How far we've come

"The Dawn of Man" opening sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey



People take to the streets to protest the Iranian presidential election, 6/14/09 (photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Ducks in a Row

One more permanent, freelance editing job and you can color me gone forever from the drudgery of the 9 to 5 routine. My two in hand, with one to go.

"I've been to the mountaintop. . . . And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land." MLK

It doesn't get any more hopeful than that, does it. I looked up Dr. King's speech for inspiration as I stand on the threshold of resigning—horrid job holding me back, the future beckoning ahead.

For the past 15 months, I've been Julia, force-fed Micky D's 40 hours a week. Quite an accomplishment, but my palate yearns to be appreciated.

Two things I just don't get (cont'd)

The resistance to transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. prisons: We're not capable of keeping them in prison?


The argument that we're better off having doctors and their patients (read: Big Insurance) make decisions related to medical care as opposed to the federal government, assuming that would be the case under serious healthcare reform. I'll take Uncle Sam over the insurers any time.

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."

DMV rewrites state tourist motto: Virginia is for grouches.


We all get screwed, Elizabeth. Isn't it time to move on? Spare us your regrets.

Kate Bush, Pacifist

We were working secretly
For the military.
We only know in theory
What we are doing:
Music made for pleasure,
Music made to thrill.


Mourning in the aerodrome,
The weather warmer, he is colder.
Four men in uniform
To carry home my little soldier.

Sex still (always) sells.

Commercial for "Fling," the new candy bar from Mars


Women's beach volleyball

It's a miracle I haven't contracted an STD.

Because for well over a year I've been doing the Jodie Foster "Taxi Driver" gig: going to a job I hate, letting people f**k me, and collecting my pay.


And in the process, I've let my values get trampled on a daily basis.

Two things to keep me busy on a desert island

With my solar-powered iPod, I can listen to Kate Bush, my very favorite songster. She's got it all: singer, songwriter, composer, arranger, musician, dancer, and performer.


And, assuming I'll be rescued and return to working again, I'll try to figure out how to cope with a stupid supervisor—something I've heretofore been unable to do.

Dosvidanya, my beautiful "Marina"

That's M., in the middle of the pix below. A Russian beauty if there ever was one! My craigslist personal hooked her::

"I think I'm a lucky girl to meet such good mas as you in Internet! I hope I will be lucky enough to meet you in the real life!!!!!!!! Yesterday I told my parents about you. They said now they worry about me not that much as before because they know you are a kind man and can help me if I need your help."


Another couple of emails and I reeled her in:

"I am much tired from flight from Ulan-Ude up to ST-Peterburg. I'm so excited to write you again!!!!!!!!!! I'm in St-Petersbug! You can't imagine how happy I am that I already started my trip to you!" And she's a poet: "My voice for you both tender and languid / Disturbs later silence of night dark. / Near bed sad the candle burns mine; / My verses merge murmuring, flow, rivers love, / Flow are full you."


Sadly, notwithstanding the outpouring of such obvious excitement and affection (and this: "I will cook Russian cuisine for you! Pelmeni, vareniki, blini, borsch, okroshka! You will like it!"), I've decided that, despite her reassurances, I might be a tad too old for her. But such a fine young woman, especially in light of the fact that she's leaving her Mother Russia, deserves to find true love and happiness. If you feel you can give her that, write to Marina Filippova: blonda_4ika@yahoo.com. After all, she's already headed to the U.S of A.

Headlines I can live with, happily

Poll: Bush Getting Even More Unpopular Out Of Office


Exxon profit falls on economy, lower prices

Facebook Smackdown

Drivel like this . . .


Is leading to this:

The Waiting Game

There are only so many times I can re-watch Seasons 1-6. C'mon Larry, finish Season 7 already.


It's been more than three years since Imogen Heap released her second album. Immi, Immi, we need your third one badly.

Jazz

Hot: Eliane Elias


Cool: Diana Krall

Virginia

Welcome, paramours.


But keep your pants on. Some jurisdictions want to slow you down on your way to your assignation.

Chops & Licks

Melissa Etheridge


Joan Armatrading

Michelle's fake eyelashes, Jill's beige clutch: Yea, this is newsworthy.

Dear Mr. President: Remember when the Ruskies got their butts kicked in Afghanistan?

Copy Fail

It appears that Ms. Krall has had anything but quiet nights lately.


All heads are indeed turned, away from the Camaro.

RIP Natasha

With Mum at age four


With Mum in Evening

Diet and Exercise

After eating this 4800-calorie burger . . .


