Flip-Flopper-In-Chief?

So I'm researching this damned DOMA business and I'm reminded that in February 2004 Yubbledew called for a Constitutional amendment to “protect” marriage. He used very strong language to let us know he meant business:

An amendment to the Constitution is never to be undertaken lightly. The amendment process has addressed many serious matters of national concern. And the preservation of marriage rises to this level of national importance. The union of a man and woman is the most enduring human institution, honoring -- honored and encouraged in all cultures and by every religious faith. Ages of experience have taught humanity that the commitment of a husband and wife to love and to serve one another promotes the welfare of children and the stability of society.

Sounds pretty serious, doesn't it? I guess this should be a major part of his agenda in his second term, then, shouldn't it? But wait, I've heard absolutely nothing about it since last November's presidential election. Have I missed something, or is “the union of a man and a woman” no longer so important? Don't we care anymore about the welfare of children and the stability of society?

If I was cynical I'd say that Karl Rove timed that February 2004 announcement perfectly to get Christian fundamentalists all worked up in a frenzy so that gay marriage would be a big “values” issue in the November election. That would make Yubbledew's call for a Constitutional amendment seem pretty hollow and manipulative, wouldn't it?

Good thing I'm not cynical.

Posted 08:07 PM | Comments (9) | election 2004 general politics

Growl

Why does writing papers always have to be so hard? Discuss.

And while you're busy with that, let me just say that Growl is about the supercoolio-est thing ever. No more must click to Mail.app every time I get the new mail chime—Growl tells me immediately what arrived so I can know it's mostly junk I don't need to worry about (except when it's a comment from you, dear reader, of course!). No more do I have to click to iTunes to remind myself of the name and artist of the currently playing song—Growl tells me that, too. It's slick, unobtrusive, and just works. If you use OS X, you really should try this. It's very very cool.

Someday I won't be procrastinating or writing papers. Really. I know it's going to happen. Soon.

Posted 10:51 PM | Comments (8) | mac geek

TV Daze

Paper writing is hard. Watching tv is easy. Which do you think I've been doing?

But seriously, I've had some serious catching up to do with the idiot box (not that I was really deprived during the semester, but...), and thanks to the wonders of Tivo I've been able to stay on the edge of my seat with all of my favorite shows, including:

The Amazing Race: It's wrong how much I want Rob and Amber to win. They're sort of evil and ruthless, but they have so much fun doing what they do and they're so nice to each other and just so damn good at the whole business that it's hard not to root for them. Still, their competition is tough and also hard not to root for, mostly. For example, it was sad to see Meredith and Gretchen (the oldest couple to ever make it this far) last on the map tonight; they totally deserved to win. They did the incredible thing of taking longer than anyone to do almost everything, yet still they stayed in the race week after week. Uchenna and Joyce also deserve to win—happy, earnest, nice people who have worked well as a team and played completely above board the whole time. Plus, Joyce sacrificed her hair to win, so that's worth something. (Although, I really think she looked great after the hair came off—not that she didn't before, just that it didn't seem like a huge sacrifice, aesthetically-speaking, to me. I'm sure I'd feel differently if I was a woman and I had as much beautiful hair as she did....) Finally, Ron and Kelly. What's to say? As L. says, they were clearly set up to be America's Sweethearts (the beauty queen and the former P.O.W. in Iraq), but instead they've turned into America's Breakhearts. Overall I feel sorry for Kelly b/c Ron so consistently takes his stress out on her and it's awful. Kelly can be annoying, too, but how is she supposed to respond? So yeah, Ron's the bad guy there, I think. It's too bad. If they win it will be a little sad just because they are so clearly destined to not be together, whereas the other two remaining teams pretty clearly are. Not that the goal of the race is to reward the happiest couple, but...

America's Next Top Model (ANTM) 4; Yeah, I watch. You wanna make something of it? L. got me into it and at first I resisted, but then I kept catching the end and wondering why one woman was going rather than the others and I just got sucked in. This season I was miffed from the beginning that they dumped Brita so early, and then Rebecca and then Tiffany. I mean, who am I to judge? But Brita didn't even get a chance, Rebecca got knocked for why? And Tiffany, well, I thought she was really going somewhere for a while. Whatever. At this point my money's on Naima, but since I have no money, I'm not risking much by saying that. I'd guess maybe Brittany has a pretty good shot, too, but it seems inevitable that Michelle and Keenyah are going to be taking bows soon. Christina? Dude, who knew botox could take a woman so far?

