Whether you are watching the Olympics as I am or want to talk about what you had for dinner or anything else, here's an open thread.

I'm also going to work on my Facebook and Twitter pages and widgets for instant updates of convention happenings.

I'm going to stop following bloggers and journalists on Twitter who use it only to upload every one of their posts. It clutters my inbox and I want to know what they are doing, not writing. I can check their blog for their blogposts. I wish bloggers would get a second twitter page for readers who want to read their blog via Twitter.

Facebook update below:

Mark David Chapman, the killer of John Lennon, was denied parole today.

This is an open thread.

Most of you are no doubt watching the Olympics. I'm watching IFC, which is showing one of my favorite films, "O Brother Where Art Thou," which came up in somewhat controversial fashion the other day in one of my threads.

"O brothers, let's go down, down in the river to pray!"

This is an Open Thread.

The Olympics have started. Here's an open thread for them.

Isaac Hayes, Academy and Grammy Award winner, died this afternoon at the age of 65.

His music, which came to be known as urban-contemporary, paved the way for disco as well as romantic crooners like Barry White. And in his spoken-word introductions and interludes, Hayes was essentially rapping before there was rap. His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show "South Park."

"Isaac Hayes embodies everything that's soul music," Collin Stanback, an A&R executive at Stax, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "When you think of soul music you think of Isaac Hayes -- the expression ... the sound and the creativity that goes along with it."

The video above is the wonderful Isaac Hayes version of "Walk On By," the Burt Bacharach song made famous by Dionne Warwick. You can go here if you prefer to remember Hayes by listening to his award-winning "Theme From Shaft."

This is an open thread.

RIP Bernie Mac.

Big Tent Democrat is taking the weekend off from blogging. I'm taking the day off. I'm not sure what TChris is up to.

Here's a an open thread for you. Keep it civil and I'll be back in time for tonight's Olympics. Hopefully, we won't have "technical difficulties" like we did last night from a rain storm. Neil Young:

Look at Mother Nature on the run in the 20th Century.

Via Avedon at Sideshow, longtime political blogger Skimble is packing it in and closing up shop.

I have ceased to care about McStupid's Britney video and Obama's acting presidency. Or the New Yorker cover. Or Cindy McCain's 20 painkillers a day. Or the endless hand-wringing about the f**king narrative. The 24/7 minutiae of yet another artificial campaign horserace cannot captivate me. The big story is this....

Go read the rest, it's a well-deserved attack on the Dems, Harry and Nancy in particular.

This has been a lackluster, ho-hum election campaign since May when the primaries ended. I doubt it will pick up. Obama is just not as exciting to cover as he was when he had Democrats as competitors and McCain would put anyone to sleep.

It is what it is. From here on out, both candidates will play to the middle. The rest of us, right and left, will be marginalized. [More...]

I'm gone for the rest of the afternoon. Here's an open thread for you to take over the discussion. All topics welcome, please be civil.

What's up with Maureen Dowd? Now she's suggesting American women, specifically those who supported Hillary, dislike Obama and won't for him. Her reasons are rather odd. First she compares Obama to romantic figures in Pride and Prejudice and Bridget Jones' Diary, saying women think Obama is arrogant and prideful, then she says it's because he's too skinny and then she makes it all about race.

I hate when writers paint with too broad a brush. I haven't heard a single woman say they would never vote for a man again.

I'm a former Hillary supporter who will gladly vote for Obama over McCain or a third party candidate. Taylor Marsh, among the most ardent Hillary supporter on the blogs during the primaries responds, criticizing the Hillary supporters who can't move on: [More...]

Your turn.

Gnarls Barkley is scheduled to perform at Lollapalooza tomorrow.

What makes you crazy?

Your turn.