Jesus

Watched "The Big Lebowski" again on Saturday night, for maybe the 40th time.

Yes, I love Jesus! (aka John Turturro)

You may be a redneck if...

... your rear car window is held up with duct tape.

And today it rained, causing it to fall down.

So there I was, sprinting out to my car during my break, wrestling with the window in the downpour, trying to get it to stay put, so I could tape it back up.

I got pretty wet.

Good Lord.

(Graphic at left from Despair.com.)

~*~

Where are the antiwar songs? Politico.com wonders:

An unpopular president, an unpopular war, a restless young generation eager for change — all the elements of a mass protest culture would seem to be present in this election year.

One thing is missing: a mass culture.

The Vietnam era produced an entire genre of anti-war and cultural protest songs, the best-known of which became anthems of the age.

Iraq and the Bush presidency have inspired lots of music in this tradition — but nothing that has gained a large popular audience or is vying to be a generational anthem.

Music, say some sociologists, is just one manifestation of a more fundamental trend. Opposition to the Iraq war, which commands strong majorities in the polls, has not produced mass marches on the Pentagon or shut down college campuses.

The reasons are varied, including the lack of a military draft and much lower casualty figures than were suffered in Southeast Asia 40 years ago. But another big factor is the fragmented nature of how Americans live and communicate — with no clearer example than how we listen to music.

The trend was highlighted this month when Warner Music’s Sire Records issued a 30-song soundtrack for the anti-war documentary “Body of War,” the release timed for the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The album includes musical heavyweights like Bruce Springsteen, Eddie Vedder and 62-year-old Neil Young, who has contributed to the anti-war songbook for both Vietnam and Iraq.

Despite the project’s star power and its appeal to multiple generations, its format — the concept album — has, for the most part, been left for dead. People today download their favorite songs from multiple albums at a time, unlike in the '60s, when an iPod would have looked like something from the set of Star Trek.

Back then, says Robert Thompson, founder of the Institute on Popular Culture at Syracuse University, protest music was inescapable.

“Those songs, whether you were listening to them in your dorm room or whether parents were upset that their kids were listening to them in the basement, you were hearing them,” Thompson said. “Those songs were the soundtrack of that period. They were in the air literally, and people had to come to grips with them.”

In today’s culture, Thompson added, music consumption tends to take place in a narrow channel.

“Now it’s completely possible for songs that are getting huge distribution one way or another amidst their core fan base to remain completely unnoticed to a fully intelligent and aware American,” Thompson said. “Back in the pre-digital, network era, we all fed from the same culture trough, whether you liked it or not .”

The biggest reason why today’s protest music is failing to echo broadly, some cultural critics believe, is not just a shortened attention span on the part of music fans, but the move to an all-volunteer military. Compulsory military service during Vietnam meant millions more families felt they had a stake in the debate.

Read the whole thing.

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I am currently enjoying the DVDs of the first season of the F/X series DAMAGES. Glenn Close is terrific! I realize when I watch a show like this, how starved I am for women characters my own age, even if they're mean cutthroat lawyers.

Obviously, the entertainment situation for women my age is dire.

Me and Mr Daisy are still arguing over whether No Country for Old Men deserved the Oscar for best picture. Mr Daisy still prefers the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple period.

Good movies? Need recommendations!

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Listening to: Santana - Everybody's Everything
via FoxyTunes

Just dropped in...

...to do two memes I was tagged with, by Ren and Lady Banana! (I've been waiting for an excuse to type LADY BANANA!)

For this first one, I hereby tag Alphabitch, John Powers and yes, the wonderful Lady Banana!

~*~

Five things I regret:

1) Not enjoying how lovely I was in my youth, because I was so busy comparing myself to other women--not tall enough, not thin enough, butt, thighs, yada yada. It was all rubbish. I was beautiful and didn't know it. (And so are you, my dear ones!)

2) Marrying my second husband. We should have just hung out.

3) Not staying in touch with various people over the years, to wit, former best friends MARGARET SARBER-NIE and THOMAS WAITE. My email is in my profile, so drop me a line. If you don't know who I am, my photo is here.

4) Not having more children. I would have liked a son, as well as another daughter.

5) Not going to my stepfather's funeral. (Long story, maybe someday.)


Five things I don't regret:

1) Dropping out of college(s). What a huge waste of time.

2) Having a daughter.

3) Marrying the incredibly fabulous Mr Daisy.

4) Rescuing my cats, world's greatest felines.

5) Taking my current job, which I (usually) enjoy.

~*~

For this one, I tag anyone willing to participate, because it's a lotta busywork. :P

I enjoyed doing it, though, or I wouldn't pass it on:

Alphabet Tagging

Rule #1

Copy all the links below and replace a single link under the appropriate alphabet. If your domain name, or even the title of your blog, starts with an ” A,” you’d replace the link under that alphabet and put the replaced link at the bottom. Also, don’t forget to credit the tagger, or where you got the list from, at the end of the list with a full URL of the post so that a pingback gets generated.

A alwaysbcmom.com
B bloggingcents.com
C caffeine-overload.com
D daisysdeadair.blogspot.com
E enjoyingtheride-jenn.blogspot.com
F forumfinder.net
G gothic-peach.net
H happykeg.com
I ipentimento.com
J juliesjournal.com
K kabalyero.com
L ladybanana.co.uk
M michaelpark.net
N notjustmama.net
O originalmx5.net
P patrickdevivo.com
Q qweddings.com
R rantingsofawoman.blogspot.com
S shirleysdelight.com
T thinking-outloud.com
U utada-online.net
V valmg.com
W wickedbabylon.com
X xaviermedia.com
Y yimto.com
Z zbudapest.com

Replaced link: delusionsofgrandeur.com
Previous tagger: ladybanana.co.uk

Rule #2

You now have to “tag” at least five people and encourage them to participate so that this thing spreads like a virus. Remember, though, that not everyone’s into these kinds of things, so don’t be upset if they don’t participate. Just simply replace your tag.

~*~

And now, we close out with The Dude from The Big Lebowski: