Several Royal Fusses

Filed under:Good Grief,History — posted by Anwyn on April 29, 2011 @ 9:23 am

A lot of people are making a fuss over the royal wedding. And a lot of people I know seem to be making a fuss over the fuss. Why?

Frank J.
and Kyle Smith epitomize this attitude that the royals are worthless, although Kyle, after ripping to shreds the rest of the royal family, concedes that they’re harmless and decent.

I have trouble understanding this attitude that royals are useless wastes of space. We are conservatives, we dislike people getting government money to either do nothing or make everybody else’s lives worse. Okay. But even if we stipulate that royalty does nothing, we are conservatives, who also believe, more or less, to each his own and that tradition is important. If the English were tired of their royals they could do something about it. What’s it to us (collective, U.S.) that they still have them? And since they have them, what’s it to us (those who don’t try to follow every bit of the wedding) that some Americans are fascinated by the pretense of fairytale? We (those of us who have a few years on us) know that Kate and William will have to deal with the reality of married life, and do it under a microscope because they’re public figures.

Is that it? Do the ones sneering at the fuss resent that they’re public figures through no merit or effort but through birth? How is that their fault? They are human beings and have responsibilities and frustrations and happiness just like us.

I can’t believe I’m making a “they’re people too” argument, but honestly I can’t understand the disdain. If we had a single president who got married in office, the fuss would be ten times as big, so to those who say “What’s the big deal, they’re not OUR royals”–they’re only one step removed from being our royals. Also, most of the people following the wedding fuss for fun would not seek it out as much if the media didn’t choose to cover it wall to wall.

So give these people a break, why don’t you? They’re just people getting married with a duty to make it completely public.

Because It’s Worked So Well Before

Filed under:Good Grief,Television — posted by Anwyn on September 10, 2009 @ 11:34 am

Fox picks up “sci-fi western with a twist.”

Because of the adoration for and longevity of Firefly, oh and, um, Brisco County, Jr., right?

Saaaaaad.

Get Divorced First, Idiots

Filed under:Good Grief,Not Cool,Politics,Priorities — posted by Anwyn on June 24, 2009 @ 3:11 pm

How hard is this crap? Get divorced before you send love emails to the new chick. Get divorced before you fly off for four days and turn off your state cell phone. This man had a few thoughts of running for president? We can take a divorced president, champ. We can’t take a stupid one–even though for a lot of voters, it takes a lot to prove stupidity. You chose the fastest route. Congratulations, Mark Sanford, you get–new love. Hope it was worth it.

Okay, I Admit It, My Jaw Dropped

Filed under:Good Grief — posted by Anwyn on June 17, 2009 @ 8:08 pm

Billy and third wife, 33-years-younger Katie Lee, are splitting. Why am I even surprised?

Sigh. Why do I sigh? Is it the continued bad news from the camp of the artist loved not wisely but too well during all of my high school and college years? Or because it’s actually been five years since he married her–when she was 22–and one of my college roommates said, “She looks like his daughter” and his wife, my other roommate, said “That IS his daughter. This one’s his wife.” Where is MY life going, that five years have gone by in a blink? Or do I sigh simply because I always thought of Christie Brinkley as the problem in his previous marriage, but now that the Piano Man’s got three strikes I have to wonder what’s going on with *him* in these marriages?

Whatever. Sigh.

“The idea is you can’t inflict a fatal wound. Nobody could just grab one out of the kitchen drawer and kill someone.”

Filed under:Good Grief — posted by Anwyn on June 16, 2009 @ 7:44 pm

The Brits bring out a “pointless” knife in response to the wailing over kitchen knives in a country where stabbing seems to be the major means of homicide. I’m not sure the notch in the blade makes it “pointless” rather than actually sort of “double-pointed”–and as Lowering the Bar points out, that “skin-snagging” effect is probably a bug rather than a feature. But what cracks me up the most is that these are obviously meant to be real kitchen knives in every other respect–i.e. an edge sharp enough to dice carrots on the fly. Which makes the title quote, from the knife’s designer, ludicrous. Can’t kill anybody with a pointless knife, eh? Even though it’s sharp enough to slice a tomato, it won’t slice open somebody’s larynx and carotid artery? Okay, then.

Liberty DeVitto Sues Billy Joel

Filed under:Good Grief,Music — posted by Anwyn on May 27, 2009 @ 11:10 am

And Sony, for back royalties.

That’s a longtime relationship now apparently completely down the skids, if I may be allowed a mixed metaphor.

Could it be true that Joel hasn’t met his financial obligations? Sad and ironic if true; sad and lame if not true.

H/t J.

