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Sunday Night Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:04:37 PM EST
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Time for an open thread. What's going on in your world?

All topics welcome

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    Sunday Night Open Thread | 41 comments (41 topical)

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    Clinton is coming (5.00 / 2) (#2)
    by kidneystones on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:16:00 PM EST
    Just came back from a beautiful bike ride with my wife. We're going to do our part to end the recession by buying a new home.

    The public sector solutions we see from the US give us no cause for optimism. The Japanese economy shrunk by 12% last quarter.

    HRC's arrival will remind us of what was and what could have been.

    Let's hope we see real change.

    I'm in Yamanashi (none / 0) (#19)
    by weltec2 on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 02:56:14 AM EST
    on the side of Yatsugatake. I'll be here until March 6ish when I'll return to Tokyo. Do you have an itinerary? Is there one posted somewhere? I'm on sabbatical from Sophia University, so I could change my schedule with no problem.

    Parent
    Roland Burris (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by andgarden on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:38:41 PM EST
    continues to embarrass the Senate and himself.

    Let's be honest here, he fits right in. (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by tigercourse on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:42:35 PM EST
    More seriously, Murtha and a bunch of his cronies are still being investigated, in perpetuity. I'm surprised that doesn't get more attention.

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    Murtha delivers (none / 0) (#6)
    by andgarden on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:49:30 PM EST
    Burris is a malignant buffoon.

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    Do you remember in (none / 0) (#10)
    by FoxholeAtheist on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:28:04 PM EST
    the film "Charlie Wilson's War", the main character makes a passing reference to a bogus quest to investigate Murtha. That would have been at least 20-25 years ago. Do you know if it was a factual tidbit?

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    Never seen the movie (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by andgarden on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:47:27 PM EST
    They might have known eachother from the defense appropriations subcommittee, though.

    Murtha was involved in Abscam but refused the bribe.

    Parent

    The movie (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by cal1942 on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 11:27:06 PM EST
    is worth seeing. Entertaining IMO. I found myself variously chuckling, muttering 'don't do that,' thinking, didn't any of you bother to read any history and my god this is all too casual.

    Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great as CIA operative Gust Avrakotos who came off as the only person who had even a remote clue that we might have regrets.

    Regretably the movie didn't mention the involvement of the Reagan administration, giving the impression that a single Congressman and a few CIA Ops implemented their own foreign policy.

    Beyond the scope of the story I suppose but regretable nonetheless.

    Still in all worth seeing.

    Parent

    As usual, history is written to ... (none / 0) (#20)
    by cymro on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 03:59:51 AM EST
    ... promote the myth that an individual "maverick" was entirely responsible for instigating a controversial event or activity. This creates the climate for a debate about whether that person should be considered "a hero" or "a villain", and in the process deflects any discussion of official government responsibility.

    If you can't think of at least half a dozen obvious examples, you have not been following US politics over the last 40 years.

    Parent

    This was a movie (none / 0) (#36)
    by cal1942 on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 09:38:51 AM EST
    not history.

    Unfortunately it will be considered history by many, probably most, who saw the picture.

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    Yeah, what Cal said... (none / 0) (#39)
    by FoxholeAtheist on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 10:46:12 AM EST


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    After turning the TV off (none / 0) (#1)
    by scribe on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:11:57 PM EST
    and unhooking it back about 2 months ago, I got around to hooking it back up and turning it on, yesterday.

    Oh, I'd seen TV in the interim and, when I wanted to watch something (like playoff football), I could always find someplace.  But my set was off.

    Turns out, I hadn't missed much.  

    The news is stupid, the shows worse, and the commercials inane.

    Of course, there was a Law & Order-a-thon last night, so justice* was served sliced, diced and deep-fried.

    I love my internets.
    -
    * Spelled "cops are always right", BTW.

    I am listening to a CD of (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by oculus on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 09:26:40 PM EST
    six short stories by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.  In one of the stories, the protagonist, who is in his mid-twenties, has a terrible hangover.  He remembers a possible cure:  turn on the morning talk shows and the rest of the stuff in your stomach will be cleared out.

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    I love Murakami's (none / 0) (#8)
    by Spamlet on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:17:27 PM EST
    "The Seventh Man."

