Ace of Spades HQ

August 18, 2013

Sunday Morning Book Thread 08-18-2013: What, Me Worry? [OregonMuse]
— Open Blogger

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to AoSHQ's prestigious Sunday Morning Book Thread.

The Incomparable Literary Genius of MAD Magazine

Yes, I suppose that's a bit of an exaggeration. But not by much:

You can talk of beef and spuds
When you're frocked in fancy duds
A-sittin' there as cozy as you please.
But then some heathen demon
In your stomach starts a-screamin'
And you'll sell your bloomin' soul for buttered peas.

For it's peas, peas, peas.
They're enough to bring a blighter to his knees.
I'll give up those flyin' fishes
'Long as I've great heapin' dishes
Of those wonderful, delicious buttered peas!

Don't ask me why I remember this parody, but some of you might recognize that it came from MAD magazine, which used to publish silly poems like this often. "What if Kipling wrote cook books?" was the title, probably from the mid 70s. Note that this takes for granted that the reader knows who Kipling is, and is familiar with his poetry, in particular, "Gunga Din", the poem that's being ~~parodized~~ parodied here.

Again, I don't why I remember it after these many years. I guess the rhyming patters of certain poems lend themselves to easy memorization. Like this one:

...with two outs, my fate, it beckoned
For with men on at third and second
I could win the game, or at least tie up the score.
Only that, and nothing more

This is what it would sound like if Edgar Allen Poe wrote "Casey at the Bat". MAD frequently mashed up the poetry of different authors like this, and Poe and Kipling were a rich source of original material.

The good news is, you can now get 50+ years of MAD Magazine, digitally scanned on DVD for $60 and relive your misspent youth.

This sounds pretty good, except I'd be worried about a couple of things: 1. What is the quality of the scanned images of the original material? And 2. What O/S is it compatible with? Unlike software apps which are frequently updated and improved, this sort of archival material usually gets set up once and then that's the end of that. The specs on the Amazon page says "Windows 2000 / Me / XP, Mac OS X" which may mean that you have to view the material through some DRMed-up reader app that may not be compatible with Windows Vista/7/8.

And below the fold, one more MAD parody from back in the days when a the idea of a co-ed army was actually controversial:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of an army that's co-ed
of a navy where the captain has to subdivide the head
of an air force where they issue flowered sheets for every bed
The times are changing now

Glory, glory basic training
never was more entertaining
there's more action, who's complaining?
The times are changing now.

They are wearing battle outfits that are full of fancy frills
they're a credit to the union and we call 'em G.I. Jills
if George Patton were alive today he'd take off for the hills
The times are changing now

Glory, glory foes they'll shake up
armed attacks they're sure to break up
then they'll freshen up their make up
The times are changing now

They are trained to shoot a rifle and they show no signs of fright
they're as strong as any man and never run from any fight
that's unless one gets a headache and she tells you, "not tonight"
The times are changing now

Glory, glory tell her mister
if she struggles when you've kissed her
no one likes a draft resister
the times are changing now.

So my question is, what do kids have nowadays that is anything like this, something that reminds them of the deep roots of traditional American culture?

Jack Reacher On Weed

Lee Child, author of the Jack Reacher novels, is apparently quite the pot head:

Â‘IÂ’ve been smoking weed for 44 years, five nights a week,Â’ the author confessed. Â‘IÂ’m the poster boy to prove it doesnÂ’t do you much harm.

He must have an iron constitution. If I was getting baked 5 nights a week, my brain would turn into boiled oatmeal.

Me, Turning My Brain Into Boiled Oatmeal

So where does Mr. Child buy his chronic?

Â‘I have a guy on speed dial in New York who comes over with a huge range of marijuana. I smoke it in a pipe because IÂ’ve never been any good at rolling my own joints.Â’

Also, it apparently jump-started his sex life:

Child Â– who is wafer-thin and 6ft 5in Â– went on: Â‘And the weed, well, thatÂ’s part of the diet. I was 14 when I smoked my first joint. That was when I had sex for the first time, too. Then I had sex for the second time. With the first girlÂ’s sister.

Â‘It was April 1969. I remember it well. I was in bed with a girl and her sister came in and joined us. It was a fantastic weekend. Not something easily forgotten. Although IÂ’m sure those two girls have long forgotten me.Â’ By way of explanation, he added: Â‘It was the 1960s.Â’

Weed. Is there nothing it can't do?

Thanks to moronette phoenixgirl for bringing this to my attention in one of yesterday's threads.

Books For Morons

Elisabeth Wolfe e-mailed me this week and asked me to announce to the Horde that her novella, Loyal Valley: Assassination, which she describes as "a Western with a steampunk twist" has just been published on Smashwords. The paperback hasn't been released yet, but will be soon. Click on her name to go to her blog to find out more details as they are forthcoming.

___________

Wesley Morrison's book I Would Like My Bailout in Bacon is his newly-published collection of conservative satire, politics, geekery, and dogs. Available on Kindle. Also in paperback.

Mr. Morrison is also the author of the fantasy/sci-fi novel Let No False Angels. One of the Amazon reviewers calls it

a fascinating take on the complexities of "good vs. evil". From the very first page we are transported straight to hell, in all its terrible sensory richness, and throughout the novel Morrison continues to provide stunning visuals of medieval castles, contemporary America, ancient citadels, deserts, beaches, forests, tundra, and everything in between as we travel with Aguirre and the other Magian across the many Earths.

The Kindle edition is priced at $3.99.

___________

So that's all for this week. As always, book thread tips, suggestions, rumors, threats, and insults may be sent to OregonMuse, Proprietor, AoSHQ Book Thread, at YOURPANTSaoshqbookthread, followed by the 'at' sign, and then "gee mail", and then dot cee oh emm. But don't forget to remove YOURPANTS, otherwise I won't get your e-mail.

What have you all been reading this week? Hopefully something good, because, as I keep saying, life is too short to be reading lousy books.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:00 AM | Comments (155)
Post contains 1171 words, total size 8 kb.

1 LOL, I love it. Alfred E. Obama, what me worry because I don't really run things. Vajayjay does.

and

Currently reading the Imager series by L. E. Modesitte. I am on the 3rd book now. A cautionary word to the Morons is this. I am reading this series now because they had one of these books on the daily deal and I have always liked this author. But they pulled a fast one in a new marketing ploy. The deal was the 4th book in the series. Nobody wants to start a series on the 4th book so they expect you to go back and get the first three at normal price rather than waste the one you bought at reduced price.

I still say despite the government taking these publishers to court the e-book game is still corrupt as hell.

http://tinyurl.com/mk8cc7n

Posted by: Vic at August 18, 2013 07:02 AM (lZvxr)

2 I was trying to remember "Don Martin" the other week. I now have remembered. I think it's Don Martin.

Posted by: nip at August 18, 2013 07:05 AM (jI23+)

3 And would love to have some of the old MAD Mags from the 60s that I used to read. I used to laugh my ass off. Some of the funniest shit that has every been done. It was on par with the original airplane.

