Friday, December 31, 2010

Ah well here's 2011

A Friendly Message From Rahm Emanuel



    "Hi, I'm Rahm Emanuel and I have just been cleared by the Chicago Elections Board to be able to run for the Mayor's seat of Chicago even though I spent the past two years in Washington under the Obama Administration. I know that there were at least two dozen of those bitches on the Board that sided against my being on the ballot, but they were pussies and couldn't play Washington Hardball, baby. All I had to do was show them a one way ticket from New York to Chicago that I was going to mail to Hobobob to change their minds. And people have the nerve to say I'm not a fucking nice guy. I'm the most fuckinest nicest guy you'll ever meet, bitches."
    Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Three highlights of the year

    Before I forget I would like to highlight three most pleasurable real life encounters with bloggers and other online folk.

    I did not get access to the internet at home until we got a digital set top box from out cable tv suppliers. The box provided very limited internet access and it was via this almost ten years ago that I came across Suzy, an artist who lives on the Wirral. We have kept in touch since, she and her partner have visited us twice but it was not until November that I made a reciprocal visit. A most enjoyable time was had despite freezing weather and a streaming cold. I hadn't ben to Liverpool let alone the Wirral in decades

    Back in 2004 I encountered an American-Argentine fellow with definite anarchist. We both used to go to a left leaning Yahoo chat room which could be quite enjoyable despite the trolls and the room owner who was a Stalinist prick (the owner and I didn't get on, believe it or not!). Anyway I kept in touch with Floyd over the years so it was an utter pleasure to meet him and his beautiful wife Mariela when they came to London in April.

    In July Bob from Brockley arranged a blogger meet. It was good to meet Bob. and quite a few other bloggers including Francis Sedgemore, Kellie Strom, Carl from Raincoat Optimism and Michael Ezra... not that I can match their political analysis

    Ach this will be my last post of the year. Onward to 201!Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Another Comment From Professor Maul



    "Heh, look at Hobobob acting all tough with one of his readers. Threatened to mark her as an unhappy customer. Don't be afraid of Hobobob's punk ass. He got all girlie when he watched Bitch Slap because he talked so much shit about women...remember? Hell, I watched that movie from behind my couch and I wasn't frightened like a little girl. I didn't cover my eyes as long as he did when I saw grown men torn to shreds by hot, sexy women. I'm not afraid of Bitches just because of that punk ass movie. Trust me.

    Oh, and another thing. You aren't a Bitch are you? 'Cuz if you are, my name is Hobobob!"Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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A Comment From A Satisfied Customer

    "Hello, my name is Mr. Mous Stache, and I'm an avid reader of your blog Hobobob, and I have to commend you for another wonderful year of posting. Although I can only use a computer once a month for five minutes. When I do, I go straight to YOU! Keep up the good work in 2011, and do us all a favor. Stop watching BURN NOTICE!"Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Dressing in heels

A Scene For New Year's Eve

    Ludicrous: "Amusing or laughable through obvious absurdity, incongruity, exaggeration, or eccentricity."

    Poignant: "Affecting or moving the emotions."

    The film: "The Hudsucker Proxy" (1994). The setting: New Year's Eve 1958 at Ann's 440, the beatnik bar mentioned earlier by Jennifer Jason Leigh's Pulitzer Prize winning reporter where she goes every December 31st for a poetry marathon, a place where the people "don't quite fit in." We see the Beatnik Barman (Steve Buscemi) talking on the phone.


    Beatnik Barman: "Yeah, he's a tall guy. A real mess...Look, you better get down here. He says he's a friend of yours...He didn't say. But, man, is he from Squaresville."

    He hangs up the phone and trudges back to his post where our protagonist, a sloshed Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), sits, alone and unpleased.

    Norville: "I want a martini! It's New Year's Eve. I deserve a martini."
    Beatnik Barman: "It's like I've been telling you-"
    Norville: "I thought you served misfits here!"
    Beatnik Barman: "Yeah, daddy, that's a roger. But we don't sell alcohol."
    Norville: "What kind of bar doesn't serve martinis?"
    Beatnik Barman: "It's a juice-and-coffee bar, man, like I've been telling you."
    Norville: "Right. So, I want....a martini. I've had a martini in every bar
    on the way down here."
    Beatnik Barman: "Martinis are for squares, man."
    Norville: "What'd you call me, you beatnik son of a..."

