Happy Birthday, Eli!!!!!!! I’ll never be able to top the video that Kevin and Jen made, so here’s a link to their site. Check it out!
Hope you’re having a great day!! I love you, buddy!
There’s no point in denying it—the members of Fleetwood Mac are certifiably insane. I don’t really have a problem with that, because “it’s art” or some other trite excuse. But oh my gosh, listening to them talk makes my brain explode sometimes. Case in point: this 2 minute interview where they talk about Canada. What?
So obviously Canada’s small army is what comes to mind when I think about the country’s best attributes.
Other highlights from yesterday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interview with the band (who is in the ‘Burgh for a few extra days rehearsing in preparation for the “Unleashed” tour, kicking off Sunday night at Mellon Arena):
1. Asked whether guitarist Lindsey Buckingham (on the left, above) would play much solo work for the Fleetwood Mac shows, he basically said Stevie thought he was “too much of a guy” on the last tour and didn’t like being the only woman on stage. Plus, there’s this: “So I haven’t brought up any songs from solo work to do and, quite honestly, those albums, I think, are not something anyone else in the band has listened to.” Wait, what? The band hasn’t listened to anything you’ve done in the last 4 years? His reply: “You’d be surprised.” Yikes.
2. That whole Sheryl Crow fiasco from last year (I made an awesome picture for that post, so click on it). For those of you unfamiliar with this, she announced to the world that she was the newest member of Fleetwood Mac last March. About two weeks later, Lindsey laid the smack down and said, not in so many words, that he’d rather set himself on fire.
But Stevie sets the story straight by explaining that Crow is not in the band because she missed one rehearsal, scheduled for Mother’s Day of last year (when they weren’t even close to touring). This is the logical reason. Not because Sheryl fits in Fleetwood Mac like a square peg in a round hole. To wit, and yes, Stevie begins every statement with “As Stevie Nicks…”:
‘As Stevie Nicks, who loves to sing with you, I would say I’d be very disappointed. But as your friend, you’re making the right decision.’ She passed on Fleetwood Mac. Everybody thinks we passed on her.”
3. And finally, I leave you with Stevie’s thinly-veiled criticism/enormous jealousy of Lindsey’s newly-domesticated life:
He lives in girl land now,” Nicks says. “He lives in ballet land and girls basketball team land, very girly, so how could you not soften up when you’re surrounded by women? And when you have two little girls you also have two little girls and all their friends. So he’s been in that world for the last four years. And it has softened him, and instead of treating me like his miserable ex-girlfriend, he’s treating me more like a difficult but loved daughter…”
Oi. Good luck to anyone with a 60 year-old daughter like Stevie Nicks. (You know I love you.)
Fair warning, this post is all over the place. I guess because of my recent absence from Her Majesty’s Royal Blogosphere, I have a lot of things to mention (but not much to say, thus the consolidated post, lucky for you).
First: Joe the Plumber. Really? This guy still? Politico, who with an economy in turmoil, a fresh new president and Congress and two wars waging on foreign soil apparently has nothing better to do, has decided to follow around Samuel Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, and ask him what he thinks about… things. Today’s topic: Obama’s speech. Clearly incapable of stringing together a coherent thought, Joey Joe-Joe simply laughed when asked what he thought of the president’s speech.
I have to say, though, this guy is impressive in one respect. He does an excellent job of pretending to think about his answers before responding. If you watch the video, you see him pause before he gives a throw-away response that the Politico reporter eats up like some kind of food-equivalent of gold.
If I became a congressman I would literally bang people’s heads together and probably get in a lot of trouble.”
Yeah, you would. Because you would be the only idiot acting like Macho Man Randy Savage (Snap into a Slim Jim!) on Capitol Hill. Go read a book.
Next: Pitt. Why do you make it impossible to ever pull for you in anything? You lasted, what, a week at No. 1 a few weeks ago? Maybe two. I don’t honestly remember because the NCAA regular season in inconsequential. This time around, Texas and Maryland combined to gift-wrap you the No. 1 slot, and you repay us by losing the SAME DAY you’re coronated with the top spot. You’re welcome. Enjoy bowing out in the Sweet 16 again this year.
Finally: Feeling down about the world lately? Thinking things are bad and will only get worse? This video is making its rounds on these Internets: Conan O’Brien interviewing comedian Louis CK. I have no idea who this guy is or when it aired, but he does a pretty good job of putting things in perspective. It’s titled “Everything’s amazing and nobody’s happy,” which serves as a pretty good summary for his perspective.
Oh, and someone just sang “Bette Davis Eyes” on American Idol. Alright, you’re caught up now.
