How Rich Little Got His Start

That was Rich Little's big break. His Jimmy Stewart is still his best one

Top Ten Lion Films of All Time

1."Born Free” engrossing tale with a fraught sexual subtext. Tasty Hungarian Pastry Joy Adamson adopts Elsa a tawny lithe lioness who loved to lay around on her and lick her as she stroked the pussy until she cried for mercy. Later remade as the cable series “The L Word” it is without a doubt the best lion flick around.
2. “The Lion King” which the Disney Musical that tries to make life in Africa palatable by using animals (lions) instead of other residents of the continent. It is the story of a young boy who has his father murdered and who runs away only to return to wipe out his uncle and take over the family business. It later became was spun off as the HBO series called “The Wire.”
3.       “Clarence the Cross Eyed Lion” which starred the delectable Betsy Drake formerly best known for her service as a beard. She survived the sinking of the Andrea Doria and this disaster as well. Although it was popular enough to be spun off into the sixties TV show “Daktari” about an animal hospital in Africa. It is rumored that they treated the first monkey infected with HIV. But this has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
4.       “The Ghost and the Darkness” which is the story of two man eating lions working as team which devastates a railroad project. Principally famous for being the last movie where Val Kilmer weighed less than 300 pounds it also considered quite ironic that Michael Douglas dies after getting eaten by a pussy instead of the other way around.
5.       “Savage Harvest” is a story about a family being attacked by a starving pride of lions who relentlessly attack and attempt to eat a family that includes Tom Skerritt and Michele Philips. The lions were uncontrollable and caused an enormous amount of damage and death. It was later recreated at a CVS in Baltimore Maryland.
6.       “The White Lions” tells the story of a professor and his family who went to Africa to study the behavior of the White Lions. These lions were known to rely on their privilege and got many carcasses to feed on just because they were white. This later was spun off into the collected works of Ta-Nehisi Coates.
7.       “Hold the Lion, Please” a Merrie Melodies cartoon starring the inimitable Bugs Bunny. Leo the Lion tries to show he is “King of the Jungle” by hunting down a small defenseless animal (Bugs). After a long chase Leo captures Bugs and is about to administer the coup de grace until he gets a call from his wife and meekly lets him go and returns home. Currently the same scenario is being reenacted by Secretary John Kerry and the Iranians.
8.       “Zebra in the Kitchen” is a sixties movie in which Dennis the Menace Jay North in his first movie role has a pet mountain lion that is sent to the zoo. When he sees how the animals he loves were being mistreated he sets them free and they wander the streets of his town getting in various difficulties. Currently the same scenario is being reenacted by President Obama as he releases various criminals from federal detention.
9.    “Napoleon and Samantha” a film starring two very annoying child stars of the 1970’s Johnnie Whitaker and Jodie Foster. As well as the communist Grandpa Walton and Michael Douglas before he started eating pussy. The two annoying child stars run away from home after the commie dies and have adventures with an old lion named Major who they inherited from a dead clown. The events and tone of this movie were later reenacted by Whitaker when he was Dana Plato’s manager and by Jodie Foster’s relationship with John Hinckley which of course caused a tragedy by her continuing love of pussy. Hinckley should have known by the way she stroked that cat.
10.   “Secondhand Lions” is the story of two old coots and their demented great-nephew. They buy a lion they intend to kill and stuff but decide they like it and let it live with them. There are many complications and bull shit stories about World War One, the Foreign Legion and a rich Arab sheik. In the end the lion saves the kid and dies heroically and they all live happily ever after. It is currently being reenacted in the Republican primary with Scott Walker as the boy and Donald Trump as the cowardly lion.

KLEM FM

This one goes out to the sensitive ones who like to shuckle and to get into the groove:

Link in case the video doesn't load

After this, if you're still mad about lions, you can vent your anger by wishing you had a rocket launcher to make some S.O.B. pay die:

Link in case the video doesn't load

Stories the Media has dropped in order so they could cover Lioncides in Africa!

New York Daily News July 30, 2015  

A packed community meeting in Ferguson, Mo., descended into chaos Thursday night after name-calling gave way to an all-out brawl that highlighted the simmering racial tensions still present nearly one year after an unarmed black teen was shot and killed by a police officer.

At least three people were arrested outside the Ferguson Community Center after an informal question and answer session between locals and Mayor James Knowles III was interrupted by protesters.

The tense meeting broke up early and Knowles quickly bolted when a physical encounter turned into a fight.

Brown was shot and killed after a confrontation with Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9, 2014. A St. Louis County grand jury didn't indict Wilson but he later resigned from the force."If this is their idea of change everything just got worse," protester and Ferguson resident Tony Rice told the Daily News. "It began when a white lady knocked a cellphone out of a protester's hand."

Knowles set up the town hall-style meeting meant only for residents to discuss any number of issues — from economic to racial — that have arisen in the year since the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown cast a national spotlight on the St. Louis suburb.

"I want to have a regular conversation to address the issues before they turn into a crisis," Knowles told the crowd of about 50.

Residents were encouraged to write questions on index cards to prevent a repeat of past meetings where people were heckled or shouted down.

The mayor warned the crowd there would be consequences for anyone who blocked traffic on Aug. 9. Four days of events are planned to commemorate Brown's death, including a silent march organized by #UnitedWeFight activists.

About 20 protesters stood outside and disrupted the meeting anyway. It's unclear how many were locals.

"Recall Knowles! Recall Knowles!" they shouted. The mayor has been the target of a petition calling for his recall.

"Sometimes it's hard to communicate with residents because there's screaming outside," an exasperated Knowles told the town hall crowd.

Police stationed at the door allowed the protesters inside and the meeting quickly devolved. The me-lee spilled outside. Additional police arrived and made arrests.

