Congratulations to my readers

I hereby turn today's award over to you guys. First come, first scammed served. Enjoy your new-found wealth.


Waiting For Your Reply !!!

From: Bernard William

Attention Winner,

This is to inform you that your email address has won for you the sum of £4,000,000.00 (Four Million British Pounds) in the just concluded ARIK AIR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION which was held on the 5th of May ,2010 and you would be advise to send the below information to us for your payment approval.

Full Names:
Address:
Telephone:

Regards
Mr.Bernard William
Promotion Manager

Happy Birthday Martha Wainwright

I hope she lives up to the promise I hear in her. Aside from being Loudon's daughter with Kate McGarrigle, she's Rufus's little sister, and there's this fearless nature to her and Rufus's musical endeavors. Seriously, "I want to redo Judy Garland's concert" is somewhat ambitious when most peeps haven't ever heard of you (Rufus). Martha tackled Piaf.

But she caught my attention with her I Know You're Married, But I've Got Feelings Too, which featured this terrific, stalkerish, break-upish song, "You Cheated Me."


There's no clip of her work with BPA (Norman Cook), or with Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) and David Byrne, so that's gonna have to do it.

Happy birthday dude! Rock on!

Song of the Day: "Forced to Love"

Broken Social Scene. They're Can-a-dian (which you have to pronounced like Scott Thompson's Buddy character). They're a "super group" (they draw their powers from Earth's yellow sun).

If you're Canadian, and you're a rock musician, you're either in Broken Social Scene or New Pornographers. Universal healthcare AND musical super groups. Rock on!

I don't know why, but here's a dude in a raccoon outfit

Click on the image to embiggen.

I was out and about at lunch. And this... throng of... people in... outfits... were walking my way. There's also a fox? and an alien?

Dunno.

But I love Portland.

Love.

Hooray for crazy.

Happy Birthday Darren McGavin

Apologies for the video quality, but he was Kolchak the Nightstalker. Respect.


Kolchak inspired The X-Files, and McGavin was given a recurring role in a few episodes, but had to withdraw from filming when his health declined.

I take no thrill in downgrading his Wikipedia entry from Emmy winner to Emmy nominee for his appearances as Murphy's dad in Murphy Brown. He and Colleen Dewhurst were brilliant casting jobs, and while I don't think they appeared together in more than 2 episodes, it all fit perfectly. Sadly there are no clips that I can find, but trust me. And if you run across a web page where it looks like they trusted his old Wikipedia entry and claim McGavin won an Emmy, have them call me. Sigh, my awards buzzkill work is never done.

And finally, he taught us all a new way to pronounce "fragile"... the Italian way.


Happy birthday dude! Rest in peace.

Song of the Day: "Hollywood"

Codeine Velvet Club (Scots!)--a side project for one of the dudes from The Fratellis. But this doesn't feel like a side project: the song's got a string and horns arrangement and the sound is more elegant than anything I've heard from The Fratellis), and the video required a little effort (or someone made a quick and easy video look really slick).

This sweet girl

Just leaped off the couch to attack Willy. In so doing, she applied her full 85-90 pounds, plus the force of her taught muscles, firmly against my testicles.

In other words, ouch.

Colbert's Alpha Dog of the Week, or What boy would Jesus rent?

I'm always happy when something like rentboy.com makes the news... especially with regard to a holier than thou type. Praise Jeebus.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alpha Dog of the Week - George Rekers
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News

Happy Birthday Willie Mays

It's rare that I feature sports dudes in my blog. I know Willie Mays is a baseball superstar, but it took reading his bio to help me really appreciate how much so. The stats are amazing--even I know that a final batting average of .302 is huge. And he's #4 on the career home runs list. And, AND, he did that shit while helping break through the color barrier (he's #11 on the list of the first black MLB players).

One of his plays has its own entry in Wikipedia. The Catch. It's like finding out one of my pie charts was famous. As if.

At his induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Mays was asked who the best player he'd ever seen was. His response: "I thought I was." Love that.

Happy birthday sports dude! Rock on!

Flashback Song: "Against the Wind"

It's Bob Seger's birthday, and there's something rewarding to me about hearing his music. I didn't get burned out on him when I was forced to listen to "classic rock" on bus rides to/from high school. It's very possible that he represents the "Dockers rock" (the "rock" music one listens to when shopping for a pair of Dockers or similar slacks, at Nordstrom Rack or Banana Republic--think Train or Hoobastank) of the late 70s/early 80s, but musically I think his songs have a special quality that I can't really articulate. Maybe it's the bright optimism of the chords, used against the sentimentality of the lyrics, or maybe it's the unabashed use of the piano in his songs. But it's something.

