i’ve written & ranted before about kids’ programming in the past, mostly about grumpy old takes on the new (vapid, pandering brain-killers) vs the classic (hilarious, fantastic, subversive gems) in kids’ shows.
i can’t decide if this proves or disproves my theories (that the specialization, in terms of developmental-appropriateness, etc., along with the evolving purposes of kids’ tv time, have led to a present-day situation where most grown-ups wouldn’t want to bother actually spending time with their kids enjoying a program; not to mention the escapist hell of vanilla, straight-edge, politically-correct subject content), but it’s my 3 year-old’s new favorite:
and, there’s pingu:
our esteemed governor-to-be looks to be a rising star in the teabagger-cum-republican movement.
bob mcdonnell believes in the campsite rule (just like dan savage!), and pledges to leave this darn commonwealth a nicer, cleaner spot than he found it, which evidently means stopping tax adjustments, as suggested by outgoing tim kaine,
McDonnell, who will succeed Kaine on Jan. 16, promised to work “in a bipartisan fashion” with House and Senate money committee leaders to make the cuts necessary to balance the budget, but he added that “it is bad economic policy to increase taxes on Virginians” during a recession.
in favor of cutting program funds (i.e. local teachers, etc.).
the state of oregon has a different idea: raise taxes on the wealty, & large corporations:
Oregon voters bucked decades of anti-tax and anti-Salem sentiment Tuesday, raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy to prevent further erosion of public schools and other state services.
The tax measures passed easily, with late returns showing a 54 percent to 46 percent ratio. Measure 66 raises taxes on households with taxable income above $250,000, and Measure 67 sets higher minimum taxes on corporations and increases the tax rate on upper-level profits.
The results triggered waves of relief from educators and legislative leaders, who were facing an estimated $727 million shortfall in the current two-year budget if the measures failed.
so, bob mcdonnell, can we clean up our campsites just like those oregonians?
or will moderate “democrats” give you another pass on your pseudo-populist hypocrisy?
another bit of sad news came this week: the death of jd salinger. i immediately thought of the onion, who just ran an obit:
“Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger”
but the news made me think of this gem:
“Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years”
The search initially showed great promise, with Speth’s early discovery of his uncle’s old Doors records and a copy of The Catcher In The Rye. Over the next two decades, however, the “leads just petered out.”
Filed under: -of civil rights, -of human rights, -of jhumphrey, -of politik, -of reads
we’ve posted about our small obsession with under-the-radar, pseudo-restaurant, dinner parties before.
(we’re hosting one for Friendly City Co-Op in Feb…)
so, i was particularly keen on this:
sounds a hell of a lot better than cuchi guidos to me…
and, to top it off, even if we wanted to drink away our tears at the state of the nation, we can’t.
or at least it’s more difficult to obtain the necessary ingredients for a manhattan.
the bitters are suspended.
thanks to the recession, which has reached trinidad & tobago, production of angostura bitters has been halted:
glad we picked up a super cheap bottle (randomly) at teetotaling sharp shopper a few months ago.
the most requested video around these parts today:
gregory hines, sammy davis jr., tap dance-off…does it get better?
well. along dance-theme lines, this was also popular among the 3 year old set:
isn’t that soundtrack (to 1985’s white nights, featuring mikhail baryshnikov, helen mirren, gregory hines, and a pre-blue velvet isabella rosallini) fantastic? sort of a passionate russian tom waits. it’s vladimir vysotsky. here’s more of the bard:
this week has been red letter for podcasts.
(isn’t that all bloggity of us to push other crazy new-fangled computer media on you?)
however, if you’re feeling nervous, take comfort in knowing that both of these audio suggestions lead directly to new books…
1.) god we love patti.
check out fresh air, terri gross, and patti smith.
2.) and we think michael is damn straight.
now, go directly to on point, tom ashbrook, and michael pollan.
way to go, massachusetts.
every man for himself.
long live the tea party.
