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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.
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February 07, 2004
Blazing Saddles 30th Anniversary
Blazing Saddles hit the theaters 30 years ago today, on February 7, 1974.
There oughta be a law against Mel Brooks. Mostly likely, there are already at least a couple. This was probably his very wrongest movie ever. "Never give a saga an even break!" he said, and he didn't. He took every cliche about the West and gave it a good twist, and every cliche about Western movies.
No small part of the awesome wrongness of this flick doubtless came from co-author of the screenplay Richard Pryor. Hard telling just which lines of dialogue and which twist came from which pen, but the mockery of dumb racists made up the absolute funniest parts of the film. Boy, were they some dumbass crackers.
My favorite moment came fairly on with the chain gang. The evil road boss wants the black prisoners to sing some Negro spirituals or something. They complied with a sophisticated acapella harmony version of "I Get a Kick Out of You." Getting to my big favorite part, the dissatisfied evil Slim Pickens road boss then tries to show them how blacks are supposed to sing, flopping and bouncing around like an idiot as he sings "Camptown Ladies." Yee-haw!
Blazing Saddles Photos, page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
RICHARD PRYOR PHOTO GALLERY 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
posted by Al at 2/07/2004 01:15:00 AM
February 06, 2004
Should Janet Jackson et al be punished?
Should Janet Jackson or Justin Timberlake or anyone else actually be PUNISHED for the Superbowl Titty Massacre? My personal emotional gut reaction is not necessarily a reliable guide to best public policy, but my valve would instinctively suggest just forgetting it. Jeez, it's just a couple of seconds of tit. On the bad side, they might merit the modest punishment of a little public ridicule for their foolishness.
On the other hand, a self-described "wild, bloodthirsty savage Comanche redskin" pretty much wants their scalps. Does this display run afoul of public indecency laws? Is it legal to take your clothes off to that extent in public?
David Yeagley aka Bad Eagle takes a fairly harsh, but seemingly reasonable outlook:
It's called "indecent exposure," and all states have laws about it. Texas has plenty of them. Indecent exposure is a misdemeanor, unless children are involved, and then it's a felony. Millions of American children (under 17) were involved.
Jackson and Timberlake should therefore be charge with a mass felony, and immediately convicted, and fined, and sentenced to appropriate jail time.
Damn, that does sound kinda mean, but the man has a point. How exactly in principle is this different from Chester the Molester flashing children in the park? Or is that cool now, too?
This was fairly minor nudity, and there were other parts of that little show that were arguably more objectionable without specific nudity. Still, she made a point of pushing it to the wall with nudity in the middle of a prime time broadcast network Superbowl appearance.
Or are we now hereby proclaiming public nudity a constitutional legal free speech right or something? Not that there's anythng wrong with that...
DISCUSS AMONGST YOURSELVES
posted by Al at 2/06/2004 01:18:00 PM
Bush conspiracy of the day
Shocking, isn't it?:
George W. Bush caused the Cubs to lose to the Marlins in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series so that Republicans and gun owners could steal from Al Franken.
from the Bush Conspiracy Generator
posted by Al at 2/06/2004 01:03:00 PM
Axl Rose's birthday
Born William Bailey on February 6, 1962 in Lafayette, Indiana, our Hoosier hero Axl Rose turns 42 today. Happy birthday.
He hasn't managed to make a record in ten years. Has he also acted like a big jerk? Arguably YES, above and beyond the call of duty even for a rock star.
Nonetheless, he formed Guns n Roses, and recorded several of the GREATEST albums in the history of modern popular music. Give or take The Spaghetti Incident covers album, you can't go wrong with GnR.
Even if he turned into Michael goddam Jackson in the future, he made
Sweet Child O Mine
Welcome to the Jungle
One in a Million
November Rain
You Could Be Mine
I Used to Love Her
Paradise City
Patience
and a whole bunch of other classics. You can't take that away from him.
Axl (and Slash, et al) earned a place in music history.
If you don't have Appetite for Destruction, Use Your Illusions I & II, and Lies in your collection, then you've got your priorities all screwed up.
