Apparently John McCain’s campaign manager is contending that Palin is being shielded from the media, not because she can’t handle an interview, but because they’re gonna be mean to her:
“Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?” he asked. “So until at which point in time we feel like the news media is going to treat her with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment,” he said.
Three things occur to me:
1) If McCain’s people were taking this position with a male candidate, the perception would be that he’s weak and inept. So McCain’s people are banking on the concept that her being a woman will preclude that criticism, because anyone who says that will be tagged as being insulting and anti-feminist.
2) This sounds unbelievably patronizing to her and monumentally arrogant to the media. They’re saying she can’t handle tough questions, or at least shouldn’t have to, and they are endeavoring to dictate terms as to how the media has to treat her in order to rate an interview.
3) Someone who needs this much handling and protection doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in contemplating her being toe-to-toe with various foreign dictators and strong men, particularly if a stilled heartbeat thrusts her into the presidency anytime after January 2009. Golda Meir didn’t need insulation. Neither did Margaret Thatcher, to whom Palin has ludicrously been compared. Well…NOW Thatcher needs insulation, because she has dementia. So basically Sarah Palin needs as much protection as a former world leader who has trouble recalling her husband is dead. Make of that what you will.
PAD
• 
I hang my head in shame. You are absolutely right and I will now go watch a vampire movie by means of recompense.
My choice is ATOM AGE VAMPIRE or MARK OF THE WOLFMAN aka FRANKENSTEIN’S BLOODY TERROR. (No Frankensteins actually appear in the movie. But it does have vampires. And a wolfman. And blood.)
Or you could really punish me and insist I watch my new DVD of DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN but I don’t think my sins were that bad. 🙂
Dracula vs. Frankenstein? The 1971 one? The one with the bad cameo by Forrest J. Ackerman that has one of the funnier Forrest J. Ackerman stories attached to it?
Oh how I envy you right now.
Well, you gonna leave a brother hanging? What was the story?
BTW–thank you for the package from Dragoncon! Love the little plastic zombies. They are currently on my desk, chasing little plastic victims.
Good to know that they got there. And they glow in the dark.
~8?)`
Ackerman wasn’t feeling well when the time came for the shooting. He was a little ill and his back was hurting. He told the director that he couldn’t do a whole lot in the death scene that he was supposed to have with the Frankenstein monster but was assured that it wasn’t going to be anything physical. The director explained to him that the Frankenstein monster was Dracula’s slave in this film because he had been bitten by Drac and now sported fangs himself. The scene would basically involve Franky gumming him on the neck and Ackerman going limp before being lowered to the ground.
And then the day arrived when they had to film the scene. They spent over an hour trying to get the fangs to stay in place in the monsters god awful makeup and they just couldn’t get them to stay. Well, Vorkov had to catch a plane out of the country that night for some odd reason or another so they told Ackerman that he was going to have to die the old fashioned way. He was getting snatched out of the car and crushed to death by the monster.
They filmed the scene and the actor in the makeup grabs Ackerman and crushes for all he’s worth after knocking the sense out of him due to the crap vision that the makeup allowed him. Ackerman’s groans are 100% real in that scene and any look of pain that you see isn’t Oscar worthy acting. Then the monster drops him to the ground like a bag of wet cement.
But the fun doesn’t end there!
Ackerman has a pet peeve about deaths in b-movies. He has always hated it when someone is killed, drops to the ground and is shown on camera breathing. Ackerman decided that he was going to do it right and decided that he was going to hold his breath until the scene’s filming was done. So, twisted in pain for real and in an awkward position on the ground, Ackerman is holding his breath for the fall to the ground and the scripted pan over his body. And he’s holding his breath as the monster slouches away. And he’s holding his breath as Dracula’s voice drifts away into the distance. And… You get the idea.
He was still holding his breath after he missed the direction to stop filming. He’s just this unmoving, unbreathing lump on the ground that no one is paying any attention to long after the filming has stopped. He said that it was his wife who got someone to go over and check on him when she asked someone if he was supposed to still just be lying there like that.