    Norville stands, intending to land a haymaker to the Beatnik Barman, but stumbling and bumbling about instead. Then Amy Archer (Leigh), forlorn, makes her entrance, putting an arm around Norville and guiding him back to his stool. Norville, considering one of the reasons for his sloshed-ness is Amy Archer's betrayal of his trust in how she wormed her way into his inner circle at Hudsucker Industries while posing as a secretary so she could write a story exposing his "imbecil(ity)", is not pleased.

    Norville: "Look who's here. Amy Archer. Prizeter Pule winner. Looking for a nitwit to buy you lunch? Bar fella, I'd like....a martini, please."
    Amy: "I tried to tell you so many times. It's hard to admit when you've been wrong. If you could just find it in your heart to give me another chance.
    Norville: "You take no prisoners, give no second chances."
    Amy: "Please, Norville! Please give me one more chance! And yourself, too! We both deserve one. Just give us a second chance. Together we can fight this thing. I know the last story was a lie and we can prove it. Release a statement! I can help you write it!"
    Norville: "What's the difference? I'm all washed up. Extinct. Homo sapiens sapicus."

    Leigh's following line reading is the sort of thing that makes me laugh harder than any Adam Sandler comedy ever has or could ever hope to.

    Amy: "Well, that just about does it. I've seen Norville Barnes, the young man in a big hurry. And I've seen Norville Barnes, the self-important heel. But I've never seen Norville Barnes, the quitter....and I don't like it."

    And now Amy Archer remembers something, something from earlier, a situation wherein she masqueraded as being from Norville's hometown of Muncie, Indiana to assist her ruse and so returns to it in a moment that is like Tom Joad's big speech in "Grapes Of Wrath" tossed in a martini shaker with Owen Wilson.

    Amy: "You can't surrender, Norville. Remember: 'Fight on, Fight on, dear old Muncie. Fight on, hoist the gold and blue. You'll be tattered, torn and hurting. Once the Munce is done with you. Go....Eagles.'"


    Amy stands and tries to sing with more conviction.

    Amy: "'Fight on, Fight on, dear old Muncie. Fight on, hoist the gold and blue."

    But Norville is having none of it. He returns to his feet and stumbles toward the door, turning, and unleashing, despite having won an Oscar for "Mystic River", despite starring in IMDB's #1 movie, the greatest Robbins Line of 'em all.

    Norville: "You lied to me. How could you lie to me? You...a Muncie girl."Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Another year over (almost)

    Well give it 8 hours or so and we will see the back of 2010. It's been a curious year for ,me much of it dominated by knee pain and the swallowing of heroic doses of Tramadol - at least up until the end of August when a second operation sorted out the residual damage. Now ll I get are twinges from the arthiritis.

    Once the knee pain was out of the way I discovered the
    joys of methotrexate, It seems to be clearing up my psoriasis (slowly) but it is no fun to take. Even at the low doses used to treat skin problems I feel crap for a day after I take my weekly dose. Hi ho.

    It was ultimately health issues that made me decide to take voluntary redundancy- that and the prospect of massive job cuts across the civil service over the next few years. I revived a reasonably good settlement so I do not need to work for a while but not enough to set me up in a life of ease until my pension comes, dagnabbit! So I need to find some new employment but not until the new tax year. Whatever I do I intend to try and make at least some of my income from photography

    But I repeat myself. I won't make any new year resolutions as such. If things go a I intend the 2011 will include a lot more photography oh and and some other stuff too. I have it in mind to improve my French, reacquaint myself with basic and a bit more than basic level statistics, improve my Excel, Word and Powerpoint skills, write a CV for the first time since the days when Olivetti typewriters roamed the earth and also lose some of the weight I've gained during my forties. Heaven knows I might even have a shave for the first time since September! I suppose I had also better keep abreast of things in the accountancy world too

    As for the Poor Mouth keeping it going has been a chore at times. I hope to sum up the energy to deal with some of the things that have always particularly interested me. That means more photos posts but also getting back to the backwaters of history I love so much. Expect more on Ireland in WWII (including a major slag off of the IRA), some of the obscure far right parties of the time, minor British collaborators and at long last the end of the Red Cushing saga!

