Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Carly Simon, air fryer, Ava and C.I. take on a dreadful movie, etc

Probably not a major post -- even for me.


I'm listening to Carly Simon's SPOILED GIRL album with my daughter -- on vinyl -- we're at C.I.'s.  She picked the album because of the cover.  That's how my daughter always decides what to listen to.  It's funny to me because C.I. is her godmother (as is Rebecca) and C.I. never picks an album by the cover.  In fact, I will never, ever forget the look she shot me when we were with a third person (not Rebecca) in 1985 when we were at TOWER and the third person grabs Suzanne Vega's SUZANNE VEGA album and decides to buy it.  C.I. asks what song she likes on the album.  Oh, she's not heard anything on the album.  She doesn't even know what Suzanne sounds like.  But she loves the cover.  I will never forget the look C.I. shot me.  :D


Anyway, SPOILED GIRL contains Carly's top 100 hit (and video hit) "Tired of Being Blonde."  "My New Boyfriend" was also a video and single.  Wish CBS had done something to promote it.  They basically took out a 1/9th a page ad in ROLLING STONE and that was it.


Carly doesn't like the album which is silly because it's a good album.  It's not an embarrassment by any means.  I'd rank it much higher than FILM NOIR and COME UPSTAIRS.  (I like most of Carly's torch song albums but FILM NOIR is not one I like.  The keys the songs are in really do not do it for me.)


SPOILED GIRL has some classic songs that any Carly fan should check out including.


"Make Me Feel Something."



"Come Back Home."



"Anyone But Me."


"Can't Give It Up."



That's Luthor Vandross on backing vocals on "Can't Give It Up," by the way.


"The Wives Are In Connecticut." 



It's a very strong album.  "Tonight and Forever"?  A great track that I hadn't even mentioned.  Just hugely underrated, the whole album is.


Air fryer.


I'm behind the times.  Not a big cook.  If I cook, it's generally dessert.  I am infamous as a dessert maker.  Otherwise?  I can cook French food and Vietnamese food and that's basically it other than steaming or stir frying.


I was in the mood for some fries but did not want to go out.  I also knew everyone's been complaining that using a delivery service usually results in cold fries.  So I was just mentioning it with no plans to have any.  C.I. heard me and said use the air fryer.


I know they exist but I've never used one.  So I made two baskets of fries that everyone was into including me.  I'm going to have to get an air fryer when we head home.  It was so simple and easy.


Have you seen the awful DON'T LOOK UP?  

"Media: Don't mistake it for a film worthy of praise" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):

Climate change is bad.  Got it.  Had it without the movie.  We're not paying attention to it -- like they don't pay attention to the possible extinction level event in the film!!!!  Well, no, that's not the same thing.  There's no reality in the film -- a reality would have had people not be gushing over the looks of facing-down-fifty and fat, squinty-eyed, bloated face Leo -- as happens when he appears on a talk show.  Second, the title really isn't an awakening.  "Don't look up"?  A description of the movie?  A tired response to the world?  It's all so muddled.

And you sit through 138 long minutes (don't miss the post-credit scenes!) waiting for the thing to end.  