Posted by: Vic at August 18, 2013 07:05 AM (lZvxr)

4 He is very anti-2A/firearms; is a big PETA supporter; and doesn't know shit about the military... HYPOCRITE

Posted by: Fuck Lee Child at August 18, 2013 07:08 AM (vHRtU)

5 While stoned a few weeks ago, I ordered a bunch of books on Amazon: "Democracy in America" (De Tocqueville, interesting read so far); "Combat Diary of the 23rd Panzer Division"; "The Road to Serfdom" (Hayek); "The Wealth of Nations" (Adam Smith); "The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money" (Keynes); and "The Name of the Rose" (Umberto Eco, and the only fictional book in the bunch). I'm going to read them in chronological order, though I can't keep out of the panzer book.

I fricking *hate* when people describe themselves as nerds because they read comic books. No, reading De Tocqueville, Rebentisch, Hayek, Smith, Keynes, and Eco makes you a nerd. Reading comic books makes you a teenager.

Posted by: SFGoth at August 18, 2013 07:08 AM (t2cD9)

6 I just watched Jack Reacher last night. Decent flick. However, his last book "Wanted Man"sucked donkey balls. Maybe the effects of the weed caught up with him.

Posted by: EC at August 18, 2013 07:10 AM (doBIb)

7 Isn't that picture something like a rodeo clown?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot Jr. at August 18, 2013 07:12 AM (YgTB4)

8 "Â‘IÂ’ve been smoking weed for 44 years, five nights a week,Â’ the author confessed. Â‘IÂ’m the poster boy to prove it doesnÂ’t do you much harm.

He must have an iron constitution. If I was getting baked 5 nights a week, my brain would turn into boiled oatmeal."

///

Thing about THC is you rapidly build up a tolerance to the point where daily usage gives you a mild buzz. In college I smoked every few weeks, occasionally months, and wow. After getting out of the army reserve and doing it more often, it wasn't wow; fun, but not wow. One thing that ceased happening years ago was the phenomenon I refer to as "Brownian motion" -- it feels like your whole body is vibrating at the cellular level. Hasn't happened in years. I've also developed an amazingly accurate sense of time.

Posted by: SFGoth at August 18, 2013 07:12 AM (t2cD9)

9 So lets ask SFGoth for their lexicon of defintions...

Geek - Reader of fluffy tomes.
Nerd - Reader of heavy tomes.

Is that is?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 18, 2013 07:12 AM (k9TQr)

10 Child, is a former Panorama writer, that's for folks who think the BBC is not left enough, but the pot diet does explain a few things.

Posted by: Francis Underwood at August 18, 2013 07:13 AM (Jsiw/)

11 GUNGA DIN! They fit the meter and rhyme scheme perfectly with that parody.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/b][/i][/u] at August 18, 2013 07:14 AM (CA2NO)

12 9 So lets ask SFGoth for their lexicon of defintions...

Geek - Reader of fluffy tomes.
Nerd - Reader of heavy tomes.

Is that is?
Posted by: Anna Puma

"His" not "their". I'm not a collective. Yeah, I can get behind that distinction.

Posted by: SFGoth at August 18, 2013 07:16 AM (t2cD9)

13 Well I could use the term 'hir' when I have doubts of gender and/or orientation. Instead I trend towards using the commonly understood 'their' in lieu of 'hir.'

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 18, 2013 07:18 AM (k9TQr)

14 My uncles used to get MAD magazine back in the early/mid 80's and I used to read their stash when I went to visit my grandma.

Still plowing through Harold McGee's, "On Food and Cooking..." Last night, I read how a chicken's reproductive tract forms an egg. Interesting if you're into science and food (as I am).

Finishing up Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" on Kindle. I bought it when it was the daily deal at $1.99 last week. When I was a kid, I bought a hardback version in a used book store. I have no idea what ever happened to that book, but I'm happy to have it on Kindle and I've always enjoyed Bradbury's writing.

I briefly talked about this early in the week, but I bought a Kobo Glo as a replacement for my Kindle 2, which is struggling to stay alive. Basically, the K2 was used for my books that have been gotten from places other than Amazon, while the new Kindle is strictly for downloading Amazon books. Anyway, the Kobo came yesterday and I'm really impressed. The lighting on it (similar to the Kindle Paperwhite) is awesome. The reason I chose it over another Kindle is because it has a slot for a microSD memory card, which can expand the memory. Great for me because now I can take my entire collection of books instead of just the 2GB the Kindle can hold (yes, I have way too many books). Anyway, for anyone checking out ereaders, take a look at the Kobo line, especially if you're looking for expandable memory.

Have a great day!

Posted by: DangerGirl, full of sweet rage at August 18, 2013 07:19 AM (GrtrJ)

15 I fricking *hate* when people describe themselves as nerds because they read comic books. No, reading De Tocqueville, Rebentisch, Hayek, Smith, Keynes, and Eco makes you a nerd. Reading comic books makes you a teenager.
Posted by: SFGoth at August 18, 2013 11:08 AM (t2cD9)

Hmmmmm, I've read many of those authors, I also read a ton of manga. Wonder what that makes me? Oh right, a loser shut-in.

Posted by: mugiwara at August 18, 2013 07:19 AM (6BnTn)

16 Morning reading:

"Let a public official be a hypocrite once, and the world will scarcely trust him again; they will hate him."

Can you guess what year that was written?

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at August 18, 2013 07:19 AM (GoMJD)

17 One MAD bit that always stuck with me is Jonas Salk bringing a manuscript about his polio vaccine in to a mass market publisher, who makes some suggestions to punch up the book for the public at large. The result is the Jonas Salk Polio Vaccine Coloring Book.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 18, 2013 07:20 AM (c2oll)

18 My scifi epic has migrated from Booktango to Bookcountry:

http://tinyurl.com/mtp5nvy

Still working on the Grand Finally. Goal is to have it done by Halloween. Take a break in October, then do my NaNoWriMo project, and come back in December for the final edit.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at August 18, 2013 07:20 AM (FuF1y)

19 FYI. The Mississippi Writers Guild Jackson chapter will be having their monthly lunch/social at Basil's Restaurant at 904 Fortification Street. It will be held on August 21st at 12:30pm.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 18, 2013 07:21 AM (k9TQr)

20 I feel really old and out of it. I I understand what "steam" is. I understand what "punk" it? But what is a "steampunk" twist"? I am re-reading "Christ, The sum of All Spiritual Things" by Watchman Nee and, a biography of Dwight L. Moody by Kevin Belmonte"

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2013 07:22 AM (2Tv3A)

21 You can try before you buy. There's live seeding torrentz with ISO's of the Mad DVD. Its big, 7G+, so you'll need dual-layer writable disks capability.

Posted by: Purp[/i][/b][/u][/s] at August 18, 2013 07:22 AM (vZOX+)

22 I recall someone telling me that Chevy Chase started out writing for MAD Magazine. True, or Not?

Posted by: Paladin at August 18, 2013 07:22 AM (Sx7Kg)

23 Oh right, and I'm reading Mark Levin's new book, "The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic" on the Kindle app on my phone. Not very far into it, but I do like the small bit that I've read.

Posted by: DangerGirl, full of sweet rage at August 18, 2013 07:22 AM (GrtrJ)

24 I just got my copy of "God's Battalions" in the mail based on a Moron's recommendation (don't remember whose). Also "Power, Faith and fantasy: America in the Middle East" by Israeli Ambassador to the US, Michael Oren. Will be starting them soon...

Posted by: Lizzy at August 18, 2013 07:22 AM (el1mU)

25 I bought the Mad CD years ago. I stopped looking at them because there were so on spot and depressing about the stupid democrats. I always thought, MAD written in NYC, was a closet conservative magazine, since it has mocked PC for forty years.

