Meme-ing it, for the first time in a while:

When you see this, post a poem.

(You'll have to click through to read the whole thing.)

Elizabeth Bishop, "Giant Toad"

I am too big. Too big by far. Pity me.

Hey all: I've downgraded to a nonpaid lj account. Not much changes except I don't pay. Won't affect my posting frequency--work does that. But if some of my old posts and/or comments suddenly have wildly inappropriate icons, that's what happened.

Love,
docmanhattan

Hey Friends-list! May I plumb your collective knowledge?

I'm looking to buy an electric guitar. Can you recommend one?

Here are my background and rough criteria:

• I am effectively a beginner with the instrument, though I have a good deal of self-taught practice with a classical guitar. Pick technique and power chording are foreign to me.
  
• I would ( Read more... )

Horrible ideas from a hellbound heart, volume 25:

For unintentionally sexual double-entendres about the Middle East: "That's what Edward Said!" jokes.

Your examples of this terrible, terrible idea are welcome in the comments section.

Welp, enjoy your lawsuit, New Jersey taxpayers. And congratulations on drawing more attention to some asshole exercising his Constitutional right to be an asshole.

(How do you suppose these same people with a sudden streak for censorship would have felt about the Jefferson Bible?)

"When you read this you're tagged! Take a picture of you in your current state, no changing your clothes or quickly putting on makeup. NO PHOTOSHOP. Show your F-List the real you!"

There's no reason for me to do this except the spirit of fair play.


( Read more... )

Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa, the St. Louis Cardinals' All-Star first-baseman and manager, respectively, will attend Glenn Beck's rally after being repeatedly assured that it will be "apolitical."Much discussion has followed this over which parties are lying to themselves, lying to others, and/or are total gullible saps ( Read more... )

My friends did this--

Click to view

--mostly as a joke, though like most great jokes, it has more than a kernel of truth to it.

Now, in a delightful turn of events, Jazz Boyfriends (and Girlfriends) everywhere are getting red-assed about it on YouTube and Buzzfeed. Apparently, they have missed the tremendous hint extant in the name of the band. Even Jezebel ( Read more... )

I can undertstand many valid reasons why Linda McMahon is not a good choice for Senate: lack of experience, simplistic policies, not a representative of most Connecticut voters in most senses.

But to criticize her for putting on a costumed spectacle that maims and kills people to exploit tawdry symbolism and pander to America's uneducated? That's ( Read more... )

Shorter Russ Douthat:

There are two Americas: one that abides by the Constitution and one of xenophobes. Even if the former is right, to the extent that their ideals are part of our guiding documents and national icons, the xenophobes make some good points too, especially how we can bully a minority group into assimilating, and reward them with ( Read more... )