FlurkrFind #88

Things Are Fine, And They Also Suck

It's July 30! That means it's Economic News Day!

It was the somewhat-best of times, says The Washington Post . . .
U.S. Economy Grows at Healthy Pace in Quarter
Rise in gross domestic product boosted by strong exports and rising consumer spending, driven by government stimulus checks.

. . . and it was the worst of times, says The New York Times.
G.D.P. Grows at Tepid 1.9% Pace Despite Stimulus
The economy grew less than expected from April to June, the government said on Thursday, and it shrank in the final months of 2007, dimming the outlook for a quick recovery.

Democratic Party

Story/photos at TMZ; LOLKerry made at ICanHasCheezburger.com.

FlurkrFind #87

FlurkrFind #86

Nick Rhodes is no Keyboard Man.

FlurkrFind #85

RIP Estelle Getty

July 25, 1923 – July 22, 2008

FlurkrFind #84

This Just In

From the pages of Popular Science:

"Smoking and Coffee-Drinking Really Is High Among AA Attendees"

The Watchman

The Neighborhood Watch is a mysterious photog who gains entrance to some of Baltimore's spookiest and most-locked-up abandoned buildings and chronicles what is found within.

A shot of the interior of Lebow Clothes on Oliver Street, in the Station North Arts District:

The Pimpiest PDF of the Summer

In Friday's NYT City Room blog, a little item caught my eye, because it was entitled "What A Pimp Reads." And that's not normally the kind of title you're gonna get with the NYT. "Whither Pimps of Letters?" is more their style.

Anyway, this is about a fellow named Corey "Magnificent" Davis, an entrepreneur and ho-stomper of a chap who apparently kept some of his stable locked up in a house owned by his mom, who is totes nice for letting him do that. Also it's funny because his mom is Constance Carter-Davis, and her job is to be the commissioner of human services for Babylon, N.Y. Also, it's even funnier because, as the Times writes, "Her responsibilities there include helping victims of domestic violence." BEST MOM EVAR!!1!! Anyway he's looking at federal time. Enjoy!

To get to the point, there's a PDF attached of all the wonderful and amazing things the feds found in his car (though they don't specifically say what kinda ride it was, there was a Mercedes key listed, but no model number! Multiple photos of a white Benz were in the haul, but no one noted a model). The Times focused on the reading material, because they think it's like so weird that a pimp can read! But there were much better things to note as well, like about nine cell phones, tens of thousands of US cash money, lots of funny receipts, a panoply of ho shoes and outfits, and, well:

• "Bite Me Literally" key chain with keys
• Wall hanging entitled “Priceless”
• Wall hanging entitled “Nykeea”
• Book entitled Whore - Whoever said whoring wasn’t easy...
• T-shirt (black) - “The Beatings Will Continue”
• “You’re The Bomb” picture
• Package containing disposable “Free Bras” from inside black colored Ricardo duffle bag
• Packet of papers with first page entitled “Persuasive Essay” from inside black colored Ricardo duffle bag
• Handwritten letter from “Magnificent” to “Priceless”
• Anniversary Card from “Magnificent” to “Priceless”
• Certification of Records from Douglas M. Monasebian, M.D. re Shamere McKenzie cosmetic surgery

I bet that plastic surgeon is thrilled. He's on Park Avenue, you know.

FlurkrFind #83

A Rant

Dear all my friends who still use archaic bullshit photosharing sites like Snapfish and Kodak Gallery and not something that actually works and is enjoyable, like Flickr:

I regret to inform you that I am not looking at your fucking pictures on anything I have to sign in to to or go through some retarded 1995-lookin' era forms to enter; I am also not looking at your pictures on anything that looks like it was designed in 1994. Snapfish? Seriously? Did fucking lobotomized lemurs sniff gas and make your site? Suckfish, that's what you should be called. "Kodick Gallery of Shit." Seriously. I mean it.

I am sure your photos are lovely, but this is goddamn fucking 2008 and you need to get with the motherfucking program. WAKE UP.

Hope you had a nice vacation!

