Yes, Gaeta Rules

Okay, I have always loved Felix Gaeta. He is the tireless assistant who is dark and yet mysterious. Over the years, there has been much speculation on Gaeta's sexuality and in the webisodes for the upcoming season 4.5, they've made it official. Gaeta is at least mostly into guys.

You have got to check out the webisodes on SciFi.com. They are amazing.

I Heart Dusty Springfield

Forces of Nature

So okay, I haven't written anything in a while. A long while. I have been so bogged down with work and other miscellany that I just haven't felt like it, but today, the world reminded me to slow the heck down and relax.

77,000 people in the area of Fort Wayne were and most still are without power. My office lost power and had to send everyone home. I spent the day catching up on my TiVo'd episodes of Rachel Maddow and trying to work on stuff for work. I watched the intensely absurdist, nihlistic Southland Tales. I normally run screaming from movies staring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, but come on, a dystopian black comedy mystery co-starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as a trendy porn star pop singer? How could you NOT want to see something that crazy. It's the best movie ever for any Whedon fans that are also Doctor Who and Donnie Darko fans.

It's all about the US terror police state in the wake of 9/11, in an alternate history in which Texas was nuked in 2005 by terrorists. I mentioned Darko because it's the same writer/director, so you know it's insanely messed up. Of course, there's no pedophile Patrick Swayze, but it's got Buffy the porn star. Still it's not as good as some movies, but as far as postapocolyptic dystopian thrillers go, it was very satisfying. The ensemble cast includes Nora Dunn, Amy Poehler, Cheri Oteri, Jon Lovitz, well, tons of people from SNL who actually are decent actors.

So I went trolling on Netflix for more random odd movies and came up empty-screened (as opposed to empty-handed). Then a BBC documentary about Petula Clark caught my eye. I love Petula Clark, and even have her greatest hits on a record, but I didn't know much about her life, other than that she's British. Now, I know everything I need to know and more. Of course there were tons of references to her contemporaries, which led me on a strange quest to YouTube and iTunes to find songs by Dusty Springfield, Lesley Gore, and Peggy Lee.

So now I must venture back to Netflix. I've chosen Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. I'm sure there are no ex vampire-slaying porn stars, but I seem to be drawn to Amy Adams in an inexplicable way.

Mickey Edwards, Co-Founder of Heritage Foundation, Voted Obama

NPR's Fresh Air with Terri Gross interviewed Mickey Edwards, Vice President of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. Edwards is also a co-founder of the infamous Heritage Foundation.

Edwards stated without much prodding that he in fact voted for Obama. He saw many faults with the McCain campaign, but he also sees a huge flaw in the Gingerich model of party politics. He describes the recent tactics of congress bowing to the will of the president as dangerous and undemocratic. Having separate, balanced branches of government is key to making the country work.

Edwards other criticisms included a stern indictment of the anti-intellectualism promoted by the McCain-Palin campaign. The idea that we don't want a well-educated person to lead the most powerful and prosperous nation in the history of human civilization is utterly ridiculous.

This is absolutely true. We need a well-educated person. John McCain thought that Iraq bordered Afghanistan and that Czechoslovakia still existed. Sarah Palin didn't even know Africa was a continent and not a country and threw temper tantrums because she didn't like reading press briefings. Obama was president of the Harvard Law Review, taught Constitutional Law, and traveled Eastern Europe extensively with Richard Lugar.

In turbulent times, we need people who will stand firm with good economic plans and not try to divide the country with innuendo and lies.

Congratulations President Elect Obama.

John McCain is Hilarious

Wassup

Wassup 2008

How far we haven't come in eight long years.

Must See Video from Ron Howard

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

8 1/2

Like most neophyte film buffs, I had heard of Fellini, but something kept me from seeing any of his movies. Today I watched 8 1/2, probably his most famous film.

My gut reaction was something like "Oh, that's what that movie is referencing." The list of other movies that reference sequences from 8 1/2 is endless. But it really is a head trip. Sometimes you can't tell if your watching a movie about a guy or a guy in a movie, or maybe it's not a movie at all and it's really a documentary of the filmmaker's process. It's every dream sequence that's been in every other medium, but amped up times a thousand.

The story goes that Fellini was stuck in between movies and couldn't decide how to finish a production, so he wrote a story about a famous film director in the same situation. On the surface, it's a semi-autobiographical story of a man in a midlife crisis, but it explores lots of different themes. Childhood innocence, the objectification, brutalization, and eventually celebration and an almost deification of women. The stress of a lover, the triviality and nuisance of a business, the pain of trying to make art while making money for yourself and your boss. The film is 45 years old, but its themes resonate today.

I finally see what I think everyone else sees, it's a truly brilliant film. Get it and get in touch with your inner angst, then throw a party where everyone gets to dance and live life to its fullest.

Technical note: The version I watched was the Criterion Collection DVD from Netflix with an introduction by Terry Gilliam (you know, the genius behind all the Monty Python animations and 12 Monkeys). But don't watch the introduction until after the movie because it has some spoilers.

Even more desperate Republican Rabble

Ignorance and Fear are now taking a backseat to made up allegations of fraud.

Family Guy Backlash

Bye Stewie. It's been nice knowing you.

RADAROnline has a great article on Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane backlash.

I've been irritated with Family Guy ever since the Barbershop Quartet AIDS song, but the reruns from the first volume of shows win me back. Lately though, it's been on the wane. I cheered Eric Cartman for trying to get Family Guy off the air.

Now that MacFarlane is teaming up with Burger King, he's pretty much officially sold out in my book.

The Invisible Hand is Out to Lunch

I got scolded on the blog of my Libertarian sister for leaving a comment that I think tax increases under Obama are a better idea than tax cuts under John McCain. I would like to elaborate on my opinion here.

It is more than likely that the overwhelmingly vast majority of Americans will never see a tax cut under a McCain presidency. Is is also incredibly likely that taxes will need to go up because our deficit is 500 billion per year. Even by Reaganomic standards, this is insane.

In my college economics class, we learned about Adam Smith and the so-called Invisible Hand that guides market forces for good. I think that there is no Invisible Hand guiding the market. The government should take a more active role in regulation of markets to protect the welfare and domestic tranquility of the State. This is the fundamental difference between the economic philosophy of my conservative family and myself.

I also believe in some form of the so-called "Great Society" where social programs benefit those less fortunate. Most conservatives argue that the Private Sector should distribute wealth by paying more in wages, dividends, and investing in charities. But recently I've observed that Private sector investment in the poor only works when it suits the company's bottom line. Going green for the environment is much more about marketing non-solutions than it is about solving anything. Companies like WalMart, Target and other major retailers give money back to communities, but they can pick and choose who gets what, so there is no way to figure out the most equitable way. I believe that the government should be holding the lines of the safety net, not the private sector.

The point was made in my class that the government could never go broke because it could always print more money. And people will always loan the government money. Both points are of course true, but the end result of the government just printing more money would be disastrous. And now, no one wants to lend money to anyone, yet the Treasury wants to give hundreds of billions that it doesn't even have to Wall Street firms.