I'll swim really fast to get away from this guy!

Staff Meetings

We had our weekly waste-an-hour today. During these meetings my pent-up range of emotions is rather limited.

Best description of the First Arms from "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me"

"Liberty" on the right


"The Pursuit of Happiness" on the left

From Mrs. Malaprop

It takes a pillage . . .


. . . to raze a pile.

Unbound

The Ides of March: The rich get richer . . .

"A.I.G. Planning Huge Bonuses After $170 Billion Bailout" (NY Times, 3/15)


"Administration Is Open to Taxing Health Benefits" (NY Times, 3/15)

Fabulous femmes fatale

Linda Fiorentino as "Bridget Gregory" in The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1994)



Lena Olin as "Mona Demarkov" in Romeo Is Bleeding (Peter Medak, 1993)

The Fly on the Wall Reports In

PERES: You've liberated my occupied territory!


PELOSI: So I said, Joe, you might be the President Pro Tempore, but everyone knows I've got the biggest balls in Congress!

I'm an Obama supporter . . .

But I gotta tell ya, the extent to which the media is covering the First Lady's footwear and sleeveless-dress style is getting very old, very fast.

Photos: Therein lies the answer.

Look for the photographs that propel the protagonists forward in these two films.

Peter Weir's "Witness" (1985)


Tom Tykwer's "The Princess and the Warrior" (2000)

Floating is a good thing.

Röyksopp


Christopher Walken/Fatboy Slim

Former Presidents

Some go on to become world statesmen, W goes shopping for WD-40.


And speaking of lubricants, 75% of W's White House staff—those folks who helped keep the Wheels of Destruction turning smoothly—can't find jobs.

One man who really wants his MTV

A Missouri resident . . .


Takes the state slogan to heart!

Iraq Today: Still Sugar Coated

Beauty, Head to Toe: N.Y. Fashion Week Spring '09

They grab you at the start and never let go.

Breasts

The apparent answer to the question this author raises . . .


. . . is "No." Salma's have been an Internet sensation for days now (make that years). I don't think that most hits on the many sites with this video were made out of concern for the world's starving children.

The Incorrigible Marion Barry

1990, FBI sting catches him with crack pipe: "Bitch set me up . . . . I shouldn't have come up here . . . goddamn bitch"


2009, federal prosecutors want to jail him for failure to pay taxes 8 of the past 9 years: "As with any American citizen, my tax status is a matter between the IRS and the taxpayer and not The Washington Post."

LET THEM KILL EACH OTHER RATHER THAN US OR OUR ALLIES.

We should pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan immediately. Thereafter we can surveil, contain by massive air strikes, and nuke 'em if they threaten the interests of the U.S. or our allies.

Politico: "Iraq combat could outlast Obama's term"


New York Times: "Holbrooke Says Afghan War 'Tougher Than Iraq'"

Haunting Music

Lhasa de Sela, "Anywhere On This Road"

If I can stand up
To angels and men
I'll never get swallowed
In darkness again


Cassandra Wilson, Son House's "Death Letter"

I got a letter this mornin, how do you reckon it read?
It said, "Hurry, hurry, yeah, your love is dead."
I got a letter this mornin, I say how do you reckon it read?
You know, it said, "Hurry, hurry, how come the gal you love is dead?"

140 characters + 12 seconds = online life in the fast lane

If you can't Tweet it, take your message elsewhere.


Don't blink or you'll miss a slice of my life.

Diddling while the country burns

"Pelosi dismisses bipartisanship calls" -- "Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship . . ." That process is called Democracy, Madame Misspeaker.


"GOP Senators Face Party's Wrath For Supporting Stimulus Bill" -- "The GOP is set against passage of President Barack Obama's stimulus package. Republicans in the House all voted against it (although it passed) and their colleagues in the Senate do not seem to inclined to support with the exception of three moderates: Arlen Specter (R-Pa), Susan Collins (R-Me), and Olympia Snowe (R-Me)." To borrow from Mark Twain, looks like reports on the death of partisanship were greatly exaggerated.

From Bartertown to Oslo, poop is de rigueur.

1985, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome": Tina Turner as "Aunty Entity," the dictator of methane-powered (pig poop) Bartertown


2009, Oslo, Norway: Buses now partly powered by bio-methane (raw sewage)

Scary times for English healthcare workers

Squirrels attack in County Durham


Exorcism of ghosts in Derby

Tax scofflaw? No problem. Please submit resume and cover letter . . .

