Pink Floyd WTF

So I'm upgrading a bunch of my mp3's to FLAC, and for some reason my CD drive won't read my copy of Dark Side of the Moon. So in searching for one, I come across:

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [Toshiba Black Triangle CP35-3017]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon 6ch 24bit 96khz SACD

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (1981 MFSL UHQR 24Bit--96kHz Vinyl Rip)

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [MFSL Ultradisk]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [Alan Parsons 4.1 Mix]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (24Bit 96kHz SACD)

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [UK Harvest CD]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon [Remastered]

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon (Black Triangle Version deemph)

Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Now, Pink Floyd, and especially Dark Side of the Moon, is essentially considered the gold standard for sound production in rock music, and it is used constantly as demo material for audio equipment. But they went a little hogwild.

Metacritic Needs to Emulate Netflix

Obviously Metacritic doesn't have the revenue stream to just toss out prizes like Netflix can, but they should hold some sort of open contest to discover the best formula for ranking films/music/TV/etc. Metacritic is certainly loads better than rottentomatoes, but they are still quite imperfect.

Take Amadou & Mariam's Welcome to Mali. It's the highest-rated album of the year, with a 92 on Metacritic, which is basically the equivalent of an 11.0 on Pitchfork. And it's seriously an amazing album, and likely deserving of that score. But it's not even available in most U.S. stores, as it is currently an import; as such, not many reviews are available. And clearly, the reviewers that are more inclined to review such music (African pop-rock-ska) are predisposed to liking such music in the first place. And so eight outlets review it, and all of the reviewers love it, and probably knew they would love it before they ever hit Play.

Whereas TVOTR's Dear Science received an 88 on Metacritic (which is obviously an equally stunning score in the scheme of things). And it is probably even more stunning than Welcome to Mali's 92, considering it is based on the opinions of 40 different reviewers. Yet a cursory comparison of the scores doesn't really tell the whole picture, and as such, it becomes a futile enterprise to do things like year-end rankings.

Obviously I have no idea what algorithms would be used for this, just talking out loud. Obama probably won't get around to it in his first hundred days.

I Like FireDogLake, but...

Sites that don't hyperlink their top banners are infuriating. What reason could you possibly have for not doing this?

BLAGO

This guy is just amazing... "I don't want to hog the limelight, this is Roland Burris's day."

EDIT: Bobby Rush, you are TOTALLY not helping by belaboring the "If you oppose Burris, you are a racist" line.

You know what would be awesome?

Home Alone 4, with the original cast.

Caroline Kennedy

Who cares? She'll be appointed and everyone will forget this whole fracas within three days. Nobody that is either arguing for or against it is looking at it through a clear lens, so reading some of the arguments that people are making (whether it be Matt Stoller or Al Giordano) and hoping to exact some objectivity is futile.

If she becomes a presidential candidate in 2016 though, then like, wtf, c'mon...

Wolf Parade in Montclair in early November:

Eagle Eye

This movie was horrible. Shia Lebouf will definitely be A list within a year, if he's not already, and he's fun to watch, but he didn't save this. Political statement regarding the PATRIOT Act, unsubtle references to Jesus, and a commentary on the over-reliance on technology all rolled into one. Something about how the SECDEF will become President after a robotic national security machine goes bezerk and kills everyone in the Capitol during the SOTU because the POTUS disobeyed intelligence provided by said machine.

The only interesting things to come out of it were my thoughts, midway through, regarding which Obama cabinet member would be the nut-low as the person sequestered during the SOTU Address (i.e., who would be the worst Prez if somehow everyone else got pwned). Probably Carol Browner. Though Ken Salazar certainly emanates pure, downhome retardation.

EDIT: I have been re-re-re-informed that Carol Browner is "not in the fucking Cabinet" and that her position, as climate-change czar, isn't "even cabinet-level I don't think."

But Obama's changing the rules of Washington imo.

Oscar Nomination Predictions

BEST PICTURE:

Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Dark Knight

BEST ACTOR:

Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
Sean Penn, Milk
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BEST ACTRESS:

Meryl Streep, Doubt
Cate Blanchett, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Kristin Scott Thomas, I've Loved You So Long

BEST DIRECTOR:

Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Sensationalist Blogtards

Rick Warren Is Every Bit As Much In Line With The Black American Soul As Aretha Franklin

I realize you want to grab the reader, but christ.

Headphones

What I have:



What I want:

Annoying Bit of Demagoguery

Something like: "You know what I find amusing about all this, it's the absolute grilling the Big 3 automakers were forced to succumb to on Capitol Hill, when the big high-n-mighty Wall Street bankers just walked up, asked for half a trillion dollars, and walked out with pockets stuffed!"

Grammy Thoughts

Record of the Year (performers/producers):

Adele, "Chasing Pavements"
Coldplay, "Viva la Vida"
Leona Lewis, "Bleeding Love"
M.I.A., "Paper Planes"
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, "Please Read The Letter"

(No wonder people hate the fucking Grammys. "A" for diversity, but like, holy crap, there were a lot of better songs put out this year. "Please Read this Letter" is good but not ROTY-worthy, at all. Adele FUCKING BLOWS. Winehouse and Duffy fulfill the quota of soulful white chicks, they are not a desired commodity. "Viva La Vida" has to be the favorite, both because it's Coldplay and because none of the other songs match its ubiquity -- which seems to be the sole criterion on which these awards are doled out. Plus, Eno did it, and it's a producer's award, so whatever. "Paper Planes" is surprisingly catchy, and this is coming from someone who really doesn't like M.I.A., but I'd be shocked if it won. Few things in the world could be worse for M.I.A.'s hard-earned rep than winning Record of the Year. Lastly, "Bleeding Love" isn't even Leona Lewis's best song of this year, so that's a fail.)

Album of the Year:

Radiohead, In Rainbows
Coldplay, Viva La Vida or the Death of All His Friends
Ne-Yo, Year of the Gentleman
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Raising Sand

(Gambling here. I think it's between Raising Sand or Viva La Vida... But the Plant album was a total critics' darling, Led Zeppelin famously never received any Grammy acclaim during their heyday, and Alison Krauss is hot. Seems sufficient. In Rainbows is obviously the best album, and perhaps there's a chance they get thrown a bone like Scorsese did for The Departed, but I'd bet against. More likely that they take "Best Alt. Album" or some crap. GG. Viva La Vida... is a really good album, even though the risks it takes aren't really risky at all. A lot like All That You Can't Leave Behind. Lil Wayne put out a pretty sweet album, but it doesn't have a chance, as it's a token nomination. Ne-Yo, let me state clearly, is FUCKING ATROCIOUS. Like horrible. What the fuck... He and Chris Brown should tie themselves to one another and jump off a bridge.)

