First Draft

Weekend Question Thread

Because it's been freakishly cold this week, and it was freakishly hot last week:

Summer or winter? Boil or freeze?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Nevertheless, post away!

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Weekend Question Thread

Tattoos.

Got any? Want any?

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Wednesday Reading

Beware the SUPER-POT.

Via Ntodd: Rest now, Shifty:

In the second-to-last episode of "Band of Brothers," an HBO miniseries that documented Easy Company's wartime exploits, Powers spoke on camera about the soldiers he fought and also hinted at the intrinsic tragedy of combat.

"We might have had a lot in common. He might've liked to fish, you know, he might've liked to hunt," Powers said. "Of course, they were doing what they were supposed to do, and I was doing what I was supposed to do.

"But under different circumstances, we might have been good friends."

RMJ questions the unquestionable war.

Mf is growing his own garden friends.

This is what happens to you when you help the U.S.:

So the best way for me to make a living and be with my family is to get back home, go back to the war zone, and live under continued threat.

But how long will it take before I am spotted again? How long will I have before I get killed? Either way, I risk being apart from my wife and kids--by living in the States away from them or by going back to Iraq and getting killed. At least this way, I will get to see them before I die. 

I have worked with a U.S. media outlet, hoping to tell the truth to the American people about the war and what really happened, and I was helped by the American people to get to the States, but I didn't get any help from the American government or the American system. 

"The rock of hate and falsehood is being broken apart."

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Weekend Question Thread

Ganked from Melissa:

If you could have any animal, real or fictional, as a pet, what would it be?

I want an ice bear:

Though I think at that point technically it would have me as a pet.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post!

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Weekend Question Thread

If you looked in my closet you'd think I was born in the wrong decade; most of the good stuff in there is from World War II or shortly thereafter.

If you could live in any other time in history, which would you pick?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

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Rebranding America

So much better than rebranding the GOP.

Via Jacob.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Weekend Question Thread: What Are You Wearing?

In the summer my wardrobe goes super-casual; anything I can ride my bike to work in, anything that isn't in a ball on the floor, basically. I don't like fuss in the summer, all my heavy vintage suits and dresses and stockings and heels go in the back of the closet and I live in two pairs of shorts and a ratty T-shirt. I think my personal style is "bipolar."

What's yours?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

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Weekend Question Thread

If you could or had to change your name, what would you change it to?

(I used to hate my name because there were no other Allisons anywhere, but now I like it because there aren't a lot of Allisons anywhere.)

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Serious business

“Aretha’s Gold” was the first album I ever bought the very first time I had any money ever to buy anything besides gum. And I was so young and obsessed with that album, and this song, I still thought, you know, maybe one day I’d “grow” into being able to sing just like her. HA! Life, you teach the lessons so hard. 

kellydeal
(not that one, the one w/out the "e") 

Speaking of doctors, serious business, and feeling good, send your welcome back home/get better vibes to racymind, who's gettin' outta jail today.

Weekend Question Thread

Borrowing a question asked of me in the next-to-last thread, if you could change/fix one thing about America, what would you choose?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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I know this dame, see

So, my pal Katie Schwartz, along with Belle Zwerdling and Joy Hurwitz, started up this new adventure, Three Dames With a Clue. Online, it's a website. Offline, it will be an ongoing series of filmed theater pieces, all based on a changing set of themes.

Groovy, no?  And get this nickname: 3-D WAC.

I was humbled to be among a wonderful collection of talented women discussing the current theme — Reinventing Ourselves. Katie tells me that my rambling answers will be featured on the site today. 

Weekend Question Thread

If you could have one superpower, which one would you choose?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

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Quitting Time Booster Shot

It's Good Friday and I'm enjoying a few brandies in the North Woods of Wisconsin. That and reading scholarship. It can't be all fun and games... Here's the boost you all need to get through the day.