    Come April darrlin bands will be five years old. Around the same time, or maybe a little earlier it should get its millionth visitor. I suppose it goes to show that there are connoisseurs of (ahem) culture out there!

    Anyway, enough of this here's wishing both of my readers a very happy and prosperous new year, despite all attempts by the Toalies to thwart this objective!Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Thursday, December 30, 2010

Playing Footsie With My Personals


    Alright. I don't get LOST.

    I'm trying. I know I'm homeless, and I can't really relate to a bunch of handsome men on an island with a bunch of attractive women, waiting to be rescued and not really considering the fact that THIS PLACE HAS NO EVIDENCE OF EVER BEING TOUCHED BY HUMAN HANDS. Well, not right away. Now they're finding shit underground, and bodies of other people, shit like that. Very good. But WHY WEREN'T THESE POOR MOTHER FUCKERS RESCUED? I think, when that Smoke Monster came around that it was time for the ol' hobo to go take a chick, and head into a cave somewhere and go back to the stone age.

    Either that or make traps for the Smoke Monster. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT THING ANYWAY!!! It gives me the shits. I would go get a big damn stick and go confront that motherfucker if I didn't see what it did to that pilot in the second episode. I have to tell you people, that's my greatest fear. Getting sucked up into the air and turned into blood and hamburger meat in a split second. I know death is complete and instantaneous if it did happen, but I'd hate the shit out of just knowing that shit happened to my body.

    OHHH, now you think the hobo is crazy right? You think that dying like that poor bastid pilot in the show, who was sucked up and came back down blood and bone is an irrational fear...well let me tell you something smart ass. I used to work around JET engines. Have you ever tried that? In another life, before I became homeless, that was my chosen profession. Airline mechanic. One of the first things we are taught is the respect for the intake of a jet engine. It has a greater suction distance than most realize. And if you were to look down one, it looks like a monstrous mouth with serrated teeth. Something really to be feared.

    Many stupid ass technicians and handlers can make a mistake. Or a pilot. What do you think happens to you when those turbines are on full? If you're standing anywhere in front of that intake, you are SUCKED up and julienned out the other side. Have you ever seen ground meat in tattered clothing come spraying out the back of a jet exhaust ? Let me tell you, you don't want to.

    Have I ever? Shit no. I just told you it's one of my greatest fears. Do you think therefore I'm hanging around looking for that shit. I can barely handle it being done by the fucking Shadow Monster. Other than that, I don't know what the fuck to make out of that series. And that shit has 25 episodes for the season. Fuck! In my screenplay I only have 23. Don't tell me that I'll have to write two more. That would be almost impossible.

    But what is the appeal of this series. I'm starting to get tired of these cuts back and forth for everyone on the show. This one and that one and this one. It seems like every episode we're forced to watch another back-story. I wonder if the writers realize that this series is vague enough. They should dispense with the fucking flashbacks and EXPLAIN WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!!! Is it a magical island, like in HR. PUFFNSTUFF? With dancing, whatever the fuck he is, and witches and shit? Or is it like GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, filled with the madcap antics of a bunch of clowns trying to find their way off the island.

    Hell, it can even be like FANTASY ISLAND, with that Mr. Roarke and Scary Tattoo, making people's dreams come true. But all of them motherfuckers better have that $50,000 dollars or they'll probably be eaten by that Smoke Monster. But whatever the fucking case...tell me something. Tell me what the fuck is going on?! I get tired trying to figure shit out constantly. And this show is tiring me out.

    You see, check out a series like Battlestar Galactica. It was easy. Cylons cill yo az. Simple math. You see a Cylon, you run your ass off. In fact, the entire solar system packed their fucking bags and ran their collective asses off. I'm tell you, REAL PEOPLE do shit like this. Aliens come and kick their asses, they pack up their shit and get the fuck outta dodge. I loved that shit. Now THAT's LOST. Running and being chased the fuck down! I can get into that. Besides, those chicks in the Colonial Fleet were so hot that if I was a Cylon I'd chase their serious moonlight asses all over the galaxy too!