No one was injured.

"The City will continue to embrace open dialogue with individuals who are wanting to make our city a better place," the city tweeted afterward. "But, the disruption of meetings cannot and will not be tolerated."

(It is interesting how this story is framed. Michael Brown is an "unarmed black teen" and the me-lee started because of a "white lady" getting physical with a "protester." That is some top notch reporting there let me tell you. It looks like Ferguson is really turning it around. The best thing about President Obama is the racial healing he has brought to us.)

Let's keep our eye on the ball and concentrate on what's really important!

"Oh thank God you are ok Cecil. I heard you got shot by a dentist."
"No that is not what happened. I got stabbed by a Jew at the parade."
"What I didn't hear about that. Why did he stab you?"
"I don't know. He was just a meanie. A meanie with a beanie. I thought everybody with a beanie was nice like you Beanie. Who knew?"
"I guess you can't trust everyone with a beanie."
"I know that's what the President said. He hates everyone with a beanie."
"I just don't know anymore."

Jennifer or Bailey.......As God is my witness I thought turkeys could fly!

"Why are we here Jennifer?"
"I don't know. It is something about stretching. Changing it up. Say are you still dating Dr. Johnny Fever? What's up with that?"
"Well I can explain it in one word."
"What's that?"
"Drugs."
"I love the eighties!"

It's De Blasio time......pissing it all away!

New York Post July 31, 2015

The glass facade of Cooper Union’s $111 million academic building offers a remarkable view — of a back alley packed with vagrants. Or victims of income inequality as Mayor De Blasio likes to call them as he has them moved from his Park Slope block.

“I have seen drug deals, public urination, defecation, masturbation in broad daylight in the Taras Shevchenko alley,” a Cooper Union faculty member told The Post. 

“It’s a place where many homeless congregate to sleep — right in front of a church and between a high school and a college,” the faculty member added. "They act like they own the street. The cops can't do anything because the city council has decided that quality of life crimes should be ignored. So they are not getting involved."

Modal Trigger

Photo: Natan Dvir

Students, visitors to the East Village building’s multiple art galleries and even small kids who attend Preschool of the Arts housed at Cooper Union are greeted daily by a motley crew of drifters who bunk down on the pavement along Taras Shevchenko Place from about sunset through the morning rush hour.

The geometric, asymmetrical architecture of 41 Cooper Square provides the perfect cover from the elements as drifters spread out under the building’s protruding angles, cops said.
And the web of glass that makes up its facade offers a perfect view of a parade of quality-of-life offenses.

“These conditions are unsavory, at best — particularly when you’re looking out your window in the morning and see something like a drug deal happening. Or when you’re sitting in a classroom and someone urinates right in front of you,” said the Cooper Union professor.  "I mean if I wanted to see someone shitting on the students I would be a professor at the University of Wisconsin."

Rosa Hernandez, 48, of Park Slope, sees the group of loiterers every day as she drops her 13-year-old son off at La Salle Academy nearby.

“I've seen them drinking beer in the morning,” said the mom. "I mean I leave my husband sitting in front of the bodega on an orange crate drinking beer and playing dominoes every day. I never expected to see that in a high class part of Manhattan. I bring my son here so he can learn how to act white. That kind of bum will kill your brother."

Nine of the drifters were splayed out on bits of cardboard Thursday morning, and began hurling insults, water and bits of cookie when approached by a reporter.

“I was going to chase him down and beat the s–t out of him,” one thin, bedraggled man spat in anger."Who does he think he is taking my picture? I will kill him!"

“If I ever see you or that photographer again, I’ll kick the s–t out of you,” he threatened. "I hat the paparazzi! They were the ones who killed my girlfriend Princess Di."

(Altered slightly for seasoning)

"Ex–Top Gear Trio Will Make a Car Show for Amazon Prime"

"Alongside fellow ex–Top Gear hosts James May and Richard Hammond, the irascible [Jeremy Clarkson, formerly of the BBC's Top Gear series, aka "The Anti-Scold"]  has signed on to host a new automotive series on Amazon Prime, which will start streaming sometime next year. It’s a savvy move, contractually: The non-compete clause in the trio’s old BBC contract apparently only forbade them from signing with a competing British channel for two years, and said absolutely nothing about working with the content-producing arm of an American logistics company."

Via Instapundit who says...

I wonder if any BBC subscribers will weigh what they’re getting for their mandatory license fees versus what’s included for voluntarily signing up with Amazon Prime or Netflix?

"urinal privilege"

 

Link to video

 

"The folks at Campus Reform have just finished conducting an absolutely hilarious social science experiment where they demand an end to “urinal privilege” on the basis on gender equality."

"CDC: 1 in 5 American adults live with a disability"

"The study, drawn from 2013 data, says 53 million Americans have a disability."

“We know disability types and related challenges can vary,” said Elizabeth Courtney-Long, a health scientist with CDC’s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. “In order to understand and address their needs, we need to understand their diverse circumstances. This report provides a snapshot into that.”

The researchers defined a disability as a self-reported difficulty in one or more of five areas: vision, cognition, mobility, self-care or independent living.

On twitter... ‏@BiasedGirl said...

I can only assume that this 1 in 5 Americans are "Disabled" study is the result of our Be The Biggest Victim contest society.

"Man Bicycling Across America Killed In Oklahoma Wreck"

"A man [Patrick Wanninkhof, 25] bicycling across America to raise money for affordable housing died after being hit by a car in western Oklahoma Thursday morning... another bicyclist - identified as Bridget Anderson, 22 - was hurt in the same crash. Troopers said she was stable when she was airlifted to OU Medical Center with a leg injury."

