Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Blogs'

A Note on the Text of the 10-Second Interview

December 13th, 2007 · 6 Comments · Blogs, Culture, Internet, Journal, Language, Restaurants

Grendel from Earthgoat, always an attentive and keen-eyed reader, has written to gently chide me for conforming to a certain lowbrow usage in my 10-Second Interview post. The question in question would be this one: Pepsi or Coke? Iced peppermint green tea. Since that post and its comments are a fair way down the page […]

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Roundup: Flight of the Humpback Edition

November 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on Roundup: Flight of the Humpback Edition · Apple, Blogs, Books, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Feminism, Fiction, Film, History, HIV/AIDS, Human Rights, Journalism, LGBT, Lit, Macintosh, Media, Music, Nature, New Wave, Politics, Religion, Software, Tech, The Economy, Stupid, Torture

Markos from Daily Kos has a new gig writing opinion pieces for Newsweek, and he’s been in rare form with his first couple of efforts. From this week’s column: “In his first Inaugural Address, Ronald Reagan remarked that ‘government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.’ While the quip has provided […]

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Norman Mailer Yap Attack

November 12th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Blogs, Books, Culture, LGBT, Lit, News, Pets

The most entertaining Norman Mailer story I’ve read since the wake began: “The stories of his macho posturing are legion, from the time he dismissed America’s leading women writers as ‘fey, old hat, quaintsy and dykily psychotic’, to the day he encountered a passing punk while walking his poodles in Brooklyn. According to Peter Manso’s […]

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Chicago Notes: Spukt, Sweat Girls, Mr. Fluxus, Andy Bayiates, and More

November 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on Chicago Notes: Spukt, Sweat Girls, Mr. Fluxus, Andy Bayiates, and More · Astrology, Blogs, Books, Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, Foreign Policy, Fringe, History, Journal, Lit, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Politics, Theater

It’s been ages since I’ve done one of these little Chicago roundups, but there are so many head-splittingly good things going on this week that it seems like a dandy time to reinstate the tradition. • First up, this weekend is the opening of the brand-new Theater Oobleck show Spukt, written by the mercurial Dave […]

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Roundup: Monkey in the Bathroom Edition

November 6th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Apple, Blogs, Comics, Culture, Essays, Food, Heroes, History, Human Rights, Journalism, Labor, LGBT, Macintosh, Music, Nature, New Wave, News, Politics, Religion, Roundup, Science Fiction, Spirituality, Tech, Terrorism, Torture, TV, Vegetarian & Vegan

I can’t scrape together enough time at the moment to do OcPot’s usual painstakingly well-rounded roundup — I’m seeing The Waterboys at the Park West tonight, woo-hoo! — but I wanted to get some of these links up before they fossilized. So here’s a charmingly slapdash, quick-and-dirty roundup. In ripped fishnet and high heels. The […]

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On The Christians and The Gays, and Keeping the Flock Together

October 15th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Activism, Blogs, Culture, Journal, LGBT, Music, Politics, Religion, Spirituality

So there was a new study written up this past week, supplying evidence that young people in America are rejecting Christianity because they see it as “hypocritical, judgmental, and anti-gay.” The vast majority of non-Christians — 91% — said Christianity had an anti-gay image, followed by 87% who said it was judgmental and 85% who […]

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Nodilogue (and Blogscratching)

September 22nd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Chicago, Culture, Fringe, Internet, Journal, Performance

I’m a little behind the times with this, but I wanted to offer some belated shoutings-out and linkback lurve to my fellow participants from The Nod this past Wednesday evening. Don Hall and Joe Janes did a great job of hosting the evening, making everyone feel welcome and creating the opportunity for the gaggle to […]

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The Nod: Wednesday, September 19 (with a Moving Addendum)

September 12th, 2007 · 3 Comments · Blogs, Chicago, Comedy, Culture, Fringe, Journal, Kiwi, Meta, Mr. Blue, Neo-Futurists, News, Performance, Theater

Next Wednesday, September 19, I’m going to be participating in a way-fun event called The Nod, in which some of Chicago’s best bloggers will be reading posts from their blogs live at the Uptown Writer’s Space. And for some reason they’ve asked me to be on the bill, as well. Possibly to make the rest […]

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Trailer for Rendition, with Meryl Streep, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Reese Witherspoon

September 10th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Blogs, Comics, Culture, Film, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, Torture, Video

Via Towleroad, the trailer for the new movie Rendition, scheduled for release October 19 in the US.   I’m not usually one for movies that get the “thriller” label, but the political dimension to this one — and the quality of the cast — make it look like an early standout among fall releases. There’s […]

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Daily Kos Diary: Gonzales Doesn’t Recall Resigning

August 27th, 2007 · Comments Off on Daily Kos Diary: Gonzales Doesn’t Recall Resigning · Blogs, Comedy, Culture, News, Politics

Perfect. Just go read it. When you rip off this joke later you can always claim you didn’t recall reading it on Daily Kos first. ****** UPDATE: On a more serious note — on the front page of Daily Kos, Trapper John spells out what needs to not happen next: The Gonzales Justice Department was […]

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Roundup: Fantasy History Edition

August 23rd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Apple, Blogs, Books, Business, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Energy, Food, Foreign Policy, Health, History, LGBT, Macintosh, Media, Nature, News, Peace, Pets, Politics, Racism, Roundup, Science, Tech, TV

Bush has suddenly decided that the Iraq occupation is kinda like Vietnam after all, but of course he’s careful to draw the wrong conclusions from the comparison. The article quotes American University historian Allan Lichtman as saying that Bush’s spin on the situation “is not revisionist history. It is fantasy history.” On a related note, […]

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Jerome a Paris on the Politics of the Market Crash

August 22nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Blogs, Fair Trade, Infrastructure, Media, News, Politics, The Economy, Stupid, Trade

I’ve been meaning to point out this excellent diary Jerome a Paris posted on Daily Kos last Friday, entitled “Politics of the Market Crash.” Jerome is one of my favorite posters at DKos (and at the European Tribune), and when he’s on, he’s really on. So even though I’m nearly a week late mentioning this, […]

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The Money Power: Clinton, Edwards, and Obama at Yearly Kos

August 5th, 2007 · 1 Comment · Activism, Blogs, Chicago, Culture, Media, News, Politics, Video

From a story in the Washington Post on the Yearly Kos convention taking place in Chicago this weekend… I can’t believe Hillary actually said this out loud. Clinton came under attack for declining to join former senator John Edwards (N.C.), who is quite popular with bloggers, and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) in pledging not to […]

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A Magical MASH-Up

July 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Blogs, Books, Comedy, Culture, Fantasy, Fiction, TV

Jim over at empty-handed.com finally figured out who this Harry Potter person everyone keeps talking about is. And he has provided no less than five new books chronicling the adventures of this popular character. The results are pure wizardry! With, um, surgical precision. And lucky you, I’ve giving you links to the whole five-book series. […]

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