Tim Geithner, new Treasury Secretary


Tom Daschle, Obama's pick to head HHS (photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Breathless

Sia Furler overwhelmed by audience singing along


Andrea Corr caught up in the song

Where are they now? Hollywood, of course.

Dana Perino, former White House Press Secretary, in the upcoming "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Nurse Ratched Exposed"


Condoleeza Rice, former Secretary of State, to star in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: 88 Keys to Paradise"

We, too, are counting on the First Dad.

Malia Obama


Sasha Obama

Romantics: It Can't Hurt

Sea Change

I'm a proposal editor.

To say I occasionally feel like doing this . . .


Is like saying New Orleans got a tad wet from Hurricane Katrina!

Buh bye!

AP reports that Marine One, which transported W to Andrews AFB en route to TX, didn't require any fuel to lift off from the Capitol grounds.


It turns out that the million+ inauguration attendees -- deliriously joyous following Obama's swearing in, and feeling especially generous in terms of facilitating W's exit -- simultaneously played "Air Helicopter," giving flight to the chopper.

Two among countless Microsoft-induced "Oh Sh!t" moments

Cleaning up DC for the inauguration

The world's oldest profession will be somewhat hindered over the next several days.


Don't complain, soon-to-be ex-White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. You've been whoring at will for your Pimp-in-Chief for years now.

Plus de choses changent plus qu'ils restent la même chose.

Hillary is still pointing.


And she's still trotting out Chelsea for good measure.

Is there a third Olsen twin?

We know Ashley and Mary-Kate.


But what about Alison?

Mirrors

Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Season 4's "The Car Pool Lane"


Edward Norton's brilliant F.U. monologue in "25th Hour"

No experience needed? These positions are NOT internships.

U.S. senator from New York wannabe Caroline Kennedy



CIA Director-designate Leon Panetta

Yes, Virginia, women do fake it; at least on screen.

"When Harry Met Sally" (Meg Ryan)


Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus)

It's A'holes-in-the-News Saturday

"Karl Lagerfeld defends fur industry saying 'beasts' would kill us if we didn't kill them": In a meat-eating world, wearing leather for shoes and clothes and even handbags, the discussion of fur is childish.


"Ann Coulter Slams Michelle Obama In New Book": Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style . . . would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint.

Happy New Year

Out with the old . . .


In with the new!

Incurious

I'm a guy who needs to know things. But here are two items that have been around a while that I have deliberately avoided. I simply don't care or want to know. And I resisted the temptation to read beyond the first few words of these links.

The flying spaghetti monster


Blu-ray technology

"No More Goodies for Doctors From Drug Makers"

The New York Times reports that Big Pharma has voluntarily agreed to stop its practice of giving doctors chachkas. (photo by J. Emilio Flores, NYT: "Dr. Jeffrey F. Caren, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, has collected more than 1,200 free pens from drug companies.")


This transparently token action will reverse the incestuous relationship between Big Pharma and many doctors as fast as if one watered the gardens of Versailles with . . .

Two's the loneliest number: Stand by your man, W ladies.

"George W Bush presidency not a failure, says wife Laura"



"Rice: People will soon thank Bush for what he's done"

Deep questions

Regarding floating


Regarding blending

Transcendental

The music of the Afro Celt Sound System will take you somewhere, way out of yourself. And there is no better example than "When I Still Needed You" from their Vol. 5.



It features the extraordinary Rwandan Dorothee Munyaneza.

One and the same

Smokin'


Truckin'

RIP Eartha Kitt: Santa's Baby is Purring with the Reindeer

An idea whose time has not yet come!

Public pressure in Tel Aviv has resulted in the cancellation of a mega-orgy . . .


Planned by the Raëlians

The Year in Review: Petty Theft

According to DOJ's Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, Post-its (as every year since their 1977 launch) topped the list as the favorite in reported petty theft incidents. The comment most cited by perps in the NCVS was something like, "For what they pay me, I should be stealing a lot more."


Breaking into the Top 10 for the first time, and at #2, is the sweetener from Starbucks. Echoing the perps' comments above, Starbucks' thieving customers rationalized their criminality as follows: "A $4 cup of coffee should come with a pound of this stuff."

I'd like to be hopeful about our future, but . . .

Obama as sex symbol



New app for the iPhone

EVIL

Jerry on Newman: "I've looked into his eyes. He's pure evil."



Cheney: "We've looked into your eyes. You're pure evil."

What I want for Christmas/Chanukah

That the Minnesota Senate race is finally settled, and Al Franken, the DEMOCRAT, wins.



That JENNIFER ANISTON, arguably the greatest media whore of our time, would vanish into thin air.