(dan savage says that if you need a laugh, go here to get it.)
someone at work said they were listening to the radio the other day. (you know, top 40 with annoying-as-hell sound effects and reverb-heavy commentary by announcers on speed?) apparently, there was some clever call-in question about whether women can possibly be pregnant and hot at the same time. that conversation quickly turned into a laugh-fest about how gross it is to see a preggo wearing a bikini.
here’s some vintage south american charm to put a sock in that discussion:
this is the scoop on the photo (according to hot, pregnant, aussie blogger anna):
Brazilian actress called Leila Diniz, who in the 60’s during a time of repression shocked the entire country by showing her baby belly in a bikini. Apparently she was considered vulgar by women of her time, but I think she looks beautiful and so calm in this image, which became a symbol of feminine revolution in Brazil.
smack.
Filed under: -of human rights, -of jhumphrey, -of politik, -of the outside world
i’ve been pondering how to go about sifting though the possibilities for helping haiti.
it’s always difficult to figure out what to do, what to send, and to whom.
i’ve been thinking a lot about this one in particular:
paul farmer’s organization has been working in Haiti for 20 years. we’ve heard him speak before about PIH on democracy now.
the book, mountains beyond mountains, by tracy kidder, documents his efforts to provide health care and social justice in haiti. i remember thinking it was a pretty great read.
tracy kidder talked with rachel maddow about PIH’s efforts in post-earthquake haiti and said this:
Well, not all aid organizations are created equal. There are some very good ones and I didn‘t mean to slam all of them, you know, in one fell swoop. All I meant to say is that there are 10,000 aid organizations in Haiti, and Haiti is still one of the poorest countries in the world then something‘s wrong with the way things are—the aid is being administered.It seems to me that the real problem is that—that many organizations are not willing to work together or they don‘t know how to, or, you know, the mechanisms for doing that haven‘t been established. But even more than that, that they have not really endeavored to make their projects, to make their work indigenous. And what I mean by that is they have not done what Partners in Health has really striven to do, which is—which is to work as closely as possible with the government and the particularly that agencies, in their case, with the Ministry of Health. There is no other way, finally, to improve the state of a place like Haiti.
and, in the same vein, he had a to-the-point editorial regarding this issue of “aid” in the face of disaster in the new york times:
There are the many projects that seem designed to serve not impoverished Haitians but the interests of the people administering the projects. Most important, a lot of organizations seem to be unable — and some appear to be unwilling — to create partnerships with each other or, and this is crucial, with the public sector of the society they’re supposed to serve.
. . . .
The ultimate goal of all aid to Haiti ought to be the strengthening of Haitian institutions, infrastructure and expertise.
. . . .
But there are effective aid organizations working in Haiti. At least one has not been crippled by the earthquake. Partners in Health, or in Haitian Creole Zanmi Lasante, has been the largest health care provider in rural Haiti.
. . . .
As a result of this calamity, Partners in Health probably just became the largest health care provider still standing in all Haiti.
Fortunately, it also offers a solid model for independence — a model where only a handful of Americans are involved in day-to-day operations, and Haitians run the show. Efforts like this could provide one way for Haiti, as it rebuilds, to renew the promise of its revolution.
so – for it’s dedication to sustainable aid and tight partnership with other respected organizations (doctors without borders, the haitian ministry of health, etc.) this is where we suggest your money goes.
if you want to give, go here:
Filed under: -of civil rights, -of human rights, -of jhumphrey, -of politik
i’ll leave it up to you to decide just who made that pact.
way to make the world a better place, pat. your timing is impeccable as always.
in two centuries.
new rubble piled on top of the poorest country in the western hemisphere.
“Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed.
Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.”