When do we start paying this check? Sure, no one thinks we should have to because it's not our fault. That may be true, but I find it unconscionable that people are just sitting there waiting for tax cuts for only the wealthy to trickle down and let the market take care of it. But we've already seen what the market will do when you give it more money. It crashes and takes off for a spa weekend.

Besides that, the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith's book, was written almost three hundred years ago. People weren't even using electricity, let alone inventing risky financial instruments like Credit Default Swaps and Collateralized Debt Obligations. Republicans actually inserted amendments to pending legislation back in 1998 that allowed these instruments to be created and forbid them to be regulated.

I believe that the progressives will bring more accountability and organizational transparency. I believe in positive progressive solutions. I do not believe in theoretical conservatism.

I expect that I will be paying more in taxes under the next president, whomever is elected. What really matters is a future where the government works for everyone, not just the rich.

Desperate Republicans

People at a Palin rally were actually so incensed by the racist, fear-mongering Republican rhetoric that they called for blood.

This is ridiculous. Why haven't people realized they are being duped by these statements? It's completely irresponsible to stir up people's hate and fear, and they have officially gone too far.

UPDATE: The real news is abuzz with this story. Fox "News" is crying foul that Newsweek didn't airbrush the blemishes out of Palin's cover photo. It's just further proof they are a tool of the RNC.

Gotcha Journalism is Good Journalism

Marty Kaplan has a great column on Huffington Post about the necessity of gotcha journalism.

There is a necessity to have good journalism. There is a need to be skeptical about everything we see, hear, and read.

Ben Folds Interview

Click Here to read my story on the News-Sentinel site. As usual, I will be posting the text on my other blog in a couple of days.

MSM in Warsaw

The JG had a story today about a sex sting in Warsaw. One Word: EEEEW

Can I please have the leg of zebra giraffe with a side of mint jelly?

The title of this post is meant to be completely humorous, though the humor is somewhat dark.

Scientists have captured photos of an Okapi, a rare mammal that's about the size of a deer, but is related to the giraffe, and has some zebra-like markings. You really can't make this up.

The sad thing is, poachers are trying to kill the creature. It will probably become extinct within a few years. I can understand why people would kill it. It seems like a fairly easy target and people are freaking starving, so why not kill a free freak like this?

Really, we need to figure out a way to end hunger in Africa so that we don't have to worry about such a unique creature being driven into oblivion. The Tasmanian Tiger, the Dodo, and soon the Okapi.

Ironic Homophonic and Grammattic Disasters

I found this site today through a few links. You must all cheque it out.

Book Review for Reality Magazine

[twin posting appears on Featured Writer]

My latest work is a book review in the September issue of Reality Magazine, the local LGBT magazine.

Click here to download the PDF. Click here to visit Reality Magazine online.

Typophile and Veer pages

I've updated my member pages at Typophile and Veer. With LinkedIn, Facebook, two blogs, my own domain name, plus these latest revisions, I'm fully entrenched in the web. Look out world.

New Sonic Addiction: Russell Brand

I am over 30 now, and I find myself blissfully ignorant about pop culture. The one downside is when something fun and interesting actually comes along, like Russell Brand, I fall behind.

I am a huge sucker for British accents, probably due to a childhood watching Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Russell is frenetic, unpredictable and more hysterical than most any other comedian I've listened to.

Click here to try the podcast of his BBC Radio 2 show.

Obama on Terrorism and Palin's Word Games

Don't mock the Constitution. Don't make fun of it. Don't suggest that it's not American to abide by what the founding fathers set up. It's worked pretty well for over 200 years.

Click here to read more from the Washington Post.

Huffington Shares Her Common Sense about Palin

Arianna Huffington has a brilliant post about the real issues of this campaign.

Every second of this campaign not spent talking about the Republican Party's record, and John McCain's role in that record, is a victory for John McCain.

Her critics like to say that Palin hasn't accomplished anything. I disagree: in the space of ten days she's succeeded in distracting the entire country from the horrific Bush record -- and McCain's complicity in it. My friends, that's accomplishment we can believe in.

McCain's Million Dollar Parking Lot

Former POW says McCain is not cut out to be President

Community Organizers - The Nation's Backbone

Sarah Palin's Record

Snopes has published a letter from Anne Kilkenny. She is a resident of Wasilla who knows the actual FACTS behind Palin's claims. Most of her claims are distortions, especially the claim of having more experience than Obama.

Palin Pain

Political Time again, this time, it's Sarah Palin.

This story from 365gay.com has got me riled and raised my level of ire such that I had to post on the old blog to get some sense of normalcy.

Apparently, she just took office on 1/1/2007. She has no national political experience and this is the first elected statewide office she has held. With McCain being 72 and in uncertain health, if he were elected and died in office, the honorable (?) Governor Palin would be president.

As much of a feminist as I am, I am less than enthused with this woman. Her record is less than comforting. I feel that this is a cheap ploy to appeal to the bigoted portion of the electorate who want to "keep the White House white." Many disenchanted Hillary voters may see this as an opportunity for a woman to get into the second highest political office in the country, but she is not anywhere near Hillary on the ideological continuum.

Obama really does stand for a change, other than that of race. Sarah Palin stands for nothing more than a Republican benchwarmer, someone who would be the mouthpiece of failed conservative politics. Few people had even heard of her until August 29.

Hopefully, few people will know her name on November 5.

Register and vote.

UPDATE:
There's another blogger in Alaska who goes into a LOT more detail about the real Sarah Palin.

Would we have had a Stan Palin as our VP pick? No. So choosing a woman because you think her gender will get votes is insulting.

Killing Fonts

Typophile recently had a forum thread on killing your least favorite font and why.

My least favorite font of all time is Comic Sans. I know Butteredwaffles tackled this a while ago, but I try to spread the word about it as often as I can. I am part of the Facebook group to ban comic sans. I think I need to get a life and quit worrying about it so much.

Sonic Addiction: Savage LoveCast

My favorite podcast is now officially Savage LoveCast, the audio-out-loud version of Savage Love, the sex advice column by renown sex writer Dan Savage.

Callers leave a message on the podcast voice mail, Dan selects the calls, and provides answers.

It's not just gays or lesbians seeking advice, it's a lot of hetero, bi, and otherwise oriented people who sincerely need help. It's fascinating to listen to all of these strange situations. It's a tad voyeuristic, or whatever the audio equivalent of voyeurism is, but it's more than that. It's an exercise in empathy. It's at times clinical, and there are some guest experts who are actual doctors, but most of the time, people are just confused and need a little help from a common sense sage.

I also feel that I am less of a prude and more understanding and accepting of even my own sexuality.

They Had Me Up Until Love Train

The most brilliant political theater of the DNC so far was the nomination of Obama by Hillary Clinton. OMG. What a tremendous moment. Of course, then they had to start a love train.

Why do we have to have campaign songs? I may be getting ahead of myself, but I hope the O'Jays don't have to come to the Inaugural.

Progressive Politics and Cookies

This evening I attended a fundraiser for Jill Long Thompson, the Democratic nominee for the Indiana Governor's race. I was invited because I made a small donation to her campaign. This evening she discussed her platform and the importance of economic recovery.

