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May 29, 2006
official trackback policy
Moxie's trackback policy? None. No more trackbacks.
I'm old school. Having had a blog before 9-11-01, before there were more than 150 blogs, long before there was a mystical Instapundit, or fedora-clad Pajamas Media Fairy, let alone trackbacks...I understand the confusion for you newer folks.
But I'm tired. And cranky. And not delusional.
Sending trackbacks to a post that doesn't directly link to mine is communism. That's how I see it. And I've deleted thousands that fall in that category.
Pinko linking is not tolerated.
So, there. Posts from here on out have no trackbacks. Personally, I won't miss them. And you won't miss me and the 5 hits you get either.
Call me names. The Grinch who stole Trackbacks. That's fine. I'm an elder in this world. I could be Glenn Reynold's great-great-grand blogmother. Except I take better photos, even while drunk. With less expensive equipment and no attitude.
The blog is dead.
Read me if you dare.
It would make you a true rebel.
Posted by Moxie at 12:14 AM | Comments (20)
May 26, 2006
hypothetical question
of enormous proportions.
What would it take for you to finger Helen Thomas?
Because that's not the kind of link you'll find on Instapundit.
Posted by Moxie at 11:08 AM | Comments (18)
May 25, 2006
jungle love
There is nothing I love more than celebrities sitting in trees. Like monkeys who walk on all fours -- it's the way god intended them to live.
Behold, Crouching Darryl, hidden drama. Make sure to take a gander at the photo.
Darryl Hannah even mentioned she took time out from her busy drug and celebrity party schedule to create an "emergency episode" of her weekly podcast.
Join me in rushing over to hear it.
Saving a few trees is the right thing to do. Because there aren't more important problems in the world.
Posted by Moxie at 7:18 PM | Comments (10)
May 19, 2006
no thanks
I can tell you how I won't be spending 10 bucks in August -- watching conpiracy theorist Oliver Stone's "true story of courage and survival".
Here is the so-called controversial and upsetting trailer for World Trade Center -- the movie!!!
Well, those are the PR savvy warnings the film's producers are issuing.
If you watch it, as I did, you might find the most upsetting and conversial thing about the 9/11 trailer is seeing a national tragedy commercialized with "big name" actors like Nicolas Cage and scrambled egg face, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
And no, I've no interest in seeing United 93 either, but at least they had the good sense not to throw in Vin Diesel as Todd Beamer, Tom Hanks as the affable Jeremy Glick or Lindsay Lohan as Sandra Bradshaw.
More:
Ann Althouse isn't impressed either.
Posted by Moxie at 3:11 AM | Comments (7)
May 17, 2006
Queen Rania
I watch Oprah, so you don't have to.
Just so no one questions my sanity, I capture it on DVR for quicker viewing. The show is no more than 25 minutes of content and 35 minutes of commercials and previews of future shows. Most days it's not worth blogging. A typical show is all about how Oprah is saving the world, one battered woman at a time.
Don't get me wrong -- undeniably, Oprah does a whole lot of good. And it's hard to find a woman in the world who doesn't adore her. I especially like the Angel Network where donations are used 100% for the cause. The big O pays for administrative costs out of her own pocket.
Queen Rania of Jordan was on today, if you are male - pity that you didn't get to gaze at her. She's truly lovely on the eyes and ears.
Since the conversation dealt with some interesting political issues, I've transcribed some quotes for your viewing pleasure.
Queen Rania on Muslim women in Jordan:
"Unfortunately in the west, people look at the veil as a sign of oppression or weakness and this is not true. As long as a woman is wearing it because of her belief, and I always say, we should judge woman according to what is going on in their heads rather than what is on top of their heads."
(In Jordan "only" 60% of women choose to wear the veil. For Muslims there, the interpretation "asks" you to wear the veil, but ultimately it's a personal choice. Clips on the show were VERY specific -- women can drive, work and lead fairly normal lives. I suppose that's good for the Americans who had no idea Jordan isn't extreme in that sense.)
On being a "global citizen", a phrase that reaks of HillaryRot:
"Because once you feel that others [in the world] are like you, then you want for others what you want for yourself. And that way you start helping others."
On what she'd like to see happen in the future:
"I'd love to see the political conflict in the middle east solved, the problem between the Palestinians and Israelis. I'd love to see a settlement in Iraq. I'd love to see more of our children educated in the arab world."