To cap it all off, as you well know if you’ve seen the film before, they only filmed the scene one time and didn’t include any of the shots of Ackerman’s body on the ground that were referenced in the shooting script. Once the monster dropped him he was out of the shot. All of that pain and discomfort was for absolutely nothing.
It’s much funnier seeing him tell the story. I’d seen it years ago and remembered it without ever being able to source it, but was pleasantly surprised by seeing it again a few months ago. Remember when I was going ga-ga over finding out that Count Gor de Vol was still doing Creature Feature on the web these days and selling DVDs of the show? Well, one of the classic DVDs from the shows WDCA days is The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. In the bumper segments his guest was Forrest J. Ackerman amongst many other stories and information about his career and the things he’s seen and done in horror fandom was the exact story that I’d seen all those years ago.
Yeah, I’m a geek.
“Palin’s is that she was evasive.”
She’s a politician, isn’t that par for the course?
LOL! I don’t know if this woman Lisa Nova (no relation) is an amateur, or an aspiring comedienne, or what, but this was funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-QevraCQUc&feature=user
Tim Lynch: And her answer to the Bush Doctrine question wasn’t evasive — she pretty clearly didn’t know what it was and was trying to talk around that fact.
Luigi Novi: Isn’t that what evasion is?
Megan: She’s a politician, isn’t that par for the course?
Luigi Novi: If it is, someone tell Obama that he’s performing above it, because I don’t recall this sort of thing from him.
That’s a funny story. They only shot one take on DRACULA VS FRANKENSTEIN? Wow, could have fooled me, that looks like a movie that had a lot of thought put into it.
Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s 2 or 3 different Al Adamson movies cobbled together. Not as great as HORROR OF THE BLOOD MONSTERS but there you are. And now that you’ve gone and piqued my interest I think I’ll go watch it.
Isn’t that what evasion is?
Yes, but the issue is WHAT she was evading. I maintain that it was fairly self-evident that she was evading the demonstration of a considerable lack of clue. Your implication was that she was “only” being evasive.
“Actually, I’m pretty sure it’s 2 or 3 different Al Adamson movies cobbled together.”
It sort of is and sort of isn’t. It started life as a deranged biker movie and was never finished. Somewhere along the way they decided to make it a monster movie and starting shooting new scenes. The problem with this is that you now have biker scenes that just seem to sorta be there with no real connection to the film. And the later scenes have enough coherency problems as it is so that this only makes the thing all the more painfully funny.
The really goofy bit is that one actor that was kept in a larger role from the original production to the newer one had aged noticeably due to his failing health at the time. He was in such a bad mental state that they were having to feed him his lines from just off of the camera. This created an odd look on the film as they shot his dialogue heavy scenes as close ups of his upper body and face. The odd part? The poor guy only had one eye. The other eye was a glass eye and you can see him reading the lines as his one eye moves from left to right and back again while slowly moving down with each line while the other just looks straight ahead.
I’ve always loved this film as a “so dámņëd awful it’s great” film. It’s one of those films that the term “train wreck production” was invented for.
Hmmm. Train Wreck Productions. Were it not for LA right now, THAT might be a good name for my company.
“BTW–thank you for the package from Dragoncon! Love the little plastic zombies. They are currently on my desk, chasing little plastic victims.”
Ditto, although mine are on my dresser out of reach of certain offspring. And spouses. And no, I haven’t had time to watch the DVD yet.
“And no, I haven’t had time to watch the DVD yet.”
Ðámņ! And I was planning on emailing you the test on it tomorrow morning and everything.
Oh well…
Tim Lynch: Yes, but the issue is WHAT she was evading. I maintain that it was fairly self-evident that she was evading the demonstration of a considerable lack of clue. Your implication was that she was “only” being evasive.
Luigi Novi: ???????? No, I was simply saying that her problem was different from Upton’s. Upton’s was ignorance (or to be charitable, flustered to the point of incoherence), and Palin’s was evasiveness. I never implied a quantitative difference.