Also, she laid out her ideas for getting better health care. It was a fascinating event. She was very poised and assuring.

Of course, I will vote for her. She was after all my congresswoman until Mark Souder came along.


I don't know if it's the highbrow appetizers, but there really is an electrifying effect to being around someone so charismatic and powerful. Of course, it may have also been the sugar from the yummy cookies.

Auntie Mange

Seriously people, what's going on? So many of my coworkers now have dogs. They have even brought them into the office to show everyone. (It's complicated, don't make me explain.) I dogsat for my sister a month or so ago and now I'm dogsitting for some more friends this weekend.

Canines now run my life and I don't officially own any. I am uncle to my sisters' dogs and I'm an Auntie to my friends' dog. I have dogs coming out of my ears.

I really like playing with dogs, walking them, petting them, even grooming is kind of relaxing. But I don't know about owning one. I have a houseplant that by some extreme karmic joke has been able to stay alive nearly three years, in spite of my forgetfulness with the watering can. I dread forgetting to feed or water a dog. I guess I'm decent at it because this was the third or fourth time I've looked after my sister's dog, but it honestly scares the hell out of me.

Dogs in my opinion seem harder to take care of than children. At least the children eventually learn to read and take themselves to the bathroom. Hell, they even learn how to assemble a sandwich so they won't starve to death, but the best a dog can do for itself is go feral, and then it might just eat me.

But that's not what scares me the most. Anyone who lets a dog get that far obviously has too many other issues to look after a pet.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that if anyone even THINKS of putting a puppy under my Christmas tree, just make sure you have a receipt so I can return it.

New Web Site

The reskinned www.tomboyer.net is now live. Check it out.

I love stock photos

So my favorite stock photo site, veer.com, has a new gallery of office life gone awry. It's so refreshing after looking at all these idiots grinning in regular stock photos.

Seriously, somedays wouldn't you love to pour your coffee onto the floor?

Sharpening my Writing Skills

It's been a long summer to be sure. I've been slacking on my blog and have barely been writing. I spend so much time checking e-mails at my 5 different personal addresses and at work that I feel I've lost my spark.

Fortunately, I submitted a story to the News-Sentinel and it's scheduled to run in Friday's (8/8) Feature section or next week. It's all about Canada. So my loyal readers here probably know almost everything already. Still, it will be another great clip.

I'm heading back to work, so send me a message this weekend if you get a chance to read the story.

Transcending

This is a great album. I love the harmony and the lyrics are beautiful. These songs transcend genres, giving the listener an airy, relaxed feel. It's almost like New Age with steel guitars. Check it out at iTunes.

84 Hour Party People

Well, I'm back across the border and safely back at work. Boring. Here's a quick recap of the weekend's events:

Day 1 - Friday:
We gathered and left approximately 2 p.m. for Niagra Falls. It took a lot more in gas getting through Ohio, so we had to fill up on the New York State Thruway for $4.50 per gallon. Whoa. We got into Niagra Falls around 10 p.m. We made a wrong turn, however and wound up on the Niagra Parkway, which is the tourist strip that runs along side of the falls. It was extremely crowded, but the Falls are something truly breathtaking. We finally made it to the hotel and met up with the friends in the other car and decided to grab some food. The only restaurant open we saw was TGIFriday's, which was tolerable. The prices, however, were not. The lowest price menu item was a $16 hamburger. Yes, we were tourists in a trap.

Day 2 - Saturday: We arose and breakfasted at Perkins, my beloved diner chain. Think upscale IHOP, but much better food and service. We then walked down to the Falls for the typical pictures and opted for the Journey Behind the Falls package. With this package you actually take an elevator beneath the falls and can look out through the tunnels and then go to an up-close-and-personal observation deck. At just $12, it was a far better value than a lame 30 minute boat tour.

In the afternoon we drove to Toronto, stopping along the way at an exquisite restaurant alongside Lake Ontario. The late afternoon sun matched with the delicious food made for an unforgettable experience.

In Toronto, we headed to Club Alibi and chilled out with some quenching libations. We also walked around Toronto and saw the CN Tower from the ground up.

Day 3 - Sunday:
We walked to Eaton Centre and shopped at the Apple Store. The food court was a little on the downside, but the giant mall and underground walkway was a delightful way to experience the city. The IMAX theater was sold out for The Dark Knight, so we headed west of downtown to a place called Honest Ed's. It was literally the bargain basement for Wal-Mart rejected merchandise. There were however some good bargains, and I piked up a 60 cent tote bag.


Sunday evening we headed to the CN Tower to get a look of the city at twilight. It was a gorgeous evening.

Day 4 - Monday:
We headed out from the hotel and went to an IKEA in suburban Toronto. It was an interesting experience. There was so much Swedish design, I thought I would go crazy. We ate lunch at the cafe and headed for the border about 2.

After an easy but long border crossing, we headed to Flint Michigan for a meal at the Fudrucker's burger chain. The service was incredibly slow, but the burgers and fries were pretty good. We finally arrived back in Fort Wayne shortly after 11 p.m.

O Canada

I'm officially booked for a trip to Canada this weekend. The quick little jaunt to the great north was planned by some friends, so we're taking a big gay caravan. I"m very excited because I haven't been out of the country in over 12 years when I went to the Bahamas with my family. Also, by the way, the Bahamas are not that great a destination for someone as pale as I am. But Toronto should be fun.

Kneel Before Jobs

In the classic movie Superman 2, the three escaped convicts from Krypton commanded the puny Earthlings to "Kneel Before Zod."

I was considering getting a new iPhone recently, until I found out that I would need to get AT&T Wireless and give up my precious Verizon. I normally don't really have that much loyalty for companies, but I refuse to be bound by an arbitrary backroom deal done by Apple and AT&T.

I am a huge Apple fan. I consider myself a Mac user, who in desperation and a rather unusual bit of common sense chose the cheap $700 Windows alternative laptop to the $3000 Mac Book Pro I really wanted.

I am more and more frustrated by Apple, but I can't stay mad at them. The computers I feel are beautifully designed, but I really think Apple should license its Operating System. But the quandary is that if it were licensed, it would probably be just as poor quality as windows.

For now, I will keep hope alive that I can one day afford a MBPro, but for now, it will all have to wait. Maybe someday, I will finally kneel before Jobs.

Don't Dream It, Be It

When discussing dream homes with a friend, he said that he wanted the bottom of his pool to feature Michaelangelo's "birth of man." We all thought that sounded kind of cool, but then like a giant pink lightning bolt, it hit me: "Wait, that was in Rocky Horror Picture Show." At first no one believed me, but then I said, "I have seen Rocky Horror more times than I've been to church. I promise you, it's in that movie."

Today I finally got around to checking YouTube. Yep, I totally called it. It's such a good feeling to know I'm right, even though I sort of threw cold water on someone's dream. Sorry, bad pun.

The New Logo for Extreme Consumerism

Walmart will be unveiling a new logo this fall.

Hmm... Methinks they are trying to copy the look of another big-box retailer.

Without You, I'm Bored Out of My Mind

Few comedians are as unique as Sandra Bernhard. Today I watched "Without You, I'm Nothing," from back in the day. You know, back when the first Bush was in the White House.

