tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58833812011-12-14T18:47:48.210-08:00<b>To ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S DISTINGUISHED SONS, in whom THE INTERESTS OF FREEDOM, HUMANITY, and EDUCATION have found an able advocate and munificent benefactor, THIS VOLUME IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED by his friend, THE AUTHOR.</b>Mattnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2051100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-51628677079679578002010-07-15T09:40:00.000-07:002010-07-15T09:40:08.914-07:00

Here's another neologism I'm predicting will take off soon: studytainment. Def: the unhappy hybrid between the act of studying and a distracting multitasking enjoyable recreational activity, such as listening to an iPod or watching a movie, simultaneously. This will eventually evolve to some kind of designed approach that will bleed into actual curriculum, becoming as commonplace as the idea, say

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-81502187276635308712010-05-18T20:51:00.000-07:002010-05-18T21:55:27.088-07:00

Jonathan Richman Live at the Henry Miller Memorial Library, May 16, 2010 I've loved Jonathan Richman for years and for various reasons, but I have to admit I never really got him, I don't think, until I finally saw him live. As a punker, I adored the early Modern Lovers, having found "Government Center" on the Troublemakers weirdo compilation and a much-copied tape of the original Modern

Mattnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-88807179706271132652010-01-05T18:01:00.000-08:002010-01-05T18:02:50.025-08:00

I'm skeptical about the literary value of the so-called social media -- movies being made from blogs notwithstanding, it does not seem like the sort of thing that lends itself to complicated ideas, or even simple ideas -- but I would make a great exception for this twitter feed, which is just asking to be made into an epic novel followed by a film trilogy.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-91035975120383881792009-01-15T11:49:00.001-08:002009-01-15T11:53:52.467-08:00

Documenting one of my neologisms, in the vain (?) hope of preserving credit of authorship: Cyberformication (n) to cyberformicate (v) - the strange feeling your website is being crawled. By extension, any sixth sense concerning electronic media being invaded by uninvited parties, such as computer virus infections, robots, etc. "Imelda felt her spine shudder at the thought of her blog being

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-56662373431242044462008-11-25T12:49:00.000-08:002008-11-25T12:51:46.992-08:00

I just checked my google web history trends, and discovered the only hour of the day I haven't made a search since they invented this thing -- and I, idiot that I am, have tracked the web history as long as I can -- is 3 AM. I note this includes searches done in different time zones, so 3 AM may simply be a boundary condition for my consciousness. I wonder if Hillary Clinton is ready to google

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-78955597689793640372007-09-28T09:25:00.000-07:002007-09-28T10:19:43.726-07:00

The War is a documentary film, but one that reminds me not so much of a brilliant scholarly work, a single-volume history, a collection of primary material artfully organized, or even a popularized retelling of a story so much as a clips show. There's nothing about the story that hasn't been done better elsewhere, and possibly even more economically if you cut out all the commercials on the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-64767413207731183482007-09-17T11:01:00.000-07:002007-09-17T14:30:03.134-07:00

Oh the bemusing juxtapositions one gets when one's reading list is selected by a three-year old semi-randomly based on the cover. A few weeks ago my little Oprah picked out James A. Garfield by Ira Rutkow ("Look, Daddy, it's Abraham Lincoln!" -- he recognized Garfield from the 'Presidents of the United States' place mat but couldn't quite place him), Orbit by John Nance ("Hey Daddy, it's

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-50809237966886532672007-08-06T10:55:00.000-07:002007-08-06T11:11:12.550-07:00

Jonathan Lethem, 2006 Two things: OK, here's how it goes. Fiction itself is probably 10,000 years old, since the first story embellishment took place around a hunting campfire. Written verse is half that old, and the novel is only a couple of hundred years old and may or may not itself be dying out (pity the poor best-selling poets of yore). Music follows a somewhat parallel history, with

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-43597775127042223112007-06-08T18:19:00.000-07:002007-06-08T20:10:00.440-07:00

So, in full disclosure mode, I'm not much of a Sopranos fan in that I've only seen season 1 and parts of season 2, thanks to the spottiness of "free HBO weekends" on my satellite provider and a general ennui with television phenomena. While I can't say as I was a bowled over as most TV critics apparently are/were by the saga, I have enjoyed the show when I've seen it largely for its

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-85826985341614655222007-05-03T15:29:00.000-07:002007-05-03T16:03:11.249-07:00

Forty Signs of Rain Fifty Degrees Below Sixty Days and Counting The Years of Rice and Salt Kim Stanley Robinson I've recently finished the 40-50-60 trilogy from Kim Stanley Robinson with the kind of reluctant anticipation of one who was given a paperback of the first book without foreknowledge that it was part of a set. In the particular instance, the three books are very much on the installment

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-37660121976241204452007-03-28T09:25:00.000-07:002007-03-28T09:38:19.174-07:00

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier (2005) A vague third-hand understanding of various ancestor-worshipping cultures' understanding of the idea that there are two levels of the after-life, one where we go as long as somebody on earth remembers us and which resembles this world, the other completely unknown. An even vaguer understanding of the paradoxes of modern scientific

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-87639603882368591842007-03-09T18:18:00.001-08:002007-03-09T18:19:47.409-08:00

