NOLA
 

Why do you call them "some people"?

They have names:

Chuck
Cecil
Maryanne
Janice
That chick with the glasses (I think her name is Katherine)

SWIM!!!!!
 

It seems I need to find some new Canadian counsel to use. The guys I talk to now all have American-sounding names. Infiltrators? If so, they have the accent down. I so enjoy early morning calls aboot Section___ of the tax code.

Weird
 

Flyover land? Dude, you're in Baltimore. Even Phildelphia gets to make fun of Baltimore.

Vampire Slayers
 

When I was a kid, my dad taught me that a calm attitude and a large towel to grasp gently around the creature works wonders in such scenes. You can usually remove the animal to the outdoors and let it live. Not to get all PETA on you but there was no reason to kill that bat.

Weird
 

They saved it? For what? In case you change your mind?

Saline or silicon?

I mostly agree Sebby was mainly correct
 

You like the bands that Pitchfork hates.

"From the outset, their look is positively loathsome; four clean-cut, Suburbia-ripped pretty boys aspiring to toe the line between indie respectability and commercial adulation."

"That the kind of mindless, commercial monotony that dilutes every hint of vibrancy on the record seems wholly intentional is telling, as a comparatively lo-fi collection of songs were apparently scrapped in favor of this supposedly more accessible dreck."

"For forty minutes, Ok Go drags on laboriously, with each passing song more desperately anticipating the end. Damian Kulash's lyrics are almost uniformly dreadful, but no more so than on "You're So Damn Hot", what seems to be some kind of aggravating rewrite of "Bang a Gong" with all the substance and style drained from it. Lines like, "You're a bad-hearted boy trap, baby doll, but you're/ So damn hot," are enough to make you despise the English language."

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record...go/ok-go.shtml

Those Pitchfork kids sure are snotty little pricks, but it's lines like "Lines like, 'You're a bad-hearted boy trap, baby doll, but you're/ So damn hot,' are enough to make you despise the English language," that keep me coming back.

The Louis XIV review is pretty funny, too.

Vampire Slayers
 

Dude, she's not looking to molest the bat.

I mostly agree Sebby was mainly correct
 

I like The Secret Machines so far. I've only listened to the disc once because for some strange reason I am trying to get through an incredibly long and dense book on CD during my daily commutes. I thought it sort of has a Floyd-ish vibe to it. Wasn't a fan of the end of the first song, but otherwise seemed quite good.

Rape deterrent
 

You're pretty familiar with CSI episodes.

this is why I wear my "viva la bam" shirt on Casual Fridays.
 

That's my marketing plan, too.

I mostly agree Sebby was mainly correct
 

I've been listening to Blink on cd in the car. I've decided to ignore lights, signs and traffic and go with my gut at intersections and on ramps.

If you cut rivets around the outside, the cds make excellent throwing stars.

I mostly agree Sebby was mainly correct
 

Excellent. I'm contra-hip.

Weird
 

No. He's in Chicago now, but since he's from Baltimore it SEEMS great and he all swelled headed. When he takes his first business trip to Peoria and realizes it SEEMS great too, compared to Baltimore, he'll cool down.

I mostly agree Sebby was mainly correct
 

Actually, for Pitchfork that's a pretty positive review. ncs, maybe you should buy the CD.

Weird
 

Baltimore is no longer an actual place of its own, but it is enjoying a renaissance as a Washington exurb. Philadelphia's what you drive around to get to New York, although the Liberty Bell is kind of nice. Chicago is a pit stop between NY and LA or SF, but it has certain charms. But Detroit. Detroit is a hulking, burning, stinking shell of a former city.

No offense, Hank.

Weird
 

I like Chicago. Nice town.

Ex-burb or not, Baltimore's a shitstain eyesore. They ought to level it along with Philly and start again on both.

Weird
 

I like crab more than I like cheesesteak. Does that make me a gay?

Weird
 

No, because for you to know that, you must have eaten a cheesesteak at least once. Not like the prancey-footed, breast-averse, pinky-boys who are too afraid of spilling cheeze whiz on their spread collars to even give one a try.

Weird
 

You also have to be attracted to members of the same sex.

Weird
 

Weird
 

Ahhh, a classic.

Weird
 

Ahem, Lester Bangs... pink is the new plaid.

Rape deterrent
 

It's the best way to get into the minds of all those red-staters.

Vampire Slayers
 

She is a total bat-murdering bitch, isn't she?

I once awoke to find a bat drinking out of my bedside glass of water. I think I was about five. We were not calm, but the bat was eventually shooed out an open window. Never once did we consider beating the poor thing to death like bloodthirsty half-civilized savages.

The answer to Slave's question
 

http://www.edmontonsun.com/Entertain...97433-sun.html

Hip song pulled from playlist at radio stations.

Interestingly, the program director is named Gord.

Vampire Slayers
 

Dissent. While mercilessly crushing a bat to death may seem inhumane to the uninitiated, I urge you to give it a try before judging. I defy you to take no pleasure from the feel of a bat's fragile skeleton snapping in your vice-like grasp, while blood spurts from its orifices like miniature geysers. Or to feel no excitement when your hear the unmistakable thwack of a bat careening off a tennis racket and splatting into a wall. And if you can look into a bat's twitching, panicked eyes and experience no joy as those eyes roll back into its tiny head in agony as you rip the bat's wings from its body, I question whether you are even human.

NOLA
 

Jesus, it sounds like shit is deteriorating pretty rapidly down there. I actually can't believe that this is going on in the United States. It's scary. Massive looting, lots of violence, rape, etc. I'll admit that I've always felt that New Orleans was a small incident away from this kind of situation - it's a poor city with limited robust infrastructure.

