Another round of "Guess the Song". Last time we tried this, my legions of adoring fans managed a slightly disappointing 44%. We can and must do better!
1. "Blue eyes for miles, pretty as a peach." - Ryan Adams, Pearls on a String
2. "Here she comes with a gun in her hand." - James, Dumb Jam (Jamie)
3. "Well I thought about the army, Dad said: 'Son, you're fucking high!'." - Ben Folds Five, Army (Jamie)
4. "Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk." - Steve Earl, Galway Girl
5. "Staggering home, the headlights throw a shadow up and upon." - Madness, Lovestruck
6. "They call her Jezebel, you might find her in your neighbourhood." - Dizzee Rascal, Jezebel
7. "Well it's not fair, it's not even close." - Alkaline Trio, I Lied My Face Off
8. "I wish I had a Sylvia Plath." - Ryan Adams, Sylvia Plath (Moddey Dhoo)
9. "Ever since I was young, your word was the word that always won." - Brand New, Guernica
10. "Orange sky, don't go." - Ryan Adams, Crossed-Out Name
11. "All the time, every time I need it." - Green Day, All The Time (Jamie)
12. "It's another way to get through the day." - Stereophonics, Is Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today?
13. "Turn the lights down when you cry." - Idlewild, Low Light
14. "I was born in the Merrie City." - The Cribs, I've Tried Everything
15. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking at the barrel of an Armalite." - The Police, Spirits In The Material World
16. "She sat right down on the sofa." - Counting Crows, Hanginaround
17. "God's dead, this state is torture." - James, Gaudi, (Legal Eagle)
18. "So I'm there, charging around with a juggernaut brow." - Elbow, The Bones Of You
19. "I'm running out of time, I'm out of step and closing down." - The Cure, Closedown
20. "You came to me like a dream, the kind that always leaves." - Alkaline Trio, Bleeder
21. "Save me from this way, it be killing me." - Seasick Steve, Save Me
22. "I'm under your spell, God how can this be?" "Once More With Feeling", - Standing (S. Spielbergo)
23. "My dog wears a path on the same line." - Ben Folds, Dog
24. "You say 'Why does everything revolve around you?'." - Barenaked Ladies, Too Little Too Late (Moddey Dhoo)
25. "You and me plainly saw a vision." - James, Hello
Some brief clues. The list includes eighteen different artists; fifteen bands, three solo artists (as always, YMMV with those labels), and one song from a musical. Four of these artists have had videos spring up on this very blog, ten are American, and exactly one isn't a whiny white boy.
Update: That's the musical out of the way. Having thought about this, I think I should alter the clues slightly. Removing 22, there are in fact two incontestable solo artists and eleven definite bands with nineteen songs between them. The remaining five songs are accounted for by two artists that can be considered a band or not, depending on how one views their history, and in fact both artists are represented above both with and without their attendant bands. Thus, the number of artists remaining is between sixteen and eighteen, depending on how you view it.
If we assume for the sake of argument that both qualify as solo artists, then there are eight Americans left, along with six Englishmen (we've already winkled out the only female vocalist in the list), and one representative each from Wales, Scotland, and Canada.
Update II: The Canadians have been caught. Also, we're one Ryan Adams song down, and only nineteen unknown songs remain. If S. Spielbergo still wants to guess at random, he's down to a mere 171 possible combinations...
Update III: Having spent a little while discussing the possible provenance of number 17 with Garathon yesterday, it amused me to hear it suddenly blaring from the shuffle feature on his Netbook. Legal Eagle noticed this coincidence first, hence he receives the honours.
Monday, 18 May 2009
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Shake #6
Today's shake: Marshmallow
Taste: 8
Texture: 2
Synergy: 7
Scorn: 3
Total Score: 6
General Comments: A delicious treat of awesome flavour, and of great synergy, being essentially vanilla-flavoured, Phish Food ice cream, the only downside to this wonderful shake is that it's all but impossible to actually suck the damn thing through a straw. So great was the effort necessary to force its vicious nature through a narrow plastic tube, I considered throwing the implement away entirely and simply quaffing from the cardboard cup. This plan was swiftly nixed, however, when the liquid within proved far too reminiscent of the time Maoist Rob threw up an entire tub of strawberry ice-cream on my drive-way [1]. A straw of larger gauge, or a more efficient blender (in fairness, the one used in the shop had just carved its way through a Fruit Salad bar, and was thus probably on its last legs), could have made all the difference.
[1] Want an awkward New Year's Eve? Try attempting to discern whether your friend's strawberry-flavoured vomit contains traces of blood or not.
