Go figure: I really don’t need Jesus; I really don’t need Heaven; I really don’t need God. I just need to hear gospel singing like this every once in a while, and I am O-K.

Bliss.

Bog bless the Coens and T-Bone Burnett.

…And yes that is Sam Cooke providing the lead vocals on Tracks 5 and 13, by The Soul Stirrers.

Utterly sublime.

Posted: June 28th, 2005 under General.
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Via Avedon Carol via Atrios and probably 99% of Blogistan by this time, but absolutely worth it. American vets and enlisted people, many serving in Iraq even as we speak, respond to Rove’s latest dungfest.

Taking The Fight To Karl

Posted: June 27th, 2005 under General.
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Sorry about the gloomy outlook, but that’s the way I’m seeing it today. This is the future we’re heading into.

What is it going to take? What kind of imagery is going to get through to enough people in this country that we rise up and stop this future from happening?

UPDATE: Since I’ve been doing a bit of harrumphing lately over lack-of-attribution issues, it’s only fair that I start a new policy where the Tildified Pictures are concerned: always giving credit where credit is due, wherever possible. In the case of the cover above, the original inspiration came from this cover of Analog Science Fact and Fiction from 1961.

But enough about my feeble efforts. For the absolute best agit on the planet, go visit Micah Wright. Buy his books, and put his images –with attribution, of course– EVERYWHERE.

One of his very best [and go look; ALL of them are absolutely tremendous]:

[Via Randy's Soapbox]

Posted: June 26th, 2005 under General.
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Okay, don’t all fall down at once. Yes, even I, a musical Luddite, can approximate some mutated version of that meme all you kool kids like so much.

To recap: I don’t do the Friday Random Ten thing, because

So there.

But since a couple of people recently said they thought my avoidance of the FRT meant I don’t listen to music at all, here’s what I listened to this afternoon:

[I picked 5 folders at random from a total of about 13 folders on one CD-ful of mp3s].

First up, some Spanish guitar music, heavy on the works of Manuel de Falla:

Next, what I think of as the Birdland set, altho I have a hard time explaining why:

Followed by excerpts from the 1976 original cast recording of [Stephen Sondheim's Broadway show about the opening of Japan to US trade in 1853] Pacific Overtures:

Then a bunch of clips from Monty Python and Beyond the Fringe:

And last but not least, Aretha and Mavis and some other gospel legends tearing the roof off the joint:

So. There you have it. Unbelievably boring, isn’t it?! Now never ask me about this stupid meme again, or I’ll post this stupid post again. Tsk. You wild kids. G’wan, get outta my yard.

Posted: June 24th, 2005 under General.
Comments: none

[Oh come on -- does anybody doubt that this sorry POS has a PIMPLY ASS?! Of course he does. Of course it is. ]

Via Mahabarb:

Posted: June 23rd, 2005 under General.
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click here for embiggened version

**In accordance with Tild~’s new policy, here’s the original cover, of Adventure True Story Magazine from 1971.

Posted: June 23rd, 2005 under General.
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Senator Harry Reid said today:

I am deeply disturbed and disappointed that the Bush White House would continue to use the national tragedy of September 11th to try and divide the country. The lesson our country learned on that terrible morning is that we are strongest when we unite together, that America’s power is in its common spirit of democracy and freedom.

Karl Rove should immediately and fully apologize for his remarks or he should resign. The lesson of September 11th is not different for conservatives, liberals or moderates. It is equally shared and was repeatedly demonstrated in the weeks and months following this tragedy as Americans of all backgrounds and their elected representatives rallied behind the victims and their families, united in our common determination to bring to justice those responsible for these terrible attacks.

It is time to stop using September 11th as a political wedge issue. Dividing our country for political gain is an insult to all Americans and to the common memory we all carry with us from that day. When it comes to standing up to terrorists, there are no Republicans or Democrats, only Americans. The Administration should be focused on uniting Americans behind our troops and providing them a strategy for success in the war on terror and the conflict in Iraq. I hope the president will join me in repudiating these remarks and urge Mr. Rove to take appropriate action to right this terrible wrong.