Song of the Year (writers):

Adele Adkins, "Chasing Pavements"
Coldplay, "Viva La Vida"
Sara Bareilles, "Love Song"
Estelle feat. Kanye West, "American Boy"
Jason Mraz, "I'm Yours"

(Again, Adele is bad. Just stop. But looking at this, I honestly have no idea. These are some terrible fucking songs. "Viva La Vida" is all production, it's not a well-written song. Jason Mraz is one of the worst people alive, and seems like he's about to go Born Again if he hasn't already. "American Boy" is honestly awful. One of the worst hooks I've ever heard. You should never be featuring Kanye -- as he's a totally awful rapper -- but I guess that comes with the turf when he writes the tune. Will.i.am produced, another sign of generic crap. "Love Song" is legitimately catchy, but not really SOTY material. I'd have to double down on Coldplay here, even though it's so lame. Just an all-around awful set of nominees.)

P.S. Please explain how the Radiohead song they pick for "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" is "House of Cards." Did they even listen to the album?

Picking a Favorite Zeppelin Album

Futile.

O.K., you can make some inroads. Everything after Physical Graffiti is out of contention. That still leaves 6 albums.

Led Zeppelin I
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin (real original, eh?) III
Led Zeppelin IV
Houses of the Holy
Physical Graffiti

One of the all-time greatest 6 album streaks in rock history. Maybe the greatest.

You can disqualify I and III, too. The benefit of hindsight is not beneficial to their first album. In 1969, hearing "Good Times, Bad Times" for the first time may have been something of an auditory orgasm, but when you've already heard "Trampled Underfoot," it doesn't wow you as much. The debut has no stumbling blocks, and provides a robust 9 tracks, but can't match up, song-for-song, with II. It's a little unpolished, which makes it a fun listen, but also a bit flawed.

"Immigrant Song" is fantastic (and so is "Tangerine") but the only person I've ever known to think Led Zeppelin III was the group's greatest album is exactly the type of person who would think Led Zeppelin III was the group's greatest album. Which is self-explanatory if you've ever met the person or listened to Led Zeppelin.

So we're down to four. And now it gets impossible. They're all totally acceptable choices. Like I love Hail to the Thief, but if I asked someone what his favorite Radiohead album was, and he told me HTTT, I would pretend to agree while mentally deciding to completely discard anything else this person said. With these four albums, I can totally understand any one of them being someone's top pick.

As an album, I am going to throw out Led Zeppelin IV immediately. "Black Dog," "Rock and Roll," "The Battle of Evermore," "Stairway to Heaven," "Misty Mountain Hop," "Four Sticks," "Going to California," "When the Levee Breaks." An unbelievable set of songs. But I think the song arrangement and, therefore, the pacing of the album are not up to the others. Although it has one of the greatest album closers I've ever heard, it kinda blows its wad early, and I'm not the biggest fan of "Four Sticks" (despite the awesomeness of the title, which came from John Bonham having used four sticks, two in each hand, to play on the track). Its almost painful to discard this album, because I'm looking at this tracklist and scratching my head as to why the listening math doesn't add up. But if I had to pick a Led Zeppelin album at random to listen to, full-through, it would not be this, and not because "Rock and Roll" is played at 5 minutes to the hour, every hour, on every self-respecting rock station, in every locale, because I listen to that song obsessively.

"Whole Lotta Love," "What is and What Should Never Be," "The Lemon Song," "Thank You," "Heartbreaker," "Livin' Lovin' Maid," "Ramble On," "Moby Dick," "Bring It On Home."

Funny thing about this album. When I first got into Led Zeppelin, I downloaded "Stairway" and "Whole Lotta Love." And then I bought their greatest hits for some reason, which had "What Is And What Should Never Be." And I heard "Heartbreaker" and "Ramble On" on Q104.3 constantly. So when I bought this album, those were the songs I knew, ergo those were the songs I listened to. Horrible habit, I know. It takes forever to get through some albums. Anyway, long story short, I had this album for over a year before I ever got around to listening to the last track, "Bring It On Home," which is basically fantastic. This album, on the other hand, not only has a great stylistic mix, but great pacing as well. You go heavy rock, then softer with a huge chorus, some straight blues-rock, then more acoustic, LOTR-esque, next are two huge rockers, then more LOTR, followed by "Moby" fucking "Dick,"followed by BIOH. It's not a constant throttle, but you never lose interest.

Still, it is not as good as Houses of the Holy or Physical Graffiti. It's not as... refreshing.

Between these two, I'll tell you right out that Physical Graffiti wins. A lot of it is size, with 15 tracks compared with Houses' eight. But it's also that PG actually takes you to a place (be it inside Swan Song studios in the early 1970s or in the Taj Mahal). Houses of the Holy is a trip, to be sure, and PG has nothing that trumps "The Ocean," but there's a "something for everyone" quality to PG -- with styles ranging from the blistering crunch of "Custard Pie" to the progressive wallop of "In My Time of Dying" to the stoner surf jam gone awry in "Down By the Seaside" -- that cannot be overstated. HOTH is more fun, Physical Graffiti is just a tour de force. You listen to it and can't believe that someone actually created it.

--

On a totally unrelated note, "Oh Yoko" is a totally awesome song:

Slumdog Millionaire, Ctd., or Things That Are Totally Uncool, December 21 Edition

DO NOT FUCKING TAKE YOUR RETARDED ADOPTED CHILDREN TO THE MOVIE THEATRE.

Just like, holy shit, don't even consider it. Maybe an Adam Sandler movie. Not a movie that's on every critic's Best Picture shortlist.

Slumdog Millionaire

Pretty fantastic. It makes me want to see City of God again, so I can endlessly compare the two. But it's basically like CoG with a cooler plot vehicle and a more entrenched love interest. (Indian I.T. worker gets a chance on Mumbai's version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" and just destroys it, so he gets taken away and accused of cheating, Vegas-style. The movie is told through his explanations of how he knew the answers.) A really good love story, and great shots of Mumbai's endless slums. Very "unique," always-on-the-go cinematography, with lots of cool on-foot chase scenes.

The host of the gameshow is excellent. Just the right amount of Philbin-parody and mocking of America's reality TV in general. Not excessive or unrealistic in any way. The film has an Indian pop soundtrack, which of course means you're hearing M.I.A. at every opportunity.

Of course, the real draw (despite only having like 11 minutes of screentime).

