hugozoom snoozes, loses

It seems somebody else has the address hugozoom@gmail.com. Maybe it's a disgruntled bunny. C'est la vie. Anyway, in the unlikely(?) event you get an email from said address, it ain't me.

I'll be back

photo: Daily Mail

but I won't be any taller, as I'm unwilling to undergo a scalp implant like the one Dr De la Cruz, above, recommends. Probably around the 12th or so.

A preoccupation with symbols and empty gestures

Neither Spel-ChekR® nor I know how to spel tryptich, which is why I didn't include a similarly themed pic of McCain demonstrating hubris. I imagine lots will become available at the GOP convention.

Micah Holmquist:

Tim Russert was the only hope we had in this Road Warrioresque landscape. Without him, we are doomed.

Arvin Hill:

Saying "bring it on," kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people. I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner -- you know, "wanted dead or alive," that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted, and so I learned from that.
~George W. Bush to The Times of London

Arvin: The Boy King regrets not being a more accomplished liar.

No one could have foreseen such vanity.

Michael Cortese(aka Mykeru):

the recession seems to have turned the decades long game of “let’s make a buck with China” into, and I couldn’t believe it even as I watched, Lou Dobbs on TV the other night warning people about the growing threat of cheap coat hangers from China.

Thanks Lou. See that big building over there? That’s a Wal-Mart. Apparently there’s a whole lot of that going on in there. You’ll go in there fighting, and you’ll come out with golf clubs.

Alison Kilkenny: Jesus Arm-Wrestled Dinosaurs

Who is IOZ? Why, the king of the one-liners, that's who-

IOZ, "The Food bad, the portions small": Jesus Lord A-Mighty, buy some fucking bicycles, you whiny little bitches.

and, "McLame": John McCain is so old that creationists are actually forced to deny he exists.

an interesting new(well, new to me) site: Troubling Information http://www.troubling.info/

it's time to jump up and down

because today is Mike Gravel's birthday.


check out Eva Mendes's très chic hairdo,


according to the BBC, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed got married in April.

Hillary, Scaife etc

photo: National Review

Firstly, three items from Slate:

1.Rich Men Behaving Badly: Meet the super-rich, the dysfunctional class threatening American values.
By Daniel Gross
Posted Saturday, March 29, 2008, at 7:08 AM ET

2."The New New Deal:"
Roosevelt-era reforms are saving capitalism—again.
Daniel Gross
March 25, 2008, 3:29 PM ET

3.Hillary's Rev. Wright:
His name is Richard Mellon Scaife.
Timothy Noah
March 25, 2008, 6:47 PM ET

"Hate speech [is] unacceptable in any setting," Hillary Clinton today told the Tribune-Review. We turn now to this excerpt from a 1981 Columbia Journalism Review profile of Scaife by Karen Rothmyer, in which the reporter describes a conversation with the distinguished publisher and philanthropist:

"Mr. Scaife, could you explain why you give so much money to the New Right?"

"You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here."

Well. The rest of the five-minute interview was conducted at a rapid trot down Park Street, during which Scaife tried to hail a taxi. Scaife volunteered two statements of opinion regarding his questioner's personal appearance—he said she was ugly and that her teeth were "terrible"—and also the comment that she was engaged in "hatchet journalism." His questioner thanked Scaife for his time. "Don't look behind you," Scaife offered by way of a goodbye.

Not quite sure what this remark meant, the reporter suggested that if someone were approaching it was probably her mother, whom she had arranged to meet nearby. "She's ugly, too," Scaife said, and strode off.