    But no. I have to deal with this 'What is this?' 'What is that?' shit for hours on end. You know I can only take ten minutes at a pop watching this shit, so I did dishes and washed and waxed my floor watching it. If I multi-task I can handle it. So I watched episode after episode of the first season and I'm getting pissed off. I watched it from eight in the evening to Seven O'clock in the morning (Of course I had to put three coats of floor wax on my floors to get the shine that I wanted) and I still have no urge to see another. I'm just trying to get through the first season.

    And there's six seasons of this shit? What do they do? Make the island into an amusement park. And dead beats, well you know what happens to them, right? Yoo Hoo! Smoke Monster! So here I am watching the one show that I can't stand watching. I mean, I'm watching a lot of shows that I wouldn't otherwise watch if MY shows were on the Internet. And do you want to know what my problem is? Fucking NETFLIX. These bitches are pulling a fast one.

    When I first joined Netflix Streaming, they had some of the coolest, newest releases out. I mean, last years movies. 2000 and shit. Some of the best shit on the silver screen, like the motherfucking BOONDOCK SAINTS!! ONE and TWO: ALL SAINTS DAY!! damnit! (Please God, make a Third). You see, we need more straight on, straight forward plots like this on television. Bad guy vs Good guy, right away, right now! Come on now, what happened to television shows like Batman and Robin, Green Hornet and Kato, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Andy Griffith and Barney Fife? Good guys were clearly distinguished from the bad guys. And when the show started, these fuckers were battling each other.

    But going back to this four flushing Netflix who think they're pulling a fast one. These mother fuckers have now LOWERED the price of the 'unlimited streaming movies over the Internet' to $7.99 from $8.99. Wow, a bargain right? WRONG! They took out all of last years releases and put in all of the old, late night free movies and shit from the 20's and 30's. I swear. Even the old television shows from then. I'm tired of watching all of the shows from the 80's. I'VE SEEN THEM ALL ALREADY NETFLIX!! You cheating sons-a-bitches! I'm going to drop my subscription soon if Blockbuster does better, or any other online movie supplying company does a better job. Because now, NETFLIX sucks. So fuck you NETFLIX unless you straighten your asses out (Get BOONDOCK SAINTS 3 or BITCHSLAP 2 and I'll keep you).

    "Fuck you, Hobobob! You're such a fucking hypocrite you son-of-a-bitch. Here you are on your post of December 19th 2010, bitching about sex and violence on television and yet you are telling people to watch the ultra-violent Boondock Saints, on your blog! I've seen more violence on your blog than even on violent webpages! You even quote me you lowlife bastard!"

    First: Ha ha ha, I've quoted you again! Second: Who the fuck is this? You think you can figure out the Hobo? I don't think so. Did you see Boondock Saints? I bet you didn't. Okay, it's the most violent show that I've ever seen, but remember, they're like the Blues Brothers....they're doing it for God. And on top of that, no innocents were hurt or injured in the making of the movie. But then you have insipid shows like LOST, that have no purpose in the entire show, NOT EVEN VIOLENCE!! What is wrong with this? Well, if you don't have bad guys, especially in black suits and hats, how are you supposed to recognize the good guys?

    The good guys are not good anymore. They're gray. There aren't Sinners and Saints any more just Sinners being killed by pedophile priests. We can no longer stand or support tarnished heroes. That's what I'm saying. I've NEVER NOT condoned violence. Oh wait, that's a double-negative. I've NEVER said that violence was BAD on my blog. I happen to LIKE Horror and Violence on television and movies...FOR ADULTS! I don't like it at all for children. When I was a kid the only thing I could watch was HR PuffNStuff! Kids today can get into a PG-13 film and see shit that was R rated when I was a kid. Imagine that shit.

    Did you read my post on October 28, 2010: There is a Cosmic Lesson if You Listen, where I talk about one of the most Men hating movies that was so hyper-violent that I had a hard time watching it called Bitch Slap! Sweetheart, don't let the tits fool you on this trailer. These bitches are the scariest three women you will ever see on the screen. I cringed through this movie and I loved it. Shit, made Boondock Saints look like...LOST. Yeah, I learned some mondo RESPECT on that movie.Trust me, I don't fuck around with Bitches any more! I got Bitch Slapped!