Blogosphere Confirmation

ANDY McCARTHY: Governor Richardson, I must say, you have an impressive resume, and you have shown yourself to be a worthy candidate for the head of the Commerce department.

BILL RICHARDSON: Thank you.

ANDY McCARTHY: When did you first meet Bernardine Dohrn?

--

SUSAN RICE: ... I believe we need a shift from the truly horrible foreign policies of Condoleezza Rice.

MARK HALPERIN: By the way, are you related?

SUSAN RICE: She's my mother.

MARK HALPERIN: One last inquiry. Describe the sensation that goes through your body when Drudge puts up a siren.

--

SEAN QUINN: Mr. Holder, could you tilt your head a bit to the left?

ERIC HOLDER: Who the fuck are you?

SEAN QUINN: We're just taking some photos.

--

GLENN GREENWALD: Senator Clinton, your repeated lies make it obvious that you're nothing more than a water carrier for the shamelessly dishonest centrist wing of the Democratic party.

HILLARY CLINTON: Um, we're talking in person.

--

KATHRYN JEAN-LOPEZ: Mr. Daschle, you realize you are in line to replace Mike Leavitt?

TOM DASCHLE: Yes.

KATHRYN JEAN-LOPEZ: So are you filled with the same blessed heart and spirit of Christ as Mr. Leavitt?

--

TIMOTHY GEITHNER: So I worked for a bit at Kissinger & Associates...

CHRIS BOWERS: Deep breath, Chris.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER: ... then I worked at Treasury under Rubin and Summers...

CHRIS BOWERS: OK, relax, we are a center-left nation, we are a center-left nation.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER: ... and for the last few months I've been pretty much running TARP and printing money with Paulson and Bernanke.

CHRIS BOWERS: Dude, FUCK THIS.

--

ANDREW SULLIVAN: Mr. Orszag, you seem quite qualified.

PETER ORSZAG: Thank you.

ANDREW SULLIVAN: Everyone likes you, you studied at the London School of Economics, your record in the CBO is quite good, you have this hot little black deputy...

PETER ORSZAG: Thanks again, I'm glad everything is good.

ANDREW SULLIVAN: But I must ask you...

PETER ORSZAG: Yes?

ANDREW SULLIVAN: WHERE ARE YOUR FUCKING MEDICAL RECORDS?

--

MATTHEW YGLESIAS: Mr. Volcker, just one more thing. If you were the GM of the Knicks, would you trade Marbury?

Richardson and Obama

suckitbrich: yo

King2008 has signed off.

--

suckitbrich: dude

misterprez1961 has signed off.

--

suckitbrich: WTF how many sns do you have

CHANGEFTW: gah fuck it

suckitbrich: commerce... seriously?

CHANGEFTW: pretty good job imo

suckitbrich: what the hell do I even do

CHANGEFTW: regulate obv

suckitbrich: 10th in succession? behind interior?

CHANGEFTW: lmao

suckitbrich: thought we worked out--i endorse, bring the southwest, i get state

CHANGEFTW: dude i won by like a bajillion votes

suckitbrich: FUCK

CHANGEFTW: i promise to include you on some cabinet meetings

suckitbrich: situation room access?

CHANGEFTW: sure, if like bin laden declares war on nafta

suckitbrich: i'm lookin at wiki. the only commerce sec to become potus was Hoover

CHANGEFTW: haha... btw, ur qualified right?

suckitbrich: didnt u vet me

CHANGEFTW: no... do you think anyone cares about your record

suckitbrich: kk. any room for growth?

CHANGEFTW: ag secretary I guess

suckitbrich: why dont hispanics get any of the good jobs

CHANGEFTW: the answer is in the question

McCain meets Obama

LOLbearDNA: i bow to my lord

King2008: ty

LOLbearDNA: srsly you almost blew it tho

King2008: ??

LOLbearDNA: only lost by like 2 in florida, pretty impressive considering

King2008: fail

LOLbearDNA: y

King2008: all we had to do was win colorado dude

LOLbearDNA: god schmidt is awful

King2008: so sup

LOLbearDNA: cabinet mebbe?

King2008: hmm

LOLbearDNA: seriously... im gonna lose to a dyke in 2010 if not

King2008: i can give you axelrod

LOLbearDNA: i dont even want to be in the senate... like, wtf am i even known for. mccain-kennedy?

King2008: yeah i wont pass that

LOLbearDNA: ...mccain-lieberman...

King2008: gg introducing climate bills under bush

LOLbearDNA: and i guess mccain-feingold

King2008: LMAO

LOLbearDNA: what the fuck... my legacy is awful

King2008: postmaster general?

LOLbearDNA: kill yourself

Barack's Econochat

misterprez1961 has joined the chat.

misterprez1961: whos here

rahmanuel: ay boss

3rdPAsen: waitin on reich and granholm

misterprez1961: kk. ok i have no idea wtf to do. some thoughts plz

Paul Adolph Volcker: Well, what we've got now is something I've been warning against for years. Contented American consumers matched against delighted foreign producers. Happy borrowers matched against willing lenders. The difficulty is, the seemingly comfortable pattern can't go on indefinitely.

3rdPAsen: ...

justfuckinggoogleit: wtf

misterprez1961: take care of this rahm

Paul Adolph Volcker has been kicked from the chat.

misterprez1961: srsly stop inviting him, hes terrible

fourthreich has joined the chat.

detroitwhat has joined the chat.

fourthreich: sup

rahmanuel: ok, before we go, introduce yourselves and provide some insight into your qualifications

justfuckinggoogleit: I run google

3rdPAsen: im joe biden

detroitwhat: im gov of michigan

misterprez1961: arent u a terrible governor?

detroitwhat: ya but i went to harvard

misterprez1961: kk

fourthreich: <-- sec of labor

3rdPAsen: lol

fourthreich: wtf man

misterprez1961: k, now im looking for bipartisan solutions here, and ive got my eye honed in on the middle class. just like my granddaddy who fought in patton's army, and my white grandmother, who worked on a bomber assembly line. i'm here for the waitress in youngstown, and the millworker in topeka, and the cattle rancher in new jersey.

Axe4men: dude I just made all that shit up

misterprez1961: jesus fucking christ

justfuckinggoogleit: chrome > firefox imo

rahmanuel: why are u here

justfuckinggoogleit: i dont know

justfuckinggoogleit has left the chat.

misterprez1961: david wtf were you doing... this team is awful

Axe4men: we needed a woman, a jew, an old guy and a billionaire for the photo op

misterprez1961: god

Hagel and Barry

WeDoneWonSon: yo

plainhagel: sup

WeDoneWonSon: thoughts on hud?

plainhagel: meh, sting was better

WeDoneWonSon: ...the hud sec'y post

plainhagel: pertty gay

WeDoneWonSon: WTF?

plainhagel: ??