Seger shared an Oscar nomination for "Shakedown" from Beverly Hills Cop II (a song that makes a lot more sense when you realize it was supposed to be recorded by Glenn Frey), and probably made a handsome pot of cash when "Like a Rock" was used in GMC's truck ads. But he didn't write "Old Time Rock & Roll" so he's not ultra-mega wealthy (seriously, the songwriters get a check every time you hear the opening piano chords and someone slides across a hardwood floor in socks, a dress shirt and underwear).

Seger and the Silver Bullet band won the Grammy for Rock Duo or Group with Vocals for this, back in 1981.


Happy birthday dude! See you at the state fair! Or on tour with Heart!

Happy Birthday Orson Welles

There might be a better movie that I'm not thinking of, but I'm pretty sure Citizen Kane is the best movie I've ever seen. That this brilliant, classic piece of cinema was intended as a bitch slap to William Randolph Hearst makes it all the more impressive (can you imagine pouring as much effort into something similar?). Dampened by Hearst's power (refusing to carry ads from theaters the played the movie, ensuring that all his papers ran unfavorable reviews), the movie was not well received in its time, but there's no denying the extent to which the movie itself is immersed in pop culture, and the style of the movie has influenced generations of directors since.





There's more to Welles than Citizen Kane, but I'm not well prepared to discuss. I've seen Touch of Evil and maybe The Lady from Shanghai (I think I may have watched this with Chris, but it's been 20 years--I remember the climax, but that's been used nearly literally by other movies, so maybe that's what I'm thinking of). I've tried to watch The Third Man (I love Graham Greene, and the movie is on many all-time great movie lists) but, sigh, it's easy for me to fall asleep. Sigh.

I haven't even tried with The Magnificent Ambersons, and I'm a little intimidated to know where to begin. The movie's been through a variety of edits, and while I think Welles considers it his masterpiece, I don't know what variation of the movie represents his ideal (there's a version that's 2:28, and there's a version that's 1:28--I think I'll go with the longest to start).

I can't explain this, but here's a very funny Fozzy and Kermit (with Sam the eagle who I think is named Fred) with Orson. Dunno where it's from. "Pay them by the laugh" is hysterical.


And so concludes this morning's post. Happy birthday dude! Rest in peace. I'll put Ambersons on my library list.

Song of the Day: "People"

Recently I proclaimed my love for Scottish music. I was reminded of this yesterday, listening to Frightened Rabbit do a few songs live on YRock, and here we are yet again. The Trash Can Sinatras' 1990 debut, Cake, is an all-time favorite album of mine. In a year of hair metal and hardcore rap, their fusion of Aztec Camera with the Housemartins somehow worked for me (I know, shocking!).

Well, the guys are still around, 20 years on, with In the Music. Here's a track.

Song of the Day: "A Drowning"

(h\t Erica)

A coworker turned me on to this yesterday--Trent Reznor's new musical incarnation, with his wife: How to Destroy Angels. It's hypnotically ambient, evoking some of the best qualities of mid-90s Golden Palominos or Massive Attack.

Happy Birthday Ian McCulloch

In 1998 McCulloch joined the Spice Girls, and members of Space and Ocean Colour Scene to record this song for Team England in the World Cup. "World in Motion" isn't looking quite so bad, as it?


Happy birthday dude! How's your hair?

Don't besmirch the troops

The first sentence of this scam email couldn't be further from the truth. In fact I'm not at all surprised to read from someone unknown to me. Say hi to Sparkie White for me.


Greetings,

I know you would be surprised to read from someone relatively unknown to you before. My name is Sgt. Susan Joan Prescott, a member of the U.S. ARMY USARPAC Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq in the beginning of the war in Iraq.

I would like to share some highly personal classified information about my personal experience and role which I played in the pursuit of my career serving under the U.S 1st Armored which was at the fore-front of the war in Iraq.

Though, I would like to hold back certain information for security reasons for now until you have find the time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have insight as to what I'm intending to share with you,believing that it would be of your desired interest one-way or the other.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

Also, could you get back to me having visiting the above website to enable us discuss in a more clarifying manner to the best of your understanding. I must say that I'm very uncomfortable sending this message to you without knowing truly if you would misconstrue the importance and decides to go public. In this regards, I will not hold back to say that the essence of this message is strictly for mutual benefit of you and I and nothing more.

I will be vivid and coherent in my next message in this regards, meanwhile,could you send me a mail confirming you have visited the site and that you have understood my intentions?

