BARACK OBAMA IS A KENYAN BORN SOCIALIST BECAUSE THE DOJ PAID SIXTEEN DOLLARS FOR A MUFFIN.
You do know the story right ? Everything that is wrong with America boiled down to one Banana Nut Muffin served at the Hilton Hotel. ( I guess there in DC..) FACT.
Except its not so much a fact and the talking heads SHOCK have just run with it. For what ever reason a group of Department of Justice drones headed over to the Washington Hilton to meet and greet and what ever - seems odd, they do have their old building, but you know, some days you just need to get out of the office, clear your head, go for a swim.
Sam Stein from HUFFPO lets us know today that it was not 16 dollars per muffin , but 16 dollars for an entire catered Continental breakfast at a big city down town hotel. ( see : the story of Neil and the 24$ Cosmo at what ever swanky Midtown Manhattan hotel we were staying at...) Sure enough directly from their website, today :
Continental Breakfast 16 Choice of Juice, a Basket of Miniature Bakeries Including Danish, Muffins and a Croissant Freshly Brewed Coffee (Regular or Decaffeinated)
A glass of juice in your room is five bucks, its a hotel, do not come home drunk and eat the Zero bars out of the mini bar. Everyone knows this, and sixteen dollars for a meeting long all you can eat and drink snack coffee bar is right on par.
178 written articles on the OUTRAGE of Muffingate "Sen Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) had called for heads to "roll." Fox News' Bill O'Reilly had used the muffin anecdote to launch a screed against raising taxes: "Why should I or you work hard every day so some guy in a suit can have a $16 muffin?" Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) said the "individuals responsible for allowing this flagrant abuse of taxpayer dollars" should be "fired immediately." The Obama administration promised further review. 37 articles written to correct the story.. but its already out there, and facts mean so darn little these days.
It took me a while to get the lay out of this photo. The history building looks so much bigger without anything in front of it. ( the greenish coppery dot behind the library in the bottom pic ) The new Sanford dwarfs Memorial Hall.
1951
2011
Top photo is from the Growing up in Athens facebook page and the bottom is live Bing maps, which is still an old picture, because TATE2 has been completed for years. And as always I give you thesong.
Chuck the chunk in the slow cooker with all the cut up veggies, a can of tomatoes, and what ever makes you happy. Herbs de Province, rosemary, red pepper flakes.... make yourself happy.5-6 hours later, dinner.
Caramelized Brussel Sprouts with mushrooms and onions.... will do this again
3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
4 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups honey
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 ounces slivered almonds for topping
Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and allspice. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, gradually adding the sugar. Beat until thick and light in color, about 5 minutes. Beat in the oil, honey and coffee. Stir flour mixture into egg mixture. Chop the almonds coarsely and mix with raisins. Stir into batter.
Oil the two pans and line the bottom with waxed paper. Oil again. Fill each pan with batter to within 1 - 1 1/4 inches from the top. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes until cake tests done. Do not overbake. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from pan.
To Make Glaze: Boil together 1 1/2 cups honey, lemon juice, lemon zest and water. When glaze reaches a thick consistency, remove from heat and drizzle over cake. Sprinkle with almond slivers.
I guess this is just not going to stop. Not that it is a bad thing.. and not that looking back is terrible ( hello, have we met ? ) Endings cause reflection... you gather, you talk, you laugh, you morn.... set the place in time and move forward. It just ALWAYS ( always ) shocks me that there were so many folks involved. Back in the day .....
I did not just want REM, I needed REM. I was from the small town gene pool of pure Skynyrd , but my FREEBIRDS were always meant as ironic. Even in a pre ironic universe , I was putting it out there. Trust me, the folks I went to high school with , were not. Creaky, creaky... Athens changed. Any , even a short time , reader of this little blog knows the first time I saw them was at the I & I club, which was all, I guess hip and " new wave " , but you have to know the actual space was part of my world view as the infamous B&L Warehouse, and I did not belong to the land of denim/flannel and beer , it was very much a part of my older brothers, long hair and rock and roll world. But, I thought it was just me that needed something new... some sort of deliverance from the norm of sleepy Southern small town. It was a line in the sand, you were either B&L or I&I ( not that I have a single clear memory of the stupid bar other than many many sweaty nights at the tragically named BUCKHEAD BEACH, which it became after about an hour of being the I&I. ( which I bet , if someone could find a photo was i & i, had something to do with SKA, which all the cool kids were listening too ( see : Chrissie Hynde in ... one of those Sex Pistols R 4 movies... Filth and the fury ? or hell, was it a VH1 behind the music.. I don't know..)