[What a guy. I should note that I think Jeremiah Wright seems like a much more agreeable character than Mr. Scaife, and hardly deserves to be compared to him.-JV]

Elsewhere-
Alex Jones loses it on Youtube,


And finally,"America is Run by Gangsters",
via Joe Bageant:

Tony from Sydney Australia writes to Joe:

I have been over to the USA four times and travelled around the back blocks a bit, including your area. I feel a sadness for the average citizen there. They haven't got a clue as to what's going on. I feel the USA has become a giant military camp to protect world capitalism and the citizens are not aware they have been conscripted. I have also travelled around Asia a bit. I've had deeper conversations about world affairs with Indonesian fishermen, Thai taxi drivers and even Tibetan peasants in far western China than I could get out many of the "middle class, educated" people I have met in the USA.

there and back again

photo: andyzito.com

Undoubtedly a trip to San Antonio to go see one's aunts is a timid soul's form of adventure, unless maybe if you're from Kerrville or Boerne. But I returned with a horrible chest cold, proving at least that I'm not afraid of germs.

Anyway:
1.thanks to Rob Payne for pinch hitting, and

2.tho' I'm sick, I will rise to opine again.

by the way, do you remember the scene in Red Dawn in which Lea Thompson tells Powers Booth to name the capital of Texas and he correctly says Austin and she tells him it's Houston?

The real correct answer is "well, Austin is the capital, but the birthplace of Texas Liberty is San Antonio." And yes, I know it's a politically and historically loaded answer.

gribby gribby gribby

I confess that I agree w xymphora: if you have to have an online gallery of unretouched photos of HRC looking grotesque or otherwise unflatteringly posed, at least include this photo.



"When the Missionaries arrived, the Africans had the Land and the Missionaries had the Bible. They taught how to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened them, they had the land and we had the Bible."-Jomo Kenyatta

Zuboly!

via mighty skimble, who also digs this.

(Zuboly describe themselves thusly: "the band is called zuboly, they are Hungarian. they are using authentic instruments(?), and the they are desrcibing themselves as an "broken-ethno" band...." )

Something tells me that their name is missing some obscure diacritical mark which I've never heard of, but they strike me as the sorts who wouldn't mind too much. I gather the song is about homeopathy(?).

Sunday evening

photo:Copyright Brendan I. Koerner

put your mask back on

photos:bbc, buycostumes.com

"There's nothing we can do to stop you"
Torie Bosch, in Slate:

"A new survey reveals that of all the 2008 presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani would make for the scariest Halloween costumes."

a Sibel Edmonds update, and some other items

photo:Brad Freidman

an update from Lukery: FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds: 'I Will Tell All, & Name (new) Names'

and from Sarabeth at 1115.org,"US breaks radio silence on Maher Arar"

an older item, from Arar himself, in Counterpunch:"What they did to me"

(Maher Arrar's own website is here.)

***

Mere Islam has some new, link-rich posts up, the first in several months:
"Islamofascism in historical context"
and
"A Detailed Response to a Brain-Washed Marine"


and finally "Riverbend" from Syria, "Blogging without borders"

movie poster saturday: Ice station zebra

image courtesy impawards.com

There was a story that Howard Hughes liked watching Ice Station Zebra over and over again when he'd reached his nutty recluse stage. (Keep in mind this would be in the late 60s- early 70s, before video tape recorders were readily available. Of course I imagine being able to afford a 16mm print of the film wasn't exactly a big deal to Hughes.)

Arnie n' GWB

I hate to admit this photograph from the BBC amuses me, suggesting as it does that Arnold is annoyed by something Junior is saying.



meanwhile, here's the mustaches of the nineteenth century blog.

the ides of October

photo:punknews.org

skimble:"we are not better off today",

...For American voters who want a better economy, there is no other choice. The Democratic Party is now the party of business — they have won the title by default.

Mary Jo Foley,ZDNet: "Why are Windows machines automatically updating themselves?"

The mystery continues. After Patch Tuesday last week, some Vista users noticed that Windows Update had changed their Automatic Update settings and rebooted their machines without their consent. A Microsoft spokesman says the company has no idea what happened and is asking for help.

By John Dickerson, in Slate:"Rudy's Debating Secret: Why Giuliani keeps trouncing his opponents when they go head to head"

(summary: the secret appears to be-- he knows his facts, he thinks quickly on his feet, and he often seems to make a point to obscure the afore-mentioned facts in ways that are easy to miss in the to-and-fro of a debate.)

xymphora discusses the ever-powerful Armenian lobby

Dang it:the illustration the New Republic refused to run,meant to accompany an article about cursing. Via cursor.( no, really...)

