Baron Dave Romm
NaLiWriMo
By Baron Dave Romm
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National Limerick Writing Month
Semi-inspired by National Novel Writing Month, I decided to embark on a project that was more my speed, and more my inclination: National Limerick Writing Month.
Some people choose to write a limerick a day for the entire month. A challenge, to be sure. My goals are more modest: Work on my limerick every day (or most days) and wind up with at least one Limerick For The Ages. Or a limerick that I can be proud of. Or perhaps a limerick that I'm willing to let other people see. Something like that.
The project is succeeding. Over on LiveJournal, we discussed limerick form and its relationship to haiku. And, of course, discretely mentioned some dirty limericks.
My limerick is still in the formative stages. I may change the second line to one of the helpful suggestions already garnered. Heck, I may change the first line, or the whole thing. But at the moment:
There once was a knight who went
"oops
Mayan dating has too many loops"
Can Bartcop-E readers help me out with the next line? Mail to Baron Dave and/or Marty.
Indeed, if you want to participate in NaLiWriMo, send your limericks to Marty. Preferably clean, but that's up to you.
The 2009 Elections: Cautious optimism
Republicans found a candidate who was marginally less corrupt than the incumbent Democrat, and narrowly won a governorship which has been GOP for most of the last generation or two. Meanwhile, the NJ legislature remained Democratic, surprising most analysts.
A right-wing Republican in Virginia ran toward the middle and won handily in a state where the governor has been GOP for most of the last century. The Lt. Governorship remained in GOP hands and Republicans won all the statewide offices.
Referenda on same sex marriages narrowly lost in Maine and narrowly won in Washington. Meanwhile, openly gay and lesbian candidates were victorious in many elections across the country, including Houston (where Annise Parker came in first and faces the runner-up). Sphincter conservatives have managed to make "gay marriage" a fnord, where just the phrase turns people off, but more and more Americans are comfortable with individuals. As usual, the extreme right invented a culture war and now finds itself on the wrong side of it. The tide is rising, and gay rights will continue to be an issue.
The canny Barack Obama picked two House members for his administration, a Democrat and a Republican. Both districts are now in Democratic hands. In a special election, California replaced a Democratic Congresswoman with a more liberal Congressman.
In the only race with any sort of national implications, New York's Congressional District 23 send a Democrat to DC for the first time since before the Civil War. In NY, there are four major political parties: Democrat, Republican, Liberal and Conservative. Usually, the Liberals and Conservatives align support with one of the national parties, but not always, and not in this case. The Republican, a moderate, had dropped out of the race to support the Democrat, also a moderate. The Conservative candidate was batshit insane and all the batshit insane goppies rallied to his cause. Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, et al declared this race to be of critical importance and would show that mean ol' Kenyan Obama just where this country was headed. And they were right: The race was pretty important, and showed that Republicans are getting disgusted at the extremists taking over their party. The Democrat won in a contested but not terribly tight races 49%-45%.
Upshot: Cautious optimism. The country continued it's slow move to the left (it's trying to reach the center), real Republicans did okay taking their party back from the Taliban wing of the GOP, individual gay politicians did very well though same-sex marriage referendums did less well. The House is more Democratic. Almost every vote vote I cast was for the winner.
Vikings vs. A nice day: The Bye Week
With the temperature in the 60s and fallen leaves largely raked, it's a perfect day to play football in Minneapolis. However, the Vikings play in a domed stadium and they're off this week anyway. At 7-1, the Vikes are atop their division and can spend time nursing wounds and watching film. Or go dancing.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog maintains a Facebook Page, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
NOAM CHOMSKY: War, Peace and Obama's Nobel (inthesetimes.com)
The hopes and prospects for peace aren't well aligned-not even close. The task is to bring them nearer. Presumably that was the intent of the Nobel Peace Prize committee in choosing President Barack Obama.
Susan Estrich: My President (creators.com)
There's an old story about a Harvard professor who gets a call from the president (of the United States) and responds that his president is the president of Harvard.
