Query

Do Taco Bells up north provide a pitcher of iced tea near the register for their customers who perhaps do want a beverage but are not so much into the 18 frightening flavors of Mountain Dew residing on the soda machine? Or is it a Southern thing? Or, possibly, a "my Taco Bell" thing?

Hobbyhorse

One among many things the ABH blogs have blessed us with: the past of Dr. York.

Try to maintain faith in your vote mattering now, bitches. Supreme Court is cool with redistricting any time for any reason. Middle of the year. Middle of the night. Middle of the actual election day.

Athens Tech has wanted its nursing, biotech, etc. facility for a while, but couldn't get funding. So you're saying UGA should try to attract some kind of giant company that manufactures English papers to get some cash?

ABH catches up to Mesmerization Eclipse on the WUOG story, only without the valuable input of Mr. Brian Crews.

Are you allowed to make jokes about your occupation when you file your running papers? Or is Ed Vaughn wandering around the streets of Athens with a meat cleaver?

Navy School plans due to see light early 2007.

ABH is nervous about what the grand jury's gonna find.

The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation writes in to talk about how it's sad that all this KA controversy was necessary for people to notice the historic nature of the neighborhood where they want to move. They also think UGA should take responsibility for helping to find a solution.

Nice coverage of the Athens comedy scene.

In some ways, the immediate reaction here is mild surprise that it doesn't happen more often.

2006 is all about ass.

Two in a row

I also got around to reading the Bourdain interview on Salon from a few days ago. And it is interesting too. In many ways, he comes off as such a strutting, preening thing, intent on yelling at those who disagree with him. But, damn it, we often agree. And he knows what he's doing, too. He is too mean to Rachel Ray (who ever considered the Food Network truly about chef-driven cuisine?), but he is also right that, bamming and all, Emeril deserves more respect. And he is mean to vegans. I know some, and they're lovely people, but again I see where he's coming from. And then there is this:

Q. You also suggest that the relentless focus on safety and sanitation in kitchens is a bad thing. Why?

A. I think fear of dirt is often indistinguishable from the fear of unnamed dirty people. There's something kind of racist about it, about people who are hesitant to try street food in another country. [The food] is part and parcel of culture; it's an expression of identity.

And I think the notion that the government or somebody owes you absolute safety and security in everything you eat is a destructive one, with cheese being the easiest example. With cheese having to be pasteurized or aged to a certain degree, none of us will ever experience a real brie, or how good that used to be. There are laws that you have to sign a release, or at least read a warning statement, before you eat a rare burger. I think we've slipped over into the twilight zone here. Does McDonald's really have to label their coffee cups to say "Danger: Will cause burning if poured on genitals"?

I think it's destructive to quality, and pleasure, and tradition. So I'm skeptical, to say the least, if not hostile to that kind of thinking.

Note that middle one. Read Buford again. Then read some of the review of the new Timothy Leary biography. It contains this:

The only things Leary was serious about were pleasure and renown. He underwent no fundamental transformation when he left the academic world for the counterculture. He liked women, he liked being the center of attention, and he liked to get high. He simply changed the means of intoxication.

And later this:

Even then, he seems to have been blessed with an incapacity for shame, a gift for which he had many occasions to be thankful.

So he comes off as a complete asshole. This raises the question: Is hedonism an acceptable philosophy as long as one is blessed with some sense of shame? I think that may be what's necessary to temper it a bit.

Read

Bill Buford enters the world of the pastry chef, through a very strange door. Part of what is so great about this series of articles is how fast they seem to be coming lately. Usually McPhee'll hit you up with one maybe every six months or so, but Buford's been on a tear. Please try to deal with the fucked up lowercase r's in the pdf version. Excerpt:

I’d sought out Goldfarb because I wanted to learn about dessert. I now recognize that going to him as a tutor was akin to learning how to drive by hanging around a Nascar racetrack. My interests were pretty basic. I didn’t know why dessert was invented or what function in the running of a human organism it was meant to perform. (I wasn’t even sure when it was invented. Raising livestock, vegetable farming, the harvesting of grains: these activities are ancient, older than history, and essential to the survival of the species. But when did humankind decide that it also needed crème brûlée?) For instance, I eat a tuna sandwich and an apple, and I understand, more or less, what they give my body. But what do I get out of a piece of Key-lime pie? Desserts are a problem. You’re a person who eats them and regrets that you did; or you’re one who never eats them; or you eat them and know enough to eat only a little; or else you eat them and eat them until you’re done in. That’s me. Face to face with a dessert, my judgment goes walkabout. I devour it with unreflecting dispatch, indifferent to its qualities or its composition or the skill of its making, jabbering away, jiggling in my seat, metabolism spinning at maximum revs, sweat beading up inexplicably on my forehead, wondering (while looking out
for another helping) how anything could possibly be bad when it manifestly makes you feel so good. And then—betraying an undiagnosed intolerance for milky things, or doughy things, or sugar itself, or just for eating too much—I wake in the night, sick, thinking, How could I possibly have been so stupid to do this again? Dessert frightens me.

This is the paragraph of the article, not the stuff that's provoking a minor hoo-ha about fact-checking. Buford is a sensualist, but he manages not to write about food like he wants to fuck it. It's not a substitute for anything else. It's pleasure in itself.* How he can reconcile his own take on dessert with Goldfarb's, which at least seems to be stepping back from the precipice of provocateurship, is not quite addressed head on, but the militarism (almost) of pastry chefs is discussed.

*And this is also why his articles are exactly about food, second commenter on the link aside. He does address the surrounding restaurant atmosphere and the need to do things right, but the eating is what it's all in service of.

Aural pleasure

Or excruciation. Whichever you go in for, the next Browncast is up for download.

Police Blotter (To Tell the Truth edition)

You know, you kind of have to feel sorry for this guy. Or would, if not for the final twist:

Arrest: On June 25, Lt. Rex Matthews drove up on a wreck on Malcom Bridge Road involving a Ford F-150 pulling a trailer hauling a motorgrader. The truck was in the ditch. Deputy Brad Williams also responded to the wreck, where he smelled alcohol on the driver, identified as Ronald Lee Kelley, 26, of Colbert. Kelley, who had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes, said "I wrecked," the report said. He said he was moving the motorgrader, valued at $38,000, for "All About Asphalt," but when the owner of the business was contacted, he said nobody had permission to move it, the report said. When the deputies asked Kelley to do roadside alcohol tests, he complained that he had to defecate, the report said. He was arrested and placed in the patrol car, where the deputies realized he had defecated in his pants. At the jail, Kelley said he was only joking and trying to pull a prank on the owner by hiding the equipment, the report said. A Danielsville man, who was with Kelley at the time, but had left the scene of the wreck, also was questioned, but has not been charged.

Quiet week. Rest here.

Hobbyhorse

Both Mary Jessica and Robert get in on the act. They apparently like dogs. Also, people hate some Tofu Baby. I get the feeling Flagpole is running it as a joke by this point, hence the cover shout-out last ish.

Some explanation in City Pages (scroll) of how other places have handled partner benefits and what Mark Taylor's current strategy is.

Nuwaubians referred to as "quasi-religious." What's quasi about it? Deputies will testify. Some people seem to think the grand jury is overstepping.

Money for nothing. Land for free.

He might be a reject, but maybe if they hire him at more than they were willing to pay him last time he was rejected, he'll be better for the job.

More qualifiers for local offices, including Andy, the monitor-movingest candidate for mayor.