Who knows, I think the entire planet has a rose colored rear view window, and we all walked to school five miles in the snow, uphill. I have always held the Rodger Lyle Brown / 2011 view of that magic Athens, Ga. ( 1978 - 1986 ) suspect, because it holds it in such a tight bubble. Magic Athens, Ga. ( 1978 - 1986 ) was not an Avalon for little proto hipsters, every garage band two days away from CBGB's. It was a FOOTBALL TOWN with a drinking problem, that was MUCH more pink and green than cross dressed. I just don't want to come across as it all being too too romantic, that's all. Not that it was not lovely, but I think everyone thinks their time in college was, ours just happens to have a world famous rock band from it, that just broke up.
WTF are you talking about, Kyle. Are you high ?
I just do not want to come across as life " was great then and is shit now " , thats all. It was a great run, one of the best in American Rock and Roll, and yes, were / are/ am/ is my favorite band, but it was more than that, and I'm not fully alone in thinking that, and now you get todays installment of REM MANIA :
"In the spring of 1980 I was at college in Athens, Georgia. My once-good grades had given way to behavior that my parents were starting to get wind of, and they instructed me to come back home to Maryland for the summer. I didn’t want to go. Everything in Athens was so… fresh and exciting. I had just started taking part in the innocent decadence that would sustain the scene for the next several years. And I was just beginning a romance with Mike Mills, the bass player in the weeks-old R.E.M. A few weeks before the end of spring quarter he said to me — we were at Tyrone’s, the local rock club, standing between the Rolling Stones pinball machine and the Space Invaders game, playing neither — “I finally meet a girl I like and she’s got to go back to Rockville.”( the rest, or click on the link above )
Rockville Girl
"So on a boiling hot September afternoon in 1981 we had The Loud Family Reunion. And Ingrid Schorr, as Minnie Minnola, doused her hair with vegetable oil (’cause that’s what New Yorkers do!), borrowed a loud ugly ’60s print dress and hung those sunglasses from its neckline (’cause that’s what New Yorkers wear!), ate several slabs of chocolate cake with hash baked into it, and went nuts. The photo in R.E.M. Inside Out of Ingrid/Minnie was evidently taken sometime before she took off the dress, squirted herself with canned frosting, and danced naked around the party to the B-52′s second album.
The never ending demise of the k+b's internal soundtrack. From this week (months?) Rolling Stone : "There is a great deal of sadness, but it's really celebratory," R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills says, describing his conflicting emotions the day after he, guitarist Peter Buck and singer Michael Stipe announced they were disbanding after 31 years together. "There is sadness because I will never play on the same stage as Peter and Michael again." Yet, Mills insists, "We're doing this for good reasons, and we end up looking back at all the fun, the joy and the incredible opportunities we had." So why is America's biggest alternative-rock band breaking up now? "It's not because we have to or we can't stand each other or we suck," Mills contends. "We're happy. But we're done."THE REST
I started out doing a play by play on how to make this, but got lost, forgot some steps, etc. So very good and so very healthy. Spice spice and more spice. Ginger, garlic..... one of these days I'll get all the pics in. Maybe a fall squash curry!
Netflix earns its keep for at least another year. Now streaming, this film that I so so wanted to see when it played here , at the Dryden' for two days! , but I missed it. Run don't walk. If you care nothing at all for fashion, or New York Society, just watch for the ..... ( bad word choice ) Life Affirmation!
An , (and maybe the LAST), ONLY IN NEW YORK , sort of character, living life 100% on his own terms. AND was at Brooke Astor's 100th. Koch Brother, M Kors' boy toy and downtown drag queens, this one really does have it all.
What an impossibly important / valuable gift to the future this man has in all those file cabinets. Weekly , if not daily, real, true New York City life. A joy of a film
A charcoaly dampness in the air today, not the clean crispness of true fall , but the cusp of it... An advent season , waiting , Winter will be here, but not until Fall shows its muscle and finery. Its just not ready yet
A PSA meant to combat anti-gay behavior will premiere tomorrow at the University of Michigan stadium, the largest in the nation, with more than 110,000 fans in attendance during the Michigan/San Diego State football game.The PSA, called "Huddle Up", features a football team reacting to one of its members yelling "let's beat those queers!"
