Tag: politics

Random

1. Today I can’t seem to stop watching what’s going on in Cairo and Alexandria via Al Jazeera. Apparently, this revolution will be televised. I can’t say I have any great understanding of the political situation in Egypt; here are the things that have interested me.

  • The Internet can be shut down, but with a press still able to give us reports through journalists in the field and broadcasters, the world gets news. And even without access to the Internet, Egyptians still manage to assemble to protest. They’re driving between towns and using their phones to organize, and even when there are no clear leaders, they aren’t turning into mobs.

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  • The cooperation between the military and the protesters has shifted the atmosphere from violence to orderly protest. I hope that continues.  Meanwhile, average citizens have stepped in where the police have failed to try to return normalcy and security to neighborhoods (there is looting of and damage to businesses).

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  • Regular citizens are linking arms to repel intruders who would loot and destroy cultural treasures inside museums. It’s moving to see their determination to honor and protect their country’s heritage.

2. It’s 34 degrees here and I still won’t get any sympathy because it’s so much colder/icier/snowier everywhere else.

3. Does anyone else think Lauren Conrad and Kate Middleton look like each other?


Lauren Conrad, Reality Princess Past – Kate Middleton, Real Princess Future

4. The Google Art Project is great! Today I’ve taken virtual tours of the Tate and National Gallery in London.

Random

My love/hate relationship with Facebook continues.

It got really dark earlier–SUPER dark–and I thought a big storm was rolling in. We got drizzle. That’s a lot of drama for not much payoff. Sort of like Facebook.

If I venture out to take care of some errands, the bad weather payoff may come. I will then bitch about that, too.

I’ve been on the phone almost since I woke up trying to take care of scheduling things and returning calls, and each of these calls has been an exercise in frustration. (In fact, I’m on hold right now.) If businesses want to deal with me on the phone, then why is the person I need to talk to always unavailable or “the system is down” or the person I get on the phone has no idea what I’m talking about? Trust me, none of these contacts is with some call center in India. People just don’t have their shit together. Wait–is tonight the full moon? Or was it last night? Maybe I’m dealing with werewolves.

I swear a rat just fell past my window. Maybe it’s like those birds in Arkansas. Rats falling from the sky, John McCain saying nice things about Barack Obama, and me getting nine uninterrupted hours of sleep last night. What is up with the universe?

A Compound bouquet for you, photographed on sunnier days:

Yay for a sense of humor

Jon Stewart, how I must love you. In spite of this headache and its gift of aura (a word that sounds better than the reality: flashing lights that impair vision and leave a person nauseated and disoriented), and even though my limited Internet time over the past few days has been devoted to watching The Office (and season five just ended on a high note, making me long to start season six!), I watched your “Rally to Restore Sanity” on a live feed.

Plenty of high points: witty/funny homemade signs and T-shirts in the crowd, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar–who, by the way, is also a chronic migraine sufferer–dwarfing everyone else on stage (literally a high point!), a guest appearance by R2-D2, good music, sartorial satirist Stephen Colbert, and the sane keynote address from Jon himself. Probably the sound bite most people will hear from his speech: When we amplify everything, we hear nothing.

Indeed.

Sort of related: To show that I also have a sense of humor about myself, and maybe to give Marika a chance to show that WE CAN ALL BE CIVIL NO MATTER WHAT*, I decided to post this autographed photo I stumbled across last night when I was looking for something else.


Signed by Rod Morgenstein, Reb Beach, and Kip Winger when I met them in 1993.

I wonder why Jon Stewart didn’t get Winger to perform at “The Rally to Restore Sanity?”

*Nephews: This also applies to you if you see this on Facebook.

Button Sunday

Today is United Nations Day. The UN focuses its global commitments on:

  • Achieving universal primary education.
  • Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
  • Improving maternal health.
  • Ensuring environmental sustainability.
  • Promoting gender equality and empowering women.
  • Combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
  • Reducing child mortality.
  • Creating development partnerships.

Still no title

It’s a little sad when not being able to come up with a subject/title keeps me from posting, but indeed, I have been staring at my monitor for about five minutes with a vacant expression. Much the same way a lot of people watch television.

It’s weird seeing people talk about Survivor online when I’m not watching it for the first time in six years. (I was late to the show. Got hooked during the first All Stars, saw available past seasons on DVD, and have watched it since.) Although I’m sure Mark Burnett doesn’t miss me, Lynne’s dogs might, as we’re no longer having Survivor nights. Sorry, Dogs of Green Acres. I miss you, too.

While sewing or cooking or preparing dog veggie cubes or other domestic-type things, I’ve been checking out The Compound DVDs, watching movies I haven’t seen in a while–or ever. Since I can’t seem to figure out how to work our remotes to the TV/DVR/DVD player, the ease of watching on my computer is a real treat. I also re-watched all six seasons of Sex and the City. Because I only saw it once before, it was most enjoyable.

One of my favorite characters on SATC is Harry Goldenblatt, played by Evan Handler. He’s probably the only character other than Steve who I never wanted to shake at some point. Wait–there’s also Smith. But I digress.

I didn’t realize that in addition to being an actor, Handler is a writer, a journalist, and a cancer survivor. And today he wrote an article that I really enjoyed on the Huffington Post site about how we need to grow up politically.

Now I like Harry and the person who played him.

In other entertainment news, RIP to Eddie Fisher. I think the Debbie Reynolds/Eddie Fisher/Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton drama might have been the beginning of the public’s obsession and construction of celebrity culture as we know it today.