Return of the native (puffins)

photo: visitmaine.com

I suppose Return of the Puffin is not as cool-sounding as Night of the Iguana or Day of the Dolphin, but then again this is a blog post and not a screenplay. Suppose it'd work as a title for an episode of Dangermouse, or The Tick. There's a Washington Post/AP article out about the once nearly-extinct puffins of Maine repopulating their old hangouts with the help of biologists, here.

Speaking of tics, I also wonder how long I can keep this titling tic going.

in transition

why I haven't posted in a while-- various pc problems, which should be fixed within 4-5 days. In the meantime, in contrast to all the bad news, I want to note in passing two cheery things: the safe release of the BBC's Alan Johnston last week, and Arvin Hill's new url, along with a passel of new Arvin items:

Arvin Hill dot Com.

a Saturday night miscellany

Micah Holmquist:"Mitt Romney wants to invade and conquer 45 additional square miles of Cuba"

aimee mann on sgt pepper in the NYT.


the meat beetles, a new(to me) blog. they make mashups and assorted funny musical sounds. they also prefer to not be associated with capitalization. via mighty Skimble.

Go fast, lose weight: the formula one diet.


less mirthfully, from Common dreams: psychologists and torture.

Metacontent for an April Morning

Cannes, c. 1979. the photo above was uploaded to Wikipedia and possibly snapped by"Eric D", who is almost as mysterious as the young lady being photographed, as no one seems to know who she was.

300 the movie "that's so gay",NCAA final four april fool's jokes, major league baseball, Angelina Jolie's telephone number, brunch recipes,(1)an experiment should not necessarily be labeled as such,dendreon corp.(2)enormous breasts, donald trump,

Ocean's Thirteen, Rolexes for sale to the highest bidder, McDonalds Instant Discount;Walmart Free! Buy it Now: You know you want it; George Bush, junior toilet brush, Whetham Knauckweirst?


Lars Ulrich, don't mess with Oprah,

Wikipedia,

or the three tenors. Lindsay Lohan: click her if you don't want to see this message again. Tasting Rachael Ray requires flash player , The Rich Man being led to Hell, what is the name of the sexy mom in that ad?


King o' Zembla: Of course, the piece was much more effective at Bohemian Grove, where it was performed in the nude.(as the King would say: "hello, puzzled googlers!".)

Maha:"privatization gone wild"

who is Shatha Hassoun?(3)Modern audiences prefer to assign their own meanings and simply cannot be fooled by the girl in the dry cleaning ad.

you see, Micah Holmquist used to do this, and I've associated it with him ever since!

hater tonic(on technorati),gmail paper, youtube, joost,"crowdsourcing"

why does Nancy Grace scowl so much?
file your taxes now!

from th' BBC:

"Verka Serdyuchka, who pokes fun at middle-aged women, is loved by many people and is a cult icon in Ukraine. She was chosen as Ukraine's entry by an overwhelming majority in a public vote, but some find her vulgar and offensive."

kathy sierra (also) avalonstar, and avalonstar(ahead of the curve guy: hey, no smirking!)

Why do they hate us? property is theft:Iran, Iran

ritalia. twitter(from kathy sierra's blog)


does Marc Lynch really believe Eminem can save the Middle east?

Jack K:"9 mos. vs. 20 years" (see David Hicks)

"While most Americans believe the situation in Iraq will be judged a failure in the history books, 40% believe the U.S. should take military action to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."-dohiyimir


////////////////////////////////////////////////
and now(speaking of theft), here are some jokes:

from Your Right Hand Thief:

He walked up to me and said, "You know why Notre Dame is similar to Marijuana?"
I said "Sir, no sir."
And he said "Because they both get smoked in bowls".

From cutie El Goodo's defunct 2006 blog(a joke contest):

Do you think there are thieves who justify their actions through the ol' "God helps people who help themselves" adage?

Rob said...

