Opinión...

At the Beach, 1922-2008

There's something in this about all women, # 14

Now and then when your heart’s in pain, I like to say...Always remember...I’ll be forever...

Squeeze's Chris Difford and Glenn Tillbrook are rightly considered to be one of the best songwriting teams of the '80s. But I think their sixth album, Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti is widely thought to have been something of a failure, both chart-wise and as a creative work.

I understand that even if I don't fully agree (at least about the creative part...the chart bit is hard to argue). The very 1985 production has keyboards liberally poured all over it in a way that will not be to everybody's taste (when I notice, it's a sign of something).

But if you're not biased against that, there's more than a couple good songs to be found. Come to think of it, it’s where I found the (possibly temporary) title for my work in current progress, Hits of the Year…

But, this live TV performance is not of that single. It’s one which, although it never found a place on any chart, always worked for me. All the more so since I decided it's what Colley would pick if asked to choose a song to describe how he feels about Keitha.

Here's "By Your Side."

Green.

Signs that your love for the '80s has gone too far

...I think the women on this game box cover (click to enlarge) are sexy. I also note something.

One of them is under--literally--a "big O." Another is under the words "You Can Have." Yet a third is doing something which I think is supposed to be windsurfing but looks more like pole dancing.

Those sneaky subliminal bastards...

Caption this photo

"We are coming for you, American dogs!"

You know what I sorta seriously kinda wish would make a comeback?

Swim caps.

I always loved this advertisement...in the weird way in which you "love" advertisements...

"Now it's my turn, Julius!"

I swear that line's been in my head for oh, like about 25 years...

Today's reason why John McCain should go to bed

He opposes a law seeking equal pay for women because--get this--if women have the right to sue, they might, um, actually, y'know...use that right. And hell's bells, we can't have that.

Also, women just need to be better trained (his words, not mine).

Worth-reading interview here with film director & screenwriter Kimberly Peirce, to promote the UK opening of her second feature, Stop-Loss.

Too many good 'graphs to quote, here's just one:

"I was living in New York during 9/11," she explains. "Absorbing the shock, and then learning that we were going to war, it became clear to me that we were in the midst of this really radical change. I became interested in why the soldiers were signing up, what the training was like, what they were going to experience, how they would change when they came back. I was looking into all that already and, in the middle of it, I found my brother had signed up, which made it really personal. He's quite a bit younger than me. I carried him home from the hospital when he was born. It couldn't get much more personal."

As we know the film bombed financially over here, despite getting mostly good reviews, on balance (and I liked it, too). I'll be curious to see how it does in the rest of the world, where perceived--not actual--anti-American bias is unlikely to hurt it...

Well, Paint Me Down (song & art)

The song: A cute girl singing a popular English song of the 1980's...what can I say but:

Thank you for coming home, I'm sorry that the chairs are all worn. I left them here I could have sworn. These are my salad days...

The art: These paintings are by Fred Wessel.

Just another play for today
Oh but I'm proud of you,but I'm proud of you
There's nothing left to make me feel small
Luck has left me standing so tall

Gold
Always believe in your soul
You've got the power to know

You're indestructable
Always believe in,because you are
Gold
Glad that you're bound to return
There's something I could have learned...

Eva Amurri is trying to catch my eye

Rihanna looks Good

One of these days I gotta pay more attention to that girl's singing...

For those of you who feel the series characters are just too warm and human.

The L Word in "Second Life."

I'm Honoured.

Which Wind in the Willows character are you?


this quiz was made by Auntie Krizu(:>)

long tails, and ears for hats.

The joke writes itself.

Paris Hilton's next "reality" series, per The Associated Press:

Hilton: ...When I was approached with this idea I just thought it would be so much fun, being a producer on the show as well, having boys and girls move into a house all vying to be my best friend, I just thought it'd be fun and I'd also like to meet some new friends.

AP: What are some of the qualities you're looking for in a new best friend?

Hilton: Just someone who's fun, someone who I can trust and just someone who, I don't know, just someone to get along with that is not going to screw me over.

Oh, dear me now, I want to be sure that I phrase this thoughtfully, what is the exactly just right wise-guy retort?

Oh, I know:

"Over what?"

