Giles: Helping out with the dishes makes me feel useful. Dawn: Wanna clean out the garage with us Saturday? You could feel indispensable.

'Dirty Girls'


Natter 48 Contiguous States of Denial  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Fred Pete - Dec 06, 2006 10:56:57 am PST #4784 of 10007
Ann, that's a ferret.

True, bon bon. He also did an amazing job organizing food supplies in Europe right after WWI. He just turned out to be the wrong president at the wrong time.

As opposed to Nixon, who caused some things (Watergate, Cambodia) and had some things thrust on him (Vietnam, the '73 energy crisis).


Nutty - Dec 06, 2006 10:58:24 am PST #4785 of 10007
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Last year, Carter was in Cuba giving a speech, and he gaev the whole speech in Spanish. Now, it was terribly accented Spanish, and complex enough that it was certainly scripted for him and he read the speech rather than extemporaneous; but when you listen to a guy make a speech in a foreign language, you can tell whether or not he understands what he's saying, and by gum Carter understood what he was saying. And that was so cool.

The stereotype I always liked about Carter was the one from SNL -- that he would hold weekly fireside call-in shows, and people would ask him about the bizarrest obscure things, like the handle you have to jiggle on the Super Froominator Stamp Machine, you know model 123-X-1? And he would be able to answer these questions off the top of his head.

Like, he was so gosh-darned nice that they couldn't bear to do any biting satire of him!!


Hayden - Dec 06, 2006 11:07:43 am PST #4786 of 10007
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

Cute pix, David! Such a pretty little girl!

Also, given the timing of my visit, I'm assuming I need to figure out exactly when I'll be there and reserve a room tout de suite. I've never been to Austin, any recommendations?

Hip, in the middle of things, but pricey: The Hotel San Jose

Green, out of the way (you will need a car), and a little pricey: Habitat Suites

Beyond that, just ask me.

Oh, on the Bush thing, some conservative commenters on Matt Zoller Seitz's blog have been talking about their belief in personal responsibility and how it affects their viewing of The Wire. I don't get where conservatives say they believe in personal responsibility, but somehow find a loophole for Bush and his ilk while rushing in to discuss the personal responsibility in the limited choices made by fictional children born into the most dire circumstances in the US (poor, mostly parent-less, surrounded by drugs, abandoned by the education and social services systems). Must be hard to hold that many contradictory thoughts in your mind at one time, unless, that is, you have a Wile E. Coyote-like ability to remain unaffected by the things you don't examine.


Hayden - Dec 06, 2006 11:09:36 am PST #4787 of 10007
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

The stereotype I always liked about Carter was the one from SNL -- that he would hold weekly fireside call-in shows, and people would ask him about the bizarrest obscure things

"Now, Billy, do you have any Allman Brothers?"


brenda m - Dec 06, 2006 11:14:27 am PST #4788 of 10007
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there

Peanut farmer or no, the man is in fact a rocket scientist.

(Not literally, to be clear, but damn close, with graduate studies in nuclear physics. Smart man.)

t hearts Jimmy


Gudanov - Dec 06, 2006 11:16:33 am PST #4789 of 10007
Coding and Sleeping

This was the worst strategic mistake in the entire history of the United States

That's a pretty strong statement. There has to be some others, Vietnam comes to mind as a competitor. Central American policy hasn't exactly been brilliant, but Iraq seems worse than that. There's the backing of the Shah and Hussein that probably has produced a lot of anti-American sentiment in the area. I don't know the events leading to the Civil War very well, but I guess that would be more political rather than strategic. I can't think of anything right off the top of my head that definitely trumps it.


Gudanov - Dec 06, 2006 11:21:53 am PST #4790 of 10007
Coding and Sleeping

I really don't remember enough about the Carter administration (I was just a kid at the time) to really comment about it. Hell of an ex-president though.


Tom Scola - Dec 06, 2006 11:23:37 am PST #4791 of 10007
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.

The stereotype I always liked about Carter was the one from SNL -- that he would hold weekly fireside call-in shows, and people would ask him about the bizarrest obscure things

I liked it when he talked the caller down from a bad LSD trip.


sarameg - Dec 06, 2006 11:24:38 am PST #4792 of 10007

OK, this cracked me up. Mainly the headline. [link]


Jessica - Dec 06, 2006 11:29:23 am PST #4793 of 10007
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

The 50 Greatest TV Commercials of the 80s.