If it says Libby, Libby, Libby On the libel, libel, libel You can swear it, swear it, swear it On your Bible, Bible, Bible Cause Karl wanted to sell the War on Babel, Babel, Babel Although double you em dees were never on the table, table, table And that Rove now laughs his ass at the jokey, jokey, jokey That it's Libby, Libby, Libby, In the pokey, pokey, pokey That's why Libby, Libby, Libby Made

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-76457526796278536882007-03-06T16:06:00.000-08:002007-03-06T16:50:11.577-08:00

Patriotic Treason: John Brown and the Soul of America, by Evan Carton (2006) I confess that, prior to reading this book, I had the popular image of John Brown in my mind of a half-crazed religious zealot who had the right cause (the abolition of slavery) and the wrong technique (half-cocked schemes of violent revolution starting with a raid on Harper's Ferry's federal armory to arm the thousands

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-45537203993034382922007-02-18T14:27:00.000-08:002007-02-18T14:29:02.199-08:00

Stephen Decatur: American Naval Hero, 1779-1820, by Robert J. Allison Among the spate of recent Decatur biographies, this volume stands out. Decatur's biography is swashbuckling stuff, to be sure, easy on the merit of the facts to make into a compelling story. But intricately, often subtly, woven into this book is the story of America moving from revolution to a budding empire, from underdog

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1164233600167738512006-11-22T14:10:00.000-08:002006-11-22T16:00:37.226-08:00

November 22nd. I have resurrected an old posting from my pre-blog-days website, originally done in November 1999. Final Report of the Teapot Commission Like most Americans, I'm readily willing to believe the worst, even beyond -- heck, well beyond -- when evidence strongly suggests otherwise. And similarly, I'm especially ready to believe the evidence of my own eyes, however inexpertly

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1163877173309581342006-11-18T11:00:00.000-08:002006-11-18T11:14:22.350-08:00

The Dead Schembechlers (Bo Biafra, Bo Vicious, Bo Thunders, and Bo Scabies -- hey, wait a minute, Jello and Rat aren't dead!) have decided to break up just because the object of their derision, Bo Schembechler, has actually died. The whole reason the name "Dead Kennedys" was a shocker in the late 70s was, well, because it was kind of offensive and insensitive, most especially to the progressive

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1162061623601742232006-10-28T11:49:00.000-07:002006-10-28T17:05:15.706-07:00

Another in our occasional series of verbatim items from America's fifth column fourth estate: Former MLB Pitcher Joe Niekro dies by Fred Goodall, Associated Press TAMPA, FLA. -- Former major league pitcher Joe Niekro, Houston's career victory leader, died Friday, Astros president Tal Smith said. He was 61. The two-time 20-game winner suffered a brain aneurysm Thursday and was taken to South

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1160947656381423302006-10-15T14:24:00.000-07:002006-10-15T14:39:50.876-07:00

It's difficult to know what to say about this well-made, honest, and truly documentary film. On the one hand, as a fan of the band I'm grateful to have such a nice retelling of their story, crisply paced, and full of details I'd never heard. On the other hand, I found myself at the end of it rather sad and swimming in nostalgia, and there's something so creepily unpunkrock about that, I'm not

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1158217350615400902006-09-13T23:51:00.000-07:002006-09-14T00:02:30.633-07:00

I had a weird day about a month ago. I was driving to a meeting of a volunteer group that meets in a town about 40 minutes away. The way there is pretty rural, lots of cow and lettuce townlets and fields. I pass through this apparently deserted intersection, and all of a sudden -- as if via a cue in a movie -- there's a traffic jam, dozens of big rig trucks and cars converging on this set of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1150325080471789672006-06-14T15:10:00.000-07:002006-06-14T16:00:08.560-07:00

I got called for jury duty a couple of months ago. This was the 11th or 12th time I've been called for jury duty. My wife, who's shared addresses, voter registration, motor vehicle licensing, and just about every other form of public record with me for the past 20 years has been summoned exactly twice. I've had to go down to a court house on all but one of those 11 (or 12) occasions; both times

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1147736632227231552006-05-15T16:15:00.000-07:002006-05-15T17:20:38.203-07:00

Guthrie, Dylan Both Spin Round and Round in their Graves, Toes a Tapping I once had a conversation with Dick Dale after he'd played a gig -- around when he was a mere pup of sixty years or so -- where he explained Rock and Roll music to me. "Rock and roll is all about fucking," he opined. "The only reason to become a rock musician is to get laid. I know it worked for me." I think this was right

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1146872550289562352006-05-05T16:34:00.000-07:002006-05-05T16:43:18.280-07:00

From two articles, both in today's Monterey County Herald, both starting on page 1. Lawyer James Michael Dead at 78 by Virginia Hennessy, Herald Salinas Bureau Monterey County lawyers and judges are mourning the passing of attorney James Michael, a "legend" in the local criminal justice system. Mr. Michael, who died Monday at the age of 78, was remembered Thursday as a mentor with a wry sense

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1141024579578613222006-02-26T22:48:00.000-08:002006-02-26T23:57:00.106-08:00

One hilarious bit of trivia about the movie Buffalo Soldiers: the title in Germany was Buffalo Soldiers, Army Go Home! That, of course, is the spin they put on a movie essentially released in 2004, though made in 2000 and slated for original release in 2001, because that's the sentiment that's being reflected in the current era of unilateralism. You wouldn't think we'd won the cold war in a good

