Maggie's Farm

Heartwarming:

Women are indeed fickle. Alagna's name was mentioned in our free ad for the Met's HD live series. A transplanted Sicilian raised in France, his preference seems to be French lyric opera. Here he is, not in a French lyric opera but singing with authority out of his oatmeal hole:

For some opera fun, see continuation page below in which Alagna storms off the stage at La Scala (a tough, demanding crowd, unlike the Met, where most do not know the difference and will offer "bravas" to anybody famous regardless of their effort) after being booed, and is instantly replaced by his understudy (in jeans). Wish I had been there.

Don't miss the return of the Metropolitan Opera — Live in High Definition.The series opens this Saturday, December 15, with Gounod's ultra–sensual Roméo et Juliette, starring Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna in a performance beamed to theaters in 14 countries. Due to high demand for tickets, additional locations have been added, so be sure to check out the links below. In most countries, tickets for the entire series–including encore performances in select locations–are now on sale.

Join us for world class opera this Saturday!

For theater locations around the US and the world, and details, click here. Now this is a fine use of technology.

Who are they? An Austrian experimental music ensemble.

A reader notes that these may not in fact be from Carlin. Wherever they're from, they're useful - and Carlinesque.

GEORGE CARLIN'S NEW RULES FOR 2008

New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them! Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days --- mowing my lawn.

New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human finger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain? Lobster?

New Rule: Stop saying that teenage boys who have sex with their hot, blonde teachers are permanently damaged . I have a better description for these kids: 'Lucky bastards.'

New Rule: If you need to shave and you still collect baseball cards, you're a dope. If you're a kid, the cards are keep sakes of your idols. If you're a grown man, they're pictures of men.

New Rule: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: Do you have two of them? Good, we're done.

New Rule:There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but, without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.

New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the a ** hole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a 'decaf grandee, half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and One NutraSweet,' ooooh, you're a huge a ** hole.

New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering My PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.

New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you Spiritual. It's right above the crack of your a ** . And it translates to 'beef with broccoli.' The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.

New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN Recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait, they're already doing that. It's called 'The Howard Stern Show.'

New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule: If you're going to insist on making movies based on crappy old television shows, then you have to give everyone in the Cineplex a remote so we can see what's playing on the other screens. Let's remember the reason something was a television show in the first place is that the idea wasn't good enough to be a movie.

New Rule: And this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell If he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, Dude. I just want to wash my hands

New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to hear '27 months.' 'He's two' will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, 'Do you want fries with that?'

Catherine Tate is Britain's answer to Carol Burnett:

PMB Comments

Venezuela News and Views

Chomsky on Chavez:

“I have been quite interested in his policies,” Chomsky said. “Personally, I think many of them are quite constructive.” Most important, he said, Chavez seems to have the overwhelming support of the people in his country. “He has gone through six closely supervised elections,” he said.

Reposted from 2005:

"After more than 700 hours of studying this subject, I have come to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted on the minds of human beings--or it is the most remarkable fact of history."  

We do not believe that the best liberal arts educations are necessarily at the most competitive colleges, but we do tend to believe that the smartest kids will be your competitors and colleagues at the most competitive colleges.

WSJ ranks high schools by college admissions.

I have been considering the work of young Cuban artist Ernesto Estevez, and like this painting of his:

Eco-religion (or ego-justice, or politico-paganism) from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago: Web of Creation

A course on religion at the University of Findlay in Ohio: Psychology of Religion. Read the summary and topics.

On TV in Spain, re Chavez and the King:

Excellent short new video, "Consistent Conservative," at Fred '08, here.

The guy is good, but does he really want the job enough to win it? Below, his recent video on Hillarycare.

This came in over the transom:

Dispute between neighbors - this is a true story. A city councilman in Utah, Mark Easton, had a beautiful view of the east mountains, until a new neighbor purchased the lot below his house and built a new home.  
The new home was 18 inches higher than the ordinances would allow, so Mark Easton, mad about his lost view, went to the city to make sure they enforced the lower roof line ordinance. The new neighbor had to drop the roof line, at great expense.
Recently, Mark Easton called the city, and informed them that his new neighbor had installed some vents on the side of his home. Mark didn't like the look of these vents and asked the city to investigate. When they went to Mark's home to see the vent view, this is what they found...

Editor: I think that's on the harsh side. I prefer this topiary effort to convey a gentle neighborly message:

The largest lake in California (376 square miles) seems like a very strange place. It's in a desolate location, most of its water comes from agricultural runoff, and nobody swims in it. People are trying to restore it. Here's a brief National Geographic piece on it.

 Photo from this Salton Sea Photo Gallery.

Ellen Across America lists these places.

Editor: I vote for The Red Rooster in Brewster, NY - and the ones made at home (but not often enough by a long shot). I know people who will drive an hour for a couple of Rooster burgers and a little mini golf in the back.

Quoted from a piece at Chronicle of Higher Education:

Is a blog successful if it gets a lot of page views? And, using the same logic, is it a failure if only a handful of people actually read it?

That’s what Another Damned Medievalist, who has been blogging for more than five years (an eternity in Internet time), asked recently. By all means add a few hits to ADM’s counter by clicking through.

Judging the success of a blog by its page views is sort of like rating a movie by its box-office tallies, a TV show by its Neilsen ratings, or a book by its place on the best-seller list.

By that standard, the best movie in the country is “30 Days of Night,” the best TV show is “Dancing With the Stars,” and the best novel is World Without End, by Ken Follett.

(shudder)

So is Maggie's a successful blog?

In accordance with article 90 of the draft constitution produced by the National Assembly (AN), "the State will foster the mechanisms for better use of leisure time to the benefit of education, integral education, and human, physical, spiritual, moral, cultural and technical development of workers."

Story here. But what if I like to work? And what if "the State" is an idiot?