Less is Mohrer

"More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of..."

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:55:03 -0400

“More than once in my travels in Alaska, people brought up, without prompting, the question of Palin’s extravagant self-regard. Several told me, independently of one another, that they had consulted the definition of “narcissistic personality disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—“a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy”—and thought it fit her perfectly. When Trig was born, Palin wrote an e-mail letter to friends and relatives, describing the belated news of her pregnancy and detailing Trig’s condition; she wrote the e-mail not in her own name but in God’s, and signed it “Trig’s Creator, Your Heavenly Father.””

- Vanity Fair

Regarding Palin's rapid departure

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:32:00 -0400

arigreenberg:

“Nobody suddenly announces a resignation on the Friday evening before a holiday weekend if it’s a positive thing.

This isn’t a bid for the presidency. It’s a scandal.” (via marco)

This isn’t a scandal or a anything negative at all. Palin’s resignation on July 3rd guarantees her a front page spot on basically every American newspaper on the most America-focused day of the year (and international media too… she’s all over the BBC here in London). She is playing on the emotions of her supporters and its a brilliant move. The x < 50% of the population that hates Barack Obama wants to get behind something, and right now she is it. This isn’t a scandal. This is her implicit 2012 announcement. It’s a wink to the republican base that absolutely adores her (Yes, New York and California: millions of people LOVE Sarah Palin). She’s playing on the emotions of her supporters who will be all about beating the secret-Muslim-deficit-spending-baby-killer on this Independence Day.

This isn’t a scandal. It’s our worst nightmare (well, not our WORST nightmare… I have a worse nightmare regarding our 44th president). Hopefully the minds at the DNC are on this. But make no mistake, this is not a scandal. It is a shrewd political move. If we don’t take this seriously, she can win. Do not brush this off.

Re-elect the President in 2012.

"The view along Wasilla’s main drag is of Chili’s, ihop, Home Depot, Target, and Arby’s, and yet the..."

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:01:35 -0400

“The view along Wasilla’s main drag is of Chili’s, ihop, Home Depot, Target, and Arby’s, and yet the view from the Palins’ front yard, on Lake Lucille, recalls the Alpine splendor visible from Captain Von Trapp’s terrace in The Sound of Music. It is culturally conservative: the local newspaper recently published an article that asked, “Will the Antichrist be a Homosexual?””

- It Came from Wasilla (Vanity Fair)

Musical

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:31:37 -0400

My favorite musical is J~~oseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat~~ Billy Elliot.

Saw it tonight in London. Three hours felt like 20 minutes. It was amazing.

tedroden: If Sarah Palin steps down early from her first term as...

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:30:02 -0400

tedroden:

If Sarah Palin steps down early from her first term as Governor to run for president, would she step down partway through her first term as president to run for Miss Universe?

I can understand being tempted to make jokes about Palin’s resignation, but there is nothing funny about it. Sarah Palin as POTUS is a frightening proposition and I do not put it past the American People to be tricked into make it so.

The Beatles - The End Our last full day in Europe :(

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:42:37 -0400

The Beatles - The End

Our last full day in Europe :(

jakeandamir: Wardrobe Wow

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:44:28 -0400

jakeandamir:

Wardrobe

Wow

Thank you, facebook

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:22:56 -0400

Thank you, facebook

The Beatles - We Can Work it Out

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 04:38:03 -0400

The Beatles - We Can Work it Out

Abbey Road Studios

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:48:17 -0400

OMG, we’re only 15 minutes away from God’s house.

Pinball Wizard, The Who(Just got to London, Rock and Roll Mecca....

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:43:50 -0400

Pinball Wizard, The Who
(Just got to London, Rock and Roll Mecca. We’re staying in SoHo.)

A Day In The Life Neil Young + Paul McCartney (St. Neil +...

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:19:18 -0400

A Day In The Life
Neil Young + Paul McCartney (St. Neil + God)
Hyde Park - 27th June 2009

Getting engaged to Petra quadrupled my Tumblarity.

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:26:51 -0400

Getting engaged to Petra quadrupled my Tumblarity.

"The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years."

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:24:09 -0400

“The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.”