It's the QTBS, where we're down with the capital C-P-T

- Could there be a worse name for a character on a tense show like “Lost” than Captain Frank Lapidus (La-PEE-dus)? This gets even worse when they refer to him by last name alone or the scene this week when a guy comes running up to him screaming “Captain Lapidus! Captain Lapidus!” It sounds like some guy with a head cold declaring how he just put on a condom…

- Speaking of capping the penis, here’s this from the “You’ve really gotta want it” file…

- How much of an effort are you willing to make in order to demonstrate you’re pissed at a newspaper? Apparently the folks on Hillsdale College’s baseball team are not only angry but also creative. Of course the first question that came to my head was “Where did they get all that road kill?” Second question? “Which one of these assholes was the guy who said, ‘Shit we didn’t find enough dead stuff. Anybody got a gun so I can kill this goat?’” Third question? “What position does the goat-shooter play?”

- Google insists it’s a friend to newspapers. Yeah, like that friend that borrows your car, gets drunk, pukes in the front seat, hits a telephone pole and then hands you back the keys before he goes to screw your wife.

- Thanks to this group of jerkweeds, I’m having trouble watching The Backyardigans episodes with The Midget that have a purple penguin saying “Argh, I’m a scurvy pirate…” My second childhood is getting ruined. If you’ve got some weird plushy porn that includes the Easter Bunny or pictures of a well-armed Santa Claus, feel free to keep them to yourselves. I’m screwed up enough…

- From the “Would you pimp your sister? Uh… HOW much?” files: The Daily Bruin at UCLA took a four-page wrap ad this week that basically mimicked the whole front page. The ad, for some sort of honey-related crap, ran in several papers, but this was the most egregious example of ads and content blurring some pretty severe lines. My biggest problem with this was not that they did it (I’d sell my soul for tickets to the clinching game of the Cavs first NBA championship, so I’m no one to talk about cost-benefit analyses.) but that they spent half the issue pissing and moaning about the fact that they did it. Either take the money and say, “Hey, we sold out. You would too. Fuck you.” Or don’t take the money and rip the shit out of the ad place for trying to get you to cross a certain line. You can’t do both.

- When I read this, all I could think about was the scene from “Rounders” when Teddy KGB thinks he’s pulled off the final hand only to find out that Mike flopped the nut straight. BTW, does anyone know what the hell Teddy had as a hand? My guess is he had pocket aces and that third ace was what he figured sealed it for him.

- Man works for Fox, steals from Fox, tells people how great the thing he stole from Fox is and how easy it was to steal. Then, Fox fires man. On the plus side, the guy doesn’t have to work for Fox any more and it’s likely a decent repo man will be able to hijack his soul back…

- Will someone please get John Sweeney a job before he kills someone? I hear there’s an opening at Fox…

Thanks for letting me share your air. Be back next week.

Doc

Weekend Question Thread: Answers

Answers within. You guys asked some good ones, and it was fun answering them.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Amazing

Photos of the Fargo flooding and the work being done to keep it at bay.

Via North Decoder.

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Monday Afternoon Reading Rainbow

Doug might finally get his. (Hat tip: joejoejoe)

I WANT ONE OF MY VERY OWN. Gimme. (He would fit in my overnight bag and we could travel the world together having wacky adventures!)

Vintage clothing porn. I don't do the '70s thing myself but Bluebird finds some beautiful things.

Somebody introduce David Simon to Marcy Wheeler before he shoots off his mouth again about not seeing any bloggers in the courthouses, please? I like the man's work and don't want to watch him embarrass himself. (Hat tip: Virgo)

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Sunday Linkage

You can't call yourself cutting-edge. Not now, not ever. Some the job ads on Craigslist and journalismjobs.com hurt my brain. This isn't 1992 anymore. You can't be all, "BE WORTHY OF OUR AWESOME YOU PEON." We're over it.

Dodd strikes back.

Virgo sends this over: About TIME you started taking this idea seriously. And look, it's not that I think this is perfect or a cure-all, it's that on balance what we got going on ain't tearing the world up, so let's try to run this place decently and well. If that means a switch to nonprofit status in order to remove the bullshit of artificially high expectations from the equation, I don't know about you but so long as the paper keeps hitting the doorstep in the morning I can't get too worked up about the rest.

