The Dream of a Ridiculous Woman

Hook 'Em Horns!

2009-10-15T06:00:00.006-04:00

This weekend is the Red River Rivalry football game between The University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma. I have some considerably strong feelings regarding the outcome of this game owing to my law degree from The University of Texas. In consideration thereof, I give you an example of why Oklahoma sucks.

April 2003. Ballroom of the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. Before competition begins, the organizers gather all 80-some four-to-six member teams in the hotel ballroom. Each team represents either a country or a region of a country, and each team hails from a particular law school. The organizers explain the competition rules, thank the sponsors and begin introducing each individual team. Assembled within this room are representatives of several countries who are historic and present day enemies. Countries that hold a deep seeded cultural, religious and historial animosity against each other that often results in death and war. Croatia and Serbia. Israel and Egypt. Greece and Turkey. India and Pakistan. France and everyone else. Yet, polite and even enthusiastic applause follows the announcement of each team's country, region and school name. Law students of the world join together in a spirit of peaceful unity....that is until one team gets booed. My team. The University of Texas. Gets booed. By Oklahoma. The Israelis, Serbs, Greeks and French can remain civil, but you, Oklahoma feel compelled to boo the University of Texas. A classless, yet class...ic example of why Oklahoma sucks.

By the way, we went on to compete against Oklahoma and absolutely crushed them. The low moment for them came when one of the mooters didn't understand the competition judge's Biblical reference to Paul on the road to Damascus. She repeated the judge's reference, only she called it "the road to the massacres." (The moot court problem dealt with the issue of genocide). That's right, good-old, home-of-the-heartland Oklahoma messed up a Bible reference. I'd let it slide.........if they hadn't booed us in front of representatives of the rest of the legal world and if Oklahoma were not evil.

So think on that, watch the Red River Rivalry, and Hook 'Em Horns!!!!!

Pie Report: Apple & Pear Five Spiced

2009-09-30T12:13:00.000-04:00

I made a Pie on Sunday.

Last fall it was Soup. This fall, it's Pie. It is not, however, a pie diet. That would be suicidal for my body. I'm limiting myself to one pie a week. As much as I love soup, I love pie more. And it's a toss up of what I love more: baking pie or eating pie.

So, I'll try to document my pie baking adventures and pie baking philosophy. Sadly, this documentation will not include photographic evidence. I don't have a digital camera (gasp!) and, also, I'm too lazy to take and upload pictures. Also, my pies get eaten quickly.

Over the summer I experimented with chiffon pies. Now it's fall, and it's time to move on to the delights of double crust, fruit filled pies. I'm talking to you apple!

Back to Sunday, when I made a pie, it was a double crust pie filled with apples, pears and Chinese Five Spice. Up to Sunday, I'd only used Five Spice in stir fry and my pathetic attempts at Singapore Noodles.

Chinese Five Spice was a surprisingly excellent accent flavor. And the pears helped out too. The best part about putting pears in the pie, I didn't have to peel them! Pear skin bakes away! Apple skin, not so much. But this new fun, fact about pear baking is making a pear pie for next weekend seem much more appealing.

The pie was good. It got eaten within 48 hours. It made an excellent breakfast. The hardest part in making it was, as always, waiting for it to cool. Which I failed to do. I lasted about an hour and a half. Then I just had to cut into it to see what the heck Chinese Five Spiced pie tasted like (it tasted like yumminess) and a half inch deep sea of juices poured out into the space my pie slice left.

I will work on my self control for next week.

Pie Report Conclusion: Apple + Pear + Chinese Five Spice = GOOD PIE.

Recipe after the jump.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe in this book. It's also from memory, so accuracy might be a problem.

Double Crust: 2 c flour, 1tsp salt, 1/2 c veg oil, 1/2 c cold water

Filling:
3 1/2 c apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
3 1/2 c pears (cored and sliced)(*)
2 T lemon juice
1/2 c sugar
Mix the above ingredients and let juice in a strainer suspended over a plate or bowl for ten minutes (so that ideally the apples will lose much of their water and not deflate your pie too much when you bake it...which only half worked for my pie)
1 1/2 T corn starch
1/4 c sugar
2 t Chinese Five Spice
Mix the starch 1/4 c sugar and Chinese Five Spice. Add to juiced apples & pears. Mix well. Pile on top of pie crust. Place several dabs of butter or margarine over pile of fruit then place second crust on top. Seal and flute edges. Cut vents into top crust.

Bake: at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes, then at 350 degrees F for 30 more minutes.

Let rest at least 2 hours (probably more) before eating. Resist cutting into it...if you can.

(*)No, you don't need to peel the pears!!! It's fantastic. No-peel fruit!

What Not To Wear To Work:

2009-09-14T12:52:00.003-04:00

Multiple bracelets that jangle.

An annoyed person in a cubical near you, is probably fantasizing about how best to rip them off your hands....or just chop off your hands.

Blogging is Back: Boise State is Blue

2009-09-03T22:31:00.012-04:00

I'm watching Bosie State vs. Oregon on espn360.com (how else is a girl without cable supposed to survive?) and just feel like sharing.

First issue: the field. It's blue.
Second issue: the Boise St. uniforms. They're blue.
Third issue: Blue on Blue = I can't tell what the heck is going on when Boise State has the ball.

Click through to read my sporadic blogging.

10:36 Boise State just had quite a drive including a go-for-it on 4th down and a recovered fumble off the snap for some serious yardage, followed immediately by another recovered fumble off the snap but this time for a loss, and then a field goal kick...that didn't happen. Score still zero - zero. You people who are sleeping. You're not missing much.

10:38 The blue field freaks out the announcer. I'm not freaked out by the blue field. I'm annoyed. Because it's not so easy to pick out what the home team is doing. Though right now, it looks like they are sacking a Duck.

10:39 Disclosure #1: I love Boise State because they trampled on Okahoma in the best ever made for tv movie but seriously happening in real life college bowl game.

10:42 Oh my. This Kirk Herbstreit Salsa-Boy Dancing With The Stars commercial is so hilarious, I don't even mind that espn360 plays it every single commercial break. I like Herbie, despite his alma mater.

10:47 End of first quarter. Still zero - zero. Not so much fun. At least the commercials are good. Mia Hamm in a commercial! Excellent. Texas in a commercial! Excellent. NASCAR in a commercial. Not so excellent, but it does have people speaking in Dutch accents (they came 5,000 miles from Holland) so I'm mildly entertained. And the Herbie Salsa-Boy commercial is back!!! Espn does good commercials.

10:53 Boise State in the red zone. Hope they don't fumble the snap again. Uh-Oh. Flag on the play. Hah. The announcer just said "this is a WAC officiating crew." In my head, my first reaction was that he said "this is a wack officiating crew." Turns out the officiating crew is both WAC and wack because they meant to whistle the play dead but didn't. So no more red zone. Ball comes back, minus five yards, and then Boise manages to lose two more yards on the 2d down.

10:56 Third and long......fails. Boise tries for the field goal again. No. Good. Still zero - zero. Boys, this is no time to spite all the football pundits who claimed this game would be high scoring. I wanna see a touch down before I fall asleep.

11:02 Third consecutive 3 and out for the Ducks. The announcers are blaming the blue turf.

11:08 Once again, Boise State goes for it on 4th down. Probably becuase they've not been able to kick a freaking field goal. I shouldn't complain. I'd much rather see a touchdown.

11:09 Disclosure #2: I'm so excited for Texas and the current football season that last night I watched almost the entire 2009 Fiesta Bowl on hulu. 'Horns crushing Buckeye hopes in the last couple minutes. It'll never get old.

11:12 here it comes.....TOUCHDOWN. finally. Boise State up by 6. What? They ran it in for 2. (probably because they aren't making their field goals tonight). Love those Boise state trick plays. But is it really a "trick?" Isn't it just a smart play, as in my offensive coordinator just out-smarted your defensive coordinator?

11:17 Ducks are on deck. Man, Oregon has had so many 3 and outs that it seems like I haven't even seen them play offense. And already, it's 3 and out. Nice seeing you again, Duck QB, all thirty seconds you were on the field.

11:25 The defense scores a safety for Boise State! 2 more points on the score board. yay!

11:26 Oregon locker room at halftime is not going to be a happy place.

11:27 The worst thing about suffering a safety is the added injury of being forced to kick off to the other team after you just effectively got scored on.

11:34 Boise State will try for a field goal.........and gets it. About time.

11:37 Oregon has the ball and is trying to do something before the half is over.

11:39 Oregon does basically nothing. It's another 3 and out.

11:40 Halftime. Boise State 13 Oregon 0.

USOPEN Intermission (a.k.a Andy Roddick is the best, let's check and see how he's doing)

11:44 Thank goodness for espn360.com. I can watch the USOpen as well as football. Oh, excellent. Roddick is beating a Frechman. He's already on the third (and hopefully final) set, having already won the first two. Oops, Roddick almost got broken.

11:50 Oh my. Roddick does a ridiculous overhead smash and then a big forehand.

11:52 I imagine that if I watched Roddick serve in person my neck would snap off from the force of just following his serve across the court.

11:57 Slightly disturbing montage of the French guy (Marc Giquel) doing splits as he extends to reach for the ball. The funniest part is listening to the announcers audibly cringe in pain as they watch.

11:59 Frenchie nicely slides one past Roddick. Don't worry, he's still losing. They appear to be on serve in the third set.

INTERMISSION OVER. Back to your regularly scheduled football game

12:01 Disclosure #3: It's midnight and I'm getting exponentially tired. This live blogging could end very abruptly. Just giving fair warning.

12:05 Come on Oregon, make this interesting! Nope. Boise State is already inside the 10 yard line.

12:09 Giant pile on the goal line, but no touch down yet.

12:10 Second time works much better. Touch down Boise State. And the 2 point conversion....fails. I guess they'll go back to settling for the extra point.

12:15 STILL no first down for Oregon.

12:34 Oh look. I take a tiny nap and somewhere in there Oregon finally managed to score 8 points.

Sorry readers, sorry Oregon, sorry Boise. I'm going to sleep.

UPDATE: After my head hit the pillow the score didn't change. Oregon lost, Boise State won. The score 8-19. But I did miss seeing some insane Oregon player (the running back who got dropped for that embarrassing safety)punch a Boise State player, punch his own teammate, try to punch Boise State fans, and being restrained and escorted from the field by security and his own coach.

Dear Emmy Awards:

2009-07-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you very much for choosing Neil Patrick Harris to host. I will love you forever if you let him sing. If he does anything close to his closing number for the Tony's, the night will start off a success. Also, while he's singing, why not have him sing a song from something he sung in a nominated show like....Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

I know, I know it's highly unlikely I will see a number from Dr. Horrible at the Emmys. That wonderful web-cast show is nominated in the "technical" awards category of Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program. (Which, honestly, just sounds like some kind of fake, catch-all category that you just made up to please the masses....but, on the other hand, hurray for you adapting to new media!). And I know that Outstanding Special Class and other "technical" awards are categories that are traditionally too unfamiliar and too boring to be worth keeping a flighty network audeince's attention on a Sunday night. But the key word in that last sentence is "traditionally." I have no problem with "technical" Emmys or Oscars being awarded at a separate, non-televised event. I am one of those flighty audience members who changes the channel if forced to sit through a series of acceptance speeches for Outstanding Lighting, Make-up, Sound Mixing, etc. And in years past I probably wouldn't have cared about the catch-all category of Outstanding Special Class Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program or even Outstanding Choreography. But, this year, I care. And my humble suggestion to you, Emmy Awards, is that if you are smart, you should take note of the fact that I and other fellow TV watchers care.

Now, I realize I probably will not get my fondest wish of seeing a live performance of a song from Dr. Horrible on the Emmy stage (but I am holding out hope that host Neil Patrick Harris does give the web show a shout-out somehow). On the other hand, when it comes to the "technical" Emmy of Outstanding Choreography, I think a live performance is an outstanding idea.

As I understand it, the "technical" awards are shoved to the side because they are boring and don't make for good TV. But my suggestion is that when the technical awards, as they do this year, happen to include nominations in Choreography from popular TV shows Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance, I say go ahead and move that award, temporarily, to the Big Leauges. It'll give the audience something to look at between all those acceptance speeches. It'll bring in the So You Think You Can Dance (younger demographic) and Dancing With the Stars (super HUGE demographic) audiences and even, maybe, get Hugh Jackman to show up (people obsessed with movie stars demographic). You won't have to find a choreogropher, costumes, dancers or camera angles because it's already been done. And, did I mention, IT WILL BE ENTERTAINING.

Thank you for listening, Emmy Awards. To refresh your memory, I'll post clips of the 2009 Prime Time Emmy Outstanding Choreography Emmy Nominees after the jump.

81st Annual Academy Awards: "Musicals are Back"
Rob Ashford, Choreographer
Considering the scope and star power of this number, it would be near impossible to reproduce at the Emmy Awards. Also, for the same reasons, it's likely to win, although it's my least favorite because it's more about the stars performing than the dancing.

Dancing With The Stars: Jive/"Great Balls of Fire"
Derek Hough, Choreographer
Julianne Hough, Choreographer
Derek is one of my favorite choreographers on Dancing With the Stars. This routine is fun and entertaining and makes me want to dance. Also, props to the siblings for working so well together. My brother has the same name as Mr. Hough and all we can choreograph is how to set the dinner table when we are home for Christmas holidays.

So You Think You Can Dance: "Bleeding Love"
Tabitha D'umo, Choreographer
Napoleon D'umo, Choreographer
This choreography duo goes by the name "Nappy-Tabs" on the show. Their specialty is "lyrical hip-hop," which I usually don't like too much. But I really loved this routine when I first saw it. It made the dancers, Mark and Chelsie, stand out to me. I really liked the story and expressions in the piece. (And I would love to see them dance it at the Emmys)

So You Think You Can Dance: "Mercy" a.k.a. The Door Dance
Mia Michaels, Choreographer
I didn't see this dance when it first aired, but I heard about it so I checked it out on youtube. Unfortunately, the first clip I watched told the story behind the dance and my latent feminist came out and ruined the dance for me.

Short clip. Poor quality, but you can view it without the intro that tainted my view of the dance.

Full clip that I originally saw, that explains the story behind the dance: obsessed, "crazy" girlfriend won't leave ex-boyfriend alone and he has to throw her out the door but she still hangs around so he can have sexual benefits whenever he wants but can still exert his power and throw her away whenever he wants and it's all justified because she's "crazy." The girl is a mess. And the guy wears a wife-beater. The dancing is good. But I just hate the message.

So You Think You Can Dance: "Adam and Eve/Silence"
Tyce Diorio, Choreographer
Not a personal favorite of mine, but a very powerful and beautiful performance.

So You Think You Can Dance: "A Los Amigos" Argentine Tango
Dmitry Chaplin, Choreographer
Dmitry was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance, so I feel a little like I've watched him grow. He's on Dancing With The Stars now with Chelsie whom he choreographed in this Tango. (The ballroom dancing world...it's smaller than you think). Also, this is my favorite of the bunch. It brings a real story and theatrics to a ballroom dance. I hope it wins.

Attention Pop Culture Addicts

2009-07-23T15:32:00.004-04:00

Spaced, all two seasons, is available for your viewing pleasure on hulu.com. WATCH IT NOW!

Need Convincing? Well....

If you watched Shaun of the Dead or Hot Fuzz and your cheeks hurt afterward from laughing so much, you must watch Spaced.
If you watched the new Star Trek movie and thought the guy playing Scotty was hilarious, you must watch Spaced.
If you were a slacker in the late 90s who procrastinated from work and study by obsessing over the minutia of pop cultue, you must watch Spaced.
If you like funny, you must watch Spaced.

Spaced is the story of Tim and Daisy, recent friends who in order to move into an available and affordable "flat," hold themselves out as a romantic couple, which they are not.....but that's not the point of the show at all. Really it's about late 90s slackers and their wacky friends, downstairs neighbor, and upstairs landlady. If you have seen Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, then you will notice where the humor, editing, cast and general ideas came for those films. Episode three has Simon Pegg blasting zombies, and in the second season there is an excellent exhibition of slo-mo action fighting. The show also has fun toying with the audience's expectation that Tim and Daisy will end up together.

After the jump, I've posted my favorite clips. Take a look.

Favorite Spaced Clips:

The Magnificent Seven Moment
I love the theme music to The Magnificent Seven, an excellent movie that the men in my home forced me to watch many times while growing up. (And yes, I know all about Seven Samurai. I like The Magnificent Seven better because of Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn and the music. Deal.) And I alternately laugh out loud and cheer when the music comes on as downstairs neighbor Brian saves the day.

Slo-mo Action Fighting
The clips speak for themselves.

Step Into My TARDIS
I love Doctor Who and think it would be the most fantastic thing if my boss needed to ream me out and called me into his TARDIS to do so.

Mike Sees Dead People
My favorite send-up of The Sixth Sense, especially since it uses actress Oliva Williams from the movie.

Do NOT watch the trailer for The Time Traveler's Wife

2009-07-02T00:47:00.002-04:00

Why? Because...

(1) Ron Livingston is not in it

(2) It gives away most of what made the book suspenseful

(3) Never let a good movie ruin a great book. Read first, watch later.

(4) See point #1

Trying to stay abreast of the technology curve...

2009-06-17T15:00:00.003-04:00

I just discovered Google Reader. This may be old news to most, but it's really helping me keep up with blog postings.

GOOGLE READER!!

The Madness ends....in One Shining Moment

2009-04-07T14:36:00.005-04:00

Well, the Duke loss demoralized this blog, but the Carolina Blue(*) faithfully plugged on past LSU to a series of perfect wins. And now we know, Spartan may beat Trojan, but it does not beat Tar Heel.

It's sad when the tournament ends, but the cherry on top for me every year is the "One Shining Moment" montage at the end. No matter who wins, who loses, or how boring or lop-sided the game, I will stick around for One Shining Moment. (I am slave to the Inspirational Sport Montage).

(*) See, it's good to be both a UNC and Duke fan. If one lets you down the other will come through!

Click through for some other random thoughts.

Other random thoughts:
-sort of boring tournament this year, no Cinderella, no stand out player.
-the last minute narrative trumped up by the media that Michigan State was this little can-do working class team that was going through the tournament slaying one-seeded giants sort of ruined the hoop-la surrounding the final. Michigan State is good, always has been good. They are as much big time b-ball as UNC is. Shut up media.
-there was more narration than usual in the One Shining Moment montage, which I liked at first, but then at the end I thought the praise of North Carolina was excessive.
-also, I thought for sure the One Shining Moment montage would have a clip of Scheyer tossing the ball back in-bounds during the Duke-Texas game, instead they went with a clip of Scheyer making one of his now almost trademark funny Scheyer-faces.
-finally, I heart kids who stay to play all four years.

The Madness forges ahead

2009-03-27T07:18:00.000-04:00

Tonight this blog will be rooting for:

Louisville (because they are the more fun team to watch)
Syracuse (because Oklahoma is evil and MUST BE STOPPED)
Michigan State (go Spartan Spirit!)
UNC (I hate to see Gonzaga go, but I love Carolina Blue)

The Madness renews

2009-03-26T07:06:00.002-04:00

Tonght this blog will be rooting for:

Connecticut (because husky dogs are cute and tough)
Xavier (because Duke has a better shot at beating Xavier)
Missouri (go big 12 team)
Duke (I love them blue devils!!)

The Madness persists

2009-03-22T07:08:00.000-04:00

Today this blog will be rooting for:

Syracuse (because I like oranges)
Xavier (because I like it when the A10 wins)
Dayton (because I like it when an underdog from the A10 wins, even if said dog is in Ohio)
Arizona (because Cleveland is in Ohio(*))
Pittsburgh (because I'm from Pennsylvania)
Marquette (because I like their name)
Michigan State (because Spartan always beats Trojan)
Siena (because I'd like a huge upset)

(*)Yes, I realize I am haphazardly applying the anti-Ohio rule.

The Madness endures

2009-03-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

Today this blog will be rooting for:

Villanova (because I like Philly cheese steaks)
Maryland (because I like an upset)
Connecticut (because I must not root for Aggies)
Purdue...or Washington (Big10 + Pac10 BBall makes me sleepy)
North Carolina (because I can't help myself)
Michigan (because, say it together now, Oklahoma is evil)
Western Kentucky (because they were the only low seed that came through for me on Thursday, but my bracket has Gonzaga)
Duke (because my parents did a better, longer brainwash job on me training me to root for Duke basketball; Texas however did a successful brainwash job on me for football)

Iranian New Year is sooo popular this year.

2009-03-20T14:28:00.002-04:00

The President is into it. (Probably because he figured out the phrase "happy new year" in Farsi includes the word "barak")

Even the Israeli President is into it.

But the best, most thorough salute to the Iranian New Year (which is TODAY), came from Steven Colbert last week. His particular attention to the traditional dish of herbed rice and fish (a.k.a Sabsi Polo and Mahi) as well as the table of seven s's (a.k.a the Haft Seen) is what sets his tribute apart:

Happy Noruz!!

The Madness continues

2009-03-20T06:39:00.001-04:00

Today this blog will be rooting for:

Syracuse (because of the six overtimes)
Oklahoma State (because Oklahoma is evil, as in "the enemy of my enemy is my friend")
North Dakota State (because they had the best crowd at the selection show...I think the crowd consisted of half the residents of North Dakota)
Marquette (because of my bracket)
Temple (because they are in the A10)
Pittsburgh (because of where my parents live...and my bracket...and I want Duke to prove everyone wrong and beat them...and yes, that would take a tall miracle in the defensive post position)
West Virginia (because of where I live, also, Dayton is in Ohio)
Mizzou (go Big 12 team that is not OU)
Louisville (because of my bracket)
Arizona (because they deserve the chance to prove they do belong in the tournament)
Boston College (I love ACC basketball)
Xavier (I root for the A10, even when said A10 team is a GWU rival)
Wake Forest (ACC team from North Carolina!!)
Siena (because, when burnt, it makes a nice crayon...and because when they win, Ohio State will cry)
Robert Morris (because of where my parents live, but, yes, of course, my bracket has Michigan State)
Florida State (because I enjoyed watching them play in the ACC championship)

The Madness

2009-03-19T13:04:00.004-04:00

It's basketball time.

Keep up with all the action via this website.

Don't worry, it has a useful boss button.

Today this blog will be rooting for:

BYU (because I must not root for the Aggies)
Northridge (root for the Cinderella even when it goes against my bracket)
Butler (more fun to root for them than LSU)
Purdue...or Northern Iowa (I don't really care)
UNC (because I was raised to love the Tarheels)
Maryland (because of where I work)
Connecticut (because I miss Stephen Curry and wish to punish the rest of his conference)
Washington (because of my bracket)
Texas (hook 'em.....until they get to Duke)
Clemson (Tigers rawrhh!)
American (go little Eagles soar!)
Gonzaga (because Akron is in Ohio)
Duke (because I was raised to love the Blue Devils...you may think this expressly conflicts with a certain statement above, but in my family light and dark blue are completely compatible colors)
Morgan State (because Oklahoma is evil)
VCU (I never root for UCLA because as a kid I got UCLA confused with UNLV and as a kid I was a Duke fan)
Western Kentucky (because they had a fun crowd at the selection show)

I Want To Go To There

2009-03-04T22:05:00.002-05:00

I watch the show 30 Rock. My favorite quote from the show is "I want to go to there," used whenever the character Liz Lemon hears about something she likes. It's hilarious. I've tried adopting it as my own little catch phrase. And it turns out this very funny, much beloved catch phrase was written by a BABY! Watch the hulu clip below, as Tina Fey explains how her baby daughter originated the catch phrase when she saw a Disney World website on the computer.

A freaking Baby wrote my favorite catch-phrase...this might say something about my taste in humor...

Lent and The Bar Exam

2009-02-12T12:30:00.005-05:00

It seems an odd confluence of events.

Lent (to me) is a sober time of thinking about the reward of grace in our lives. Some people do this by abstaining from chocolate. Some people don't even think about grace and abstain from chocolate anyway. Either way, somehow, thoughts of Lent get tied up with thoughts of self deprivation, religious study, internal reflection and general unfunness. Then Easter comes. The sun rises, and Christians release their 40 days of gloomy abstinence and unfunness in a celebration of eternal life by singing songs, chasing after colored eggs, eating chocolate bunnies and wearing Sunday finery.

Just my luck that for the past 40 days and more I have been largely abstaining from fun, drowning in legal study, reflecting on my stressed out state of mind and experiencing general unfunness due to the impending February Bar Exam. Am I looking forward to my day of release? Yes. But there's a catch.

