The Future of Campaign Surveillance

Those GOPers know what they are doing. It teaches them the creepy skills when they need later on in life. Like gathering evidence to snitch on the neighbor or when they are stalking their their ex ten years after the divorce caused when she/he caught them with the neighbor’s hubby/wife/kid/dog.

“Every breath you take… Every word you make… I’ll be watching you…”

Clowns scare me.

@SanFranLefty: There. There. Ventriloquist dummies and marionettes give me the howling fantods!

@JNOV: And mimes. Don’t get me started on the fucking mimes. Creepy!

@SanFranLefty: Haha! Yes, we don’t need no stinkin’ mimes!

@SanFranLefty: @JNOV:

Yes, yes, yes, I have always hated all these things. Mimes, marionettes, puppets, clowns, ventriloquists. I am not afraid of them, they just skeeve me, they make my skin crawl, they give me douche chills, I am embarrassed for them.

SanFranLefty: A mime spoke at a Chicago city council meeting a while back about some street performer tax or something. An alder interrupted, helpfully pointing out that the speaker was a mime. Hilarity ensued.

@chicago bureau: BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

@Prommie: The founder of Slipknot wears a clown mask.

Slipknot “Dead Memories”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9IixYR_p-4

Well now people, steady on. You like Chaplin, don’t you? You like Keaton. You like Burt Lahr in Wizard if Oz. So you like clowns. Puppets can be magical: humorous, lyrical, grotesque, epic, eloquent. You’ve seen Vermont’s own internationally famous collective Bread and Puppet Theatre. No? Too busy watching Sport? What about Mr Punch of Punch and Judy fame? The scene where he throws Judy’s baby off the stage? Don’t tell me that doesn’t make you laugh. And you like mimes. Maybe not some brain-dead LA-about pretending to be Marcel Marceau. And maybe not Marcel Marceau. But you like… Alright, I’m having a hard time with the mime thing but… Wait! You like Chaplin. You like Keaton.

It’s all in how it’s done. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Better to feed it to the crocodile like Mr. Punch. As he says, in his own inimitable style, “That’s the way to do it!”

And no, Ronald McDonald does not count as a clown.

@Benedick: Do assclowns count? Cause there are a heck of a lot of them these days.

@Benedick: Charlie Chaplin the pederast? Michael Keaton, the first Batman? (I know you meant Buster, but he’s before my time.) Who was Burt Lahr? If he was the scarecrow, he was creepy. Hell, the tin man was creepy, too. Punch and Judy? Too violent, and in the one show I saw, they were hand puppets.

@Benedick:
Difference.

Guy who clowns around and makes funny faces? Cool
Guy who puts on make up and fuzzy wig? Creepy.

@redmanlaw: I’d link to the Insane Clown Posse, but I don’t want to cause anyone to stroke out or flee or something.

Burt Lahr is the Cowardly Lion. Chaplin and Keaton’s duet in Limelight is an astonishing demonstration of technique and artistry. Punch and Judy are of course hand puppets.

@Benedick: Well, I liked Cirque de Soleil. So I guess I am guilty on all counts. I hate BAD mimes and clowns and puppeteers, and ALL ventriloquists. Excepot Candace Bergen’s dad.

@Benedick: I’m with Manchu. It’s the makeup and wig that get to me. Burt Lahr doesn’t count because he was made up like a big kitteh. And mimes aren’t scary, just annoying as get-out.

@Benedick: I don’t like Chaplin or Keaton but I like Robert Downey Jr. and Johnny Depp. Close enough?

@Nabisco: Speaking of assclowns, I present Sen. Chris Dodd, (D-AIG).

@Jamie Sommers wants her $1M bonus: Actually, Greenwald has an excellent essay about how Tim Geithner and Larry Summers are the ones worthy of being called assclowns, not Dodd…and more so for purposely trying to pin it on him.

@Benedick: How about von Stroheim and his dummy Otto in “The Great Gabbo”? That movie should have put everyone off ventriloquism forever!

@Prommie: I half expected you to say that Señor Wences rocked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJiYZ6QIAtY

@Ewalda:

Senior Wences DID rock, as did Charlie McCarthy. I wasn’t nearly as skeeved out by old films of Edgar Bergen, or by watching him on “The Muppet Show”. He was just classy, you know?

@Ewalda: Hey, whats your specialty? Contact me at the happy place. Must talk.

Mrs RML has a Chatty Cathy doll from her youth that looks like it comes alive at night to get all stabby.

Just back from gum surgery and…

@Tommmcatt the Wet Sprocket: The Muppets. There you go. Who doesn’t like the Muppets? Puppets and (kinda) ventriloquism – which is sort of supposed to be spooky.

@Ewalda: That’s a tough movie to watch.

@Jamie Sommers wants her $1M bonus: Not really. Though I admire Downey Jr he’s no clown.

@Mistress Cynica: Again, don’t condemn the whole métier because of the debased examples we usually see. Though I’d be the first to admit that all anyone has to say is ‘commedia’ and I’m out the door. So I don’t deplore. I merely say all of this has been done well in its time. Senor Wences is brilliant. Lovely to see again.

And drag. I loathe drag. While admiring certain aspects of it. But glam drag and lipsynching are to me the lowest form of entertainment. Only a couple of levels above Republican pundits. So I do understand these reservations about mimes/clowns/Ann Coulter.

Where the hell is baked? Anyone have any news?

@Benedick:
The last time I checked FB (which was last night) baked was still waiting for furbabies to arrive.

@ManchuCandidate: I saw this noon that they were there and well. But nothing since.

A simple “no comment” will suffice to shut these douchebags down. Come on Democrats, show some discipline.

