Stephen Colbert

I haven't seen this yet but it looks like Stephen Colbert made quite an appearance at the correspondents dinner last night.

Here is a quote from his appearance: "But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works. The president makes decisions, he’s the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know fiction."

New Neil Young

If you have been on the internets recently you have probably seen that Neil Young has a new album coming out. This whacked out Canadian rock star has decided that he hates America and wants the president beaten up so he recorded a few songs. Hey, I stuck with Neil through that horrible period of "Let's Roll" so allow me to enjoy this moment.

I listened to the album a couple of times yesterday and loved it. It's the first real rockin' electric album he has put out since 1996. Happy day for me. Neil Young is pissed off and playing his electric guitar. What more could you want?

The album is a lot more than "Impeach the President." It's a killer song but the stream forces you to listen to the album from beginning to end and it has a good flow to it. It's much more than just an anti-Bush album. It's a piece of work that questions the world at large. A violent world, a world that somehow equates a large wasteful car with success, a world where a vacuous disingenous empty headed lying piece of shit like George Bush can become president twice.

I didn't buy "Prairie Wind" but I wil be buying "Living with War."

Such a wise and noble president we have

OK, maybe you're tired of the Bush stuff but this is just too much to not print: "I think the national anthem ought to be sung in English, and I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English and they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English." Does he even think before he talks, at all?

Content

I just found out my mom reads this thing now and then. Now and then? You'd think your mom would read your friggin' blog every day. Maybe not. If I was a mom I would read my son's blog every day. Believe that.

The real question is since my mom reads this blog and I think a couple of the kids from my teen reading group read it now and then should I stop using words like "shit" and "biatch" and the "F word?" See, already I am saying "F word" instead of fuck. That's bullshit. I should be stronger than that.

Neil Young

Don't forget that you can stream Neil Young's new album on his website starting tomorrow. Impeach the president, indeed.

If you get a chance check out this Fox "News" video here where Cavuto implies that Neil Young's new album is about how bad a place America is. I still can't believe these fucks are allowed to call themselves a news network. That comment is a deliberate lie.

A whale says thank you?

How cool is this?

What to do when a good book gets bad at the end?

Well, not bad but disappointing. I hate to be a negative nelly but I finished "A Dirty Job" by Christopher Moore last week and loved, loved, loved the book up until the last few pages. It always bugs me when a story's mystery is so obvious to everyone except the characters in the book. Isn't there a term out there for the contrived ignorance of characters? I think it's used mostly when discussing bad movies. I guess you might say that's being too picky for a book that is supposed to be humorous but it did have a dark serious side and I think he bunted when he could have hit one out of the park.

On a positive note "A Dirty Job" was a pleasant and very funny read. Moore can create some of the best characters and gives them wonderful dialogue. When he nails it he reminds me of Heinlein. Most people don't know but, when he wanted to, Heinlein could write some great comedic dialogue. It's all about pacing and timing and they both gots it.

I know I've linked to it before but Moore has a nice website and updates his blog on a regular basis. If you enjoy his writing his blog can be a lot of fun.

Joe Haldeman quote from his blog/discussion board

"If you're 12 years old, you've spent half your days on earth with George W.
Bush as the head authority figure in your life."

Cute, so cute, so very, very cute.

If you want to see overly cute pictures of all kinds of pets go here.

Life goal #2343433

My goal is to be able to fake a heart attack so well and do it so often that when it does happen people will stand around and watch me die and for the next week it will cause a national uproar concerning the callousness of the American people.

What we did at night before the internets

When I first moved to Charlotte I loved talk radio. I used to listen to the Larry King late night show when I could. I still listen to talke radio, mostly news on NPR and interview shows like Diane Rehm now. I got here in 1990 and after a while I started listening to Henry Boggan on WBT. He was on from 8 pm to 11 pm Monday through Friday on WBT radio in Charlotte. Henry died this morning of a heart attack. I was a pretty consistant listener of Henry's for a few years. My buddy Wendell was Henry's sidekick for a while. I can never remember if I listened to Henry before I met Wendell or not but after a while I was hooked on Henry's show. I can't say much more than what's being said in the two obituaries I linked to. His show was like hanging out with a gregarious neighbor who laughed at your bad jokes and was patient enough to humor the tin foil hat wearing whack job that lived at the end of the cul-de-sac where the street light is always burnt out. He created a community of people who never saw each other. He was myspace before myspace was cool.

I got to meet him once on a bus trip to a Panthers game during their first season when they played in Clemson. He was a lot of fun to be around and when you made him laugh he laughed with his whole body. He had the biggest, warmest laugh I've ever heard. There are a lot of sad people up and down the east coast today and I'm one of them.