The Bawdy Cloister

Juju News

It's hard to believe that it's been five years since Dan Rather left his CBS Evening News broadcast and I pitched Juju Chang to replace him.  We may have lost that battle, but we finally won the war!  This morning, ABC announced that Juju will now be news anchor on Good Morning America!

But that's not all.  Buried in a meme I posted way back in 2005, I wrote one thing that I'd do if I had a LOT of money would be to ensure midgets had ample screen time on news programs.  My friends at ABC must have finally stumbled across this little gem of advice and named George Stephanopoulos anchor of GMA!

Well done ABC!

The Wait is Over!

 

Donald Johanson has been making the rounds this week promoting his new book, Lucy's Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins.  Of course, this should come as no surprise to you, as we here at the Cloister announced its imminent publication over a year ago.  Well, the anticipation is finally over!

Lesson in Humility: A Meme

Here's a meme from Circle a Line.  It's obvious I have no Photoshop experience whatsoever.  Be sure to check out CaL's here. She puts me to shame.

CREATE YOUR BAND NAME & ALBUM COVER

To Do This

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit “random”
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on “explore the last seven days”
or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Hey You Guys!!!

Morgan Freeman gave us quite a scare last week wrecking his car.  But he's out of the hospital now and his prognosis is good, and if you're anything like me, you heaved a massive sigh of relief.  You might recall that we here at the Bawdy Cloister awarded Mr. Freeman the first annual American Larrikin Award back in 2006 for his role as Easy Reader on The Electric Company.  After receiving our award, interest in Easy Reader spiked dramatically-- his performance can now be viewed on YouTube:

We just wanted to give a shout out to our favorite teacher and send our hopes for a full and swift recovery.

Oh, and by the way, The Electric Company is coming back!  It'll start airing on PBS Kids in January 2009.  Now, usually, I don't do this but uh....Go head' on and break 'em off wit a lil' preview of the remix:

Rowdy's Month in Review

ITEM!

I had a dream the other night that I was at a spa resort and some guy was pressuring me to get a colonic.  At first I tried to laugh it off and told him I wasn't interested.  But he kept pestering me.  I couldn't find an exit and I grew frustrated and angry.  Just as I started yelling at the guy to let me the hell out of the room I woke up, only to find a Dual Action Cleanse infomercial playing on television.

Two nights later I was dreaming that I was a judge on the new Gong Show.  All the performances were Heavy Metal acts that absolutely sucked.  But every time I got up to swing at the gong, some force would repel my mallet never allowing it to make contact with the gong--so the performances would continue against my will.  Again, just when the frustration and anger began to boil over, I woke up... this time to find Metal Mania playing on VH1 Classic.

ITEM!

I went to see The Dark Knight the second week it was out.  I caught a matinee showing and had the theater to myself.  My greatest worry was that the film couldn't live up to the hype it had received.  But it really did; I was impressed. 

ITEM!

I must have been living under a rock.  I don't know how I missed the news that The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles were released on DVD last year.

I watched the series about 10 years ago when I was in Japan.  My local video store had it on VHS.  Considering how well written and researched the series was, and the fact it was filmed on location around the world, I never understood why it wasn't available on DVD.  Well, it turns out for good reason.  There is more bonus material contained in this set than anything I've ever seen before.  Lucas released the DVDs in three volumes.  All total, there's 31 DVDs!  They contain all the episodes plus 94 historical documentaries that correspond to people and events mentioned in the show!  Apparently it took them over five years to put all this together.  I'm only four discs into it so far, but I'm having a blast.

The only sad thing is they cut the "bookends."   When I first saw the series, each episode started with an old, one-eyed Indiana Jones talking to whoever would listen, he'd start reminiscing and his story would fade into the episode.  That's all missing on the DVD.  In case you're wondering what 93 year old Indy looks like, here he is...

All the bonus material and previously unaired episodes contained in the DVD set more than compensate for old Indy hitting the cutting room floor though.

