It's very sad that Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. I don't understand the politics of Pakistan well enough to have an informed opinion as to what forces propelled her or her enemies, but she certainly seemed to have genuine passion for her country. In the interviews I heard with her, she was always polite and gracious, never nasty about her opponents.

More to the point, it's a shame that assassination persists as a way to solve political differences. And it is sad that an intelligent and apparently well-motivated human being had to pay the price for lunacy afoot in the political land.

Labels: modern culture, politics

Maybe I'll get grousing out of my system for 2008 if I get rid of some peeves from 2007 today.

Celebrities' marriages do not have anything to do with history. In almost all "today in history" lists, great big (un)important events like Teri Garr's and Kathryn Heigl's weddings are listed. For goodness sake, those are not historical moments. Liz Taylor's weddings are a bit historical, I suppose, since there were so many of them, but being famous isn't the same as being historical. Ah, perhaps that's the ticket. Perhaps what those lists really mean is that they are listing "events that happened today to people whose names you recognize." Who cares??!

Tourists who ride at commuter time need to honor the same unwritten rules. Why do tourists need to be in Manhattan before 8:00 or 8:30 a.m. anyway? Nothing much is open before 10. They have to buy peak fare tickets (almost half again as much) and they just crowd the trains and buses and act as if they're the only people in the world. Yesterday one mother kept saying things like "see the boat!" and "see the water!" and "oh, look, you can see the track!" I swear if she were my mother I'd bop her over the head. As if kids can't see things without a running commentary. And as if the whole rest of the car wanted the commentary. Stay home or take your own train.

People who block the entry to your office building because they're smoking or just hanging out are pains in the neck. Now that no one can smoke in office buildings - which is definitely a good thing from smell and air quality points of view - they apparently continue to need more time for breaks than any two thousand million trillion other people, and they need to interfere with all the rest of us. I've always wondered if some people need extra attention even if it's by seriously annoying other people. I guess the answer is yes.

More to come as the year winds down....

Labels: about me, complaints

How pleasant to discover that the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol is wonderful. I've long been a huge fan of the Alistair Sims version, but Scott and Roger Rees as his nephew are grand. So is Caroline Langrishe as his nephew's wife - she's always a joy to watch, isn't she?! David Warner is a bit too substantial as Bob Crachit for me, but perfection is pretty much impossible for each and every viewer. In any case, Scott's intensity and bombast are entirely believable. And the happy upshot is that there turns out to be a delightful color version of this sweetly simple and wonderful story too!

Labels: fun, holidays, movies

I hope any holiday cookies you made or bought look as colorful and delicious as these - and were made by someone just as sweet and charming - and I hope your eve and day are merry, happy and serene.

Labels: celebrations, family, holidays

Don't forget - beginning at 2 a.m. Mountain Time tomorrow morning (12/24), you can find out where Santa is, thanks to Norad. Click here to watch. What a whimsical lovely thing.

Labels: great link(s)

The politicians' holiday advertisements are pretty awful this year. Regular readers here know how I feel about Huckabee's hammer-over-the-head-i'm-a-big-time-christian ad, and then there's Hillary's utterly ridiculous ad where she's wrapping gifts (for us??!) of all her projected programs, and there's Guiliani's silly i'm-with-him (Santa) ad, and there's McCain's unbelievably self-serving look-at-me-i-was-a-pow ad (enough already). If only Fred Thompson would rev up his campaign because once again he shows that his advisers' and his heart are thoroughly in the right (i.e., understated, classy, intelligent, kind) place - look at this.

Labels: politics, thompson

This is a considerable tangent since politics and the olidays are the main topics right now, but Bertrand Russell's quote of the day at Google caught my eye and so I decided to add it here and invite thoughts from any CRRs about it:

Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty - a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.

Labels: about me, art, writing

Several interesting comments were made about my rant about Mike Huckabee. They each have good points but I continue to think he is extraordinarily worrisome. He says he wants to change politics as usual, dislikes the traditional approach to presidential politics, etc., etc. The problem is that I get a vibe from him that fairly trembles with disingenuousness. As some have noted, many of his spoken policies are liberal which means he's holding himself up as one thing while being another. More to the point, he seems like a beautiful rattlesnake - stunning and quiet to look at but lethal if you get too close.

