There is an old story about him, which sounds like it could be true, that he once threw a party and had all the food dyed blue. He found it all quite amusing as no one ate the dinner except for himself.
6 Likes
He recounted the dinner in person on the Dick Cavett show, so itâs not a âstoryâ unless he was baldfaced lying. I donât remember him saying that nobody ate but I know you used to could find the whole interview on youtube, that part was toward the end.
Eh, he points out all the obvious references but there were a couple of things that werenât as obvious (to me) that Iâll concede seem to fit, and a couple that donât seem to fit as obviously but interesting opinion anyway. I donât feel like it detracted from the mystery, personally. Since itâs an independent analysis, itâs all still open to interpretation. McLean himself, in his great wisdom, always refuses to give any explanations.
He didnât touch the lyric âthem good ol boys was drinkinâ whisky and ryeâ which means they were drinking whisky and whisky, since rye is whisky. I guess that would detract from the overall analysis, but that lyric irks the hell out of me. (But itâs a great song, though)
6 Likes
5 Likes
They must really like their whiskey.
That line has always irked me as well.
More independent analysis of that lyric:*
âThem good old boysâ is a reference to both Buddy Holly and John Wayne. The lyric âthatâll be the day that I dieâ (from the Buddy Holly song of the same name) is taken from a catchphrase said by John Wayneâs character in The Searchers. It idionatically means âthat will never happenâ but in the song, itâs given a double meaning: that will never happen, but if it did, it would devastate me. McLean applies that sentiment to the death of RockâNâRoll, only by changing âthatâ to âthisâ he makes it sound both more imminent and prophetic⌠As if something dramatic was going to happen in the world soon after he wrote âAmerican Pieâ.
*from me, so take it as far as you can throw it
5 Likes
Sorry, Iâve been away from the internet for a while. I think @RAvery covered it perfectly already. Itâs interesting and will make you think a bitâŚbut no, there arenât any big secrets revealed for the first time.
5 Likes
Well then I might take a look.
4 Likes
Oh, sorry, I messed up who I was writing to versus who I was referring to!! I meant @noahdjangoâs post.
6 Likes
This is interesting, but in a terrifying way:
Nancy MacLean continues to do excellent work.
10 Likes
OMJFG, this is amazing, not terrifying. [Quoting from MacLeanâs book. Early on yet. It may be as important as the Pentagon Papers. Weâll see.]
The most powerful social movement back then was what Buchananâs proposal referred to as âthe labor monopoly movement,â or what most of us would today call organized labor. But other movements, also injurious in his mind, were on the horizon, including the increasingly influential civil rights movement and a resumed push by elderly citizens to organize as they had not since the Great Depression. From his vantage point, it did not matter whether the movement in question consisted of union members, civil rights activists, or aging women and men fearful of ending their lives in poverty. Nor did the justness of the cause they advocated, the pain of their present condition, or the duration of the injustice they were attempting to reverse move him in any way. The only fact that registered in his mind was the âcollectiveâ source of their powerâand that, once formed, such movements tended to stick around, keeping tabs on government officials and sometimes using their numbers to vote out those who stopped responding to their needs. How was this fairâŚ
The lid is off and the sun is shining down.
6 Likes
Iâm not familiar with that abbreviation (Iâm pretty sure Iâm getting the J wrong or the G wrong or both), but⌠They appear to be succeeding. How is that not terrifying?
1 Like
Theyâve been succeeding for some time. As I just added in an edit above, this could give some solidity to the unfocused disquiet and protest of the last 30 years. As in the Pentagon Papers level of change of focus.
Maybe. Iâm on page 20.
(Ohmyjesusfuckinggod, in honor of a co-worker who is on indefinite leave for a family emergency. Iâm thinking of you, sir.)
5 Likes
4 Likes
Strobe Warning!!! Something on the left side flashing, perhaps 40 Hz.
1 Like
Not for me it wasnât. No animations/dynamic content at all.
1 Like
Okay, I reloaded and it stopped. I still donât know why it startedâŚ
âI have discovered the northwest passage from London to Liverpool! Ooh, and some rest stops along the way. The sandwiches at the second one werenât half bad for travel food, you know.â
I mean, I knew Lewis & Clark asked for directions. I didnât know they were given MAPS.
5 Likes
Thread:
8 Likes
That is one amazing thread. I had no idea.
I had a similar intellectual seismic event on TOS, where a mention was made of Whole Foodsâ use of âevaporated cane juiceâ as an ingredient. It made me think âoh, organic/natural, definitely marketing-speak, but probably OK to eat.â Turns out itâs a fancy phrase for âadded sugar,â and the FDA thinks itâs deceptive advertising.
ETA: I stopped going to Whole Foods when the CEO came out against Obamacare.
8 Likes
UmâŚ
The FDAâs view is that the term âevaporated cane juiceâ is false or misleading because it suggests that the sweetener is fruit or vegetable juice or is made from fruit or vegetable juice, and does not reveal that the ingredientâs basic nature and characterizing properties are those of a sugar.
âŚWouldnât you have pretty much the same problem with evaporated fruit juice?
I donât know the proportion of vitamins, minerals, fibers, etc. to sugars in fruit juice vs. those in cane juice, but Iâd have to imagine that if you managed to remove all of the water out of fruit juice, what would be left would have âthe basic nature and characterizing propertiesâ of a sugar, too.
4 Likes
Good point. I guess it depends on the nature of the fruit, and what comes out when you press it, and what survives the âevaporationâ process (boiling?).
Hey, letâs patent âevaporated Durian juice.â
4 Likes