I Love Spam: Interesting Email of the Day

Subject: Concentrated Ferocity, during s

Gers on the backs of the non-existent, unattainable books. "But I disagree with you about reading," said Mary. "About serious reading, I mean." "Quite right, Mary, quite right," Mr. Scogan answered. "I had forgotten there were any serious people in the room." "I like the idea of the Biographies," said Denis. "There's room for us all within the scheme; it's comprehensive." "Yes, the Biographies are good, the Biographies are excellent," Mr Scogan agreed. "I imagine them written in a very elegant Regency style--Brighton Pavilion in words--perhaps by the great Dr. Lempriere himself. You know his classical dictionary? Ah!" Mr. Scogan raised his hand and let it limply fall again in a gesture which implied that words failed him. "Read his biography of Helen; read how J

Free Speech Controversy in Brooklyn Library

According to The Brooklyn Daily News, the Brooklyn Public Library has restricted access to the 1930s children's book, Tintin Au Congo after a reader complained that the images from the book were racially offensive as the images depicted "Africans as monkeys." You can see images of the book through Google Images. (And, yes, please take note of the irony.)

The story concerns a young reporter traveling to the Congo who teaches the natives "right from wrong," which is a euphemism for advancing a pro-colonist message. During the trip, the young reporter kills numerous animals and, somewhere along the way, takes a few photos. Accoridng to Wikpedia, Tintin au Congo is part of an 80-year comic series, The Adventures of Tintin, that has been translated in to 50 languages and sol over 200 million copies.

According to library spokesperson, the book was relocated because it "had illustrations that were racially offensive and inappropriate for children." Individuals can still read the book. However, they must request a showing of the book in a special room 24 hours in advance. On the local CBS station, a library spokesperson discussed the move in terms of security for the book: the book has not been banned but relocated for its protection; patrons can still see it but they must see it under certain conditions and under certain supervision.

The ACLU is not happy with the move as it defined the act as censorship.

As The Brooklyn Daily News notes, the Brooklyn library received requests to ban or relocate 25 other books such as Godless by Anne Coulter. Only Tintin was relocated.

In 2011, Stephen Spielberg will release a movie based on the Tintin series.

I wish I could argue that the move by the library is an over-reeaction to a book. Unfortunatley, it seems much worse.

First, the restriction of the book displays a very cynical conception of the library's patrons. What's striking about this controversy is that though the book is old it is not precious in any way. If something were to occur with the book, the library could order a new one. It is not as if there will be a shortage of these books, especially if a rather prominent directer is making a movie on the book. Consequently, relocating the book to protect it reflects a rather cynical view of the library patrons as the staff believes that the patrons would destroy it rather than read it.

Second, like other attemps to ban information or offensive discourse and texts, this effort will be futile. Again, the book will receive only more attention since it will be a movie by a prominent director. While the library's patron may have restricted access to one book, the controversy will raise attention to the book, images, and movies and more people will see it. It is unlikely that all of the books will be banned, especially since it is available through amazon. As noted early, images from the book are available through Google.

No matter how hard the patrons or the library tries, banning one book will not make the images disappear. Banning one book raises attention to the act of the ban. Further, by restricting access to the book, there will be an inevitable backlash by free speech advocates and anti-P.C. advocates. The banning also diminishes the ethos of the library as the library is engaging in the process of restricting information rather than allowing more access to information because a patron or staff dislikes the message or image in one book.

Of course, why stop here? The library should allow each citizen to have the opportunity to go to the library and demand that a book should be restricted because of the book's level of offense. Why should race be the only criterion for offense? What about gender, pornography, politics, philosophy, art, religion, science, real estate, sports, or gardening be subject to tastes? Disagreements in these ares could lead to negative feelings or cause disruption between citizens.

It seems that instead of using the book for the purpose of education, i.e. how images or ideas situated in a specific historical period presented a message that dimisnished the rights of others, those who want to ban the book would rather say: "Bad idea! Get rid of it." If only those wishing to ban the book could see how there is a larger, more important education purpose in this controversy.

But that seems to be asking too much and the library's actions would rather restrict access to information, which conflicts with its ethos and function.

Does Race Trump Gender?

I imagine, by this point, most people who read this blog know about Caster Semenya, the 18 runner who won a gold but a competitor challenged her biological status, i.e., she's not a she.

The controversy is entirely way to complex. Fascinating but complex.

Yet, I am struck with an interesting rhetorical move by another South African athlete, who, according to The New York Times, stated:

“The question I ask is if this were a European person, would these questions be raised?” said Ruben Ramolefi, a track athlete for South Africa. “It seems there’s hypocrisy behind it.”

Since this is incredibly complex, I ask that Ramolefi not mention another loaded, socially-constructed term into the controversy until someone can figure out the gender issue.

Thursday Musical Tribute...

Regina Spektor, "Samson."



I am a big fan of this song. It hurts, every time.

It is a great example of mortification where the person takes the blame for the downfall rather than scapegoat someone else for the problems in a relationship.

"You are my sweetest downfall..."

The Politics of Cynicism as an Art Form

In his new book, Tom Ridge will proclaim what everyone else knew: during the 2004 Presidential Campaign, Team Bush manipulated the Terrorist Spectrum, i.e. the Terrorist Threat Alert System, for partisan reasons. Even better, because of this partisan tactic, Ridge knew he should leave the federal government.

Ridge stepped down as Head of the Department of Homeland Security in 2004.

I may be wrong about this but, if we believe Ridge to be the virtuous citizen he proclaims, why did he not speak out in in August of 2004 and not August of 2009?

Sigh.

Image of the Day: Metaphors from the Health Care Debate

This seems to be an appropriate metaphor describing the Health Care debate. CNN has more about this person who brought his assault riffle and handgun to a location where President Obama spoke on health care.

Though the person in question is practicing his constitutional rights while protesting, it seems that the refutation for this position is prudence. Similarly to the free speech debate, of course you have the right but it is not always wise to exercise that right. It does not seem to be a prudent move to bring a gun to a forum where citizens can "debate" health care. Somehow this image does not seem to inspire a "good faith effort" necessary for political debate and it does not seem as the person in question is open to an ethical debate, a debate in which the person is open to changing his or her position on a subject.

