Gabrielle Giffords, you are beautiful….

Posted: January 22, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: | 14 Comments

Gabrielle Giffords has announced she is stepping down:

Continued healing and strength to Gabby…she is a beautiful, inspiring woman.

Afterparty: Golden Globes on Twitter

Posted: January 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , , | 5 Comments

If you don’t want to bother wading through all the live-blogging in the comments of the last thread, here are some tweets that I think sum up all the essentials you need to know about Globes experience this year:

from ZooeyDeschanel, via her twitter acct: "I am wearing a gown but my nails are wearing tuxedos!!! #goldenglobes instagr.am/p/hiuYs/"

marcadelman Marc Adelman
Fassbender just took a whole new meaning in the American vernacular #GoldenGlobes #GetExcited

Jezebel Jezebel
Wow. 180 minutes of show, maybe 5 minutes of Ricky? Sad panda is sad. #goldenglobes

goldenglobes Golden Globe Awards
Meryl Streep: I’m very interested in the stories of women, especially the unwritten stories of women.

(I believe that was backstage to the press after Streep won.)

Ok, final one:

TresSugar TrèsSugar
Highlight of #goldenglobes — George Clooney making a joke about Michael Fassbender being able to play golf with his manhood #Shame

The other thread was getting too long, so this is just an overnight thread to tide us over until the Monday morning reads from Dr. Dakinikat…consider this completely open space to post anything you want!

Open Thread: Golden Globes being hosted by… “Elvis’ last trip to the toilet”

Posted: January 15, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because | Tags: , | 140 Comments

While the red carpet arrivals are still going on, I thought I’d put up an open thread for the Golden Globes. And, the nominees are…. (that’s the Hollywood Foreign Press site’s nomination list, which should update with the winners as the night goes on and they are announced.)

Ricky Gervais is hosting again, so this year’s GG should generate no dearth of headlines! Here’s a preview from the Vancouver Sun:

Photograph by: Eduardo Munoz, Reuters, Postmedia News

Just 48 hours before the 69th Golden Globe Awards, mere mention of the name is enough to strike fear into the hearts of every Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise and Gibson-Cruise wannabe in Hollywood.Gervais, a self-confessed equal-opportunity offender, has been invited back to host the first major awards event of the year, despite a scorched-earth routine at last year’s Globes that had some Hollywood bigwigs suggesting that his U.S. work visa be revoked the next time he tried to cross the pond.

The real Gervais, of course, is a pale, pudgy, unassuming, self-deprecating twonk and obsessive tweeter who says things like (remarking about his recent profile for The New York Times), “[The Times] wanted to portray ‘the king of comedy,’ but, because of me, it looked more like Elvis’s last trip to the toilet.”

Wonk the Vote’s Golden Globe picks… (mostly I’m just going with the one I saw or want to see but haven’t gotten around to yet…)

  • Best Motion Picture, Drama: The Descendants (want to see)
  • Best Actress, Drama: Viola Davis, The Help (saw)
  • Best Actor, Drama: Ryan Gosling (haven’t seen Ides of March, but I like Gosling’s acting better than the others…yes, seriously)
  • Best Motion Picture, Comedy/Musical: Bridesmaids (saw)
  • Best Actress, Comedy/Musical: Kristen Wiig, Bridesmaids (saw)
  • Best Actor, Comedy/Musical: Ryan Gosling, Crazy, Stupid, Love (want to see…just barely, probably will redbox when I’m bored)
  • Best Animated Feature Film: No Kung Fu Panda II? No comment!
  • Best Foreign Language Film: In the Land of Blood and Honey (Want to/Must See! Go Angie!)
  • Best Actress, Supporting Role: Jessica Chastain, The Help (saw! she was brilliant in this role!)
  • Best Actor, Supporting Role: No clue…haven’t seen any of the movies and don’t particularly want to
  • Best Director, Motion Picture: Meh…no woman director, no dice
  • Best Screenplay, Motion Picture: No woman writer, no thank you
  • Best Original Score: No woman composer, no surprise
  • Best Original Song: The Living Proof, The Help–Mary J. Blige et al. (saw/heard)
  • Best TV Series, Drama: Haven’t seen any of them
  • Best Actress, TV Drama: Haven’t seen any of them except Julianna Marguiles in early season 1 of The Good Wife…she was great!
  • Best Actor, TV Drama: BRYAN CRANSTON, BREAKING BAD! (I love him and this show!)
  • Best TV Series, Comedy/Musical: Enlightened (it’s the only one I’ve seen, and I like it a lot–but only seen first few episodes)
  • Best Actress, Comedy/Musical: Would love to see Laura Dern, Zooey D., Laura Linney, or Amy Poehler win. Tina Fey is boring me lately.
  • Best Actor, Comedy/Musical: I don’t know. I guess David Duchovny by default, even though I don’t watch Californication. Okay, I did watch for a season or two, but meh.
  • Best Miniseries: No clue… haven’t seen any of them. I hear a lot about Downton Abbey though.
  • Best Actress, miniseries: Kate Winslet,  Mildred Pierce… another one by default. Love Kate, just don’t watch much TV.
  • Best Actor, miniseries: William Hurt? Too Big to Fail? (Again, no clue…just picking because of the title and I remember William Hurt in Body Heat)
  • Best supporting actress, miniseries: Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce… (default; she’s a good actress)
  • Best actor, miniseries: Paul Giamatti, Too Big to Fail… (default; Lol…I’m just going by Sideways from 2004… )