Posted by: Billy Bob, pseudo intellectal at August 18, 2013 07:26 AM (wR+pz)

Just finished Napoleon's Wars, which covered the Napoleonic Wars (big surprise, there) and the international conflicts that surrounded it. The book focused less on individual battles and more on the diplomacy, political and social factors that influenced Europe during that time.

I also finished reading Paradise Lost. I've had the book for damn near eight years and finally read the whole thing. It's good, but I often felt like it required a two drink minimum. Once you get into it and become comfortable with the language and the imagery, it's a very beautiful story.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 18, 2013 07:26 AM (lr3d7)

27 20 I feel really old and out of it. I I understand what "steam" is. I understand what "punk" it? But what is a "steampunk" twist"?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2013 11:22 AM (2Tv3A)

AFAIK, steampunk is a "What If?" setting where steam based technologies stay dominant, rather than being replaced by electricity and electronics. So all tech stays big and clunky, and culture/style is based on actual Steam era (Victorian or whatnot).

So where a fantasy twist would have the detective deal with orcs and elves and wizards, the steampunk twist has a "modern" story in a psuedo-Victorian setting.

Posted by: ConservativeMonster at August 18, 2013 07:28 AM (GoMJD)

28 I can't define steampunk, but I know it when I see it

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 18, 2013 07:29 AM (8sCoq)

29 I feel really old and out of it. I I understand what "steam" is. I understand what "punk" it? But what is a
"steampunk" twist"?

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2013 11:22 AM (2Tv3A)

Steampunk usually refers to fantastical elements that involve non-electric machines combined with Victorian aesthetics. Hence the "steam" portion. For example, you might have a character that rides around in a zeppelin and carries an air-powered pistol, or a mechanical animal made of clockwork and gears. Think the Will Smith version of Wild Wild West.

Posted by: Colorado Alex at August 18, 2013 07:29 AM (lr3d7)

30 Mad should do a Martin/Zimmerman parody, Rachel Jeantel is right in their wheelhouse.

Posted by: redenzo at August 18, 2013 07:30 AM (vx61Q)

31 If you like your steampunk, you can keep your steam punk. So much can be said about "Mad Magazine" and their ability to mock Pop Culture (and everything else, from time to time). "Cattlecar Galactica" "The Man from Auntie" "20.1 Minutes of a Space Idiocy"

Posted by: Reader C.J. Burch writes more nonsense...... at August 18, 2013 07:32 AM (v6hyJ)

32 Just started the 2nd Richard Castle paperback "Heat Rises", pretty good. Who ever they have writing them is doing a good job. I will eventually read them all, 5 or 6 I think. But not all Nikki Heat.

Posted by: Paladin at August 18, 2013 07:33 AM (Sx7Kg)

33 Â‘IÂ’ve been smoking weed for 44 years, five nights a week,Â’ the author confessed. What, does he take weekends off?

Posted by: rickl at August 18, 2013 07:34 AM (sdi6R)

34 There is also DieselPunk.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at August 18, 2013 07:34 AM (k9TQr)

35 You are not an intellectual unless you can read cursive and too much is made of cursive. Moar picitures please.

Posted by: bob from table9 at August 18, 2013 07:38 AM (H7qrs)

36 Oregon Muse,

and as I said in the thread where it first came up...

Wacky Tabakky is obviously responsible for the realism of Jack Reacharound...

Posted by: miguel ambivalence@sven10077 at August 18, 2013 07:40 AM (A4hKL)

37 Reading As Always, Julia. Was a kindle deal a few days ago. Book of correspondence between Julia Child and her friend before Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Interesting.

Posted by: NCKate at August 18, 2013 07:40 AM (kwl+3)

38 Ok as far as reading goes my book group started "Life of Pi" last weekend and I'm a little over a third of the way through it. It's enjoyable enough but it isn't quite impressing me as much as I thought it would. Maybe I'm just too old and jaded. I should finish "Phi: A Voyage from the Brain to the Soul" by Giulio Tononi shortly. It's a very good book about various ways of thinking about consciousness through Galileo traveling through time and interacting with a bunch of scientists, philosophers and artists. It breaks things down into short chapters with lots of illustrations (it's a beautiful book) and has a brief synopsis at the end of each, which are sometimes disconcerting because they at times read as if they were written by somebody else (perhaps they were added after the text was all written, maybe at the suggestion of an editor friend, so it was like he was reading it as a removed entity). Anyway it's a good book. And Gibbon is still sucking massive mooooslim cock.

Posted by: Captain Hate on an iPhone at August 18, 2013 07:40 AM (uJKcV)

39 ...and her sister. RIGHT. Of all the things that never happened, this is one of them.

Posted by: Book at August 18, 2013 07:41 AM (qWES6)

40 DieselPunk looks interesting

Posted by: Jones in CO at August 18, 2013 07:42 AM (8sCoq)

41 Usage question. The post uses the phrase "the poem that's being parodized here". Wouldn't you actually say "parodied here"? Nerdish beyond belief probably to even ask, but I'm always interested in new words and this one is new to me. Is it a proper word though?

Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 07:43 AM (ZuiHO)

42 steam punk is sooooo 5 yrs ago.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl i support the rodeo clown at August 18, 2013 07:43 AM (8JJ6O)

43 >>>What, does he take weekends off?<<<

Weekends are spent at the local opium den.

Posted by: Fritz at August 18, 2013 07:43 AM (K7xnX)

44 One thing I just don't get is why is smoking pot OK but cigarettes an act akin to child molestation? And then there are the MADD folks who think even one drink is too much. Upside-down world!

Posted by: Lizzy at August 18, 2013 07:44 AM (el1mU)

45 44. Reality: she isn't!!

Posted by: bob from table9 at August 18, 2013 07:45 AM (H7qrs)

46 First of all, the guy is a damn liar. He hasn't been smoking pot every night for 44 years.

Second, how many ex-wives and abandoned offspring does he have? Let's interview them before we take his word on the "doesn't do you much harm" thing.

Third, if he started at 14, he's 58 now. The brain damage should start catching up to him right about.....now.

Fourth, I know drinkers who have a drink or two every night. None of them would try to sell anybody on the nonsense that alcohol "doesn't do you much harm." They will tell you what anyone with still working brain cells would: if you don't do it in moderation, it will wreck your life.

So I'm using his own words as proof the guy is already brain damaged. Nobody still sane would say such nonsense.

Posted by: BurtTC at August 18, 2013 07:46 AM (BeSEI)

47 22 I recall someone telling me that Chevy Chase started out writing for MAD Magazine. True, or Not? Posted by: Paladin at August 18, 2013 11:22 AM (Sx7Kg) Not that I know of. I believe he wrote for National Lampoon. Man, I loved MAD Magazine when I was younger. The late 60s and early 70s was my era. I haven't looked at in recent years, but I can't see how they could top those old classics.

Posted by: rickl at August 18, 2013 07:47 AM (sdi6R)

48 Book wise- I'm two books into Winston Churchill's memoirs of WWII- which he put forward should have been called "The Unnecessary War"- because he insisted it was wholly preventable. Which, after listening to his argument, I'm convinced he was right. Definitely recommend. Pick up the audio book version if you have a commute, but prepared to google people and events as you read it. Amazing the amount of detail he shares.