WeDoneWonSon: ATF*?

plainhagel: no

WeDoneWonSon: hmm.. i need to show bipartisanship. y no endorse btw?

plainhagel: never actually thought youd win

WeDoneWonSon: bradley?

plainhagel: yea

WeDoneWonSon: same

plainhagel: lol

WeDoneWonSon: vet?

plainhagel: yep

WeDoneWonSon: srsly?

plainhagel: def imo

WeDoneWonSon: wait vet or def?

plainhagel: wat

WeDoneWonSon: wat

plainhagel: you know i'm a veteran wtf

WeDoneWonSon: i meant vet affairs, for the cabinet

plainhagel: then y'd u offer def?

WeDoneWonSon: god fuck you, i'm calling lugar

Ayers vs. Lieberman

soothsAyers: hai

liebmealone: how did u get this sn

soothsAyers: dude im a terrorist

liebmealone: meh true. sup

soothsAyers: nm. sry about 11/4

liebmealone: our internals had us down 19 nat'l, surprised we came close

soothsAyers: lolol. see my i-view 2day?

liebmealone: no, sabbath

soothsAyers: thats not until night

liebmealone: how do u know this

soothsAyers: im jewish man... william david ayers, wtf

liebmealone: haha srsly? sry abt the muslim insinuations

soothsAyers: np

liebmealone: actually... u still a terrorist?

soothsAyers: yah unrepentant

liebmealone: no i mean, u still bomb stuff

soothsAyers: we never actually bombed anythin

liebmealone: wat

soothsAyers: ya

liebmealone: why didnt u just say that then

soothsAyers: dude i've gotten laid like every day since april bc of this

liebmealone: we spent like 25m on that shit

soothsAyers: ahaha

liebmealone: god

soothsAyers: you were doin it wrong

liebmealone: how so

soothsAyers: barack wrote like all of wright's sermons

liebmealone: ...

soothsAyers: gtg, my name is earl

Richardson and Kerry

kerrythatwait: yo

judas2008: hola

kerrythatwait: i see u bein thrown around for a cabinet nom

judas2008: si si, muy bueno

kerrythatwait: ok stop

judas2008: lol

kerrythatwait: dude sos is mine. ur governor of a fake state, i fkin ran for prez

judas2008: so did i

kerrythatwait: no i mean i actually ran for prez, not a joke campaign

judas2008: you lost to bush. he got 40% hispanic vote, wtf were you doing.

kerrythatwait: :(

judas2008: ive been in the cabinet before 2, i know it good

kerrythatwait: dude he cant have a minority at state, this is still america

judas2008: im barely hispanic, my family was fkin rich

kerrythatwait: howd u get elected in nm then

judas2008: not rly sure. swarthy looks, oily skin.

kerrythatwait: ahah

judas2008: maybe you could do education

kerrythatwait: wtf.. no heres the deal. i do first term, u do 2nd

judas2008: hmm

kerrythatwait: i have nothing going for me in life

judas2008: true

kerrythatwait: so agree?

judas2008: i do like ketchup...

kerrythatwait: god u greasy fuck. ok how much

judas2008: 2 yr supply

kerrythatwait: done

judas2008: k fine. if he loses in 12 bc u blew the iraq w/d, omg

kerrythatwait has signed off

Barack & Hilldog

inlikeclint: who u given cabinet to

barackyroad: im on vacay til jan, no idea

inlikeclint: dont f up the transition

barackyroad: yeah yeah, btw tell bill podesta's prty gud

inlikeclint: the kerry leak is a joke right

barackyroad: haha totally, god i hate that guy... how the fuck do you lose florida?

inlikeclint: srsly its ridic easy

barackyroad: you think you woulda > my map?

inlikeclint: meh, we did win the big states...

barackyroad: fu, gl paying penn back

inlikeclint: jkjk

barackyroad: wait so ur interested in state

inlikeclint: the senate is horrible

barackyroad: lol ya

inlikeclint: wanna vet me?

barackyroad: not rly

inlikeclint: dude im the most vetted pol ever, u dont even need to do it

barackyroad: fuckin axelrod made up these new rules tho

inlikeclint: hypocritical imo, you wouldn't even get hired in ur own WH

barackyroad: lolol

Epic Tilt

"No Republican has ever won the White House without Ohio..."

So unbelievably annoying to hear this. The map in the 1800s bears no resemblance to today's, and neither do the parties or their constituencies. Pls stop.

Drudge, Mystery Man

http://nymag.com/news/media/36617/index6.html

Having once issued descriptions of Bill Clinton’s penis on some pretext, Drudge can’t wait for Hillary to be president. “I’m on the record that Hillary Clinton, she’s already in.” There’s a paranoid frisson to that fantasy. On his radio show, Drudge has imagined the day that cameras will record image and audio on every street so that President Hillary can listen to conversations he had, even years later. What if things take a dark turn, he says. There’s martial law. Hillary’s voice will go out to the people from bullhorns. His words will be fed into a national database, and his opposition to global warming will make him a terrorist. He will be arrested and a chip darted into his skin. The government will meddle in our bodies. “Why don’t they get this over with and start coming door to door and collecting our body liquids,” he grumbled not long ago.

Affleck as Olbermann

Have to put this here, if not so I just have easy access. It was great. The "Worst Person in the World" yelling and the chair-swiveling in the "Special Comment" are on point.

I get scared just from looking at it

Drudge, Mystery Man

He’s said by some to be gay, but he has thrown water on these speculations.

He’d been in Jerusalem, and Buenos Aires, and on a German train he wept listening to Kelly Clarkson’s new record.

Popular Governors?

You always hear about how popular certain Governors are: Sarah Palin (AK), Charlie Crist (FL), Jeb Bush (FL), Bobby Jindal (LA), Kathleen Sebelius (KS), Brian Schweitzer (MT), George W. Bush (TX), Janet Napolitano (AZ), Mike Huckabee (AR), Mark Warner (VA)...

Governors around here (fake America, imo) aren't popular. McGreevey's popularity was meh, Corzine's sucks, Deval Patrick's sucks, Pataki's wasn't great, and Spitzer, well...

I googled and found this, a list from 2005 of all governor approval/disapproval ratings.