Get with the program before Axl has to whip your ass.
posted by Al at 2/06/2004 04:18:00 AM
No Treason: Screw a constitution
We frequently make political arguments based on constitutional law: This or that proposal violates the Bill of Rights and so on.
Really though, I don't particularly believe in the US Constitution. It's not holy writ handed down from on high. It's not the word of a living God. It's a political document hammered out in committee buy some politicians a couple of hundred years ago.
Like the general idea of democracy, the US Constitution is a (sometimes) useful tool for establishing order and protecting our liberties. I don't argue about First Amendment rights because they're in the holy written constitution, but because the constitution codifies my inherent right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The US Constitution is a good thing exactly to the extent that it protects our freedom.
On the other hand, this thing can be screwed and become useless. A bunch of jackasses could decide to amend the document to say that the government could, for example, lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived. This would make the whole thing considerably less worthy of support.
Anyway, making some kind of religious totem out of a legal document doesn't reflect truth or usefulness, nor does it suit my contrary personal constitution.
In fact, the constitution was controversial at the time. We all know about the famous Federalist Papers by Alexander Hamilton, et al. There were at the same time, however, numerous ANTI-federalist papers arguing against the constitution, which was engineered to vastly increase the powers of the central government over the original Articles of Confederation.
HERE is a modern article giving a brief skeptical historical sketch of the original circumstances surrounding ratification of the US Constitution.
But there's one classic short book that lays out the case against the constitution on basic legal contract grounds. No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority was written by Lysander Spooner in 1869. He lays out a simple, clear extended legal argument against the entire overall legal authority of the constitution based on principles of basic common contract law.
Short version: I never agreed to obey any constitution. I didn't sign any "social contract." COMPLETE TEXT HERE Typically included as an addendum to published versions of the book, he also wrote a letter to his congressman making a short version of the same basic argument, concluding with a polite demand that the congress vote to disband and go home.
If you start out from a basic premise of self-ownership, Spooner's arguments seem utterly unassailable. Why, exactly, do I owe any allegiance to the edicts of the US government? I might be somewhat willing to co-operate somewhat on general practical consideration, or most specifically on the desire not to be thrown in jail. Beyond that, the duty to obey the law simply because it is the law doesn't really register.
I'm not anti-social, and I don't intend to go around raping and pillaging. That's no way for people to live. Further, we have practical problems that can't be ignored that this doesn't give us any clue to solving, such as national defense. The US Constitution has been the most useful tool (other than a house full of guns) to keeping the looting and pillaging down to a minimum (at least until the 16th Amendment), so I give some begrudging willful co-operation.
However, this basic argument against the supposed social contract makes a compelling case. You should definitely consider Spooner's classic case before you go blathering on about having rights to health care or education or anything else provided by the government.
Indeed, everyone should read this book. An average reader could read the whole thing in probably not much more than an hour, and it will give you a really strong alternate reality tunnel from the worldviews that somehow justify the semi-slavery of the modern welfare state.
posted by Al at 2/06/2004 03:45:00 AM
February 05, 2004
Jane Harman, statesman
I just want to send a shout out to Jane Harman for her statesmanlike conduct on Hardball with Chris Matthews February 4, 2004. She was on discussing questions about US intelligence services.
Ms. Harman is a Democrat congressman from California, 36th district. Usually, I have minimal patience with a politician, especially a high level Democrat. I'm sure that if I delved into her record, I'd soon find a bunch of pinko liberal crap to annoy me, and I'd be cussing her up one side and down the other.
However, she at least gave a strong appearance of taking her duties as a member of the Intelligence Committee quite seriously. She was on with Matthews discussing problems with our Iraqi intelligence, and she seemed to be absolutely scrupulously NOT in any detectable way playing politics.
She went against some obvious partisan Democrat positions. She didn't see a need for a special commission on intelligence, expressing confidence in the quality of her committee's own ongoing work- without mentioning that the majority Republicans would dominate.
She did not lay even a scintilla of blame on the Republican president, noting that he was following the same information that had been convincing to her, and past presidential administrations. No, we've got some systemic problems with the intelligence services that need to be fixed as an urgent matter of national security, and she was not interested in getting in even a TINY dig at the opposition. This is especially impressive going into an election year.