I will await your thoughts via my personal email: suprelady@gmail.com , suprelady@live.com

Thanks,

Best Regards,
Sgt. Susan J Prescott.

Would anyone fall for this after like 1997?

This is to inform you that we are currently carrying out scheduled maintenance and upgrade of our WebMail service and as a result of this, our mail client has been changed and your original password will
reset. We are sorry for any inconvenience caused. To maintain your WebMail account, you must reply to this email immediately and enter your current password here (              ) failure to do this within 72 hours of receiving this message will immediately render your WebMail account deactivated from our database.
Thank you for using our WebMail account!
"WebMail ACCOUNT SUPPORT TEAM".
©WebMail ACCOUNT ABN 31 088 377 860 All Rights Reserved.

The usual suspects

From left to right: Gracie, Willy, and Midge. This could totally be an album cover from some college radio band.

Flashback Song: "Woman in Chains"

The story of Oleta Adams's music career is a sweet one. She was a lounge singer in a Kansas City hotel bar where Kurt and Roland from Tears for Fears heard her during a concert tour. They gave her words of encouragement, but more than that, 2 years later they sent for her. She recorded with them on their Seeds of Love album before releasing her first solo album. That was 21 years ago. I am old.

Today's Oleta's birthday. She may or may not be old as well.


Happy birthday dude! Rock on!

Happy Birthday Will Arnett

Love him. Love. Love love love. And his wife.


And I can't not throw in a clip from Arrested Development.


He's great on 30 Rock.


Happy birthday dude! Rock on!

Happy Birthday Ana Gasteyer

She was part of a throng of really talented women during her run on SNL and as a result it was sometimes difficult to see how talented she is. Since then she's had a number of runs in regional productions and on Broadway, including a turn as Elpheba in Wicked (first in Chicago, below, and later on Broadway).


Happy birthday dude! Rock on!

Song of the Day: "Fresh"

I would be remiss if I failed to give some props to DEVO for their recent resurgence in pop culture. They've embraced social media and are using their own version of market research to help possibly hone/possibly hype the release of Something for Everybody. If this were Madonna or Matchbox 20, I'd say the efforts are blatantly hype, but coming from DEVO it seems genuine. Quirkily genuine. (Beck and They Might be Giants could do this as well.) Here's a track...

I was in category "B"-in between General Tso's Chicken and Sweet & Sour Shrimp

FROM:XING INTERNATIONAL GROUP,
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT,
REF: XIG /26510460037/02
BATCH: 24/00319/IPD


RESULT FOR CATEGORY "B" WINNER DRAWS

Dear winner,
We the Xing Int’l Group board of directors like to officially congratulate you for the draw that was just held by our company which featured you as the second place winner. All participants for this online version were selected randomly from the World Wide Web sites through a computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions,associations,and corporate bodies that are listed online.This promotion takes place anually.

Our European agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.For security reasons,you are advised to keep your winning information very confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to receive your prize.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.Please be warned!!

Your email address with MICROS ID ( PRT-57010- ) was luckily drawn to be this year's second place winner of a cash prize of $570,000 United States Dollars.

CONTACT OUR REMITTANCE DEPT. WITH YOUR DETAILS, FILL DETAILS BELOW;
Your Full Name :
Address :
Country :
Phone number :
Age :
Gender :
Occupation :
Winning e-mail:
Micros ID :

Note:All funds should be claimed by their respective beneficiaries,not later than 7 days after notification.And should contact Mr.Alex Green with their properly filled form with this e-mail: deptclaims84@yahoo.com

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Short and sweet (????)

Your Personal e-mail address was attached to Winning Number
Ticket number: 2-4-16-37-89-40-85 with
Serial number 2268/02,Which consequently Won you ????500,000.00 Pounds.

Please contact Our claims Agent;
MR.Robert Behrend (Claim Dept Director)
E-mail: exxon.dept47@hotmail.com

JAMES A. WILLIAMS.
ExxonMobil Award Executive Manager.
United Kingdom Head Office.

The view from my commute home

I love the ease with which I can alter pics from my phone using a free PhotoShop app. And I suck at PhotoShop (and many of you do too). So this shit is easy.

I'm not saying it's impressive, I'm just saying it's easy.

Songs I insist Robin consider for her wedding reception (part 7)

We are past "insist" but I'm keeping the post titles. Chris offered a couple of suggestions and I have more (of course).

Sheila E.


The Dazz Band


Beyonce


Kool and the Gang


Shalamar

I wonder if she knows Joy Collins

Wow, an almost identical set of ailments and circumstance as Joy Collins (here). It boggles the mind.