Thank you. G'Night everybody. Tip the waitresses.

exercise

VH1 is running a competition wherein you submit a four-line poem about Madonna, and if yours is one of two selected, you get tickets to her New York performance at the Roseland Ballroom.



For a lark (and creative exercise), I decided to enter. Transportation to NYC is unfortunately not included in the prize, but in the against-all-odds event that I should win, I'll deal with that when I come to it (as I will the matter of who I'd bring).



This was my submission. I make no claims for its great lyricism, but it satisfies me:

Madonna works her figures out, stripped
On Sunset, Academy awards pout
Dressing up in all our love
Amazement fit just like a glove



You can see that poem and/or as many others as you like at the linked page above.

A young woman (I'm assuming) named Kelly Smith has made more than a few attempts; I guess she really wants those tickets.



Do you suppose she could be the same Kelly Smith I blogged about a couple of years ago?

Love's Labour's Lost

The greatest blog quiz ever and I can't take it

Who's Your Celebrity Boob Twin?

Ladies, this one is all you...

How'd you like to be known as the face of genital warts?

Clinton's "electability"

I decided this morning to give the posts about Hillary, politics, the presidency, etc, a rest for a while. I do this for the same reason one stops banging one's head against a wall: It feels so good to stop...

I have eliminated, at least for the time being, most of the hardcore politics sites from my daily reading. This isn't to say that there will be no discussion of politics here in days to come--I do like to keep informed.

There's just going to be less of that; probably more jpegs of healthy young women and other photos that make me feel good....as opposed to thinking about politics.

But here already, is at least one exception.

I think this post by Dylan Loewe gets it right Re Hillary:

Clinton's electability argument has also been completely upended. There is no argument, no matter how persuasive and cogent, that can be made to the superdelegates about Clinton's electability that won't be obliterated by Hillary winning the nomination unearned. If the superdelegates give Clinton the nomination without her having won the popular vote or pledged delegate count, without any rational connection to the will of the people, an enormous swath of Democratic voters are likely to stay home in November.

Since Franklin Roosevelt, no Democrat has won the White House without the loyal support of the African American community. But having watched the potential first black president denied his rightful chance to compete by party insiders may sever that loyalty permanently. The activist base of the Democratic party, which has been at the core of the remaking of the political landscape, will likely also be rocked by a Hillary coup. If the superdelegates nominate Hillary Clinton, it will rip the base of the party in half and destroy the extraordinary progress that the Obama movement - and the Dean movement before it - have produced. Even if she is more electable before their decision, she will be unelectable after.

The return of my alter ego

According to one of those online quiz things or another, one of those I'd "be" is Marilyn Monroe.

Maybe that's why I started liking candid pictures like this one, where you get--or imagine you can--an idea of the person behind the beauty queen.

Cherry Rain

Cherry Rain
Originally uploaded by callmeahab

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green,
Towering over your head.
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes,
And she's gone.

It's official: Bush is the least-popular president ever

...or OK, at least of the past 70 years.

a USA Today/Gallup poll showed Bush now has the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the poll. It found 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing while 69% disapprove.

I know, you have to know this is coming, but it still peeves me: You don't suppose his unpopularity might have something to do with anything he might have done that's impeachable, do you?

Nah.

Ok, the "did Obama flip Hillary the bird" thing

I wasn't going to do anything on this, because it seemed quite clear to me that he didn't. The only reason to say he did is either if you think he has the emotional maturity of a ten-year-old, or you yourself do.

I don't think he does. I don't think I do, either (15-year-old, that's a different story).

But, as I go on my daily wild search for photos to post to my other blog, I was reminded of something...



Yeah, 10 years old. That sounds about right.

And...for our Jewish friends...

A little something for Passover.



That's model (and tsunami survivor) Petra Nemcova, by the way.



I know she's not exactly unleavened flat cracker bread, but what do you want, there was a shortfall...

She's right, you know

If you're going to fuck an animal, it's best to wear a condom.

Neil Patrick Harris, you bitch

"How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris is not impressed with Britney Spear’s guest appearance on the show last month and does not hesitate in placing her and Tara Reid in the same category of stunt casting.

Is Spears’ casting a tell-tale sign of a possible pattern? Harris acidly replies that Tara Reid could well guest star on the show as the “mystery woman” introduced last Monday.