Taste: 8
Texture: 2
Synergy: 7
Scorn: 3
Total Score: 6
General Comments: A delicious treat of awesome flavour, and of great synergy, being essentially vanilla-flavoured, Phish Food ice cream, the only downside to this wonderful shake is that it's all but impossible to actually suck the damn thing through a straw. So great was the effort necessary to force its vicious nature through a narrow plastic tube, I considered throwing the implement away entirely and simply quaffing from the cardboard cup. This plan was swiftly nixed, however, when the liquid within proved far too reminiscent of the time Maoist Rob threw up an entire tub of strawberry ice-cream on my drive-way [1]. A straw of larger gauge, or a more efficient blender (in fairness, the one used in the shop had just carved its way through a Fruit Salad bar, and was thus probably on its last legs), could have made all the difference.
[1] Want an awkward New Year's Eve? Try attempting to discern whether your friend's strawberry-flavoured vomit contains traces of blood or not.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Friday, 15 May 2009
More Gleaming Robo-Judges, Clutching Thumb-Screws
The war against empathy continues, courtesy of Alberto Gonzales.
Dahlia Lithwick makes the point that the opposite of empathy "isn’t rigor. It’s pretty close to solipsism... " [2]. Moreover, Gonzales' implicit argument that he's worried about conflicts between the letter of the law and fair and just outcomes says far more about his own view of the justice system than it does about anyone who approaches the job with a degree of empathy. Gonzales is well aware, as are (hopefully) all legal professionals that the laws of the USA or of any other country require interpretation when put into practice. Part of the reason he knows this is that he interpreted the Geneva Convention as not applying to the inmates of Guantanamo Bay, a decision which (along with others) led to him being forced to resign as Attorney General [2]. So he realises you need to bring your own interpretation to laws, he's just worried about someone doing it from the perspective of wanting a fair and just resolution.
In truth, as S. Spielbergo noted not long ago, there is a genuine discussion to be had here as to how important empathy is independently of other qualities, and how empathy can be most wisely applied. That isn't what we're getting, though. It is entirely reasonable to suggest that whilst we want our judges to be fair, we also want them to follow established law, and we need to make sure the two aspects to the job are balanced. That isn't what's being suggested, though. It's just the typical bullshit conservative reaction to an attempt to value a property which is supposed to be at the core of our society.
[1] Check out the link for a quick list of the various other conservatives making similarly irritating comments. My personal favourite is probably Steele: "Crazy nonsense empathetic! I'll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind", because it's both belligerent and grammatically incoherent, but Hannity's claim that this will lead to "social engineering" comes a close second. In fact, Lithwick comes to the conclusion that these people are mistaking "empathy" for "bias towards people without money or power" (as oppose to bias to people with money or power, which is entirely OK, obviously), which is an interesting suggestion, that I don't feel particularly inclined to disagree with.
[2] Interesting side note, a motion to determine whether Gonzales "no longer [held] the confidence" of the Senate and American people was put forward in the Senate, and the Republicans tried to filibuster it. I mention this because of my earlier comments of filibustering, and the sheer idiocy of claiming that said rule should be employed to ensure an AG can only be censured if he's lost the confidence of 60% of Senators or more.
Also, note what's happening here. A man forced to resign, in part, for deliberately approaching the Geneva Convention from the perspective of trying to minimise the rights of combatants (or suspect combatants), and maximise the options for their interrogation, is telling us that when choosing people to interpret the law we need to be careful of people who care what effect their choices will have on others.
Well, I think everyone wants to think that their government officials are kind, compassionate people. And I think someone having that kind of image is certainly helpful in a confirmation hearing. I do worry a little bit, well, I worry, I worry about about justices on the court making decisions based on what they think makes them feel good. I don’t think it’s fair to expect society to anticipate the outcome of a case based upon what makes a justice feel good. In essence what you’re saying, I think, is that I’m going to, I don’t care what the law says, I’m going to come out, I’m going to pursue an outcome that I think is fair and just. I’m going to rewrite the law. And I think that’s dangerous and so, again, I agree that we want our justices to be compassionate, to be kind people, but I think their job as a member of the court, quite frankly, is to apply the law and I think the notion that we worry about the outcome. You know, I served as a justice on the Supreme Court of Texas and sometimes I reached decisons (sic) and I didn’t like the outcome, but I felt that I had a duty to my oath of office to respect the words of the statute that I was interpreting.It's worth noting, of course, that his duty to his oath of office didn't appear to trump his desire to tell Bush whatever he wanted to hear, of course, and that he's either lied to Congress of has a memory so full of holes he shouldn't be allowed out of the house alone, but that's beside the point. What bothers me is that Gonzales apparently thinks that empathy is equivalent to "what makes you feel good", a trait by which someone ignores a law that he disagrees with, rather than a method by which one's opinions are formed by more than what you believe at any given time. (it's also insulting that he assumes empathic people are less capable of following through on decisions they don't agree with, rather than just having a different criteria of what constitutes an agreeable decision).
