23 responses to “News & Links: Monday, September 4, 2023”

1. 

   johnthebasket

   09/06/2023

   Doug, hope your day at work didn't suck. I just read a couple of entries from a blog you "recommend" in the right gutter (this IS a newspaper, isn't it?). Do you know why you recommend the Max's Dad blog? It's not fancy, in style or substance, but it's solid and I like the writing. And the latest entry save one is about the Chicks.

   And I like the Chicks (The Dixie Chicks until the Republicans ran them out of the business). For three talented women they have endless balls. It's like an endless salad bar with social repercussions
   and a lot of shit for Republican politicians. They're more subtle than you, but I try not to hold that against them. Thanks for the recommendation.

   John
   .

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      I liked 'em even when they were Dixie, and before all the hubbub. Just about the best modern-era country, in my opinion. "Wide Open Spaces," if you haven't heard it. Also, the best Rainbow Connection by far.

      No idea why or when I added Max's Dad. Basically, if I like something it goes on the sidebar, or the right gutter. 🙂

      Any gutter is the right gutter when you need one.

      Reply
2. 

   johnthebasket

   09/06/2023

   Well, I drank until 1996, and I wasn't gutter-specific. I ended up in both more times than I can remember. My only hangover is a case of record brain in which a smallish DJ lives in my brain and is almost always playing goofy tunes. But some of them aren't goofy. I think I've posted this here before, but my memory is sort of like my miracle car. When it works, it's a miracle. This is Eric Burdon and his band playing River Deep Mountain High for Tina Turner, wherever she may be.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viwjk1qofJk&list=RDViwjk1qofJk&start_radio=1

   jtb

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      I believe that was when Tina could still be found.

      Mr B seems to be having a grand time, as did you and I. For me it's always "Spill the Wine," a perfect song unlike most of his other very good stuff.

      Reply
   2. 

      johnthebasket

      09/07/2023

      Ike is in hell. Tina is still around in an artistic sense. Mr B is stuck in Ojai again.

      Reply
3. 

   johnthebasket

   09/06/2023

   If there's anybody else old enough to have lived through those four difficult days of Apollo 13 as an adult, be sure to read the obit of Marilyn Lovell above. She was as tough as her hubby, who, at 95, survives her

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      I remember the four days, and her, and there's no knowing how real it is when the media makes someone a hero or a martyr, but their story, Mr & Mrs, always felt true to me.

      Of course, the ones they lie about best always seem true. There's no knowing, but she sure seemed decent.

      Reply
   2. 

      johnthebasket

      09/07/2023

      About 70% of Mercury/Gemini/Apollo astronauts who flew got divorced. The Lovells made it to 95/93 with, if the records are correct, one remote. I've read too much about the first three American programs, and some of those guys were assholes. Surprisingly, two of the most famous, John Glenn and Jim Lovell were tough guys but genuinely nice guys. In this case the hype is mostly true.

      John

      Reply
   3. 

      Doug Holland

      09/07/2023

      I dunno. Were they nice guys, or did they just have 'nice guy' public images? I'm skeptical, especially with astronauts. The stereotype is gung ho military types, and I suspect that's because they're all gung ho military types, at least the first generation of astronauts and cosmonauts. Probably even that dog that dies in space, Laika, was a gung ho military dog.

      Reply
   4. 

      johnthebasket

      09/07/2023

      To each his own; I try to avoid liking or disliking people a priori based on their type. Glenn was certainly a go-getter as a Boy Scout, a WWII Ace and a Korean War fighter pilot (with Ted Williams as his wing man), as an astronaut, and as a Senator. Lots of Senators treat their staffs like shit: Glenn treated his with respect. That's the kind of Washington scuttlebutt that can't be bought with a PR firm. Williams, who was capable of being an asshole and quietly spent a significant amount of his money helping kids who needed hospital care but didn't have insurance, said that Glenn was one of a very few "gentlemen" he'd ever met.

      Nobody is without fault and Glenn played the role that NASA asked him to play, but even in NASA he had a reputation for treating low-level staff with dignity and respect. He fucked up as often as most of us do, but he generally stood accountable for his fuckups.

      I'm writing this with so many interruptions I can't believe it will make any sense, but I gotta hit publish or lose it entirely.

      John

      Reply
   5. 

      johnthebasket

      09/07/2023

      While I have just a moment to breathe, consider the people who hire public relations firms. If they're really asshats, word still gets out. See also: Danny Kaye.

      jtb

      Reply
   6. 

