The greatest upset in the history of sport.
2.22.2008
2.17.2008
2.13.2008
Al Gore picks a candidate
On Saturday, one candidate got what every candidate in America has been seeking in this election year. Kind words and visible support from the latest Nobel Peace Prize Winner - former Vice President Al Gore.
"Hampton Dellinger would make a great Lieutenant Governor." - Al Gore, 2/12/08
As seen in this Charlotte Observer story, Hampton Dellinger met on Saturday with Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, and emerged with supportive words for his campaign for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina:
Dellinger's opposition to any new coal-fired power plants in North Carolina appealed to Gore, and their connection through Dellinger's father Walter Dellinger and Gore's brother in law Frank Hunger led to the meeting.
Hampton, who served Governor Easley first as a Deputy Attorney General and then as Chief Legal Counsel to the Governor, is a hellaciously bright guy. He's running for Lieutenant Governor in North Carolina, and he could use your support.
I can tell you right now that he would be the most progressive, exciting candidate we've had on a statewide level since Jim Hunt first sought the same office in 1972. He's that good.
Hampton has put forth policy positions on caring for our seniors, reforming the education system, energy conservation and a myriad of other issues and has taken the lead in challenging the more conservative favorite in the race.
Please drop by his website at http://www.hd08.com and take a look around. You'll find an attractive young (40) candidate running statewide in North Carolina who is unabashedly pro-choice, pro-environment and pro-grassroots.
He combines fundraising prowess (@ $1mm cash on hand) and a grassroots, volunteer-based team of men and women like me. We have a real chance to win this race. If you're from North Carolina (and I know a lot of you are), please consider working and voting for Hampton on May 6. If you're from outside North Carolina, your support would be very helpful, as we work together to build a progressive future for North Carolina and America.
Thanks for reading. See you around.
Cross-posted at the Daily Kos
"Hampton Dellinger would make a great Lieutenant Governor." - Al Gore, 2/12/08
As seen in this Charlotte Observer story, Hampton Dellinger met on Saturday with Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore, and emerged with supportive words for his campaign for Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina:
"I applaud Hampton's efforts to combat climate change through reduced utility reliance on coal," Gore said in a prepared statement. "His vision and leadership are a tremendous asset to North Carolina. Hampton Dellinger would make a great Lt. Governor."
Dellinger's opposition to any new coal-fired power plants in North Carolina appealed to Gore, and their connection through Dellinger's father Walter Dellinger and Gore's brother in law Frank Hunger led to the meeting.
Hampton, who served Governor Easley first as a Deputy Attorney General and then as Chief Legal Counsel to the Governor, is a hellaciously bright guy. He's running for Lieutenant Governor in North Carolina, and he could use your support.
I can tell you right now that he would be the most progressive, exciting candidate we've had on a statewide level since Jim Hunt first sought the same office in 1972. He's that good.
Hampton has put forth policy positions on caring for our seniors, reforming the education system, energy conservation and a myriad of other issues and has taken the lead in challenging the more conservative favorite in the race.
Please drop by his website at http://www.hd08.com and take a look around. You'll find an attractive young (40) candidate running statewide in North Carolina who is unabashedly pro-choice, pro-environment and pro-grassroots.
He combines fundraising prowess (@ $1mm cash on hand) and a grassroots, volunteer-based team of men and women like me. We have a real chance to win this race. If you're from North Carolina (and I know a lot of you are), please consider working and voting for Hampton on May 6. If you're from outside North Carolina, your support would be very helpful, as we work together to build a progressive future for North Carolina and America.
Thanks for reading. See you around.
Cross-posted at the Daily Kos
2.12.2008
Number 1 - Summertime
Ella and Louis take it home.
Performances don't get any better than this one. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performing the music of George Gershwin? Perfection. Why do you think we named our daughter after her?
Performances don't get any better than this one. Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong performing the music of George Gershwin? Perfection. Why do you think we named our daughter after her?
2.11.2008
Thanks for the memories, Mike
The Hurricanes traded Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman to the Ottawa Senators today for Joe Corvo and Patrick Eaves, in a desperate attempt to figure how to score goals when you have more players on the ice than the other team.
This should not be a hard thing to do.