Dahlia Lithwick makes the point that the opposite of empathy "isn’t rigor. It’s pretty close to solipsism... " [2]. Moreover, Gonzales' implicit argument that he's worried about conflicts between the letter of the law and fair and just outcomes says far more about his own view of the justice system than it does about anyone who approaches the job with a degree of empathy. Gonzales is well aware, as are (hopefully) all legal professionals that the laws of the USA or of any other country require interpretation when put into practice. Part of the reason he knows this is that he interpreted the Geneva Convention as not applying to the inmates of Guantanamo Bay, a decision which (along with others) led to him being forced to resign as Attorney General [2]. So he realises you need to bring your own interpretation to laws, he's just worried about someone doing it from the perspective of wanting a fair and just resolution.
In truth, as S. Spielbergo noted not long ago, there is a genuine discussion to be had here as to how important empathy is independently of other qualities, and how empathy can be most wisely applied. That isn't what we're getting, though. It is entirely reasonable to suggest that whilst we want our judges to be fair, we also want them to follow established law, and we need to make sure the two aspects to the job are balanced. That isn't what's being suggested, though. It's just the typical bullshit conservative reaction to an attempt to value a property which is supposed to be at the core of our society.
[1] Check out the link for a quick list of the various other conservatives making similarly irritating comments. My personal favourite is probably Steele: "Crazy nonsense empathetic! I'll give you empathy. Empathize right on your behind", because it's both belligerent and grammatically incoherent, but Hannity's claim that this will lead to "social engineering" comes a close second. In fact, Lithwick comes to the conclusion that these people are mistaking "empathy" for "bias towards people without money or power" (as oppose to bias to people with money or power, which is entirely OK, obviously), which is an interesting suggestion, that I don't feel particularly inclined to disagree with.
[2] Interesting side note, a motion to determine whether Gonzales "no longer [held] the confidence" of the Senate and American people was put forward in the Senate, and the Republicans tried to filibuster it. I mention this because of my earlier comments of filibustering, and the sheer idiocy of claiming that said rule should be employed to ensure an AG can only be censured if he's lost the confidence of 60% of Senators or more.
Also, note what's happening here. A man forced to resign, in part, for deliberately approaching the Geneva Convention from the perspective of trying to minimise the rights of combatants (or suspect combatants), and maximise the options for their interrogation, is telling us that when choosing people to interpret the law we need to be careful of people who care what effect their choices will have on others.
Friday Gothic Blogging: The Great Devourer
Hive Fleet Tengu enters the Carpet Nebula.
Hand on heart, this is not the fleet of which I am most fond (you saw that one a fortnight ago). The problem with Tengu is that I needed to tie it in with the ground forces I’d already painted. And by “already painted”, I mean “already painted fifteen years ago”. Well, most of it, at least, some of the miniatures are more recent (we’ll get into that when I finally find time to photograph the army), but the basic colour scheme matches that of the studio army before and immediately after the arrival of the ‘Nids very first codex , back when all the bugs were red and cream (unless they could reproduce in which case they were pink and blue), and you could finish off a Hive Tyrant with a combination of a personal warp generator and a vortex grenade. Simpler times. Anyway, I thought about a whole new scheme, but ultimately my OCD tendencies kicked in and I was forced to ensure cohesion. Hence the rather simplistic paint job.
It’s also worth noting that I cannot get the hang of the Tyranid fleet at all, which is somewhat upsetting considering that I’m using Tengu in my current 40K/Gothic campaign, “The Isoka Corridor”. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it before all my fleets are gone, though given my current record (two out of ten, with one of those on a technicality and the other through sheer force of numbers) I’m not too optimistic. Especially since C is my chief rival at this stage, a man that could outfight a Genestealer, provided he persuaded it to sit down and play Yahtzee. [1]
Still, lots of spiky bits and claws. Gotta love those. Case in point: the Razorfiend.
I’m never sure which way round these things are supposed to go; neither one seems entirely right. Are those long tubes engines or weapons? That, my friends, is the enduring mystery of murderous extragalactic horrors.
A close up of some Escort drones, which have an embarrassing tendency to explode almost immediately upon contact with the enemy, which makes them less of an effective escort, and more tracer rounds for whomever is planning to blow up my Hive Ships. Speaking of which:
One of Tengu’s Hive Ships, being escorted by Vanguard drones. They aren’t really any more use than the Escort variant, but at least they’re somewhat faster, allowing them to die ahead of the main slaughter, and make me feel like my humiliation is lessened, at least in terms of maximum number of ships lost per turn.
