Ah, Sweet Victory
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2004 12:40 PM
Yay! Sadly I had to "watch" the game here because I was at work and I couldn't plug in my (awesome 70s Motorola) radio because my arm is just wide enough to fit between my enormous, heavy desk, but not wide enough to fit while the muscle is flexed, which was kinda necessary to plug in the stupid radio.

Roll On You Bears
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2004 12:41 PM
Big Game Week officially kicks off tomorrow, culminating next Saturday when my California Golden Bears take on (and, you know, beat) Stanfurd.

I Knew It Couldn't Be The People
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2004 8:12 PM
I just voted for the People's Choice Awards. I never watch that show with any real concentration, but I'm often a little stunned by the winners. It turns out that so much crap wins because so much crap is nominated. For so many categories I was like, "um, I can't pick any of these people. Ugh."

Best name for a category: Favorite Combined Forces.

My Laziness And My Narcissism Finally Intersect
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2004 9:37 PM
First, the fantastic Mr. Daniel J. Blau has captured well the feeling of a moment, this moment in time.

But I have to note, pimping a comment you posted on someone else's site is a bit unseemly.

Pimping someone else's praise of your comment is even worse.

Election 2004 | 60 Days Until Election 2004 - Are You Ready? | 50 Days Until Election 2004 - Random Assortment of Links | 40 Days Until Election 2004 - Debates Are Coming | Finally! A Debate Drinking Game! | Vicki Liviakis Goes Down | 30 Days Until Election 2004 - C-SPAN Is My Favorite Channel | The One Where Everyone Pretends It Matters | Maybe I Should Just Move Back To Berkeley | . . . Dred Scott? Ahhh, Relevance | C-SPAN Still Rocks! | 20 Days Until Election 2004 - Final Debate Drinking Game | 14 Days Until Election 2004 - Give Your Brain A Break | 10 Days Until Election 2004 - Polls Are Stupid | 5 Days Until Election 2004 - Excuse Me While I Switch Horses | I Touched The Future | VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! | Wow, Way To Piss Off The Choir

Wow, Way To Piss Off The Choir
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004 9:29 PM
So it's been a terrible day for gay marriage. Oregon's results will tell if there's a clean sweep. That's unfortunate, especially because same-sex marriage is not a threat to the sanctity of marriage. It's just not.

At the same time, I don't know what good people protesting the denial of that right can do in San Francisco. On the way home, the 24 line bus was stopped at Castro and 18th Streets and an attempt was made to forcibly detour us. They were blocking half the street with a truck and the other half with people. As we tried to get through the intersection, the "protesters" (if the vast majority of people around you agree with you, are you really protesting?) were banging on the bus and the bus driver was yelling at them to get out of the street. It was . . . stupid.

They weren't going to annoy people enough to go, "I'm not supporting gay marriage anymore!" But at the same time, it never helps when supporters and sympathizers think your cause is being trumpeted by idiots.

Election 2004 | 60 Days Until Election 2004 - Are You Ready? | 50 Days Until Election 2004 - Random Assortment of Links | 40 Days Until Election 2004 - Debates Are Coming | Finally! A Debate Drinking Game! | Vicki Liviakis Goes Down | 30 Days Until Election 2004 - C-SPAN Is My Favorite Channel | The One Where Everyone Pretends It Matters | Maybe I Should Just Move Back To Berkeley | . . . Dred Scott? Ahhh, Relevance | C-SPAN Still Rocks! | 20 Days Until Election 2004 - Final Debate Drinking Game | 14 Days Until Election 2004 - Give Your Brain A Break | 10 Days Until Election 2004 - Polls Are Stupid | 5 Days Until Election 2004 - Excuse Me While I Switch Horses | I Touched The Future | VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2004 8:16 AM
. . . If you haven't already. But, despite my excitement in triplicate, maybe only do it once, okay?

Also, I love how Bush and Kerry are going to vote in person because that shows how "real" they are, even though it's probably a bit expensive and inefficient for them to go out of their way like that.

Lastly, all the people who are standing in line for 3+ hours? You are awesome. NPR says some people are predicting 77% turnout in California. That's amazing!

Horses, Dogs, Etc.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2004 11:20 PM
The one thing I forgot to mention about the problem with "Don't change horses in midstream" was Wag the Dog. Wag the Dog, if you have not seen it, is at once clever, funny, perverse, insulting, and distressing. In the movie, an incumbent president's re-election slogan is the aforementioned cliché. The slogan runs in these patronizing, white washed ads that are deliberately overdone and pandering. That movie always springs to mind when I hear those five words. It's a cynic's tale, really—a president's second term chances hobbled by a despicable sex scandal (it's really quite awful), his somewhat amoral operatives (winning-is-always-a-legitimate-end-types) enlist a Hollywood producer to stage a phony war. The underlying logic? No one votes against a sitting president during war time!

Things, of course, don't work out as planned, but the point is that these guys are willing to try any crass plan to keep their guy. The slogan is the least of it, but, for me, the taint is there. It plays like just another thing to say that sounds convincing but is really just a shallow argument. I just hate that.

Election 2004 | 60 Days Until Election 2004 - Are You Ready? | 50 Days Until Election 2004 - Random Assortment of Links | 40 Days Until Election 2004 - Debates Are Coming | Finally! A Debate Drinking Game! | Vicki Liviakis Goes Down | 30 Days Until Election 2004 - C-SPAN Is My Favorite Channel | The One Where Everyone Pretends It Matters | Maybe I Should Just Move Back To Berkeley | . . . Dred Scott? Ahhh, Relevance | C-SPAN Still Rocks! | 20 Days Until Election 2004 - Final Debate Drinking Game | 14 Days Until Election 2004 - Give Your Brain A Break | 10 Days Until Election 2004 - Polls Are Stupid | 5 Days Until Election 2004 - Excuse Me While I Switch Horses | I Touched The Future

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