    Yeah. And another thing, if you keep talking to me the way you are, I'm going to put you on my blog as an Un-happy Customer. You know, I think I will. What's your name?

    Well, I'm going to go and try to watch yet ANOTHER episode of lost. It's like taking a daily dose of Cod Liver Oil. Uggh. But I'll give it the best chance worth trying.

    Oh. I highly recommend those three movies I mentioned above. Find a wrathful God, then Get slapped by Bitches!

    You'll thank me for it.

    HobobobSource URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Rich liberals raise taxes on Poor. For their own good.

    Four of the richest men in America, all liberal Democrats, are endorsing the Obama plan to raise taxes on cigarettes and beer.
    $54 Billion

    Dec. 30, 2010. President Barack Hussein Obama, D-Kenya, has proposed broad tax increases on unhealthy items consumed by poor people. If Congress passes these initiatives poor people can expect huge tax hikes on tobacco products, alcohol, snack foods, and other unhealthy products routinely consumed by those living below the poverty level.

    "By increasing the prices of these things we can curb consumption, and thereby improve the health of poor people in America" he told us via phone from his resort hotel in Hawaii. "And if they live longer, they will enjoy receiving more entitlements from the government."

    $18 Billion
    Bill Gates, spokesman for the new group "Billionaires For Obama" echoed the President's thoughts: "We support higher taxes across the board for both the poor and the middle class." 

    "You can even raise our taxes if you want, because we don't pay any taxes anyway. We hire smart Jewish lawyers and accountants so we can legally evade paying taxes."

    Gates went on to explain that "We didn't get rich by handing all our money over to the government. That's something only fools and Republicans do."

    $45 Billion
    Michael Bloomberg, another member of the group added, "Poor people need to stop drinking and smoking. So they can enjoy welfare life longer. Raising their taxes just helps these people quit their bad habits and start living a healthier lifestyle."

    Warren Buffett added, "This is especially important since President Obama has created so many more poor people in America. And thanks to the Obama economic policies, much of the middle class will soon be joining this group in poverty."

    Mr. Buffett emphasized that "President Obama has really done a spectacular job of destroying the middle class. If unemployment trends continue for a few more months, there will be more people in poverty, and these are always the easiest people for us to control."

    $14.2 Billion
    Wall Street financial wizard George Soros pointed out the financial opportunity these new taxes will bring to poor people. 

    "The poor should do like am doing and invest a few hundred million in shorting tobacco and alcohol stocks. If they play their cards right, they won't be poor for very long."

    "This is really a wonderful thing President Obama is doing for America. With any luck we should have 200 million poor people by the end of President Obama's first term."

    Mr. Soros said he is willing to spend "whatever it takes" to get President Obama reelected in 2012.
    Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Baby quilts

My favourite photo of 2010

BeefEater’s Signature Series Gold Plated SL4000 Grill

Maserati GranTurismo Convertible Sold Out

Departed this life – part IV

    The last few months of the year do not seem to be rich pickings for notable or obscure deaths of interest to this warped mind still here goes.



    Eileen Nearne, whose body was discovered on 2 September, had been an SOE operative during WWII. Codenamed Rose, she was flown in to France on 1944 to work as a wireless operator for the Wizard network, one of several SOE operations in the country.

    In July 1944 her transmitter was detected and she was arrested. After torture by the Gestapo she was sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp where she refused to do prison work. She was then transferred to a forced labour camp in Silesia. On 13 April 1945 she escaped with two French girls from a work gang. After arrest and release by the SS they were reportedly reportedly hidden by a priest in Leipzig until the arrival of United States troops.

    Nearne was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French government but just a measly MBE by our own government.

    She died alone from a heart attack in her seaside flat. Her body is thought to have remained undiscovered for some time until found on 2 September 2010. She was 89 years old. Her wartime activities were not generally known about. It was only when her flat was being searched by council workers to try to establish her next-of-kin that medals and other papers related to her war career were found.

    Her funeral was paid for by the Royal British Legion



    On 12 September French film director Claude Chabrol died at the age of 80



    28 October saw the death of James MacArthur, the original Hawaii 5-0 Danno. The phrase “Book him Danno, Murder One” is a treasured childhood televisual memory. Accept no substitutes! Even if the remake features Grace Park!



