Just got home from a performance by Dairakudakan, a Japanese butoh company. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. And they will be performing in NYC July 15-19 at the Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street. Looks like two different programs.
A tiger and an elephant lived in a jungle and were the best of friends. Every day, they’d meet in the morning in a clearing in the forest to play. They both knew to be careful, however, of one corner of the clearing where there was a deep hole you could fall into.
One morning the tiger came out and didn’t see the elephant. Then he heard cries for help from the corner of the clearing. He went over and, sure enough, the elephant was in the hole. The tiger laughed and laughed at him, saying “You idiot. Why did you fall in the hole? You know it’s there.”
The elephant said, “Shut up and just get me out.”
So the tiger left and came back in a few minutes with his Porsche Boxer. He tied a big rope to the bumper and threw it down in the hole and told the elephant to tie it around his waist. Then he revved up the car and pulled and pulled till the elephant climbed out of the hole.
The next day, the elephant showed up to the clearing and didn’t see the tiger but then heard cries for help coming from the corner of the field. Sure enough, the tiger had fallen in the hole. The elephant laughed and laughed and said, “Who’s the idiot now?”
The tiger said, “Shut up and just get me out.”
So the elephant straddled the hole and leaned over, dangling his enormous cock above the tiger. “Grab ahold and I’ll pull you out.” Which he did.
Morale of the story: If you have a big cock, you don’t need a Porsche.
Bizarre. Video from a local news station featuring a dog born with deformed front legs that has learned to walk entirely on its back legs. It’s posture could use some work, but it’s definitely an impressive story of adaptability.
(BTW, that headline for this post may sound stupid, but it’s an obscure reference to a shaggy dog story I wonder if anyone else even recognizes, but it makes me laugh.)
Apparently he didn’t have ID on him, which is sort of lame, as not all security guards are computer nerds and, with all due respect to the richest man in the world, it is the White House, after all. Makes you wonder which one is the most powerful man in the world, really. I just hope it costs Bush millions in donations.
I was talking with Nick Denton the other night briefly about politics and asked him how he considers himself, and he said he still feels that he is basically a liberal (despite all his political rantings that might suggest otherwise). Same goes for me, though I have felt more or less politically rudderless since Sept. 11th, or even well before then.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been inspired by a political leader (post-9/11 Giuliani not included). True, I dislike Bush more than I disliked Clinton, but not by a whole lot. I remember my mom saying of Clinton, “Sure he’s a bastard, but he’s our bastard.” That may work for her, after having spent decades as a political activist Democrat, but it’s not good enough for me. He certainly wasn’t my bastard. I wouldn’t even make him my bitch. I may still consider myself a liberal, or somehow I like the term “progressive” better, but I’m certainly not a Democrat, at least not a card carrying one, anymore. I most recently registered as a Green, just for the hell of it. I voted for Nader the last two presidential elections, but although I agree with most of his policies, I wasn’t exactly inspired by him, as he was so patently unelectable. Bottom line, they’re all a bunch of liars and yellow dogs and I can’t stand any of them.
My view of the Democratic candidates’ race for primaries now is like watching a slow-motion train wreck, only funnier. Not that I’m a close political observer; I’d rather be watching reality TV. But this is amusing enough to point out for those of you who don’t follow DayPop closely (I can’t live without it; I break out in hives when its servers are down and I’m forced to use its perfectly adequate alternatives Popdex and Blogdex). Dick Gephardt is getting a wonderfully satisfying introduction to blogs. Remember how bloggers picked up and obsessed on the foibles of Trent Lott and Howell Raines that the rest of the traditional media initially overlooked, eventually costing those two men their jobs? Well, Gephardt may well be next in line for the same treatment.
In response to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling for and against the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy, Gephardt said at a Rainbow Coalition stump event:
“When I’m president, we’ll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day.”
What a freakin’ ass.
So, A-List blogger and libertarian law professor Eugene Volokh calls him on it, which is getting lots of links around the blogosphere. ABC News then picks up on it, and gets this email response from Gephardt’s campaign spokesman Erik Smith:
“The fact that this question comes from libertarian law professors should speak for itself. [Huh?] Dick Gephardt knows the law. The president can not overturn a Supreme Court decision. That’s not what he said….”
This, despite the fact that Volokh provides a link to a C-SPAN video which clearly demonstrates that is verbatim what Gephardt said (fast forward to 45:40).
Idiot. I’m pleased to have this chance to get in early on this as yet another blogger linking to this blunder in hopes that the groundswell of attention to it forces him to account for what the hell he actually meant to say.