(Settlement? Iraq? Since I'm not commenting politically these days, I'll bite my tongue.)
Big O asked how Arabs in the middle east feel about americans right now:
"I think on both sides between the Arabs and the West, there is a mutual misunderstanding and a feeling of suspicion and mistrust. Many of the Arabs feel that America is not on their side. That their policies are not fair towards Arabs and Muslims. However, I must say that the majority of the Arab people differentiate between American policy and American people. So if any of you were to come and visit any of the Arab countries you would be met with a great deal of hospitality and welcome. But when you talk about politics, then they start to say that you know, America is not fair towards the Arabs. That they are biased against Arabs. And that just highlights the need for us to communicate a little bit more. We really need to change the way we look at each other, the way we deal with each other, the way we talk to each other..."
(I feel Arab warmth every time I put gas in my car, thank you very much.)
Queen Rania on how to fight terrorism:
"The fight is not between Americans and Arabs. It's not between East and West. It's between extremists who exist in all religions against the moderates. The extremists biggest nightmare is for us to get along. And that's why we have to get along."
Posted by Moxie at 10:42 PM | Comments (14)
mailbag
I've been getting a lot of emails over the last few months. This amazes me, since about 5 people land here intentionally each day. The rest are from google. There are a lot of things going on in my life right now and I need amnesty.
Here are some generic responses, some or all of which can be applied to any emails you sent me that have not been answered:
- No.
- Yes.
- I do not have a myspace.com profile.
- I plan to continue doing MoxVox podcasts. Soon.
- You can't possibly be my son/daughter.
- I'd turn against Dubya if he were to impose islamic law on the US.
- Are you single, funny, intelligent, reasonably attractive, conservative, never been married and older than 35?
- I have a Bacon number of 2.
- Sorry, I'm washing my hair that night.
- I'm allergic to jerks, libshits and mold. Sorry for being redundant.
- Thank you.
- Sorry, I'm not currently hiring for the position of gay houseboy, nor for scantily clad pool boy.
- No, I do not recycle.
- Global warming is sexy.
- Maybe. But I'm not telling.
- I do not have a penis and therefore don't need any pills to enlarge it.
That should cover everything. So I hope you will understand that I am wiping the slate clean. And will try to do better about responding to emails from this point forward.
On the writing front, I've been feeling like a flickering pilot light. But unlike some with delusions of adequacy, I don't think it's okay to link and not think.
If you do only one smart thing today, subscribe to my RSS feed. The link is way down at the bottom of the page, on the right.
Also, if you are feeling chatty, leave a comment: In the event that I should change gears and not blog mostly politics, would you continue to read?
Posted by Moxie at 2:57 AM | Comments (27)
May 10, 2006
closer to my neighbors than I thought
Sometimes I have a hard time writing. It's not for lack of things to write about, it's more that I'm afraid to burden you with the odd and only mildly interesting things in my own boring life.
A few days ago, I woke up to a loud cranking sound.
All three kitties were on the bed and their ears were perked; heads turned and eyes focused on the wall shared with my bathroom. Being lazy and hungover, I decided not to get out of bed. The 10 people living in the 2 bedroom townhouse next door had become increasingly noisy in the last few months.
Later, one cat got up from the official sleeping, furry croissant position and alerted another with a whack of his/her tail. It was like an elegant pick on an NBA court. The other awoke and whacked the last sleeping kitty. They moved as a unit to investigate.
Still trying to sleep, I waited. All three critters walked back in, ears and tails lowered with eyes wider than Michael Moore's waistline. Bentley poked his fluffy paws at my eyelids. I ignored him. What could be so bad? He moved to "Plan B" and licked my hand and fingers with his sandpaper tongue until I cried uncle. It was time to get up and go see what was causing the ruckus.
Oh, not too much -- just a huge snake coming out of my bathroom sink. The sink had mysteriously filled with brown, foul smelling goop.
This snake was flailing around, knocking over my toothbrush, toothpaste, hand lotions and antibacterial soap bottle -- all while spraying my entire bathroom with the recently introduced sink gunk. Putty Tat, the largest of the felines was brave and tried to swat at the snake as it swung wildly towards the four of us standing at the door.
Oh and by snake, I mean something metal and nasty that is drilled into OPTs. Other people's toilets.
