Thursday, October 23, 2008

A Day In the Life

A Day In the Life of Sarah Palin:

One Wonders if Obama could be so resilient

by Michael Graham - Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Boston Herald

I have a dream for Sen. Barack Obama.

I have a dream that one day, for just 24 hours, he could be Sarah Palin.

OK, maybe that’s less of a dream and more a plot point from a bad Lindsay Lohan movie (redundancy alert!).

But imagine the Democratic nominee’s day as Barack Palin Obama:

He wake up and reaches for a secret cigarette and a copy of The New York Times [NYT]. Instead of the usual partisan puff pieces (“Obama Health Care Plan Pledges Miraculous Healings For All”), the Times is running exposes about his family.

Does his spouse have extremist political views? Who pays when his kids travel to Washington? And how do we know one of them isn’t really his grandkid?

Opening the editorial page Palin-Obama finds column after column filled with personal attacks and insults. Comments about his looks, how much his clothes cost, his speaking style - even suggestions that the radical teachings of his church might be a legitimate topic for discussion.

He clicks on MSNBC and sees the spittle-flecked face of Chris Matthews.

“Obama says he’s cutting taxes for 95 percent of taxpayers, but he’s not. He’s just sending them checks! No cut in their tax rate AT ALL! IT’S A LIE, A LIE! AAARRGGHHHH!

As the MSNBC medical staff fires yet another tranquilizer dart into Matthews’ thrashing body, Palin-Obama gets ready to face the day.

At the airport, Palin-Obama is under siege from the traveling press. “Why are you hiding, Sen. Obama? You haven’t taken questions from us since last month. Joe Biden hasn’t held a press avail since Sept. 7! Afraid he’ll make another ‘guaranteed crisis’ comment? How many more screw-ups before you dump the guy?”

A crowd of thousands gathers to hear him speak. When Palin-Obama mentions the “destructive foreign policy of George W. Bush,” someone shouts “murderer!” Another cries, “off with this head!”

By lunchtime, the cable news headline is: “Obama Whips Up Angry Mob, Some Fear Campaign May Inspire Violence.”

That afternoon, Palin-Obama sits down with a CNN reporter who spends the first half of the interview asking variations of the question, “How can a half-term senator with zero executive experience and no record of achievement be president? Shouldn’t you be ashamed of yourself for even running?”

“Let’s talk energy independence,” Palin-Obama asks hopefully. The reporter instead demands to know why Obama won’t release his medical records, his original birth certificate or the names of about half his contributors.

“You’re the most secretive candidate since Nixon,” the reporter insists. “And besides, the guy who plays you on ‘Saturday Night Live’ is way hotter.”

The day grinds on. False stories repeatedly corrected by the campaign continue to air. One Palin-Obama supporter - a plumber who asked John McCain a tough question at a campaign stop - had his private medical files hacked into, and found Candy Crowley hiding in his dumpster.

One more campaign stop, more questions about his wife’s politics, his children’s travel schedule and his clothing budget - and Palin-Obama finally reaches his hotel for a night’s rest.

His nightmare of misreporting, mean-spirited negative attacks and blatant media bias is over. For Gov. Sarah Palin, it’s going to last at least 12 more days.

Original Column

The Fab Faux - A Day In the Life (Beatles Cover) - Mp3

Sunday, October 19, 2008

If You Will It, It Is No Dream

Communism deprives no man of the ability to appropriate the fruits of his labour. The only thing it deprives him of is the ability to enslave others by means of such appropriations.

- MARX

Don't get your hopes up. I haven't changed teams. I just looking at these posters of Obama's that I see everywhere. They reminded me of things you see in war movies in Vietnam or eastern Europe. My curiosity led me to find who designed these posters. Shepard Fairey. The crazy thing was when I looked up his other work. Self fulfilling prophecy I guess.....

Walk the Line DVD cover - normal

Saddam....what?

Stalin and Lenin...who is this guy? He has about 5 other old school communist posters with Stalin & Lenin and a couple of solo shots of each of them.......?

Good old Mao Tse-tung.....love these icons!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not lumping O Town in with these monsters (what did he not have enough time to squeeze in a quick Castro portrait?). And I know these posters are likely not endorsed or produced via Obama's campaign (they cost $70!). Either way, I feel like his handlers might have steered him away from such a similarity.

