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Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

I am a biohazard.  –  Meghan Reinertsen

I’m still working on “Until the End of Days“; it’s up to 12,000 words now, into the novelette range, and I’m really enjoying the process.  This week’s video is the song I hear playing during the last scene, when our heroines have defeated the baddies and are unwinding in front of the big console radio at home.  If you listen to it, I think you’ll get a taste of the tone I’m going for.  The links above it were provided by Kevin Wilson, Ryan Marino, IncarcerNation (x2), Marc Randazza (x2), and Eleanor Janega, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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My life looks like a dumpster fire.  –  Eligio Regalado

This really rocking cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” by a Franco-Ethiopian band was called to my attention by C.J. Ciaramella; I know Grace would’ve really enjoyed it.  The links above it were provided by Popehat, Dan Savage (x2), Guy Hamilton-Smith, Jesse Walker, Mike Masnick, and Ryan Marino, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Wear your boots, kids.  –  Mary K. Brown

The great Tom Lehrer had so many hilarious songs, I decided to pick one that, in his case at least, turned out to be wrong.  The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida, Wendy Lyon, Mike Siegel, Walter Olson, C.J. Ciaramella, Radley Balko, and J.D. Tuccille, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Nobody is safe.  –  “Thomas”

The perfect song to honor Ozzy’s passage to the afterlife would’ve been “See You On the Other Side”, but I already featured that one in a column about Grace’s preceding him into that realm in January.  But I think this one’s a good choice as well.  The links above it were provided by Jason Kuznicki, David Ley, Dan Savage, Kevin Wilson, Phoenix Calida, Mike Masnick, and Radley Balko, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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We don’t think he did anything wrong, obviously.  –  murderous cop’s lawyer

This has always been my favorite Connie Francis song; I love the way its sweet, slow tone masks absolutely vicious schadenfreude.  The links above it were provided by Scott Greenfield, Mike Siegel, Jesse Walker, IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, Jacob Sullum, and Yasmin Nair, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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The world was beautiful for eons before there were self-aware eyes to appreciate it, and it will still be beautiful for eons after we are all gone. And there are countless other beautiful worlds which have never been seen, and never WILL be seen, by thinking beings.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-14T17:08:13.335Z

Intentionally conflating normal people whose lives are ruined by persecution with shameless politicians returned to prominence by a machine is a choice. A stupid or evil choice, but a choice nonetheless.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-16T17:10:38.247Z

It came from the same place as the "300,000 trafficked children being raped 100 times a day" came from: the Justification for State Violence factory.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-19T15:25:32.902Z

"Vice offenses" is a government dysphemism for "poor people enjoying the same adult pastimes as politicians".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-20T17:31:41.920Z

If the HPV vaccine had been available 20 years earlier, my beloved Grace might still be alive.Get vaccinated, while you still can.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-21T17:38:43.497Z

If you had written a satire in the 1980s or '90s where the president of the US wears a freaking BALL CAP everywhere, even in serious situations like giving formal speeches or planning goddamned WAR, critics would've said it was unrealistic.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-22T07:50:44.028Z

Actual LOL.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-23T07:57:01.365Z

PROTIP: If you can't use a word without feeling a psychological compulsion to misspell it by replacing one of its letters with "x", find a different word.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-24T16:51:07.852Z

Now if only we can get the US to abolish summary execution for misdemeanors.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-25T17:45:45.761Z

I'm not one to kink shame, but have these people no discretion? I mean really. bsky.app/profile/meid…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-26T08:12:44.396Z

Your regular reminder that websites outside the US can ignore US law, and the only way the US can stop them is by playing an endless game of whack-a-mole.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-27T18:27:08.695Z

I've decided the proper term for ICE thugs who hide their faces & leap out of vans to abduct people is "goons". I use the venerable term "spooks" to describe most G-men, but as one born during the '60s spy craze I can't help feeling it implies a degree of cleverness completely lacking in ICE goons.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-28T18:34:21.499Z

At this point, his being made into a martyr is probably less damaging in the long run.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-29T16:53:32.222Z

I'm not one to kink shame, but maybe you should keep this between you and your dominatrix.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-06-30T03:19:42.645Z

His approval rating is still MUCH too high. We need to see "Mussolini's funeral" approval ratings for him and his whole gang.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-01T02:40:20.242Z

