Is this the real life?

Or is it parody? It's getting so hard to tell with these insane right wingers and Randian fools. From Rep Louis Gohmert's fictional "terror babies" to wingnut bloggers' fictional "Mexican drug gangs invade US and Obama instructs Texas law enforcement to cover it up" stories, to Nevada Senate Republican nominee refusing to talk to press to answer for her history of dumbass statements about dismantling the US gov't (a passion she shares with Rand Paul -- but he has better hair). The constant stream of ever more epic stupid from the right is gonna make me lose my mind. But the bonus is, that if the Tea Party assholes fill Washington with lunatics, there'll be room in the asylum for me -- if Rand Paul hasn't cut its funding.

...and you thought she couldn't do it...

Now I am afraid to go to San Francisco.

RIP, Mark. We wish you hadn't.

Meditating with Prog Dinosaurs

Something for the stoned '70s teen prog head in all of us. Late night contemplative listening fare. (If you're at work, this will only put you to sleep or piss you off -- or probably just make you bummed that you're stuck at work.) Relax:

If you're still in need of sleep, read on. It's not included in the next video, but Peter Gabriel preceded the Montreal performance with an intro in French. Translation:

Now a story of Love. The man's a Romeo. He has on a fig leaf. He takes it off and eats it. It produces in him an enormous sexual excitement. [get it, enormous, nudge, nudge -- ed.] He sees Juliet immediately on her balcony. She sings.. (very prettily) blah blah blah, and Romeo takes Juliet and transports her in obscurity to a place in the cinema called "the Cinema Show".

Tiresias was a prophet in Greek mythology. Among the tales associated with him are these, lifted from Wikipedia:

On Mount Cyllene in the Peloponnese, as Tiresias came upon a pair of copulating snakes, he hit the pair a smart blow with his stick. Hera was not pleased, and she punished Tiresias by transforming him into a woman. As a woman, Tiresias became a priestess of Hera, married and had children, including Manto, who also possessed the gift of prophecy. According to some versions of the tale, Lady Tiresias was a prostitute of great renown. After seven years as a woman, Tiresias again found mating snakes; depending on the myth, either she made sure to leave the snakes alone this time, or, according to Hyginus, trampled on them. As a result, Tiresias was released from his sentence and permitted to regain his masculinity. This ancient story is recorded in lost lines of Hesiod.

^{In a separate episode, Tiresias was drawn into an argument between Hera and her husband Zeus, on the theme of who has more pleasure in sex: the man, as Hera claimed; or, as Zeus claimed, the woman, as Tiresias had experienced both. Tiresias replied "Of ten parts a man enjoys one only." Hera instantly struck him blind for his impiety. Zeus could do nothing to stop her, but he did give Tiresias the gift of foresight and a lifespan of seven lives.}

^{So Tiresias lived as both man and woman, and professed that women enjoy the unmentionable act more then men; hence, this Genesis song's lyric, referring to Tiresias' dual sexuality:}

Take a little trip back with father Tiresias,

Listen to the old one speak of all he has lived through.

"I have crossed between the poles, for me there's no mystery.

Once a man, like the sea, I raged.

Once a woman, like the earth, I gave.

But there is in fact more earth than sea."

Of course, I never knew any of this shit when I was listening to it on headphones in the dark of night at age 12. I just thought it sounded damned pretty. Relax, ignore the video/audio mismatch, and enjoy a terrific live performance (and Phil Collins has hair...sort of):

CLEVELAND!!! FUCK YEAH!!!

At least it's not Detroit.

Be gentle with me...

...this is my first time. No, really.

Let's just get this started off right. This is how it's done: