@notdoctorstreet: I suppose that sentiment works for your average white college liberal -- I guess that's why King has a holiday and Malcolm X doesn't -- but I'm sure there's lots of people in Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Algeria, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Chile, Argentina, and Vietnam who'd beg to differ.
It's also interesting to note that at the time of his arrest and subsequent 27 years' imprisonment as part of the "Rivonia Seven", Nelson Mandela and the ANC were making plans for armed uprising against the apartheid regime and were, in fact, already engaged in acts of sabotage against state-run infrastructure.
It's also interesting to note that at the time of his arrest and subsequent 27 years' imprisonment as part of the "Rivonia Seven", Nelson Mandela and the ANC were making plans for armed uprising against the apartheid regime and were, in fact, already engaged in acts of sabotage against state-run infrastructure.
Y'know, when I first saw this news, my first feelings were of astonished disgust, but I was unable to express them properly because I couldn't stop laughing.
@Trai_Dep: * Until, inevitably, like kittens are drawn to milk, they sink into the same self-dealing and Corporatist larceny that their Republican peers are renowned for, that is...
...if they can find room; they'll find the Democrats are already there.
...if they can find room; they'll find the Democrats are already there.
Surveillance drones? Al-riiii-iigghht! Target practice!
@seejanewrite: Actually, now that you mention it... didn't some photographer, sometime in the past few years, put out a foto essay consisting of images of abandoned shopping malls? As I recall, they were the big enclosed kind, not just strip malls, and some of the interiors looked wonderfully post-apocalyptic.
Wow, these are really fascinating. I'm especially digging nos. 6, 9, and 10.
@SpeedyGonzalas i7: ...and I'll bet that right this moment, a bunch of British DJs are hanging around a friend's laptop in a pub, seeing that foto and thinking wow, what a smashing photo to use on the palm card for our next gig!
@OneTrackLover: Damn, dude, you need to quit reading the New York Times. Still, I know what you mean; at least Mussolini got the trains running on time, right?
Oh, and don't forget... Iran under the Shah, Chile under Pinochet and South Vietnam in the '60s all had "stable, pro-Western" governments.
Oh, and don't forget... Iran under the Shah, Chile under Pinochet and South Vietnam in the '60s all had "stable, pro-Western" governments.
True dat... in the end, it was people power in the streets that finally did it, but Facebook was apparently an important news-gathering and organizing tool.
Much of this situation was pushed over the edge by Wikileaks and the attendant news-suppression and censorship battles. Wikileaks served both as a tool and a catalyst for the uprising. From all accounts, Anonymous had a pretty fair hand in all of this as well.
Oh, and btw, for all my fellow Washingtonians on this thread: no, dumbass, not that Ben Ali.
Much of this situation was pushed over the edge by Wikileaks and the attendant news-suppression and censorship battles. Wikileaks served both as a tool and a catalyst for the uprising. From all accounts, Anonymous had a pretty fair hand in all of this as well.
Oh, and btw, for all my fellow Washingtonians on this thread: no, dumbass, not that Ben Ali.
@Sixen: A couple of years ago, as part of an anniversary retrospective documentary, PBS re-ran the complete television transmission from Apollo 8 in lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, 1968. I was eleven years old back then, and my reaction at the time was not weeping at all, but along the lines of "whoa, awesome!"
On Christmas Eve 2008, however, at the age of 51, my reaction was entirely different. I sat there watching the grainy, noisy old video, listened to the voice wishing me Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you on the good Earth crackling and hissing across a quarter-million miles of space; my memories of those days and the intervening years came rushing back, and the tears broke loose and wouldn't stop, as if a switch had kicked on in my head.
On Christmas Eve 2008, however, at the age of 51, my reaction was entirely different. I sat there watching the grainy, noisy old video, listened to the voice wishing me Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you on the good Earth crackling and hissing across a quarter-million miles of space; my memories of those days and the intervening years came rushing back, and the tears broke loose and wouldn't stop, as if a switch had kicked on in my head.
@Sixen: I wept quietly at the end of The English Patient. I couldn't hide it from my wife, though, and she seemed quite touched. She also let me know that while I was trying to keep my weeping low-key, the theater's womens' restroom was packed full of unabashed sobbing.
(Seriously, guys; if you didn't cry -- even just a little bit -- at the end of The English Patient, then you've got a hole in yer soul.)
