goddess of clarity: a blog about politics, culture, and serenity
Archive: January 1 - January 15, 2007
January 11, 2007 — 22:50 EST
I've got a cup of tea at the ready and the TV remote in hand, finger poised over the mute button for those moments when I need to cut away from the president's voice—just for four or five seconds—to avoid having a seizure. "In just a few moments, President Bush will announce his new Iraq War strategy," says Jim Lehrer. OK, Dubya, lay it on us.
The Goddess Watches the President's Iraq Speech (So You Don't Have To)
9:01—"When I addressed you just over a year ago, nearly 12 million Iraqis had cast their ballots for a unified and democratic nation." Man, he really must have loved all those happy, purple fingers. Good times.
9:02—"Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me." Not exactly the same thing as, "I've made some mistakes," now is it?
9:04—"Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States. The consequences of failure are clear: Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits. They would be in a better position to topple moderate governments, create chaos in the region, and use oil revenues to fund their ambitions. Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Our enemies would have a safe haven from which to plan and launch attacks on the American people." Wow. Failure sounds bad. It’s a good thing we thought this through before we started invading stuff.
9:06—"When these forces are fully deployed, there will be 18 Iraqi army and national police brigades committed to this effort, along with local police." Wait a minute. Where did all these Iraqi army and police units come from all of a sudden?
9:07—"So I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq." For that matter, where are all these additional American troops coming from? (North Carolina and Kansas, so it turns out. Sorry, guys.)
9:17—"From Afghanistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian territories, millions of ordinary people are sick of the violence, and want a future of peace and opportunity for their children." Amazing. He still believes in this whole "democracy is on the march" thing. It's almost cute. Almost.
9:19—"Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of violence will continue - and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties." This is what speechwriters refer to as the "covering our ass" clause.
9:20—"There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship." There will however be flightsuits and large, inappropriate banners.
—lori.
January 9, 2007 — 19:58 EST
A little over a year ago, I bought a new iPod nano. I bought it about a week after it launched. It was the first time I bought a piece of personal technology that quickly. I'm not much of an early adopter, but this time Apple sucked me it. My new nano had 4GB of storage space and was skinny enough to fit in my jeans pocket. It came in white and black, and sold for 250 bucks, and it was the sexiest piece of hardware I'd ever laid my eyes on.
Almost exactly a year later, Apple launched an updated nano. It had 8GB of storage space and was even skinnier. It came in white and black. And pink and green and blue and red and silver (shiny, pretty, silver). And it sold for ... 250 bucks. Arrrghh!
Looks like Apple is at it again. Today at Macworld, Steve Jobs unveiled his latest piece of gadget gorgeousness, iPhone. With the iPhone you can take pictures, play music and videos, sync to your email and calendar, surf the Web, view custom maps and directions, and -- this is the beauty part! -- make and receive phone calls. The iPhone is a piece of iCandy as well, with a widescreen, touch controls, and a sleek metallic design that must make the brown Microsoft Zune feel like the last girl at the dance.
But at a rumored price of $499, this time Apple might be asking a bit much, and not just in terms of dollars. I just don't know how much of this planned obsolesence I can take. I have been cell phone-less for over a year now, frozen into a state of purchase paralysis by all the options and plans and networks available. And always the reality pricks at the back of my brain that if I just wait three months or six months or nine months, I can get the same phone but with this new, totally cool ... thing-y ... for the same price. At some point you just have to buy a damn phone, right? But when? Now? How 'bout now?
Meanwhile, over at the Consumer Electronics Show, Bill Gates unveiled a host of new products designed for the (much delayed) Windows Vista operating system. The hardware, software, games, services etc. are all part of Gates' vision of "Connected Entertainment" and the (much delayed) "smart home." In a world where I require three remote controls to power my TV, how am I supposed to get my refrigerator to talk to my DVD player? Another case in point: when I visit the new iPhone site on Safari on a Mac, the interactive demos work beautifully and seamlessly. Visit the same site on IE7? I get pop-ups for add-ons, ActiveX controls, and links to "Download Quicktime to see more." My entertainment experience doesn't feel very "connected," Mr. Gates.
—lori.
January 8, 2007 — 17:07 EST
The double-bill currently playing at The Cinema, our local $5-double-feature theater:
Apocalypto
Borat
I guess that makes sense. If you manage to make it through two hours of human sacrifice and hearts-being-ripped-out-while-still-beating, you may need to unwind by watching a naked fat man wrestle a naked skinny man in a hotel room. Nice!
—lori.
January 5, 2007 — 09:09 EST
Unflattering Politician Photo of the Week
(Lady of the House Edition)
"Wo-man! Wo-man!! WO-MAN!!
Nancy Pelosi yesterday became the first girlfriend elected to serve as Speaker of the House. Mrs. Pelosi, totally rockin' an aubergine power suit and kick-ass pearls, promises to bring both boobs and brains to Capitol Hill (both of which have been historically in short supply).
—lori.
January 1, 2007 — 18:40 EST
Happy New Year!
It's the time of year for recaps and lists, and I love me a good well-ordered list. This is the third year for my end-of-year reckoning, so the Goddess proudly presents:
40 Questions for 2006
- What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Bought a house (!), painted a room, saw the Barenaked Ladies in concert, rode the London Underground, visited the British Museum, saw a show in the West End. - Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My finances are in a bit better shape than last year; a mortgage tends to focus the mind. But I didn't run a marathon. So this year, I'm going to keep it a little simpler. My resolutions are: wake up a half hour earlier each morning (like Carrie in Sex in the City, I often wonder how different my life would be if I were not constantly running 15 minutes late), eat at home more often, and keep to my gym schedule (taking baby steps to the marathon). - Did anyone close to you give birth?