Finally, those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes. Eh, Comrade?

- Austin Powers


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Do the Bartman!

Happy 5 year anniversary to Steve Bartman.
It was 5 yrs ago today, October 14, 2003, the playoffs, Cubs vs. Marlins, the 8th inning, Game 6. Mark Prior had a 3-hit shutout through 7 with 1 out in the 8th for the Cubs up 3-0. Luis Castillo to the plate with 1 out, and the Cubs only 5 outs from the World Series. Castillo with a foul ball down the left field line.....With his little sweatshirt, Bartman , a known headphones aficionado, reached out and took the 2nd out OUT of the outstretched glove of Moises Alou (a Chicago Cub - for whom Bartman was a fan). The ump said NO fan interference. WHAT?!? Castillo went on to draw a walk and was driven in for a score of 3-1 and much worse to come. As the Cubs came to the plate in the bottom of the 8th, they found themselves DOWN 7-3. A 7-run 8th inning set off by superfan, Steve Bartman.

Bartman has never granted an interview and has never returned to Wrigley (he was escorted out). The Cubs have not won a single playoff game since-despite making the playoffs twice since. If you make your way to Wrigley, be sure to stop by the Bartman seat (Section 4, Row 8, Seat 113). Steve-o goes down in the books of curses with the Great Bambino for the Red Sox, the Black Cat crossing the field at Shea Stadium for the Mets, and the Cubs barring of Billy Sianis (sp?) and his billy goat from Wrigley that has cursed the Cubbies for over 95 years. Here's to you Bartman, the poor guy....pour one out for him tonight. GO RED SOX!!!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Barky Bark and the Donkey Bunch

Still laughing about this one.
Maybe, it's because we live a town full of these guys.
Oh, Bah-Stun!

Truth be told, we LOVE Mark Wahlberg - I Heart Huckabees and The Departed - It doesn't get much better.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

OMG Are You Serious? Really!?!?

(This post has nothing to do with the Dark Knight, BTW)

So, weekend before last Vanderbilt was idle on Saturday. I spent the entire day scouring around for music, b/c frankly, it had been awhile. As the Titans sit idle today, I finally find myself with some time to put my findings out there. As the Joker said, "Here.......we..........GO!". (sidenote: didn't you guys love Dark Knight? I had a long post ready to role about it this summer....clearly it never got published....) Here are the songs with a * scale **** being excellent.

The Spinto Band - "Summer Grof" - Delaware's little darlings are back with some Malkmus-infused indie-pop. Great song, but bought the album....kind of disappointed after their debut was so great. Sophomore slump strikes again! - ***1/2

Jenny Lewis - "Carpetbagger" - Long a staple of her live sets, the album cut throws in Elvis Costello for good measure (though I'm not sure that it is for the better...). This song is WHITNEY APPROVED. - ****

The Killers - "Human" - I'm sure with the phoenix rise that SNL is receiving from political satire that maybe some of you saw the Killers on SNL performing this song. Anne Hathaway had a skit about Mary Poppins that will forever alter my viewing of that movie (you'll never think of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious the same again) but not my views of Chi Omega Step Sing shows - ripoffs!....The song is fine but some cheeseball lyrics. - ***

Gentleman Jesse and His Men - "You Don't Have To (if you don't want to)" - sounds like forgettable late 80's college radio, but don't get me wrong not bad. Catchy band name on a horrible label name (Doucheman). - ***

Vampire Weekend - "Ottoman" - celebrating my favrorite chair companion and Turkish/murderous empire, this song can be found on the "Nick n Norah" soundtrack (i think?) - ***1/2

The Dandy Warhols - "Welcome to the Third World" - are these burnouts still around? sadly, yes. Whitney and I saw them in concert last month - abysmal! At least openers, Darker My Love, were excellent. This song sounds like the Stones "Miss You", if you use hallucinogens (i'm guessing) - ***1/2

Vivian Girls - "Tell the World" - Man, I am a sucker for girl groups! This is droning early 90's Jesus and the Mary Chain grunginess, lo-fi whatever. They do have a redhead, and you know how I loooove redheads (not really - gingers....please lord - don't give me ginger kids......) - **1/2