I freaked out and started pounding on the wall. But the guy kept drilling the thing further. And by further I mean it was now flipping around the whole room, smacking blindly into the shower curtain, the mirror, I ducked and it knocked over a brand new box of tissues (into the trash bin) and side swiped Phoebe's fat little feline ass. And left a brown gunky mark.
That last snake manuever cleared the room of cats and anything else common to hygenic individuals. So I shut the door. This type of assault called for drastic measures.
I grabbed a handtowel from the hall linen closet and returned to the battle zone.
After grabbing the snake with the towel and tugging on it with all my weight, Mr Fix-it on the other side of the wall decided to give up on clearing a clog in Holland, I suppose. With all my might I tugged as he tried to withdraw. I'm scrappy and cleared a brand new foot of the snake. It was a tug-of-war and I was going to win, or make someone else sorry.
When I imagined Mr. Fix-it was using all his might, I let go suddenly and the filthy item sped out of my bathroom and back down the sink at an incredible speed, hopefully for good.
Done playing, I put on my innocent face and ran over to the neighbors and rang the doorbell. Repeatedly.
Sure enough a calm but sweaty and goop covered man walked to the door and I told him,
"Somehow you drilled into MY plumbing system and have caused major havoc in my bathroom."
"We were clearing out a clog in your neighbor's toilet. Ran into a tough spot. But it's okay."
"No, that is NOT okay. Why is their toilet connected to MY sink?"
"Miss, I'll be right over."
There was minimal guilt regarding my antics. No wonder, a few years back my baby cousin's bathwater upstairs drained into my toilet downstairs and created some sort of celebratory geyser. A normal person would fix that kind of thing. But my landlord is NOT a normal person.
I figured this promise to stop by the compound meant he would figure out how MY pumbing was connected to THEIR toilet. But no, silly me. He came over with a filthy brown sponge, that no doubt was yellow when born. After barely mopping up the brown stinky liquid he said, "sorry for the mess."
Got bleach?
Posted by Moxie at 1:48 AM | Comments (19)
May 2, 2006
Jose can you see?
Other photos I took at the rally can be found here and here.
Posted by Moxie at 3:20 PM | Comments (16)
More on pinko de mayo
Part uno to the illegal rally is here.
As I walked to the rally I saw this. No joke, and no comment.
Talk about loose screws and loose change, here is a penny no one wants to pick up, it's crawling with so many germs her nipples are hard. Or maybe she just gets hard for President Bush:
Win friends and influence people, the LBP way!
Nothing better than (possibly) being an illegal AND telling the people who could have you carted off for your homeland (in a matter of minutes) that they stole your land! This "gentleman" thought it best to walk along with a chick who has the AMERICAN FLAG waving upside down. He was right, now I'm so much more sympathetic to their law-breaking.
These are the images I captured and somehow every major news organization FAILED to spot. Or they chose not to show you.
There's much more to be posted later today. Stay tuned for more Jose can you see...
Posted by Moxie at 1:35 AM | Comments (7)
May 1, 2006
incoming
I just got back from the illegal immigrant protest here in LA. So, many photos will be forthcoming. Perhaps, if I can still use my foto gallery, I'll dump them in there. Or not.
Como se dice "Bush is pretty much on your side, idiot" en Espanol? There are more like that. Photographing the signs was almost as fun as overhearing the conversation, transcribed below for your enjoyment.
A few latino teenagers came over to the line of cops standing in front of the Burger King.
"Dude, are they open?!"
The policeman practically snorted, but managed a polite "no".
"Oh no, where are we going to get something to eat around here?"
I couldn't contain my laughter.
MORE photos:
Oh and my favorite of the day...
Posted by Moxie at 8:20 PM | Comments (12)
traffic problems solved!
Steve coined a good term, Pinko de Mayo -- and I'm here to report what is being discussed at great lengths on all the local Los Angeles talk radio stations.
Despite road closures, traffic is very light. Especially on the freeways.
I'm going to draw a conclusion here, not only do illegals suck our social services dry, crowd our schools, hospital emergency rooms and drive up the cost of car insurance...they also seem to be a partial cause of the gridlock we experience every day in Los Angeles.
I was going to head downtown with my camera, but I saw that the illustrious Raj has that covered. Finally a crowd accepting of the fedora (good for picking fruit in the warm sun) and a group where he won't be knee high to the average person!
Posted by Moxie at 1:22 PM | Comments (1)