Top 10 net approval/disapproval:

1. Mike Rounds (SD)
2. Jodi Rell (CT)
3. John Hoeven (ND)
4. Jon Huntsman (UT)
5. Dave Freudenthal (WY)
6. Mark Warner (VA)
7. Brian Schweitzer (MT)
8. John Lynch (NH)
9. David Heineman (NE)
10. Michael Easley (NC)

ARE THERE ANY STARBUCKS IN THESE STATES???

20 Best Albums Since 2000

The White Stripes, Elephant
Radiohead, Kid A
Wolf Parade, Apologies to the Queen Mary
Elliott Smith, From a Basement on a Hill
Radiohead, In Rainbows
Interpol, Turn on the Bright Lights
Feist, The Reminder
Outkast, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stadium Arcadium
The Arcade Fire, Funeral
The Decemberists, The Crane Wife
Eminem, The Marshall Mathers LP
The New Pornographers, Twin Cinema
TV on the Radio, Dear Science
Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
Tool, Lateralus
Okkervil River, The Stage Names
Destroyer, Destroyer's Rubies
The National, Boxer
Tilly and the Wall, Bottom of Barrels

The Politico

Politico has emerged as one of the most cited outlets this cycle, and has a few really good bloggers and lots of good topics for articles. Very Slate-like. Yet whereas Slate is fairly open about being liberal, Politico is constantly cited in the MSM and on Drudge as some sort of objective paper. They must have a lot of good connections and a good set-up going, as they break a lot of stories and have accrued great cred.

But they're not exactly the New York Times. Take the articles on their front page right now. Check this article ("Would Palin Stick Out in Georgetown?") or this ("Presidential Ad Picks-and-Pans") or this ("Cover This! Inside the Nastiest '08 Rumors"). These are articles that would not appear in a paper of record, as they involve judgment calls (on pushing the Palin-as-anti-intellectual theme; on deciding how to rank campaign ads; on choosing how to measure what counts as a "rumor" and what qualifies as "nasty") that "fact-reporting" outlets usually decline to engage in. (Not to mention that all of these stories are very pro-Obama in nature.)

I think this is actually a good development. Journalists shouldn't just be robots. Many of them have been called out for asserting false equivalencies throughout this election (e.g., when they say "The campaigns have been going hard. McCain has been saying Obama hates America, and Obama has been accusing McCain of wanting to continue the Bush policies."). The news cycle is so fast now that it's up to the blogs, ironically, to convey the untainted, bare-bones facts of what's going on, since it's easier to shovel out a campaign press release, a piece of leaked insider information, or a youtube clip on a blog than elsewhere. The Caucus, Ben Smith, Marc Ambinder all provide a constant barrage of (mostly) straight reporting. Then, the in-depth articles that The Atlantic, Politico, National Review or The New Republic publish are more opinion-centered and involve more judgment calls.

JFK

30,000 Foot View -- Stories of the '08 Race

What will we remember from the 2008 presidential election? Some thoughts, broadly:

Intrade; Keith Olbermann; Sarah Palin; Jeremiah Wright; The Huffington Post; Youtube; Bradley Effect; blogosphere; netroots; Obama's fundraising; the "caucus" strategy; superdelegates; FiveThirtyEight; Tina Fey; Stewart/Colbert; Joe The Plumber; Sean Hannity; Hillary Clinton; the "elite, liberal" media...

Edit: Also, the phenomenon of media calling out other media. I'm not sure how unique this is to modern times though.

Most memorable quotes of the race?

"You're likeable enough, Hillary."

"Does Jeremiah Wright love America as much as you do?"

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."

"For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country."

"In what respect, Charlie?"

"Shame on you, Barack Obama!"

"Not God bless America, God damn America!"

"The fundamentals of this economy are strong."

"You know the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."

"That's not change we can believe in." (Repeat x 43).

"My friends..."

"Drill, baby, drill!"

"I'll veto every earmark that comes across my desk. You will know their names! You will know their names! You will know their names!"

FNC Names

Shep, Major, Brett, Sean, Brit, Greta... any pattern? Maybe not. But they're all terrible names.

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story

Saw it. Very entertaining, but I'm a sucker for all inside baseball-type stuff. He crossed paths with Rove several times during the 1970s before Rove came under his tutelage in the Dukakis campaign. Matalin provided a few soundbytes, worshipping at Atwater's feet in a really weird way. Lots of implication that if Atwater hadn't died, Clinton would have gone down hard in 1992. A few notes:

- Young GWB is pretty awesome. He had a great Bushism during an interview in the midst of the '88 campaign: "...I would say that's a misadjective."

- Atwater got OWNED by cancer. Radiation blew him up to some sort of cartoon in Roger Rabbit.

- Atwater's brother died when he was a kid. The family owned a deep-fryer and, well, a deep-fryer's worth of scalding grease was spilled onto him. Not fun imo.

- Tucker Eskew (former Bush 2000 adviser, now Palin's aide) provided the bulk of the interviews. He's a real dirty trickster, a southern guy. Kept talking about how dumb the Democrats are to keep thinking that cultural issues won't work in presidential elections.

- Dukakis ran a pretty terrible rapid-response campaign. And by that, I mean he didn't run one.

- I didn't know that the constant GOP banter about "states' rights" evolved -- aside from the earlier federalist/anti-federalist debate -- from the Southern strategy and the development of code words (i.e., "government handouts," "welfare queens") to replace the blatant racism of earlier years.

Things I'll Be Glad Not To Hear About Anymore Come 11/5

Bradley Effect; failed Bush policies; Troopergate; disaffected Hillary voters; "the McCain of 2000 would've..."; Country First; ACORN; Ayers, Wright, Rezko, Pfleger; "Honor"; "the surge, which is working"; whether the youth vote will show up; "battleground...Pennsylvania"; are the Clintons on board yet? (IT'S FUCKING OCTOBER 29TH); "this is Obama's to lose... barring a terrorist attack or something"; socialism; filibuster-proof majority; "the pundits have all written us off!"; ground games; "I'm workin' for the waitress in Youngstown, who can't pay her bills cause her momma's got cancer..."; change election; "Obama's outspending McCain 3, 4-to-1 in states like North Carolina and it's still close... shouldn't he be crushing McCain?" (wtf); most liberal Senator in Congress; the mere mention of Bernie Sanders's name; Wasilla; good ol' boy network; Karl Rove's playbook...

Edit: In all seriousness, the end of this election will be pretty gay. I can't think of anything else I've ever followed so closely. Running home from night classes to check the early returns during the primaries, obsessively refreshing like 15 different sites, watching every debate since December, waking up early to refresh Drudge the Friday that Palin was picked...

