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December 26, 2005

The Beginning of the End for the Solid South?

Maybe this is just wishful thinking, but this sure is appealing:

Salon.com News & Politics | War Room: A Democratic Senator from Mississippi?

Posted by tedf at 07:35 PM | Comments (0)

December 25, 2005

Happy Holidays!

Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | All hail Pottersville!

Posted by tedf at 03:27 AM | Comments (0)

December 12, 2005

"My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas

The thing about "My Humps" is that while for the longest time I thought I hated it, nonetheless every time I heard it on the radio I couldn't turn it off. I've finally concluded that I just have to admire its relentless bluntness. If "humps" and "lumps" are single-entendres - nicknames rather than puns - then the closing references to "all that ass" and "all that breasts" become zero-entendres - somewhere between pornographic and clinical in their literalism. Meanwhile, the detatched way in which Fergie discusses her "lady lumps" has the bracing cynicism of a good Nip/Tuck episode. Fergie makes her T & A sound like just two more accessories she picked up for the evening. Plus, you have to admire the invention of a new term that lumps together breasts and buttcheeks into one indistinguishable batch of soft flesh. It's the dialectical resolution of the long-running American cultural conflict between the values of "breast men" (the traditional Monroe ideal) and "ass men" (the rising J-Lo rebuttal). In a sense, it queers the objectification of the woman's body, refusing to accept familiar distinctions between body parts. It also raises the question of whether men, in turn, can have "lovely man lumps." I'll have to await the inevitable answer record.

For thorough evisceration of the song, check out Notes on "Humps" - A song so awful it hurts the mind. By Hua Hsu

Posted by tedf at 02:40 AM | Comments (0)

December 11, 2005

The Bitter Disappointment of Turkish Delight for Fans of Narnia

I had a similarly disappointing experience to this Slate writer when I finally had a chance to try Turkish Delight in England a few years ago. It made wax lips seem delish by comparison.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Really Foul Candy - In pursuit of Turkish Delight. By Liesl Schillinger

Posted by tedf at 07:18 PM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2005

This May Finally Explain the Way the White House Operates . . .

From The Onion:

Voice Of God Revealed To Be Cheney On Intercom

Posted by tedf at 06:43 PM | Comments (0)

December 01, 2005

Parallels Between Bush's "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" and Nixon's 1969 "Vietnamization of the Vietnam War" Speech

The bottom line: despite Nixon's promises, it took another four years, 8000 American soldiers' lives, and many more Vietnamese deaths before the US finally withdrew from Vietnam. Will it take until 2009 for our leaders to accept what the American people have already figured out - that the Iraq war is a crime and a debacle?

Salon.com News & Politics | War Room

Posted by tedf at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)