Now, an opposition party needs to call the majority party out when they're doing wrong. There's not necessarily anything wrong with raising hell about the other party. It just tends to readily descend into partisan gamesmanship.
It's good when it does not, especially dealing with these critical issues of national security. At least at this one point, Ms Harman was nothing but a responsible statesman. I'm not necessarily sure what to think about all these intelligence issues, but she managed to convince even me that she is acting in a responsible an scrupulous manner.
Thank you, Jane Harman.
posted by Al at 2/05/2004 04:56:00 AM
Too HOT for the Super Bowl!
While we're milking the Janet Jackson Superbowl thing, let's just take a second to think of what was rejected as inappropriate for broadcast during the game.
For starters, Mike Ditka doing an ad about erectile dysfunction apparently did not present a problem.
Now, CBS was all about raunchy MTV rap stuff for the halftime. Nelly grabbing his crotch a dozen times while carrying on about pimps and hos? Cool! Justin and Janet dry humping across the stage? OUTSTANDING! Then of course, there is The Tit. Of course, CBS and MTV knew NOTHING about that. (Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. Say no more.)
However, a serious MOVEON.org ad- for which they were willing to pay good money- was not acceptable. It shows children working in a sweatshop to pay for Bush's budget deficit. THAT would be too controversial. This got some attention before the fact, but has been totally swept away down the memory hole by The Tit.
They had a Bono thing, however, that really takes the cake. As part of his long running AIDS awareness campaign, Bono had a little piece put together to insert into the halftime show. It would have involved him and J Lo singing a song called "An American Prayer." The song talks about the African AIDS crisis. This was apparently a violation of the "no issues" policy.
It seems that budget deficits and AIDS constitute inappropriate "issues" for family consumption, but pimps and hos do not. Hmm.
I guess it depends on what the definition of "issue" is.
posted by Al at 2/05/2004 04:21:00 AM
Janet Jackson's Super Bowl POW Video Apology
Janet Jackson plays the victim in today's installment of the ongoing Superbowl Titty Massacre. Today, February 4, 2004 (the 30th anniversary of the Patty Hearst kidnapping), Ms Jackson put out a video "apology" for her Super Bowl incident basically casting herself as a frightened hostage denouncing her actions under duress.
She could have gone to some friendly journalist and made nice. She could have smoothed things over considerably just going on Entertainment Tonight, perhaps, and saying (and preferably also meaning something like, "Gee, I guess I went a step too far on the Superbowl. My bad. Sorry if I offended anyone. Live and learn."
Instead, she set up a cheap, noisy VHS looking shot, like some POW being forced to ritually denounce her country. She looks like she's sitting there at gunpoint hoping not to get shot.
What a bunch of big meanies abusing poor, innocent little Janet! For shame. Look at the poor, little scared victim.
She deserves and should expect nothing but ridicule for this turn. Her brother is being charged with child molestation right now- yet she figures the clever thing to do is to whip out The Tit on national broadcast television in front of tens of millions of children. You obviously can't TRUST a Jackson around children.
What, parents are pissy? Who would have thunk it? Boy, howdy, but these people LOVE to manufacture martyrdom for themselves.
The whole damned Jackson family needs to spend some time on the Group W bench.
posted by Al at 2/05/2004 12:48:00 AM
February 04, 2004
Patty Hearst kidnapping anniversary
Patricia Hearst was kidnapped 30 years ago, on February 4, 1974.
She was a typical young rich girl, the 19 year old granddaughter of William Randolph Hearst. She had been nothing out of the ordinary.
Then a murderous revolutionary group, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), kidnapped her. A couple of months later, on April 15, 1974, Patty Hearst was captured on surveillance video toting a gun, an apparently fully willing participant in an SLA bank robbery.
She was transformed from nice, average Patty Hearst to the bisexual, revolutionary Tania, toting a gun, robbing a bank and issuing denunciations of capitalist swine.
She was eventually captured a year later, convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to seven years in prison. President Carter commuted her sentence after less than two years, and President Clinton pardoned her.
