Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Burbank Blog

Luther!
The Wee Wife and I spent the weekend rummaging through books at the giant Salvation Army station outside of Healdsburg, acquiring many books to feed our jones.

And we spent Sunday morning at the Luther Burbank Gardens in Santa Rosa. We looked at plants.

Saturday night in the motel…
We scanned the television dial, making me realize once again how much I hate television news. It’s mainly the headache-inducing visual experience. One station, MSNBC I think, had not one but two headline crawls in the bottom third of the screen, and the top third was filled by whatever talking head was talking and ever-changing images around him about what he was talking about.

So there’s that. And Fox News was interviewing the Miss USA runner up about whether she thought she was robbed of the title or not. She said no in a way designed to make viewers think she meant yes. Apparently, there is a segment of the newsmaking community that believes the choosing of a Muslim woman to be Miss USA is some kind of covert Islamo-fascist sneak attack on American values. In collusion with the Hollywood left.

The objective, it seems, is to thwart our godgiven right to objectify sexually unavailable young Christian white women.

Elsewhere (also on Fox?) there was a story about Dora the Explorer. The popular cartoon character was depicted online, satirically, as an illegal alien being beat up and arrested. Our News Source (Fox?), however, seemed to be taking the notion seriously, asking, in fact, “Is Dora the Explorer here illegally?”

Politics aside, this is so stupid it beggars belief. As the Diminutive Bride pointed out, “What are they going to do? Make her go back to a piece of paper?”

Luther, part 2
Burbank, California was not named for Luther Burbank. It was named for David Burbank, a dentist. Why, I don’t know, but somehow it makes more sense.

Burqa Ban
France is following our lead, by going entirely insane. Its proposed ban on the burqa is being offered as a victory for feminism over patriarchy. I heard one supporter on public radio saying that it is the right of every citizen to be able to view his or her fellow citizens in the face. Women are hiding behind those burqas! Come out, into the light!

But what about motorcycle helmets? Are they being banned? Ski masks? I have a friend who is very sensitive to sunlight, and never goes outside without gloves, hat, and veil. Would she be arrested? And what happens to Hallowe’en?

More weirdness from Pat Buchanan…
“If Kagan is confirmed, the Court will consist of three Jews and six Catholics (who represent not quite a fourth of the country), but not a single Protestant, though Protestants remain half the nation and our founding faith….. What kind of diversity is this — either in geography or life experience?”

The Jewish/Catholic cabal will strip us of our godgiven right to objectify sexually unavailable young Christian white women. Mark my words.

Confession
I am alone, I believe, in my dislike of the much-loved series THE WIRE. It was too… written, if you know what I mean, and wore its liberal heart on its sleeve. Series creator David Simon has a new series, TREME, about New Orleans, that not only wears its heart on its sleeve, it tries to put that heart on your sleeve as well.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Re: The Wire

Really? I found most of the appeal of the Wire was its un-written quality, laying out a complex yet uncontrived plot and social commentary through the day to day moments of its characters. A lot of those moments are personal and really happened; the same is true for the characters.

9:51 PM  
Blogger Merle Kessler said...

You may be right. I'll admit that I only tuned in to THE WIRE once, and it just happened to be on a scene that showed a cop and a perp conversing in a way that did not strike me as "realistic." I don't look for realism, mind you, but I like the illusion of it. I should check out Season One, and see if my opinion changes. TREME, however, I do not like. Mind made up! Just so you know, shows I do like are: JUSTIFIED, BREAKING BAD, and (harder to justify, but what the hell) LEVERAGE, CSI (Vegas only), and the ever-portentous CRIMINAL MINDS. I also have a guilty pleasure for FRINGE. Even though, you know, it's complicated and corny. LOST I never got into, because it seemed too much like everything I didn't like about X FILES. I understand that the cast was dead the whole time. So there you go.

3:06 PM  
Blogger Blaize said...

I was wondering about _Criminal Minds_, and thinking about watching it. Is it still good even after Mandy Patinkin leaves?

10:39 AM  
Blogger Merle Kessler said...

Re: the "goodness" of CRIMINAL MINDS.... To me, it all depends on the style and panache of the killer (s). When the killer is mundane, the episode is not so good. The one with the woman who was dosing women with a paralyzing drug so she could have tea parties with them as living dolls was excellent!

2:45 PM  

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