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Saturday Morning Open Thread

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Blog Related
Posted on Sat May 28, 2011 at 11:14:56 AM EST
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Happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Remember today's match of the decade, Barca- ManU from Wembley. Go Blaugrana!

Open Thread.

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    Saturday Morning Open Thread | 48 comments (48 topical)

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    It's DVR'd (5.00 / 4) (#2)
    by Militarytracy on Sat May 28, 2011 at 11:26:08 AM EST
    Cuz I'm told I'm outta here at noon for prescheduled FUN activities, or as my husband describes it when the military does it to him, command issued and designed free time.

    Happy Birthday... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Sat May 28, 2011 at 12:14:38 PM EST
    Enjoy the day and the preplanned FUN!

    Parent
    Have a wonderful day. (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by oculus on Sat May 28, 2011 at 01:09:46 PM EST


    Parent
    Happy birthday, Tracy (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Zorba on Sat May 28, 2011 at 01:20:34 PM EST
    And have lots of fun!

    Parent
    Happy Birthday, MT! (5.00 / 2) (#17)
    by caseyOR on Sat May 28, 2011 at 04:46:06 PM EST
    Have a great day of fun with the family.

    Parent
    Happy Birthday! (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by Amiss on Sun May 29, 2011 at 01:08:10 AM EST
    Hope you end up having a wonderful week-end!

    Parent
    Gil Scott Heron, R.I.P. (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by Dadler on Sat May 28, 2011 at 02:01:43 PM EST
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. (LINK)

    Gil Scott-Heron (5.00 / 1) (#13)
    by john horse on Sat May 28, 2011 at 03:21:42 PM EST
    Noone better exemplified the phrase "speak truth to power" better than Gil Scott-Heron at his peak.

    For those who have never heard of Gil Scott-Heron, he was a African American political poet/musician from the 70's who has been called the "godfather of rap."  For those not familiar with his work, besides "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" he wrote another great song called "The Bottle".

    RIP

    Parent

    I would also recommend (none / 0) (#32)
    by Peter G on Sun May 29, 2011 at 02:46:18 PM EST
    "Johannesburg" (as recorded in 1976 or live on British TV that year, or live at an anti-apartheid rally in 1988) to those looking for a Gil Scott-Heron retrospective.

    Parent
    If you like that, here's more GSH classics (none / 0) (#38)
    by Peter G on Sun May 29, 2011 at 08:04:09 PM EST
    On the curse of drug addiction, written as if from the inside, although I think many years before he experienced it himself in the crack era: Home Is Where the Hatred Is.
    and on the multifacted impacts of alcohol abuse: The Bottle

    Parent
    Just so we don't leave out a substance (none / 0) (#40)
    by ruffian on Mon May 30, 2011 at 06:37:14 AM EST
    Angel Dust

    Parent
    Damn... (none / 0) (#41)
    by kdog on Mon May 30, 2011 at 07:02:48 AM EST
    that sh*t is mad funky.

    Need to turn myself on to more GSH...thnaks for the edumacation y'all.

     

    Parent

    "Whitey on the moon..." (none / 0) (#42)
    by kdog on Mon May 30, 2011 at 07:05:59 AM EST
    Pure genius.

    Whitey in Iraq and Afghanistan too...

    Parent

    Sad news indeed. (5.00 / 1) (#14)
    by jeffinalabama on Sat May 28, 2011 at 03:22:06 PM EST


    Parent
    In one of those odd coincidences (none / 0) (#23)
    by ruffian on Sun May 29, 2011 at 06:38:22 AM EST
    Friday night I was looking up some Gil Scott Heron videos to share with a friend that was unfamiliar. Woke up yesterday to the news of his passing. Really felt like the end of an era to me.

    I had a dear friend in my Californa youth who I bonded with in part over our mutual admiration for GSH. We were new at a job together and when we heard that our boss played the guitar, this guy i had hardly paid attention to mused  'if he sings I bet he sounds like Gil Scott Heron'. One of those remarks that lets you know someone is going to be special to you. We were the only pasty white suburbanites in our crowd who knew who GSH was, and his recordings became a staple of our mix tapes and jam sessions.

    Anyway, RIP GSH, and Tom if you are out there hiding I thought of you all day too.

    Parent

    Saw "Too Big To Fail" (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by cal1942 on Sat May 28, 2011 at 02:29:52 PM EST
    on HBO plus the "analysis documentary" that followed.