If only hippies packed heat when Bush and Cheney held their social security or Iraq war rallies. If that occurred, it would have been interesting to listen to conservative commentators attack the hippies for threatening the safety of the President and the quality of the debate.

Oh well. The decline of the American Empire is not here just yet...

Define Irony

From CNN: Walt Staton, a member of the group No More Deaths,was sentenced to 300 hours of community service. His crime: Staton "knowingly littered" since he placed water bottles in the desert for illegal immigrants.

Time served?

Image of the Day

While trying to find the text of a Palin speech, I stopped by a Palin PAC. It is not the official one, though the official PAC is not much better. Yet, like her political career, the site is not well maintained. However, the visuals are interesting.

And the war continues...

Early Morning Dose of Depression

an·o·mie

1. Social instability caused by erosion of standards and values.

2. Alienation and purposelessness experienced by a person or a class as a result of a lack of standards, values, or ideals.

ETYMOLOGY:
French, from Greek anomi, lawlessness, from anomos, lawless : a-, without ; see a- ¹ + nomos, law; see nem- in Indo-European roots

Here is the diary of George Sodini, the person responsible for the deaths of 3 women in Pittsburgh, PA gym. It is an interesting read and, as one commentator wrote:

Not a lot of hate-fueled white American males reach this kind of rational, revolutionary understanding. And in a way, he’s far more honest than the revolutionaries, too prude and self-righteous to admit what really matters in this life: sex, love, escaping loneliness.

Anomie. Anomie. Anomie.

The Rhetoric of Definition, or The Visitor

Twice in the past week, I've watched a kid's show in which aliens--the space kind--are called "visitors." This has happened on Saun the Sheep (Disney) and The Wonder Pets (Noggin). Is the term "alien" offensive now, in the generic form, or is this a comment on illegal residents and their status as visitors? Is this just PC BS or is it a good move?

I'm torn and LC is trying to do somersaults, so time is at a premium, but I thought this was just the sort of thing my fellow TRS friends would want to know.

Happy Birthday, Lion Cub!

Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet, sweet goddaughter!

The Dude Abides

To continue fashion month on TRS, I must describe the outfit I wore to Walmart this afternoon.

No, it did not include jorts or mandels.

After finishing some yard work this morning, I showered and put on a pair of chino shorts and a polo shirt. Since I had no immediate plans to leave the house, I chose a pair of slippers for footwear.

Around noon, I started to prepare lunch. I realized that I needed a few items from the store, so I quickly jumped in my car and headed to the supercenter.

I pulled into Walmart's parking lot and opened my door. As soon as I put my foot on the black-top, I noticed that I was still wearing my slippers.

So through the store I went in my brown corduroy house shoes. Classy!

An Add-On To Oxymoron's Recent Post

In addition to avoiding jorts, if one is male, clearly one also must avoid mandals.

One of the delightful definitions:

Men who wear tacky sandals. Not flip-flops. Thick leather, usually brown or black with woven or braided leather. Generally worn with socks proudly.

Another:

An unfortunate fugly fashion mishap involving sandals with leather straps and/or buckles

Friday Musical Tribute

Because Harrogate Can

Is Public Deliberation A Possibility?

As I am preparing to teach a public address course on the rhetoric of rights, I keep seeing online videos that show screaming matches and, in some cases, violence at town hall meetings. You can see some violence here and here. At times like these, it would seem easier to teach in a department that public deliberation is not a practical concept.

In the first video, a opponent to heath care reporter pushes and assaults a supporter. It does not help that the opponent states that the supporter of health care reform "attacked America."

And Harrogate, did you think the violence would end if Obama won the election?

What the World Needs Now: A Musical Tribute

Cracker, "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)":

Because what the world needs now is true words of wisdom like, "La, la, la, la, la."

I just saw a guy in my neighborhood wearing homemade jorts and a half-shirt. I didn't recover fast enough to look at his feet, but I bet he was wearing jellies.

The Christian Gene Isolated

Sunday Musical Tribute

Guns N Roses, from the "Godfather Theme" (solon and megs do not love The Godfather) into one of the sexiest rock songs ever, "Rocket Queen." Who could ask for anything more from a musical tribute?

D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

According to Alaska Report, Todd and Sarah Palin are getting divorced. Of course, no reputable news source has picked up this story, so it may be bullshit.

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.

Conservative Values, circa July 2009:

The government must send police to harass and arrest middle-class homeowners when no crimes are committed.

Run with that, boys. Right to 2104.

And in honor of the ignominious death of any semblance of cultural relevance allowed to my ideological opposites, I present the non-classic classic QotSA song, "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died."





Because, really, what's the purpose of political dialogue if one side is a spastic deaf-mute facing the wrong way?

What?

As a quick PS-
I love that the still-shot has Billo making the patrician "The New Yorker" face.

I didn't feel the love....

Okay. We are in the middle of a family vacation. Of course, it is not a family vacation in the sense the the four of us went to an exotic destination as a family. Instead, we took a vacation to visit family.

In light of the tension that develops with family visits, here is some humor to get you through the day. Well, maybe it is just humor to get me through the day: a clip from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. This is absurdly funny.

It's Mindtaking Baby.

Sunday Musical Tribute

Smoother than a Beckett monologue, cooler than the Fonz.



And, absolutely 5 Stars for the album cover. The Visual Rhetoric of Family Values.

Wednesday Musical Tribute

This here's a two-parter, and Harrogate is wagering Readers have never heard these songs. They are back-to-back installments off of The Kinks' (these days) much unlistened-to double album, Preservation: A Play in Two Acts (1973).

The first song is entitled "Flash's Dream."



The second is called "Flash's Confession"



Supadiscomama: You will find something hauntingly familiar in the main guitar riff of this second song.

Fun stuff, these songs. Meant to be listened to carefully. Coffee makes it better.

Toddlers Running

One of Wild Man's favorite things to do is run, and frankly, this is what he looks like when he runs. It makes me sad to think that he won't always run like Phoebe.