Noah and the Whale - "5 Years Time" - This is a decent album (Peaceful the World Lays Me Down). These anti-folksy Brits HAVE to have derived their name from Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale", right? Few movies have made me squirm so much. Oh, and Pitchfork, go suck an egg. - ***

Colourmusic - "Yes" - If you love repetitive lyrics, this is for YOU! Decent. ***

TV on the Radio - "Golden Age" - These NYorkers are beyond bizarro. Yet, I still buy their work. This song has been streaming on their website for months, but the album just came out the other week. There! - ***1/2

Chairlift - "Evident Utensil" - Can it get more bizarre than TVOTR? Yup, it's Chairlift. Can there really be this much song about a pencil? - **

Stars - "Bitches in Tokyo" - did you see this movie? It was called Lost in Translation. I kid, I kid. Not sure why this is the title, but the song is plenty catchy with it's chorus. No "Ageless Beauty", though. - ***1/2 chorus, ** verse

Friendly Fires - "Jump in the Pool" - Sounds like a Zach Braff soundtrack at the chorus and Foals in the verses. Bloggers have been loving these cats for awhile. I'm not totally convinced. - **1/2 b/c you made me think of Zach Braff, loser! --->

Cold War Kids - "Something Is Not Right With Me" - Back with their 2nd album, I must say something is not right with this song. They just yell the title over and over. This is NO "Hang Me Up to Dry". - **

Guillemots - "Get Over It" - This sounds like a musical number from never to be released RENT 2: Angel's Resurrection. Will you light my candle? NO, but I kind of like this. **1/2

Japanese Motors - "Single Fins and Safety Pins" - 2nd only to girl groups and my love of clogging is my love for 60's garage rock. Done! - ***

Darker My Love - "Two Ways Out" - Dandy openers are much better than this song and sound little like this in the rest of their tunes (though, this song is fine). Their concert made me think I was at a Guess Who concert with a little "American Woman" and "No Sugar Tonight". - ***

Hot Leg - "Heroes" - Heroined out The Darkness singer, Justin Hawkins', new group is still howling about something, but this sounds like The Darkness via the Grease soundtrack.... - *1/2

The Major Labels - "Don't Hear a Single" - boring Fountains of Wayne rip-off - blegh! A for effort, but still nope! - **

Team Water Polo - "Letting Go" - Do ya wanna? Do Do Do Do you wanna know? I do do do enjoy this little ditty. - ***

Pacific! - "Sunset Boulevard" - Sounds like something Brian Wilson would have conjured up during the 80's as a sequel to Smile. Seriously though, this is a must download for Brian Wilson-ophiles or later-day Beach Boy fans - ***1/2

Pretty and Nice - "Tora, Tora, Tora" - Boy, do I dislike Fall Out Boy (the band, not you, Millhouse - I still love you) - **

Of Montreal - "An Eluardian Instance" - Everyone's favorite gay fakers! Better than their 1st single of the new Skeletal Lamping. - ***1/2

There are about 10 more songs I want to deride, but my hands are hurting.
Just go download whatever Urban Outfitters is telling you!
(Don't you just want to pick a fight with everyone in that store especially the e
mployees? Must just be me....)

Leland, I expect a full review of each track!


Have a jolly Columbus Day everyone!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Don't Wanna Hurt You...


So, I'm not sure what you guys think about Geico Cavemen, but I love them. I've always loved them. Even the oldest and original commercials make me laugh. I even watched an entire episode of the TV show (did you? clearly no one did - with good reason) I think they played racquetball and Wii. I did laugh once or twice but rather lame. Regardless, the most recent Geico Motorcycle commercial is rocking. As the boys step off their bikes, The Sounds are jamming in the background. The song, "Hurt You", was a hidden jewel off of Dying to Say This to You which came out back in 2006. Much like the cavemen and to a much greater extent, I LOVE Swedish bands. Seeing as they are one of many Swedes I adore, this commercial is a great intersection for me. Here it is followed by some of my Swedish favorites--->


Mando Diao - my favorite Swedish band packs some old school Oasis swagger with some Strokes to boot. Download - "God Knows", "Wildfire", "Before RocknRoll", "Welcome Home, Luc Robitaille"

Sahara Hotnights - The girlfriend of Pelle Almqvist (The Hives lead singer) rocks away with 3 other Swedish filles. Originally quasi punk, the girls turned more "Go-Go" which suited them better anyway. Download - the entire album, Kiss and Tell