Nope. - Did anyone close to you die?
Nope. - What countries did you visit?
Canada (which as far as the Goddess household is concerned might as well change it's name to "IKEA-da"), England, and Scotland. - What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
I think this year a garden would be nice. I haven't had a garden since our community plot back in Seattle. - What dates from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory?
September 22: signing my life away for a parade of lawyers, bankers, and insurance agents. November 8: Democrats take the house and senate, Rumsfeld (finally!) resigns. - What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I bought a house! (I don't know if that's so much an achievement as a purchase.) - What was your biggest failure?
I failed to reach my running goals this year, after such a good start last year, so I'm kinda bummed about that. But it's time to get back on that horse (or treadmill, as the case may be). - Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope, not even a cold or a papercut, for which I am very grateful. - What was the best thing you bought?
I bought a house! My new iPod is pretty cool, too. - Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Once again, I find myself answering this question last. I would nominate Steven Colbert as someone whose behaviour merits celebration. Also the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize this year, Muhammad Yunus, seems like a great man with a simple idea: loan small amounts of money -- $20 to $100 -- to people in impoverished countries so they can start and grow a business. - Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed?
I think I would have to nominate the entire Republican Congress for this one. A case in point: Congressman Mark Foley is caught red-handed making sexual advances to underage pages, and it's later shown that members of the Congressional leadership knew that he had been doing this for at least 12 years. And from the party of family values and "oh, we must protect the children!" hysterics, we learn that the biggest "family value" of all is protecting your majority and political power, children be damned! - Where did most of your money go?
I bought a house! - What did you get really, really, really excited about?
I bought a house! - What song/album will always remind you of 2006?
"I Bet You Look Good on the Dance Floor," by the Arctic Monkeys. During our vacation, four different teenage boys introduced me to the Arctic Monkeys, and this was the only song of theirs that got any airplay in the U.S., but it got *a lot* of airplay. - Compared to this time last year, are you:
* happier or sadder? Happier. * thinner or fatter? Fatter (all of it put on since Thanksgiving; it will be another couple weeks on the South Beach Diet to get back on track) * richer or poorer? Poorer (I bought a house!) - What do you wish you'd done more of?
Same as last year (again): running, reading, taking pictures, playing my guitar, camping. I'll add going to movies to the list this year. - What do you wish you'd done less of?
I actually did spend less time watching TV this year. This year, I guess I wish I'd done less complaining about The Job, since I really do like my job (90% of the time). - How will you be spending Christmas?
Down in Levittown, PA again. You can take the girl out of the suburbs, but you can't take the suburbs out of the girl. - Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
Mr. Goddess. - Did you fall in love in 2006?
I fell in love in 1990, and it took. - How many one night stands in this last year?
This year marked the 16th year of my one-night-stand dry spell. - What was your favourite TV program?
My new favorite this year is Ugly Betty. And I've also discovered through DVD the wonder that is Deadwood. - Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I know a lot of people who get on my nerves, and those people got on my nerves more so this year than last year. But it would be a stretch to say I "hate" them. - What was the best book(s) you read?
It's a toss-up between Great Expectations by Charles Dickens and Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas Ricks. - What was your greatest musical discovery?
I had a lot of fun this year discovering Moxy Fruvous. - What did you want and get?
I bought a house! - What did you want and not get?
The Phillies in the post-season, another season of Firefly, another Harry Potter book or movie (it's been a lean year for Hogwarts fans), a clear path to a solution in Iraq. - What were your favourite films of this year?
I can't really say yet, since I still haven't seen several major releases this year, most notably Dreamgirls, and I've also missed Babel, Little Children and The Departed (it's been a bad year for movie attendance for some unknown reason). For now I'll say my favorite movies of 2006 were Inside Man and Borat. - What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 35 this year, and I didn't do much. Lunch with co-workers, dinner with Mr. Goddess. - What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Some sense that our country's foreign policy isn't leading us to hell in a handbasket. That would have been nice. - How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
When I buy clothes, which isn't often, it's usually from Target or Old Navy. Occasionally, I punctuate my "personal fashion concept" with used clothing from eBay. - What kept you sane?
Mr. Goddess, Friday morning breakfasts at the Highland Park Diner, afternoon lattes, The Daily Show. - Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Daniel Craig left me both shaken and stirred this year. Oh, James! - What political issue stirred you the most?
I guess the biggest political story this year was the midterm elections and now the run-up that has already begun for the 2008 presidential elections. I (perhaps naively) have hopes that there will be some visible changes in Washington this year with the Democrats in charge. If they only hold hearings on the intelligence manipulation that led to the Iraq war, that would be enough of a change for me. - Who did you miss?
As I get older, it gets harder to keep in touch with friends from my youth and college days. - Who was the best new person you met?
Mr. Goddess started a new job this year, and has some great new colleagues that I've had fun meeting and getting to know. - Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
Homeownership is fun! (and expensive!) - Quote a song lyric that sums up your year?
I'll light the fire
You put the flowers in the vase that you bought today. Staring at the fire
For hours and hours while I listen to you
Play your love songs all night long for me, only for me.
—Crosby, Stills, and Nash, "Our House"
—lori.
