happiness.

I love that this is on cnn.com

Let's Just Say, It Hasn't Been the Best Month

So, somewhere around the 4th the wheels fell off for me. The incredible slog which was the lead up to what was, all along, a no-win for Barack in PA just broke me, I just wasn't feeling the magic. Though you wouldn't know from reading earlier postings here, I actually used to admire, if not like, the clintons. Watching them over the past few months perform, just like the crazy right wing nut jobs would have predicted, was painful. It also seems much ado about nothing. I mean from Jeremiah Wright to Bosnia-Gate, it is all the sizzle and none of the steak (as hillz would say at a campaign stop in TX). Hopefully, last week's debate was the zenith of this kind of nothingness in the campaign, but I am fairly confident that we are in for more.

It is exhausting.

Simultaneous with the PA onslaught I watched my beloved Washington Capitals seize the Southeast Division Title and enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in five years. This was a team remade in October with elevation of minor league coach Bruce Boudreau from Hershey Bears (aw) to the Caps' bench. Boudreau remade the team. The Caps became younger, more active team, skating harder and seeming for the first time to deserve their star, Alex Ovechkin. They entered the playoffs as the face of the new, young, family friendly hockey that the NHL's rule changes had hoped to spawn. Facing the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round the Caps encountered another brand of hockey altogether. The Flyers play a super physical, almost brutal, form of ice hockey, their much older and more experienced squad were relentless in seeking and creating opportunity, not always playing fairly. While the Caps ignited excitement and hope on the part of their newly energized fans, the Flyers fans wore hunter orange t-shits emblazoned 'VENGEANCE NOW!'

Yes, if the Caps' late season surge resembled the sudden flourish in interest and intensity of the Obama campaign, the Flyers were the hard charging, experienced and established Clintonites. The Caps won the first game with a kind of youthful exuberance, best represented by the ecstatic image of Ovechkin jumping up and pressing himself against the thin glass that separated him from the pulsating crowd. The Flyers beat the Caps back in the next 3 games, forcing the Caps to hit back, to play a little rougher, until they hit their stride in games 5 and 6, forcing a must win face-off in game 7. Even in favored territory, on home ice at the Verizon Center, the Caps weren't completely in control of the game and, when the Flyers tied it up after a questionable 2nd goal, a certain dread crept in. Going to sudden death overtime felt awful. Losing at about 7 minutes in was even worse.

At the end of game 7 there was a palpable feeling of 'no way' it just didn't seem possible. How could the nasty, brutal Flyers beat our sweet Caps? It was like 2000 and 2004 and the OH/TX primaries all in one. That feeling that 'yup. those guys, the ones who play like complete assholes win again.'

Oh, did I mention this all happened this Tuesday? The day Obama lost PA by 9% and everyone started talking about Hillary's mo?

because it worked so well the first time.

wednesday morning round-ups

k, so this explains all the horrible non-options. wow.
who has the least interesting political mind at work today?
Wonkette's new feature promises to unlock the mysterious inside workings of the Obama cult.
HILLarious

dude. seriously.

the clintons have problems telling the truth.

Netflix Site Interruption Is Robbing The World of My 'Crazy Love' Review

The site has been down all day, so I can't give 'crazy love' the 4 stars it so richly deserves.

thank god for the blog, people.

I might vote for hillary ...

la pequena hillary, that is!

happy easter weekend, peeps!

i (heart) college ball

so, unless you are a) lame b)super lame you know that today is that very very special day... the first Thursday of the NCAA Men's Tourney. Xavier is leading Georgia (finally) so I am in a good enough mood to offer a link round-up of the best college ball stuff on the net.

CBS actually has its streaming video act together this year, the service and their site is definitive.

If you need a taste of haterade, Slate has a round up of the most hate-able teams, this list, IMHO, could start and end with the blech-y blu devils.

Speaking of the whiny Dukies, haven't played a tourney game and they're already crying foul, poor, poor thing.

Dick Vitale loved Juan Dixon, and therefore I love Dick Vitale.

