my friend barry's emmy

remember when i saw that emmy out my kitchen window? that's when i first talked about my friend barry's emmy:

"now, i certainly know people who have emmys. please. please. plenty of people...okay i know one person with an emmy. and he lives in milwaukee. my friend barry link...and i've never actually been in the same room as barry's emmy."

and i talked about it again here, referring to this photo:

"this is either a photo of my friend barry's emmy award, OR an elaborately set up shot...designed to look like a photo of the emmy award [out my kitchen window]..."

if you want to be completely up to snuff, click those links, go back and read those old posts. it's important. because i'm in milwaukee now, and i'm getting closer to actually seeing barry's emmy.

beaten down

i think barack obama is honest. i think he's intelligent. i think he's sincere. i don't think he's an elitist, or out of touch, or unpatriotic.

obama is using a(nother) press conference today to condemn and deride jeremiah wright's appearances over the last week. "his comments contradict everything i've done in my life," he says. "i am outraged and saddened."

unfortunately, i think obama looks more saddened than outraged, more beaten down than ready to punch back. i worry that will be troublesome to voters who are taking a second look at senator clinton because she is recasting herself in the role of a fighter: she's tough, she can take a blow, she keeps on going and going, and she can get down in the dirt if necessary and fight for the working class. granted, i've tuned into this press conference a few minutes late, but obama does not look like a fighter here.

i'm sure this isn't easy. this is a wounded man, who is probably incredibly sad. but i think we want to see some of the outrage. i think we want to see the man stand up, and...well...fight.

UPDATE 1:43 p.m. -- did i misread it? reporters who were in the room for this press conference are saying "you could feel the anger" coming from obama.

UPDATE 10:07 p.m. -- cnn political reporter candy crowley, tonight on 360 with anderson cooper: "the room was very tense... you could almost see (obama) seething. you couldn't see it so well on t.v. but live - in the room - it was very apparent."

book 'em danno, she's five-O

in august of this year, madonna louise ciccone ritchie will be 50 years old. 50. fifty. fifty-fifty-fifty. and she likes to shimmy, do plies, stretch aaand kick! she's a choo-choo charley and a class act. and i'm here to tell you: her new album is the jam. yes, i said the jam. it is also dope, tight, chill, pimp, sick, loose, phat, hella, gnarly, the shit, the crunk, off the hook, off the chain, and wicked fresh hott. and i am so not kidding.

(seriously. did you ever think we'd be talking about madonna at fifty?)

frontega homeless and cheese

i'm in milwaukee, at panera bread, ordering my "usual" -- half a frontega chicken sandwich and a cup of creamy tomato soup (which happens to be vegetarian creamy tomato soup although i don't order it because it's vegetarian, i mean, obviously -- the chicken sandwich) when suddenly, another customer mysteriously appears from somewhere inside the restaurant and interrupts to speak to the delightful but curiously large asian man/boy taking my order.

the customer whispers something in man/boy's ear while carefully gesturing toward the back of the restaurant. "you're serious?" man/boy says. the customer grimaces, nods, and slips back into the mist.

moments later, as i'm waiting for my order, i hear a shrill, trumpet-like voice from behind the counter: a saucy teenage girl (as saucy as teenage girls get in wisconsin) announces to her fellow employees "okay are you ready for this?" all the employees immediately stop what they're doing to listen to her. this girl has power. customers stop chewing. birds stop chirping. the muzak pauses. there is now complete and utter silence for what promises to be the announcement of the decade.

"there's a homeless guy in the bathroom, pants down, asleep on the toilet," saucy says.

no one moves.
birds stand still.

"ohmygod what?! what did you say?" another employee mumbles.

"homeless guy in the bathroom. pants down. asleep on the toilet." she reiterates, full trumpet-voice.

there's a beat of silence. then a quiet but extended groan from the customers, the birds, and the other employees, including the skinny guy ladling out my creamy tomato soup. "did anyone tell chris?" skinny says, as he drops cheesy asiago croutons in my soup (i usually ask for extra croutons, but i'm trying to slim down a bit.) "chris is not gonna be happy."