Friedersdorf's Post on Men and Abortion Rights Elicits, Unsuprisingly, Vitriol From a Self-Righteous Pop Feminist Warrior

Friedersdorf's post responds to his respondents. Harrogate doesn't have much to say beyond what he already said. Except one thing. "Anna N." at Jezebel is exactly the type of persona that makes Harrogate feel, as he occasionally does, embarrassed to be in any way associated with progressive American politics in general, and with pop feminism in particular--both of which movements are so freaking up to their eyeballs in identity politics one wonders sometimes at the rank ridiculousness of it all.

Award-Winning Snippet:

I don't believe that all anti-abortion advocates are acting in bad faith, or that they all want to control women. I do believe that many of them have genuine religious objections to abortion, and that these objections don't necessarily make them misogynists. But I also believe that on both sides of the debate are men who don't really get what it's like when something is not their decision to make. It's time for them to learn.

Oh, please. Do "teach" us blinded, oppressive, piggish men, Anna N.

Nothing in the abortion rights saga has been more stunning to Harrogate over the last decade--and this is including the murder of George Tiller, which was more heartbreaking than it was surprising for Harrogate--than the persistent presence on the blogosphere of women writers lashing out at male supporters of abortion rights, for having the audacity to enter the conversation in the first place. There are so many things wrong with such "logic," one hardly knows where to begin.

Anna N. asserts that Friedersdorf's post amounted to a threat by men, to withdraw financial and emotional investment in their offspring in response to the rhetoric of people like Anna N. But of course this is not at all what Friedersdorf's post said. But then, truth is not really a primary concern for those who worship at such poisonous wells.

For that is what identity politics has become, in the popular culture, in the political sphere, and increasingly, in the academic humanities as well. One wishes this were a straw man argument, but then one wishes a lot of things.

The illusion that women in the United States suffer greatly, that a vast patriarchy oppresses Anna N. and her sisters, must be maintained at all costs by any good progressive.

Blech on the race baiters and blech on the ovary peddlers too.

Friday Musical Tribute: Lola.

There is just something about today, today. We'll do this tribute today but under only one condition: you have to join in.

The Cynicism Against the American Public: The Soda Pop Campaign

As President Obama and Congress attempt to reform health care, there is a new group attempting to fight the reform through a juice and soda campaign. It is like the Twinkie Defense, only different.

Seriously.

First, watch the ad here. Then, continue reading....

Watching.

Watching.

Watching.

It is an interesting argument:

In the current economic climate, families are trying to save and not spend (and, hence, not always enjoying life. Except this family who looks like their enjoying life. But see, they are a nice, middle-class, suburban family who needs to camp instead of going to Dizz-Knee-Land. And no one likes to go camping, especially suburban families. Hence, this tax is hurting the family in question.)

Congress wants to tax the simple pleasures of life (the only thing you may be enjoying right now): juices and soda. If Congress taxes these as "some in Congress are thinking about it," you will not even be able to have this pleasure. (And then you too will need to go camping on vacation.)

Taxes do not make people healthy. Only education, exercise, and a well balanced diet will make people healthy. (Um.... and you should eat your vegetables because people in Africa are starving.)

As this ad appeals to an "educated public" it is also deeply cynical as it expects the audience not to understand the role of juice and soda on health care. An educated public would know that the increase of juices and soda in our daily diets increase the chance for obesity (see here, here, and here). Obesity increases medical costs (see here, here, and here). Health care reform is urgent because of rising costs. Consequently, a tax on juice and soda will reduce obesity. Reducing obesity will reduce costs. This means there is great social benefit to this tax even if there is no reform of the health care industry, which I would argue is still necessary. But that is the subject of another post.

But this has very little to do with the real issue of the ad: preventing health care reform.

Yet, for Americans Against Food Taxes of all this means is that 46 million Americans should go without Health Care insurance because suburban middle-class family X wants to drink soda even if drinking soda increases health care costs. The group would like people to say no to discriminatory taxes that burden those who drink soda and, consequently, who burden the rest of society for increasing health care costs.

Enjoy liberty with no social duty!!!

Coca Cola for everyone, especially if the company puts the cocaine back in!!!

Poem of the Day

"Spring," by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Who, by the way, remains highly underrated in Harrogate's opinion.

To what purpose, April, do you return again?
Beauty is not enough.
You can no longer quiet me with the redness
Of little leaves opening stickily.
I know what I know.
The sun is hot on my neck as I observe
The spikes of the crocus.
The smell of the earth is good.
It is apparent that there is no death.
But what does that signify?
Not only under ground are the brains of men
Eaten by maggots.
Life in itself
Is nothing,
An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.
It is not enough that yearly, down this hill,
April
Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing flowers.

Thursday Musical Tribute: In Which Harrogate Pays Homage to his Modernist Friends

Part I of Rite of Spring



Part II



Part III



These are all "extracts," but they do the job.

Men and the Abortion Issue

Today, a guest blogger on Andrew Sullivan's site, named Conor Friedersdorf, posted what Harrogate considers an extremely well-written engagement with the role of men in the abortion rights discourse. Friedersdorf's post responds to the firestorm provoked by a recent piece published by Alternet and entitled "My First Abortion Party.

Friedersdorf (and, to a lesser extent, "My First Abortion Party") attempts to negotiate the abortion issue's intersect between women's rights and the misandry that often impels pop (and academic) feminist discourse.

From "My First Abortion Party"

I saw Maggie’s boyfriend, sitting near the kitchen, wearing rainbow suspenders and looking uncomfortably alone. As it turns out, he had been the object of a lot of vitriol from Maggie’s friends -- women who thought that he should not have had anything to do with the abortion

and

A few days beforehand, one of her friends had asked her to have the abortion in Ohio. When Maggie insisted on bringing her boyfriend along, the friend told her not to bother coming. Maggie was being shown a great deal of respect, certainly. But she told me she couldn’t help but feel as though her pregnancy had been "hijacked" by women who felt like her inclusion of a man in the decision was weak or wrong.

And then from Friedersdorf:

Without taking any position on abortion itself, I want to interrogate the appropriate role of males, and suggest that progressives especially face some thorny questions. As I understand it, the most common position on the left is that how a woman deals with an unwanted pregnancy is a choice to be made by her alone. At the same time, the progressives I know subscribe to a partnership ideal in relationships, wherein major life decisions between couples are made via a process of mutually supportive dialogue, stripped of archaic gender norms whenever possible.