My Dearest In Christ,

Greetings in the name of God,Please let this not sound strange to you for my only surviving lawyer who would have done this died early this year.i prayed and got you email id from your country chambers of commerce which i have been with my late husband and liked to visit once more if God will in his infinite mercies.

I am Mrs.Mary Sue Dayton a Citizen of America but taking treatment in LOME TOGO,I am 57 years old,i am deaf and suffering from a long time cancer of the breast which also affected my brain, from all indication my conditions is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that according to my doctors they have advised me that i may not live for the next six months,this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage.

I was brought up from a motherless babies home, was married to my late husband for twenty years without a child.My husband died in a fatal motor accident.Before his death we were true Christians. Since his death I decided not to re-marry,I sold all my inherited belongings and deposited all the sum of ($20Million United State dollars) with a Security firm in Europe.

Presently, this money is still with them and the management of the Security firm just wrote me as the true owner to come forward to received the money for keeping it so long or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since I can not come over because of my illness or they get it confiscated.

Presently, I m with my laptop in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for cancer of the lungs. I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live. It is my last wish to see that this money is invested to any organization of your choice and distributed each year among the charity organization,the poor and the motherless babies home where i come from.I want you God fearing, to also use this fund to fund churches, orphanages and widows.

I took this decision, before i rest in peace because my time will soon be up. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the Details of my attorney who will help you for the documentation as the rightful owner of the said fund.

Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein.As soon as you indicate your interest i will scan a copy of my Driver License to you and the Deposit Certificate immediately for proper identification.

Below is the information i need from you to proceed.

(1)Your Full Name
(2)Your Home Address
(3)Yours Direct Telephone Number
(4)Occupation
(5)Age

Hoping to hearing from you soonest.

Yours Sister in Christ,
Mrs. Mary Sue Dayton.

Dude, we are ALL very busy in Germany

Dear Good friend, your due compensation payment is now release.
I DID N'T FORGET YOUR PAST EFFORT OF HELPING ME ON MY FUND TRANSFER. I am very happy to inform you about my success in getting that fund now; I want you to contact my secretary Rev. Jeffrey Brown. Email: ID (bam17@ymail.com) ask him to send you the sum of ($1.5m) in A Bank Draft, which I kept for your compensation.

Contact him immediately and reconfirm your full information to avoid any mistake; I am very busy in Germany.

Full Name_____________________ Age.___________________________ Address______________________ Occupation___________________ Phone________________________ Country______________________

Best Regards
Ahmed.

R.I.P. Lynn Redgrave

"You saved my life, sir."

A 2-time Oscar nominee, as well as an Emmy and Tony nominee, Lynn lived in the shadow of sister Vanessa for much of her life. She was granted a late-career boost by Bill Condon, with the movie Gods and Monsters (earning her the second of her 2 Oscar nominations, along with a few critics awards). In return, she appeared, uncredited, in a single scene late in Condon's movie Kinsey. While I haven't seen everything she's done, there's no denying the grace and power of her work here. And I'm not alone in thinking this (see).

Kinsey - You Saved My Life Sir | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

She passed away yesterday, from complications due to breast cancer.

Rest in peace dude!

Song the Day: "Who Threw That Ham at Me"

Yes, yes that is Fred Schneider. The band is The Superions: Schneider with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall. But does that really matter when Fred is shouting "disco garbage can" for no reason in particular? Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Christopher Cross

If one were to make a deal with the devil, and say ask to become an award winning musician, one might become like Christopher Cross: winning 5 Grammys, including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, and Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocals (I wasn't going to include this, but if I left it out you would have wondered, so there, it's not Pop Male Vocalist, surprised?); and an Oscar, all within like an 18 month period.

And then, because the deal is with the devil, you would fade away into obscurity. You can't even be a mentor on Nashville Star because, really, you're not country. And there's no "yacht rock" music competition show (yet, patent pending).

I'm not entirely sold on a deal with the devil (if he'd pulled a full EGOT, maybe). Christopher Cross (the album) is a good album--I remember my older sister playing the hell out of it (it was a respite from REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity), and listening to songs from it play every 90 minutes on the radio up at my grandparents' house on Lake Hartwell. It has the kind of solidly inoffensive mainstream-ity that Grammy voters love (which is why it beat Pink Floyd's The Wall).

But obscurity came fairly quickly after "Arthur's Theme" (for which he shared an Oscar with Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager). I think "Think of Laura," written about a college student killed by a stray bullet and driven to popularity by its use in General Hospital, was the last song I heard of his. I wonder how many funerals this has been used in...


