Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Category Archives: Blogwhoring
Politically incorrect, but oh well
They put the lovely and freakin’ hilarious Sara Benincasa at #4, so they deserve a shout.
Popcrunch’s 10 Blogger Chicks We Want to See Naked.
Go Sara! We can only love you more!
D.
What it’s all about
A shout out to Daily Kos’s AverageBro, whose diary What Happens When A Liberal Black Man Goes To Glenn Beck’s “I Have A Dream, Too” Speech?!? is definitely worth a read. One money quote:
I didn’t know any of the black folks speaking onstage, other than Alveda King. There was some preacher who did his best King impersonation. A gospel choir that sang “Lift Every Voice And Sing” to a crowd that had no idea what the song was. King did her usual “token black Conservative” spiel, dropping a million and one references to an uncle she didn’t even really remember. You know what, I Have A Dream, myself: I want Alveda King to get a real day job and quit exploiting her last name for personal gain.
And a great photo he took of one of the tee-shirts on sale:
Close with another money quote.
The speeches were boring, purposely scaled back in tone to avoid criticism, and mindlessly generic. Any 8th grader with a 4th Of July Madlibs book could have written today’s script.
D.
Early morning shout-out: Big Think
This morning, I decided to check out one of my favorite writers on feminist issues, Lindsay Beyerstein (formerly of the Majikthise blog), for her thoughts on the whole dexamethasone-in-pregnancy pseudo-controversy (her take on it, which I agree with, is here: Preventing Lesbianism and “Uppity Women” in the Womb? No.). So I clicked on my “Majikthise” link and it redirected me to her new blog on Big Think. And that, of course, led me to the rest of Big Think.
Wow. Cool place. Currently, there’s a front page interview with Jere Van Dyk, a journalist who had been imprisoned by the Taliban for 45 days (What the Media Isn’t Telling Us About Afghanistan). Here’s Stephen Fry on The Importance of Unbelief, and Michio Kaku being kinda boring, really. So if I want my fix of wild science, I’ll have to read astrophysicist Katie Friese’s Life Could Continue Forever—Just Not as We Know It (what will constitute “life” once the universe nears heat death?)
Check it out. Meanwhile, my attention is divided — Karen recorded an all-day marathon of Ninja Warrior.
D.
Discovery
Just discovered Savage Chickens by cartoonist Doug Savage, who apparently has perfected the art of cartooning on post-it notes. Here’s a representative bit.
Feeling worn out tonight. And it’s only Tuesday. Gotta get more sleep.
D.
Nowadays, you can find it all on the Internet
Phil Nugent of Nerve dissects the television industry’s timidity in 10 Sexual Controversies That Changed TV. Commenters take Nugent to task over painting an excessively gloomy picture of Hollywood’s handling of gay issues, so don’t miss the wrap-up at the end.
But honestly, who looks to network TV for cutting edge programming? All gays are either asexual, or sexual far off camera; all teenagers contemplating premarital sex decide against it (That Seventies Show was a notable exception); all pregnant teens invariably decide not to abort. One does not look to television for spine.
D.
Best of the Worst
If Mirsky were still around doing his “Worst of the Web,” I bet he’d have to start a whole ‘nother website for Craigslist.
Oh, wait. Someone did.
From that page, I snipped:
Woman who eagerly adopts Marxist-Leninist ways and sees light in superiority of returning means of production to worker will receive reward of deep massage and comradely snuggling. Those insisting upon adherence to exploitive bourgeois ways spanked will be in various positions until attitude is adjusted in keeping with good Bolshevist goals.
Need large woman to keep me warm in dacha on cold Kamchatkan night!
I thought for two moments about starting a “Worst of Craigslist Personals” blog, but it seems Craigslist takes a dim view of such proceedings. Kill-joys.
D.
This is so good . . .
that I probably already blogged it. If so . . . sorry!
From Cracked.com, The 10 Most Sexually Unappealing Craig’s List Postings.
And now we’re looking at the 15 most sexually unappealing porn titles. Faces with Braces, anyone?
D.
Quick shout-out
Over at Daily Kos, Devilstower has posted “a still decidedly unpolished chapter from a book on how social conservatives wed fiscal conservatives in a process that took a century.”
Yeah, I know that quote doesn’t make it sound too interesting . . . but the bulk of the chapter concerns sisters Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin, two of the more interesting characters you’re likely to meet on this rainy Sunday morning.
D.
This will consume your every waking moment
. . . if you let it.
The Spoony Experiment.
Imagine the arcane principles of Mystery Science Theater 3000 applied to the crappiest video games ever made, yet freed of the censoring influence of television. That’s Spoony. An example:
The X-Files review (sorry, didn’t embed well)
Noah Antwiler, the creative genius behind The Spoony Experiment, rips movies in addition to video games . . . but Jake and I don’t bother with that end of the site.
D.
Xmas Book Giveaway
. . . at PBW’s place, not here. 99% of my books are boxed and in storage. I miss our built-in bookshelves back in Harbor, Oregon. Other people get hard-ons for cars or yachts; I like to have lots and lots of books around me. I miss ’em.
Part of my commute is a stretch of 80 North to the Columbus Parkway, Highway 37. And Highway 37, too . . .
During college, I traveled this road once a week for a few years, doing volunteer work at Napa State Mental Hospital. Debbie (whom I had a brief thing for) & Tracy (a guy shorter than me) & Laura (whom Trace had a serious thing for), we were a team, and you’d think we would have kept in touch but we didn’t. Now I can’t even remember their last names, except for Debbie, and she had a common last name. Debbie Martin. You out there, Debbie? I hope she’s okay. I worried about her back then and she worried about me. That’s what friends do.
D.