Some Funny Political Cyber-Rhetoric

Harrogate has seen the following as a forwarded email and on two political blogs. Original Source unknown, but apparently it is getting around quickly.

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, your top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and the software responsible was replaced November 4. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are now operating correctly, and we expect it to be fully functional on January 20. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to improve in years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding,

Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Ahhhh Metaphors. Where would we be without them.

Friday Musical Tribute

For Harrogate, today's Musical Tribute is a Definite No-Brainer.

Question of the Day, Friday, January 16th

In a previous post, Oxymoron provided us with George's philosophical dilemma: every instinct of George's is incorrect. Hence, when George relies on instinct, and judges a situation, in order to make the correct decision he must follow instinct and then choose its opposite (under the assumption we face only simple dichotomies in thought, or, as Jerry said, chicken salad is not the opposite of Tuna).

But here is the Question: possessing the knowledge that he does about the "failure of his instinct," will George make the correct decision by discerning what his instinct is and then choosing its opposite or, when making decisions, will George begin to try to determine what his instinct is and, consequently, still choose incorrectly? 

Two Questions for Oxymoron

Is there a limit for your taste for musical equipment? Or, Is $64,000 for a turntable appropriate? From CNN.

Chicken Salad on Rye

In last night's farewell address to the nation, President George W. Bush said, "I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right."

Unfortunately, as most of us know, what Bush thought was right was usually wrong.

If only our sitting president had Jerry Seinfeld to put things in proper perspective: "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."

How wonderful it would have been to have Opposite George in the Oval Office.



"I was bright. Oh, maybe not academically speaking."

Amazing....

Everyone survived. The pilot was the last person off the plane, checking the drowning plane twice before he left. People on the shores were helping those aboard, giving them coat & dry calls and calling friends for them.

All of this just ten, maybe, miles away.

So Long and Thanks for the Um....

Gray hair and the portrait...

It is all too much: the banality; the claims that fail to correlate to reality; the smirk.

So, um. Yeah. Instead of delivering this address, I think soon to be former President George W. Bush ought to have said, "Thank you. My work here is done. I've enjoyed my time, especially the vacations.... Terrorism, Terrorism.... Iraq... Iraq... Now please, let me be the Commissioner of Major League Baseball. Thank You. And God Bless America."

I, of course, would be all for it as baseball would be in a position to fold in five years, which means I would not have to pay more in city and state taxes... Damn you Yankees and Mets.

But serious, a few choice lines:

"You may not agree with some of the decisions that I have made, but I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

No. I'm sorry. You are the POTUS. You do not work at Blockbuster or the DMV. No one cares if you make "tough decisions" if your decisions are poor. I don't think that I should grade my students on answering the questions rather than checking to see if they answer the questions correctly.

"Moral clarity? Good and Evil?" What about Torture?

Yet, he continues: "Murdering innocents to advance an ideology is wrong. Every time. Every where." Again, if you believe in absolutes, what about torture? What about creating the conditions where a prolonged civil war will take place? Who is responsible for this? Who has been responsible for the last 8 years? Oh....

Oh well. So long. As my daughters and their children pay for your debt, "moral clarity," and "tough decisions," I bet they will thank you, over and over.

Worst speech ever....

Something Oxymoron and Harrogate Could Easily be Found Saying and Doing...

We must hang in there and believe that Soon, Oxy, people will be similarly having to remind us that we are "Doctors." Heh.

Thursday Musical Tribute; or, Football Players Have Feelings Too

In another context, in a quadrant of the cybergalaxy far, far away, Solon recently uttered the truism that the Cowboy Junkies' version of "Sweet Jane" is better than the Velvet Underground's version. Building off of that important insight, Harrogate would like to add that the Cowboy Junkies' version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" may well be the best version of that Iconic song, too.

But Harrogate's irrationally favorite version of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" appears below, and it is all because of a little thing we Rhetoric Experts like to call Ethos.

Verily, watch legendary quarterback, eccentric commentator, and movie actor Terry Bradshaw get into the feeling of the song:

In Memoriam...

Ricardo Montalban as Mr. Roarke, who here reminds us and Marsha Brady that reality is the best fantasy of all.

I'm on an Onion roll

Mike fucks up everything. Why does he even try anymore?


Attractive Girls Union Refuses To Enter Into Talks With Mike Greenman

Introducing the MacBook Wheel

Nothing's more simple than a single giant button.

Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard

Ann Coulter on "The View"

Ann Coulter was on "The View" yesterday, promoting her latest book Guilty. The ladies of "The View" have frequently been a topic of conversation on The Situation, usually when we're analyzing their individual disagreements. In this segment, however, they all come together to collectively question Coulter's motivation and understanding of and bias against single motherhood. At one point, Sherri Shepherd even calls Coulter out for being disrespectful to Barbara Walters. I've watched this clip twice, and I'm having a hard time determining if anything of substance is actually said by anyone. Thoughts, Situationers? Do the co-hosts point out flaws in Coulter's argument or do they simply let their emotions get the better of them?

Question of the Day, Monday, January 12, 2009

After listening to a good concert recording of Ben Folds' "Mess," the question remains: what are the best concerts you have attended?

A Final Word on Scrubs and Music, Season Five

One marker of a great television series, in Harrogate's estimation, is that any given episode both stands alone as a sustainable entity, even as it advances the longer narrative arc to which it contributes. Ye do not have to be very familiar with the show's multiple relationships and subplots to "get" the sensibilities expressed, below. But for those who are familiar with the broader Rhetorical Situation, this clip stands out as exemplary of many elements, from the show's baseline Take On Medicine, to Turk's professional bravery, to the nature of Carla's belief in Turk, and to the fundamental deceny of Bob Kelso, Sacred Heart's Chief of Medicine.

All distilled in 3:23.

Oh yeah. And finally, this clip shows why the relationship between JD and Elliot is so refreshing to pop television junkies like Harrogate and Supadiscomama who are, frankly, no longer able to stomach Ross/Rachel vascillations. The romantic underrcurrents of JD and Elliot have always been secondary, and wonderfully so. The way in which she comes through for him in the clip below, is what their bond is really about.

And again. Best use of Music on Television.

Happy Monday Musical Tribute, and a Continuation of the Soundtrack Discussion

Trying to polish off his current dissertation chapter once and for all, and still ruminating on megs' recent post about Soundtracks, Harrogate has been listening to a lot Soundtracks lately. For those few who make a habit of writing while listening to Music, this trend will not come as much of a surprise, since good Soundtracks, like good pieces of writing, experience a discernible thematic continuity.

(A sidenote: In the raucous comments section to that aforementioned thread, Solon noted that he could not remember what is on the She's The One Soundtrack, which Harrogate had placed in his top ten. Nor did this announcement surprise Harrogate, as Solon has on several occasions in the past expressed lukewarm feelings for Tom Petty, whose band did all of the songs for that Sountrack. But still, Harrogate encourages Solon, and everyone else, to check out Petty's work on She's The One, as all of the songs definitely sustain a parallel with the Movie's Ambivalent attitude towards love and sex.)

Herein, Harrogate celebrates the Soundtrack to A Lot Like Love, another movie that had some strange things to say about the whole Boy/Girl Thang. Absent Harrogate's discovery of this Soundtrack, he sadly might never have been schooled by Megs on the Awesomness of Hooverphonic. But for today's Song, Harrogate celebrates "Look What You've Done," by Jet. It is really a wonderful song. Harrogate thinks that if you are not familiar with it, you'd better get there real quick.

Arizona who?

In loving memory of Douglas Adams, I ask all of those who read TRS to support the Arizona Cardinals throughout the NFL playoffs. The fact that they won two playoff games so far (the organization last won a home playoff game during the Truman Administation), will host the NFC Championship game next week, and were regarded by all, even their coach and of the players, asthe worst playoff team ever in the history of all playoff teams, means they deserve our support as their success is so improbable only Douglas Adams could see this developing.

There are underdogs and then there are the Arizona Cactus Wrens, I mean Cardinals.a

A Response to M's Recent Separation of Spheres Post, And a Follow up To Harrogate's Last Post on TRS

On Friday, M Sublimely Wrote the following: I Really Wish that I would wake up tomorrow and find my dissertation finished. That would be a lovely thing to discover.

Indeed. Reading that this morning put Harrogate in mind of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," one of our long-cherished songs about what it means to wish and dream. The version that Harrogate provides below also closed out the movie 50 First Dates, by the way: although inexplicably (pet peeve! pet peeve!) the song did not make it onto the Soundtrack for that Movie.

But Scrubs, in its 5th Season, made good narrative use of it. So here ye go M, this one's for you!