But your point about how it reminded you of Upton is taken. 🙂
Another Palin interview parody is from The Ðámņ! Show. It’s short, but funny: http://www.dámņšhøw.com/2008/09/13/wacos-spoof-of-sarah-palin-interview/
Wow, that was WAY worse than I remembered…
Poor Lon Chaney Jr. Pour him a drink, because it looks like he’s trying to drink away the memory of this film. It was his last, same for J. Carrol Naish.
Amazingly, Zandor Vorkov made one more movie, BRAIN OF BLOOD, which has just been satirized by the MST3K crew as part of their new Cinema Titanic. It’s great in that form, unwatchable any other way.
Yeah, and old Zandor wasn’t too proud of either films. You know how people change their names to something easy to say or remember when getting into films? Zandor Vorkov changed his name, I believe after being cast in F VS D, to that strange monkier. His birth name was Roger Engel.
Yeah, I’m a geek.
What’s the most obscure movie you have? I’d go with THE WORLDS GREATEST SINNER by Tim Carey (though it’s going to be on TCM soon so everyone will get a chance to see it), STING OF DEATH ( the human jellyfish monster), HAND OF DEATH (John Agar as a monster that looks remarkably like The Thing from The Fantastic 4– it came out in 1962 but I doubt Kirby ever saw it), OPERACIJA TICIJAN (the movie they cobbled BLOOD BATH from), A COLD NIGHTS DEATH (old tv movie, scared the crap out of me when I was a kid), THE GREAT HOLLYWOOD RAPE SLAUGHTER, IF FOOTMEN TIRE YOU WHAT WILL HORSES DO?, J’ACCUSE, and a short but amazing clip from Orson Welles lost movie THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND
Anyone have any leads on where I could find a movie called DEAD END from 1985, a gore filled zombie epic that sounds amazingly like Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD? Even the director doesn’t have a copy and I told him I’d try to find one but so far no luck.
This is funny: http://img357.imageshack.us/my.php?image=monkeygopplatformgd4.jpg
You’re always welcome to present a sales-pitch on how the benefits of hypocrisy exceed the benefits of stoicism.
Sean: “…but decapitation is bad news for most people, Myers and Chandler being notable exceptions.”
I pray your theory about me is never, ever tested.
Now, now, let’s not lose our heads about this…
“What’s the most obscure movie you have?”
Geez… A few years ago I could answer that right off the bat. These days I’m beginning to think that there is no longer such a thing as an obscure film if it’s on DVD or VHS; especially with the Midnight Movie & Grindhouse Theater collections coming out. In the circles that I’ve always worked and played in I’ve been the guy with the movies that nobody had ever heard of, but the last few years I keep finding people with over half of them in their collections.
As store bought and home recordings:
I Eat Your Skin
Prisoners of the Lost Universe.
World Gone Wild
The Final Programme
Percy
Second Time Lucky
Devil Girl From Mars
Evil Brain from Outer Space
Hound of the Baskervilles (The Hammer Films version)
…tick… tick… tick…
The Undertaker and His Pals
Super Fuzz
The Screaming Skull
The Brainiac
Ruckus
Blancheville Monster
Teenage Zombies
Nightmare Castle
Etc.
Back to Sarah Palin for a bit … what do people think of the profiles published in today’s NYT and Washington Post? Not exactly paeans to her greatness.
TWL
Back to Sarah Palin for a bit … what do people think of the profiles published in today’s NYT and Washington Post? Not exactly paeans to her greatness.
It was not as strong as I’d been led to believe–basically a portrait of a small town politician–which does make one give pause to the idea of her becoming president. If this is how people had responded to her early on–that there isn’t much “there” there–she would be in a much weaker position that the one she has, gained from crazy attacks. But that ship has sailed. The media and the netroots blew it.
Unless the National Enquirer comes through with photos I don’t think any effort to make her a liability to McCain will bear fruit. Meanwhile, Obama’s message is getting lost in the hysteria.
He’ll still win though. Amid all the panic from Obama’s fair weather supporters, who are already honing their narratives for defeat, Obama pulled in 66 million dollars last month. That’s more than anyone in history. 20 million more than McCain did.
You have to figure that a good chunk of it is going toward get out the vote efforts which matter more than TV ads. McCain, on the other hand, seems to be focusing on going negative against Obama, which may raise his poll numbers but don’t ensure votes.