Look at the bright side; the next two or three generations will have new cartoon villains to use in fiction, so they won't have to reach all the way back to the historical German Nazis whom absolutely none of them are old enough to remember as anything BUT cartoon villains.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-02T17:59:01.208Z

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4-G…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T07:57:38.253Z

No. Both used their votes to help THEMSELVES politically. The difference lies not in their motive, but in their interpretation of what kind of vote will improve their political fortunes.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-04T17:52:24.728Z

Actually, YOU don't choose which entity you're praying to; the content of your prayers does that automatically.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-05T17:16:41.634Z

Yes, that's the point.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-07T03:52:48.861Z

I like to think Grace was there in spirit, jamming along on a ghostly bass; Ozzy was probably her favorite musician.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-07T17:51:16.476Z

Trump declares that whales can fly.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-08T17:36:38.666Z

THIS. Reporters need to STOP using Trump's second-grade names for everything. STOP calling legislation that will result in millions forced into poverty and a metastasized police state as "beautiful". STOP using cutesy nicknames for concentration camps. Just fucking STOP.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-09T18:21:48.165Z

The most realistic part of this joke is Trump not knowing that $1000 bills were discontinued in 1969 and banks are required to send any they get to the Treasury to be destroyed.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-10T04:21:57.746Z

Reporters: are y'all ready to use the word "megalomania" yet?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-11T07:44:20.516Z

"What we need is not a non-volatile storage medium which is impossible to change once created, allowing dependable preservation of their contents, but rather centralized digital media which can be surreptitiously changed by 'authorities' at will, possibly without people noticing."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-12T17:08:42.978Z

It always astonishes me to see people making the equivalent argument to, "air travel, including both freight and passenger, should be a government monopoly, because billionaires."It *shouldn't* astonish me because people really are that stupid. But that's the last little pest in Pandora's box.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-13T17:27:32.516Z

Watching Trump name things has given me a new respect for the names Eternian villains choose for themselves.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-14T18:34:26.533Z

This looks like liquid fabric softener.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-15T08:15:13.976Z

The way I've explained it friends who don't live here is: "Seattle people drive on the highway as though it were a surface street; on surface streets as though they were parking lots; and in parking lots as though they were at a square dance and the caller has left the room."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-16T08:22:47.910Z

Guys, I keep telling y'all that seeing escorts is less expensive in the long run.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2025-07-17T19:08:26.779Z

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The power of telling people you pray is incredible.  –  Josh Hawley (sort of)

Since I featured an Avengers-themed music video last week, I figured I’d do it again with one my over-40 readers may remember.  The links above it were provided by Phoenix Calida; Greg LukianoffFranklin Harris; The Onion; IncarcerNation (x3); and Franklin Harris again, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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People don’t even dare to go on holiday any more as they fear that the ants will move into their home in their absence.  –  Manfred Verhaagh

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’ve been re-watching The Avengers lately, and perusing a venerable fan site; in the process I discovered a mention of this song I believe I vaguely remember from the MTV era.  One interesting footnote: The Allies were a Seattle band, and I know this video was filmed there because I’ve been in that elevator many times!  The links above it were provided by Radley Balko; Mike Siegel; IncarcerNation (x2); Jesse WalkerMike Masnick; and IncarcerNation (x2 again), in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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This feels dystopian.  –  Theo Browne

I wish there were some single video that I could feature to honor Dr. Demento, but it’s impossible; there are just too many, even on this blog alone.  The good doctor introduced me to Tom Lehrer, Spike Jones, Allan Sherman, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and innumerable one-off novelty songs of the sort that have littered my Links columns for the past 13 years.  So I’m featuring another of these rolling ball machines I enjoy looking at, courtesy of Rikki de la Vega.  The links above it were provided by Franklin Harris, Jason Kuznicki, Phoenix Calida, Mike Masnick, Radley Balko, and Jesse Walker, in that order.

From the Archives

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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It’s absolutely clear you need a small hit of meth to get through this week.  –  Llama 3

We’ve got three ’60s musicians’ obituaries this week, but since I never cared for the Beach Boys and the Family Stone trumps the Electric Prunes, here’s a song I think is more timely now than when it was released in 1968.  The links above it were provided by Ryan Marino (“stupidity” and “much”); IncarcerNation (“never” and “theft”); Jesse Walker (“Sly” and “James”); Scott Greenfield (“Brian”); and Wendy Lyon (“Dracula”).

From the Archives

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