The Americans Thread: Brothers In Arms

I expected a series finale curve ball from Americans honchos Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields and we got one. It was a curveball that Minnesota Twins super fan Glenn Haskard would have appreciated since his boy Bert Blyleven had the best hook in baseball history. I knew a curveball was coming but I wasn’t prepared for this particular break.

Even the finale title START was a curveball. It was named for the next generation disarmament pact that was finalized during Bush 42’s administration. But it sounds more like a series premiere. It’s The Americans way.

I “studied” for the finale by watching big chunks of seasons 3 and four in preparation. I’m not sure if I aced it, but I’m hoping to give Henry a run for his money grade-wise. Please grade me on a curve or is that curveball? You decide.

After several relatively silent episodes, music was prominent in the series finale. I’ll get to the use of U2’s With or Without You after the break. The dirge-like Brothers In Arms was brilliantly used in the episode and since it’s one of my favorite Dire Straits songs, I decided to make it the post title. It will also be burned on my mind as the theme song of Philip and Stan’s doomed friendship.

Let’s play it before the spoiler break:

Continue reading “The Americans Thread: Brothers In Arms”

What About Me?

The president* has broken his silence about the Roseanne shitshow. He’s demanding an apology from ABC for every time they hurt his feelings. I am not making this up: https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1001848460881035265 He even had his horrible press secretary demand an apology from Disney and ABC.  I’ve mocked this president* many times at First Draft so I have an apology for him. I’m sorry for saying that you wear a dead nutria pelt atop your head. The apology is to nutrias. I should be careful about the whole guilt-by-association thing. In many ways, Trump is the ultimate twitter person. One of his few … Continue reading What About Me?

Album Cover Art Wednesday: Marvin Gaye Super Hits

This Marvin Gaye compilation was released in 1970 by a record company hungry for product. Marvin shrugged it off and went back to work on his greatest album What’s Going On. I’m uncertain as to what Marvin thought of Carl Owens’ cover art but who wouldn’t want to be depicted as a super hero of soul? I rarely post a YouTube playlist in this space BUT this one is so good that I’m breaking my own rule. Book me, Danno.   Continue reading Album Cover Art Wednesday: Marvin Gaye Super Hits

How to Rise

Screw Rudy and George and the pile of burning metal they rode into myth on: For Rudy, 9/11 was like a Frank Capra flick in which he has a mid-life opportunity to become a good person. But the movie has a surprise ending. Because after 2 to 3 weeks of suspense he remains a bad person. — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 28, 2018 The problem with this movie isn’t so much that Rudy was shitty and then wasn’t. It’s that anyone on earth can show up in a crisis and we think that proves anything at all. Think about it. … Continue reading How to Rise

Not Everything Sucks: Gandalf and Magneto Edition

Ian McKellen, human treasure:  The younger Dumbledore isn’t explicitly gay in the new ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movie. Why do you think there are so few gay characters in blockbusters? ‘Isn’t he? That’s a pity. Well, nobody looks to Hollywood for social commentary, do they? They only recently discovered that there were black people in the world. Hollywood has mistreated women in every possible way throughout its history. Gay men don’t exist. “Gods and Monsters” [1998], I think, was the beginning of Hollywood admitting that there were gay people knocking around, even though half of Hollywood is gay.’ A. Continue reading Not Everything Sucks: Gandalf and Magneto Edition

JESUS TITS WHO CARES IF THEY’RE NICE?

UGGGGGHHHH. Sean Spicer is a nice guy! From articles I read, people who knew him (on both sides) said he wasn’t a bad guy even if they didn’t agree with him. So I can see where he gets the job thinking “OK, all that was just for the election but now it will just be a White House administration like any other.’ Then he actually has to do the job and is like “Fuck! This isn’t what I signed up for.” Honestly, if that was the case he should have walked on Day 1 out the door but I dunno….maybe … Continue reading JESUS TITS WHO CARES IF THEY’RE NICE?

