Lets go Caps!

Greetings, loyal minions. You Maximum Leader, when he has been blogging, has been mentioning sports quite a bit. This is because your Maximum Leader is busy doing Maximum Leaderly things and a quick post about sports doesn’t require much mental exertion on his part. Is this fair to you loyal minion? Well now of course it isn’t. But your Maximum Leader isn’t about “fair” now is he?

Your Maximum Leader is doing something he wouldn’t ordinarily do. He bought (scalped) tickets to go to the Washington Capitals v. Philly Flyers game 7 tonight in DC. Your Maximum Leader is taking Villainette #2 to the game with him. You may be asking yourself “Self, why would my Maximum Leader not ordinarily do this? He is a lifelong Caps fan afterall?”

History.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure he wants to have his spirits crushed by a Caps loss. Especially if he is sitting there in the stands with his lovely daughter. He’s seen the Caps lose too many of these types of games over the years to be over confident. Certainly the Caps are on the cusp of being a great team. A win tonight would advance them farther down the road towards greatness. A loss tonight would be a temporary setback. It would be a setback until next season - when the Caps should do much better than they did this year. They have the talent to be a better team than this season’s record would indicate.

Then again… A loss would be keeping with tradition. And as well all know, conservatives love tradition. Even some bad traditions. Just ask the Chicago Cubs…

Wish the Caps (and by extention your Maximum Leader) a good game and a hard-fought victory.

Carry on.

UPDATE - Your Maximum Leader had to correct some spelling and grammar in this post. His errors were too egregious even for him to ignore…

Carry on.

Meeting

Greetings loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is a little tired this morning. He was up past his bedtime last night. (You know you need lots of sleep to be villainous…) He was out last night (a Wednesday!) cavorting.

Now you may be asking yourself, cavorting with whom exactly? Well… It was a great cast o’ blogging characters. Mr & Mrs Peperium (and their handsome children). Robbo the Llamabutcher. The Postmodern Conservative (and his lovely wife). Lorraine. And the sometimes Misspent One. In addition to the bloggers were a number of men of God, including Father M (and his seminary classmate Father H). All in all we were a dangerous bunch. We had pretty much ever base covered. Religion, history, poetry, politics, culture, and (of course) villainy.

Alas, the evening didn’t go off completely without hitches. The Peperiums had some difficulty with their hotel. Then the restaurant gave our table away to another group. We were able to suffer the slings and arrows of fortune and have a great time. Your Maximum Leader was glad to be able to get together with so many great people. He hopes to be able to get together with those in the group who are local more frequently in the future (perhaps as the pace of DC life slows somewhat in the sultry summer).

Your Maximum Leader is sure that the Peperiums (Peperii?) and Fathers M and H enjoy their mass with the Pope today. It was interesting to learn that this morning at 4am there was a mass held at Nationals Park. You might think that is an odd time to have a “run through” but the real purpose of the early AM mass was to consecrate the 46,000-odd hosts required for communion today. That is one of those interesting factoids that your Maximum Leader is sure he’ll be hearing on the newcasts tonight. Just remember you read it here first.

Carry on.

Those wacky Wagners

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader found a short moment last night to just do some random searching of the interwebs for interesting stories. Well… He found one.

As you might know, your Maximum Leader is a dedicated Wagnerian. He is a great fan of Wagner’s Operas. One of his goals in life is to see The Ring at Bayreuth. (You can even find a link to the Bayreuth festival over on the right side nav bar.)

Well… The Wagner Foundation and the Festival are in the middle of some turmoil right now. Wolfgang Wagner (Richard’s grandson) is going to retire as head of the Foundation and Festival. And there is a catfight to succeed him.

To wit from Reuters:

The curtain may be rising on the final act of an epic leadership battle at Germany’s Wagner Festival after family patriarch Wolfgang Wagner said he was ready to go if his two daughters took over jointly.

In what media have called the “war of the cousins,” three great-grand-daughters of Richard Wagner have fought for years for the right to succeed Wolfgang Wagner, his grandson who, at 88, has led the opera festival since 1951.

Wolfgang Wagner indicated to sponsors last week that he was willing to step down if his daughter from a first marriage, Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 63, and her much younger half-sister Katharina, 29, took the reins together.

The two rivals, who media say had not talked to each other in years, are to submit a proposal to the Richard Wagner Foundation in the next few weeks on how they intend to lead one of the world’s top opera festivals.

Katharina said they had grown closer since last year’s death of Wolfgang’s second wife Gudrun, Katharina’s mother.

“We have realized we get on well and we actually don’t think that differently,” she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper this week.

