Hello, Dalai!

[Poop Fresh-Herbed Pickles]

(fist bumps)

Hello Dalai! Or Things You Can't Make Up
Posted by Bruce VanWyngarden [Editor of the Memphis Flyer] on Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 3:20 PM

I get a call from Film Commission head Linn Sitler today around noon.

"You need to get a reporter and a photographer down to Tom Lee Park in the next 15 minutes."

I send out a call for a reporter. Chris Davis volunteers. He texts me a few minutes later that there are lots of cop cars and that the rumor is that the Dalai Lama is about to appear. I got on the company intercom, announced the Dalai Lama was soon to be in our neighborhood, and if anyone wanted to say, "Hello, Dalai," now was their chance.

"Hello, Dalai," is, of course, the most obvious and overused joke about the Dalai Lama. I said it ironically, okay?

Apparently Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery thought this joke was somehow original, and somehow a good idea to try out on the Dalai Lama himself. So when introduced to his holiness, Myron babbled something about a fistbump being a local tradition (really?) and started awkwardly forcing his fist at the DL, saying "I've always wanted to say this: HELLO DALAI!"

Get ready Myron, you're probably going to make the Daily Show, David Letterman, Keith Olbermann, etc. in the next 24 hours. After that, you will live on Youtube.com forever and ever. Yep, the Mayor Pro Tem is fixin' to get his 15 minutes, and he ain't gonna like it much. This clip is going get played and played (The Flyer will have one up by Davis later today.), and it will probably destroy what little shot he had at the mayor's office. Surprisingly, we Memphians still like a little dignity in our public officials, especially after the Herenton clown-show of recent years.

I did hear that Myron and his advisers had been thinking about trying to chest bump the Dalai Lama, but decided to save it for the Pope.

This is a long video but don't fret.  The moment happens quite quickly.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/AVboT84lEqQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/AVboT84lEqQ</a>

[Doctor Rock]

Boy, you're up early. 

[Tripp]

my friend Kyle, who does Rocket Science Audio here in mempho, will be doing a live stream of Gonerfest 6 which starts tonight

[captqitn]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI</a>

Jimmy came over last night!   

[Tripp]

...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jgkm2pdWgY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[Jeff]

Viva La Jimmy!

[Jeff]

The part at the end where they attribute this to a guardian angel is annoying, but still.. watch this.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

[Jeff]

UK pop singer Lily Allen is trying to present herself as a new celeb voice against music piracy. Problem is, in defending copyright, she has copied and pasted the rants of others on the subject, without attribution, and illegally scanned and reproduced newspaper articles she thought helped make her case. All of this on a website that also hosts illegal mixtapes she made and offers for free.

[bebopbalogna]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI</a>

Jimmy came over last night!   

awesome!!


(in related news... "sheep" was my most recent karaoke attempt at mr. b's.  was quite surprised to see they had it.)

[Jeff]

The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

[bebopbalogna]

...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jgkm2pdWgY&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

goddamn they do a good job of that kind of thing over there.

[captqitn]

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/rRJ6vpE81gI</a>

Jimmy came over last night!   

awesome!!


(in related news... "sheep" was my most recent karaoke attempt at mr. b's.  was quite surprised to see they had it.)

wow.  good karaoke bar.    How did you do the vocoder "the lord is my shepard, I shall not want" part?

[Tripp]

I love the Dogs

[bebopbalogna]

oh man.  i have the BEST computer voice.

(just kidding.  as with most songs over 4 minutes long, it was quite unartfully abridged.)

[Jeff]

I am trying to have a better attitude about things this morning.

On the one hand, I recognize that I am not my job. On the other, I was already going through a bout of feeling unaccomplished (among my peers from youth and young adulthood there are muliple PhDS, an accomplished psychologist, the world's most popular blogger, the NYT columnist publishing her third book, the full-time painter raking in the dough, etc.) So getting demoted from a job I already thought was beneath me is extra soul-crushing. It may not be who I am but it's what I have accomplished... and it's shit. I really want to do more with my life, especially now that the little guy is looking on.

I'm sort of taking a half day today to size up what I want to do next. I could probably shift to some parallel job for another company, but I doubt that really helps the sense of accomplishment. I'd like to go back to school to become a psychologist, but I just don't see how we can afford to have me not working fulltime for four years. Teaching is a possibility, and there are some alternate paths to certification in Illinois. Those represent challenges, too, though.

Anyway, I am trying to get past this. Thanks for y'all's support.

I suppose the bottom line is, it's better to feed my family on a job that's beneath me than to not have work. So I'm grateful for that.