Self saw this quote recently from an article:

"Being observed and judged all the time can make you feel neurotic."

Especially if your name is Barack Obama, or John McCain - not that any sensible person here would even think of voting for the latter, correct?  It's a given in a Presidential election that every word of both candidates gets parsed for subtext on which to pounce.  We do it to McCain (justifiably - anyone been to the "Iraq-Pakistan border" lately?), and the "wrong" side does it to our guy (especially a lying, but unfortunately rich because of it, best-selling loser who put "Ph.D." after his name on the book cover to try to subliminally buff up his "credentials" - let's leave it at that).

But enough of that, given that there's plenty of discussion of that elsewhere.  What I haven't revealed yet is the source of that quote above.  It may surprise you, perhaps just a tad....

So the Olympics are under way, and as far as one can tell, no animals or plants were injured or harmed in the lighting of the torch.  The same, however, cannot be said of the stadium for the 2004 Athens Olympics, which has pretty much gone to seed since then, as outlined by Malcolm Moore in this article from the Telegraph (pretty sad, but worth reading, even if it is from a conservative rag).  One hopes the Beijing folks won't let that happen to the Bird's Nest after August 24.  Anyway.....

So it's the dog days of summer, and we're all in a tizzy about gas prices and cutting back on gas consumption, and such, which is good, to be sure (although this recent NPR feature might give some pause).  However, while on the topic of energy consumption, at least one diarist on DK touched on another area of major energy consumption that doesn't get as much attention now: air conditioning.  With that....

Self alluded last week that the next SNLC would cover a movie from a country with its own national holiday just after ours.  So, the holiday is Bastille Day, the country is France (but of course), and the movie is OSS 117: Le Caire, nid d'espions (OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies).  It's based on the espionage adventures of one Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a.k.a. Agent 117.  Originally created by Jean Bruce, this guy is basically a French James Bond, although the first OSS 117 novel, Tu parles d'une ingénue (Ici OSS 117), dates from 1949, four years before Fleming's Casino Royale.

What the filmmakers did here, however, was to make a spoof rather than a regular Bond-like action film, more à la Maxwell Smart & Inspector Clouseau.  Like Military Intelligence and You!, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies alludes, not subtly, to current events.  So....

A famous line by the American playwright George S. Kaufman goes:

"Satire is what closes on Saturday night."

Yup, SNLC movie thread time, but with a miniscule twist as implied in the title.  Further, given self's well-established obscure tastes, the next 2 weeks of SNLC will cover movies that I'm guessing none of you have seen.  The first one is about a film from 2006, Military Intelligence and You!, basically a B-movie that spoofs B-movies and WWII propaganda films.  However, the satire isn't all directed at films of the time, as you might guess.

Note: I planned this SNLC before the recent death of George Carlin, whose monologue from the first Saturday Night Live show included:

"The term Jumbo Shrimp has always amazed me. What is a Jumbo Shrimp? I mean, it's like Military Intelligence - the words don't go together, man."

However, I'm going to include one counter to that idea below.  With that....

Some of you may recall from high school or college English classes a short story which appeared almost exactly 60 years ago, in the June 26, 1948 edition of The New Yorker.  To add to the sense of anniversary, the opening words of the story are:

"The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green."

As some of you have figured out, the story is "The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson.  At the time, the reaction to it was nothing less than utter shock and outrage from many readers, because of the story's ending.  (There was one reaction more like awe, mentioned in the main diary below the flip.)  For those who have read it, you know what that ending is.  For those who may have not, spoiler alert, after a fashion.  With that said....

This SNLC definitely has a New York City bias to it, since the event in question is taking place (in this country, at least) only in NYC, not to mention it being just after the Tony Awards.  Said event is the current production of The 39 Steps, adapted by Patrick Barlow (of the National Theatre of Brent) from the classic film by Alfred Hitchcock.  For those who aren't into "theatah", this production uses 4 actors in all the roles, which number over 100 (no, not just 39).  So why blather on about it on Daily Kos?  Well....

Tonight's SNLC is in 2 parts, one light-hearted, the other less so (the latter a contribution from an SNLC regular), but both dealing with the animal species alluded to in the title.  So:

Part I: The starting point is a concert this past May 18 by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.  At said event, in the midst of 3000 audience members, 100 or so musicians, one conductor, and one distinguished American guest, in walked.....

