Friday, July 29, 2011

iUSA

Well, if we see President Obama sporting a black turtleneck over the weekend, perhaps that will signal the Apple has purchased the U.S. Government.


 


U.S. balance now less than Apple cash

Steve Jobs is now more liquid than Uncle Sam


[snip]


As Republicans and Democrats continue to work towards a compromise to the country’s debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Thursday that Washington now has a total operating balance of only US$73.768-billion.


Meanwhile, Apple currently boasts a cash reserve of US$75.876-billion, as of its most recent quarterly earnings report at the end of June.


 


If that happens, I, suppose, we'll all be mandated to purchase iPhones (which will help streamline the iLocater program), and changes will include download apps for things like Social Security Checks, Food Stamps. and such.


And Jobs can scratch the plans for building his new spaceship office, as, no doubt, he'll move straight into the White House, incorporating the Apple logo into the Presidential Seal.


Welcome, to the good ol' iUSA!


Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Paging Bob Hoskins




Boy, if the PartyofNoicans think this is their idea of a tough guy, no wonder they are so clueless.


House Republicans Psyche Themselves Up By Watching Ben Affleck Prepare To Beat Some Guys Up

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the party’s vote counter, began his talk by showing a clip from the movie, “The Town”, trying to forge a sense of unity among the independent-minded caucus.


One character asks his friend: “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later.”


“Whose car are we gonna take,” the character says.


After showing the clip, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), one of the most outspoken critics of leadership among the 87 freshmen, stood up to speak, according to GOP aides.


“I’m ready to drive the car,” West replied, surprising many Republicans by giving his full -throated support for the plan.


The actual line from the scene is “I need your help. I can’t tell you what it is. You can never ask me about it later. We’re gonna hurt some people.”

 


I mean, he's an okay actor, and they're referring to his role in 'The Town', but, he's probably, more defined by 'Jersey Girl' than being a tough guy.


If you want a real tough guy, someone to put the fear of Jesus into you, that you gotta go with Bob Hoskins, from the very underrated 1979 gem 'The Long Good Friday'(whose cast also included the great, and gorgeous, Helen Mirren)


"The mafia? I've shit 'em!" - Long Good Friday final scene





Note, at the very end, the unknown rookie, Pierce Bronson, playing a heavy


Actually, it might do us all better if Obama effected a little Hoskins;
"I'll tell you something ... I'm glad I found out in time just what a partnership with a pair of wankers like you would have been ... A sleeping partner is one thing, but you're in a fucking coma ..."

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Barry Crimmins - "Farewell, Hercules"

I had only met him once.


He was sharing the stage with Barry Crimmins, and, not surprising, Crimmins deferred the "headline" time slot to him, where, for an hour, or so, he strummed his guitar, talked, and joked, with the audience some, in-between singing some serious sweet tunes.


We speak of folksinger, and writer, and all-around cool guy, Bill Morrissey, who passed away this weekend, at the all-too-young age of 59.


 


This, from Wikipedia;

Bill Morrissey (November 25, 1951 – July 23, 2011) was an American folk singer/songwriter from New Hampshire. Many of his songs reflect the harsh realities of life in crumbling New England mill towns.
Over the course of his long career, two of Morrissey's ten albums received Grammy nominations and several have earned 4-star reviews in Rolling Stone as well as equal accolades in other major national publications.[citation needed] Stephen Holden, for the New York Times, wrote, "Mr. Morrissey's songs have the force of poetry...a terseness, precision of detail and a tone of laconic understatement that relate his lyrics to the fiction of writers like Raymond Carver and Richard Ford."[citation needed] He is also the author of the novel Edson (Random House/Alfred A. Knopf 1996) and the recently completed Imaginary Runner.


[snip]


Morrissey, best known for his depressing lyrics, also occasionally wrote such humorous songs as "Party at the U.N." ("It's such a happy community / Everyone's got diplomatic immunity") and "Grizzly Bear", about a frustrated working-class gentleman dating a wealthy young woman who wants to "dance till we dehydrate", while he just wants to "take her home and dance the grizzly bear".

