Month: November 2012

Current Affairs, Doc, Economy4 Comments

A deeper look at Herald-free Fridays

docphd

I spent the better part of the week digesting this item:One of the student newspapers at my alma mater is dropping its Friday edition for a “digital-first” approach. I obviously have some bias toward the dead-tree edition of publications but I also obviously have a bias toward the Internet. Both have been good to me for different reasons: I love advising the kids in our newsroom as they gather on deadline to pump out the paper. Conversely, without the Web, I’d just be a crank writing missives in a “Avengers” notebook. The Badger Herald isn’t the first to do this … Continue reading A deeper look at Herald-free Fridays

Athenae, Stupid Republican Tricks7 Comments

The Ownership Society

Ooh, Republicans are upset that Republicans look like bad ideas now: On the Sunday talk shows, senior Republicans, former Romney surrogates and prominent conservatives piled on their defeated presidential nominee for telling donors that he lost because President Obama bought off minorities and young voters with “gifts.” “It’s nuts,” said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on ABC’s “This Week.” “I mean, first of all, it’s insulting. … The job of a political leader in part is to understand the people. If we can’t offer a better future that is believable to more people, we’re not going to win.” Rumored 2016 … Continue reading The Ownership Society

Current Affairs, Happy Democrat Photo, Jude7 Comments

Hey Guys

judetoche

We have no time for your shenanigans. President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney’s “not impressed” look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012. Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, and Savannah Vinsant laugh at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but the President of the United States is kind of cool. Continue reading Hey Guys

Uncategorized15 Comments

Weekend Question Thread

Allison Hantschel

It’s getting cold out, and turtlenecks make us look like sausages. I keep buying them, because the Anne Hathaway types in the ads look so cozy and svelte, and then I get them on and I realize I look like a bag of meat. A warm bag of meat, but still: Bag. Of meat. Granted, I’m no little lamb, but I’m not that much bigger than average so it’s starting to feel like a design flaw that these things are force-fed to a populace that generally doesn’t look good in them. I vote for a turtleneck-less winter. Also death to … Continue reading Weekend Question Thread

Athenae, Current Affairs, Diary9 Comments

Like We’re Going to War

A bunch of stuff in no particular order: 1. I haven’t been around here as much because I took a second job, and while it is awesome, it is also an office job, which I haven’t had in quite some time, and it involves a commute, which I also haven’t had in some time. Plus I have some volunteer commitments I was kind of hoping wouldn’t manifest for a couple more months that decided to be all OH HAI YOUR ATTENTION WE NEEDZ IT. Mr. A, who is working full-time and in grad school and running a nonprofit, you know, … Continue reading Like We’re Going to War

Athenae, Diary3 Comments

Friday Ferretblogging: Claire Fail Edition

Allison Hantschel

Because she’s been an absolute monster all week, chewing on my shoes and making a pest of herself, I present to you a film entitled Claire Is A Less Than Stellar Judge of Distance: Silly mini-pet. (Yes, she’s fine, she misjudges a jump like that at least once an hour, and yes, that’s me laughing at her fail, because I’m a terrible parent.) A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Claire Fail Edition

Adrastos, Gret Stet Politics, PBJ, Political Crack, Stupid Republican Tricks13 Comments

PBJ: Get Smart?

Peter Adrastos Athas

The GOP post-mortems are coming fast and furious. This unintentionally funny one comes from my rabidly ambitious erstwhile Governor, Bobby Jindal: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich. In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was … Continue reading PBJ: Get Smart?

Current Affairs, Happy Democrat Photo, Jude7 Comments

Hey Guys

We have no time for your shenanigans. President Barack Obama jokingly mimics U.S. Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney’s “not impressed” look while greeting members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic gymnastics teams in the Oval Office, Nov. 15, 2012. Steve Penny, USA Gymnastics President, and Savannah Vinsant laugh at left. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but the President of the United States is kind of cool. Continue reading Hey Guys

Uncategorized15 Comments

Weekend Question Thread

It’s getting cold out, and turtlenecks make us look like sausages. I keep buying them, because the Anne Hathaway types in the ads look so cozy and svelte, and then I get them on and I realize I look like a bag of meat. A warm bag of meat, but still: Bag. Of meat. Granted, I’m no little lamb, but I’m not that much bigger than average so it’s starting to feel like a design flaw that these things are force-fed to a populace that generally doesn’t look good in them. I vote for a turtleneck-less winter. Also death to … Continue reading Weekend Question Thread

Adrastos, Malakatude, Political Crack, So Called Liberal Media, Stupid Republican Tricks2 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Walter Shapiro

Peter Adrastos Athas

Athenae took a whack at the veteran hack, Walter Shapiro earlier in the week. It’s my turn to play whack-a-hack by making Shapiro malaka of the week. Shapiro is a competent political reporter who has been around the block a time or three but he ‘s also one of the avatars of the Beltway conventional wisdom, which means that he’s nuts for Senator Walnuts and that’s why he wrote this tripe: Before the initials CIA came to stand for Covert Intimate Affairs, the battle over the next secretary of state would have been the main event of post-election November. Normally, … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Walter Shapiro

