Alan David Doane Archives - Page 6 of 8

November Miscellany

Politics, Race, Comics, Music, Sports, Weather – we do it all

U.S. Thanksgiving Day, we drove from Albany to Oneonta, and saw the temperature rise from 44 and fog to 52 to 68F in a little more than an hour. Then that afternoon, the temperature plummeted, where it’s been ever since.
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I received this question, as did a number of other bloggers: “I’d be interested in your reaction to this: An effort underway to remove Pelosi as Speaker, and make way for impeachment. Details. What flaws do you see with this plan; and is there a way to block this?”

As I’ve made abundantly clear, I favor the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. But the idea of impeaching Pelosi for her “high crimes and misdemeanors” of NOT impeaching them in order to impeaching them seems a bit surreal. Actually, it reminds me of a maneuver of my former church whereby the associate pastor was removed in order to make way for removing the senior pastor, except that it took 10 years to actually remove the senior pastor.

Regardless, the impeachment of Nancy Pelosi is highly unlikely to happen. And even if it did, impeachment of Bush/Cheney won’t happen. The Democrats are too risk averse. And oddly, from everything I’ve read, impeachment might very well STRENGTHEN the Democrats as it did in 1974, and as it did for the Republicans in 1868.
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The current TV Guide lists the current Presidential candidates’ favorite television programs. Will Fred Hembeck support Barack Obama, now that Obama’s come out in favor of SponngeBob Squarepants? And speaking of Fred, read Hembeck: Court Jester of Comics, an interview by Peter Sanderson in Publishers’ Weekly.
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A couple things I learned from ADD, one directly, one indirectly:
Tom Spurgeon’s Holiday Shopping Guide and
an interview with David Michaelis, biographer of Charles Schulz. Oh, and Gordon says nice things about the book about the creator of the Peanuts comic strip.
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I don’t really follow college football, and don’t like how the polls determine rankings; I’m more of an NFL fan. Still, I prefer the way cthe college game settles ties, with each team getting a chance or two (or three, in the case of Arkansas’ upset of LSU last week) to the randomness of the coin toss to determine who’ll get the ball first, and quite possibly, score and win.
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Cracked.com shows video clips of 8 of The 9 Most Racist Disney Characters:
#9. The Merchant from Aladdin
#8. Sebastian from The Little Mermaid
#7. The Crows from Dumbo
#6. King Louie from The Jungle Book
#5. The Siamese Twin Gang from Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers
#4. Sunflower the Centaur from Fantasia
#3. The Indians from Peter Pan
#2. Uncle Remus from Song of the South
#1. Thursday from Mickey Mouse and the Boy Thursday (Book)
The Little Mermaid clip surprised me, but I see its validity on the list.
Even though I feel uncomfortable with Song of the South – I do remember it in re-release c. 1960, I think, the movement to get Song of the South released on video doesn’t bother me. Not to say that I’ll buy it.
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Also from Cracked.com: Ridiculous Overseas Rip-Offs of American Films, including a hysterical “Thriller” from India, a cheesy “Star Wars” from Turkey, and this Beatles Indian riff featuring, of all people, Mark Cuban:

ROG

Follow Up

Since today is my fifth semianniversary (or is demi, or maybe hemi?), but in any case, 2.5 years, I thought I’d write a little about things I’ve written about in the (usually recent) past.
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If you listen to Gordon’s podcast where he answers questions, you’ll hear me asking him some irreverent question about Raymond Burr, inspired, no doubt by a picture of Burr as Ironside on Gordon’s blog a couple weeks back. It made sense at the time.
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The scariest Halloween costume I saw was this woman dressed up as a baby, all in pink, smoking a cigarette. Truly frightening.

Ken Levine wrote: “We had a dentist who gave out toothbrushes [for Halloween]. Thank goodness he wasn’t a proctologist.”
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In the Supreme Court stay of execution this week, the lawyers for the defendant said, “It is clear that irreparable harm will result if no stay is granted.” Well, yeah. If a lawyer says it, it’s legalese; if anyone else had said it, it’d be d’oh-worthy.
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I’ve mentioned more than once about why I left the Methodist church I had been attending for over 17 years, of which I was a member for most of that time. Now, it’s come out that the pastor, who was at least in the center of my departure, has retired, and not willingly; here’s a letter from an apologist of his. My wife and I had to at least briefly think about what this meant to us. We’re happy where we are, but we do miss some of the folks at the old place. What made it easy for me, though, was hearing about some internecine fight over whether someone who opposed the pastor should now chair the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. And I realize that I don’t miss the grief.
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My sister Leslie wrote to me: “San Diego has been hit hard, thousands of homes lost, I could see the fire from outside my front door, so we were packed up and ready to go in the event of an evacuation, but thank God, we were spared.”

