I Could Not Detest This Person More

bangs head repeatedly on desk ... I just can't stand it .,..  Breitbart gone, this vermin still extant. 


Thanks to Ace.

Firebrand

Andrew Breitbart, dead at age 43.

I'm too forlorn over his death to list all the reasons he was great.  My reaction was pretty much the same as Stoaty's.  He was in my area last week, at the "Michigan For Prosperity" rally, with some others I admire and I was too poor to go to see him. 


"Red Eye" tribute, via Ace.  There's a lot more there from cob-loggers and commenters.


Reason enough to love Breitbart, via his Wiki:

In the hours immediately following Senator Ted Kennedy's death, Breitbart called Kennedy a "villain", a "duplicitous bastard", a "prick"^[13] and "a special pile of human excrement".

Breitbart's "Bigs":

      Big Hollywood

      Big Journalism

      Big Government

      Big Peace

R.I.P., Andrew.  Wishing all things good for his wife and children.

While Sitting Here Minding My Own Business ...

someone is always emailing me, or writing something that causes me to dash off to dusty corners of the interwebs and look stuff up. Sometimes it's Stoaty Weasel, who is always "making" me buy books - like when she writes about stuff like The Great Boston Molasses Flood (excellent book on that here). And sometimes it's one of my siblings, who are nearly as weird as me.

In this case, a simple discussion between little sis & me about whether (1) we should catch a show by guitarist Laurence Juber and (2) at which venue (he'll be at 2 fairly local spots this coming May). Now, I'm the family no-talent, but with 3 sibs that are musical, we talk about this stuff a lot. To enlighten me, she sends me this video of Paul McCartney & Wings, with Juber as a side man (he's the one that's neither McCartney nor Denny Laine, if that's any help. I have no more-technical description to give - I are dense). I find the video exceedingly cute - especially Macca (as the British tabloids call him), who's just as handsome as his early Beatle years, 15+ years prior.



So, after I've survived the excruciatingly slow "download over dialup" and played it 1 or 2 (or 8 or 10) times (complete with samba-ing around the joint in my jammies), it occurs to me that McCartney (actually, the whole crew) looks just like the illustrations of Jazz Age illustrator John Held, Jr. Whose work I've always loved, but it occurs to me that I've never searched him out in the ether. So ... she's off! (but you knew that)

Some Held pix:









More Held info here and here.

That second link is where I found the map woodcut (which I'd never seen before) - the author of the article calls it a "denunciation of notable places and things. 'Americana', for example, is a denunciation of all of the stereotypical symbols of American culture."

I dunno. For somebody who (in this case) is allegedly depicting a distaste for "rum runners" and "bootleggers," he certainly made a tidy profit off the alcohol-fueled antics of the Jazz Age American sheiks and flappers - and made their behavior look darned attractive, overall. I hate it when I find something in my internet sifting that queers my liking of someone/something I previously held in good regard. I think I shall just take the words embedded in the western states at face value:

"If You Don't Like This Country Go Back Where You Came From"

Or, if you started out here, pick some spot you find more beguiling. Cuba, anyone? Iran?

So there.

Sarahcuda

Victor Davis Hanson -- at NRO.

Russ from Winterset -- at AoSHQ.

Andrea Harris (two different links) -- at Spleenville HQ.

The Anchoress -- at First Things.

Mark Levin -- at marklevinshow.com (show of 07/03/09).

Tim Blair -- at The Daily Telegraph.

Doctor Zero -- at HotAir's Greenroom.

Jay Valentine -- at American Thinker.

MataHarley -- at Flopping Aces.


What they said.




UPDATE 07/07/09: Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

David Kahane -- at NRO.

Blog Nap

1. My laptop broke.

2. The Spendulus Bill has me so gobsmacked that I have nothing to say.

I ran out of gas. I ... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.

zzzzZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzZzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz


Posted from an undisclosed location.

