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| jeremy |
 Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 5:54 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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billyweeds wrote: Always a favorite of mine, Albert Brooks has made a couple of cinematic clinkers of late, but this Huffpost item proves he's still a mighty intelligent man.
http://tinyurl.com/kqzgq95
It was funny enough Bill and I know you'll leap on anything that casts Obama the Cautious in a good light, but unless Mr Brooks was being too subtly ironic for me, I'm not sure that boasting about making Limousines or Cadillacs as any sort of benchmark in automotive engineering impresses anyone. Poorly handling, gas guzzling testaments to excess, I don't think I have ever seen one on the road in Europe. Further, America didn't invent the computer as claimed, but did what it does best, seized on an idea and turned it into a product people wanted to buy and then leveraged its market size and marketing pizzazz to make it a world beater. And there's nothing wrong with that.
It reminds me of Bill Clinton's first inaugeration speech in which during a paean to American inventiveness, he listed a slew of innovations and discoveries, a third of which, it transpired, weren't American at all. Perhaps he should have added insularity as one of things in which the US leads the world.
Occassionally, when it gets a bit despondent at its realtive decline and, despite having the world's greatest military machine, its growing impotence, America still needs to remind itself that it reamins, by far, the world's most productive nation (culturally and economically) and, on the whole, a force for good in the world. However, I'd say that this type of pissing contest is a bit beneath it.
[Winks to audience]. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 6:44 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6951
Location: Black Hills
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You know when someone writes, "You are known for Siberia, we are known for Big Sur," that tongue is firmly in cheek. Pretty sure the "Cadillacs and Lincolns" comment was a joke. Note that Albert also boasted of our fastfood superiority. It is to laugh.
Brits can rightfully boast of Turing and Babbage, insofar as the birth of the computer is concerned. And many of "our" physics and computer geniuses were, oddly enough, transplanted from Hungary. And though my native prairie states produced Claude Shannon, I would never use that in a micturating contest. Not when there's beer. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:02 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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If your reading is right Bart, it appears I owe Billy and Mr Brooks an apology...Or maybe not; isn't one of the pleasures of irony that not everyone gets it.
The maid does all my irony.
Every nation has their Ensign Chekovs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5QgeCL1fs |
_________________
I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:15 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6951
Location: Black Hills
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| I'm not sure, but I know I'm fascinated by the concept of a Russian fast food chain popping up in my town. I can picture one in the local mall, right next to "Haggis Express." |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 7:59 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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Aw, you guys should be writing for Jon Stewart. I'm cracking up here.
I liked Brooks' column and was surprised to see the little notice at the bottom that he'd written a book, "20/30," which I looked up on Amazon. It was published in 2011 but I'd never heard of it. The first chapter was appealing, though, and the paperback was on sale for $6, so I've ordered it. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:26 pm |
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Guest
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billyweeds wrote: Always a favorite of mine, Albert Brooks has made a couple of cinematic clinkers of late, but this Huffpost item proves he's still a mighty intelligent man.
http://tinyurl.com/kqzgq95
Of course he's mighty intelligent, his name is Albert Einstein!  |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 6:57 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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jeremy wrote: If your reading is right Bart, it appears I owe Billy and Mr Brooks an apology...Or maybe not; isn't one of the pleasures of irony that not everyone gets it.
The maid does all my irony.
Every nation has their Ensign Chekovs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln5QgeCL1fs
Jeremy--In point of fact, my liking for the column has precisely NOTHING to do with my liking for President Obama. I'm mainly impressed that Brooks is able to make jingoism seem hip and cool. Or sort of.
And, yes, you completely missed the irony. But you're British, so what else is new? |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:22 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Sat Sep 14, 2013 9:43 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| It's hard to believe that DeBlasio will actually be able to raise taxes on the NYC wealthy, considering their clout and their argument that 19,000 citizens pay 40 percent of the taxes as it is. I'm not sure what that says about the rest of us 8 million or so who earn so little that our taxes look insignificant. I just hope he can do something about housing costs, which have been high and getting higher ever since I came to New York--and if I hadn't inherited nearly $250,000 when my dad died, and put most of it as a down payment on a condo, I'd still be in that tiny rent-stabilized apartment on 71st Street, because I couldn't afford to move out. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:40 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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| I can only say to those 19000 billionaires and multimillionaires who shriek like little girls at the prospect of paying some infinitesimal portion of their earnings (money that came from you, me, and everyone we know) to help fund a pre-kindergarten program for the less fortunate: CRY ME A BIG FAT RIVER. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| knox |
| Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:07 am |
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Joined: 18 Mar 2010
Posts: 1245
Location: St. Louis
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 11:28 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| I saw some of that reported on the news this morning. Nice trick if they can do it. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 2:46 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
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/The Costa Concordia cruise ship was featured in Jean-Luc Godard's 2010 feature Film Socialisme. The film was released on DVD three days before the crash. So if you want to see what is was like aboard the ship prior to Il Crasho. In the film, the ship serves as a metaphor for decadent capitalism sailing into choppy waters. And became an even more blatant bloated metaphor for the global crackup.
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Chris Christie, America's most overrated governor: Moran
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And here's a pic of my foster kitten, The Big O, who needs a home:
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Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 8:31 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6951
Location: Black Hills
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Looks like they got it upright.
The boat, that is. Not the kitten. Which is the standard kitten, i.e. just show it to someone, their heart will be melted, and it will be adopted. Or perhaps converted to kitten egg rolls. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:24 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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If I weren't allergic to cats...well, I'd probably have at least three already.
That article about Gov. Christie doesn't even mention the problem that Paul Krugman described in his blog some months ago, about Christie canceling a new train tunnel to NYC (which had already been started) and putting the money into private prisons (a deal with benefits for himself). I considered moving to New Jersey (where I could have had a much larger apartment for the money) when I got my inheritance, but the transportation situation is lousy--I work with enough New Jersey people to know all about it. If Christie were a good governor, he'd do something about it instead of making it worse. (He has a winning TV personality, though--and that counts for a lot. Way too much, in fact.) |
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