AV Bible Believers Fellowship

I'm listening to The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell.



I stumbled upon her accidentally but apparently she has quite a following because she is on Public Radio International (which I don't listen to) and she is the voice of Violet in The Incredibles (which I have not seen.) What can I say; I live under a rock.

This is a collection of essays having mostly to do with American history and politics and I'm finding her to be quite interesting. I appreciate her dry humor and quirky insights. I'm not sure I'm always on the same page as she is on politically, but that's okay. I really liked what she said about her trip to Salem, Massachusetts (home of the famous witch trials and executions in Puritan America) where she bought a shot glass with a witch on it. She had some interesting things to say about the "touristization" (my word) of places where horrible events have taken place.

Anyway, for a history nerd, she's pretty cool.

I'm glad you got Rookmaaker, Lynne. Isn't that stuff just fascinating? However, it grieves me that you're wasting your time on a PC smarty-pants like Sarah Vowell. I read one of her books, and felt like I was reading Michael Moore or something.

I'm also glad Laura's trying Oates. Oates wrote some pretty dull stuff, but some excellent stuff as well. She would be my candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, if the Nobel Committee were anything but a gaggle of Swedish Communist fruitbooties.

It's easier for me to read nonfiction than fiction when I'm under the weather, so I just finished this one:


Now I'm finally gonna get to read this one:

(12-09-2009 11:55 PM)William Wrote: [ -> ]However, it grieves me that you're wasting your time on a PC smarty-pants like Sarah Vowell. I read one of her books, and felt like I was reading Michael Moore or something.

I hear ya. This was the only one the library had (I would have preferred her essays on presidential assassinations or Puritans) and it seems so dated when she's discussing the 2000 election. I grind my teeth when she goes on about Gore but love her take on Bush.

I was bored to death in the doctor's office today and picked up a copy of Mother Jones. Talk about PC. I just couldn't stand it so I stared at the wall.

(12-10-2009 12:31 AM)Lynne Wrote: [ -> ]I hear ya. This was the only one the library had (I would have preferred her essays on presidential assassinations or Puritans) and it seems so dated when she's discussing the 2000 election. I grind my teeth when she goes on about Gore but love her take on Bush.

I read her book on her "Presidential assassin tour." She is very much of her own generation: that smart-alecky, constant put-down "humor" that is partially leftist/ideological, but primarily just nihilistic: "Nobody's honest, everybody's crooked, let's sneer at all of them." She's not a hard-core Marxist ideologue like Michael Moore, and she's not quite as obnoxious as Janine Garofolo, but she's pretty close. She seems to think that she's very sophisticated and arch, like Dorothy Parker; but she wouldn't last five minutes at the same table with Parker. (And Parker was no prize herself.) If you have any regard for your ancestors, I'd advise you to give her book on the Puritans a wide berth.

More than anything, she reminds me of a female version of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: "We're just too cute for our own good, and if you don't see it, then you're one of those stupid red-state people that should be exterminated anyway."

(12-10-2009 07:37 AM)William Wrote: [ -> ]

(12-10-2009 12:31 AM)Lynne Wrote: [ -> ]I hear ya. This was the only one the library had (I would have preferred her essays on presidential assassinations or Puritans) and it seems so dated when she's discussing the 2000 election. I grind my teeth when she goes on about Gore but love her take on Bush.

I read her book on her "Presidential assassin tour." She is very much of her own generation: that smart-alecky, constant put-down "humor" that is partially leftist/ideological, but primarily just nihilistic: "Nobody's honest, everybody's crooked, let's sneer at all of them." She's not a hard-core Marxist ideologue like Michael Moore, and she's not quite as obnoxious as Janine Garofolo, but she's pretty close. She seems to think that she's very sophisticated and arch, like Dorothy Parker; but she wouldn't last five minutes at the same table with Parker. (And Parker was no prize herself.) If you have any regard for your ancestors, I'd avise you to give her book on the Puritans a wide berth.

More than anything, she reminds me of a female version of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: "We're just too cute for our own good, and if you don't see it, then you're one of those stupid red-state people that should be exterminated anyway."

The other day I was told by two different sources on two different occasions I live under a rock. Now I'm feeling it again and it isn't unpleasant. I have no idea who Stephen Colbert or David Sedaris (to whom she is compared) are. I think Jon Stewart is a comedian on TV, isn't he? But I certainly know who Dorothy Parker is! By the way, the rock I live under is Jesus Christ.

Did she write Assassination Vacation after the essays I'm reading now because if she did, I'd say she's grown nihilistic with time. That can happen to an atheist. Well, I probably will never know because the library doesn't have it and I wouldn't spend money on it. This was just my latest adventure into popular culture, out from under my Rock.

Don't feel bad, sister, I'm under a rock, too as far as 'popular culture' goes. I don't know who those people are, either. People mention the names of popular cultural icons, and I've no clue who they are or what they 'do'.

I'm avoiding news right now, more than normal, because of the 'rag' mentality of the MSM, regarding a certain sports figure who has apparently committed adultery.

What was that again about casting the first stone?

My Rock is Jesus Christ, too! :woowoo10:

(12-10-2009 10:48 AM)Lynne Wrote: [ -> ]The other day I was told by two different sources on two different occasions I live under a rock. Now I'm feeling it again and it isn't unpleasant. I have no idea who Stephen Colbert or David Sedaris (to whom she is compared) are. I think Jon Stewart is a comedian on TV, isn't he? But I certainly know who Dorothy Parker is! By the way, the rock I live under is Jesus Christ.

Did she write Assassination Vacation after the essays I'm reading now because if she did, I'd say she's grown nihilistic with time. That can happen to an atheist. Well, I probably will never know because the library doesn't have it and I wouldn't spend money on it. This was just my latest adventure into popular culture, out from under my Rock.

(12-10-2009 11:19 AM)Here Am I Wrote: [ -> ]Don't feel bad, sister, I'm under a rock, too as far as 'popular culture' goes. I don't know who those people are, either. People mention the names of popular cultural icons, and I've no clue who they are or what they 'do'.

I'm avoiding news right now, more than normal, because of the 'rag' mentality of the MSM, regarding a certain sports figure who has apparently committed adultery.

What was that again about casting the first stone?

My Rock is Jesus Christ, too! :woowoo10:

Yes, I didn't even know he was married or had kids so I certainly don't need to know about anything else going on in his life. Isn't there something important to report?

(12-10-2009 10:48 AM)Lynne Wrote: [ -> ]The other day I was told by two different sources on two different occasions I live under a rock. Now I'm feeling it again and it isn't unpleasant. I have no idea who Stephen Colbert or David Sedaris (to whom she is compared) are. I think Jon Stewart is a comedian on TV, isn't he? But I certainly know who Dorothy Parker is! By the way, the rock I live under is Jesus Christ.

Did she write Assassination Vacation after the essays I'm reading now because if she did, I'd say she's grown nihilistic with time. That can happen to an atheist. Well, I probably will never know because the library doesn't have it and I wouldn't spend money on it. This was just my latest adventure into popular culture, out from under my Rock.

Get back under your rock, sister: you're infinitely better off there. Jon Stewart is the host of "The Daily Show," a cable program that is a mock newscast, probably patterned after the old "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live." He's become so popular with the under-30 crowd that he even hosted the Academy Awards one year. He was born with a smirk on his face:


They're not exactly leftists, although they're certainly not conservative; essentially, they're just smart-alecks who ridicule everything because they believe in nothing.

Like Sarah Vowell.

Here she is:



'Smirk' is the right word, I think...

That's a smirk alright.