Heh.

Immediately followed by:

The woman gets pregnant: "I'm late," she tells her boyfriend. The man, if he wants to keep the sympathy of the audience, says, "What are we going to do?" The "we" signals his mutual responsibility for the circumstance and investment in the process -- and the question mark signifies that he'll pretty much support whatever she decides.

That shit's pretty funny, actually. No stand up comic could have done it better.

And finally:

Given that progressives and feminists are especially invested in pushing back against the notion and reality that rearing children is the province of women, I'd be curious to hear whether they agree with my diagnosis, and how they think these questions ought to be navigated. Is there an inherent tension between the social norms that advance your agenda on reproductive rights, and the ones that better bring about the world you'd like to see more generally?

How to get compensated for damage done

Within a few days of this YouTube video being posted, United Airlines contacted David Carroll (of Sons of Maxwell) and reversed their decision to deny his damage compensation claim. Oh, the power of going viral!

I should write a song about my UPS issues.

Sotomayor pledges love for puppies... and kittens

Sonia Sotomayor confirmations hearings began today.

A CNN story on the hearings started with the following line:

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said Monday that her hotly disputed judicial philosophy is, in fact, quite simple: Remain faithful to the law.

All of this means is that Sotomayor does not kick puppies. Furthermore, she likes them. In fact, if given the right opportunity, she will pet them. And, while petting one, she will remain faithful to petting it, ensuring maximum happiness for the said puppy.

She also does not spit on the baby Jesus. Nor does she use the Constitution to clean the kitchen counter by the coffee maker.

When in Athens....

If no one is going to make this confirmation process a serious discussion of the Constitution or of the laws, just confirm her already.

How Old is the Swimming Pool?

This civil suit might be the least of its problems.

Musical Tribute of the Day: Monday, July 13, 2009

This is a tribute to the high school and college bands of my youth...

Dinosaur Jr., "The Wagon."

If there were a band to describe the essence college rock, in general, and my high school and college rock, in particular, it may have to be Dinosaur Jr. With their odd sound and even odder songs, yes I am speaking about their cover of "Just Like Heaven," this was the band I listened to most during my "formative years." Whatever's Cool with Me, along with The Best of the Velvet Underground, were the first two CDs I ever purchased. I still possess fond memories of that post-Christmas, wintery day. And, yes, and the day of which I speak was December 26th, 1990.

So here is to you Dinosaur Jr and your first cut off of Green Mind, "The Wagon," because "There's a way I feel right now... Wished you'd help me, don't know how. We're all nuts, so who helps who. Some help when no one's got a clue ..."



This song always gets me in a good mood....

On a side note: Buffalo Tom may have made the cut with their appearances in My So Called Life, their radio hit, "Soda Jerk," turned Nike commercial, being one of Jon Stewart's favorite bands, and my fond memories of their show at the Palladium in Toronto.

Poems of the Day: Monday July 13th, 2009

From Aldous Huxley, The Defeat of Youth and Other Poems.

The poem for today is Huxley's The Defeat of Youth, which you can read here. The problem is that the poem is just too long for a blog post, hence the link.

But not to disappoint, here are two other shorter Huxley poems to appease your appetites.

"Winter Dream"
Oh wind-swept towers,
Oh endlessly blossoming trees,
White clouds and lucid eyes,
And pools in the rocks whose unplumbed blue is pregnant
With who knows what of subtlety
And magical curves and limbs—White Anadyomene and her shallow breasts
Mother-of-pearled with light.

And oh the April, April of straight soft hair,
Falling smooth as the mountain water and brown;
The April of little leaves unblinded,
Of rosy nipples and innocence
And the blue languor of weary eyelids.

Across a huge gulf I fling my voice
And my desires together:
Across a huge gulf ... on the other bank
Crouches April with her hair as smooth and straight and brown
As falling waters.
Oh brave curve upwards and outwards.
Oh despair of the downward tilting—Despair still beautiful
As a great star one has watched all night
Wheeling down under the hills.
Silence widens and darkens;
Voice and desires have dropped out of sight.
I am all alone, dreaming she would come and kiss me.

"Love Song"
Dear absurd child—too dear to my cost I've found—
God made your soul for pleasure, not for use:
It cleaves no way, but angled broad obtuse,
Impinges with a slabby-bellied sound
Full upon life, and on the rind of things
Rubs its sleek self and utters purr and snore
And all the gamut of satisfied murmurings,
Content with that, nor wishes anything more.

A happy infant, daubed to the eyes in juice
Of peaches that flush bloody at the core,
Naked you bask upon a south-sea shore,
While o'er your tumbling bosom the hair floats loose.

The wild flowers bloom and die; the heavens go round
With the song of wheeling planetary rings:
You wriggle in the sun; each moment brings
Its freight for you; in all things pleasures abound.

You taste and smile, then this for the next pass over;
And there's no future for you and no past,
And when, absurdly, death arrives at last,
'Twill please you awhile to kiss your latest lover.

This Week's Second Sign of the Apocalypse: Question of the Day

While Heather Nichols, an unfortunate reporter, interviews UFC's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, the fighter embraces Nichols and starts to simulate sex with her as she conducts the interview.

Question: why did Nichols continue to conduct the interview?

Question II: why did her producers, camera person, or anyone else fail to intervene?

You can read Nichol's actual answer here but is it convincing?

This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse

Lauren Conrad (of The Hills fame) has a book on the NYT bestseller list. Not just on the list--topping the list. For two weeks...

So glad I'm having so much success with my Ph.D. Otherwise, I'd be bitter.

Saturday Musical Tribute

In a word, YES.

Fashionable protest: T-Shirt Rhetoric 3000

I agree with your politics but not your grammar.

Wedneday Musical Tribute and Movie Review Combined

Saturday Harrogate saw Elizabethtown for the first time. Once again, he found himself wanting to throw things at the television for the way that Hollywood continues to exploit the dangerous Town versus Country narrative in ways that A)posit them as fundamentally alien to one another (as opposed to the more reasonable proposition that they are in some ways (but not all ways!) unfamiliar and awkward in relation to one another), and that B)invariably celebrates the communal and familial integrity of country at the expense of vacuous, mendacious town. Oh how Harrogate hates the binary.

