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goddess of clarity: a blog about politics, culture, and serenity

Archive: October 4 - October 24, 2004

October 21, 2004 — 13:52 EDT

I'm really glad Boston is going to the World Series, but I really, really hope St. Louis wins its game 7 tonite. I don't think I could take another Massachusetts vs. Texas contest this fall. Things are getting ugly enough as it is. Do we really want the spector of Roger Clemens pitching in Boston wearing a Houston uniform?

I'm hoping the Red Sox recent good future will also cast a rosy glow over the prospects of another New England dark horse, John Kerry. Much like Red Sox Nation, the Democrats it seems have been daring to dream: maybe this year, maybe its our turn. But that nugget of doubt remains, that dark spot in the back of the brain that tells you, "don't get your hopes up. You know what happened last time." Well, as Curt Schilling's T-shirt put it, "Why Not Us?" Yeah, why the hell not!

If the Red Sox can beat the Yankees in game 7, that opens the door to all kinds of possibilities that, until very recently, would have seemed impossible.

—lori.

October 19, 2004 — 11:52 EDT

There are many, many reasons why baseball is better than football. I can't state them much better than George Carlin did, so I won't try (Third row, Syracuse, December 11! Fuck yeah, baby!). But last night's ACLS game just kinda reminded me again why I love the game so much.

Now, I'm not going to wax romantic about the loveable Red Sox vs. the soul-crushing Yankees. I'm not really a Boston fan or a Yankee-basher. But the game itself was just unbelievable. Fox kept cutting to crowd shots during the ninth, tenth, eleventh, etc.... innings and the looks on people's faces just spoke volumes. When David Ortiz tried to steal second(!) and was called out, the camera focused on this one guy in the stands during the replay. The look on his face changed from jubilant surprise, to desperate longing, to quiet sadness, to righteous indignation all within about four seconds. The fans didn't sit down from the eighth inning on. There hands were covering their faces when they couldn't dare look, or clenched in prayer to some higher power. One kid even had what looked like a set of rosary beads with the Boston "B" where the crucifix should be. Brilliant. Sacrilegious, but brilliant. I just hope Sister Mary Discipline at Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow wasn't watching.

When you get to that point in a baseball game where every single pitch matters, like life-and-death matters, there's nothing that can beat that in sports, in my opinion. Not the gymnast's final vault for Olympic gold, not the 50-yard field goal with two seconds remaining on the clock, not five minutes of injury time in the World Cup final. Nothing.

—lori.

October 18, 2004 — 13:42 EDT

Even better, Wonkette links to a video clip of the Jon Stewart Crossfire episode from iFilm.

—lori.

October 18, 2004 — 10:00 EDT

I spent a good chunk of last week at the HighEdWebDev conference here in Rochester; hence the recent shortage of entries. The conference itself was pretty cool but strangely exhausting. I was on the conference committee, and while I didn't have to work nearly as hard as many of the other members of the committee, the late nights, early mornings, and lack of a weekend off really took their toll. I must officially be getting old.

On Friday, Mr. Goddess taped the last 10 minutes or so of Jon Stewart's appearance on CNN's Crossfire (there's a transcript of the show online). God, I wish they re-ran this show! They re-run Paula Zhan and Lou Dobbs, for Christ's sake! Anyway, Tucker Carlson was pouting through the whole segment because Jon Stewart wasn't doing his funny little comedy routine and was instead criticizing shows like Crossfire for dumbing down political discourse in America. And when he called Carlson a dick, I nearly fell off the couch laughing.

I think the obvious point that the Crossfire folks somehow missed is that The Daily Show doesn't just tell funny jokes about politicians (though it does that brilliantly). It is a parody of the media itself. What the heck did they expect, inviting Jon Stewart onto one of the stupidest "news" shows on TV?! The funny thing is, Crossfire is just as much a "fake news" show as The Daily Show, only the producers of The Daily Show admit it and then run with it. Tucker Carlson, Paul Begala, etc., are still laboring under the misapprehension that they are "journalists" and not "entertainers."

—lori.

October 8, 2004 — 10:20 EDT

I've posted some photos from the film I found in an old Kodak Baby Brownie that I bought at an antique store. These cameras were manufactured from 1935 till about 1955 and use 127 film, which is still available today though hard to get. What could be on those pictures? It could be anything, really. With great excitement, I took the camera down to one of the local film processors that deals with old-format film (this being the home of Kodak, there are many). And what did I find? See for yourself.