Two New Things

First thing: Breitbart's Big Hollywood, a conservative look at entertainment, media and politics. Started two weeks ago, it's a good read made only better by this week's addition of Iowahawk as one of their commenters, here with Mark Your Time, Hu-Mans! -- Subhead: Special Guest Commentary by Waxulon-6, Lord High Admiral of the Kremulakian Earth Invaders, The Being Formerly Known as Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), complete with the most hideous pic of Rep. Waxman I've yet seen (and that's saying something).

Second thing: I meant to write something about last week's 2008 Weblog Awards, but never found the time. There were some interesting contests, probably the most being the upset in the Best Conservative Blog category, where the self-proclaimed Grim Rodents of Canuckistan trumped the Death Card (fine and funny blogs, both). As usual, the act of voting brought to my attention some things I might not have found otherwise, at least not as soon. My favorite was The Black Sphere, in the Best New Blog category. I usually only vote for blogs I've already been reading through the year, but clicked on this one out of curiosity and read enough to be happy to give it my vote. Good writing and some spew-inducingly funny photoshops. Sphere did not win the category, but I have a feeling it will be a strong contender in the Best Conservative or another category the future. Go -- Read -- Make it so!

UPDATE: Christopher Taylor at Word Around the Net blog has a nice writeup on Big Hollywood.

I wanted to give a plug for this blog because it gives a little different perspective on Hollywood and says things that you won't generally get on celebrity and movie sites. For example I like the Movie Blog, but it is violently anti-Bush and far left. It also is preening and supportive of Hollywood to get contacts and keep their status up for scoops and attention - and the originator of the Move Blog is a budding director. It's like schmoozing, you act like you like people, avoid the things they don't like, and they might be nice to you. Big Hollywood doesn't do that. It isn't deliberately offensive or confrontational, it just doesn't avoid the things that the powers in Hollywood want avoided.

Well

That's certainly ... different. I changed my template, because whilst posting videos lately, I discovered that most of the stuff at YouTube is going to wide aspect-ratio format, and the videos kept overlapping my bloglinks and pix when they were on the right side of the page. This way they don't do that, but they hit the margin and look ... messy. Also blew out some of my spacing within posts, also messy. Oddly enough, I can stand a messy house, a messy desk, but not a messy blog! So I'll be driving myself crazy trying to add spaces. Too bad I'm too dumb to make my own template. Meh.

And Now For Something Completely Different or: A Major Link-O-Rama

Someone else I love (probably because I am a blockhead), Ian Dury! (More here)

Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick




And the flip-side of the original single:

There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards




An 80s song I still love (it's one you either love or despise):

Puttin' On The Ritz - Taco




I wonder what Irving Berlin would have thought of that version of his creation. (Let alone this one). From "Irving Berlin in Hollywood," by Ian Whitcombe:

It was all very well for Broadway and Hollywood to call for the fashionable integrated song but the fact is that we remember the Berlin numbers and not the plots of these shows. Perhaps he knew this all along because after a follow-up movie, "Follow The Fleet" and other commissions for which he delivered the required work, he was happy to let Twentieth Century Fox in "Alexander's Ragtime Band" celebrate his hit-making life through a cavalcade of songs ranging from the ragtime years up to the current craze for Swing. Ethel Merman did her usual fine job of enunciating "Heat Wave" as if she possessed a built-in bullhorn. Berlin thoroughly approved of her way with his work (just as he did Jolson's and Astaire's) because she respected both words and music-something the Swing Musicians neglected, even ignored. After hearing Benny Goodman's interpretation of "Blue Skies", in which the tune got buried, he told the King of Swing: "That was the most incredible playing I've ever heard - Never do it again!"

Blue Skies -- Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (1935)

Just because, one of my favorite versions of that number by Maxine Sullivan, on whom I bestowed the highest honor that's in my power to give -- named one of my cats after her.

Blue Skies -- Maxine Sullivan & Her Orchestra (1937)

More great Maxine (the singer, not the cat):

Stop! You're Breakin' My Heart -- Claude Thornhill Orchestra with Maxine Sullivan (1937)


To prove I have the strangest musical tastes in the galaxy, here's a link to a really fine blog piece on someone else who fascinates me, Bert Williams. The whole blog is swell, nice writing with a huge range of music types. Just my thing.