Still, the movie impressed Harrogate on a number of levels. The quiet unobtrusiveness of the directing, a willingness to let scenes play out on their own strength that almost reminds one of the Coen brothers. The high profile actors who have overacted at times in other movies, but who bring a light touch in this movie. But most of all, the surrealistic blend of mournfulness and cheer with which Elizabethtown engages the great problem of Death.

The below clip shows much of what Harrogate describes. And what a kickass use of "Freebird," in Harrogate's estimation rivalling even the song's appearance in Forrest Gump.

Poem of the Day: Wednesday, July 8, 2009

One of my favorites.

Dorothy Parker, "Philosophy"

If I should labor through daylight and dark,
Consecrate, valorous, serious, true,
Then on the world I may blazon my mark;
And what if I don't, and what if I do?

Poem of the Day: Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Oh, just read it.

Kurt Schwitters, "Anna Bloom."

O you, beloved of my twenty-seven senses, I
love your!
You your thee thine, I your, you mine. -- we?
This (by the way) is beside the point.
Who are you, uncounted woman? you are
-- are you? People say you are, -- let
them say it, they don't know how it stands with us.
You wear your head on your feet and walk about
on your hands, on your hands you walk.
Halloo your red dress, sliced in white pleats.
Red I love Anna Bloom, red I love your! -- You
your thee thine, I your, you mine. -- we?
This belongs (by the way) out in the cold.
Red bloom, red Anna Bloom, what do people say?
Prize question: 1. Anna Bloom has a screw loose.
2. Anna Bloom is red.
3. What colour is the screw?
Blue is the colour of your yellow hair.
Red is the thread of your green screw.
You simple girl in simple dress, you dear
green animal. I love your! you your thee thine, I
your, you mine. -- we?
This belongs (by the way) in the ashcan.
Anna Bloom! Anna, a-n-n-a, I trickle your
name. Your name drips like soft tallow.
Do you know it, Anna, do you know already?
You can be read from behind, and you, you
loveliest of all, you are from behind as you are
from the front: "a-n-n-a."
Tallow trickles softly over my back.
Anna Bloom, you trickle beast, I love your!

Tuesday Musical Tribute

F@ck Kairos. I know that this should be a Michael Jackson tribute, or something like that. But I do not care.

Tuesday song of the day, "If I can't change your mind," by Sugar, one of the best bands from the 1990. Copper Blue, of course, is also one of the best albums of the 1990s. You can preview it here.



The band had only a three year run. But, in those three years, they made some great music.

Saturday Musical Tribute

A song that's been on Harrogate's mind lately.

Poem of the Day: Saturday, Independence Day, 2009

Happy Fourth of July to all Situationers, although some of you are Anglophiles unfortunately. Ye know who you are. :-)

Also, Happy George Steinbrenner's birthday.


Robert Frost, "The Pasture"

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I sha'n't be gone long. You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I sha'n't be gone long. You come too.

File Under WTF:

According to CNN: Palin will resign as Governor of Alaska.

There is a lot of speculation that she will run for President in 2012 and, consequently, she will not run for reelection for Governor in 2010.

But, why would you resign now and not finish your term? Is everything in Alaska going to go down hill so fast that you think you will not be blamed for it?

Update: File under this is incredibly stupid. from CNN:

Palin added in a statement that she was "determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path. ... Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional lame duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose."

Let's think about this statement. If Palin were to run for president and win, then she faces a dilemma. Since, under current constitutional standards, which I assume would not change, if Palin were elected in 2012, then she would not run for reelection in 2016 because every president who wins reelection is a lame duck. Of course, this also means that a victory in 2012 and a conviction against being a lame duck, means that if she were to win in 2012 she would be a lame duck president and, hence, should resign.

She is just bizarre. And no too bright politically. At least she is doing what is best for the citizens of Alaska. Maybe she will do the same for the rest of the country by resigning from politics.

Update II:
She said she believes politics is "superficial." Define Irony.

Update III: Watch it yourself. I am waiting for the 5:30pm showing on MSNBC. And the Geese in the background.


I guess we will no longer have Nixon to kick around. Oh wait. That was before he won the presidency. Shit.

Poem of the Day: Friday, July 3, 2009

Megs looked at my funny the other night when Sweet Toddler J and I sat in the bedroom and read a few of Emily Dickinson's poems. When Sweet Toddler J. was only two months old, I remember that I soothed her from a crying fit as I read a few Robert Frost poems to her. Wednesday night, we had a grand time on the Chase as we drank apple juice and read Dickinson.

Unfortunately, I cannot find one of Dickinson's poems that I read to the little one. But in the spirit of that night, here is the poem of the day:

"This World is not Conclusion," Emily Dickinson

This World is not Conclusion.
A Species stands beyond --
Invisible, as Music --
But positive, as Sound --
It beckons, and it baffles --
Philosophy -- don't know --
And through a Riddle, at the last --
Sagacity, must go --
To guess it, puzzles scholars --
To gain it, Men have borne
Contempt of Generations
And Crucifixion, shown --
Faith slips -- and laughs, and rallies --
Blushes, if any see --
Plucks at a twig of Evidence --
And asks a Vane, the way --
Much Gesture, from the Pulpit --
Strong Hallelujahs roll --
Narcotics cannot still the Tooth
That nibbles at the soul --

George W. Bush, Richard M. Nixon, and James Buchanan

President Buchanan did nothing to prevent the Civil War. President Nixon, well, did too many things to list.

President Bush: invaded a country with no WMDs because of a poker bluff Saddam played to hold off Iran. CNN has more but I cannot make it through the article.

Poem of the Day

The Choice, William Butler Yeats

The intellect of man is forced to choose
perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story's finished, what's the news?
In luck or out the toil has left its mark:
That old perplexity an empty purse,
Or the day's vanity, the night's remorse.

New Stupid Piece of Shit from Sony

Since Solon likes shiny new technology, he might like this. (Or does it have to be from Apple?)

Wednesday Musical Tribute

Same Orchestra, doing "Jupiter." Freaking incredible.