Okay, the Dude Really Likes Politics

Filed under:Good Grief,Politics,Priorities,Television — posted by Anwyn on April 7, 2009 @ 7:18 am

**SPOILERS** for last night’s House below. (more…)

Dick Van Dyke Yarns About Mary Poppins, and Oh Yeah–

Filed under:Good Grief,Movies — posted by Anwyn on January 28, 2009 @ 4:23 pm

…Barack and Michelle are “the black Rob and Laura.”

Groan.

One Reporter Knows Job; One Cameraman Just Knows Mr. President When He Sees Him

Filed under:Good Grief,Politics — posted by Anwyn on January 23, 2009 @ 7:41 am

Obama expects to “visit” press without taking questions; apparently all oblige him except one.

Asked how he could reconcile a strict ban on lobbyists in his administration with a Deputy Defense Secretary nominee who lobbied for Raytheon, Obama interrupted with a knowing smile on his face.

“Ahh, see,” he said, “I came down here to visit. See this is what happens. I can’t end up visiting with you guys and shaking hands if I’m going to get grilled every time I come down here.”

I wanna be your friend, but if you insist on doing your job attacking me, I can’t be your friend any more.

Obama did reveal a juicy tidbit, however: Incoming press secretary Robert Gibbs “got a fist bump from me” because Obama was just so gosh-darn proud that he survived his first press briefing. Aaaww. See, press? If you be good boys and girls, someday, you might get a fist bump too!

I may hurl. Video at Hot Air.

???

Filed under:Good Grief,Religion — posted by Anwyn on December 5, 2008 @ 4:44 pm

That five bucks in the bucket outside the grocery store today was my last donation to the Salvation Army until they loosen up this junk:

Capt. Johnny Harsh, who has led the Oshkosh Salvation Army for more than three years, has been suspended for disobeying orders and could soon be terminated from the agency.

Harsh, whose wife, Capt. Yalanda “Yoley” Harsh, died unexpectedly in June, said he violated a Salvation Army rule that an officer in the agency may only marry another officer of the organization. Harsh is engaged to a woman who is not affiliated with the Salvation Army. He said they plan to marry in June.

Read on for the other ways in which the organization gets into their officers’ business–no overnight stays in the guest room for this lady because the Salvation Army pays for some of their officer’s housing expenses. I’m of mixed mind about that–the solution seems to be don’t accept funds earmarked for housing from your employer if you don’t want to give them a say in who gets to stay there.

Oh well, the Bean’ll be just as happy if we never poke any bills into the kettle again. He doesn’t yet quite understand how we can give money away and still have some left for ourselves, and though he enjoys the actual act of folding the bill to the appropriate size and turning and twisting it until it slides into the slot, he still decidedly disapproves of the concept. Lighten Up, S.A. I’m now frankly surprised this outfit is still going as strong as it is.

Via Allah, who brings the C-word.

And To Think I Was Worried About Filling In My Ovals Right Up to the Line, but Not a Jot Outside

Filed under:Good Grief,Politics — posted by Anwyn on November 20, 2008 @ 3:21 pm

Stupid people/people with authority issues/stupid people vote.

Via Hot Air.

Repeal the Bailout

Filed under:Good Grief,Politics,Priorities — posted by Anwyn on November 17, 2008 @ 12:54 pm

I am sick and tired of reading the ever-changing scenarios under which the government or its component part Treasury will spend the $700 billion of bailout money. Do not buy up bad mortgages. Do not inject government capital into either private or public businesses. Let the banks either foreclose or renegotiate with the mortgaged holders themselves, which is not as far-fetched an idea as you’d think (note to Ed Morissey: Exactly why, if lenders do this, should the taxpayer take the risk instead of the bank investor?). People are already bitching and complaining about their 401Ks tanking in the stock market. The market tanking a bit farther won’t kill them. Either pull your money out and thus help it tank, or leave it in and wait for it to go back up as it always does. Do not bail out the automakers. The word “bailout” should be anathema in a capitalist society. Forget curbing CEO salaries and golden parachutes–just wake up, America, and quit investing your money in the stocks of companies who are willing to hire losers with failures like this on their track records. Let the market punish the guilty–by which I mean YOU, American investors. Stop assuming the stock market works the same way as your corner bank and that it’s some kind of travesty if you can’t get the same amount of money back out that you put in. Realize the risk that it is and take it with your eyes open and take far less of it, if you ask me. Stop this madness before extends to industries all but killed by the autoworkers’ unions and unrealistic ideas of what you can regulate people into doing. Kill it. Repeal the bailout.

Yes, There Is Such a Thing as “Too Much Jayne”

Filed under:Good Grief,Television — posted by Anwyn on October 9, 2008 @ 9:03 am

Right here.

Via, again, Whedonesque.


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image: detail of installation by Bronwyn Lace