BookBin2010: Neverwhere

~ lobablanca

A little late on posting this one. I actually finished this book almost a week ago, and I started writing this review around the same time. I don’t know why I’ve had such a block when it comes to finishing it though.

So, Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman’s 1996 story of the events that take place in “London Below.” Apparently, this was a companion piece to a television series of the same name, released by the BBC. I’ve never seen it, obviously, since I didn’t even know it existed until about 5 minutes ago when I saw the DVDs on Amazon.com.

This is the story of Richard Mayhew, a rather unassuming young man who leaves his home in Scotland to move to jolly old Londontown to seek his fortune. He finds a job he doesn’t like all that much and a girlfriend who doesn’t really like him all that much. Otherwise, his is a life less extraordinary. Until the day he stumbles (literally) upon a mysterious young woman named Door, badly injured and in need of help.

Ever hear the saying “No good deed goes unpunished”? Richard learns the true extent of this phrase after he takes Door back to his apartment and tends to her injuries. See, she’s from London Below, a strange realm that exists beneath London as we know it. Most of the time, those from this realm can pass among the people of London Above without being noticed. The fact that Richard can see Door is a blessing to her, but definitely a curse to him. Suddenly, he begins to attract more and more attention from residents of London Below, including a pair of the creepiest assassins in the history of creepy. Even worse, his existence in London Above becomes increasingly tenuous. His girlfriend has forgotten him, his job shows no records of him, his friends don’t even acknowledge him.

What to do? Go Below. Help Door discover who killed her family and why, dodge the assassins Croup and Vandemar, get drunk with an angel, flirt with Hunter, and maybe just maybe figure out how to get back to the life he once knew in London Above.

This is where Gaiman truly shines, creating a fantastical world of sights, sounds, and extraordinary characters. The journey our heroes must travel is rather Ozian by way of Edward Gorey, and the richness of Gaiman’s world is both thorough and stunning. All that aside, there was something about the story itself that never really reeled me in. I never felt enraptured. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the story. There are elements to this tale that I absolutely loved. Holistically, however, I felt that it was a pretty run-of-the-mill tale embedded into another of Gaiman’s wonderfully imagined worlds.

Final Verdict: I have a surprising degree of ambiguity about whether or not I want to hold on to this book (which actually tips the scales in favor of letting it go). It was a present, but it was purchased because I asked for it, not because someone thought I might like it. And while I do love Neil Gaiman and I did think this was a relatively enjoyable read, I’m hard-pressed to think of any occasion in which I’d want to go back and read this one again. So, I suppose that means I’m releasing it keeping it releasing it. This is definitely a book that I would recommend to those who are fans of fantasy tales, especially those written by someone as talented as Gaiman. However, I would recommend borrowing this one from the library or picking it up for cheap at a used book store or thrift store. Hey, one in my area will be selling a practically unused copy soon enough 😉

Flashback Friday: Magic Sand

~ lobablanca

This is one of those flashbacks that I’ve been carrying around in my noggin almost since the beginning of this series. I haven’t written about it until now because I couldn’t remember exactly what it was called (you know, because it has such a difficult name to remember) and so I couldn’t locate any information on it. Plus, I was too busy unlocking my inner Trek geek that I couldn’t be bothered to figure it out.

Then I just happened to type in “pour colored sand into water” in Google and bam…or rather WHAM-O. I found my flashback! Magic Sand!!

Wham-O, the company most famous in my mind for their Frisbees, marketed Magic Sand back in the early 1980s. According to this Neatorama.com page:

Magic Sand is ordinary beach sand coated with tiny particles of pure silica, then exposing them to vapors of a silicon compound called trimethylhydroxysilane. The result is a hydrophobic or water-hating sand: when exposed to water, the sand would “stick” to each other rather than to the water, and therefore remain dry.

Originally created as a means of trapping oil spills (so sayeth Wikipedia), this hydrophobic sand was deemed too expensive to produce for such a namby-pamby tree-hugger purpose. So the capitalists got hold of it and turned it into a financial bonanza aimed at the most awesomest marketing group imaginable: kids! After all, what parent can withstand the repetitive torture of a kid who reallyreallyreallyreally wants something?

http://www.hulu.com/embed/WNU44-VbepDrXaRBlCvIFA/0

I remember loving my Magic Sand. I received the kit one Christmas, so I had all four colors: red, yellow, green, and blue. The anal-retentive side of me prevented me from mixing the colors at first. Yes, I was a Magic Sand segregationist. For about a minute. It was just too much fun mixing and swirling the colors to keep them separated for long. It was also too difficult to keep them in their respective bottles. I mean, look at that design! Great for squirting the sand into the water…not so great when antsy little hands are trying to get the sand back in. After a while, all four colors of Magic Sand ended up in one big Ziploc baggie.