Froma Harrop: The Population Boomerang in Iran (creators.com)
Iranian students are engaging this week in Round Two of their street-level struggle for reform. Round One took place last June, when young people protested the fixed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
ANIS SHIVANI: The Dark Side of the Bright Side (inthesetimes.com)
In her new book, Barbara Ehrenreich traces the origins of contemporary optimism.
Richard Pachter: Craig Ferguson's autobiography is a testimony to America's eternal appeal to immigrants (McClatchy Newspapers)
Acknowledged that this may seem to be a left-field choice for a biz book review but upon closer examination, maybe not.
Dana Oland: Lily Tomlin has had an extraordinary career being ordinary (McClatchy Newspapers)
The most surprising thing about Lily Tomlin is that she's really not that funny. At least, that's what she says.
Aaron Sagers: "Pop 20: What's next for paranormal pop culture"
... the glut of coffin-sleeper entertainment is already giving way to the next wave of paranormal pop culture, and the trend creeping around the corner belongs to, not werewolves or vampires, but the unknowable yet believable: ghosts.
Chelsea Toder: Interview with Rachelle Carson Begley (thecelebritycafe.com)
She has an electric car, a white picket fence fashioned from recycled milk jugs, and her outdoor oven is powered by the sun. She has a compost, recycles more materials than anyone ever thought recyclable, and is married to a man that peddles a bicycle to power the toaster in the morning.
Luaine Lee: 'Forgotten'? Not Christian Slater (McClatchy-Tribune News Service)
Actor Christian Slater's long and successful career makes it seem like he never missed out on anything. But there is one thing that passed him by, he says: life.
Rene Rodriguez: Richard Kelly hopes to push moviegoers' buttons with 'The Box' (McClatchy Newspapers)
Filmmaker Richard Kelly's initial encounter with Richard Matheson's fiendish little short story "Button, Button" - about a cash-strapped couple offered a million dollars to push a button on a box that will instantly cause someone they don't know to drop dead - came not on the page, but on TV.
David Bruce: How to Teach the Autobiographical Essay Composition Project (lulu.com)
This document describes how to teach a composition project: writing an autobiographical essay or personal narrative. It includes sample student essays, some advice about writing and some rules of composition, and exercises to help students gather content and write vividly.
Hubert's Poetry Corner
"I'm the Grate Pretender?"
To know is to love - well, mabye NOT?
The Weekly Poll
Current Question
'The Devil is in the Details' Edition...
We all have had to make difficult decisions, from time to time, that involve compromises that can be distasteful. Such as...
A.) Would you take your dream job that has great pay and benefits, but you would have to relocate to an area that you'd loathe (such as Oklahoma)?
or...
B.) Would you live in an area that you've always wanted to but at a minimum wage, hand to mouth, subsistence level existence with no chance of improvement?
It's either A or B... No in between... Choose! Choose now! Ha Ha!
Send your response to
Results Tuesday
wrote:
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
PURPLE GENE'S MINI REVIEW
POLE DANCING IN OAKTOWN
WOW
DOWNTOWN OAKLAND GOT PRETTY HOT LAST NIGHT....I TOOK MY (CATHOLIC RAISED) KOREAN GIRLFRIEND DOWN TO THE "UPTOWN" LOUNGE FOR GOTHIC STRIP NIGHT.....
WE GOT THERE EARLY AND HAD A FEW DRINKS AND WATCHED THE STRIPPERS FILE IN.....WHAT A VARIETY...BIG GIRLS WITH TATTOOS.....SKINNY GIRLS IN LEATHER AND "ISIS"...A NORWEGIAN GODDESS....
OF COURSE THE POLE DANCING STARTED TO A THROBBING DISCO BEAT AND ONE OF THE LARGER LADIES ATTACKED THE ERECT CHROME SHAFT WITH FURY AND FINESSE...
NEXT UP WAS "MUFFIN"...A TIGHT TATOOED CONTORTIONIST WHO WAS LITERALLY MAKING LOVE TO THE POLE.....QUITE AMAZING ATHLETICALLY...
THEN "ISIS" PROWLED ONTO THE STAGE LIKE "CAT WOMAN" SLOWLY CARRESSING THE CHROME...LICKING AND STROKING IT BEFORE LEAPING ON...