Meanwhile, Romney is pretty darn scary too. The other day, for example, he said he "saw" his father "march" with Dr. Martin Luther King. It turns out that George Romney never marched with Dr. King, as a matter of simple fact. George R. is widely regarded as a good man who did support civil rights and worked hard for equal justice, but he never marched. Which means Mitt never saw him march, of course. Which means he lied. I don't know if he spoke too quickly and without thinking, or if he meant that he saw his father do things that evidenced his commitment to civil rights, but he did not see his father march with Dr. King. And when he started to explain that "see" is a moving target word, I thought it was awfully familiar . . . and Anderson Cooper, of all people, thought so too. Cooper played the whole video of Bill Clinton's "it depends what 'is' means" chat. I'd never heard all of it but it's appalling. Clinton's eyes shift from side to side as he mumbles about "is" can mean "really happened" or it can mean "could have happened" or . . . well, it's all just nonsense so I won't go on.

The point is that a man who engages in flat-out lying about something that's very easy to determine is not someone to whom I want to entrust the White House. Dalliances with interns don't matter, of themselves, and it really doesn't matter whether George Romney marched with King or actively supported the enterprise. But it does matter that people are so oblivious and careless when they know the press and the public are watching their every move and listening to their every statement.

Labels: politics, silliness

Here's a perfect example of why Huckabee scares me. He's ever so pleasant and seems oh so nice. But, with apologies to people who think he's just a religious guy who's running for president, he's manipulative and fascistic, and, worst of all, judgmental. This photo is from a political advertisement he began running today which is clearly a not-very-subliminal message that's masquerading as a simple holiday greeting. His face is front and center - oh so sincerely - with a window in the background that has some decorations. But let's see, there are only two crossbars showing in the window, the middle ones. Hmm, a cross. Imagine that. And those decorations in the background. Three. Interesting number. Trinity. He's so anti-anything that isn't Christian that it makes me want to sign up anywhere else. He absolutely totally terrifies me. He is the scariest thing that's happened to politics in this country in my memory. I'm sorry to be so loud in my horror about him but even Joe McCarthy was visibly nutty compared to him. This man is much more dangerous because there's not a hint of craziness about him. He's just utterly judgmental, fear-mongering and totalitarian, all cloaked and masked as a really nice guy.

Labels: fear, judgmentalism, moralism, politics

Today (or yesterday or tomorrow, depending on which calendar you use) is the birthday of both Jane Austen and Ludwig van Beethoven. A fortuitous date upon which to be born, clearly. There is very little that equals almost all of Beethoven's music, in power and melody and brilliance. The fifth symphony? The ninth? What more is there?! And isn't it absolutely astonishing that Jane was born 232 years ago?! That's over two hundred blooming years ago, for heaven's sake. And yet her stories continue to engage and entrance, and her characters continue to come entirely and totally to life. Elizabeth Bennett, Mr Darcy, Anne Elliott are friends of ours all these years later, people whose names and persons bring joy. Happy happy day.

Labels: books, people, writing

Two of my favorite blogwriters are back, with perhaps slightly different edges but as they've never been at a loss for something interesting and/or thought-provoking to say, all is good. Road Sass (f/k/a Spiced Sass) and Every Sandwich (f/k/a freelance fred). Happy reading and reacting!

Labels: blogs (others'), writing

I took one of those online I.Q. tests - must've been bored, I guess - and got a score that seemed way too low but at least it ranked me as "gifted" even if I wasn't a "genius." It also said I'm a "Visual Linguist" which they say means "you are highly intelligent and have many diverse talents. You have especially strong linguistic talents and are very good at interpreting visual information." Shocking, really, to think that being a visual linguist means you have linguistic and visual skills. Amazing.

It added that "You've got your feet on the ground, but your mind is capable of very complex, abstract thought. Compared to others, you are easily able to see situations from many different angles. You also understand how things work in a very practical way." Sure sounds like a bunch of poppycock. Then again, it says "Only 6 out of 1,000 people have this rare combination of abilities." No ego here. None at all.

What was really annoying was when it required a name and email address. Needless to say I made them all up.

Labels: about me, silliness

Just discovered a new (to me) knitting blog and videos that show how to do cables without a cable needle. The blog is Grumperina and the videos are accessible there and here. I just learned to cable without a cable needle and it's like discovering water. It's smooth, easy (despite how it looks) and makes you feel as if you're being nicer to the yarn because there's no yanking and tugging at all. Plus, I think the cables look calmer and better too! Give it a try if you haven't already. Let me know what you think.

