Friday Musical Tribute

Harrogate knows that his fellow Situationers are not the biggest fans of Phish, but God he loves this song. The sheer instrumental joy of it, right off the bat. So Harrogate thought he'd share a little raise your hands in the air and make the touchdown signal joy, an eddieandbill kind of joy, as we head into the weekend.

Wednesday Musical Tribute, and a Homage of Sorts, to Little Green Footballs

Major Tip of the Hat to Little Green Footballs for this priceless image. Readers not familiar with the website should know that its proprietor, Charles Johnson, and the site's commenters regularly refer to themselves as "Lizards." While Harrogate has several times offered strong disagreement with LGF's politics, the unabashed centrism Johsnon represents includes a very strong support for speech rights and religious liberty, has vociferously defended Science and called out the nascent creationism that infests our current political landscape, and has made every bit as much effort to be fair to Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress, as he made with respect to Bush and the GOP Congress. Similarly, Johnson's loathing of the theocratic oppression in much of the Middle East is a sensibility that Americans of all political stripes ought to appreciate.

Plus, isn't the above just an awesome picture?


As an added measure of homage, Harrogate installs a wonderful live performance of Phish's "The Lizards," as the Wednesday Musical Tribute.

Solon's Last Post Reprised, and a Tuesday Musical Tribute

My friend, my friend hes got a knife
A statement from his former life
When he was easy but alone
Beside him was an empty throne
But what of silver silken blade
Affix his gaze, his features staid
Grasps the handle, clips the cable
One steps up, sits at his table
My friend, my friend, hes got a knife
My friend, my friend, hes got a wife

My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
Persuasion through his thoughts peruse
A hidden relic from his past
That wasnt there when he looked last
He feels it ticking like a bomb
Feeding fear, assaulting calm
Takes the object, starts the game
Moves closer to the flame

The McCain/Palin Candidacy as a Metaphor for "Finding" a Fish in Your Penis

At what point do we just shut down and let them lie themselves out of the room because asking them for the truth just feels like we are trying to embarrass them and is too embarrassing for us?

Have they reached that point in lie-telling where they will forever misremember this campaign as what they purport it to be and not as it objectively was?

A Justifiable Representaion of a Man Hitting a Woman?; or, a Question that Has Been on Harrogate's Mind Since 1995

Lots of great things about 1995. Baseball was in a sense redeemed from the ignoble 1994 strike, by the Mariners' heroic playoff comeback against the Yankees, when Ken Griffey, Jr. rounded the bases all the way from first when Edgar Martinez heroically roped a double down the left field line (look closely at the end of the clip, you'll see that none other than a fresh-faced Alex Rodriguez was waiting in the on-deck circle to greet Griffey home). It was just the other day that Harrogate was arguing that Edgar should be inducted into the Hall of Fame, despite the fact that he was a DH. Except for perhaps paperweight, probably no better pure right-handed hitter has graced the plate in Harrogate's lifetime.

Phish was in their prime in 1995. Harrogate, firmly ensconced on Pete's Couch, did not like Phish at the time, though now, far from Pete's Couch, he loves Phish. [surprises lurk in the links, O Readers.]

Also in 1995, Harrogate rented the movie Drop Zone. Starring Wesley Snipes and the great, great, great Gary Busey, it appealed to Harrogate immensely, and still does. But one moment happens in that movie the likes of which Harrogate cannot for the life of him recall having ever seen in a movie. It is a moment in which a man hits a woman across the face with his fist, knocking her on her ass, and though the female in question is a wholly sympathetic character, the narrative fully supports the action. Indeed, it is a comedic moment. As a viewer, because of the Rhetorical Situation in which it happens, one may even want to cheer.

All Harrogate asks of those who would respond is, please don't invoke issues related to snuff, which we obviously reject, unless you are prepared to make the case that there is a substantive connection betwixt the scene in question, and snuff.

So, in the spirit of Elmo's goldfish Dorothy, Harrogate "has a question" for his fellow Board Members and Readers alike. When you watch the clip below, check out the action between the 1:00 mark and about 1:15. Tell Harrogate if you don't think Wesley does the right thing here. And what might the broader implications of our answers be?