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Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
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December 20, 2003
The Beatles Christmas records
The Beatles recorded seven special members-only singles at Christmas for their fan club members, from 1963 to 1969. They have not, to my best knowledge, ever been commercially released or circulated past their original one-time fan club issuance.
They're not really songs, but odd spoken word recordings that give an interesting angle on their evolving worldview. Their first one was a fairly straightforward cheerful open letter to their fans. They were saying hello, giving FAQs.
The first few are something like a Beatles year in review, high points from their professional year, a few jokes, and a couple of bars of classic Christmas songs here and there. The vaudevillian traditions of the English music halls came out in some of their sentimental jokey gimmickry.
As they got further into their career, their Christmas greetings turned into surreal little free association plays, precursors of the dark stream of consciousness that is the Firesign Theatre. By the last couple, they were degenerating from any sort of story element to experimental sound collages (Think "Revolution 9").
As a sign of their sickness, note that 1968 features a guest appearance by Tiny Tim with his ukelele doing a verse of "Nowhere Man."
In essence, these were quickie things that they slapped out, but during these prime Beatle years, they had so much creativity pouring out of them that even their most passing efforts had lots of interesting quirks. These recordings played back to back provide an interesting capsulation of their broader evolving Beatle moods.
It ain't Christmas for a Beatle fan without these seven classic recordings.
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1963
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1964
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1965
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1966
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1967
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1968
BEATLES CHRISTMAS 1969
THE BEATLES ARE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE
COOL REVIEW OF ALL BEATLES GROUP AND SOLO CHRISTMAS RECORDINGS
posted by Al at 12/20/2003 05:44:00 AM
December 18, 2003
What we can offer Saddam
The news channels are naturally featuring a lot of talk right now about the interrogation of Saddam Hussein, discussions of what kind of methods are within bounds and out of bounds to use in getting information from him.
They pretty much all agree, however, that we have the basic limitation of having nothing to offer Hussein. He's not going to be motivated to co-operate because we really can't offer him a deal. It's pretty clear that we don't have a lot of wiggling room here. Sooner or later, we're going to pretty much just hand him over to the Iraqis for a public trial and execution.
To make what seems like an obvious point that no one else seems to be catching, "sooner or later" is what we've got to offer him. That might be quite a bit.
In a nutshell, the best "deal" we can offer him: The more useful stuff you tell us, the longer we hold off your inevitable day of reckoning. You shut up like a clam, we might turn you over in January. You sing like a frickin' canary, maybe we can put it off for as long as a year or two.
The special beauty of his capture is that he absolutely destroyed his whole mythology for the sake of being taken in alive rather than killed last weekend. That would seem to suggest that the promise of a few more months alive might be plenty enough to motivate the rat bastard.
Help us find some of that WMD stash, and maybe we'll put off handing you over to Iraqis for six months. You don't want to play? There's a bus for Baghdad leaving tomorrow.
Am I a bad person for having utterly NO sympathy for the personal suffering of this ex-tyrant? Possibly. Yet I can't seem to work up any guilty feelings- none at all.
I don't particularly take glee in his suffering per se. For my part, I'd be happy to just see him goddam shot and done with. On the other hand, keeping him around for awhile seems like good strategery on several counts- and if that involves some suffering for him, I don't care. Brother, you asked for it.
Any benefit that can be had in the world by humiliating, beating or executing this MASS MURDERER is all to the good. We probably don't need to actually physically torture him and it would probably actually work against our interest, but I wouldn't give it a second thought on a moral level if I thought it would accomplish something.
One of the benefits of this war is that we are making an example of Hussein personally. THIS is what you can look forward to if you support terrorists. That's right, your biggest bully in the schoolyard will be hunt down and killed or humiliated, or whatever the US decides to do.
Any questions?
posted by Al at 12/18/2003 02:52:00 AM
I can't stand to look
Did you ever want to see Tina Fey and Ann Coulter ripping each other's clothes off in a heated catfight?
Tina wants to rumble!
While presenting Al Franken with his comedy trophy at yesterday's New York Magazine Awards, Fey lauded the liberal author of "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" for skewering the likes of Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, adding: "Have you ever seen Ann Coulter in person? It's like seeing a rat. It's like, ewwww!"
Come on, Ann- don't let her get away with that! Show up on her set with a ball bat. Cuss her out. Get in that ass.