There are many comedy classics.  There's TOOTSIE (116 minutes), SOME LIKE IT HOT (121 minutes), MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE (87 minutes), TO BE OR NOT TO BE (the original, 99 minutes), 9 TO 5 (110 minutes), SHAMPOO (110 minutes), BRINGING UP BABY (102 minutes), DUCK SOUP (68 minutes), ZELIG (79 minutes),  PARTY GIRL (94 minutes), SLEEPER (87 minutes), A NEW LEAF (102 minutes), ANNIE HALL (93 minutes), HAROLD & MAUDE (91 minutes), CLAUDINE (92 minutes), MARRIED TO THE MOB (104 minutes), IN THE SPIRIT (94 minutes), SHE DONE HIM WRONG (66 minutes), BEST IN SHOW (90 minutes), PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (91 minutes), MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING (104 minutes), NORBIT (102 minutes), DOLEMITE IS MY NAME (118 minutes), COMING TO AMERICA (117 minutes), BAD TEACHER (97 minutes), B.A.P.S, (92 minutes), THE NAKED TRUTH (92 minutes), BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE (105 minutes), THE PLAYER (124 minutes), NASHVILLE (160 minutes), LOGAN LUCKY (119 minutes), FRENCH EXIT (110 minutes), SCHOOL DAZE (121 minutes), CAT BALLOU (96 minutes), DAZED AND CONFUSED (102 minutes), ED WOOD (127 minutes), AFTER HOURS (97 minutes), WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (84 minutes), THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK (118 minutes), CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (97 minutes), TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (132 minutes), PRIZZI'S HONOR (130 minutes), ABOUT SCHMIDT (124 minutes), SORRY TO BOTHER YOU (112 minutes), LEGALLY BLONDE (96 minutes), PRIVATE BENJAMIN (109 minutes), FRIDAY (97 minutes), HOUSESITTER (101 minutes), MASCOTS (89 minutes), DEATH BECOMES HER (104 minutes), BULWORTH (108 minutes), QUICK CHANGE (89 minutes), KEANU (100 minutes), LOVE & DEATH (85 minutes), THE HEAT (117 minutes), MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY (107 minutes), WORKING GIRL (113 minutes), A MIGHTY WIND (92 minutes),  CHASING AMY (113 minutes), HEATHERS (103 minutes), SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE (128 minutes), ANALYSIS PARALYSIS (131 minutes), HEARTBREAKERS (123 minutes), SMALL TIME CROOKS (95 minutes), SLEEP WITH ME (86 minutes), SILVER STREAK (114 minutes), CADDYSHACK (98 minutes), PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (91 minutes), WHAT'S UP DOC? (94 minutes), SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (105 minutes), THE BIRDCAGE (117 minutes), BRIDESMAIDS (125 minutes), THE HEARTBREAK KID (original, 106 minutes), FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION (86 minutes), BEETLEJUICE (92 minutes), SISTER ACT (100 minutes) and many more.


Notice something about the list?  Only one film on the list is as long or longer than DON'T LOOK UP -- NASHVILLE.  And Adam McKay is no Robert Altman.  He's not even Rob Marshall.  If he can't offer more than one dimensional words on the page, are we at all surprised that his film lacks visual charm and is filmed like a single-camera TV sitcom?


There was never a good moment for this awful garbage to have been filmed.


It's a bad, boring and flat film.  It never takes off -- and not just because it's so damn heavy-handed.  Blame it on good intentions -- they usually don't result in good films.  And blame Krystal's poor look these days on her hair.  She's grown it very long and all that's done is weighted it down and made it look like it's thinning and limp.  Well, it's done something else.  It's made her face look fat.  Yes, Krystal, Ali MacGraw and Susan Dey both carried off similar hairstyles back in the early 70s but the difference there?  They were models who became actresses.  Meaning?   They weren't "MSNBC attractive" -- where well scrubbed passes for pretty; they were drop dead gorgeous.  What's up with Krystal?  To answer our friend, she doesn't know film and she doesn't know hair.


The film is garbage.  


Oh, be sure to read Jonathan Turley's latest -- it's too depressing to quote.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, January 11, 2022.  The new year is young but Medea Benjamin has already spouted more stupidity than a person should have a right to.  First . . . 


Hassan Ali Ahmed (AL-MONITOR) reports that Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Halbusi has the approval of Moqtada al-Sadr.

Huh?

How is that news?

It was already clear on Sunday.  That's when, as things got out of hand and Moqtada was being challenged and Mahmoud Daward al-Mashhadani staged his fainting spell.  Mohammed played along with it.  That was all you needed to know.

It was interesting to read the write-ups on that fainting spell.  First, they never noted how fake it was.  Second, they never noted the fake it was coming from.  Mahmoud was once a prisoner of US forces.  Much later, when he was Speaker of Parliament, he would call Iraqis who killed US troops "heroes" and he would be eased out of the Parliament because his bodyguards attacked a Shi'ite MP.


Bringing Mahmoud in to rule over Sunday's session let you know it had all been planned ahead of time.  As for Mohammed al-Halbusi, he's a made man in Anbar.  And, yes, that is what it sounds like.  Construction was very good for many criminal elements and Mohammed was just one example.  He used his influence to become governor of Anbar Province in 2017 -- this was after the sitting governor was removed (Suahaib al-Rawi) when he began dismissing officials as part of a corruption clean up.  No such concerns with Mohammed who feels he's among friends when he's elbow to elbow with the corrupt.

That's why so many were laughing last August when Mohammed accused his rival Khamis al-Khanjar of selling Sunni land off for profit.  


Crooks in the Iraqi government?  Why not, they're in every other government as well.

Which brings us to War Criminal Tony Blair.  THE TIMES OF ISRAEL reports:

A petition to strip former British prime minister Tony Blair of his knighthood due to his role in the Iraq War has gained more than 1 million signatures and the backing of at least one Labour MP.