“There is some sisterly affinity.”

In 2001, the foundation chose Eva, a theatre manager, as Wolfgang’s successor, but he refused to step down, insisting his contract was for life.

Foundation members will meet again on April 29, when they are likely to discuss the half-sisters’ proposal.

Richard Wagner himself inaugurated the purpose-built opera house at Bayreuth in southeast Germany in 1876 after searching in vain for a venue big enough to stage epic operas such as his four-part Ring cycle.

Devotees of his works have famously included Hitler. Demand for the annual festival is so high that fans can wait up to 10 years for a ticket.

“BLACKMAIL”

Whether family tensions will wane under an Eva-Katharina duo remains to be seen, as the half-sisters’ cousin Nike, 62, also aspires to run the festival.

Nike, who runs an arts festival in the city of Weimar and is the daughter of Wolfgang’s brother Wieland, said she and Eva had already handed in a proposal to lead the festival together, and that she would be disappointed if her cousin switched sides.

“Wolfgang Wagner is blackmailing the foundation: Only if his own blood gets the ok he will think about resigning,” she told the Berliner Morgenpost daily.

Katharina Wagner, a statuesque blonde, had her directing debut at the Wagner festival last year and received mixed reviews for “Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg.” Some critics say she is too young and inexperienced to lead the festival.

Nike called her work “childishly harmless, popular and tabloidy” in a radio interview this week, saying she did not know how Katharina would work with Eva, who was a “serious person.”

She ruled out the idea of all three women heading the festival together, saying it would lead to “endless disputes.”

Of course, in this whole piece the words “Katharina Wagner, a statuesque blonde,” did jump off the page. Your Maximum Leader, being a hormonally normal man - in addition to a Wagnerian, had to do ye olde google image search to see just how statuesque.

The answer… This statuesque:
Katharina Wagner…  Hubba Hubba…
Clicky the pic-y to embiggen…

For a slightly different take on the story, check out the Sydney Morning Herald.

Let your Maximum Leader express his strong and vocal support for whatever Katharina wants to do. Frankly, your Maximum Leader will give Katharina this advice: take whatever power-sharing agreement you get now and then start to work behind the scenes to force out the half-sister and cousin. They are old anyway… You have time on your side Katharina. If you need a copy of Machiavelli to borrow (which your Maximum Leader seriously doubts she does), call - that can be arranged.

Carry on.

Polls that mean nothing

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader reads on the AP news wire that in a new poll Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has “erased” the lead once enjoyed by Senator Barack Obama (D-Heaven). According to the article:

Republican Sen. John McCain has erased Sen. Barack Obama’s 10-point advantage in a head-to-head matchup, leaving him essentially tied with both Democratic candidates in an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released Thursday.

The survey showed the extended Democratic primary campaign creating divisions among supporters of Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and suggests a tight race for the presidency in November no matter which Democrat becomes the nominee.

McCain is benefiting from a bounce since he clinched the GOP nomination a month ago. The four-term Arizona senator has moved up in matchups with each of the Democratic candidates, particularly Obama.

An AP-Ipsos poll taken in late February had Obama leading McCain 51-41 percent. The current survey, conducted April 7-9, had them at 45 percent each. McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents.

Clinton led McCain, 48-43 percent, in February. The latest survey showed the New York senator with 48 percent support to McCain’s 45 percent. Factoring in the poll’s margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, Clinton and McCain are statistically tied.

The last month has been challenging for Obama. The Illinois senator suffered high-profile losses in Texas and Ohio that encouraged Clinton, who pushed on even harder against him. Obama’s campaign also suffered a blow with scrutiny of incendiary sermons delivered by his longtime pastor. The candidate responded by delivering perhaps the biggest speech of his campaign to call for racial understanding.

Your Maximum Leader, as you can well imagine, doesn’t put any creedence in this poll right now. We don’t know if these people are likely voters, registered voters, slobs, the clinically insane, or deviants. We really don’t know much from this information. And frankly, the polls are constantly changing. The fact that Obama and Clinton are going at each other more than they are going after John McCain surely figures into this.

Your Maximum Leader, as longtime readers know, is sure that one day the rainbows, butterflies, puppies and scented flowers that spring up out of the footsteps of Barack Obama will cease to be. And that crushing day will be one where you will be able to hear your Maximum Leader shouting for joy across this great land of ours (and Canada - who’s lookin’ out for ya Skippy?)

But that day is not today…

Your Maximum Leader actually has to admit that he has a lot of respect… Well no… Not respect… Your Maximum Leader is impressed with Hillary’s moxie in (essentially) giving the middle finger to all of those insufferable Obama supporters everywhere who just wish a great dark hole would open in the earth and swallow her whole. Every day (if one watches the news) the chorus of people demanding that Hillary drop out of the race (and the tenor of reporting she receives) makes you wonder just how much many in the Democratic elite must really dislike her.

Anyhoo…

The plot to the Democrats nomination continues to thicken like arrowroot in gravy. Your Maximum Leader keeps watching.

Carry on.

Quizzy-quiz

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has seen a few quizes recently… Thus… They all get almagamated into a single post here.

Via Rachel:


You Belong in 1951


You’re fun loving, romantic, and more than a little innocent. See you at the drive in!

Via CalTechGirl:

bedroom toys
Powered By Miami Limo

And via the Llamas:

I scored a Groovy
45% on the
Quiz by SheGoddess: Emotional Eating

Let’s see… Pithy comments on results…

Your Maximum Leader wasn’t surprised about the results that say he should have been born in the 50’s. Well… He was a little surprised. He’d be a little too old to be a hippie. But then again, your Maximum Leader isn’t a hippie type (although he was once told that he liked his women to be “hip-y” which he took to mean “having hips”). He’d have probably been a Goldwater guy and then a grudging Nixon man.

Your Maximum Leader was a little shocked by his value in bed. Shocked at it being so high a number frankly. He’s worth it of course, but Mrs Villain frowns on things like breaking the matrimonial vows by having sex with other women. She’s actually quite a stickler about that.

And as for 45% knowledge of 70’s music… He was a little surprised at scoring so well. He pegged himself as more of a 25% type of guy.

Well… There you go…

Carry on.

More Sports

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has a lot to say, but so little time in which to type it all out. (NB to all loyal minions: Are you getting tired of your Maximum Leader starting posts this way? Do you wish that your Maximum Leader would start posting via osmosis? Via dreams? Via some other method? Would you prefer just that he just shut the hell up and get on with it?)

Anyhoo…

Your Maximum Leader is consumed with sports it seems. He has been watching his beloved Washington Nationals slip from first place in the National League East and begin to play more in line with how he expected them to play. Your Maximum Leader knows that every team in baseball will win 60 games they will lose 60 games; and that all the action is to see how many of the 42 remaining games they will win. Your Maximum Leader figured that the Nationals would likely be fighting for third place in the NL East this season. He thinks that the Mets and the Phillies will duke it out for first and that the Braves and Nats will duke it out for third. But the hot streak to open the season made your Maximum Leader lose his senses and think that the Nats were better than they were. Now he is beginning to be more sensible about it.

In other news…

If your Maximum Leader hasn’t mentioned it before, the first professional sport he started following was not baseball, but hockey. He has loved ice hockey for many years. For all of those years he’s been a Washington Capitals fan. He’s sat through triple and quadruple overtime playoff losses. He was in the stands as the Detroit Red Wings completed their sweep of the Caps in the Stanley Cup finals back in 1998. He fell away from the whole sport of hockey for a few years after the labor troubles. But this year he’s gone back to the fold. He’s gone to a few games. He’s watched games on tv. And the Caps have rewarded him.

Allow your Maximum Leader to say that he’s seen the greats of hockey in their prime. Gretzsky. Messier. Lemieux. Yzerman. And he’s seen some near greats that only hockey fans might recognize (indeed he remembers seeing a great goal (against the Caps) scored by Alexander Mogilny that stands out as one of the greatest goals he’s seen with his own eyes live and in person). Your Maximum Leader will now say that Alexander Ovechkin has the talent needed to rise to the level of the greatest to play the game. Alexander Ovechkin has pretty much carried the Capitals to their first playoffs in years. If the Capitals can build a team around Ovechkin there is a chance they could be a long-term contender.

So… This week the Caps will start their series against the Phlyers. Damn, your Maximum Leader hates the Flyers. Frankly, your Maximum Leader hates the Penguins, the Islanders, the Rangers, the Flyers, and the Rangers more than he can bring himself to hate the divisional rivals the Caps have now. (That is dating his fandom…) Gawd your Maximum Leader would love to see the Caps just spank the Flyers. He means he’d like to see the Caps just make the Flyers their bitches. It would be sweet.

Of course, having said all that… Your Maximum Leader has a lifetime of Caps first round playoff disappointment to reflect upon. He isn’t going to get his hopes up… (Okay… Maybe just a little…) But let him say that if the Caps can beat the Flyers… He might treat himself to an Ovechkin jersey in the new style.