Hugz,
Goff

Bohemian Grove Ain't Nothing To Fuck With

Think elitist, bucolic, and a tad unheimlich gentlemen's club (not the fun kind) Bohemian Grove will tolerate infiltration by the scandal-crazed media (Vanity Fair? Makes sense, but whatevs.)?

Photo: San Francisco Sentinel

THEY WILL NOT.

Notes from the bust, via SF Sentinel:

The security team rapidly paced after the lumbering [Vanity Fair writer Alex] Shoumatoff, who was found cowering behind a Redwood tree, his amble girth giving him away. For those in the know, Bohemians freely urinate against the giant trees, so perhaps Shoumatoff is a bit jaundiced in the aftermath of his poorly planned hiding attempt.

Great Moments in Headlines

From the July 17 L.A. Times:

"Submarine, homemade
and cocaine-laden,
is seized off Mexico"

Miguel Angel Tovar / Associated Press

FlurkrFind #82

FlurkrFind #81

FlurkrFind #80

FlurkrFind #79

Call me Internet

Behold POWER MOBY-DICK! It's a superannotated version of the immense Melville ubertome about love, loss, baleen, and vengeance, made by my pal Meg. There was a release party, and it was good.


Obligatory John Bonham Power Moby Dick image below:

FlurkrFind #78

FlurkrFind #77

A relatively innocuous question.

Belatedly, part of the Werner Herzog and Errol Morris Tell-All, from the Believer's fine Film Issue (March/April 08):

Werner Herzog: There is something about Kemper and, of course, Ed Gein as well—we had a falling out over Ed Gein at the time, sometime later.

Errol Morris: Cannibals can turn friends into enemies. Go figure.

WH: But actually, yes, it was a deep concern and in a way it had to do with cinema, for you at that time were more into the direction of writing. But we had a very, very intense rapport over it. Errol had a problem with me when we tried to find out in Plainfield, Wisconsin, where Ed Gein—the very probably most notorious—

EM: The movie Psycho was based on Ed Gein. Robert Bloch, the writer of the novel Psycho, lived in a small Wisconsin town, Weyauwega, about twenty miles from Plainfield. Ed Gein was notorious. And the farmhouse where he lived alone became the ultimate house of horrors. He had upholstered furniture in his house with human flesh. He was a human taxidermist, cannibal, serial killer, grave robber, necrophile. An all-around good guy.

WH: Errol wanted to know more about the grave robberies, because Ed Gein had not only murdered people. He also excavated freshly buried corpses at the cemetery. And I do remember: he dug up graves in a pretty perfect circle. And in the very center of this circle was the grave of his mother. And Errol kept wondering, did he excavate his mother and use her flesh and skin for some sculptures in things at his home?

EM: A relatively innocuous question. [Laughter]

WH: So the only way to find out is, I proposed, let’s go to Plainfield, grab a shovel, and dig at night. And I showed up in Plainfield, Wisconsin, because I was doing some filming up in Alaska and I came in a car all the way from Alaska down to Plainfield to visit Errol—

EM: I was living with Ed Gein’s next-door neighbors at the time, who I had befriended. Beth and Carroll Gear.

WH: You didn’t show up.

EM: Oh, much later, yes. The chronology of all this is coming back to me.

WH: I was there, but you didn’t show up. And we had a date. It was something like September 10, and I said, I’m going to be there, and you will be there, and you didn’t show up.

EM: He’s unfortunately correct.

WH: And I would have dug, even though Errol wasn’t there. I was kind of scared because people open fire easily in this town.

FlurkrFind #76 & Bonus

L to R: Lisha, Fay, Paige, Leigh, Kirsty, Georgia, Jade, Kayleigh, Jessica, Erin, Amy, Tiana, Daniela.

BONUS: A few weeks back, Sigerson pointed out that The Wall Street Journal ran a piece on the rise of American-style proms in jolly old Chavtown . . . er, England. If you'd like to see more of the above, the Coventry Telegraph has a Flickr site that's Prom-mazing!

FlurkrFind #75

FlurkrFind #74

FlurkrFind #73