The Bar Exam ends on February 26th, which also happens to be Ash Wednesday, the day Lent starts. The seemingly arbitrary and bewilderingly complex lunisolir calendar and computation system has conspired not only to force me to take a six hour essay exam on Fat Tuesday/Fastnacht Day(*)/Fasching/etc., but to also morally obligate me to be reflective and penitent on an evening on which I will be wanting to feel release. Somewhere, some religious scholar is thinking: "how apt." I am thinking: "I will eat off a chocolate bunny head to spite him."

(*) Fastnacht Day is Amish Donut Day in Lancaster County, PA. If you go to school, your teacher buys the class fat, heavy, delicious donuts and you eat them all day long. It is heaven.

Oscar Nominations

2009-01-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

Every year I know fewer and fewer of the movies nominated for Academy Awards. This year, I thought I might actually have a good chance of having seen at least one of the best picture nominees. Turns out, I’ve seen Two. Although, of the over 40 different films nominated for various awards, I have seen Six. That’s right six.

Click through to see who those lucky six are....

Happy-Go-Lucky
Nominated for: Best Original Screenplay
This is a nice little movie that doesn’t feel like a coherent film until the very end, when you finally understand that it’s about how much work goes into being a happy person, and how special and beautiful happy people are. Sally Hawkins, the actress who plays the happy-go-lucky main character Polly is delightful to watch. (Her portrayal reminds me for some reason of the character Donna Noble in Doctor Who, which is why I’m probably heavily disposed to like this movie). Also, the movie has a memorable catch phrase: “En-Ra-Ha!” (Watch the movie, and you’ll understand.) It’s nominated in the proper category, and I hope it wins.

Slumdog Millionaire
Nominated for: Best Picture, Director, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Origianl Songs (“Jai Ho” and “O Saya”), Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Adapted Screenplay.
Wow, a “little” critical darling and I’ve actually seen it. I’ve seen it because it’s good and it’s joyful. Really, whether it wins or not, go see this movie. It has humor, romance, culture, tragedy, adorable child actors and a Bollywood-esque dance scene during the end credits. A very great movie. I don’t know if it’s “best picture” material, but I’d be happy to see it win. It should win for Best Original Score. The music, while often fun, also carries the film from highs to lows and between flash backs. Both nominated best songs “Jai Ho” and “O Saya” are good. I’m considering downloading them. (Also, I'm actually look forward to watching the Oscars if it means the cast recreates the dance to “Jai Ho” at the broadcast Ceremony).

Frost/Nixon
Nominated for: Best Picture, Actor (Frank Langella), Director, Film Editing, and Adapted Screenplay
This is a nice movie to watch. The only problem with it is its lack of historical accuracy. Frank Langella, nominated for his portrayal of Richard Nixon, does an excellent, riveting job. He makes Nixon quirky, compelling, awkward, arrogant, tall, handsome and sympathetic, qualities, all of which, do not accurately apply to Nixon. Check your facts before or after you go into the film. Aside from historical accuracy, the film is very pleasant. I think it’s too pleasant for an Oscar as best picture though. It’s fluff masquerading as meaningful historical fiction. Actually, for the sake of history, it shouldn’t win anything.

Iron Man
Nominated for: Best Visual Effects and Sound Editing
Seeing as how The Dark Knight got shut out of any fun awards, Iron Man is lucky it got nominated at all. Fun movie. I’ll leave the judgment as to visual effects and sound editing to professionals.

The Dark Knight
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor (Heath Ledger), Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, and Visual Effects.
If The Dark Knight had been nominated for best screenplay, best direction or best picture, then I wouldn’t say this, but since it got otherwise ignored in the marquis categories: Heath Ledger only got nominated because he’s dead. That’s not to say Heath Ledger doesn’t deserve it. His Joker was fantastic, but so was the rest of the movie. Even though (or maybe because) it has the same theme as last year’s best picture winner, No Country For Old Men, it somehow didn’t rate a best picture or best director nomination. Very sad, that one of the best superhero movies ever can’t get nominated. (The Watchmen has no chance next year).

Tropic Thunder
Nominated for: Best Supporting Actor by Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr. was the funniest part of this movie...but doesn’t the nomination sort of play into what the movie was trying to mock? The character in Tropic Thunder went to extreme lengths to change his appearance (a white actor playing "black face") in order to gain critical renown. He even lectures the Ben Stiller character on the strategy of choosing roles as Oscar bait.

Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.
Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?
Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed...

It's nice of the Academy to recognize a comedic performance, but I are they recognizing a performance or playing into a joke at their own expense?

Regarding the movies I haven't seen...
I guess I should see that darn Benjamin Button movie. And I know, I know, I know, I need to see WALL-E. The Wrestler intrigues me. I suffered through reading the novel "The Reader," so I'm not all that thrilled about seeing the movie. The subject of Milk just doesn't interest me, but I might like it. I wouldn't mind seeing Rachel Getting Married. I'd be interested in seeing Doubt and the nominated documentary Man On A Wire.

Any Oscar opinions you care to share?

Beware of French Dog

2009-01-22T14:27:00.008-05:00

I think the headline in the Daily Mail says it all:

Former French President Chirac Hospitalized After Mauling By His Clinically Depressed Poodle

Follow the link above for the shocking details about this ferocious political assassin.

Incidentally, a french poodle in French is called a caniche. These poofy, ferocious canines must have something of a reputation, because a quick google search revealed a French indie rock band called Cannibal Caniche.

Well, all I can say is: Vive la France! Mort pour la Caniche!

Note: I don't speak French. My messing with the language is, admittedly, completely irresponsible...but funny, no?

Oh Mr. Darcy!

2009-01-21T16:07:00.013-05:00

In 1995, I and many other women across the globe swooned over Colin Firth's portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the miniseries Pride and Prejudice. It seems some of us are still swooning. A portrait of Mr. Darcy, used in the miniseries, sold for 12,000 British Pounds at auction today. In case you were wondering, 12,000.00 British Pounds equals $16,765.06, according to this website. And yes, it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a good smack to the head to spend that much money on a prop.

The Canals Are Frozen!!!!

2009-01-16T15:33:00.003-05:00

Big thanks to the roommate, who alerted me this morning to this article in the NY Times. The Canals have frozen! The Dutch are skating! I lived for an extremely brief period of time in South Holland. At first it was cold, wet, windy and wonderful. Then it was cloudy, wet, windy, temperate and tulipy. But never cold enough until this year. Not since 1997 have flocks of Dutch been able to skate from Gouda (town with cheese and yummy syrup waffles) to Utrecht (town with lowered canals and a tall (for the Netherlands) church tower). But this year Europe is freezing, and the canals in South Holland are finally freezing as well. I wish I were there, freezing and skating with them. I'll just salivate over the pictures.

Hezbollah and Hamas. Now which is which cat?

2009-01-14T16:49:00.005-05:00

Over at The New Republic, the blog posters are drooling over Jeffrey Goldberg's op-ed piece in the New York times...and rightly so. It's entertaining, informative, relevant and incisive. I highly recommend it, especially if you are like me and are not so clear on the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas.

Hezbollah and Hamas are Islamic political and paramilitary organizations. They don't like Israel, hate Jews, commit terrorism and armed strikes against both the Israeli army and civilian population, get money and weapons from Iran, and seek to remove Jews from "occupied Palestine."

They also both start with "H," which is why I have problems distinguishing them in my head. Jeffry Goldberg's op-ed does a good job of clarifying the differences between the two (and an excellent job of explaining the mindset behind each group. Seriously. It's good. Read it.).

I analogize my confusion to the T.S. Eliot poem "Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer" which tells the tale of two thieving and destructive cats who act alone and sometimes in concert and you never know for sure which cat did what.

They would go through the house like a hurricane, and no sober person could take his oath
Was it Mungojerrie -- or Rumpleteazer? or could you have sworn that it mightn't be both?
And when you heard a dining-room smash
Or up from the pantry there came a loud crash
Or down from the library came a loud ping
From a vase which was commonly said to be Ming --
Then the family would say: ‘Now which was which cat?
It was Mungojerrie! and Rumpelteazer!’ -- And there's nothing at all to be done about that!

Not that Hezbollah and Hamas are anything like those two horrible (yet somehow lovable cats), they are worse, terrifyingly worse. It's just that Hezbollah and Hamas inspire a similar confusion in my head as to which is which destructive quasi political terrorist organization.

So here is an over-simplified Hezbollah/Hamas cheat sheet for my head:

Hezbollah is Lebanese and shoots at Israel from its bases in Lebanon.
Hamas is Palestinian and shoots at Israel from within Israel.
Hezbollah is fanatically Shia. (Shia = version of Islam, Shia do not get along with Sunnis).
Hamas is fanatically Sunni. (Sunni = version of Islam, Sunnis do not get along with Shia).
They are both bad.

And sadly it seems, "there's nothing at all to be done about that!"

Conference vs. Rival

2009-01-07T15:45:00.001-05:00

Once upon a time, I worked with some people in Ohio. They were Ohio State Buckeye fans. On New Years Day 2005, my team, the wonderful Texas Longhorns, played the Michigan Wolverines, hated enemy and arch rival of the Ohio State Buckeyes, in the Rose Bowl. Texas won in spectacular, come-from-behind, heralding fashion. I came to work on Monday prepared to revel in the glory of beating Michigan with my Buckeye coworkers. They spoke not a word of the game. Sports radio and ESPN could not shut up about Vince Young, and all these fools at work would talk about was how the Cleveland Browns might not lose as badly next year. So.....

I brought up the subject: "How about that Rose Bowl game?"
Collective consensus answer: "Yeah, it was pretty good. Too bad Michigan lost."
Incredulous thought explosion in my head: Too bad Michigan lost? We’re talking about Michigan. Losing. In a high profile, emotionally crushing defeat. The team you spent a full week in November trashing and insulting. The rivalry you spent an impassioned half hour describing as bigger, harsher, deeper and better than the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry. And you are sad they lost?!

My position is this: if your conference is more important to you than your rivalry.....then your "rivalry" is pretty weak.

But I accept that this is not how everyone feels or should feel. This Thursday night, the Oklahoma Sooners will ~~lose to~~ play the Florida Gators for the College Football National Championship. Oklahoma is Texas’s rival (first in hatred, second in stature(*)). I will root for the Gators to crush and destroy the Sooners, because they are my team’s rival, and to see the Sooners denied their dream will cheer my heart. (Also, Oklahoma is evil). Some fans have a different opinion and want Oklahoma to win because it will reflect well on our conference, i.e., prove that we played against and BEAT a good team. That is a rational, thoughtful sentiment. But it does not cheer my heart.

Conference vs. rival is a surprisingly divisive issue. The Defensive coordinators for Texas and Oklahoma have expressed to news media that they would rather root against their respective rival than root for them to win and demonstrate conference strength. Comments posted below these news items reflect that fans from both teams agree and disagree.

As passionate as I feel about my opinion, I must conclude that the conference vs. rivalry question is a matter of personal choice. I suppose it has to do with several factors, i.e., how much a person enjoys Schadenfreude, how wronged a person feels by the rival team, how committed a person is to seeing their team judged the best at the end of a season. And, I think, as well, it depends on where the person grew up. I did not grow up in Texas. I was there for the express purpose of going to school at UT. I feel no loyalty to teams in the Texas or South West region or to supporting graduates of Texas high schools. My coworkers in Ohio grew up in Ohio. I bet they feel that Ohio and the Midwest grow superior football players and that plays a factor in their devotion to the Big Ten conference.

Conference vs. Rivalry, something to consider as the Bowl Season winds down. Also, consider this: GO GATORS!!!! CHOMP THE LAND THIEVES TO BITS.

(*) I distinguish the Texas/Texas A&M rivalry and Texas/Oklahoma rivalry the following way. I see A&M as the traditional rival whom I root against because, otherwise, Texas would strip me of my degree. Also, some good friends and a few family members are graduates of A&M, so the rivalry, for me, has an undertone of sportsmanship and respect. Oklahoma is the hated rival whom I root against because Oklahoma is evil. It helps that I know no one from Oklahoma, I have never been to Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma coach is from North East Ohio (where my former coworkers live).

(**) My bitterness over my coworkers’ inability to root for my team when I supported them in cheering the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship in 2002/2003 manifests itself in my inability to ever root for (and sometimes driving need to root against) the Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as any coach(***) or player(****) from North East Ohio. And yes, the win Tuesday night was a little sweeter due to my Ohio State antipathy. (Also sweet because I ate a buckeye in celebration).

(***) This naturally includes Bob Stoops, the coach of Oklahoma. I am slightly torn about Urban Meyer, the coach of Florida, who also hails from North East Ohio. But there is precedent for me allowing Urban Meyer's state citizenship to be trumped by other rooting interests.

(****) Yes, Penn State fans, your quarterback impedes my ability to fully commit myself to rooting for your team.

New Year, New Name

2009-01-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

This blog needs a name change. I picked the current obscure and ridiculous title on a whim. I wanted to be literary and cynical and went with an allusion to a Fyodor Dostoevsky short story about a raving, suicidal lunatic. My blog's not really about that....I'd like to think.

I was thinking of using a title related to my "sister T." moniker, or something different. Ideally a new title will be simple and catchy. Suggesstions are literally more than welcome. I'm pretty much demanding that you readers, all four of you(*), post suggestions in the comments section.

Thanks. And Happy New Year!

(*)I'm optimistic enough in this New Year to assume that my readership has increased to at least four semi regular readers.

Still Lost in Literature

2008-12-17T08:00:00.001-05:00

Bing Crosby as a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Several months ago I commented on the ITV miniseries Lost in Austen and the general idea of getting literally lost in a favorite novel. Recently my mind has returned to that theme thanks to me reading The Eyre Affair. In the novel some characters are able to enter books, manuals and poems. Unlike the miniseries Lost in Austen, the characters in The Eyre Affair know they are in a book. In the Eyre Affair the protagonist, Thursday Next, enters the novel Jane Eyre and becomes friends with the male lead of the novel, Mr. Rochester. Mr. Rochester is aware of plot points, the effect of Jane's first person narration (anything written on the book page has to be observed or spoken by Jane), and the need to protect the integrity of the story. The Eyre Affair is a lot of fun in that it treats literature very, very, very seriously. So I initially wondered if this lost in literature concept is a British thing.

"Not so!" my little mind reminded me the other day. I remembered that it was Mark Twain who first introduced my young mind to literally losing oneself in a good book. In A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur's Court Mark, the character Hank Morgan, a "19th century citizen of Hartford, Connecticut, literally loses himself in Arthurian legend. The Connecticut Yankee brings with him knowledge of science and social liberalism and proceeds to befriend Arthur and antagonize Merlin and the Camelot establishment. (I most confess, that I've only ever read the first half of this book. It got much too complicated, satrical and political towards the end, and my twelve year old self quickly lost interest).

So, to be clear, as far as my mind recalls, Mark Twain got me lost in literature first. Again, I ask, where would you go in literature to shake things up?

Henry the Fifth Moments

2008-12-16T12:28:00.003-05:00

There are moments in movies when the team is losing at halftime, when the next offensive of the battle starts, when the task seems daunting...that someone steps up and gives an inspiring speech. I call those moments Henry the Fifth Moments. If you've ever read or seen the Shakespeare play, you may be acquainted with the several times that King Harry leads his troops into a dauting fight agaist the French and then sustains their spirit with inspiring words. These inspirational words from Shakespeare's pen have lived on to be widely recognized today: "Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more," "Cry God for Harry, England and St. George!" "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers." And the spirit of the play lives on in countless sports, war, adventure and even comedy films. Below, is a youtube video of spliced and edited Henry the Fifth Moments from some great movies. Appropriately, there's even a clip from Henry V. Watch, and be inspired!

My Christmas Mix

2008-12-15T12:45:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I created a Christmas Music Mix. It is inteded to keep my mind happy and occupied on the drive to work and on the long drive home for Christmas. Both legal and technical reasons prevent me from uploading the songs for you, but if you would like to find any of them on your own, try this website or this one.

1. Oliva Olson – All I Want For Christmas Is You (from the soundtrack for the film Love Actually)

2. Darlene Love – It’s A Marshmallow World

3. Percy Faith – We Need A Little Christmas

4. The Waitresses – Christmas Wrapping

5. Marah – Christmas At Valley Forge (from this episode of This American Life, pretty funny and educational, follow the link and listen to Act V of the show)

6. Gayla Peevey – I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas (listen via streaming audio)

7. The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy’s Christmas (listen via streaming audio)

8. Marah – New York Is A Christmas Kind Of Town (listen to a snipit on Marah's myspace page)

9. Vince Guaraldi Trio – Hark, The Herald Angels Sing (from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, watch it at the 2:34 minute mark of this youtube clip)

10. Stevie Wonder – Someday At Christmas

11. Aimee Mann – I’ll Be Home For Christmas

12. Randy Travis – Jingle Bell Rock

13. Louis Armstrong – Santa Baby

14. david m. bailey – Angel In The Attic (listen via streaming audio)

15. Nancy White – It’s So Chic To Be Pregnant At Christmas

16. Sufjan Stevens – Holy, Holy, Holy

17. XTC – Thanks For Christmas

18. Johnny Cash – Away In A Manger

19. Chuck Berry – Run, Rudolph, Run

20. Death Cab For Cutie – Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

21. The Jackson Five – Frosty The Snowman (listen via streaming audio)

22. Seven Day Jesus – O Holy Night

Presidential Election '08 Continued

2008-12-15T12:20:00.006-05:00

You thought it was over? Well it's not. The Electoral College starts voting today. You may have voted in November, but the next President of the United States has not been, technically, elected yet. Today across the country the Electoral College starts voting and the next President won't be constitutionally elected until January 8th when the electoral college's votes get counted in Congress. Will this election ever end? Evidently, not yet.

Hillary Clinton: Will She be a Seward or a Chase?

2008-12-08T15:24:00.000-05:00

The main reason I readTeam of Rivals was because journalists and Barak Obama himself asserted the history book was a touchstone for his thinking in organizing a presidential cabinet. Reading Team of Rivals, I ended up shoehorning recent 2008 campaign events into a comparison with events surrounding Lincoln. There are some striking similarities. As for Lincoln and Obama,

Both are lawyers who began their political careers in Springfield, IL.
Both rose to national awareness due to exceptionally eloquent speeches that resonated with moderate public opinion.
Both were perceived as inexperienced, Washington outsiders with an outside chance at a nomination.
Both employed a successful strategy of gaining grass roots support among a diverse group of delegates to ensure that where he was not the first choice of delegates he was a second choice. (Particularly, a comparison of the 1860 Republican convention to the 2008 Iowa caucus, reveals both employed the same strategy of making sure that where he could not be the first choice among delegates/caucus goers he would be their second choice should their first choice candidate not garner enough support.)

Two of Lincoln's chief competitors for the nomination were William Henry Seward and Salmon Chase. Hillary shares some striking similarities with these men.

Seward and Hillary were well acquainted with the Washington elite and had been familiar to the public for decades.
Seward and Hillary had the support of a well seasoned, well known political machine/political bosses.
Seward and Hillary saw their nomination as inevitable.
Chase did and Hillary appeared to have a personal, desperate and at times blinding desire to be president.
Chase and Hillary and Seward underestimated the consequences of the enemies they'd made along the way in previous political campaigns.

Once elected, Lincoln wanted both Seward and Chase in his cabinet because they were bright and talented. He honestly wanted their counsel. He also wanted to achieve balance and party unity. Each man represented a faction of the young Republican Party. Seward and Chase entered the cabinet each believing he was more deserving than Lincoln. Each perceived Lincoln as weak, and each initially planned to influence Lincoln's decisions and govern through the cabinet as a de facto president. Seward, eventually put aside his personal ambition to be president and became Lincoln's closest friend and supporter in the cabinet sharing a rapport and affection with him. Seward provided invaluable counsel and played an instrumental and heroic role as Secretary of State in using diplomacy to keep Europe from recognizing Confederate sovereignty. Chase, while he eventually came to admire Lincoln's kindness and capability, always thought himself better than the president. Chase also did a heroic job in financing the Union as Secretary of the Treasury. Chase, however, worked against Lincoln, spreading political unrest behind Lincoln's back and pursuing a presidential nomination.

So my question, is which will Hillary be? Will she be Seward and grow to be Obama's most devoted admirer and supporter, providing counsel and advising him honestly? Will she be Chase, working effectively and tirelessly, but never relinquishing the feeling that it should have been her job, and working to spread unrest within the party and behind Obama's back. Which one will she be?

Lincoln the Editor

2008-12-03T16:00:00.001-05:00

Abraham Lincoln's Desk in Springfield

I very much enjoyed reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. I posted a book review on my shelf over at Shelfari. My favorite passage in the book is an analysis the author, Doris Kearns Goodwin, does of Lincoln's resonant First Inaugural Address. Before introducing her analysis, Ms. Goodwin spends many previous pages tracing the development and boundaries of Lincoln's and William H. Seward's opinions on slavery. Seward phrases his abolition opinion as a response to a higher law that compels us to treat all people humanely. Lincoln phrases his anti-slavery opinion as a pragmatic fulfillment of the principles of equality enshrined in the Constitution. In the passage excerpted below, Ms. Goodwin lays out the language recommended by Seward side-by-side with the language Lincoln eventually chose. The texts are extremely similar, but the subtle differences exhibit important qualities of Lincoln: (1) his willingness to seek and embrace the advice of others; (2) his talent for effective eloquent communication as both a writer and editor; and (3) his confidence in adhering to the pragmatic idealism he believed in.

Seward’s greatest contribution to the tone and substance of the inaugural address was in its conclusion. Lincoln’s finale threw down the gauntlet to the South: “With you, and not with me, is the solemn question of ‘Shall it be peace, or a sword?’” Seward recommended a very different closing designed “to meet and remove prejudice and passion in the South, and despondency and fear in the East. Some words of affection—some of calm and cheerful confidence.” He suggested two alternate endings. Lincoln drew upon Seward’s language to create his immortal coda.

Seward suggested: “I close. We are not we must not be aliens or enemies but fellow countrymen and brethren. Although passion has strained our bonds of affection too hardly they must not, I am sure they will not be broken. The mystic chords which proceeding from so many battle fields and so many patriot graves pass through all the hearts and all the hearths in this broad continent of ours will yet again harmonize in their ancient music when breathed upon by the guardian angel of the nation.”

Lincoln proceeded to recast and sharpen Seward’s patriotic sentiments into a concise and powerful poetry: “I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Most significant, Seward’s “guardian angel” breathes down on the nation from above; Lincoln’s “better angels” are inherent in our nature as a people.

Thanksgiving Historical Anecdote

2008-12-02T00:04:00.004-05:00

I spent the past three weeks and a giant chunk of Thanksgiving weekend reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I've been enjoying Ms. Goodwin's historical insights on Sunday morning talk shows and on PBS for years now. When Barak Obama and other journalists started bandying her book about as an insightful instruction on Presidential management and cabinet creation, I thought it was about time I gave her a read. I did, and the book is excellent. It even had a very apt Thanksgiving anecdote which, if Ms. Goodwin doesn't mind too much, I will post here:

“....Both [President Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward] loved humor....”

Fred Seward recounted the events of one morning in October 1863 when his father called on Lincoln. “They say, Mr. President, that we are stealing away the rights of the States. So I have come to-day to advise you, that there is another State right I think we ought to steal.” Raising his head from his pile of papers, Lincoln asked, “Well, Governor, what do you want to steal now?” Seward replied, “The right to name Thanksgiving Day!” He explained that at present, Thanksgiving was celebrated on different days at the discretion of each state’s governor. Why not make it a national holiday? Lincoln immediately responded that he supposed a president “had as good a right to thank God as a Governor.”

Seward then presented Lincoln with a proclamation that invited citizens “in every part of the United States,” at sea or abroad, “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November” to give thanks to “our beneficent Father.”

So, dear readers, happy belated Thanksgiving! A day which we celebrate as one nation courtesy of both the humorous whim and the hard work of Messrs Lincoln and Seward. Something to be thankful for year-round and forever more.

(Unrelated musing: How long do you think it will take before spell checks stop trying to auto-correct the names Barak and Obama?)

Sufferin' Suffrage

2008-11-19T16:52:00.004-05:00

This is why The View fascinates me. You give four women a platform to spout their opinions, and those four women are often times ill informed. Every now and then I catch clips of the show on abcnews.com and end up playing the mental game of "now how would a reasonable and informed person respond to that point." Lucky for the four regular co-hosts, sometimes Barbara Walters shows up and is able to educate them or steer them clear of exhibitions of ignorance. Then sometimes she's not there and you end up with the ladies discussing and defining suffrage as "when black people had to...die for being black." It looks like the ladies confused suffrage with suffering, for as co-host Joy Behar says "it has suffering in it." So the moral of the story is: Don't let your children go through an election cycle without knowing what suffrage is---it's bad for the world and daytime television.