Food porn. I've made these for guests and friends several times and they've never failed to elicit the kind of look people give you — wonder, gratitude, a sort of religious ecstasy — when you give them free cocaine.

Speaking of religious ecstasy, go read this right now.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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RIP Ron Silver

For a conservative, he did a damn fine job playing a liberal:

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

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Fashion Hell

Ouch:

If we need to wear impossible-looking shoes I'd like them with little engines and wings and possibly coffee-making facilities.

I actually find them more attractive than these things, though:

I mean, have we now honestly progressed to the point where shoes and socks can no longer be picked out and put on separately? We have to purchase them as one so as to get it right, or save a step, or something? For $151.00? I don't understand.

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Weekend Question Thread

What's the story behind your handle/username?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Play from your fucking heart

Bill Hicks died 15 years ago tomorrow.

Rather than try to answer the unanswerable question of what he might think or might be doing if he was still around, I intend to celebrate what he did while he was here, and the difference he made. Join me, won't you?

Meatspace tributes are scheduled in London, Austin, Portland, Oklahoma City, Buenos Aires and possibly elsewhere, with proceeds going to the Bill Hicks Foundation for Wildlife Rehabilitation, a nonprofit which aids in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of orphaned, ill and injured Central Texas wildlife.

And wherever you are, you can participate in Bill Hicks Day on Twitter:

a day for Twitter users to post comments, quips, remembrances, musings, ponderances, jokes, and anything else Bill-related...a day devoted to the moments that remind us all of Bill, such as when we hear a news story or notice something in pop culture and wonder "What would Bill say?"...a special day to share with everyone your favourite Bill rants and truths, and to remember Bill's vision...a day to tweet Bill's quotes, your thoughts, links to Bill sites, links to sites that you think Bill would approve of or condemn...in short, a day to squeegee your tweeter!

And don't forget to hashtag those tweets: #billhicksday.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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Weekend Question Thread

Where did your ancestors come from?

I'm Danish, German and Bohemian, the latter two on my father's side. So I was pretty much destined for beer, sausage and pastries, as well as the tendency to show up two hours early for everything out of a fear of being late.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away!

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'We Did A Good Thing That Day'

"And I was just taking a breath, to give her a breath."

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Another Anniversary

Break out the funny hats.

Everyone wish Chuck D there a happy birthday. He would've been 200 years old today.

Also, there was some guy born in Kentucky on the same day.  He ended up pretty famous, too, I think.

Weekend Question Thread: De-Lurk MOAR Edition

How do you deal with stress? Loud music, throwing stuff, driving fast, meditation, what?

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away, ho's.

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As If Today Doesn't Suck Enough

Now we have giant snakes.

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Now That Blogs Have Killed Journalism, They've Turned On Themselves

Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a new media outta my hat!

I'm surprised Athenae didn't mention this; I suppose she's been too busy lining newspapers up against the wall and shooting them.

But it is my sad gleeful duty to announce the demise of Pajamas Media.  Yes, apparently, offering shitty right-wing commentary on the events of the day and sending ignorant-ass Ohio contractors to play at being war correspondents is not a viable business model.  (I know the TV part hasn't died yet--but don't fret.  Instead, prepare the popcorn)

Guys and gals of Pajamas Media:  The right-wing is not profitable.  You dumbasses.  You can't go into business for yourself.  You have to whore yourself out to a Mellon/Scaife/Moon-type sugar daddy (or mamma--we here at First Draft don't limit opportunities based on gender).  You've known this for some time.  I don't know why you'd try to fix something that ain't broke.  Speaking of things that are broke, by the way, did I mention that Pajamas Media has gone under?  I did?  Whew.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go relax in the Planned Parenthood Jacuzzi in the east wing of my Soros-funded estate.  What's that?  You mean there's no leftist equivalent of wingnut welfare?  Damn.

Guess I'd better get ready for work, then.

UPDATE:  I really should check what's been posted on the previous evening before I go sticking my virtual foot in my mouth.  Sorry.

Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away!

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Weekend Question Thread

Where have you always wanted to go, but have never been?

For me? Jerusalem. And Paris.

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Saturday Blogwhoring Thread

Post away.

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