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    Thanks. This is my intro to (none / 0) (#33)
    by oculus on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 09:35:44 AM EST
    this author, about whom Paul Theroux raved in "Ghost Train."  

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    Honestly, the news most days is so (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by Anne on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:15:04 PM EST
    grim that I more or less avoid it, except for weather and sports - and now that football season is over, I don't pay much attention to that, either (will pick up again when free-agency starts March 1st).

    Escapist TV is the only thing that makes sense, and I make no apologies for indulging in Top Chef and The Closer, American Idol, Ugly Betty, Fringe (really a very strange, but mesmerizing, show), Bones, Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters.  I've gotten bored with House, as it just seems like the same plot every week.

    It's not high-minded or at all intellectual - it's just an escape from the inanity of what the members of Congress are saying most of the time, and from the ridiculous interpretation of it all that we get from the talking heads.  I can barely stand more than a couple of minutes or so of listening to hypocritical Republicans - really, they reached new heights on this stimulus legislation - it's all making me just want to bury my head in the sand.

    And escaping into a good mystery is great for the blood pressure!

    Parent

    Indeed (5.00 / 2) (#9)
    by andgarden on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:19:39 PM EST


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    The news, via the MSM, is soul-destroying! (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by FoxholeAtheist on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 10:30:37 PM EST
    And crazy-making, to boot. It's bad enough to get it second hand through Media Matters et al.

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    I've even (none / 0) (#24)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 07:01:34 AM EST
    quit the weather because it gets interrupted with news of more layoffs or businesses going under. I just to the weather channel on the internet to find out what I need to know.

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    I've started doing that, too - (none / 0) (#26)
    by Anne on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:11:30 AM EST
    the weather is so packaged on the local news - they tease you with a little bit at the beginning, throw in more about halfway through, and don't give you the extended forecast until the end.  All designed to keep people watching the entire broadcast, no doubt; sometimes I just have to rebel against being so manipulated, lol.

    Besides, the forecast is so often not right that I've been going with an "it is what it is" approach.

    Or the George Carlin, Hippy-Dippy Weatherman approach:  Tonight: dark, getting lighter toward morning.

    Parent

    Hah! (none / 0) (#27)
    by Inspector Gadget on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 08:23:48 AM EST
    I had been watching the early morning news to get a sense of the roads before heading to work. They now over-sensationalize even that! After two days in a row being late because those fools reported dangerous black ice all over when it was really confined to small areas I wouldn't be traveling through, I stopped even listening to that and now check the DOT cameras instead.

    News should not be subjected to "ratings" wars. Advertising during news should be a flat rate and the same for every network. News anchors should not be promoted as local or national celebrities. Reporters who distort the news should be thanked for their efforts while they are reading their pink slips.

    I agree with you, Anne. Even if I'm still up at 11:00, I refuse to watch news because of the way they have played the manipulation game to get people to feel it is more important to hear the rest of what sounds really significant than to get a decent night's sleep. It's always something they left out of the 5:00 show, the last story of the broadcast, and nothing. I've concluded that if something truly is NEWS, they had better be talking about it at a time when everyone hears it.

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    Carlin could have written the weather (none / 0) (#35)
    by oculus on Mon Feb 16, 2009 at 09:37:27 AM EST
    blurb for "The Irish TImes."  Overcast, probably some rain, 2 seconds of sun.

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    College football (none / 0) (#13)
    by cal1942 on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 11:00:08 PM EST
    the relief valve of relief valves is over until spring practice, so for now the College basketball season is doing quite nicely.

    Old sitcoms currently in syndication are a daily relief.

    Now and then PBS' American Experience, NOVA and Bill Moyers' Journal are helpful.

    I also check out TCM (5.00 / 4) (#14)
    by Cream City on Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 11:07:32 PM EST
    for old classic flicks.  Great escapist stuff, the ones that have withstood the test of time -- like the best old sitcoms.  But they can be so short . . . I want more of the hour-long shows back in reruns, the odd and quirky ones like Northern Exposure and the great Due South.

    Parent
    Recommendations (none / 0) (#17)
    %%n