OMG, I picked UNC to take it too!!!! We're, like, made for each other.

and, finally, shame on you if you don't routinely bow before the gift that is Michael Wilbon's Post column.

OMG, the NY sex scandals will NOT STOP

So, now the new, blind gov is now out as a cheater, and its like the madness will never end. This is, of course, great for news media outlets everywhere who would otherwise have to cover boring old Iraq or the fact that US taxpayers are bailing out Wall Street's 5th largest investment bank. I mean, snoozeville, so keep up the screwing around, pols!

trashy america

and

very pale racist ladies attack a news reporter:

(snif)

sick AGAIN, despite the flu shot. so, forgive the absence of posts in the meantime, b/c I feel like death warmed over.

for real, though?

et tu, geraldine?

more wire! young prop joe

This is the most brilliant of several prequels that HBO put out for the last season, NOT A SPOILER:

That sentimental motherfucker just cost us money.

so, The Wire is over, well, its good to know that the spirit of prop Joe and Omar will live on in Slim Charles and Michael, respectively. This end seemed to bring us back to the beginning, letting us know that the story we watched over the previous 65+ hours was simply a glimpse of this ever churning cycle. We watched Carcetti become Royce and Dukie become Bubbles. For the cops and dealers, whose connection seemed irrevocable, we see the wire that bound them snipped. Those most entranced by the connections, McNulty and Lester, over play their hand and are forced to walk away from the street, like Bunny Colvin before them. Also like Bunny, McNulty chooses to "rescue" one of its victims, returning his abductee to Baltimore. Escape from the streets of West Baltimore is more difficult for those born and raised there, we recognize the draw of its brutality in Marlo's last scene, where he appears almost aroused by the violence and his own fearlessness in engaging it.

The Wire was as much about the things that tie us together as those that pull us apart. Its focus last season on the lives of young men was a study in how a close group of friends can be pulled apart by circumstance. We are reminded of this motif when Dukie returns to school to beg off Pryzbylski and when Michael refuses to remember their better days. Similarly, the parallels between McNulty and Kima in Season 3 are turned on their head, as both try to rejoin their families, they lose each other. In many ways McNulty sacrificed his cop family for a real one, just as Chris said farewell to his kids in order to maintain his loyalty to his street family. The same forces that draw you to one group pull you away from another.

I was tempted, as the credits rolled on Sunday night, to start again from episode 1, and I might, I almost want to see the whole arc knowing the end this time. A television show thats worth rewatching the 3rd time, certainly deserves to be mourned.

note to world/self

what is it with women buying unbelievably useless crap? I know dudes buy a lot of garbage too, but really.
*please excuse any misspelling and/or other egregious errors, sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry*

there's a plant

Named 'english baby tears' and then there's just 'baby tears' which to choose? Oh, shit, i just spotted 'chinese baby tears' it was sitting next to 'chocolate soldier.'.

This place is awesome.
*please excuse any misspelling and/or other egregious errors, sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry*

Live Blogging the Phili Flower Show

So here i am, the committed non-gardener (its another one of those things, like speaking spanish, that everyone else in my family seems to do and enjoy) at the largest exhibition of flowers, plants, and gardening stuff. My childhood bff and her family are showing her mom's gorgeous ikebana pottery so i was tempted up by her and her folk's presence- we'll see how i survive amongst booths of sachets, suncatchers and, yes, an Irishman in a bucket (in his defense, he's shilling for boots.

So, i will try to resist shoe shopping and cracking up at overheard gems like 'ireland: its where all the best people EVER were from' while proudly bearing my obama pin (april 22nd, baby.)

Wish me luck.

Oh, and i forgot my camera, unfort, so lets just imagine for now. K?

rules need not apply

So, the show rolls on to Wyoming, Mississippi, North Carolina, and eventually our neighbors to the north, PA. The Clinton camp has been all over the place on which states "matter" for example, Michigan, where Barack wasn't even on the ballot, *counts* as does Florida, where noone but Hill showed up to campaign. However, caucus states like Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, etc. well, they don't, or rather shouldn't, count because they are innately unfair. to working people. who the Clintons can totally relate to. This turnabout should not surprise anyone though, I mean this is the team that prattles on about 'bush tactics' and the 'rove playbook' but then pulls a page directly from it with that awful red phone ad. Not to mention talking out of both sides of her mouth on Obama, I mean is he a suitable running mate? Or a total neophyte unsuited for office? Or a part of the vast right wing conspiracy?