This was probably the first existential, avante-garde comedy film ever. I don't think there has ever been another.

I enjoyed it much more than Chad did. I didn't even mind the part when she came out in a thong and tassels and did an interpretive dance to Prince's "Little Red Corvette." I have always liked her, she has always seemed to be on the edge of what's next. She's like an amped up modern version of Mae West. She's not the fake Mae West either like Bette Midler wants to be. Sandra Bernhard is authentic in her eccentricity. I just adore her. Thank heaven this came today. Too bad the DVD had a scratch in it that made me miss a whole chapter.

Lake Weekend

I am posting some cool pics I got this weekend on my weekend at the Barbee Lakes.

The Return of BioMom

I ran into Cindy at Firefly Coffeehouse. It's funny how people look so much the same, but somehow different.

We hadn't seen each other in probably five years, and it was an instant transformation back to my mid-twenties. Cindy, aka BioMom, was part of my klatch of companions who united to form a motley group of non-traditional students, headed by a former professor.

Those were the days when I traipsed around town doing very esoteric activities like watching a moonrise, and normal stuff like going out for coffee, or to a movie or bookstore.

I miss the camaraderie that came with college.

Get Some Action

I've been addicted to this series. I've always loved it, ever since it was originally on Fox back in the day. At the time, I was in college and I never saw all of the episodes, but through the magic of Netflix, I can watch it online. I've seen the first half of the series, and I am looking forward to watching the rest.

The series was so ahead of it's time. It's on par with Arrested Development for its wit, timing, and incredibly gifted actors. I'm not advocating Netflix here, I'm just really excited about reconnecting with such a good show.

The Nominee

On to November 4!

Thank heaven the primary is over. I have never been more excited about the election as I am right now.

I am also glad he is crediting Hillary for her tenacity and persistence. He has such an entrancing quality.

In the Life

I love documentary film. The PBS series IN THE LIFE uses a mix of interviews and documentary short subjects and excerpts to chronicle life in the LGBT community.

Although some of the stories are a little less than what DA Pannebaker might produce, the subjects are really compelling. A lesbian methodist minister in Pennsylvania, a LGBT group in Nepal helping write a new constitution, or a campground in upstate New York that has become a village of respite for lesbians and gay men. Interviews with Edward Albee, Judy Shepard, Margaret Cho.

Although for obvious reasons, my local PBS station would never air this series, you can get the podcast through their website.

Check it out.

Art Crawl

I've been invited to the Art Crawl tomorrow night by a coworker. I think this sounds really fun.

The interesting thing is to see how many people actually get into the downtown fort wayne experience. I think that this city is great, but I am not so sure about paying a quarter million dollars for a condo overlooking a minor league baseball stadium.

Let's hope it's not lame.

UPDATE:
Friday after work brought horrible thunderstorms and rain. I didn't feel like braving the weather for the event, so I stayed home. I did eat a great meal at casa d'angelo. I highly recommend their rigatoni special.

Pork and Beans

Venture Brothers Trailer

Caution Wet Floor

I need to buy some more bleach.

I'm on vacation and it's time for cleaning.

Today I threw out about 30 pounds of old magazines, junk mail, and other junk. I scoured the kitchen floor and the bathtub. I'm reorganizing the dining room / office, and cleaning up my bedroom and the third bedroom. I call that the record room because it houses my turntable and record collection. There's still much to do, but I feel much better about the house now that I have at least made a dent in my clutter.

My sister just bought a house, so it's been kind of a helpful impetus for my cleaning agenda. I realized now just how much stuff I have crammed into every square inch of my 1400 square feet, plus the garage and the basement. I think I need to simplify. Keep your eyes peeled. I may be posting a garage sale soon.

Elitism, Youth, and Novices

Obama won in Allen County. Even if the people I know did cross party lines to vote for Hillary, they were thwarted.

This map is also very interesting because it really shows where many of the state's urban centers are. Marion, Lake, Allen, St. Joseph, and Elkhart Counties; which are home to Indianapolis, Gary, Fort Wayne, South Bend, and Elkhart/Goshen respectively, went clearly to Obama. In Vanderburgh County, home to Evansville, Obama lost by just 1,293 votes.

Another interesting fact is that counties with major universities tended to go for Obama. Monroe County, home to IU Bloomington; and Tippecanoe County, home to Purdue both went to Obama.

Speaking of colleges, CNN's exit polls page had some fascinating statistics on how people with college educations voted, showing that people who graduated college favored Obama to Clinton 56% to 44% and those with post graduate education favored Obama 57% to 43%.

For the all-important Youth vote, the voters in the 17-29 demographic favored Obama over Clinton 61% to 39%. The 30-44 demographic (my fellow GenXers) favored Obama 56% to Clinton's 44%. Clinton captured the two-thirds of the votes from those over 60, which is really not a shock.

One thing of note is that neither candidate really got that many inspired new voters, according to the exit polls. Of the respondents, only 7% had never voted before, so it makes me think that a few voters may have been put off by the constant pandering by the candidates. But still, for those who did brave the primary process, 60% went for Obama and only 40% chose Clinton.

So you may wonder how my personal coin toss went. Well, let's just say that I live in an urban area and I am a college graduate. You do the math.

I'm sorry, I'm just not that into you

I heart politics, but this election cycle is increasingly on my last nerve. The Democrats keep sending me e-mail telling me to get out the vote, but I'm still undecided. I have yet to make up my mind for whom to cast my vote. I think it may come down to a coin toss in the voting booth after work. Yes. After work. I am not voting early in the morning because 1) I am still up at 1230 a.m. and 2) I don't want to be stuck in line and be late for work.

I'm 31, so I am in a key demographic that both campaigns want to woo to their side. But in reality, issue tracking websites show a 86% similarity between Clinton and Obama, so there isn't that much of a swing for swing voters.

It could all be over tomorrow night when the NC and IN primary votes are tallied, but it probably won't be. I just hope my conservative family doesn't end up voting for Hillary out of spite. I think they're scared that Obama is a Muslim, which he isn't.

As landmark candidates, they both capture my imagination. I think Obama would be more effective, but Hillary could get more older people away from McCain. Who knows. I better get my thumbs ready for flipping.

Self Promotion

There are some subtle tweaks to www.tomboyer.net (redirects to my comcast hosted page.)

Check it out when you have a chance. Feedback is always appreciated.

My only hate sprung from my only queasiness

There is a report that two and a half men is swapping writers with CSI.

No good can come of this. Both of these shows make my stomach turn, but for very different reasons. Now I have a great reason not to watch either.

She should have used spell check

I found this on the SFGate.com website's daily pictures roundup. Maybe she'd have better luck spelling in Spanish.

I love Butters, just not in that way.

The VISTA

My Friend Dave is the scary guy in the glasses. I heart this video.

Avert Yer Eyes

Okay, No one in the world needs to eat this much pork. I was recently in Georgia and found this sandwich on the menu at Dreamland Barbeque.

I was so very full by the time I had less than half the sandwich gone, I just had to give up. Oh well.

UPDATE: I think a better title for this may be "I can Haz Heart Attack?"

