Obama - in particular Joe Wilson's outburst - were based in racism.
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To which I have 2 things to say. #1: Du'h. I mean regardless of how much we honestly try to get around race in this country, there are stereotypes that are hard to break. There are deep seated feelings, fears and assumptions that go with race. Having said that, we are really tyring to get around them. We elected what we believed was the best choice based on the men, not on the race. Racism can be acknowledged, and then we attempt to overcome it.
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#2 is a lesson I learned from Steve Coyne that I try to teach everyone every day. Not every truth needs to be uttered. Just because it is true - or you are right - shut up sometimes, if it isn't going to make a difference - then it doesn't have to be said. You don't always have to be right!
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Try this - say you have a friend (like me) who is going grey. If you saw me twice a year, you would be able to say to me every time, "Man, you have a lot more grey!" This would be true and accurate - but there is no reason to say it. It will not move our conversation forward in a constructive way.
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Much like saying that some of the anger and fear of Obama is based on race. Of course this is true for some people. But saying it isn't going to change their minds! It will not move the conversation forward in a constructive way! In face, saying it will only serve to raise a wall of denial from people who do hate him (in part) because he is black. Being black is not even the main reason a lot of people dislike him. And if a person's distrust of Obama is based on the color of his skin - most of us already see that.
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The Rush Limbaughs of the world have already used Jimmy Carter's comment to "prove" that you can't even talk to liberals about Obama. So now the White House has had to deny it - and you have moved the focus off people's actions to a discussion of their motivations. Which don't mean shit. I don't want wishy-washy discussions of motivations or old hatreds or racism. I would prefer discussions of outcomes.
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And so... let this be a teachable moment for all of us. If just one person learns to keep their big yap shut because Jimmy Carter put his foot in it - it won't be a total lose.
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If you want an intelligent post about racism that makes a point past "He's a Racist!", then see Rod Dreher's comment via AmericaBlog....
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PS - Jimmy Carter proved that you need more than smarts, honesty and a do-good desire to be President. I mean he is a Great Man, but he is a lousy ex-President (and he was an even lousier President).

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Julie's Snunggie for the Big Brother Finale

So... I was watching the end of Big Brother yesterday.
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Not in real time - of course. We tivo'ed it so we wouldn't have to watch the boring bits (which was pretty much all of it).
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But the part I liked best was Julie Chen's Snuggie.
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Oh she can call that wrap-around nightmare a dress, but we all know it was a snuggie she shortened.
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Gez... someone married to Les Moonvies should be able to buy a nice dress.

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J

My Friends in Film: Part 1 (non-Nep/Am)

I was thinking last night (yeah - I couldn't sleep again) that I should make some kind of test to show what old Hollywood Star my friends were.
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But then I thought, "Ha!". They know what kind they are, but the probably don't know what kind I think they are. So here is the first in a series of friends' emotional doppelgangers in a movie (not that you / they are like this all the time - only in this specific movie).
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(All the in-laws coming next time).
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First: Jane.
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Clearly you are Marlene Dietrich in Witness for the Prosecution.
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Everyone thinks they know everything about you - but you hold the cards close to your chest. And, of course, you.."never use smelling salts - because they puff the eyes. And I never faint, for I am not sure I will fall gracefully."
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Barbara F.
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I don't mean this mean at all, but you are so Lucy Ball in The Long Long Trailer.
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You head out on this adventure you don't want to go on - because your husband thinks it is a terrific idea. And if it works, he's right, and if not, the batter falls on your head.
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And you look great through it all.
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Patti G (nee C)
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If you haven't seen "The Women" this makes no sense, but you are very Paulette Goodard in The Women.
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Soft but strong. Sweet until pushed then "a little" tart back.
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Plus she was supposed to be Scarlet O'Hara until that British Tart showed up.

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Lisa H.
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You won't agree but you in my mind you are alwasy Miss Myra Loy from the very first Thin Man. Where she was very much the partner.
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Plus, I totally have seen you with the hot-water-bottle hangover.
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Probably because I want to see me as William Powell circa Thin Man 1.
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Mom
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This picture might be a little racus, but I see you as Jane Russel in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
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"Wait a minute Gus, I'm the Chaperone. No one chaperones the Chaperone!"
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Tasha
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Well, if you haven't seen The Women, this makes no sense because Mary Boland was an old star. But in The Women she isthe Countess de Lave (tojours amore... tojours)
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"Have a little drinki, dear."
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Laura
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It is almost a cliche, but are so Laura Hunt from "Laura". Gene Tienrey was venerable, tough, and flirty all at once.
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She made her decision and stuck to it...even when she was wrong. :-)

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Lynnie
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Eve Arden was never appreciated either (except by me). You know, I met here when she signed her book (it is in the desert) and she was just like she was in the movies. Okay.. in Mildred Pierce.
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Half funny, half whistful and all energy.
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And of course my Eddie.
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In one of his best, but lesser known roles, Cary Grant in Holiday.
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Holiday was the precursor to The Philadelphia Story. The Philadelphia Story was a better movie, but Cary Grant was a better man in Holiday.
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That's my honey... stary-eyed but actionable. Stubborn but usually right. Handsome as hell.
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Tomorrow, the in-laws, NM and HA and JoANNE.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

I Love the New California Proposition T-Shirts..

Some cranky boy is putting a "Rescue Marriage" Proposition on the California ballot that will outlaw divorce (a bigger threat to hetro-marriage than gay-marriage). I love the T-shirt.

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