Jerome,
Assuming that you’re still lurking, I wanted to apologize for my first post of Thursday morning. Having actually skimmed back over the thread in my copious spare time, you actually made quite a few very substantive claims and points early in the thread, when I was ramping up for school and paying next to no attention.
I still disagree with a lot (read: most) of what you’re arguing, but it was not right of me to claim that you were just going to duck and run. Mea culpa.
TWL
Clarification: by “the thread” just now I meant the much longer Sarah Palin thread, not this one.
Tim Lynch: “Back to Sarah Palin for a bit …”
Kill joy…
“what do people think of the profiles published in today’s NYT and Washington Post? Not exactly paeans to her greatness.”
They, and a few others, are not exactly telling me anything that a weeks worth of digging through various news sites didn’t tell me already. She has a habit of pursuing personal vendettas as political ones, she has a past record of hiring friends with questionable experience to key government positions, she shuffles budget numbers to claim some of her reductions, she’s scammed the government (taking travel expenses to stay in her own home while governor) for some extra cash, she’ll say whatever she thinks people want to hear whether she intends to follow through or not and she has no sense of shame when it comes to being a liar.
She’s a perfect example of most 20th and 21st century politicians.
Bill Mulligan: “He’ll still win though. Amid all the panic from Obama’s fair weather supporters, who are already honing their narratives for defeat, Obama pulled in 66 million dollars last month. That’s more than anyone in history. 20 million more than McCain did.”
He won’t win if he doesn’t get his act together. He’s being inept and clumsy in his responses to what’s being slung at him right now and his attempts to blast back at the McCain-Palin camp have come off as half hearted attempts by a campaign that’s unsure of what it really wants to do here. He’s been talking about getting tough, but he won’t take more than one glove off.
And it’s not even the glove on his strong hand either.
Sean: “…but decapitation is bad news for most people, Myers and Chandler being notable exceptions.”
Bill Myers: “I pray your theory about me is never, ever tested.”
Don’t knock it untill you’ve tried it.
What do I know about politics? But I don’t think Obama will win by fending off McCain’s attacks or by attacking McCain or Palin. He need something more. He needs to regain the thing that drew voters to him to begin with, he needs to find a way to connect with the public on the emotional level.
If I were him, I would stage a town hall meeting in one of those white working class small towns where he supposedly lacks support; a place where people will ask him questions like: are you Muslim? why aren’t you patriotic? Why are you mean to Sarah Palin? And he should take Hilary with him.
He’s been talking about getting tough, but he won’t take more than one glove off.
Hey — is that a Michael Jackson reference? For shame, good sir — for SHAME.
TWL
“Hey — is that a Michael Jackson reference? For shame, good sir — for SHAME.”
And a big round of applause for Tim and his new job as the McCain Campaigns press liaison.
Audience claps wildly. Tim takes the podium, clears his throat and is suddenly crushed flat by the flying cow launched from an older Peterdavid.net thread.
Before i get into the comments to comments, let me present a few little tidbits i found with a quick bout of google-fu:
NYTimes, 12 October 2007; McCain Health Care Plan Puts Focus on Spending)
(Forbes.com, 6 July 2008, DNC Releases New ‘Jobs First?’ Website, Video.)
And one more:
(NYTimes, 1 January 2008, Thompson, Lingering in Midpack, Sticks to a Slow and Steady Strategy
So it’s not like McCain Never heard the phrase before – in fact, he used it in reagrd to Hillary, himself!
Posted by Rene
Even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were extremely liberal in civil rights issues (even though they were anti-communist).
One might wonder whether the heavy-handed anti-communism in early Lee/Kirby Marvels was in fact what they thought, or what they felt as if they needed to sound like in thos only-shortly-post-McCarthy/Wertham/Kefauver days?
OTOH, i have little doubt that, as a fan of Saint Ayn, any anti-communim in Steve Ditko’s stories was heart-felt.