Welcome to Dillydale

I love my TiVo. It's been recording The Mr. Men Show on Cartoon Network. It's such a retro cartoon complete with all my favorite characters from the books I read as a kid.

Cleveland's Next Top Model

And now for the lighter side of things:

Climate Change

This video impacts me more in 3 minutes than An Inconvenient Truth impacted me in 2 + hours.

Scientists have created a computerized model of CO2 emissions in the continental US. I find this very disheartening because it is overwhelming to think how much of a carbon footprint I have as an individual and the nation has as a whole. However, I do find it enlightening to finally have an idea of what our emissions actually look like. The one bad thing is that we cannot compare this to Europe or China, but they have pretty compelling data as part of the representation. Check it out.

Found via Towleroad.

NPR Interviews Eric Cartman

Seriously, this is getting out of hand. NPR is in my head.

NPR declares that "Stuff White People Like" is Dead

This makes me a bit sad, but this story about parody sites is really good. Take a listen to the creators of "White Stuff People Like" (mayonnaise, snow, cocaine) "Stuff Nobody Likes." (cancer, walking into spider webs)

I Heart Grammar

I totally love the English language.

I just finished proofing a paper for a friend. You can learn so much by proofreading. I know way too much about the Church Arson Prevention Act.

Suffice it to say, reading and writing are so much more enjoyable than another rerun of a shlocky sitcom like Two and a Half Men. Blech.

Making Fred Phelps Pay

Via Towleroad.

A judge has placed a lien on the Westboro baptist church because they haven't paid up in a civil suit.

I've Been Bananaramarolled!

Roy Zimmerman - Defenders of Marriage

This is a hysterical video.

To Be Continued

This sucks.

We will all keep watching. Why can't they just have an ending to an episode without it being open-ended? GRRRR.

I'm going home to watch the episode again on TiVo.

Starbuck's Viper

I started a post earlier about Starbuck's viper. It's too new. I knew that would be a quick spoiler.

Whew

Thank goodness the space battle is over. I can breathe now.

Oh crap, the cult of Baltar? I may puke.

Sam Anders

The awesome raider trick with they eye was really cool. I just knew there was a way to have the new 4 stop the battle.

Not the spinny ship

This space battle is waaaay brutal.

UPDATE: Yay, the spinny ship is damagaed, but still flying. Yay.

Starbuck's Viper

What the frak tigh?

Oh I HATE dream sequences.

PREVIOUSLY ON

We just watched crossroads. Cut to the chase already.

Live Blog Beginning.

TWELVE CYLON MODELS
SEVEN ARE KNOWN
FOUR LIVE IN SECRET

"one will be revealed."

WHEN!!!!???!!

BSG Priemere, Liveish blogging

I'm watching sans Tivo, with my friends Andy and Chad at Andy's house, via Comcast HD. They just showed the end of crossroads, part 2 with the really really annoying version of bob dylan's all along the watchtower.

Now it's commercials. I can barely contain my enthusiasm.

Why hasn't the administration been impeached yet?

Via Fort Wayne Politics:

Bush's office has concluded that the army can get away with ignoring the fourth amendment when "combating terrorism."

This really makes me sick. I hope that we can rebuild our national values when Bush leaves office.

Can't You Just Hear the Bee Gees?

Yesterday was spring cleaning day and I came across a cache of old photos. As though you couldn't tell from the earlier posts, I am somewhere on the continuum between nostalgic and horrified.

This is by far my favorite picture from my childhood.

This is me at my most glamourous, without even trying. I am messing around on stage after my brother's Noah's Ark play at school. It's 1981, and by the looks of my polyester vest, I am not willing to admit that disco is in fact dead.

I know that it is egotistical for me to say this, but I am a cute little kid. I'm five and I'm lanky and blonde. The eight-ounce eyeglasses won't come for another two years, and I am thrilled that I am the center of attention. Today, I am twenty plus years older and wiser, but I like to picture this person as my vibrant inner child.

Going through these photos is a solemn reminder that all history is imperfect.

I am also reminded of the antithesis to this picture. There are hundreds more photos that help me paint a much more vivid look at my past, but they will remain hidden in shoe boxes and stored in electronic memory. I may trot out one here and there to provide a more complete picture of my mad existence.

There were times that my childhood wasn't so fabulous, the depression, the rage, all quietly suppressed for years, because I was afraid to be who I was and who I am.

As more Kodak and polaroids come to light, I have come to the realization that I can't change the past. I can only hope to do better in the future. So I raise a glass to my inner child. You make me feel like dancin'.

Another of my bad hair photos

File this under my preppy-gone-mad phase.

Clean House

I was cleaning yesterday and came across several old photos. This one is particularly hilarious to me.

I really did have that hair for over a year. Nothing made my family happier than when I cut it. Still, I miss those days when I was a dirty hippy.

Fight Mannequinism or When PSAs Just Don't Work

A while ago, I heard a PSA on the radio telling me to fight mannequinism. This is a new condition caused by not volunteering and not being politically active.

A testimonial is given by a young-ish sounding male voiceover that says something to the effect of "I started noticing hard plastic on my shoulder."

Apparently, this is geared to young people to make them more politically active and engage them in more volunteer activities.

I applaud the Ad council for its efforts. The PSA is clever and provocative, but not really partisan. I would suggest however, that the Ad council fix the website. As of post time, the domain name in the PSA goes to a linux test page.

I think that the problem is the marketing is too over the heads of its target audience. For one thing, I'm a 31 year old college graduate, and I had to look up how to spell "mannequin."

On a related note, Cracked.com has an uproarious take on the world's most disturbing PSAs. There are several which are gut busters, but there are some that will undoubtedly make you squirm. Be warned.

Is it wrong to steal from News Corp?

There's an article that explains how to get to WSJ.com for free.

I'm all for free access to news, but this seems a bit shady to me. I have a soft spot for newspapers and I especially hate to see them get scammed for free access. On the other hand, Rupert Murdoch has too much money.

Still, this is access to WSJ.com, one of the most respected papers in the world. Albeit a conservative one.

found via boinboing.

Funny link for the day

With Bill Clinton in town, the Race issue, et cetera.

I was combing the Internet looking for amusement when I happened to check out the top blogs on Wordpress.

I am rolling right now because I just found a great blog:

"Stuff White People Like."

Check out my favorite post so far: #88

Obama on America's Race Quagmire

Allen County Democrats Think Too Small

There was no room for me at the proverbial table.

I got to the Grand Wayne Center at 5:30 and was waiting in the drizzle/mist for 25 minutes, but I was cutoff with five people in front of me.

What irks me is that the "volunteers" for Hillary were stopping people and making them sign a clipboard before letting people into the convention center. This practice delayed me from getting in because I let other people sign in before me. They of course got in.

This may be a sign from the universe that I should go for Obama. It reminds me that we don't really need a third term for Bill. Voting for Hill is kind of like perpetuating the dynasty of the Baby Boom generation.

The GWCenter did provide an overflow room of "audio only" access. I left and went to JK O'Donnell's with a couple friends who were also excluded.

I found a video of Obama's race speech, well Obama's campaigned e-mailed it to me. I'm going to post it next. It's very good. It talks about the straw man of "reverse racism." This man is amazingly astute.