— President René Préval of Haiti
Filed under: - of restaurant review, -of harrisonburg, -of jhumphrey, -of localism, -of upcoming
a friend recently divulged her thoughts of opening a new bakery in downtown h’burg…
do you know what a great idea i think this is?
perhaps shank’s wouldn’t agree – but i personally think there are too many baked goods in the world for one bakery to handle. harrisonburg needs to graduate from being a one-bakery town. (sorry, panera definitely doesn’t count.)
in anticipation, i’ve been remembering the baguette sandwiches at the bread peddler in olympia, wa.
especially this one:
Ham and Comté
The traditional Parisian baguette sandwich. Thinly shaved honey smoked ham, paired with Comté, an aged cheese in the “Swiss” family, Garnished with dressed mesclun.
What do you get when you cross a butter cookie with delicate egg bread? The unusual looking beauty above. My Shortbread topped Brioche came to me, like many of my other creations, during the magic hours of middle-of-the-night baking. Try one. They’re very popular with people who prefer their pastries not too sweet.
i feel i should post this story for the benefit of those on the losing end of football games this season, and those expecting babies. as my 3-year-old showed me the other night (of the packers’ loss), there’s no shame in dropping some verbal bombs on the tv. in fact, it helps (you keep a hand in cold water, that is):
Swearing Is F@#$*% Good for You
this, however, showed that pesky, darker side of science: DARKER LIQUOR, NEVER SICKER.
i received the following in the mail over the past week:
which got me thinking about trying to make a garden that produces more than microscopic peppers, lazy spinach, tough corn, and bacterial wilt.
yes. the more i think about it, our first attempt at a garden last year was pretty much dismal. i’ve been in denial, but with the exception of the snap peas, which were harvested mostly by sneaky neighbors “just trying to help us out”, our garden sucked.
we started too late. ordered seeds because “they were pretty”. ran out of money to properly fill our raised beds with dirt and compost. got horse poo that was too fresh. ignored the garden in favor of spain for a month in june (kind of an important month…). called our garden guru too late to stop the plague that killed all hopes of fall pumpkins. put gigantic half-barrels full of could-be beautiful herbs in front of the dryer vent.
so – this year – in the spirit of growing things like babies and vegetables, i really plan to do a better job.
i just want some beautiful tomatoes.
and loads of spring spinach.
and some hot hot peppers.
and maybe a few more things…like the onions we planted last fall and forgot where we put them. and gobs of kale. and okra – god, i love okra -. and those melons and cucumbers and pumpkins – i want to resurrect them from their blighty graves of last year.
in my most idealistic moments i imagine digging in the dirt with a tiny baby in a sling and a big three year old planting seeds beside me.
but maybe i’ll be nursing a fussy baby in an unseasonably cold april wind while my preschooler eats worms and johan hurts his back trying to move the too large herb containers away from the dryer vent.
either way – sounds like a plan to me.
as the state anticipates a new little citizen in march, we found this recent british study hilarious:
When Daddy goes deaf: How men really DON’T hear babies crying while asleep
some particularly insightful gleamings:
Many an exhausted mum has suspected her husband of pretending to be asleep when baby cries in the middle of the night.
But the man really is firmly in the Land of Nod, say researchers.
While a baby’s sobbing is the number one sound most likely to wake up a woman, it doesn’t even figure in the male top ten.
Car alarms, howling wind and a buzzing fly are the prime noises guaranteed to disturb a man’s sleep.
a buzzing fly?!
the other interesting bit was that a baby’s cry was the number one reason women’s sleep was interrupted – whether or not they were mothers.
those little creatures certainly are effective at getting what they need…
this morning, i was (again) disappointed to hear the latest on congress’ limp-wristed attempts at health reform, and (again) wished pain & suffering on joe the leiberman (ny times story here on how joe is now fighting a medicare expansion he himself suggested; bbc reporting here on real health-care comparisons internationally).
later, my 3 year old and i were watching a schoolhouse rocks collection, and i was (again) shocked at some of the propagandistic schlock they put on that show! specifically, “i’m just a bill”:
i still have a huge soft-spot for blind melon’s cover of “3 is the magic number,” but when it comes to the health care debate and what it shows of our dear nation’s political process, i hope the kids are studying the simpsons,
and not cute bits of historical revision (school house).