According to the trooper's report, Wanninkhof and Anderson were riding west when a westbound 2014 Chevy driven by Sarah Morris, 34, of Cordell hit them. She told troopers she was distracted by looking at her phone when she hit the bicyclists, according to the OHP report. Morris wasn't hurt, troopers said.

The report did not indicate whether Morris will be cited.

A comment on "Oklahoma Own News 9" said...

I'm just glad to see that none of you Perfect citizens (heavy sarcasm) have NEVER used your phone while you're driving!!
For the record, her phone rang, she looked down at it and that's all it took. I'm so sure that none of you have ever done any thing like that.
She wasn't texting, taking selfies or playing games. She glanced at her phone when it rang. I guarantee every single negative person on this thread has done and will continue to do the same thing, in your own cars, while you are driving. Idiots.

Via Reddit

The Doors

 

Link to video

Makeup!

George, we got no time for this, you're supposed to be a professional.

MSNBC Thursday night massacre

"MSNBC has formally decided to cancel three programs -- "The Cycle," "Now with Alex Wagner" and "The Ed Show" -- as part of a larger effort to shift its daytime lineup away from opinion programming, network sources told the On Media blog on Thursday."

Alex Wagner and Ari Melber, a "Cycle" co-host and MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, will remain with the network. Ed Schultz, the host of "The Ed Show," will leave the network, as will "Cycle" co-hosts Abby Huntsman, Krystal Ball and Toure...

The cancellations, which have been expected for some time, come as NBC News chief Andrew Lack moves to refashion the liberal cable channel as a straight-forward news and politics offering, at least in daytime. In September, MSNBC will add a 5 p.m. program hosted by "Meet The Press" moderator Chuck Todd, while Brian Williams, the former "Nightly News" anchor, will serve as the network's breaking news and special reports anchor...

The changes are also an effort to correct steep ratings declines, which have plagued the network for years.

Ginger or Mary Ann....which one would the lion sleep with?

"So what's going on here?"
"We are doing a pose off Ginger. Whoever wins gets to sleep with the Lion."
"What Lion? Alex Karras? Big Dick LeBeau? Don't tell me it is Joe Don Looney?"
"No silly. It's Cecil the Lion. He is a big deal. He is all over the internets these days. Whoever wins gets some pussy."
"Thanks anyway Mary Ann but that's not my thing. Maybe you should talk to Betty White. I hear she is an big animal lover. The whore."

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Soundly. Just sayn'

The Lion sleeps tonight....but in Baltimore the beat goes on....because "Black Lives Matter."

There were 42 homicides so far in the month of July in Baltimore. That matches the figure for May which they can still beat if they put their minds to it. Baltimore police have reported 185 homicides in 2015 which is a 60% increase since last year.

Baltimore has fired it's police commissioner and is prosecuted several cops who as you know were involved in the Freddie Grey case. The mayor says that the police department is much more "nimble" which means that they are much better at jumping over the pile of bodies to be found on the streets after they were pulled back by the politicians.

There is no real coverage of the ongoing events in Baltimore. Other than the local paper. You don't see it on MSNBC or CNN or any of the other usual suspects. The police are not involved in any of these deaths other than for sanitation purposes. It is strictly youte vs youte so to speak. The States Attorney can not be reached for comment as she is busy preparing her case against the police officers she indicted last month. President Obama is playing golf. The new attorney general is worried about prosecuting the whistle blowers who taped the ghouls in Planned Parenthood.

Oh yeah somebody killed a lion.

"Iran: Obama Admin Lying About Nuclear Deal for ‘Domestic Consumption’"

"Kerry and other top administration officials have been defending the deal on Capitol Hill in recent days, claiming that it will rein in the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program and fix its nuclear “breakout” period, the time required for it to obtain the amount of highly enriched uranium necessary for a nuclear weapon, at one year."

When addressing claims this week by the administration that the deal shuts down Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, Iranian officials scoffed and said that the Obama administration is misleading the public in order to sell the deal...

“The remarks by the western officials are ambiguous comments which are merely uttered for domestic use and therefore we should say that there is no ambiguity in this (nuclear) agreement,” the Fars news agency quoted Baeidinejad saying in an interview with state-controlled radio.

Is not like Obama hasn't lied before, when trying to get something he wants.

"What are YOU 99.9% sure about?"

Reddit top voted answers...

That this hand sanitizer will kill these germs

My cat knows when I call his name, he just ignores me.

That the earth will get gobbled up by the sun and I will die billions of years before that,

And all this bullshit about what people do and say is more about personal selfish crap and not about anything real.
People jerk off,
Dudes have sex,
People smoke cigarettes,
People do drugs,
Chicks have abortions,
People fly flags,
NONE OF IT FUCKING MATTERS
Unless someone is jerking off on you, blowing smoke in your face, stealing your money to get high, flying your personal flag, or aborting your kid, Shut the fuck up, get the fuck out of the conversation, and go away.
We are all going to die, go do something.

I am ninety nine
point nine percent sure this is
a crappy haiku

That my dog isn't really retarded and just acts it.

"From Anna Karenina to Fatal Attraction: Ashley Madison’s new twist on a very old tale"

"The data breach at the Ashley Madison website for people pursuing extramarital affairs is just a new twist on a very old tale. Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary and Lady Chatterley’s Lover may be among the most famous modern works which turn on a character’s adultery but the conflict between individual desire and social responsibility, sexual urges and emotional loyalty, is age-old, a recurring subject in both the Bible and the Classics..."

Adultery has been a fact of life and a recurring theme since Clytemnestra made hay with Aegisthus, while her husband Agamemnon was doing Trojan work elsewhere. What do you mean, you haven’t read Aeschylus’s Oresteia?

Even the Bible is not immune, starting with Abraham himself. Drop the Good Book and as like as not, it will fall open at such juicy passages as David and Bathsheba, or Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, who, failing to to seduce him, falsely accuses him of attempted rape. Another case prompted Jesus to utter the famous judgment: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”.