    The first few minutes of the film consists of a few quick highlight clips about deregulation from Reagan to Clinton.  The movie then turns into an attempt to portray the financial meltdown as a human drama limited to the principle players.  No mention made of the real human drama; the massive damage to everyday people.

    The film attempts to make Henry Paulsen a sympathetic character and the analysis documentary that follows continues with that theme as well as shedding a tear or two for Richard Fuld (Lehman Bros).

    Paulsen got huge money from the bubble and was a major player in bringing about the mess when he was CEO of Goldman-Sachs and walked away with over half a billion dollars.  He paid no capital gains on his sale of Goldman-Sachs stock when he took the job as Secretary of Treasury.  The movie never mentioned Henry's mass "earnings" from  the bubble and his windfall, saving $50 million in capital gains.  

    Wouldn't have fit the story line.

    In one scene, as Lehman is going down the drain, Fuld complains that he's just personally lost something like $500 million.  The movie never pointed out that Fuld had already pocketed $485 million over a 7 year period during the bubble.

    The movie never pointed out that the principal players came out of the mess they made obscenely  rich.

    Overall, a bit revolting and unsatisfying.  

    Too bad HBO didn't contract to air Inside Job.

    Thanks- you just saved me two hours (none / 0) (#24)
    by ruffian on Sun May 29, 2011 at 06:44:47 AM EST
    Does not sound worth watching.

    Parent
    Greetings ruffian (none / 0) (#30)
    by cal1942 on Sun May 29, 2011 at 12:51:09 PM EST
    I had a suspicion before I saw it in part because the trailers weren't promising, the book author is a finance writer and his last name is Sorkin.

    So I went in with a chip on my shoulder.

    You may get a different impression.

    The Hollywood treatment must make it entertaining and that, I'm assuming, is the reason for the human drama angle.  

    I do believe that this subject matter shouldn't be twisted for entertainment purposes.  This is why contracting for Inside Job would have been better for HBO.  If you haven't seen Inside Job then I'd recommend it with 5 stars.  Inside Job is so well made it's actually entertaining.

    Parent

    Inside Job was very good (none / 0) (#37)
    by ruffian on Sun May 29, 2011 at 04:18:38 PM EST
    I had hopes that Too Big To Fail would be that good. I will probably watch it eventually, but just won't rush.  I've seen Aaron Ross Sorkin on Bill Maher's show a couple of times, and he does seem to know his stuff. I never get the impression of huge pro Wall Street bias.

    and I agree about the trailers. They were not real promising, for some reason. Maybe telling it as a drama instead of a documentary is just inherently tougher. It would have been good if they had put in some characters based on the CDS salesmen that great This American Life episode interviewed. That would have gotten to the heart of it and been entertaining also. Those guys had real stories to tell.

    Parent

    I thought that it was accurate (none / 0) (#31)
    by Militarytracy on Sun May 29, 2011 at 02:02:30 PM EST
    from a certain perspective, we just watched it.  Astonishing though how they did all they could to play God with everyone.  It was wild when the Barclay deal fell through.  It never occurred to them that some regulator might say, "Hey, wait a minute here!"

    Parent
    MD men beat Duke to advance to (5.00 / 0) (#21)
    by Anne on Sat May 28, 2011 at 09:15:59 PM EST
    finals of NCAA lacrosse championship against Virginia on Monday.

    It's always a good day when Duke loses... :-)

    Nouriel (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ga6thDem on Sat May 28, 2011 at 11:25:57 AM EST
    Roubini says UE will be 9.8% next year with economic growth being only 2% for '12.

    I think I'm grouchy all the time because of the economy and I don't think that's going to end next year if Roubini is right.

    If he's right, anybody who thinks Obama is a shoo in for '12 is living in dreamland.

    Absolutely no traffic slowdowns to and (none / 0) (#6)
    by oculus on Sat May 28, 2011 at 01:24:41 PM EST
    from Costa Mesa yesterday to see Royal Danish Ballet perform an 19th century ballet about Naples!  We also greatly helped the economy at S. Coast Plaza.  

    Lucky you! (none / 0) (#9)
    by Zorba on Sat May 28, 2011 at 02:36:50 PM EST
    I just adore ballet.  Many, many years ago, I was fortunate enough to see the Royal Ballet with Margo Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev together.  Yes, she was getting a bit up there in years, but still.....absolutely magic.