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1134850515435985362005-12-17T12:01:00.000-08:002005-12-17T13:20:23.390-08:00

Some years ago Connie Willis wrote (via a mouthpiece character in a short story in her collection Miracle and Other Christmas Stories) about the undeserved reputation the movie It's a Wonderful Life as embodying the true spirit of Christmas. (I'd quote her at length, but our copy of Miracle was lent out a while back and not yet returned -- how about that for the spirit of Christmas.) She

Mattnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1128796111623292842005-10-08T11:21:00.000-07:002005-10-08T13:11:30.306-07:00

I had forgotten what a nearly indescribable pleasure it is to read Jack Womack in tiny increments while falling asleep. There's something about the mix of his language, the arcs of plot, the ambience, the penumbra of softly-floating place and uncertain time that produces excellent dreaming. I mean this will all the respect in the world: a Jack Womack book is one of the best ways to fall asleep.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1127879587060444402005-09-27T20:22:00.000-07:002005-09-27T20:55:48.026-07:00

Bush Administration to Apply Successful Campaign Tactics to World Diplomacy News item: CAIRO – Karen Hughes, a folksy Texan and longtime confidante of President Bush, has one of the toughest jobs in the US government: convincing the rest of the world, particularly the Arab world, that US policies are in their best interests. She started her first week as the State Department's top public

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1127260220086201492005-09-20T16:49:00.000-07:002005-09-20T16:50:20.100-07:00

There's a fairly large proportion of "new" children's books aimed at the under-3 set that are illustrated versions of nursery rhymes or kiddie songs. I strongly suspect this is for a combination of two reasons: first, the story's in the public domain, so there's no tricky creative problem of thinking up an original idea or possibly being sued by another author. One rather thinks that there's a

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1126825435166419042005-09-15T15:46:00.000-07:002005-09-15T16:03:55.173-07:00

Been following those scintillating Supreme Court confirmation hearings for the putative Mr. Chief Justice Roberts? Me, neither, not after listening to the pablum drool unctuously and meaninglessly off his lips the first day. I was left wondering how John Roberts would interview for some other jobs....hmmmm.... Interviewer: "Thanks, Mr. Roberts, for coming in to interview for the position of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1126574605381888032005-09-12T17:59:00.000-07:002005-09-12T18:30:49.863-07:00

In contemplating how to sell my novel, I had occasion to peruse the New York Times Bestseller list, which in our local paper is rather conveniently located next to the sunday crossword, so when I'm stuck on a clue I can take a break and see what the rest of America is reading. The thought occurs that when writing a book, the single most-important sentence is the one-sentence tag line that will

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1126129255373713902005-09-07T14:39:00.000-07:002005-09-07T15:16:38.496-07:00

We’re happy to provide exclusive excerpts from the forthcoming book, Great Moments in American Leadership due to be published in October, 2006 by the Heritage Foundation Press. The recommended uses of the book, according to the promotional material provided to booksellers, include as a history text for home-schooling, for re-sale as a fundraiser at Lincoln-Reagan Day dinners, and stacked to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1125639540943652042005-09-01T22:27:00.000-07:002005-09-01T22:39:00.953-07:00

I write this sickened, curled up with a deep disgust that permeates my inside, at the awful harvest of Katrina's wake. I wouldn't blame a hurricane on politics, although the current administration doesn't even admit global warming, which played a role in the strength if not the existence of the storm, even exists. But we are left with the picture of thousands upon thousands of poor, black,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1123975686529508072005-08-13T16:25:00.000-07:002005-08-13T16:28:06.530-07:00

I was at a hardware store the other day buying a bunch of housewares (all, of course, made in China, since finding anything made in the USA today is practically impossible), and I was impressed by the array of "Support Our Troops" paraphernalia on sale -- mostly car magnets, but a variety of other ribbon-themed items. I took a look at them while I was in line. Every last one of them was made in

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1123975308714209462005-08-13T16:06:00.000-07:002005-08-13T16:21:48.793-07:00

Did you know that Canada and Denmark are in a war of sorts, the old-fashioned kind, too: a territorial dispute? They both claim sovereignty over Hans Island, a lump of rock between Greenland and some Canadian islands in the northeastern snowball's end of the frozen North. It's smaller than most of the icebergs that are around it for most of the year, hasn't got a damn thing growing on it, and

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1122158453743786912005-07-23T15:16:00.000-07:002005-07-23T17:06:04.966-07:00

So, having posted recently about Punk: Attitude and Brigham Young, it seems like a fitting time to finally post on SLC Punk!, seeing as it combines both the repressive religious regimes of punk rock and the paradoxical anarchy of Mormonism. Working my way backwards from the critical commentary, in the spirit of the intellectual anarchy of the good Internet-era post-post-post-mo era, where no

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1121997999091811032005-07-21T18:36:00.000-07:002005-07-21T20:16:52.580-07:00

It's hard to believe that there won't be a scientology-bankrolled project soon about the life of L. Ron Hubbard, between the vanity project Battlefield Earth and the sci-fi slasher flick financed out of pocket by Mel Gibson, Passion of the Christ, precedents have been set. Scientologists have all the great chips on their shoulders to be convinced they're an oppressed minority, not the least of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1121018881178487932005-07-10T11:02:00.000-07:002005-07-23T17:02:39.810-07:00

OK, since I made a quick trash of it, I figured I'd write a longer review as a make-good. I have no doubt that future cultural historians and music cognoscenti will appreciate this competent and fairly broad-sweeping history of the original punk "movement" of the 1970s. But I have to say, as a forty-something who was "there" at the end of the 1970s, there's something unnerving and vaguely

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120980594690136712005-07-10T00:25:00.000-07:002005-07-10T00:32:09.733-07:00

...at least since the anthropmorphic opening line of "March of the Penguins", which in preview was enough to make me want to never go see it... In the movie "Punk:Attitude", one of the wheezing middle-aged punkers saying "the internet was a very punk idea," by way of ridiculously trying to justify the whole punk thing as having made some sort of difference in society. (The jury is out on that,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120837823915152272005-07-08T08:47:00.000-07:002005-07-08T08:50:23.920-07:00

An amusing article in the July 4 2005 issue of The New Yorker by Adam Gopnik, "Death of a Fish" (not apparently available on-line as yet), that either uses Vertigo to explain the problem of consciousness and the understanding of death as part of the development of human psychology; or, perhaps, uses the death of a fish and the problem of consciousness and understanding of death as the part of the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120814704323183012005-07-08T02:24:00.000-07:002005-07-08T02:25:18.096-07:00

I've finally made up an index of this blog...ugly formatting, but that's what I have time for right now.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120802468081661502005-07-07T23:00:00.000-07:002005-07-07T23:01:08.090-07:00

Enemy at the Gates (2001) I've now watched this movie four or five times, and it continues to impress me with each viewing. Criticisms that it does not accurately depict the battle of Stalingrad are missing the point. The movie doesn't purport to tell the whole story of the epic battle of the greatest land war ever known (and we hope humanity will ever endure) in terms of a historical

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120798578803447502005-07-07T21:24:00.000-07:002005-07-07T21:56:18.810-07:00

...and one simple thing you can do to help beat themI thought this was telling: I heard an interview on the BBC today with one of the survivors of one of the tube bombings. This fellow was in the last car of the train, and they heard the explosion as a faint boom. The passengers, he said, all just assumed it was one of the many technical glitches that plague the Underground these days. He said

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1120350542590800342005-07-02T17:27:00.000-07:002005-07-02T17:29:02.596-07:00

From Wikipedia's article on Dash Hammett: After entering the U.S. Army, he was assigned to an ambulance company but he contracted tuberculosis and spent the war as a patient in a hospital in America. After the war, he turned to drinking, advertising, and eventually, writing.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1117735082756159592005-06-02T10:44:00.000-07:002005-06-02T10:58:38.650-07:00

I'm still somewhat at a loss to discover why we're not invading Saudi Arabia, if our mission in the Middle East is to spread democracy and freedom. In the Kingdom, even suggesting studying the idea of allowing women to drive can endanger your life. The fact the 9/11 hijackers and Osama are (were) (nearly) all Saudis seems to have been neglected even in the 9/11 commission report. But any Iraqi

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1114452555386570712005-04-25T10:52:00.000-07:002005-04-25T11:09:15.390-07:00

Senator Rick Santorum (Goofball-PA) has introduced a bill that would forbid the National Weather Service from reporting the weather. It's not even a cost-cutting measure, since the NWS and NOAA would be left intact. It's purely meant to prevent the free use of data the governement collects, and has collected for two hundred years. What? What's the point, you ask? Well, Senator Goofball wants to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1114038241538635512005-04-20T15:45:00.000-07:002005-04-20T16:05:06.966-07:00

Obviously any German, born in 1927, is going to have some sort of World War II story. When that German has just been selected Pope, you'd think one of the many All-Pope, All the Time news channels would've at least investigated this. I mean, the most evil thing that has ever happened in the history of humanity ought to be a real focal point for any annointed Prince of Peace. But a kid who spent

Mattnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1112816633520606082005-04-06T12:33:00.000-07:002005-04-06T12:43:53.523-07:00

Last Laugh So our President has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff for the Bishop of Rome, who passed away last week. Welcome to 21st-century America, where we dip the symbol of our national sovereignty to a Polish national living in Rome heading up a church to which a minority of Americans attend, who was head of a sovereign state that would fit inside the pond in Central Park. What a

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1112115764625017272005-03-29T08:42:00.000-08:002005-03-29T11:49:41.243-08:00

What is up with that, Jesse Jackson? First he shows up at the Michael Jackson trial, where MJ is spreading the word he's the victim of a vast conspiracy and likened himself to Nelson Mandela. I'm all with Rev. Jackson (no relation) holding that persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but if the legacy of the former aide of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. is to be the protection of the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1111783578423507622005-03-25T12:41:00.000-08:002005-03-25T12:46:18.430-08:00

This has been circulating on the net for quite a while, and I got it back this week from two different sources: You might want to make a copy of this and keep it in your car.  Looks like we're subsidizing a bunch of murdering misfits by buying Mideast oil/gas.  WHERE TO BUY YOUR GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON-- Why didn't George W. think of this?  (Think??) Gas rationing in

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1111078511278189812005-03-17T08:16:00.000-08:002005-03-17T08:55:11.280-08:00