(Seriously, guys; if you didn't cry -- even just a little bit -- at the end of The English Patient, then you've got a hole in yer soul.)
@Duo-tone: Actually, I'd love for whoever did this study to do a follow-up study that explores the whole "you're so cute when you're angry" thing in guys.
For the record, though, I don't think my wife is cute when she's angry; I think she's fucking terrifying.
I've also been really turned on by tomboys, ever since junior high school -- and totally put off by "girly girls" -- for some reason. It might have something to do with feeling secure about my manhood, or some shit. Needless to say, this led to some problems, as at least two of my biggest crushes in high school and college turned out to be lesbians. They were smart, funny, really cool, cute as hell -- and lesbians. Fuckin' broke my heart.
My wife isn't necessarily tomboyish, though -- she's assertive and independent, but still "feminine" (for lack of a better way to say it).
For the record, though, I don't think my wife is cute when she's angry; I think she's fucking terrifying.
I've also been really turned on by tomboys, ever since junior high school -- and totally put off by "girly girls" -- for some reason. It might have something to do with feeling secure about my manhood, or some shit. Needless to say, this led to some problems, as at least two of my biggest crushes in high school and college turned out to be lesbians. They were smart, funny, really cool, cute as hell -- and lesbians. Fuckin' broke my heart.
My wife isn't necessarily tomboyish, though -- she's assertive and independent, but still "feminine" (for lack of a better way to say it).
@churchpants: Damn' straight. One of the things I liked about Roy Orbison is the way he could do a tune like "Crying" and make it seem as if he was the only guy who ever felt that way.
I still miss him.
I still miss him.
@GuidedbyVices: Actually, as I understand it, sexual assault -- at least as we know it today -- isn't necessarily motivated by arousal, but by the feeling of power.
However, like Dennis Miller, I could be wrong.
However, like Dennis Miller, I could be wrong.
The smell of tears, huh? Well, I'll be damned... and all this time, I thought I was turned off by the cheap emotional manipulation.
@spence900: Which one -- The Room, or Plan 9?
Plan 9 lapsed into public domain in the mid '80s, and can be downloaded at archive.org.
I'd been scouring discount bins at video stores ever since my wife and I rented it on VHS about fifteen or so years ago, and was dispairing of ever finding a copy anywhere until I was surfing archive.org in search of trashy old Grade-B horror and sci-fi faves of mine and, lo and behold, there it was!
"Why is it so important that you contact the governments of our Earth?"
"Because of death... because all you of Earth are idiots!"
Plan 9 lapsed into public domain in the mid '80s, and can be downloaded at archive.org.
I'd been scouring discount bins at video stores ever since my wife and I rented it on VHS about fifteen or so years ago, and was dispairing of ever finding a copy anywhere until I was surfing archive.org in search of trashy old Grade-B horror and sci-fi faves of mine and, lo and behold, there it was!
"Why is it so important that you contact the governments of our Earth?"
"Because of death... because all you of Earth are idiots!"
@Joe__Welcome: Don't look now, but Malcolm X invented that one. For real.
I've seen the columnists at Black Agenda Report use "lawn jockey" quite often, usually in reference to clowns like Clarence Thomas.
I've seen the columnists at Black Agenda Report use "lawn jockey" quite often, usually in reference to clowns like Clarence Thomas.
What do you mean, "Juan Williams is now a clown"? That turdball's been the official lawn jockey for every crank-ass right-wing policy ever invented.
And what's this about "liberal orthdox" at NPR? I mean, aren't they supposed to be the goddamn' liberal network.
(D'ahh, fuck NPR, anyway. Goddamn' phonies.)
And what's this about "liberal orthdox" at NPR? I mean, aren't they supposed to be the goddamn' liberal network.
(D'ahh, fuck NPR, anyway. Goddamn' phonies.)
@johnny_carsick: He unhinges his jaw and eats scenes alive...
Y'know, I've seen Cage's range of expressions -- all one of them -- and I don't think he's capable of unhinging his jaw.
Y'know, I've seen Cage's range of expressions -- all one of them -- and I don't think he's capable of unhinging his jaw.
@MisterClarkKent: Now, there's one actor who I definitely hate rationally. I've seen his work, and to this day I'd love to know just how the hell he could be considered the best actor of his generation. If I were a member of his generation, I'd feel really insulted.