Obama's administration should be fairly entertaining though, at least for the first few years.

Cabinet sweepstakes next.

Obama's Map in 2012

Seems like a fair representation of what, in all likelihood, will happen this year.

Possibilities for 2012? Basically, as I see it, the map will be forced to look notably different.

If Obama pulls off some magic and he and the Pelosi/Reid Congress can get some stability/troop withdrawals through in the next few years, it'll be kind've a joke election. Obama's approval/disapproval rating will be significantly high. The GOP will nominate a joke candidate. Obama's network will expand and his fundraising will be incredible (though perhaps depressed compared with now, since the excitement factor is lessened). The main critique against him -- that he's green behind the ears -- is wiped away. He'll take Arizona, the Dakotas, Montana, maybe Texas, Georgia, WV, and so forth. Basically all states whose citizens aren't dyed-in-the-wool racists.

That's pretty utopian though. What if he blows it? You might think well, the Dem electoral backbone is still pretty solid. He'll win all the Kerry states no matter what, so his floor is pretty damn high. Well, I'm not sure. I mean obviously he'll take NY, CA, MA, etc. But it's hard to imagine a scenario in which his presidency is good enough that he holds PA, NH, OR, MI, but bad enough (and his networking horrible enough) that he cannot hold VA, CO, NM, NV, IA... even FL and OH, to an extent. You'll have to think a LOT of the racial animosity will be eliminated after he's been in the WH for four years. A lot of the current seniors (more likely to be racist) will be dead. Latino expansion will lock up the Southwest. The results this year will make all the Bradley Effect chanting a distant memory (and polling should greatly improve).

Basically my point is that Obama is a lock to win in 2012, and fairly significantly. Any scenario in which he loses is a scenario where he just gets killed in the popular vote, I would think. The results of the 2010 midterms should be indicative of what we'll be likely to see.

538 in the Times

Fairly uneventful article:

Mr. Silver, who first made his name as the designer of a well-regarded method for predicting baseball statistics, said his site received more than one million page views per day, despite having just been unveiled this year.

[...]

“We don’t try and say, there’s a 37 percent chance Osama bin Laden will send another message this October,” Mr. Silver said. “We do account for general uncertainty.”

[...]

Dick Bennett, at the American Research Group, was even blunter. “He hasn’t been able to predict the future,” Mr. Bennett said. “If he did, he would have been able to predict who’d win in June.”

Pretty impressive hit count. Dick Bennett... what? That is what Nate's thing is all about. That's why he has a projection line and a trend line. As you get closer and closer to Nov. 4, the chances that the latest polls disagree with the result decrease. The June comment is just retarded.

Media Bias

This article on the liberal bias in the presidential coverage seemed to be decent until I got to the punchline:

If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as president of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography.

NARAL, Planned Parenthood

Why do I always hear about how NARAL and Planned Parenthood have, on a scale of 0-100, rated John McCain a 0 and Barack Obama a 100? Is there any science used in these ratings? Seems pretty binary... if you're a Dem, we'll do anything to get you elected, and if you're in the GOP, we'll do the opposite. Can't we just assume that, in every Dem-Rep election, you'll push onesidedly for the blue team? Given that prolifers think that John McCain, all things considered, is a pretty weak candidate for their cause, what do abortion rights groups see differently?

I'd probably look like Tom Cruise if I ever went on TV

Movie Cliches

I love thinking about these. Good lists here and here. Here are some others I've thought about.

- The quick jump-cut to show contrast, or a part b) to disprove the part a) of the previous scene. Used in tons of movies; Twister, Iron Man, Con Air. Example: In Jurassic Park, when Ellie says "...unless they figured out how to open doors." Instantly cuts to a velociraptor... opening a door.

- Ridiculously contrived bit-part black characters, serving the sole purpose of getting black people to see the movie and fill the theater with their cackling. See: homeless dude in Day After Tomorrow, both black guys in Gone in 60 Seconds, dude walking his dog in the beginning of Armageddon.

- A need to fill film time discussing an enemy's credentials or an objective's difficulty. "OMG, you have no idea how skilled Jason Bourne is! He is a highly-trained CIA operative with a black belt and Batman-like attributes. Do not underestimate him!" I think this exact dialogue happens in all 3 Bourne films. Same thing with the Mission: Impossible movies. "As for our break-in target, we have intentionally picked the most well-guarded facility in the world. To enter it, you need a retinal scan, a fingerprint scan, a voice scan, a one-of-a-kind photo ID that is laminated in ancient Chinese gold. My friends... this is the CIA." It's like holy fuck, just start the mission.

- Unbelievably contrived jurisdiction arguments. The Fugitive, Die Hard, you name it. Even Blue Streak, for the love of Christ. "This building is owned by the state of New York. Only NYPD are authorized." ... "Holy shit, the suspect has stepped onto the street -- this is solely an FBI matter!" Wtf... this doesn't occur in real life. They'd just kill the dude.

- Rookie cop-veteran cop chase scene. They're in hot pursuit of a suspect, they split up. Rookie cop takes conventional route, vet goes for some "only vets know" shortcut. Senior cop obviously eventually appears right in front of suspect, stopping him in his tracks, ending the chase, becoming hero of the scene.

- No-look driving with a passenger. Two people driving, speeding through a city, or the countryside... whatever. Driver is obviously ranting to the passenger, not looking at the road. All of a sudden, passenger points forward and screams, "look out!" as there is a fucking semi barreling down the road directly at them.

Obviously they swerve just in time and escape without a scratch.

- Interruptions of action sequences with cuts to "peaceful life" or reaction shots from passersby; a family enjoying a picnic, people going about their day-to-day lives, kids playing. See: The Rock during the car chase, when Bay cuts to the trolley car. Or in The Dark Knight when they cut to those GODDAMN KIDS who pretend to shoot imaginary guns during the film's highlight sequence. Or in Batman Begins when Nolan constantly jumps ironically between the Tumbler chase and Gary Oldman making some lame face or wisecrack.

- Esteemed, distinguished, senior operative or assassin gets pulled in... for one last mission. See The Jackal or The Rock or any other of the countless hitman or CIA/FBI-centric films.

- Courtroom judge slams gavel and utters: "This is HIGHLY UNORTHODOX... but I'll allow it." Wtf, stop grandstanding. You're a Southern judge that looks like a Bloodhound (My Cousin Vinny -- but this applies elsewhere).

- Solving a Rubik's cube in 3.5 milliseconds somehow is the sole method of determining whether someone is a genius. WTF, fail.

