Wednesday, May 07, 2008 

Crank that Mike Gravel

A lot of stuff happened night, some of which was important, but all of which pales in comparison to this:



Discuss.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 6:14 PM | | 0 Comments

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 

Water and air

Finally, someone with the courage to speak the truth:



Here's an idea: Instead of having the two candidates debate this fall, why not just have "Ms. Weiss" and Roberta McCain go head to head, Lincoln-Douglass style. No moderator, just the two grandmotherly surrogates talking about the issues.

UPDATE: Alex points out a great gem from the youtube comments. Commenter "FiremanSteve" has this to say:
Ms. Weiss is a great lady. I have not seen her in years until now but she is as passionate about life as she appears to be in this segment. Regardless of whomever we support it sure was nice to see her again.
FiremanSteve, how did you let Ms. Weiss slip out of your life? What were you thinking??

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 3:20 PM | | 0 Comments

Saturday, April 26, 2008 

Story time with Mike Gravel

George got the Saturday Mike Gravel-blogging off and running with this quote, where Gravel earns special points for taking a shot at he-who-must-not-be-named. It reminded me of this excellent Politico article on how the Democrat-turned-Libertarian he is revolutionizing the production of utterly non-sensical campaign videos.

Unrelatedly, it led to a youtube search for "Mike Gravel," which is always rewarding. I recommend this video, which poses an interesting question: How do you segue a television program from Barbara Streisand to Mike Gravel? (Answer: poorly).



Note that he reveals early on that he was a former spy! And also, if you've never had the pleasure, watch the young Alaska Senator read the Pentagon Papers into the public record. This was like Robert Byrd singlehandedly fillibustering the Kansas-Nebraska act, except the exact opposite. If you put those tears (five minute mark) in a bottle, they would shine like the light of Elendil.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 2:27 PM | | 1 Comments

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 

Today in vicious, marsh-eating mammals

Another week has passed, and still the jellyfish and snakeheads have yet to attack. Does this mean it's time to leave the backyard shelter and eat something that doesn't come in a can? Of course not. We can, however, take a modicum of comfort from man's ongoing battle with the Nutria. From the Picayune (obviously), Meet the vicious rodents who are devastating Louisiana.... and the brave patriots who will do anything to stop them!

Perhaps it was foolish in the first place to ever fear a critter that sounds like some sort of diet bar, but it seems that, at last, human ingenuity has succeeded in driving the muskrat wannabes back to where they rightfully belong. As with any article about hunting rodents, there are number of key quotes, but this gem stands out :
Inside the boat are the day's supplies: two sticks for clubbing the nutria, a .22-caliber rifle for shooting wild ones and a pair of hedge clippers to clip the tails.

"There's two things them nutria don't like: that rifle and that stick," he said, throwing another pair of deceased rodents on board and steadying himself on the marsh with a walking pole.

"All these canals last year, they were filled with nutria," Naquin said. "Now they ain't here no more. I put a hurt on 'em."

How we roll, son. How we roll.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 3:06 AM | | 0 Comments

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 

Life imitates art, again

A few days ago, I praised Hillary Clinton for her decision to flee South Carolina immediately upon hearing the primary results. It was kind of a classless move, but it was also obviously a response to a recent column I wrote on concession speeches, so I thought Senator Clinton deserved a little credit for reading the Maroon.

And now, today, there's this (via Justin and Alec). Barbaro will be buried at Churchill Downs. Sound familiar? Here's what I wrote last year:

His legacy will live on in the murky underworld of online message boards and YouTube tribute videos. Perhaps there will be a candlelight vigil or state funeral at Churchill Downs. Some attention-seeking (or just nuts) mayor will declare “Barbaro Day” in his or her city. And Barbaro’s closest relative, his as-yet-unnamed brother, will be adopted as his successor, the Eli to his Peyton.

Let them eat paste.

Correlation...or causation?

It's wonderful to know that the Maroon has such clout in political and faux-sporting circles, but I must take issue with the proposed plan. Those who knew Barbaro best--his deranged fans, his caretakers, and his fellow horsey friends--won't remember him for his Kentucky Derby victory. A 6 1/2-length margin is great--almost unprecedented--but his real legacy lies outside the arena. It was his vulnerability that made him special, his ultimate mortality that made him, well, immortal.

