blue girl

New Year's Eve Non-Post Post

I've written a few posts over the last few days that are not worth posting.

I'm going to steal a line from James Wolcott ... So snugly bundled am I in my own little world ... that I can't seem to write coherent sentences. Wolcott's snugly bundled situation never seems to stop him from doing that.

When I got to the part of his post where he wrote...

It's always distressing when a blogger is saddened and disturbed.

I laughed out loud. Love that. But, anyway...

I'm assuming over the holidays others have been snugly bundled and it hasn't stopped them either. What's wrong with me?

Like Snag, for instance. Read this great post about him taking his sons to The Field of Dreams.

Or, Steve Kuusisto over at Planet of the Blind. He's writing about The Argument Against Lifeboats and his New Year's Resolution. And what am I doing?

Not writing is what I'm doing.

Then there's Bossy. Blogging even during a family emergency! She's all for gah’s sake please this and that and drunk and everything and she's still blogging. There's no hope for me!

And now on to my very favorite holiday hero, Patti Digh's husband. Man oh man oh man oh man. With motivation like that, I could write a gazillion blog posts. Possibly even coherently. The Wet-Vac I got just didn't inspire the same sort of output.

Love it though, Skimmer!

Just teasing. The Skimmer didn't get me a Wet-Vac. He got me books and pajamas, which is the main reason I haven't been blogging. I've pretty much spent the entire week all snugly bundled in my new pj's by the fire reading my new books, while he's been on the sofa watching one God forsaken football game after another. The Brown's won but so did Tennessee. Shocker!

So, my last post of 2007 is really a non-post filled with lots of links to real great posts. I feel so lucky for that.

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's to it all getting better.

Evil Cuteness Overload

Got the holiday blues? This should help a little bit.

It's What It's All About

The Skimmer and I were in the kitchen this morning discussing the big issues. The 2008 presidential election, nuclear war, the possible end of civilization as we know it, and...

"Neddie Jingo hasn't answered my funny email yet!"

"Blue Girl, the whole world doesn't revolve around your emails and how many comments you get on your blog."

"What?!"

"I know that's shocking to you."

"It is shocking because it's completely untrue."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"How do you know that's not the reason for the entire universe? The whole reason why any of us are here?"

"Well, when you put it that way."

"Me! My emails! And my blog! It's what's it's all about Alfie."

"Well, I'm glad we've finally answered that question."

Utter Disaster

Now wars and disaster responses are so fully privatized that they are themselves the new market; there is no need to wait until after the war for the boom -- the medium is the message.

One distinct advantage of this postmodern approach is that in market terms, it cannot fail. As a market analyst remarked of a particularly good quarter for the earnings of the energy company Halliburton, "Iraq was better than expected." That was in October 2006, then the most violent month of the war on record, with 3,709 Iraqi civilian casualties. Still, a few shareholders could fail to be impressed by a war that had generated $20 billion in revenues for this one company.

The Shock Doctrine, The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
-- Naomi Klein

Hell, and Those Who Benefit from It

I came downstairs last night around 11:30 and Blue Kid was lying on the couch watching TV. I walked over to the love seat and said, "Where's my book?" I flipped up the blanket at the one end and there it was.

I settled in and started reading.

"Mom, what are you reading?"

"It's called The Shock Doctrine."

"Where'd you get it?"

"Nana got it for me."

"What's it about?"

"It's about Disaster Capitalism. Meaning, there are powerful people that either take advantage of natural disasters -- like hurricane Katrina -- by going in as soon as possible after the disaster has struck to make as much money on the situation as possible. Or, they create disasters -- like the war in Iraq -- so they can go in and make as much money as possible."

The microwave dinged, indicating that something Blue Kid was heating up was done. He got up and walked towards to kitchen, "Well, this is one of those times that I hope there's a hell. And that people like that will burn in it."

My first reaction was to correct him. But I kept silent. I was only 39 pages into the book and from what I had read so far, Blue Kid had hit the nail on the head.

