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Groovy!

A couple political observations – then, back to critter-blogging!

Apparently, some folks feel that the Republican party’s problem is that they didn’t run far enough to the right and/or hold fast enough to principals. Good luck with that:

Voting shifts – 2008 v. 2004

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My hunch is that there are a lot of people like me – pragmatists – who have figured out that if you want government to work, it’s probably best not to elect people who have moored themselves to the idea that the government doesn’t and can’t work. As a fan of functioning divided government (notice the important 1st qualifier), I’d love to see the return of grown-up Republicans – folks who are now disparaged as RINOs: the Bill Welds and Christie Whitmans of the party. Not sure that’s going to happen though – in the inevitable backstabbing attendant on a loss, Caribou Barbie is being promoted by some as the future of the party. Insofar as she represents a near-perfect amalgam of corruption and Christianism, I guess she does make sense if you think the problem is that Republicans are not past-8-years-of-Republicanism enough. As an aside, the name of one of the components of the circular firing squad – Operation Leper – is a nice counterpoint to the religious fervor of the woman they’re trying to protect. I’ll admit to not being the best CCD student ever, but I thought the carpenter guy was in favor of cleansing rather than creating lepers. I found this clip over at Hot Air – a nice visual representation of a post-November 2008 ‘lessons learned’ session:

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In the other direction, The Onion has this to say about post election let-down:

Some photographs

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A good trip to a part of Maine that I’d never visited before – down east/Grand Lake. A cottage in Pembroke is sounding pretty attractive; you’d have the ocean, upland bird covers, trout fishing – don’t know if stripers get that far north. We saw moose, bald eagles, Canada – with that kind of foreign policy resume, it’s only a matter of time before the State Dept. calls. Lots of walking for not too many birds – I think the woodcock flights are still north of us.

I think this is Pink Earth (Dibaeis baeomyces).

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Superior Scribblers

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Wow. I get back from a multiday bird hunting trip to find that Steve has tagged me as a superior scribbler. To say that I’m emproudened would be an understatement. I’ve been reading Steve since the mid-80’s, when A Rage for Falcons first came out and the other bloggers he tags are damn high quality reads – I feel like the odd guy out. Hasn’t stopped me from doing a little (internal) swaggering around, though – I plan on continuing to enjoy the recognition.

My five picks for Superior Scribblers:

  • Lord Whimsy’s LiveJournal. Sartorial splendor, yes, but also plants, carnivorous and otherwise, wunderkammeren, the Pine Barrens and the Philly scene. He introduced me to Adam Wallacavage’s cephalopod chandeliers and has recently been seen dancing with danger girls. Beware – that well-dressed man on the pennyfarthing is much more than he seems!
  • Xtinpore. I found Xtin via Pluvialis/Fretmarks (they are friends IRL) and what a find it was. She writes like a thrush sings. Xtinpore has been on a bit of a hiatus recently – I’m fervently hoping that regular posting will resume. If you haven’t been there, go and read the older posts; if you have, add Xtin to your RSS feed so that you’ll know immediately when new posts go up.
  • The Glyphblog. One of the nice things about the medium (web stuff/blogging) is that it can be a substrate for various forms of expression – words, drawings, photographs, sequential art, moving images, you name it. You’ll find just about all of the above (and some things that defy categories) over at Lex10’s place. The Greatest Nancy Panel Ever Drawn and trading card mashups? C’mon, what more could an old psychedelician want?
  • Indexed. Visual haiku. Teh awesum. Jessica deserves a chapter in Edward Tufte’s next book.
  • Signor Marcello Poletti’s Flickrstream. Ok, so not much scribbling – mostly pictures – but I don’t care! One of my reading metrics, especially when it’s non-fiction, is how many other books does the tome in question cause me to read? How many tangential paths do I set off on? By this measure Poletti’s stream is superior – keep an eye on it.

Halloween movies

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This year’s Halloween movie picks?

I read (ages ago – it may have been when American Werewolf in London was first released) a review in the Boston Phoenix that slotted the three big horror subgenres into corresponding childhood trauma. Frankenstein calls out the fear of parental rejection, the werewolf evokes the loss of control attendant upon adolescence, and I’ll be damned if I can remember what vampires linked to. As a result, I’ll be without critical foundation as I watch Brides of Dracula – ah, well – I’ll just have to enjoy it as entertainment. Orgy of the Dead is another matter altogether – will it be good-bad or unwatchable even with the promised !Topless Dancers!? Time will tell.