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Tuesday Night Open Thread

I'm done with Osama for a while. There has to be other news, the world hasn't stopped.

The singers on The Voice are really good.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    One comment (none / 0) (#1)
    by Ga6thDem on Tue May 03, 2011 at 10:18:25 PM EST
    about Osama:
    Does anybody else find it ironic that Osama was found with Coke and Pepsi? Is there any more of a quintessential american product than that?

    This whole kind of reminds me of the politburo in Russia that was letting the workers forage for food while they kept all the good stuff to themselves.

    I had actually thought (none / 0) (#2)
    by andgarden on Tue May 03, 2011 at 10:25:27 PM EST
    that there was a longstanding boycott of Coke products by the Arab world because the company does business in Israel. I guess maybe that ended?

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    I think both of us (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by brodie on Tue May 03, 2011 at 11:12:20 PM EST
    would have found it even more amusing if they'd found cases of Fresca® in the OBL compound.  ;-)

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    Fresca tastes like Fresca is: (none / 0) (#5)
    by andgarden on Tue May 03, 2011 at 11:53:27 PM EST
    Maybe (none / 0) (#10)
    by Ga6thDem on Wed May 04, 2011 at 06:25:00 AM EST
    or maybe Osama was just a hypocrite who thought the rules were different for him.

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    This is the guy who supposedly... (none / 0) (#3)
    by Dadler on Tue May 03, 2011 at 10:31:09 PM EST
    ...wouldn't even drink refrigerated water, he was so pure.

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    the guy never could pick a side (none / 0) (#9)
    by ruffian on Wed May 04, 2011 at 06:12:00 AM EST
    Reading an entertaining (none / 0) (#6)
    by brodie on Tue May 03, 2011 at 11:54:49 PM EST
    book about Jackie Kennedy's editor years (Jackie as Editor, by Greg Lawrence).  So far it seems fair and not sleazy with irresponsible gossip and lousy or nonexistent sources as many of these books about that family are.  She was quite an accomplished and respected hands-on editor, at two major publishing houses, with about 100 books produced that she was responsible for or had a significant hand in editing.

    A couple of anecdotes:  After her two kids in the mid-1980s told her about Michael Jackson, whom she'd never heard of, she initiated conversations with him resulting in a book deal.  Except it turned out, over months then years, that MJ didn't want to reveal himself.  An increasingly frustrated Jackie and another from her firm go to visit Jackson at his family compound in Encino, CA to gently lay down the law about getting a publishable manuscript done.  

    Jackie is privately appalled when MJ shows her around, the exotic animals, a dog kept penned up in a small space and looking lonely, the gaudy and often weird furnishings.  Quite a vulgar display, and she wonders semi-seriously later to her colleague about calling the ASPCA about the questionable treatment of the animals.

    The manuscript turns out badly but the book eventually gets done (and is a best-seller for a while) after a final request/ultimatum from the Jackson camp that Jackie herself write the Introduction.  She does -- but only in the briefest and most underwhelming way.  One paragraph worth of bland Intro.  Jackie did not end up liking the bizarre Jackson.

    Another anecdote, and an all-too human story:  Jackie befriends singer-songwriter Carly Simon sometime in the late 80s, and one day Simon invites her to go see Warren Beatty's new movie, Bugsy.  Problem is another big movie is out at the same time, JFK, and so Simon, to avoid any awkwardness for Jackie, goes to some lengths to find a theater where JFK is not showing along with Bugsy.  A theater is finally found, and they arrive just before showtime. Simon sits down with Jackie in the movie house and, apparently out of residual nervousness over the JFK movie being an issue, immediately asks her, "So, have you seen JFK?"

    Jackie:  "No Carly, of course not."  

    Great anecdotes. (none / 0) (#7)
    by andgarden on Wed May 04, 2011 at 12:04:21 AM EST
    Silly (none / 0) (#8)
    by Tony on Wed May 04, 2011 at 12:20:11 AM EST
    But absolutely love this video of Michelle Obama doing the Dougie.

    That was fun (none / 0) (#11)
    by MO Blue on Wed May 04, 2011 at 06:59:18 AM EST
    Michelle can move. The lady on the far right of Michelle, who was shown at the very end, really was excellent.

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    I thought that Mrs. Obama (none / 0) (#12)
    by KeysDan on Wed May 04, 2011 at 08:50:57 AM EST
    really looked beautiful at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

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