Happy birthday dude! I will see you at the State Fair.

Happy Birthday Ann B. Davis

She has 2 Emmys. I had no idea. They are from The Bob Cummings Show, Best Supporting Actress. I can't embed the clip I found, but watch it here.

If you haven't see The Brady Bunch, well, there's nothing I can do to help you now. But here she is as "Schulzie" in a Miracle White commercial from 1977. Schulzie was the name she had in her cameo in The Brady Bunch Movie (which is awesome, by the way).


And here she is promoting Shake & Bake. (Note: I just typo'd that as Shake & Bare and have picked a new game for my next dinner party.)


Here's Ann in The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, with all the production values it had to offer!


And finally, here she is as a contestant on The Dating Game, which I think is a little unfair since presumably all 3 men knew exactly what she looked like. Ah well.


Ann is retired and living in a religious community near San Antonio, TX. After taking care of all those kids, she's earned a peaceful retirement. I hope they write. She'd like that.

Happy birthday dude! Enjoy retirement!

And so begins a new week of money

Dear Friend

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope this mail meets you in a perfect condition. I am using this opportunity to thank you for your great effort to our unfinished transfer of fund your account due to one reason or the other best known to you.But I want to inform you that I have successfully transferred the Cheque out of the company to someone else who was capable of assisting me in this great venture.

Due to your effort, sincerity, courage and trust worthiness you showed at the course of the transaction I want to compensate you and show my gratitude to you with the sum of $1,000,000.00 (One Million United States Dollars) I have authorized the finance house where I deposited my money to issue you international certified bank draft cashable at your bank.

My dear friend I will like you to contact the finance house for the collection of this international certificated bank draft. The name and contact address of the Person with your Cheque Mr Collins Mark is as follows.

COMPENSATION HEAD OFFICE AND FINACIAL
CONTACT AGENT: Mr Collins Mark
CELL PHONE: +234-802-817-8555
EMAIL: jam_baba1@yahoo.co.jp

At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which I and my new partner are having at hand in the United Kingdom.

Below is my contact information in the United Kingdom in case you want to verify or get any comfirmation from me but i want you to be rest assured that your bank draft will be cashed at you nominated Bank.

Name:Mr. Jesse Williams
Address:207 Monston Lane Park
407 MJ Leyland
United Kingdom.
Telephone number:+44-702-404-2865

Finally, remember that I have forwarded instruction to the finance house on your behalf to send the bank draft to you as soon as you contact them with the below needed information for the delivery to take place without delay.

1, Full Name:…...........
2, Address of Residence:..........
3, country from:..................
4, Telephone Number:.................
5, Office Phone Number
6, Occupation:....................
7, Age:.........................

Please I will like you to accept this token with good faith as this is from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hope to hear from you soon.

Your's Faithfully,
Mr. Jesse Williams.

Songs I insist Robin consider for her wedding reception (part 6)

Actually we're out of the "insist" phase, but I'm having fun with these music blocks. Robin has always been appreciative of dance mix tapes/CDs I've made for her. This just requires less effort.

Vanity 6


Heavy D & the Boyz


Alice Deejay


Mary Jane Girls


Nona Hendryx

Sarah Palin won't cotton to socialism

(h\t Wonkette)

Aside from Alaska's state oil fund, that literally pays residents of the state a share of its oil revenue (which she totally loves), she won't abide big government trying to, you know, fix things. As she tweeted today:

All industry efforts.

Take that Piyush Jindal and your "state of emergency."

When PR flacks write your copy

(h\t Towleroad)

There's been buzz on the web that People has another "I Am Gay" cover story coming May 5th with speculation about Queen Latifah and Shelby Lynne (which prompted one person to comment "Shelby Lynne's coming out May 5th? That's cool cause someone famous is supposed to come out that day too").

TMZ has broken the story that the cover will go to country singer Chely Wright. And in doing so they make this statement:

Wright is the first major country artist ever to come out.  She has been romantically linked to a number of celebs, including Brad Paisley.

I'm sorry TMZ, but when the category Gay and Lesbian Country Singers comes up on Jeopardy, the correct response to "the first major country artist ever to come out" will be "who is k.d. lang?" Because according to my calendar, 1992 comes before 2010 (note: both years A.D.).

And here's how big a country star she is. I just had to go correct the spelling of her name, and I know who she is (kinda). The blurb asserts that this is a big deal in the country world, but Wright hasn't had a country music hit in 10 years (it's like one of the Baha Men coming out), and the fact that she has both a book and a new CD coming out this month suggests that this is more of a career "Hail Mary" pass than an act of personal courage. Her core country fan base probably won't get much smaller and this way she's guaranteed a spot at next year's Lilith Fair.