—lori.

October 7, 2004 — 13:25 EDT

File this under "Products You Assumed Already Existed But Didn't ... Until Now!" LG Electronics has recently launched what they claim is the world's first fully integrated refrigerator and TV. The ad copy (or at least the Babelfish translation of the ad copy) describes it as:

A state of the art home appliance allowing you more convenient and easier life.

Cool. I need more convenient and easier life. I didn't realize that the ability to watch Dr. Phil while staring at my refrigerator door was the key to more convenient and easier life, but what do I know?

The fridge comes complete with a snack corner and something called an "Egg Bank," plus the optional pizza tray, wine rack and "Miracle Zone" (though no word is given on exactly what beatific acts one might expect in this zone).

I think I'll wait for the optional DVD icemaker and integrated VCR/Laserdisc lettuce crisper before taking the plunge into kitchen entertainment.

—lori.

October 6, 2004 — 12:30 EDT

I'm not really sure what to make of the debate last night between Dick Cheney and John Edwards. One word does spring to mind: boring. Snoozefest. Nap fodder. OK, that's four words.

It's just that I remember back in August when John Kerry announced his running mate and Democrats began salivating (myself included) at the prospect of a debate between the Prince of Darkness and the Sunshine Kid. "Can you imagine what the debate's gonna be like?" we asked ourselves hopefully. "It's gonna be awesome!" we resonded gleefully.

And the debate was fine. But that's just it: it was just fine. I thought John Edwards did a good job, but I was hoping he would blow Cheney out of the water. Impossible expectations, I know. But there were still a few places where I thought Edwards could have done more to slam old Dickie down.

For instance, when the vice president said, "The senator has got his facts wrong. I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11," I almost fell out of my chair! Excuse me?! He must be operating under some definition of the word "suggest" of which I was not previously aware, because Cheney has done nothing but suggest, imply, connect, confuse, muddle, and befuddle the connection between Saddam and 9/11. He then had the nerve to blame the media for the fact that most Americans do in fact believe there is such a connection.

I did have an extra little "toy" to play with during the debate that I found strangely facsinating. I watched the debate on CNN, and they had live on their Web site a focus group with dial testers responding to the debate in real time. Well, almost real time. The webcast was about 30 seconds behind, but you could see the lines for men and women, positive and negative reactions, going up and down as the debate progressed. I must admit I was mesmerized. For instance, the positive lines went way up for Edwards when he mentioned Halliburton and way down for Cheney when he tried to brush off the attacks. Cheney's positive lines went way up when he talked about gay marriage and his support for his gay daughter. What is it with Republicans? They only seem to land on the right side of an issue when it directly affects someone in their family.

Lastly, I've noticed a new fad amongst news organizations: "Fact Checking." It seems to be all the rage. Most of the network broadcasts, the cable channels, even NPR ran "fact checking segments," or had a "dedicated fact checker" on board for the debate. It's not that I want to discourage such a positive development, me being a lover of facts and truth and beauty and all that. But SHOULDN'T THE WHOLE NEWS CAST BE A FACT CHECK?! What do we call the rest of the broadcast, then? "Thanks for that 'Fact Check,' Bob. We now return to the 'Blindly Parroting Any Claim Made By The Political Parties Without Word To Motivation Or Accuracy' portion of our show."

—lori.

October 5, 2004 — 12:36 EDT

While watching Shields and Brooks last week on The NewsHour, I heard the absolute perfect description of President Bush. It came from David Brooks, and he was speaking in relation to the president's performance in the first debate, but he could have been talking about anything because his comments just summed up the president perfectly.

He's just not - he's not a formal speaker. He's a casual belly-to-belly guffawer, you know, towel-snapper. That's who he is.

One word: towel-snapper.

It conjurs up so many images that just apply so completely to this president. Think about it: who is the towel-snapper? He's the guy who's just a little too loud, who laughs at his own jokes, who thinks he's being friendly and chummy but is really just a bully with more than a hint of a mean streak when the tables are turned against him.

That's our guy. President Towel-Snapper.

—lori.