Dang, this sucks. 2006 is well and truly over. Now a guy I have lustily jeered is going to replace a guy all Hurricanes fans loved. Seriously, you might as well trade Stormy.
And Stillman, well, what can you say about a guy who scored the prettiest goal I have ever seen - the over the net skate-around-the-back-pass-it-to-himself-break-the-goalie's-neck-and-bury-it-with-the-backhand against the Oilers in 2006? He is a steady and solid presence in the room and a hell of a shot from the point. I hope he can successfully bounce back from his latest injury - even if he is playing for the enemy now. At least we didn't trade with the slugs.
Oh well. Thanks for the memories, guys. You are both class acts.
#2 - A Day in the Life
Which Beatles song to choose?
I like this one, because with this one, Lennon & McCartney turned to Brian Wilson, after Pet Sounds, and said "ok, big guy, whaddya got now?"
Incidentally, depending on my mood, a top ten best songs list prepared by this blogger might consist entirely of the Pet Sounds album. Weird that this time, I haven't included any...
Cool video, too. Anyone know where this video came from?
I like this one, because with this one, Lennon & McCartney turned to Brian Wilson, after Pet Sounds, and said "ok, big guy, whaddya got now?"
Incidentally, depending on my mood, a top ten best songs list prepared by this blogger might consist entirely of the Pet Sounds album. Weird that this time, I haven't included any...
Cool video, too. Anyone know where this video came from?
2.10.2008
#3 - here you go, Brian
Queen, We Will Rock You / We Are the Champions at Live Aid
Bohemian Rhapsody is undeniably a great song, although arguably, Somebody to Love was even better.
This performance, though, was freaking awesome, and this may be the most recognizable song in the world.
Bohemian Rhapsody is undeniably a great song, although arguably, Somebody to Love was even better.
This performance, though, was freaking awesome, and this may be the most recognizable song in the world.
2.09.2008
Number 4
Marvin Gaye - "What's Goin' On?"
The words were written in 1970-71. It's amazing how little has changed.
The words were written in 1970-71. It's amazing how little has changed.
Five
GnR - Sweet Child O' Mine / Welcome to the Jungle
So it's two songs. But this is one concert - 1988 Live at the Ritz.
Sometimes I forget just how huge, and how good, these guys were.
So it's two songs. But this is one concert - 1988 Live at the Ritz.
Sometimes I forget just how huge, and how good, these guys were.
2.08.2008
Peace and freedom on the March in Iraq
The surge is working!
Here's proof.
Baghdad is a very safe place to be now. Unless, of course, you are a woman. Or a Shia in the wrong neighborhood. Or a Sunni in another wrong neighborhood.
Regardless of the level of combat operations presently taking place in Iraq - regardless of the relative tactical success of the cooperation with the Sunni militias (NOT the same thing as the surge, by the way, despite what CNN repeatedly asserts)- this entire war has been an epic disaster that WE caused.
Which is why I will be happy when John McCain is forced to hold it, like an anvil, while he is dropped into the deep end of the Presidential election.
They picked McCain. The one candidate who can't run away from the war.
Thanks, GOP!
Here's proof.
Baghdad is a very safe place to be now. Unless, of course, you are a woman. Or a Shia in the wrong neighborhood. Or a Sunni in another wrong neighborhood.
Regardless of the level of combat operations presently taking place in Iraq - regardless of the relative tactical success of the cooperation with the Sunni militias (NOT the same thing as the surge, by the way, despite what CNN repeatedly asserts)- this entire war has been an epic disaster that WE caused.
Which is why I will be happy when John McCain is forced to hold it, like an anvil, while he is dropped into the deep end of the Presidential election.
They picked McCain. The one candidate who can't run away from the war.
Thanks, GOP!
Number 6
Fleetwood Mac / Stevie Nicks - "Landslide"
Smashing Pumpkins and the Dixie Chicks both gave it a good shot, but Stevie's voice is unique. Just a beautiful song.
I'm going to have to move some of the next few up tempo a little bit, I guess. This list makes me sound like a sap. So far, though, these would all be on the list of ten songs I would take with me to a desert island.
Smashing Pumpkins and the Dixie Chicks both gave it a good shot, but Stevie's voice is unique. Just a beautiful song.