NEEDLESS TO SAY, MY GIRLFRIEND AND I WERE WHOOPING AND CHEERING AND STUFFING MONEY IN THE THONGS....
WELL WHAT HAPPENED NEXT MIGHT HAVE TO STAY IN "VEGAS" (OR OAKLAND)
SUFFICE IT TO SAY.THAT "ISIS" , MYSELF AND MY GIRLFRIEND WENT UP STAIRS FOR A LAPDANCE THREESOME THAT WASN'T SO MUCH SEXUAL AS IT WAS EROTIC AND COMEDIC.....AND SATISFYING...WOW
PURPLE GENE GIVES THE GOTHIC STRIPPERS AND THE "UPTOWN" BAR 10 TWISTING AND TWIRLING TASSLES OUT OF TEN FOR BEING SUCH A CLASSY AND TRASHY EXPERIENCE!
P.S. I STILL FEEL THAT NUDE POLE DANCING (WITH STILLETO HEELS ON) SHOULD BE AN OLYMPIC EVENT.....IT IS VERY PHYSICALLY DEMANDING AND CAN BE DANGEROUS....BUT WOW!
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny day, but fog rolled in extra early.
Giant Domino Salute
Berlin Wall
Massive colorful dominoes painted by German students were placed Saturday along the former path of the Berlin Wall to mark the 20th anniversary of the opening of the barrier that divided the city for nearly three decades.
Many of the upright 7.5-foot-high (2.3-meter-high) plastic foam dominoes carried messages, including "We are one people." The approximately 1,000 dominoes stretching for 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) will be toppled Monday as part of wider celebrations of the wall's fall.
Former Polish leader Lech Walesa, whose pro-democracy movement Solidarity played a key role in ending communism in Eastern Europe, is to tip the first domino Monday as the artistic display comes toppling down.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev also are expected to be on hand Monday for the formal commemorations of the wall's opening on Nov. 9, 1989.
Berlin Wall
Considers TV Talent Search
Ray Davies
The Kinks star Ray Davies is considering launching a reality TV talent hunt to find the stars of his planned new musical about the cult 1960s band.
The Come Dancing singer has revealed he's developing a stage musical about his upbringing, his turbulent relationship with brother and ex-bandmate Dave Davies and the group's success - and he can't think of anyone to play the leads onstage.
Davies tells WENN, "I'm developing a Kinks musical now which is really exciting. It's about the band. People think of the Kinks as these guys in red hunting jackets who sang You Really Got Me and made these weird records, like Lola, but it's about us, how we evolved and a certain time in my life when I confronted many of my demons.
"The issues involved in the show are things that most people are dealing with in their lives and I'm hoping it can connect with audiences on many levels rather than being just a jukebox musical. It will have all the Kinks music because doing a Kinks musical without Kinks music in it would be a ridiculous project.
Ray Davies
TNT Syndication
"The Mentalist"
The Simon Baker crime drama "The Mentalist," which just began its second season on CBS, has netted a rich off-network syndication deal with TNT.
The cable network will start airing reruns in fall 2011.
The show is said to have fetched more than $2 million an episode, a broadcast-series record, but neither TNT nor syndicator Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution would comment.
By comparison, last year, another solidly performing CBS procedural, "Criminal Minds," was sold to A&E and ION for a combined license fee of about $850,000 an episode.
"The Mentalist"
USA Buys Syndication Rights
"NCIS: The 2nd One"
In what might be an industry record, CBS' freshman drama series "NCIS: Los Angeles" has been sold into syndication after seven weeks on the air.
CBS TV Distribution has licensed the show to USA Network, which has enjoyed great success airing reruns of franchise flagship "NCIS."
The spinoff, which stars LL Cool J and Chris O'Donnell, is going for roughly $1.9 million per episode. It will start airing weekly in the fall of 2011.
Although it might seem like a risk to invest in the syndicated run of a series so early in its run, cable networks made similar gambles with "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: NY" during their first-year runs. CBS' "CSI: NY" sold into syndication during its debut year in 2004 to Spike TV a couple months after its debut for a then-record $1.9 million. "Miami" sold late in its first season in 2003 to A&E for $1 million per episode. Other notable crime drama sales: "Law & Order: SVU" going to USA for $1.5 million, "Without a Trace" to TNT for $1.4 million and "CSI" going to Spike for $1.6 million.