    29 October saw the death of Geoffrey Crawley, former editor in chief of the British Journal of Photography, at the age of 83. In the 1980s he finally laid to rest the Cottingley Fairies hoax.



    Sycophant Adrian Paunescu died on 5 November. Paunescu was infamous for being Nicolae Ceausescu’s court poet. That job ended in 1989 when his master mysteriously died of lead poisoning… I featured one of his atrocious works at the time of his death.


    On 21 November Prince Chunk died at the age of 10 of heart complications Chunk was at one time 44lbs, just two lb short of the absolute record for the fattest cat. Robyn at one time weighed nearly 17lbs and we thought he was a big fellow… then again he was never a fasto, just a large cat!



    Captain Beefheart is the last person of note (for me anyway) to die this year. Like his foodstuff namesake his music was very much an acquired tasteSource URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Prayers For Rain


    Ain't no sunshine when she's gone.
    It's not warm when she's away.
    Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
    And she's always gone too long anytime she goes away.

    Wonder this time where she's gone,

    Wonder if she's gone to stay
    Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
    And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

    And I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,

    I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
    I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know,
    I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know

    Hey, I ought to leave the young thing alone,

    But ain't no sunshine when she's gone, only darkness everyday.
    Ain't no sunshine when she's gone,
    And this house just ain't no home anytime she goes away.

    Anytime she goes away.

    Anytime she goes away.
    Anytime she goes away.
    Anytime she goes away. 


    Bill Withers
    Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Another Comment From Professor Maul

    "You know, with all that shit Hobobob bitched about his dying, everyone should really tell him the truth: Who the fuck would care OR miss him? Ha ha ha. Oh wait...if he was to die, I'd go too, wouldn't I? Well waitaminute, I actually care if he kicks the bucket. Sorry for this commercial interruption. Hey! Did you see BURN NOTICE last night?"Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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Bloomberg Announces Switch Back to Democrat Party

    NYC, Dec 30, 2010.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that he is switching back to the Democrat Party after posing as a Republican for almost ten years.

    A lifelong Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switched his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the election that year and a second term in 2005.

    Bloomberg switched parties when he failed to win the Democrat Primary race, and noticed that the GOP wasn't planning to run their own candidate in the city dominated by Democrat voters.

    "Back then, it made perfect sense to switch parties. But today I'm getting a lot of heat from the media for doing such a poor job with snow removal following last week's blizzard," he told us. "If I was still a Democrat, then the media wouldn't dare criticize me. So I'm switching back!"
    Mayor's limo stuck in snow
    Mayor Bloomberg told us that he too was upset about the poor job he did removing snow this winter. "Heck, my own limo was stuck for two days... right outside my mansion!"

    This was a major inconvenience for him. "We had to send out for meals from five star restaurants. We were virtually trapped inside our own mansion."

    Bloomberg is the tenth richest man in America, and was a strong advocate for term limits until he finished his second term and wanted a third.

    Then he worked hard to overturn the rule he wanted for everyone else, so he could run for a third term.Source URL: http://extravagancedeplumes.blogspot.com/2010/
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My Official 2010 Ultimate Mix Tape

    In his documentary "The Promise", about the making of the "Darkness on the Edge of Town", Bruce Springsteen, as he's so wont to do, said something that resonated with me.  He said: "Part of what pop and rock promised was the never ending now. It's about living NOW. The need to be alive right NOW. Those three minutes it was all on....and it lifted you into this beautiful ever present now." Well, of the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of new songs I heard over the course of 2010 these were the songs I turned to when I needed to be alive right NOW.  These were the songs that no matter where I was, what I was doing, or how I felt, could always - always - lift me up into that beautiful ever present now. 

    Tell me what's on your 2010 mixtape.  After all, my quest for that ever present now is never-ending.

    "Half Light II (No Celebration)" / "Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains)", The Arcade Fire. In typical Arcade Fire fashion these songs are not songs. They are hymns, they are manifestos, they are snapshots of the world in all her pain and beauty at present, they are fermented pop music grapes of exquisite immortality (???), all of which is to say their brilliance is beyond us.  I'm not worthy. And neither are you.