As I write this, the President has just nominated a veterinarian to head the Food and Drug Administration. Nothing like the expertise of a horse doctor from a one-stoplight town in Alabama to restore public confidence in the drug review process. This follows appointing a guy to head the FCC communication whose primary experience was counting ballots for Bush in Florida in 2000, appointing a guy

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1109367305267990712005-02-25T13:31:00.000-08:002005-02-25T13:44:47.863-08:00

I keep seeing Rubber Soul on the all-time lists of great rock albums, and even though I've got it burned into my mind, I don't give the album that much thought. Big mistake, I think. ITunes spit it up today, and I actually listened to the lyrics for all the songs of the original LP in the order they are. I'm sure Beatles aficianados will have all the biographical explanations about how the boys

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1108358177795874122005-02-13T21:13:00.000-08:002005-02-25T13:37:08.960-08:00

Beetle found out he's doing another tour... Wither General Halftrack? He is at the Pentagon, getting a medal and preparing for life as a consultant for a large defense contractor.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1108058129643156832005-02-10T08:43:00.000-08:002005-02-10T09:59:07.606-08:00

In another installment in my occasional series "Amazon Gets Inside My Head", I've noticed a very large number of Submarine movies on DVD start popping up. Run Silent, Run Deep, The Enemy Below (very persistently, perhaps because Robert Mitchum is the star), Das Boot, etc. Now, Amazon has this feature where you can check "why" I'm recommended this paticular thing. It's a pattern-matching

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1107718372663643772005-02-06T11:31:00.000-08:002005-02-06T11:32:52.663-08:00

From Reuters: In February 5 LOS ANGELES story headlined "Sideways scores knockout at SAG awards" please read in 18th paragraph ... obsessive-compulsive detective ... not ... obsessive-compulsive comedian ... . From Clint Eastwood: "You don't have to be into incest to like Hamlet."

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1106844351873540402005-01-27T08:36:00.000-08:002005-01-27T08:45:51.873-08:00

The accident in LA yesterday which killed ten people is a tragedy, in the truest sense; it was a fateful consequence that could have been avoided. One wonders if the mental health services of the state hadn't been gutted by the Guhvuhnoh's indolence and the decades-long aversion of California taxpayers to do the right thing and provide for the common benefit, that the suicidal man who parked his

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1105212101645695472005-01-08T11:16:00.000-08:002005-01-08T11:21:41.646-08:00

I've occasionally posted about the weirdnesses of having robots and agents watching one's buying and borrowing habits and so forth, usually to marvel at how Amazon or somesuch recommended something totally out of the blue, and it turned out I was quite happy and interested in whatever it was they recommended. So I thought perhaps that when a "recommendation" came up for a manual on how to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1103217881322728272004-12-16T09:22:00.000-08:002004-12-16T09:24:41.323-08:00

Editorial note: cross-posted at The Diamond Angle.com. It's Selig, Not Cropp, Pulling the Switch on this ExecutionThe city council of the District of Columbia heroically drew a line in the stand against corporate welfare -- sort of -- by voting Tuesday to require that any new ballpark in the district be financed at least 50% from private sources. Bearing in mind that the city is still picking up

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1102803316391504452004-12-11T14:14:00.000-08:002004-12-11T14:15:16.390-08:00

I've posted my most recent Pitchplay, October Surprise: A Clear and Present Danger to Red Patriot Games at my Pitchplay blog.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1102791709872147622004-12-11T11:00:00.000-08:002004-12-11T11:01:49.873-08:00

Editorial Note: Cross-posted from The Diamond Angle.com The grandstand plays on steroids, the great non-scandal, non-issue being blown up for a variety of reasons, continue. As noted here a few days earlier, Senator John McCain is threatening unprecedented legislation that would overturn specific portions of a negotiated collective bargaining agreement. Whether McCain is doing it just for the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1102357914499377502004-12-06T10:28:00.000-08:002004-12-06T10:42:45.243-08:00

This is Your Brain Trust on DrugsEditorial Note: cross-posted on The Diamond Angle's blog page. Grandstand Play: 1. Any play that is staged to elicit applause. The play may be a simple one but it is embellished and made to look difficult and even heroic. 2. adj. Descriptive of a flashy style of playing. "When necessary, bench a man for each attempt at grandsand play. Most coashes need a

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1100629999451464102004-11-16T10:09:00.000-08:002004-11-16T10:33:19.450-08:00

Oh yeah, I'm being harsh on Colin Powell, because he should have known better. He allowed himself to be used twice to elect Bush -- remember all that talk back in 2000 about how Bush was going to be OK, because he was a moderate who would surround himself with good people like Powell? Now he finds himself forced out of State just weeks after the election. The tragedy of Powell is that he

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1100579312396720572004-11-15T20:27:00.000-08:002004-11-15T20:28:32.396-08:00

I've started a new blog for movie-related short fiction, called Pitchplay, where I've posted my first in what will be an endless series of unproduceable film pitches.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1100045193142012312004-11-09T16:04:00.000-08:002004-11-09T16:06:33.143-08:00

John Ashcroft, ever the self-sacrificing soldier, wrote this to President Bush in his resignation letter today: "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." Whew! Thank God!!