And this, from Gil Bliss, in today's 'Boston Globe';

Mr. Morrissey’s music was distinctive, as he combined a growl of a voice with impeccable guitar picking, all supported by lyrics that reflected his strong literary background. His music had diverse influences, from Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk to the old bluesmen, especially Mississippi John Hurt, whose music Mr. Morrissey featured on one of his two Grammy-nominated recordings.




The most eloquent of tributes comes from Crimmins, himself;


Farewell, Hercules...

The end came for the folksinger, novelist and world-class romantic when he was alone on the road in Georgia over the weekend. I'm sure he died with his guitar lying in its open case on his motel room's other bed, a few boxes of his CD's deposited onto the floor of an inadequate, doorless motel closet, his neatly packed suitcase flipped open on an aluminum stand with nylon straps, a few scribbled notes on a pad on the nightstand, a well-dented bottle of Jack Daniels next to those final thoughts and an ashtray containing the remains of the last few mentholated cigarettes he ever smoked in his remarkable life. It was a life in which he lived most every emotion that he employed in hundreds of songs and a few novels that described the human condition in detail that would make an Egyptian crypt-carver envious.
  
I suggest you go over and read the entire post of "Farewell, Hercules...".


It's not just they shared stages together, performer-to-performer, road-warrior-to-road-warrior.


It's about losing (and celebrating) a close, personal friend.


Condolences go out to all of Bill Morrissey's family, and to the legion of friends, and fans, who now, much earlier than expected, have to assuage their pained hearts, through clear or fleeting, warm and sweet, recollections, few or many, of the great cool cat that Bill Morrissey was.


Bill Morrissey : Inside


Monday, July 25, 2011

Hix Nix Palin Tricks

Well, maybe they can re-title it as "The Defeated" ...


Palin doc headed for PPV as ticket sales plummet

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap) - With its Sarah Palin documentary "The Undefeated" increasing its playdates by 40 percent this weekend, only to watch box office revenue decline by more than 63 percent, distributor Arc Entertainment announced Sunday that the film will soon be available on pay per view.


The movie played in 14 Tea Party-friendly locations this weekend -- up from the 10 in which it opened last week -- but grossed just $24,000.


Starting September 1, subscribers to DirecTV, Dish Network and Time Warner can see the true Horatio Alger story of an Alaska woman's rise from self-described "hockey mom" to gubernatorial dropout to conservative cable news bastion talking head, all in the comfort of their own home.


In addition, the film will launch on DVD October 4 with a shipment of 250,000 units.

 


Hard to say "ticket sales plummeted", when on opening night, in Red-as-you-can-get-Red Orange County, Southern California, the theatre was empty - nobody showed up.


Why, on earth didn't some Right Wing Flying Monkeys, or, her own Mommy Moose PAC buy up all the movie tickets - just like they did for her book - to make it a runaway success?


To tweak LBJ, if the Wasilla Whiz Kid has lost the Teabaggers, she's lost the country.


And, so much for the juggernaut.


Highlights heading into the 2012 Campaign are, now, a cancelled pre-campaign victory bus tour, and a Susan- Alexander-Kanesque film that goes bust.


If Tina Fey has some smarts, she'll quickly punch out a Doppelganger spoof of "The Undeafeated", of which its' opening night will eclipse all the revenue of the Ex-Governor with Lipstick's box office.


 


Bonus Riffs


Andy Kroll|:  New Sarah Palin Hagiography: Springboard for 2012 Presidential Run?


John Cole:  So Much Awesome In One Place


Ben Child:  Sarah Palin likened to Joan of Arc in two-hour documentary film


TBogg:  Sarah Palin Is The Culmination Of All Human Endeavors and Wars And Probably Evolution


David Weigel:  Palin's Coming Attractions - What the new Sarah Palin documentary gets right, and wrong, about her politics.


Alyssa Rosenberg: Sarah Palin Taken Aback by Hollywood’s Reaction To Her