“Gals really go for guys with backbones.”

Posted: June 23rd, 2005 under General.
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Via the genius that is Idyllopus:

Avoid the Koolaid at all costs.

…No matter what Nurse Ratched Coulter tells you.

Posted: June 22nd, 2005 under General.
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A fraught moment on Ping Island: the lightning strike rescue of the bond company stooge

It’s on Amerikas tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
‘Cause Lennon’s on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
But the film is a saddening bore
‘Cause I wrote it ten times or more
It’s about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on

Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh man! Look at those cavemen go
It’s the freakiest show
Take a look at the Lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?

Just watch this movie, okay? Sooner or later, something in this movie is going to make you laugh. Maybe it’ll be when Esteban gets eaten. [Bitten? No! Eaten!]Maybe it’ll be hearing “Life On Mars” sung in Portuguese. Or seeing the walk-through cross section of the good ship Belafonte. Or the Ping Island lightning strike rescue of the bond company stooge. But it will happen. Or at least I think there is a very good chance it will happen: you will laugh at some point during The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, and as soon as you do there’ll be no turning back. Be prepared to have this film running continuously in your head for a couple weeks and subjecting you to sudden giggling fits and a tendency to burst into song, with a repertoire of a half dozen old Bowie tunes.

The last movie I just flat-out enjoyed as much as this one was “O Brother Where Art Thou?” And I must get the soundtrack for this movie too.

Believe it or not, for at least a couple of seconds The Life Aquatic also happens to be a bittersweet and even poignant meditation on fathers and sons. Really.

Finally, this film is unassailable proof that Bill Murray, at the present time, has become not just a good but a great actor. Truly. You know what part would be perfect for him? He should play Ernest Hemingway; he’d be fantastic. Yeah, I know the white beard makes Hemingway an obvious choice, but really. Bill Murray. Could be the best Papa ever.
Please. Take my word on this. Go watch.

“Klausie! Neddo!”

Posted: June 20th, 2005 under General.
Comments: none

Just to let you know: my plan is to continue taking time off from blogging for a while and, just as if I had a life, doing a few other things instead. Such as reading a novel or two, writing a bit more of my own, and acquiring a couple of nice shrubberies. That last sounds rather tedious, but at least it beats having to cut down the tallest tree in the forest with ….a herring!!
Yep, it probably does beat that.

My cunning plan was interrupted a few days ago by the arrival of an email from the most excellent Lorraine Berry of CultureKitchen and Stregoneria. She told the tale of a bold new venture starting up in the afterfumes of Mistah “Pull my finger” Kos’s recent gas attack.

Taking their name from an epithet hurled by an overwrought wank commenter, Lorraine and her unindicted co-conspirators have launched a new blog called Menstruating She-Devils. Surely one of the best blog names Ever. And, needless to say, don’t call me Surely, goddammit. OK, so go read. Right now. It’s okay, I’ll wait until you go there and come back.

Okay, you’re back. Mass quantities of coolness, huh. Another very cool thing was that Lorraine asked if I’d be interested in working up a logo or design or image or something for them. I mean, zounds! With a concept like Menstruating She-Devils, resistance is indeed futile. To the PaintshopPro-mobile!

And a side-note: these requests are starting to seem disturbingly like commissions — a pretty mind-boggling concept in itself. I’m really not yet comfortable with the idea that anybody would actually ask me to do whatever it is I do; this tinkering around with old ads and pinups and pulps, on purpose. Cletus, grab a spatula and scrape me off the floor, willya?!

Anyway. Here’s what I came up with:

(Click here for the full-size version)

And an alternative version with colors matching the blog template [altho L has now changed templates, I still like the colors]

(Click here for the full-size version)

Thanks for asking, Lorraine. This was really fun.

OK now, everybody: Say it loud = I’m a Menstruating She-Devil and I’m proud!
Even if, like me, you’re post-menopausal you still qualify. Menstrual blood and the memory of menstrual blood are thicker than water. Thicker than ordinary blood, too. And much funnier, believe it or not.

Sling it, sisters.

Posted: June 13th, 2005 under General.
Comments: none