“No telling, but based on the stunt casting we've done in the past I'm guessing Tara Reid.”

Gettin' awfully snotty there, Doogie...


(Tara: Email me. Let's do it for our country...)

Ten pics, nine "it" girls and a garden

Sigh...somehow, I never thought I'd miss Veronica Mars as much as I do.


Kristen Bell is an "it" girl of the moment and I'm happy for her...but it's just not the same.


As the lovelies of That '70s Show go, I've always had more of a thing for Laura Prepon, but I've gotta say Mila Kunis is darned cute.





Kim Kardashian. I'm sorry...but those things just have to be diverting blood from her brain.



Apparently, I haven't given Brittany Snow the full attention she deserves.



Leelee Sobieski is, honestly, pretty as a picture.


This is Deborah Kara Unger...and other than that, I've got nothing to say about her.



And brains too.

Kim Cattrall...holds the eye, doesn't she?



I know next-to-nothing about this young woman. Her name is Rei Fukaumi; I think she's a model, and that's it. Beautiful photo, though.

The great Rick "man on dog" Santorum endorses a liberal Democrat for president.

OK, no, not really. In fact he announces his support of John McCain. But in so doing, he makes as good a case or better for electing Obama or Clinton than I have seen either of them make. Especially Clinton.

Take it away, brother Santorum!

Those conservatives who still question whether they can support McCain should remember this: The next president will make more than 2,700 political appointments, those who really set policy, across the bureaucracy of our government. I, for one, will sleep better at 3 a.m. if Republicans are in the cabinet and in White House positions that make so many critical decisions.

Republicans have been in said cabinet and White House positions for the last eight years. If more of the same would help Mr. Santorum sleep better, he might want to see a doctor about Narcolepsy.

The idea of "Attorney General John Edwards" and "Energy Secretary Al Gore" should cause some sleepless nights for Republicans or conservatives...

Why, yes. Yes they should. Senator Obama, I hope you're taking notes...

Both Democrats have made their case in chief on why they should be president, and we have every reason to be concerned.

Both want to cut and run from Iraq, give the radical jihadists a victory from the jaws of defeat, and leave the Iraqi people vulnerable to chaos.

I'm sure the Iraqi people can't imagine what living in chaos must be like.

Both would put in place dangerous economic policies that would make Uncle Sam look like an Orwellian Big Brother.

Let's see here, Orwellian, Orwellian...here we are:

The adjective Orwellian describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being unfavourable to the welfare of a free-society. It connotes an attitude and a policy of control by propaganda, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past...

Yes, that's got Democratic tactics written all over it, doesn't it? The Republicans are all about keeping the electorate informed and acceptance of the truth. See?

Oh, and they're about the future...which is why their nominee is older than McDonald's...

Another show I like has been given a second season.

Fox has picked up "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" for a second season. The network on Monday handed a 13-episode order to the sci-fi drama, an extension of the "Terminator" feature franchise that centers on Sarah Connor (Lena Headey) and her son, John (Thomas Dekker), as they battle enemies from the future with the help of a kindhearted terminator, Cameron (Summer Glau).

Ask a silly question

You know how sometimes I've asked, in response to people like John McCain saying they want to keep pouring soldiers into the wars in the middle east, you know how sometimes I've asked where exactly they intend to get those soldiers?

That question has now been, reassuringly, answered.

Convicted felons.

I got nothing clever to say about this picture, it just makes me feel good.

IMG_2081
Originally uploaded by Melinda (chanmelmel)

Dear Hillary: If you've lost Michael Moore...

...and she's lost Michael Moore.

A question to you, my friends...

How wrong is it that I find this totally arousing?

Oh my head

I would not say that the future is necessarily less predictable than the past. I think the past was not predictable when it started.

-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld

Y'know...it's not bad enough that the vile Rumsfeld essentially threw thousands of servicepeople onto bayonets...he has to go and do that to the English language now?

I know there's a joke here, but damned if I can find it

I think it's some sort of play on Elsie Snuffin, who was the character Danica McKellar played on West Wing...but I just can't close the loop.

Maybe rhyming it with "healthy muffin?"

No...