The Soup Diet: Week Four Report

2008-11-14T08:00:00.005-05:00

Leek Love is alive and well!!

Monday: Adaptable Aztec Soup (without adaptations)
Tuesday: Adaptable Aztec Soup (with Chinese Soup noodles)
Wednesday: Spinach and Leek White Bean Soup
Thursday: Spinach and Leek White Bean Soup
Friday: Lentils 'n Squash

Well, the Aztec Soup is gone. Out of the refrigerator. In my tummy. Done. I got lazy early in the week and didn't brew up any new soups. So lazy that I didn't even create any "adaptations" for the Aztec Soup. Fortunately it's still very good "as is." And adding Chinese Soup noodles (conveniently left by some co-worker on the counter in the office's mini kitchen) worked as well as tortilla strips. My roommate is also in love with leeks, and kindly replenished the refrigerator's leek supply. Thus, this week's leek soup. And lastly, you must notice that Friday's "soup" is not a soup. It's the Soup-For-Lunch Diet's first failure and I faithfully document it for you. I ran out of time and creativity. Instead I had an almost two month old acorn squash in the refrigerator and a new lentil recipe in my recipe box....thus....NO SOUP FOR ME today.

Veteran's - Remembrance Day

2008-11-11T17:16:00.004-05:00

British television recently reminded me that today is not just Veteran's Day at home, but a Memorial-Veteran's Day Combo Holiday across the world. In Great Britain, they name today Remembrance Day and people wear poppy pins (I saw it on the British TV show Spooks) harking back to the poppies growing in the field of battle during World War I. November 11 marks the end of that War to End All Wars....that didn't. Today boys, and now girls, keep fighting. On Veteran's Day in the U.S. we honor the living participants. I think it's an important distinction. Honoring the dead on Memorial Day seems easier than honoring and responding to the needs of the living. Coming home cannot be easy for the Veterans and for their families. We ask much of them. Their sacrifice lies not only back on the battlefields and humanitarian intervention arenas, but also travels home with them. Today is a good reminder that we as a society and government must honor them AND care for their special needs---needs created by the service they give to us.

PBS produced a report on the increase of suicide among U.S. Veterans. So today I highlight the extra stress our current conflicts place on the minds of our servicemen and women. Keep this concern in your thoughts and prayers. Also, thank you servicemen and women for putting your physical and mental health at risk for others.

Campaign 08: The Full Story

2008-11-07T17:42:00.002-05:00

Newsweek has published a FASCINATING report on the entire 2008 campaign. Embedded reporters followed Obama, Hillary and McCain around for the past year or more recording every scrap of detail on condition they would not reveal it until after the election. Well, the election is over and the full story is a terrific soap opera of behind the scenes action.

Insights into Obama's decision making: He never let his advisers know what he was thinking. He made the decision himself, against his advisers' recommendations, to give his speech on race.

Insights into McCain's honor: He drew bright lines of not to attack Obama on Jeremiah Wright or to attack Michelle Obama.

Descriptions of debate prep: Obama studied intensely as if for a Bar exam. McCain watched tape of Biden and Palin and thought Biden came off as a cranky old guy....and McCain didn't get the irony.

Dirt on Palin: Oh yeah, she spent that much money and more on designer clothes and she spent it herself. She also was peeved at her handling and therefore refused some interview prep before the Couric interview. Palin started the Ayers attacks on her own initiative.

Cute behind the scenes anecdotes: Palin's daughter Piper would scramble over Lindsay Graham to reach her mother. Obama playfully and in a nerdy way teased Michelle about her accessories.

It's a long article and it's all good stuff. (If you'd rather watch, Charlie Rose interviewed a Newsweek reporter and editor who elaborated on the long article). As for the website/article, it's terrific reading. The first page gives you tempting "highlights," and the rest of the reporting divides into seven chapters. Happy reading! (And find an embed of the Charlie Rose interview after the jump).

The Soup Diet: Week Three Report

2008-11-07T15:00:00.001-05:00

This week ended up being Left-overs and Leek week. Some ingredients and unfinished soup from the last two weeks were nearing expiration in the refrigerator, affecting the direction of this week's menu.

Monday: Adaptable Aztec Soup
Tuesday: Russian Potato Mushroom Soup
Wednesday: Leek and Potato Soup (this time with thyme)
Thursday: Leek and Potato Soup
Friday: Russian Potato Mushroom Soup

No major adaptations to the Aztec Soup this week. I just used tortillas. Non-glamorous but still delicious. The Russian Potato Mushroom Soup was okay. It used leeks, carrots, potatoes and mushrooms. The combination sounded fabulous, but the end product was merely good. The lack of fabulousness may have been affected by my refusal to add the half-and-half the recipe demanded. Instead I blended/pureed half the soup. But I still think the recipe falls short of its promising ingredients. In other words, it is somehow less than the sum of its parts. The chief problem with the Russian Soup was proportionality: too much work (chopping and blending) for too little reward (an okay soup).

Which leads me to a small paragraph opining on the proportionality factor in my cooking and baking philosophy. The perfect recipe, to me, not only creates a fantastic dish but accomplishes that dish with as little cost and fuss as possible. I employ of ratio of Taste to Effort, where

Taste = good, very good, excellent and best evah!

and

Effort = cheapness + time to prepare + time to cook + time to clean up

Some math or statistics genius would put up a spread sheet right here, but that's not me. I'd say that the ratio for the Russian Soup was 1/9 (1 for taste (it tasted good) and 9 for effort (lots of chopping, peeling, dicing, blending and use of more than one pan)). The Leek & Potato Soup was 9/3 (9 for taste (excellent, almost a best soup evah) and 3 for effort (potato peeling, leek washing, and blender use drives up the effort factor but the blender factor surprisingly reduces the potato dicing factor because it only requires potato slicing)). So Leek & Potato Soup wins! Indeed, this week the subtle but sweet Leek and Potato Soup became fabulous with the added improvements of more salt and a dash of thyme. I love you leek! Stay in my refrigerator forever.

My Map is Our Map

2008-11-05T09:48:00.006-05:00

This is how my map looks after coloring is complete. I actually colored this map using the generic Windows "Paint" program, so I'm sort of proud of my newfound "paint" abilities. Last night I introduced a few first-timers to "coloring on election night." We sat around eating buffalo wings, licking our fingers and coloring with blue and red pencils. Grown men and women coloring while eating buffalo wings is a special sight. The first-timers agreed: coloring on election night is fun. Fortunately, there were no inadvertent colorings, a la Florida 2000. I did, however, color the entire state of Maine without first assessing whether all four of its electoral votes (Maine splits its votes by congressional district...as does Nebraska, hence the white uncolored chunk on my map) had gone blue. Lucky for me, it seems Maine's final electoral vote is, indeed, blue. (Remember there is no erasing in electoral coloring!!).

What a great historic and emotional election! Thank you to all who voted. To all who joyfully and peacefully celebrated in the streets. And to you, dear readers, who shared your voting stories from across the country. Those stories paint an even more colorful electoral map. They are truly interesting and important. If you have more stories about voting or election night (readers in DC and NYC were you in the streets?) please share.

UPDATE: Substantial returns have come in and I've posted a new map below to reflect that McCain squeezed out a win in Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District as well as in Missouri. And Obama eked out a win in North Carolina.

Voting Stories

2008-11-04T12:02:00.004-05:00

I voted this morning. Contrary to reports from media outlets and co-workers in the office, I had a very short eight person line. I did, however, witness something interesting and touching. An African American family ahead of me finished voting and took pictures of each other. The oldest member of the family, an elderly husband, posed for the last photograph supported by his wife on one side and a wooden cane on the other. They were smiling and laughing. I've never seen anyone so joyful about voting. As a one time student of history I can appreciate probably only a tiny fraction of how much it means to that African American family to be able to vote for a viable African American candidate. How much that elderly couple lived through. And how much that elderly couple might have never believed that today's vote was ever possible. I'm a suburban bred white girl who is not necessarily voting the way they are, but it still moves me to see how much this morning moved them.

So tell me about your voting experience. What happened? How long was your line? See anything good? What kind of ballot did you use? Were you working the polls? Did you not vote? Share in the comments.

Election 08: Coloring the Night Away

2008-11-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

It's a bit of a tradition for me. On general election night I sit on the floor behind the coffee table and in front of the television. Laid before me on the coffee table top are a blue pencil, a red pencil, and a blank electoral college map. As the returns come in, I color appropriately. I believe this ritual began for me in November of 1988 with a worksheet from my 5th grade teacher. I'm not sure if I continued the coloring exercise for every subsequent general election, but since that wild, endless night in 2000, I take both a thrill and comfort in it. Indeed, in 2000 the election added an element of skill to my coloring exercise: to color Florida blue or red or not at all? (There is no erasing in electoral college coloring!....because my colored pencils for some reason never seem to have erasers).

Today I will procure some pencils and print out my map. Today I will vote. And tonight I will color. It's my American tradition. Please vote. Coloring is optional.

Halloween and The Rise of the Fairies

2008-10-31T11:06:00.003-04:00

A little less than a week ago, while volunteering at a street fair and interacting with children, I took an informal and completely unscientific poll of what children planned on being for Halloween. Among the girls "princess" was an expectedly popular answer. But the most popular costume plan was "fairy." One little girl even wanted to be a "dead fairy." Then I heard Barak Obama say his daughter is dressing as an evil fairy for Halloween. Hmmm. Add to that my adult friend who this year attended the Maryland Faerie Festival and devoted the fall to sewing a grown up fairy costume. Something's happening here.

It looks like, yes indeed, in the hearts and minds of little girls enterprising fairies are replacing those pretty princesses. This week a report on NPR's Marketplace discussed a massive marketing plan by Disney to turn fairies into the new must-have dolls, tv shows, books, bags, shirts, etc. Fairies, one of the little girls in the radio report says, have more individuality and hands-on problem solving skills. Okay, the little girl didn't put it exactly like that. But that was her general point. To her fairies were pretty, cool, and full of variety.

So don't be surprised if you see more fairies than princesses at your door tonight. I don't know if its Disney marketing or just a normal shift in preferences, but princesses, the times, they are a changing.

Oh, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The Soup Diet: Week Two Report

2008-10-30T13:32:00.005-04:00

It's not quite Friday yet, but so far it looks like this week's Soup-for-Lunch menu is shaping up this way:

Monday: Creamless Mushroom Soup
Tuesday: Potato and Leek Soup
Wednesday: Adaptable Azteca Soup
Thursday: Spinach and Leek White Bean Soup
Friday: Pumpkin Salsa Soup

The Soup-for-Lunch Diet is going quite well taste-wise. (Waist-wise, I'm not yet seeing any results.) I love mushrooms, so the mushroom soup was a dream. The potato and leek soup was okay. The spinach and leek soup was pretty darn good. This week was my first time working with leeks. They are a slight pain to clean but taste-wise...I think I might have a new favorite vegetable. The Azteca Soup was outstanding as usual. This is a soup I've investigated and worked on ever since a trip to Guanajuato, Mexico where I dined on Suppa Azteca. Upon return to the U.S. I vowed to recreate the soup as closely as possible. Thanks to the canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, I've achieved it. What makes the Azteca Soup "adaptable" is that I brew up a base of pureed onion, tomato, cilantro and chipotle plus chicken broth and then add in tortilla strips, avocado, chicken, beans, fish, etc. depending on what pantry and refrigerator have on hand. This week I adapted it to be a fish soup (avocados are too darn expensive right now). In honor of Halloween I've put Pumpkin Salsa Soup on the menu. It's a new recipe and I'm skeptical, but if the soup turns out scary, it'll still be apropos of the holiday, right?

Voting in Western PA

2008-10-27T08:23:00.006-04:00

During the last presidential election I voted in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, a small town in western Pennsylvania. Western Pennsylvania is under the microscope this election thanks to accusations of racism and a McCain campaign must-win electoral vote strategy.

I thought I'd post on a fond memory of my Pennsylvania voting experience in 2004. At 6pm on a rainy, cold night, I arrived at the small township building that was my assigned polling place and found a parking space among rows of cars and Amish buggies. Inside the polling place I stood amidst a line including a host of Amishmen and women. Indeed, I think the Amish out numbered me and the rest of my "English" kind. Together we stood and waited patiently for the poll workers to find each of our names in the registry. It took a while since the Amish families in the area largely shared the same surnames and were best distinguishable by their addresses. (Also, not every Amish had a driver's license helpfully detailing full name and address information). There were a particularly large amount of Beilers at the polling place. Below is my largely fictionalized re-creation of what happend:

Poll Worker: Name?
Amishman: John Beiler.
Poll Worker: John Amos Beiler? John Ben Beiler? John Daniel Beiler? John Levi Beiler? John Rudy Beiler? John Valentine Beiler?...
Amishman: Just John Beiler. I live on the Bethel Road.
Poll Worker: [running her finger along the list] John Beiler 118 Bethel Road? John Beiler 124 Bethel Road? John Beiler 133 Bethel Road? John Beiler 247 Bethel Road? John Beiler 340 Bethel Road?...
Amishman: No, on the Wilmington side of Bethel.
Poll Worker: Oh, maybe further down here. [running her finger further down the list]. 1370 Bethel Road? 2932 Bethel Road?
Amishman: 4350, down off Joe Lane, first house.
Poll Worker: I have two John Beiler's at that address.
Amishman: That must be my nephew Johnny. He lives at the second house down.

So, yes. The Amish do vote. And I believe they generally vote Republican. I've even seen campaign signs in their yards.

If voting in Pennsylvania intrigues you, I recommend this past weekend's broadcast of This American Life. The radio show took the time over the past two months to travel Pennsylvania and collect stories about the impending election.

Note: there is a real John Beiler. He lives down the road from my parents' house. Don't know why this English is giving a shout-out to an Amish who will never check this blog, but I am!

The Soup Diet: Week One Report

2008-10-24T08:00:00.004-04:00

This week my roommate and I have endeavored to curb our over-eating by engaging in a self imposed Soup-for-Lunch Diet.

Monday: Red Lentil Soup
Tuesday: Red Lentil Soup
Wednesday: Chocolate Chipotle Chili
Thursday: Carrot & Chickpea Soup
Friday: Frenchless Onion Soup

It is a delicious experiment, which will, (in addition to added gym time) hopefully, yield fruitful awards. If you're wondering about the Frenchless Onion Soup, then, no, it is not a xenophobic political statement. It's French onion soup without the hunk of French bread and gobs of melted cheese...which turns out to be the lowest calorie soup I've ever made. Also, yes, Chocolate Chipotle Chili, tastes as good as it sounds.

So if you have any healthy, broth-based soup suggestions stick them in the comments and I will see if I can add them to next week's Soup-for-Lunch diet.

Fly Non-Stop from Alaska to New Zealand!

2008-10-22T13:31:00.003-04:00

That's right! Bar-Tailed Godwit Air offers non-stop, free airfare from Alaska to New Zealand! Of course, the flight lasts eight days. There is absolutely no meal service. And checking baggage, while it won't cost you extra, will significantly weigh down your flight time and increase the likelihood of a crash.

Seriously, these birds fly a 7,242 mile migratory path without stopping. You want to learn more about them? Check out this article.

A Great State Fair

2008-10-17T08:50:00.000-04:00

I have attended county fairs including a particularly large one in Ohio and a decent medium sized one in Maryland. I have attended the Pennsylvania Farm Show. And now I have attended the Texas State Fair and I must admit that in size and scope it trumps them all. (Yes, Mom, even the Farm Show).

County and state fairs are special. They have fried foods, baked goods, craft and baking contests, agricultural exhibits, farm equipment and animals---lots of animals and assorted animal related contests. Fairs also have amusement rides. The Texas State Fair has all these ingredients plus food expos, car expos, and a rivalry football game. And everything they have is bigger than what I’ve seen elsewhere. They even have the biggest attendance. Over 3 million people pour in and out of its gates. To manage the crowd the police sit above the crowds in raised platforms, like lifeguards.

And it’s a lot of fun. Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to have several excellent and experienced fair-going guides shepherd me through the Fair’s many attractions. I thank them deeply. After the jump is a list of my favorite experiences and sights.

Things at the fair:

Giant Room of Poultry (including several "Silkies").
Chicken Fried Bacon (I didn't eat one, but the concept is fascinating).
Big Tex (a 52 foot tall talking cowboy whose face is pictured above).
Corn Dogs (I ate one. It was goood).
Elsie the Cow (I saw the actual cow. She was heavily medicated).
Giant Butter Sculpture (of King Tut's tomb).
Pie Baking Contest (must figure out how to become a judge).
Quilts
Longhorn Cattle (real ones, but not Bevo, although he was there that weekend).
Brahman Cows (sorry Hindus, I think the Texans do eat them).
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy (I had this for brunch and it was ya-um-eee!).
The Cotton Bowl (we're #1, we're #1, we're #1).
Giant Sand Sculpture (of ancient Egyptian monuments....the King Tut exhibit has rotated through Dallas. It's obviously gone to their heads).
Burnt Orange (did I mention WE'RE NUMBER ONE!!!!!!!!!)(*)

Things not at the fair:

Potato Donuts: The Pennsylvania Farm Show still has my (and Mom's) favorite fair food.
Giant Vegetables: Amazingly, as far as I could tell, the Texas State Fair lacked a hall of giant vegetables. So, Canfield Fair, you still have my favorite giant squash.

When fair season rolls around in your area, go visit a fair. If you've never been, it's more fun than it sounds. If you've been, there's always a new fried food to discover. Thanks again Texas for a great state fair!

(*) I had to make sure and publish this post today since tomorrow night there is an ever so small chance UT will be forced to relinquish their number one ranking. (Hook 'Em Horns! Beat Mizzou!)

What SNL Did Do: Week 4

2008-10-17T08:45:00.000-04:00

How did I do?

Joe the Plumber. They did this. Indeed, they overdid this.
"Zero, really?"They didn't do this. Instead they joked about tiny unicorns. Tiny unicorns. I'm serious!
Fiesty, frustrated, fast-blinking McCain. They did the fast-blinking part.
Teflon Obama phoning it in because he's ahead in the polls. Nope, they didn't even try to make fun of Obama.

The sketch wasn't very good. I think SNL has satire fatigue as well. They should have scrapped the entire debate sketch and just had Amy and Seth do a 20 minute long weekend up date with "Joe the Plumber" or "a plumber" as a guest commentator. The debate sketch was just odd, talking about tiny imaginary people and unicorns. Not funny. Just odd. Meanwhile, the Weekend Update portion was very funny. Hulu clips and a few more thoughts after the jump.

The not so funny debate sketch:

Weekend Update had a funny running gag: Crazy McCain Rally Lady. They based the character off this woman....

...and came up with this humorous rendition.

The best part of the show was a new segment by Seth and Amy called "We Liked It." I liked it too. Watch for Amy's bit about teachers getting paid worse than plumbers. It's my favorite part.

What Will SNL Do: Week 4

2008-10-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

One last time of guessing what aspects of the most recent Presidential debate Saturday Night Live will pick on. SNL is on again tonight at 9:30pm. My predictions:

Joe the Plumber.
"Zero, really?"
Fiesty, frustrated, fast-blinking McCain.
Teflon Obama phoning it in because he's ahead in the polls.

And that's all I've got. I think I have debate satire fatigue. Thank goodness satire is not my job. It is this guy's, and if you read the linked article you'll get an idea of how political satire writing at SNL works. So watch SNL Weekend Update: Thursday tonight. (Or watch it in the morning on hulu, like I do). There should be one last, final debate sketch. Watch and see how accurate my meager predictions are.

3rd (and Final) Presidential Debate '08: Enlivening Commentary

2008-10-15T23:00:00.002-04:00

The last debate of '08. Join me tonight, 9pm for some pre-debate chatter, some intermittent liveblogging, and some post-debate "analysis." Remember, this is not the end, but just the beginning of intensified mudslinging, pandering, truth-stretching, hoping, changing, reforming, mavericking, etc.

-------------------------------------------------------
Pre Debate Chatter

8:08

Sister T: So it's our last debate night.
SeaBean: It is indeed.
Sister T: Are you sad?
SeaBean: I wonder what else we will have to live blog. Christmas? Ooh, we could do the Macy Day's Parade!!
Sister T: I won't be here.
SeaBean: I won't be here either.
Sister T: I'll be cooking.
SeaBean: So will I.
Sister T: But because I'll be cooking....
SeaBean: You won't be able to blog, I know.
Sister T: I never watch the parade anymore, I'm usually helping mom at the stove.
SeaBean: My favorite part of the parade is the giant Snoopy balloon.
Sister T: I like Charlie Browm balloon.
SeaBean: Heh, he has a huge head.

Sister T: Are we still calling StichtWiggler StitchWiggler?
SeaBean: Sure.
Sister T: But she doesn't have stiches anymore.
SeaBean: But she did, and she still has a very soft shaved bottom from the stitch/surgery incident. Do you wan't to call her fuzz butt?
Sister T: No, that would be cruel.

Sister T: Okay last time I'll ask: what are you expecting or looking forward to tonight?
SeaBean: Scintillating oratory. But we won't get that because, being educated and erudite is looked down on. When did that happen? When did the Republicans switch from being Lincoln-esque educated and eloquent? How did it happen?
Sister T: The Great Depression?
SeaBean: That's just depressing.
Sister T: Well, we might have another one soon.

SeaBean: Why is being smart a bad thing?
Sister T: Why don't you ask Sarah Palin?
SeaBean: I can't. She wouldn't understand the multi-syllable words coming out of my mouth.
Sister T: First of all, she wouldn't even talk to you because you don't work for Fox or conservative talk radio.
SeaBean: It's this school yard crap of mocking the smart people.
Sister T: I think you're projecting.
SeaBean: Probably.

-------------------------------------------------
Live Blogging

9:00 We are on. The last debate starts soon. The candidates will be sitting at a table and the moderator is Bob Schieffer from CBS news. (Hah. ABC news got cut-out of the debate moderating duties)

SeaBean: What part of Alabama is he [Bob Schieffer] from?
Sister T: He's from Austin and Ft. Worth, Texas.
SeaBean: I was close enough.

9:02 First Question: Why is your economic survival plan better than his?

9:04 McCain blames the financial crisis on Fannie and Freddie and home ownership issues. He wants to buy up home mortgages.

SeaBean: You call yourself a Republican, McCain?

9:05 Obama answers and says middle class. Drink!

Sister T: SeaBean, you can't drink tonight.
[SeaBean is recovering from shoulder surgery and is presently easing into the pain-free haze of bliss thanks to the Vicodin pill she just took]
SeaBean: No, but I can snuggle with my puppy StitchWiggler.
StitchWiggler: [grunts in agreement]

9:07 Obama wants to buy up mortgages too but he will renegotiate them first.

9:07 McCain goes on the attack using some dude named Joe Wurzelburger (fact checkers working on that as we speak) and the "higher tax argument" for small business owners like Joe who is a plumber.

9:09 Obama defends and explains his tax plan AGAIN but thankfully for my ears, for the last time.

Sister T: Strange that no matter how many times Obama explains his tax plan, McCain and the American public never seem to "get it."

9:11 Still talking about Joe the Plumber.

Sister T: Joe the Plumber should be our new drinking game.
SeaBean: Umm-hmm
Sister T: Dude, if we were actually drinking to Joe the Plumber, we'd be soooo drunk. Actually, you'd be drunk and high.
SeaBean: Oh, man I'd be catonic. I'd need my stomach pumped.
Sister T: I think you're safe now. They seem to be done talking about Joe the Plumber. I bet Joe the Plumber shows up on SNL.
SeaBean: Heh. He probably will.

9:13 Deficit question from Schieffer: "Aren't you ignoring reality...what will you [specifically] cut back?"

Sister T: Betcha they won't mention anything specific.

9:15 Obama will eliminate programs that "don't work" but doesn't mention which specific programs "don't work." He thinks he's so smart, I'm onto him.

Sister T: Obama just used a three syllable word.
SeaBean: My God, how will the American people understand him?

9:16 McCain attempts to pull a Sarah Palin and not answer the question by returning to his home mortgage talking point. Schieffer calls him on it and won't let him get away with it. AWESOME SHCIEFFER. But then McCain starts talking about energy. Seriously, has he been practicing with Palin?

9:19 McCain talks about an earmark for that "overhead projector" in a Chicago planetarium. Shut up about the overhead projector already. I like planetariums.

9:20 Schieffer: "Can you balance the budget in three years?" McCain: "Sure I can." McCain must have magical powers. And he talks directly to Obama with a great shot: "If you wanted to run against Bush, you should have run four years ago."