Todd Purdum on Sarah Palin

There is a new article by Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair concerning Sarah Palin and the 2008 Presidential Election. This article is an interesting text as it reveals very little that we did not know before and takes a few, deep and dark swipes against Sarah Palin that seem to be unfair against her and that come from a source (Purdum) who is unqualified to make these claims.

With so little new information, and what new information in the article does not seem too relevant, I have too questions: first, why should anyone other than political junkies read the piece? Second, even after reading the piece and reading the terrible slams on Palin (postpartum? seriously? what are your qualifications to diagnose this?) why cannot I not, even in good conscience, defend Palin? After everything she said and did during the campaign, I feel as if I should not even mention that the postpartum claim is outlandish because Palin deserves almost every unsubstantiated claim against her for ever unsubstantiated claim she delivered.

Update: Watch this video.


It is discourse like this, with not so subtle references to Obama as a terrorist and Obama as King Kong (no racial implications here, none whatsoever), and Palin as a national, and erotic, savior (notice the kinky, right-wing military and sex fethish with the erect missiles in relation to Palin in a military uniform-- starbursts indeed) that makes me believe everyday the network news should run the Thanksgiving footage of Palin being interviewed as turkeys were slaughtered. That is the correct metaphor for discussing what would happen to the US if Palin ever achieved national office.

"Going" Green or Merely "Performing" Green? And When, O When, Will We Stop with the Compulsive Use of Ironic Quotation Marks

Last week, Megs raised an excellent question about Americans, ranging "from esteemed blogger Andrew Sullivan to our own Harrogate," who have "changed their identifying display to the color in support of Iranian protesters."

Megs wondered whether it makes a difference at all, do the Iranian proestors even care? "Normally," she observed, "I'm all for the grassroots movement, but this one seems just too easy. Click a button, it says to me. That's all you have to do to help these people." Reading this post from the snug, secure confines of a hallowed Ivy League Library, Harrogate found himself feeling extra vapid. Worse, he was not much heartened by the latter half of Megs' post, which made an interesting move towards embracing the possibility that this "click of a button" movement might actually be doing something beyond making us feel proud of ourselves.

Sigh. Harrogate has no effective answer to this issue. But since Solon is right that intention always matters no matter how embedded in Theory we get, Harrogate in his own rambling way, would like to take a shot at stating why he went with the Green identifier.

First off, an important distinction needs to be made between Andrew Sullivan and us facebookers and lightly-trafficked bloggers (as friends know, Harrogate has deep ambivalence towards Sullivan, because Sullivan is a committed neoliberal, which Harrogate finds only marginally less repulsive than the mainstream American brand of social conservatism. But that is beside the point here). Sullivan's blogger coverage of the Iranian election and its aftermath has been beyond stellar, and one would be hard pressed to suggest that Sullivan has made no difference in shaping the public imagination, both in the United States and abroad, on these important events. To the extent that the Iranians have had uncensored access to the Internet during this time, Sullivan has in all likelihood reached protestors there as well.

Sullivan inspired Harrogate to identify Green on Facebook. Cannot remember the post (there are sooo many), but there was one where Sullivan argued that these identifiers matter. That whereas Obama and the Congress have a responsibility to be cautious with their Rhetoric, bloggers and "plugged in" citizens in the United States and throughout the Western world are not at all beholden to caution, and that while it may only be the click of a button, it sends a "human family" message.

Sullivan's was an assertion of the importance of Rhetoric in the most layman sense of the term. "That's just Rhetoric," some might say. But "Rhetoric matters," Sullivan responds, for it adds momentum to a sense of global sympathy for those who fight for their political freedom.

As Megs said, we all here in the US (except for those who want to bomb Iran and are thus sad that its people are suddenly humanized in the mainstream American imaginary) support the protestors there. Harrogate, persuaded by Sullivan, decided to inscrbe that support on Facebook, and he admits to having entertained the idea that some protestors would notice, and be gladdened by, the fact that so many are doing this.

In the end, Harrogate comes down believing that that we are, in some way and in Megs' hopeful words, "speaking to the Iranian populous" with these identifiers. But we also ought not to flatter ourselves that we are hardcore political activists in changing a Facebook Profile Picture from Picture of Ric Flair to a Placard asking "Where are Their Votes?"

Tuesday Musical Tribute

Mind-Blowing 2009 BBC performance of "Mars." Perfect with the morning coffee while thinking about all sorts of things. Will get ya every time.

Poem of the Day: Tuesday, June 30, 2009

The Lonely House, Emily Dickinson

THE LONELY HOUSE.

I know some lonely houses off the road
A robber 'd like the look of, --
Wooden barred,
And windows hanging low,
Inviting to
A portico,
Where two could creep:
One hand the tools,
The other peep
To make sure all's asleep.
Old-fashioned eyes,
Not easy to surprise!

How orderly the kitchen 'd look by night,
With just a clock, --
But they could gag the tick,
And mice won't bark;
And so the walls don't tell,
None will.

A pair of spectacles ajar just stir --
An almanac's aware.
Was it the mat winked,
Or a nervous star?
The moon slides down the stair
To see who's there.

There's plunder, -- where?
Tankard, or spoon,
Earring, or stone,
A watch, some ancient brooch
To match the grandmamma,
Staid sleeping there.

Day rattles, too,
Stealth's slow;
The sun has got as far
As the third sycamore.
Screams chanticleer,
"Who's there?"
And echoes, trains away,
Sneer -- "Where?"
While the old couple, just astir,
Fancy the sunrise left the door ajar!

Poem of the Day

CHANCE MEETINGS, Conrad Aiken (1889-1973)

IN the mazes of loitering people, the watchful and furtive,
The shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves,
In the drowse of the sunlight, among the low voices,
I suddenly face you,

Your dark eyes return for a space from her who is with you,
They shine into mine with a sunlit desire,
They say an 'I love you, what star do you live on?'
They smile and then darken,

And silent, I answer 'You too--I have known you,--I love you!--'
And the shadows of tree-trunks and shadows of leaves
Interlace with low voices and footsteps and sunlight
To divide us forever.

Monday Morning Movie Flashback (MMMF), and the Question of the Day

Can ye believe True Romance is 16 years old? What a wonderful scene this is, and how redolent with TRS-ness. Which brings us to the Question of the Day:

Is Floyd's rhetoric here appropriate to his Rhetorical Situation?