UNCLE!

Just a few minutes here . . .



Makes me feel like I could use some Dr. Seuss medicine.

Virgins

Vestal



Burger King Whopper

Brilliant videos by Röyksopp

What Else Is There?: Closer to the feeling of a dream than anything I've ever seen



Remind Me: Extraordinary rendition of our daily routines

SRO will not be the case.

Bush is thinking about giving a farewell speech. Whoop dee doo.


Even a self-congratulatory handshake is not forthcoming over the news.

Two uh-ohs from across the Pond

"A British passenger plane was forced to turn back minutes before landing in Paris because the pilot of 30 years' experience was not qualified to land in fog."



"Windows boxes on Ethernet LANs are now in control of the UK's nuclear-propelled and nuclear-armed warship fleet."

"Is it safe?"

I'm off to the dentist tomorrow, not as cheery as this little guy, but with my usual trepidation.



These appointments always conjure up images of the dentist from Hell, Laurence Olivier's "Dr. Christian Szell" from "Marathon Man."

Trinity

Carrie Anne Moss


Lower Manhattan (photo ©2008 BK. All rights reserved.)

"Would it kill you to say thank-you?"

I just completed a marathon round of proposal editing at work. Days upon days of long hours, topped off by a 14-hour day yesterday. "Thank-you" was not uttered even once by the proposal coordinator for whom I worked on this project.



She's a cat lady; a few of her own plus a varying number of Foster cats. She treats them better than her co-workers. I hope the felines go feral on her.

I have a major problem with people who don't have a sense of humor.

I work closely with four individuals who are as much fun as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.



But they have nothing on my Grim Reaper of a manager.

Shrinkage

Vice Presidential



Physical

Jersey Girls who travel far afield musically

Alaine Laughton: Reggae



Rory Block: Delta/country blues

"Bring it" v.2

July 2003, Pres. Bush: "There are some who feel like that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is bring 'em on."



December 2008, Defense Secretary Gates: "President Obama and his national security team, myself included, will be ready to defend the interests of the United States and our friends and allies from the moment he takes office on January 20th."


Some say the election hasn't changed anything. They might be right.

Mobile Blogging from here.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Rolling Stone, on the front line since 1967

Great writers and artists:

How Obama Won, illustration by Victor Juhasz



Bush's Final F.U., illustration by John Cuneo

Tapping into the OCD in all of us

First, you get the phone and join one "community" or another.



Then, you visit the iTunes apps store way too many times every day.

Axis of Evil: Big Pharma

Ad spending outpaces R&D budget



Medical journal articles ghostwritten

4 Hours of Free Advertising FOR the NRA

Vera Farmiga in "Running Scared"



Robert DeNiro in "Taxi Driver"

Separated at birth?

Patricia Arquette



Vera Farmiga

Well, children, let me tell you about a time, very long ago, when smoking was considered sexy.

Ingrid Bergman



Lauren Bacall

Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Paris any more.

Yesteryear: Citroën DS



Future: Citroën GT concept

BLACK

Humor: There's no beating American black/gallows humor and ingenuity. To wit: Pick up a Senate seat on ebay.



Holes: As if we don't have enough to worry about, now we learn there's a black hole at the center of our galaxy.

The "Bush Legacy Project"

Bush Puppet-Masters Karl Rove and Karen Hughes apparently have begun to rewrite the history of this failed presidency.



Their work will undoubtedly be recognized for its excellence, and for its contribution to the genre of great American literature.

The anti-intellectualism continues

Sarah Palin = stupid = OK



President-Elect Obama's Cabinet members = smart = suspect

Dire Straits live: "On Every Street"

This is among the best rock performances ever, by the band Bob Dylan calls "the only band that plays like an organic whole." As always, guitarist/singer Mark Knopfler dazzles. (According to urbandictionary.com, "Eric Clapton has admitted an inferiority complex because of Knopfler's majestic guitar stylings.") Also check out the amazing pedal steel guitar of Paul Franklin, who IMHO even outshines Knopfler here, and the drumming of Chris Whitten that powers the song ahead for all seven minutes.

Obama sure as hell can walk the walk!

The presidential bully pulpit has been gathering dust lo these many years. No longer.



President-Elect Obama cannot and is not waiting for Inauguration Day to assert much-needed leadership.

Senior Moments

Bad: Where's my car?



Good: I thought it was Sunday night, with work tomorrow. Then I tuned into "Hot Jazz Saturday Night" on the radio.

Expressions that make me cringe

"Going forward"



"At the end of the day"