Archive for June 2008

Friday 27 June 2008

the lucre of the party

excerpt:

it says here that john mccain’s maverickness is fraught with delightful and shameless sameness.
One of John McCain’s most celebrated achievements in recent years was his crusade to block a Pentagon contract with Boeing for a new fleet of midair refueling tankers.
Government auditors ruled that the Air Force made “significant errors” when it rebid the contract [...]

more spaceneedl | more Law & Politics

Thursday 26 June 2008

Why do Americans need to own handguns?

By Gonzo | Law & Politics

excerpt:

Well, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, it’s because Americans are so good at multitasking:
Scalia noted that the handgun is Americans’ preferred weapon of self-defense in part because “it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.”
It’s hard to argue with that logic, isn’t it? I [...]

more Gonzo | more Law & Politics

the life of the party

By spaceneedl | Law & Politics

excerpt:

can you imagine cindy mccain as first lady?
i mean, it ain’t gonna happen, but still. she’d be the first first in a long time, maybe ever, to be the darling of the fraternity crowd.
Hensley & Co., one of the nation’s major beer wholesalers, has brought the family of Cindy McCain wealth, prestige and influence in [...]

more spaceneedl | more Law & Politics

Wednesday 25 June 2008

chris dodd gets it

By spaceneedl | Law & Politics

excerpt:

senator chris dodd delivered a heroic, angry, patriotic speech in the senate yesterday.
a frightful number of americans have no idea why it’s important. scarier still, most members of the senate don’t get it, either.
“…it has never been more essential that we lend our voices to the law, and speak on its behalf.
What is this about, [...]

more spaceneedl | more Law & Politics

Tuesday 24 June 2008

get off her lawn

By spaceneedl | Community & Culture ~ Life and Society

excerpt:

not far from our house, just north of the ballard bridge, sits an old, time-worn house that you’d never look at twice.
except that the house is now enveloped by a multilevel parking lot. and a target store. and a trader joe’s.
the story of the woman who lived in the house is heartening and bittersweet and [...]

more spaceneedl | more Community & Culture ∞ Life and Society

Friday 20 June 2008

fast flash of fascism

By spaceneedl | Law & Politics

excerpt:

i have a meeting in about 15 minutes for which i’m woefully unprepared, but i’m angry, and when i’m angry it’s best that i share it.
isn’t it?
i’m angry at republicans who share this sentiment, so wonderfully summed up by senator kit bond, wretched republican from misery, oops, missouri…
“I’m not here to say that the government [...]

more spaceneedl | more Law & Politics

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Obama to McCain: STFU

By Gonzo | Law & Politics

excerpt:

I’ve been waiting for a Democrat to effectively slap down the tired old GOP bullshit meme, that Dems are somehow, by nature I guess, soft on national security, for a long, long time.
Well, I’d say that Barack Obama proved once again today that he has the strength of character to step up to the challenge, [...]

more Gonzo | more Law & Politics

FlossQuotes

And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the American people in three simple words — yes, we can.
– Barack Obama

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Naturally
If anyone's been paying attention, I listen to a wide variety of music, only a fraction of which I've reviewed here at Transcendental Floss. I tend to go through phases when I'll be stuck on a particular artist or genre, really immersing in it for a few weeks at a time, and what I find so interesting and exciting is that during each phase I have this experience where I feel like there's no better music than what I'm listening to right then and there. Well, I've just discovered Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and I can say with complete confidence that this is the best music I have ever heard. Seriously, this is magical stuff. Brooklyn, New York's Daptones Records have managed to produce record after record of fine R&B/soul/funk music using vintage musical equipment and analog recording techniques in the ultimate homage to the legendary Motown and Stax catalogs. The Dap-Kings, serving as the Daptone house band, are the modern day equivalent of Stax's Booker T & The MGs, laying down the tastiest grooves, sweetest guitar riffs, and of course the horns that make this music so electrifying. Sharon Jones is the quintessential soul singer, able to capture moments of tenderness just as easily as moments of gritty passion. Enjoy!
— Gonzo

Van Morrison - His Band & The Street Choir
As much as I love the 1991 movie The Commitments, Van Morrison, some 40 years earlier, had already proven that the Irish have plenty of soul. Perhaps my favorite album of his, His Band & The Street Choir could easily be said to share some DNA with the music of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (soulful crooning, grooves, horns, etc.), yet with a decidedly unique twist that is all Van The Man. This music simply makes me feel good on a deep, deep level. What's so great about Van Morrison is that he's covered such a variety of genres, from soul to blues to country to jazz to celtic to a kind of meditative, almost new age sound that is all his own, and so as I move from phase to phase of musical immersion he's very often right there with me.
— Gonzo

Be Kind Rewind
I was not prepared to love this movie nearly as much as I did. While I've liked a lot of Jack Black's work, he's a guy with limited range who I can easily see wearing out his schtick. However, teamed with a very sweet and funny turn by Mos Def, an equally sweet Danny Glover, and under the direction of the mad genius of Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep), Black's occasionally formulaic performance does nothing to keep this film from achieving success as a comedy and a bittersweet slice of life in Passaic, New Jersey. I was surprised over and over again how Gondry unapologetically went sentimental, eschewing so much of the cynicism that passes as gritty realism these days, which is music to my unapoligetically sentimental ears. I laughed. I cried. I learned that Mos Def is by far the best artist to crossover from music to acting that I've seen in a long, long time.
— Gonzo

Franny & Zooey - J.D. Salinger
I work at a university where I supervise a team of student employees. One employee, in painfully embarrassing hindsight, reminds me an awful lot of me, but before this hindsight came into focus he was a big, fat pain in my ass. Relentlessly sarcastic and arrogant, yet brilliant, this guy pushed my patience to the limit. Then, one day, I saw him sitting under a tree on campus reading Franny & Zooey and it hit me like a lightning bolt. I know this kid. I WAS this kid. So, I stopped to talk to him about the book and about Salinger in general. He'd read The Catcher in the Rye first, then moved on to Nine Stories, which, with the story A Perfect Day For Bananafish, introduces the reader to the inimitable Glass family. Franny & Zooey, then, becomes the natural next choice, with Raise High The Roofbeam, Carpenter & Seymour: An Introduction to follow, and this was exactly the same sequence that I followed 20+ years earlier. Ever since, while we're not buddy-buddy, there's been a new-found understanding between us, a sense that I'd been his shoes, that we shared some interests. Oh, and I went back and re-read Catcher, Nine Stories, and am currently falling in love all over again with Franny & Zooey.
— Gonzo

Lick your chops and chip through the nuggets of past Floss Aid recommendations.
— floss aid

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Archive for June 2008

Friday 27 June 2008

the lucre of the party

Thursday 26 June 2008

Why do Americans need to own handguns?

the life of the party

Wednesday 25 June 2008

chris dodd gets it

Tuesday 24 June 2008

get off her lawn

Friday 20 June 2008

fast flash of fascism

Wednesday 18 June 2008

Obama to McCain: STFU

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