Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Listen...do you wanna know a secret?
Hah-- I didn’t need no stinking animation to make my cats dance. Have I missed the flood of comments about 50AR? Wasn’t sure where to start-- Bukowski again… at 43. I know what you mean about Post Office, but Factotum was a better novel, wasn’t it? I wonder how the guy would have managed without that benefactor he found, or that found him… forget his name and story, they told all about it in that documentary out last year.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 09/27 at 06:23 AMI sick, dark, dirty secret. I am the Annoying Bromides Collective.
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 08:45 AMThat link didn’t work out well. http://tinyurl.com/ajyj5
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 08:48 AMPost secret - my secret would be that I actually read through all of them! Peculiarly nifty site, and one with some usefully cathartic value for some.
I share your fondness for this particular cat gif. He does the same dance as one of my felines when he’s feigning starvation while displaying his slightly chubby belly simultaneously.
Great site (yours) and great reading - Thanks!
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/27 at 08:49 AMhello again
won’t the administrator for the secrets site know who sent them? wide open for blackmail that one!
been away for a few days at the london demo that matched up with the one in washington so excuse me if i am off topic a bit (not read thru all you had about that yet) but i was on a night bus when you were all discussing it.
some good points, some depressing ones abot the demo.
on the down side marching round the town being ignored again can get a little depressing. on the up side, thousands of people standing outside downing street chanting ‘blood on your hands’ is quite an impressive sight.
best sign i saw this time was someone with a picture of new orleans with the legend.. “make levees, not war”
JOS it was in your review on your blog that you said something opposite to what i said about 50AR (see spinwatch review - lets not fall out over it!)
also i made two posters for the demo and i will ask mickey to stick them in a section somewhere as i am such a luddite i still don’t know how to do it.
Posted by michael on from back in scotland 09/27 at 08:51 AMJames: At $100 a month, it wasn’t as if Buk was raking in the dough.
Harry: That bromide site isn’t too busy, huh?
Amelopsis: Welcome the site. First time here?
Michael: I don’t know how to post those images in the comments section either. I’ll post them in a regular post, okay?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 10:05 AMI lost a lot of enthusiasm for it, Mickey, after I found that getting into character for it was risky. The idea of being that banal for real scared me.
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 11:39 AMUnfortunately, Harry, it doesn’t seem to faze 90% of Americans.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 11:57 AMNot my first visit - I’ve been looking in for a while now and credited you as the source for a couple of my posts: Hank Brusselman’s art, and Helen Keller which linked back to the article.
I’m glad that you write and even more glad that you share it here! An intelligent, insightful and ecclectic blending of information and opinion.
I dig it & blogroll it!
Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/27 at 12:15 PMhey michael...I hadn’t read your entire review on spinwatch and I must say I second the praise found in the comments section. no falling out here…
I like to make my own definitions of words, in a sense, to reclaim them and redefine them. I agree with everything you said and quoted about patriotism...it is vile, but perhaps there is something that can reclaimed...redefined as some sort of positive mass movement of pride in making change.
my secret of today is that I am bedridden due to severe back pain...the result of gaining too much weight and not exercising.
hello all!
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 01:02 PMcheers.
my secret is that i used to like U2 and now i wish bono and geldof would just #### off.
not much of a secret really
till tomorrow…
Posted by michael on from scotland 09/27 at 01:18 PMHi Mickey & JOS & Harry & Michael & James & Amelopsis -
JOS- sure hope you get better soon. I’ve got a couple of books filled with Yoga Asanas, for when my back or neck start to get “funny” - but before they get “hilarious!” Yoga helps a lot, much of the time - as does a chiropractor… Good Luck, James, our friend.Mickey, I received my copy of 50AR, this morning.
