Rambling Rhodes

That was somewhat like watching a Tarantino movie. I laughed but felt bad about it...

Not only are shuttle drivers like this. It seems like every person that has ever cut my hair, at every Great Clips or Cost Cutters has made it their personal mission to get to know me inside and out or to expound to me their life story. I absolutely hate it. Just cut my damn hair! However, if one of the people who cut my hair were as interesting as this fellow, I might not mind it so much.

It's like Argyle said: "People expect a little chit-chat."

Quite frankly I'm sure many cabbies, barbers, etc would rather just do their job and not have to talk to you, but many seem to feel that they *have to*, like its part of the job description.

Any story that ends in dog-fucking is a good story.

OH, AND BY THE WAY: James Lileks annihilated Michael Moore today.

Sigh. File that under casting stones at the broad side of a glass barn. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Michael Moore is a big fat idiot.

Michael Moore is a big fat idiot.

I love it when we get to agree on something..

That made me laugh out loud - so sick!

Holy shit, lileks has some great Moore commentary today. Never been a fan of Moore, but it seemed like every idiot political science major up at SJU had a hard-on for this guy. I never really knew why.

Rhodes, aside from reading your comments at Intellectual Poison I had yet to get a feel for your writing, but dang, you are quite good! How long have you been writing?

Although I am one of those brainwashed liberals who believes that Lileks column reaks a bit too much of non-consequential criticism with the red cherry of colorful allegory to wrap it up, I will conceed that (aside from following strict high school writing formats) it is well writen.

Politics aside I'm going to be skimming through your archives for a long while now. Thanks for the writing!

Best!

*blush*

Hey Rhodes! No stealing my damned readers! Don't make me come over there so you can kick my ass.

And I'd actually written up a comment but had to reboot before posting it.

I'm guessing that the driver was yanking your chain. I've never heard of someone humping a dog in an alley. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen but I'd imagine pooch pumpers have to be a little more discreet or our prisons would be full of hound humping freaks.

And I'll third the dislike of Moore personally, I think he's a damned irritating guy but I still believe that his message is an important one, even muddled by his massive ego.

Besides, is Moore as bad as Rush Limbaugh or Dr. Laura?

Well, Johnny, I harbored the idea that my chain may be getting yanked, but then I remembered that, in my hometown of Harmony, there was a guy who had been arrested for humping a cow at a county fair, so humping a dog didn't seem all that implausible. Also, it was the way the driver looked at my house, seemingly lost in thought. It was pretty obvious he knew my house, and he knew something about it that made him feel compelled to share. So, yeah, there could have been chain yanking but, in that instance, I think he was telling me the truth.

I've never listened to Dr. Laura, and I dismissed Limbaugh as a fat gasbag many a year ago, back when he still had a television show and I concluded that his ego may well, in fact, outweigh the man, which is an incredible feat. My problem with Moore is that, despite saying they dislike him and calling him a propagandist, people still float into theaters to inhale his bullshit, saying that it's an "important message."

I mean, seriously, people say they dislike W, and they don't believe a word coming out of his mouth because they think it's all lies. Why should Moore be given a pass for doing the exact same thing, and then label said lies as an "important message?"

Ryan, I agree with you. Moore should be held to standards - but not the standards of a president. And if the facts that Lileks were refuting were particularly important to his argument I'd concede the point.
It doesn't really matter to me whether 7 people 2 people or 3 people from Moore's high school actually died in Vietnam, and if that makes me too liberal to be reviewing the subject matter so be it.
Judging the contents of an article that was intended as a boyhood recollection and growth of consciousness to Fahrenheit 9/11 would be like comparing a 400 word high school editorial on dress code restrictions to your academic thesis on the social effects of traditional wear.
Certainly Moore has a history of exaggerating to make a point; certainly his message is mixed in hot air rhetoric; unfortunately, the exaggerations of experiential memories and personal impressions generally cause folks to dismiss the message as a whole. If I could hone my freshman year English teacher for a moment, “You’re evidence is inconsistent and anecdotal�.
Personally, as I state before, I'm not a Mooron-ite. But, I love that he pushes people to think. And I want to toss the fundamentalist Moore zombies under the bus along with the fundamentalist Rush, Stern, O'Neil, ect. undead prattle torpidly remouthing verbatim the political viewpoints of their masters. But unlike the aforementioned necromongers, I like that Moore does some background work. Anyway, losing battle.
My basic argument is that Lilek tries to hold an article about childhood memories to the factual standards of a historical narrative.
Anyway, I’m focusing on the positive. I’m an optimist. I’m from Boston and I route for the Red Sox. Perhaps I’m too naïve. But I’m okay with that.