It's part of the University’s marking of the 40th anniversary of The Spectrum Center—the first organization directed at LGBT students by any university. Their celebration continues through November with a series of events on campus and the PSA airs again November 19 during the Michigan/Nebraska football game.
Why even ask Frothy this question, to him gays and lesbians are the root of all evil. I would have much MUCH rather one of or both of the haircut twins answer this, or to hear the LOUD boos when Huntsman gave the wrong - to the gathered crowd - answer. But FOX likes to mix things up... and Frothy gets the DADT question.
TROOPS, TROOPS, TROOPS, 9-11, TROOPS
Unless those troops happen to be gay. Frothy has come out today with " Oh! I did not hear the boos" , which I will give him.. really. But I am guessing he heard the loud applause. more to come
Was just a shock, thats all. The boys are ROLLING in money,R.E.M. was the last American band to sign a HUGE record deal with a major label. In 1996 REM signed an EIGHTY MILLION DOLLAR deal with Warner Bros, at the time the most expensive recording deal ever. No one knew that EVERYTHING was about to change , and that folks were just about to stop buying hard copies of music. Madonna et el, signed touring and merchandise contracts for zillions of dollars. REM signed a straight up, " we will give you X number of records, of what ever we chose " They no longer live anywhere near each other. East Coast, West Coast, and as far as I know, Atlanta. So, for them, it was time.
You know, I'm lucky, my life , thus far, came with a soundtrack... really, from that very first downbeat of hib -toneness riding into the sunset going from Athens to Winder, to mowing the lawn last week, REM has been in my head.
I will always have the memory of the night -at some Pylon reunion party- of Michael and I dancing together all night long . ( He was dancing, I was dancing...ergo..)
Breaking it down would just be too hard, too long, too involved. I am one of the diehards that can sing every song ( other than MONSTER, for what ever reason DICKIE went NUTS anytime it was played, so I really have not listened it it all the way through in a very long time, if ever ) I loved the later music .
Many thanks boys and best of luck in what ever you do .
John Webb
Was at Lawyer's Club of Atlanta tonight watching Chris Chapman's initiation. For those of you who know him, you'll be pleased to know that he passed all tests and gave a brilliant recitation of the sacred pledge. He even managed to avoid the dreaded encounter with Myrtle the Goat. In the end, he admitted that even though the hazing was worse than anything he encountered at the Citidel, he was glad to become a member of such a revered and exclusive society and thanked me for recommending that he pack an extra pair of underwear.
Kyle Crawford wait..... Myrtle the goat is still around ?
Kyle Crawford from Sig Ep house to the Lawyers Club of Atlanta...
John Webb Her career has taken off since you were in school Kyle. Like the rest of us, Myrtle espired to a higher class of, well . . . Uhhh! . . . Never mind.
From REMHQ :
"To our Fans and Friends: As R.E.M., and as lifelong friends and co-conspirators, we have decided to call it a day as a band. We walk away with a great sense of gratitude, of finality, and of astonishment at all we have accomplished. To anyone who ever felt touched by our music, our deepest thanks for listening." R.E.M.
In their own words: The guys share their thoughts on why now.
MIKE
"During our last tour, and while making Collapse Into Now and putting together this greatest hits retrospective, we started asking ourselves, 'what next'? Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey. We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together."We have always been a band in the truest sense of the word. Brothers who truly love, and respect, each other. We feel kind of like pioneers in this--there's no disharmony here, no falling-outs, no lawyers squaring-off. We've made this decision together, amicably and with each other's best interests at heart. The time just feels right."
MICHAEL
"A wise man once said--'the skill in attending a party is knowing when it's time to leave.' We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we're going to walk away from it."I hope our fans realize this wasn't an easy decision; but all things must end, and we wanted to do it right, to do it our way."We have to thank all the people who helped us be R.E.M. for these 31 years; our deepest gratitude to those who allowed us to do this. It's been amazing."
PETER
"One of the things that was always so great about being in R.E.M. was the fact that the records and the songs we wrote meant as much to our fans as they did to us. It was, and still is, important to us to do right by you. Being a part of your lives has been an unbelievable gift. Thank you."Mike, Michael, Bill, Bertis, and I walk away as great friends. I know I will be seeing them in the future, just as I know I will be seeing everyone who has followed us and supported us through the years. Even if it's only in the vinyl aisle of your local record store, or standing at the back of the club: watching a group of 19 year olds trying to change the world."