I wish I could remember what happened to my Magic Sand. It was such a cool thing for an introverted only child…I loved building little underground cities or strange abstract designs. It was one of those great “quiet time” activities that would keep me occupied for hours. At this point in my life, Magic Sand sounds like it would hold quite the relaxing Zen quality to it. I could pull out a bottle during staff meetings and just squirt my way to serenity.

Wait. That sounded really bad.

I just did a search on Amazon.com for Magic Sand. Apparently, it’s now being marketed as “Aqua Sand,” “Mars Sand,” or “Space Sand.” Whatever they’re calling it now, I’m quite surprised and admittedly a little excited to see that it’s still on the market. I might just have to treat myself to some. I did get an Amazon gift card for Christmas that I’ve yet to use…

NOH8 From…Republicans?

~ lobablanca

Yes, that is Cindy McCain. Yes, that Cindy McCain. The one so many (myself included) referred to as John McCain’s Stepford Wife.

I officially take that back.

A major representative from the Republican party, coming out (haha) against California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage? This is HUGE. Even bigger than when Laura Bush stated in a 2006 interview with Faux News that she didn’t think gay marriage should be used as a political tool. She went on to say, “It requires a lot of sensitivity to just talk about the issue – a lot of sensitivity.”

[Okay, is it just me, or did she pretty much sound like she was implying in that statement that her husband obviously wasn’t the Mr. Sensitivity in question? I always loved that quote…]

Cindy McCain is not the first in her family to support NOH8. Daughter Meghan posed last summer:

Meghan goes into detail in this article for The Daily Beast about why she posed. Papa John continues to toe the GOP line of marriage equals one man and one woman. I’m guessing family gatherings at the McCains can get pretty testy sometimes.

It’s too bad the Republican party doesn’t really take women seriously. This double strike by the McCain women might have actually done something good. Although, they are both attractive, and Sarah Palin has proven that GOPers will pay attention to a pretty face. Of course, she also proves that no one really pays attention to what that pretty face is saying…

[Yep, still poking that bear…what are you going to do?]

Either way, I have to confess I was absolutely stunned when I saw this photo of Cindy McCain. It takes a lot of courage to stand for your convictions when all those around you are in opposition. She proves there is most definitely truth in the phrase “Those who ignore an angry shout may strain to hear a whisper.”

Cindy, I think your wordless stance is screaming volumes right now. I hope your party is listening.

GenX-cessive: Millionaire Matchmaker

~ lobablanca
Pimpin' ain't easy, Dawg

Don’t you just hate it when you finally make your millions and you’re all set to settle down with a gorgeous gold digger but you simply haven’t got the time (or personality) to go out there and snag one for yourself?

Have no fear! For a hefty fee, you can hire Bravo’s latest reality star, Patti Stanger (and her bodacious and completely real ta-tas), otherwise known as the Millionaire Matchmaker. What does she do for that fee? Verbally abuses a bunch of rich douchebags who typically have nothing else going for them beyond the fact that they have a million+ in their bank accounts, finds out what they’re looking for, and then berates them for their tastes.

She then gathers together a bunch of girls looking to bag themselves a rich douchebag, tosses out any girl who fails to pass her physical appraisal (but not before berating them for being too fat, too frumpy, too tacky, too manly, too matronly, too stupid, too whatever it is that she can find wrong with them), keeps the ones who look “exotic” or “classy” (which are apparently Stanger’s code word for “silicone tits” or “Botox Barbie”), and verbally abuses them as well as a means of coaching them in how they need to look and dress if they want to snag the millionaire in question (because who cares what you’re like on the inside?).

Then Stanger and her staff hold a little soiree in which the millionaire gets to mingle with Stanger’s herd of call girls, picks a couple they find the most aesthetically schwinging, does “mini dates,” and then narrows the choice down to one. The rich douchebag then gets verbally abused by Stanger some more before taking their choice on the “big date” to find out if it’s really a match made in heaven Beverly Hills.

