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December 03, 2005

Atrios, My Hero, And I'm Not Kidding

Remember Pat Summerall? He was a famously laconic play-by-play man. Here's Sommerall describing, say, Jerome Bettis taking a handoff:

Bettis... three yards.

Here's him describing a 50 yard Hail Mary resulting in an interception and runback for a touchdown the other way:

Shotgun... he's looking... pass up... intercepted... has the sideline... touchdown.

Notice no exclamation points. I always liked that about him.

Now, Pat Summerall may seem to be a lazy broadcaster, until you contrast him with motormouths like Dan Dierdorf and John Madden, who you just wish would shut the hell up instead of trying to fill every second with dopey or cutesy or obvious analysis. Uhhh, like me, I guess.

Atrios/Duncan Black/Eschaton/Whatever is the Pat Summerall of the blogosphere:

Dante

The King of Zembla interviews Joe Dante.

-Atrios 11:49 AM

Comments (12) Trackback (0)

How Not to let the Word Racism Drive You Insane

Ampersand has good advice.

This roughly applies to discussions of sexism, too. The fact that you don't have a set of robes in your closet or you don't think of yourself as a misogynist doesn't mean that nothing that ever comes out of your mouth has its roots in racism or sexism, whether there's any of that intention behind it. Relax, consider the criticism.

(via pandagon)

-Atrios 9:24 AM

Comments (414) Trackback (0)

Bowl Games

Thank God Congress is going to start working on the really important stuff which is just crying out for congressional meddling.

(via americablog)

-Atrios 9:14 AM

Comments (79) Trackback (1)

Open Thread

Leaving all the changes far from far behind. we relieve the tension only to find out the thread's name.

-Atrios 8:56 AM

Comments (60) Trackback (0)

Open Thread

I asked my love to give me shelter And all she offered me were threads.

-Atrios 5:36 AM

Comments (196) Trackback (0)

Breaking News

John "Stumpy" Pepys killed.

-Atrios 12:24 AM

Comments (254) Trackback (0)

Zombie Reviews?

I noticed Showtime was not free for all, but how did the rest of you enjoy it?

-Atrios 12:06 AM

Comments (164) Trackback (0)

Your Invitation Has Arrived

Don't be stupid, be a smarty, come and join the Fox News party!

-Atrios 12:01 AM

Comments (32) Trackback (0)

Friday, December 02, 2005

Open Thread

Have you heard of a thread that will help us get it together again? Have you heard of the thread that will stop us going wrong?

-Atrios 9:56 PM

Comments (644) Trackback (0)

Evening Thread

Don't forget - Zombies. Showtimes. 10pm.

For the fainthearted don't worry, it isn't really scary.

-Atrios 6:47 PM

Comments (647) Trackback (0)

In a half-day of blogging, he wrote one paragraph of obvious crap, started four open threads, and had one semi-open thread soliciting reviews for some show on Showtime. ("Zombies"? My guess it that it's part of the hit-and-miss-but-mostly-miss "Masters of Horror" series. Only the Lovecraft one was any good, and it wasn't even that good.)

And. Look. At. The. Comment. Numbers.

The sick thing is that, according to Atrios, his Sitemeter doesn't even count his comment-hits, as they're on Haloscan (and, I assume, he doesn't have the Sitemeter counting-code on there). Which means he's getting 200,000 hits a day to a main page containing almost nothing but open threads -- and millions of uncounted hits to his comment boxes.

A lefty blogger notes that Black isn't a morning read anymore for this reason.

I don't want to say that quantity trumps quality, but I don't see any quality here at all.

I swear I am going to start a lefty blog.

I think I'll call it "Teachable Moments." Crazy blog-money, here I come!

posted by Ace at 02:19 PM

Comments

I think I found the problem ace. I decided to do a little investigative research and followed your link to Low and Left and found this comment:

I found Ace of Spades following a story from DefenseTech, and on a whim, bookmarked it for fun. I don't visit often, for reasons put forth by rlp. But putting in a comment is like tossing a mouse in a tank of piranas. And boy, the women there are vicious; you don't want to meet one of them in a dark alley with a Bush Sucks t-shirt!

It's the women.

Posted by: JackStraw on December 3, 2005 02:39 PM

Yet - and wrap your mind around THIS, ace - according to the accidentally, prematurely posted weblog awards final nominee list - Atrios was nominated for "Best Blog."

I shit you not.

Posted by: Bill from INDC on December 3, 2005 02:47 PM

Whah are you comparing a "color guy" to the play-by-play guy?

I get your point, though.

Posted by: Bart on December 3, 2005 02:55 PM

Dont be such a player hater Ace. Any point that Atrios can make, you can make too... with a thousand extra words or so.

Anyway im pretty sure Atrios didnt start getting big numbers in his comments section until he started making 'Original Facts about Hillary Clintons Cock' threads.

Posted by: a-a on December 3, 2005 03:32 PM

"Here's a link" is not, in fact, a point.

Posted by: ace on December 3, 2005 03:35 PM

Atrios gets so many commenters because the sort of people who comment there need to feel some kind of comradeship, a sense of community.

