Wow, a lot of those cartoons have that weird "I don't even know what joke he is trying to make" quality. He's like the Onion cartoonist, only not a parody.
2: Yeah, and that's where Heebie's post title has me confused.
On the other hand, he can actually draw. Too bad.
I sort of like the one where Al Sharpton's ass is 100 times the size of his body and some guy is kissing it. Not even a ghost of an attempt at a joke. That's what political cartoons were like 150 years ago -- just making a point.
However, the cartoons do seem to be all from the point of view of a lobotomized prejudiced dittohead, so they could be better.
i remember FL dedicated a post to me saying that i'm kinda like Rosie O'Donnell
i did not know what he meant by that
Conservatives are having a hard time finding cheap talent these days.
7: JM, you should totally apply. You would be on teevee within a year. Think of it as performance art but with less naked screaming.
7: "liberal" gets 1/5 that many responses, though.
7: Would it be rude to ask what prompted that search?
7: Those are some exciting opportunities, jm. Who wouldn't love to write for the guy who says "Pay is conducive to how well the site does".
7: Those are some exciting opportunities, jm. Who wouldn't love to write for the guy who says "Pay is conducive to how well the site does"?
12.---I've been looking for writing jobs and kept running across ads for conservative bloggers. The problem is that they're not offering any actual money, the bastards. There's a lot of that around.
And what sort of idiot advertises for conservative volunteers in New York City, for Christ's sake?
Michael Ramirez was the conservative editorial cartoonist for the L.A. Times until a few years ago. He was out of sight talented. Loathsome, but not stupid, and he had great line. Ran rings around the longtime liberal Paul Conrad, who was in decline by the time I got out there.
These writing gig ads are fun. Not just the conservative ones. Like this: "great opportunity for college students, socialites, stay at home people". Who would have thought the internet could bring together socialites and recluses? And a lot of people seem to think they can just start a "high-profile" blog and begin making money right away.
I'm a socialite on the internet.
22: I bet you hadn't realized what a clever wit he is, right?
24: All work and no play makes apo a dull boy.
Shhh! Do you want to get sued?
Y'all have such a little community over here that I can never think of a way to break in. But all of a sudden I have 3x my normal traffic, and lo: it's the Unfogged bump! Thanks Heebs. And to the Unfogged commentariat, well hello there!
Looking Delonas' archives... well, let's just say it's always nice to watch someone you thoroughly disagree with make a total ass of himself.
The exotic Marpessa Dawn, star of the Franco-Brazilian film "Black Orpheus", was born in Pittsburgh, PA., as was the exotic Rita Gam, star of the B-movie "Saadia" I saw when I was ten years old. Their real names were Gypsy Marpessa Dawn Menor and Rita Gam. Long before you people were born, I had crushes on both of them.
In short, if you're exotic and from Pittsburgh, you might have a chance with me. (But not you, W-lfs-n.)
Ohhh exotic! This is a first for the short white girl from the mid-west.
I'm stymied on how you know where I'm from. Have I mentioned it publicly in your virtual earshot? I have a lousy memory, so that seems possible.
Half the commenters around here are from Pittsburgh, in any case -- we're considering subtitling the blog "An online home for displaced Pittsburghers."
There are many Pittsburghers here. I forget what they call themselves in their native dialect.
Rita Gam was linked with Adlai Stevenson and many others. Her movie star career was short but she did lots of other interesting things.
I'm reading the chapter in The Shame of the Cities about Pittsburgh. It must have come out during the time when it was supposed to be Pittsburg; Steffens never uses the h.
(But not you, W-lfs-n.)
I'm not from Pittsburgh anyway.
I'm from (awfully close to) Pittsburg, TX. Does that count?
I actually formulated the comment in 39 before realizing it was true.
I'm from (awfully close to) Pittsburg, TX. Does that count?
Yes, it does count. Congratulations.
There's a Pittsburg in the Bay Area. You can take BART there.
42: It's a rather depressing place, though. All of the ugliness and none of the charm of Pennsylvania's version.