Posted by Rob Brown
As a Canadian who CAN vote in this election and is going to vote for Obama (unless Obama does something to really upset me between now and then), I say this:
Hawks like AnthonyX do not speak for the majority of Canadians.
That is all.
Wonder how much Anthony would support Bush’s adventurism if he or someone he was close to had a chance of being shipped off to Iraq?
Boy, now there’s a typo that made me rare back and blink:
Posted by Bill Mulligan
But the result will be 4 more years of nothing accomplished. I can see a slim chance of McCain/Palin pulling it off but there’s no way I can see the republican snot losing big chunks…
My first thought was “Which Republican snot? They’re all pretty snotty…”
Posted by Jason M. Bryant
Earlier you claimed that all the news other than FOX was biased liberally, then you sited one incident as proof of that. That’s anecdotal evidence, which isn’t real proof because it is just one isolated sample out of many.
“‘Data” is not the plural of ‘anecdote’.”
Posted by Jason M. Bryant
Sean, everyone believes in that. McCain talks about reaching across the aisle and Obama talks about bringing people together.
And the unspoken but clearly understood codicil to that is usually “…and then we’ll all cheerfully do it together, my way.”
Posted by AnthonyX
There was never a declaration to end the first war.
There was never a declaration beginning it, either, because Bush Major knew dámņëd well he’d never get it through Congress.
Posted by George Haberberger
{AnthonyX‘s last effusion) You should read it, It’s well-written, informative, makes a lot of good points and it’s funny.
Depends, i suppose, on what you mean by “informative”. As a demonstration of the world view of a paranoid rightwing conspiracy-buff, i guess so.
As useful discourse, not so much.
More and more, when i read AnthonyX’s “let’s you and him fight” posts, i am reminded of the story about the Italian’s women’s group who go to the Vatican to protest the Pope’s latest comments on abortion and birth control … and one finally loses her temper and snaps at the Pope “Hey – you no play’a da game, you no make’a da rule!”
(Yes, i know there are people who post here rather more regularly than i who also “No play’a da game”, but what ‘ve seen from them isn’t holier-than-thou screeds telling us how US citizens would run our country, if we were only just as samrt as the poster.)
Posted by Craig J. Ries
Oh boy. Obama uses the phrase “lipstick on a pig” in reference to Bush & McCain’s economic policies and clearly mentions the last 8 years, and the McCain campaign goes on the warpath that Obama is being sexist toward Palin.
Heck, check the top of this post to see what McCain said while talking about Hillary(‘s healthcare plan) Just a little while ago…
Mention of Ann Coulter and her diatribes and general insanity – one of the few times i have actually found anything Letterman does funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_YzbODb9To
Posted by Bill Mulligan
Anyone have any leads on where I could find a movie called DEAD END from 1985, a gore filled zombie epic that sounds amazingly like Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD? Even the director doesn’t have a copy and I told him I’d try to find one but so far no luck.
No, sorry sounds like my qyest for a copy of the video for Alex Call’s song “Just Another Saturday Night” – not only does the guy who directed it not have a copy, but neither does Call.
In fact, i promised him a copy if i ever find it…
test
Before i get into the comments to comments, let me present a few little tidbits i found with a quick bout of google-fu:
NYTimes, 12 October 2007; McCain Health Care Plan Puts Focus on Spending)
(Forbes.com, 6 July 2008, DNC Releases New ‘Jobs First?’ Website, Video.)
And one more:
(NYTimes, 1 January 2008, Thompson, Lingering in Midpack, Sticks to a Slow and Steady Strategy
So it’s not like McCain Never heard the phrase before – in fact, he used it in reagrd to Hillary, himself!
Posted by Rene
Even Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were extremely liberal in civil rights issues (even though they were anti-communist).
One might wonder whether the heavy-handed anti-communism in early Lee/Kirby Marvels was in fact what they thought, or what they felt as if they needed to sound like in thos only-shortly-post-McCarthy/Wertham/Kefauver days?
OTOH, i have little doubt that, as a fan of Saint Ayn, any anti-communim in Steve Ditko’s stories was heart-felt.