The Hives - The Swedish answer to the garage rock revival of 2002 with the strut of the Stones, the swagger of the Stooges, and scream of the Sonics (a lot of S-groups, huh?) Download - "Hate to Say I Told You So", "You Got It All Wrong", "Tick Tick Tick Boom", "Main Offender", "Inspection Wise 1999"

The Sounds - the subject of this post - guy group, girl singer - basically, a swedish Blondie - Download - "Dance with Me", "Song with a Mission", "Hurt You"

The Concretes - another pop/rock group with a female singer (the girl who guested on "Young Folks" by P,B&J). Download - "Can't Hurry Love" (it's not the Supremes song....)

Peter, Bjorn & John - 3 Swedes with a knack for indie pop. Download - the entire album, Writer's Block.

Shout Out Louds - more swedish pop rock driving it home - Download - "Very Loud", "Tonight, I Have to Leave It", "Impossible"

I think I am all Sweded out - Blurgg!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Hello Hello Hello


Is there anybody out there?
(besides Allen with a C - my only reader)
Nobody is reading this blog are they? Kitty, are you there?
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb - MP3

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Best Weekend Ever

Not Really, but I love Hyperbole.
Nevertheless, this was a decent weekend. On Friday, Whitney and I went to the North End for Giacomo's with Leann & Will from the ECS reunion. I had some excellent shrimp and scallops over linguini with the Giacomo/Fra Diavolo combo sauce. Delicious. We then walked to Caffe Vittoria for coffee, liqour, and gelatto. On top of all that, I didn't have to drive, and Whitney let us take the T. Bless you. OH, did I mention that the Sox won AGAIN in Anaheim.

On Saturday, I went to the Mass Periodontal Society meeting at the Crowne Plaza. I know. Can you imagine the excitement? The speaker was from Charleston...awesome. Until I realized that he was an egotistical Elephant Killer. Literally, the guy showed pictures of his safari and pictures of 3 elephants that they HAD to kill because they attacked them......nice guy. SO, I left at lunch (b/c Vanderbilt had Gameday, and b/c I had Giacomo's left overs). I then watched the DVR of Fulham losing to West Bromwich Albion (the one black-eye of my weekend) and the DVR of Gameday. Awesome. The next couple of hours consisted of me on the couch girating and watching the clock slowly tick towards 6:00 pm and kick-off. Whit made Chicken Chili, and the game began. Down early, Vandy came back and won. Hurray! Still hasn't registered, yet.

Sunday kicked off with sleeping late which I NEVER DO. We had lunch at Zaftig's consisting of my Feta, Tomato, Spinach omelet w/ home fries, rye bread and challah. Challah Back, y'all! We hit Bed, Bath and Beyond for space heaters, tupperware and curtain rods. All in all, pretty wonderful Sunday. Not to mention, the Titans came back and defeated the evil Baltimore Ravens. We filled our time until the Red Sox game with a little Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's pretty alright. It's kind of like Can't Hardly Wait meets Adventures in Babysitting with a little Scorcese's After Hours. Oh, wait. This is a remake of After Hours? Kind of. It wants to be Juno 2: Bleeker Get's Ready to Go to College. It's not. It does have a tuna canned indie rock soundtrack that I'm sure you'll download and tell all your friends that you knew Bishop Allen before there was a Nick n Norah (I did and you did too if you heeded my requests on this blog for you people to download that you never read or care about - so, I wonder why I even take the time.) ahem! This flick namedrops for street cred like I've never heard: Arlene' s Grocery, the Bowery Ballroom, the Mercury Lounge, insert band here ____. All in all just bring your Purell. That's all I'll say. Whitney wanted to shower after this - not a movie for germaphobes. We are currently topping the night off with some steak fajitas, Red Sox/Angels, and an Amstel Light.
(side Note) Happy Birthday, Blake Sloan. 30 never looked so good (kidding, I know you're 29). War Eagle all you Aubies and have a great week!

Saturday, October 4, 2008

You Came To My City


Thanks Gameday! And thank you, Lee Corso. Thanks for picking Auburn. Your "curse" continues! Vandy is 5-0 for the 1st time since FDR was in office after downing Auburn 14-13. They are boldly going where no other Vandy team has gone before! I am speechless!!!!!