Adultery has also been part of cinema’s stock in trade from its early days. The IMDB database lists 270 French titles alone (who'd have thought it?) with it as a theme, from And God Created Woman (1956) through The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) to Romance (1999).

Here then is a potted history of adultery on screen and page. (Click here for the list)

Book claim: Bill Clinton is having an affair

"Claims the former presidents marriage is "only based on their desire to return to the White House in 2016."

“[Bill] has a blonde, busty mistress, and she’s been code named Energizer by agents. This is unofficially, but that is what they call her…She comes in to the Chappaqua [NY] home whenever Hillary leaves. The details coordinate to make sure they don’t cross paths. She, unlike Hillary, is very nice to the agents. She’ll bring cookies.”

[T]he agents assigned to Hillary’s detail, says Kessler, don’t usually look forward to the assignment. “Hillary Clinton pretends to be this champion of the little people — she’s gonna help the middle class, she’s compassionate. But the reality behind the scenes is she treats her agents and others less powerful than she is with contempt. In fact she’s so abusive to her agents that behind assigned to her detail is considered a form of punishment,” he said. “That tells you something about her character.”

While some may argue that Kessler’s accounts are nothing but gossip, he stands by his claims... “I don’t make up things. You can tell from the accounts that they’re very detailed, for example with the Energizer agents are instructed not to ask for her ID or to ask her to sign in even though any other Clinton relative for example has to sign in,” he said.

“By the way, Biden likes to skinny dip which offends female Secret Service agents.”

snow globe

Sperm cells and egg. The sperm have little eyes.

An item about a strange swarm of white spheres over Osaka Japan caused a stir about UFOs. The grainy recording (in Japan!) is unconvincing. It could easily be a bunch of balloons tied together gently blowing across town. 

What do you use over there in Japan for your uploaded videos, the post-industrial coughing gray lung haze filter? 

The video is ridiculous.

My intention was to take a few frames from the video to see the balloons passing by (a cold  gray soulless cityscape), then enlarge the balloon portion zooming into them, easy with gray background switching at midpoint to my own contrived series of snow globes. I didn't have a clear idea of what to put in the snow globes for best effect. What is Osaka most afraid of? What is a cartoon Osaka fear? Godzilla eggs? Aliens? Chinese? Koreans? American models, robots, what? I looked at eBay for snow globe ideas and they're all Disney princess snow globes. I tried google images for "odd snow globes," "strange," and "weird," "villain," and this sperm and egg snow globe was seen on the results page for "alien snow globes" and I realized it cannot be topped so just drop the whole idea. This photo came from reddit. A contributor found it in old boxes he was clearing out. Apparently someone before him was a doctor. 

Kate Clark, artist

YouTube video.

Brooklyn-based taxidermist-artist puts human faces on animal skins. The artist uses a model who is sitting there curious about this white clay being applied to a standard form and pushed around to resemble her own face. At length, at session's end the model gets up and sees herself with an animal form. "The ears and the antlers are a little surprising to me. They take me closer to the animals." 

Cervine ears and antlers projecting outrageously around your head will do that.

Kate says some people thank her for the nightmares others simply say thank you. The link is seen posted on Ace of Spades sidebar with the title, here's something to fuel your nightmares. It is not required an artist be mad as a brush but I suppose it helps. From the start, the first words,  Kate cannot be regarded as rational. It is unusual to hear each sentence contradict the previous in succession like this. Don't try to follow, each utterance is its own curlicue.

"I use the real animal's hide.

I don't buy fresh hides.

I buy hides that no one has used.

And I'm repurposing them for my artworks."

How interesting. You are an interesting person, Kate. These words, "fresh," "no one has used," and "repurpose," what do they mean?

salmon and noodles

A woman is freaking me out. She spent all day and part of yesterday, and she's still at it, going through an archived album, a large one, "favoriting" photos. We get those, favoriting of photographs, a few here and there, everybody does but this is ridiculous. Looking through what she favorited I get hungry all over again and I'm thinking, Jeeze, I've been doing really well with the variety of meals around here. It is a wonder that I'm so scrawny. Look how that swirls. Doesn't it look fun? Who thinks of pecans with salmon? Yet it looks delicious right now. I could make this right now.  

There are some 18 per page and she's run up 25 pages so far, hang on, 450 photographs favorited. This is just showing what my mail looks like. The two emails underneath are her (automatic notifications) as well. I'm monitoring her monitoring me. Who spends all day doing such things? 

I bet she's thinking, "goodness he'd make a wonderful husband." 

I'd make her do the dishes. 

Mum would ask, "Honey, what should I make for dinner tonight?" She was genuinely at a loss for ideas. Maybe that's it. ping. There she is again. She just now favorited

hamburger snack twice

meatloaf twice

Phat thai

shrimp grits

pork roast

pizza twice

tonkatsu twice

rotini, beef and vegetables twice

meatloaf sandwich twice

meatballs three times, oh man, those look good

roast twice

snack

salad (shrimp and avocado is showing)

steak, eggs, biscuit, blueberries twice

Thai noodles

Thai noodles must be with crunchy peanut butter, I bet. A pretty good bet because I did it. Not a bad sampling for a regular bloke. Extremely varied. I could write a couple books with all this material.  I mean, I got no formal training. Autodidactic dontchaknow it's the way to go.