She has since lived a quiet rich woman's life, and acted in a couple of John Waters movies, notably as the mother of a similarly kidnapped rich girl in Cecil B Demented- John Waters best film.
Her story made a really interesting dent in the culture as the fulcrum for public debates and consideration of all kinds of issues concerning brainwashing, individual responsibility and personal identity.
She was obviously "brainwashed," whatever that means exactly. She would have never been involved in robbing banks if she hadn't been taken away at gunpoint and locked in a closet for weeks in fear for her life. Yet there she was in that bank, playing cops and robbers.
Was that really HER doing that? Should she have been held responsible for these actions? Was she under duress? What constitutes "duress," exactly?
How were her experiences similar or different from people drafted into the army and turned into killers, or from a young Salvador Agron being recruited to become a Vampire?
Who are "you" and who would "you" be after such an experience?
posted by Al at 2/04/2004 02:55:00 AM
February 02, 2004
Janet Jackson's Titty for President
Janet Jackson's right breast has taken over the world- it's all anyone is talking about. It's like Godzilla crushing towns in its wake. At Blogcritics, for instance, we went from a typical healthy 8K daily visits to over 250,000 unique visits on Monday. There's no fighting the power of Jackson's tit.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I say we milk this thing for all it's worth.
OK fine, the head of Pakistan's nuclear program has admitted that he's been handing off nuclear secrets to Iran and North Korea for years. BORING.
America wants to know what Janet Jackson's titty thinks about Pakistan's nuclear program. Does her nipple shield have any opinion about the presidential election?
I have an idea: Let's cut the crap and run Janet Jackson's right titty for president. I'm hereby declaring the Janet Jackson's Titty for President committee. It'll surely be more interesting than that professional husband John Kerry.
We've already got a campaign song recorded. RIGHT CLICK, SAVE AS...
Thinking ahead to what opposition research at the Bush campaign will be doing, there will inevitably be questions about the authenticity of The Tit. Is it real? If it's an implant, how would that effect its chance in the election?
Would the FCC still have a complaint if it turns out to be made of the same stuff as her brother's face? Is it illegal to show silicone on teevee?
Further, we must have answers about corporate involvement with The Tit: What did the president of CBS know, and when did he know it?
The Tit will need spin doctors, make-up artists, consultants. We'll save money on wardrobe, though.
What will The Tit's policy be on immigration, health care, the war on terror? What will The Tit do about global warming?
We'll have to get back to you on that. The Tit will have a policy statement when it is ready. Narrow policy proposals are far less important than the bigger issues of character and charisma.
We've definitely got to make it known that The Tit has family values. Apparently some folks were actually offended by The Tit, and upset that their children saw it on the Super Bowl.
They've got The Tit all wrong. The Tit loves children. Suffer the little children come unto The Tit.
Friends, countrymen, patriots- I say it's time we elect a tit for president. It'll do a better job than the boob we've got now.
posted by Al at 2/02/2004 11:47:00 PM
Ayn Rand's birthday
"My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute."
Ayn Rand was unleashed on the world 99 years ago today, February 2, 1905. As a novelist and philosopher, the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged did more than any one other person in the last century to re-direct the basic philosophical discourse of mankind.
Her detractors ridicule her and throw invectives as at no other person in the history of letters. Socialists and altruists of all stripes hate her and her individualist philosophy like Dracula hates holy water. Consider it a sign of her power.
If you're not familiar with Ms. Rand, your best bet would be to read The Fountainhead, then take a deep breath and delve into Atlas Shrugged. They're like the Old Testament and the New Testament. I won't say that they have all the answers to life's problems, but she asks a lot of the right questions in ways that no one ever had before. Those who know will tell you that Atlas Shrugged is the most important book of the last century.
Besides any specific answers, I have found her framing of the basic questions of philosophy to be invaluable. In her presentation, there are five basic root philosophical issues:
1) Epistemology - How do we "know" things, and what does it mean when we say that we "know" something? This is the big wrap around question for everything else.
2) Metaphysics - Is there a god, and if so what is his nature?