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Yeah, I’m happy that the Red Sox won; I picked them to win in six. The TV grid for the FOX network said the game was in a three-hour slot, but the games didn’t even start until 8:30 Eastern Time, and they all ran more than 3 hours. I’m thrilled by the sweep, because it means more sleep. I’d watch the game as long as I could stay alert, then record on the DVR programing up through 1:30 a.m., then wake up and watch in the morning. The key to watching the playback is to make sure that when I turn off the TV, to set it first to some non-sports station that does not have morning news; I recommend the Home & Garden Network.
I’m still in shock that Boston College beat Virginia Tech last week; I tuned in with five minutes to go, and BC was losing 0-10, so I figured the curse of the 2nd place BCS team was holding. I couldn’t believe it when the FOX baseball announcer said that they had won 14-10.
But my Boston rooting does not extend to the NFL Patriots, though I can’t explain why; it predates the Bellicheck cheating incident. I’m rooting for the 7-0 Colts to beat the 8-0 Pats this weekend. Can we have a 16-0 team and a 0-16 team (Miami) in the same season?

Confirmation of my feelings about the Cleveland Indians mascot.
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Yes, I know that an Albany guy appeared on Jeopardy! last week; I haven’t seen it, I haven’t read about it, so please don’t tell me about it.
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Smashing pumpkins on the ground
Makes bicycling difficult, I’ve found.

All of the US State Laws Concerning Bicycling.

Info about Critical Mass bike rides in Tucson (several posts) and here in Albany (October 29).

Cranksgiving! Race start: 9pm, Nov 17; registration/sign-up starts 8:30pm
A charity race where ALL the $$ goes to direct action. The Homeless Action Committee is on the streets doing work night after night. You WILL NEED a lock and a bag for this one. Ride any uni or bike or trike you like; as long as it’s got wheels and pedals and is you-powered, it’s all good. You will not be turned away for excess spandex or your lack of white belts.
Pre-registration via email to soze@fork-bomb.com is encouraged for planning purposes.
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Re: me feeling autumnal – The Stress Pig – Open the link, turn on the sound (but not too high) then, JUST CLICK ON HER NOSE. She may come in handy when you are having one of those days.
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My prayers/good wishes go out to ADD and to Gordon’s mom.

ROG

Hello, it’s me

No idea where I found this:

I told you I was shy. Why do so few people believe me?
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Someone was complaining about my spelling of the word pierogi (as pierogy) recently, even though most sources cite both as correct. It’s in that spirit, and in honor of Dictionary Day last week (yes, I missed it, alas), that I share this piece about some other words where the standard spelling is changing:

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Besides the last of the Rat Pack guy, whose late-night show I used to watch – Regis Philbin was his sidekick; and that From Here To Eternity woman – still a steamy sea scene a half century later; I noticed the death recently of Vernon Bellecourt, who led the “charge against Indians as sports mascots”. More than merely the nickname, the goofy image of the Indians logo has long given me pause. In any case, the Red Sox whomped Cleveland last night, so it’ll be Boston who I’ll be rooting for against Colorado.
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I’m recommending you read Dan Van Riper’s October 14 piece on Yassin Aref, who was almost certainly convicted in a bogus FBI operation. On a lighter note, see how ADD discovers he’s not five years old anymore and how Scott answers questions posed by, among others, me.
ROG

Monday pontificating

Via Jaquandor:

1. If there were no blogs, what would you be doing right now?

I found this question utterly fascinating, maybe because it hit a nerve. Before I was blogging, I was kvetching about the fact that I wasn’t writing or expressing my opinions and that I was missing out on recording stuff about Lydia, which, I knew, I would someday forget. So, if I weren’t blogging, I would be kvetching about the fact that I wasn’t writing or expressing my opinions…
On the other hand, I might be caught up on watching TV taped programs, and I’d certainly be more up-to-date with my weekly periodicals reading.

Incidentally, I cleaned up my blogroll this weekend, moving some links to my work blog, deleting a couple, and adding a couple, such as Anthony Velez’s The Dark Glass, mostly because I was tired of having to go there via Lefty. I’ve put a few folks under the uninterestingly-titled Other Interesting Folks. If you have suggestions for adds, or if you want to be added, moved, or deleted from the blogroll, you know where to find me.