    Parent
    National Ballet of Cuba is next, but (none / 0) (#10)
    by oculus on Sat May 28, 2011 at 02:38:44 PM EST
    I haven't sprung for a ticket just yet.  Marvelous in San Diego a few years ago, espec. the male dancers.  Tonight, Gil Shaham playing Beethoven violin concerto.  He's a fave.  

    Parent
    I am (none / 0) (#15)
    by Zorba on Sat May 28, 2011 at 03:23:36 PM EST
    so jealous!  Do go see the National Ballet of Cuba.  And I adore Gill Shaham, as well as his sister, pianist Orli Shaham.  Their parents were both scientists, but kudos to them for nurturing their children's talent in music.

    Parent
    It's all your fault! Ticketed for (none / 0) (#18)
    by oculus on Sat May 28, 2011 at 04:47:42 PM EST
    National Ballet of Cuba.

    Parent
    If you don't want (5.00 / 1) (#20)
    by Zorba on Sat May 28, 2011 at 06:02:19 PM EST
    to use the tickets, I'll take them.  ;-)  Have a wonderful time!

    Parent
    No really, (none / 0) (#35)
    by sj on Sun May 29, 2011 at 03:09:11 PM EST
    lucky YOU!  Dame Margo Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev.  Wow.

    Parent
    They were (5.00 / 1) (#36)
    by Zorba on Sun May 29, 2011 at 04:10:08 PM EST
    marvelous.  I was fortunate to have been able to see them.  

    Parent
    When we drove from SF to SD last week... (none / 0) (#12)
    by Dadler on Sat May 28, 2011 at 03:16:10 PM EST
    ...we hit NO traffic through LA/Orange Co, and this was starting after 3 p.m. on a weekday.  I was stunned.  No bigger direct evidence of the economy's freefall to me.

    Parent
    I agree. The staff at S. Coast was most (none / 0) (#16)
    by oculus on Sat May 28, 2011 at 04:26:56 PM EST
    welcoming.  Although ballet venue was sold out.

    Parent
    Thank you for your NFTT donation oculus!!!! (none / 0) (#25)
    by Militarytracy on Sun May 29, 2011 at 07:35:06 AM EST


    Parent
    You're welcome. Hoping others here will (none / 0) (#28)
    by oculus on Sun May 29, 2011 at 12:06:44 PM EST
    kick in too.  

    Parent
    Don't keep us in suspense. How did you (none / 0) (#29)
    by oculus on Sun May 29, 2011 at 12:08:53 PM EST
    celebrate you bday?

    Parent
    We had a pool party with more margaritas (5.00 / 2) (#33)
    by Militarytracy on Sun May 29, 2011 at 02:48:47 PM EST
    That seems to be the drink of the summer.  Then we went to dinner at probably the only place around here that has a chef.  It is called 'Frogs'.  They have a very decent wine list too, very hard to find around here.  It was so hot though yesterday that we settled on beer with our meal.  And they built a Publix in Dothan, and my daughter who really has her hands full got my bday cake from them and it had a layer of raspberry in between the layers.  It was delicious.  We challenge ourselves to make our own family bday cakes though, and all bday cakes must have ALL the candles on them.  My cakes are getting real scary and running out of candle room. Store bought was unusual to include how edible it was.  One year my husband and daughter tried to make this brownie bday cake and you could have built houses with them.  And this year Zoey wanted a princess cake so I made a castle for her and got some little disney princess figures that were strolling outside it.  I also had to wrap up a few presents so I gave a couple of bags of frosting to my husband to finish the castle details.  He says to me, "What details?"  I had been putting vines and leaves on it, but it needed windows and doorways and things like that.  I told him all boys know what castles have on them and I come back in the room about 15 mins later and the castle is covered in those "t" openings to shoot arrows out of.  "Good Lord man, this is a girl's princess cake....not a prince killing cake!"  So I had to put tons of vines and little purple flowers all over it to tame down the killing castle.  They did buy edible markers and put graffiti on my cake though.  Then I came home and we watched that cool vampire movie 'Let Me In' because I like vampires.  My husband had recently had to do one of those 24 hours duty things and he had watched it then and knew I would really like it. I did.  I feel like Twilight has done enough damage to my one and only favorite horror genre.  I didn't watch the soccer game until this morning.  I was too tired.