"i know," saucy says, "this is the second time today."

as i enjoy my chicken sandwich and tomato soup, i watch poor chris mope off toward the men's room, shaking his head in disgust, and i think to myself, "ahhh, feels just like home." of course in new york, it wouldn't be only the second time.

joe watkins can blow me

joe watkins (pastor of the christ evangelical lutheran church in philadelphia; a key non-lawyer member of the government relations practice at buchanan ingersoll, a major national law firm; former associate director in the office of public liaison at the white house under president george h. w. bush; former assistant state director for u.s. senator dan quayle) is on msnbc blathering on and on about rev. jeremiah wright, and how wright shouldn't be giving news conferences -- this is hurting barack obama -- wright is at the least divisive and at the worst offensive -- if i'm a white working class voter and i see this guy on t.v. i will never...

woah, hold on.

first of all, joe, you're NOT a white, working class voter. you don't really know what it's like to be one, just like i will never know what it's like to be at the same time pastor of an african american church AND a republican strategist. i'm not sure how you have time to be a pastor, joe, since you're constantly on television in your republican strategist role. you criticize jeremiah wright for his politics, saying a pastor's job is to preach the gospel of jesus christ, but that's not what are you doing on television. what do your parishioners think about that? maybe we should ask them. all 85 of them. (about as many people read this blog on a regular basis.)

joe, whatever you think of rev. wright and his past sermons (or the endless youtube clips of them) he's on television speaking to bill moyers, addressing the detroit NAACP, and giving a "news conference" this morning because people like you can't stop talking about him. if you were talking about me that much I'D BE GIVING A NEWS CONFERENCE. why don't you tell msnbc that we should be talking about the poor, or talking about health care, or talking about war...oh wait. you're perfectly happy to talk about this because you're a republican.

here's my two cents: if the voters actually listen to wright's speech at the NAACP and at the national press club conference this morning they might find they actually AGREE with much of what he has to say. and in the end (i'm gonna go out on a limb here) i bet that his speaking out is actually gonna HELP obama. why? all the pundits on cable news (including blowhard watkins) are sniping about how wright's re-appearance is absolutely going to hurt him. and we all know how right those pundits always are.

(btw - thanks to my friend jeff for the post title)

i'm not sellin' cars, okay?

it's late.

i wanted to post something deniro, to help explain to those who don't understand exactly why my arm hairs stood at attention the other night.

raging bull, i thought. ("whadya doin? i just said don't overcook it, you're overcookin' it, bring it over. bring it over. it's like a piece a charcoal bring it over here!!!")

no. taxi driver. of course. ("look, can i see you again? no, i don't mean like that, i mean regularly -- this is nothing for a person to do.")

wait, what about new york, new york? not the most popular, but still one of my favorites. ("let's forget it, that's what i said. no, that's what I said. i said it -- i forgot it already.")

but then there's the deer hunter. the scene i wanted to post from the deer hunter was the second russian roulette scene, and if you haven't seen the movie...well you should see the movie. i first saw it with my friend ross rothmeier when we were in high school -- just about old enough to enlist, or be drafted -- if the situation ever arose. in a year or two i would register, at least.

as we drove away from the theater we both were nauseous. "i never, ever want to go to war, " i remember saying to ross. "i never want to go through that." i was embarrased to say it. ashamed. as though it made me less of a man, less of a person. ross said he didn't ever want to go either.

if you have seen the deer hunter, this may remind you of how powerful it, and deniro, is.

and after you've watched all those clips, here's something short and sweet and to the point. something i'd not seen. something worthy of 1:30 a.m. on a sunday night / monday morning.

shameless toad-promotion

okay, bear with me.

this isn't just a repost, check this out -- "a year with frog and toad" at first stage milwaukee has been reviewed. and reviewed. and reviewed three more times. i'm proud of these guys, and this skit. the show runs until may 18th, and if you're in or near milwaukee, wisconsin -- don't miss it.