Bill Clinton in Fort Wayne

Okay, I'm going to this. Even if I don't make it into the building, I want to be there when a President (even an Ex Prez) comes to town. As far as I can remember a president hasn't come to fort wayne in my lifetime, except Reagan I guess during the flood.

I may not even vote for Hillary, but I want to hear what Bill has to say.

Star Wars vs. Saul Bass

typophile

I wonder at times why I still bother watching television as a form of entertainment.

Allow me to elaborate:

So I sit there, laptop on my lap, typing away online and finding myself irritated that I have to take a break from what I am doing on the computer to fast forward through the commercials on TiVo.

And people wonder why there's such a thing as adult ADD.

Then while combing through my bookmarks, I found a post on one of my photography/design favorites called typophile.

To be more precise: Typophile.com.

Hold me back. I am such a nerd when it comes to fonts. I love love love fonts. I can't believe that part of my job is working with fonts. Of course, my company has it's own set fonts that we use, but there is something about the artistry of fonts that gets the wheels in my head turning. It's such a collision of art, commerce, and communication. There's no other craft like fonts. We actually talked about it in my philosophy of art class.

I immediately signed up as a typophile. I have even commented on a blog or two.

I guess the summary is that what's on my computer could keep me entertained and occupied for several days, so I should more or less give up on television. There are communities online of like-minded individuals, aka fontfreaks, in which I can immerse myself.

Fifty-Five Degrees

Today the weather report on NIPR predicted 55 degrees for a high. My iGoogle homepage says it's currently 49. Either way, I am sitting at Firefly now with my laptop, gazing out the window.

I ditched my sunglasses back at the office because I wanted the pre-spring sun to sting my eyes as I squinted on the walk over.

It was a delicious kind of feeling to exit the stale climate controlled air of my office and inhale the dry late winter air. It's the kind of day you don't really get very often. Thought it's far too chilly for shorts, it's a fine day to ditch the coat.

I'm contemplating a bike ride when I get home. I might as well make good use of Daylight Saving Time.

Cheers to all of my fellow Hoosiers who have toiled through a frenetic winter. Fingers are crossing all over the state that winter is gone for good.

Campaigning

Wow, we're not just a flyover state.

AP is reporting Obama will come to Indy saturday, but the time and place are TBA.

Isn't Panhandling Illegal?

My Gmail is overflowing with entreaties from Bill and Hillary Clinton, Terry McAullife, and Barack Obama.

It's enough to make a person crazy. And like most people would say, for me, that's an extremely short trip.

If I had money to give, I would have given it already. I'm not going to max out my Amex on a primary candidate, especially because I can't decide which one to choose. If you held the proverbial gun to my head right now, I would probably choose Obama. I think he is the stronger candidate for the majority of the vote in November at this point.

So I am not asking for a gun to be pointed at my head, just to be clear. Heaven knows I have enough problems without a death threat.

Whatever the outcome of the primary season, I hope that the candidates give me something more substantive on which to vote in the general campaign. I think McCain may very well be the worst thing for the country, a third GW Bush term. If not for his ideals, then for his scary, terrifying base. But that is not enough of a reason to vote Democratic, I need help people.

You may want money, but I want a platform on which to stake my vote.

At the Funplex

I think I may be regressing to my adolescence.

Of course, like Rizzo from "Grease" would say, "There are worse things I could do..." I pre-ordered the B-52's new album "Funplex" from iTunes. It may very well suck, but I must must must have this. The B-52's are my favorite band of all time.

I got into Cosmic Thing and then I spent my formative years and hundreds of dollars buying their back catalog on CD and Vinyl. Well, to be honest, I only bought "Mesopotamia" on Vinyl. Here's to hoping the next album is better than that one.

Speaking of CDs and Vinyl, does anyone remember those cardboard CD longboxes? I loved those. I used to save all of them because I thought they'd one day be collectibles. I think I threw them out when I moved out of my parents house.

The Audacity of Living History

I'm a convert to liberal politics. I grew up in a Republican household, but as environmental and social issues grew more mainstream in the 1990s, I reevaluated my presumed political beliefs. I voted for Bill Clinton in 1996. In 2000, I voted for Bush out of pure laziness. I didn't want to vote for Gore because I didn't think he had the stones to lead the nation. I still don't. Little did I know that Bush would lead to swelling government, a war funded on credit from China, and a national debt approaching 10 trillion dollars.

In 2004 I voted Kerry, and when it became clear on election night 2004 that he had lost Ohio, I smoked the last cigarette of my life, trying to use the nicotine buzz to distract myself from what I new would be the heartache of the next four years.

Now in 2008, it's highly likely that either an African-American or a woman will be the next President, something I scarcely dared to dream of during my dark closeted days of youthful leftist idealism.

Because the battle for the nomination will almost surely be more harrowing than the general campaign, I decided that I would make a concerted effort to pick the best candidate.

For years, I have admired Hillary Rodham Clinton for her work as a child advocate and then as a humanitarian First Lady. I consider myself a male feminist, so I was thrilled when she announced her candidacy and couldn't wait to vote for her. But then the notion of her 'inevitability' started permeating the public consciousness. This disturbed me. It began to seem that the Democrats didn't care about who may be the best, just who was wasting their time running against the Great Hillary.

A dear Republican friend told me that he was leaning toward Obama. He relayed that there was a populist movement circulating that was proving to be effective in winning people over from all points of the political spectrum.

I started investigating my options a little more. The knee-jerk reaction of "just vote for the b*tch" was beginning to fade as I realized that Hillary may not be able to win over as many people as someone who was a relative newcomer.

I looked online at voting records, platform statements, policy views and determined that I should probably find a more in-depth way to choose my candidate.

I decided that my best option was to get inside the heads of Hillary and Barack. One way I thought of to do this was to read the books each senator had written. I reserved them at the library and Hillary's became available first. I had unwittingly reserved the monstrous large-print edition. The nearly 900 page behemoth of a tome felt much like a burden both mentally and physically.

So began my odyssey into the life and times of Hillary Rodham Clinton, a simple bookish girl from the midwest, not to different from myself, who converted her political persuasion when she came of age. She detailed (and I do mean detailed) every period in her life. Her times at Wellesley made her into an advocate for social justice and civil rights, and her time at Yale lent her to be a congressional staffer investigating the Nixon debacle.
Her marriage took her to Arkansas and gave her a great insight into how the political system works. Her time in the White House took her around the world and helped make her one of the most admired Americans of the past several decades, if not within her own country, then on the World Stage. I finished the book after many fits and starts and finally returned it to the library.

Then I picked up the Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. Interestingly enough, it was concise, better written, and more substantive than Hillary's saccharin glaze of her personal world view. For someone who is much younger than Hillary and has spent less time in national office, he is much more astute about people and politics. His dissertation on the myriad political problems facing the nation and the world were cogent and his proposed solutions were very much in step with my beliefs.

Obama's book is much more blatantly a campaign tool than Clinton's. Though neither openly asserts they will be running for president, Clinton's book seemed a lot more self-serving and apologetic of her past shortcomings. It seemed after reading both that Hillary was campaigning to win over tentative voters who may not like her but this is why thy should. Obama's book was much more open about his own political beliefs and proposed real solutions. His honest answers were unflinching, even though his stance would be open to refutation.

Overall, both books gave me a feeling that each candidate could be a great nominee, but only one was brave enough to put his positions out in front to be accepted or rejected by readers.

One drawback to Clinton's book is that it does not cover her future, but only her past. It also essentially stops after September 11 and doesn't even begin to touch the Iraq issue.

Obama has four to five years more challenges to answer, so he answers them. If Clinton were to have written her book at the same time, I think it's doubtful that she would have been brave enough to propose real change.

I think that with all things considered, my ballot will be checked for Obama come the May Indiana primary. As I write this, the entire primary process could give way in either direction, but after careful consideration, I would prefer the leader who is audacious enough to put his positions on the line in advance than one who apologizes for past mistakes.

Kal Penn- Obama Temple University voter registration event

UPDATE:
I like Kal Penn, I really really do, but his argument for Obama lacks any substantive issues for me. Margaret Cho was on after Kal, and she wasn't much better. Someone tell me something I don't already know.

Check your facts, people

My conservative family thinks that Obama is the devil incarnate because of lots of false innuendo.

Here's the place to check your facts.

Even after the ringing phone ad, I still consider myself undecided in the Democratic primary. However, the more people say about Obama that's distorted or outrightly false, the more I am inclined to support him.

Hillary and her red phone

This is the lamest scare tactic I've ever seen. I am ticked off at Hill for this.

Super Liza

I love Logo Online.

Check Out Super Liza Minnelli from the Big Gay Sketch Show.

Geek Graffitti

You have got to love this.

Geek Graffitti

Bill Clinton to me

So my inbox has been filling up with message after message from the Democrats and Republicans.

Oy, I'm so flummoxed.

The favorite message I received was a request for money in GMail's status bar, it said "Bill Clinton to me."

Wow, that's a lot of responsibility. The President is asking me for money.

Here's the thing. I haven't given Senators Clinton or Obama a thin dime. I don't have two of them to rub together (as the old sayings go).

I can't make up my mind. Obama seems more interested in working with both sides of the aisle, while Hillary seems more interested in getting done all of the things that she didn't accomplish as First Lady.

I read "Living History." I liked it very much, but the campaigning in the text was so blatant, I wanted to hit something. Instead of being an honest portrayal of an insider's life at the White House, it read much more like "I'm Hillary Clinton, and I'm running for President."

The other major problem I had with the book was that it was dated. She didn't support or defend her stance on the war, but she spent plenty of time sniping ever so subtly against the Republican establishment.

I'm currently three chapters into "The Audacity of Hope." I am liking it so far, but I'm being very skeptical of all that I read.

I'm leaning very strongly toward Obama, in fact, I've pretty much decided I will press the button for him in the booth. I just hope that he can beat Senator McCain.

My thoughts on the oscars

So, I just finished watching the Oscars(r) through the glorious invention of TiVo.

Some random thoughts:

• TG Juno won something. My sister Kath calls best original screenplay "The grand booby prize" that the Academy gives out when something's really good, but there's still a better "Best Picture" movie. In this case, since an ex-stripper wrote the film, it really is a grand booby prize.
  
• Daniel Day-Lewis can suck it. The whole bowing to Helen Mirren was soooo last year. His "method acting" of taking years to prepare, blah blah is kind of interesting, but really, I'm so tired of his schtick.
• The montages of past year's clips were probably the most charming parts of the evening.
  
• John Stewart's Wii game with the little choir girl was lame. It smacked of product placement.
  
• John Stewart was funnier than the last time, but still not quite funny enough.
  
• Enchanted's songs were really good, but the song from Once was way better. August Rush was kind of pedantic and stale, even with a prodigy songstress.
  
• Jack Nicholson can just never come up on stage again. He seemed totally out of it. He definitely needs some Geritol or something (speaking of product placement).
  
• It's a Class A Felony that Hillary Swank has 2 Oscars and Laura Linney has yet to receive one. LL Cool Lady is an incredibly passionate and versatile actress.
  
• I really want to see La Vie En Rose. I love Edith Piaf's music. I actually have had it on my Nano for over a year.
  
• Paul Thomas Anderson's movies intrigue me. Even though DDL is in it, I may have to see There Will be Blood. What the hell is drinking a milkshake have to do with oil?
  
• The Coen Brothers movies are fascinating. I just saw Big Lebowski a few months ago for the first time. Fargo was amazing and Lebowski was enchantingly strange.
  
• NCFOM is still putting me off because Tommy Lee Jones is in it. The only movie I like that man in is Coal Miner's Daughter. He can suck it with DDL.
  

The Clintonistas

I think that dyed-in-the-wool liberals need to face the fact that Hillary cannot win.

My hope is that she will serve as the VP to help Obama with foreign policy matters, so we will get Obama's progressive, anti-war policy with her foreign policy expertise.

A traitor's treatise

I did it. I bought a Windows laptop instead of a Mac. I am a Mac Traitor, but I am not a Mac hater.

I love Apple computers and their focus on sensible, elegant design, intuitive operating systems, and reliability, but I am not a fan of their market practices.

I have dozens of reasons for getting the PC over the MacBook Pro that I really salivated over, but the main concern was the most obvious: The Dollar Ballot.

I needed a new computer. My Dell Dimension 4550 is what I lovingly refer to as "pre-war." Though I actually bought it in May of 2003, right around the time that the mission was "accomplished," it's very old and very very slow. I've tried every home remedy that I can think of to speed it up, but to no avail. It now is sitting in the other room serving as my admin workstation for my home wireless network.

As I type this, Chad is using his Nintendo DS on WiFi, and I'm in the comfy pleather chair, pounding away on my Toshiba Satellite A215 S6804 laptop.

The original price range of the machine, according to CNet was arount 900. I got a killer special with a mail-in rebate and my final cost will be less than $650. I have 2 GB of memory and 200GB Hard drive with a 1600 MHz bus speed.

To get any similar kind of specification from a Mac, I would have paid four times the price. If you don't believe me, just check the Apple Store online, or walk into your local best buy.



I could have also waited until I had saved some more money, but as a writer, I really needed a machine that could work. I started looking for used. I tried Ebay, I tried all avenues until I finally settled on the Toshiba. There was no better machine out there for the same amount of money. I have firewire, a built-in webcam (iSight be darned), and I can burn dual layer DVDs and laser-encode my own labels.

My next agony will be trying to get rid of Vista, but that's a story for another time.

Michelle Obama on Larry King Live

War on Baseball

I must admit, I'm not much of a baseball enthusiast. I played baseball for an entire summer as a child and I just didn't find the appeal.

That being said, I must say that the current fauxtreversy over "doping" in pro sports, specifically the Mitchell report on baseball has stirred up latent anger in me.

As liberal-progressive as I consider myself to be, I don't understand why we even care about regulating doping in baseball. I would guess that the vast amounts of time and money wasted on all of these investigations and hearings could have been much better utilized by useful social programs like the SCHIP expansion, school lunches, or additional Pell Grants.