If he hadn't squashed his leg like a bag of delicious Napa Valley grapes, he'd be just another horse. The point at which he made the leap from illiterate, idiot athlete to spiritual icon came at the precise moment in which he was sapped of all of his powers. His supporters could conceive of any number of glorious scenarios for his aborted career, and who's to convince them otherwise? But it was the Preakness defeat that gave cause to those dreams, not the Derby victory.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 5:08 PM | | 0 Comments

Friday, January 11, 2008 

Noted anthropologist returns to combat warrior-king

I get it at dinner parties, at the grocery store, and sometimes even in tollbooths: "What's your favorite Brendan Fraser movie?" If you're like me, you're probably sick of it by now. Let's see, there was Blast from the past and Dudley D0-Right (so funny!), or the vastly underrated With Honors with Joe Pesci (check-plus-plus!). There's just so many to choose from. It's like asking me to pick my favorite type of eggplant or list my top-five Nashville-area polka artists. But finally, it looks like there's an answer we can all agree on.

After all these years, Fraser still has fewer academy awards (zero) than he does facial expressions (two). I'm no movie critic, but I can't imagine the Oscar committee will continue to snub Fraser after The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor comes out this August.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 3:34 AM | | 0 Comments

Friday, December 21, 2007 

In Dodd we trust

It was shaping up to be just another uneventful day at my altogether uneventful job. And then I saw it:


A real, live, Christopher Dodd supporter. Or at least a real live Christopher Dodd bumper sticker, plasterered on the back of a Saab. Tis the season indeed. Go Whalers!

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 7:53 PM | | 2 Comments

Monday, December 10, 2007 

Two ships passing in the night


Mike Gravel's latest campaign video is up on youtube, and this time he has outdone even himself. As the old saying goes, the only thing better than one Mike Gravel is two Mike Gravels. Either they cloned him or an overzealous aide thought it would be a good idea to use a split screen, but the end result is eerily reminiscent of the scene in Lord of the Rings where Gollum gets in an argument with himself over whether or not he should kill the tricksy little Hobbitses.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 12:24 PM | | 1 Comments

Friday, October 12, 2007 

At dawn in the seventh year, look to the West

You see this man? The one on the left? The one who appears entirely unfazed by the immediate presence of Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, hip-hop icon and sometimes actor? The one with the power tie and pale complexion and a steely glaze that could cut through mountains of granite? That man?

He is a Nobel Laureate.

He is other things, too, of course. A former congressman, senator and Vice President. An Academy Award-winning documentarian. A dutiful father and faithful husband despite the fact that he married a no-fun tsarina who thinks that Ice Cube and Dr. Dre are the downfall of western civilization. But for today at least, he is the late Alfred Nobel's handpicked choice for Pacifist of the year. In short, the man who invented dynamite thinks that Al Gore is, in fact, quite dynamite.

From this point forward, most of the discussion of Gore's honor will likely devolve into whether or not he should run for president. I've weighed in on this before--At this point in his life, his career path has mirrored that of Gandalf the Grey, what with the early rise to prominence, subsequent fall into darkness and shadow, and rebirth as an unstoppable vehicle of change. The presidency just might be his for the taking, but like Gandalf, he could easily decide that the power would be too great, the stress too severe, for him to handle.

The more immediate political reality is the giant, protruding middle finger Gore has just offered at everyone who has doubted him over the last 7+ years. After having his reputation thrown in the mud and his personality lampooned out of mostly unwarranted spite, he has now won the world's most prestigious award and been proven right on just about every major issue that he has dared open his mouth about. This Nobel is up there with Nas's takedown of Jay-Z on "Ether" and the ending of Gladiator when it comes to great acts of redemption. It takes the jubilation of David Beckham scoring against Greece, the vengeance of Roger Clemens striking out 16 in his first game at Fenway as a visitor, and the sense of purpose from Nelson Mandela's escape from Robbin's Island and brings them all together.

The Democratic nomination is his for the taking if he wants it. Or, as Alec points out, he can play kingmaker. But after all he's been through, maybe he will just want to lie down for a while and let the good feeling sink in. He's certainly earned it.

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 12:09 PM | | 0 Comments

 

HOLY S***

Al Gore: Father, actor, lover, inventor, leader... PEACEMAKER.


(more coherent thoughts to come later).

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Posted by Tim Murphy at 9:16 AM | | 0 Comments

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  • George L. Anesi is a medical student and bioethics graduate student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2006 with a B.S. in biological chemistry and a B.A. in chemistry. He is currently the Medicine and Bioethics Columnist for The Observer at Case Western. At the University of Chicago, George served as Editor in Chief of the Chicago Maroon and Acting President of Chicago Friends of Israel. Before beginning medical school, George served as an Analyst in Middle Eastern and International Affairs for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Contacct George at at george.anesi@case.edu.
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