Retirees suing over health insurance. Normally, I'd be immediately on their side, what with the frequent wiggling out of commitments to their former employees by companies, but the article makes it sound as though they retired after the change went into effect, so they weren't quite as screwed by it as they might've been. Also, they're still getting free HMO coverage, just not free PPO. Anything to change my mind?

Wouldn't gaining "notoriety" for your cuisine be interpreted in a negative light, generally?

Parents should do, um, something about their kids drinking in college. What, exactly, isn't too clear, except that they shouldn't let them end up like Lewis Fish.

Hmm. Soloski news. He might be paranoid, but he might also be right. That is, people do tend to get very petty on this campus sometimes.

All nostalgia all the time.

Don't trivialize Tara Baker's murder, but feel free to trivialize plenty of others. It seems pretty likely the show won't provide any new evidence, but tabloid TV is tabloid TV and it will do what it will. Would I pissed if it were my daughter? Yes, I would be, but it's not, and I couldn't stop it if it were.

Shipp likes the mud.

See? Pride is a major factor in the fire station thing.

Superman Returns Fo' Real

Times nine minimum.

Viewing Diary

1) Deadwood, season 1: Ah, all you cocksuckers who love it are right. It's a phenomenally good show, carefully put together in every detail. The language is poetic and lovely in its rhythms (the phrase "your repast awaits your mouth" is becoming synonymous with "chow time" in the Brown household). The acting is incredible. There's nobody bad on the show. Much as I love Kristen Bell (and I do), she kind of gets shown up in her two episode span. It is about lawlessness, but it's really about civilization and the way it gets established on the fringes. If you fall in the street (and it's easy to do so), no eyes will be batted and no hands extended. But there are small bits of courtesy that stick out strangely ("get some fucking fruit and whatnot"). The multitude of different accents adds to things rather than detracting, reinforcing the mutt nature of the town. And oh my lord, William "Larry" Sanderson! Team Brown is quite in love, to the extent that Vision Video's having rented disc 4 when that was the one we needed next prompted us signing back up for the devil's deal, the MVP program at Hollywood Video, just because we needed to get the next one that bad. It's equal parts heart and cruelty (as well as reality and artifice), and it gets at why Westerns are great in creating that mix. I had thought it was less based on historical events than it is, but none of that is even important. Bestness.

2) Quadrophenia: Jared's comparison is The 400 Blows (running around being stupid, sea), which is good. But there's also something in it of any movie that tries to capture a time about 15 years back. You might not know exactly when it was made while watching it, but you know it's not quite contemporary. Distinction between mods and rockers pretty thoroughly lost by this point though. What I can grasp is that the rockers ride cooler bikes and wear leather jackets. The mods ride bikes with more mirrors and army jackets and chant "we are the mods" (a helpful marker). They fight because they are both young and foolish. Really, one feels kind of bad for the nice people who just wanted to go to the beach, but it's still better than Tommy (the movie, not the album).

3) Superman Returns: He's a little chunky (or at least the suit makes him look so) and I remain loyal to the charms of Tom Welling, but not crappy. More than that, actually good. Too long by a bit, but well-acted, very pretty, with nice little humor bits (dog cannibalism! underpaying suggested donations at museums!). Also, flying is easier to pull off than web swinging, as the sense of weight isn't so necessary, and that's the thing they don't have down quite yet (and, therefore, the thing that bugs me about the Spidey movies). Big early set piece is marvelous. Superman remains untarnished.

Publications

Busy week, y'all.

1) Grub Notes goes to Cali N Tito's and The Globe.

2) Reviews of Ya Boy Brell, 1000 Gramz, and the new compilation of drinkin' songs on the Bearfoot Hookers' label.

3) Athfest highlights: Ham1, Murder Beach, Dexter Romweber.

4) And 300 more words on the subject of Danielson. They don't involve "get fucked Johnny come latelies" anywhere.

Hyperactive eyes

Mine are in that they always need to be reading something. Obsessively.

Which is why I saw what it says on the inside of a Payday wrapper these days, after being automatically attracted to the presence of text:

Candy is a treat. Please consume in moderation.

Sure, right now it's shiny and small and difficult to read, but how long until you have to show ID bearing your BMI and cholesterol before you can buy a Snickers?

Hobbyhorse

So she, um, is running. Will there be bitchslapping in the commission meetings? Much as it would improve ratings, probably not.

Judge puts a hold on enforcing draconian sex offender law for the eight plaintiffs in the case.

The details of catching geese. No, that's not a euphemism.

The government sometimes giveth.

New Mexico reclassified as Southern state. Well, technically...

Mud!

Athens cops not down with psychics.

Gratuitous slap at the hippety hop music.

ABH provides some clues as to why the county's trying to keep us from learning about all this Nuwaubian bidness.

Letter writer kind of misses that the paper has mocked Adams's efforts.

In some circles, this is what they call creativity

Treasure Hunters mostly comes off like an inferior Amazing Race, without the sense of pacing and character development those editors have honed and with a host who seems the child of a robot and William Shatner (an attractive robot). But there is currently one reason to watch (apart from yelling "you're all idiots" at the screen), and that reason is The Wild Hanlons. You think you've seen incompetent teams before? Did they take an 80-mile round-trip detour to get a burger when there was a good chance that doing so would get them eliminated? Did they wander around in a mine for eleven hours before managing to figure out the clue? Did they wake up hours late for a challenge? They have this beautiful brand of insane redneck logic, too. Example: You must punch in a code on a box to get your new map. The numbers clearly relate to Mt. Rushmore in some way. It's not too hard to figure out that it has something to do with the number president each face up there was. But no. From their position, they can see two faces, and there are four total up there, so the answer must be 24.

And yet... they're still around. Which you can take as the evil nature of the universe or, more optimistically, its benevolence. If you're an overachiever, it's the triumph of sloth. If you're not, it merely proves how very much you can fuck up and still have a shot as chance takes out the stronger, the smarter, and the harder working. It's oddly inspiring.

Oh staff listserv...

Over here is TV. And over here, in a very different part of the room (possibly an entirely separate room) is reality.

Date: June 27, 2006 9:25:49 AM EDT
To: UGA-FORSALE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Looking for a Dr. Phil-type

Hi: Does anyone know a local family therapist/psychologist/social worker who is a lot like Dr. Phil...you know, someone who diagnoses with clarity and speed, gets to the point and starts treating the symptoms, and gradually uncovers the underlying causes, but who doesn't spend years, and thousands of our dollars, helping to get change accomplished? Need someone effective, direct, and to-the-point. Definitely can't be someone who nods and says yes "I hear what you're saying" for months after months...know what I mean? Money (or lack of money), even with insurance, is a factor. This isn't for me as I'm nearly perfect ;-)))), but for a friend who is going through some difficult relationship issues and would rather not be identified. Please email me off-line if you know of anyone or if you have had first-hand experience that helped to change your life or the life of someone you know. Thanks.

Insignificance

Of course, that is the way I would prefer it, but clearly, sir, you have no idea who I am.

Singles

Jukebox 20-whatever is up. There is good stuff in it (Paris Hilton, Death Cab). I just mostly wrote about lesser tunes, and even among those, I must not've been very on.

Unblurbed:

Rohff - Starfuckeuze (France)
It’s a five-minute circle, but it almost manages to win my affections anyway because of the complete ridiculousness on display. How much of this is intentional I have no idea (small idea: not much), but it reminds me of many a middle-school attempt at being totally badass.
[4]

Augie March - One Crowded Hour (Australia)
The name at first seemed ill-chosen upon considering the first words of the book (“I am an American, Chicago-born”), but the sentence continues, “and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way,” which is not so terrible as a description of the attempt, if not quite the result. There is a lot on display here and some of it shimmers, but it’s ultimately lyrical in too conventional a fashion.
[5]

Scritti Politti - The Boom Boom Bap (UK)
The category iTunes is going with is “indie.” The year iTunes lives in is apparently much earlier than we all thought. This is mostly too low-key, but it makes me think fondly of VH1’s Bands Reunited in a way that is more than just nostalgia-driven. What that show does is take someone you thought was merely a novelty act or a one-hit wonder and uncover all the other neat stuff they did. This doesn’t rise to the level of genius even slightly, but it is better than one should expect.
[4]

Gosia Andrzejewicz - Pozwol Zyc (Poland)
“We Will Rock You” lurks in the background, hinting that this is some sort of soccer anthem, but no matter the case, it overcomes its dated production with the lovely sibilants Gosia hisses and something that may be early 70s Who (?).
[5]

Email hillaryhazelbrown@gmail.com for musics.

Hobbyhorse

More details on the vaccine plant.

It's unclear how much tax revenue either government will see from the vaccine plant, at least early on. Oconee County has offered an incentives package of property tax abatements, land, infrastructure and job training valued at more than $25 million, and the state also will offer incentives, but details of the package won't be released until the company makes a decision, which could come in a few weeks, Clark said.

...Companies often will have just one community in mind for a new facility but will choose another finalist to serve as a decoy, sparking a competition resulting in a better incentive package from the community they favored all along, and giving the company a fallback, Page said.

"It's hard to tell whether we're A or B," he said.

So is it worth the risk? It might be. ABH editorial celebrates the fact that it's not out of the realm of possibility to have a biotech corridor. Whoop de doo. That said, it would indeed be wise not to allow it "to become choked with strip malls, fast-food restaurants and similar enterprises." That'll be hard with a bunch of office jobs moving out there.

VA old, forgetful, can't find keys or remember deadlines for Navy School proposals. LRA head gets technical.

Jackson County living in them Gangs of New York days.

Question: Does Oconee County have its own hospital? And shouldn't it, for assisted living to locate there?

Suggestions for actually collecting some fucking taxes in the South, including eliminating bullshit sales tax exemptions that add up to pennies for the individual and loads of lost dollars for the state. Caution advised. None of this is as good as implementing a truly progressive system of taxation, but some of it might be useful.

Foundation giving $2 mill for professorships and scholarships. Of course, a quarter of that's going to one professorial position and another quarter to study abroad, but beggars, choosers, etc.

Julie's thesis is interesting, but I don't think it holds water. Most people who live downtown now don't live there for the music. They live there for the bars. So I'm not sure it changes anything unless it raises property values too high for music venues to operate.

No I in Team, but a bit of cash can be found in compassion. But Athens isn't expanding training capacity for nurses, and with the lowest median salary among state metro areas, I can't imagine it would attract many either. Except the compassionate ones.

Oh, ACC. Do not end up on the same side as the Nuwaubians. This is a really stupid move.

Look out, people who live in the country...

Winders has this impression that other countries don't do hype. They do, dude. They just don't have quite the same stage to do it on.

Jim, fella, we'll achieve victory once we manage to hang another banner.

Blake talks about the economic benefits (small) and costs of this potential giant subdivision and commercial development in the works. This way of generating figures seems a bit odd, though:

In Clarke County, a house must cost $173,000 to generate enough taxes to pay for the services its residents consume, but that figure skyrockets to $1.1 million for a family with two children. The break-even point for the average of 0.75 children per house is about $430,000, according to the study released in April.

Moneys come from more than just property taxes. This is like saying you'd need to purchase x million dollars worth of sale taxable goods to pay for the services you consume. Innit?

Rep. Terry England lives in a world of confusion, where no one can ever predict the consequences of anything.

Cox and Taylor talk edumacation. More money! But not so much talking shit about Perdue's plans.

Shipp points out the irony of Sonny's role in keeping the Voting Rights Act alive.

Old farmers' market up for sale.

Teachers are moving among schools in Athens. Turnover still high. It's a hard fucking job.

Declaration week. If you think Heidi's not running, you didn't see her at the Flagpole Music Awards.

ABH opines that the new fire station should have no frills. I'm of the mind they should give a little more on the details (sometimes people's feelings are important). For example, they could talk about the wastefulness and aesthetic blight the others are.

Letters: Yeah, it's not Vietnam all over again... Stop fucking with judges.

Read

One year, no worse. Karen Russell has another story in the New Yorker, and it is thrilling how good she is. Give it a little bit before you give up on it. Things start off confusing, but they get better, and they reel you in. She has a book coming out. I have this idea it'll be good.

Also, Schjeldahl assesses Picasso about as fairly as one can possibly do in this day and age: as good as Poussin, not much next to Velázquez.

And Anthony Lane is a genius wrapping up his review of Cars.

Can you hear me now, bitch?

--Hey, William.

--Yo, what up, Mary.

--I sure am glad I decided to come to the second oldest school in the country.

--Aw, yeah, bitch. Rev. James Blair was da bomb.

Not mature enough yet

Not to laugh, when proofing, at a Mr. Richard Cocke being cited.

Movie Diary

1) Eddie Izzard: Unrepeatable: More in that it's improvisational, as it's really not potty-mouthed in particular. Funny, but not as funny as some of his other stuff. Perhaps the draggier he gets, the more the comedy comes out? Or perhaps he's just had about 10 years to polish.

2) Zathura: Really lovely in some ways, especially considering its no doubt limited budget (you can tell at times, what with the keeping the monsters entirely in the dark and the restricted cast), but also aggravating and less than it could have been. If only the two main kids weren't mostly an asshole and a big fucking baby. I do understand that this is the point and that they learn lessons about not being such, but it seems to take forever. And haven't they seen Jumanji? Art design is gorgeous, especially the credits and the game, and I suppose it's worth seeing to hear the one asshole kid say, to a robot, "get me a juicebox, beeyotch."

Read

Is it a coincidence that the articles on Gregg Toland and binocular vision appear in the same issue? No doubt it is, but it's an interesting one. Neither is online. But here is this from the first page of the former:

In the contemporary handheld-camera and reality-TV world, the idea of attaching a sophisticated lens to the process of seeing has become passe; few, given the seemingly universal artlessness that characterizes our news of the world today, have any interest in cinema as a language.

How old are you, dude? Als is always a provocateur, but not usually of the cranky senior citizen sort. Is this not the age of Hype Williams? Of Quentin Tarantino? Of McG? Cinema is a language we all speak so fluently, we hardly even need to talk about it anymore. And what is "the seemingly universal artlessness that characterizes our news of the world today"? A comparison between the beauty of the News on the March sequence of Citizen Kane and the current state of things on 20/20? And if so, what the fuck does that have to do with cinema? Is this a brief polemic against verite? Can one make the insensitive argument that of course the New Yorker's writer on race (and he pretty much is) will both see things in and prefer black and white? What exactly is going on?

And yet more visual evidence

Thanks, Athfest. It was real. More here. And explanations.

More video with the crap camera

This one from Ham1's set at Flicker, which I wish we'd been able to catch all of, but we had to hustle out and across town. Next time we'll stay.