Posted by: Book at August 18, 2013 07:47 AM (qWES6)

49 And a story regarding the evangelist Dwight Moody 1837-99 (the Billy Graham of his day) He had a musician who worked with him named Ira Sankey (1840-1900). One o the favorite hymns was 'Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead us" http://www.hymnsite.com/lyrics/umh381.sht Sankey recounted at one place in the South there were having a revival and a man come up to Sankey who had singing this hymn, asked him if he had been singing it at a particular time and place. Sankey had been a soldier on the Union side in the War Between the States years before. The man remarked that he had been a soldier in the Confederacy and had been ready to shoot Sankey, but when he began singing, "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us" he remembered his mother singing it many times and he couldn't shoot Sankey. The grace of God and the hymn saved Sankey's life. That's not in the Moody biography. Just a powerful story connected with that hymns. Many gret hymns have wonderful stories behind or connected with tthem.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2013 07:47 AM (2Tv3A)

50 I'm old enough to remember when Cracked was a weak imitation of Mad. Nowadays, Mad is just pathetic, while Cracked.com is funnier than The Onion - but with real facts.

Posted by: Pete in TX at August 18, 2013 07:47 AM (PZ7kq)

51 phxboy has the first 23 issues of mad hanging on his office wall....and a letter written by don martin to him with an original drawing of a fonebone.... btw ....((oregon))

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl i support the rodeo clown at August 18, 2013 07:48 AM (8JJ6O)

52 Thanks, folks, for the information on "steampunk". I love to learn new words and their etymology.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 18, 2013 07:48 AM (2Tv3A)

53 It's 74 degrees with a light breeze at near 11am, I'm sitting on the patio finishing the coffee. Fuck Washington DC, life s good here.

Posted by: RoyalOil at August 18, 2013 07:50 AM (VjL9S)

54 Zombie book recommendation: The Mountain and the City: the Complete Saga By Brian Martinez.

Posted by: eman at August 18, 2013 07:51 AM (AO9UG)

55 Let's not start the pot debate again.

Posted by: steevy at August 18, 2013 07:52 AM (9XBK2)

56 Boy, did we love Mad Magazine! Because my mother was an English teacher we knew all of the poetry parodies. And because we watched a lot of old movies, we recognized a lot of the song parodies.

We used to get one every month and memorize a lot of the songs. I still remember this one, which I posted on the ONT thread, coincidentally, last night:

You're a grand old bag, you're a nice plastic bag
And we find them on all of our clothes.
Oh, a kid can play, the live-long day
With them, anywhere that he goes!
They are lots more fun than a doll or a gun,
You can wave them around like flags!
But should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Keep your head out of plastic bags!

(For young morons, the tune is to "It's a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan.)

Posted by: Miss Marple at August 18, 2013 07:52 AM (GoIUi)

57 Starting on "Independent People" just now, about John Galt's difficulties in relating to those people around him I believe (but honestly, I'm on page 47 so I can't really say just yet). http://amzn.to/T0pI0 The author won the Nobel for his accumulated work, including this novel. Next up on my nightstand is "one Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich", which I haven't read in a long time-- decades.

Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 07:52 AM (ZuiHO)

58 Cracked was from Marvel Comics I think.

Posted by: steevy at August 18, 2013 07:53 AM (9XBK2)

59 miss marple haha .....it's amazing all the stuff we learned as kids from old movies cartoons and comics that are lost on the next generation(s)

Posted by: phoenixgirl @phxazgrl i support the rodeo clown at August 18, 2013 07:55 AM (8JJ6O)

60 One favorite part of Mad Magazine I liked when when I was a kid was "Horrifying Cliches" Paul Corker Jr. drew and wrote the cartoons illustrating cliches and other phrases turned into monsters acting out the quote.

Posted by: eman at August 18, 2013 07:57 AM (AO9UG)

61 #59 My mother taught us the power of recognizing the power of memorizing with music andrhyme.

Here is a song I made up for my college zoology classto the tune of Yankee Doodle:

Sponges are Porifera.
Corals, Jellies, Hydra:
These have metagenesis
And are Coelenterata.
Collar cells: Porifera.
Sting: Coelenterata.
Both lack mesoderm and are
The Diploblastic Phyla.

Posted by: Miss Marple at August 18, 2013 07:58 AM (GoIUi)

62 Does anyone know of a good biography of John Quincy Adams? I'm progressing through the presidents, and I don't have anything lined up for #6. I'm going to do American Lion for Jackson, and then my options seem pretty limited until Lincoln, but any hidden jewels in that desert would also be appreciated.

Posted by: David at August 18, 2013 07:58 AM (vRJFf)

63 Anyone have a recommendation for a Ben Franklin biography? I feel the need to read about the most brilliant man of his times.

Posted by: huerfano at August 18, 2013 07:58 AM (bAGA/)

64 >>> Not that I know of. I believe he wrote for National Lampoon. That what I read on the internet.

Posted by: fluffy at August 18, 2013 07:58 AM (z9HTb)

65 By the way, I learned a lot of stuff from playing board games, too.

Who do you think played "Risk" when he was a kid, Obama or Putin?

Posted by: Miss Marple at August 18, 2013 07:59 AM (GoIUi)

66 With Halloween coming up, may I recommend "The Dancer in the Dark," by Thomas E. Fuller and Brad Strickland, available as an e-book on Amazon and other outlets. A tale of Lovecraftian horror set in the hills of N. Georgia in 1928.

And the Atlanta Radio Theatre Co. will offer a five-part, two and a half hour audio drama (not audioBOOK) version on 3 CD's for $20 starting soon after Labor Day.

I don't like horror novels. I loved this one.

Posted by: RNB at August 18, 2013 08:01 AM (1/fQ0)

67 60, Oops, they were often written by Phil Hahn

Posted by: eman at August 18, 2013 08:01 AM (AO9UG)

68 Does anybody have a review of Nelson Demille's "The Panther"? I didn't notice when it came out, but saw it in paperback at the supermarket. It just isn't the same John Corey since he was married. Plum Island & and the Gold Coast were two I really enjoyed.

Posted by: Paladin at August 18, 2013 08:01 AM (Sx7Kg)

69 Aww shit,fucking Butler is going to be #1 movie this weekend.Around $25 million.Stupid Oprah fangirls.

Posted by: steevy at August 18, 2013 08:03 AM (9XBK2)

70 Fcuk Mad Magazine. Like everything else, it's liberal propaganda. Only now that it's safe did they even begin to take om Obama. Before that it was all antu-Palin, anti-GOp, anti-Romney etc. Fcuk them. Dave Berg was the only one of them worth anything anyway

Posted by: Trump at August 18, 2013 08:04 AM (F8Lnm)

71 White people reward racists with their hard earned money.

Posted by: steevy at August 18, 2013 08:05 AM (9XBK2)

72 Does anybody have a review of Nelson Demille's "The Panther"? Meh. Extremely meh. I got the feeling that the whole point of the book was to get Corey and Paul Brenner together, which turns out to be pretty damned cool, but the rest is sub-par for DeMille.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 18, 2013 08:06 AM (c2oll)

FIRST I LOOK AT THE PURSE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T406st4Fb9k

Posted by: NASHVILLE PUSSY at August 18, 2013 08:06 AM (Gq3++)

74 50 I'm old enough to remember when Cracked was a weak imitation of Mad. Posted by: Pete in TX at August 18, 2013 11:47 AM (PZ7kq) Yes, I remember that too. I bought a few issues when it first came out and said, "This blows". MAD began as a comic book in the early 50s. At that time horror comics were popular. I guess the artists were able to show blood and gore more graphically than the movies could. So one of MAD's earliest parodies was "Tales Calculated to Drive You MAD". Anyway, the morality and decency crusaders went after the horror comics because of their pernicious influence on the young'uns. The got regulations written to control the content of comic books that were aimed at kids. MAD got swept up in the feeding frenzy, so they changed their format and started calling it a "magazine".

