Tag: Fillyjonk

August rambling: Corporate Bullsh*t

Alice Green

Cory Doctorow reviews Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power, and Wealth in America, Nick Hanauer, Joan Walsh, and Donald Cohen’s 2023 book on the history of corporate apologetics. “The authors’ thesis is that the business world has a well-worn playbook that they roll out whenever anything that might cause industry to behave even slightly less destructively is proposed. What’s more, we keep falling for it.” Oh, the last stage in their playbook is ‘this is socialism.'” Or communism.

‘A different level than 2020’: djt’s plan to steal the 2024 election is taking shape

djt made $300k from selling Bibles – but owes $100m

Republican group cites notorious Dred Scott ruling as reason Kamala Harris can’t be president

The Convention That Ate Republicans’ Lunch

Harris, djt, and Our Broken News Media

I Put Him on Death Row. He Shouldn’t Die.

Hospice: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Hollywood’s 20 Best Political Movies, Ranked

Very demure is very trendy.

Why Schools Are Racing to Ban Student Phones

How to Escape From the Russian Army

Everyone Is Judging AI by These Tests. But Experts Say They’re Close to Meaningless

Pew (2023): 32% of Americans have a tattoo, including 22% who have more than one

Everything You Need To Know About Saturday Night Live, season by season

My favorite Progressive ad is the first 30 seconds-“Practicing gratitude, manifesting abundance.”

The Flagstones and The Flintstones

Tulsa dog starts house fire after chewing on lithium-ion battery

Kellogg’s Corn Flakes ad (Huck and Yogi)

Duff, another meaning

Mark Evanier: My Ten Favorite Cartoon Show Openings From My Youth and Ten More

How to Mug Yourself?

OBITS

Local civil rights activist Alice Green would describe a formative episode from her teenage years when she and a white friend were hired to work at a small summer resort. I heard her tell this story in one of her books, We Who Believe In Freedom. She was a 2018 FFAPL literary Legend. Some of her work shone a light on the struggles of Black Adirondackers. 

Phil Donahue, Who Died at 88, Transformed Daytime Television

Peter Marshall, Host of ‘The Hollywood Squares,’ Dies at 98

Wally Amos, R.I.P. He was “Famous”

Alain Delon, Seductive Star of European Cinema, Dies at 88

MUSIC

How Will I Know – Peter Sprague, featuring Rebecca Jade

Yo Me Estreso – The Linda Lindas, feat. “Weird Al” Yankovic

Look Through My Window – The Mamas & The Papas

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: The Black Angels

Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture

Coverville 1498: The Counting Crows Cover Story III and  1499: The Phoebe Bridgers Cover Story

Die With A Smile – Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars

The Cedar and the Palm by Vasily Kalinnikov

Ghostbusters – Ray Parker, Jr.

Kellogg’s Rice Krispies ad – I LOVED this song as a kid

Million Dollar Baby – Tommy Richman.  “It holds the record for most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s new TikTok Top 50 chart.” I did not know that existed.

The main theme for Once Upon A Time In The West by Ennio Morricone

The Love You Save – Jackson Five

Big Man On Mulberry Street – Billy Joel;  Bruce Willis in Moonlighting, Maddie´s Dream episode.

I Had Some Help – Post Malone featuring Morgan Wallen

Badge – Peter Sprague featuring Leonard Patton

I Can Do It With A Broken Heart– Taylor Swift

Apple – Charli xcx. I understand my iPhone cover is BRAT; Bill Maher is confused by the term.

Stay – Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs; Maurice recently died at 86

Greg Kihn, Pop Star Who Had a Big Hit With “Jeopardy,” Dies at 75 (the song and the parody included)

A Mel-dey — a medley of songs from all the musicals written by Mel Brooks — both of them…

MUSIC (political section)

KAMALA!– A Randy Rainbow Song Parody (2020)

The Lawyer or the Conman and JD, JD… . (Married Lady) – Randy Rainbow Song Parodies (2024)

Childless Cat Ladies – Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer

DNC 2024 roll call and playlist, including:

Arizona — Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks, a native of Phoenix.

Arkansas — Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac, the 1992 campaign song for Bill Clinton, the former governor of Arkansas. (I remember that well.)

Colorado — September by Earth, Wind & Fire. Philip Bailey, one of the band’s two lead singers, hails from Denver.

Connecticut — Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours by Stevie Wonder. Connecticut is known as the Constitution State.

Democrats Abroad — Love Train by the O’Jays. (“People around the world, join hands,” the lyrics say.)