AKA : A shit load of heavily armed homos are out there folks.....
Wow... I just wrote what came out to be a way WAY bitter screed, which - new Kyle and all, I deleted before pushing POST. Starting over . There is a lot of blame and A LOT of credit to go around for making this happen. The folks that think the sun rises and sets in their underpants ( how on earth did I end up being acquainted with so many of these ?!? ) are shouting from the rooftops how it was all them.
Countless names and faces and BRAVE honest Military individuals and families pushed and fought against planet sized odds and won. You know the kinds of things good military folk do. Here is my bottom line. THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED WITH OUT BARACK OBAMA, AT ALL.. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
NOT that t here is not endless reasons for celebrations, and lets hope for more to come. Now, here is a lovely , LOVELY photo of Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach kissing Thomas Roberts last night as the law went down.
Raise high the roofbeams... this could keep you up at night.
Live blogging, following TLo on the twitter, facebooking all while watching the show AND drinking wine was just too much for me, so I just opted to watch the show, knowing I could pick all this up in the cool , sober light of morning...
So vastly secondary to the fashion is who won and all, so lets get that out of the way
Props to UGA Sigma Nu Kyle Chandler on his win! Go Dawgs!
NOW, on with the show
THE RED CARPET
I am pretty sure they have telephones in Southern California, texts, something that could have allowed every stylist in town to talk to one another and NOT allow this travesty of fashion to have happened, the 2011 Emmy RED carpet
11 red gowns on the same red carpet, welcome to heart ball . Communicate people! Sofia Vergara number 7 on the top pic may be an orangy, but still... not good.I should be breaking them all down, but they just all run together... You can find out who each one is and see larger photo HERE. We really, REALLY need to get away from tight being an accessory.
The Many Lives of Christian Siriano
Our little Project Runway elf, ( the only one to go one to any sort of success ) was represented twice on the RC last night, one very good, one very bad.
The good was the young girl from MODERN FAMILY. Not 100% age appropriate which I do go on about, but it could just be the styling and that silly pose. A beautiful dress, and then there is Heidi. Welcome to Christian and Heidi's old time square dance hour. There are photos of the dress close up, and the workmanship/sewing skills are just off the charts lovely, but the parts add up to a border line costume total. Wonder Woman should have doesy doed over to the next dress
Gleefully Yours
The ladies of GLEE all out in their finest, bright blue dress is up for my worst of the night. #4 is going a little bit twee/Dakota Fanning a few years ago. Odd styling on #2.
Its a marvelous night for a moon dance.
My first reaction to this dress last night was a thumbs down, ONLY for the total stiffness /rigidity of the bodice, but after the wave of red goddess dresses, all Hail Julianna Margulies in Armani Prive. Still part of the collection that I was raving about last year.
Sparkle Neely, Sparkle
Still trending is the now old chestnut of nude gown and bling bling bling, all looking very nice, if only a sliver of been there done that.. Christina Hendricks ( #3 ) in Johanna Johnson is back to her old self, thank the fashion Gods.
More sparkle, #2, Maria Bello looks very nice in this Kaufmanfranco dress. Different styling would have toned down the Vegasness of it.
SOMETIMES JUST PRETZELS AND BEER,
BUT I'M STILL HERE.
Christine Baranski rocking at midnight blue Zac Posen
and 85 year old Cloris Leachman pretty in pink,
proving that old age is NOT for sissies.
MOVIE STAR
Evan Rachel Wood in Elie Saab
WORST OF THE NIGHT
There really was not anything wrist slittable horrible last night, my least favorite was this DULLER than yesterdays dishwater Calvin Klein that Mrs. Tom Cruise ( Katie Holmes ) chose. What, do the Scientologists hate accessorizing or something. If the Amish had proms, Just wrong.
The BEST.
OSCAR! OSCAR! OSCAR!
yes, I know it was the Emmy's but both of my favorite dresses were by
Oscar de la Renta
WINNER all the way around. Not only did Modern Family's Julie Bowen take home the grand prize, she is also one of my two my best dressed, EVEN while doing a side pony! That is how pretty this dress is.
Clair Danes looked out of this world beautiful in her Oscar of choice! Moderny retroie clean, the fit, the colors! Brava!
make sure to check out TLo for all their choices and a lovely little story from the NYT :