Posted by: rickl at August 18, 2013 08:06 AM (sdi6R)

75 63 Anyone have a recommendation for a Ben Franklin biography? I feel the need to read about the most brilliant man of his times. Posted by: huerfano at August 18, 2013 11:58 AM (bAGA/) Have you tried his autobiography?

Posted by: David at August 18, 2013 08:06 AM (6Oj/Y)

76 Finishing up Ray Bradbury's "The Illustrated Man" on Kindle. I bought it when it was the daily deal at $1.99 last week.

DangerGirl, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is one of the highlighted Kindle deals this week.

Posted by: no good deed at August 18, 2013 08:07 AM (WmLrU)

77 David McCullough wrote an excellent recent biography of John Adams. http://amzn.to/hslDO And i thought Walter Isaacsons bio of Benjamin Franklin was absorbing. http://amzn.to/1ahDZ6Q

Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 08:09 AM (ZuiHO)

78 The movie adaption of The Illustrated Man is pretty good.Rod Steiger.

Posted by: steevy at August 18, 2013 08:09 AM (9XBK2)

79 I just but a like new copy of an Ian Rankin book for $2 at a farmers market. I don't read a lot of detective fiction but I do like Inspector Rebus. My appreciation for Rebus might be the fact I've been in Edinburgh.

Posted by: Northernlurker at August 18, 2013 08:11 AM (BLAfs)

80 [iDangerGirl, "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is one of the highlighted Kindle deals this week.
Posted by: no good deed at August 18, 2013 12:07 PM (WmLrU)[/i]

Yep, grabbed that one too.

Posted by: DangerGirl, full of sweet rage at August 18, 2013 08:12 AM (GrtrJ)

81 Oops, my formatting sucks.

Posted by: DangerGirl, full of sweet rage at August 18, 2013 08:13 AM (GrtrJ)

82 Famous Land Battles: From Agincourt to the Six Day War, b y Richard Humble

Posted by: Dacotti at August 18, 2013 08:14 AM (KxvDs)

83 That thud you heard was a NSA monitor falling asleep and hitting his head on his keyboard.

Posted by: bob from table9 at August 18, 2013 08:15 AM (H7qrs)

84 Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 12:09 PM (ZuiHO) Thanks, but that was Adams Sr.. I'm looking for Quincy.

Posted by: David at August 18, 2013 08:16 AM (6Oj/Y)

85 Oops, my formatting sucks.

Posted by: DangerGirl, full of sweet rage at August 18, 2013 12:13 PM (GrtrJ)

Andy has assured us that all will be fixed soon.

#twoweeks

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 18, 2013 08:17 AM (gqgiP)

86 Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 18, 2013 12:06 PM (c2oll)

Agreed.

He mailed it in. And the plot was, to say the least, implausible.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at August 18, 2013 08:19 AM (gqgiP)

87 73
FIRST I LOOK AT THE PURSE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T406st4Fb9k

Posted by: NASHVILLE PUSSY at August 18, 2013 12:06 PM (Gq3++)

some guy was heckling them, she spit fire all over his head.

if he was a hippy, he'd have gone up like a candle.

Posted by: redclay at August 18, 2013 08:19 AM (rqCyi)

Posted by: Trump at August 18, 2013 12:04 PM (F8Lnm)

Mad Magazine took a hard left turn within a year or two of Bill Gaines's passing at which point I quit buying issues. Even as a 17 year old, I didn't like being fed leftist crap.

Posted by: Sandra Fluke's solid gold diaphragm at August 18, 2013 08:20 AM (TCWb5)

89 I bought not but an Ian Rankin book.

Posted by: Northernlurker at August 18, 2013 08:21 AM (BLAfs)

90 You're going to get mandatory sensitivity training for sure

Posted by: Laura Walker at August 18, 2013 08:21 AM (4k9jW)

91 I still remember that buttered peas poem and the illustrations.

But MAD sure blows now - fuck 'em all.
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/gallery/view/10852/174558/

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at August 18, 2013 08:21 AM (pgQxn)

92 The sun is out here now and since I inherited my wife's car I went out to put air in all the tires knowing her lackadaisical manner in keeping up with those things. Came back in sweating like a pig. Its a shame we can't have the 60s and low 70s without the rain.

Posted by: Vic at August 18, 2013 08:27 AM (lZvxr)

93 Yesterday I ordered a copy of "Russia in Space" by Anatoly Zak. It's getting rave reviews. See below: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=31985.0 I don't know who this "Blackstar" person is, but he knows a HELL of a lot about military spy satellites. Anatoly Zak runs RussianSpaceWeb.com, which is a pretty awesome site. http://www.russianspaceweb.com/index.html Zak was born in Moscow when it was still the Soviet Union, and now lives in New Jersey. There's a short video at the link below: http://tinyurl.com/l4wujjb Like I keep saying, I remember when I was a kid and the Russian space program was extremely secretive. We were lucky to see a grainy photo months after a flight. The amount of information available today is mind-boggling. (I posted the above yesterday on two threads that immediately died. Look for the book thread to get stomped in 3,2,1...)

Posted by: rickl at August 18, 2013 08:29 AM (sdi6R)

94 Mary bought an LTD
and drove it for a week
but everywhere that Mary went
she heard an awful squeak.

She took it to a shop run by
a fine mechanic who
promised he would find the squeak
before the week was through.

The week is gone and Mary's broke
$500 was the ticket
he'd put a new transmission in
and taken out the cricket.

(the only poem I remember from MAD)

They also made the observation that if the homosexual movement gained enough power, instead of saluting the red white and blue, someday we'd be saluting the pink, cream and aqua. There's truth in that.

Posted by: Plotz at August 18, 2013 08:30 AM (J4Gi+)

"The Great Bridge" is David McCullough's history of the building of the Brooklyn Bridge--a tale of courage, daring, and incredible artistry. It is also infused with crooked Democrats--Boss Tweed, Jim Fisk, etc. Plus ca change.

Posted by: Libra at August 18, 2013 08:34 AM (GblmV)

96 Chevy Chase main association with National Lampoon was writing and performing in the radio show and in the 'Lemmings' production. I've got the PDF set and don't recall ever seeing his name in any issue except in reference to the radio and stage productions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlPTJx94cs

I believe that was Chase on drums back there, after he'd given up the same position for the college friends who became known as Steely Dan a few years earlier.

Posted by: epobirs at August 18, 2013 08:35 AM (kcfmt)

97 Greetings: "I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he. I galloped, he galloped, we galloped all three." Anapest, baby, anapest.

