That Was Then, This Is Now

By in bread and circuses, jests japes jokes jollies, music No Comments

News to me:

Chris Daughtry of the multiplatinum band Daughtry inducted Bon Jovi and Sambora. Afterward, Bon Jovi, with Sambora on a double-neck guitar, performed “Wanted: Dead or Alive,” one of Bon Jovi’s many signature hits.

Earlier in the evening, Daughtry talked about the impact Bon Jovi had on his band. “They’re a huge influence on our career as songwriters, as performers, as people,” he said.

As it happens, I knew Chris Daughtry for several years before he became famous — played guitar together, I went to see his Creed/Tool-sounding band play shows in town a couple of times, all that good stuff. His ex is still one of my closest friends, and she told me after his stint on American Idol that it really irked her to see him playing a Bon Jovi song on there, given that he had always hated them and given her shit for listening to them. She’s gonna love this.

Flames for a Year, Ashes for Thirty

By in foolosophy, marriage No Comments

More than half of all marriages end in divorce. Obviously, there’s no way to even count how many serious relationships don’t even make it to marriage before they, too, fail. And call me cynical, but I’d be willing to bet that even among the couples married for decades, inertia plays just as much of a role as love in keeping them together, assuming they don’t actually hold each other in frosty contempt while pursuing their dalliances on the side for pleasure. Love is real, certainly. Romantic love? Especially as a basis for creating stable, long-term relationships? One of the craziest ideas this species has ever invented.

So why, then, do stories like this inspire so many snide remarks?

He’s an idiot, she’s a gold-digging whore, goes the common refrain. Maybe. But maybe people are confusing love and happiness. Maybe she made him happy for a while, even though he knew that she really didn’t have much in common with a man more than twice her age. Maybe she figured that he was basically a nice enough guy, and combined with a huge fortune, it was pretty easy to be happy with him, too. Maybe they, like a lot of people, feel that settling for flawed, temporary pleasure beats endlessly chasing after chimeras inspired centuries ago by Provençal poets. Maybe marrying for money isn’t quite as pathetic as being forced to stay married because of a lack of it. Maybe the knowledge that she wouldn’t be attracted to you without your money isn’t as hard to accept as marriage based on ♥True Love♥, followed by years of silent suppers, separate vacations, cutting recriminations, dagger-eyed stares, slamming doors and countless nights spent numbly staring at the bedroom ceiling in the small hours.

And let’s not overlook perhaps the most obvious possibility: maybe a lot of people are just jealous because they’ve fucked uglier, nastier people for free.

All the Men and Women Merely Players

By in ohferfucksake No Comments

You don’t say. Political bloggers focus on the political aspects of an event in the news?

Hey, you know what else is predictable? Some self-righteous douchebag wailing about how terrible it is that the world doesn’t stop spinning while we all mark a moment of silence and somberly pretend that we knew and loved the victim like he was our spouse or favorite relative. Ghouls, ghouls, all of you! The weird part is seeing it on an irreverent humor blog. What next, is the Onion going to lecture people about what the appropriate waiting period is before anyone can say anything beyond “Oh, that’s terrible, thoughts ‘n’ prayers, a tragedy, blah blah blah”?

I mean, shit — if you start by telling me that Yglesias, Marshall and Benen have all said something annoying, I’m already 99% of the way there with you! Do you know how hard it is to settle back with a hot fantasy of expected irritation, read over their excerpted words a few times, trying hard to stroke my faltering righteousness to a climax of vicarious, indignant denunciation, only to have to conclude that there’s nothing really all that outrageous about what they said? You fucking tease.

There’s a Reason for That

By in augean stables, jests japes jokes jollies, waiting for the barbarians No Comments

If I were this abysmally fucking stupid, I wouldn’t want to speak my name either.

So, I guess when Obama was making promises last year about bringing troops home, he didn’t know the economy was bad? What does it say when attempts to defend him are predicated on him being even more oblivious than Dubya?

I thought reading Digby’s comments periodically had inured me to the most outlandish attempts to make excuses for the guy, but holy fuck, was I wrong.

Pathetic Noose

By in bread and circuses, jests japes jokes jollies, the big sleep No Comments

Now I can never unknow the image of a senior citizen accidentally strangling himself while jacking off.

It does make me wonder if this sort of thing has caused a decrease in the number of guys who commit suicide by hanging. I’m picturing some poor schlub, beaten down by life, weary of it all, who decides to use a gun or sleeping pills or jump off a bridge because he just can’t stand the thought of having his final, harrowing expression of unbearable existential pain diminished by the rumor circulating afterward that he was just too clumsy while freaky-masturbating. Just one indignity too far, you know?

Or maybe guys who do hang themselves are going to film the entire event while dressed in winter clothes, just to be safe.

Skin Deep

By in gender, language, ohferfucksake, race, the cult of multi, tribalism No Comments

One thing that makes me suspect that right-wingers have a rudimentary sense of humor is the way they keep turning the logic of identity politics back against the clueless advocates. Poppy Bush put a black man on the Supreme Court. Junior gave us a Hispanic attorney general, a black “war hero” Secretary of State, and even replaced him with a black female (and likely lesbian!) Secretary of State. (Needless to say, domestic justice finally became fair and colorblind, and we never again treated the world like our colonial playground.)

But do mainstream liberals progressives ever learn? Would I be writing this if they did?

Finally, Liddy disputed the entire idea that there’s anything wrong with the paucity of women and total lack of Hispanics on the Court:

Oh, is that all it takes? A woman and a Hispanic? So…you guys would have been overjoyed at Justice Harriet Miers and Chief Justice Alberto Gonzalez, then? No? Ahhh — so you mean you want a female, a Hispanic, etc. who share the same political values as you on the Court. But wait, then, I’m confused — if the values and ideals are what matter, couldn’t they, in theory at least, be held by anyone? Would you really care if you had nine fishbelly-white Penis-Americans on the Court as long as they upheld progressive values in their rulings? Or are we getting into some mystical racial/gender essentialism, where the solipsist logic implies that no one can ever truly understand anyone else?

So, basically we have liberal progressive white guilt that only allows people to serve in power as proud representatives of their race or gender as long as they agree with the white progressives who would feel uncomfortable about running things themselves. A kinder, gentler form of satrapy, I guess.

Harlequinery!

By in germans supported their troops too, language, ohferfucksake, tribalism, waiting for the barbarians No Comments

A whimsical little sprite

 

Japery, buffoonery, waggery, frippery, persiflage and, dare I say, jocularity!

More concern for the “innocent babies” than the right of those dropping bombs on them to be open about their sexuality? Such knavish rot! Glib usage of idiomatic phrases involving forests and trees? I’ll have no more of your scurrilous raillery! Good day to you, sir!

I SAID GOOD DAY!

Divertimento

By in bread and circuses, jests japes jokes jollies, language, ohferfucksake No Comments

Well, they should be furious!

Really, though, as amusing as it is to watch Republicans occupy themselves with such momentuous issues, I’m actually more looking forward to another round of netroots grumbling over what a terrible, terrible insult it is to drop the “-ic” from “Democratic”. See, I’ve been told, in the utmost seriousness, that calling it the “Democrat party” is a way of emphasizing the sound of the word “rat”…which oh noes is going to make the voting public think we’re a party of dirty sewer-crawling rats!!!!!

Somehow, though, this doesn’t lead anyone to the conclusion that identifying individuals as Democrats will have that effect. So:

“Democrat Nancy Pelosi” – good!

“Democrat party member and House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi” – bad!

That speaks for itself, doesn’t it? I’m too busy snickering and shaking my head to find anything funny to add to that.

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