9:22 Obama has a pretty good comeback to McCain, parrying the Bush shot, deflecting it to the accusation that on the economy McCain's policies are the same as Bush. He must have practiced that for each debate and been holding it in his back pocket.

9:24 Schieffer asks about the negative tone of their campaigns. He challenges each candidate to repeat the negative attacks to each other's face.

9:25 McCain blames Obama for the negative tone because he refused to do town halls with him........he DOES NOT mention Ayers. Chicken!!! (Smart chicken).

9:27 McCain gets in some good and justifiable digs at Obama for not following through on his Campaign Finance promises.

9:28 Obama's response so far is kind of weak. Though he does shoot down the town hall argument as being ridiculous. Mostly he talks about how they should be talking about the economy (effectively not answering Schieffer's question).

9:30 "Joe the Plumber" rears his head again. Drink!

9:31 Is Obama intentionally not saying Sarah Palin's name? He only refers to her as "your running mate."

9:33 McCain is trapped into defending the people at his rallies. He's speaking to his base, not the independents and soft Obama supporters he needs to reach tonight.

9:35 McCain alludes to Ayers, mentions ACORN and voter fraud in the same sentence (which is MISLEADING. ACORN is charged with voter registration fraud not voter fraud, there is a HUGE difference).

9:37 Obama gives a direct answer about Ayers. I suspect conservative Republicans will still be dissatisfied and claim to "not know who Obama is."

9:38 Obama lists his good associates. It's a decent come-back.

9:39 McCain's still talking about Ayers and ACORN. (stupid! independent voters don't care.)

9:40 Schieffer, thankfully, moves on to a new question: "Why will the country be better off if your running mate becomes vice president?"

9:41 I could tell you what Obama says about Biden, but I know you only want to hear what each of them say about Sarah Palin.

9:44 Schieffer asks Obama if he thinks Palin is qualified to be VP. Obama diplomatically says it's up to the American people. (smooth and safe).

9:46 Schieffer asks about energy. He asks for a specific number of how much the country will reduce foreign oil imports during their first term.

9:47 McCain does not give him a number. He mis-answers the question by saying in 10 years we will be less dependent on foreign oil.

9:49 Obama also mis-answers the question by saying 10 years. Schieffer lets it go.

Sister T: Obama's still doing better with speaking directly to the camera.
SeaBean: [Does not answer, she went to bed, Vicodin fully kicked in].
Sister T: I miss my debate buddy. sniff. sniff.

9:52 McCain accuses Obama of not understanding relations between the U.S. and Columbia because he's never travelled south of the border. Would it help if Obama lived near the border? I hear that works well for Sarah Palin.

9:54 Obama says "actually I do understand Columbia" and then talks about some miniscule Columbia-relations detail. It comes off as effective.

9:56 Schieffer is bored with the trade topic. He switches to Health Care. This is in Obama's wheelhouse, so he is off and running, explaining his health care plan AGAIN. Are you listening America? He's repeating this for like the 10th time.

9:58 This is not in McCain's wheelhouse, he's off to a slow start...building steam...rattling off needed programs...then "Joe the Plumber" comes back. DRINK!

10:00 Heh. Obama speaks into the camera directly to "Joe" telling him he will pay Zero? "Zero, really?" says McCain, sounding like an infomercial. "Yes, really John, Joe pays zero," I imagine Obama retorting "for just three low installments of $9.99, Joe can pay zero."

10:03 Now, McCain talks directly to the camera and "Joe." Boy, I picked the right drinking game tonight.

10:05 Heh. McCain has a nice Freudian slip. He calls Obama "Senator Government." :-)

10:06 Schieffer asks about SCOTUS [SCOTUS = my shorthand for Supreme Court of the United States] appointments and Roe v. Wade. McCain thinks Roe v. Wade is a bad decision, it should be left to the states (a position I just don't understand. legislating abortion affects Constitutional rights and thus challenges to state laws are appealable to SCOTUS, so it will always have a chance of coming to SCOTUS). McCain will not apply a litmus test to judges, but will only appoint strict contructionists...not that that's a litmus test...and then he talks about voting for Ginsberg and Breyer who are definitely NOT strict constructionists.

10:08 Obama also doesn't like litmus tests. He also makes my point about how abortion is simply not an issue that can be confined on a state by state basis. He also pulls out the Ledbetter case (suing for women's equal pay under Title VII). Obama's trying to rope in and solidify his female supporters.

10:11 McCain attacks Obama's Illinois voting record on abortion.

10:12 Obama defends the attacks. Obama segues into the "common ground" language from his convention speech on preventing unintended pregnancies. He said it prettier in his speech, but I still appreciate and applaud the sentiment.

10:15 McCain insults Obama's eloquence again. McCain evidently doesn't like three syllable words.

10:16 Schieffer asks the last question. It's on education.

10:17 Obama talks about spending more money and reforming education. Gee, I'd like to have his optimistic bottomless pockets.

10:18 McCain says education "is the civil rights issue of the this century." This is also language swiped from his convention speech, and I still don't get what he's talking about.

10:19 McCain talks about charter schools and having uncertified military teachers. Seriously, he advocates having uncertified teachers. I'll have to look into this "troops to teachers" program.

10:24 McCain keeps mentioning Sarah Palin and autism. Does baby Trig have autism too?

10:27 McCain gives a closing statement. Will he mention his good friend "Joe the Plumber." I don't think he did. What up? No love for "Joe" in your closing, Senator?

10:29 Obama closing statement: "Our brighter days are still ahead, but..." Yeah, yeah, we've heard this before. Will you say good night to "Joe"? No? No free plumbing for you.

10:31 Schieffer signs off with something his mama always said: "Go vote now, it'll make you feel big and strong." Heh.

10:32 It's over. Done. Stick forks in it. No more debates in '08. Like Schieffer just said. GO VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thank you, thank you, all who have read this far. Debate commentary and live blogging is over for 2008. Hope you enjoyed it. Once again, thanks to SeaBean and StitchWiggler. I wish them the best in their respective surgical recoveries. Each are in a blissful sleep right now, and that's where I'll be headed shortly as well. Thanks again for reading. Comments of any type are always welcome.

Political Fashion Analysis

2008-10-15T15:48:00.006-04:00

On the Newsweek website I found this fascinating article examining the differences in how McCain and Obama wear their ties. Obama wears a slightly casual four-in-hand knot. McCain wears a classic, more complex Windsor knot. The article goes into entertaining detail about the motivations behind the differences.

Note, I have no idea if the above picture reflects those particular knots. I'm a single girl. I know nothing about men's neckwear. I'm also not a sailor, so visually identifying the differences between knots is beyond me.

Canada Wins!

2008-10-15T07:30:00.001-04:00

The election results are in and the winner is......(find out after the jump)

The Conservatives! They didn't get the majority government they wanted (falling 12 seats short), but considering how hard and heavy the economic crisis came at the end of their strategically early election, I think, that as the incumbent party, they still have to be sighing relief. All they have to do is look south at McCain attempting to find traction amid slipping polls and be happy that they didn't get swept in the tidal wave of economic woes dragging down the U.S. incumbent party. Plus, even though they didn't win a majority of the seats in Parliament, they won more seats than last time.

The Conservative win likely spells bad news for the environmentally minded. The Liberals' touted Green Shift wll have to, well, "shift" as they say in Canada's mother land. Also, the Green Party won zero seats.

Finally, voter turn out was low.....for Canada. They got 60% turnout. Let's see if we in the U.S. can come close to 60% this year.

So one election down, and three weeks to go before the big U.S. election. Are you ready?

Here's one last Canada fun fact to tide you over: An electoral district in Canada is called a riding. Again, who knew!

Canada Votes! Who Knew?

2008-10-14T06:00:00.002-04:00

Are you getting a little bored with the U.S. Presidential Election? Debates making you sleepy? Negative ads getting repetitive? The drama gone now that Obama is widening his vote margin in the polls? Or are you just looking for A CHANGE? Fear not, and look to the North! where there is another election ripe for drama and your attention. It's got three more major candidates than we have. It's got Liberals. It's got Conservatives. It's got Greens. It's got Canadian French. It's got newer Democrats.

And it's TODAY!

Canada chooses a Prime Minister today. Who knew! What with following the presidential election for over a year now, I forgot to pay attention to Canada which has been holding a national election campaign for the past month. (Hmmm. A one month long national election campaign. I bet it's cheaper when you do it that way. But probably less fun.) So if you have trouble waiting three more Tuesdays to see some election results, take a break and live vicariously through our northern neighbors. (Especially recommended for Republican/McCain supporters because polling shows the Canadian Conservative party eking out a win over the Liberal party). More fun Canadian Federal Election facts when you click through.....

Thanks to wikipedia, I learned that Canada held two Federal Election debates for this election. One in English and one in French...which blows my narrow little American mind. Bilingual debates! We demand so little of our presidential candidates.

I also learned that the Environment is a HUGE issue in the election, and is a very important issue to Canadians. They are so wacky up there. The issue even has it's own name: The Green Shift. Sounds like a sidekick to the Green Lantern.

By the way, if you never had or have (like me) somewhat forgotten any lesson on comparative politics, Canada has a Parliamentary form of government, which means they don't have a President like we do. They essentially elect party leaders who, if their party gets more votes than any of the other parties, becomes Prime Minister. So that's why their elections are pretty much completely different (and dramatically shorter) than ours.

For Canadian Federal Election Campaign Coverage, check out these Canadian newspapers:

The Globe and Mail. (Includes polling updates in the bottom right corner.)
The National Post. (Note that they also provide special coverage of the U.S. Election--We rule the world!!)
The Star.

Sarah, you are not alone.

2008-10-10T09:06:00.006-04:00

Sarah, meet Stephane, he feels your pain. A few weeks ago you suffered through a poor interview experience with Katie Couric. For consolation, Sarah, check out Canadian Prime Minister hopeful Stephane Dion. He badly, badly flubbed an interview on Canadian television. The interviewer had to repeat to him three times a question about the economic crisis.

But it looks like one of his opponents, Stephen Harper, and the rest of his Conservative party overdid their glee at Dion's flub. And now there is a backlash of Canadian opinion against Harper for having too much Schadenfreude. This is the problem with shorter elections in Canada. Less practice. When Sarah flubbed, Obama knew to ignore it and let the Pundits and SNL express the Schadenfreude glee.

So, Sarah, take heart, there are a lot of politicians giving inept answers all over this glorious continent!

What SNL Did Do: Week 3

2008-10-10T08:00:00.005-04:00

So how did I do?

Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators won't follow the time rules. Oh yeah, they did that, but I thought the Tom Brokaw portrayal could have been pissier.
Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators won't follow the flashing lights. They didn't add the flashing lights element. I think the set was too small for that to work.
Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators got in the way of his teleprompter. They did this. And they did it very well.
McCain pacing haphazardly in the background. And in the foreground. They did it very well.
McCain laughing at his own jokes but no one else does. They didn't do this. They did the "that one" joke instead. I thought they wouldn't go after the "that one" joke because of the racial undertones but they attacked the joke appropriately and made it about McCain's antipathy towards Obama. Well done SNL.
McCain mentioning the overhead projector. Nope. They didn't do this.
Obama straight arming McCain when he tries to interrupt Obama. Didn't do this either.
Obama telling Brokaw off and following whatever time rules he pleases. Nope.

The best joke, other than a wandering McCain was the "What will you do to ensure the Cubs never lose the pennant series again" question. They still can't find a way to make fun of Obama...just the negative attacks against him, i.e., "I can say Ayers is my best friend because I'm ahead in the polls." But it still wasn't that funny, more amusing than funny. And what was with the "I was abducted by aliens joke?" Anyway. Thats my scorecard for this week. If you want a better idea of what I'm talking about, click through and watch the sketch via hulu.

What Will SNL Do: Week 3

2008-10-09T06:34:00.002-04:00

This week Saturday Night Live gets an earlier shot at mocking the most recent Presidential Debate. For the month of October SNL is going "prime time" on Thursdays. Thursday SNL premiers tonight at 9:30 EST. Will they mock Tuesday's Presidential Debate? I hope so. Here are my guesses.

Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators won't follow the time rules.
Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators won't follow the flashing lights.
Tom Brokaw acting pissy because the Senators got in the way of his teleprompter.
McCain pacing haphazardly in the background.
McCain laughing at his own jokes but no one else does.
McCain mentioning the overhead projector.
Obama straight arming McCain when he tries to interrupt Obama.
Obama telling Brokaw off and following whatever time rules he pleases.

And that's pretty much it. As you can see from my guesses, I thought the funniest part of the debate was Tom Brokaw's bad mood, and I'm still having a hard time poking fun at Obama's performance. The dude just plays it too cool and safe. Maybe SNL could mock that by having Obama come out wearing sun glasses, have him sit glamorously on his stool with his legs akimbo and then rise and swagger when he answers a question. We'll see what Saturday Night Live does with it, if they do anything. And we'll also see what "prime time" SNL is all about.

Dukakis Still Looks Like My Dad...

2008-10-08T16:38:00.006-04:00

...and it still freaks me out. My Dad's not even Greek. My Dad's not even a Democrat. My Dad voted for HW Bush...emphatically. Yet, Dukakis is my Dad's Doppelgaenger (except my dad's nose is thinner and my dad is better looking).

Seriously, that's a picture of Michael Dukakis, not my father.

Search and Rewatch the Debate

2008-10-08T15:16:00.005-04:00

Here's a nifty online tool from the New York Times. They have cleverly arranged it so that you can search for a word or phrase, a particular moment, a particular question, etc. from both the first and second Presidential Debate scripts and then immediately view that portion of the debate. It's great. Especially if you missed something that everyone is talking about. (For example, a search of "hair transplants" reveals McCain talking at minute 51:20).

Check it out here!

2nd Presidential Debate '08: Enlivening Commentary

2008-10-08T01:00:00.002-04:00

It's the second round of McCain vs. Obama. While there will be no live blogging tonight, there will be pre-debate chatter, and possibly, if all parties are still awake and functioning, post-debate analysis(*). Back joining me this evening will be SeaBean accompanied by StitchWiggler. And as a special enticement for you to read, we will have a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST joining us. Who? you ask. Click through around 9pm tonight and you'll find out.

(*)Using the term "analysis" in its loosest sense.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is a "Town Hall" debate so it'll look a little different tonight.
The Rules:

The questions will be culled from a group of 100 to 150 uncommitted likely voters in the audience and another one-third to come via the Internet. Brokaw selects which questions to ask from written queries submitted prior to the debate.
The Gallup Organization makes sure the questioners reflect the demographic makeup of the nation.
An audience member isn’t allowed to switch questions and will not be allowed a follow-up either. His or her microphone will be turned off after the question is read and a camera shot will only be shown of the person asking — not reacting.
The moderator, Tom Brokaw, may not ask followups or make comments.
McCain and Obama will be provided with director’s chairs, but they’re also allowed to stand. They can’t roam past their “designated area” marked on the stage and are not supposed to ask each other direct questions.

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Pre-Debate Chatter

8:01pm
Sister T: It's just me and StitchWiggler right now. SeaBean and THE SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST are delayed on urgent shopping business. The debate won't start for an hour, but I've got PBS on all the same. The show NOVA is on. The theme is Arctic Dinosaurs...in case you are interested.

8:13
Sister T: StitchWigger, what are your expectations for tonight's Town Hall debate?
StitchWiggler: [utter silence]
Sister T: Yep, I'm just no good at holding a conversation with a dog. I'm much more of a cat person.

8:35
Sister T: SeaBean and THE SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST have arrived.
SeaBean: We have arrived!
Sister T: Would you like the honor of introducing THE SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST?
SeaBean: Why yes, I'd be honored. Our special guest is MamaBaer, spelled that way because of her ties to Germany, even though she isn't German.
MamaBaer: Auntie Lulu says I'm German, she introduces me as her German Sister.
Sister T: MamaBaer is SeaBean's mama.
SeaBean: Uh-huh.

8:40.
Sister T: What are you looking for in tonight's debate?
SeaBean: I want to see how Obama does without a teleprompter.
Sister T: He didn't use a teleprompter in the last debate.
SeaBean: I didn't see it.
Sister T: This debate is a Town Hall hall so he'll have to move around and not use a teleprompter.
MamaBaer: You didn't watch the fist debate?
SeaBean: No. I am a horrible American.
MamaBear: Did you watch the VP debate?
SeaBean: Yep. But it was on a Thursday when lots of people watch.
Sister T: Did we ever watch it! You should read the blog.

8:43
SeaBean: Ugh! The discussions this week at work have been outrageous. Because I don't care for Sarah Palin, at work they automatically think I'm pro Hillary.
MamaBaer: That's a stupid implication.
Sister T: I think the important question is who StitchWiggler would vote for.
SeaBean: PDS.
MamaBaer: PDS?
SeaBean: StitchWiggler is a socialist, she keeps me honest.

8:45
Sister T: What's the biggest way anybody could screw up tonight?
SeaBean: Someone could trip and fall on a cattle prod and electrocute himself.
MamaBaer: That's very far fetched.
SeaBean: Well, it's the very worst screw up I can think of.

8:46
MamaBaer: I got my Florida absentee ballot and there are 10 people running for president. I like getting the absentee ballot so I can get a good picture of the issues.
SeaBean: Do people ever ask you your opinion while you are working polls?
MamaBaer: They do, but I am not allowed to answer them. I just smile and nod so they think I'm agreeing with them.
SeaBean: Have you ever witnessed a poll worker giving an opinion?
MamaBaer: No.
SeaBean: Would you have to report it?
MamaBaer: Not as far as I know.

8:47
SeaBean: So as a poll worker what do you do?
MamaBaer: I stuff the ballot box.
SeaBean: So you stick it in?
MamaBaer: Oh no, everything is private and secret

[detailed discussion of balloting measures]

SeaBean: So when you stuff the ballot box what do you mean?
MamaBaer: I lied. I just thought it would be cool to say that.

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Quasi Live-Blogging
I reinstituted the live blogging because other than a buying-up-home-mortgages plan by John McCain and an expand-the-peace-corps plan by Barak Obama neither candidate said anything new and it turned out I really didn't need to pay that close attention.

9:29 McCain talks about cutting defense spending by getting rid of government contractors. SeaBean is a defense contractor.

SeaBean: Nooooooo. My job!!!!

9:33 Obama talks about expanding the Peace Corps across the country.

SeaBean: He's talking about creating the CCC again.
Sister T: McCain keeps pacing around back there. He's making me nervous. Like a caged tiger.

9:35 Obama does some nuanced talking about scalpels and hatchets, the audience's eyes glaze over.

9:35 McCain accuses Obama of being Herbert Hoover and of encouraging protectionism because he will raise taxes.......I'm not following that logic.

9:37 McCain talks about his tax breaks for middle class families with children.

SeaBean: What about those in the middle class who don't have children?

9:38: Obama: "the straight talk express lost a wheel on that one"

9:39: Obama explains his tax plan in detail.....eyes glaze over.

9:40: McCain thinks fixing social security is easy. He claims it's been done before.

Sister T: If it got fixed before why do we need to fix it again?
MamaBaer: It was a bandaid.

9:42 Moderator, Tom Brokaw, is getting quite pissy about the Senators not sticking to the alloted time rules.

9:43 McCain answers a question about the environment. As bad as the economic/financial crisis is, an environment question is, nonetheless, a breath of fresh air.

MamaBaer: Hah, he forgot her [the question asker's] name.
Sister T: What was it?
MamaBaer: Ingrid.
Sister T: Pretty name. I think McCain is just throwing out eco-friendly words.
MamaBaer: Could be.
Sister T: I think we should change up the drinking game to every time you hear a loose metaphor.
SeaBean: Or simile.
Sister T: Brokaw is sooo upset.

9:47: Brokaw lectures them about following the green, yellow, red time lights.

9:48: McCain talks about funding research and development. SeaBean is still upset he talked about eliminating her job....which is government defense contract funded research and development.

9:50 Discussion turns back to Health Care.

Sister T: What is McCain doing back there? He keeps walking around and smiling at the group of people around them. Maybe he's winking at the crowd like Sarah Palin. The winking worked well for her.

9:51 Obama still droning on about Health Care.

9:52 Red light, Red light. Obama should stop. He's not. Brokaw is probably freaking out.

9:53 The digital signal bleeps in and out on the TV screen.

Sister T: Damn digital TV!

9:53 McCain talks about putting medical records online.

SeaBean: That's a terrible idea. It works horribly for the military.
MamBaer: I agree.

Disclosure: MamaBaer is an Army wife and SeaBean is an Army brat. They know the benefits and the pitfalls of federally funded health care.

9:54 McCain talks about getting hair plugs...as a joke...that no one laughs at. Was that a Joe Biden dig?

9:55 Question from Brokaw: is health care a right, priviledge or responsibility. McCain says responsibility, but I sort of think that when he elaborates on what he means by responsibility he ends up defining health care as a right.

9:56 Obama says it is a right.

9:57 Obama basically throws out the debate rules, tells Brokaw to shove off and just starts talking. (He doesn't do it as rudely as I make it sound).

Sister T: McCain is up and walking around again!
MamaBaer: Probably because Obama's got a red light.

10:00 Debate questions turn to national security.

10:01 McCain: "we don't have time for on the job training"

Sister T: [cough!] Sarah Palin [cough!]

10:02 Obama brings the national security talk back to the economy. Smart move.

10:04 Brokaw asks about the use of troops and force in humanitarian interventions. Obama answers that by talking about a "moral interest" in international conflicts. McCain doesn't answer the question.

10:06 Obama sits patiently while McCain talks. He looks more calm and relaxed in contrast to McCain's pacing. This could be a problem for McCain.

Sister T: So does McCain support human intervention or not?
MamaBaer: He supports thinking about it and not being a hot head.

10:09 Audience member "Katie" asks Obama about cross-border raids into Pakistan.

MamaBaer: A little too late for that question. [Bush is doing that right now]

10:15 McCain says "bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran" was just a joke. I don't think Iran's laughing.

10:16 Brokaw: "if either of you becomes president...as one of you will"

10:19 McCain doesn't think there will be another cold war with Russia, and he really, really, really doesn't like Putin.

MamaBaer: Wasn't this supposed to be a one minute question?
Sister T: The rules have sort of been thrown out the window at this point.

Sister T: Putin's name makes me think of turkey in German. [Disclosure: "puten" is a word used to refer to Turkey meat in Germany]
SeaBean: Me too.
MamaBaer: Hah. All I think of is "rootin' tootin' putin"

10:24 Brokaw asks if Russia will become an evil empire.

SeaBean: very Rage Against the Machine.
Sister T: very Star Wars.

10:25 Finally, an Iran question about what to do if Isreal and Iran got into a war.

10:26 McCain won't wait for that pesky UN Security Council. He'll go all in.

Sister T: what about speaking softly? he's skipping right ahead to the stick.

10:29 Last question from some internet user in New Hampshire: What don't you know and how will you learn it. Obama makes a joke about marriage and talks seriously about unexpected challenges and then talks about "hope" and "change" stuff not related to the question.

10:32 McCain gives an equally lame answer. He doesn't know what all of us don't know. He talks about unprecedented challenges in areas we don't even recognize on the map.

MamaBaer: That's because there's not enough [geography] education in this country.

10:33 It's over. Two down, one more to go. But before he closes, Brokaw gets pissy with the Senators for blocking his sightline to the teleprompter.

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Post Debate Analysis

Not much analysis here. We're too tired I guess. Thanks for reading. Come back for the next debate where there will be more chatter and some more attempts at live blogging. Special thanks to MamaBaer for her input and insight. And no thanks to StitchWiggler who slept through the whole thing. Humpf!

Financial Crisis's European Vacation

2008-10-07T08:00:00.010-04:00

As you might have noticed, several U.S. lenders and insurers have fallen recently. Turns out those falls affected some failures in Germany and Belgium, some worries for the entire EU, an end to Ireland's fiancial boom and, oh yeah, Iceland is almost down for the count. What's next in this financial cascade, could we bring down the Euro?

International Economics is a vague, hazy, relatively not unpleasant memory sunk in the "undergraduate file" of my brain. From what I remember, I know I liked the idea of an inter-connected economic world, but I think my professors did a poor job of impressing upon me that: there is a downside. If you can handle a few economic equations, check this out

Paul Krugman: The International Finance Multiplier (a.k.a. Today We Are All Brazilians)

It'll give you an idea of why the world is financially falling apart. Or you can just watch the National Lampoon's European Vacation above. Same idea, just in amusing pictures.

Click through for more thoughts....