Murder Beach does "Crazy"

Warning: Sound is ridiculously shitty, but not so shitty you can't hear the melody of the song.

Significant

Who doesn't love a mystery grab bag? Hence the popularity of America's Got Talent, which Team Brown caught some of last night. I'd just been watching Larry King and Reeg being old guys together (though of different types; one all head shaking and bewildered, and the other hopped up on goofballs), talking about the show, and everything they said was right. What they didn't say is that it takes the central dynamic behind American Idol (i.e., anyone can have a chance, but you, in particular, suck) and pumps it up to greater extremes. There is indeed loads of hope, even if you're a rapping granny or a guy with a dog act. But there is also the joy of sitting at home watching people's hope being crushed, crushinator style. At least they usually let people finish on American Idol. Here, you get the beauty of a woman with a talking bird act (she's been on Animal Planet's talent show and won easily) who is almost immediately buzzed by the Simon substitute. It's like you get multiple chances to fail. But you also get the Hoff looking at you adoringly, with the wonder of a very small child on his face almost constantly; honestly, every five seconds he's on camera is pure TV gold. You get the Randy Jackson factor (the person who's semi-professional) eliminated in favor of Brandy and the Hoff both being Paula. If it only had gay banter between Reeg and English fella, who knows how far this could go.

Hobbyhorse

Generally depressing, but true. Maintaining historic stuff is hard to do when nobody cares enough to put up money. Which is why they should be looking out of town, dudes.

Look, northeastern Clarke County, I know you have an inferiority complex, but if you can save money on your fire station by cutting out the two motherfucking clock towers, I highly suggest you do it. I'm all for knocking down the one in front of the Five Points station too, if that helps. Or they could build it out of dogs. Anyway, the ACC wusses on the issue.

Even without the extras, the fire station will still be larger than other recently built suburban stations, Reddish said.

"It really is an enhanced station," he said.

About a dozen residents turned out to City Hall to demand commissioners not make cuts to plans for the station because of the higher-than-anticipated construction costs.

"It would be a travesty of justice if that fire station doesn't look like all the other fire stations in the Athens-Clarke County area, and doesn't have the same equipment," Hancock Avenue resident Willie H. McBride said.

North Clarke residents threatened to try to derail a 1999 vote on a slate of sales tax-funded projects, and would have again in 2004 if the commission had not made Fire Station No. 9 the top priority. Several residents said Thursday they would never vote for another SPLOST again if the fire station is not built as planned.

I really do get where y'all are coming from. But this is a ridiculous issue to get all huffy over. Get pissed over bus service. Or better roads. Get pissed over governmental dollars that are actually useful. As opposed to those that go for clock towers.

Sometimes, government organization debt is more like personal debt. Those times tend to be when you're small and help poor people.

There is a difference even between laws aimed at college students and laws most likely aimed at Mexican workers. Even if I disagree with both of them.

Why is Bob Smith going to the choo choo forum? To rail against it? (Ba dum bum.)

ABH flexes anti-crime muscles. Stone 'em! Stone 'em!!

Brian Basinger, while writing about a completely different issue, stands up for correct process and the careful composition of law. Lawsuits exist for a reason. And the ABH should know that.

It would've been terrifying if it hadn't made most of us laugh.

The beauty of the editor's note.

R&B reports on other schools with fixed tuition rates for four years and how they handle it. Note, "about 70 percent of undergraduates currently take longer than four years to earn their degree." Presumably, the Regents knew this. So how much do you think they care?

Well, damn, 1800 jobs does sound impressive, but don't put on too much lipstick, Athens. $25 million is a lot of money. Does that include the $14 mill the state's contributing to expand Athens Tech facilities?

Chang might be at Georgia Tech, but he's right that Athens has its own pollution issues.

Chris Hassiotis pretends to be a man of few words.

Still think the voter ID thing's not political?

More state ratios required in education. Red tape sucks, but you don't get rid of it by getting rid of the people who deal with it. (Okay, sometimes you do, but it's not the best strategy.)

Not only a story involving a bush ax, but one that explains what a bush ax is.

I believe the explanation is karma.

Georgia Power and the PSC still fighting.

New comprehensive art school not so much meeting the second part of that phrase. The lesson on all of this, from the fire station to the art school and more, is "hurry the fuck up and build it before copper becomes more valuable than diamonds."

Ex-GMOAn representin'.

Sometimes there are opinion columns printed that might as well go in Overheard in Athens. This is one of them.

Give Ira Edwards more money!

Guessing Tweedledee and Tweedledum here.

Also, thank you, ABH for enabling comments.

Viewing Diary

Six Feet Under, season 4: I'd sort of forgotten about not being caught up on this show until we finished rewatching all of Buffy (because Buffy is crack rock), and I was looking up Michelle Trachtenberg on the IMDB and noticed, hey, she's in this particular season of this show. I think it adds up to less than previous seasons did, even seasons I didn't like as much. And the last episode is guaranteed to piss you off. It's kind of like a dysfunctional relationship with someone who can be funny and charming occasionally but only manages to behave in a semi-adult way a couple of times a year. I recognize that the hell the characters put you through is something that the show does decently well, but at the same time, couldn't they all stand to chill out a little? Of course, then it would be life and not TV. Still, if there's one thing the writers are amazing at doing, it's determining what the characters watch on TV and what movies they go to see. These are smart people, kind of arty people, and yet they watch Christopher Lowell. Also, can David and Keith just have a fucking baby already?

Oh staff listserv...

Date: June 23, 2006 8:34:17 AM EDT
To: UGA-FORSALE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: New Wallets for Sale

These wallets are new and in excellent condition. $5 each.
I have them at work with me today and can send through
campus mail or you can pick up.

...

2. A brand new green and black "Princess Gardner" cowhide
split leather wallet that features: checkbook cover, pen
holder, 4 credit card pockets, I.D. window, zippered
compartment, slide pocket and coin purse on the back with
clutch-snap closure. It measures 7"W x 4"H x 0.75"D.

Sadly, someone snapped it up before I could obtain it for Mr. Linn.

So. How YOU doin...

Apparently Jesus wants to fuck me. Is that like a guaranteed in at Heaven?

Magic

Flagpole Music Awards

I did meet Monsignor Elite, who is holding his trophy for audience pick for best video. But I forgot my hat that says "Hillary" at home. Dang.


Dark Meat was interesting. But long. And hippie. Jared says, "If you don't mind long and hippie, then Dark Meat is as good as it gets." They can quote that shit.


And Mr. Bob Hay don't give a fuck. Also, he is demonstrating that his wristband for Athfest held up after a shower. Props to plastic wristbands.

Police Blotter (don't call the cop "dude" edition)

When you think of inherently evil cars, this ain't one that springs to mind.

Theft: On June 14, deputy Laura Teet went to the Cracker Barrel on Epps Bridge Parkway, where a woman said her car was entered and the stereo, valued at $475, and a case of bottled water were stolen. Security tapes showed a PT Cruiser and possible suspects near her car. Sometime later, Teet was sent to Fire Mountain on nearby Dowdy Road, where a car stereo was removed from a car that was forcibly entered. Again tapes showed the PT Cruiser. Teet made photographs and dusted the crime scene for fingerprints.

Slow learner. But still a learner.