- Ruth Madoff

Bull. Fucking. Shit.
Ruth, how dare you. The least you can do is stand with your man. You knew what was going on. You slept in the same bed as this guy for decades, witnessed first hand the impossible results of his investment firm, enjoyed a life of extreme wealth, and you’re telling us that you had no idea what was going on? No pillow talk? No idea that your guy wasn’t actually a financial genius? Bull. Fucking. Shit. You are a liar. Shame on you for walking away from your man.

And to all the people that lost money with Madoff: What exactly did you think was going on? Getting amazing, uniform returns, month after month, even during a recession? Could you not see through your greed to see that this was too good to be true? Or did you just not care? Shame on all of you. I have no sympathy for anyone that lost money with Bernie Madoff. “I lost $20mm, boo hoo.” What-Ever. I think 150 years is an appropriate sentence for Bernie, and the monetary loses an appropriate sentence for his investors.

joshandpetra: Thanks everyone! :)

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:02:20 -0400

joshandpetra:

Thanks everyone! :)

I am pleased to announce my engagement to Petra Robin Cramer of...

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:23:32 -0400

I am pleased to announce my engagement to Petra Robin Cramer of California. I proposed to her this morning over a picnic lunch in Place des Vosges, a park near our rented flat in the Marias district of Paris. We’re really happy.

We didn’t meet on the Internet… well, not exactly. We were introduced by my CollegeHumor/BustedTees co-workers and her long time friends, Amir Cohen and Amir Blumenfeld. So while it might not be eHarmony or JDate, I still owe meeting the love of my life to a website. Amirs, I will be forever in your debt.

I registered joshandpetra.com an embarrassingly long time ago (even though the possibility of another josh and petra couple is highly improbable), and we’re going to move the love-fest over there so as not to turn off the wider audience of this blog. The DNS entries are still updating, but for now, check us out at joshandpetra.tumblr.com.

High speed (300 kph/180 mph) trains with internet and real-time...

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:35:52 -0400

High speed (300 kph/180 mph) trains with internet and real-time map/speed pages are awesome. This fast ride to Paris will give us extra time to track down the passports we left in Amsterdam. More on that later…

Amsterdam, 11pm

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:57:08 -0400

Amsterdam, 11pm

930pm local time, Amsterda

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:24:13 -0400

930pm local time, Amsterda

amandalynferri: zoya: avid watchers of Pop-up Video will recall that Michael Jackson owns the...

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 05:16:03 -0400

amandalynferri:

zoya:

avid watchers of Pop-up Video will recall that Michael Jackson owns the rights to the Beatles’ catalog. looks like he’s leaving them to Paul McCartney.

I have said this before, Sir Paul is a dweeb, most for switching the the song writing credits around after Lennon’s death. Overall I am happy to know that one of The Beatles owns the credits again.

I hate(d) Michael Jackson… but more on that later. Petra is patiently waiting for me to leave for breakfast, but a reply to this one had to be posted right away.

I’m really glad Michael Jackson gave Sir Paul his catalog back. Paul McCartney turned MJ on to the idea of investing in musical catalogs and it was a blatant betrayal when MJ outbid Paul and Yoko on the Beatles Catalog.

For the kinds of bands that Amanda likes; those founded yesterday that will likely break up the day after tomorrow (one night only at some grungey dump in an outer-borough somewhere), crediting doesn’t really matter. But for the greatest band of all time, that our great great great grandchildren will listen to with the same awe we do today 50 years after the fact, it matters a lot.

John and Paul decided early on, for simplicity’s sake, to credit every song that either of them wrote as “Lennon/McCartney.” A general rule in Beatles music is that the guy singing is the writer. Songs they sing together like We Can Work It Out (where they actually duet in unison and harmony) or A Day In The Life (where John sings most of the song and Paul chimes with the bridge, “woke up… got out of bed…”) should remain Lennon/McCartney. They both contributed meaningful parts of the writing process and L comes before M in alphabetical order (and you can’t deny that John was the leaders of the Beatles). But songs like Let It Be, Hey Jude, Yesterday, Hello Goodbye, Sgt. Pepper (the entire theme of the album and the title tracks), etc., the credits should be changed to McCartney/Lennon. I get that it’s a rough PR move for McCartney, but he’s right to want it this way, and hopefully they will be changed.

I love John Lennon too. I’ve been on a post-Beatles-John-Lennon kick these last months, listening to him almost as much as PeeJ, but you’ve got to give credit to the greatest voice in Pop Music of all time: Sir Paul McCartney. He’s talent without child molestation (more on that tonight).