The Mouth O' The Mule

Where Did I Get These Beliefs? No. 4

2008-08-04T21:16:00.002-04:00

I can't abide the Olympics.

And they're one of the "pure" can't abides; not a lot of contrarian there.

Was once way too jingoistic. Now that the country and commerce really do sponsor the athletes, it's even worse.

I like individuals in athletic competition. I don't like their countries being attached to them as they run/paddle/shoot/throw/swing. . . .

Text Me, No. 2

2008-08-04T20:31:00.003-04:00

Me: $3.59 / Gal.

Bellotoot: You at the sperm bank?

2008-08-04T08:45:00.000-04:00

some have fallen from their state of grace.

Johnson. . .?

2008-08-03T19:42:00.005-04:00

Tom Allen, also known to the faithful as T. Michael Allen or even Thomas Michael Allen, does more with the lone word "Johnson" than Faulkner did with his entire oeuvre.

DHL offers a fine commercial.

And commercials can be intricate, thoughtful thirty-second masterpieces.

While I enjoy seeing Woodson alumni in series work, or even in features, I probably prefer their commercial work to anything else.

Plus the company they keep -- Robert Stanton ["Bob!"] appears with Cal Ripken and Phillip Baker Hall, and Tom Allen appears with the Mormon Negro from House!

I love television.

2008-08-01T21:39:00.002-04:00

my cable network now carries RTN.

Retro television.

I'll get to watch Alexander Mundy, the Monkees, Quincy, and Alias Smith and Jones.

Bonerricious!

Run Now

2008-07-31T13:45:00.000-04:00

the real 9:30

looking for rock songage

2008-07-31T08:20:00.002-04:00

What songs that are overtly or explicitly about “rock” do you like? What songs that are overtly or explicitly about rock do you hate?

Will you please tell me? And remind me of the bountiful crop from which to choose?

Me, I pretty much hate songs that have the word rock sung. The words rock and roll make me cringe even more. And I also get icked out by the songs about what it’s like to be in a band, or we were playin’ the backrooms, and we wrote these songs kinda tunes . . . .

I know you know the kinda songs I’m writin’ about, even if I’m lettin’ you down as a blogmeister by failin' to remember. Maybe it’s the kinda songs that use words like kinda, writin’, and lettin’. And, of course, in my search, I’m includin’ every song that has the word rock or rock and roll in the title.

It’s not a firm, fast rule; I like a few. But I’m overwhelmingly opposed to them.

And since there are a million, I need yer help. Please help me fill out this list.

“Rock” songs that I hate:

Join Together (With the Band)

Long Live Rock

Rock and Roll All Nite

R.O.C.K. (In the USA)

Your Sister Can’t Twist (But She Can Rock and Roll)

Wait and See

“Rock” Songs that I tolerate or like:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Rock Me Gently

It’s Only Rock and Roll [which is surprising, since I’ve grown to hate the Stones’ catalogue]

I’ve Had It

“Rock” songs that I really HATE, but love anyway:

I Love Rock and Roll

Rock Around the Clock

UPDATE I [thanks to mister parker]:

Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music," covered by, among others, The Beatles and The Beach Boys. Love the song in almost ll its incarnations.

Billy Joel's "It's Still Rock and Roll To Me." Execrable.

Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven," although the word "rock" is not in the title.

Doesn't match my weird, limited category.

seems like somebody sang "Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay."

it's on the tip o' my brain. Don't recall. God Gave Rock and Roll to You is so bad it's good.

Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," to my ears although that might not be the sort of thing you have in mind.

Not in my category. I wonder if it is associated with the category in our sublminal minds because it defines rock and roll.

Chubby Checker did "Limbo Rock," which is about limbo rather than rock, but it's got the word "rock" in the title.

"I'm Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band)" by the Moody Blues.

Lop. Off. Head.

and how about "Rock Lobster," by the B-52s?

Ug. Many love it; I am not in the many. And it's so outside my category as to be a new category of categories.

or Paul McCartney's "Venus and Mars/Rockshow." Boy do I love this, mainly because it was one of the first rock songs I could play on the bass and rock out. It is clearly in the kitchen o' my category.

Encore of an Encore

2008-07-30T08:49:00.002-04:00

Our last photograph of Ms. Hendricks, who portrays Miss Holloway.

for my esteemed pal

Gahd I Loved, and Love, Them

2008-07-30T07:56:00.003-04:00

Cavett and Carson

nbc studios photo

The Culprits, No. 2

2008-07-30T07:51:00.004-04:00

Donald Rumsfeld

click any photo to enlarge

2008-07-28T22:16:00.001-04:00

i'd feel like a pimp if i weren't such a whore

encore

2008-07-28T22:13:00.004-04:00

Miss Holloway, again.
click any photo to enlarge

The Evils of King George

2008-07-28T13:27:00.003-04:00

You know, sensible people can debate the propriety of going to war, the soundness of the tactics once there, the reluctance to leave when stability seems so fragile and fleeting.
Sensible people can debate the claims and charges exchanged during heated partisan campaigns. Sensible people can debate trade policies, drilling policies, environmental policies, emissions policies. Sensible people can even presumably debate the propriety of circumspection in the face of state authority when managing relief after a massive, devastating hurricane.