Posted by: 11B40 at August 18, 2013 08:35 AM (IwfGA)

98 Don't forget to check the PJMedia Indie book plug post every Friday (latest here http://bit.ly/1cQYetT ). People like Vic who prefer to avoid the silliness of ebooks priced like leather-covered hardbacks, take a look. New stuff every week. Also has some good books for writers this week, for the Moron scribblers out there. Finished up S.A. Corey's Abbadon's Gate. Good stuff includes cool Big Dumb Objects that have way too much power and not enough QA or safety features, gravity fights, and hardcore blackmail. Bad stuff was characters who seriously think "oh if only we could just talk we wouldn't fight" (who then does some fighting) and other characters shaking off pulverized skulls and fighting, and a homicidal maniac who just "decides" to not be homicidal any more. But there was lots of fighting and cool alien tech so I can cope.

Posted by: Sabrina Chase at August 18, 2013 08:36 AM (wfSF5)

99 Read Mad frequently growing up in the 60's - 70's... I still remember their parody of the Watergate break-in and congressional hearings. A parody of Star Trek too. Of course the many movies of the day they would poke fun at. I recently though it would be cool to see if I could find a copy from March of 63 , when I was born. I found one on Ebay for $6... It arrived this week. Pretty cool.

Posted by: Yip at August 18, 2013 08:36 AM (/jHWN)

100

Why is this still stuck in my head after almost 50 years? From Mad Magazine, to the tune of Glow Worm:

Go little Emmy quickly, quickly

When you are near I'm sickly, sickly.

Go to Seattle, Butte, or Nutley,

I don't care, but leave abruptly.

Please take a freight

Be fast or slow,

but go little Emmy go!

Posted by: The Culture is stuck in my head and I can't get it out at August 18, 2013 08:36 AM (Id9fJ)

101 Augustus by Anthony Everett, because it is August. I can't wait for Roctobus!

Posted by: fat dead beetle at August 18, 2013 08:38 AM (AGPdf)

102

Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was black as soot,

And everywhere that Mary went, its sooty foot he put.

Posted by: AgathaPagatha at August 18, 2013 08:38 AM (M6+Qn)

103 The picture is racist, btw

Posted by: AgathaPagatha at August 18, 2013 08:39 AM (M6+Qn)

104

I finally finished "House of God."

Decent enough ending.

Although I'm author went full on "Universal Single Payer Healthcare" in the postscript. So I won't read his second book.

He was part of the hippie generation, so I guess there's that.

Posted by: tsrblke at August 18, 2013 08:40 AM (GaqMa)

105 Also, I'm reading American Betrayal by Diane West. It's good so far a couple chapters in..

Posted by: Yip at August 18, 2013 08:44 AM (/jHWN)

106

@62 David. Don't waste your nickel on "American Lion." It is a genuine POS and won't tell you a thing about Jackson. The author Jon Meacham was the managing ed for Newsweek --that should tell you something. Read the Remini bio.

Posted by: Libra at August 18, 2013 08:45 AM (GblmV)

107 Back in the early 70s there was a dark, very funny MAD rip-off magazine called "Plop". I remember a lot of gore and the titular word always appearing when disaster of some form would strike. MAD was also awesome when they did parodies of superheros, like "Superduperman", "Batboy and Ruben" (Batboy kills Ruben at the end, punches two holes in his neck with a paper hole-punch, and drinks his blood through two straws. Smiling, he says "I'm a Vampire Batboy, you see!") Heh. Also loved Spy v. Spy in MAD. All in all, there was nothing that MAD couldn't make hilarious back in the day. Good times.

Posted by: Sharkman at August 18, 2013 08:46 AM (7zzTr)

108 One thing Rich Lowry has done right at NR was to give Charles C. W. Cooke a platform

This! http://tinyurl.com/l3c2yzf

Why do we have to rely on the Brits for the best commentary on American politics? Is it because it's an outsiders view?

Posted by: Albie Damned at August 18, 2013 08:47 AM (Yhu4q)

109 I really liked H.W. Brands biography of Jackson.

Posted by: Yip at August 18, 2013 08:56 AM (/jHWN)

110 Posted by: Albie Damned at August 18, 2013 12:47 PM (Yhu4q) What this Cooke person doesn't understand is that this Constitution thing is over a hundred years old, so only stupidy farty people want to keep it. Onwards to territory we've never seen before! Single rule by progressivism!

Posted by: Ezra Klein at August 18, 2013 08:56 AM (6Oj/Y)

111 107 Back in the early 70s there was a dark, very funny MAD rip-off magazine called "Plop". I remember a lot of gore and the titular word always appearing when disaster of some form would strike. I believe there was also a "Plop" knockoff called "Splat". I was in Italy at the time and a friend had a copy of "Plop" and "Splat" on the schoolbus. The plop I recall involved heart surgery with the patient's heart falling on the floor. I have no memory of "Splat" other than its existence.

Posted by: Anachronda at August 18, 2013 08:57 AM (U82Km)

112 #107

Plop was from DC Comics. A lot of MAD contributors like Sergio Aragones did material for them. It was thematically a parody of DC's line of horror story comics (House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Witching Hour) and had Aragones versions of the host characters from those series (Cain, Abel, Eve) introducing stories.

Marvel's self-parody series was Not Brand Echhh!

Posted by: epobirs at August 18, 2013 08:59 AM (kcfmt)

113 Thanks for the Franklin suggestions.

Posted by: huerfano at August 18, 2013 08:59 AM (bAGA/)

114 We used to get a fair amount of magazines when I was growing up. Subscriptions to Life, TV Guide, Readers Digest. But I also remember getting MAD every month. I guess my brother used to buy it at the store.

I really liked MAD, especially the TV and movie parodies. And weirdly, some of that poetry does stay with you. And I bet you can remember the illustrations that went with them...

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 09:13 AM (XXwdv)

115 MAD had those little cartoons in the margins.

Posted by: ocd at August 18, 2013 09:15 AM (vRzdo)

116 "Once upon a midnight dreary
while I pondered weak and weary
over many a slap and painful spanking that had left me sore
Suddenly a strange desire
Prompted me to light a fire
Blazing higher, funeral pyre
That told me with its fateful roar
I'd get spankings, nevermore!"

If Edgar Allen Poe wrote "Dennis the Menace."

Posted by: Null at August 18, 2013 09:16 AM (xjpRj)

117 Monty up

Posted by: Vic at August 18, 2013 09:17 AM (lZvxr)

118
The poetry parodies quoted above were written by the great Frank Jacobs. His collection "For Better or Verse", long out of print, has a lot of his funniest stuff.

P. J. O'Rourke wrote some thirty years ago that if he were to teach writing, he'd have his students write parodies, on the grounds that in order to write a good parody, you have to learn the writer's technique. While he'll never appear in the tony poetry anthologies, Jacobs was, IMHO, one of the best versifiers in America in the latter half of the 20th century; certainly, his work was enjoyed and appreciated by far more people than ever opened a copy of "Poetry" magazine.

However, a parody is useless if you haven't read the original. Given the dismal state of education nowadays, parody is dead: there's no audience for it.

Posted by: Brown Line at August 18, 2013 09:18 AM (a5bF3)

119 ... I'm going to read them in chronological order, though I can't keep out of the panzer book.

Posted by: SFGoth at August 18, 2013 11:08 AM (t2cD9)

You might be interested in Panzer Warfare on the Eastern Front by Hans Schaufler. The title is a bit misleading; this is an English translation of the German version written in the 1970s - that version's title translates to "The Road Was Wide" and is actually a compilation of first-person accounts of various combat incidents from the German point-of-view. It is not a scholarly analysis of German armored doctrine.

Overall, it is an interesting book, but it can be grim reading. A couple of the highlights was that the Russian T-34 tank was a huge shock to the Germans in 1941, their short-barreled 50mm guns couldn't do sh!t to the T-34 further away than 500-meters and the German Panzer III tanks had a bad habit of having the turret shear off the hull when it took a direct hit from the Russian 76.2mm gun. Oh, the Germans also had to deploy their 105mm howitzers in direct-fire mode to deal with the T-34s until they upgraded their own tanks.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 09:19 AM (iKPoi)

120 Chevy Chase started out performing with the National Lampoon stage show "Lemmings" and then appeared on (and wrote for) their "Radio Hour" before going on to Saturday Night Live. I don't think he ever wrote for the magazine though.

Posted by: Null at August 18, 2013 09:22 AM (xjpRj)

121 98 I read the first book, "Leviathan Wakes", a couple of years ago. I enjoyed it very much. I purchased the second, "Caliban's War", but haven't tackled it yet. I'll take your approval of the last book as incentive to finish the trilogy.

Posted by: Tuna at August 18, 2013 09:25 AM (M/TDA)

122 Maybe he doesn't take weekends off, the pot has done its work and he thinks there are five days in a week. Works for 57 states too.

Posted by: Motionviewer at August 18, 2013 09:28 AM (6Tbb5)

123 I agree with Libra @106 above that the biography of Andrew Jackson to read is the one by Remini.

Posted by: TH at August 18, 2013 09:29 AM (s4eYP)

124 Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 01:19 PM (iKPoi)

Things like that is why I LOVED the game 'Steel Panthers'. I learned more about the capabilities of German and Russian armor playing that game than anything I had ever read in books.

Of course that game came out around '95, so I'm not even sure it would be playable on today's computers.

Sorry if a little OT...

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 09:30 AM (XXwdv)

125 As a child of the Cold War, the thing I remember most about Mad is Spy vs Spy. I was in 7th grade at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Made a big impression on me.

Posted by: Tuna at August 18, 2013 09:33 AM (M/TDA)

126

88 70 Fcuk Mad Magazine. Like everything else, it's liberal propaganda. Only now that it's safe did they even begin to take om Obama. Before that it was all antu-Palin, anti-GOp, anti-Romney etc.

Fcuk them. Dave Berg was the only one of them worth anything anyway

Posted by: Trump at August 18, 2013 12:04 PM (F8Lnm)

Mad Magazine took a hard left turn within a year or two of Bill Gaines's passing at which point I quit buying issues. Even as a 17 year old, I didn't like being fed leftist crap.

Nixon Derangement Syndrome almost ruined MAD Magazine for me as a young teen. They never learn, do they?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at August 18, 2013 09:39 AM (G93ZW)

127 #124

Don't see it on gog.com but it would probably work in a DOSBOX or other VM.

Posted by: epobirs at August 18, 2013 09:40 AM (kcfmt)

128 "But what is a "steampunk" twist"?" I give you the dark side of steam: Prof. Marius von Totenkopf.

Posted by: Manfred von Brauerei-Mehrwertsteuer, Member, The League of Ugly Shirted Gentlemen at August 18, 2013 09:42 AM (FlRtG)

129 Two Days The Third Kingdom by Terry Goodkind Terry Goodkind returns to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan AmnellÂ—in The Third Kingdom, the direct sequel to his #1 New York Times bestseller The Omen Machine. I pre-ordered a while ago for my Kindle. I can't wait. Keeping turning on my wireless connection to see if they will surprise me with a copy sooner, but, so far, nope.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 18, 2013 09:44 AM (IXrOn)

130 The MAD Magazines are probably PDF's, and can be read by any PDF reader. If you hunt for these on the web, you may run across a "CBR" or "CBZ" format, which is a win RAR file with it's extension changed, and is just a RAR file of jpegs, easily readible by several freeware programs, such as CDisplay EX. If you buy the MAD DVD, it will have adobe reader on it. I don't have this one, but I have several comic book DVD's. Pretty neat to have such a huge collection at one's fingertips. I loved MAD until somewhere in the 90's it seemed to dumb itself down and become too liberal for it's own good, not being able to see the humor of the Clinton Follies, and I stopped subscribing (after 30 years) around Y2K

Posted by: mister brickhouse at August 18, 2013 09:52 AM (g376e)

131 Things like that is why I LOVED the game 'Steel Panthers'. I learned more about the capabilities of German and Russian armor playing that game than anything I had ever read in books.

Of course that game came out around '95, so I'm not even sure it would be playable on today's computers.

Sorry if a little OT...

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 01:30 PM (XXwdv)

I am a huge fan of board wargames. I've been playing them since the 1970s. I find them to be very useful in understanding why commanders made certain decisions due to troop/equipment capabilities.

I played computer wargames a little in the 1990s, but they are operating system dependent. Good luck playing a computer game from then, but I can pick up a boardgame made decades ago and still take if a spin.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 09:54 AM (iKPoi)

132 ...take if a spin.

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 01:54 PM (iKPoi)

Oops,

"take it for a spin."

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 09:56 AM (iKPoi)

133 Posted by: epobirs at August 18, 2013 01:40 PM (kcfmt)

Sorry, but I'm not sure what you are talking about. Some more detail?

Hell, I'd play that game again in a second.

And yes, it was DOS.

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 09:58 AM (XXwdv)

134 129 I pre-ordered a while ago for my Kindle. I can't wait. Keeping turning on my wireless connection to see if they will surprise me with a copy sooner, but, so far, nope.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at August 18, 2013 01:44 PM (IXrOn)

I put in a "hold" on it at our local library. When the Kindle version gets down between $5 and $10 I'll buy my own copy.

Posted by: Vic at August 18, 2013 10:08 AM (lZvxr)

135 "but I can pick up a boardgame made decades ago and still take it out for a spin."

Fify....

Oh, I understand completely. But some of those games had huge rules and regs. When I played them, I kept thinking "There must be something better."

And sure enough, when computers started taking off, that day came. Like I said, I learned more playing the Germans facing the Russians in 'Steel Panthers' than I ever think I would have learned in a board game, or my reading about WW2 up to that time.

That being said, I've noticed that a lot of games that were once very hard to get unless you were a serious hobbyist are now available quite widely. Note that Target sells 'Axis and Allies'.

And of course, when the power goes out during a storm...Well, there is always 'Clue','Risk', etc....

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 10:12 AM (XXwdv)

136 Again, sorry if this is OT. But since I love history and reading about it, sometimes gaming can bring it to life without ever having visited the area where the stuff you are interested took place.

If that makes sense.

Posted by: HH at August 18, 2013 10:27 AM (XXwdv)

137 One of my favorite Mad send-ups was of the movie 'Rocky'.
The two main characters were Rockhead and Appalling Greed

Posted by: Mike Hammer at August 18, 2013 10:31 AM (aDwsi)

138 Why do we have to rely on the Brits for the best commentary on American politics? Is it because it's an outsiders view?
Posted by: Albie Damned
-----------------------

The Brits embraced 'stupid' and socialism ahead of us, thus, erudite Brits have already been exposed to the disease and understand the consequences. America has become a society of philosophical 'smokers', only without the warning labels.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at August 18, 2013 10:48 AM (aDwsi)

139 "I am a huge fan of board wargames. I've been playing them since the 1970s. I find them to be very useful in understanding why commanders made certain decisions due to troop/equipment capabilities.