Now, I have a fairly finely tuned bullshit detector...

So do I, and mine's telling me that your story is a fake. The dialog sounds too much like *dialog*, not a real conversation. Reminds me of this guy named Soli.... I'm just sayin'.

Dear moving_comfort:

Here's the deal. I don't carry tape recorders wherever I go, although I do use them here at work pretty much all the time. So, no, the dialogue posted here, admittedly, is not verbatim, but it's about as close to verbatim as my memory allows. For example, the driver did say "then it turned out he dicked dogs." I remember that line quite vividly. It's the kind of statement that sticks with you, for obvious reasons. And, my joke about the dog probably advocating a life sentence is also pretty much verbatim. As for the rest, you're right, it's presented largely as best as I could remember it.

Fair enough, I can buy that.

Strangely enough, aside from the dialog, the actual *incident is very believable to me, since the same thing happened in my hometown when I was growing up, and they guy seemed to like doing it right out in public, also. Makes me wonder if the exhibitionism isn't part of the "thrill".

Also, re Michael Moore - I'd consider myself a fan
of his flicks. I guess I agree with his politics, and with the general message he's trying to get across.

But... I once had a lawyer friend who happened to find himself representing a group of mexican illegal immigrants - they were, if I remember right, sueing Holiday Inn for not providing certain employee benefits, and Holiday Inn responded by basically calling the INS - the message H.I. was trying to deliver was "we can treat you like slaves, mexicans, because if you complain, we'll call the INS - see?"

H.I. lost the case big time. The mexicans were deported, but the precedent was set that US employers, if they want to hire illegals, can't treat them like sub-humans. Pretty important case. I was proud of my buddy, and he felt like he had done something worthwhile.

Anyway, for some reason, Michael Moore swooped into town and kind took credit for the whole case, even though he had little to do with it, other than providing some publicity - publicity that ulitmately had nothing to do with the outcome of the case. As I recall, when Moore was called on the fact that this lawyer initiated, worked, and slam-dunked the case, not Moore, Moore became kinda snippy about it.

Ever since then I've taken the Michael Moore public persona with a grain of salt. He's got his faults, and he definately has an ego.

damn, somebody had to mention that M word. i was just about done with this post. so it goes. i feel like the drunk uncle that comes by once in a while, spouts off a bunch of shit, the content varies and generally leaves people with a luke warm response. they wait for me to go to sleep again.

i am not a fan of moore, or his fatumentaries (it's late, cut me some slack). his approach is disingenuous and at time malicious. i can't believe that heston hasn't pursued legal alternatives to moore's fabrication of his speeches. anyway, the list of misdirections and exagerations is long and tiring. but with that said, moore has potential to create thought proking dialogue. the issue is that it is covered in BS. i have yet to hear a serious pundit dig through moore's excremetory effort to find legitimate thought.

which brings me to a deeper understanding of moore. if his flics were infact documentaries, they would be void of the misrepresentations and exagerations present. a viewer could consider them with the idea that they were an even-handed representation of fact. but that is not his intent. moore wants to sell tickets—plain and simple. as far as i can tell, he has no other motive. moore happens to foster a dislike for bushco, true. he wants to cause shock that the president conducts business on the golf course. see also: dwight eisenhower. or that W "vacations", not really an issue since the oval office is not crucial to the countrys' operations, etc. but, also the flic raises a question about the creation of gov't defense contracts and the proffiting off the potential war. my point is that the constructive discussions are caked in bullshit.

is moore as bad as rush? rush is presented as a right journalist that states his opinion. moore is credited with creating award winning documentaries that are as slanted as an italic face. moore has greater audience in the box office. few people will turn on rush on a sat. night. moore's falsifications have the potential to effect many more individuals than rush could.

as for the hound pooching—no way. the calf thing is within the realm of possibilities. but the geomoetry of the even a large dog is just impossible. ryan, i think you got a line moore-shit.

I fully acknowledge that I may have been handed a line of shit. Wouldn't be the first time, fer sure.

However, screwing a dog is far from a remote possibility.

Good Point. Anyways, this was where i met her. You can join for free as well www.redtricircle.com