"Betty Suarez, you've got big balls."

OR Everybody loves a happy ending.

I'm still trying to get mucus out of my head and lungs (I've been asked to stop using the word "phlegm"), so I am riding the NyQuil pony and watching stuff on the DVR (last week's Modern Family is hysterical!), including the series finale for Ugly Betty.

Betty's had some hits and some misses in its 4 seasons, but ended strongly. Given the paucity of consistently strong comedies these days, I'm hoping the show picks up more Emmy nominations. My favorite, Amanda and her real father, played by Bryan Batt. He looked so familiar, but I couldn't place him until just now (thank you tubes), he's Darius (Patrick Stewart's partner) in Jeffrey. Perfect casting!


The show earned a special fondness from me by using Syd Straw's "Golden Dreams" in its second season opener. Weirdly, I remember the song used with Hilda, who's suffering through the death of Santos, Justin's father (I am so gay). But this clip makes it look like the song was used in the context of Daniel, so who knows. But NyQuil says it is time for a nap, so we will talk more later.

On breed bans and dog attacks

(h\t Robert Hoekman via Twitter)

"It has not effected dog bites or fatal dog bites one iota, it has nothing to do with the breed, it has to do with the deed and the owner."--Cheri DiNovo, a member of Canadian Parliament (or something)

Robert posted a link to an article in the Toronto Sun (here) that summarizes the effect of banning "pit bulls" (a melange of 3 breeds, plus other breeds, like Presa Canario, if it fits the narrative) and killing family pets on dog attacks: none. I'm "second generation" reluctantly involved with Denver's breed ban as 2 of my dogs are refugees from there. Willy was on death row even though, per the DNA test that Robert had us run, Willy's not actually affected by the ban, his composition is less than 50% from a banned breed--he has as much English Cocker Spaniel as he does pit bull.

This guy. Death row. And not for peeing on my bed.

Lucky for him he got a reprieve (thank you Lisa! thank you Sonya!), and I needed to find someone(s) to help Midge cope with the loss of Rebel (she was hoping for more treats, but instead she got 2 new siblings that she loves ((in small doses))). I'm friends with some of the folks who are working to overturn Denver's breed ban which has resulted in more than 3,000 dogs being killed (dogs that were largely legally-registered family pets that hadn't harmed anyone) but not demonstrated any increase in public safety. Fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday Christine Baranski

The 1984 Broadway debut of Tom Stoppard's The Real Thing was directed by Mike Nichols and featured a cast that included Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Christine Baranski, Peter Gallagher and Cynthia Nixon. The production won 5 Tonys, and was the first of Baranski's 2 Tony wins. She won an Emmy for her work on Cybill, a show that is pretty fucking un-watchable aside from her (seriously, Cybill Shepard can't deliver a joke to save her life).



She's the kind of performer that I expected to have a stealth Grammy in the Spoken Word (like Ruby Dee or "Magic" Johnson), or Recording for Children (like Marlo Thomas or Audrey Hepburn), or Cast Album categories, but nothing so far. Her filmography is a mixed bag with her best work (which is to say her funniest) coming in small parts in campy movies. I can't find any of her scenes with Peter MacNichol in Addams Family Values, or her scene in Jeffrey, and it's totally not worth posting something from Mamma Mia (sorry, but yawn). Instead I'll post a clip of her on stage--she's a great musical theatre actress; here she is in a revival of Mame (playing a well-off lush, a stretch) with the wonderful Harriet Sansom Harris.


She's apparently on The Good Wife which has become a hit for CBS, so don't be surprised to see her pick up an Emmy nomination for Supporting Actress in a Drama. I haven't seen the show, but I will hazard a guess that she plays a bitchy (possibly boozy), well-off woman who is somewhat earnest but kinda judgmental. As opposed to, say, a homeless woman. She gets to dress really well in all her roles, and that might say something about her range as an actress, or it might say something about casting directors and producers. She fits a certain type perfectly, and she probably makes a nice living playing that type.

But she fits that type perfectly.



Happy birthday dude! Rock on!

If you have no friends, leave your wealth to me

Seems to be a universal motif in the 419 scam community. South Africa at least gives this one new geography (I think).

NOTE IMPORTANT- PLEASE REPLY THROUGH- eshebeagley@movmail.com
Dear Friend

My sincere apologies for contacting you through this form and means but the circumstances around me leaves me with no other choice.I am prayerfully letting all to you hoping that you will respond positively and wont betray my trust too. I may have to introduce myself. My name is Eshe Beagley undergoing medical treatment in Leratong Hospital JohannesBurg. south africa.i am married to dr. Aaron Beagley who worked with british judical commission in england. We were married for fifteen years without a child. Before his death on the 5th of july 2004.he made a vow to use his wealth for the less privileged.he deposited the sum of 3.5 million pounds with one security company in europe.presently, his money is still with the company.recently, my doctor told me that i will not last for the next 4 months due to a rare form of cancer of the pancreas but what disturbs me most is my stroke.i have decided to donate this funds to a god fearing person who will utilise it as my husband wished. I understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I do not have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not inclined to helping poor persons and I do not want my husbands hard earned money to be misused or spent in the manner in which my late husband did not specify. I do not want a situation where this money will be used in an ungod ly manner, hence the reason for taking this bold decision. I am not afraid of death hence I know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Almighty. I do not need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health, and because of the presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I do not want them to know about this development. With god all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Finance/Security Company in Europe. I will also issue you a letter of authority that will empower you as the original beneficiary of this fund. I want you to always pray for me and Please assure me that you will act according to my specification herein.

I shall provide you with more detailed explanation on the situation of things after I have received your positive response to assist through this and honestly too.

Note= direct your response to this email for more information otherwise i may not be able to read your email [ eshebeagley@movmail.com ].

I do not want anyone to infilterate into my intentions. you know how people behave because of money. i have decided to let this out to you and you alone so please just follow my leading

I anxiously await your reply
Mrs Eshe Beagley

Why is this dude not all over the teevee today?

(h\t Dlisted)

Lance Orton, the t-shirt vendor in Times Square that alerted cops to the suspicious vehicle that was rigged to blow shit up last night. He wasn't mentioned by name, or shown, on the morning news and I couldn't figure out what the fuck was up. It seems he doesn't want fame.

If this were Arizona, I'd demand to see his papers, cause that's just not American.

Anyway, as Michael K said "Viva Lance!"

Song of the Day: "Ghost and the Witness"

I know this happened a while ago, but holy crap Brooklyn is the hipster capital of the universe these days. Which probably underscores the whole "if you don't live in NYC you're a rube" sensibility that makes me so love that town, but whatev. While a good 2/3 of the indie bands I post seem to be from Brooklyn (as today's band, Earl Greyhound is), a good 1/2 seem to be from Portland OR. And yes, I know that's mathematically impossible. My point is, Brooklyn Brooklyn Brooklyn, Earl Greyhound, and a little bit of Aerosmith near the end of the song.

This could be the greatest scam email ever!!!

There is so much awesome with this that I can't even begin:

• The "answers" below are delightfully awkward and makes this like a freakish Jeopardy game.
• The program to "alleviates" poverty gives away big prizes of money instead of, I don't know, food and shelter and educational materials.
• It's signed by Mrs. Rahm Emanuel. It's a fantastically specific detail, but they just didn't want to look up her name. Or they thought people wouldn't recognize the name "Sharon Emanuel" (her name is actually Amy, which I had to look up, I just wanted to see if you knew).

U.S.A INTERNATIONAL QUIZ / ANSWERS ORGANIZATION FOUNDATION CENTRE WHITE HOUSE
# 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20500, United States
Website: www.whitehouse.gov
Date: 1/5/2010

Dear Email Bearer,

U.S.A INTERNATIONAL QUIZ / ANSWERS AWARD NOTIFICATION!!!!

World Organization Quiz program International Q-games organizers and Co-sponsors, the Organization Quiz foundation CENTRE/WHITE HOUSE have approval cash award of $1,000.000.00 (One Million United State Dollars), to each truly beneficiary of rightful answer to the below questions. This program was sponsored around the world AMERICA EUROPE ASIA AFRICA AUSTRALIA.

The quiz foundations company selected only five candidate by computer electronics balloting e-mails machine, After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address was emerged as one of the five appointed e-mails in the category "A" You have been approve to answer any of the questions correctly and claim the sum $1,000.000.00 (One Million United State Dollars).

This organization was organized by (U.S.A) government as their part of social responsibility to alleviates poverty around the globe. In cash credited to file KPC/9080118308/02.This is a total cash prize of (Five Million Dollars Only), shared amongst the five (5) lucky winners in this category. Select one of the below question and answer correctly to be come one of the winner.

STATED QUESTIONS TO ANSWER!!!

(QUESTION NUMBER 1) Answer: who was the first person that contacted HIV in the world, what makes HIV affected peoples in our generation.