Delaware — Higher Love by Kygo and Whitney Houston. President Biden, Delaware’s favorite son, has played this song regularly at his events, including after his acceptance speech in 2020.

(I’ll probably do this again. This is fun!)

What Kamala Harris and djt’s Music Choices Reveal About Each Campaign

Used by Kamala: All American – Mickey Guyton; Something More Than Free – Jason Isbell

The songs below were among those used by the djt campaign, to the disdain, and sometimes threat of legal action, by the artist and/or songwriter family:

Freedom – Beyoncé

Hold On, I’m Coming – Sam & Dave

My Heart Will Go On -Celine Dion

April rambling: when democracies fall

Sporadic Acts of Journalism

History shows there are no “one-day” dictatorships. When democracies fall, they typically fall completely.

A Different Take on Retro Conservative Fantasy

Mike Johnson Is No Hero

Anita Hill on Harvey Weinstein Reversal: “Our Movement Will Persist”

John Oliver Confesses to “Sporadic Acts of Journalism.” Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Medicaid and UFOs and Executions

Republicans Scramble to Contain Their Abortion Disaster.  William Claude Jones (c. 1815 – March 3, 1884) was an American politician, poet, fabulist, and “pursuer of nubile females,” who authored the 1864 Arizona abortion bill.

The Manhattan case against djt is strong but The Supreme Court is breaking America’s faith in the law

Census Bureau: Wealth by Race of Householder

The endless quest to replace alcohol

On the Romance of Old Maps

The Cloud under the Sea (Internet Cables)

Williams-Sonoma Will Pay Record $3.17 Million Civil Penalty for Violating FTC Made in USA Order

The Average Body Temperature Is Not 98.6 Degrees

Linear, streaming, AVOD, and beyond: What do common TV terms mean?

Updated charity ratings from Charity Watch

fillyjonk and the brick

16 Fascinating Historical Artifacts Stored In The Library of Congress

Step into the chilling world of CBS Radio Mystery Theater—with nearly 1400 episodes from 1974 to 1982, guaranteed to give you goosebumps, hosted by the commanding voices of E.G. Marshall and Tammy Grimes

Fantastic Trina Robbins remembrance by Andrew Farago
Kelly does a quiz
Now I Know: The Wife, Husband, and Ex-Husband Nuclear Family and The Environmental Intervention That Backfired
MUSIC

Spiegel im spiegel (Mirror in the mirror) by Arvo Pärt and how he tintinnabulates

Better Oblivion Community Center – Dylan Thomas

Favorite Songs By Favorite Artists: Fairport Convention

St. Vincent – Broken Man

Coverville 1484: The Soul Asylum Cover Story and 1485: The Cure Cover Story V

Deep Field by Eric Whitacre

Margo Guryan: Moon Ride (1956)

Peter Sprague Plays You Won’t See Me and Serrado, each featuring Allison Adams Tucker

Chappell Roan – Good Luck, Babe!

Against All Odds – Phil Collins

The Analogues – The Beatles tribute – Salle Pleyel – ARTE Concert

Arthur’s Law and Taylor Swift

I can say my jeans are long, but I can’t say …

This blog is old enough to vote

6,575 days in a row

This blog is old enough to vote. It’s Eighteen, and I like it!

In February, fillyjonk wrote: “It’s weird to think of how much stuff I’ve lived through in the time I have been writing this blog.” I realized how true that was.

Bloggers who get up and write a post or create one the night before are remarkable. I cannot do that anymore, though I wrote that way for the first three years when scheduling a post on the Blogger platform was not an option.  Now the idea makes me exhausted.

I try to write every day, but it won’t necessarily be posted soon. If there is something I know I want to say about Labor Day, I’ll write it, even if it’s July. If I don’t know what to write about, I create a music year post because I know that in October 2029, I will need a post about the #1 hits of 1999.

Also, I rearrange my posts like crazy. I wrote several blog posts in succession when I saw many movies.  But I didn’t want to post many reviews in a row. My working theory is that if whatever I post about today doesn’t strike your fancy, maybe tomorrow’s item will be more to your liking.

Also, some posts are time-sensitive, while others can be pushed back a day or a week. I have about a half dozen posts, which are evergreen. You may never see them unless I become seriously ill or injured.

Politics

Ultimately, I blog for two reasons. One, which I’ve stated several times, is that I don’t know what I think about many issues until I write about them. Sometimes, I change my mind, at least in part, or at least see another point of view.

Oddly, I don’t LIKE writing about divisive topics. Yet, I can’t NOT write about them sometimes. For instance, there have been four Presidents, and I penned something about all of them; unfortunately, there is too much about one in particular.