      Doug Holland

      09/08/2023

      And today, Jimmy Fallon.

      You're probably right about John Glenn, and I'm of course guilty of stereotyping.

      I remember him mostly as a Senator, and a Democrat, and I didn't hate him like I do some of the current Dems and every damned one of the Republicans.

      Any politician I've heard of and don't hate must be OK, I always say.

      Well, actually, I just said it now. Doubt I've ever said it before.

      Reply
   7. 

      johnthebasket

      09/08/2023

      Jimmy Fallon is an asshat? I don't watch late night TV. Or daytime TV. Does he have the Tonight Show now? He seems talentless, but I was unaware he was of the ass variety. I'll add him to the list.

      jtb

      Reply
   8. 

      johnthebasket

      09/08/2023

      Ha. I actually read your blog before I go to CNN for news. He certainly has something in his hat, and it might be his ass.

      John

      Reply
   9. 

      johnthebasket

      09/08/2023

      And I'm not gonna lay another John Glenn asskiss on you, but the most decent Senator of our half of the 20th century is likely Patrick Leahy, the first Democratic Senator from Vermont since the Civil War. He served as a Senator for 48 years and "starred" in three Batman movies. If you look up honest in the Funk and Wagtails you'll see his picture. He believed that his Senatorial salary was enough, so donated the money he made in the Batman movies to the failing library in the small town in Vermont where he taught himself to read, with the stipulation that the new library not be named after him. He worked across the aisle back when there were a few good Republicans and was a staunch defender of unions, LGBT+, highly subsidized health care. He was considered a centrist because of his relationship with several progressive Republicans (way back then), but when he retired at the end of last year he was correctly labeled a practical progressive Democrat.

      He was a long-time Batman fan, and worked with DC comics on some storylines pro bono. I'm a fan (good guess). He was an eight-term senator but always a gentleman first.

      The senate and house are full of dicks of both parties. I just wrote about two who, in my estimation, were not.

      John

      Reply
   10. 

       johnthebasket

       09/08/2023

       The above are my views. Check them out for accuracy. It's 0300. There will be time for asshat politicians tomorrow.

       John

       Reply
   11. 

       Doug Holland

       09/08/2023

       I've never found Fallon funny, but I'm a nice guy so if you'd asked me the day before yesterday I might've prefaced that by saying, "I'm sure he's a nice guy." Of course, he's not, he's rotten, like very nearly everyone else, only with money and power the rottenness tends to flourish.

       I don't remember Leahy enough to argue, and again, my not remembering him is in his favor. If he'd been an ass or often on the wrong side of legislation, I'd remember.

       That said, here's me: My nature is extreme skepticism and pessimism, that nobody in 'public life' is a saint, most are sinners, and most of those sinners are irredeemable. So reading the library story — that he donated funds to the struggling library, with the stipulation that it not be named after him — my very first thought isn't "What a mensch." It's "Wait, how do we know about the donation and the stipulation?" It's certainly something a great guy would do, but it's also something a great PR schmuck would invent or tweak to make his client look all shiny.

       The instant suspicion is evidence only of my own rottenness to the core, of course, not of any serious suspicions about John Glenn or Patrick Leahy. I haven't googled either.

       Reply
4. 

   johnthebasket

   09/06/2023

   And I know that this sounds stupid but I don't really care. While you're working four days this week, try to do a terrific job and have fun while you're doing it. I know you've done a lot of temp work, but I'm talking about doing a terrific job to please yourself, not some zoot-suited functionary. Sometimes it helps the time go by; once in a bluish moon it gives you the gift of confidence and competence. Good luck.

   John

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      Well, thanks, and I believe I did a pretty good job. More on that in an hour or two…

      Reply
5. 

   Sam I Am

   09/06/2023

   Yeah, I hope the temp work works out.

   I really want to read about the pizza parlor but the archive.ph site won't let me past the repeated captchas. Is there another link?

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      The original link is at Rolling Stone, and ought to work so long as you haven't already exceeded their monthly max page views.

      And I guess the temp gig worked out, I guess.

      Reply
6. 

   Amy O.

   09/06/2023

   It's all good and you know I always love it, but Phyllis Diller was my inspiration in life. Great quote, great picture. Did you make that meme?

   Reply
   1. 

      Doug Holland

      09/06/2023

      Some of the illustrations I make, some I swipe, some I swipe and change. I made Phyllis, so thanks.

      Reply

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