2. If you had to spend one year living alone in a remote cabin, what would you spend your time doing?

OK, this depends heavily on what technologies are available. Will I have a computer? Internet connectivity? Assuming that, I would be catching up on reading those aforementioned magazines, then tackle the books. Alternating with writing two books, one a roman a clef about churches, choirs and ministers; choir people can be really strange folks. The other would be a history of the first 10 years of FantaCo.

Of course, listening to music and watching movies and stuff on DVD.

Now, if we’re talking really rustic, with no electricity, still doing the reading, maybe writing by hand. And slowly going: Stark. Raving. Bonkers.

3. If you could go back in time, what one piece advice would you give yourself?

Depends on the time frame:
Me at 16: you’re working in a library. You LIKE working in a library. Consider this as a career. You’re not cut out to be a lawyer.
Me at 24: no, you won’t be celibate forever.
There are plenty of others.

4. “If you really knew me you would know that…”

You should run away as quickly as possible.
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You Are 24% Weirdo

You’re a little weird, but you’d be even weirder if you didn’t have a few quirks.
You are just strange enough to know it, but nobody else seems to notice your weirdness.
That’s because, deep down, everyone is a little freaky!

Are You A Weirdo?

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Merv Griffin died yesterday of prostate cancer, the disease that, as it happened, killed my father. Not only was Merv a popular talk show host, but he created both Wheel of Fortune and JEOPARDY! Most importantly, he wrote the JEOPARDY! theme:

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ADD’s dreams, one of which features, of all people, me. BTW, the Daredevil Chronicles had the greater print run, but that’ll all become clear later this month.
ROG

I AM the Iron Lady

Which Annoying B-list Celebrity Are You?
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey.

It’s the librarian in me. Cartoonist Doug Marlette died recently, but he’s not showing up in Dead or Alive. The Pulitzer Prize winner was as least as significant as Kerwin Mathews, who “starred in the movie ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’ and “had other swashbuckling film roles in the 1950s and 1960s”, who died on July 5; or Claudia Cohen, the “high-profile gossip reporter often seen on ‘Live with Regis & Kelly'”, who passed away on June 15. So, I’ve submitted Marlette’s name, so far unsuccessfully. Maybe if enough folks do it, they’ll change their minds. They’ve done it before with singer Ruth Brown, who they initially ignored.
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In this worrisome article, an argument against the (mere) censure of the President suggested by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is made, whereas this piece says that censure is an appropriate “senatorial compliment to the burgeoning movement for impeachment.” I would support the censure.
But the main thrust of the former article is that there will be some self-generated trigger to send a population already primed for an attack on the “homeland” to war: Chertoff’s “gut feeling”, followed by a more stark “national intelligence estimate” (NIE) of the situation, compared with 15 months ago, to show that the intelligence community was “correct”. So, say, San Francisco is secretly attacked by our own government and this will justify an attack on, e.g., Iran? Very paranoid, I hope.
In any case, Mark Evanier, who linked to this article nailed it: “If [the new NIE is] right, we’re in for more terrorist attacks. Isn’t it comforting to know that either that’s true or the entire U.S. intelligence community doesn’t know what they’re talking about?”
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A YouTube video called Led Zeppelin – Rip-off Artists. I like LZ, yet this, admittedly, is a hardly exhaustive examination of the appropriation of songs by the band.
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ADD linked to a wonderful reminiscence of the glory days of local TV news in Albany by former anchor Ed Dague (the best news anchor Albany, New York ever had). This is almost certainly true. He justified the link in his mostly comic-related blog because I have a comment.

Scott answers my questions about God and baseball.

I provided 5 questions to a bunch of folks. Here are the replies from ADD and Greg and Johnny B and the person who gave me questions in the first place, Jaq.

Also, I did a meme, and at my request, Mrs. Lefty and Edwin and Gordon responded to it.

Those relationships I get, people I mostly don’t know, but I’ve read their stuff, and they mine. But I was looking at my Technorati thingy, and found that I got picked up by a couple aggregators, including this one. The Internet continues to fascinate and confound me.

Oh, speaking of Gordon, something I did a while ago and forgot about:

ersie
matches

48%

with
CoffeeAchiever

Take CoffeeAchiever’s MatchMe Test
Take ersie’s MatchMe Test

Brought to you by:
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Spam is 70. Possibly literally.

ROG

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