Althouse: At the Lily Ghost Café...

June 3, 2013

At the Lily Ghost Café...

... you don't stand a chance.

53 comments:

J said...: They look a lot like peppers.Do they taste that good as well?; 6/3/13, 12:37 PM
rhhardin said...: These rare flowers have not reappeared this year. Perhaps it's too cold.; 6/3/13, 12:41 PM
bagoh20 said...: I never liked when plants do that Minnie Pearl thing.; 6/3/13, 12:55 PM
chickelit said...: Althouse admonishes: you don't stand a chance.

Dying metaphor?

"I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (KJV)

Underscored by George Orwell in "Politics And The English Language"; 6/3/13, 1:07 PM
David Davenport said...: Sincere question: does anybody have any good advice as to keeping croton plants alive?

Here at luxurious, verdant, and vibrant Maison Davenport, two croton plants have died since last November, whereas several other indoor houseplants of diverse varieties and vegetative ethnicities are doing fine.

Now we have no crotons. How does one keep crotons alive?; 6/3/13, 1:13 PM
Kirby Olson said...: What do your readers think about the Roy Hibbert use of the phrase "no homo" to distance himself from the image of himself being "stretched out" to contain LeBron James' offense? At the Nation a writer named David Zirin has argued that Hibbert should be suspended for game 7. He did get a $75,000 dollar fine.

I'm just curious. I wrote about it at my blog at Lutheran Surrealism.

I think it's a curious case because it reflects on the First Amendment.

So far I haven't seen a single leftist journalist defend Hibbert's use of the term. Back in the 60s the left was on the side of offensive speech. they supported Ginsberg and burroughs in their obscenity trials.

While Hibbert is far from being a wordsmith along the levels of the Top Beats, shouldn't he still be allowed to express himself? Won't coaches be less willing to allow players to speak to the media from now on? This will have a chilling effect on speech henceforth.

If I were to say, "Those lilies seem a bit gay," I suppose everyone would jump on me. Many still think that a man who's interested in flowers must be gay. But there are many florists and botanists who love flowers and aren't gay. Not that there's anything wrong with being a florist.

But if you think there is something wrong with it, are you still allowed to say it? Can you say, florists are a bit effeminate? Is it right to tell other people what they can say? I think the chilling effect of the PC police when it reaches into sports is a curious thing. Most of the men and women in professional sports are not talented when it comes to words. Aside from Ali, almost none can make a colorful phrase.

But they still have to talk. Most of them just repeat the same phrases they've already heard. Hibbert stepped out of line and is being punished by the NBA. Is this right?; 6/3/13, 1:18 PM
Pianoman said...: Anyone here ever seen "Spring Awakening"? If so, what did you think of it?

I'm in the pit for the show at a local university, and while the music is kind of fun, I have to say that I Don't Get The Show At All (TM). Maybe it's a generation thing. Do the Millenials love it?; 6/3/13, 1:26 PM
edutcher said...: As long as we have a chance to speak out piece at Althouse, we have a chance.; 6/3/13, 1:26 PM
Palladian said...: Kirby,

While I defend Mr Hibbert's right to say any stupid moronic thing he wants to say, he's also an employee of a team and representative of both that team and the NBA, so I presume he must abide by their rules and may be penalized when he breaks those rules and damages the brand.

It's a shame that so many black America men are bigoted morons, but what can you do?; 6/3/13, 1:46 PM
gerry said...: How does one keep crotons alive?

Have you tried serving it with soup?; 6/3/13, 1:48 PM
gerry said...: Oh, I'm sorry. That's croutons; 6/3/13, 1:48 PM
lemondog said...: Well.... somebody had to say it.

Are Karl Rove & GOP behind IRS scandal?; 6/3/13, 2:00 PM
wildswan said...: I've read you have to dust the leaves of croton plants - and not with Swiffer. I never did it so I have no idea. The plants died but I'm not sure I want them back if I have to dust them.; 6/3/13, 2:09 PM
traditionalguy said...: Whatever Hibbert said on TV must have been horrible, because there is no way to learn what he said from the sports News sources.

He seemrd to be saying he was not delicate. But the Gay community is being portrayed as too delicate to hear bad words.; 6/3/13, 2:25 PM
ricpic said...: No freedom of speech for "bigoted morons" soon becomes no freedom of speech, period. Which is what the thug at the Nation really craves.; 6/3/13, 2:34 PM
Robert Cook said...: "As long as we have a chance to speak out piece at Althouse, we have a chance."

Hardly.; 6/3/13, 2:37 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: ... you don't stand a chance.

