Smiles

I've watched the video for Feist's 1, 2, 3, 4 too many times now, but it still leaves me unreasonably happy each time I see it.


One of the commenters in the YouTube thread had this to say about it:

Damn! When did Bjork get so skinny? Or is it Cat Power so happy? Or is it Charlotte Gainsbourg in sequins? who knows, they're all alike . . .

I can't agree that they're all alike, but there does seem to be some sort of connection there. A happier and more energetic Cat Power would probably bear more than a bit of a resemblance to Feist. Even so, this video for "Cross Bones Style" leaves me in something like the same mood:


Another connection between the two is that many, if not most of the comment threads on both videos consist of variations on "I'm so in love with her".

Feist shows another side in video for One Evening. Time to go buy the CD.

Crime Zero

A great deal has been written about the recent controversy over a particular number and efforts to remove it from the Web. I liked this contribution, from John Marcotte at Badmouth:

[W]e have made a flag, a symbol to show support for personal freedoms. Spread it as far and wide as you can. We give this flag away freely, and also give away the rights for people to make similar, derivative works. the colors of the flag are (in hex code format):

#09F911 #029D74 #E35BD8 #4156C5 #635688

The letters “C0" are added to signify that simply publishing a number is “Crime Zero.”

I'll fly the flag myself once I can find a moment to figure out how -- long may it wave.

Authoritah

Cartman
Originally uploaded by 3abbess.

For all the talk you hear of Bush Jr. as a petulant five-year-old, it always seemed like an exaggeration -- just so much hyperbolic rhetoric; satire. But no, satire is dead. It can't hold a candle to the real world. The President of the United States actually said this:

The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear -- I'm the commander guy.

So all this time that Junior's been playing the "trust the commanders' judgment" card, he didn't really mean that the professional soldiers should be the ones who make the decisions, he was just reverting to his default behavior of stamping his feet and demanding that everyone do what he wants. Or in other words:

You will respect my authoritah!

The thought of Eric Cartman occupying the White House and directing the government of the most powerful nation on earth is one to banish sleep for years. But it does explain more than a few things.

And as for Junior's abilities as the "commander guy", I'm reminded of comments made by General Norman Schwartzkopf when he was asked to evaluate another head of state posing as "commander guy":

He is neither a strategist, nor is he schooled in the operational art, nor is he a tactician, nor is he a general, nor is he a soldier. Other than that, he's a great military man, I want you to know that.

A heckuva job, indeed.

Score One for the NYPD

Walking south on Eighth Avenue this evening on my way home, I came to an intersection where a car and a truck were trying to turn left off the Avenue and on to one of the streets. The crosswalk was full of pedestrians, so the car was quite appropriately waiting for the crowd to pass before proceeding. The driver of the truck took this as a personal insult; he leaned out his window and hollered a blue streak of invective at the car, the pedestrians and the city in general. I considered giving him a piece of my mind in return, something on the subject of the right of way at a crosswalk, the flashing "walk" sign in my direction, and so on, but decided it wasn't worth the effort.

But one of New York's finest thought otherwise. A mounted policeman who had been sitting on his horse a few feet away decided that the truck driver needed a bit of an attitude adjustment. So after the car made its turn, the cop and horse proceeded to block the truck's path, and the officer then gave the trucker pretty much the same lecture that I'd been contemplating, and at even greater length and volume.

Justice is a hit-or-miss proposition in this world, but when it works, it's satisfying.

How Stupid . . .

. . . is the Washington, DC press corps? White House press secretary Tony Snow clearly thinks the answer is "incredibly stupid", as shown by his comments at today's press briefing where he tried to explain away the internal Department of Justice documents that described most U.S. Attorneys as "loyal Bushies":

I've already told you what the definition of loyalty is in this White House, which is to do your job -- to understand that it is an honor to be in the White House, and an honor to serve the American people, and you treat that as a trust. Loyalty to the President means doing your job and faithfully carrying out the priorities of the administration.

-- Tony Snow, White House press briefing, March 16, 2006 (as quoted at TPMm)

Since even a first-grader could tell that Tony Snow is very clearly lying about "what the definition of loyalty is in this White House", he very clearly thinks that the White House press corps is collectively as dumb as the proverbial bag of hammers. Tomorrow's headlines will tell whether he's right; based on past experience I'd expect that he probably is.

Life Imitates Ghostbusters

Attorney General Gonzalez:

I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility and my pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here, to assess accountability, and to make improvements so that the mistakes in this instance do not occur again in the future.

Ghostbusters:

Stantz: Gozer the Gozerian? Good evening. As a duly designated representative of the City, County and State of New York, I order you to cease any and all supernatural activity and return forthwith to your place of origin or to the nearest convenient parallel dimension.

Venkman: Right, that oughta do it. Thanks very much, Ray.

International Poet of Mystery?

Having referenced W.H. Auden in my first post on this humble blog, I was a bit surprised to see him turn up in the news today. Granted, it's his centennial, so you expect the occasional commemoration or monument, but I wasn't remotely expecting anything like what actually showed up.

It seems that MI5 suspected Auden of helping arrange the escape of two of the "Cambridge spies" who defected to the Soviet Union in 1951. Nothing was proved, and the investigation was closed.

Clearly, poets lead far more interesting lives than I ever would have guessed.