Survivor: Palau: What a crazy season—one tribe never won a single immunity challenge. I was sad last week to see Stephanie voted off, but not surprised. Going into last week's show I thought I woudl be more disappointed if she got the axe, but after watching how she played the situation (or at least how they edited how she played it), I didn't have much sympathy for her. She needed to push a lotharder if she was going to make a power play against Tom, but instead she just “planted the seed” and hoped her sistahs would have the sense to play to win. It's getting old watching “strong” men run the tribes until the end, even if women do win in the end. Wouldn't it have been great if Stephanie would have pulled off a coup and picked off Tom, Ian, and Greg, one by one? That would have put the remaining women in places 1-4; now they're likely to go 4-7. Of course, at some point I imagine the three remaining men are going to turn on each other, and they're going to try to take a woman with them in the hopes they can dominate the challenges against her, and then that woman will win in the final vote. At least, that's the way it generally seems to go. Why do I even watch this show? Oh yeah, it's so much better than writing papers.

Oh, I've also managed to watch three more movies in the last couple of days (yeah, I am working hard):

• Sideways: Great show. I see now why it got so much buzz. Of course, I'm a sucker for any story about a failed or failing outcast writer, but the juxtaposition of the archetypal loser with the guy who seems to have it all but is really the losingest loser of all, well, it was very well done. Once L. told me why I recognized Virginia Madsen all I could think whenever she was on was “candyman candyman candyman,” but other than that, this was a keeper.
• Code 46: Oh man. What an awful awful movie. There's a reason you've never heard of it, so just forget I mentioned it. Once again I got suckered by the sci-fi premise, which was actually fairly interesting. The future world was well-designed in many ways, with its own language melange, good scenes and logical technical advances like viruses that can make you more empathetic, or make you immune to bacteria, etc. But the actual love affair between Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton? No. And the plot? Implausible doesn't even begin to describe it. Come on people! How about a little internal consistency here?
• Starsky and Hutch: It was on HBO, ok? Exactly what you'd expect from Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Exactly.

I really am going to write this paper. Really. Tomorrow. And no, my name is not Scarlet.

Posted 11:08 PM | Comments (6) | ai movies tv land

The Stick

I think The Scoplaw has about given up on me, but long ago he hit me with the stick. I was busy, so I let the stick bounce off of me and clatter to the ground where it sat sad and forlorn, probably developing all kinds of complex abandonment issues and other complications that will haunt it for the rest of its days, including the problem of where it can go from here, now that the stick has made many rounds about. Still, I'm very much part of the better late than never stick school, so here goes.

Stick Stuff:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

Although it would be a big task, I'd be one or both of the Tropics—of Cancer and Capricorn, by Henry Miller. I read both books while biking through Europe and found them inspirational and liberating in ways that are hard to describe. For a long while I tried to write like Miller, but it never really worked. He had a unique voice—like Kerouac might have been if he'd gotten out more—and a fascinating life.

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Too many to count or, unfortunately, remember. Maybe that means the crushes were never really too serious.

The last book you bought is:

I don't think I've bought any books since these. I was in a bookstore yesterday and there were many books that looked great, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high about all the books I'd like to read this summer. There's never as much summer reading time as I think there's going to be...

The last book you read:

Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams. I was preparing for watching the Hitchhiker's Guide movie, but now I'm not sure I want to see it. I just can't get excited about it for some reason.

What are you currently reading?

I just started Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut, but I'm not sure how far I'll get with it. I'm supposedly participating in a book club that is now reading None to Accompany Me by Nadine Gordimer, but I haven't obtained a copy yet. I'd also like to move Gideon's Trumpet up on my reading list—I just studied Gideon v. Wainwright in Crim Pro and it's basically the case that made my future career possible, so it seems like a logical choice.

Five books you would take to a deserted island:
This is very hard. There are only about two books I've read more than once, so there are no books that come to mind that I'd just love to read over and over again. That said, if I was shipping out today, I'd probably grab:

1. Neuromancer by William Gibson.
2. The Portable Thoreau, which is the only thing I think I ever stole—(ssh!) I had a school copy in high school and never gave it back, kind of on purpose. That was me being civilly disobedient.
3. Maybe Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson, but that might be in competition with Neuromancer for a sci-fi pick.
4. I might cheat a little and take the Norton Anthology of American Literature single volume version because it has so many classics that I'd want to have for reference and reminders of America's good intentions, broken promises, and blatant hypocrisy.
5. Finally, I'd probably grab Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. I really would like to reread that and it would keep me busy for a looong time.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons)? And Why?

1. Jose, because he leads a fascinating life of travel and adventure and is always reading and/or thinking something interesting.
2. Evan, because he also leads a fascinating life, reads a lot, and clearly does not have enough other things to blog about. ;-)
3. Steve, because I think he's almost done with finals and there's really no better time than that to pick up the stick.

Posted 08:24 PM | Comments (3) | ai books