What about here? Moreover, here, does Gandolfini really "conde-n-scend," or is Floyd just being overly sensitive? Looks like a pretty cordial exchange to Harrogate....

The Morning Read

Over at Balkinization, Law Professor Sandy Levinson writes about constitutional defects, constitutional ideology, constitutional interpretation, and constitutional politics in relation to Chief Justice John Robert's comments on the infamous Dred Scott decision.

If you want to understand the complexity of controversial Supreme Court decisions, this is the blog post to read.

Sunday Musical Tribute

Upon his return Harrogate sees that much has taken place here. He hopes to speak to M and Paperweight soon, to express his delight for them. He also plans a response to Megs' probing post about the whole Green Thing.

But as decompression continues, for now Harrogate submits this cover of "Suffragette City" by none other than Boy George.

A good cover? Harrogate reports, you decide.





Oh, and heh. If this has put ye in a Boy George State of Mind®, then get your fill by checking this wondrousness out:

There's equality for ya!

In this month's "go figure" section of Sports Illustrated:

$510,000
Amount won in a
settlement by a man
who sued the A's for
sex discrimination
because he was not
given a souvenir hat
the club handed out to
women at a game on
Mother's Day 2004.

Fair and Balanced: Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before

Thank G-d for Fox News. Today, Gov. Mark Sanford (D) of South Carolina admitted that instead of hiking the Appalachian Trail, he took a five or six day to trip to hike in Argentina. He amended that statement to say he went to Argentina to see his mistress.

During the Press Conference, Fox News was right there to help his cause:



What? Sanford is a Conservative Republican? Does that mean Fox News made a mistake when defining someone to confuse its viewers? Seriously? They would do that? Again?

And, since I watch Fox, I thought only Democrats had affairs....

The Nixon Tapes

A few more Nixon tapes, from January and February of 1973, were released, ensuring that he will be remembered as the worst president in the history of the United States. Though there is some competition fot that honor, no president can surpass Nixon. From The New York Times:

On abortion, after the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade:

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”

On antisemitism:

The tapes also include a phone call from February 1973 between Nixon and the evangelist Billy Graham, during which Mr. Graham complained that Jewish-American leaders were opposing efforts to promote evangelical Christianity, like Campus Crusade. The two men agreed that the Jewish leaders risked setting off anti-Semitic sentiment.

“What I really think is deep down in this country, there is a lot of anti-Semitism, and all this is going to do is stir it up,” Nixon said.

At another point he said: “It may be they have a death wish. You know that’s been the problem with our Jewish friends for centuries.”

Hail to the Chief indeed.

Going Green

Greeting, fellow bloggers and readers of TRS. I've been drawn back after an extended hiatus--sabbatical, perhaps?--dragging my feet, kicking and screaming, because I cannot stop thinking about going green.

It seems everyone around us, from esteemed blogger Andrew Sullivan to our own Harrogate has changed their identifying display to the color in support of Iranian protesters. Until this morning, I've been skeptical of this sign of solidarity. "What do they care?" I thought, referring to the people of Iran. As late as last night, I told Solon that I found it somewhat empty to make so easy a change and do nothing else. "We're all in their support," I told him. "I don't know a single American who isn't. So what are these Greenies doing that's so important, making an outward sign of it?" Normally I'm all for the grassroots movement, but this one seems just too easy. Click a button, it says to me. That's all you have to do to help these people.

I don't know if it's the lack of sleep or the lack of coffee, but I started to change my tune this morning. If the Cub cared--or spoke English, for that matter--I'd right this moment be asking her about Iranian citizen's access to American media. For I truly don't know the answer. Are American bloggers truly speaking to the Iranian populous? Is that their intent? Since our own government has--wisely, I think--shied away from any pointed, tangible support of the protesters, is this more important?

(Both girls are awake now and demanding my thoughtful attention. More later, but I'd love input.)

A Father's Day Tribute

This is a little ditty for all the dads at TRS from all the kids. So Solon, Roof, Harrogate, Paperweight, and Oxy this is from Jeezy and Lion Cub; Harley Q; Supadisco-T; Wild Man; and Oxy Toddler.

Saturday Musical Tribute, and a Brief Farewell from Harrogate

Off of Pink Floyd's much-maligned, but actually quite excellent, 1994 record The Division Bell. Here's the sublime album cover:




The song is "High Hopes," even without Waters it captures much of the beauty of Floyd. Enjoy the song, friends. Harrogate rejoins the TRS ranks in a week.

Assy McGee Award® for Saturday, June 20th: Bill O'Reilly Laments the Culture of "Personal Attacks Leveled Against Public People"

Chalk this one up in the OMFG category. Bill O'Reilly's column today weighs in on Letterman's now infamous joke about Sarah Palin and her daughter(s), and wags his righteous finger at an American discourse in which "increasingly, personal attacks are being used to marginalize opposing points of view."

Even more entertaining is this line: "I've been on the Letterman program five times. Last time around, he called me a goon and mocked Rush Limbaugh's weight. I asked him why he was doing that, but he did not have an answer."

So yeah, OMFG. Here we have a worldview in which Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, are victims of increasingly crass, personal discourse represented by David Letterman.

O'Reilly, whose mode of discourse is fairly represented by the fact that he continues to pride himself on branding George Tiller with the "Baby Killer" moniker for year upon year. He laments the personal attack on Palin and her daughters. Palin, too, decried it as sexist, condescending, and more than a little bit gross to boot. All of which is bad. But calling GOP voters and their leaders the "real Americans," and the Dem candidate a friend of terrorists: that's just being "folks."

Ugh.

Friday Musical Tribute: A Happy Anniversary Shout-Out to Supadiscomama, who is Indeed Crafty, and Just Harrogate's Type

And Now for a Little High Romantic Art

Solon, surely thou hast not forgotten?

Yes, People Buy These

For sale on a bastion of thoughtful political discourse, thoseshirts.com.

A new love

C recently bought me Jason Mraz's new cd "A Beautiful Mess," and I have fallen in love with him. In fact, I'm declaring him my new boyfriend. Here is my favorite track off the album, "Make It Mine."

"A Profitable Enterprise"; Or, No Longer Meh about Clapton

Here is Slow Hand at his best.