History professors, however, did impress upon me the Peter Pan/Battlestar Gallactica notion of "all of this has happened before and it will happen again." So I'm keeping up with the economic changes to see if they will affect the same political changes of the past...or better yet if we have learned and are able to avoid or mitigate the political consequences of the past.

Readers who actually know something about economics, feel free to chirp in in comments or privately. Directions to good blogs, articles or thoughts are always appreciated.

Same Plot Device, Different Show

2008-10-06T09:15:00.000-04:00

I watch Doctor Who. This Spring and Summer the BBC aired several episodes. One episode, Silence in The Library, introduced a type of thought communication called ghosting. Another episode, Midnight, introduced an unexplained being who read and repeated your thoughts while and even before you could say them.

I've been watching Fringe. This Fall Fox has aired several episodes. One episode, The Ghost Network, "introduced" a thought communication network called ghosting. Another Episode, The Arrival, "introduced" an unexplained being who read and repeated your thoughts while and even before you could say them.

Get my point? Odd coincidence? Theft? Great minds think alike? These plot devices have been around a while? Any shows you watch seemingly steal plot devices from each other?

What SNL Did Do: Week 2

2008-10-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

The accuracy of my predictions:

"I've only been doing this for five weeks!" Completely wrong. They didn't do this one.
"Doggone it." Oddly, I was wrong about this too. I think Tina Fey said "Gosh darn it" instead.
Refusal by Palin to answer the question asked. They did this MULTIPLE times.
Instead of answering a question Palin talks about energy policy or Alaska. They did this but she talked about being a maverick instead of energy or Alaska
Palin blatantly winks at and poses for the camera. They did this the entire time.
Palin's answer on global warming. They did this too.
Both Palin and Biden's answers on the rights of homosexual couples. And they did this one.

Looks like I did a lot better this week with my predictions. Tina Fey found plenty of material to use in mockery of Sarah Palin. And I was pleasantly surprised at how SNL managed to hilariously mock Joe Biden as well. His "I love John McCain, but he's a raging lunatic" comments and his "Scranton, PA is a cesspool" rant had me laughing. As usual, SNL was hardest on the media: mocking them for grading Sarah Palin on a super-generous curve, mocking moderator Gwen Ifill for asking no substantive follow-up questions, and by poking fun at Palin, mocking the media for daring to suggest it couldn't be done anymore. It was an funny sketch. Click through to watch it.

If you notice at the end, SNL also pokes a little fun at me and the drinking games I play during speeches and debates. I just have to say though, Tina Faux Palin, I gave up on the "maverick" drinking game, it's just too easy. "Reform" was Thursday night's drinking game.

For regular readers, stay tuned on Tuesday night for the next Presidential debate. There will be no live blogging but if they have the time, SeaBean and StitchWiggler will be back for pre-Debate and maybe even post-Debate chatter. And we'll have a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST AS WELL. Stay tuned.......

What Will SNL Do: Week 2

2008-10-04T10:13:00.003-04:00

Time to play this weekend's guess-what-SNL-will-mock game. The consensus from newspapers and pundits I read and heard after the VP debate was that Sarah Palin came across as competent and did not give late night or Tina Fey much to work with tonight. I, unlike the pundits, do not underestimate the fearsome talent that is Tina Fey!

Watch for:

"I've only been doing this for five weeks!"
"Doggone it"
Refusal by Palin to answer the question asked
Instead of ansering a question Palin talks about energy policy or Alaska
Palin blatantly winks at and poses for the camera
Palin's answer on global warming
Both Palin and Biden's answers on the rights of homosexual couples

This post isn't meant to be a dig at Palin, more of a defense of Tina Fey. Pundits, you underestimate her and the political comedy writers at Saturday Night Live. You forget that competent and even highly intelligent politicians can be regularly lampooned late at night. Sarah Palin cleared a very low bar Thursday night, which in and of itself can be mocked. What with the media throwing down the gauntlet this week saying "late night jokes could cease,"and "Tina Fey's job just got harder," Tina Fey will come out swinging tonight. Check back to see how accurate I am.

March of the Penguins...to Brazil?

2008-10-03T13:30:00.003-04:00

Did you watch the movie March of the Penguins? Did you adore that movie? Did you want a penguin of your own? I looked into it. Owning any single penguin as a pet in the United States is expensive and pretty darn inhumane. Well, it looks like if I were to move to coastal Brazil I could live in temperate paradise AND be visited by Magellanic penguins:

From his lifeguard post on Copacabana beach, Capt. Rodrigo Maia has watched dumbfounded as the little swimming footballs waddle to the sand amid bronzed surfers and bikini-clad women.

That quote is from this article, which reports that the little guys are washing up on Brazilian shores in growing numbers. The cause is unknown. Climate Change is always suspected, but the sudden surge in penguin visitors hints at a more immediate cause like ocean currents and hurricanes. Read the article, you'll see. Meantime, I'm going to go research time share opportunities for beach houses in Brazil.

Vice Presidential Debate '08: Liveblogging

2008-10-01T09:00:00.025-04:00

It's baaaack. Political live blogging. This Thursday night and this Thursday night only the perfect storm of conditions (a wireless connection and clear television broadcast transmission) conspire to allow me to blog for you. I hope to be ably assisted by my roommate and her little dog too, who will each no doubt invent clever monikers for themselves (much cleverer than SisterT). Thursday night 9:00PM EST. See you then.

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Expectations Game
Wall Street Journal: Palin Proved to Be Formidable Foe in Alaska Debates
New York Times: Though an Experienced Debater, Biden Is Often Tripped Up by Spontaneity

Best pre-debate Summation of Tonight's Expectations and Implications
The Veep Debate: That's Entertainment!

How They Match Up
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Pre-debate Chatter

8:07
Sister T: Welcome. We're starting early so that I can make proper introductions. Welcome special guests. Will you introduce yourself?
SeaBean: I am SeaBean and this is my little dog the StitchWiggler.
Sister T: Welcome. Does StitchWiggler have a particular politcal affiliation?
SeaBean: Yes. She's a socialist. She believes in equal access to kibble and chew toys.
Sister T: Especially tennis balls, I know. How do you two feel about Sarah Palin?
SeaBean: She needs more prep work. And I have now started investing in Aquanet the hairspray.
Sister T: So you like the bee hive?
SeaBean: Modified French Twist bubble flip! It's very corporate.
Sister T: How long do you think it takes her every night to wash the hairspray out?
SeaBean: It's not so much a question of washing out, as I remember from my mohawk days. I worry about the teasing. I think there is a paper towel holder in there holding it up.
Sister T: What do you think of Joe Biden? "Who?" is an acceptable answer.
SeaBean: Well if Roosevelt and the TV were around in 1929 I might respect him....
Sister T: Do you realize that when FDR did finally address the US on TV in 1939, John McCain was alive?
SeaBean: Wow.
Sister T: He was three.
SeaBean: He is old enough to be our grandpa twice over!
Sister T: Did you know he has a biological daughter who is younger than we are?
SeaBean: Eew. That's gross. Eew. Eew. Eew.

8:23
Sister T: What do you think Sarah Palin will be wearing this evening?
SeaBean: Skirt suit, pantyhose, heels, lipstick (naturally) and her signature Tina Fey glasses.
Sister T: She doesn't wear pantyhose.
SeaBean: Oh, she wears pantyhose.
Sister T: I've never seen her wear pantyhose.
SeaBean: Trust me she's wearing pantyhose.
Sister T: What makes you think so?
SeaBean: She's of that age. All the women who ever read "How a Woman Should Dress for Success" in the 70's (by the way written by a man; if someone can explain that logic, they win fifty points) wear pantyhose. It's as much an unwritten rule as the conservative skirt suit on the Hill. Besides, she's a beauty queen...Is that why you call her "Queen Palin?"
Sister T: No, that was truly a Princess Bride reference. Seriously, Buttercup. Out of nowhere, plucked from the people. But Buttercup wouldn't kill a moose. She'd have Westley do it.
SeaBean: True true.
Sister T: As you wish!

[degenerating into Princess Bride quotes.]

Sister T: Hey do you think they'll talk about how to start a land war in Asia? Biden is a gaffer! And it is one of the classic blunders. Did you know that this is the most Irish both sides have shown ever? I read a post on it.
SeaBean: Hunh. Does this mean we'll get to listen to good music during the debate?
Sister T: No. There is no music. That would make the debate entertaining.
SeaBean: But I like bagpipes. Or, in this case, Uillean pipes. Yes the spelling sucks. Irish was written down by some illiterate men who were not just simply drunk, but mean drunk. Are you humming the German national anthem?
Sister T: No, it was the Minuet in G by Beethoven. Oh, was that elitist of me?
SeaBean: It might be a little elitist. But that's okay by me.
Sister T: What kind of music wouldn't be elitist? Because I think even indie pop and rock would be elitist, since only the overeducated people in Austin and Seattle listen to it extensively. I've got it - country.
SeaBean: Country music can be fun.
Sister T: O Brother Where Are Thou? soundtrack is good.
SeaBean: True but that's bluegrass. Which is really just elitist country.

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The Great Debate!

9:00pm Jim Lehrer on the TV! Talking to Mark Shields and David Brooks about this wacky Veep Debate.

9:01 SeaBean is making popcorn excellent!

9:02 SeaBean offers me some cheesey puffs. Sadly, I must deny myself, don't want cheesey bits infecting the keyboard

9:03 Gwen Ifill, the moderator asks a question, and Joe Biden addresses this week's bailout/rescue vote in the House.

9:05 First mention of the "middle class" by Joe Biden

9:06 Palin talking about fear and soccer moms. What happened to hockey? She also says "reform." Guess what tonight's drinking games are: "middle class" and "reform."

9:06 She mentions the campaign suspension. Baiting Biden?

9:07 Biden is taking the bait. Clever Sarah.

9:09 Gwen asks Palin to blame someone for the subprime mess. She blames predator lenders.

9:11 Biden goes on the attack blaming McCain for the subprime mess.

9:12 Gwen asks Palin if she wants to respond about the health care hit Biden threw, she wants to respond to the tax issue that Biden didn't even mention.

9:14 Biden calls Palin on not answering the deregulation question.

9:14 Palin basically says she can answer a question any gosh darn way she pleases and goes on to answer the tax question she was NEVER ASKED.

9:15 Gwen asks a tax question.

9:16 "middle class" drinking game is ON! SeaBean is off to get the wine. But she doesn't think it pairs well with cheesey puffs.

9:18 Gwen forces Palin to talk about McCain's health care plan

9:19 She is fully capable of talking about it. Take that Katie Couric!

9:20 SeaBean has chosen a very patriotic Napa Valley wine from California called "Worthy" Full disclosure: the vineyard is called Axios which is sort of Greek.

9:21 Additional disclosure: SeaBean is using her mickey mouse cork stopper. What's more American than that?!?

9:23 Now Palin's talking about the energy plan that she was NEVER ASKED ABOUT. Seriously, she might run out of talking points. She keeps jumping ahead.

9:25 Biden agrees with the Governor! Repubs will replay that moment. Independants will like it. Someone's been paying attention to the last debate's focus groups.

9:26 Gwen asks Palin a question she doesn't know the answer to about bankruptcy, but she transitions to a different talking point a lot better than her faulty non-attempts to transition with Couric.

9:27 Biden answers the actual bankruptcy question. John Q Public probably won't notice.

9:29 Palin has no clue how to respond at all and akwardly transitions to a talking point about energy.

Sister T: My SNL predicition is that Tina Fey will answer every question by just ignoring it and talking about energy.
SeaBean: Less time doing your hair, more time studying.

9:30 Gwen asks about climate change.

9:31 Palin admits there is climate change. She wants to ignore the causes. But she will created a "sub cabinet" to study the impacts.....without of course studying the causes.

9:32 Biden sews up the youth vote by saying "It's man made."

9:34 Hee, Hee it sounded like she said Seantor O'Biden.

SeaBean: Oh nooooo! She said nuclear wrong.
Sister T: She can't do it without the teleprompter spelling out "New Clear" for her.

[Confession: I, Sister T, standardly mispronounce it "nu-cu-ler," so rather than say it, I make a concerted effort to say it as little as possible]

9:38 No one up there supports gay marriage.

9:39 Sarah Palin is so proud, SO PROUD of the Surge.

SeaBean: And she can see Russia from her house!

9:42 Sarah Palin tells Biden that the Obama plan in Iraq is a white flag of surrender.

SeaBean: Talibani?
Sister T: It's right.

9:45 Gwen asks which is the greater threat: Unstable Pakistan or Nuclear Iran.

SeaBean: Pakistan!
Sister T: Pakistan!
Biden: Both.
Palin: Both.

9:47 SeaBean can't take it anymore. Palin keeps pronouncing nuclear wrong.

9:50 Biden points out that Ahmadinajad is NOT in charge of Iran. He does not, however, mention the Council of Guardians or Khamenei. Sigh!

9:52 Biden refers to himself in the 3rd person. Sort of pompous.

9:54 Palin chastizes Biden for looking at past mistakes too much....and then talks about how she will learn by looking at past mistakes.

9:56 SeaBean recoils in PAIN!!!! Sarah Palin mispronounces nuclear.

9:57 Sarah Palin asks if she can talk about Afghanistan. She wants to stick with her assigned talking points.

10:00 They argue about what General McClellan said. That'll be a job for fact checkers to deal with later.

[Update: the fact checkers say there is no such person as McClellan commanding troops in Afghanistan.]

10:02 Biden is talking about himself too much. "I did," "I said," He transitions to talking about Darfur (which Gwen did ask about)

10:03 Sarah Palin ignores the question. And talks about Iraq. Hey wow! She actually answers the question and talks about Darfur and ties it to Alaska!

10:07 Gwen asks how their own administrations would differ from the top of the ticket. Biden doesn't answer. He talks about how much his administration would continue Obama's policies.

10:09 Palin would drill in ANWAR of course. But then she would do whatever McCain was doing.

SeaBean: new drinking game "end the corruption and greed on Wall Street"

10:11 Drink! "middle class"

10:11 Palin in one sentence throws in a "Say it ain't so Joe," "there you go again," and "doggonit."

10:13 Palin throws a shout-out to her brother's 3rd grade class which is getting extra credit for watching the debate.

Sister T: Shouldn't those 3rd graders be in bed right now?
SeaBean They're in Alaska. Time difference.
Sister T: Good point.

10:13 Palin is self-deprecating about a lame joke she made. I don't know what "joke" she is talking about?

SeaBean: Reform of government, Drink! Do you think she put vaseline on her teeth?
Sister T: Probably. Or maybe they grow them that way in Alaska!

10:15 Gwen asks if the Veep job is executive or legislative. Palin says it's a flexible job and highlights her executive experience.

10:17 Biden calls Cheney the most dangerous Veep in the history of the U.S. Careful Joe, he has a gun and has been known to use it.....on people.

10:18 Gwen asks about their biggest weaknesses. Palin starts off not answering the question.

10:19 She didn't answer it. Will Gwen let her get away with it?

10:20 Biden says his weakness is too much passion. Hmmm. Maybe I'll use that in my next job interview.

10:23 Biden attacks the Maverick record on health care, education, the war, i.e., things talked about around the kitchen table.

10:24 Last question from Gwen is: think of a policy issue on which they changed their mind to accommodate change. Biden used to think the ideology of a judge didn't matter, now he believes that it does.

10:25 Plain talks about budgets she didn't veto. She differentiates between "compromise" which is bad and "working together" which is good. I don't really understand the difference other than one means every body changes their opinion to something less desirable; the other you make other people change their mind to yours.

10:29 Closing statements! Palin claims she wants more opportunities to debate and speak without that pesky Main Stream Media in the way. She also takes a shot at Michelle Obama.

10:31 Biden gives a closing statement.

Sister T: how many times do you think he will say "middle class"
SeaBean: he's said it 2x already, so, at least 3 more times
Sister T: he didn't say it again? how are we supposed to get drunk?
SeaBean: we are already drunk. we've been drinking all night to dull the pain.

10:33 It's over. She didn't screw up. Sarah's political future is secure!

Thanks to SeaBean and StitchWiggler for their company and help. That's it for debate blogging. For the Obama-McCain presidential debates I actually care and pay closer attention....which makes live blogging very difficult. Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it.

The Subprime Primer Slideshow

2008-09-30T17:12:00.001-04:00

You may have heard some noise about the U.S. economy either slipping into or teetering upon a devastating financial crisis. If you are like me, and could use some illustrative yet entertaining help understanding how we got here, check out the slide show I've linked to below. I discovered it courtesy of UESider, who knows her stuff regarding the current financial mess. (Warning: the last few slides contain profanity, so keep the kiddies away from the computer screen.).

Click Here to view the slide presentation

Harry Potter Meets The Office

2008-09-30T14:46:00.002-04:00

(beware of poor British accents)

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

Franz Ferdinand Is Murdered...Again

2008-09-29T22:08:00.004-04:00

Leave it to the house band on Dancing With The Stars to murder another great song! This time it was the band Franz Ferdinand's song "Take Me Out." I guess I should just be glad the show recognized the song's existence, and I will interpret the song's murder as an historical homage.

(Song starts at the 2:10 mark.)

Clarification: She said, She said

2008-09-29T18:32:00.000-04:00

It has come to my attention that my last post didn't clearly distinguish between what Real Sarah Palin said and what Tina Faux Palin said. The point I tried to make at the end of my last post was that often the SNL writers lifted words straight from Palin. Click through to see some video comparisons.

The $700 billion bailout
Real Sarah Palin

Tina Faux Palin

"I'll bring 'em to ya"
Real Sarah Palin

Tina Faux Palin

Russia
Real Sarah Palin

Tina Faux Palin

The Presidential Debate: What SNL did do.

2008-09-28T08:12:00.001-04:00

Well, I was completely wrong about what Saturday Night Live would mock about Friday's Presidential Debate

My bracelet's better than your bracelet. Each actor wore a bracelet, but neither mentioned it.
Obama cannot remember John McCain's name. Not mentioned.
Obama gives intricate, detailed, boring answer on an issue and McCain still patronizingly claims Obama doesn't "understand" the issue. They hit this general idea, but addressed it differently. Instead of an overly professorial answer by Obama they had him complain about McCain once singing Bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran to the tune of Ba-ba-ba-ba-Barbara Ann. McCain then patronizingly explained who the Beach Boys are and what their "Barbara Ann" song is.
McCain calling Obama and GW Bush stubborn. Not done.
Miss Congeniality. Not mentioned, but McCain did explain how as a Maverick he spent the last eight years undermining his party and President Bush.
McCain's Eisenhower letter story. Not mentioned.
Ahmadinajad. Also not mentioned.

Of course, I was also wrong to hope that the debate sketch would be funny. As I had to do yesterday, the sketch writers painfully searched for elements of the debate to mock and came up with mediocre material. The funniest bit came at the end when the moderator thanked Hillary Clinton for showing up ready to step in, in case McCain decided not to come. Perhaps acknowledging the lameness of the sketch, director Lorne Michaels did not place it as the opening sketch of the show. That honor, went instead, to a much funnier send-up of Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric. No surprise appearance by the real Palin, but there was this gem:

Every morning when Alaskans wake up one of the first things they do is see if there are any Russians hanging around… It’s our responsibility to say, ‘Shoo, get back over there!’

Click through to watch the actual Palin-Couric sketch as well as the Debate sketch via hulu.

Now compare with what Palin actually said during her real interview with Couric. Sometimes the comedy just writes itself:

Couric: Why isn't it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas and groceries? Allow them to spend more, and put more money into the economy, instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?
Palin: That's why I say I, like every American I'm speaking with, we're ill about this position that we have been put in. Where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy. Um, helping, oh, it's got to be about job creation, too. Shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions, and tax relief for Americans, and trade -- we have got to see trade as opportunity, not as, uh, competitive, um, scary thing, but one in five jobs created in the trade sector today. We've got to look at that as more opportunity. All of those things under the umbrella of job creation.

The Presidential Debate: What will SNL do?

2008-09-27T15:55:00.003-04:00

Did you watch the Presidential Debate Friday night? I did. And I paid close attention to........what Saturday Night Live writers might choose to mock tonight in their opening skit. Below are my guesses:

My bracelet's better than your bracelet.
Obama cannot remember John McCain's name.
Obama gives intricate, detailed, boring answer on an issue and McCain still patronizingly claims Obama doesn't "understand" the issue.
McCain calling Obama and GW Bush stubborn.
Miss Congeniality.
McCain's Eisenhower letter story.
Ahmadinajad.

This list picks on McCain quite a bit, largely because Obama played it so safe last night and what McCain said and did was more memorable. Actually, I don't think there was much to mock from the debate, but I hope a talented SNL skit proves me wrong. What I'd almost rather see is a skit about McCain's decision to suspend his campaign and the will-he-or-won't he show up to debate shenanigans. Also, be on the lookout for a surprise Sarah Palin guest stint. Her security did a walk through on Wednesday. So watch tonight and check back for an update to see how prescient I can be.

Now THIS Is Effective Product Placement

2008-09-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

plus

equals Perfect Product Placement

Thursday night the USA show Burn Notice included near the end of its mid-season finale a car chase scene which, in my opinion, perfectly integrated a product: the Saab 9-3 convertible. The character Fiona aided main character Michael by using the sporty Saab to interfere with and frustrate the gang of cars chasing his motorcycle. Specifically, she used the Saab's Electronic Stability Control Program (ESP) switch to turn off the Saab's traction control and slide the car around the other cars chasing Michael. Michael's trademark voice-over cheerfully describes what's she's doing.

The voice-over giving helpful knowledge of how to use devices and functions to get by in the spy trade is a typical narrative device of Burn Notice, so, to me, use of the sporty car and specific mention of its features fits seamlessly with the show's tone and style. Some might disagree. But then I don't come down that hard on product integration generally. I accept it as a necessary trade off. Most of the shows I like to watch are well written enough that product integration never gets in the way of the story, and occasionally, a show like this will integrate the product in a way that enhances the story. Well done, Burn Notice. Click through below to view a snippet from hulu explaining the car chase stunt and the product integration. And watch the show. It's very good.

Lost in Literature

2008-09-19T09:32:00.011-04:00

Across the pond on ITV (a British television station) they currently broadcast a miniseries entitled Lost In Austen. It tells the tale of modern day girl, Amanda Price, who wanders into and gets trapped in the novel Pride and Prejudice. (Pictured to the right: Elizabeth Bennet, Amanda Price, and Mr. Darcy). Amanda unintentionally trades places with the novel's heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, and proceeds to make a mess of the novel's major plot points, i.e., Jane marries Collins, Bingley runs off with Lydia. Additionally, she seems to cause almost every male character and at least one female character to lust after her. The greatest enjoyment of the miniseries, however, is to watch this modern-day girl run into much beloved characters and discover how closely or how distantly they resemble a reader's opinion from the book.

So that got me thinking. What pieces of literature would I enjoy getting literally lost in? If I had to chose an American novel, I think I'd pick The Winds of War. Sure, it's dangerous, what with the whole world war brewing, bombs falling, and Jews deporting, but I would dearly love to meet Victor "Pug" Henry and his family. I would dearly love to smash a very sharp object over Aaron Jastrow's head. I would dearly love to hang with Pamela Tudsbury. And I'd dearly love to brush shoulders with history the way Pug did. It'd be great fun, just so long as none of the bombs hit me and the Nazis stay far away from wherever I am.

Click through to see what other novels I'm contemplating losing myself in and to see my mini critique of the miniseries Lost in Austen.

The mini critique
Two parts of the Lost in Austen miniseries do disappoint me.

The script lacks clever wit and snark. Jane Austen's writing style demands this kind of homage. See the movie Clueless for proper, modern script treatment of a Jane Austen work.
The script lacks clever references to other works of Jane Austen. For example, modern-day girl Amanda Price shares a surname with Fanny Price, the heroine from Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park, but the script fails to elaborate on whether the surname is a coincidence or a purposeful wink. I'd appreciate a reference by Amanda to a scrupulously moral older sister or her nosy Aunt Norris. Another example, when Amanda briefly takes on the persona of a wealthy merchant's daughter and attempts to bring Bingley and Jane as well as Mr. Collins and Charlotte Lucas together, the script fails to point out Amanda's similarity to Emma, the know-it-all, rich, matchmaking heroine in the Jane Austen novel Emma.

Those are just my tiny nitpicks.

Happier thoughts continue as I get lost in........

The Great Gatsby. I just want to go to one of those fabulous parties that Gatsby throws, catch a glimpse of the man, maybe chat a bit with Nick Carraway (if that snob will even talk to me) and then head west and get away from that corrupt lot as quickly as possible.