43: I kind of think the edge of the delta, seen from the BART station and tracks on the way out and back, is sort of beautiful, actually.
45: I love that part of the delta, I just don't like Pittsburg the town. The bridge over the delta on 160 is great fun; it arches quite high. And then you have the whole region along the Carquinez Straight, which is amazing - Port Costa is beautifully decrepit and it used to be one of the busiest ports in California (shipping out wheat during our short-lived wheat boom). Also, north of Pittsburg is Grizzly Bay/Grizzly Island which is a morass of mud and birds and fun. And the Montezuma Hills, which in spring turn the most amazing shade of green and are covered in giant wind turbines. Oh, and the mothball fleet! So much fun!
Um, sorry. But it really is a neat place, you're right. I've never taken BART through there, perhaps I should come up with an excuse to do so.
I've never done much in the delta but pass through it. My Dad always likes taking "shortcuts" or at least non-freeway routes, so when we went up to Sacramento we'd often drive the delta roads, or we'd take 4 out into the Central Valley on the way to the Sierras, etc.
I wish I'd gone out to Port Costa back when I was researching railroad stuff. It's weird to think that it's been over two years since I've been to the Bay Area.
an excuse to do so
You need an excuse? I used to ride to the above-ground ends of BART lines every now and then when I was bored or restless.
You need an excuse?
Well, the excuse could just be wanting to see the delta via BART. I've driven it extensively and hiked throughout it, so it would be in keeping. I also keep meaning to take the train between Oakland and Sacramento for the same reason.
train between Oakland and Sacramento
It's a nice ride. As is the route out to the San Joaquin Valley.
47: My Dad always likes taking "shortcuts" or at least non-freeway routes
Son?
46: Oh, and the mothball fleet!
Prompted me to go look at it via Google maps*. It looked smaller than I recalled, but then I counted about 80 ships so maybe it is not. (Or maybe it is smaller; I flew over it once years ago and it seemed more extensive, and it is hard to compare aerial shots with how it looks from the shore.)
*In messing around to get the link right, I discovered a potential obscure discretion error in Google map links. I think because I was logged in to Google and my default location is my address and I searched from there, my freaking address was embedded in the link.
50: It seems the number of ships is dropping.
50, 51: Though I think it does look bigger from land than it does from the aerial view.
(I'll pick up my own low-hanging fruit: Heh, that's what she said!)
My favorite shortcut, which really was shorter than taking regular highways, was the one where we ended up on an unpaved road for a couple of miles on the way to Yosemite.
53: Hm, that's not Old Priest Grade, is it? That's my most used short cut on the way to Yosemite, but I think it is paved...
That name sounds familiar, but it could be just one of many roads we used. Also, this was the late 80s, early 90s. I haven't been to Yosemite since high school, so I don't know what the roads are like now.
53: My greatest "success" was getting 2 out of 3 kids to puke on a shortcut through central Pa.
The memorable thing about Old Priest Grade isn't its pavedness or otherwise, is it, so much as the fact that it's extremely steep, no?
57: Well, yes. But I almost always ended up driving it in the dark, so I really can't remember whether or not it was paved. (And that might be memorable, maybe?)
It was a flat-ish road, not really dirt but smooth(-enough) gravel.
Then definitely not Old Priest Grade. (And ben is right, I probably should have realized that steepness would be the defining factor).
We call ourselves Pittsburghers, unwieldy as that is. And, to my knowledge, there has always been an h. Except perhaps in Ye Olde Times.
I got some shit for saying I was from the mid-west. Do other Pgh people consider it the mid-west? It's awfully close to Ohio. And I feel inauthentic saying I'm an East-coaster, except I did spend a decade in DC. Now that I'm in Texas, people here feel no shame about calling me a Yankee. I guess it's all the same to them.
Yes, pretty steep it seems. Videos available, uphill and downhill. (I'm surprised at the amount of traffic in the one given the newer grade; has it become something one does, like Lombard Street?)
Obviously, I wasn't paying much attention to which road was called what as we drove to Yosemite.