    Parent
    Sounds like you had (none / 0) (#39)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon May 30, 2011 at 04:51:54 AM EST
    a wonderful birthday and your birthday party sounds like our memorial day party except we had three guys trying to figure out how to use one of those margarita machines. We had blue ones but i'm not sure what flavor that was.

    Did you take cake decorating classes to be able to do all that on your granddaughter's cake?

    Parent

    I have always had a very strong artistic bend (none / 0) (#43)
    by Militarytracy on Mon May 30, 2011 at 08:13:56 AM EST
    So I'm lucky with "cake challenge".  I enjoy when I have to be a part of making the cakes, but when others do I think they get a little stressed.  I never thought I would get into cake decorating, mostly because it seemed expensive and I had other artistic things that ate up my pennies but it really went wild out there and Wilton started putting all the decorating items in big packages in common stores so eventually I ended up with it all.  And for some reason the year that Martha Stewart did the African Animal christmas cookie tree I really liked that whole theme and I learned how to decorate cookies using her methods like she does that year.  With two granddaughters, now I get more cake practice.  This year Josh wanted a HALO cake.  How to make a cake look like a burned out planet at war where blood is purple?  I made a tiered base where the top tier was smaller and then we tore up chocolate cake and set it into the frosting to look like debris and jagged rocks and dusted it with powdered sugar and cocoa to look even worse.  And then my husband carefully set the figures up on it where one of the villans was being attacked by one of the good guys I guess, and he had a knife to the villans throat.  We really get into the challenge sometimes :)

    Parent
    I took (5.00 / 1) (#46)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon May 30, 2011 at 09:10:33 AM EST
    all THREE Wilton Classes and I probably have $200.00 worth of equipment that I rarely use. Even to this day when I go to Michael's, I have a hard "resisting" the new stuff they put out.

    Some of those things though like gum paste flowers I will never make again. They were just too much trouble. I'm not especially creative but it means so much to my kids when I actually make the cake specially for them. I'm sure your family feels the same way.

    Parent

    oops can't spell villain this morning (none / 0) (#44)
    by Militarytracy on Mon May 30, 2011 at 08:15:56 AM EST


    Parent
    Blue margaritas? (none / 0) (#45)
    by Militarytracy on Mon May 30, 2011 at 08:22:54 AM EST
    Blue Curacao?  They have so many flavorings out there though now it could be raspberry too or something different.

    Parent
    All i (none / 0) (#47)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon May 30, 2011 at 09:11:37 AM EST
    know is that they sure were good and you couldn't taste the tequila in them like you could with the traditional Margarita.

    Parent
    I was just remembering a liquor we had (none / 0) (#48)
    by Militarytracy on Mon May 30, 2011 at 12:53:23 PM EST
    around here at Christmas time that disappeared quickly, Hpnotiq.  I bet that would be terrific in margaritas.

    Parent
    Looks like it's FC Barcelona's day (none / 0) (#11)
    by Dadler on Sat May 28, 2011 at 03:13:00 PM EST
    Two second half goals, neither a cheapie.  Miracles happens, but ManU seems a step slow right now.

    They did what I call ball watching (none / 0) (#34)
    by Militarytracy on Sun May 29, 2011 at 02:51:24 PM EST
    for most of the second half.  Rooney reserves his energy and then strikes like a bad snake.  He does a lot of ball watching but when he chooses to move he is so damn fast.  I wonder though that if ManU isn't getting caught up in that dynamic but not all of them can pull that off.  So I noticed particularly during the second half that Barca played and ManU watched.

    Parent
    Messi is Football god. (none / 0) (#19)
    by steviez314 on Sat May 28, 2011 at 05:30:27 PM EST
    That is all.

    Here's a little Memorial Day FUN for you today! (none / 0) (#26)
    by ParkyBill on Sun May 29, 2011 at 10:34:32 AM EST
    Memorial Day: It's All About Caribou Barbie! (The Video!)

    It would be nice to see some progressive comments there to counteract the Palin Hate Screed I've gotten so far.  Thanks!

    Burke and Hare (none / 0) (#27)
    by KevinBoulder on Sun May 29, 2011 at 11:38:06 AM EST
    I have seen a really interesting new documentary about the serial killers Burke and Hare, and would recommend it for anyone interested in serial killers and true crime in general -http://www.burkeandharedvd.com.

    Saturday Morning Open Thread | 48 comments (48 topical)

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