Here’s Mr. Obama on his way to the senior prom (Time, via Gawker). Considering that he graduated in the late 70s, the outfits are far less embarrassing than one could have hoped. My husband is only a bit younger than the president, and the suit he wore to the prom once prompted someone who saw his prom photo to laugh and ask if it was a Halloween costume.
In his first major speech on counterterrorism of his second term, Mr. Obama hopes to refocus the epic conflict that has defined American priorities since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and even foresees an unspecified day when the so-called war on terror might all but end, according to people briefed on White House plans.
Could the war on a noun really end? The report says Obama will announce new limits on the use of drone strikes and launch a new effort to close Gitmo. I expect the reaction will range from “worse than Bush” to “worse than Neville Chamberlain.”
Many of you, I’m sure, remember Johnny Eck, the sure-handed star of Tod Browning’s film Freaks (as Clark Kent would say, “and they call me Superman!”).
Here is that open football thread we have been clamoring for! The Pollys are ensconced before their 19” Panasonic, enthralled before yet another angelic-wife-drowned-by-husband story on “Dateline,” as Mr. Polly informs me that the Giants are losing, and a proper fan never watches his team lose. (Mr. P is a Yankee fan, so his behavior may be recognizeable.)
I tried to learn to enjoy football once, by reading “Football For Dummies,” and after ten pages of picayune rules about measurements, I realized I hated football more than when I started, but I can appreciate a good catch replayed in slo-mo. Meanwhile, Stone Phillip’s jaw is jutting so far forward it just may break the screen.
So are any great plays being made or anything? It’s not like I’m going to know.
Tracy Bonham, Ruth Ungar And Aoife O’donovan, vocals.
Would it be a good idea to put a bacon-salt rim on a Bloody Mary? Or perhaps throw in a little bit of chipotle? What would be the garnish, a couple of chilis? Come-a cow cow yippee-eye-ay!
What, Triumphalist? Us?
A sparkling, vernal Sunday to all, whatever your spiritual bent. It was on just such a bright Sunday that the Speaker of the House gavelled the country into ritual patriacide before the eyes of a terrified nation divided, right there on C-Span. (H/T mar"Smash!“indenver)
Look, I’m lyxdesic* but even I wouldn’t have trouble telling this, from this. And I don’t even like the woman. However, I do know how to read and I don’t do drugs.
The same can’t be said for the crew at Palin Worship Central apparently (via TPM):
Fox News just apologized for showing the wrong book cover during a segment about Sarah Palin’s new memoir, Going Rogue.
Instead, they twice showed the cover of Going Rouge, a collection of essays mocking the former governor that came out the same day as Palin’s memoir.
Expect Faux to crank the crazy dial so hard it snaps off in order to regain their streak cred with the fRighties.
Fish & Roses EP—Organ-fueled, long-out-of-print underground art skronk from ‘87 ripped from vinyl for your enjoyment. “Booth” is just plain beautiful, “Screwed’s Crude, Screwed” is a blazing jazzbo stomp, and off-kilter oddities like “Have A Nice Day And Fried Rice” are as smile-inducing as they are aurally lopsided. Bonus points: One of the best live songs I’ve ever seen in my life occurred when Fish & Roses joined Yo La Tengo on stage in a strip mall bar in Naugatuck, CT (home of Naugahyde) and utterly blew the Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On” through the roof and up into the stars. I wish you all could have been there.
Get Your War On—“Sarah Palin and the Rape Kits” ... biting satire done right.
The BigO’s Bootlegs—The navigation’s a little screwy on this site from Singapore, but check out the left sidebar for some great free bootleg downloads of everyone from Bob Dylan to Elvis Costello to Neil Young to underrated sax master David Murray to Pink Floyd.
Sarah Palin’s Debates Made Easy 101—“At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.”
If anything else is floating your boat this Sunday, drop a link in the comments. Now excuse me while I go convince my lovely wife Chris what a colossally bad idea it would be to go to Ikea this afternoon. Pray for me.
The Dixie Hummingbirds—“Christian Automobile”—playing 6/26 at Celebrate Brooklyn
HARRY NILSSON DOES POPEYE— I don’t know what’s weirder, the fact that I really like the Popeye soundtrack (probably never making it to CD) or that there are actually demos available ( and they’re even better than the final versions). Drink your spinach.
FISA HOLD ‘EM—I’m pretty much in the same camp with John Cole. Steve M. has it right, too.
THE BEATLES’ GET BACK—I’ve always had a soft spot for the Beatles’ Let It Be, which I’ve enjoyed a lot more than, say, the bloated ‘n’ silly Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (there, I said it) and this Glyn Johns mix, appropriately titled Get Back and replete with studio chatter, makes it even sweeter.
MATT TIABBI’S “FULL METAL MCCAIN”—“McCain is perhaps the first candidate in history to stump against two bills bearing his own name.”