My sister lives there these days, and I think it's the midwest (or, at least, that it's not the East Coast). Philly is the East Coast, but there's an awful lot of PA inbetween Philly and Pittsburgh.
(I thought "Yankee", to a Southerner, just meant "From north of the Mason Dixon line." Of course, to a northerner, it's someone from New England, to a New Englander, it's someone from Vermont, and to someone from Vermont, it's someone who eats apple pie for breakfast.)
Whenever I say I'm from Pittsburgh, people always tell me they've been to Philly and how much they like it. It cracks me up. It's like saying you're from Chicago and people nodding and saying, Yeah? I've been to Des Moines. Nice place.
What kind of meat and relish do you put on a Pittsburger?
I'd count W. PA/NY, OH, MI, IN, and IL as Midwest. WS, MN, IA as upper Midwest or western Midwest. MO might be lower Midwest.
My son's friends in Buffalo called their area Lower Canada.
62: It's faster. The other grade is better on your engine but slower, and more people do take it so sometimes the traffic can be bad, particularly when you get stuck behind a big RV.
I thought "Yankee", to a Southerner, just meant "From north of the Mason Dixon line."
When I was 13 and away at a summer program somewhere in the south, I was mercilessly mocked by a South Carolinian for being a Yankee. That's applying a somewhat stricter standard than Mason-Dixon. (So my guess is Yankee means either "lacks a Southern accent" or "isn't from a former Confederate state".)
Err, looser standard of what counts as Yankee. Stricter standard of what counts as Southern.
62 scary eyes in the uphill video, i was like startled
watching it intermittently with the tv
73: Oh, sorry, somehow left that out. I'm from Louisville.
Who else remembers when Pittsburgh was completely destroyed in 1987?
72: Sometime earlier we did a bunch of the wild roads in Bolivia etc. on here, but probably the one I personally drove that got my attention was the Moki Dugway in southern Utah, a nice little 1 1/2 lane gravel descent on a state highway that comes up suddenly after 50 flat miles. Not too far north of Monument Valley. Here it is from the cab of a truck; it was a bit tense in our car with my daughter swearing eternal revenge on me for going that way, and *I* would have plotzed if I met a semi at the wrong place on it.
75: You actually read Marvel New Universe comics? I thought they just sort of went directly from the press to the trash.
77: you know, I can't remember if I read any besides that one issue. I do remember finding it a little mean-spirited. What did Pittsburgh ever do to Marvel Comics?
Although I definitely had retarded taste in comics. I collected, if I remember right, New Mutants and Alpha Flight.
Minneapolis was an example of police corruption; St. Louis of financial corruption. Pittsburg is an example of both police and financial corruption. The two other cities have found each an official who has exposed them. Pittsburg has had no such man and no exposure. The city has been described physically as "Hell with the lid off"; politically it is that same with the lid on. I am not going to lift the lid. The exposition of what the people know and stand is the purpose of these articles, not the exposure of corruption, and the exposure of Pittsburg is not necessary. There are earnest men in the town who declare it must blow up of itself soon. I doubt that; but even if it does burst, the people of Pittsburg will learn little more than they know now. It is not ignorance that keeps American citizens subservient; neither is it indifference. The Pittsburgers know, and a strong minority of them care; they have risen against their ring and beaten it, only to look about and find another ring around them. Angry and ashamed, Pittsburg is a type of the city that has tried to be free and failed.
MO might be lower Midwest.
MO is a hard call, because the river pretty much cuts it in half. The top half is pretty flat (thanks, glacier from the last ice age!), and definitely belongs to Midwest. The bottom half is more like Arkansas, whatever region you'd classify that as-- not part of the South exactly, but not midwestern.
Wheeling, West Virginia is definitely Midwest.
The bottom half [of MO] is more like Arkansas, whatever region you'd classify that as-- not part of the South exactly, but not midwestern.
Maybe Arkansas, Oklahoma, southern MO, parts of southern IL and IN, much of KY, West Virginia, western PA and NY, and various other regions should be lumped together as Greater Hickland.