Labels: about me, knitting

All types of religious zealotry and fervor scare the bejeezus out of me (mild pun intended). No matter which side of the political or religious spectrum. No matter who. At the moment, Mike Huckabee scares me a lot. I like his dimple, but cuteness does not a president make. And his "take back the nation for Christ" outreach is downright terrifying. Yes, I appreciate that he's not hiding his fervor or his beliefs under cloaks that might look more palatable to those of us who do not hold his beliefs. And I completely agree that economic and social difficulties abound (school shootings, violent kids, crazy prices, wild disparity between the "top" and "bottom") and need to be addressed and that something needs to be done. A calm, forceful, clear-seeing leader would be a superb place to start. But talking about sin is not in any way going to help. It will not unite, soothe or fix anything because it alarms and scares those of us who are not in lock-step with his convictions. I'm glad he has convictions, unlike the previous Arkansan president, but his convictions include bigotry and intolerance, which we need like holes in our heads. And let's face it - one of the fundamental tenets of our society is that there are many ways to get through life, far too many for anyone to take it upon him- or her-self to bandy around accusations of sinning. Religious freedom and freedom of expression are the bricks upon which our foundation sits. Kindness and tolerance must be there too, as must helping the weak, sick and angry among us. Whereas branding people as bad or sinful is absolutely not. And the very idea that he thinks he knows what is sinful and what is good is terrifying. (If there is even such a thing as sin, of course.) I can't even imagine what this country would be like if he were in 1600 Penn Ave. How can anyone think he would be a viable president of a country grounded on separating church and state in order to preserve personal and religious freedom and tolerance?

Not dissimilarly, Oprah's revival meetings for Obama scare me. She has fans who are as rabid in a religious sort of way, who follow her bidding or her suggestions as if they feel they "must" do what she says. Obama may be a wonderful guy and may be perfect for the presidency - or may not be - but I'm darn sure it makes me queasy if Oprah Winfrey is the person making that determination. The fact that she can bring out over thirty thousand people to a rally for him shows how huge are her power and influence. There's some good news in that, with Oprah's support, Obama could derail Billary, also that there's very little ideology in her message, nor in his, it seems. She may actually just want people to take the man seriously. That's fine, if so, but aroused gatherings of tens of thousands of people are dangerous and make me feel uneasy.

In the U.K., they call the lead-up to the election "the silly season." Indeed, it is ridiculous and outrageous and vitriolic and all kinds of things. It is also very important and serious. And not the least bit silly, unfortunately.

Labels: celebrities, politics

Watched a terrific little movie thanks to Netflix's suggestions. I'll Be There is an offbeat Scottish comedy (is that an oxymoron or a tautology, I wonder?) starting, written and directed by Craig Ferguson of the Late Late Show. He turns out to be a powerhouse combination of actor-writer-director-producer-creator-comedian-musician-author. Who knew?! He was the lead vocalist in a rock 'n' roll band and does a nice job in this film, I must say. By far the more surprising, though, is Joss Ackland who was in his mid-seventies when he made this movie - wait til you see him in black shirt and leather pants fronting his own rock band. He's such a revered and terrific part of the stage and dramatic world (his Shadowlands was phenomenal). The rest of the superb ensemble comprises Jemma Redgrave, Ismelda Staunton, Anthony Head, Ralph Brown and Phillipa Law, among others. Charlotte Church's dramatic debut isn't all one might have hoped for but her voice is crystal clear and absolutely gorgeous - even if the character and her appearance are a bit too much of a teenager. Of course, since that's part of the point of her character, maybe ot just proves she's doing a great job! Anyway, this film is hardly great art but it does have absolute truckloads of irony, sarcasm, wit, sweetness and charm all rolled up in a nice turn on an oft-told theme.

Labels: entertainment, movies, writing

If the subject interests you, don't miss this informative and readable article on the politics of global warming (i.e., not the science) by House of Eratosthenes, always a place to find interesting reading. HoE refers to another article at Opinion Journal, which basically goes into detail about the whole lot of new clothing adorning the Emperor Gore, something which many of us, me included, have mentioned before. Considering the ice and snow across much of the country right now, it's ironic that the Emperor is due to be crowned next week. This isn't a late or a warm winter at all. What happened to all that fire and brimstone, er, I mean warming? I wonder if the Emperor's devoted fans, a/k/a doomsayer bandwagon jumpers, are ready to rethink their assertions (however cautiously lest they have to use words like "wrong")?

Labels: politics, silliness, warming, weather

It's 15 degrees outside right now, a mere 70 miles north of New York City - hardly the Arctic Circle, let alone the North Pole or even Buffalo - and they had a record early snow in North Dakota and the midwest yesterday and the day before, and there are blizzard warnings in Hawaii (!?). Do the warmatologists really want to stick to their story about global warming being upon us? Are they sure they don't want to hedge their bets and say it might just be warming cycles and temperature variations, and not some enormous catastrophe whereby we all get crisp? Let me repeat: it's not even mid-December yet but it's 15 freezing degrees, for goodness sake. A little warming would reduce heating bills and eliminate the need for winter coats and boots. What exactly is so bad about that?? Plus, in case I haven't mentioned it, it's 15 degrees outside.