Arrest: On June 14, deputy Marvin Williams was dispatched to a call on U.S. Highway 78 near Pete Dickens Road, where a man was having problems with a passenger in his car. Deputy David Gilstrap already had arrived, where the man, William Marty Thomas, 45, of Long Road, Watkinsville, appeared under the influence with bloodshot eyes and unsteady feet. The driver explained that Thomas already had beaten one person up and he was trying to give him a ride home, when he started thrashing about in the car and trying to crawl out the window. The man pulled his car over and called 911 for help. The two deputies had difficulty handling Thomas, who at one point tried to head-butt Williams. During the struggle, Williams pulled out his Taser gun and shocked Thomas. It took four shocks before Thomas would comply and could be placed in the patrol car. At the jail, he continued to struggled with deputies and was threatened with another Taser before he went into a cell. He was charged with disorderly conduct.

But he was a good-humored DUI.

Arrest: On June 18, deputy Brad Williams was patrolling on Experiment Station Road about 12:20 a.m. when his radar showed a Chevy pickup going 71 mph. After stopping the pickup, Williams informed the driver of his speed, and the man replied, "Man that's fast." The man had bloodshot eyes, couldn't keep his balance and laughed when asked to do the one-leg standing test. John Joseph McElhannon, 25, of Great Oak Drive, Athens, was charged with DUI and speeding.

The rest here.

Hobbyhorse (Wednesday)

Flagpole goes where the ABH won't, telling us (at the end of Pete's column) exactly how that Republican Party banner was defaced. Huh. More creative and vulgar than I would've thought.

The letters page contains much as well, from two letters defending Rouge to one contending that dogs are not people or immortal beings to one that fails to make a distinction between words and pictures.

City Pages covers historic preservation district downtown debates, Boulevard zoning of a particular corner, how things will go in the giant development area in northeast ACC, watering restrictions, and how low our state taxes are.

Huckaby a pretty relaxed guy.

We love the gays here, but cautiously. Understandably, the ACC is asking for numbers from someone other than the gay rights advocacy group.

Dude. Methico. It's been suggested before.

Oh, Perdue's willing to take on the feds, when the particular feds in question are ones his buddy W isn't pals with. Sitch seems like initial fuck up, but then angry stupid overreaction.

See? Beating up on criminals can bite you in the ass. There is this marvelous quote from Keen:

"It's a shame that when we take steps to protect children from absolutely the worst of our criminal element, that there are those who would want to defend them," said state Rep. Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, the plan's sponsor. "We're going to continue to put the safety of our children above the convenience of convicted sex offenders."

Unfortunately for him, there's also this:

The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is Wendy Whitaker, a 26-year-old criminal justice student who has been married for six years. According to the complaint, Whitaker was convicted of sodomy when she was 17 after a consensual sex act with a 15-year-old boy on school property.

But he's all "We can't be expected to write the laws carefully, you wusses!"

Sentence of the week in the paper? I'm going for this one: "Stephanie Cartwright received a permit for a business making and selling small decorative buckets at a location on Greensboro Highway."

Now the ABH thinks we should hold off. See, if you're gonna go this way, what you can do is first get everyone an ID, and only then work on laws requiring them to exercise your suffrage. And what is this?

While it's likely many of those people won't have any interest in getting the proper ID for voting, providing an ID to even a small fraction of that number could be a problem for some county voter registration offices across the state.

Where are y'all getting that? Poor people don't want to vote? Old people? People of darker shades? You know, they're the ones who tend to stand in line for long periods of time to be able to do so.

Shipp provides a counterpart to the number of Olympic boosterism stories that have been running lately.

McGinty covered this letter already and well. I do think, though, that maybe the ABH should add "perverted journalism" to its masthead as an advertisement. It would go so nicely with the Savannah's ads.

Comics

Ooh. When you read a lot of stuff you don't quite love, you forget what that first blush feels like. Even Preacher, which I ended up adoring, didn't sock it to me straight away from the first few pages. Fables, however, did. Mr. Brown is already no doubt sick of hearing me go on and on about the giant crush I have on the book, but I can't help it. It's lovely (what art!), it's clever as hell (Bigby Wolf --> Big B. Wolf --> Big Bad Wolf), and it really works the story nicely. I can't say that I'm emotionally involved in a deep way yet, but I'm willing to spread some cash around. Also, this means Chris Thorn's batting a thousand.

Read

I betcha D.T. Max got a bag full of poo on his/her doorstep from one Stephen James Joyce after the New Yorker article s/he wrote on big literary man's grandson. The thing is, SJJ has a chip on his shoulder about scholarship, and as he controls all copyrights to the estate and is rather litigious, he can suppress worthwhile publications. And this seems both much like his granddaddy and also opposed to that man's wishes at the same time. At first, it's all, "isn't he amusingly crotchety," which also seems to be how Joyce scholars felt at first, but now it's more crossing into true cootitude.

In our conversations, Stephen spoke proudly about his fights with scholars. “I am not only protecting and preserving the purity of my grandfather’s work but also what remains of the much abused privacy of the Joyce family,” he said. He added, “Every artist’s born right is to have their work . . . reproduced as they want it to be reproduced.” This was particularly important in the case of Joyce, whom he calls Nonno—the Italian word for grandfather. Stephen said that Joyce’s genius could be found in his several books. (His own library of Joyceana, he once told Le Monde, “is less than a metre wide.”) He did not see what the two hundred and sixty-one works of criticism in the catalogue of the Library of Congress, say, could add to this legacy. Academics, he said at one point, are “people who want to brand this great work with their mark. I don’t accept that."

I do get this. Even though I'm semi-academic myself, I'm not necessarily a huge fan of a lot of criticism out there. But I don't want it all to die either. The article is also all overlapping with many issues of our time, especially copyright law, which, kids, I'd kind of recommend you go into.

Correction, but link!

So that Elite song I was all attempting to tell you about and direct you to? I believe I added about ten words to the title. The single word of which I didn't actually have in mine. Anyway, it's called "Liquor," and it's on his more official MySpace page, along with three other tracks that are pretty tasty as well. Athens finally gets some crunk, bitches!

Publications

1) Review of Snowglobe's Oxytocin. Album of the year? Mebbe.
2) Review of Regina Spektor's new one.
3) Box thingie on Zumm Zumm for Athfest

OSIS

Oh Shit I Saw... Dexter Romweber. Dude really liked the food Five Star provided to the little get-together at Little Kings. Every time I looked up, he was going back for more. I appreciate this love of fine things to eat, but it also can (and in this case, clearly has) result in a gut. Nice pompadour, though. And he was disappointed that there's no smoking in Athens bars.

Substitute

You for my mom, etc. etc.

Also podcast #7 for actual content tonight, probably, since we have places to be. Thanks, GAPN.

See you at Sprockets.

Hobbyhorse

Here's what's kind of fucked. A lot of other school districts in the surrounding area that have had trouble making AYP are now seemingly able to do it. And we're not talking about Oconee County either. Does it have something to do with the way you can not count certain kids if they're in a small enough population? Or the fact that we have more LD kids? Or what? The requisite op-ed is gentler than usual.

Like the ex-sheriff is gonna give you a positive quote on the current sheriff? And also, we told you that comparison to Richt was a bad idea.

What this article about Watkinsville wanting the drank so they can tax it doesn't explain is how a city and a county can be at odds on liquor regulations. Oconee County is still dry. This seems to be just the city. What's up?

It's a really long way to get the message across, but sometimes the UGA system of requiring bids to avoid corruption isn't always the best way to do things when it makes you go with the lowest bidder. Because sometimes the lowest bidder is someone's cousin Gary.