3) Ethics - What is morality, right and wrong? By what standards of value should we live our lives?
4) Politics - What is government, where does it get it's legitimacy, and what should it do? Ethics is about what we SHOULD do. Politics is about what we should HAVE to do.
5) Aesthetics - What is beauty? What is art? How do you understand and appreciate art?
She had- to put it mildly- firm opinions on these questions, but just framing the questions has been as important to me personally as any of her specific answers.
Happy birthday Ayn, and thank you. Enjoy Valhalla. You've earned it.
posted by Al at 2/02/2004 05:15:00 AM
Pakistani scientist distributing nuke secrets
So, we're all amusing ourselves speculating about Janet Jackson's Superbowl Nipple Scandal (me included). Meanwhile in the real world:
The founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer Khan, has acknowledged he transferred nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, a Pakistani government official said Monday.
Khan made the confession in a written statement submitted "a couple of days ago" to investigators probing allegations of nuclear proliferation by Pakistan, the official told The Associated Press on condition on anonymity.
The transfers were made during the late 1980s and in the early and mid 1990s, and were motivated by "personal greed and ambition," the official said.
Supposedly, these transfers stopped after Musharaff established a new control system over their nuclear program.
Oh, hell. Pakistan with nukes is bad enough, without these other jacklegs getting a foothold in the nuclear game.
On the other hand, it's definitely good to know. This should give us a much better idea of where these other countries are at with their programs. It should also increase our leverage in generating pressure on these outlaw regimes.
Pushing for regime change in Iran and North Korea looks better and better by the day.
posted by Al at 2/02/2004 02:13:00 AM
February 01, 2004
Janet Jackson's Superbowl Titty Massacre
Janet Jackson's one second flash of titty at the Superbowl must constitute the lamest PR stunt of the year that does NOT involve her brother. Janet hereby makes it official with this little desperation ploy that even she recognizes that her career lay just as dead as Michael's.
Some of us were rather contemptuous of the infamous Madonna/Britney kiss on MTV. The fading young star and the long faded older star conjured up a cheap bit of manufactured sexual outrage. Whatever. At least they set it up in some minimal way with the song and costumes, and did manage to get at least a bit of soft porn titillation out of it.
This business with Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl halftime was ten times lamer, though. The lameness starts with the partner in sleaze. We were tantalized for days with some big super special mystery guest, who turns out to be...Justin Timberlake?
On top of which, what kind of crappy excuse for a song was that even supposed to be? Her best bit of the night was "Rhythm Nation," which was a mediocre song at best FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. The used copies of the CD going for 59 cents at Amazon are still overpriced.
Then they finished up with Timberlake ripping open one side of her outfit to briefly expose her right breast. Whoop-de-frickin'-do. Is this supposed to be shocking? TITillating? Oh, please. Is this supposed to make me tumescent?
Jebus Criminy, but she looks old and haggard here. Not to be crappy, but this little display forces me to note that she was looking considerably older than her actual 38 years.
Lame, lamer, LAMEST: Even at that, there's a little tassel or covering or some such. Oh, for crying in a bucket- you can't even pull off a naughty stunt right without stepping back.
Alright, one step further into stupidity- Lame, lamer, lamest, lamest-est ever: Timberlake's pre-fabricated post-event claim that it was "accidental." Right. That's why she had the stupid tassel in place. In Justin's defense, I'm sure he was just following the pre-ordained script that Grandma Janet wrote for him.
Janet Jackson has never been a significant artist- and that's OK. She made a decent sized spate of hits, and made herself a name separate from the family. Good for her.
Instead of just accepting that her run was over, though, she has to come across with this quarter-assed stunt. It's not significant enough to be even a HALF-assed stunt. It won't sell her any records. It won't do anything for her except get a couple of empty headlines, and a few lame jokes. In short, it makes her look like (an old, dried up) cheap, slutty Christina Aguillera. Yuck.
Why are the Jacksons SO utterly desperate for even BAD attention? Why can't they just be content to go out and sign a few autographs on the street corner? You'd think with all their trillions of dollars they could afford therapy or something.
posted by Al at 2/01/2004 11:55:00 PM
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