ITEM!

Mrs. T and I woke up Monday morning to find the rear driver's side window of her car broken and glass shards all over our yard and driveway.  Three other cars were hit on our street as well.  At first we didn't think anything was missing.  It wasn't until the next day I took the Acolyte for a ride and realized his diaper bag was gone.  Whatever troglodyte stole it probably thought he was getting a purse or a computer since the bag was solid black.  Instead he got a handful of diapers and a Backyardigans T-shirt.  Even though we didn't lose much, replacing the glass set us back $250 and I spent the better part of the morning vacuuming glass.  I was angry, but nothing like being trapped in a room with a guy trying to convince me to buy a colonic.

ITEM!

I have a new favorite picture of me and the kid...

Household Names

This is the band Household Names.... 

They play music.  They're trying to get a spot in the Austin City Limits Music Festival, but they need votes.  You can hear a song of theirs and cast your vote here.  Why should you vote for them?  Two reasons: 1) They're good.  2)  I went to school with Jason, the guy in the orange shirt.

Thanks in advance!

iBrick

I'm just one of the eleventy billion people without phone service today.  I didn't camp out all night in front of an Apple store for the new iPhone or anything; I was just trying to update my old one from home.  The update loaded but the installation is incomplete until it can connect to iTunes... problem is the Apple servers are offline and have been all morning.  So for the time being my phone is useless.  Meanwhile, all my techy friends who downloaded the leaked version yesterday are playing with all the cool new apps.

Update:

Finally got it to go through!  I read on the Apple site that the "trick" is once the server times out, immediately try again, and again, and again until... about 10 minutes later it finally connects.  It worked!

My second pick for #2

Well, my man, Bill Richardson, didn't appear to be very high on the shortlist of Vice Presidential picks released today.  That is to say, he wasn't among the 15 named.  My feeling is Obama feels he's got the Latino vote secured, Richardson's primary campaign didn't hold together well or attract many voters, and New Mexico isn't a "big state" politically.

Now, I've already sent a letter to Obama telling him and his campaign that my support for him is contingent on him selecting a running-mate that that did not endorse the invasion of Iraq.  That's because I stick to my promises.  I want to see the Democratic party purified of any element that thought unilateral invasion of a sovereign nation was appropriate under those circumstances (got that Hilldoggers?)  They stand for nothing but bad judgment waiting to repeat when the public grows hawkish.

Obama isn't perfect.  He doesn't advocate a single-payer health care system and he supports civil unions but is opposed to gay marriage.  Those are two major strikes against him.  But he appears to be reigning in the Democratic party from conceding any further to the right.  That's an action I want to support and I'm willing to temporarily set aside my disagreements with him to make that happen.  Likewise, I don't expect Obama's running-mate to be perfect either. 

My second pick for VP isn't perfect, but Sam Nunn brings a lot to the table that will enable Obama to effect his vision of change....

Sam Nunn & Rowdy outside the Senate chamber, June 1988.

Let me first recognize the giant elephant in the room.  Yes, this is the Sam Nunn who, as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, helped persuade President Clinton to adopt "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."  But before we dismiss him for that we must recognize that when he endorsed Obama back in April he said, "My own role in this campaign will be as an advisor - particularly in the field of national security and foreign policy.”  That is to say, Nunn's influence regarding gays in the military already holds tremendous weight with Obama regardless of Nunn's official title.  For what it's worth (and by its timing I'd be skeptical) Nunn recently said it's about time to review DADT.

But just think of what Nunn brings to the ticket.  He's a popular Democrat from Georgia.  That's right, folks in Georgia elected this Democrat to the Senate.... 4 times!   Nunn is also well respected on both sides of the aisle for being knowledgeable, matter-of-fact and of sound judgment when it comes to national security.  We're not going to appease all the Bubbas, but Nunn is our guy who can wrangle in the most and give Obama the best chance to turn Dixie blue.  Nunn opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning and he gives Obama what he needs to win.