The Three Muskateers. I would hang out with the boys: Athos, Porthos and Aramis. I will convince them not to waste their time on that pesky d'Artagnan and let me join their little group. If I catch sight of Milady de Winter, I'll warn Athos and he'll take care of it. I'll tell them Richelieu is not such a bad guy and we'll just take it easy. Sure, the plot of the novel will be ruined, but I'll be chillin' with my Muskateers, so who cares!

Northanger Abbey. If I had to chose a Jane Austen novel to lose myself in, this is it. I would absolutely LOVE! to talk to Henry Tilney. He is the only Austen hero who while being funny and charming still manages not to be a complete cad. He loves books and fashion, his sister is pretty cool, and his future wife Catherine is sweet with a fantastically wild imagination. Also, I'm as big a sucker as Catherine is for grand old abbeys, and hanging out in Bath in the 1800s would be quite fun and enlightening.

Lonesome Dove. Okay, I wouldn't want to stay lost for long in this novel for fear of losing a leg, or an arm, or my sexual dignity. The world in Lonesome Dove, while adventurous, is dangerous and hard. The novel has a high death count. But I would love to just sit and listen to Gus and Call bicker using them purty, McMurtry words.

I might think of some more novels later. Let me know in the comments what novels you'd get lost in.

Glengarry Bhoys: Fiddler in a Kilt

2008-09-08T08:56:00.013-04:00

I spent a chunk of this weekend at the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, principally on the trail of the Glengarry Bhoys, a wonderful high-energy Celtic Folk/Rock band. The best discovery of the weekend, other than a delightful band by the name of Pogey, was the new fiddle player for Glengarry Bhoys. His name is Darcy. He hails from Ireland. He wears a kilt. He fiddles. He spins. He steals the show. Also, he is a dead ringer for this guy.

Alan Tudyk

Seriously, I heard some great live music this weekend and I encourage anyone who reads this blog to visit these websites and give a listen to these great Canadian independent Bands. Pogey has a myspace page where you can hear their music. I highly recommend the song Johnny's Bottle. The Glengarry Bhoys also have a myspace page, and they offer samples of more songs at their own website.

08 RNC: Live Blogging Nite 3

2008-09-04T15:17:00.036-04:00

And so we come to the end. But before convention mania 2008 leaves, come spend one more night with me, PBS and my laptop as we chronicle John McCain's big night. 8:00PM tonight!
---------------------------------------------------------
8:00 Welcome to John McCain's big night!

8:03 The big question from Pundit Brooks: Will McCain say something unpopular to the crowd but popular with him and Independents. Something that signifies BIG change: Global Warming, Campaign Finance, Immigration. I don't think he'll do that here. Later, when he is away from the revved up base, he'll do it.

8:06 On stage: Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlente. He was second choice for Veep behind Palin. He starts off talking about character.

8:10 He talks about Sam's Club voters. I'm single, so I don't really shop at Sam's Club. Is there a set of Target voters? I shop there. And Ross. I shop at Ross! Good finds there.

8:12 Now a PBS correspondent is on the floor talking to an AZ delegate who cast the vote to nominate McCain during roll call last night. The roll call that I didn't get to see because they scheduled it during my sleepy time! I love roll call. It's American democracy in action. I'm a little peeved GOP that you didn't let me watch it before 11pm. You know how you could make up for it? BRING OUT THAT LIVE ELEPHANT.

8:14 Bill Frist is on the stage. I haven't been payin attention (elephants and all) but I think he just said "hell is a currency for peace"

8:15 No. He said health, HEALTH is a currency for peace. Hell doesn't make sense, though it is amusing.

8:18 I'm not sure why I have a slight elephant obsession. I just think that when you have such an awesome and far superior mascot (a donkey, an ass? What the heck were the Dems thinking in coming up with that one) you should celebrate it.

8:19 Seriously, every time he says "health" he keeps swallowing the "th" and all I hear is hell.

8:19 On the stage, the first woman to reach 3 star general in the marines. Hats off to this lady! Hats off to any female marine! She's here to talk about the first female marine officer killed in combat, a public affairs officer killed in 2006, Megan McClung.

8:23 Senator Sam Brownback from Kansas. Jim Lehrer tells me he was an early candidate for Pres during the primary. He must not have lasted long, because I really don't remember this guy.

8:26 He does a nice job of painting a picture of how Dems are a we "can't" do this party. Then he tries to lead the crowd in chanting "Yes we will." Which ends up being slow, awkward going at first because, well, despite being Repubs, the sound-bytes have sort of trained them to Obama's tune of "Yes we can." They keep shouting "Yes we will," when directed, but it's not very enthusiastic because, well.....they're not Obama Democrats.

8:28 Consensus from me and the unenthusiastic crowd: "Yes we will" is a poor slogan for Repubs. You know they are just DYING to go back to "drill, baby drill," which I admit, is much more fun to chant than even "Yes we can!"

8:31 I'm going to try to keep an eye on the football game playing over on NBC. It looks like they are at halftime. The worry is that the game will interfere with the start of McCain's speech and he will delay so that the football fans can watch him.

8:36 Mary Fallin Rep from Ooooooooklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain and the wavin' wheat can sure smell....oh you're not reading this for musical theater are you? As you might guess she speaks about the Oklahoma City bombing and ties it to responding to 9/11.

8:37 Now she references Teddy Roosevelt's big stick. (it's a political metaphor, it is NOT dirty). She neglects to mention the "speak softly" part of Teddy Roo's big stick strategy. It says a lot that she drops the diplomacy part of the Teddy Roo analogy.

8:40 PR Video!!! I almost missed them yesterday. Rudy spoke to long so we didn't get to see Palin's which had moose in it, which is the closest I could have gotten to seeing a LIVE ELEPHANT on stage. :(

8:41 About this video. I can't id the narrator, but it sounds like a voice that narrates a lot. It's about terrorism at home, domestic and foreign.

8:43 The Pollster in the PBS booth explains that Americans are less concerned about terrorism today. Probably, dare I say it, because GW Bush's fight against it at home is working.

8:45 Think John McCain will dare to give GW B a shout-out for the war against terrorism from the home front? Come on, McCain. If I can complement him, surely you can.

8:48 PBS Historians!!! What scintillating historical fact will I learn tonight?

8:49 Historical opinions on Pres candidates not having military experience. They don't think military experience is such a big deal historically. Huh. That wasn't very scintillating, PBS panel. You disappoint me. Bring out an elephant!

8:53 Football update: 10:29 in the 3rd quarter. Looks like the game will end right on time.

8:54 Awh. Shields talks about HW B's denial the night before his loss to Bill Clinton. HW thought the country would never elect a draft dodger. Well we did. Sorry about that. Want me to go find Ross Perot and bludgeon him with my Irony Mallet? It's not doing anything right now?

8:58 Are we creating a new World War II class with veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and are running as Dems? Excellent, interesting point. Next election: Bobby Jindal vs. Patrick Murphy?? (my suggestion, not theirs)

9:00 Lindsey Graham in the House! He brings up this little military event called THE SURGE! Still sounds like the name of a Palin child.

9:02 What? Graham places all of the success for the surge on McCain's and Lieberman's shoulders! Um, if it's such a good thing, maybe you should thank the EXECUTIVE who came up with it and enforced it? How is GW Bush not completely pissed off at this bunch?

9:05 Quote of the night:"Thank God for Joe Lieberman!" and GW Bush sits at home where he's just turned off the television in disgust.

9:05 Also Dem Reps plot how to ruin Lieberman's congressional life.

9:06 Did I hear right? Graham claims Al Qaeda isn't in Iraq anymore?* Dude. Not to be a "whiner," but Al Qaeda is still in Iraq and Afghanistan. If they weren't still there, we wouldn't be either. Unless, of course, they were never there in the first place.

(*) I went back and checked his speech. The line that caught my attention was "Iraq - A Muslim nation in the heart of the Arab world that rejects Al Qaeda."

9:08 Moose! Moose! The Sarah Palin PR video is on screen! (following an awkward transition by Graham).

9:11 Man! Guess the narrator game is so much harder with Repub PR videos. Their celeb narrators just don't have a high a profile as the Dems' celebs do.

9:12 She's a high school basketball star like Obama. So I guess playing basketball is no longer a sign of elitism.

9:14 If you are still playing the "maverick" drinking game with real alcohol, then you are seriously drunk right now.

9:15 TOM RIDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pennsylvania! Erie! A Republican who supports a woman's right to choose!! He used to be my governor.

9:17 He speaks about McCain's character and he does a very good job of personalizing and energizing it at the same time.

9:18 The only downside I see right now is the comb-over he's got going on at the top of his head sort of makes it look like he's wearing a yarmulke.

9:19 Ridge politely dings Obama AND Hillary Clinton. Now that's consistent criticism, I can live with.

9:22 Ridge: "The challenge of our time is not to change,...[but] to leave nothing to chance." Chance? Like picking an obscure untested running mate?

9:23 NFL update: 12:55 in the 4th quarter. Yep. Everything's running according to schedule. Now

9:25 Hey. Not cool. Ridge just stole soaring "no red state, no blue state" Obama rhetoric and applied it to John McCain. You can't slam the "pretty talking" speeches if you are going to liberally borrow from them.

9:30 It's not the stealing of ideas that bugs me. It's the hypocrisy.

9:31 Cindy McCain PR video. Gary "Lieutenant Dan!" Sinise narrates again. Cindy McCain travels the world rescuing children. She even adopted one. She adopted ONE! You hear that Brangelina? ONE. One child at a time, please.

9:34 On stage now: Cindy McCain and her family. The camera won't focus long enough on the stage for me to figure out if McCain's kids from his previous marriage are up there as well.

9:36 Thank you Cindy! She introduces all of them. Her step kids ARE all up there as well.

9:38 NFL Update: 6 minutes left. Uh-oh, it might end too early and the football fans won't accidentally keep watching Convention Coverage.

9:39 Obama: this campaign is not about us, it is about YOU. McCain: this campaign is not about us, it is about OUR COUNTRY. which is better? you decide.

9:41 Cindy McCain claims that Americans are the most generous people in history. I think there are some Native American populations who might differ with her on that.

9:42 I haven't been giving score updates on the NFL game because the Redskins are playing so the ending is a bit of a foregone conclusion. But in case you have a lot of faith or "hope" in the Redskins.......sorry, but YES, they are losing.

9:45 She keeps talking up the American West and Western values. Guess where some battle ground states suddenly are this year?

9:51 She's talking a long time. Now she's talking about Rwanda. She calls the woman from Rwanda her hero. Uh oh. She didn't get the memo. John McCain is our great American hero and country comes first, ergo John McCain must be your hero.

9:55 Cindy McCain is done. Finally. (Sorry, but she seemed to go on a long time).

9:56 Jim Lehrer helpfully asks historian Beschloss about the history of spouses introducing candidates. Beschloss says it started with Pat Nixon. Norton-Smith says it just took off from there: Ladies helping soften and shape their husbands' images. Now they talk about 1992 and that whole Hillary thing. Shields thinks the trend now with first ladies is "they are the tough ones," starting with the Giant Pearl Power of Barbara Bush.

10:01 13 seconds left in the game. I think they really are waiting for the football game to end. There's nothing happening on the floor.

10:03 7 seconds.

10:04 The game ends. McCain's video begins. (I'm not actually watching this on NBC...I don't get that channel so easy on the rabbit ears). Again, it's the narrator I've heard before somewhere else, but can't identify. I think it's one of the standard History Channel narrators.

10:08 The video is very good. Much better than any of the tv ads I've seen. It's hard to make McCain's story boring. The only thing is that the "History Channel" voiced narrator makes McCain seem old. It makes the video feel like a history documentary. But I think it only plays that way to someone young like me.

10:12 Oooh. Dramatic theatrics. The convention hall darkens and Fred "D.A. Arthur Branch" Thompson's voice inTONEs phrases about McCain's time in a box.

10:13 Coming out of the Dark! It's John McCain! Clapping, standing and cheering ensues.

10:14 Mr. McCain, you have 45 minutes to give the speech of your life. Your time starts........

10:15 .......NOW.

10:15 He accepts the nomination. Several in the audience, I imagine, are upset he did not hand it over to Sarah Palin.

10:16 Oh no. No. no. no. no. Some IDIOT flashed up a picture with a green law in the foreground behind McCain so it looks like, on tv, that infamous green screen is behind him again. Steven Colbert is going to have a FIELD Day with this.

10:18 Damn that green screen! It's so awful and distracting. How? How could they do this again? I imagine someone up in a booth somewhere making desperate phone calls telling whoever is in charge to "change the picture, change the picture, change the picture."

10:20 Oh, look. They changed the picture. AND IT'S STILL GREEN.....just different shades of green now. Because there is a cornfield behind him. Now they are up in the booth scrambling to find a picture without green.

10:23 The screen goes to Blank Blue now! Because they can't find a picture!!!! This is hilarious. Oh. Sorry. It's not Blank Blue. That's just the sky in a picture of a flying flag.

10:23 Okay. Green Screen nightmare gone. Let's see if I can pay attention to what he is saying.

10:24 "I intend to stand on your side and not in your way." Good line.

10:25 He mentions Palin and the crowd goes cray-zee.

10:26 McCain offers a warning to the big-spending, old boys crowd (a lot of whom are sitting in front of him) that change is coming.

10:28 About 12 minutes in and still no substantive policy programs for the future.

10:29 Now he talks about big spenders who bowed to special interests and earmarks. He claims that the first big earmark that comes across his desk, he will veto AND we "will know their names." Names like Sarah Palin? I've read that she requested an earmark that was on your no-no list Senator.

10:31 He's talking about the military right now. Pretty soon for that, his strongest asset. So maybe he is building up to talking about the economy. Hey, this could actually be exciting here. Go, John, Go.

10:32 Bad housing market mention! name check. Franklin County, PA name check! McCain's talking about how he will fight for the little people.

10:34 Tell me how you'll fight for them Senator. Either tell me, or bring out that live elephant. (Heh. you thought I'd given up on my elephant, didn't you).

10:35 He frames his argument by saying "we lost the people's trust" and the crowd actually cheers...lukewarmly, but they cheer. Then he claims he and the party will regain the trust by "getting back to basics." The crowd is able to cheers enthusiastically at that.

10:37 He runs through the litany of traditional Republican beliefs. John, you had me until "judges who legislate from the bench." (Sorry, it's a personal pet peeve. Lack of respect for judges who apply the law as opposed to politically popular positions.).

10:38 John McCain has a health care plan? I don't know what it is, but he tells me it will help, not hurt small businesses. (A tax credit does not a health care plan make). But how does that help an individual sitting at home who has inadequate insurance? I'm not for national health care, I'm just saying that John McCain, to get votes from outside the base needs to appeal to individuals not small business owners.

10:41 "Education is the civil rights issue of this century." Huh?

10:42 Oh my. The camera just focused on some lady in the audience who staccato screams like a muslim woman at a funeral. It's a bit jarring to see at a GOP event, but as long as she's comfortable with it, I am.

10:45 "Drill baby, Drill" It's back.

10:47 As president, McCain will work to establish good relations with Russia. It should be pretty easy for him to do, since Sarah Palin lives so close to Russia.

10:50 He talks a tiny bit about his family's naval career history re: WW II. I bet he loves the books "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" as much as I do.

10:52 Heh. He wants to stop partisan rancor in Washington. He claims it's because people go to D.C. wanting to work for themselves and not for the American people. Hey, McCain, instead of worrying about rancor in D.C., why don't you not re-start a culture war across this country.

10:54 Here comes the "cause greater bit" It's good. Honestly, it's very good and moving. He talks about getting captured and "learning the limits of [his] selfish independence."

10:57 He tells his personal journey better than Fred Thompson did, which says a lot.

11:01 "My country saved me, and I cannot forget it." Awh.

11:02 McCain encourages us, if we are dissatisfied with the country, to join the military, be a teacher, help those who need it, serve a cause. Question: does community organizing count as service? 'Case some lady last night gave me the impression that you had to be elected for that kind of service to matter.

11:04 Serve your country, and God Bless America. And he's finished.

11:05 Wife on stage. Palins on stage. When do they let down the balloons? So far it's just confetti.

11:07 Balloons!! Glorious Balloons!! Elephant shaped balloons? Nope. Just normal shaped red, white and blue Balloooooons. So many balloons. And the giant background screen is showing fireworks.

11:08 Ahhh, I see some of the white balloons have stars on them. Bet those ones cost extra.

11:12 Was it the speech of his life? I think so. Let's see what the pundits think.

11:15 Pundit opinion: Obama is in for the fight of his life. Um, Obama's been fighting for his political life since before Iowa. Suddenly the prolonged, tight primary is forgotton?

11:17 Beschloss: yes it was McCain's best speech ever. He notes references in McCain's speech to language from Truman and Gore. Shhh. Don't tell the people on the floor that he was Quoting Gore.

11:19 Pollster thinks that in an otherwise successful speech, McCain failed to address the economic concerns most significant to Independents.

11:20 Liberal Pundit, Mark Shields thinks this speech was inferior to other McCain speeches.

11:22 Conservative Pundit, Brooks agrees speech has policy substance limitations, so not the best ever, but successful. He thought the emotional crescendo at the end was fantastic.

11:23 Well that's it. Really. That. Is. It. Thanks for reading. No live elephant. The most I can give you is this:

08 RNC: Live Blogging Nite 2

2008-09-03T16:19:00.047-04:00

Hey, remember in the Princess Bride when Princess Buttercup got plucked from obscurity and had that dream where she was elaborately presented to the townspeople and some dirty hag started calling her garbage? Well, tonight's gonna be just like that for Sarah Palin. Only multiply the dirty hag into a hundred "left wing media" bloggers and discard the Giant, the Sicilian, the Spaniard, the Albino, the Five-Fingered Man, the Wheelbarrow, the Holocaust Cloak and Cary Elwes.......and it'll be just like that. Come join in the fun with me and PBS coverage of Nite 2 starting at 8:00PM-ish.
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8:00 Welcome to the live blog. Coverage starts............NOW! (thanks to PBS and MSNBC's live stream, when PBS takes the camera off the stage, I can still follow on the internet). Tonight we hope for fewer PR videos, less biography, and more substance on economic issues. We expect lots of bashing of Obama and the maniacally evil liberal media. And I'm still waiting on that live elephant.

8:02 Hilarious! Speaking of the evil liberal media. The internet feed just focused on a shot of a sleeping delegate.

8:03 Pundits Shields and Brooks are as concerned as I am with yesterday's lack of substance. They also address the concern that Palin and Co. need to get a message across to important moderate Republicans and Independents without alienating those same voters by the socially conservative positions to which the media reports and intense Christian right enthusiasm have wedded her.

8:07 On the internet feed, a woman of Asian descent who claims she is a Democrat (turn coat!) reads the teleprompter...poorly. I see why PBS is ignoring it. She's talking about a $5,000.00 tax credit for small business to purchase health insurance.

8:11 Michael Williams (chair of the Texas railroad commission) takes the stage and PBS thinks he's important enough to show us. He is also a person of minority descent, in this instance a Black man. He is also a Democrat (turn coat). He slams Barak Obama.

8:12 He just slammed teaching unions.

8:13 He supports fetuses. And lower taxes. My question is WHY THE HECK DOES THIS GUY IDENTIFY HIMSELF AS A DEMOCRAT?

8:15 Now on stage, a person of Hispanic descent. I think he may actually be a Republican. Way not to be a turn coat!! Oh, here is his name. He is Luis Fortuno, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico. Um, dude, didn't they tell you. You are from Puerto Rico. You don't get vote for president. They really should have explained this to you, before you came such a long way.

8:18 Jim Lehrer explains that Luis Fortuno is the non-voting delegate to Congress for Puerto Rico. So he's just like Elanor Holmes Norton only his Puerto Rico can't even vote for President. At least D.C. gets 3 electoral votes.

8:21 Meg Whitman, former president and CEO of ebay and big McCain supporter. She talks about succeeding in business as a woman.

8:25 She talks about energy independence, and lowering taxes. People! My roads have lots of pot-holes. The bridge near where you are speaking FELL INTO THE RIVER. This country needs money for infrastructure. Lowering taxes will not leave enough money over to fix the breaking bridges. Just a concern, I'd like to raise.

8:33 First Repub PR video of the night. PBS isn't showing it and I can't guess the narrator, so, well, the thrill is gone for me.

8:34 Hold on, this narrator sounds like a character actor I remember from an episode of Angel. Victor Raider-Wexler. That's my guess.

8:40 On the stage, Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlitt-Packard speaks on stage. Wow, so far tonight, the GOP is doing a good job of limiting number of old white guys on stage.

8:46 She keeps talking about 2013. She is really looking forward to that year. Me, I'm just working my way to 2009. On year at a time, Lady!

8:48 She says McCain will veto bills laden with pork. I really don't see how he is going to do that alone. My understanding is that EVERY bill that goes to the president is full of earmarks. To keep that promise he'll have to veto everything. To really limit pork he needs a set of allies INSIDE Congress. Seeing as how there is an election coming up in which other people are also running for office, you think some Congressman or Senator would get up there and say: "I will support McCain in Congress and work with him to limit pork/earmark spending." No one has done that. Instead, they try to harp on McCain's bi-partisanship. I'm just saying, they could make the argument more persuasively while helping out some Rep's reelection bid.

8:53 Sigh! Now Gwen Ifel's on the floor talking to some delegates who actually say that Palin's quality as a "good mother" is a factor to be considered in supporting her nomination. Argh! Comments like that explicitly invite the questions by the "evil liberal media" regarding her ability to juggle family and work. BECAUSE OF THOSE COMMENTS IT IS A LEGITIMATE QUESTION. If you don't make those comments, and you shouldn't, it's not a legitimate question.

8:56 On stage now: former Lt. Gov. of Maryland, Michael Steele. By the way, he's Black.

8:58 Is it wrong of me to be pointing out people's skin color and ethnic descents?

8:59 A camera shot of the floor shows people passing out "Palin" signs. T minus 1.5 hours until the Queen appears! Oh, the anticipation!

9:00 I would make tonight's drinking game "every time someone says 'Country First'" but seeing how that is the actual campaign slogan, it seems to easy.

9:01 Heh. Former Lt. Gov. just said "drill baby, drill baby, drill baby now"

9:02 And the crowd is now chanting "drill baby, drill" There's your sound-byte environmentalists! Start filming your 527 ads right now.

9:03 "Do you put your country first?" he asks. "We all put our country first," is what I still want to reflexively answer. Damn you and your accurately put eloquence, Barak Obama.

9:05 Mitt Romney takes the stage. Get ready for some serious Obama bashing.

9:07 Mitt Romney is calling Washington liberal. Sometimes I think that no matter how many conservative policies the Repubs wrangle out of Washington, no matter how many terms the Repubs get controlling Congress and the Presidency, they will inexplicably never be satisfied.

9:10 In case you were wondering, yes, Romney still wears Ronald Reagan hair.

9:11 Huh, so far he's just bashing liberals. You know, like the ones who make up the vast majority of the state he used to govern. When does the Obama bashing start?

9:12 Woah, Romney. The mortgage crisis is partly the fault of fiscal conservatives who de-regulated banks. (the bigger part of the fault is of stupid people who think they can get something for nothing and not have to pay the consequences). You can't blame the mortgage crisis on liberals. That won't wash.

9:13 He just bashed Al Gore's private jet. Legit if he's bashing Al Gore for hypocrisy on environmental issues. No so legit when you consider that Romney probably has at least one jet of his own, highlighting how he's not really one-with-the-common man.

9:15 Romney sooooo wants to run for Pres in 2012. This dude will say anything to get this base excited. And then he has the gall. The GALL. to mention "straight talk."

9:17 I really don't like Romney. He comes off slick and pandering to me.

9:17 Romney is done. And I don't think he named Obama personally once. Just the liberals. Like I said, he's just trying out his rhetoric for the 2012 campaign.

9:19 PBS Panel of Historians!! They talk about running for office when the economy is down. Huh. Beschloss points out that in 1980 when inflation and unemployment were high, the race between Regan and Carter was still tight. It widened when Regan framed the race with "are you better off than four years ago." I love this history stuff!!

9:21 David Brooks agrees with me, that Romney's speech was practice to be the next right wing nominee. 2012, here Romney comes. Their right. What really took the cake was calling the Roberts Supreme Court "liberal."

9:26 Mike Huckabee speaks next. I don't agree with half of what this guy says, but I like him.

9:27 Mike Huckabee thanks the "elite media" for unifying the party. Elite media says "you're welcome, crazy red-necks."

9:28 Mike Huckabee respects Obama and celebrates his achievement and agrees with him that this election is about YOU! See how nice, Huckabee is, while making his point. This is why you can't not like him.

