I can’t seem to make it through a debate anymore. I’ve tried to watch two – the VP one last week and then last night’s presidential debate. It’s just not worth the time. As is the case with every presidential campaign, nobody is telling the truth. I hate it. Every four years, the nation starts buzzing like bees around the flowers over this stuff and every single time whoever wins the presidency never accomplishes what they promise to do during the campaign. It’s patently absurd. The whole thing is absurd.
So here’s what I do now: no more debates. I can read about what happened on the internet if I really need to. Then, if you want actual truth, just go to factcheck.org and they will give it to you. Or, even better, head over to votesmart.org and – get this – actually read the candidates voting records yourself! Now that’s a novel idea. But by god, don’t listen to them and don’t listen to the media.
On a MUCH funnier note, this skit from SNL this past weekend really had me cracking up:
Seriously, who believes these Chinese gymnasts are 16 years old or older? Steph and I are channel flipping tonight and we stop at the Olympics because, well, 60 Minutes is over and there’s literally nothing to watch. I mean it – we went through just about the whole online guide. Nothing of interest. More on that in a second. The gymnasts from China look like they are 7. I’m not even kidding. Steph and I were pretending that we were the color-commentators and saying things like “and here’s Lio Zinzan, she’s 18 (minus 10)” and “here’s Siano Yuanyuan, she just entered pre-school last year.” Honest to god, can they find fake 16 year old that are least 50 pounds and taller than 2 feet, 4 inches?
I’m beginning to wonder if having cable TV is worth it. Seriously. We watch very little TV nowadays. I guess when fall comes and Lost, The Office and 30 Rock are back on, it may make it worth it, but I’m thinking maybe my money could be better spent elsewhere. We’ve also been thinking about removing the TV from the family room and setting it all up in the basement. Imagine that – no TV in the living room. That would be the first time in my life and you know what, it’s not sounding too outrageous right now. Having to go down into our basement (it’s finished) for TV isn’t ideal, but with the amount we’re watching, it’s acceptable.
I’ve been digging on Blitzen Trapper lately. They’re a group of lads from the Pacific Northwest who are fairly hard to classify, although somebody on Wikipedia called them “an experimental folk band,” which I take exception to. I don’t like experimental folk bands. I poked around on the web for a better explanation and I guess I found one on Pitchfork, from a review of their last album:
While I’m loathe to make a Pavement reference (lo-fi recordings! Slackers with guitars!!!), ‘Wild Mountain Nation’ comes closer to catching the carefree fuck-off sprawl of [Pavement’s] ‘Wowee Zowee’ than any record in recent memory. Here the band sail through any number of genres and styles without giving off a whiff of effort, their apparent West coast breeziness covering for the judicious amount of detail crammed into nearly every song.
Yummy. Here’s a taste for you, a song called “Wild Mountain Nation”
[audio:mountain.mp3]
This morning on Good Morning America they had a woman who lives in an 84 square-foot house. Now, more power to her I suppose for going off the grid and doing her part to conserve energy…..but 84 square feet? That’s about the size of a parking spot. Um, no thanks. To think that I thought my house, at 1700 sq feet, was too small since the twins were born. Sheesh. She doesn’t have a shower, either. Uhhh, what? Honestly I cannot imagine living without a shower or having to rely on other people or my workplace to have a shower. Yet another thing that I take for granted.
Here’s another recent dream:
I’m psyched because I’m about to see one of my favorite 1990’s bands, Pavement. I don’t know what year it is. I’m attending the show with Rick Crawford, an old co-worker and friend who tragically died two years ago. We’re both big Pavement fans (I’m not sure if he was in “real life”). We get to the show and we’re three songs in when, during the middle of one of my favorite Pavement songs (“Here”), Malkmus stops, starts swearing, throws a tantrum and leaves the stage. The show is over. Apparantly he was not happy with the attendance.
Rick implores me that we have to see a whole Pavement show as soon as possible. I don’t disagree, but the next one is in Seattle. The next day. So we get on a plane and go there. Next thing I know, I’m alone. I can’t find anyone, can’t find Rick, can’t find the show, can’t do anything. So I get back on the plane and go home. That’s all. Oh, just before I left to fly back, I walked into the airport bathroom and there was a few obnoxious dudes having a peeing contest in the bathroom. Distance, not volume. Wierd.
Today the nation celebrates V-I day, for it was four years ago today that President Bush told us our mission was accomplished in Iraq. Small towns across the country are expected to pause and remember a pivotal day in our nation’s history. Harumph.
To be completely fair, Bush did add at the end of that speech that we still had difficult work ahead in Iraq, adding “The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.”
Yet here we sit, tapping our fingers……..this is now the third longest war in the history of our country. Do with it what you will.
An article on the possible banning of plastic bags in the city of Boston. This is a curious subject. In grocery stores, for example, I used to swear by the plastic bags, not because they were more sturdy (they weren’t) or bio-degradable (they aren’t), but because they had handles. That’s it. Handles. That is the damn key to grocery bags. You know why? Because I hate having to do multiple trips back-and-forth to my car to pick up bags of groceries. Some may call that lazy, I call it efficient. If bags have handles, it means I can hold more of them. And I take that to extremes in order to avoid multiple trips. I will pile as many bags into my hands as I possibly can – I think once I did four in each hand. Inevitably, my arms start to ache and then I get a little miffed because when I reach the door, I have to fish out my keys to unlock it, and that means putting down the bags, getting keys, unlocking the door, etc. Inefficient! I am crazy! Anyway, since everyone can open cars remotely now, how come we can’t open our houses remotely? I’m way off topic. Anyway, my point: as soon as they added handles to paper bags a few years ago, I’ve never looked back. More room = less bags to carry. Handles rock on paper bags. I’m all for banning plastic ones! I have lost my mind.
The Alec Baldwin dust-up is a real drag. Maintaining a sane, safe, happy and stable family life is hard enough without dragging family stories through the national press. Now comes word that Baldwin wants to quit one of my favorite shows, 30 Rock, leave the country and focus on his family. Good for him! But can he please do it and stay on 30 Rock and live in the U.S.? Please? With sugar on top? He, and everyone else on that cast, is so friggin’ funny on that show – if they lose him, it’s a big, big blow.
Oh! Check this out! Gary Thorne, a well-known play-by-play guy for ESPN who also broadcasts Baltimore Orioles games locally in Maryland, came out on the air last night and said Doug Miribelli (Red Sox backup catcher) told him Curt Schilling (whose blog, by the way, is awesome) painted that red blood on his sock during the magical 2004 playoff run. Schilling didn’t really comment, but I’m sure he will on the blog soon. I mean, in the end, all they need to do if it comes down to it is get the sock and do a test – it’s sitting in the Hall of Fame.