Are you watching/rooting for anyone tonight? Have at it in the comments, Sky Dancers.

Afterparty with the Media Pundit Anal-ysis

Posted: January 7, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Live Blog | Tags: | 34 Comments

Original Artwork by Dakini Creations (click to visit)

Here’s the Live Blog of the NH Debate tonight if you missed it.

George Snuffleopogus’s ABC crack pundit panel say none of the other Republican candidates were able to take down Mittens.

Discuss.

UPDATE…

Here are some Debate youtubes, as they roll in:

Via TPM…

Rick Perry Says He Would Send Troops Back To Iraq:

Hmm… this just showed up on youtube, via a user who goes by “realjoeplummer” (oh dear…) and it’s called “Ron Paul Highlights in 1/07/2012 Debate” (oh dear x 2):

Ekey santorum’s “you lie” moment vis-a-vis Rogue Paul:

I’ll end this with RuPaul in New Hampshire today:

another clip of RuPaul, H/T to our wonderful commenter HT:

If you have any debate links, videos, commentary, etc., please post them in the comments. Good night and good riddance to the GOP clown car.

 

Live Blog-n-BYOB: Saturday NH Debate

Posted: January 7, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Live Blog | Tags: | 163 Comments

Original Artwork by Dakini Creations (click to visit)

Good evening, news junkies!

  • Will Mittens get Newtered?
  • Will the media cover anything Hunstman says as something of consequence?
  • Will Santorum’s head cavity explode and reveal that there’s been a sparkly stockpile of GLITTER in there all this time?

Join us here at Sky Dancing with your Poison-and/or-Beverage of Choice tonight, as our frontpage team and wonderful commentariat live-blog the Republican debate on ABC in the comments section and find out the answers to all these pressing questions.

If you need something to keep yourself from falling asleep during tonight’s debate and/or from giving in to the urge to file for citizenship elsewhere at the prospect of one of the these GOP loony toons becoming the next ESOTUS (Empty Suit of the United States), below are a couple drinkable recipes to peruse, interspersed with a few newsy links about tonight’s Battle of Unarmed Wits in Manchester, NH.

First, a link where you can find a live feed of the debate via WMUR New Hampshire: Watch Debate at 9pm Eastern/8 pm Central.

ABC.com is also supposed to have livestream here.

I don’t know how reliable those two links will be tonight, so if anyone knows of any other live feed links, please post in the comments.

Now, for one of my favorite grown-up drinks…Blueberry Caipirinhas (h/t Chef Marcus Samuelsson, of Top Chef Masters fame):

  • 18 ounces Cachaca or white rum
  • 3 Tbsp. light brown sugar
  • Juice from 2 limes
  • 8 lime wedges
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 1 Tbsp. shredded mint leaves
In a pitcher, combine the rum, sugar, lime juice and lime wedges. Use a heavy spoon to muddle the ingredients and crush them together. To serve, place 1 1/2 tablespoons of crushed ice in the bottoms of 6 glasses. Divide the blueberries and mint leaves among the glasses, then top with the rum mixture and serve immediately.
I first became acquainted with the drink at a hotel in Bastrop, Texas two Christmases ago, and I’ve been in non-alcoholic lurve ever since. It is a gorgeous drink–and more importantly, strong! Just the way I like during a political deathmatch.
Speaking of which, check out this quick segment from NPR’s All Things Considered if you haven’t already… New Hampshire: Land Of Diversity. Really:

In New Hampshire, you are expected to think for yourself and live up to the state's motto, "Live Free or Die." (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

Let’s be honest, there’s a little truth to New Hampshire’s reputation. The maple syrup is great. The state is not known for its nightlife, and it’s tied for third with West Virginia as the whitest state in America.