9:30 There he goes. Huckabee bashes Obama for going to Europe and talking to people who can't even vote. Hey! Then why did you bring out the Puerto Rican? Oh, worse, Huckabee says, Obama brought back European ideas!!! European ideas like Enlighenment? John Locke? Adam Smith? We don't want any of that.

9:35 Huckabee claims that Palin got more votes running for Mayor of Wasilla than Biden got running for president. Sadly, I'm pretty sure he's wrong about that.

9:39 Huckabee told a story about desks, that my roommate assures me was very moving.

9:45 The governor of Hawaii is now speaking on stage, she assures us that Queen Sarah Palin will not reinvent herself in this campaign. (like Romney just did?)

9:46 My roommate is shocked that Hawaii has a Republican governor. She thinks Hawaii was on crack that election cycle.

9:52 Oh My. I think they are chanting Queen Sarah's name. No. they are chanting "zero."

9:54 Roommate points out that the 49th state is talking up the 50th state.

9:55 Hawaii lady points out that you can fit a lot of Delawares inside of Alaska. Well, gee, thanks for the geography lesson. We'll just ignore the whole population difference, because WE ARE STUPID.

9:56 Tonight's drinking game: every time someone says the word Maverick.

9:58 Time for the PBS historians, and talk of the gender gap. Dems are killing, KILLING, Repubs in the gender gap.

10:00 On stage now: Rudy Giuliani. He will introduce Palin. He assures us that he is not running for president and he does support John McCain. Thanks Capt. Obvious.

10:03 He says "we the people," not "the left wing" or the "celebrities" get to decide the election. Didn't anyone tell him that most American celebrities and media members are citizens and can vote?

10:05 John McCain is a "true American hero." Think they'll name a GI Joe character after him?

10:05 Alert, alert, alert!!! Giuliani just said McCain was tortured! Oops. He didn't get the GW Bush/Fred Thompson memo not to mention torture (because it might remind the country how WE ARE TORTURING prisoners)

10:08 Giuliani starts the Obama bashing. A Lot. "Barak Obama has never led anything," RIDICULOUSLY claims Giuliani. The evil liberal media will have a field day with all the exaggerations and extrapolations he's making with the Obama biography.

10:13 Heh. There's a shot of Huckabee in the audience. He looks uncomfortable. I'd like to think it's because of the crass arguments Giuliani's making on stage.

10:14 The "drill, baby, drill" chant is back.

10:15 Gotta say, Giuliani is having a lot of fun up there. He might not want to leave the stage.

10:16 Giuliani complains that the Dems didn't mention 9/11 in Denver. Well, thank goodness you are here, Rudy to remind us about it.....and brag about yourself at the same time.

10:18 Giuliani asks how many times Obama has changed his position? Should you really start talking about flip-flopping when Ms. Bridge To Nowhere is coming up next? Should you really start talking about flip-flopping when McCain has to explain his position on immigration. When John McCain has to explain how he voted with GW Bush 90% of the time but now wants to reform all those decisions? I just think you might be digging a bit of a hole here, Rudy. Be careful.

10:22 He's not being careful. The evil liberal media is going to slam him on a lot of stuff in this speech, not that he or anyone else in that convention center cares.

10:23 Finally, Giuliani changes tone and compliments McCain and Palin. Oh no. He's back to crassly mocking Obama. Nice shot about "clinging to religion though."

10:24 So Rudy seems to be implying that governing a town of 10,000 people is about the same as governing a town of 3 million? Yeah. Again, I'M NOT THAT STUPID.

10:26 With Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani tonight, how the heck is the McCain-Palin ticket going to transition to a message that resonates with the Independent voters? While he's firing up the crowd, and having a good time, he's providing no sound-bytes that will attract Independent voters.

10:29 Here' she is. Miss Wasilla. Sorry. I mean Queen Palin. Finally. She emerges from GOP seclusion where she has been vigorously practicing how to say Medvedev and Ahmadinajad.

10:30 I say it's pretty near impossible for her to give a bad speech tonight, what with the way this crowd loves her and is already riled up.

10:31 She accepts the nomination for VP? What? No roll call? No floor nomination? No seconding? GOP! Don't skip the fun, wonky nuts and bolts part.

10:32 You know, she's probably wearing the most expensive suit she has ever put on. Look what the lower 48 Dems have done to you Sarah! They put you in elitist designer clothes!

10:34 Oops. She just name checked "Profiles in Courage." Does she know JFK wrote that book?

10:35 She's introducing her kids....grand baby-gate, will she mention it?

10:38 Nope. Thank goodness.

10:39 Still talking about her family. She's on her parents how.

10:41 Huh. She name checks Harry Truman. Let's hope if she becomes president she can show the surprising skill that Harry Truman did. Uh oh. Did I say "hope?"

10:42 She dings Obama for "looking down" on her experience as mayor, and then bashes him for being a community organizer. No actually. She bashes the profession of community organizer. So much for that message of "service" from yesterday. Guess "service" of a small community only counts if you are elected to service.

10:44 She tells the liberal elite media to shove it. Yeah, if she ever lets herself be actually interviewed by any of them, I don't anticipate things will go so well.

10:48 She talks about ethics reform. She talks about spending reform. Also mentions how she got rid of the AK governor's jet and home chef. Which is pretty awesome.

10:50 Uh oh. She brought up the bridge to nowhere. The Dems will be taking that sound-byte, pasting it next to this picture and broadcasting a campaign ad in a TV market near you.

10:53 New drinking game: every time the crowd chants "drill baby, drill"

10:57 Man, these people love her. The same time she dings Obama for having a worshipful following, these delegates are looking at her like she's the second coming.

10:59 Ooh, she's naming states. She does know the names of some of the lower 48 states. See, liberal media. She's completely qualified!

11:00 Her delivery is good, but she's a little too smug when she tells a joke. She'll have to adjust that before less partisan audiences. Other than that, she's doing excellent.

11:03 She rips on community organizers again. Which considering her "folksy" message is a little galling. Those people do thankless work for little pay and no glamor. They also serve communities who need help. Not cool, Lady. Stick to criticizing Obama. Lay off disparaging a profession. Especially a profession that has a history of being on the edge of REFORMING politics and generating REFORMERS.

11:05 She's done. They will take her back into seclusion where she will answer absolutely NO questions from the press.

11:09 The family join her on stage. Her baby is very, very cute.

11:10 John McCain! He comes out on stage (a move he totally stole from Obama who did the same to Biden last week...he's even speaking with a hand-held mike like Obama did).

11:11 John McCain compliments Sarah Palin and her "beautiful family."

11:14 Pundit Brooks is in love with her delivery style. Shields is amazed, as I am, that she brought up the bridge to nowhere. Gwen Ifel seems to worry that McCain can't top Palin's speech tomorrow night.

11:16 Historian Richard Norton-Smith wonders as I do how this night will play for Independents at home. Beschloss thinks this is the first time a Pres nominee and a VP nominee have ever hugged. Beschloss also thinks Palin didn't tell us any new information about herself, which will be a problem in future interviews (if she even ever has any). The other Historian, Panil, thinks she exceeded expectations with her demeanor. The Pollster thinks she played the folksy and populist notes well. She will appeal to Repub and Dem populists.

11:23 The pundits are still talking. But I'm tired. So I will leave the broadcast early. Oh no. They are ending it too. Good night. I'll be back tomorrow night for the last Nite of the DNC. Let's see if John McCain can have the speech of his life.

08 RNC: Live Blogging Nite 1 (of Day 2)

2008-09-02T13:00:00.038-04:00

I know, I know. I promised you a live blog on Monday, but then this little watery, wind storm in the Gulf of Mexico sort of postponed things. But all is back on track (with substantial modifications). So tune in tonight. Again, I'll try to start blogging around 8:00 PM-ish.
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7:56 Coverage starts early!! Woo-hoo! But nothing's happening. The Republicans are playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" Don't stop believing in what?

8:01 Republican PR video, narrated by Boo Radley. Darn it! Don't tell me you are the narrator, Robert Duvall. The fun is in guessing. What-ev. PBS isn't even showing the video. Why not? It showed all the boring Dem PR videos. Mainstream Meadia (MSM) bias!!!!!!

8:03 Some lady is on stage talking up Minnesooota's hospitality. PBS still isn't showing it.

8:04 There they go. Ann Davidson, they show her speaking. Now my msnbc interne

8:06 Did she just call Sarah Palin, Sarah Polente?

8:07 Pink Elephants!!! I want to join that group. Do you have to wear a pink hat? Drink pink drinks?

8:08 Minnesota Senator Coleman speaks now. He's Jewish. A Jewish Republican? You betcha!

8:10 He reminds us about homeless people on the gulf coast. Republican drinking game of the evening: every time they say "gulf coast"

8:11 First direct Obama slam clocks in at 8:11 PM. That didn't take long.

8:12 This guy is a little boring. Bring back the pink elephant lady!!!!!!!!

8:13 The offer is still open Republicans. You bring out a live elephant, I'm voting for you!

8:14 My roommate points out someone in the audience is dressed up as Abe Lincoln. She says she would have attended if she had known it would be a costume party.

8:15 Essay winner! Topic: What does the American Flag mean to you. My answer: Olympic gold medals baby! The Minnesota student who won the essay contest has a much better answer than mine and she narrates it over some patriotic film clips. Her Minnesota accent is just precious.

8:19 The authoress, Victoria Blackstone, comes out and leads us in The Pledge of Allegiance. That was nice.

8:22 In the studio, Mark Shields is talking about that darn Palin grand baby. Yo. If you think it's not something we should be talking about, then DON'T TALK ABOUT IT. Yep. He's still talking about it.

8:23 Still taking about the grand baby. Oh yeah, and they're still talking about it in the context of "we shouldn't talk about it." WASTE OF TIME.

8:25 Argh! They're still talking about it.

8:26 Whew. No more baby talk; instead, Gwen Ifel (who will moderate the VP debate) asks Tucker Bounds, McCain mouthpiece, about Sarah Palin's qualifications. Oh Man, Campbell Brown ripped him a good one the other day on CNN when he couldn't name a single foreign policy decision she made as governor. I wonder if Gwen can make him look just as stupid.

8:28 Watch Tucker play defense: (1) Earmarks Palin got as mayor are okay since on her way to becoming governor she took a side trip to Damascus and saw the light and will never, ever do it again (except for those times that she did do it again). (2) She was totally vetted, all this stuff we are just learning about her McCain knew the whole time, which must be why it is going over so well with Dems and Independents.

8:30 Campbell kicked his ass much better.

8:33 Returning to the stage, Michele Bachmann, representative from Minnesota is speaking in a bright, Bright, BRIGHT yellow dress about how happy, Happy, HAPPY she is to be there. Actually, I really like her dress. I like yellow. And the dress has a cute belt buckle near the top.

8:36 Second Obama dig clocks in at 8:36. You know, for Republicans, they really are laying off the Obama digs. Must be a hurricane hangover.

8:38 I love how the Republican delegates have color coordinated their outfits by state delegation. Organization baby!

8:40 Wes Gullet and his daughter Nikki of Phoenix, Arizona take the stage. They are here because of Cindy McCain. They want to say hi to Cindy and her adopted daughter Bridget who are in the convention hall.

8:41 Nikki and Bridget were found by Cindy McCain in Bangledesh in an orphanage. She brought them to the U.S. for medical care and new parents. Awh. Cindy McCain is crying.

8:48 Back in the PBS booth, historian Michael Beschloss tells us about the history of "vetting." He pegs Tome Eagleton as the turning point for the modern vetting process.

8:49 Historian Richard Norton-Smith is having Dan Quayle flash-backs. PotatoE, Patata, I say.

8:57 Still talking about Dan Qualye. Where is Dan Qyalye? What happened to him?

9:01 Over on the internet feed, another speaker as mentioned "gulf coast," so take a drink you folks at home.

9:02 PBS is still talking to pundits and surrogates. They assure us that McCain is NOT temperamental. He is NOT/NO LONGER a darling of the press. Hmmm. Notice how, when he is no longer competing for primary votes against other, more-conservative Republicans he is even tempered and unfairly treated by the media.

9:05 Bushes in the HOUSE!!! HW and Barbara. They take seats near Cindy. But HW starts working the crowd who start yelling OBAMA, OBAMA. Sorry, it just sounded like Obama. Jim Lehrer says they are saying BUSH 1, BUSH 1

9:08 Next speaker: Capt Shanna Hanson, firefighter and first responder to the collapsed bridge last year. I'm still amazed that only 13 people died. Do you think she'll address how McCain will improve the country's infrastructure while still cutting taxes?

9:09 "gulf coast" mention 2 times. 2 more sips of my ice water.

9:11 another video is playing, but PBS is again ignoring it. I can't identify the narrator. The video is about Abe Lincoln, if you care.

9:13 The Republican party, somehow, is lacking speakers as interesting and compelling as the Democrats had. They have fewer speeches and are forcing the PBS pundits to keep talking about the same things. Good news for me. I get to have snack time.

9:14 Tommy Espinoza. Hew was a in Vietnam with John McCain. Now, THIS is interesting and compelling.

9:18 He's a nice, straight-forward guy with good enthusiasm. Sort of impossible to snark on.

9:20 On the floor, a PBS correspondent interviews a Vietnam vet who shared a POW cell with McCain, and it really illustrates how WELL John McCain has aged. This guy looks cowed by time. John McCain, by contrast seems spry. Oh, this guy is 83. Explains the difference in appearance.

9:23 Christine Todd Whitman!!! She could be a VP? Why not pick her, McCain? Oh, right, she doesn't pander to your base. Sorry, I brought it up. Todd-Whitman speaks to Gwen Ifel about GW Bush's legacy.

9:29 Todd Whitman does an excellent pitch for John McCain.

9:30 David Brooks points out Repubs are losing young people (me) and middle class people (sort of me....depending on what your definition of middle class is). So, McCain will have to move to the center. By picking a progressive Veep? Oops. Guess he'll have to do it some other way. AND QUICK!!!!!!

9:33 David Brooks brought out the funny. Only a PBS pundit would make a joke while referencing 1066 and the Battle of Hastings!

9:34 On the stage and in the internet feed, another PR video is playing and the narrator sounds like Gary Sinise.

9:35 PBS actually will show this video. And this time Jim Lehrer ruins my guess the narrator game. At least I was correct, it is Gary Sinise.

9:38 Gary narrates the tale of Navy Seal, Mike Monsour, who won the Medal of Honor in sacrificing his life for his fellow soldiers.

9:42 Question? Why is Barbara Bush wearing a Lei on her arm? Quick! Someone explain to her that Barak Obama is from Hawaii. See, this is what happens when you don't watch the opposing convention. You miss out on important information.

9:43 The convention continues to recognize other medal of honor recipients, many POWs, and veterans in the audience including HW Bush!!!!! Yay for Bush #1 and for all Navay Pilots. Disclosure: My uncle was a Navy Pilot.

9:45 Laura Bush is on the stage. She as excited to see her inlaws in the audience as I am.

9:46 Sarah Palin gets a bigger cheer from the crowd than McCain does. These people don't seem to see the problem with that.

9:47 Laura starts rattling off all the women who have served in the GW Bush administration. If you call naming only three of them "rattling." Seriously, Laura, you couldn't think of at least two more?

9:53 Ladies and Gentlemen, via satellite, Laura's husband and our President: GW Bush. Wow, he starts off talking about the hurricane without mentioning...whoops...there it is, "gulf coast."

9:54 GW gives a shout-out to his mom and dad. Awh.

9:55 GW talks about McCain being tortured and how the torture was ineffective in getting McCain to break. He and the cheering delegates exhibit no sense of irony as GW says this.

9:58 GW talks up "The Surge," which, coincidentally is the planned name of Sarah and Todd Palin's next child.

10:01 GW talks up his wife, and the smile on his face is very sweet.

10:02 GW blesses me and America. And then he goes away.

10:03 But Laura picks up the figurative baton and thanks the delegates and Repubs at home for supporting the Bushes.

10:04 Another Video?! I can see why PBS has quit showing the ubiquitous PR videos.

10:08 Fred Thompson, a.k.a. D.A. Arthur Branch, takes the stage. Someone should tell the organizers that changing the pictures on the gi-mungous TV screen behind the podium is distracting for TV viewers like me.

10:11 Right now, Thompson is talking more about Palin than McCain. Not the best thing to do during the 10:00 PM ABC/NBC/CBS broadcast. Average Joe America might not get the message of who JOHN McCAIN IS!!!

10:14 Finally. Thompson speaks about the presidential nominee. With less enthusiasm, I note.

10:15 Thompson points out all the McCains in the audience. A respectable bunch. Still, nowhere near as numerous as all those freekin' Bidens.

10:16 Thompson brags about John McCain's demerits at the Naval Academy. I'm sure kids tomorrow, at school, will use it as an excuse when they are sent to detention. "I'm sorry mister Vice Principal but I learned from John McCain that demerits are an honorable, leadership building, trait. So can I be excused from detention, please?"

10:18 Thompson starts telling the entire Vietnam story of John McCain...in detail. If this gets re-hashed in another Repub PR video, I will be very annoyed.

10:22 Thompson talks about how McCain, under pressure of torture, gave false information. The applauding crow STILL DOES NOT GET THE IRONY. I'm sure each one of them approves of torture techniques for extracting information from terrorists and believes that such techniques get reliable information. It makes you want to hit them on the head. I want my own irony mallet. I'll take it to Minnesota and start smacking torture and "severe interrogation techniques" supporters with it. I won't smack them too hardly, of course. That might be torture.

10:26 Thompson mentions McCain's fight against earmark spending. Funny how he doesn't mention Sarah Palin this time.

10:27 Thompson just dissed Obama for using teleprompters. Hey pot! If you look closely at those teleprompters surrounding you on stage, they have pictures of kettles on them. (And I really hope he isn't using those teleprompters (it looks like he isn't) because otherwise, what he just said is dumber than dumb).

10:31 Oooh. Tax talk. That gets a standing ovation when Thompson makes a good point about taxing businesses. He can keep that ovation as long as he doesn't talk about that sinker of an economic idea: Gas Tax Holiday.

10:33 Giant, Huge, Boisterous Ovation for not killing fetuses.

10:35 Instead of blessing me (as the President did), Thompson signs off by blessing John McCain and America.

10:36 Mark Shields notes that Thompson got the biggest cheers for knocking Obama, but not for talking up McCain.

10:40 Turncoat Joe Lieberman takes the stage. Lots of Repubs like him. I can't understand why? It's just so strange to see him up there.

10:40 He said "gulf coast," take a drink!

10:42 Joe Lieberman decries partisanship at a PARTY Convention. As you expect, he gets barely any applause for that.

10:43 Joe explains why he's here: Country matters more than party. Then he talks about how being American is more important than being in a party and he comes close to Obama's message of "We are American's first." Heh. Obama said it better.

10:45 Joe keeps talking up this version of a unity theme, which doesn't seem to fit, because I associate unity with the eloquence of Obama.

10:47 No applause for the Patriot Act? What's wrong Repubs? I thought you loved the Patriot Act? I thought your party platform requires you to love it and all phrases that contain the word Patriot or Patriotism. You patented patriotism, right? No one is ever allowed to question a Republican's patriotism, right?

10:49 Very mild applause for fighting global warming. And the Repubs wonder why they are losing young people.

10:50 Kids, eloquence is bad. Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. It means you are an elitist.

10:51 Lieberman alleges that Obama has been unable to take on powerful interest groups within the Democratic Party. Um. Didn't Obama beat the Clinton machine to get the nomination?

10:53 Lieberman keeps talking about national unity. It's very confusing, because the Republicans' inability to compromise and allow McCain to select a moderate Veep candidate, pretty much shows me how NOT READY this party is for "unity."

10:55 Now he's talking about unity in the context of war in Iraq. Even more confusing since polls say that most of the country is unified in wanting the troops to come home right now.

10:56 Ooh, Lieberman speaks directly to Dems and Independents watching at home. He does so by saying nothing of substance. He tells them to vote for McCain because he is a "straight talker" and a "restless reformer." Oh, well, Joe. If you say so, then sure!

10:59 Lieberman wants me to vote for the man who has always put America first. I guess he didn't get the Obama memo. WE ALL PUT AMERICA FIRST! (I really do like that Obama line, of course, it is eloquent, ergo it must be bad. Joe Lieberman spoke without eloquence, ergo he must be good.)

11:01 The big speeches are over. None of them that enjoyable or interesting except for the President's and Laura's.

11:02 The historians note that tonight asked people to vote for McCain based on his biography rather than his policies.

11:05 Historian Michael Beschloss is as skeptical as I am at the resonance of the tacked-on unity theme. He especially notes the Irony (where did I put that Irony Mallet?) that Lieberman, who was not chosen Veep because the Repub party couldn't stomach a Democrat turned Independent, espouses bipartisanship.

11:09 Nite 1 of Day 2 is over. See you tomorrow, where the Repub delegates will go INSANE over their new queen Sarah Palin. Also, we might hear something about McCain's substantive policy agenda, but don't get your hopes up.

08 DNC: Live Blogging Nite 4

2008-08-28T09:00:00.073-04:00

Tonight the DNC takes the party outside where Barak Obama will spread hope and feed the multitudes at Invesco Field with just five loaves and two fishes. Yes, this blog just got blasphemous.

Live blogging starts 8:00 PM-ish EST.

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FYI Introduction to the PBS broadcasting team

When I speak of Jim Lehrer, I mean this guy. He is the anchor/moderator.

When I speak of Mark Shields and David Brooks, I mean these guys. They are the left-wing and right-wing leaning pundits, respectively.

When I speak of Michael Beschloss and Edward Norton-Smith, I mean these guys. They are political historians.

If I speak of Peniel Joseph, I mean this guy. He is an African-American studies historian.

You got that? Now let's start live blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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8:00 PM 75,000 people stand around waving flags in the Colorado sunshine inside a football field.

8:01 Turns out those 75,000 people are there "to be part of history."

8:03 I'm gonna keep my eyes peeled. Some guy I know is out there in that crowd.

8:03 First up on the podium in primetime: Mark Udall. He's running for senator? governor? Anyway, he's got on a bolo tie and a $50 haircut, and I can't see them, but I bet he's wearing expensive cowboy boots.

8:07 Next up, Tim Kaine the governor of Virginia (a truly beautiful state, with a sadly hap-hazard road system, especially in the north).

8:08 Tim Kaine was on Obama's almost-veep short list.

8:10Waoh, watch out, he's quoting scripture (Matthew 17:20 -- For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you). He's sort of telling the Rocky Mountains in the background to move. Now he's speaking Spanish. This guy's all over the place.

8:11Now he's talking about "putting faith into action." Wow, it's like I'm in a time warp to 2000 and watching GW Bush speak at his convention.

8:12 Oh my. It's like a church revival speech. The crowd's not sure what to do with it. Mr. Kaine should try this out next week in Minnesota, he'd get a much better reaction.

8:14 Warning. Bill Richardson is approaching the podium. Out of safety concerns I explained last night, I will be shutting down my brain temporarily.

8:15 You know, SNL actor Horatio Sanz does a dead-on Bill Richardson impersonation, because looking and listening at the screen (and not comprehending the words...safety first) I want to laugh. It feels like a parody of what a Latino politician should sound like.

8:19 By the way, Richardson (I've put him on mute now...newly imposed safety precaution) is still sporting his " Obama and Hillary totally kicked my ass in the primaries and I had to drop out" beard, but he's shaved it to make himself look like someone from the 1800's. Seriously, it dips down to show off clean-shaven cheeks.

8:23 Whew. It's over. I'm turning the sound back on.

8:25 Bon Jovi is playing in the background. Not live. But Lehrer tells me that Stevie Wonder is going to perform LIVE in a few minutes.

8:27 Hilarious! Lehrer is rushing Shields. "Hurry up and finish because Stevie Wonder is coming out," he says!!! Who knew Jim Lehrer was such a Stevie Wonder fanboy.

8:30 Stevie Wonder comes out. Fanboy Lehrer is gushing.

8:31 Awh, Stevie says he loves me. You know, he just doesn't say that enough.

8:32 Stevie Wonder and his back-up singers sing. I'm gonna think about what snack I want from the kitchen.

8:37 Stevie hits the second song on his set list: Sing, Sealed, Delivered (Stevie is ours!)

8:40 Uh oh. PBS Correspondent Ray Suarez is talking to some academics who have written books on Obama. One of them has a very distracting lazy eye.

8:42 They've looked at excerpts of Obama's speech tonight (as have I) and say it will be more nuts and bolts and less big uplifting themes.

8:45 Oh Dear, they invited that other loser. The Emmy, Oscar, Nobel Prize winning loser. Seriously, he was that big a loser the world gave him all those awards for that. Al Gore, ladies and gentlemen.