The rest of us just want to be left the hell alone.

Posted by: Russ on December 3, 2005 05:02 PM

What's sadder, the fact that the "texts" of Atrios' open thread posts are riffs on Yes lyrics...

...or the fact that I noticed this?

Posted by: Jeff B. on December 3, 2005 05:21 PM

Jeff,

Apart from Common People, is there any song worth listening to on the Shatner album? You said it's great, but I don't like anything but Common People. Give me a couple of other more-accessible (quick to like) tracks and I'll try listening for what you're hearing.

Posted by: ace on December 3, 2005 05:37 PM

Ace, I don't know the name of the track, but there's one where he talks about climbing a mountain, and almost falling to his death, ...

wait! Now I remember. It's called "It Hasn't Happened Yet," I think.

Posted by: Knemon on December 3, 2005 05:59 PM

The 'Zombie' thing is almost certianly this Joe Dante bit of excrement discussed yesterday at LGF:
Zombie Soldiers and Mama Moonbat

Washed up Hollywood guy Dante has produced a segment of extraordinary offensiveness to anyone outside the LLL echo chamber.

Posted by: epobirs on December 3, 2005 07:01 PM

"You'll Have Time" is easily my favorite on the album. "It Hasn't Happened Yet" is another good one, as are "That's Me Trying" and "Together" (very trancey). The first half of the album is really strong altogether. Best cuts on the second half are "Has Been" and especially "I Can't Get Behind That," but "Familiar Love" is also damn funny.

Posted by: Jeff B. on December 3, 2005 10:15 PM

Oh, by the way, "I Can't Get Behind That" is a duet with Henry Rollins. And it actually lives up to the expectations. Fucking hilarious - and Rollins says it's possibly the most satisfying artistic collaboration he's ever worked on!

You really need to just sit back and listen to it all the way through. I totally expected it to fall into the "novelty" bin. But it's actually a really impressive album.

And this coming from a guy who prefers King Crimson, Radiohead, and The Grateful Dead most of the time.

Posted by: Jeff B. on December 3, 2005 10:45 PM

I too noticed the Yes lyrics he is riffing on. It makes sense though--Yes lyrics are precisely what I go to when I have absolutely nothing of substance to contribute. After all, what other group comes up with stuff like "Born in the night she would run like a leopard that freaks at the sight of a mind close beside herself".

Pass the pipe...

Posted by: Kevin on December 4, 2005 01:11 AM

Atrios and Sully would make a nice couple - he's so placid and calm. He is gay right?

Posted by: rakmjn1 on December 4, 2005 05:27 AM

In and around the lake
Mountains come out of the sky
They stand there
24 before my love and I'll be there.

Dude, don't bogart that shit.

Posted by: Knemon on December 4, 2005 08:50 AM

A seasoned witch will call you from the depths of your disgrace
And rearrange your liver to the solid mental grace

I really don't think that couplet has ever been equalled in the preposterousness sweepstakes. Although actually....

Battleships confide in me and tell me where you are
Shining, flying purple wolfhound show me where you are

Funny thing is, both of these songs kick reams of ass MUSICALLY. The second you focus any conscious thought upon the lyrics, however, the spell is broken. Thank God Steve Howe can play guitar like he does.

Posted by: Jeff B. on December 4, 2005 09:09 AM

It's the women.

He must have gotten into a snit with bbeck.

Posted by: lauraw on December 4, 2005 10:50 AM

"He must have gotten into a snit with bbeck."

Then she crushed him like a bug with her muscular arms.

No wonder he's scared.

Posted by: Lipstick on December 4, 2005 11:09 AM

Musically, yeah--they were amazing. Howe, Wakeman, Squire...

Fairy Jon can sing pretty well too, but sheesh--who ever let him write the words? He could have won the Ace poetry contest hands-down.

Posted by: Kevin on December 4, 2005 07:00 PM

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Few people remember that Norm MacDonald began his career as a ventriloquist
MacDonald's old partner Adam Egot revealed that MacDonald repurposed a bit with one of his ventriloquist dolls -- that he was a "bad guy" who "didn't believe the Holocaust happened" -- for the Norm MacDonald show, in which he claimed Egot didn't believe in the Holocaust.

Funniest thing I've read about the Virginia mess. Back when they were hustling the referendum through the assembly both Senators, Warner and Kaine, advised them to go slow and play by the rules. Louise Lucas said she respected them but didn't need advice from the "cuck chair" in the corner. The gerrymandering was overturned and Louise is heading for the big house. Edward G. Robinson voice "where's your cuck now?"
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I posted his post on twitter and it's gotten 25K views so far. Thanks, Smell the Glove

Chris
@chriswithans

"Ahhhhh ahh I put my career on the line for Louise Lucas and Jay Jones thinking they'd vault me into presidential contention and we ended up costing Democrats 20 House seats and unleashing a Reverse Dobbs ahhhhh ahhh"

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click That Sums Up the Democrat Communist Party Today
Something is wrong as I hold you near
Somebody else holds your heart, yeah
You turn to me with your icy tears
And then it's raining, feels like it's raining

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot