MoDo and a priest give marriage advice.

Whose is more worthless?

Iraq War Survivor Passes Away At 53

More here.

The Heart of Redness

As part of Roger Ailes' commitment to provide its readers with the finest campaign coverage on the internet, your humble correspondent will take a trip at the end of the month to one of the reddest states in America. There, I will take the pulse of Bush/McCain dead-enders who hope to retain the Chateau Blanc. I will be reporting from the safety of a Blue Zone, and will employ a cadre of armed guards and press sycophants, Saint John-style, should I venture out to any shopping malls or flea markets for phoney photo-ops with carefully-vetted natives. If and when I return safely, I will post exciting dispatches about my exploits.

Due to recent layoffs, however, this blog will have to go dark while my investigation is underway. Fortunately, readers will not be able to differentiate this trip from all the other times when I just couldn't be bothered to post for a week. Nevertheless, if anyone cares to blog-sit in my absence, drop me a line at the rogerailes@gmail.com address and I'll be happy to hand you the keys.

Adams Looking 4 His Eve

Some at the festival were on a more personal mission.

Timothy Adams, a 54-year-old on disability who drove from Daytona, Florida, with his motorbike on a trailer behind his camper van, had placed a placard on the windscreen of his vehicle reading: "Wanted: Stalwart Christian woman 4 wife."

He said he hadn't heard back from any women.

"There's a lot of guys who are looking for wives," Adams said, wearing a T-shirt that said "Satan Sucks," partly obscured by his long beard. "It's hard to find a Christian woman, there's so few of them around."

They must've been at the Aspen Ideas Festival, dude.

Dead On The Fourth of July

Unlike the p.r. flacks manipulating the corpse of Jesse Helms, the proprietors of the Liberty Film Festival couldn't bother maintain the fiction that the festival survived to see the Fourth:

July 3rd, 2008

Dear Liberty Film Festival friends and supporters,

The Liberty Film Festival is currently on hiatus. We want to thank all the filmmakers who have submitted their projects to us. Films submitted to us through July 3rd, 2008 will still be considered for screening events, but we are no longer accepting submissions at this time.

Please return to this website for further announcements regarding the Liberty Film Festival.


Thank you, and best wishes,

Jason Apuzzo & Govindini Murty

LFF Co-Founders & Co-Artistic Directors

This is puzzling indeed. Why, it seems like just seven days ago that LFF was crowing about its amazing growth and success:

The first festival featured 20 films and 3,000 people turned up, with "people saying, 'This is our Woodstock,'" said Murty. "Each year, we saw our submissions doubling." This year, Liberty's Internet presence is increasing, with trailers, shorts, features, streamlining, DVD sales and film reviews from conservative critics.

And nothing increases one's internet presence like going on hiatus and refusing submissions. Or failing to post any content to your site the six months before that.

The proprietors don't explain the reasons for the "hiatus," but it would irresponsible not to speculate.

Did "Dirty Harry" take the Betamax equipment with him?

Did Govindini pull the plug on Apuzzo's vacuum cleaner fetish?

Did the rising price of gasoline result in layoffs at the car wash where Apuzzo was employed?

Fortunately, film fans can still enjoy the Libertas blog, where Apuzzo provides the invaluable service of posting the Turner Classic Movies schedule verbatim. Never has the new media shone brighter!

(Via Scott M. in alicublog comments.)

Relevant to the issue we've talked about here and on Bench Memos, the Post says it takes the vote of five justices to rehear a case — although the editors do not say how they know that.

Yeah. It's a big fucking secret. The Post must have a mole deep inside the Supreme Court who gives them all the unwritten, super-confidential insider secrets.

K.I.B.

Another East Coast/West Coast feud is brewing:

As thousands of singers converge on Nashville for an international convention of barbershop harmony music, the old-fashioned music style is facing discord among its fans.

The 70-year-old Barbershop Harmony Society moved to Tennessee last year from Kenosha, Wis., as a part of a move by leadership to recruit more youth and modernize the organization.

...

But traditionalists of the a capella chorus music that dates back to 1900 have accused leaders of forgetting the past. Some members have started the Barbershop Quartet Preservation Association, a parallel organization with its own convention and meetings.

"What others want to do, we take no exception," said Jack Martin, the newer group's chairman. "We just want to do our thing."

The signature sound of four unaccompanied male voices singing in harmony has been the roots of the style, but modernizers want new blood and fresh ideas. Supporters of the traditional style are also known as "kibbers," for the slogan "Keep It Barbershop."

Martin's quartet will premiere its newest single, "Fuck Kenosha," at the convention. And the Dad's Root Beer will flow like Cristal.

The article also mentions that the average barbershop singer is only slightly younger than John McCain.