If you use a flexible tripod from the Althouse portal, there a slim chance.

And as we now know, before we didn't know what we now know... not to repeat myself...

A Slim Chance is Better than No Chance.

At newsstands now.; 6/3/13, 2:49 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I love this time of year. The weather is beautiful. The plants are growing. I can hardly wait to get outside and begin pruning away the winter's damage, plant new flowers and perennials, weed and in general shape everything up.

I hate this time of year because when I go outside to do anything the grass and other pollen is also blooming. I can't go outside for more than a few minutes without sneezing, itching swollen eyes and a runny nose for a couple of hours. So even though I want to do all those things in the first paragraph.....I end up doing those in this second. So I sit inside the house looking longingly at my overgrowing garden and yard.

Fortunately....the pollen that I'm allergic to is only around for a few weeks.; 6/3/13, 2:56 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: you don't stand a chance.

Also used to go by ... you don't stand a gust of a chance.

But because of climate change and a particularly nasty el Niño and la Niña years, the "gust" was dropped.; 6/3/13, 2:59 PM
FedkaTheConvict said...: What's the difference between saying "No homo" and "Not that there's anything wrong with that" or NTTAWWT except that the latter was introduced into popular culture by Seinfeld? Both phrases essentially mean the same thing and "no homo" has been around long enough that people shouldn't act all scandalized now.; 6/3/13, 3:02 PM
Methadras said...: And so John Kerry's mission as the stalking horse is now complete.; 6/3/13, 3:06 PM
ricpic said...: Two poems:

THE PARAKEETS

They talk all day
and when it starts to get dark
they lower their voices
to converse with their own shadows
and with the silence.

They are like everybody
- the parakeets -
all day chatter,
and at night bad dreams.

With their gold rings
on their clever faces,
brilliant feathers
and the heart restless
with speech...

They are like everybody
- the parakeets -
the ones that talk best
have separate cages.

THE SWALLOW

The enormous relief we feel
as we look at the distant mountains,
watch the flight of a swallow,
listen to the voice
of the wind in the ash trees,
comes from touching for a moment
as a member of the same family
beings beyond number
that are nothing but what they are
and have no wish
to be anything else.

The poet is Alberto Blanco, Spanish, born 1951.

The translation is by W.S. Merwyn.; 6/3/13, 3:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: What's the difference between saying "No homo" and "Not that there's anything wrong with that"

"No homo" is a more active declaration of something definite... where as NTTAWWT is a more passive declaration of something less definite, something that could have an alternative meaning.

Its kind of infuriating for me to have to explain it that way... but I've resigned myself to the fact that that's the way its going to stay.; 6/3/13, 3:13 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I don't satan a chance.; 6/3/13, 3:15 PM
Sorun said...: Bullying (I have to admit to laughing when I read it):

"I also sat next to a crying student and tried to comfort her after all the boys in her class called her the “mayor of Africa” for having slightly darker skin than the rest of the students"; 6/3/13, 3:21 PM
Michael Haz said...: I saw Lily Ghost open for Wilted Tulips at the Fillmore in '77, man.; 6/3/13, 3:30 PM
Michael Haz said...: ...Slim Chance is Better than No Chance..

I saw Slim Chance open for No Chance at the Fillmore east in '73, man, and Slim Chance was better by far than No Chance.; 6/3/13, 3:33 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Nice...; 6/3/13, 3:41 PM
Michael Haz said...: I saw Croton Plants open for No Homo at Shank Hall in '87, man. Stokin' great!; 6/3/13, 3:44 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/3/13, 3:47 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Jesse Eisenberg is a dick.

If you don't remember who he is right away, he is the guy that played Mark Zuckerberg in the movie Social Network (2010).; 6/3/13, 3:49 PM
lemondog said...: ...any good advice as to keeping croton plants alive?

Loooooooove......but also according to this careful watering is essential
Croton Plant Care; 6/3/13, 3:52 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Here is the whole interview.; 6/3/13, 4:04 PM
edutcher said...: Robert Cook said...

As long as we have a chance to speak our piece at Althouse, we have a chance.

Hardly.

You'd rather no free forum at all?