So when long-time politician Ray Burton was asked to describe the state in one word, his response was surprising.

“It’s diversity, I believe,” he said. “Variety and diversity.”

The 72-year-old Burton doesn’t mean race or ethnicity, though.

“In the district that I’ve represented now for 34 years, out of the 263,000 people, about a third are Democrats, a third Republicans, and the other third are independents,” he said.

Well to me that sounds like the rest of the country these days, with more than 2.5 million voters leaving both the Oligarchy parties (Ds and Rs) since 2008 and independent-voter affiliation status on the rise:

Democratic registration has fared worse than Republicans in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania — the eight swing states with party registration. Republican losses are biggest in Nevada, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

The decline is due to a variety of factors. People move, people die, people revolt in disgust. Many are stripped from registration rolls by states seeking to remove inactive voters.

By contrast, the number of independents has grown for years and is up more than 400,000 since 2008, or 1.7%. States with big gains: Colorado, Florida, North Carolina — and Arizona, a possible target for President Obama in 2012.

The 2012 winner, says North Carolina elections director Gary Bartlett, will be “whoever is attractive to the unaffiliated voter.”

I don’t know about that. I don’t think any of the declared candidates on either side of the aisle are particularly attractive to the unaffiliated voter.

Except the Still Not-a-household-name-Jon-Huntsman, of course.

I’ve made no secret that I’d at least *consider* voting for Huntsman if he made it through the primaries–but I knew that was a long shot from the start.

The Republican grassroots are determined not to nominate the only guy many Independents would take a serious look at. Figures.

Here’s an excerpt from the prolific Charles Pierce’s latest on “Huntsman, Fighting Invisibility Off With Sanity” (H/T Bostonboomer):

I have chaffed him not a little for his chronic bouts of invisibility during this campaign in which, all things being equal, he should be a major player. Alas for him, however, all things are not equal. The calculations in Republican politics are as skewed and goofy as the field of candidates, to say nothing of the ideas most of them have been spewing since everything began last summer. Jon Huntsman should not be polling behind Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Hell, Trigger shouldn’t poll behind those two. But Jon Huntsman never has been good at the calculus of the crazy, so there he is, chatting with the folks over their eggs, a nice man who’s come to talk and little more than that.

[…]

“The real problem is the insurance companies,” Huntsman said. “We can’t have truly affordable insurance in this country because the insurance companies are not doing what they’re supposed to do — which is take a risk.”

I can assure you that I have listened to these jamokes from one part of the country to another and this is the first time than any of them have mentioned the fact that, perhaps, maybe, if the private insurance companies weren’t such a greedy pack o’ bastards, health-care costs in this country might moderate just a tad. (On Wednesday night, a guy got up at a Santorum event and talked about how hard he had it in the insurance game, and Santorum practically threw him a parade.) It was like a cool breeze blew through the diner. The elderly gentleman relaxed visibly. Jon Huntsman waved, shook hands, posed for a couple of pictures on the front steps, and was gone, leaving just a little bit of sanity behind for people to remember him by.

And boy, in this election year, is that not nearly enough.

Amen!
The lack of sanity and choices is not so great for the country…but it’s probably great for comedy. No doubt Friday’s mock debate by Yahoo and Funny or Die (h/t Minkoff Minx) had plenty of material to work from:

The companies on Thursday announced that they have teamed up for a collaboration dubbed the “Yahoo News/Funny or Die Presidential GOP Online Internet Cyber Debate.” It will air Friday at 8am EST on Yahoo News and the Yahoo Screen page, reports the New York Times.

