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Greeting any new Leaguers while The League is away

I am a huge “This American Life” fan. Last year, for my birthday, The Leagues’ bought me an iTunes gift card which I promptly spent on TAL episodes. I got into it when I first moved to CA. Not knowing many people, having those stories there late on Saturday night became part of a ritual that helped me transition to living there.

My absolute favorite episode is #74 “Conventions”. The first segment ( or, “act”, according to show host Ira Glass ) introduces John Connors, a man from the midwest who goes to New York City for a weekend to celebrate “Dark Shadows”.

“Dark Shadows” is the Gothic–themed soap opera that showed on ABC in the late– 60’s: it’s pacing is nothing short than glacial, the production value is iffy, and the egregious use of the Theremin might be against the Geneva Conventions.

At the end of the convention, Conners feels “Dark Shadows”–fatigue and seems to be experiencing slight embarrassment while relating a story about a woman who, in the convention hall, before a panel of DS cast, bellowed:

“‘Dark Shadows’ Rules!”

Conners seems to have felt the shame that only a true fan of something cultish can experience. You’re shamed by the action of the other fan, but you’re also a bit shamed because the zeal of that fandom exists in you, although maybe not in dictum–bellowing grandiosity.

In the end, Glass gives Conners a chance to say on the radio “‘Dark Shadows’ rules”. Laughing, with a hint of shame, and very quietly, he says it.

I think this explains the way we all feel about our guilty pleasures that we obsess about.

“Danielle Steel rules!” or “WWE rules” or back in 18^th England: “roman’s rule!”

I have felt this way about my love of Rush for many years. There’s a huge fan-base for the Canadian power-trio but most of our lives we live in the closet, but upon finding one another, there’s the immediate understanding.

How can you explain the voice of Geddy Lee from 1974-1981? How can you explain that dressing in robes was a good idea?

How can you explain the talent that barely makes it possible for Neal Peart to even be classified as a human? How can you explain lyrics about

science,

a black hole,

Ayn Rand’s Anthem re-cast as a rock opera,

the unbelievable bass breakdown to the slapback-effects laden “Free Will”, the poetic allegory of “The Trees”, or the master’s essay in Moog known as the record Signals? Much less to a pretty girl?

In the utterance of “Rush Rules” to end them all, enters the pean by one Stephen Colbert:

Recently I discovered that fellow Leaguer and former resident of the Hall of Justice itself, Nicole, has an aptitude for sythesizer. How totally awesome would it be if sweet, petite, gently sweet-Texlahoma-lilt-voiced Nicole were to get up behind an ersatz wood–paneled Moog and rock the socks out of the synthesizer-solo of “Tom Sawyer”? Equally acceptable would be the synth denouement out of “YYZ ( that’s Why-Why-Zed for the uninitiated )”

Although, playing that synth solo may be the synth crowd’s version of walking into Guitar Center and playing “Stairway”.

Rush fandom is a weird thing, but it’s oddly virulent. Even my Sublime-n-Sunshine SoCal girlfriend, of late, under the sway of the Teutonic Thunder drumming of Neal Peart has confessed that she has the sneaky suspicion that what I’ve known for many years may be true:

<h1>Rush Rules</h1>

Once upon a time there was a genius software developer named Hans Reiser. He used to join Linux forums and lambaste other hackers as being foolish, prodigal, indolent, and was generally a bit of an egomaniacal ass.

In other words, par for the course in the world of software development.

But then he was indicted, and convicted, for the murder of his wife amid a tale of S&M, Linux development ( intimately linked ), Russian internet-ordered brides, and infidelity.

A crucial feature of the trial was, well, that the cops couldn’t find the body. Upon being found guilty, Reiser seems to have copped a plea with the judge such that he could get a lesser sentence in exchange for the victim’s family and, nota bene, his own children being able to lay the body of their daughter / mother to rest.

Here was Gawker media’s “Valleywag” summation picture:

First of all, and not to be juvenile, but a copy-editor would have caught the phrase “fingers corpse”—oh right this is blogging, ahem, never-mind.