I'll bring the popcorn.
 vs 
posted by Al at 12/18/2003 02:49:00 AM
South Park's timely seasonal season finale
South Park came in for a big season finish tonight, with Christmas in Canada. Ike's natural parents show up to take him away back to Canada, which results in an extended yellow-brick-roady trip north. What a delightful assortment of Canadians they pick who have issues with various laws passed by the new Prime Minister. Then, of course, there is anti-American Scott- whom absolutely every person recognizes as a "dick."
Within about 80 hours of relevant world events, guess who's running Canada from a spidey hole behind a curtain?
What would be the greatest Christmas present Santa could bring the whole wide world this year? Hint: it comes on a stick.
Indeed, they have a glorious and 100% heartfelt Christmas celebration for all people of goodwill- with no mention let alone credit for the dreaded cowboy president, which should make it easier for some of y'all to enjoy. [In this version of history, the Canadians do the job. It IS a cartoon, afterall.]
How do they go from active world events to finished half hour cartoon on the air in a matter of hours? They kick ass.
Joy to the world!Labels: south_park
posted by Al at 12/18/2003 02:26:00 AM
December 17, 2003
Captured Saddam toy
The good folks at Hero Builders have a toy of the Captured Saddam:
I would tend to think that the musculature of the body is giving way to much credit to an aging dictator. On the other hand, they would go nicely while acting out some of the Weekly World News stories about Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden as lost lovers pining away in tender love poetry.
posted by Al at 12/17/2003 11:22:00 PM
December 16, 2003
Strom Thurmond's negro in the woodpile
Strom Thurmond thoroughly disgusts me. I know he's an easy target, and I hate to pile on to such an obvious point, but still. The worst thing was not so much that he was a racist, but more that he really wasn't that much of one. He made his nut pushing "segregation forever" and all that typical Jim Crow nonsense- but he apparently didn't actually personally really have that strong an opinion. It was just something to say to pander for votes, and he was happy to flip it over when the wind started blowing the other way. That cynical disregard sucks even worse than the racism.
Now it turns out that he has a black daughter. The family of the late senator now FINALLY acknowledges his 78 year old daughter.
If I thought he was a demagogic political hack before, I don't quite have words for this- but we'll see if I can find some. This rates far worse than racism. God damn any son of a bitch who would treat his daughter like this.
If you want a case study in racial pathology and parental abuse, read the four page Washington Post story. Essie Mae Williams is a 78 year old retired school teacher. Her mother was a 16 year old maid in the Thurmond house. 22 year old Thurmond was a school teacher living with his parents at the time.
For many years, Thurmond quietly gave her a little money here and there. He visited with her occassionally- and publicly denied her till the day he died.
He didn't just not mention her. She was known of, and he actively specifically denied his parentage. Worse yet, he convinced her to do the same.
My mind reels contemplating the machinations of this master politician manipulating his own daughter like a particularly problematic constituent. He'd see her for a couple of hours once or twice a year. Apparently he was affectionate and nice to her, and of course always had a few bucks for his girl.
She obviously desperately wanted to think well of her daddy. He spoke nice to her. She wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. Then he greases her up with a few bucks to keep her quiet- and enough affection to let her convince herself that this money was proof that he cared. So she herself actively denied her parentage his whole life. She loved him and didn't want to ruin his career.
I can easily enough imagine Thurmond talking himself into thinking that he was doing the best he could, under the circumstances and all. After all, he was giving her money; he was thus taking care of his responsibilities.
God damn any man who would treat his daughter like this. More than anything else, your child needs YOU. Yes, this is my daughter, and daddy's proud of her. You might not have money, but at least you have the love of your parents to give you strength.
Instead, she had to know her daddy mostly as that guy in the papers and on the tv vowing to protect the decent white folks from the yucky nigras- such as herself. She couldn't even work up a proper resistance, because he was working on her emotionally to keep her quiet. What kind of layers of shame did he impact into this poor woman over these many years?
This isn't even about racism. Denying the humanity of other races is bad, but denying your own children is FAR worse. This is his flesh and blood. He personally brought her into this world- and then denied her till the day he died.
While I'm at it, screw the rest of Thurmond's family for accepting this all these years. Six months after the old man passed, the daughter has gone public (specifically NOT asking for money), and the legitimate family finally begrudgingly acknowledges her.
I do mean begrudgingly, and barely. "As J. Strom Thurmond has passed away and cannot speak for himself, the Thurmond family acknowledges Ms. Essie Mae Washington-Williams' claim to her heritage," according to a statement from the lawyer for Thurmond's estate.