Carry on.

Ugh. That hurts.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader knew that the whole Washington-Nationals-on-a-three-game-tear was too good to be true. Your Maximum Leader’s beloved Nats blew a 5 run lead and eventually lost the game by walking in the winning run.

It hurts your Maximum Leader to write about it. It hurts worse to link to the WaPo article describing the debacle.

Then again… Perhaps this is the Nats team your Maximum Leader should be expecting to show up this season… New ballpark not withstanding…

Carry on.

Random thoughts on politics

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has decided that rather than writing nothing, he’s going to just write crap. This is to say that he’s just going to write short blurbs about things on his mind. In this case, he’s going to just write short blurbs (not even real sentances perhaps - which is a sign of just how low he has fallen) about his thoughts on politics. They may be pithy. They may be inane. They may be insane. They may be insightful. They may (or may not) be linked. They will all be his.

Here we go:

Your Maximum Leader thought that all the talk he heard on the radio yesterday about the Democrats bickering with one another and slogging it out to see which one will get the nominiation was helping John McCain was an April Fools Joke.

Your Maximum Leader wonders when Congress will pass a “mortgage bailout” bill. He heard that “compromise language” was agreed to by House and Senate Democratic leaders. He wonders just how screwed up the final bill will be. He also wonders if George W. Bush will have the balls to veto it.

Your Maximum Leader thinks that Vladimir Putin is going to the NATO summit just to make George W. Bush’s life difficult.

Your Maximum Leader thinks that Robert Mugabe’s hold on power is near an end. (He also thinks he still owes Mrs P some royal decrees for Fidel…)

Your Maximum Leader believes that Hilary Clinton is itching to get more nasty than she has, but her staff is doing a good job keeping her on a short leash. (So to speak.)

Your Maximum Leader can no longer bear to watch Keith Olbermann on any program - even sports programs - because he is just too damned wacky.

Your Maximum Leader continues to be amused that Howard Dean is going to serve as the voice of reason and understanding in mediating the impending superdelegate problems facing his party.

Your Maximum Leader wishes he’d hear more from Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans.

Your Maximum Leader isn’t generally in favor of lots of new government regulation of financial markets, but if the alternative is “bailing out” investment banks… Well… Some new regulation is likely in order.

Why is it that when your Maximum Leader scans the crowds in the background at Obama rallies he doesn’t seem many attractive women. He was led to believe that all Obama supporters would look like that “Obama girl” from that You Tube video. Your Maximum Leader rarely - in fact never - sees anyone that good looking at his rallies. Can we sue Obama over this? Isn’t it false advertising? Shouldn’t we invoke some sort of “equal time” regulation to get more good looking supporters in the background? Your Maximum Leader pledges to you now that if there are crowds standing in rapt attention behind your Maximum Leader while he is speaking during the Mike World Order that all members of the crowd will be models and super hawt. (Your Maximum Leader typed “hawt” that way just for Joan of Arrggh.)

There you go… Random thoughts on politics…

Later… Random thoughts on pop culture!

Carry on.

100 below: Bad Luck

Cletus Lake walked into the liquor store. He went to the single shelf where they kept the fancy wine from California. He was buying a bottle to celebrate.

After a lifetime of digging coal, Cletus’ wildest dreams were on the verge of realization. His life was suddenly changed.

As he approached the register a man with a shotgun burst in. He asked for money. The shopkeeper went for his gun.

Instantly Cletus was lying on the floor dying.

The paramedics did their best. They failed to notice the winning lottery ticket in Cletus’ pocket – soaking up blood.

Still in first - woo hoo.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that his beloved Washington Nationals are still in first place in the NL East. Wow! 2-0. Since they have today off, the worst that can happen is a tie for first with the Mets. And we all know the Mets are chokers down the stretch… Well… At least they were last year…

Go Nats.

Carry on.

First

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report the following:

First in war. First in peace. First in the National League East bay-bee!

Woo hoo!

It is great to be on top of the NL East… If only for a day.

Go Nats!

Carry on.

Tagged!

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s friend, our favorite Boy Named Sous, has tagged him with a food meme. The theme is to share an “American peasant food” dish with everyone. The requirements of the dish be these: cheap, easy, and none too healthy.