"Strangely Disconnected and Oddly Intimate"

But you blog-writers keep writing. You write in frustration on the days your teenage bipolar son has a bad reaction to his medication. You write on the days they put your mother into a nursing home. You write on the days they euthanize your beloved pet. You write in bad times, I suspect, for the same reasons I do: because it helps you think, and while you don’t want to slip completely under the warm water of self-pity, a few sympathetic words would feel awfully nice. And every time I see how many people are out there, sitting in their houses, reading the blogs of complete strangers and cheering them on, I realize again what a strangely disconnected and oddly intimate thing a blog is.

It is, isn't it? Why yes, yes, it certainly is.

Read all of Quinn Cummings' post on blogging and all the blogging things bloggers do here.

From Us to You

Our fans and friends
And odds and ends

You Jims and Sals
Our best pals

With Blue Girl talkin'
And Neddie rockin'
And The Skimmer's art
It's us he's mockin'

A swingin' treat
Yeah, feel the beat
We hope you think
It's really neat

So click below
Don't cost no dough
Daddy-O
Merry, Merry and all that jive
Take it away and on with the show!

***

Neddie Jingo (who really had the easy part):  Back-up vocals, all instruments, all the mixing and finishing and putting up with me.

Blue Girl (who had the hardest part):  Vocals

The Skimmer:  Rockin' artwork

A big thanks to both of them.  They're the coolest cats ever.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  And Happy New Year, too.

(Parts of my post stolen directly from here.)

***

To hear last year's Glue Birl/Jeddie Ningo musical collaboration, click here.

Pinko Punko Fails Miserably While Attempting To Fight The Power!

Per Pinko:

The Theme Song that rocked the bake off and America’s hearts. I only wish I could watch this movie with Brando. Besides Smokey Dog looking so handsome, James Woods looks so young. It was a different era in Holiday Bake Off mastery.

So sad Geenie Cola has to keep Pinko in a kitchen cage.  Although I understand.  It's quite nice of her, though, to let the two doggies in to visit every now and then.

Pinko is so wrong about almost everything.  I mean, who cares about James Woods?  At all?  But, he is right about a couple of things.

Like choosing a theme song with Phil Collins in it. 

He scores 500,000 points for that. 

But, that is nothing compared to the Infinity Points he scores for having a theme song where a tan Jeff Bridges appears wearing a white shirt.  I don't remember anything about that movie except a scene in a cave?  Or an Egyptian monument?

I must rent the movie and watch it again asap.  It will be without bacon, but I'll survive.

So, those are the two things Pinko has been right about.  Ever. 

He thinks his theme song video rocked America?  Harder than mine? 

Wrong again.

Midnight Snack

Very, very early this morning, at approximately 12:30am, I opened up the oven and pulled out what might be a contender in this year's Bake-off. I stood there and admired them for awhile and decided I needed to really know how good they were right there and then. I scooped one up and ran upstairs.

I tip-toed into our dark bedroom and whispered, "Honey. Honey."

Nothing.

I knee'd the side of the mattress, rocking it back and forth, "Honey!" And then I poked him in the arm for good measure.

"What?!"

"Taste this."

"What?"

"Taste this."

"What? What time is it?"

"I have no idea and I'm running out of it. Taste this."

I handed him The Gooey Chocolatey Masterpiece and waited for his response.

"Do we get any of these?"

"What?"

"We better get some of these."

"You're getting them right now!"

"I mean more. These are good. How many do we get to keep?"

"I have no idea. Are they good?"

"Wow. Yeah. They're awesome."

"Yay!"

"How many extras are there going to be?"

"I have no idea! Ok, go back to sleep."

"We better get to keep some. I hope you made a lot of them. Those are the kind of things I'll eat till I'm sick."

"Okay, okay, okay. Now, go to sleep!"

"I was asleep!! You go to sleep!!"

"Better be nice if you want more!"

Nothing But Total Sweetness

One, it's the way he looks at her when she doesn't know he's watching.

Two, a huckleberry friend inspires poetry.