Not that an Italian proofreader is required at the ABH, but I'm sure "good morning" is googleable easily.

Loran Smith goes to Brooklyn. And back in time...

Impassioned letter on school funding.

Wait. Rental property lowers the value of houses in general? Haven't we heard the opposite of that argument many a time?

Yr. Gov. Now less fat.

Sentimental value

This is where Team Brown got engaged. Sorta. I really miss that sign. It turned into another drugstore and then a ritzy grocery store (that was also a good place for the homeless to shoplift) and now it's about to be a Storehouse Furniture. Damn gentrification.

Your next hit from the area

Okay, so the area apparently stretches to Atlanta now, but no matter their current geographical location, Connor Rand & the Red Dirt Band have recorded an amazingly Athenian song in "Alcohol and Adderall." (I hope that link works.) If I weren't so compulsive about studying and completing things, I would've been on the seven-year plan for graduating myself. As is, I merely know people who were. Anyway. It is mighty catchy and also true. And it's gonna be on the first release from Hard Labor Productions.

Singles

Jukebox numero 22 is up. With some good stuff. Which is mostly Busta. And everyone is too nice to Carrie Underwood. Her last song might've been cornier in content, but it was better in sound. And also they're really hungry for some summer jams.

If you want it, here it is. Here = hillaryhazelbrown@gmail.com

Oh right. I had the camera around.

This is not a real sound effect.


But this was a real guy. With a normally shaped and presumably constituted head.


This is the size of the bag they give you at Tower if you are a giant nerd. The foot is there for context, not for fetishes.

Panty-watch

30) I should have expected nothing less. This was Patricia Field, downtown purveyor of cross-gendered chic. In the 80's and 90's, Ms. Field was the doyenne of drag, her boutique on Eighth Street the destination for anyone who was truly serious about neon wigs, heavy-duty fishnet tights and booty boosters, the padded panties that add a womanly curve to otherwise unendowed buttocks. [from "Giving New Meaning to the Changing Room" in Alex Kuczynski's Critical Shopper column, 06/08/06, sadly behind the pay wall now]

31) With time, Harris's tastes for sensation and luxury goods ripened. ''And This Too Shall Pass'' (1997) was a sophisticated romance novel involving a sportswriter (''Sean was relieved that fall and football were approaching''), a predatory TV newswoman (''She had on a burgundy handmade silk brassiere with matching panties'') and a pro quarterback (''Zurich Robinson's pumpernickel-brown face was a shower of sweat''), and Harris enriched the soap-opera drama by giving attention to small-scale emotional realities. [from review of I Say a Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris, review by Troy Patterson, 06/11/06]

32) Her dress was up around her waist. Her panties were ripped. He could see her blue birthmark below her belly button. There were scratches on her thighs. There was a lot of blood. [first chapter of Don't I Know You, by Karen Shepard, 06/18/06]

33) The text accompanying the video says a man has stolen a pair of women's underwear.

The clip, first posted on video-sharing site YouTube on May 31 and viewed more than 1,500 times over six days, shows a man standing in what appears to be a dimly lit public bathroom, wearing what indeed appears to be panties. As the video plays, the man, shown from the stomach down and thus faceless, begins to fondle himself. [from "Video sites grapple with specter of smut," by Greg Sandoval, for News.com, 06/19/06; note: "appears to be"]

Note: Panty-watch is a regular feature here dedicated to tracking appearances of the word "panties" or "panty" in the New York Times, partially because it's amusing to see the Gray Lady venturing into such areas and partially to see if it correlates with anything specific. The end of the year should result in a few more graphs.

[previously] [bugmenot NYT]

Hobbyhorse

Damn you, Peachtree City.

Fuel go up --> fewer people waste it. Slightly fewer.

All Sec of State candidates agree that there might be a problem where there is no problem. Some have slightly better takes than others. But they're all wusses. Better safe than sorry is generally a good motto, except when it starts infringing on people's suffrage rights. Even Miss Angela, who has bringing major boxing back to Georgia as a campaign plank? Also, Cox is getting plenty o' crap tossed her way. Do note this AJC story on how many registered voters don't have a valid driver's license. That's a big damn number.

Okay, if someone wanted to hit Glenn Richardson with a pie, as long it were thrown gently, I would not object. On the other hand, his douchitude does provide something for me and Jim Thompson to bond over, even if he doesn't know we're doing that.

OMG, haven't y'all noticed how cheap gas is?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average cost of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in U.S. cities was $1.41 in April 1981. Excluding federal and state gas taxes, this meant the price was around $1.26. In today's dollars, that would be about $2.83 per gallon. But last month, the before-tax cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline was just $2.29 - about 19 percent lower than that.

And this month?

Melanie, do you know Chuck?

What to pick out from this story? How about the great press for Dodge?

Capitol Police hold a grudge. Whuzz wrong with a little assault between friends?

Movie Diary

Unfaithfully Yours (1984): Compare to the original. Then try to forget the original exists. Because the genius behind My Girl can't quite compete with Sturges. Here's the thing. What's funnier: someone doing physical comedy who's good at it but famous for it (Dudley Moore) or someone doing physical comedy who's quite surprisingly good at it but about whom you had no idea he possessed such talents (Rex Harrison). The remake's also radically simplified, in that there's a lot more time given over to conventional farce misunderstandings (perhaps to provide more motivation for murder, because I suppose we need that in this day and age) and a lot less to bizarre fantasies while conducting (only one this time). It's okay, but it can't hold a candle.

Oh staff listserv...

Date: June 19, 2006 10:59:48 AM EDT
To: UGA-FORSALE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Massage

I'm looking for a place to purchase a gift certificate for a "clean" massage in Athens. I'm not looking for any questionable places where they offer those "extra services". ;) Both Euphoria and Body Wise seem to have gone out of business. At least their phone numbers have been disconnected. Any recommendations?

Because the UGA staff listserv would be the best place to get a hookup for a happy ending...

Read

From Jan Brunvand's The Study of American Folklore (4th ed.), from the chapter on "Folksongs":

Popular songs are also printed or, more often, commercially recorded, and they, too, come from the pens of professional composers, sometimes people who are more businessmen and -women than artists, and sometimes from the performers themselves. Many popular-music artists (especially rock musicians) compose directly on their instruments, often in group sessions, thus participating in something akin to the folk process. Professional pop singers are expected to perform songs more or less as they are written and to pay royalties for their use. Popular songs are generally more stereotyped in form than art songs, tending either to fit a rigid ABA pattern (like that of most older pop standards) or following some other mode (like the AAB twelve-bar blues form and blues diction used for some rock pieces). Most popular songs enjoy only a short but a very intense existence, being enormously popular with a broad, mostly adolescent audience for weeks or at most months and then disappearing from radio and music-video shows. But a few popular songs become identified with the generational members of their eras--songs of World War II, of the '50s, the '60s, etc.--and are replayed as "golden oldies," both by individuals and on the airwaves, beyond the times of their initial popularity.

Hobbyhorse

Jesus, Ira. How hard are you trying not to get reelected? ABH reports stuff about deputies corresponding with Malachi York, trying to convert prisoners to Nuwaubianism, Edwards hiring six Nuwaubian deputies, and the firing of the head of the jail who was looking into all this. He also might have wanted to turn down the $2K campaign contribution from the cult leader, whether or not it bought him any influence. It may not have been clear yet that York was molesting kids, but I'm sure it was clear he was crazy. (Winders does a call out.)