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds—“Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!” (hi-res version here)
Nigerian Gangster—Matsuli Music brings you Chicago DJ Mike Love mix-mashing Fela Kuti and Jay Z. If you haven’t already started clicking on the link, you’re dead to me.
A Significant Part Of Obama’s Message—Kyle E. Moore of PA’s Comments from Left Field spells out what should be the obvious. (John Cole from Balloon Juice has been quite literally on fire on this subject, too. Just scroll down to “Hillary Clinton, disgrace” and read up from there.)
US electoral system explained—A hilarious rapid-fire flowcharted look at how people with funny accents view our electoral process.
Spider John Koerner & Willie Murphy’s Running, Jumping, Standing Still—The Heat Warps implies this underrated ‘67 eclectic ragtime-rock-romp album is better than Dylan & the Band’s The Basement Tapes (it’s not ... very few things are), but it’s definitely worthy of your attention. I’ll be listening to this a lot.
LATTE-SIPPING CROWD: I’ve got your latte right here. God, I hate these people.
WORLD OF POOH—LAND OF THIRST: One of the last great indie albums of the 80s featured Barbara Manning and will probably never, ever be released on CD. You need this. Trust me. Grab it before it’s gone.
IT’S 3AM: Good selection of parodies of Hillary’s loathsome 3AM red phone ad over at YesButNoButYes. And while you’re there ... jeebus, this is fucking disturbing.
Mick Jagger—“Memo from Turner” (from the film Performance)
BOBBY CHARLES: I got turned on to Bobby Charles while listening to Devendra Banhart guest DJing on WNYC’s “Spinning on Air.” It was a warm spring night, I had the radio on out in the garden, and Charles’ song “I Must Be in a Good Place Now” wrapped snuggly around my head like the most comforting cloth ever created. An absolutely gorgeous moment. Charles’ phenomenal debut album, recorded with most of the members of The Band and Dr. John, inexplicably swings in and out of print and The Heat Warps was kind enough to upload it recently for your listening pleasure. Believe me, you need this.
BOOT CAMP—THE END OF THE LINE: Robin completed her initial six-weeks of hell in boot camp and the whole series has been an entertaining, ahem, “reed.” Click and scroll around her blog (pretty much the closest thing I get to exercise these days) to see what she went through.
“Falling Slowly” from Once—My Oscar pick to (deservedly) win best original song
Sorry, no other selections today (unless you want to see how much Frank Rich hates Hillary’s va-jay-jay). Have some weekend work to get through and still recovering from that head cold that clobbered me yesterday morning. The Sunday Selector will return in its normal form next weekend.
TO MY GREAT CHAGRIN: The eagerly-awaited (in my house, at least) world premiere of the documentary To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore comes to MOMA this Wednesday, February 13th (also playing on March 1st). He was a complex, brilliant and vastly underrated performance artist and you can view some of his pitch-perfect and hysterical ravings in a video compilation we posted here back in September.
FUERZABRUTA: Friday I took my lovely wife Chris to see Fuerzabruta, the new spectacle from the creators of De La Guarda, for her birthday at the Daryl Roth Theatre and was totally blown away by it. I enjoyed De La Guarda, but thought it was a little over-hyped and found myself wishing it would come to an end about 45-minutes into it. Fuerzabruta, on the other hand, I never wanted to end, noticing at several points during the performance that my face was smeared with a thoroughly ridiculous shit-eating grin that only a child can accommodate without feeling like a complete tool. As an added bonus, I was selected by one of the Fuerzabruta “dancers” to join her on a metal platform and dance in front of hundreds of people before having an oversized, exploding paper cinderblock dropped on our heads. According to Chris the crowd was cheering me on (I inserted several of my death-defying robot maneuvers into my routine) and afterwards the dancer came over and gave me a big thumbs up when she found me back in the crowd. If you’re a New Yorker, I highly recommend checking this show out. If the $72 price tag is too steep for you, they sell $25 rush tix at the box office two hours before each performance.
The severely abbreviated Super Bowl Sunday edition*...
“Yes We Can” song (hi res version here, info here)
According to some of the commenters over at Atrios’ place, this is just more all-flash, no-substance gruel for the starry-eyed hope junkies who blindly support Prince Obama. They’re right. Dems need to nominate a thoroughly uninspiring policy wonk if we’re going to beat St. Maverick in the general election. It’s worked so well for us in the past. Someone get Dukakis or Mondale on the phone and see if they’re available for the veep spot.
"[W]e wholeheartedly endorse the excellent Rumproast blog" -- Jim Newell, Wonkette
"Mind you, don’t let yourself be trapped dialoging with these guys: truth is their enemy; pyschological warfare and misinformation dissemination is their profession." -- TeaParty.org
