Liveblogging take 5

Two minutes before the new year, so it's time for my New Year's in New York story: in 1989-90, I lived in NY, and went to see Grace Jones at some club, the name of which escapes me now, in NY for New Years Eve. It was expensive, and sweaty, and I hated it.

That must've been when I developed my hate of New Years Eve.

Liveblogging take 4

Christina Aguliera is amazing! I love this 40’s Andrews Sisters “Boogy Woogy Bugle Boy of Company B” homage. She looks fabulous, sounds fan-freaking-tastic!

Liveblogging take 3

I don't think my kids will ever know why Dick Clark was such an icon.

Liveblogging take 2

My favorite cousin couple, Benji and Heidi, danced an awesome tribute to James Brown, in what appeared to be a Hard Rock Cafe gift shop. Whatever.

But those crazy kids can dance! Mr. Stupid Girl compares Benji to Donald O'Connor, and I must agree. As a couple, they are amazing.

I am happy to see them, and glad that there are only five more minutes before I can switch it to Dick Clark.

Liveblogging take 1

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve doesn't start for another 30 minutes, so I am watching some monstrosity on Fox.

First up: Toni Braxton. WTF happened to her? I remember listening to "Unbreak my Heart" back in the early 90s, and I totally loved her. But between the "couldn't really be arsed to make an effort at all"-level of lip sync, and the RuPaul-esque make up, I think Toni's time has long past.

Forgive Us

This is from a New York Times article written by Yoko Ono earlier this month. I thought it was an appropriate way to end the old year.

To the people who have also lost loved ones without cause: forgive us for having been unable to stop the tragedy. We pray for the wounds to heal.

To the soldiers of all countries and of all centuries, who were maimed for life, or who lost their lives: forgive us for our misjudgments and what happened as a result of them.

To the civilians who were maimed, or killed, or who lost their family members: forgive us for having been unable to prevent it.

To the people who have been abused and tortured: forgive us for having allowed it to happen.

Know that your loss is our loss.
Know that the physical and mental abuse you have endured will have a lingering effect on our society and the world.
Know that the burden is ours....

[H]ealing is what is urgently needed now in the world.

Let us heal the wounds together.

New Year's Eve Resolution

I admit it: I am a New Year's Eve wuss. Unless I am going to a house party, I would much rather stay home, eat some pork-based hor d'oeuvres, and watch Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Drunk drivers scare me; drunk drivers en masse freak me right out.

Tonight, I'm a little tired, and going to bed customarily early seems pretty appealing to me. But crashing at 10 would confirm my utter loserness, so, I have decided to liveblog Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. It promises to be the least useful blog of 2006.

Oh, crap. I just remembered Seacrest is on it. Meh... Ah well...check the feed for updates throughout the night, fellow almost-losers!

Awesome parking lot stuff

So, after 4 months, I have finally learned how to move pics off my phone and put them on to my computer. So now I will be incorrigible, probably.

Anyway.

I saw two really cool parking lot things today. One is about an issue I have touched on before, namely, why backing into parking spaces is a bad idea. I can finally illustrate the "your bumper takes up the sidewalk space that was made for walking" idea.



See how the cars that are parked head in are pretty unobtrusive on the pedestrian-designated area? Let me show you just how much of the sidewalk this winner took with a different shot.



See? It's nearly the whole thing. And, since it was a Suburban, he would've been able to see over the cars parked around him without any trouble at all.

My next example of parking lot awesomeness came from my local Publix, where I had to stop in to get stuff (why I felt compelled to add that irrelevancy, I'll know). Anyway, what got my attention initially about this vehicle was its color. It was the brightest blue I have ever seen on a car in my life, with bright yellow-gold trim; it was gorgeous! Oh, and the fact that it was a taxi made it just that much more delicious. So, here it is:



You should know that this Publix has super-wide lanes between its parking spaces, and the store was practically deserted; there were dozens of places for this guy to park adequately.

Dear readers, please don't do the above things when you're parking. It makes others think ill of you.

[I'm shadowing now. I'll be doing that for a little while 'til I make the final leap.]

In case anybody noticed...

Over to the right of the page there, I have been posting Holiday of the Day things. I am bored of it, so, starting today, I am going to be posting Chuck Norris facts.

They're funnier. At least to me.

Did You Know?

The George Lopez show is still on?

I watched it a couple of time, what seems like a decade or so ago. It was cute, but it wasn't like his very funny stand up, so I didn't watch it again.

And, yet, there it is on Channel 2 right now. It's actually a marathon.

Think I'll skip it.

Overstating the Pardon

Fellow native Michigander Gerald Ford died yesterday. It wasn't surprising, or even particularly sad; he was, after all, 93 years old, and in increasingly failing health over the past several years. He was a good and quiet man, rather plain, and really without a whole lot of substance. Which is perfectly fine.

I have always questioned the Common Knowledge that his pardoning of Richard Nixon was a Good Thing for the country, that it somehow healed a rift that was in the nation at the time. I do not believe I agree with that Common Knowledge. In fact, I am beginning to believe that pardoning Nixon was probably at least partly responsible for the current batch of elections scandals that have been popping up.

I think that had Nixon been at least indicted for his role in both Watergate and other associated elections chicanery, it would have perhaps been the necessary spark for immediate, substantive elections financing reform. As it stands now, 30+ years later, we have McCain-Feingold, which is okay, but only when enforced by an FEC willing to bare its teeth, which is the polar opposite of the FEC we have now.