8:46 And I say big loser, because to lose by that small a margin (when you should have won. who doesn't win their HOME STATE? if your neighbors won't vote for you, why should we?) makes the loss that much bigger.

8:47 Al Gore's speech is presented to you in If-Then form. "If I had been President, then the world would be full of puppies and daisies." "If I had been President, then this country would be exporting organic bunnies and putting pumpkin spice enhanced fuel in its cars."

8:51 In contrast to Bill Richardson, Al Gore is NOT wearing his "I lost so I can feel free to let myself go" beard. He's clean shaven.

8:57 Al Gore's speech summarized for your convenience: Environment! blah, blah, blah, blah, Special Interests! blah, blah, blah, blah, Eight Years Ago! blah, blah, blah, blah, Time For A Change! blah, blah, blah, blah, Inconvenient Truth* blah, blah, blah Elect Barak Obama.

(*) Yes. He just plugged his own Oscar winning movie.

9:01 Mark Shields says he isn't sure why Gore lost the presidential race. Uh... Cause HE LOST HIS HOME STATE. Eleven electoral votes. That's all he needed to put himself over the top.

9:04 Ooh. Historian round table time!

9:05 They're talking a lot about Adlai Stevenson. I remember him from history classes.

9:10 More Who's McCain gonna pick talk.

9:10 Awesome! David Brooks almost swore. The idea of McCain picking Mitt Romney as a running mate scares the.......[searches for PBS appropriate word]...heck out of him. Heh.

9:11 Susan Eisenhower, granddaughter of President Ike, speaks on stage. She grew up in Gettysburg, PA. (Remember Pickett's Charge!!)

9:12 Oh wow. She really just name checked "Pickett's Charge." Get out of my head, Lady.

9:15 Tribute to high ranking military veterans. A lot of Generals and Admirals walk out on stage. Woah, the Navy has an African American Woman Admiral. Cool. Did I mishear or does one of those generals have the last name "Fignewton?" I swear I heard the announcer say "General Fig Newton."

9:17 The general selected to speak for them says he's a Missionary Kid. My dad always told me there were two types of people I couldn't trust in this world: Preacher Kids and Mish Kids.

9:21 I checked. I heard right. General "Fig" Newton is on stage. You can't see it, but I'm shaking my head in shame.

9:23 Biden's back on stage.

9:24 Biden explains for the slow people that they are in a stadium in the OPEN AIR at an OPEN CONVENTION. Get it?

9:28 Roy Gross, delegate from Michigan speaks on stage. He's part of a series of delegates who will speak about the grass roots campaigning they've done and how Obama inspires them. Do we need tissues for this? Are these going to be inspirational tear-jerking stories?

9:30 Nope. Roy Gross is done. I did not cry.

9:30 Monica Early from Cuyohoga Falls (read: Cleveland, OH) is inspired by Obama because he's a fighter. She's pretty good for a (alleged) newbie.

9:34Janet Lynn Monaco. She's from Florida by way of a New York/New Jersey accent. Just like 1/3 of Florida. She's very angry with GW Bush and John McCain. She's sort of intimidating.

9:36Sweet little Latina lady, Teresa Asenapp, from New Mexico speaks. Her grandma couldn't read or write, but little Teresa has a degree in education. She's cute and peppy.

9:39 Pam from Pittsboro, NC. I love the North Carolina accent, mostly because I used to have one. Pam and her hubby had health insurance problems. She's a nurse who didn't earn much and thus could not afford health insurance. I just do not understand! You work in the health care industry and don't budget for health insurance? I'm assuming she worked part time. And that she and her hubby had some seriously expensive pre-existing health conditions. Still, a nurse without health insurance! She should have the knowledge and resources to find something, without needing the government to hold her hand. Sorry? Did I reveal my position on national health insurance? Oops.

9:40 Barney Smith from the Indiana heartland. He used to be a Republican. (Turn-coat!). His job got sent overseas. He gets a big reaction out of this line: "We need a president who puts Barney Smith before Smith Barney." Did Barney Smith just insult my broker? I think he sort of did?

9:42 Lehrer, Shields, and Brooks, like me, think these salt-of-the-earth people were pretty awesome speakers. Much better than the slick politicians.

9:49 Brooks grades tonight so far as B/B+. Shields thinks the crowd is joyful and full of smiles. The people are dancing. Heh. David Brooks says the dancing is better than usual because the delegates are younger than usual. Them young kids got more rhythm. (I'm wondering if some of those people are drunk. Young people in a football stadium in the beer commercial capital of the U.S.....some of them must have indulged.)

9:54 The PBS Patented (not really) Panel of Historians speak about today's connection to MLK, Jr's "I have a dream" speech, which happened 45 years ago this very day.

9:55 Beschloss says this in the stadium thing has been done before by FDR in a field, but FDR's leg brace broke and he fell climbing the podium. Thank goodness for no cameras.

9:56 Back at Invesco field, Illinois Senator Dick Durban introduces Illinois Senator Barak Obama.

9:58 Wow, the little Obama daughters are all fired up, screaming like they are at a pep rally (which they sort of are). They really are cute.

10:02 Ode to Obama DNC obligatory PR video. Narrated by David Strathairn! I love that guy's voice.

10:05 Gotta say, I really do enjoy Obama's life story. It's a heck of a story.

10:11 Here he comes, Mr. American Dream, Barak Obama. On stage. Wow, that stadium really is completely full.

10:13 My father would like me to emphasize that Obama's full name is Barak Hussein Obama. Not because my father is a jingoist Republican, but because my father's middle name is also Hussein.

10:15 He accepts the nomination. Great. Are we done here? Can we go?

10:17 Check it. He's wearing a flag pin. Good going America, way to force a man to accessorize.

10:19 Woah. He vehemently spit out GW Bush's name there. Pent-up aggression much?

10:20 Oooh, he's getting angry again. This is new. You're black Obama. You aren't allowed to get angry. It scares us sensitive white people.

10:21 Whew. He smiled. Angry Obama is gone for now.

10:22 Frickin' digital signal just blipped out again.

10:23 We now enter the rip on John McCain portion of the speech.

10:25 Have they learned nothing from the Republicans? Instead of the same-old, same-old McCain is out of touch riff, call McCain a flip-flopper. Much more effective. (Of Course then Obama would have to justify his flip flop on accepting federal campaign funds....which he justified poorly the last time he tried).

10:30 This speech is sort of boring...for Obama.

10:32 Obama is finally going to tell us what CHANGE means: (1) CHANGE how tax breaks are distributed; (2) CHANGE how tax incentives are distributed; (3) CHANGE our dependence on oil from the middle east within 10 years. (Gotta say, this list of specific changes is sort of interesting)

10:35 Education. He's not really going to CHANGE it. I think he's going to try and make it better.

10:39 Hmm. Obama speaks on family morals, specifically individual responsibility of parents to their children.

10:42 He called McCain stubborn. He should say that more often. I think that could stick.

10:43 New Obama drinking game: every time he says "change America needs"

10:45 Obama pronounces Iran properly.

10:46 Next test: can he pronounce Ahmadinajad correctly?

10:47 He's gettin' loud again. Well done. He subtly addresses the "patriotism" issue by addressing the camera and forcefully saying WE ALL put America first.

10:49 Oh. He's returning to his element, talking about how Americans can UNIFY on issues, while using specific examples. Well done.

10:50 Shoot. He must be doing well now. I've run out of snarky things to say.

10:51 And here comes the HOPE portion of the speech. Obama says "this election is not about me it's about you." Mr. Obama, if this election is about me, could I please get a DOJ job when you become president? Thanks much.

10:55 Obligatory MLK Jr. "I have a dream" anniversary reference.

10:56 Obama concludes by blessing me and the United States of America. I do, I feel so blessed. You remember that bit about a DOJ job, won't you, Obama? Thanks.

10:58 Michelle and the girls (all dressed in shades of pink) join him on stage.

10:59 Fireworks. Confetti. Streamers. But no balloons. Save the fishes, spare the balloons. At least the Republicans will have balloons.

11:00 Wouldn't it be fun if they brought a live donkey on stage? Rally around the mascot? Maybe if they had a better mascot they'd do it.

11:02 Historian Richard Norton-Smith thinks the speech sacrificed eloquence for electability. Beschloss really liked the speech because it coherently explained who he was and where he is going.

11:05 Pundit Shields likes how Obama addressed the patriotism issue and how he got specific with "promises." Now for the lone conservative in the house: David Brooks. Brooks was underwhelmed. His words "emotionally diffident." He thinks holding it outside is a mistake because it disconnected Obama from the audience.

11:08 Oooh fight, fight, fight. Historian Richard Norton-Smith disagrees with David.

11:09 PBS coverage of the 08 DNC is over and so is mine.

Thanks for reading. Visit the blog next week when the Republicans have their big party. I promise to vote for McCain if they bring out a live elephant. Do you hear me, GOP? I want live elephants!!!!!

08 DNC: Live Blogging Nite 3

2008-08-27T14:29:00.065-04:00

Woo-Hoo! It's my first (perhaps only) attempt at live blogging. When presidential election years roll around I become a bit of a political junkie. I watch the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. And I watch them on PBS, because PBS kindly invites top-notch pundits and historians to comment on the action for viewers. Unlike on other networks, these pundits and historians are ALWAYS well mannered and respectful. Oh yeah, and they are actually informative and insightful.

So, starting around 8pm EST, click through below to find out what goes on in my head as I watch a national party convention.

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8:06 PM Lehrer is forcing Brooks and Shields to compare Bill and Barak. This will not end well.

8:08 Lehrer is having technical difficulties. He tries to throw to Harry Reid on the podium. Harry doesn't show up. Lehrer is ticked! "They're not following the schedule," he actually says. Awesome.

8:10 Harry Reid shows up. He starts with a history lesson. Fitting since he looks like a history professor.

8:15 Harry is still talking, but my digital signal is intermittently shorting out which leads me to my mini rant against digital signals. Oh analog how I will miss you and your constant snowy visibility even in the worst of times. Why must the government force me to change to fickle, annoying digital signal, which sacrifices constant transmission for clear picture. What do I care that my picture is super-crystal-clear if it blips out when the signal dips. Analog signal dips and all I deal with is a little snow, I can still hear and see. With digital....not so much. End. Of. Rant. Now I'll think about paying attention to what Harry Reid is saying.

8:19 Harry Reid says "Republicans sell magic beans!" I kid you not.

8:23 Now on the podium: Sargent Major Michelle Jones, the highest ranking female NCO in the Army. She stands before us as a citizen and wearing a pant-suit, "'cause that's the only way the Army would let her do that," says my roommate.

8:25 Gotta say, Michelle Jones is an impressive lady.

8:26 Pennsylvania in the HOUSE! Cutie-pie (seriously, are Congressional Reps allowed to be young and pretty?) Patrick Murphy, PA representative for the 8th district (What up, Quakertown!) takes the stage with a bunch of other people who I assume are military types.

8:31 Patrick Murphy is the only Iraq war veteran serving in congress. Lehrer clarifies (helpfully) that the dudes standing behind him are also Iraq war veterans.

8:33 Maddie Albright takes the stage. Her claim to fame? She spoke at my college graduation and my dad complained that she was too short and he was unable to see her behind the teleprompters she is using. Oh yeah, she was also the first woman to be Secretary of State

8:37 Evan Bayh on the stage giving his consolation I-almost-got-to-be-the-Veep-again speech. Better luck next presidential election cycle, Evan.

8:39 Question? If Foreign Policy is the theme of the evening, why ask the governor of Indiana to speak on that? I mean when I think Indiana, I don't really think Hamas. Yeah, he's talking about Hamas.

8:42 Oops. I just checked wikipedia. He's a senator now, since like 1999. Boy did I quit paying attention. So I guess his membership on the Armed Services and Intelligence committees qualifies him. Hey, look now he's veered off into domestic issues. I didn't think you could keep up the int'l security talk for long Evan.

8:45 Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island. Lehrer tells me he was also on the Obama almost-Veep short list, but I've still never heard of him. Ooh, he tells me he "has commanded paratroopers." Also, Rhode Island seems like a nice state. I'd like to visit it some time. Now Jack Reed says that servicemen just luuuuv meeting Barak Obama. 'Cause he's a celebrity?

8:48 I'm sort of looking forward to Joe Biden getting up there. I want to hear someone say something SUBSTANTIVE about foreign policy. I think Biden can deliver on that. At least he did during the primary debates.

8:53 Former VP to Pres Carter, Wlater Mondale, sits down in the "skybox" with Lehrer, Brooks and Shields. Mondale thinks that Biden will help interface smoothly between Obama and Congress. Methinks Mondale makes a good point. Now Mondale switches to talking about what an awesome VP he was. That didn't take long.

9:00 On the podium, Rep Kendrick Meek (never heard of him) is introducing his "good friend" Bill Clinton. Heh. He reads the teleprompter loudly but woodenly.

9:03 Oh Lord. It's Bill. Lehrer points out that Bill has spoken at every Dem Convention since 1988. I wouldn't be sorry to see that streak end.

9:05 The crowd finally lets him talk. "I love this," he says. Nice how he admits how much he craves attention.

9:10 Will Bill address Obama's readiness "on day one?"

9:12 No. He talks about what a good choice Biden is. (OMG!! I wholeheartedly agree with Bill on something. Quick, look out the window for flying pigs. Wait. I forgot how I agreed with him on NAFTA, you know back before his wife conveniently decided that NAFTA was a bad idea. The pigs have flown before.).

9:16 Bill must be wearing a lot of make-up. Usually by now, his face is much redder.

9:21The speech is meh. Not as good, rhetorically, as Hillary's last night. But he's working the crowd with that Bill Clinton magic, so enthusiasm-wise, it evens out.

9:22 Whoops. There he goes, waxing eloquently about policy statistics and comparisons. Classic Bill.

9:23 Now he compares Obama to himself and SORT OF ADDRESSES HOW OBAMA'S PERCEIVED LACK OF EXPERIENCE ISN'T A DEAL BREAKER. Wow, that comes close to the ready-on-day-one criticism. Of course, he did it by talking about how awesome he is. Classic Bill.

9:25 The Clinton portion of the convention is OVAH!

9:30 It's my favorite part of the broadcast!!!! The PBS panel of historians!!!!

9:32 What?!? Kerry is going to speak? Why did they invite that loser? He'll just cast a pall of loosieness (it's a word. maybe. I'm sure President Bush would use it).

9:33 Kerry speaks from the podium. "We're gonna win this time," he says. "Because I'm not running," he does not add.

9:36 Shut down Gitmo? Stop torture? Pipe-dreams like this. It's why he didn't win........that and Carl Rove.

9:37 Kerry makes a rhetorically confusing analogy between "candidate McCain" and "senator McCain" as part of a segue into a "he was for it before he was against it" crack. (legitimately) bitter much?

9:41 Actually, Kerry's not doing half badly.

9:42 Heh. Kerry talked about being first and then said "no one" before taking a big pause and I seriously thought he might say "No one puts Obama in a corner!" He didn't. Would have been cool if he did.

9:43 Kerry points out Obama's white WWII war veteran great-uncle in the gallery. Whitewashing the Obama story. Almost literally.

9:46 Mark Shields agrees with me, that Kerry's speech was uncharacteristically good. "Firey" and "passionate" were the words he used. Non-sleep-inducing are the words I'd use.

9:48 On the stage now: The only female 3 star army general, Claudia Kennedy (retired). Sargent Major Michelle Jones seems tougher, but I think sargent majors are supposed to seem tougher.

9:51 PBS goes to commercial. Bet you thought PBS didn't have any commercials.

9:55 PBS coverage is back baby!

9:57 Ugh! Bill Richardson is next on the podium. You don't mind if I tune him out do you? Because if I pay attention to his ill informed opinions on foreign policy my brain will overheat and melt with frustration. Thanks.

9:58 Whew! Scheduling error again. No Bill Richardson. Rep Chet Edwards from the great state of Texas steps up to the podium. He talks about veterans.

10:01 The first DNC PR video of the night. The theme: military servicemen. Time for me to play guess the narrator. It sounds like a familiar actor. But which one? It's on the tip of my tongue. Speak again narrator. Speak! So I can identify you.

10:03 Drat. He spoke again. I'm not going to be able to ID this guy, and imdb.com is going to be no help.

10:05 Tom Hanks! It's Tom Hanks. Embarrassing how long it took me to realize that.

10:08 Okay, now I don't look so smart because Tom Hanks is ON SCREEN completely ruining my guess the narrator game. It's only fun when there's that small chance that your guess could be wrong.

10:08 Lehrer clarification: Richardson will speak tomorrow night. Brain melt-down reprieve. For you and me.

10:14 Roundtable discussions about tonight's emphasis on the military. Pundit consensus: preemptive strike against the McCain asset of being a military hero.

10:17 VP Nominating speech being made by Quincy Lucas, delgate from Delaware (the first state, so says the license plate), at the podium. She is PROUD to place into nomination the name of Joe Biden.

10:18 "Is there a second?" asks Nancy Pelosi (looking fairly glam in shiny blue and pearls) from the podium. The crowded floor loudly seconds. I love this part. The nuts and bolts, pro forma, do it because it represents our form of government and who we are, part. It's why I watch. Pelosi bangs the gavel and declares Joe Biden officially nominated!

10:22 Ode to Joe Biden obligatory DNC PR video. I really like Joe Biden. I was going to vote for him (as part of my one woman right wing conspiracy to not elect Hillary Clinton primary voting strategy) against Hillary but then he dropped out and I went with Obama. That's right, I've voted Obama. And I'll do it again if I have to.

10:24 Awh. His son Beau Biden introduces him. (Army JAG will be shipping off to Iraq soon) Question: what's your position on naming children alliteratively? For or against?

10:30 Here he is, your potential VP Joe Biden.

10:30 Lehrer clarification news flash: Beau Biden is not Beau Biden's real name he chooses to go by Beau. He chooses to be alliterative.

10:31 Joe Biden is about to cry talking about how much he loves his family. Now he talks about Hillary and Bill. He's nowhere near close to crying now.

10:33 By the way, he accepts the nomination. If he hadn't it could have been awkward.

10:34 He takes a dig at Cheney. Fun! I give him bonus points if he mentions the shot gun incident.

10:35 Joe Biden's mom is alive and in the gallery. She and McCain's mom should patent their genes (can you even do that?).

10:36 Joe Biden is from Scranton and Delaware. Can you think of a more unglamorous or more mundane geographic pedigree?

10:37 Drinking game: every time you hear the phrase "American Dream"

10:38 I didn't blog last night, but a good drinking game for yesterday was: every time you hear the phrase "I was the first in my family to graduate from college"

10:44 Uh oh. Biden starts talking about all the money oil companies are making and tax breaks McCain will give them. And I was going to vote for this guy in the primary? Tsk, tsk. Warning: portions of this speech may contain spurious, pandering logic.

10:50 The Democrats' Georgia argument. I just don't get it. They imply GW Bush mishandled it, but are they really saying that we should have physically intervened. Isn't their whole mantra less military involvement abroad? How does that mantra gel with their Georgia (the republic of, not the peanut/peach state) argument?

10:51 Joe Biden says Iran wrong.

10:53 Biden is done. Bring on the pundit and historian round tables PBS. Bring. It. On.

10:54 Oops. Got ahead of myself. Special Surprise Guest BARAK OBAMA takes the stage. The crowd cheers (but not as loudly as they did for Bill...Barak will have to work on that).

10:55 Obama speaks. He likes the Bidens. He really likes them.

10:57 Obama says "Hillary Clinton rocked the house last night." I wouldn't go that far.

10:58 Obama explains for those who are slow that he'll be at Invesco field tomorrow night.

10:59 Tomorrow night's drinking game: every time someone says "God bless America." Of course that one seems too easy.

11:00 Man, there are a lot of Bidens on that stage. "Half of Delaware," quips Shields.

11:03 Michael Beschloss agrees with my (keen) observation that Bill Clinton came through where Hillary didn't on the Obama readiness issue. Thanks for making me feel smart, Beschloss.

11:05 Will the Dem Convention affect McCain's choice for VP? Historian Norton-Smith thinks maybe. I think: I hope not, if so Repubs are in trouble.

11:07 The historians are all hopped up on the new "energy" coming out of this night's speeches.

11:08 Argh. David Brooks think McCain is going to pick Joe Lieberman to distance himself from GW Bush. I really don't like Lieberman. Can't trust somebody who goes so radically against his own party like that. Talk about flip-flopping.

11:10 That's it for PBS coverage. Lehrer, Shields, Brooks, etc. out!

Well, this was fun. It certainly made the time go faster. I'll give it another try tomorrow night. Hope it entertained you readers, all three of you.

Olympics 2010: Look To The Future

2008-08-22T14:53:00.003-04:00

Dear Canada:

Please send me official documentation of these proposed athletes featured in the video below. Although they are impossibly cute, I suspect they will not yet be 14 years old in 2010. I fear that could be a problem. In everything else Olympic I wish you all the best. See you in 2010!

Regards,

Sister T.

Olympics 2008: For Those Who Love Baseball

2008-08-14T17:46:00.002-04:00

I came across this blog post at the Washington Post. It describes the U.S. versus the Netherlands Olympic baseball game. Highlights of the match:

Multiple hours long rain delays due to monsoon level rains.
Only the dedicated U.S. parents and die-hard Dutch fans (50 including reporters) remain through the delays.
Teammates holed up in dugouts surviving on Chinese crackers.
Mothers in the stands offering players fruit roll-ups from their purses.
The game gets called, but the Dutch, who are losing 0-7, protest.
The solution to the Dutch protest comes down to a distinction between procedures and substantive rules.

It's law and little league wrapped up into one Olympic match. Absolutely fantastic!

Olympics 2008: Why I Watch

2008-08-11T08:49:00.008-04:00

This is why I watch the Olympics: to be a part of a story. I like to play sports because it is fun. I like to watch sports because of the beauty and strategy in elite athleticism. But I LOVE to watch sports because of the chance that this one race, this one event, this moment will turn into a mini movie. I like the suspense of sitting on my couch and hoping, cheering and believing that the team I'm supporting will have a moving ending. And I say team, because it's team sports and events that get to me the most.

Last night, watching the Men's Swimming 4x100 Relay, I got to be a part of one of those great movie moment stories. All the elements were there. American Phelps attempting to achieve the biggest gold medal haul ever, but he can't do it alone. He needs his team to pull out a win in an event in which they are not favored. Add in some motivating trash talk from the French who are favored to win. (Seriously, probably the most entertaining part of the story). Then the race. The Americans do well, but towards the end, the realistic expectation is second place. Then in the.....last.....four.....strokes.....a teammate digs deeper than he or anyone else has ever done to touch gold by a few hundredth seconds. Result: joy. So much joy. On kids faces. In mothers' eyes. In my heart.

UPDATE: check out this article about Jason Lezak, the man who swam the thrilling last leg and dug deep to carry the team to a win. Here is my favorite quote:

It's happened to me all my career that people would get on my lane line and [draft] off me," Lezak said, "so I figured this was one opportunity in all my career to do that. ... I'm not going to lie. When I flipped at the 50, it really crossed my mind for a split second that there was no way. Then I changed. And I said, You know what, that's ridiculous at the Olympics. I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts or whatever. ... Honestly in five seconds I was thinking all these things. I got like a supercharge and took it from there.

Ahh, I love the Olympics. I watch hours and hours of coverage to vicariously experience a moment like last night, where I get to believe against the odds, and my belief is rewarded.

You have to watch this race! It's the best story of the Olympics (for a U.S. citizen), and the Olympics have only just begun. Catch the thrilling last seconds at this blog post. Or watch the entire race on youtube.

Oh, and below are my two favorite moments of the race, make sure you click through:

One, the teammates hoping and rooting and realizing they can win.Two, the teammates' no-fricking-way faces realizing they won.

Olympics 2008: Be Proud of the Peacock

2008-08-11T00:51:00.004-04:00

Today I read an interesting post by James Fallows of The Atlantic. He is in China watching, reporting and blogging the Games. He is also watching Chinese television and responds to annual complaints lodged at NBC of excessive focus on U.S. athletes. He notes that Chinese and Korean television emphasize events their countrymen excel at as well, and is of the opinion that U.S. coverage is more even handed to foreign competitiors.

I love the job NBC is doing right now, and the background work they've put into these games. Watching the swimming finals live is thrilling. And tomorrow night I will watch the gymnastic finals live! And as for focusing only on U.S. athletes, tonight NBC broadcast a four minute segment on a French swimmer and a five minute segment on a German gymnast. Good job NBC. Keep it up.