Then there's food styling. And photography too. It's not just a one-sided deal. I notice Ina Garten preparing a dish and throughout the whole thing she is photographed professionally and artistically creatively, the shots of the chopping action from behind the bunch of basil, the splat of the egg on the pan, the puff of flour when the mixer is turned on, everything on the set just so, then Ina whips out a pocket camera, flash, a simple straightforward dead-on flat light, harsh shadow photo for her blog that works perfectly well and I wonder after all that personal touch with food with her personal artistic sensibility and taste why that same creative energy and focus is not applied with the camera. You think it would naturally. The same thing she applies to the garden. She's decided it's unimportant. ping. There she is again. Man, she is on me.

But c'mon, look at that photo of pecans and noodles. I forgot there is salmon in there. I bet it's delicious. It looks like teriyaki or something. Something darkened with soy sauce and sweetened to counterbalance the salt.  I wonder what I did. It looks great. I'm hungry.

Court issues restraining order preventing anti-abortion group from releasing any video

It must be Fox, there is a proper nation-wide blackout on this crucially important news story.

Los Angeles Superior Court, the superior court of California, and this tells you right off  a legal conflict is so important so impossibly departed from common sense that it has circled the drain that quickly to the lowest court of the state so fast this time there's no circling at all, a hole-in-one direct shot. A losing shot for all of us. You'd think it'd be winning, you'd think superior would mean tops, but it's not.

It's that sick. 

Most likely some profound legal reason they must do this. Being recored surreptitiously most likely.  

The order prohibits the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any video of high-ranking StemExpress officials taken at a restaurant.

Spokesmen for the center said that StemExpresss is using meritless litigation to cover up its illegal baby parts trade and that it follows all applicable laws in doing its investigative journalism.

The name, StemExpress, good Lord.

StemExpress provides human tissue, blood, and other bits and Planned Parenthood is one of their suppliers. Middlemen. StemExpress says they're grateful their rights are vindicated by the court.

Planned Parenthood's affiliates in fewer than five states provide fetal tissue for researchers.

That would be four.

Planned Parent claims they take reimbursements to cover costs.

More at Fox.

Ginger or Mary Ann?

"I don't quite understand dear. You say you're name is Bam Bam? What is that Polish?"
"No I come from Bedrock. I don't know how I ended up here."
"Well it is a good thing that we have such a fine strapping young man here. Don't you think so girls?"
"Pffffttt. You know he is going to go for the redhead."
"Why is that dear?"
"Because she is a dirty girl. Just like his mother."

This is why small businesses go out of business in record numbers!

New York Post July 29, 2015

An Indian waiter in an Indian restaurant — imagine that!

City bureaucrats slapped a $5,000 fine on a Midtown Indian restaurant for trying to hire a server who is Indian, according to official documents.

Following an inquiry by The Post, the city’s Commission on Human Rights — which cited the eatery two years ago — said it’s assessing its practices.

Commission staffers have been trawling Craigslist to ensnare unwary restaurant owners who violate the law for things like seeking a “waitress” instead of a “wait-person.”

That’s gender discrimination by the city’s reckoning and could lead to a four-figure fine.

They hit the jackpot in October 2013, when Shalom Bombay on Lexington Avenue placed an ad for an “experienced Indian waiter or waitress.”

It might be common sense that an Indian restaurant would try to hire a server familiar with its cuisine, but to the city’s enforcers, it was a glaring red flag.

The law doesn’t allow ads that discriminate “based on national origin.”

The commission filed a complaint, eventually scheduling a trial for April 15 at the city’s administrative court.

There was a good reason the owners didn’t appear, according to former manager Raphael Gasner.

He told The Post the business closed in April 2014 — a year earlier.

Even without hearing both sides, a judge took pity on the owners and reduced the commission’s recommended $7,500 fine to $5,000.

“There was no complaint from the public, there was no evidence of how many people viewed the posting, and there was no direct evidence that any qualified applicant was turned away,” according to the documents.

“There was a discriminatory advertisement, but there was no additional proof that respondents refused to hire otherwise qualified applicants.”

A spokesperson for the commission described how new leaders are “assessing” its practices and looking into a change of tactics.

“The commission’s new leadership, as of February 2015, is currently assessing its investigatory strategy to implement more comprehensive and strategic investigations to pro-actively root out systemic discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations and expand the commission’s testing programs in these areas,” the spokesperson said.

So this is what it has come to. The regulators comb through the want ads to bring cases against businesses so they can fine them. Of course they go out of business before that can happen because with the taxes and regulations it is just no worth it. Another fool will come along and sink his life savings into this spot and they will try to control everything he does or fine him into oblivion. 

It's sick out there and it is getting sicker.

My Top Ten Gangster Films of All Time!

My top ten Gangster Movies of all Time! Hey this is an idiosyncratic list because I am an idiot. Heavily weighted to old time movies. But hey I like what I like. 

10. “White Heat.” Jimmy Cagney as the mad Cody Jarrett. The scene on the gas tanks is the spectacular ending of all time. It the consummate depiction of a sociopath. Remember the scene in the prison chow line?  “TOP OF THE WORLD MMMMMAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!.

9. “Scarface” the remake starring Al Pacino. A very good update of the original with Al Pacino as the typical immigrant that Donald Trump was talking about. His most famous line is often echoed by Lem when he is about to have sex.

8. “Angels with Dirty Faces.” I know but I am a sucker for old timey movies with Cagney and Bogart. Plus the Dead End kids. Pat O’Brien as the priest who grew up with the criminal. The priest walking the criminal to the chair while he screams for mercy so the kids won’t go the wrong way. Bogart playing a slimy lawyer (is there any other kind) who gets whacked. A classic in my book.

7. “The Long Good Friday.” A British import starring the great Bob Hoskins as an English gang leader losing his grip. Another gang is moving in on his turf and he doesn’t know why. The meat hook scene is one of the most memorable interrogations you are going to see and has been copied over and over again. Best part of his life as an English gang lord?  A young hot delectable Helen Mirren is his girlfriend. Nice.