Funny, no one profits from Ann's tolerance as much as Cook.; 6/3/13, 4:08 PM
Wen said...: Lily didn't stand a chance, and neither did James. But in the end, Voldemort got his. The world just had to wait for the right Potter...so keep the faith.; 6/3/13, 4:08 PM
Robert Cook said...: edutcher,

My point is: you overestimate the value of comments made at this blog.; 6/3/13, 4:27 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/3/13, 4:41 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: Gatsby via Chateau Heartiste - Gatsby, literature’s ultimate beta male orbiter and pedestal polisher suffering from a most awesome case of oneitis (which Nick admired as an incorrigible hopefulness in a degenerate world), did get the green light, or rather Gatsby *thought* he got the green light, but when Daisy was pressed by him for a confession of her love in the climatic hotel scene, she recused herself from deciding between the charming Gatsby and the dominant (domineering) Tom, opting instead to cry her way out of confrontation and then to collude with Tom when her complicity in a hit-and-run became clear to herself and Tom connived to pin it all on Gatsby to avoid the revelation of his own infidelity. (I haven’t read the book in a while, so I’m not sure if Tom knew Daisy was the driver, or if Daisy lied to Tom about being the passenger to save her own skin.)

For his transcendent hopefulness and blind faith in uncorrupted love and female purity, Gatsby was first betrayed, then framed, then killed. There’s a lesson there for yearning, wistfully romantic beta males with delusions of pander.*

*Well, ok, two lessons. Don’t ever deliver an ultimatum to a woman to declare her love during a heated moment. Such a move reeks of needy desperation. The very opposite of alpha male aloofness.; 6/3/13, 4:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I need you oh so badly/I love you oh so madly...; 6/3/13, 5:25 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "My point is: you overestimate the value of comments made at this blog."

Not if 'this' little thing is the last safe thing that's left.

Short of rounding people up, I'm at a loss to think up of what other ways the Obamas could have violated us.

But then again, god forbid if we overreact... overreach... over-fuckup.; 6/3/13, 5:41 PM
cf said...: Robert Cook said...
edutcher, My point is: you overestimate the value of comments made at this blog.

Yes, sometimes I do wonder -- in my proud moment of gratitude as I get to volunteer a comment and send it hurtling onto the Cyberscreen at Althouse -- if it satisfies much too much, and instead I really would be more effective to HoldItIn, and use the pressure & anguish of our times to make my new most favorite Headpiece, and go sit in front of our NPR office and declare my Worst Truths.

Would that be any more effective?

Haha, nah, not a whit. Nothing. It will mean nothing, they will make sure. The silence is what will be heard and seen and known. The silence at all costs.

But I don't have to be silent yet here :^); 6/3/13, 5:50 PM
tiger said...: Keep the blog conversations but dump the stupid 'cafe' posts. Each and every comment under the picture(s) is just weird/lame/cloying.; 6/3/13, 6:12 PM
edutcher said...: Wrong, the finer things are called that for a reason.

Robert Cook said...

edutcher,

My point is: you overestimate the value of comments made at this blog.

The American (and French and Russian (which should please you)) Revolution began in environments like this, ditz.; 6/3/13, 6:17 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Each and every comment under the picture(s) is just weird/lame/cloying.

I couldn't disagree more.

They are the little golf flag the real tiger aims for... they are the wall I use to bounce the hand ball against...

Oh c'mon, get a life ;); 6/3/13, 6:23 PM
Michael Haz said...: I saw Dump The Stupid open for Weird Lame Cloying at the Kollege Klub in Madison in '93, man.; 6/3/13, 6:47 PM
richard mcenroe said...: "How does one keep crotons alive?"

Realistically, the only thing you can do is send them back to their home planet, Croto. They simply don't thrive in Earth's atmosphere. I saw that in an old David Bowie movie.

And complaing about people saying "homo" is completely gay, all the kids tell me that.; 6/3/13, 6:57 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/3/13, 8:21 PM
Heartless Aztec said...: @The Professor - Lovely song but still a Beta tune for all that. Here's the Alpha version of the same sentiment. Frank & Tommy - Say It Over and Over Again. (Trombone as phallic symbol)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exknJi_S48Q; 6/3/13, 8:23 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/3/13, 10:21 PM
Saint Croix said...: The Washington Post has a story about what the Department of Justice is allowing them to say about Eric Holder's support for freedom of the press.

Snark!; 6/4/13, 12:02 AM
Unknown said...: I went to a doctor today for a very itchy rash that I self-diagnosed as an allergy to a new fabric softener and he confirmed as the probable cause. The doctor spent 10 minutes max sent his nurse to give me a big shot of some anti inflammatory and wrote a prescription for a corticosteroid.

$143.00; 6/4/13, 12:07 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The American (and French and Russian (which should please you)) Revolution began in environments like this, ditz."

As I say...you vastly overvalue the comments made at this blog.; 6/4/13, 6:43 AM
gbarto said...: Any dog cafes coming?; 6/4/13, 11:12 AM