Hit me! Hit me!


LATER: Unlike Allan Sherman, I still love the Beatles:

Cake Wrecks

Naked Mohawk-Baby Carrot Jockeys

Found via Tim Blair, "Cake Wrecks," a blog: When Professional Cakes Go Horribly, Hilariously Wrong. Priceless!

All Things To All People?

Heh.

Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle.

Found at Protein Wisdom.

More heh - Comment #39 & "gaseous platitudinous uplift."

HA

Everyone else is quoting the title, so I will, too: "BoxBux Sux as Stix Hix Nix Xmas Flix."

Iowahawk does it again, here.


Addition: The fabulous Mrs. R., with thoughts on this subject (and a great pic), at Wuzzadem.

YIPPPPPEEEEEEE!

The Wuzzadems are back!!! I couldn't be happier (well, I COULD, but not a lot!) Now, go read them!

...

...

...

Are you still here? Go!

****

More good news - Beautiful Atrocities is back after a long hiatus, Stoaty celebrates a year's blogiversary, and Laurence Simon is once again posting regularly. On the bad news front, Cox & Forkum and their wonderful editorial cartoons take a final bow (but will stay up as an archive). Go read them, too. (Aren't I bossy?)

Weasel On The Run

S. Weasel has new digs and his her own domain - Pretty classy there, Mr. Ms. Mustelid.

Now that I wrote "weasel on the run" in the post title, I somehow have the song "Fox on the Run" (by Sweet, from the mid-70s) stuck in my head. I can't even keep my carnivore tribes straight. Of course, the only weasel song I know is "Pop Goes the Weasel," which is a worse earworm and hardly a congratulatory number. Seems as though there's a dearth of mustelid music. There's also Zappa's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh," but it's not overly singable. At any rate, congrats on the new location, SW, and I love those excellent drawings!

Cary Grant!

W00t! While I'm lining up my favorites of this, that and the other thing, I must add a link to Relative Esoterica's fine post on some early Cary Grant films.

Check it here.

The picture (with Myrna Loy) is from one of my favorites of his movies, "Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House."

Mrs. R. Strikes Again

Once again, Mrs. R. from Wuzzadem gets right to the point:

Why the Caged Bird Wants an iPod...[Mrs. R.]

Be sure to check out the links. I am so over Oprah.

UPDATE: Aha! Agent Bedhead is on the case, as well!

Oprah Educating a Whole New Generation of Man-Haters

Two New Finds

The Temple Theater, Detroit, MI (date unknown)

I love this site (but have barely looked into it):

America as it Was: A Tour of the USA in Vintage Postcards

It combines two of my favorite things - architecture and old postcards. I found it through a link at this site: Pure Gum Spirits. It's the blog of a Chicago painter, with some nifty original paintings and photography. A couple of his works reminded me of a painting that's a favorite of mine, Gustave Caillebotte's (French, 1848-1894) "Paris Street; Rainy Day." The original is at The Art Institute of Chicago. I might have to go pay it a visit!

More On The Hows And Whys Of Blogging

I meant to write about this before, but was caught up in too many other things to do. First, there was Joseph Rago's whine about blogs and bloggers in the WSJ. It was quickly followed by Iowahawk's scathing and hilarious sendup of same. (Now, reading the two pieces, whose work would rather read?) Finally, at Hot Air today, there's "Hugh Hewitt slow-grills anti-blogger (updated)," posted by See-Dubya. I especially like the line about the "Lake Woebegone Effect," which has even done in the radio show that originated that mythical place.

Good Advice + The Hemingway Cats

"Sam's 10 Commandments of Blogging Revisited" - Wise words from "The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns."

Bonus Commandment:

"BONUS: Thou shalt link this article, and every article of Sam's that thou enjoys."

Done!

Read the rest here.

Laurence Simon writes about the USDA??? getting involved with the fate of the famous "Hemingway Cats" at the Hemingway House and Museum in Key West, FL. His cats, polydactyl Nardo and normally-dactyled Frisky both have strong opinions on the subject. It's Cat/Countercat!