"NCIS: The 2nd One"
Angers China
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama brushed off Chinese protests and traveled Sunday to a remote Himalayan town near the Tibetan border to lead five days of prayers and teaching sessions for Buddhist pilgrims.
Thousands of poor villagers braved freezing temperatures and icy winds for a rare chance to glimpse the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Monks clanged cymbals and sounded traditional Tibetan horns to greet the Dalai Lama as he arrived at the Tawang monastery from a nearby helipad.
The Dalai Lama smiled and chatted with the gathered crowds. One monk shaded him with a giant yellow silk umbrella, while scores of others bowed before him as he walked into a hall to lead a prayer session.
Dalai Lama
Proposed Site Too Windy
Wind Farm
A wind-power company says a western Maine site it's been looking at is too windy for turbines. First Wind's Matthew Kearns told a public meeting in Rumford on Thursday that its proposed Longfellow wind farm on Black Mountain and North and South Twin mountains may not be viable.
The Sun Journal of Lewiston quotes Kearns as saying First Wind's studies so far show that gusts atop Black Mountain are too strong for turbine engineering to handle, and that's a problem for wind turbine bearings.
Kearns said the Massachusetts-based company would not propose wind towers on North and South Twin mountains even if it finds a turbine that could handle the strong winds on Black Mountain.
A separate wind power project is under construction on Record Hill in Roxbury, also near Rumford.
Wind Farm
New Popularity
Kosher Comics
A far cry from the thrills of Spiderman and the sexy glam of Lois Lane, chaste and religious comics have become a hit among ultra-Orthodox Jews determined not to pollute their children's minds.
For the reclusive Haredi society that shuns television, Internet and video viewed as a source of moral corruption, the no-sex, no-violence comics offer benign entertainment and a fun way of teaching tradition to their children.
Dozens of colourful comic books featuring Biblical stories and adventures of famous rabbis and sages fill the shelves of bookstores in Haredi neighbourhoods alongside the thick and austere religious textbooks.
The number of "kosher" comic books has sharply risen in recent years with dozens of new publications and new artists, including women who once used aliases but today feel comfortable to publish their names.
Kosher Comics
10 That Didn't Happen
Failed Doomsday Predictions
With the upcoming disaster film "2012" and the current hype about Mayan calendars and doomsday predictions, it seems like a good time to put such notions in context.
Most prophets of doom come from a religious perspective, though the secular crowd has caused its share of scares as well. One thing the doomsday scenarios tend to share in common: They don't come to pass.
Here are 10 that didn't pan out, so far:
Pat Robertson, 1982 - In May 1980, televangelist and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson startled and alarmed many when - contrary to Matthew 24:36 ("No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven...") he informed his "700 Club" TV show audience around the world that he knew when the world would end . "I guarantee you by the end of 1982 there is going to be a judgment on the world," Robertson said.
Failed Doomsday Predictions
Weekend Box Office
'Christmas Carol'
Jim Carrey's Scrooge collected holiday donations from movie fans with his new take on "A Christmas Carol," which took in $31 million to open as the weekend's top movie.
The Disney animated version of the Charles Dickens classic knocked the King of Pop out of the No. 1 spot as "Michael Jackson's This Is It" slipped to second place with $14 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
On the other end of the spectrum, Lionsgate's acclaimed drama "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" had a spectacular start, pulling in $1.8 million in just 18 theaters, averaging $100,000 a cinema. That compares with an $8,418 average for "A Christmas Carol" in 3,683 theaters.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "A Christmas Carol," $31 million.
2. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $14 million.
3. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $13.3 million.
4. "The Fourth Kind," $12.5 million.
5. "Paranormal Activity," $8.6 million.
6. "The Box," $7.9 million.
7. "Couples Retreat," $6.4 million.
8. "Law Abiding Citizen," $6.2 million.
9. "Where the Wild Things Are," $4.2 million.
10. "Astro Boy," $2.6 million.
'Christmas Carol'
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