Moderated by former CNN host Larry King, the 16-minute spoof features a side-splitting cast of actors and comedians playing the Republican candidates including Horatio Sanz of Saturday Night Live fame as Newt Gingrich; John C. McGinley from Scrubs as Rick Santorum; Patrick Warburton playing Gov. Rick Perry; Leslie Jordan as Rep. Ron Paul; Greg Germann playing Jon Huntsmann; Erin Gibson as Rep. Michelle Bachmann,; and Twitter funnyman Rob Delaney as Mitt Romney.

Mike Tyson, who has already shown off his comedic chops in Funny or Die election spoofs, will reprise his role as former GOP hopeful and pizza mogul Herman Cain. Additionally, Bryan Safi will play Bachmann’s husband Marcus and Reggie Brown will play President Obama.

I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, so if you have/find the youtube, please post it!

For those of you who don’t do alcohol, here’s another blueberry drink recipe I found on EatingWell.com that looks good and easy– and the tequila is optional… Blueberry Lime Margarita:
  • 2 cups ice
  • 1 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1 cup blueberry nectar
  • 1/4 cup seltzer
  • 2 tablespoons frozen limeade
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 3 ounces tequila, optional
  • 1 lime wedge
  • Coarse salt
Combine ice, blueberries, blueberry nectar, seltzer, limeade, lime juice and tequila, if using, in a blender and blend until smooth. Rub rim of 2 glasses with lime wedge and dip in salt. Divide the margarita between the prepared glasses and serve.
As you can see, I clearly have a thing for blueberries.
I don’t drink any sweet in my tea, coffee, etc. so super sweet drinks without enough sour in them can turn me off very easily. A mixed drink has to be really classy in a visual way and again *strong* for me to appreciate it.
I am also allergic to really cheap wine/liquor. My allergies have good taste!
Back to politics and my last two links before the debate starts…

Five things to watch for in tonight’s Debate, from the go-to place for campaign news — i.e. the NY Times Caucus Blog (I’m abbreviating the excerpt to the first paragraph after each number, so be sure to click over to read the rest if you’re intrigued):

1. NEWT UNLEASHED: Newt Gingrich continues to insist that he will not go negative in the coming days. But he says that even as he repeatedly lashes out at Mr. Romney’s record, calling him a “Massachusetts moderate” — and worse.

[…]
2. SANTORUM IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Polls going into the weekend showed Rick Santorum gaining strength in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. Though still trailing Mr. Romney by quite a distance, Mr. Santorum, who has been on the fringes of previous debates, is clearly benefiting from a second look by voters after his near-win in Iowa.

3. HUNTSMAN’S LAST STAND?: For Jon Huntsman, the challenge is the same as it’s been for the last several months — getting people to notice his campaign. This may be his last chance.

4. NO MORE ‘OOPS’: For Rick Perry, the main challenge is simple — no more mistakes. The debate stage has not been a friendly one for the Texas governor, but the lack of debates has also meant a lack of attention as the media focuses elsewhere. The weekend gives him a last chance to restart his campaign.

5. PAUL’S ATTACKS: Of all the candidates, Ron Paul has seemed the most willing to offer character attacks under his own name. In Iowa, he ran brutal ads against Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, questioning their ethics and their positions.

Oh GAWD, I almost forgot about Ron Paul.
Well, that’s not *entirely* true… I did thoroughly enjoy this headline from Jezebel that came through on my newsfeeds a short while earlier… RuPaul Hits The Campaign Trail Just to Make Sure You Know He’s Not Ron Paul:

“I’m going to N.H. on a mission to spread love and set the record straight: contrary to recent reports, I am NOT Ron Paul. And I am not running for president of the United States. I hope to meet Ron Paul in person so we can be seen together to put the rumors to rest once and for all. And to remind Mr. Paul and all the Republican presidential candidates ‘if you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else. Can I get an ‘Amen?'”

RuPaul also mentioned that while he is not a political person, “any time a man leaves the house in a wig and a pair of cha cha heels, he’s making a political statement. Let us not forget that this great nation was founded by a bunch of men wearing wigs.”

Why, oh why, is there not a video of this? And if there secretly is, can any of you send it my way? I want to go to there.

LOL! Tonight I’m going to drink everytime I think of RuPaul.
And, on that note…let the drinking games begin!
What will you be in your drinking glass? And, what will be your trigger words tonight to take a sip?
Any good newsy links or political parodies? Observations? Rants? (I’m looking at you Pat Johnson…hope you bring the fury, the frustration, and the funny and sing it tonight, sister!)
Have at it in the comments, Sky Dancers!
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