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1099681970623511792004-11-05T10:58:00.000-08:002004-11-05T11:12:50.623-08:00

Ah, well, better to be beaten than to be robbed. Although there was a lot of robbery going on, at least it was wholesale enough this time not to be contestable. Just ask Boss Jim Gettys. What were we thinking, that we'd be able to take Florida and Ohio with highly partisan Secretaries of State and Governors controlling the electoral machinery? Good grief. It's only going to get worse, in the

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1098727605098866502004-10-25T11:05:00.000-07:002004-10-25T11:06:45.096-07:00

I've written a speech for Kerry to use his final week. It's time to go positive, and to present the case in its essence. I know campaigns are loath to use previous Presidential quotations in speeches because it makes the candidate look derivative, but it's time to put things in context, and I think looking at how past Presidents have framed their own problems can be used to both remind people

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1098721866529463682004-10-25T09:22:00.000-07:002004-10-25T09:31:06.530-07:00

Boy, just when you think you've imagined every potentially legalistic scenario fot the election, another one comes up. Chief Justice Rehnquist has been hospitalized with thyroid cancer. While the prognosis is reasonable for an 80-year-old man, it raises this possibility: suppose a Supreme Court justice dies or is incapacitated between now and January 20th? And just suppose it's one of Bush's

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1098205357742755722004-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:002004-10-19T10:02:37.746-07:00

From: Harry To: Louise Subj: Terrorist Eradication I am disheartened that your most recent comments on the issue of the household flea infestation seem to indicate that you are content with reducing this menace to the health and safety of our household members to that of a “nuisance”. Your recent post-it note seems to indicate that while you’re willing to take over the exterminating

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097864304773370402004-10-15T10:46:00.000-07:002004-10-15T11:18:24.773-07:00

I hesitate to comment on this matter, because it's just another attempt by the Republicans to distract the campaign from talking about the issues. After all, Mary Cheney has been out of the closet for a decade:: she's not only the Gay and Lesbian corporate relations manager for Coors, and an official of the Bush-Cheney campaign, the Vice-President himself has used her lesbianism as a talking

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097687317004287472004-10-13T09:51:00.000-07:002004-10-13T10:14:12.510-07:00

So we have $200 billion or so out in Iraq, and an administration obssessed with its own program. In the meantime, we discover that half the flu vaccine intended for the United States market is made abroad in Britain, and one little slip-up in a factory has suddenly removed that entire flu vaccine supply. Now we're told that the shortage was a "surprise" to the FDA. So do you feel safer?

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097684227731637602004-10-13T09:12:00.000-07:002004-10-13T09:17:07.733-07:00

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of this, but Fox continues its clear policy of trying to keep as many people as possible from seeing the wretched performance of Bush and Cheney in the debates. Previously, they chose to broadcast the Minnesota Twins - Yankees game instead of the Vice Presidential debate, even though they have the power in their contract with MLB to specify the time in which

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097683919929966732004-10-13T09:08:00.000-07:002004-10-13T09:11:59.930-07:00

Boy, these cats aren't subtle, are they? Jim Baker, who last surfaced to the glare of public exposure as the Bush team's public point man during the 2000 Florida recount, was appointed special envoy to help Iraq obtain debt forgiveness. Baker also is a senior counselor for the Carlyle Group -- remember, Fahrenheit 9/11, Saudis, Bush, money? OK, you remember -- which is representing Kuwait in

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097253875310572842004-10-08T09:23:00.000-07:002004-10-08T09:44:35.310-07:00

Wow, guess what? Bush isn't a puppet of Karl Rove after all..it turns out he's Rove's ventriloquist's dummy! I normally don't like to make posts that simply echo other things going on in the blogosphere, but this is one I think bears repeated re-linkage. Salon reports this in detail (full article requires a day pass, you'll have to watch an ad). Link to a bigger version of the image at http://

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1097095007966178412004-10-06T13:07:00.000-07:002004-10-06T13:43:05.706-07:00

Fox didn't broadcast yesterday's Vice-Presidential debate. They were the only broadcast network not to broadcast the debate. The excuse was that they were going to broadcast the New York Yankees - Minnesota Twins game, presumably because it would get better ratings than a debate, although that's probably an excuse to broadcast a Gomer Pyle re-run. Fox has considerable influence over when

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096933452204589312004-10-04T16:00:00.000-07:002004-10-04T16:44:12.206-07:00

Here's a conundrum of democracy I hope our Afghani and Iraqi friends don't have to face anytime soon. I live in a town with a council-weak Mayor form of government. We have four council members, the fifth vote being supplied by the Mayor. The Mayor is up for election every two years, and also every two years, we vote for two of the four council seats. These are undistricted council seats.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096657845809171612004-10-01T13:02:00.000-07:002004-10-01T12:12:35.423-07:00

Boy, talk about a disintegrating campaign. We all know Ron Reagan, son of the former President, is voting for Kerry, since he spoke at the Democratic convention. But now Dwight Eisenhower's son? Yes, John Eisenhower has switched his 50-year party registration and says he's voting for Kerry. OK, so Michael Reagan is voting for Bush, and probably Neil and Jeb Bush will vote for Bush as well,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096648403910735782004-10-01T09:31:00.000-07:002004-10-01T09:37:04.930-07:00