Schools fail to meet AYP standards. I really like the way this is phrased:

The AYP measurement is required by state and federal accountability laws such as the No Child Left Behind law, which mandates that every student in the United States must perform on grade level by 2014.

I'm not sure it's even possible to make it clearer that mandates are generally crap. I can mandate that we all be able to fly by next year, but that won't make it happen. Also, gotta love the option of school choice when every Clarke County middle school failed. Also also, this is without counting the students who change schools a lot, who are probably likely to drag down the curve otherwise.

Whistleblower gets back his old position.

Those poor persecuted Republicans of Clarke County. It's not like they're getting mileage out of this. Nah. They're genuinely hurt and think the Young Democrats got together and did this. Any theories (or knowledge) of what the banner was reconfigured to read? I'm thinking "pubic," which isn't even very creative, though the act itself does seem to have required quite a time commitment.

Oh, so Georgia's FDA is required to comply with the suckiness of the federal FDA.

Dang it. More black and Hispanic students applying to and accepted at UGA. The trick now is to get them to enroll.

Of course the guy from Niceville thinks you're rude.

Funny how "reducing fraud" always ends up screwing the poor. You'd almost think it was code for something. Sister Margarita Martin is so going to heaven.

Um, what? Former marine and current football chaplain is screaming things about crack at a bunch of sweaty boys? Note to self: Remember not to send kid to UGA football camp.

What you can do as lieutenant governor is determined by who's in charge in general, party-wise. So you don't just have to win some of the elections. You apparently have to win damn near all of them. Including the state supreme court ones.

Sometimes you get penalized for not acting like obnoxious jackasses. It's a life lesson you get from sports, among other areas.

Don manages to write an opinion column that's not technically one. Good on yer, Mr. Nelson.

ABH backtracks a bit on their taking the side of the anti-free-speechers. Now it's all "the school board should investigate and in public." When most people, including the paper, didn't seem to care about the ability of Bar-Peled to give his speech, what motivation does the board have to look into things?

Read (witcher ears)

Not all of the pieces collected in "Soldiers' Stories" in the New Yorker (you know, the big war-themed one you don't want to read and keep procrastinating about) are in this audio slideshow. I know that because they told me so, not because I've listened to it, so I don't know which ones are and which ones aren't. They are well written. They also occasionally make your stomach contract into a hard little muscle of regret. I figured I already had enough of that on the subject, both before and after reading the article. If your eyes are currently very dry, and you're out of saline solution, you might want to give it a shot.

Athens's big summa hit

So, Mr. Brown may have called me retarded for adding Elite as a friend on MySpace, but as soon as he gets his damn act together and provides a way for you to hear his song "I'm Drunk Off My Ass and I Know It" (that last part may be in parentheses), you will hear it blasting out of cars cruising around downtown looking for a parking space for the remainder of this time we call summer, i.e., about four months in this latitude. For now, you can look at his pictures and use your imagination. Or hit the Sprockets show later this week, at which point you get both pictures and sounds combined in this new thing they call a music video.

Hobbyhorse

Maybe this is a reason to be suspicious about buying brand-new houses. And I knew I didn't like realtors.

The Winder Police Department does not have a single officer who speaks Spanish. And they wonder why they're not breaking this case wide open.

Road funding fluctuates.

I guess I understand offering incentives for people who seem to be doing good work to move to places where that work is needed, but what about teachers? Does a principal necessarily always make that much of an impact?

UGA has to plan for a 2 percent budget reduction again. Why?

While the state provided a 4 percent pay hike for UGA employees in its 2007 budget, it fell short in covering rising utility and health care costs, said Budget Director Tim Burgess.

Because if it's good enough in one area of education, it's good enough in all of 'em.

Students are kicking around ideas for Tate II. Biggest one? Not ugly. Of course, no one's really here to provide ideas.

If there is a theme one can pick out of the ABH editorials over the past year or so, that theme is "It's all about appearances... except when it's not." This one on Nash seems to go along with that, especially this bit, "whether or not Nash's apology was a politically motivated attempt to regain the full commission's trust, it was an apology he clearly owed to them, and to the public." Fake apologies. They're better than no apologies at all.

Also there's some love for community-oriented policing.

What happens when you skip a day and, therefore, a particularly nutty letter? Winders takes your joke.

Yes. Yay for more dead people. At least Royston's presumably in the paper's distribution area. Unlike Maryland.

More problems with "fixed for four." Maybe "fixed" refers less to a state of immobility and more to the temporary shutting up about tuition bills for four years, at which point Sonny, if reelected, will be a lame duck, right?

Advice on not being stupid about parking on campus.

These people need money.

What I got out of this article was some heartwarmingness, sure, but also the information that blacks and Mexicans hate each other at Clarke Middle.

Y'all missed a chance to write a headline with the word Fudger in it, ABH. Anyway, redistricting is with the judge, and arguments on both sides (including the clusterfuck one presented by the defense) are summarized.

I'd love to think of this as conspiratorial consolidation of power, but the man has been around ten years.

Saying you won't dignify something with a response usually means you don't have a good response ready. Tommy Craft refuses even to look into the possibility that kids are being made to copy Bible passages in health class at Cedar Shoals.

Your electric bill is going up again, but less than it would've if the PSC hadn't negotiated with Georgia Power, who wanted all your money.

Wonder of wonders: tort reform is bullshit.

Casey Cagle sucks pretty bad too. He's not talking about cutting taxes, but he is talking about cutting state spending.

Cox is going with the "we just want this whole ugly thing to be over" stance on gay marriage. Mark Taylor's approach? Not showing up.

Emory gives money to the choo choo, but calls it "alternate transportation."

Jim's still not big on the idea of a lawsuit being used to settle things, but he's now more on the side of the schools in the school funding case.

Winders loves the gays! I mean, he's all, "Maybe we shouldn't stone them" and "It's possible they're human, too." The gall.

Oh staff listserv...

Sometimes I can't even explain why you're funny.

Date: June 16, 2006 9:29:26 AM EDT
To: UGA-FORSALE@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: 2006 Yamah Vino Classic Scooter $1600

I am moving so I need to sell my scooter. It is a rassberry 2006 Yamaha Vino Classic (49cc) and I have had it since Novemeber. It is in fantastic condition and I have taken great care of it. It currently has 1100 miles on it. I will also include a winter/armored jacket (Joe Rocket Sm) and two helmets, one black full faced and one silver 3/4, one set of winter gaunlet gloves and one set of light weight gloves. I also have tools to fit the scooter for changing the oils. I still have all of the documentation and the title.

Comics

Yeah. I'm still reading 'em.

Darkness lent us the 2-volume Green Lantern/Green Arrow team-ups from the 70s (vol. 1 here, vol. 2 here), which have some neat art in them (creative stuff with text on title pages, especially) and largely manage to overcome their excess of earnestness about social issues. Thing is, one gets darn sick of GL repeating his oath once a day. Every time? We gotta hear the whole thing? Does current GL do this? It's nice in its teaching kids to question authority, and John Stewart is pretty awesome in his whole "fuck whitey" and "I ain't wearin' no mask" attitude. Still, nothing genuinely emotionally involving. More just kinda cute.