Secondly, the incapacitated girl in the ad in the party dress appears dead if not really whacked out on laudanum. One could foreseeably think that that was the corpse under discussion.

The whole post is pretty distasteful, I’d say.

I’m reminded of pro-feminist blogs decrying things like “new bikini’s are scandalous” or left-leaning blogs that decry “It’s insane that McCain can run for president in the 21^st century given that he can’t even use a computer” only to be served up, guess what, an ad featuring said bikini’s or a clip of the blogger-hating senator as an ad.

It’s a familiar way of structuring an idea on the internet, especially as presented in blogs:

The world seems to have some condition

Now, portion the first are pro-SKUB, but portion the second people are anti-SKUB.

pro-SKUB arguments are lain anti-SKUB arguments are lain

Now a commenter comes along and, being a fair-minded type, can only come to the conclusion that surely some Hegellian synthesis of the two camps is sensible.

He begins typing this out and then thinks: “By Odin’s Raven, this is clearly the most banal thing I’ve ever written: everyone knows that pro-SKUB is sensible in some ways and anti-SKUB carries the day in others”.

And then you just hit the cancel button.

I feel sorry for the Lesbians.

Imagine, if you will, for a moment that you are a resident of the isle where that finest of Greek poets, Sappho, practiced her craft. While hailing from a tiny island, you have much history of which to be proud: written of by Thucydides, home to no lesser intellects than Aristotle and Epicurus, etc. The Lesbian has a rich classical heritage to be proud of and a vibrant beach-culture in the here-and-now.

But when searchers of the internet go to discover more about your home what do they get? Well.

…And more of it than you can shake a stick at!

The Lesbians, while having profited handily on lesbian tourism lo these many years, recently undertook to have their name moved out of the realm of the public domain via EU complaint ( toothpaste back into the tube, my good Lesbians ).

Recently, I wanted to research the name used by Iove for Venus in the Æneid, “Cytherea” ( kith-uh-RAY-uh ). It’s so named for the island “Cytherea’ which was sacred to the goddess of love and mother of Æneas. It is also the nom d’ecran of a certain adult actress.

Search with SafeSearch ON.

Fortunately I see no burgeoning career for a “Hestia d’Eros” or “Hephasteus Smith” so, for the moment, those searches are safe.

que

1. Spanish word for interrogation meaning what
2. Spanish and French relative pronoun

queue

1. What British people call a bunch of people standing one after another as they await something ( like entry to a bus, or a movie house )
2. What your netflix movies are stored in prior to delivery

While the utterance “I was standing in a que” inspires some level of existential examination for the bi-lingual, please, an additional ‘ue’ makes all the difference.

This will be spoiler-laden, so if you want to keep the mystery, move on.

(more…)

Because they use internal cues — such as no longer feeling hungry — to stop eating, reports a new Cornell study. Americans, on the other hand, tend to use external cues — such as whether their plate is clean, they have run out of their beverage or the TV show they’re watching is over.

http://www.physorg.com/news121699614.html

Thre are many things in this world that I am not supposed to say, but I find it intolerable that the word “N#gger/a” be used. It such a vile term – and I don’t buy for a minute that whole story of “reclaiming”.

I’m glad to see some others are taking a stand within the community that has the exclusive monopoly on acceptable use of the term.

…at a Black Enterprise event. TMZ reveals that Griffin’s performance was cut short after magazine owner Earl Graves showed the not-so-funnyman the door due to his frequent use of the N-word. “We … will not allow our culture to go backwards … We will pay Mr. Griffin all that we owe him but we will not allow him to finish the show if that’s the way he’s going to talk,” Graves announced. … via

Wow.

• Adam riding a saddled dinosaur.
• WMD’s actually being found in Iraq.
• Evolution being denied for the sake of creationism, er, “Intelligent Design”.

Welcome to Idiot America. Where intellectuals are mocked and expertise is suspicious. The organ of wisdom is the gut, the organ of elimination.

Idiot America