My take as someone who grew up in NE Ohio (definitely Midwest) about 2 hours away and now lives in Pittsburgh. Midwest is probably closest, but not really right. When I was a young'un in the late 50s/early 60s we had friends who lived south of Pittsburgh in Bethel Park, and when we drove there and came down the gully of East Street with houses clinging to the hillside, through the smoky begrimed downtown and into the Liberty Tunnels, there was no doubt in my mind that I was someplace quite different. Nor is it Philly, as others have noted. It really is transitional, although these days it seems more midwestern to me.
People I've known who've lived in Western NY have been baffled, except for the Buffalonians I mentioned. Its shithole aspects seem to lump it with Ohio and Indiana.
My son's friends in Buffalo called their area Lower Canada.
But that was Quebec!
Maybe Arkansas, Oklahoma, southern MO, parts of southern IL and IN, much of KY, West Virginia, western PA and NY, and various other regions should be lumped together as Greater Hickland.
"appalachia"
86: There's a Great Lakes/Rust belt identity that overlaps the Midwest stuff and definitely includes Buffalo. Rochester and Syracuse less so.
Part of it is that the Midwest is too large to be a single region. It seems more like the imperfect intersection of a bunch of overlapping regions to me: Great Lakes, Great Plains, Rust Belt, Breadbasket, Appalachia, The Prairie.
and to someone from Vermont, it's someone who eats apple pie for breakfast a nuclear power plant.
88: Yeah, sort of, but it seems to me like the whole swath west of the Appalachians to the Ozarks, and a bit further, has something culturally and linguistically in common.
Growing up, I never really thought of myself as a Yankee, because 1/2 of my parents grew up outside of New England.
The bottom half [of MO] is more like Arkansas, whatever region you'd classify that as--
The Ozarks!
Although I definitely had retarded taste in comics. I collected, if I remember right, New Mutants and Alpha Flight.
I only read, like, four comic books during my youth, and even I know that Alpha Flight is the lamest.
(It's weird, because I'm totally fascinated by superhero comics, but somehow never got around to actually buying and reading any of them except what my friends had lying around. I seem to remember having read "What if the X-Men lost Inferno" without ever reading "Inferno.")
(This random comment brought to you by the fact that it's not even 9:00 and I'm half-asleep already.)
I only read, like, four comic books during my youth, and even I know that Alpha Flight is the lamest.
You know why they're the lamest? Because they're Canadian.
Seriously, if I were Canadian I would raise a stink about this, but it's true.
The Wikipedia entry on Alpha Flight has as much unintentional comedy as I'd imagine an actual comic book about Canadian superheroes would.
Eugene Judd is a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon ... Walter Langowski is a scientist from British Columbia who can transform into a giant fur-covered beast resembling a Sasquatch. This character originally developed his powers from a Hulk-inspired gamma radiation experiment that was affected by a solar-flare. Eventually, it was explained that Sasquatch is actually a mystical monster... Major Mapleleaf: Lou Sadler is the son of a World War II super-hero of the same name. He is secretly a normal human who rides a superpowered horse.
Don't worry, Lou. Your secret is safe with me!
I remember one Alpha Flight were they had a fight in the world's biggest mall!, which was in Ontario, and which they made sure to point out was larger than the Mall of America. Yay, Alpha Flight! Keeping vaguely embarrassing world records safe for Canadians!
The world's biggest mall is in Edmonton, Sify.
88: Good point. Although, during the primaries when people were on TV explaining inarticulately why they couldn't vote for Obama, I called it the bigot belt.
85: I lived in Bethel Park in 9th grade. They have a big high school there.
99: I am filled with shame. Anyhow I think you mean Dongguan, China.
Apparently the Mall of America isn't even the biggest mall in America.
Anyhow I think you mean Dongguan, China.
There must be someone in Dubai working on one that's ten times as large, right?
I should have just said "Edmonton isn't in Ontario."
In Dubai they're working on a mall where the stores rotate into different locations throughout the day.
103: Dubai only comes up fourth. Anyhow, if there was, they're probably in Debtor's prison or Chennai now.