Sorry for being such a failure lately here on the Joint. Motivation: lacking. But on that front, here’s Obama’s speech in case you missed it. (And, for the love, I don’t know how to get that HTML gibber-jabber to go away. Sorry. I guess.)
title="Wordle: Presidential Address To Congress">
style="padding:4px;border:1px solid #ddd"/>
And OH MY GOSH I GOT THIS FROM WORDLE, which is apparently what they want you to say when you post this. (Since when do people care about copyright law on the InterWebz?)
In other news: here’s an email I got from Twitter the other day. Horrifying and hilarious, all wrapped into one.
Karl Rove (KarlRove) is now following your updates on Twitter.
No worries—I’m not special. He tweets everyone.
Also, KBH is destroying Perry in a poll that came out today. Check it out here. That’s right: 56 to 31 (with 13 undecided, and a margin of error of +/-3.5%, which we are well beyond). KBH is also viewed favorably by 75 percent, to Perry’s 60 percent, among the 797 likely GOP voters polled. So, to sum: choke on it.
If you’re sick of hearing about the brilliance that is David Letterman, you’re reading the wrong blog. The other night I received a panicked phone call from one “Cips Cipanini,” alerting me to BREAKING NEWS taking place on CBS. The claim: David Letterman was engaged in what some might name his most awkward interview ever.
Now, this requires a little background so you can understand the boldness of that claim. Cracked Magazine, parent company of shows such as “Nancy Grace” and “The View,” has compiled what they claim as “Letterman’s 9 Most Hilariously Awkward Moments.” (Tip of the hat to E.M.)
A few notes about them: you will notice my constantly-mentioned Paris Hilton interview is on there. The John McCain appearance, after he had to cancel and run off to Washington to save the country, is there. The Madonna interview is uncomfortable, but I don’t really know why… she brings it all on herself. There’s Michael Richards (i.e. racist Kramer), there’s Bill O’Reilly (”I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling that about 60 percent of what you say is crap”). Their #1 pick, a Crispin Glover interview from the late 80s, is quite impressive. Apparently there’s a debate about whether he’s legit or just another Andy Kaufman.
Which brings us to Wednesday night’s call. The guest: Joaquin Phoenix. Oh. My. Lord. I don’t want to spoil too much, but at one point Dave says “here’s my hope: after a little time off, and I think you’re taking a little time off tonight, … you’ll return to acting.” Please watch this (Dave’s closing remarks… wonderful):
“We owe an apology to Farah Fawcett…”
Chances are if you’re reading this, your head hasn’t exploded yet today, which in turn means you’ve not seen the Peter Gammons interview with A-Rod on ESPN.
I have an hour between my internship in the morning and my first class of the day at 12:30. In that time I saw the Sportscenter version of the interview twice (thank you, repeated Sportscenters for your 13 installations per day!). After the first viewing, I thought, “Boy, this guy’s an idiot.” After the second one, I WAS TYPING IN ALL CAPS!!! …in my mind.
His reason for taking steroids? “When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure.” Oh yeah? Well, when I arrived in Texas in 2005, so did I. Got anything else? “I wanted to prove that I was one of the greatest players of all time.” Well, I guess you got me there. Sort of.
Let’s get to the more ridiculous claims (actual statements made in the interview): “There was a lot of people doing a lot of things.” “It was the culture back then.” “It was hot in Texas.”
I don’t know about you, but I was still pretty tough on him in my mind until that last one. “Oh, golly! It was hot??? Your $250 million contract never said it would be HOT in Texas when you arrived. And you’re supposed to both hit and catch a ball in those conditions? Who could blame you for sacrificing the integrity of the game?!
The big finish had A-Rod telling Gammons that it “feels good to be completely honest.” So, I’m wondering what it felt like to look Katie Couric—our nation’s most beloved and revered journalist (hahaha! It’s so good to laugh again…)—in the eye and say “no,” when asked if you have ever used steroids, HGH or any other performance-enhancing drugs? Just kind of good, maybe? Check out the Couric interview from 2007:
ALSO: In “Oh my gosh, will you please go away?” news, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl still exists. Here’s a picture of him hanging out with Snoop Dogg. Here’s what he wrote in the $8 commemorative Steelers edition of Sports Illustrated. Here’s the story about how he insisted on riding with the PLAYERS in the Superbowl victory parade downtown. And my personal favorite, here’s the story about how he legally changed his name from RAVENstahl to STEELERstahl the week we played Baltimore (in a post cleverly titled “Bathroom-Stahl?”). And oh yeah, it shortchanges Luke to only mention the borderline psychotic behavior he’s displayed in the last month. Don’t forget he also followed Tiger Woods around when he played in the U.S. Open in nearby Oakmont. The pride of Pittsburgh, indeed.