- Building up unnecessary and false tension just because the setting seems to warrant it. Take a scene in 21. Jim Sturgess is walking through airport security loaded with cash. He goes through the beep-machine, and right as he's about to skip through scot-free, the guard says "Sir, wait." Of course, the film goes all slo-mo for like 4 minutes, as utter shock and horror comes over his face. And, of course, the security guard, at the end of all this, is like "dude, you forgot your bag." So predictable.

- Seeing some random at a funeral. Whenever a funeral occurs early in a movie, without fail, the protagonist will see some weird dude or hot chick frolicking through the cemetary in the background, waiting to be beckoned to. This doesn't happen IRL, plz stop.

- Classroom scene, teacher is ALWAYS talking about something especially pertinent to the plot, usually a foreshadowing bit or info or something along those lines. Horror movie, college kid is in a lecture about Campus Ghost Myths. Transformers, somehow Shia is presenting some BS presentation on his ancestors on the very day that the robots that his ancestors awakened take over the Earth.

- Important character is shot. Repeatedly, at point blank, with a 12-gauge. There's 2 minutes of suspense as nobody knows what happened and whether he'll be OK. Then, he inevitably rips off his shirt to show a bulletproof vest. Ta-da!

- Woman washing her face in front of bathroom mirror. She bends over to splash water, camera follows. Stands back up straight to look at the mirror, camera again follows-- ZOMG! Someone appeared behind her! Except it's her dad, and that trick has been done in every thriller since 1942.

- This one's a bit harder to tease out. It occurs in both Prom Night and Along Came a Spider. Basically, a horrific tragedy occurs. Four years pass. Protagonist still hasn't gotten over it, and is sitting around his house sulking and acting depressed. Family member comes in and says "Sweetie, you have to let the past live in the past." It's like... wtf. It's been 1400 days. Does this conversation occur every day? If not, what the hell would prompt someone to say this on some random day, years after the fact? Too contrived.

That's it for now. Catchy song imo:

Songs of the Year

No order:

Cut Copy, "Lights and Music"
Wolf Parade, "The Grey Estates"
Okkervil River, "Lost Coastlines"
Shearwater, "Century Eyes"
Tilly and the Wall, "Dust Me Off"
T.V. on the Radio, "Crying" & "DLZ"
Islands, "Kids Don't Know Shit"
The Magnetic Fields, "The Nun's Litany"
MGMT, "Kids"

Calexico's "Victor Jara's Hands" is pretty damn good too, but probably not on a short list.

Holding Out Hope for 11/4

Convo regarding House/Senate split in a 269-269 decision, resulting in Pres. McCain and V.P. Biden:

[21:50] ES: I won't be able to look at a black person or a woman again without just bursting out laughing.
[21:50] ES: Like I know that the day after that happens I'll be waiting for a bus with like
[21:50] ES: Cornel West and Gloria Steinem
[21:50] ES: and I'll just be standing there whistling.

Cabinet Theory

I wonder if quadrennial rumors among the Beltway insiders and reporters, like this, simply serve a purpose to annoy the hell out of the staffers of the senior most Senators. I wonder how many times Dick Lugar's name has been mentioned as a possible Cabinet appointment. And so now all of his aides and advisers have it firmly implanted in their minds that they might, might, might be moving to State. And then a week before Thanksgiving, Obama announces some Kennedy School of Government douche. What a killjoy.

Bloomberg and Moses

This past summer I read The Power Broker by Robert Caro. It's a biography of Robert Moses, who has pretty low name recognition relative to other important historical figures. But he is, by most accounts, the most important person in the shaping of New York City during the 20th century.

He was termed a "master builder," though he was basically a city planner, an architect, and an incredibly shrewd politician all rolled into one. To name every work he built would be impossible. He created nearly all of the highways and parkways throughout New York City, Long Island, and much of New York State. He created Shea Stadium, Lincoln Center, Jones Beach, the United Nations building. He built nearly every bridge and tunnel throughout the five boroughs. Virtually created, from scratch, the State Parks of New York. He consistently had power over the mayor of New York City, the governor of NY State, and, on a few occasions, the POTUS. Between the late 1920s and the mid-1960s, he was basically the most powerful man in the most important city in the world. And he was never elected to public office.

This brings me to Bloomberg. One of Moses's great strengths was that he was a masterful bill writer, capable of inserting key clauses that he knew would either be overlooked or misinterpreted at the time of passing, only to ensure his own place atop the NY bureaucracy for years to come. It was (Godwin) very Hitleresque. Rail against the system as only benefitting the elites, call for reform, finally work your way to the top, and change the rules so you're dictator (or Chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority) for life. This seems to be the crux of what Bloomberg is trying to do.

I like Bloomberg, he seems like a decent guy (though stumping for Bush in '04 is pretty damn awful). But what he's doing seems so underhanded. New York City's government still operates very machinelike; being an incumbent (and an incumbent who has major ins with not only the financial world, but the fickle NYC press) is pretty important, I would have to imagine. Slippery slope fallacy, yada yada, but who's to say when his third term is up, it's not time for another one? Granted, you can argue that if he was a bad mayor, the people would kick him out. But let's say he's just a mediocre mayor, and in a normal environment, new blood would be appropriate. How does anyone run against a Bloomberg machine that can flood the airwaves with ads and garner endorsements from every local media outlet?

I'd probably vote for him if I lived there, though.

Kristol

Today's piece:

McCain and Palin could buy time Thursday night — giving voters some incentive to keep an open mind at least until McCain and Palin get to make their case.

Palin could speak first, reprising her fine recent speeches on women’s issues and special needs kids — speeches that got almost no press coverage. She could then introduce her running mate, reminding people of his heroism, and pointing out, as she does on the stump, that he is the only candidate “who has truly fought for America.”

I'm fairly sure that Christian feminism and Down syndrome babies are not issues that people care about right now. There's a reason these speeches got no coverage last week.

Everything Kristol suggests is stuff that has already been tried and resulted in a failure. "Reminding people of his heroism." Stunning.

Dow, Dow, Dow

I find the post-Lehman fascination with the minute-by-minute ups and downs of the markets to be pretty disgusting. I'm not a day trader. I don't care to know what the DJIA is at every moment of my day. If I did, I'd turn to CNBC or Bloomberg. Not only is it irrelevant to someone that is only thinking of stocks as a long-term deal (me), but it presents such a false sense of the finance world to Joe Average (and creates the gayest conversations, where I'm forced to listen to acquaintances drone on about how the last two months has proved how bad their investments were -- FAIL).

For one, stocks aren't the be-all, end-all of what's going on. On the Monday that the Dow surged 900, listening to the commentariat, you would have thought we were in a flourishing market once again. Problem solved! Except the credit markets were still fucked and nothing had been done about the toxic mortgages.

Two, it provides a breeding ground for results-oriented thinking. If you have money in stocks, you're gambling. It may not seem like a gamble in a normal environment, where your shares are of a huge company in a profitable sector. But it is. As such, just because the value of the stocks have declined does not mean it was a poor decision to invest. So stop whining about how awful your portfolio was just because the last month (or year) has unfolded as it has.

Three, it's probably giving a heart attack to retirees everywhere. 9:18: The Dow's up 400, that's great news! 9:21: The Dow's at -191 for the day -- where is Bernanke?!?!? 3:33: Stocks rise sharply, indicating a positive reaction to Paulson's plan! STFU. The global stock market is huge and is reacting to four million things at once. Anderson Cooper, all you're covering is how many words Paulson has given to the press corps today. Stop acting like you're presenting an accurate view of things.

Unnecessary disclaimer: I have barely any idea how the stock market works. But some stuff is just obvious.

Frank Rich

I've always thought it's pretty easy to be Frank Rich. Your columns are just weekly event wrap-ups with sparse analysis. You get top-billing in the Sunday Times' "Week in Review." Your columns are twice as long as the normal op-ed.

But he's actually a pretty good writer. A bit of a blowhard, Olbermann-style. Very partisan, and doesn't really moderate it. Loathes Bush. Hates McCain/Palin. Hated Clinton, pre-June '08. Lukewarm to her now. Loves Obama.

But he makes some good insights. A lot of media-critiquing-media stuff. Here is his latest. One choice point:

... the so-called liberal media, among their other failures this year, have helped ratchet up this election cycle’s prevailing antiwhite bias. Ever since Obama declared his candidacy, the press’s default setting has been to ominously intone that “in the privacy of the voting booth” ignorant, backward whites will never vote for a black man.

I've always found this part of MSM election coverage weird. They consistently pose the question "will Obama face white racism or resentment in November?", albeit usually in less plain terms. It would seem appropriate for them to then call these undecided, white, rural voters out, Campbell Brown-style: "Vote for whomever you want, just don't base it on race." Instead it's the same old hands-off, present-unfounded-assumptions-and-leave-it-to-the-viewer-to-decide approach of "well, it seems Obama might lose to racism. Not much we can do!"

Pitchfork Albums of the Year

It's been a pretty good year so far in my view, though I can't think of that many wow albums. Dear Science is about it. Maybe Bon Iver's, but I think that counts as 2007. I'd guess the top 10 thusfar might be:

TVOTR, Dear Science
Cut Copy, In Ghost Colours
The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Hercules and Love Affair, Hercules and Love Affair
M83, Saturdays=Youth
Lil Wayne, Tha Carter III
Portishead, Third
Shearwater, Rook

...no idea what rounds it out. Thus far, I mean. Obviously some top10-ers haven't been released. Kanye should be coming out before '09. Wolf Parade should really make the list, but they won't.

This is a catchy song:

Strangelovian Subtitles and Political Books

I always treat these books as trash. You know what I'm referring to, they absolutely dominate the front tables and Barnes and Noble. Titles like Fight for the Right: Why Liberals Are Horrible and They Make the Dollar Decline and Reid, Pelosi, Obama = Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels. Or books that go for the instructional cover. Why so-and-so did something wrong and how you can save yourself! Just going on and on and on, creating a mini-rant out of the book title. Save it for when I open the cover, for Christ's sake.

Here are some gems:

The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It

Fleeced: How Barack Obama, Media Mockery of Terrorist Threats, Liberals Who Want to Kill Talk-Radio, the Do-Nothing Congress, Companies That Help Iran, and Washington Lobbyists for Foreign Governments are Scamming Us... and What to Do About It

That last one is, of course, authored by Dick Morris. There are so many things laughable about that title that it's hard to know where to start. The "... and What to Do About It" is especially good. There's nothing you can do. You can vote for McCain. That's what you can do. Or write your congressman repeatedly about the importance of voting nay on the Fairness Doctrine. Or take every terrorist threat seriously. The idea of being taught how to act by a rotund dwarf-turned-pundit is hilarious.

It still boggles the mind how many books exist already that condemn Obama. He. Hasn't. Accomplished. Anything. At least wait for Jan. 20th. Corsifail.

Palin' Around

When Palin was first announced, Marc Ambinder posted a C-SPAN interview (clip below) with her from this past February at the Winter NGA. She seems like a completely different person when you compare it with footage of her today. She really would have had great prospects in '12 or '16 had she not been so polarizing over the past seven weeks. Wait for Bush fatigue to subside, hire the future generation of Roves, and go to work. Easy game. She's so innocent in her ignorance that it's really hard not to like her. It's just that, as with the multiple McCains, she's been tarred by so many different brushes (be it by her handlers, a flailing narrative, or the investigative journalism of the MSM) that it's hard to know who Palin really is. Reform governor. Energy czar. Hot babe. Special needs crusader. Pitbull! Idiot (Gibson). Idiot (Couric). McCarthyite. Hot babe, to the tune of $150K.

Whereas Obama is just a black nerd who cavorts with a terrorist every now and then.

Trial Post

Sitting in an Obama/Dem office in New Jersey, two weeks before an election, is weird. Voter registration is closed. The state is irrelevant. The closest "swing" state, where local residents can easily drive if they want to canvass or phone bank, is also irrelevant (Pennsylvania). And nobody wants to make phone calls for a Congressional race. Especially for a blind Jewish rabbi. Seriously.

So mostly people just come in and take Obama/Biden signs. Or bumper-stickers that fit neatly over Kerry/Edwards and Gore/Lieberman. I never understood the point either of these. They both make some sense pre-primaries. Get on the bandwagon early and reap the benefits of looking like a political Nostradamus in November. But two weeks out? They don't convince anyone to join your cause, you look like someone who just made up his mind yesterday (i.e., an idiot), and you seem wholly unoriginal. Not to mention you look mindnumbingly stupid if your horse loses. Though I guess that's not an issue in 2008.

That is to say, my town is littered with Obama signage now. With a sprinkling of Lautenberg and Pascrell. Frank Lautenberg is seriously on death's door. He's 84, and makes McCain look spry. All of his ads (why does he think he needs to run them?) are about how he loves kids. Showing kids playing, yelling, marquee-text reminding us he backed SCHIP. I don't think he's ever done anything important.