Inverting the theme of SNLC 70, today's date, in pure number notation, would be 6/7/08, or with leading zeroes, 06/07/08.  Yes, self knows that the European notation would be 07/06/08, but we're not in Europe - yet.  Plus, the title could obliquely refer thematically to this recent diary.  Anyway, out of sheer brain laziness, some random tidbits from the last 06/07/08 in human history, below the flip.....

For once, actually daring to choose a somewhat populist theme for an SNLC, i.e. a subject about which self knows precious little, this SNLC takes as its starting point a recent article on moderate-left-blogistan's favorite faux-right-wing pundit, Stephen Colbert.  What makes it of interest, or amusement, is that the article is from a conservative newspaper.  But since this is SNLC (2.0), and in keeping with the diarist's known esoteric tastes, the paper in question is from across the pond, namely the Daily Telegraph, a conservative British paper.  Yet something may be revealed of its particular conservatism, perhaps, from the article's title:

"Stephen Colbert: the second most powerful idiot in America"

No subtext prizes for whom the Telegraph, or at least Steven Daly, the article's author, considers to be the most powerful idiot in America, then.  With that....

For those who remember piano or other music lessons, you may remember using a metronome, to keep tempo.  If you are of a certain age or above, your metronome would have been mechanical, like the one at the top image of the wikipedia entry, and not electronic.  So why discourse on this during Memorial Day weekend?  Well....

This past April saw the death of Charlton Heston, as noted here and here, among other diaries, on DK.  It so happens that one of his most celebrated, and at the time under-appreciated, films is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, in fact this month (but not in quite the intended version, of which more anon).  The film is Orson Welles' Touch of Evil, with Heston as law enforcement agent Mike Vargas and Welles as the corrupt local sheriff Hank Quinlan.  So now seems a fitting time to remember it.  With that.....

First off, thanks to va dare for so ably covering SNLC last week.  Second off, tonight's SNLC....

Being burned-/stressed-out, lazy, tired, some combination, or all of the above, this SNLC is in the manner of a clip-show that The Simpsons sometimes does, for lack of new topics (not that anything he blathers about is really new....but self digresses).  The other way to view/rationalize it is as a look back at and update on some of self's past SNLC's.  Whichever view you prefer....

The words "elitism" or "elitist" are used as one of those buzzwords with which to beat up opponents intellectually, usually by right-wingnuts against us, as being arrogant, haughty, condescending and other unpleasant characterizations (or just plain evil) in attitudes towards a particular group of people.  Of course, the wrong side uses those words because we all "know" what elitism means (after all, as the book title goes, It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear), and it gets the visceral, unthinking reaction that they want against liberals and progressives.

This diary may unwittingly or unintentionally feed that perception, as it takes the surface subject of last week's SNLC on a different tack.  With that said....

The term "pinch hitter" has its basis and primary use in the context of baseball, of course, although the phrase has long since moved out of that original niche, to find general application in any situation which requires a substitute ready to carry out whatever job is at hand, in case the initial person can't do said job.  One such case in what many may consider a very rarified (elitist?) endeavor illustrates this situation, to the point where you almost literally can't keep the players straight without a scorecard.  More below the flip....

(Warning: book spoiler alert, after a fashion, to follow.)

OK, folks, literary loser time, as self has been described in an earlier SNLC from 3CM's regime as King Loser on DK.  The inspiration is a novel that I finally got around to reading after having it for years on the shelf, by an author whose 165th anniversary is next Tuesday, April 15.  (165 just doesn't cut it for anniversaries, though, the way that 150 or 200, or even 175, does.)  In any case, the book is....

So the unthinkable, or whatever other adjective applies, has occurred: Saturday Night Loser's Club on Daily Kos has just hit 3 digits, with the 100th edition tonight.  So, for what that's worth, some vaguely thematically related ramblings below the flip.....

If one looks on dKosopedia under the "Community series" section, one sees this:

"Saturday Night Loser's Club by ChingChongChinaman. Blogging on Saturday night? What a loser! Come join the Loser's Club and tell us how pathetic your life is, loser (note - not for the snark impaired)."

What of it?  Well, if you're wondering what a diary series on Daily Kos called "Saturday Night Loser's Club" is doing here, the above sums it up well.  Want to read more (loser)?  If so.....