Posted by Rob Brown
As a Canadian who CAN vote in this election and is going to vote for Obama (unless Obama does something to really upset me between now and then), I say this:
Hawks like AnthonyX do not speak for the majority of Canadians.
That is all.
Wonder how much Anthony would support Bush’s adventurism if he or someone he was close to had a chance of being shipped off to Iraq?
Boy, now there’s a typo that made me rare back and blink:
Posted by Bill Mulligan
But the result will be 4 more years of nothing accomplished. I can see a slim chance of McCain/Palin pulling it off but there’s no way I can see the republican snot losing big chunks…
My first thought was “Which Republican snot? They’re all pretty snotty…”
Posted by Jason M. Bryant
Earlier you claimed that all the news other than FOX was biased liberally, then you sited one incident as proof of that. That’s anecdotal evidence, which isn’t real proof because it is just one isolated sample out of many.
“‘Data” is not the plural of ‘anecdote’.”
Posted by Jason M. Bryant
Sean, everyone believes in that. McCain talks about reaching across the aisle and Obama talks about bringing people together.
And the unspoken but clearly understood codicil to that is usually “…and then we’ll all cheerfully do it together, my way.”
Posted by AnthonyX
There was never a declaration to end the first war.
There was never a declaration beginning it, either, because Bush Major knew dámņëd well he’d never get it through Congress.
Posted by George Haberberger
{AnthonyX‘s last effusion) You should read it, It’s well-written, informative, makes a lot of good points and it’s funny.
Depends, i suppose, on what you mean by “informative”. As a demonstration of the world view of a paranoid rightwing conspiracy-buff, i guess so.
As useful discourse, not so much.
More and more, when i read AnthonyX’s “let’s you and him fight” posts, i am reminded of the story about the Italian’s women’s group who go to the Vatican to protest the Pope’s latest comments on abortion and birth control … and one finally loses her temper and snaps at the Pope “Hey – you no play’a da game, you no make’a da rule!”
(Yes, i know there are people who post here rather more regularly than i who also “No play’a da game”, but what ‘ve seen from them isn’t holier-than-thou screeds telling us how US citizens would run our country, if we were only just as samrt as the poster.)
Posted by Craig J. Ries
Oh boy. Obama uses the phrase “lipstick on a pig” in reference to Bush & McCain’s economic policies and clearly mentions the last 8 years, and the McCain campaign goes on the warpath that Obama is being sexist toward Palin.
Heck, check the top of this post to see what McCain said while talking about Hillary(‘s healthcare plan) Just a little while ago…
Mention of Ann Coulter and her diatribes and general insanity – one of the few times i have actually found anything Letterman does funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_YzbODb9To
Posted by Bill Mulligan
Anyone have any leads on where I could find a movie called DEAD END from 1985, a gore filled zombie epic that sounds amazingly like Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD? Even the director doesn’t have a copy and I told him I’d try to find one but so far no luck.
No, sorry sounds like my qyest for a copy of the video for Alex Call’s song “Just Another Saturday Night” – not only does the guy who directed it not have a copy, but neither does Call.
In fact, i promised him a copy if i ever find one…
Mike Weber: “test”
Why bring him into it? He was a boring wrestler and couldn’t work the mic to save his life.
Give the man a break–he almost married Stephanie McMahon until that heel HHH kidnapped and married her at a drive through.
Regarding McCain’s health, his refusal to be fully open about releasing his medical records, and why it’s important for him to do so, this video is rather disturbing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvesa49zSIM.
Can you even name someone who’s made a crazy attack McCain/Palin have benefited from defending themselves from?
The more you insist on all criticism of Obama sticks to him and no criticism sticks to McCain, the more wonder you create you bothered to portray yourself considering voting for Obama in the first place.
I don’t know why I should stop making the observation of your behavior you insist on exhibiting: You’re just pretending you haven’t made up your mind when you already have, to get everyone to accept your criticisms of Obama regardless of the truth. It’s what’s known as “concern-trolling.”
I’ve always maintained that it ought to be mandatory for someone running for president to release their medical records. Obviously it isn’t worth amending the constitution for this but it would be nice if EVERY interview they ever give begins with the question of why they won’t do it. Of course, this would require the press do so equally; as far as I know Clinton never released his full records and I don’t recall much made of it. I don’t think either Biden or Palin have released theirs either.