This is the first news story I've ever felt personally involved enough in (lots of family and friends are or were there - all are ok) to keep up with all the blogs and constant news coverage.

A few relatives sticking it out until the very end - they're dry, with minimal damage, weapons, probably enough fuel, a generator, quite secure grounds (it's a classic, old Garden District mansion that someone's grandmother's cousin bought for $1000 or something in 1918 or something) and enough food and water to make it all the way through. That seems crazy to me, but I think that they think that their property will be overrun if they try to leave. It's a beautiful old house, but I don't know if it's worth it. They are the right kinds of guys to do it, but it still all seems very Mad Max to me.

From what they have told me, things are probably a lot worse than has gotten out in the media. They said that there are dead bodies all around, and that there have been lots of carjackings and other violent crime. They have taken a few people in because they didn't think that they would be treated very well by any roving mobs - one woman was almost raped and she told them she should would do "anything" if they let her in. These guys are gracious, good people, so they rejected her offer and let her in and have been letting her use their phone to contact her family and share their supplies. They said that there is no media on the ground, as far as they can tell (they've only been out of the grounds once); they don't think that the mostly dry Garden District is that accessible from the areas (mostly overpasses and bridges and other areas, from what I see) where the media are.

Don't even get me started on all the racism on Craigslist. Before I found some blogs, it was a pretty good source for info; now it's like a Klan rally on most of the boards.

Anyway, I'm not a religious person. I guess I believe in Karma, whatever that is. But I certainly hope that they get things under control pretty quickly. I think that this story will probably live on in American history as at least as significant an event as 9/11. Whatever you believe in, please send good thoughts and prayers and all that other stuff they way of everyone down there, especially the people who are in far worse condition than my relatives.


mmm

Vampire Slayers
 

At the very least, Weed's gotta turn in his Blizzard of Ozz concert tee.

The answer to Slave's question
 

Thanks.

Right call, I think. But its such a damn good song.

"If New Orleans was Beat" from their last album should be retired for good.

The answer to Slave's question
 

Are you doing that stupid fecta thing.

The answer to Slave's question
 

Uh....no?

The answer to Slave's question
 

Ok. I was just getting my Spanky Of The Day in.

NOLA
 

Good luck to your family and friends there. I know a number of people from Louisiana and so far they all seem to be okay, other than the loss of property. Luckily, it seems a lot of people did evacuate (those who could do so, that is). It is devastating to see this happening to the people there and it is hard to feel so helpless. Is there even a timeline yet to get the levees blocked enough to get the floodwaters out?

It does remind me of 9/11 and of last year's tsunamis. And while I disagree that it is worth even characterizing which tragedy has a bigger impact as measured at some point in the future, it is alarming to know that this could happen to a large population center in the United States and that we could apparently lack the resources or the organizational capacity to deal with this effectively for this period of time. Incredible and sad.

NOLA
 

2. It seems like they should be able to be able to get enough buses there to take more than 2,000 people at a time, or whatever rate they were going at. And that they should be able to drop water and food and stuff more effectively.

And, even more so, that they should be communicating better with the people there -- a big complaint, and source of panic/despair, seems to be that no one is telling all the people trapped around/in the Superdome and Convention Center what is going on.

I'm about 3 - 4 hours behind on the news on this, though.

NOLA
 

Well, the whole people-shooting-at-them thing is really slowing them down.

NOLA
 

The were warned of the possibility of an insurgency before the storm, but they chose to ignore the possibility, instead arguing that the rescuers would be greeting with songs and flowers. They should have prepared for this.

NOLA
 

I keep thinking, "what the hell are they doing shooting at the helicopters?" but then I realise that if it was my child at risk, I can't say I'd be beyond pulling a gun and commandeering a chopper.

That said, I totally understand the folks who are looting for food and water and basic necessities, but get physically ill at the photographs of folks carrying TVs and blue jeans down the street. And I cannot even begin to imagine how anyone decides that raping someone is the best way to deal with the situation.

It's amazing that even with as much warning as we have these days from the National Hurricane Center, so many folks stayed put. Imagine what the death toll from a storm like this would have been like 20 or 30 years ago.

And I apologize for calling Katrina a pussy when she blew through my backyard last Thursday night. She turned into a full scale bitch.

NOLA
 

I wonder if this will be a wake-up call to Americans about the effects of having a poor, uneducated underclass without options, opportunities, etc. They're harder to ignore now, aren't they?

Probably not - the predominant response seems to be "Oh, screw them, they are poor and lazy and can't afford anything better. Just like in Haiti or Southeast Asia"

I guess that raping, looting (real looting, not taking neccessities), shooting, etc. are ways that people ravaged by conditions can take out their grief and despair. Sort of a "I have suffered - now I will make others suffer more." People will act like animals if they are given the chance and the motivation. That's sad.

How to help
 

http://www.click2houston.com/news/4915332/detail.html

I have a trunk full of clothes, diapers, and baby formula to take to the nearest shelter tomorrow morning.

NOLA
 

Do you really think anyone gives a crap about the "poor, uneducated underclass"? Do you really think I do?

Here's the thing that pisses me off about that mentality. There's a way out of being the "poor, uneducated underclass" in this country. Anyone can join the armed forces and bootstrap their way to a better life. And yes, I say this as the soon-to-be ex-wife of a US Army officer.

I think that a lot of the "poor, uneducated underclass" thinks they are entitled to a hell of a lot. And that sense of entitlement bewilders me.