Dead Walk the EarthThe cover to the today's revived Life magazine -- reborn as a Parade-style newspaper insert -- proclaims, "Sarah Jessica Parker -- SHE'S BACK! (and so are we)". This is why we, as a nation, rely on journalists: I didn't even know Sarah Jessica Parker had gone some place else, since she seems to be as ubiquitous a figure as ever. It was Life, of course, that sixty years ago,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096585066031673742004-09-30T15:40:00.000-07:002004-09-30T16:22:50.333-07:00

I'm bemused by the latest lie from the White House: that George Bush is 6' 0", when he's really just shy of 5' 11". I'm sure that consideration went into the elaborate negotiations over minutiae of tonight's debate, like the lectern height. Being a former State Champion debater myself, I always felt constrained by the rules. Assuming Kerry is willing to go the distance for the American people

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096307136944144582004-09-27T10:44:00.000-07:002004-09-27T11:23:33.396-07:00

Francoise Sagan died Friday, author of Bonjour Tristesse. She couldn't have been that sad if after her teen angst novel was published she lived another 51 years. I vaguely remember reading this about twenty years ago and never thinking twice about it again, although maybe I should check out that Otto Preminger version with David Niven and Deborah Kerr sometime. What a curse to have your first

Mattnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1096040601469184502004-09-24T08:32:00.000-07:002004-09-24T08:46:56.036-07:00

How unusual is it for two hurricanes to do a three-sixty in the same season? graphic discourtesy New York Times I believe this annotated version of the map above may explain the weather phenomenon: graphic courtesy CBS News

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095884749508196042004-09-22T13:23:00.000-07:002004-09-22T13:25:49.506-07:00

[Editorial note: a rare cross-posting from my baseball blogging at The Diamond Angle.] It looks like old Cranky was wrong once again: the Expos will not be awarded to Northern Virginia, but instead to one of the Washington D.C. groups. You can go to official web site of the Washington DC Baseball Club and suggest a name for the new club: in honor of its racist football cousin, I sugggested

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095703211087573102004-09-20T10:56:00.000-07:002004-09-20T11:00:11.086-07:00

Don’t be a Fence Sitter! Find out your future self! How to land the Candidate of your dreams! Could you be a Nasty Neocon? A Nader Raider? Or -- a Flaming Liberal? 10 Steps to being a Sexy, Sexy Swing Voter (As a service to our readers, The Little Teapot fills the void between The New York Times Poll and Cosmopolitan.) Circle your answers for each of the questions below. 1. When

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095535877497471532004-09-18T13:28:00.000-07:002004-09-18T12:31:17.496-07:00

[Editorial Note: this is another unsold article that's a little out of date now, but it's Saturday. Call me a La-Z-boy.] The rap on Senator John Edwards from the Republicans upon his selection as John Kerry’s Vice Presidential ticket-mate was that he did not have enough experience to be President – a thought perhaps shared at one point by Kerry. Being ready to assume the Presidency is one of

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095434458242067042004-09-17T08:17:00.000-07:002004-09-18T12:24:39.856-07:00

Yankee Ingenuity and The Secret Strategy for Victory for the Kerry Campaign [Editorial note: this article also appeared on The Diamond Angle under my byline there as the Baseball Crank.] John Kerry started out the week of the Democratic National Convention in Boston with a surprise unannounced visit to the Boston Red Sox New York Yankees game at Fenway Park on Sunday, July 25th. Kerry threw

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095354828095102012004-09-16T08:40:00.000-07:002004-09-16T11:16:27.286-07:00

It's so sad but we all know it's the end of the Ramones. Here's how they died: Joey was a vegetable, resulting in lymphatic cancer. Dee Dee went bald, causing him to OD on heroin. Johnny got kicked in the head, which gave him prostate cancer. But, it's true, the kids still love them all. Tho, think on this: here's how they will be remembered by the masses: The Blitzkrieg Bop

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095264658898226802004-09-15T08:45:00.000-07:002004-09-15T09:21:31.190-07:00

There's a nice profile of former Vice President Al Gore in the September 13, 2004 New Yorker by David Remnick -- a strange sort of "Where are they now?" piece which is as much a rumination on "Where's his head now?" as a profile piece. It's fascinating in that the depth of an intellect like Gore's can seemingly only be unleashed fully when freed of the requirements of attaining elected office.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095199007223778112004-09-14T14:37:00.000-07:002004-09-14T15:04:45.140-07:00

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do...Speak what you think to-day in words as hard as cannon-balls, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. - Ralph Waldo Emerson Of course, if you quoted

Mattnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095138836353047892004-09-13T22:13:00.000-07:002004-09-13T22:18:18.863-07:00

So THAT'S where the weapons of mass destruction were! Yes, boys and girls, there are 11 missing nuclear weapons out there somewhere. Ours, thank god. If they were missing terrorist weapons, God knows what kind of trouble we'd be in.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095109723242768612004-09-13T13:38:00.000-07:002004-09-13T21:51:32.936-07:00

Holy forty pieces of silver, Judas. This may be in even worse taste than the President using pictures of corpses from Ground Zero in his political advertising.: coins struck from silver recovered from Ground Zero, bearing the image of the WTC. OK, maybe not quite as bad as the Bush ads, but it's pretty close. So, I'm asking myself, how the heck did an ad for it show up on my blog? Yes, it's