Thanks for getting all of this stuff onto paper, and out to us. A VERY useful labor of love, Mr. Z!Saw a player from the Washington Wizards give a speech at the demo, on D.N., last night. Very bright, very articulate, and very, very angry. He said he’d like to take a busload of neo-cons “to the hood” and kick them off the bus. Gradually, as life began to grind them into the ground, he could explain to them how life works when you live on the bottom. A great, impassioned speech.
You or Dave Zirin should consider an interview.I’m amazed, though I shouldn’t be, by how the Left so consistently mirrors the mainstream. Even our “slave-revolts” are organized around “Plantation Principles.” There are so very many marches and demonstrations and gatherings, and they’re advertised somewhat like this: “Big name speakers will be in attendance.” “Come Listen to Ralph Nader.” “Speeches by Zinn and Chomsky and Blum!” “Come see Cynthia McKinney!”
MUST-SEE Revolution! All New! Tonight at Nine!
Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/27 at 01:26 PMHello all…
Joe, Zirin beat me to it: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050926/zirin. Anyway, i look forward to your feedback on 50AR.
JOS: Are you icing your back? Is this chronic?
Michael: As sick as I am of Bono, I still love U2’s music.
Amelopsis: I try to get blogrolled as often as possible.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 01:34 PMJoe/Mick-
Over the past year I had lost quite a bit of weight and with it I also lost the my chronic back and neck pain.
For the past month I have been eating like some sort of farm animal and I have gained a lot of weight back.
My wife is a certified yoga instructor, but in keeping with the animal theme, she says that getting me to exercise is like “trying to get a horse to fly.”
I think the pain I am feeling now will be motivation enough to begin exercising.
Mick - I have a heat pad on it now...maybe icing it would be better?
Anyway, I will survive. Thanks for the concern.
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 01:54 PMThanks for the link, Mickey. So, he’s done some writing, as well. An impressive guy. I hope he’ll be able to remain on the team for a while. His audiences - in Washington! - may prefer to send him off to play in Croatia or Turkey…
JOS, I don’t have time to gab about your back. My horse just flew in with an important message.
Gotta go.Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/27 at 02:08 PMPS
I love U2’s music, too, Mickey. I hear those little cords they generally play before beginning a song, and I’m instantly delighted. Yeah, they’re idiot celebrities, but when they go to work, they’re just amazing…Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/27 at 02:13 PMJoe, i tolf her that there are plenty of flying horses around if you look hard enough.
This is pretty funny, courtesy of cursor.org:
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 02:20 PMMickey-- ahh, y’know, I wasn’t really knocking the guy, just, I mean, lots of writers’ lives and careers would have been a lot different if they hadn’t gotten some lucky break or another. I still say that if you dig Buk so much, go back and read Knut Hamun’s ‘Hunger’, the Penguin translation, if you haven’t. Like the most intense CB novel, but w/o the drinking or the sex.
I went over to the Times Square New Balance store today-- hundred bucks for good vegan sneakers! I figured NB would be a good way to save $, but since not, it’s over to the lovely ladies and Mooshoes I go. And their cats, too, they’re really a sight to behold. Don’t dance, though.
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 09/27 at 02:21 PMOkay, I’ll resist the obvious “horsefly” joke, joe.
JOS: I simply can’t offer any suggestions via internet but in general, I use ice when the problem is in the acute stage and heat if it is chronic. In general. Please start exercising. You will never regret it.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 02:21 PMJOS, I’ve found the only thing that keeps back pain away is regular strengthening exercises for the midriff. Everyone has their favorites. I find the one I’ll do with the most consistency is crunches. Spoil yorself with some good music while you do them.
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 02:41 PMthanks harry/mick…
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 02:49 PMJOS, out of curiousity, does the back condition come from construction work?
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 02:54 PMI guess my perscription would be - walk. Walk your ass off. Every step works your gut, and lots of other places as well. Of course, every movement helps somewhat. I read a study, once, that said that people who “fidgit” as they sit watching TV, are (slightly) stronger and in better shape than those who sit still…
Off topic: I read part of an interview with Chris Floyd recently. The interviewer asked him what he’d ask the residents of the White House, if he had the opportunity. After the appropriate bashings, The Floyd said he’d ask them one question, just one: “If we give you folks, say, 200 billion dollars in cold cash, would you just go away?”
Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/27 at 03:12 PMJOS, with a wife who can show you how to do the asanas properly, you should seriously consider doing a sun salutation and the strength will come with the bandhas (this is all ashtanga flavour yoga) if you want to strengthen your midriff (I agree - it’s the only thing for chronic back trouble of the average sort)
You’ll be amazed. I promise.Posted by Amelopsis on from Canada 09/27 at 03:37 PMthanks for all of the advice...all good. Harry, some of it is from heavy lifting, some sports (football/skiing) and some is the fact that I don’t think humans were meant to be 6’5” and (>) 225 pounds, which brings us right back to the exercise.
if i could do a sun salutation right now it would help to no end, Amelopsis.
Joe, walking has always been my form of excercise after I stopped playing sports…
time to get off my ass!
I loved all the sympathy today...thanks everyone.
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 04:00 PMJOS, here’s something fun I did earlier this year: http://tinyurl.com/7wwwf.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 04:16 PMI will begin my militant presses as soon as I am able…
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 04:20 PMMickey, I don’t recall you asking if you could post my picture like that, at the head of your article. Well, at least you didn’t use my face, so I’ll probably not be widely identified…
JOS - yes, I love walking, too. While you’re doing something really good for yourself, you get to look, really look at the world, about one yard at a time, close up and personal. You can think about those things that have been pestering you, or just try to shut the mind down, for a bit, and just attend to the various perceptions - sights, sounds, the feeling of feet on the pavement, the wind on your face, the good and strange and downright bad smells wafting by… After a while, it gets into you - a happy addiction…
Posted by joe on from Oregon 09/27 at 04:25 PMI remember that guide, Mickey. Fun!
JOS, the reason I asked is because I wondered if you mightn’t have done some spinal damage. Whatever the case, I recommend Tai Chi or some other “internal” style in addition to any other exercises you do. In fact, if I were you I’d start with that. You’re a big guy and keeping all that size integrated is important.
Posted by Harry on from 09/27 at 04:49 PMGiven the quality of contributions on this comment thread and on every other thread on Mickey’s site, I’ll keep my comment brief: I lOVE those mini-amimation images as well, and .. your latest opus sounds good enough to read Mickey!
One question: what is the best website to see lyrics for pop/rock songs?
Thanks for entertaining and informing us in your inimitable way day after day, Mickey!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 09/27 at 04:54 PMHello JOS! And I hope you get better very soon.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 09/27 at 04:56 PMHelga: I just type the song name and the word “lyrics” into a search engine and see what happens.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 09/27 at 04:59 PMThanks Mickey! Will do.
Oh, and I like that drawing by V.T. btw - a lot!Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 09/27 at 05:10 PMAnd, guess what, it worked Mickey! Thanks so much!
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 09/27 at 05:14 PMHarry, I very well may have some spinal damage...thanks for the tai chi recommendation...they do it right down the street at night. I walked by one night and out of the corner of my eye I saw a group of people behind a fence moving in unison and perfect silence in the shadows...it was wonderful to see.
Posted by JOS on from The Island of Enchantment 09/27 at 05:31 PMHelga,
Be careful when searching for “lyrics” in Google - I have found a lot of crazy sites with major annoying pop-up windows that really don’t have much to offer. Try this site for some links to try:http://musicmoz.org/Lyrics/Search_Engines/
This one is very good: http://www.atomiclyrics.com/
I have also had good luck typing the name of the song in quotes and the word lyrics in Google works many times.
If you want a great source for music in general, I love http://www.allmusic.com I love looking up my favorite bands and looking at the “moods” on the left - kind of like a personality profile…
-Nancy
Posted by Nancy the Librarian on from the library 09/27 at 06:52 PM
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