Archive of entries posted on 1st November 2019

IMAO Time Machine: This Better Be My Last Post About the Existence of Iraq

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Frank J. shared this in 2002. — The Editors

I’ve been really busy as of late (actually, there is a ton of other stuff I should be doing right now rather than blogging) and thus I haven’t been able to follow the news as closely. I stopped by the CIA World Fact Book today, though, and, listed right there between Iran and Ireland, was Iraq.

It’s still there? What gives?

Bush got his approval for war, so why haven’t we marched in there and annihilated all the bastards? I don’t get it. It’s not because of all these distractions like North Korea having nukes, is it? There will be plenty of time left to raze them after we’ve had our way with Iraq.

Oh, wait, we’re not actually waiting on the U.N., are we? If we are, I remember reading this Tom Clancy novel where some guys held the U.N. hostage; why don’t we do that. Their building is right here in New York, so it’s not like we have to go anywhere to do it. What we do is have our special forces storm the building and hold everyone in there at gunpoint. You just know those weenies will be falling over each other to be the first to cave into our demands. First, we’ll have them approve our war with Iraq. Then, we’ll make them sign a declaration that Gerhard Schroeder is a little girl. Finally, we make them give us a “blank check” war approval, approving war for a country to be filled in later.

Then again, holding them hostage at gunpoint could be taken as meaning their opinion matters, thus giving them the attention they crave. Damn, diplomacy is hard.

This Day in Python — Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (November 1, 1979)

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Defending Life of Brian on TV:

A large Jaguar picks me up after lunch and takes me down to a BBC interview at Broadcasting House, this time with Gerald Priestland for the networked Today programme. John C is also on with me.

Priestland is enormous — he’s actually taller than John, but amiable and donnish. They play back his review of the film, which swings from great praise — “very funny – Python at their best” — to note of distinct criticsm for our handling of the “Crucifixion” sequences — or for the “Crucifixion’ sequences period. He equates it with “whistling at Auschwitz” and to him it appears that we are condoning suffering.

JC answers smoothly, as if he’s rehearsed. I become a little tongue-tied faced with Priestland’s penetrating stare and huge bulk…

— Michael Palin, Diaries 1969 – 1979: The Python Years

Looking for Winners

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I had a contest for free copies of the Hellbender audiobook, but I can’t find two of the winners.

Hey, writing great books is what I’m good at; not planning contests.

Anyway, Sarah Hoyt has the details, but basically I’m looking for a Paul and a Steven Stolarz who won, so if they came from here, contact me so you can get your prize.

The rest of you are losers and still need to buy Hellbender at full price.

The Tempest

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William Shakespeare’s The Tempest was first performed at Whitehall Palace in London on November 1, 1611.

There have been many performances over the years, but apart from a 1960 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation, with Maurice Evans and Richard Burton, most were variations on the story. Even the 1960 performance was a shortened version of the play.

My favorite variation was the 1956 film Forbidden Planet.

[The YouTube]

Come to think of it, BBC did a thing with the Shakespeare plays, and I’m thinking they did a nearly complete version in the 1980s. I haven’t seen that one, so I’m sticking with the science fiction movie.