Emphasis

Atrios gets close to something here that we talk about a lot:  I get the objective pose in journalism, and it makes sense in a lot of contexts, but in political coverage it is inconsistently applied and, for normal people, completely inverted. It’s okay to express outrage that someone said something mean about John McCain. It’s “political” and “taking sides” to give a shit about brown kids being kidnapped from their parents. It would not be “taking sides” to give a shit if white kids were being kidnapped from their DC private schools. In other parts of journalism, the question … Continue reading Emphasis

Saturday Odds & Sods: A Mess Of Blues

The Star by Benny Andrews.

There’s a system forming in the Gulf, which has led to the inevitable widespread panic on social media. And I’m not talking about the jam band either. It’s a bit early for this but when did the weather care what I thought? I do wish people would stop Chicken Little-ing. That never makes anything better.  Ya heard?

Dr. A and I celebrated our anniversary at one of our favorite local eateries, Gabrielle Restaurant. It’s a reboot of the beloved restaurant owned and operated by Greg and Mary Sonnier before Katrina. They revived it some 12 years after the original Mystery Street location flooded. The food is fabulous and the new space on Orleans Avenue is warm and inviting. Grace and I know Mary and her charming daughter (some would say clone) Gabie aka the girl for whom the joint is named. Put it at the top of your list the next time you’re looking for a great meal and fabulous service in New Orleans. Greg is one of the best chefs in the Gret Stet of Louisiana and that’s saying something. That concludes this brief commercial announcement. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

This week’s theme song was written in 1960 by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman for Elvis Presley. It was the b-side of It’s Now Or Never but it also charted at number 32 in the US and number 2 in the UK. It was recorded at the same time as Elvis’ post-army comeback LP Elvis Is Back but was not included on the original album, a common practice in those days: you wanted the kids to buy both the 33 and 45. Colonel Parker knew how to shake down the suckers, y’all.

We have two versions of A Mess of Blues for your listening pleasure: the Elvis original and a 1995 cover from the great John Hiatt.

Now that we’ve messed around with the blues, let’s jump to the break.

Continue reading “Saturday Odds & Sods: A Mess Of Blues”

The Americans Thread: Topsy Turvy

We’ve reached the penultimate episode of the final season of The Americans: Jennings, Elizabeth. The title refers to a FBI data base search run by Stan, which comes up empty. I was not surprised: the many wigged spy has always excelled in staying off the radar screen. That time, however, has come to an end. It’s time for the end game of this great series. My withdrawal symptoms increased dramatically after re-watching the episode.

I try not to use anachronistic music in my Americans recaps.  But every rule was meant to be broken, especially when a title is so spot on. From 2001’s Houston Kid, Mr. Rodney Crowell:

It’s spoiler break time. See you on the other side.

Continue reading “The Americans Thread: Topsy Turvy”

Swamp Things Don’t Drain Swamps

It’s become a dreary slog to keep up with the sleaze and rot. Revelations that Michael Cohen got paid $400K by the Ukrainian government in exchange for allegedly arranging a meeting between their president and ours — and the subsequent decision by Ukraine to cut short an investigation into Paul Manafort — get the “in other news” treatment for the most part (imagine the level of fury from the noise machine if this had happened with a Clinton or Obama associate. Actually, you don’t need to imagine, because the Clinton Foundation was attacked by the usual suspects for this very … Continue reading Swamp Things Don’t Drain Swamps

Not Everything Sucks, Farming Edition

At my ‘hood’s Farmer’s Market recently Kick and I spent half an hour talking bees with this organization, which manages hives all over the West Side of Chicago and makes delicious honey. I thought of that when I read this story:  Brown formed a partnership with Boe Luther and Wallace Kirby, two gardeners from Ward 7 who started Hustlaz 2 Harvesters to offer people released from incarceration ways out of poverty into urban agriculture careers and other social enterprises. Brown, a certified master composter for the city, helped Luther and Kirby transform an empty lot into the Dix Street community garden as … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks, Farming Edition