What this show should really be called is I Pimp for Rich Douchebags.

Could you imagine the uproar that this show would have caused if, instead of Stanger, the Millionaire Matchmaker was a guy? Yet, because it’s a woman doing the pimping, that somehow makes it better? I don’t know. I don’t really feel all that much better or particularly empowered watching a woman berate other women because of how they look as she selects millionaire-grade breeding stock. Should I? Should I be rooting for these women, hoping that they can bag the millionaire and secure a life of luxury (or at least secure a few awesome dates in which they fly off in his personal jet for a picnic in Maui)? Is this the ultimate victory of all that bra burning and marching done by our predecessors in the fight for women’s rights? The right to unabashedly pimp your own for a massive fee?

True, sometimes the millionaires are women. But they are few and far between. And it doesn’t really make me feel any better knowing that there are just as many men as there are women who will gladly line up for Stanger’s pimp call. This isn’t the equality I was hoping to see in my lifetime.

This show actually makes me root for the recession, if only to diminish the number of people who can join Stanger’s “Millionaire Club”…which, in turn, would diminish her clientele and get her off the television that much faster.

Know What Happens When You Assume?

~ lobablanca

Your party loses a senate seat that was held by a Democrat for nearly 50 years.

I’m so sick of American politics. We will never accomplish anything great so long as we continue to play these petty games. And I’m pointing at both parties when I say this.

What’s even more frustrating is the fact that we’re so stupid that we’re playing along! Even though we’re the ones who are getting the ass-end of the deal each and every time. Do you really think these politicians care one way or the other? Get real. If they win, they get to play the game. If they lose, there’s plenty of high-paying work waiting for them out there as they bide their time before running again. Or not. Makes no difference to them. It’s not like you’re ever going to see them standing in the median strip with a sign that reads “Will Filibuster for Food.”

No, we’re the ones who suffer. But we’ve been completely anesthetized to reason by stupidity. Ignorant, bloviating talking heads on the television and talk radio, obfuscating the truth with phrases like “Obama Death Panels” and “TEA Baggers.”

Okay, here’s an important message to all those protesters who support the “Taxed Enough Already” crusade. Consider this me doing my Good Samaritan duty for you all: STOP CALLING YOURSELVES TEA BAGGERS.

Do you know what tea bagging is? Do you? If you did, you sure as hell wouldn’t be letting your grandma call herself a Tea Bagger. It’s just WRONG. STOP IT.

When are we going to wake up and realize that true change is brought about with hard work, focus, and determination. Not with silly mantras and cutesy catch phrases. And it’s not going to happen overnight. It’s also not going to happen until we pull our heads out of our asses, block out the divisive external forces (fathead commentators, I’m talking to YOU), and start focusing on what is going to benefit us all as that mythical “one nation, indivisible” that we blather on about in that Pledge of Allegiance we all were made to recite as kids.

[Ugh. Don’t even get me started on that…what do 5-year-olds know about allegiance?]

Aren’t any of the rest of you tired of all this bullshit?

How Kara Thrace Killed the Bionic Woman

~ lobablanca
I will smoke you good

Okay, so maybe Starbuck isn’t entirely guilty of this crime of bionicide. But it makes a catchy title, no?

What geekery has me in a lather now? It’s the 2007 attempt to restart the Bionic Woman television series. I’ve made no secret of the fact that I own the 2-DVD set released after this show’s inevitable cancellation. Of all the myriad ridiculous reasons behind my ownership is the fact that it’s awesome to play during my evening workouts. I just finished re-watching the eight episodes yet again. It’s a great sorbet in between my marathon viewings of shows like the new Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek: Voyager.

What struck me as particularly interesting during this re-viewing is how many BSG alumni pop up throughout BW. Of course, there is Katee Sackhoff, she of Starbuck fame, playing Jaime Sommers’s arch nemesis, Sarah Corvus. But Mark Sheppard (Romo Lampkin) played another recurring character, and Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) and Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben Conoy) made guest appearances. I’m willing to bet there were others who crossed over as well, but I’m horrible at face recognition so these are the only ones I’ve got for you.

