"We originally called it soylent pink."

Lunchtime for the kiddies.

The government official who called it that doesn't know his movies very well. Or... at least I hope he doesn't know his movies very well.

"We looked at the product and we objected to it because it used connective tissues instead of muscle. It was simply not nutritionally equivalent [to ground beef]. My main objection was that it was not meat."

So the problem is not that the meat is the meat of the human animal.

By the way, "pink slime" is a movie reference too. Remember "The Green Slime"? That was back in the day when "green" seemed evil and gross. It was 1968, during that brief shining moment when American culture abounded with hippies, but the environmentalists had not yet arrived. I'm thinking of hippies, because I remember how "The Green Slime" was recommended to me at the time: "All the heads are seeing 'Green Slime.'"

Speaking of heads and reindulging in the green-or-pink slime of American pop culture in the 1960s, here's the bathroom scene from The Monkees movie "Head." Don't worry. It's a slime-free, meat-free bathroom, but don't open the medicine cabinet...



... and remember nobody ever lends money to a man with a sense of humor.

Goodbye to Davy Jones.

The lead singer of The Monkees has died of a heart attack at the age of 66.

Very sad. We were just talking about the importance of the cute boy singers who play a role in the gentle romantic fantasy lives of adolescent girls. The kids today have Justin Bieber. Don't diminish these idealized boyfriends. Davy Jones was one of mine. I was 15 when "The Monkees" began on TV, and Davy was absolutely perfect.

ADDED: We were talking about the importance of cute boy singers because of one of the "American Idol" contestants this season, Eben Franckewitz. Here's how adults react to his performance last night:

This cutie... He just sounds so young and weak. Maybe he's just really nervous? Then no, the chorus doesn't really get any better. Oh, Eben.... Obviously, this kid is not going anywhere because we all know how this show works by now, but this was not a good performance.

But... spoiler alert...

According to DialIdol, he's in first place by a mile. Obviously, it's the young girls who are watching and voting, and he is their boyfriend.

UPDATE: I was wrong about Eben. He missed the cut when the votes came in.

"The Steve Jobs' iPod Autopsy: Apple Innovator Stuck in the '60s."

Says Spin:

"His iPod selections were those of a kid from the '70s with his heart in the '60s"...

In fact, loaded on his iPod were a total of 21 Dylan albums, including all six volumes of the singer's bootleg series, but no studio recordings more recent than 1989's Oh Mercy, Isaacson writes. The artists appearing next most frequently on Jobs' iPod were the Beatles, with songs from seven of their albums, followed by the Rolling Stones, with six albums. Others making the cut: Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Buddy Holly, Buffalo Springfield, Don McLean, Donovan, the Doors, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, John Mellencamp, and Simon and Garfunkel, plus the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" and Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs' "Wooly Bully."

What if your iPod contents were splattered across the headlines? Would you be embarrassed?

"Eat debt, screw you, Occupy UW" — the student debt wing of the Occupy [Your City] movement.

That was the chant yesterday as 20 students marched from Union South to the Memorial Union, here at the University of Wisconsin—Madison. 20 isn't very much, but it was Monday morning, that is, it was half past noon in a city where weekends are (perhaps) grueling (that Hail Mary pass!). 20 students when you expect — what? — 100. That's rough.

It reminded me of the old anti-war slogan: "Suppose they gave a war and no one came?” The phrase was used in the 1968 Monkees song "Zor and Zam," and their video of the song looks something like the protest marches I've seen in Madison this year.



Why aren't students more interested in protesting about student problems?

UW freshman Noah Phillips, who led the march, said it is difficult for most to attain a college degree without enormous debt in the current economic climate.

Students are in a difficult bind. If you're hyper-aware of this problem and you're still here in school, racking up the debt, do you march around with signs or do you get much more serious and study as hard as you can? That is, do you visualize your plight as a something that aligns you with others and put your efforts into seeking political and social change, or do you get fired up about your individual cause and do what you can to win in what looks like a very tough fight for economic gain? (Or do you just drag on, avoiding politics and taking your studies and your career one step at a time, and hope for the best?)

Associated Students of Madison member Justin Bloesch said "What we were told … is that if we work hard, if we stay honest, if we shine by our merit then this society will take care of us; that's the American Dream"...

Who told you that? This society will take care of you? Shine by your merit? How did the "American Dream" evolve into that message?

"But if that's ever how the game worked, that's not how it works now."

Well, it's not really how the "game" ever worked. Bloesch seems to be thinking about those public-school games where everybody wins: if you play and don't cheat, you are a winner.

Phillips said the movement, which recruited demonstrators via Facebook, hopes to build student participation in upcoming weeks by passing out flyers and speaking in lectures....

You might not even win at protesting. Even if you follow the rules of organizing: Facebook page, check... build momentum...

Once participation is higher, Phillips said the movement can take larger actions such as "occupying a building" or forming a teach in.

Occupying a building... that really does sound like 1968.

"They're Too Busy Putting People Down to Sing."

Taranto's riff on the headline "The Monkees Cancel Nine Remaining Tour Dates."

If you're not a baby boomer and don't get it...

I want to be free.

You've seen the sign. Here's the song choice:

1. The Ohio Players, "I Want To Be Free."

2. The Monkees, "I Wanna Be Free."

3. Queen, "I Want To Break Free."

Vote based on the song, not the visuals in the video:

You must familiarize yourself with all 3 songs before voting.
	"I Want To Be Free."
	"I Wanna Be Free."
	I Want To Break Free."
pollcode.com free polls

"You think that the Monkees music is banal and insipid?"

Says Mike Nesmith as played by Frank Zappa, interviewing Frank Zappa as played by Mike Nesmith.