(OK, constitutional scholars…while the actual presidency is probably open to anyone regardless of their willingness to release health status, could congress pass a law requiring the president to fully release all health information each year? they could argue that since there are provisions for the president to be replaced in the event of health incapacitation they need to check for any such problems. Of course, they won’t do it, since there would be calls to do the same for congress and that would probably reveal some very unsavory things.)
Tim, regarding your earlier post to Jerome, this is why you are regarded as a class act by the people here who matter.
Speaking of class (note the masterful segue) how are they going? We’ve been in class for about 3 weeks already and it seems to be going well enough here, though we are about a year or 2 away from some serious infrastructure problems with the buildings. As much as I like North Carolina I swear people here have a complete disregard for mother nature until she does something (then they over react). I’d like to talk to the architectural genius who designed our roofs. Meantime, anyone know a good air freshener that actually hides mildew smells, as opposed to just making it smell like mildewy pine, mildewy citrus, Kellogg’s crunchy apples ‘n mildew, etc?
Bill Mulligan said, “I’ve always maintained that it ought to be mandatory for someone running for president to release their medical records.”
Yeah, but if presidents released their medical records, we never would have had Jed Bartlett in the White House.
Oh, wait. We never did. That was just on TV.
By the way, as the political discussions heat up (here, and in general), I can’t help but wonder if one reason many people apparently wished Jed Bartlett was a real president is because they “knew” him. Viewers were “there” with Bartlett and his staff; they knew the issues those characters were dealing with and what debates they might be having about them. Not so in the real world. We don’t get an inside look at what happens in the White House. Thus, a lot of people either want to sing a president’s praises or tear him down, depending on what they’ve heard, read or believe about him.
And speaking of real world politicians, everything I’ve read about Sarah Palin tells me she’s not qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. That’s not to say she wouldn’t be, say eight years from now; but as for this year, no. I’m sure other, more qualified women are out there (if McCain was dead set on a female running mate); and I’m sure some have gone against the party from time to time.
Call my cynical, but I don’t think McCain was dead set on a female running mate. I think he picked one in the blatant hope to attract Hillary Clinton voters. Had Clinton’s campaign ended early, I doubt Palin would be on the ticket.
I wasn’t all that impressed with what I’ve heard Palin say, either.
The vice president needs to be able to step into the presidency if the president dies or is otherwise incapacitated. It might not happen, but it could. McCain should have made a better choice.
Rick
Hey, thanks Anthony.
By all means, if any of you guys ever visits Brazil, look me up.
My spoken English sucks, though.
Obscure movie? How about “Deathbed:the bed that kills”? Possessed bed, I kid you not. Patton Oswalt is not kidding either. This one puts “Plan 9″‘s claim as the worst film ever in serious peril.
“Deathbed:the bed that kills”? Would make a great double feature with “Killer Condom”.
Jerry sez (re Obama): He won’t win if he doesn’t get his act together.
I think you can see evidence that he is. The Washington Post says that they are getting off of the Sarah Palin obsession.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091402190_pf.html
ELYRIA, Ohio, Sept. 14 — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday made a pair of campaign stops in this important battleground for former rival Sen. Barack Obama, generating large, passionate crowds — and barely mentioning Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
…Since the Republican convention, Clinton has pointedly avoided directly criticizing Palin as she campaigns for Obama (D-Ill.), a strategy endorsed by the Obama campaign. The goal, Obama campaign strategists said, is to refocus the race on Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and to avoid a clash between the two women. Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who has been overshadowed since Palin’s selection, is expected to add to that effort with sharper attacks against McCain this week.
There is plenty of time to make up lost ground. Still, the debates will be crucial. Not so much the Vice presidential one though. I used to think it would be but by the time it occurs people will be less fascinated with Palin. Of course, both Palin and Biden have serious verbal trainwreck potential but I doubt it will be a game changer.
By the time of the presidential debates both campaigns will have defined their opponents in the worst possible light. It may come down to which one foolishly allows himself to appear to live up to that definition.