Seems like Universal was hell-bent on shuffling some of its BSG viewership ratings over to BW in the laziest way imaginable (of course, I’m sure it helped that the series creator was BSG producer/writer David Eick). Don’t worry about the writing…just make sure that those BSG actors are showcased in advertisements. Seems like Universal felt that loyalty among sci-fi geeks is transferable. Oh, how very wrong they were. Sci-fi geeks are some of the ficklest fans EVAR. Sure, maybe we’ll tune in originally because Kara Thrace and Leoben are there. But you’ve got to give us more to keep us. Plus, I didn’t even know who Kara Thrace was at the time. I was still in my “I’m not getting addicted to that fracking over-hyped sci-fi show” mindset. So those parallels were completely lost to me the first time around.

No, I came to BW because I loved the original Lindsay Wagner show when I was a wee Lobita. I’m still waiting for that series to be released on DVD, but thanks to legal issues between Universal and Dimension (one owns the show, and one owns the rights to the original source material), that might never happen. At least Hulu.com is currently showing the first season.

What I found was a reboot that, like most of the drivel that Hollywood spews out anymore, wasn’t worth the effort. I’d like to say that at least their hearts were in it…but if their “hearts” were anything like their focus, then they were all over the place. Just like the scripts. And the character development. And everything else for that matter. This show needed a lot more pre-planning before it ever headed to the development process. The characters needed way more fleshing out. Some of the characters were so last minute that they needed “Wet Paint” signs around their necks. Perfect example: Jaime’s little sister, Becca. That character was originally supposed to be deaf and was played by a completely different actress. Scrapped at the 11th hour, she instead became some kind of nondescript computer hacker fugitive. But only in the first episode. All subsequent appearances portrayed her as a typical surly teen with severe rebellious tendencies. Of course, I’d rebel, too, if I knew I was around only as a plot device that would just as quickly be forgotten whenever Big Sis needed to go on a covert mission that would inexplicably take her away for days at a time.

Hair? Check. Makeup? Check. Wardrobe? Check. Solid Character Development? Anyone? Oi!

Then there was Jaime herself. The new bionic woman is an early-20s college dropout-cum-bartender? Yeah, she gets all super-duper souped up because of an accident, but we learn in the second episode that her doctor/scientist/bionic savior dead BF had been keeping a dossier on her for years, apparently because he thought she would be perfect as his human lab rat for Berkut’s bionic program. Really? Why? Do something anything to establish right from the start what makes her so special. Besides the fact that she looks great wearing black leather and fighting in the rain with sexy Sarah Corvus. That was their first failure.

No. I take that back. Their first failure is the fact that the very first character we meet is Sarah Corvus. Anyone familiar with BSG knows that Katee Sackhoff thoroughly kicked ass as Starbuck. She equally kicked ass as Sarah Corvus. Every single time she appeared on BW, it was like getting a defibrillator jolt to a rapidly dying show. Sackhoff was literally the brightest spot of the series. She appeared in the first four episodes; the final four were decidedly Corvus-less. And that was when the already discordant show began to seriously unravel. It was like removing a jellyfish’s spine. All you’re left with is jiggly blubber.

[Okay, I’m way off in my biological comparisons right now, but cut me a little slack…my brain is still partially holiday-closed, dammit.]

Bottom line was that Michelle Ryan could not compare to Katee Sackhoff. The guest outshone the star each and every time. In Ryan’s defense, this was a) her first big starring role and b) her U.S. debut. So you put her up against an American actress with several years’ experience under her belt in working on a regular sci-fi series that’s heavy on action, heavy on CGI, heavy on everything that Ryan’s not used to? And you put her into a role that is severely under-developed on a show that is lacking even the pretense of knowing what it wants to become or where it wants to go?

Did anyone actually want Michelle Ryan, or for that matter, this show to succeed? Because, honestly, it’s a terrible show. Jaime Sommers as re-imagined by Eick & Co. is an abomination, an embarrassment to the genre. And that’s a serious shame. I wanted this show to succeed more than any other that debuted that 2007 TV season. I was so stoked about BW that I set my Outlook calendar to remind me when it was airing. I watched every episode during the original airing. Yes, I was 1 of the 12 who was still watching right up to the bitter end. I kept hoping that it would find its footing. But the writers’ strike pretty much knocked the sand-slippery slope that the show was already on right out from under it. Michelle Ryan returned to England, Katee Sackhoff went back to toasting skinjobs, and yet another show that could have been a beacon of brightness for women in a still decidedly male-dominated genre was completely doused.