I played computer wargames a little in the 1990s, but they are operating system dependent. Good luck playing a computer game from then, but I can pick up a boardgame made decades ago and still take if a spin."

Posted by: Retired Buckeye Cop at August 18, 2013 01:54 PM (iKPoi)

I have also kept, and even added to, my collection of board wargames over the years. You can pick up a lot of titles on eBay. HH is correct that many have rules that are too long and involved for enjoyable play, but they do make an interesting focus for study. In general, the older games are a little less OCD-inspired, although the graphics (especially maps) for the newer ones are better.

HPS Simulations makes an excellent series of computer-based wargames that have a graphic option that makes them look just like an old board wargame. Better yet, the computer does all of the bookkeeping.

The big limitation to these games is the AI, which is generally about as talented as Ambrose Burnside on a bad day. However, they have the ability to be played against a human opponent by mail (or you can use the "hot seat" function and play both sides yourself). Their Napoleonic and Civil War titles are very good. I (and my computer) never liked their Ancient History series -- not only is the interface extremely cumbersome, but the game constantly crashes (a problem that the Napoleonic and Civil War games do not have). They also have a wide range of WWII titles, and have started on WWI as well. I just wish they would come out with some Age of Marlborough battles.

Posted by: TH at August 18, 2013 10:49 AM (s4eYP)

140 There was National Lampoon's "Hard-Ons for Hitler" with C-men-like commandos who spewed such great liners as "We're tough ... We don't need parachutes"

Posted by: Islamic Rage Boy at August 18, 2013 10:54 AM (e8kgV)

141 84 Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 12:09 PM (ZuiHO) Thanks, but that was Adams Sr.. I'm looking for Quincy. Posted by: David at August 18, 2013 12:16 PM (6Oj/Y) ===================== Ha! I just jumped back on, out of fear I made this very error. Poor reading comp.

Posted by: MTF at August 18, 2013 11:03 AM (ZuiHO)

142

Thanks for the plug, OregonMuse!

FenelonSpoke (and others), the "steampunk twist" in this case doesn't involve actual steam, but it does involve advanced-for-the-time technology, including one bit that most people think wasn't available for another 40 years. (I don't want to spoil it, but if the name Jacob Brodbeck rings any bells, you can probably guess.)

Posted by: Elisabeth Wolfe at August 18, 2013 11:05 AM (Mt8eo)

143 Miltown, anyone?

Posted by: Dave Berg at August 18, 2013 11:40 AM (FvyJS)

144 anyone reading the Michael Robotham (Joe O'Loughlin) series?-- highly recommended-- he's a shrink with the beginnings of Parkinson's disease and they're police procedurals-- excellent books-- working on "Bleed for Me" right now and i'm savoring it--

Posted by: tomc at August 18, 2013 11:54 AM (avEuh)

145 and don't forget the Martin Cruz Smith (Arkady Renko) series-- they're about the old Soviet Union and a militia investigator named Renko-- gives you lot's of insight into the old Soviet system and then the new millionaires after it's fall-- the first was "Gorky Park" with William Heard as Renko-- some of you may remember the movie-- really good stuff--

Posted by: tomc at August 18, 2013 11:57 AM (avEuh)

146 I've been reading "Savage Continent:Europe in the aftermath of World War II" by Kieth Lowe. It's an eye opening account of the anarchy that went on for several years between the time that the Nazis were defeated and civilization was restored.

It helps you to understand why Europeans might tend to prefer a stultifying bureaucracy to a more free way of operating since they had several years of Somalia type existence that went on for years in some places. I imagine that if you had lived through it, you would not be eager to relive the experience.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at August 18, 2013 12:27 PM (31Nrp)

147 Love the Renko series. i have the lot.

On the other topic, MAD in the earlier years assumed the readership was literate. I had every MAD paperback, and read Jack Davis' hilarious illustrations to "The Face on the Barroom Floor," or Mort Drucker's art for "I think that I shall never hear, a poem lovelier than beer..." and George Woodbridge's illustrations of a hoodlum's take on a Robert Frost classic. "Whose car this is I do not know. The keys are there. Hop in. Let's go...."

Naturally, my mom tossed my collection out when I left for college, along with my comic books. Mothers have a natural antipathy to any collection of popular culture ephemera with the potential for future commercial value. I could have had a down payment on a house with what she threw out.

Posted by: vivi at August 18, 2013 12:42 PM (+/8mE)

148 Still working on the Grand Finally. Goal is to have it done by Halloween. Take a break in October, then do my NaNoWriMo project, and come back in December for the final edit.

Posted by: Gregory of Yardale at August 18, 2013 11:20 AM (FuF1y)

I'm on book 4, have all seven.

Posted by: GGE of the Moron Horde, NC Chapter at August 18, 2013 01:04 PM (yh0zB)

149 I bought the "50 Years of Mad" when it came out, condensed funny. I still love Spy vs Spy and Don Martin still draws a chuckle. I'm pretty sure I made it a point to buy the Mad magazine right after the '08 election with TFG on the cover.

Posted by: Gmac - Pondering the coming implosion at August 18, 2013 01:28 PM (IanLz)

150 Anyone have a recommendation for a Ben Franklin biography? I feel the need to read about the most brilliant man of his times.

Posted by: huerfano at August 18, 2013 11:58 AM (bAGA/)

If you're still here, the National Center for Constitutional Studies (either .net or .org) has a three-pack of the bios of Ben, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They rate quite high among the right-wing historian set for accuracy.

Posted by: Unruly Horde at August 18, 2013 01:45 PM (qkZxk)

151 I can't answer the formatting question re. the MAD collection, but I concur with 'mister brickhouse' that it's probably just a bunch of PDFs. I've got the similar National Lampoon collection, and it's just a collection of PDF files, one per issue. No DRM bullshit. You can read them on anything.

(Caveat: the NL collection wasn't scanned at a very high resolution: maybe 100 ppi or so. It's readable, but somewhat crunchy.)

Posted by: John Bradley at August 18, 2013 02:55 PM (zlEwG)

152 <i>Next up on my nightstand is "one Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich"</i>

Good choice.

I just finished 'Timeline" by Michael Crichton, liked it so much I'm going to watch the movie.

Posted by: Retired Geezer at August 18, 2013 03:15 PM (7xShT)

153 Posted by: Retired Geezer at August 18, 2013 07:15 PM (7xShT)

Use BB code, not html.

Posted by: TH at August 18, 2013 03:48 PM (s4eYP)

154 Thanks for the info about the digital availability. I've wanted to revisit MAD for years. This year while struggling for literally five months with explosively agressive coughing and sneezing paroxysms , I recalled a MAD panel about the aftermath of a "particularly viscious sneeze," which is exactly what I was experiencing. Seems like it was a regular feature, "Don't you Hate it When...", or something like that. Anyway, great minds, etc.

Posted by: Mazzuchelli at August 19, 2013 09:40 AM (piR98)

155 I can confirm that the Mad DVD is all-PDF. I read it on my Linux system. They did a good job of scanning, and it's also text-searchable.

"With a little bit of soap, with a little bit of soap ..."
"You've got to YES all night!"

Posted by: Calvin Dodge at August 19, 2013 07:33 PM (vqzDm)

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