Pro sports are an industry, like any other. Corruption, drug use, scandal will always be part of pro sports. The problem is that the drugs got too sophisticated to be detected and now they're supposedly out of control.

The real issue is that the government is trying once again to legislate morality.

The tragic coincidence is that pro sports and the spectator culture often lead to much more immoral behavior like binge drinking, gambling, and other unappealing activities.

Taking the corruption out of pro sports is like trying to catch smoke with a butterfly net. They'll never get any of it.

It's time for Congress to move on.

Torchwood - Friends Style

This is the most hysterical parody of Friends I have ever seen.

Why the Venture Brothers totally rules

I found this great interview with Jackson Publick online.

This is probably the best written cartoon ever. If you've never seen it, you must check it out.

Iraq and a Hard Place

The Iraq War is such a touchy subject. I supported the decision to go to War because I believed that there were WMDs in Iraq. Obviously, that was at best an error in judgment by the administration, or at worst a fabrication of the administration's clandestine influences.

The hard choice is that now it's time to pick a totally new administration. As I speak Romney has thankfully pulled out of the race. But that leaves us with a slightly more congealed Republican party versus a stylistically divided Democratic Party.

I just read Margaret Cho's blurb on Huffington Post.

Her levity made me smile, but it truly minimizes the dramatic social impact that this election will have.

I would be happy with either Senator Clinton or Obama winning. If the winner of the convention doesn't name the other as running mate, they will definitely lose the election because the democratic party will be in shambles.

I admire Senator McCain because I believe he puts the interests of the nation before the interests of the Republican base. That being said, he lately seems to be bending over backward to please everyone, and that worries me that he will wind up in some unholy alliance with whoever the next Karl Rove is in the party.

Another interesting note: Frank Schaeffer, one of the biggest names in the Pro-life movement is proud to support Obama for his life-affirming stance on issues, even though Obama is admittedly pro-choice. His argument for Obama is lucid and logical, something that one may not expect from the fire and brimstone rhetoric of a religious writer.

I will vote in the primary, I'm just stuck as to whom I will choose. I'm glad I still have a couple of months to make up my mind.

Picture me as a writer

So, yes I've been neglecting the blog lately. Sorry to you loyal readers. I literally have no excuse since there's no school to occupy my time.

I have been very busy at work. Basically, we're doing a new website and I'm the primary person in charge of writing all of the content. Yikes.

On the freelance side, I did attend the Hoosier State Press Association job fair last weekend in Muncie. It gave me a lot to think about, but very little hope for landing a job at a daily newspaper. It wasn't without hope however, as I was able to get face time and schmoozing in with some editors. I also met a lot of cool students. It was worth the drive to Muncie.

Also, my latest feature came out today in the News-Sentinel. Here's the direct link, or you can link to it from my other blog, stboyernews.blogspot.com.

Barack Obama's response to Bush's final State of the Union

Bowie for Prez

The Trials of Tom

So I went to do my taxes last weekend because I'm craving some kind of cash cushion. Unfortunately for me, the IRS isn't even reviewing returns that claim Mortgage Interest and Education deductions until February 11. Bummer.

Heath is History

I first experienced Heath Ledger in "10 Things I Hate About You." He had a gravelly voice that made me think he was smoking in Kindergarten. He wasn't hard on the eyes either.

I liked him in Brokeback Mountain, but it irritated me that people always think it's courageous to play gay. But beyond my control, he became a gay icon, someone around whom the gay community could rally.

Now he's dead. It's sad. But it begs the question: are we too obsessed with Celebrity in this country? We need to care about something other than so-called famous people.

We're hurting the world because we are paying attention to the lives of celebrities, which in the grand scheme of things, don't really matter. If we were more focused on the war, poverty, global warming, maybe Heath wouldn't have overdosed.

I hope that Heath's death will serve as a wakeup call for celebrophiles. Let's get back to business.

It's easy to take a stand when you're not running for anything

Al Gore shares his thoughts on Gay rights.

As much as it pains me to admit it, I agree with Gore on this. It's a shame he didn't actually say anything like this when he was in a position of real power. I may have voted for him in 2000 then. Oh well, cest la vie.

Counter to the Counterculture

I was desperate for movies to add to my netflix queue, so I somehow cross-referenced myself into "Hair."

This is most definitely the worst musical ever. The movie is also poorly made, with the schizophrenic Milos Forman directing. Normally I love strange directors, but as I have matured in my film studies, I can see the VanSants and Formans and the Weirs for what they are: moderately talented.

I used to love the ideas of the counterculture, but the songs were almost all bad. The only good ones were "Aquarius," "Let the Sun Shine In," and "Good Morning Starshine." The rest of the songs that carried the dramatic exposition were all very backward, and utterly ridiculous. The choreography was so bad I actually said "frakkin Twyla Tharp!" I have to confess that I had to watch most of the songs on fast forward because I didn't even want to waste my time.

The ending was so contrived and abrupt that it was very jarring. In one frame they're all happy and frolicking, then the next they're in a graveyard. Whatever.

So I absolutely hated this movie. Do not go to see it, don't rent it ever.

These PETA people are just downright wrong

I saw this via Towleroad. I couldn't believe it.

Pols and Polls

The debate-poll-primary model for US politics is severely broken.

I'm sick to death of polls. A Daily Show had Zogby on tonight and he basically had no excuse for why his polls were wrong going into the NH primary.

John Stewart's question, "Do polls influence the election?" was completely valid, and Zogby laughed it off.

To me, the answer is YES. Polls do influence the way people vote. Anything that is covered in the media is going to affect the way people think when they enter the voting booth. If Sen. Obama's supporters saw in a poll he had an 11-13% lead over Sen. Clinton, they probably decided to skip the primary.

The problem, like former President Bill Clinton said, is that the 24 hour news networks are constantly trying to beat each other with the newest information and they chase after the superficial crap no one cares about.

Don't talk to me about what dress Sen. Clinton is wearing. Don't talk about how articulate Sen. Obama is. Where do they stand on important issues? Don't just give me sound bites and attack ads.

The latest debate model of debate, debate, debate is the most contrived, nonsensical scheme of the media.

The general public is content to let Anderson, Blitzer, Hannity, et cetera tell them what they want to hear. These are the same dumbasses who covered Paris Hilton's release from jail, after all, and now we're letting them tell us how we should vote based on biased polls, farcical debates, and partisan rhetoric that they are all using to generate more ratings revenue?

The real problem is that people just aren't reading. There's no real journalism going on in the election. The media is just interviewing journalists from other outlets and calling them experts. It's sickening.

Of course, what everything boils down to is that it takes a lot of time and careful thought to pick a candidate. You have to research someone if you really want to make an informed decision.

My father said that Sen. Obama scares him. My dad is 69 years old and an avid fan of Faux News, the ones who accuse Obama of being everything from a liberal Christian, to a Musilim to a terrorist. I think my dad could like Obama if he didn't listen to the crap put out by the 24 hour media.

I urge everyone to perform their civic duties and carefully research and think about a candidate. Turn the television off and read through each candidate's web sites. Read the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, or something. Don't pick someone because of how they are portrayed on TV.