Adrastos, Boardwalk Empire Recaps, Television3 Comments

Boardwalk Empire Thread: Remus doesn’t get arrested

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’m late with this so I’m going to try something different and more concise. Hey, stop laughing out there, I can be positively terse at times. Anyway, here’s a list of things that we-or the characters-learned from the latest episode of Boardwalk Empire: Remus learns that corrupt politcians don’t always stay bought. He still hasn’t learned that referring to yourself in the third person makes you sound crazy or like Bob Dole. Nucky learns that you shouldn’t have important meetings with gangster gonniffs when you have a concusssion. It leads to mistaking your awesome ally Chalky White for a bootblack. … Continue reading Boardwalk Empire Thread: Remus doesn’t get arrested

Athenae, Diary3 Comments

Friday Ferretblogging: Claire Fail Edition

Because she’s been an absolute monster all week, chewing on my shoes and making a pest of herself, I present to you a film entitled Claire Is A Less Than Stellar Judge of Distance: http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf Silly mini-pet. (Yes, she’s fine, she misjudges a jump like that at least once an hour, and yes, that’s me laughing at her fail, because I’m a terrible parent.) A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Claire Fail Edition

Current Affairs, Doc, Economy4 Comments

A deeper look at Herald-free Fridays

I spent the better part of the week digesting this item:One of the student newspapers at my alma mater is dropping its Friday edition for a “digital-first” approach. I obviously have some bias toward the dead-tree edition of publications but I also obviously have a bias toward the Internet. Both have been good to me for different reasons: I love advising the kids in our newsroom as they gather on deadline to pump out the paper. Conversely, without the Web, I’d just be a crank writing missives in a “Avengers” notebook. The Badger Herald isn’t the first to do this … Continue reading A deeper look at Herald-free Fridays

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media11 Comments

Obama’s Massive Victory Means Obama is Hosed

Allison Hantschel

First, the credentials for the following stupidity: Walter Shapiro‘s Yahoo! News column examines what we know about the character and personalities of the 2012 candidates. Shapiro, who is covering his ninth presidential campaign, is also a special correspondent for the New Republic. Wow, what a pedigree. I bet he’s got some seriously interesting things to say about how Obama will govern: Dating back to Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 failure to bring the United States into the League of Nations, second presidential terms have almost always been disappointing and sad. There have been successes: Ronald Reagan passing tax reform in 1986 and … Continue reading Obama’s Massive Victory Means Obama is Hosed

Adrastos, Boardwalk Empire Recaps, Television3 Comments

Boardwalk Empire Thread: Remus doesn’t get arrested

Peter Adrastos Athas

I’m late with this so I’m going to try something different and more concise. Hey, stop laughing out there, I can be positively terse at times. Anyway, here’s a list of things that we-or the characters-learned from the latest episode ofBoardwalk Empire: Remus learns that corrupt politcians don’t always stay bought. He still hasn’t learned that referring to yourself in the third person makes you sound crazy or like Bob Dole. Nucky learns that you shouldn’t have important meetings with gangster gonniffs when you have a concusssion. It leads to mistaking your awesome ally Chalky White for a bootblack. Oops. … Continue reading Boardwalk Empire Thread: Remus doesn’t get arrested

Athenae, Geek Cred3 Comments

Apologies

Allison Hantschel

Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot. So at some point between unloading our last, shitty domain company and taking on the new, hopefully less shitty domain company, the chinchillas who run our servers saw a sliver of daylight under the door and made a run for Tijuana. When Jude caught up to them they were blind on the cheap shit and one of them was nuzzling Karl Rove’s leather slave. Jude sobered them up, I posted their bail, and the best road trip ever would have ensued but for the border patrol, who objected … Continue reading Apologies

Athenae, Geek Cred3 Comments

Apologies

Either you’re slingin’ crack rock or you got a wicked jump shot. So at some point between unloading our last, shitty domain company and taking on the new, hopefully less shitty domain company, the chinchillas who run our servers saw a sliver of daylight under the door and made a run for Tijuana. When Jude caught up to them they were blind on the cheap shit and one of them was nuzzling Karl Rove’s leather slave. Jude sobered them up, I posted their bail, and the best road trip ever would have ensued but for the border patrol, who objected … Continue reading Apologies

Adrastos, Film

Pulp Fiction Thursday: Born To Kill

It’s film noir time at First Draft.Born To Kill is a personal favorite of mine. Lawrence Tierney is the chillingly heartless villain and Claire Trevor is awesome as the socialite femme fatale. It’s a must see, y’all. Great tag line and fabulous supporting cast; especially Walter Slezak as a sleazy PI and Elisha Cook Jr as Tierney’s toady. Another notable name in the credits is director Robert Wise. In 1947 when Born To Kill was released, and into the 1950’s, Wise specialized in hardboiled and dark filmic fare. He is now best known for <sigh> The Sound Of Music. The … Continue reading Pulp Fiction Thursday: Born To Kill