WRT Mueller

Just a quick note on the savior of the Republic. Look. I am as susceptible as anyone to Twitter outrage over whatever Mueller’s found today that incriminates Trump and everyone around him. However, I want everyone to understand that a Republican Congress is not going to impeach Donald. Under no circumstances. The four loud Never Trumpers aren’t enough here, especially since they don’t back up their talk-show bullshit with votes. November is all that matters. It’s ALL that matters. Even that might not be enough, but you gotta check some of his bullshit and Congress is the only way to … Continue reading WRT Mueller

Stupid Watergate Goes Postal

I try not to write about the same things as Athenae BUT a bloggers gotta do what a bloggers gotta do. Besides, I’m coming at the fake billionaire president* versus real billionaire publisher smackdown from a different angle, and this post title was too good to waste. I, too, am a grudge-holder but I’d prefer a Coke Zero button on my desk to a Diet Coke one any day. That may be a distinction without a difference but there you have it. Btw, I still don’t think my favorite soda pop tastes different now that it’s been rebranded as Coke … Continue reading Stupid Watergate Goes Postal

Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – A quick one while I’m away edition

Won’t lie, folks – I’m more than a little burnt out. I hear that garbage collectors can go home and scrub and scrub and even burn their clothes, but the stench clings to them like a bill collector.

The stench from diving into Free Republic every week has started to cling to me to the extent that I walked down the aisle in Wally World, and fourteen thong-displaying customers fell over.

One brief thread below the “continue reading”, but first, a rant from the righteous dude The Red State Rustler which pretty much sums it all up:

“I haven’t posted lately because I’m in a bit of a funk about the sorry state of things in this twisted up, smoldering wreck of a country I used to love. Trump and his petty goon squad of hateful miscreants, buttlickers, grifters, whiners and walleyed lying liars has left me pissed off and honestly sort of paralyzed. It’s just tedious to mock this shit, over and over and over again, because the things that are happening right now are shocking and shameful and sad, not funny.

I don’t think it’s funny that every other word that spills out of Trump’s sneering hamburger hole is a lie. I don’t think it’s funny that Sarah Huckafuck wakes up every morning, spackles a human face over her true reptilian form, puts on her pearls and prepares to kick the press in the nuts again. I don’t think it’s funny that Rudy Giuliani is explaining away Trump’s crimes like he’s reading from the “Choose Your Own Adventure” book of legal strategy. (OK, I guess that’s actually kind of funny.)

The North Korea situation isn’t funny. The Israeli-Palestinian situation isn’t funny. Collusion isn’t funny. The hostilities unleashed in this country toward immigrants isn’t funny. The environmental sodomy, the tax “reform,” the healthcare horrorshow, the dumbing down of literally every federal department – not funny. The endless insults, the pot shots, the misinformation, the spin, the half truths, the none-truths and the obvious, refutable lies – none of this is fucking funny.

Not to mention that with the subtlety of an ice bucket challenge, we’ve all suddenly been forced to wake up and realize that roughly half of this country is made up of people who are either too proud to admit they’re morally bankrupt or too stupid to know what that means. It’s an ice bucket challenge for the soul of our democracy, and the outcome is still undecided.

“But we need to come together and find common ground,” they say. Sure. They can look for some up my ass.

It’s impossible to respect the other side when the other side is comprised of a frothy mix of anti-intellectuals, torch-waving nationalists and witless workaday bumpkins all controlled by a handful of string-pullers at the very top who sit on their piles of money and convince the rest of the lot to march into the voting booth in Nowheresville, Craptucky and punch themselves in their own faces until they fall down dead.

It’s really hard to capture this shit in a meme, is what I’m saying.

I’ll get back to writing jokes very soon. I’ve just needed a short break from the newspapers and the press briefings and the bonfire consuming our government. It’s depressing and exhausting, and I want Mueller to take down this bastard and his entire criminal empire so I can sleep again.