Agree or not, tell me what you think.

Take the Stripes Off of Texas... It's Obama's

You might recall Texas held its primary last March and awarded Hilldog 65 delegates and Obama 61.  Media outlets quickly declared Hilldog the winner of Texas despite the fact that only 126 of the state's 193 delegates were awarded that night.  It seems that early on folks forgot that there were another 67 delegates yet to be selected through the caucus process... and the earliest polls indicated that Obama was doing well among Texas' caucus participants.  Nonetheless, many national media outlets declared the state for Hillary which, in part, added to her momentum and gave her reason to continue her campaign. 

In the days following the Texas primary, a number of news agencies recognized the fact that Hilldog didn't necessarily have Texas in the bag, but that the caucus results weren't going to be finalized until June.  Rather than return Texas to "Undecided" they created primary maps with stripes over Texas.  Just take a look at this one from NPR.  Unbelievably, a number of maps are still painted in solid for Hilldog (ex. ABC, CBS and FOX.) This latter group is simply ignoring 67 delegates!  To put that in perspective, 27 states* have less than 67 delegates each.

Well, the Texas Democrats held their state convention this weekend, and shortly before Hilldog announced she was dropping out officially, the Texas caucus results were finalized.  What was the result?  29 to Hilldog and 38 to Obama; add that to the primary results from March and Obama wins 99 to 94!

Credit: Off the Grid

That's what we call the Texas Two-Step.

So now I'm calling on all you media pundits out there to update your maps.  Obamanos!

*27 States with less than 67 delegates-- State/# of Delegates:
NH/30, NV/33, SC/54, AL/60, AK/18, AR/47, CT/60, DE/23, ID/23, KS/41, NM/38, ND/21, OK/47, UT/29, LA/66, NE/31, ME/34, HI/29, RI/32, VT/23, WY/18, MS/40, WV/39. KY/60, OR/65, MT/24 and SD/23

Post Script:  I'm still on sabbatical but am finding small pockets of free time to blog, so you might check in weekly.  Will be back full-time in August.

Illiterate

I'm really on sabbatical, but couldn't pass up this meme from McPan:

Bold the ones you’ve read, underline the ones you read for school, and italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Anna Karenina
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Crime and Punishment
Wuthering Heights
Catch-22
The Silmarillion
Don Quixote
The Odyssey
The Brothers Karamazov
Ulysses
War and Peace
Madame Bovary
A Tale of Two Cities
Jane Eyre
The Name of the Rose
Moby Dick
Emma
The Iliad
Vanity Fair
Love in the Time of Cholera
The Blind Assassin
Pride and Prejudice
The Historian: A Novel
The Canterbury Tales
The Kite Runner
Great Expectations
Life of Pi
The Time Traveler's Wife
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Atlas Shrugged
Foucault's Pendulum
Dracula
The Grapes of Wrath
Frankenstein
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Mrs. Dalloway
Sense and Sensibility
Middlemarch
Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
The Count of Monte Cristo
The Sound and The Fury
Memoirs of a Geisha
Brave New World
Quicksilver
American Gods
Middlesex
The Poisonwood Bible
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Dune
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The Satanic Verses
Mansfield Park
Gulliver's Travels
The Three Musketeers
The Inferno
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Fountainhead
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
To the Lighthouse
A Clockwork Orange
Robinson Crusoe
Persuasion
The Scarlet Letter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Once and Future King
Anansi Boys
Atonement
The God of Small Things
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Cryptonomicon
Dubliners
Oryx and Crake
Angela's Ashes
Beloved
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
In Cold Blood
Lady Chatterley's Lover
A Confederacy of Dunces
Les Misérables
The Amber Spyglass
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Watership Down
Beowulf
The Aeneid
A Farewell to Arms
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
Sons and Lovers
Possession
The Book Thief
The History of Tom Jones
The Road
Tender is the Night
The War of the Worlds