And, of course, they continue to refuse to release their tax returns, her White House records, and the well known hostility towards the press corps. Look, there are reasons people don't like the Clintons, lots of them, and many very similar to reasons people don't like Bush/Cheney. Obama won't and shouldn't take the gloves off with her, but the surrogates should keep pounding away because the idea that a hillary presidency would substantially different than W's is the biggest fairy tale of this campaign.

Late Morning Lynx!

-Charlotte Allen, author of the 'ladies like cute boys and aren't very bright' outlook piece referred to earlier conducted an online chat to discuss her piece.
Conclusion: she is both a lady and not very bright, thereby PROVING HER ORIGINAL HYPOTHESIS. so there.
-no, I don't believe Marie Jon looks like that, I am thinking she just scanned in one of those picture frame fill in sheets.
-and, OMG, there was this massacre that you've never heard of but hillary is VERY VERY concerned about when seeking votes in areas with large polish populations. she IS experienced.
-finally, DC area Obamaniacs read up! What we need to know before we head to PA.

more comfort: 1977 eurovision style

the banjo, the backup singers, say it with me now: "i. am. in. heaven."

this will make you feel better

the pet of the future!!!

you are welcome.

um ... yes we can

so, we didn't shut it down last night. I am at peace with that. I am even ok that OH came out so wrong. why? well, partly because I spent 2 weekends trudging around columbus, and don't feel like I could have done much more. but, mostly because we are still ahead in the delegate count, and I believe that lead will expand w/ victories in WY and M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I shortly. Now, don't get me wrong, PA will be a fight, but I have already recruited my 4 year old niece and she is kind of a super powerful secret weapon.

as to yesterday's results, I think a few factors came into play:
1) the fear factor in full effect i.e. the 3am phone ad had its desired result. I mean, who wants a muslim terrorist that wears funny clothes answering the phone at that hour?
2) some morons believed that this thing was tied up. I think there were a fair number of people who figgered that barack didn't need their vote yesterday, whereas hillary supporters knew they had to get their asses out to the polls.
3) this NAFTA canadian story. this was clearly a rare f@ckup on the part of the Obama campaign- people need to be fired and we need to move on.
4) the new media scrutiny/hillary sympathy, I am hoping this is just a phase b/c voting for a candidate you feel sorry for is pathetic.

so, we roll on, and as bummed as I was last night I know that this thing can and will be shut down sooner or later. let's just roll up our sleeves and get out there, and if you hate the results get off your ass and do something about it.

primary/caucus results unclear, i am riding home in Krazy Kab

So, we have no idea how the OH and TX polls will shake out but i DO know that the lady I'm sharing this cab w/ is unafraid of speaking her mind. To date she has accused the THANK GOD HE'S MUCH FASTER driver of breaking 2 laws (talking on a cell phone w/out benefit of handset & making a left on red). She went pretty 'lady-crazy' on him, with the whole shrieky voice, wenchy manner that befits women of a certain level of frustration and age. Me, well, there is hope that i will get home before 3 am (never would happen w/superslow earlier cabbie) so, i am fi-ine. I guess i have the rather unsafe idea that riding in a cab is a fun/dangerous adventure. To me the fare is totally worth it for the thrills. It IS rainy and probably not the best idea to make hail marys on red, so I have to give her props for being right.



No further screeching at this point, but I am holding out hope that she will be enraged about the fare (hope hope).



Oh wait, no drama on that.



Shit.

I am in the world's slowest cab

This guy is stopping behind everyone taking a left, i may never get to capital hill at this rate! Please please drive faster!!!!! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!!
Slooooooooowwwwwwwww!!!!
Why are we driving through chinatown!!!!!!!!

As you can tell, i am feeling a little agro about the whole thing.