    Am I the only one who wishes they dressed like this all the time?
    "All The Lovers" / "Can't Beat The Feeling", Kylie Minogue. Really, her entire new record, "Aphrodite", is awesome and deserves a place near the top of the formidable Kylie Canon. It was my favorite album from 2010, which is to say it was, in actuality, my fourth favorite album in 2010, but I'll explain that in a minute. These two songs made the most powerful impression on me and they did so because when I first heard them I realized that Kylie was speaking directly to me. She was saying: "Hey, Nick, I know you like Lady Gaga. And that's cool. No worries. I like her, too. I respect her. But, you know, I'm, like, Kylie Minogue. You and I go way back, remember? I haven't gone anywhere. I'm still here." Duly noted.  Lady Gaga has kinda become my current Female Bruce Springsteen, but Kylie Minogue will always be my one and only Kylie Minogue.
    "Boy" / "Too Dramatic", Ra Ra Riot. I was honestly a little disappointed in their sophomore effort as a whole but, even so, these two tracks are pretty much precisely what I seek in pop music. If they can someday encapsulate the experience of seeing them live (which I have had the honor and privilege of doing five times now) into an album it will undoubtedly cause my head to delightfully explode.


    "Engine To Turn", Tift Merritt. My official 2010 Anthem.

    Did you know this person has read my blog? Just sayin'.  I don't have a lot of great moments in this life, okay, so let me have this one.  Please.
    "Harlem River Blues", Justin Townes Earle. The most uproarious, most danceable song about drowning one's self ever recorded. Three minutes of absolute ecstasy.


    "Lost In The Backyard", James McMurtry. So I was kinda late to the party with this album ("Where'd You Hide The Body?"). Like, 15 years late. But back then I was too busy digging on Gwen and Tribe to think about some Americana rocker from the Lone Star State. (Those were the days before I discovered Lucinda Williams and realized that country music isn't awful - in fact, it can be quite transplendent - so long as you're listening to the right country music.) Besides, as a believer in destiny I have no doubt this album was supposed to get to me in 2010 and no earlier and so it did, thankfully, and it was my third favorite album of this particular year. I'm choosing this song for the mix tape because, well, frankly, I feel like I'm still lost in the backyard.  Or, like James says, "I said this is the last time / A few times ago / But once more it's happened / And that's all in the world I know."


    "My Pet Snakes", Jenny and Johnny. While I was kind of all over the map on how I felt in regards to the mega-fantastical Jenny Lewis's new album with her boy-toy, Jonathan Rice, this song....this song I looooooove. It's Nicks/Buckingham for the modern-day hipsters who in accordance with Hipster Code are not allowed to like Nicks/Buckingham.


    "Fading Memory", Eilen Jewell. So earlier this year I was attempting to offer an explanation to my friend Dan of my admittedly confounding music tastes (likely made apparent from this list so far) and out of desperation said something to the effect of "I don't think I care for blues based music" except then my sister introduced me to this song and I fell head-over-heels, punch-drunk in love with it (there was a day this summer where I was on the train and it was so packed I could barely even reach the pole I was clinging to and this guy's backpack kept smacking me in the face and so I put this song on repeat on the ol' Ipod and it was all gooooood) and, well, guess what?  This song is blues based. So it's official: My music tastes make absolutely no sense.


    "Night" / "Run Me Out", Zola Jesus. Damn, this girl's goth. So why does her music make me feel like I'm driving through New Mexico beneath a cloudless sky with a killer cup of coffee and a full heart?  (My fifth favorite album of the year even though it was an EP.)

    I don't think I'm technically allowed to like someone so goth.
    "Dog Days Are Over", Florence & The Machine.  Her debut album, "Lungs", which was released last year was the second best album I heard this year and if anyone tries to tell me this particular song isn't rock and roll I will drive a snowplow right into their house.


    "Gimme Sympathy", Metric. It took me a year and a half to find this album - "Fantasies" - and that's fine because it was the best album I heard in 2010. Top-to-bottom, front-to-back, inside-and-out, every-which-way, I love it, I love it, I love it. Did I say I loved it? Because I loved it. And I'm choosing "Gimme Sympathy" for the mix tape for the simple fact I find it utterly inconceivable this is not the single biggest song in the entire world.
    If I were Music Czar.........
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