I’ve run out of Gothic models to showcase (until I finish my Dark Angel fleet, hopefully sometime in June), so from next week it may be time to start running through some proper, honest to God armies. Try not to get too excited.
[1] And even that wouldn’t be easy. More arms means more dice; that is maths.
Hand on heart, this is not the fleet of which I am most fond (you saw that one a fortnight ago). The problem with Tengu is that I needed to tie it in with the ground forces I’d already painted. And by “already painted”, I mean “already painted fifteen years ago”. Well, most of it, at least, some of the miniatures are more recent (we’ll get into that when I finally find time to photograph the army), but the basic colour scheme matches that of the studio army before and immediately after the arrival of the ‘Nids very first codex , back when all the bugs were red and cream (unless they could reproduce in which case they were pink and blue), and you could finish off a Hive Tyrant with a combination of a personal warp generator and a vortex grenade. Simpler times. Anyway, I thought about a whole new scheme, but ultimately my OCD tendencies kicked in and I was forced to ensure cohesion. Hence the rather simplistic paint job.It’s also worth noting that I cannot get the hang of the Tyranid fleet at all, which is somewhat upsetting considering that I’m using Tengu in my current 40K/Gothic campaign, “The Isoka Corridor”. Hopefully I’ll get the hang of it before all my fleets are gone, though given my current record (two out of ten, with one of those on a technicality and the other through sheer force of numbers) I’m not too optimistic. Especially since C is my chief rival at this stage, a man that could outfight a Genestealer, provided he persuaded it to sit down and play Yahtzee. [1]
Still, lots of spiky bits and claws. Gotta love those. Case in point: the Razorfiend.
I’m never sure which way round these things are supposed to go; neither one seems entirely right. Are those long tubes engines or weapons? That, my friends, is the enduring mystery of murderous extragalactic horrors.
A close up of some Escort drones, which have an embarrassing tendency to explode almost immediately upon contact with the enemy, which makes them less of an effective escort, and more tracer rounds for whomever is planning to blow up my Hive Ships. Speaking of which:
One of Tengu’s Hive Ships, being escorted by Vanguard drones. They aren’t really any more use than the Escort variant, but at least they’re somewhat faster, allowing them to die ahead of the main slaughter, and make me feel like my humiliation is lessened, at least in terms of maximum number of ships lost per turn.I’ve run out of Gothic models to showcase (until I finish my Dark Angel fleet, hopefully sometime in June), so from next week it may be time to start running through some proper, honest to God armies. Try not to get too excited.
[1] And even that wouldn’t be easy. More arms means more dice; that is maths.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Shake #5
Today's shake: Banana
Taste: 5
Texture: 5
Synergy: 8
Scorn: 1
Total Score: 6.25
General Comments: It's a banana shake. Fuck you expect?
Taste: 5
Texture: 5
Synergy: 8
Scorn: 1
Total Score: 6.25
General Comments: It's a banana shake. Fuck you expect?
Democrats Smell Of Poo And Are Pooey
The GOP are considering "re-branding" the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Socialist Party." Hilzoy provides the appropriate response, but in all honesty I'm not sure whether anything can be said in response to such total lunacy. I mean, official name-calling?
This reminds me of Tom's comment to my "Republicans are Irredeemably Evil" post. He was entirely right in theory that the Republican Party isn't irredeemably anything, but all the signs are that the party (under the watchful eyes of Rove, Cheney and, especially, Rush) are striking out in the exact opposite direction, into what Kevin Drum is calling "the ongoing intellectual collapse of the conservative movement". The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of so many of their leaders is so acute that I don't have any problems suggesting they themselves are irredeemable, and so the only way the GOP can recover is to cut them loose.
Thus far there isn't much sign of that. Which means one of two things. Either the Republican party will actually die (it's rare, but it happens), or at some point there will be insurrection and a massive U-turn, in which case the party will be redeemed, but only following such fundamental change that it would in many ways remain the same party in name only.
This reminds me of Tom's comment to my "Republicans are Irredeemably Evil" post. He was entirely right in theory that the Republican Party isn't irredeemably anything, but all the signs are that the party (under the watchful eyes of Rove, Cheney and, especially, Rush) are striking out in the exact opposite direction, into what Kevin Drum is calling "the ongoing intellectual collapse of the conservative movement". The intellectual and moral bankruptcy of so many of their leaders is so acute that I don't have any problems suggesting they themselves are irredeemable, and so the only way the GOP can recover is to cut them loose.
Thus far there isn't much sign of that. Which means one of two things. Either the Republican party will actually die (it's rare, but it happens), or at some point there will be insurrection and a massive U-turn, in which case the party will be redeemed, but only following such fundamental change that it would in many ways remain the same party in name only.
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