So it’s possible… POSSIBLE… that someone tried to kill me today. (That was my fancy lead… or is it lede?)
Some disgruntled constituent apparently had the “gumption” (I’m bringing this word back whether you like it or not) to mail a letter to Arlen Specter’s Pittsburgh Regional office… a threatening letter, containing—you guessed it—an unidentified white powder.
As many of you know, this was where I worked all of my summer days, tirelessly fighting for the people of Pittsburgh. On occasion we would get a phone call from someone informing us either that the end was near, or that Arlene (note: spelling and thus, pronunciation) Specter was solely responsible for destroying the United States by refusing to personally lower this gentleman’s gas prices.
To be fair, it’s not like there weren’t signs prior to this nonsense. First was the area code of the caller. For instance, 814 almost guaranteed a story to tell later on. The next indicator that you had a winner on the line was if you couldn’t say a word within the first two minutes of the call. Educational experiences, let’s call them, eh?
Anyway, as it turned out, the white powder discovered in today’s mail was a nonhazardous food product, according to the U.S. Postal Service. Boy, there’s a topic for another post—why are we letting the Postal Service anywhere near pertinent investigations involving United States senators? Here’s a list of incidents that illuminate the phrase “going postal.”
Anyway, lucky for you, I survived. I mean, it’s been six months since I worked in that office, but you never know… those 814 people move at a snail’s pace. It could have been for me.
(In a completely unrelated story, Politico details Specter telling Laura Ingraham to “get off it,” another phrase I wouldn’t mind seeing return. Sorry I missed this political conversation between dwarfs and giants.)
Someone apparently forgot to inform me that on Rod Blagojevich’s whirlwind media tour, he stopped by the Late Show to chat with David Letterman. For someone who’s seemingly never seen the show (why else would have have appeared on it?), he knew a startling amount of information about it. Blago even had the, uh, “gumption,” to reference Jay Leno (though not by name).
I’ve said before that Letterman is the best journalist on TV and stand by that claim. If you doubt me, check out this interview with Paris Hilton. I’m not joking. Anyway, the video below is about four and half minutes. If you don’t want to watch the whole thing fine, but at least watch the opening exchange. Dave is brilliant.
It’s a light night tonight (that’s a mouthful), so you might be hearing from me again. We’ll see.
What a day. I’m still a bit shocked from the Steelers’ amazing Superbowl victory last night. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow (i.e., six more weeks of winter). I fell asleep for an hour in the Union this afternoon. So much for one Monday!
Actually, that leads me to something. In fairness to… myself, I was trying to read for government, but the Sandman got the better of me. This happens. A lot. I think maybe when I was a baby my parents would force me to read to make me stop crying/fall asleep at night. Makes sense, right?
Anyway, I had something I needed to attend at 4 p.m., so I decided maybe I needed a bit of coffee to get me through. Needless to say, I hit up the ‘Steins. (That’s Einstein Bros. to Joint n00bs. One of my better titles, I might add.) After grabbing a quick cup-o-joe, I headed back to campus.
But before I could get there, I was accosted by… let’s say, an attractive young person of the feminine persuasion. “You love WHAT?” she asked. After telling myself three times not to say “you,” I thought to myself… hmm, doesn’t the combo of sleep marks/dried drool on my face and the cup of coffee in my hand speak for itself? “Coffee!” I said, still half-asleep. And then I looked down and realized I had on my “I [heart] UT” shirt. Oh.
“UT!” I said, totally playing it cool. Yeah. That first thing was a joke. She continued to laugh and smile the entire time, and, if you’ll allow me, I’d like to think it was “laughing with me.” Anyway, at this point I’m past her, and she asks, “What about the environment?” I quickly picked up the coffee lid I had thrown into Guadalupe (muttering, “come and get me, litter cops!”), and hid the oil can I had planned on dumping on a defenseless duckling and replied, “A little bit!”
Then, it couldn’t have been thirty feet down the drag, and I ran into another one of Greenpeace’s minions. It’s quite possible this one was a clone of the other, or vice versa. I’m pretty sure Greenpeace is into that kind of thing. Anyway, this one was much more direct and personal: “What’s your favorite color?” Who asks that? It’s been years since a girl asked me my favorite color. Roughly second grade, I’d say. I just blushed, said I was sorry and kept walking. “Why are you sorry?” YOU’RE KILLING ME!
Anyway, it’s a genius PR/recruiting campaign they’ve got going. All of a sudden I forgot, for just a moment, that these are the nuts that go out in boats and try to harpoon whalers (i.e. humans). But I write this as a warning: stay strong. You don’t want to wake up one day with Azrielle staring you in the face, asking you to drink the Kool-Aid with her. Or do you?