I do not necessarily believe Ford's congressional testimony that he and Haig did not make any deals viz The Pardon. I am convinced that conversations between Nixon's people and Ford's people took place about The Pardon. But, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think that matters all that much.

So, RIP Mr. President.

The kids' first Midnight Mass

It's been a long time since I've gone to midnight mass, so I thought it would be nice to go to a friend's church to enjoy one.

When I was younger, my parents sent us to various mainline protestant churches, and one set of grandparents was Catholic. When I was an older child, I became LDS. So my childhood experiences of church were of very conservative-type services.

Our children, however, are growing up in a non-denom, contemporary evangelical tradition. "Liturgy" is not a word in their vocabulary. "Responsive reading?" Nope, they've never heard of it.

Until tonight.

About 10 minutes or so into the service, I realized I forgot to inform them about the incense. And then when it was time for communion, I forgot to inform them about the real wine (our church uses grape juice). I got a lot of dirty looks from down the row of seats. Whoopsie!

It was very cool, and I am so glad we went. I had forgotten how good Bach sounds in a church.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

A couple of real-life Secret Santas

How cool is this?

A woman hopped aboard buses, greeted passengers with "Merry Christmas" and handed each an envelope containing a card and a $50 bill before stepping off and repeating the process on another bus.

She did it so quickly that descriptions of the woman varied among surprised Spokane Transit Authority passengers on several routes Thursday, The Spokesman-Review newspaper reported Friday.

Well, my family was treated to a very cool anonymous gift yesterday, and I cannot begin to describe how incredible it felt that someone gave something to us, expecting no thanks or other recognition. Whomever gave that gift to our family has truly learned the meaning of Christmas, and I thank him/her/them from the bottom of my very warm heart!

Merry Christmas, everybody.

Stupid sex!

Before I start, I really need to make a confession for full disclosure: I met my husband online. I have found the internet has done wonders for my social life, because, in case you've missed it, I'm not terribly social really. That said, I never sought out the company of anybody who was jailbait. Interestingly, I never found it hard to resist the lure of the underaged. Why is it that so many are attracted to those who are so much younger than them? Is it a control thing?

Anyway, on to the funny.

So, with a tip o' the hat to brittney over at Nashville is Talking, I present to you: Amber Forever.

Have fun, and in case I don't get back, have a merry Christmas!

Virgil Goode

If you have not yet heard of Virgil Goode, rest assured, you will. And not in the "wow, he's an amazing statesman" kind of way, but rather in the "Santorum" kind of way.

Read the letter he sent to his constituents. Scintillating, non?

Do some of you really believe that the reason there is a Muslim who was elected to the US Congress is because of illegal immigration? And do you really think that Muslims pose a threat to "our" values and traditional beliefs? If so, is what you're smoking legal?

WTF????

Blogger Beta, or whatever the hell you're calling yourself today, don't you think it would've been a nice thing to tell the folks using you that you were changing stuff around? It pissed me off not a little bit to be greeted with a "We are unable to complete your request" message when I tried to log on.

You are of the Devil, and I hate you. I am so sorry I was such a whore for the labels. I should have known better than to be attracted to the shiny.

Bastards.

One of those days...

I have had it with the throngs of the massively stupid. The next person who says/writes something stupid that I happen to see will be very, very sorry.

Well, I really can't back up that check, but I'll want to do something that will make them very, very sorry, rest assured!

Stupid John McCain

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Republicans, please run this clown.


You see, McCain wants to hold bloggers (or at least those that allow public profiles) responsible somehow for knowing whether commenters on their sites are registered sex offenders, and, if so, remove those posts from their sites, or face the consequences (up to $300,000 worth of consequences).

How, exactly, is someone supposed to determine which posters are sex offenders? Should there be a "if you are a sex offender, please check here"-type question on all online profiles? And, it's not as if the internet is full of people who tell the truth about their sexual exploits (I know; I did online dating for a long, long time. Finding a truthful person was a challenge, to say the least).

It's a stupid idea from a man who is losing all association with reality.

Stupid "War on Christmas"

There is no war on Christmas. Full stop. Christians aren't being persecuted in the United States. At all. All those who believe they are, quitcherbitchin. I am tired of hearing about it. You have no evidence, only rumors and friend of a friend of a friend of your Aunt Mary's hairdresser's sister-in-law's neighbor's friend stories to confirm this country is going to hell in a secular handbasket. Get over all ready.

So, here is a really good Slate article attempting to explain why "conservatives" hate the phrase "happy holidays." I put "conservatives" in quotation marks, because I do not think an actual conservative would give a rip what salutation they were greeted with. I think this new breed of Persecution-Complex Conservatives really do take offense at absolutely everything. I find them mockworthy.

Wait, that's not working like we planned

Apparently, the company building the fence between California and Mexico has been fined for using [drumroll please] illegal aliens.

Is there anything left for the executive branch of this government to fuck up? (And sorry for dropping the f-bomb, but jebus Chrysler, these people are the very definition of inept. I think I've developed TMJ from all the jaw-dropping I've been doing over the past six years.)

[On the downlow, I ink-thay I will be eaving-lay ogger-Bl eta-Bay oon-say. I am using ig-pay atin-lay to eep-kay the eta-bay off aurd-gay. Ever-nay underestimate the ower-pay of the eta-bay. ill-way eep-kay you osted-pay.]