Recall that Allen Macaca’d himself during a speech he was giving. He was not “ambushed.” He wasn’t shadowed and tailed while strolling down the street minding his own business. He was speaking to a group of supporters at a rally.

Big difference.

@Serolf Divad: Somehow I doubt they remember that.

“The modern-day world of campaign politics demands that we track our opponents’ steps and missteps. We have nothing to hide when it comes to asking tough questions, but it appears that Democrats do when it comes to answering them.”

What does that even mean?

furry T/J

my babies are HERE!!!! i have spent the the last 2 days loving up these poor little travelers. all are well and as happy to see me as i am to see them. they are being spoiled rotten and acclimating beautifully, if a little clingy. (me). sergio, the borzoi’s life experience is the suburbs and the beach, he is loving jerusalem! crowded streets, where he is the center of attention and loving every minute. the cats are not letting me out of their sight, and blind bernie is moseying all around, fluffy tail fluttering. i am ecstatic!
i missed my stinquers, and all the hilarious news. i’m back! xxoxoxo

@homofascist:
You mean questions like:
“Are you gay, Larry?”
“Why do you condemn Clinton when you got caught with a hooker while wearing a diaper?”
“Why don’t deficits matter?”
“Where are the WMDs in Iraq?”
“Did you lie to the US America People about Iraq, Prez Bush?”
“Why did you help deregulate the financial markets?”

I’d still like to hear the real answers to those.

@baked:
Glad to hear it. If they are as happy to see you as you are they then that’s all good.

@baked: Hooray. Thanks for chequing in. Now I don’t have to whine at manchu any more.

@ManchuCandidate:

Ask away, but our “leaders” are forbidden to answer any of those fine questions because to do so would mean that every Ahmurkin’ everywhere would instantly die from terrahism and socialism.

@baked:

Family reunion–yaay!!

@Benedick: I like the Muppets. But not Chaplin. Or Edgar Bergen.

@baked: Fur baby love!!! So glad they made it.

Putting aside his personal life, what’s wrong with Chaplin? I adore the guy.

/Off topic/

Hey, I got some good news: My hobby is architecture (helpful, since I’m domestically partnered to an architect) and the University of Arkansas is renaming the School of Architecture after Fay Jones, professor emeritus and my personal fave of all time. My parents surprised me with a plane ticket for my birthday so that I can attend the three day symposium, dedication ceremony, documentary premiere, etc. It’ll be a nice break from work/job/life stress.

Fay Jones was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, and he further refined, improved upon and expanded Wright’s ideas about organic architecture and the uses of stone, wood and glass. His style has been best described as neocraftsman or modern gothic. My best friend’s family owned the Nance Residence, and I’ve many happy memories of spending time there growing up.

He’s best known nationally and internationally for his chapels (Thorncrown, Cooper Chapel, the dramatically sited Skyrose Chapel in Whittier, CA, for you LA area Stinquers), but I like his residential work best (the Buckley House is an excellent example of his custom homes).

Some lovely examples of his work can be found here:

http://rbeuc.freesuperhost.com/english/e-fay-jones.html

http://libinfo.uark.edu/SpecialCollections/manuscripts/FayJones/projects.asp

@Original Andrew: That’s awesome. Mad props to the ‘rents; the most recent, memorable gift I got for a birthday was a laminated cover of the Times from the day I was born. yawn.

Is this after your brother gets back home? If so, good timing to check in on him.

@Nabisco:

It’s April 3rd through 5th, so he’ll probably be back by then. I’ll be in Fayetteville, and he lives in a different part of the state, so no word yet on whether I’ll get to see him. My mom and stepfather will be there.

@mellbell: Nothin wrong with ’em. I was just (badly) trying to make a funny b/c RDJ played Chaplin and Depp played (someone who wanted to be) Keaton in the movies.

That said …

Woo hoo Muppets!
And furbabies!
Yay!

@Jamie Sommers wants her $1M bonus: Oh no, I got the Chaplin/Benny and Joon references, I just think that he’s so eminently likeable, and want to know why others might disagree.

@mellbell: I agree. I think he was a genius. And though he was a Londoner he became an American treasure. Apart from a few affairs/marriages with younger women I don’t know what he did that was so terrible. His marriage with Oona was long and very happy. He was tortured and vilified by many in American for his politics and was forced to live abroad. Even so he produced a huge body of work that remains full of life and fun and mischief.

@Original Andrew: Great pictures. Sounds like a good trip to be taking.

@mellbell: Agree with Benedicj, Chaplan was a treasure. Practically a monk by modern standards, and hey! socialism is the new black…

@Benedick: @mellbell: Anyone who was loved by “The Body” (Paulette Goddard) is OK by me.
His films, on the other hand, often are very pedestrian to me. There are bright moments, but the pacing is, for the most part, soooo sloooowww.

@Ewalda: The pacing is certainly slow by modern standards, and compared to the Marx Brothers, may very well have been slow to contemporaries. Things like that are a tough call from our perspective.

But there’s a moment in City Lights I’ve always enjoyed, probably because of a documentary that explained what went into it. The blind girl is sitting on a bench, and she mistakes the Tramp for a millionaire. The entire film hangs on that moment, and Chaplin wanted to put it across without seeming heavy-handed.

As I understand the story, he was so unhappy with it that he held up production for a year until he could come up with an elegant solution. Finally he settled on the girl hearing a limo as the Tramp walked away, and thinking it was his.

A quick pan to the limo and back was all it took to make the point. That, and a year of frustration.

Even if Chaplin is just moments, those moments can be transcendant, and for those he’s earned his place in the pantheon. We’ll just politely pretend Monsieur Verdoux never happened.