I'm going to have to move some of the next few up tempo a little bit, I guess. This list makes me sound like a sap. So far, though, these would all be on the list of ten songs I would take with me to a desert island.
Top 10 best songs - # 7
Johnny Cash - Hurt
It's a Nine Inch Nails song, but Trent Reznor probably heard this version and realized, like Bob Dylan hearing Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower - that sometimes someone else can invest your song with more passion and meaning, and can flat out perform it better than you can.
Cash was, of course, one of the greats of all time. I think he saved his best performance for last.
I have to admit, Kermit's version is pretty good, too.
It's a Nine Inch Nails song, but Trent Reznor probably heard this version and realized, like Bob Dylan hearing Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower - that sometimes someone else can invest your song with more passion and meaning, and can flat out perform it better than you can.
Cash was, of course, one of the greats of all time. I think he saved his best performance for last.
I have to admit, Kermit's version is pretty good, too.
2.07.2008
Top 10 Best Songs - # 8
Barenaked Ladies - "What a Good Boy"
The live version of this one that was on "Rock Spectacle" is better, but I couldn't find a link to that on You Tube. This is a great song from a fantastic album, "Gordon." It's a nearly perfect pop album, and the fact that it was BNL's first commercial release is simply remarkable.
Great band in concert, too, by the way. If you ever get a chance to see them live, do it.
The live version of this one that was on "Rock Spectacle" is better, but I couldn't find a link to that on You Tube. This is a great song from a fantastic album, "Gordon." It's a nearly perfect pop album, and the fact that it was BNL's first commercial release is simply remarkable.
Great band in concert, too, by the way. If you ever get a chance to see them live, do it.
2.06.2008
Top 10 Best Songs - # 9
Here's another one. Supposedly the most played song in the history of radio. It certainly is the most sung song the shower.
"We are the ones we've been waiting for."
Barack Obama is a hell of a speechwriter. Everyone knows he's a great speaker, but his speeches are oratorical AND literary gems and show a kind of crafting and individual voice that you only see in the great ones. Churchill would parse his lines down to the syllable, like a poet, to see if the phrasing would sing. Obama sounds like that and the line in the title to this post is simply beautiful.
I'm still an Edwards guy - 8 years of support doesn't get jettisoned overnight. But I'm getting close.
Senators, come visit. Let's have a drink. Convince me.
I'm still an Edwards guy - 8 years of support doesn't get jettisoned overnight. But I'm getting close.
Senators, come visit. Let's have a drink. Convince me.
2.05.2008
Top 10 best songs
So, I'm bored. So I thought I would post my top ten best songs. This one is in French, so our readers from Federal Review will likely laugh and point, but I don't care.
Francis Cabrel is one of the great songwriters, in any language. If you think of him as France's best answer to James Taylor, this is his "Carolina on my Mind" - the song people identify with him and which fans can sing by heart, as this clip shows.
At the beginning of the clip, he is teasing the audience, telling them he'll plauy the note and they can start singing.
France and this song are one for me. I lived there in college, and my host mother gave me several Francis Cabrel tapes and some other French singers. This one was in my Walkman (a primitive mp3 player which produced music by reading analog data from what were then known as cassette tapes) for every long train ride.
So in my mind's eye, the cities and countryside of France pass by as I listen to this song. Enjoy.
Words:
Moi je n'étais rien
Mais voilà qu'aujourd'hui
Je suis le gardien
Du sommeil de ses nuits
Je l'aime à mourir
Vous pouvez détruire
Tout ce qu'il vous plaira
Elle n'aura qu'à ouvrir
L'espace de ses bras
Pour tout reconstruire (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle a gommé les chiffres
Des horloges du quartier
Elle a fait de ma vie
Des cocottes en papier
Des éclats de rires
Elle a bâti des ponts
Entre nous et le ciel
Et nous les traversons
À chaque fois qu'elle
Ne veut pas dormir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres
Pour être si forte aujourd'hui
Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres
De la vie, et l'amour aussi
Elle vit de son mieux
Son rêve d'opaline
Elle danse au milieu
Des forêts qu'elle dessine
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle porte des rubans
Qu'elle laisse s'envoler
Elle me chante souvent
Que j'ai tort d'essayer
De les retenir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Pour monter dans sa grotte
Cachée sous les toits
Je dois clouer des notes
À mes sabots de bois
Je l'aime à mourir
Je dois juste m'asseoir
Je ne dois pas parler
Je ne dois rien vouloir
Je dois juste essayer
De lui appartenir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Francis Cabrel is one of the great songwriters, in any language. If you think of him as France's best answer to James Taylor, this is his "Carolina on my Mind" - the song people identify with him and which fans can sing by heart, as this clip shows.
