I just got back from watching The Dark Knight. There is no onomatopoeia sufficient enough to express how much this film kicked ass. I had no idea you could even do that with a pencil! Yes, if you’re a Batman fan you must go see this.

After the film, I was thinking about how many people already know the Batman universe inside and out and how that is akin to the Greeks back in the day who knew the story of the Iliad and Odyssey inside and out. The bards, or Hollywood people, if they’re sharp, know how to spin the yarn to play off the fact that the audience already knows certain details. In this case it’s all about Gotham’s sweetheart Harvey Dent. Yes, we know what happens to Harvey, but no amount of foreknowledge ruins the telling of his tragic story. It was spectacular to see Harvey Dent’s past and future unveiled before our eyes in such a simple yet descriptive way. I’m not going to ruin it for anyone, but I will say, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

Batman is the mythic hero for our culture just as Achilles or Perseus was for the Greeks. And just like the Greeks, we will always be entertained no matter how many times we hear it: the epic conflict between Batman and the Joker, or the tragic fall of Gotham’s D.A. Harvey Dent.

Anyway, go see this movie.

el jo

This martini reminds me of the crystal clear blue water of Waldo Lake in central Oregon.

1 1/2 oz. gin
1 1/2 oz. vodka
1 oz. orange liqueur
1 oz. blue curaçao

Stir (yes, stir) together in a cocktail shaker over ice and serve up.

el jo

I’ve seen several variations on the Long Island Iced Tea and I’ve found that my favorite by far is the Tokyo Iced Tea. It’s the same idea as a Long Island with the gin, vodka, and rum, but the Tokyo twist is the midori. It’s oh so yummy! Here’s how I make my verson:

Put some ice in an old fashioned glass and combine:
1 oz. gin (New Amsterdam is my favorite)
1 oz. light rum
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. peach schnapps
1 oz. midori
splash of lime juice
top with orange juice

If you made it right, it should come out a lovely creamy lime color. And it is oh so delicious!

Kampai!
el jo

I found this the other day at Joe.My.God. and it made me chuckle:

Then today, I read this post and discovered how true that little cartoon was. Obama voted to pass FISA with the telecom immunity. I can understand Gordon Smith doing something like that, because Gordon is a twat who doesn't want to get re-elected. But Barack fucking Obama? What the hell?

I gather most presidential candidates at various points during their campaigns have to pander to some extent toward the opposite end of whatever platform they're running on. That's really to be expected. In the United States today we are about as divided as we were back in the 1860s. This time it's not between Northern and Southern states, but between "Red states" and "Blue states." (Check out this article over at io9.com. It's interesting and depressing at the same time.)

With a country as divided as ours, it's no wonder that presidential candidates start reaching across the aisle as it were. (Of course, the Dems tend to lean to the Right much farther than any Republican would ever lean toward the Left. I imagine that has something to do with the Right's general refusal to budge any more than a nanometer on pretty much anything.) But what pisses me off particularly about Obama's pandering to the Right is that he seems to be confirming to all the hard-core conservatives out there that the only correct way is the Right way, effectively negating the concerns of the other 49% of the country that call ourselves Progressive.

So I'm pissed off at Obama for giving his yea vote to such an invasive (and no doubt unconstitutional) bill. I'm sure he did this as some sort of PR stunt in order to get votes from the uneducated backwater bumpkins in those Red states. This is not the guy I gave my vote to, is it?

We're so fucked.

This is a variation of the Dovdevan I wrote about during Pesach. I call it a Kirschfucker.

1 1/2 oz. light rum
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. kirschwasser
1 tbsp. grenadine
splash lemon juice
top with cherry 7-Up

Put it in a highball glass over ice, stir and enjoy!

el jo

Alternatively titled: This is how the Internet works

As I was browsing through my usual blog fare, I happened across the Weekly Feminist Reader for this week at Feministing. It had a link to a cartoon documentary on the roles for women in Hollywood. That took me to an awesome site full of comics (that I will have to make a link to as well).

Well, on that site, I jumped over to a funny little website called Stuff White People Like. On the very first page, I find an awesome story about how unrelentingly white my old hometown is. (But Eugene certainly isn’t any better. In fact, Oregon in general is pretty damn white. I think it’s because this is where all the southern racists came to after the Civil War. Or something.)

Anyway, I just wanted to share that train of links. It’s an awful lot like how my brain works. Just one non sequitur after another.

Ooh! Shiny Things!
el jo

I just wanted to say “Happy Towel Day” to y’all before it’s over.

I know where my towel is at!

el jo

Holy shit! Can somebody please tell me just what the fuck is wrong with this woman? Apparently she’s staying in the race through June at the very least just in case something happens to Barack Obama. Like what? Well, since she referenced Bobby Kennedy’s assassination in June of 1968, I can only assume that she means Obama’s death.

She sounds like a mafioso. “Hey, eh, you know, things can happen to candidates, you know, when they don’t know I’m the one that’s supposed to be runnin’ the show, see? Bad things. I mean, hey, I don’t wanna give anybody any ideas or nothin’ but, eh, lookit what happened to Bobby Kennedy. You know, I’m just sayin’.”

I really feel that this woman is royally fucking up any future chances for women to run for president. I also really feel that with every single press conference, every time she opens her mouth, she’s destroying her own campaign, her credibility, and the trust of the American people. But when are people going to wake up and do something about it? Don’t the Dems have some say in who gets nominated? Or have the Dems become so cowed by the Republicans (and each other) that they’d rather wait, risking a loss to John McCain, than do something to deal with this petulant little candidate?

Let me just say it now for all y’all to hear: “Hillary Rodham Clinton is pissing me the fuck off! She needs to get a goddamn clue and leave this race!”

el jo

From Wikipedia:

The Second Defenestration of Prague was central to the start of the Thirty Years’ War in 1618.
Some members of the Bohemian aristocracy rebelled following the 1617 election of Ferdinand (Duke of Styria and a Catholic) as King of Bohemia to succeed the aging Emperor Matthias. In 1617, Roman Catholic officials ordered the cessation of construction of some Protestant chapels on land that the Catholic clergy claimed ownership of. Protestants contended the land in question was royal, rather than owned by the Catholic Church, and was thus available for their own use. Protestants interpreted the cessation order as a violation of the right to freedom of religious expression granted in the Letter of Majesty issued by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609. They also feared that the fiercely Catholic Ferdinand would revoke the Protestant rights altogether once he came to the throne.
At Prague Castle on May 23, 1618, an assembly of Protestants, led by Count Thurn, tried two Imperial governors, Vilem Slavata of Chlum (1572–1652) and Jaroslav Borzita of Martinice (1582–1649), for violating the Letter of Majesty (Right of Freedom of Religion), found them guilty, and threw them, together with their scribe Philip Fabricius, out of the high windows of the Bohemian Chancellery. They landed on a large pile of manure in a dry moat and survived. Philip Fabricius was later ennobled by the emperor and granted the title von Hohenfall (lit. meaning “of Highfall”).
Roman Catholic Imperial officials claimed that the three men survived due to the mercy of angels assisting the righteousness of the Catholic cause. Protestant pamphleteers asserted that their survival had more to do with the horse excrement in which they landed than the benevolent acts of the angels.

Celebrate this Discordian Holyday by steering clear of ditches and piles of manure. Especially if there are any tall buildings nearby.

el jo