The petition, posted on Change.org a week ago, accuses Blair of causing “irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society.”

Blair “was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts,” the petition claims. “For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes. Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honor, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.”

On January 1, Buckingham Palace announced that Blair had been made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British order of chivalry. The knighthood given to Blair, who served as prime minister from 1997 to 2007, was decided by the queen and made without government advice.


 

Crooked Tony.

Tony Blair claimed £7,000 in expenses for a new roof on his second home, just 2 days before leaving office.
Image
2:06 PM · Jan 6, 2022




While criminals like Tony Blair walk free, Julian Assange is imprisoned for telling the truth.  Part of the reason he's impisoned may be his helpers or 'helpers.'  Courage Foundation Tweets:

TODAY: Day of Action for #Assange Call the DOJ's comment line and tell Attorney General Merrick Garland to #DropTheCharges against Julian Assange Co-sponsored by
@WAMMwomen
,
@Roots_Action
, Veterans For Peace Chapter 27 &
@DefenseAssange
#FreeAssangeNOW assangedefense.org/press-release/


What do you think is going to happen from that?  Merrick's going to feel pressure?  Not at all.

Why are you so damn scared to drop this where it belongs?

Joe Biden. He's the one overseeing things.  He's the one Merrick answers to directly (ultimately, Merrrick will answer to the people but that's a ways off -- they usually have to be out of office before they grasp that).  So put it on Joe's doorstep.

Let him know just how many people are watching.  He's not accomplished anything.

Can we all just be honest?  He's accomplished nothing.  If history holds, he will lose at least one House of Congress in the mid-terms.  If history holds, his first year was the year to be bold and pass bold moves.  That time is now over.  

He's a useless figure.  And if you'd grasp that, you might grasp how much power a real movement to free Julian could have on Joe who has no legacy to speak of.


2021 was his best year as president.  There's no imporvement.  Not even some break through stem-cell research is going to turn 79-year-old Joe into a charasmatic and powerful leader.  It's over.

The White House staff realizes that.  The mood there is dour.  

Smart people are updating their resumes and planning to bail soon because they know it's only going to get worse.  And they grasp that, at some point, news outlets are going to stop trying to prove they're 'tough' and 'independnet' by going after Kamala and finally have to go after Joe himself.

Merrick?

You're not accomplishing anything.

Joe makes the call.  If history tries to land it at Merrick's doorstep, all he has to say is he tried privately.  When you have no real power, you can't take the real blame.  

Joe's the one with the power and attempts at holdin gthe US government accountable are laughable until they start being directed at the president of the United States and not an underling.


Staying with the US government, RUDAW reports:

The US Embassy in Baghdad released a statement on Monday welcoming the fifth Iraqi parliament, congratulating the newly elected officials, and expressing hope in the quick formation of a new government.

In the statement, the embassy highlighted the role and significance of the parliament, calling it an integral and inseparable component of Iraq’s democratic process and its national sovereignty.


Hoping for a quick formation?  Hmm.  October 10th elections and it's January 11th right now.  Hmmm.  

In other news, PRESS TV reports:

Several roadside bomb attacks have targeted convoys carrying logistical equipment belonging to the US military south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and in the country’s southern province of Muthanna, amid strong public opposition to the prolonged presence of American occupation forces on Iraqi soil.

Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that an explosion hit trucks belonging to US forces in Baghdad’s southern Hur Rajab area at 7:30 a.m. local time (04:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. 

Shortly afterward, a bomb attack targeted a logistics convoy of US forces in the town of Adwaniyah.



But remember, Jibberish spouting Joe insists that the combat mission ended for US troops.  Someone please advise the various bombs and drones of this change.  



The good news is that U.S. bombing of those 3 countries has significantly decreased from the over 12,000 bombs and missiles it dropped on them in 2019. In fact, since the withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces from Afghanistan in August, the U.S. military has officially conducted no air strikes there, and only dropped 13 bombs or missiles on Iraq and Syria – although this does not preclude additional unreported strikes by forces under CIA command or control.



"The good news"?? Dumb bitch, when you're talking about civilians being bombed, there's no "good news" and you look more stupid than ever when you try to pimp that the US "only dropped 13 bombs or missiles."


That Medea is what passes for a peace leader in the US goes a long, long way towards explaining why there's no real peace movement in the US.  


I wonder if the victims of the bombings feel Medea's spreading "good news"?  




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