(QUESTION NUMBER 2) Answer: who was the most wanted person in United State of America during the time of George W. Bush, the former president (U.S.A).

(QUESTION NUMBER 3) Answer: Who is the first prisident of united states of american?

(QUESTION NUMBER 4) Answer: who was the first American international pilot?

We are sorry that our Payment Approval Files was sent to London, due to we have 2 lucky answered/winner in London right now so that you can be cleared and paid simultaneously with them there. You are to contact our America centre WHITE HOUSE claim department with your answer together with your information required for the claim before your date of claim.

we wish to keep you informed that we deposited all the five candidate entire money in London, and we made all the entire money in fixed deposit for security reasons, till it been transfer to the rightful beneficiary answer/winner, email access (code 101) to avoid scam emails

HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
Fill your personal information's and "ANSWER" and forward to the fiduciary claim manager email address below for verifications and approval of your payment to the paying bank immediately in London
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Contact Person: Ambassador David Axelrod
Email: a.davidaxel@gmail.com
Phone Number +1-206-984-1114
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
You are advised to provide them with the following information:
Full Name: ............
Contact Address: ...
Phone Number: ......
Fax Number: ..........
Nationality: ............
Sex: .....................
Age: ......................
Occupation: ...........
Country of origin......

NB: In accordance with the WORLD ORGANIZATION QUIZ PROMOTION (WOQP) Q-games policy and regulations, this notification is dispatched directly to only the 5 lucky winners. This notification also contains information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the right recipient whose emails address attached/selected to answer our Quiz games, you are not authorized to read, print, retain copy or disseminate this notice or any part of it for security reasons.

Thanks,
Mrs. Rahm Emanuel
Vice President
® World Organization Quiz Game International Program 2010®

Just as Aaron Altman described

Aaron Altman is the character portrayed by Albert Brooks in Broadcast News. Altman is abrasive (intentionally and unintentionally), socially inept, smug from his intellect,  and, despite being inappropriate or off color, the funniest guy around. It's amazing to me that I relate to a character that's so different from me. I'm more Holly Golightly, a quirky people person/graceful waif, I'm sure you'll all agree.

I turned on local morning news (it's a long story, but I watch the Portland Fox affiliate for morning news) and ran into Fox "News" Sunday, with Marco Rubio. Rubio is the big old meanie that outed ousted C.C. Bloom (aka Charlie Crist) from the Republican party in Florida. Which is to say Rubio is polling far ahead of Bloom/Crist, and Crist really wants this job (it seems like a re-election as Governor was going to be easy, but maybe finding available dudes on the down low in Tallahassee is getting tougher--Washington DC men know how to keep secrets), so he's pulling a Joe Lieberman and running as an independent; since he goes both ways (he has some conservative, and some liberal policies--you could say he's a moderate, but where's the innuendo in that) he might do well. But the dynamics of an election year, and the dwindling of registered Republicans mean the pool of folks who will actually select the Republican candidate in the primary are considerably more conservative than CC's policies. Ergo, Rubio is kicking his ass. And while I've heard that Rubio is a crazy-ass conservative, I hadn't actually seen him speak, so I wanted to watch. And while watching him speak, I was reminded of an Aaron Altman quote:

"What do you think the Devil is going to look like if he's around? Nobody is going to be taken in if he has a long, red, pointy tail. No. I'm semi-serious here. He will look attractive and he will be nice and helpful and he will get a job where he influences a great God-fearing nation and he will never do an evil thing... he will just bit by little bit lower standards where they are important. Just coax along flash over substance... Just a tiny bit."

I understand why CC is having problems. Despite being a politician, Crist appears to have a problem just saying polished bullshit, and instead he lets facts seep in. And, ugh, those facts are so pesky that he's behind. Rubio, on the other hand, is a polished turd-making machine (based on only 8 minutes of viewing, but man was he slick).

Which brings us to today's quote of the day (and this is a paraphrase for now):

Americans don't want to spend money they don't have.

What Americans is he thinking about? South Americans? Does he not know us? What's your Visa balance? Seriously, this was about the evils of big government and Obama-socialism-yadda, but even in that context it's like he's saying that the invasion of Iraq was against American values, after all, it was never paid for in an officially budgeted way, and goes against all the PAYGO rules that deficit hawks love to embrace.

Oregon's primary is May 18th, although our state is 100% vote by mail, so technically the primary is on now. My ballot is sitting in front of me as I type this. This means relief from the tv ads is soon to come, until around September. Floridians have to suffer for a while longer for their primary, sorry Mom, sorry Dad.