And now, a quickie:

Continue reading “Today on Tommy T’s Obsession with the Freeperati – A quick one while I’m away edition”

Why I Shouldn’t Be President

If I became president I would TOTALLY INSTALL A DIET COKE BUTTON ON THE RESOLUTE DESK. Guys, this is like the only part of Trump — besides his clowning on Ted Cruz — that makes any sense to me. I would install a Diet Coke button and a button that brings me chips and salsa, and I would have someone every day at 3 come in and give me a phone full of kitten videos and then I would use the full faith and credit of the United States to screw with everyone who was mean to me in college. … Continue reading Why I Shouldn’t Be President

Not Everything Sucks, Even in Prison

This is the world:  Seven days a week, the workers pull 10- to 15-hour shifts, often longer. It’s one of the lowest paid jobs available, making just 15 to 32 cents an hour. They brush patients’ teeth, massage sore limbs, read books out loud, strip soiled mattresses and assist the medical staff. Trust is a rare currency in prison, and some patients whisper conspiracies that the hospice doctors and nurses prioritize the interests of the criminal-justice system over their well-being. The workers can serve as the trusted middlemen between the patients and medical staff. When patients are in their final … Continue reading Not Everything Sucks, Even in Prison

Saturday Odds & Sods: One Week

Asheville by Willem de Kooning

I’ve mentioned the celestial switch that heralds summer heat in New Orleans. It switched on this week. Yowza. We’ve had record heat almost every day, followed by torrential rain yesterday.  Yowza. We’ve even had the odd afternoon brown-out as the utility company struggles to keep up with demand or so they say. Entergy doesn’t have a lot of credibility after they astroturfed a meeting at which the city council voted on a new power plant for the company. In short, they padded the room with paid actors. They blamed a sub-contractor but nobody’s buying it.

In other local news, two of my friends, Will Samuels, and blog pun consultant, James Karst, had parts on the season finale of NCIS: New Orleans. In honor of their appearance on this fakakta show, we have pictures.

Will is the gent in the shades. He usually wears Hawaiian shirts so I almost didn’t recognize him.

They actually let Karst hold a prop gun. I gotta say he looks like a proper Feeb, skinny tie and all. He’s even in a scene with series regular CCH Pounder best known to me as Claudette on The Shield.

This week’s theme song, One Week, was a monster hit for Barenaked Ladies  in 1998. We have two versions for your consideration. The original video followed by a clip wherein the band reunited with former co-lead singer, Steven Page earlier this year. BNL performed a medley of One Week and If I Had A Million Dollars.

It’s time to count this week’s receipts while we jump to the break. They’re considerably less than a million dollars.

Continue reading “Saturday Odds & Sods: One Week”

The Americans Thread: Only Human

There are only two episodes remaining in the final season of The Americans. The episodes keep getting more and more intense. The Summit was the best installment thus far. It contained a major plot development that surprised even me and I’m watching closely. We’ll get to that after the spoiler break.

It’s odd that the show runners haven’t used any Todd Rundgren, with or without Utopia, songs over the course of the series. (I googled it and couldn’t find any without going down an epic rabbit hole. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.) It’s time to rectify that with what amounts to a theme song for this recap.

I’ll explain Only Human‘s relevance after the spoiler break; even if the post is a day late, I know not everyone was watched The Summit yet. Here’s a hint: Gorbachev is the chap in the fedora, the better to hide the splotch on his head.

Continue reading “The Americans Thread: Only Human”

From The Department of the Patently Obvious

Not exactly news, but yeah, she got paid, he knew she got paid…oh, and he openly lied about it. Which also isn’t exactly news , i.e., he’s a compulsive liar, but what is kind of…no, not weird, but troubling…is how the media is normalizing all this. Adrastos cites Driftglass for “Stupid Watergate,” and it certainly is a case of history if not repeating then rhyming (as well as being both tragedy and farce). The obviousness of it all, the insistence of both the media and law enforcement to tread carefully (because, IOKIYAR — you can be certain if a Democrat … Continue reading From The Department of the Patently Obvious