At the beginning of the clip, he is teasing the audience, telling them he'll plauy the note and they can start singing.
France and this song are one for me. I lived there in college, and my host mother gave me several Francis Cabrel tapes and some other French singers. This one was in my Walkman (a primitive mp3 player which produced music by reading analog data from what were then known as cassette tapes) for every long train ride.
So in my mind's eye, the cities and countryside of France pass by as I listen to this song. Enjoy.
Words:
Moi je n'étais rien
Mais voilà qu'aujourd'hui
Je suis le gardien
Du sommeil de ses nuits
Je l'aime à mourir
Vous pouvez détruire
Tout ce qu'il vous plaira
Elle n'aura qu'à ouvrir
L'espace de ses bras
Pour tout reconstruire (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle a gommé les chiffres
Des horloges du quartier
Elle a fait de ma vie
Des cocottes en papier
Des éclats de rires
Elle a bâti des ponts
Entre nous et le ciel
Et nous les traversons
À chaque fois qu'elle
Ne veut pas dormir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres
Pour être si forte aujourd'hui
Elle a dû faire toutes les guerres
De la vie, et l'amour aussi
Elle vit de son mieux
Son rêve d'opaline
Elle danse au milieu
Des forêts qu'elle dessine
Je l'aime à mourir
Elle porte des rubans
Qu'elle laisse s'envoler
Elle me chante souvent
Que j'ai tort d'essayer
De les retenir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
Pour monter dans sa grotte
Cachée sous les toits
Je dois clouer des notes
À mes sabots de bois
Je l'aime à mourir
Je dois juste m'asseoir
Je ne dois pas parler
Je ne dois rien vouloir
Je dois juste essayer
De lui appartenir (bis)
Je l'aime à mourir
2.03.2008
"The Greatest Team Ever"
Isn't.
Another victory over the ESPNization of American Sports. Just because it happened yesterday doesn't mean it is the best thing ever.
Hype sucks. The players decide.
Go Manning family.
Another victory over the ESPNization of American Sports. Just because it happened yesterday doesn't mean it is the best thing ever.
Hype sucks. The players decide.
Go Manning family.
2.02.2008
1,601
WOW! 1601 posts since the inception of this blog in June 2003. Hard to keep up that pace, as is evident from the lack of action here lately.
To celebrate the milestone, I offer a cute picture:
You will note that posting frequencydeclines in inverse proportion is inversely related to the number and ages of one's offspring.
To celebrate the milestone, I offer a cute picture:
You will note that posting frequency
2.01.2008
A brutally effective ad by Richard Moore
Holy cow. This is just about a perfect negative ad.
Wow. The issue is clear. The statements accurate. The pictures out of date and in slow motion, but not manipulated. And the humor at the end is just about perfect.
Both Perdue and Moore have had excellent "intro" ads, and my wife even commented that, based on those, she would vote for Perdue.
If this one ever makes it on TV in a shortened form, it could really hurt Perdue in the cities - but I think Moore runs the risk of alienating the rural parts of the state, which for years felt left behind by Raleigh and Charlotte in infrastructurte projects.
But there can be no doubt - that is one hell of a highway project around a pretty small little town with big connections.
Wow. The issue is clear. The statements accurate. The pictures out of date and in slow motion, but not manipulated. And the humor at the end is just about perfect.
Both Perdue and Moore have had excellent "intro" ads, and my wife even commented that, based on those, she would vote for Perdue.
If this one ever makes it on TV in a shortened form, it could really hurt Perdue in the cities - but I think Moore runs the risk of alienating the rural parts of the state, which for years felt left behind by Raleigh and Charlotte in infrastructurte projects.
But there can be no doubt - that is one hell of a highway project around a pretty small little town with big connections.
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