Wednesday Musical Tribute Part the Second; or, A Dual Gesture of Love to M and Oxymoron

Sheryl Crow's "The Difficult Kind," as virtuously performed by herself and Eric Clapton.

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.

"Troll Slayer" Funniness; or, The Unstoppableness of the Twilight People

Monday Musical Tribute

A kickass version of "Gold Dust Woman" needs no particular reason to be posted. Verily, it simply deserves to be taken seriously.

A Right Winger's Response to Obama's Remarks on Islam in Cairo

An interesting column is up today, by Bruce Bialosky, entitled Let’s All Accept Islam.

The author is right that these Muslim theocracies are incredibly benighted, period, when it comes to political and human rights.

But what the author largely misses, as Bill Maher would quickly point out, is that what he is rightly skewering has a hell of a lot more to do with the nature of Theocracy than with the nature of Islam or any other religion. This is surely not a surprise given the author's political and religious biases. But if Bialosky wants to be intellectually honest, he'll have to accept the existence of a richly documented past of theocracies, ranging from pagan to Christian to Jewish to Mormon, featuring the broad suppression of women and in which social deviance of many kinds is met with violence on an institutional level.

The Old Testament reminds us that theocracies have rolled like this for quite some time.

Theocracy sucks. That's a statement to which Harrogate allows no "on the other hand."

A Buzz Is Building About Pixar's Lack of Female Protagonists

As Pixar's newest smash hit, Up, wows audiences in the way that all Pixar movies seem to do, a counter narrative about the franchise's lack of female protagonists is beginning to pick up real steam.

A week ago, from the blog "Truth, Justice, and Tacos", appeared a post, entitled Finding Nema - Where Are The Girls in Pixar Films?.

The thesis and methodological approach from the post:

This is not to say that Pixar doesn't include worthy female characters. But these characters are never the main focus - they're there to support the lead male character in whatever quest he's on. Most often, if you see a female, they're there either as a wife, mother or love interest.

Here's a breakdown of the notable female characters from each film, plus an overall feminist grade on the quality of the female characters:

Then today, appeared this post on the NPR website, endearingly entitled "Dear Pixar, From All The Girls With Band-Aids On Their Knees."

Gotta love this snippet:

I want so much for girls to have a movie like Up that is about someone they can dress up as for Halloween, as Anika Noni Rose said about starring as the voice in The Princess And The Frog. Not a girl who's a side dish, but a girl who's the big draw.

And I'd really, really like it not to be a princess.

My understanding is that after the summer blockbusters of 2010 and 2011 -- Toy Story 3 and Newt -- you're planning The Bear And The Bow, a Christmastime fairy tale rather than a summer adventure. And your first one about a girl -- way to go!

But why, oh why, does it have to be about a princess? Again?

Et tu, Pixar?

Thoughts?

The Intellecutal Dishonesty, Indeed The Mendacity, of George Will-Style Econ-Conservatism, in a Nutshell

It is always a tough call deciding which piece of the ballyhooed Republican troica is worse. Is it the "social conservatives," the "fiscal conservatives," or the "national security hawks"? Harrogate puts these terms in quotation marks because they do not at all describe what it is they purport to. But, never mind that for now.

The following snippet from George Will's recent column,"More Judicial Activism, Please". Not so well buried within the "look how reasonable I am and how much constitutional understanding I possess" blather is at least one giant piece of hypocrisy.

Controversy about the judiciary's proper role is again at a boil because of a Supreme Court vacancy, and conservatives are warning against "judicial activism." But the Chrysler and GM bailouts and bankruptcies are reasons for conservatives to rethink the usefulness of that phrase and to make some distinctions.

Of course courts should not make policy or invent rights not stipulated or implied by statutes or the Constitution's text. But courts have no nobler function than that of actively defending property, contracts and other bulwarks of freedom against depredations by government, including by popularly elected, and popular, officials. Regarding Chrysler and GM, the executive branch is exercising powers it does not have under any statute or constitutional provision. At moments such as this, deference to the political branches constitutes dereliction of judicial duty.

Sunday Musical Tribute.... Waiting

Disclaimer: this post is for humor only. No one needs to read anything in to this post. It is time to laugh kids, it is time to laugh.

The theme for today revolves around the word: "waiting." Right now, our good friend M is waiting and waiting rather patiently too I would add. While I am sitting around as some sleep and others are at the store, I thought I would see how many good songs I could post that involve the word "waiting." And, I think, I got at least one song for everyone. Hopefully, while M waits, she will have a good soundtrack to enjoy.

May the pot boil!!!

The best song for me, of course, is Leonard Cohen's "Waiting for the Miracle." Even though this video is not the official video, it deserves the top billing if for no other reasons since I am here, awake, and posting the entry.



Besides "Waiting for a Miracle," here is a selective list of key songs and play excerpts that focus on the word "waiting." Remember, this is a selective list: no Jonas Brothers, Jenifer Whomever, John Mayer, or Richard Marx though I am not sure how Foreigner made the list. Also, remember, this is for laughs only as it is time to laugh. And, finally, now that I think about it, these are some damn good songs. Enjoy your Sunday.

One of the best ever: The Velvet Underground, "I'm Waiting for my Man."

For all of the punks in the audience tonight: Fugazi, "Waiting Room"

For Harrogate, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, "Waiting Is the Hardest Part"

For Oxymoron, maybe: Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You"

Another classic: The Rolling Stones, "Waiting on a Friend."

From The Garden State Soundtrack, Zero 7, "In the Waiting Line."

One of the best performers, ever: Annie Lennox, "Waiting in Vain."

A Classic: New Order, "Waiting for the Siren's Call"

Another classic: Depeche Mode, "Waiting for the Night"

For all of the Gap Punks in the audience tonight: Green Day, "Waiting"

For SupaDiscoMama: Gwen Stefani, "What You Waiting For?" (FIY- The Bean likes this song, a lot, as she dances in her high chair.)

Odd- Act I of Samuel Beckett's, "Waiting for Godot."

Odder, but kid friendly: From Monsterpiece Theatre, "Waiting for Elmo"

And last, but not least, Jack Johnson, "Sitting, Waiting, Watching."