Sensible people, can, and do, debate those things. I don't really question the motivations and hearts of folks who fall on the many sides of the varied issues of our day.

Can anyone debate that this corrupt, craven administration didn't act shamefully?

Maybe they can; I'll certainly listen. IF they agree with me about everything. I'll be interviewing first to determine that we agree before I'll listen to what they have to say.

for misterparker

2008-07-28T11:10:00.002-04:00

Miss Holloway

Thums Up for Tell No One, and for The Last Mistress

2008-07-28T08:35:00.006-04:00

French, French, French.

And all of those blasted subtitles.

click any photo to enlarge

If the lead actor in Ne Le Dis a Personne [Tell No One], François Cluzet, had not so unnervingly resembled Dustin Hoffman, I would have found it nigh perfect [although a bit too long -- the overly-contrived ending didn't bother me, but it could'a been wrapped up more quickly]. I liked the actors, the pacing, the thriller/mystery, the conflict -- I liked it all. You may recall that I waxed ecstatic I reviewed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- another film featuring the amazing Marie-Josée Croze. Here, she's great, although not onscreen nearly enough pour mois.

Une Vielle Maitresse (The Last Mistress) is getting quite a bit of ink for the lead performance by Asia Argento -- and not all of it good. Argento is one o' these wacky, intense punky auteur-types. But -- since I don't speak French -- I was saved from hearing what may have been very painflul line readings. But I was also freed to see a sincere, genuine performance. I enjoyed the tale, and I like all of the actors. The nudity and sex I coulda done without.

What's Up With Woody?

2008-07-28T08:29:00.004-04:00

So, as I sat in the darkened theater waiting for my subtitles to roll, a oreview came up. It looked like a really nifty little indie film; completely got my attention. All actors that I like: Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, and the incandescent Penelope Cruz.

I wondered who the hell had made this little flick -- I was intrigued.

I find that it's the new Woody Allen movie, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

I tend to see all of Woody Allen's movies, and have liked a few the last five years. But this preview in no way resembled a Woody Allen movie, or a Woody Allen preview., I was stunned.

Stay tuned to hear if the movie resembles the preview. . .

Damnable FedEx

2008-07-28T07:46:00.002-04:00

I stopped by the Home of the Mule last night, hoping I might find a note taped to my door that the management office was holding Blackie Too, the most beautiful of chiopped '51 Squiers, Squires.

Instead, I found a guitar leaning against my door. Hadd been there for days.

I was unhappy.

When Blackie ONe was delivered from Chris Guitars in December, same goddamned thing.

People like to lean the blacks up against a door. . . .

Finding His Voice

2008-07-28T07:42:00.001-04:00

When Barry Svrluga was "promoted" out of the Washington Post's Washington Nationals beat [okay, I should remove the quotation marks -- moving to obits would be a promotion. . .], I was distraught. I like the guy, and I like his writing. And Chico Harlan, his replacement, was hustling back from covering cricket in Australia. And no, that's not a joke.

But Chico has settled in very nicely, and may be just the man to cover these Washington nationals. I offer as evidence today's lede:

Over the last four games, counting Sunday afternoon, the Washington Nationals have managed two runs total. Yes, the sun will come up tomorrow, but it's never a good sign when it rises more often than a baseball team scores.

Real American Heroes, by way of San Juan

2008-07-24T10:17:00.003-04:00

Roberto Clemente

2008-07-22T10:41:00.000-04:00

ooooh, blackie she gots a chip

Phamous Photographers, No. 4

2008-07-22T09:00:00.002-04:00

Brett Weston

unadulterated, no. 2

2008-07-22T08:49:00.006-04:00

Distant posts, and the vagaries of the surf, have brought to my attention the amazing series of pornos called GreenPorno, actually featuring the equally-amazing Isabella Rossellini, going at it like nobody's bidness.

2008-07-21T08:40:00.002-04:00

I'm malleable.

Having been unduly influenced by An Illustrated Record, I spent a lot of years thinking that "Within You Without You" was the "nadir" of the recording career o' the Beatles.

Now, I quite like the recording.

"We were talking . . . "

We Were All Young Once, No. 2

2008-07-21T08:27:00.003-04:00

Jason and the Nashville Scorchers, 1983

Strategic Blunders, No. 10

2008-07-21T07:15:00.002-04:00

Land war in Southeast Asia.