But the better question is, in pantheistic religions, are there deities who go around stealing offerings meant for other deities, and justify it by saying, "Hey, people help Gods who help themselves?"

[The above comment was Rob's entry in the "world's most awkward joke contest" . . .]

A Pantheist stole an apple, and nobody said nuthin'. The wind did not whistle mournfully through the trees, even in the apple orchard. The pantheist said to himself.

This was my entry:

The thief said, God helps those who help themselves, and stole a can of potted meat. it was very good, and he was no longer hungry. God said nothing, and the thief felt vindicated. then the thief stole a Celica, with fancy wheels and a CD changer, even though the area's public transit was pretty good and he even had a bus schedule. He hit a tree and died.

An end of month miscellany

photo: US Naval Observatory/Amazing Science

1.from the Guardian: an RFK conspiracy

2.Jonathan Schwarz : the U.S. and Israeli governments face a difficult challenge: how can they continue pretending they want peace, while avoiding it at all costs?

3.Mark Kleiman:
"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light":

A special treat for all you Kafka fans: the recipient of a "National Security Letter" explains how a gag order works. If there's anything nastier than a warrantless search, it's a warrantless search the victim is legally forbidden to complain about.

4.Joe Bageant: "Neurological Biocaste Blues":

As most of the world has noticed by now, very few Americans are critical thinkers. Most suffer from a collective learning disability based on the complete commodification of our consciousness by consumerism and electronic media. In this case, learning disability is a nice way of saying that we have become collectively stupid, muchless capable of insight.

Insight is scary to Americans so conditioned to rote consumption and substituting entertainment and illusion for actual involvement. When they realize something, and I mean genuine higher understanding of what the sum of the parts mean, not simply what they appear to be, their consciousness is altered and they become different inside. Suddenly the world is no longer the solid consumer state sonambulation they are accustomed to. They have no tools to deal with it. Beyond that least half of us are so conditioned we are incapable of human insight at all...

but go read the whole thing. If you've never read anything by Joe Bageant before, this piece is an excellent introduction. Bageant is a kind of southern-fried Baudrillard, only with a decidedly non Baudrillardian impatience for the apolitically ironic distancing angrier.

5.Scott Ritter: "Calling out Idiot America:"

the title is a bit misleading, insofar as this piece mainly discusses US ignorance of Islamic history. I don't entirely agree with Ritter's premises, but that's an argument for another day-- suffice to say, it's a concise overview of the history of the Sunni/Shi'a rift, and a useful read for that reason.

assorted items

this sign appeared for several hours in NYC on November 11, 2004. I don't know if they ever found out who keyed in the prank-- whether it was done by an employee or a hack. If the powers that be decided that since it was a one-time occurence it wasn't worth looking into that would actually be kind of refreshing. I imagine it is not accurate at any rate.

Normally I don't post entire AP stories verbatim, and I don't intend to make a habit of it. But this is pretty short and unless you have a some kind of psychological hangup about terseness, I don't see how you could parse it further:


Defiant mouse steals dentures:
(also here and here)

March 24, 2007

WATERVILLE, Maine --Never underestimate a mouse's determination.
There's a mouse in Bill Exner's house that he says he has captured three times. Each time, the mouse escaped, and the last time the rodent made off with his lower dentures.

Exner, 68, said he and his wife Shirley scoured his bedroom after the dentures disappeared from his night stand.

"We moved the bed, moved the dressers and the night stand and tore the closet apart," he said. "I said, 'I knew that little stinker stole my teeth' -- I just knew it."

They found a small opening in a wall where they suspected the mouse was coming and going, and their daughter's fiance, Eric Holt, stepped in to help. "He brought a crowbar and hammer and he sawed off a section of wood and pulled up the molding and everything," Exner said. "It was quite a job." They retrieved the dentures, and Holt suggested his future father-in-law boil them in peroxide and whatever else he could find for to disinfect it.

The mouse apparently isn't done. It frequently comes out and stares at Exner, his wife said.

"He's taunting him -- I swear he's taunting him," Shirley Exner said.

photo: mouseinformation.com/clepzo.com,Susan M. Keenan