6. "Capone" (1975). Ben Gazzara chews the scenery as Big Al. Stallone as Frank Niti. John Cassevettes, Harry Gaurdino, Frank Campanella and every other guinea actor they could find in Hollywood in the 1970’s. I think it is the definitive depiction of Al Capone by a very talented actor. The final scene with Al fishing in a swimming pool is right on the money.

5. “The Harder They Fall” an old timey boxing movie with Humphrey Bogart. It is basically the story of the Mob running the fight game with Frankie Carbo the underboss in charge of boxing. It is the story of Primo Carnera who was heavyweight champ for a minute in the 1930’s. Bogie's portrayal of the cynical jaded journalist who works as a press agent for the mob is a great example of how people sell out their soul for dough. Until they don’t.

4. “Godfather I” is the movie most people put as number one. I think it is somewhat flawed and ponderous in spots. Puzo took famous incidents in Mob history and dumbed them down. But it still holds together and had more influence on the actual behavior of Mob wannabees than is generally acknowledged. I think it is very stylized and a little ponderous in spots. It falls in my estimation because Two is so much better.

3. “Donnie Brasco” is a slice of life of the Mob in the 1970’s. It really caught the day to day life of the wise guy knuckleheads as they lived their lives. I knew a couple of the actual people portrayed in the movie. Well I was introduced to them when I was bouncing around back in the day by some of the knuckleheads I grew up with who were in the life. This is the real deal and you get to see how on the edge these guys were looking over their shoulder and coming to a bad end. Everyone I knew is dead or in jail for twenty years.

2. “Goodfella’s” is another movie that hits the nail on the head. The oft told tale of the life of the low level mobsters is a cautionary tale. Or at least it should have been. Almost everyone in the Lufthansa heist got whacked. Or went to the can. They never got to enjoy the money. The guys who stayed small survived. The ones who shot the moon never lasted. Scorsese should have quit after this movie. After this he is just repeating himself.

1. “Godfather II” is without question the best gangster movie ever made. Far superior to One. The scenes with young Vito are gold. The juxtaposition of young Vito and Michael as he tries to go straight is great stuff. Don Fanucci at the feast. Hyman Roth. Johnny Ola. Fredo in Cuba. Fredo in the boat. “Can of peas. I don’t want a can of peas. Where’s the sausage? Where’s the meatballs?” Frankie Five Angels! It don’t get no better than this! I watch it every time it is on and repeat the dialogue as it unfolds. Simply the best gangster movie ever made!

"Congratulations son, I'm about to make you famous"

 

Link to video

"In upholding Brady suspension, NFL says coverup attempted"

"Tom Brady not only violated his sport’s integrity by participating in a scheme to tamper with the inflation levels of footballs but actively tried to cover up the conspiracy, National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell ruled Tuesday, upholding the Patriot quarterback’s four-game suspension."

In a stunning statement, Goodell alleged that Brady’s “very troubling’’ coverup effort involved instructing his assistant to destroy his cellphone less than 24 hours before he was interviewed by Ted Wells, the NFL’s special investigator in Deflategate.

The scandal rose from the charge that Patriots equipment attendants improperly deflated footballs below the league standard before Brady led the team to a 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Jan. 18 in the American Football Conference Championship game.

Where did Brady got the idea to destroy his server, I mean his phone?

"Jubilate: An Homage in Catterel* Verse"

By Joyce Carol Oates...

For I will consider my Cat Cherie
for she is the very apotheosis of Cat-Beauty
which is to say, nothing extraordinary
for in the Cat, beauty is ordinary
like the bliss
conferred
upon us
in the hypnosis
of purr-
ing.
She has been known
to knead her claws
upon a sleeve.
And on a knee.
And on bare skin,
sharp claws sinking in—
just a warning.
For she is of the tribe of Tyger
and eyes burning bright
though cuddling
at night
until you wake to discover—
where is she? Cher-ie?
Don’t inquire.

For in considering my Cat Cherie
I am considering Catitude—
each Cat the (essential)
equivalent of all others
not varying freak-
ishly in size
(like crude D*gs)
but pleas-
ingly Platonic.
Cat-chutzpah
is the “sheathed
claw”—
no heart borne
upon a foreleg,
but
your challenge
to decode,
like poetry
of a subtlety
that does not bark
its meaning
but forces us to
be just a little
smarter than
we are.
(Unlike D*gs
whose un-
critical adulation
makes us
dumber.)
Of Twitter it is estimated
somewhere beyond thirty-one percent
who tweet are feline,
in nocturnal prowl
slyly retweeting
their kind,
reproducing,
replicating
the dark rapacious ever-
fecund feral-soul
that is the sea
upon which “civilization”
floats, uneasily.

Click link for more

* “Catterel”—an elevated variant of “doggerel”

"Hillary Clinton: I’ll Take a Stand on Keystone When I’m President"

"At a town hall in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Clinton responded to a question from the audience asking if she would sign a bill approving the pipeline by saying that she would not "second guess" President Obama's decision. Should the issue still be alive in January 2017, however, then Clinton will say what her position is."

What's this I hear about a pipeline?

"If it's undecided when I become president, I will answer your question," Clinton said.

"As you know, I was the secretary of State who started that process. I was the one who put into place the investigation. I have now passed it off—as obviously, as I'm no longer there—to Secretary Kerry. This is President Obama's decision, and I am not going to second-guess him because I was in a position to set this in motion and I do not think that would be the right thing to do. So I want to wait and see what he and Secretary Kerry decide," Clinton said in response to the Keystone question.

"American dentist says he regrets role in death of Cecil the lion"

"Two Zimbabwean men were expected to appear in court Wednesday over the killing of Cecil the lion, one of Africa's best known big cats. But most of the attention -- and the anger -- is focused on Walter Palmer, a dentist from Minnesota whom Zimbabwean authorities say they are seeking for their investigation..."