To my recollection, I never wrote about abortion before Roe was overturned. I never felt that I had to. And now I do.

I never want to write about race here. And I never cannot, mainly when it involves someone dying unjustly, such as here or here.
Relationship

The other reason for blogging is about community.  When I started writing, I made electronic acquaintances with some folks on my friend Fred Hembeck’s link page.

My dedication to this enterprise prompted the Times Union to ask me to blog there from 2008 to 2021. I’ve kept in touch with some of those folks even after the TU killed the community blog.

I was involved with ABC Wednesday for over twelve years, even running it for five years.

Initially, I participated in Sunday Stealing as a quick way to write a post. I’ve found I like making and receiving comments from those folks.
How long?

I don’t know how long I’ll keep up this daily blogging routine. Part of it is dealing with the technological part. When Kelly was having functionality problems with his blog, it discouraged me. Occasionally I have technical difficulties, and I cannot fix them myself.

I hope that the site will survive me via the Internet Archive, “a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.

The first five years of my blog are still available here. And my emergency backup is out there somewhere.

April rambling: Carol Burnett turns 90

Finnish happiness

The Doomsday Clock at 90 Seconds to Midnight

Why fascism? Why now?

“U.S.A. Number One!” in Mass Shooting Murders

The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA), a Florida-based “think tank,” is a driving force behind the campaign to roll back child labor protections in state legislatures.

Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools and Book bans in US public schools increase by 28% in six months, Pen report finds

Oklahoma’s Top Prosecutor Doesn’t Want to Execute a Likely Innocent Man, but a court is forcing him to do it anyway.

‘Kids Can’t Read,’ and the Education Establishment Faces a Revolt

“School choice” is the latest front in Christian nationalists’ battle to undermine the separation of church and state.

Impact of Weather Emergencies on Child Development

Missing Medicaid Data on Race/Ethnicity May Bias Health Research

Farmworkers: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

The Discord Leaker Was a Narcissist, Not an Ideologue. Comparisons between Jack Teixeira and self-declared whistleblowers are misplaced.

Retirement and Its Impact on Labor Supply

Reflections on driving across America

India’s population will pass China’s soon if it hasn’t already

What’s the Finnish secret to happiness?

The DeSantis Endorsement-ghazi Blame Game

Blame Rupert Murdock and Fox for Iraq, Brexit, Trump, and The Big Lie

Tucker Carlson is Out at Fox News; Don Lemon Terminated by CNN

Jordan Klepper and the most memorable moment from his “Man on the Street” interviews of MAGA types

djt Quit SAG-AFTRA Two Years Ago — But Still Collects 6-Figure Pension

How Technology Is Making it Possible to Build the Largest Dataset in History About the United States and the People Who Live There

Not to mention…

How to Research Charities 101

An April anniversary

Small Change: Let’s Put Pennies and Nickels to Rest

Sugar Pill Nation: Even when we know they’re “fake,” placebos can tame our emotional distress.

How to Get Energy Without Caffeine

Harry Belafonte, Singer, Actor, Producer, and Activist, Dies at 96. I wrote about him just before he turned 90 and linked it to what I wrote when he turned 85. 

Edward Koren, the cartoonist who drew his shaggier alter-ego, dies at 87. His cartoons were an unmistakable fixture in the New Yorker and other magazines for more than 60 years

Len Goodman, Former Dancing With the Stars Judge, Dies at 78. I used to watch DWTS with my wife begrudgingly.

Barry Humphries, aka Dame Edna, Dies at 89. Goodbye, Possums.

“My Imperative Was To Get My Family Through This”: Catching up with Stephen R. Bissette

The Comics Journal interview of Chuck Rozanski/Bettie Pages, President – Mile High Comics, Inc.

James Gunn’s Guardians: How Chris Pratt and His Marvel Castmates Rescued Their Director’s Career

Mary Calvi on young Theodore Roosevelt’s love

Carol Burnett at 90, Like Her Comedy, Is Still Timeless

Nielsen Regains Accreditation for National TV Ratings. I didn’t know they had lost it.

Netflix to Shutter Legacy DVD Business

Abbott Elementary’s Long-suffering Servants

Oscars: Film Academy and ABC Announce Date for 2024 Ceremony, related events

The Honest Government Ads– as profane as they are informative

Now I Know: Why “It’s Time to Change Your Password” May Be a Bad Idea and All Your BS is… Vegan and Why Soda Cans in Hawaii Look So Weird and The Birds Who Fly First Class and This Restaurant Doesn’t Exist

MUSIC

Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninoff, played by Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) and his sister Isati (piano)

A tribute to composer Henry Mancini. Former colleagues, including John Williams and Quincy Jones, recreate the Peter Gunn theme.

Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninoff

Coverville 1437: The 60th Anniversary of Please Please Me and 1438: Cover Stories for Pharrell Williams, The Eels and Vangelis and 1439: Midnight Oil Cover Story and 40th Anniversary of Bowie’s Let’s Dance, and 1440: Fun on Two Wheels

Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony

Poet and Peasant by Franz von Suppe!

Rachamaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor.

Bridge Over Troubled Water -Julien Neel

Opus 9, No. 2 in E-flat Major by Chopin, played by Sergei Rachmaninoff

The Ed Sullivan Show…March 30, 1969: the cast of Hair performs “The Age of Aquarius” and “Let the Sunshine In.”

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Six Romances, op. 38 by Sergei Rachmaninoff

January rambling: India #1 in ’23

Arthur answers my questions

Happy New Year! 2023

The U.S. Census Bureau’s projections

India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Don’t Sleep Through the Revolution 
Bossism: Revolt of the Oligarch Class
The Debt Ceiling: a (p)review
Social Quitting: How social media barons squandered their lock-in and made themselves obsolete.
Attack of the Chatbots: Screenwriters’ Friend or Foe?
Person to Person with Norah O’Donnell, interview with Jon Stewart

Clint Meneely: 1975 recording about Meneely bells of Troy, NY

Barbara Walters Remembered by ‘The View’ Co-Hosts, Past and Present, in Show Tribute Episode
Pelé, , Charismatic Master of the “Beautiful Game,” Dies at 82

Sign Up To Be An Organ Donor. You can provide lifesaving organs to as many as eight people.

The Curious Case of Nebraska Man

A Plane of Monkeys, a Pandemic, and a Botched Deal: Inside a Science Crisis You’ve Never Heard Of

Now I Know – Grapefruits: The Nuclear Fruit? and 
The Littlest Big Winner and Then, Their Pants Exploded and The Sesame Seed Backlash of 2023 and America’s Secret, Tasty World War II Weapon? and Why Can’t Californians Buy This Snack?
Abortion rights

The Supreme Court’s decision last summer that overturned the federal right to an abortion sent Rachel Sweet into overdrive focused on two states (Kansas, Kentucky) that share traditionally conservative values.

“With those [successful] campaigns behind her, Sweet has had time to reflect on the lessons learned from those hard-fought victories, including what many activists on her side of the issue misunderstand about voters who are persuadable on abortion rights.”

(The takeaway here is that one should not be so quick to pigeonhole people who could turn out to be your political allies on some issues.
2022

overthink

Partying like it’s 1942 – was 2022 a hinge year?
Golden Duke Winner: The Odds Were Never In Your Favor; it celebrates the cartoonishly corrupt and incompetent in American politics
Gallup’s Top Workplace Stories
Pew Research: Striking findings
McSweeney’s countdown of its top 20 most-read articles
Chuck Miller’s Best Photos
Buffalo
People have been talking about Buffalo, the second-largest city in New York State, a lot recently. Part of it has to do with the deadly weather; folks there are used to snow but not that. Some of it surely with the near-death on national television of  Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin, coincidentally, the first game I started watching from the beginning all season. There’s been a lot of “the city’s been through a lot this year,” going back to the shooting deaths of ten black folks at a supermarket in May 2022.
I’m not unhappy about it. It’s just that I hope we can show such concern for each other when there’s no crisis. I know this is an unrealistic ideal.
Quizzes and questions
fillyjonk does the annual quiz I completed
Arthur answered my questions about Nancy Pelosi v. Kevin McCarthy, and Sinema and  ranked voting and sheep
Music
Coverville 1425: The 2022 Coverville Countdown, Part One and 
1426: : The 2022 Coverville Countdown, Part 2 and 1427: The Kenny Loggins Cover Story and 1428: The Jeff Beck Tribute

Hymne (Hymn to the Blessed Sacrament), by Olivier Messiaen

Could It Be Magic – Barry Manilow and My Sharona – The Knack, a couple examples for this quiz
Pale Blue Eyes – the Velvet Underground
The Boxer – Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin, Jerry Douglas
The Stars and the Moon – Audra McDonald
Sumer is Icumen in – The Hilliard Ensemble
To Whom It May Concern – Lisa Marie Presley, who died at 54

“Weird Al” Yankovic Breaks Down His Most Iconic Tracks

Jeff Beck:  Farewell and Guitar Giant  dies at 78 and his 10 Best Songs: With Yardbirds, Solo & Beyond

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