Dose of funny

Hoping to do a Saturday Random Ten later on. Yesterday I forgot my iPod in a jacket I didn't bring to work. Which was all right otherwise.

Semi-randomly came across this. I read a description of a George Carlin appearance on Carol Burnett, but this is apparently a different one. (The writer described him as clean-shaven and still with a crew cut, which isn't true here.) Obviously he's in his "work clean" mode here, and he can pull it off. Watch for the George Wallace joke near the end.

PS, will answer comments later. Need to get cleaned up and go eat something now.

Where we ask the questions that perhaps shouldn't be answered

So there's this recipe book, apparently...

All sorts of practical questions arise. Like, how are you supposed to have enough to cook with? Do you save it? It's not something I've ever considered the possibility of going bad. Never really had reason to think of it.

England stings

"You are very cynical, Herr Cornelius. I am tempted to believe that Ragnarok is almost with us.

"That's an odd thing for a Christian minister to say."

"I am more than that — I am a Scandinavian Lutheran. I have no doubt of the truths inheren in our old pagan mythology."

"I am a British atheist and I share your opinion."

Right now I'm reading The Final Programme, the first of Michael Moorcock's Jerry Cornelius books. A few years back I read The Condition of Muzak, which ended the quartet of novels. (Moorcock has since returned to the character and his environs in several shorter works.) It's an interesting vision: a swinging Byronic hero in a Marvel Comics version of then-contemporary (1960s) London. What I admire most is that Moore moves onto or sticks with whatever stimulates his mind at the moment. He breaks all the rules "How to Write Fiction" authors set out.

Title: TBD; Header: You're looking at it

I'm working on a story now.  Not sure what I'll have when I'm finished.  Something, hopefully.  The thread can be hard to start and easy to lose.  I'm working a few tricks to make sure that doesn't happen.

There will be a lot of pink, I'm pretty sure.

Rewound Friday Random Ten

Watched another movie tonight.  This time I popped it in at the start of dinner, rather than waiting until after dinner.  Still, whenever I start I'm going to fast-forward through trailers and ads.  Life's too short.

The movie itself, Source Code, was pretty good.  Definitely well-acted, even if the dialogue did creak here and there.

1. Johnny Mathis - All the Time
2. Love - Live and Let Live
3. Chic - Real People
4. R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe
5. Radiohead - Morning Bell/Amnesiac
6. The Magnetic Fields - Desert Island
7. TV on the Radio - Love Dog
8. They Might Be Giants - Stone Cold Coup d'Etat
9. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band - Piggy Bank Love
10. Sarah Vaughan - East of the Sun (And West of the Moon)

brrrright idea

Last night I went to a Starbucks and fou nd myself sitting over a cooling vent. Now keep in mind that yesterday was a real scorcher, as is expected for the entire week.  So yes, they'd be expected to crank the AC.  I wondered if they weren't overdoing it a little.

In fact it's a habit that forms for much of the summer.  Carry around a jacket outside, only wear it once you get inside.

Meanwhile, in the Sunshine State

In itself, somewhat perfunctory. I had been expecting this verdict for a while. Just casually following the news of the trial, you could tell things weren't going well for the prosecution. Zimmerman's lawyers were presumably not cheap, and say what you will, they earned their fees.

Mark O’Mara, one of Mr. Zimmerman’s lawyers, said, “George Zimmerman was never guilty of anything except firing the gun in self-defense.”

This case rankles, and it's going to rankle for some time. Strangely enough, O'Mara's comment hints at why. Zimmerman's self defense claim rested on allegations against Trayvon Martin. In effect, the defense managed to convict Martin posthumously. Legally that's no more true than it is of any other successful self-defense claim. In reality, though, people will see the record that the killer was acquitted because the victim was about to beat him to death, and they'll judge accordingly. This despite the paucity of physical evidence on this point and the fact that Zimmerman was never called on to swear to it in court.

The other reason this story won't go away is, of course, race. And that remains one of the great unsettleds of life in this country. But another thing about following this case is that if you read anything about it online, you see the comment sections that go along with the story. And nearly every comment section I've seen on Martin-related stories has had comments that not only support George Zimmerman, but which express schadenfreude at Martin's fate. Need it ba asked if reactions would be the same if a white boy visiting his father had been killed? Apparently yes, it needs be.

Also I feel like I should link to this, which well expresses some things that need to be said.