Your Maximum Leader must admit that for some reason, this seems like a very tough request. But after some consideration, he decided to go with the first recipe that popped into his mind. This recipe doesn’t have a name, so far as your Maximum Leader knows. It is just a way to prepare bluefish. Now you might be saying “Oh, my Maximum Leader is having me buy fish…” Well, your Maximum Leader has never bought bluefish in his life. He always catches it himself. So if one is ignores the cost of operating a boat, this is pretty cheap. (And, of course, one’s boat doesn’t have to be very grand to go out and catch a fish… Even a bluefish.) Here goes…

Take one fillet (or more if you like) of bluefish and place it on a sheet of aluminum foil skin side down. Your aluminum foil should be big enough to make a “boat” around the fillet.

Apply a generous amount of lemon juice to the fillet.

Cover the flesh of the bluefish fillet with mayonnaise.

Cover the mayonnaise with grated parmesan cheese.

Sprinkle with “Old Bay” seasoning to taste (or none at all if you like).

Cook in 325 oven until fish is done (time will depend on the thickness of the fillet). Your Maximum Leader has also cooked this by making the “boat” of foil into a “tent” of foil and cooking it over indirect heat (a campfire - off to one side) and had it work out fine.

There you go. The oily bluefish is quite tasty when done up this way. Indeed, your Maximum Leader likes his bluefish cooked this way or smoked. Most other preparations are problematic because blue’s are quite oily and “fishy.”

Carry on.

F-ing A!

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t use as much vulgarity on this site as he ought to.

So says the Cuss-o-meter.

The Blog-O-Cuss Meter - Do you cuss a lot in your blog or website?

Your Maximum Leader’s bestest buddy apparently cusses a lot more on his blog.

Carry on.

What’s on?

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader seems to be content to type away here without really having his writing mean anything. So to take a page from the Ye Olde Playbook D’Ellison… Here are some tunes that were just playing on your Maximum Leader’s iPod. For those of you who care, these are the last songs play from amongst the “Top Rated” songs on your Maximum Leader’s iPod. This give the little machine about 2000 songs to choose from…

1) You better you bet - The Who
2) So Lonely - The Police (which is an interesting random selection since Mrs Villain and the children are away right now)
3) God’s gonna cut you down - Johnny Cash
4) Crocodile Rock - Elton John
5) Tender is the Night - Jackson Browne (Is your Maximum Leader the only one who doesn’t hold Jackson smacking around Darryl Hannah against him? She strikes me as an annoying one who might need a smack.)
6) In the Ghetto (Alternate Take) - THE KING
7) Eye in the sky - The Alan Parsons Project (Which, your Maximum Leader is told is also the group putting a giant “laser” on the moon.)
8 ) Hip Hop Hooray! - Naughty by Nature
9) Cheatin’ - Gin Blossoms
10) You really got me - The Kinks
11) Big ole goofy world - John Prine
12) Within you without you - The Beatles
13) Pretty fly (for a white guy) - Offspring
14) Con ti partiro - Andrea Bocelli performing
15) More - The Sundays
16) Church - Lyle Lovett (Your Maximum Leader had a minister friend once who thought this song was funny, because he’d never give a long sermon if there was food on the line - which there always seemed to be after a baptist service in the summer in the south.)
17) Elvis is Everywhere - Mojo Nixon
18) New Dawn Coming - Cowboy Junkies
19) What’s the matter here - 10,000 Maniacs
20) Funky cold medina - Tone Loc
21) Rodeo - Aaron Copeland
22) Common disaster - Cowboy Junkies
23) St. Robinson in his cadillac dream - Counting Crows
24) Are you gonna go my way - Lenny Kravitz (the unplugged version)
25) Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple (Damn, your Maximum Leader loves this song. He’s not heard it for a while, and he’ll probably listen to it four or five times over the next few days.)

So there you have it. The last 25 songs played off your Maximum Leader’s iPod.

Interesting huh?

No not really…

Your Maximum Leader wishes “Chick Habit” by April March had played. If only so Dead Sexy Sadie could read the song name and realize that her (and your) Maximum Leader rented the Grindhouse movies and watched them both last night. He promptly went to iTunes and bought the “Death Proof” soundtrack. He also went ahead and bought “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” by April March as well. (NB to The Big Hominid: It would be interesting to know if the lyrics to “Chick Habit” and “Laisse Tomber Les Filles” are even close. Your Maximum Leader’s pathetic-couldn’t-order-him-a-glass-of-wine-in-a-cafe French skilz tell him that they aren’t, but it would be interesting to know what the French says. Perhaps not interesting enough to have him Google the lyrics…)

Carry on.

“Doing”

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is, again, just phoning in a post. This time it is a video that a friend sent him. He posts it not because it is a reflection of his life, but because some elements of it are just so true.

Okay, the video is too wide for my center column. So clicky here for the video.

Carry on.

    About Naked Villainy

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