Hi Bill,
Classes are going okay so far, but it’s crazy times. Besides the AP course that I’ve taught for a while now, I’ve got two new courses: Physics Honors, which I’ve taught before but not at this school; and Astronomy, which is what my degrees are in but what I’ve never actually taught. Add in a relatively new schedule (75 minutes per class every other day) and I think I’m putting in more time on prep this year than I have in quite a long time. On the whole that’s probably good, and I think I’m doing good work — but sleep would be nice.
No major infrastructure problems here, though Lisa has had some huge ones in her building for years: basically, the HVAC system was designed by rebels without a clue, and nobody knows how it works.
Good times!
TWL
“People here who matter?” Like that isn’t dark. Especially for someone trusted with educating children. Let’s review what Jacob Marley had to say on the subject:
Bill, you first need to decide if you matter to yourself or not.
Are you familiar with the allegory of the bird who gets trapped in the snow, and the cow who craps on it, providing it warmth, and the cat attracted by its singing who digs it out? Sometimes the people who crap on you aren’t your enemies, Bill.
Again: who here cares about you more than the guy trying to stop you from trading away your soul for scraps? Look through all of our exchanges, and tell me where I’m being insincere.
basically, the HVAC system was designed by rebels without a clue, and nobody knows how it works.
Same here. The primordial soup that is festering in the deep dark regions of our duct system are probably spawning new life forms. (Idea for horror movie–spoors from bad ventilation microbes turn a college class into zombies). We’ve had, as result of global cooling, had a relatively cold wet summer and it’s making the fungi kingdom very happy. We’ve even had health inspectors show up, though I think they were looking for asbestos. They do this every year, like they think the asbestos grows. (Idea for horror movie: mildew spawned zombies killed by spraying them with asbestos).
(BTW- Jerry, Sean, Manny, others with no taste in movies–can you recall a film where a town or school is taken over by some kind of zombie plague and the only people who are unaffected are those kids who are taking ADHD drugs or whatever? So basically, it’s the kids who are thought of as the “problem” students who have to save everyone’s ášš. This was a major plot point for an idea I had and I was told it’s been done and I want to see how close to my idea the final product was. My ultimate nightmare is to spend a year shooting a movie and have it end up being a rip-off.)
Speaking of which, come on out to the Ava Gardner Film festival sept 29-30 for the world premiere of FISTFUL OF BRAINS.n Because nothing says “Ava Gardner” like western zombies.
It’s not quite that bad for her building — it’s more temperature control. There have been some major temperature spikes in a lot of the internal rooms (and I mean major, as in sustained temperatures in the 35-40 C range). It’s not just the discomfort — some people are losing samples, which is Not Good for research purposes (not to mention those starting to get close to tenure decisions).
It’ll probably get dealt with. One of these centuries.
TWL
When I worked in a research lab at a VA hospital we had terrible temperature control problems. Nobody cared. We told them the lab technicians were suffering. Nobody cared. Then we made the point that the lab animals were suffering. THIS got results.
Unfortunately, when they installed the new air conditioning they found asbestos and shut the lab down for a month or so.Working for the VA was like working under Soviet bureaucracy, only even less efficient.
What was the urgency to conduct laboratory research at the VA? Why should anyone care if the VA conducts laboratory research of any kind?
Bill, the closest I come to that is a Spider Robinson novel where some bio experiment goes haywire, and the autistic kids REALLY go haywire. Something to do with tonsilectomies, adenoids..I had the book, and I can’t find it five moves later.
On “Quantum Leap” little kids and the insane could see Al.
By the by, what’s your take on the whole Lipstick on a pig thing? Unless I missed something, it sounds like McCain’s people (formerly Bush’s people) are trying for another Swift Boat.
Reply to the “NoBama” decals I’ve seen: McCain Unable, Palin Comparison.
Before I sign off and get truckin’ did anyone else hear that Rick Wright of Pink Floyd died?
(Relevance you will ask. Well, the concept of Vice President Palin is a tad psychedelic in a bad-trip-while-watching-Zabriskie Point kind of way.)