"I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt," Palmer said in a statement issued Tuesday. "I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a legal hunt."

His apparent role in Cecil's demise has brought a huge wave of online anger crashing down on him.

The Yelp page for his dental practice in Bloomington, Minnesota, was inundated with bad reviews posted by people upset over his lion hunting rather than his root canal work.

A torrent of outrage flowed on social media, with celebrities like Sharon Osbourne lambasting the dentist.

"I hope that #WalterPalmer loses his home, his practice & his money," Osbourne tweeted. "He has already lost his soul."

Deaf Ninja, Austin Andrews

Austin tells us a repeated habit throughout is to daydream all over the place and imagine things and allow them to expand, eh, it happens, what are you gonna do? He'll show. His younger brother also hard of hearing wore the old fashioned hearing aids the shape of a box strapped to his chest with earplugs jabbed in the side and going up separately to his ears. He, Austin, teased his brother about how stupid his brother looks with his ridiculous box hearing aid and his brother got so mad at Austin that the brother ripped out his ear plugs and used them as weapons to wail on Austin whirling windmill style. We see Austin's mind open up to the idea of Deaf ninja. Austin leans in ... N.I.N.J.A. eh? Why, he can see the storyboard, the whole film, and describe it.

Austin is a very good story teller. You can see an actor at heart. His facial expression gauged carefully, avoiding the unpleased miffed frustrated visage so common. Austin brings cinematographic elements into his speech quite graphically. You see the raindrop stop in midair, the action taking place outside the raindrop as if reflected the parallaxes of the ninja as subject with the camera swinging into position, the blur of warriors, the weapons attached to the body, the ninja's fighting stances in series, you see the camera go sideways as the hero runs across a circle of attackers attaching their faces as if running the inside walls of a barrel. We see ninja land like a cat and return to ninja posture of stoic equanimity. The arrested raindrop is returned to again, that is, we return from the reflection of the raindrop, the camera swings around, the single drop continues its fall in front of us. It is the Matrix.

Little brother, "What are you on about? This thing isn't useful. I can't hear anything." See. How very odd. Hmmm?

I had a devil of a time finding this video, going through pages of results and trying dozens of searches. Finally [deaf austin] brought it right smack to the top. Austin reminds me of Jeff and his gang. They are all this expressive and friendly and approachable. Their styles are alike. The very sparse fingerspelling is clear as a ringing bell.

KLEM FM

Jimmy Page played guitar on Donovan's 1966 homage to the witch:

Ever notice how all the key players in the ongoing Planned Parenthood scandal are women? Here's a candid shot of a Planned Parenthood exec relaxing at home in the kitchen:

Notice how every one of the women so far caught on video tries to look good on the outside: designer scarves, coifed hair etc. There is something uniquely evil about such women--especially middle aged women -- who carry out such banal evils while trying to "look good." As if any layer of costume can mask their venality. I can see their inner hag.

St. Francis

Patron saint of animals and the environment and of rejected 1970's era gag-gift Chia Pet rams, so many of them in unopened original boxes unappreciated with chia seeds useless and outdated by decades. So sad, unwanted gifts put away in a closet and forgotten, the rudeness of being not really a gift put away, in the basement, attic, garage until the recipient finally dies and their things rummaged and still nobody cares to have the clay ram.

If only they understood how brilliant these things are.

The crab nebula was painted in the basement of my parents house way back in my teens when they tolerated me just so, "go do that stuff downstairs." The photograph of Red Rocks outcropping was taken a few weeks ago. It  hangs opposite the four geologic images shown earlier.

Correction: Orion nebula.

"Male Feminist: ‘I Hate That I Love to Grill’ Because It’s ‘So Conventionally Masculine’"

"A self-identified male “feminist” wrote a more than 1,000-word piece about how much he hates that he loves to grill because he is “uncomfortable with the pleasure [he takes] in something so conventionally masculine.”"

“I take food prep a little too seriously, curtly brushing others out of the way when I step up to the kitchen counter,” Jacob Brogan writes in a piece for Slate. “Am I shoving others out of the way because it makes me feel like a man? Have I become some sort of monster?”

Yes — he’s worried his enthusiasm for grilling may make him a “monster.” 

Lest you think Brogan is overreacting, he offers a lot of reasons for why he’s so concerned about liking to do something so totally normal. One of them: Advertisers portray grilling as a form of male bonding, or, as he puts it, “enable what scholars call homosocial contact, a kind of same-sex intimacy that deflects the supposed danger of sexual contact between men but allows them to confirm their masculinity by excluding women.”

“Grilling, in other words, allows these characters to cozy up to one another while still maintaining their understanding of themselves as truly manly men,” he continues.

Brogan also worries that since grilling happens outside, and other forms of cooking happen inside, the fact that grilling is seen as a “man” thing perpetuates the idea that women should stay inside or something: “Unlike most other traditionally ‘feminine’ forms of domestic cooking, grilling typically happens outside, and hence in the public sphere,” Brogan writes.

“The putatively masculine quality of grilling may derive in part from the old public-private gender split,” he writes. “In that sense, it shares a common cause with the belief that women belong in the home.”

Men, check your privilege. hat tip Rush Limbaugh show.

Top Ten Westerns of All Time.....if you want to talk about movies!

In Inverse order from 10 to 1.

10. She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. I don’t know it this really qualifies as a Western but the themes and the photography are great. I want to include Ford’s cavalry pictures as westerns. The theme of an old warhorse retiring to be replaced by the younger generation is a recurring one in Ford’s later work. John Wayne gives a stellar performance as Captain Nathan Brittles and his cemetery scene where he talks to his wife let me go to my dad’s grave and talk to him without feeling self conscious. The photography and costumes were influenced by the great western artist Fredrick Remington and the shots during the storm were just a lucky break that Ford just kept rolling through. Superb.

9. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Lee Marvin is the best villain that I ever saw. He had this fuck you attitude that was right on the money. Jimmy Stewart can get a little cloying but he had an edge here as the slightly sleazy lawyer who steals the Dukes girl. Woody Strode had another of his great almost silent performances as Pompey. “When the truth disagrees with the Legend, print the Legend.” Or the modern newsman’s motto, “Just make shit up.”

8. Johnny Guitar. Man this is a great movie. Joan Crawford is unbelievable and the dialogue is unreal. Nicholas Ray is a great underrated director.

Johnny: How many men have you forgotten?
Vienna: As many women as you've remembered.
Johnny: Don't go away.
Vienna: I haven't moved.
Johnny: Tell me something nice.
Vienna: Sure, what do you want to hear?
Johnny: Lie to me. Tell me all these years you've waited. Tell me.
Vienna: [without feeling] All those years I've waited.
Johnny: Tell me you'd a-died if I hadn't come back.
Vienna: [without feeling] I woulda died if you hadn't come back.
Johnny: Tell me you still love me like I love you.
Vienna: [without feeling] I still love you like you love me.
Johnny: [bitterly] Thanks. Thanks a lot.

What a great movie chock full with lesbian overtones and the female lead is named after a sausage


7. The Long Riders. A great Walter Hill flick where he had a set of brothers play the members of the James Gang. The gang was actually made up of brothers who had run away to fight with Quantrill during the Civil War. The James and Younger clans were cousins and the Millers and the Fords were part of the extended kinship of intermarriage of rural America. As Cole Younger, David Carradine gave his best performance ever. One of my favorite lines of all time is in this movie.

Belle Starr: Coleman Younger! Seems like you folks are havin' a real nice party in there.
Cole Younger: I expect so, with free food and drink and all.
Belle Starr: How come I wasn't invited?
Cole Younger: 'Cause you're a whore, Belle.
Belle Starr: I might be; but at least I ain't a cheap one

"Cause you’re a whore, Belle." Love it.

6. Unforgiven. A great Clint Eastwood flic that really shows what violence is all about. The performances by Richard Haris and Gene Hackman are great as well. Morgan Freeman overdoes the saintly Negro bit but at least it can serve as a blue print for the Barack Obama campaign. This movie is a distillation of all that Eastwood learned about Westerns throughout his career. The greatest compliment I could give him is that it easily could be a work from Ford or Peckinpaugh. It is by far his best work.


5. Stagecoach is the movie that set the archetypes for almost all subsequent westerns. The whore with the heart of gold. The greedy banker. The southern gentleman fallen on hard times who lives as a gambler and gunman but retains his courtly ways. The drunken doctor who is a truth teller but still a drunk. And most important of all is the Anti-hero. A bad man who does good. A killer who is in the right and does what he has to do. The Ringo Kid as played by John Wayne is the model for hundreds of movies and TV shows and is the archetype of the western hero. In this movie, the shots and the action and the characters set the standard for western movies.

4. Red River is the movie that really made John Wayne a star. His portrayal of Dunson is one of his top three performances and his chemistry with Montgomery Clift is amazing. You could believe that they were father and son. Adopted son but son all the same. This set the tone for all the trail drive movies to follow. The funny part about the movie is that most people assume because it was a Wayne movie that John Ford directed it. The real Director Howard Hawks loved to bust on Ford that he made Wayne a star. Ford would pour his drink over the heads of fans who told them how much they loved Red River. He might have been pissed, but Red River and Stagecoach were the originals that thousands of hacks have copied from for decades.

3. Rio Grande is my sentimental favorite. A great love story with Wayne and Maureen O’hara, the themes of conflict between duty and family is always a favorite. The comic scenes with Victor Mclaglen were stellar as always and the movie could be seen as a metaphor for the war against terror. General Sheridan comes down and tells Colonel York that he has to break the law by crossing into Mexico to stop the attacks by the Apaches. The government might have to disown him but he still has to do the job. It’s fun and lighthearted in an engaging way and better than 90% of the crap we get to watch today.

2. The Magnificent Seven is one of the best action westerns ever made. I much prefer it to the Wild Bunch as it is more stylized and has such a great cast. I mean James Coburn and Charles Bronsen as supporting players. Eli Wallach plays the best “bad tooth” Mexican bandito this side of the Treasure of Sierra Madre. It was a copy of Seven Samurai which Kurasowa has often said was heavily influenced by John Ford’s westerns. So it was a western influenced by an eastern which was influenced by a western. Yul Brenner gave such an iconic performance that he lived off it for years as witness the comic turn it took in Westworld. This is just great popcorn entertainment.

1. The only real agreement I have with AFI is that The Searchers is the best western ever made. Wayne was great as the uncle searching for his niece so that he could kill her because she was ruined by being raped by Scar the Comanche chief. It included most of Fords stock company in their usual roles but they seem sharper and more in tune. This movie has been ripped off in so many ways and so many times that it is impossible to list them all. The themes of lost love and redemption are universal and it is above all great entertainment.


Honorable Mention: Fort Apache, The Gunfighter, The Big Sky, Cheyenne Autumn, The Angel and The Bad Man, The War Wagon, The Daybreakers, Ride the High Country, Will Penny, The Alamo (the one with the Duke of course), Destry Rides Again, The Star Packer, The Tall Horseman, Duel in the Sun, They Died with their Boots On, Drums Along the Mohawk, Rancho Notorious, Major Dundee, Broken Arrow, Lonely are the Brave, The Way West.