Also have read vols. 2 and 3 in hardback of the Bendis Daredevil stuff (apparently his stories start in vol. 2; Kevin Smith wrote vol. 1, which I haven't read). The art kind of drives me crazy, though, not only in how complicated and messy it is, but also in a kind of sloppiness. There are character inconsistencies. I can see one character changing from white to black with the switching of artists, but he also seems to have switched personas with another character. I don't think it's my stupidity, either, but maybe it is. I'm very much trying to pay close attention, though, as I think you have to do with Bendis, with his love of convoluted storylines, time-wise. Sometimes I like this trait and sometimes it's really annoying (e.g., "just tell me what happened when, douche!"). Also, the whole big deal that's made about Daredevil's hair being burned off and how terrible it is? Not quite so believable when it looks better after being torched. I'm thinking that chick had another life as a very daring hair stylist. I prefer some of the other artists to Maleev, but it's hard to tell who's who (whoever does a lot of the White Tiger storyline is pretty good). It did mostly make me think Daredevil's less lame, though he's a bit reliant on grinning satanically, but I'd get more out of it if I had all the background and such.

Misleading information

There must be some out there.

Hi,

My name is Kiera, I am part of the MyLifeofTravel.com project, a free travel blogging platform created for people to record their travel stories, plot routes onto interactive maps, and to share experiences with other travellers.

As travellers ourselves, we built the site to give people a simple way of sharing their stories and visualising their travels with friends and family. The intention is to encourage as many travellers as possible to share their stories and for the website to become a resource for user-generated travel information.
I'm contacting you because, as a keen blogger, I hoped you might be interested in our concept and be willing to give us some feedback on our site. We have spent nearly 2 years developing it and are looking for as much feedback from other bloggers as possible. I realise this is asking a lot and understand completely if you choose not to reply. However, all feedback we receive is greatly appreciated.

We are looking for general feedback about the site concept along with all suggestions about how to improve the site and which features you would like to see added.

Good luck with your blog and enjoy your travels.

Sincerely,
Kiera

Kiera Bailey
My Life of Travel
http://www.mylifeoftravel.com

Keen blogger, eh? I'm thinking that adjective and that noun might go far together.

Rapture index up a little more

"The more than a million Disney Channel viewers who watch 'The Suite Life of Zack & Cody' each week..."

Please note also:

In a bit of corporate synergy that only Disney could imagine, Ms. Song trained for "Wendy Wu" under Koichi Sakamoto, executive producer of the channel's "Power Rangers" series, which marries martial arts to science fiction. To accommodate Mr. Sakamoto, who also directed the action sequences of "Wendy," the movie was filmed in New Zealand, as is "Power Rangers."

Funny. They don't promote that quite as much in their tourist material...

Flippin' the bird

Sorry I took the night off last night, y'all. I needed to drink some cider, eat some lasagna, and fall asleep early.

Anyway...

I'm flippin' both Peter Beinert and William Grimes the bird. I don't go around telling people what "liberalism" is all the time, and neither should they. The point of being real about all that shit is feeling comfortable in your own skin with it. Pep talks not necessary, especially ones that talk about how awesome it is to kill people.

And to the state of Alabama, for having license plates (it's slightly better that they're military plates, but still) that read "Global War on Terrorism."

And to Jessica Suarez, for calling Ships, "more cohesive than previous Danielson efforts." Only if you haven't heard previous Danielson efforts.

I may have been cranky yesterday. Hopefully less so today.

First dreamy Katrina photos

Thank you, AJC, for bringing us the serious news about what's going on on the Gulf Coast.


We also learn that it's acceptable to wear giant chunks of diamonds in your ears while doing yard work.


That one can pose gracefully with a lopper.


How to look like you're concerned about the youth of today.


Sexiness plus shovel = increased sexiness.


Usher does his own edging.


Wait. There were cameras there? I di'int even notice.

Hobbyhorse

Oh cut it out, Pete. You're just trying to make us forget about Andy and band together in support of Heidi like the terrified progressives we are.

City Pages tells us McCarter would like to privatize more government functions (perhaps this is connected to his desire to hire fewer people), including leaf and limb collection, and Carl Jordan doesn't want you driving your horseless carriage around downtown, dagnabbit, regardless of whether there's another way to get there at night. Also, local industrialists says it's your fault you're unemployed. Or your school's.

Bear serial monogamy revealed in article about Barney's passing.

The secret to Athens's drop in violent crime? Arresting people. Sounds so simple, don't it?

CCPLC students are getting some daycare. Why? 1) Athens Tech president is chair of that committee within Partners for a Prosperous Athens, and 2) Grant money, yo. Hopefully, UGA will get involved, too.

Madison County catfight winding down. See? The mock can be a force for good.

What happens if it doesn't rain and you dickheads keep watering your lawns at inappropriate times. I see you.

Settlement, shmettlement. School funding suit is going to court.

Op-ed wants us to give the damn Orkin Tract away, even though the company interested has said the squabbling between Oconee and Clarke isn't the reason they haven't decided yet. But it might be, editorial emphasizes. And therefore we should grab ankle for 18 jobs.

Why don't you just marry Ralph, Bill?

Sometimes UGA students stick around, and you never know who's gonna and, of those kids, who'll end up being a successful business owner.

See? This guy wrote in from Maryland to support pictures of dead terrorists on the front page of the paper. That's how important it is we see 'em.

Police Blotter ("Baby, baby, baby, baby" edition)

No such thing as a free big ol' cookout.

Arrest: On June 6, a deputy patrolling near Kroger's was flagged down by an employee of the supermarket to alert him to a shoplifting. James William Sheats, 45, of Smith Street, Athens, was walking away from the store when he was arrested. He was seen loading a buggy with four cases of Budweiser, three cases of Bud Light, two packs of Boston Butt meat, two packs of ribeye steaks and a 12-pack of Red Bull drink, then trying to leave without paying.

And these two actions were combined, you imply?

Damage: On June 5, someone damaged three buildings and some vehicles on Commerce Drive by writing remarks and spraying paint. Those businesses marked by the graffiti included Gary West Shutters, Manage Medical Transport and Oconee Foundations Inc.

Somehow, all of this does not seem characteristic of a single perp.

Theft: On June 5, deputy Laura Teet was dispatched to Parkside subdivision, which is under construction about a mile west of Oconee County High School. Trees are being clear and an employee of T&T Timbers of Madison reported someone entered a service truck and spray painted hearts on the tires of a log loader. Stolen were five gallons of hydraulic oil, valued at $50, a 15-gallon a minute fuel pump, valued at $600, and 350 gallons of diesel fuel valued at $770. Someone scratched "Jonathon" on the ground and ATV tracks were found in the area. Teet photographed evidence she found at the scene.

David Gilstrap is not subject to your little flatteries.

Arrest: On June 11, deputy David Gilstrap stopped a car on U.S. Highway 78 and when he asked the driver for his license, the man asked in slurred speech "Hey Baby, how's it going?'' David Elton Bailey, 30, of North Avenue, Athens, was arrested for DUI, driving while his license was suspended and having an open container of alcohol. Two bottles of Mr. Boston vodka were found in the vehicle.

Ladies shopping for bathing suits are already in a foul mood. You don't want to push it, security.

Arrests: On June 9, security at Wal-Mart watched as two women selected swimming suits, then conceal the items in their purses. Outside the Garden Center, security confronted one of the woman who kneed him in the groin, then head butted him in the eye. With help from others, she was brought under control. Katie Moore, 26, of Harve Mathis Road, Athens, and Christina C. Holland, 28, of Bowden were both charged with shoplifting.

The rest here.