Labels: warming, weather

One of my CRRs noted, no doubt somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that Hillary had at last shown some good taste when she disengaged Celine Dion as her theme singer. Agreed! On the other hand, she completely lost whatever minor upbeat point she'd won, by making ridiculous and offensive remarks about Obama's kindergarten expression of interest in the presidency . . . otherwise known as "my people and I have ways to find out out anything and everything you've done in your life and I will use it all to make you look bad any time I think I need to." She's hardly the first politician to play dirty when she feels threatened, but few of them are as blatant nowadays; perhaps the ouija board that facilitated her conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt now channels Richard Daley, Tammany Hall residents, Richard Nixon, etc.

Labels: 2008 election, politics, silliness

Apparently Hillary and Celine are no longer engaged in a love fest. Hmm, I wonder who needed more space - isn't that the reason lots of people use for splitting? Anyway, VH1 took ample advantage of this "break up" to post the "40 most awesomely bad break-up songs ever" although many of them are so bad that they're really fabulous, especially in the overwrought way that one can jump right into at such moments. Course, it's mixing and matching real break-ups with a silly one, but why take such things as theme songs and background music terribly seriously anyway, right?

Labels: fun, music, politics, silliness

If anyone says nothing much has changed, show them this piece and tell them about Airman 1st Class Vanessa Dobos.

When I was a young woman I chafed under the thumb screws of two choices: "be a housewife" or "be a hard-nosed working woman" and that was "long ago" in the seventies. I totally believed that women should be able to choose what they (we) want to do - all the way from staying home to being prime minister to combining pieces of everything. People usually smiled at me condescendingly and patiently. A few championed my ideas. A few even urged activism. Nowadays, young women pretty much know they can do whatever they want although they have a fairy realistic picture about the fact that some "having it all" may have to be sequential rather than simultaneous.

In any case, bravo a million times over for Vanessa Dobos. Doing what you want to do is really what it's all about.

Labels: about me, modern culture, women

In case no one's every mentioned it before, the weather sure can be changeable. Last night there was almost an inch of ice on my windshield and side windows when I went to drive home from a friend's house. This morning wasn't much better (although I had cleverly put a blanket on my front window so I wouldn't have to scrape). Now it's 45 degrees and sunny. What was it Mark Twain said? If you don't like the weather, wait a minute? Indeed.

Labels: about me, weather

"The United States is at war in the Middle East and Central Asia, the economy is writhing..., oil prices are relentlessly climbing toward $100 a barrel and an increasing number of Americans just can't afford to be sick.... Selecting a president is, more than ever, a life and death business, and a news organization that consciously injects itself into the process . . . incurs a special responsibility to conduct itself in a dispassionate and, most of all, disinterested fashion. When one considers CNN's performance, however, the adjectives that leap to mind are corrupt and incompetent."

If you start naming American newspapers from now until the cows come home, you won't ever think of where those sentences appeared on Saturday.

In a very strong article, the Los Angeles Times, believe it or not, has taken a stand for clarity. I really hope they mean it because they're influential enough to make an impact. After all, the debates is one of the few times we get an opportunity to make any kind of sense out of the endless streams of words and nonsense that the hordes of candidates put out. Many media are active parts of a maddening and enormous obfuscation enterprise. How momentous it could be if outlets like the L.A. Times are even noticing. What is said and what happens just might get reported as what was said and what took place. Imagine. We'd have a fighting chance to figure out who we want to vote for instead of against.

Labels: 2008 election, media, modern culture, politics

Mike Ausiello's Report at tvguide.com is one of the things I enjoy getting in the middle of the day, rarely at the same time each day so it's almost always a bit of a happy surprise. Today he updated his "handy dandy list" of current on-air shows and (a) how many episodes were scheduled (ordered) for this season by the time the writers' strike began, (b) how many new episodes have already aired, and therefore (c) how many new episodes are left to be seen. There's good news and bad news, depending on your favorite shows, but it's useful to see some facts for a change.

As for the strike, my sympathies are certainly with the writers since they do deserve more than the incredibly measly pittance they currently get from the significant amounts producers garner from dvds and downloads. On the other hand, as a tv fan, I find it sad that such a strong new season is being threatened. Can't producers somehow bite the inevitable bullet? Don't you wonder how they justify closing out the people without whom there would be no shows at all??

Labels: headlines, modern culture, tv, writing

Amazing. There's an article online in Time Magazine that - albeit reluctantly and almost sotto voce - offers admiration and praise for Bush's current diplomatic initiatives and even his "emotional touch." One can only conclude that pigs are starting to fly and hell is enduring the opposite of global warming.

Labels: gwb, headlines, politics