In fact, blogs are in themselves the most inspiring movement in politics I’ve seen since I was last idealistic back in college, lo many years ago. Truly democracy in its most unadulterated form. Sadly, this kind of nit-picking like we’ve seen on Lott and Gephardt is really besides the point. It’s fun, but to be fair, anyone can say something stupid in a fit of passion or under the glare of stage lights that you later regret and just didn’t come out right (don’t I know it). (Of course, having your spokesperson later deny that you said it and blame the messengers because they are libertarian law professors — like “we all know about libertarian law professors” — doesn’t really help matters.)
No, the real problem is the whole damn political system. Namely, it costs a fortune to run for public office because it all comes down to advertising on TV, a commodity horded by companies based on a government issued license of the public’s airways. As a result, the politicians whore themselves to big business to raise the money to run the ads to win the elections. It’s all so incestuous and circular it’s insane. Here’s the obvious solution: set aside free time for political ads. Have TV networks raise the price of the rest of their ads to make up for what they lose in political ads, which companies would easily be able to afford as they won’t have to buy off the politicians any more, because the politicians won’t need to raise so much money for the TV ads, where 90% of their budgets go to today. Easy peasy.
That’s the real issue, not what one particular moron said with his foot in his mouth in one particular stump speech. Can’t we bloggers somehow organize to force real campaign finance reform once and for all onto the agenda? That would demonstrate that our collective power could actually be useful to make a real difference. Let’s not hold the bastards accountable just in onesies and twosies, let’s go straight to the source and fix what’s really wrong with the system. A nice thought for me to dream about tonight, anyway. Goodnight.
Blogging about the weather: that’s what keeps Bruner Blog readers soming back week after week.
So, this whole spring was cold and rainy, which sucked. We wished and wished it would get warm. Now it’s 95 degrees and impossibly humid, as it’s supposed to be like this time of year. Too bad spring is the only nice time of year we get here.
At least the lovely ladies of NY are showing their shoulders on the street at last.
Harry’s Place has moved. Sadly, I can’t say who Harry is, as he’s a working journalist for a big-name media company that is not thrilled about its employees blogging. All I can say is he used to live in Budapest and now lives in Italy. If that doesn’t clue you in, you probably don’t need to know.
I know my out-of-town friends think from this blog that I spend every weekend at the Bulgarian Bar, for all I carry on about it. In fact, in the three and a half years that I’ve lived in NYC, I’ve only been there maybe six times. It’s just that it’s so damn much fun every time that I normally blog about each visit, which just makes it seem like I spend all my time there. What more to say? I wish I knew the name of the Romanian Gypsy brass band that was playing there last night to give them props. Not on stage, just a dozen funky horns bobbing amidst the thronging masses on the dance floor. Epic fun, as usual. Dancing on the tables. Sex in the air. Cigarette smoke, too. True, I don’t get out much, but I am quite sure there’s not else like it in NY, or anywhere on this side of the Danube, for that matter. Everyone at the Bulgar is 19 years old, even if you’re pushing 40 or beyond.
As noted on my other blog, I recently set two friends up with what everyone else in the blogosphere is only talking about: business blogs. As if that weren’t studly enough, I also got one of these, BizNetTravel.com, mentioned in the Boston Globe.
These cats are supermodels! Runty (male, black fur with a white patch on underside of belly) and Gremlin (male, grey/black/white stripped fur) are great cats.
1-1.2 year old siblings, friendly, great personalities, short-haired fur (don?t shed too much) litter box trained, all shots current & neutered. What more could you want! Perfect cats without all the work!!
Would like to place them together, but am willing to split them up to give them the best home possible.
Adrienne almost cried when she looked at this chart on Weather.com. I just spent most of the last week in San Francisco and environs, where it was beautifully sunny every day. On Sunday, I fell asleep in the sun and spent the rest of the week at a conference with a red face. It’s been so long since we’ve seen the sun in NY that I forget how it works.
UPDATE: NYT and NPR both report on how damn depressing the rain is at this point.
Why is there not a web-based version of instant messaging? I’m on the road at the moment and I want to chat with a friend on IM, but I’m using my sister’s machine, so I’m reluctant to simply install MSN Messenger on her machine. What would be ideal would be the Hotmail version of IM — a web-based location where I could log into my same account and check to see whether my friends are online using any computer. I can’t be the first person to have though of that. Given that Hotmail is MSN, it seems a no-brainer for MSN to do the same thing with their phenomenally popular IM service.
* I swear to blog the Bruner, the whole Bruner, and nothing but the Bruner, so help me golly-gosh! The rantings/ravings and other pointless blather found within these pages constitute the opinions of only this particular Bruner, no one else (such as my employer, persons identified within, yadda, yadda).
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The view from my
little slice of Heaven
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