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1095103366061002092004-09-13T13:15:00.000-07:002004-09-13T12:24:30.880-07:00

OK, let me make sure I've got this straight. After years of UN inspections followed by a year and a half on the ground in Iraq, the Bush administration remains convinced that Sadaam had active weapons programs to acquire nuclear weapons, etc. But in North Korea, they keep claiming the North has no nuclear capabilities even though the North Koreans are bragging about it. So a mushroom cloud

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1094926917638417312004-09-11T11:21:00.000-07:002004-09-11T11:29:21.853-07:00

One of the great failings of the media in this era has been the refusal to examine the issues, the objectivity of the facts of allegations put forth by various campaigns, or do much in the way of deeper investigations of real voters and the conditions in which they make decisions. They prefer instead to focus on the "horse race". The reasons for this are several. It's a lot easier. All one has to

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1094839451320324372004-09-10T10:51:00.000-07:002004-09-10T11:04:11.320-07:00

Here's one high on the list of boring campaign issues nobody is paying any attention to: the federal government's "bail out" of the airline industry following 9/11. (It seems kinf of unfortunate to use the image of jumping out of a plane to describe a subsidy of the airline industry.) The US Government (also known as you, taxpayer) has thrown at least $15 billion towards the airline industry

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1094574853214262282004-09-07T09:33:00.000-07:002004-09-07T09:34:13.213-07:00

I had an article on Slate last week, which I neglected to post up here. Here's the link.

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1094235396530335762004-09-03T11:14:00.000-07:002004-09-03T11:16:36.530-07:00

The Governor thinks he saw Russian tanks when he was a kid, but the Russians were out of his part of Austria by the time he was born. The Governor thinks he grew up under the boot of socialism, when in fact Austria never had a socialist government while Arnold lived there, and had the most conservative government on record when he left for the United States (which was then under the liberal

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1094159075735494352004-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:002004-09-02T14:12:14.503-07:00

Editor's Note: the following is a parody. It is not in any way, shape, or form meant to represent the actual remarks of the Bush twins to the Republican National Convention on August 30, 2004. Jenna Bush: It's great to be here. We love Arnold. Isn't he awesome? Thanks to him, if one of us ever decides to marry a Democrat, nobody can complain. Except maybe our Grandmother, Barbara. And,

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1093625705205188322004-08-27T09:51:00.000-07:002004-08-27T09:55:05.206-07:00

I've really been stewing about the "Swift Boat" ads the last few days, but what has disturbed me most about this has been Senator McCain's failure to walk the walk after talking the talk. Have I been completely wrong that John McCain is the last honest man in Washington? So I wrote him a letter this morning, which I have mailed: Senator John McCain 241 Russell Senate Office Building

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1093537390364458902004-08-26T09:09:00.000-07:002004-08-26T09:25:35.610-07:00

From the New York Times today: Mr. McCain has long said he will do whatever the president asks to help re-elect him. Both he and Mr. Weaver said they did not expect the senator to become so closely involved in the effort. "But I'm not surprised,'' Mr. McCain said, "because I think it's obvious that there's a number of undecided voters who approve of me. Polls show that.'' Some have

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1092770807902795402004-08-17T12:26:00.000-07:002004-08-17T12:26:47.903-07:00

This marvelous little book is much more of an accomplished literary work and a fascinating read than might be suggested by comparisons to other works with ostensibly similar subject matter. The narrator of the book, Christopher, is incapable of having true emotional understanding, and in a work of literature that's an incredibly daunting technical problem. (I would caution against reading reviews

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1092431703570168992004-08-13T14:14:00.000-07:002004-08-13T14:15:03.570-07:00

I can't dredge up a single 'French Chef' recipe from memory, and I can't tell you I learned a single cooking technique from watching Julia Child. I have vivid memories of watching her in the afternoons on PBS in the 1970s and not really paying attention at all to what she was doing so much as how she was doing it. I don't know for sure, but I suspect the only reason I ever watched 'The French

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1092422442711790302004-08-13T11:38:00.000-07:002004-08-13T11:40:42.710-07:00

John Keegan's Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napolean to Al-Qaeda is a strangely unsatisfying book. It's quite readable, combining Mr. Keegan's unsurpassable erudition in military history with a readable format, focussing on eight episodes of the intersection of warfare with various forms of intelligence. As eight individual case studies, it's an excellent read for those looking

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1092412388649967162004-08-13T08:48:00.000-07:002004-08-13T08:53:08.650-07:00

Dear Wolf (I hope I may call you that, Mr. Blitzer), Giving air time to the authors of a work of fiction on John Kerry's war record does not seem to me to be in the spirit of rigorous analytical fact-checking that ought to underpin journalism. Just because somebody makes charges that a certain version of historical facts is incorrect does not elevate them to the level of credible source

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5883381.post-1091830115442955502004-08-06T15:07:00.000-07:002004-08-13T10:27:56.666-07:00

Happy birthday to me -- here's my annual birthday mix! Cut Cutter Praise You Fatboy Slim Credit in the Straight World Hole Minority Green Day Mmmbop Hanson Evie's Tears Freddy Johnston Declare Guerre Nucleaire The Hives Depth Charge Jon & The Nightriders Mass Romantic New

Mattnoreply@blogger.com0