I collected, if I remember right, New Mutants and Alpha Flight.
So I've just seen this comment, and I'm still going to laugh at you, Sifu. Because I only have had like 4 New Mutants and one or two Alpha Flights, which I gave away a few years ago. Along with the rest of my X-Men. Except maybe for a few of the mini-series which I may have kept. I am not at all amused by any of this!
Sorry I missed all this.
My Chicagoan father (who has lived 34/41 of his adult life in the NYC region) scoffs at the notion that Pittsburgh is the Midwest. He doesn't really buy Cleveland, either.
Pittsburgh can't be the Midwest, because it has hills. Seriously, folks.
Pittsburgh is the capital of Appalachia. True fact.
LB's sister has evidently embraced the New Yorker weltanshauung. That map isn't literally accurate, y'all.
Did you know Cala or one of her sisters at Bethel Park HS, KristinaB? They were the hot ones.
29: And to the Unfogged commentariat, well hello there!
I see no fruit baskets on offer, so, your choice, today only, a fruit basket, or... a basket of cured pork products!
However, the cartoons do seem to be all from the point of view of a lobotomized prejudiced dittohead, so they could be better.
Well, besides the fact that apparently a pregnant transexual causes doctors to completely forget procedures such as c-sections, and besides the fact that apparently 'light in the loafers' means that the loafers are actually helium-filled, I thought the one with the hairy guys in dresses would have been really funny if it had been labeled 'A meeting of Ralph Guilani's foreign policy advisors.' Also, sex always involves hanging a sock over a lampshade but also means never removing your underwear. Abstinence!
66: (I thought "Yankee", to a Southerner, just meant "From north of the Mason Dixon line." Of course, to a northerner, it's someone from New England, to a New Englander, it's someone from Vermont, and to someone from Vermont, it's someone who eats apple pie for breakfast.)
She said she was in Texas. Yanquis are anyone not from Arkansas ('hillbillies'), Louisiana ('cajuns'), Oklahoma ('okies'), California ('hippies'), or not Mormons (not a state. not just a state).
I would think the dividing line between the interior and the East coast would be the Appalachians, so Pittsburgh would be just over on the Midwest side, along with western New York. That said, I always count the (upper) Midwest as being MO/IA/MN/ND/SD/KS/NE. I'd take OH/MI/IN/IL/WI as the 'Great Lakes region', since you can't call it the Old Northwest anymore.
max
['Also: X-men, horrible. Alpha Flight, less horrible, but more awful.']
She said she was in Texas. Yanquis are anyone not from Arkansas ('hillbillies'), Louisiana ('cajuns'), Oklahoma ('okies'), California ('hippies'), or not Mormons (not a state. not just a state).
For the record, it's not quite that strict. Well, maybe in Dallas and West Texas.
I see no fruit baskets on offer, so, your choice, today only, a fruit basket, or... a basket of cured pork products!
Since I am a newly minted mostly-vegetarian, I will accept the pork. I've never had a cured pork product! Are we talking, um, pork jerky? I'm not down with the meat lingo yet, here. Help me out.
Are we talking, um, pork jerky? I'm not down with the meat lingo yet, here. Help me out.
It's called "perky".
LB's sister has evidently embraced the New Yorker weltanshauung. That map isn't literally accurate, y'all.
Hey, that was me, not her. And I'm not committed to Pittsburgh being the Midwest, I'm just pretty sure it's not the East Coast.
Did you know Cala or one of her sisters at Bethel Park HS, KristinaB? They were the hot ones.
'Fraid not. I was only here for a year as part of my tumultuous tour of south-of-Pittsburgh schools.
I've never had a cured pork product! Are we talking, um, pork jerky? I'm not down with the meat lingo yet, here. Help me out.
I was thinking more sausage and bacon. Little sausages on toothpicks! Maybe I should have said smoked!
max
['Low-hanging pork.']
For the record, it's not quite that strict. Well, maybe in Dallas and West Texas.
Well, you're over by Texarkana, right? So that's more East Texas -> Southern.
max
['Not really my thing.']