Beyond any of dad's nonsense, Ms. Essie's brothers and sisters should not have accepted this. Strom Junior is a US attorney, and expected to have a big political career, inheriting daddy's connections. Beyond anything else, to hell with voting for anyone who would treat his sister like this: "I have nothing to say," said Thurmond Jr. in reaction to the family's acknowledgement of his sister.
I'd say I want to find Thurmond's grave and piss on it, but I'd hate to think of this poor daughter's feelings being hurt if she were to happen to read this. She loved her daddy.
Damn someone who would abuse his daughter's emotions like this.
posted by Al at 12/16/2003 03:28:00 AM
December 15, 2003
2003 New York Film Critics Circle Awards
And so it begins: another season of annual film awards. First up, the 2003 New York Film Critics Circle awards. HERE THEY ARE.
The "Best Picture" award went to The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. This appears particularly significant because this group typically gravitates toward art house stuff that most people would never see. Last year, for example, they picked Far From Heaven. If even the artsy-fartsy crowd starts getting behind a big blockbuster mall film, then more mainstream Oscars and Golden Globes are pretty likely going to be all over it. Of course all this bodes very well for this big finale making a big commercial splash as well.
I'll confess to not having seen most of these films. Heck, I've never even HEARD of some of them. How much that reflects on their obscurity versus my own lack of culture, I leave to the judgment of you gentle readers.
I was especially pleased, however, with one pick here: Eugene Levy in A Mighty Wind. That was an outstanding acting performance, besides his contributions there as a writer, and even as a songwriter. Good call. He managed to generate great pathos from a character in a satirical comedy, and with a minimum of gesture.
The awards here for best actor and director add to my previous interest and mean that I'm definitely going to have to catch up with Lost in Translation.
posted by Al at 12/15/2003 11:44:00 PM
Lauryn Hill blasts Vatican audience
From Yahoo News:
US hip-hop singer Lauryn Hill stunned leading members of the Roman Catholic Church when she accused them of moral corruption, exploitation and abuse from the stage during a Christmas concert at the Vatican.
Hill, 28, launched her diatribe in front of an audience of 7,500 guests at a packed Paul VI hall, used by Pope John Paul II for indoor public audiences.
"I'm not here to celebrate, like you, the birth of Christ, but to ask you why you are not in mourning for his death in this place," Hill said, reading from a prepared statement as she came on stage for her performance as part of a all-star gala concert.
"Holy God has witnessed the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy," she added, calling on the hierarchy to "repent".
Stunned hierarchy in the front row at Saturday night's concert included one of the most senior figures in the Church, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who is head of the Italian bishops conference.
I don't know just what to think of this little display. On the one hand, she's certainly being rude. She was asked to come sing Christmas carols, not give a speech.
On the other hand, she's absolutely right. The whole church hierarchy has been very willful in not doing the right things for many long years. The chosen moral blindness of these supposed spiritual leaders has hurt a great many people.
Also, she's got the right audience. She addressed herself to just exactly the culpable people who badly need rebuking. If she's going to make a public display, these were just the people to make it to.Labels: god, julie andrews
posted by Al at 12/15/2003 01:33:00 PM
December 14, 2003
We got him
Thank G-d, or Rand, or Baal. The capture of Saddam Hussein surely rates as a good thing to all decent people, whether or not you approve of George Bush or his policies in general.
Rather than glory in this moment, I will take the opportunity to point out that I was wrong. I was at least 80% convinced that we had whacked him the first night of the war. I was flat wrong then, but there's no doubt we've got the miserable SOB now.
I was particularly pleased with the first images of Saddam as a broken man, with that big penis tongue depressor down his throat.
Other than that, I think Blogcritic lord and master Eric Olsen expressed it quite nicely. Plus, you should also read this Red Letter Day post anyway to share the special joy of his great day.
posted by Al at 12/14/2003 10:11:00 PM
Is Bush TOO honest?
David Brooks has an interesting new column that begins "I think we are all disgusted by the way George W. Bush's administration has allowed honesty and candor to seep into the genteel world of international affairs."
Obviously, that sounds facetious. The really interesting thing though is that by the end of the column, it was not obvious how far in cheek his tongue was. That is, he almost seemed to be actually faulting the Bush administration for being TOO honest in international affairs. Hmm.
posted by Al at 12/14/2003 01:46:00 AM
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