Ah well. I still have my 2-DVD set. And I will say this: It’s awful, campy goodness that’s so laughably terrible that I easily forget about the horrible things I’m making my naturally sedentary body do for the 45-minute duration of the shows. That makes it solid platinum in my book.

BookBin2010: The Madonnas of Leningrad

~ lobablanca

Finally, my first finished book of 2010. And the beginning of another alliterative feature here at the lair. I really need to stop doing that…I’m going to become the George Lucas of the blogging world with that one-trick pony. Although now I’m rhyming with my alliteration. Wee!

Debra Dean entered the literary scene with this debut novel, 2007’s The Madonnas of Leningrad. The beauty of this novel is twofold. First, Dean is enviably skilled at writing. She wields words with precision and flourish, providing us with a touching and complexly crafted tale. Second is her ability to balance somewhat daunting juxtapositions of war and art, reality and the hazy illusions that remain when memory fails.

The protagonist of the novel is Marina Buriakov. In current time, she is an 82-year-old Russian woman preparing to attend her granddaughter’s wedding. The story, however, is not linear, shifting with sometimes discordant fluidity between the now and a past in which she was a docent at the Hermitage Museum during the siege of Leningrad. The muddle and confusion is caused by the fact that Marina is beginning to slip ever deeper into the maelstrom of Alzheimer’s.

It’s Dean’s eloquence in balancing the shifting of this story that captivated me. At first, the shifting would be separated by chapters, alternating between the now and the past of Marina’s life. But as the book progressed, those worlds meshed, clashed, overlapped, canceled out, and contradicted each other. But, whether through the ravages of the siege or the ravaging of Marina’s memory, there was always beauty in the telling. To be able to still find such things, even in light of horrible events such as war or Alzheimer’s…like I said, that’s an enviable skill.

Final Verdict: This book actually doesn’t belong to me, so I’m not going to be able to keep it. However, I have added it to my list of books to purchase. Dean is a master of language, and this is one of the most beautiful debut novels I can ever remember reading. It’s worth owning simply for the pleasure of being able to revisit the eloquence of Dean’s prose.

Flashback Friday: Pee-wee Herman

~ lobablanca

Say what you will about Paul Reubens…but there was a “train wreck” brilliance to his man-child creation known the world over as Pee-wee Herman. Equal parts kitschy, creative, confusing, quirky, and deranged (dare we even say, perverse?), Pee-wee is undoubtedly one of the more, um, unique icons of our 80s childhoods.

Personally, I love Pee-wee Herman. Pee-wee’s Playhouse was a standard part of my Saturday morning cartoon ritual from the beginning to the end of its 5-season run, and I loved every minute. There was nothing on TV quite like Pee-wee and his cavalcade of insanity: the secret word ritual, the bizarre talking furniture, Jambi (WTF does “Mekka Lekka Hi-Mekka Hiney Ho” mean?), giant underpants!, the kooky neighbors and friends…Miss Yvonne, the King of Cartoons, Captain Carl (Phil Hartman?), Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne?!?). It was weekly weirdness injections in 30-minute doses.

See the little guy to the right of this entry? He’s mine. That was the scooter that Pee-wee would ride off on at the end of each show. The weird helmet came about toward the end, I guess in response to national bike helmet laws that had recently been passed. See? Pee-wee was always trying to teach us positive lessons.

And Pee-wee’s Big Adventure? Don’t even get me started. I watched that movie so regularly, it was like my own personal religion for a while. Why? I have no friggin’ clue. But it had loads of everything that used to make me laugh. Actually, after watching some clips now on YouTube, I realize that it still makes me laugh. Why I don’t own this movie is beyond me.

Know which part used to make me laugh the most? It’s this:

I think I may have just squeed a little while watching that clip again.

Reubens’s legal run-ins tarnished Pee-wee Herman, especially the mysterious 2002 child pornography charges that were somehow related to more explicit charges against Jeffrey “Ed Rooney” Jones. Reubens’s charges were expunged from his record; Jones is now a registered sex offender. Reubens had made an announcement the year prior to these charges that he intended to bring back Pee-wee. Obviously, those plans were curtailed.

Until now. A movie version of Pee-wee’s Playhouse is currently in production, starring a now nearly 60-year-old Paul Reubens. Talk about getting a “no” feeling. I’d much rather watch the original show than this. Netflix currently has the first two seasons for rent along with the more adult 1983 Pee-wee Herman Show. I also just discovered that they have Pee-wee’s Big Adventure for instant watching pleasure.

Hmm. Um, I’ve gotta go now. Very important meeting I forgot I had to attend. Yah. Now it’s time for a Penny cartoon!!

Clarification of Intent

~ lobablanca

Oh, but I poked the bear this time. It’s funny how mention of certain people will bring crazy to the lair like stink brings flies.

Just an FYI: Comments about Sarah Palin bring crazy.

I received a comment through my contact tab that left me feeling a bit…agitated. I’m not going to post it here because most of it was an offensive litany of every type of insult the author could string together in a grammatically offensive way. Call me what you must, but at least do it with linguistic acumen, please.

I will, however, reprint the following line:

Your problem, like most liberal feminazies, is the fact that you hate Sarah Palin because she’s a real REPUBLICAN woman who proves you can balance career, family and faith SUCCESSFULLY.

Okay. Random capitalization issues and the misspelling of the pedantic “Feminazi” comment aside, this sentence includes quite a bit to which I would like to reply (sadly, it also includes several things that I have heard several times before). First, I don’t hate Sarah Palin. I’ll even go so far as to say that I think some of the things she accomplished as mayor of Wasilla and as governor of Alaska greatly benefited her constituents.

Some of the things. Not all. I find many of her political beliefs, statements and actions to be offensive, particularly many of her comments about “real America.” I don’t live in those little “pockets of patriotism” in the middle of the country that Palin prefers to consider more American than those bleeding-heart coastal states. Still, I pay my taxes, I obey the laws, and I enjoy my freedoms, including the ones that allow me to critically analyze what I hear…especially from those with aspirations of leading this country.

So when I hear a politician say things like that, that ostracize large swaths of the country, my spidey senses tingle. You can’t lead a country if you discredit and dismiss those parts that don’t conform to your somewhat limited ideals. And that, I think is a cornerstone of my dislike of Palin: her dismissive attitude toward things that she cannot or does not want to understand. Couple that with her ersatz folksiness and it’s a combination destined to piss me off.

And, no, I am not charmed by her “geegollygoshdarnyoubetcha” wink/wink public persona. It’s something suitable for a local sportscaster-cum-beauty-queen. It’s not suitable for someone who wanted to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. I suppose this is where I reveal myself to still be quite the erudite liberal, but I expect a certain degree of intelligence and decorum from my political leaders. I don’t buy into the idea that my representatives need to be plain-speakin’ folk I want to go hunting and drinking with.

These are people who are representing us not only on the national but on the global stage. I think that’s something that many Republicans miss. It’s not just us here. Our political leaders need to be able to interact with representatives from around the world, with intelligence, with understanding, with diplomacy…not with a fucking wink and a “You Betcha.”

As for the “faith” part of Palin’s masterful balancing act? I question any politician who allows their religious beliefs to color decisions they make that will impact the lives of constituents who may not live according to those same religious dictates. And I’m willing to bet every last penny in my bank account that the author of this comment would feel the same way if the religion in question was anything other than the religion they follow.

Religion is a personal choice that belongs in politics about as much as chili paste belongs in hemorrhoid cream. And if you make or support any legislation simply because of your personal religious choices, you don’t belong in politics.

All of this is a moot point anyway. Palin is out of politics, and I think that her decision to join forces with Fox News has pretty much nailed shut any option of returning to the political arena. Someone serious about a future run at the White House would probably right now be focusing inward, taking stock and improving their grasp of events and information that impacts us all on local, national, and global levels in an effort to balance out their lack of experience. Are we seeing that here? Oh no, you betcha we’re not. She’s a fame seeker, desperately latching on to anything that will keep her in the spotlight until the last vestiges of life have been drained from her seemingly interminable 15 minutes of fame.

I still don’t understand the Palin phenomenon, although I must confess that I strongly believe that she would have long ago faded into the ether if it weren’t for the fact that she’s just so darn cute. It’s the flip side of Hillary Clinton’s campaign experiences. I would describe Clinton as knowledgeable, experienced, articulate, and sensible. The media described her as having cankles. As looking frumpy in her suits. As “who wants to watch her age for the next 4 to 8 years.”

Flip the coin and you’ve got Palin, with her implications that only pampered, privileged people do things like get passports, or her attempts at solidifying her foreign policy experience by citing that she was governor of a state that rested between Russia and Canada. Because, you know, those wacky Canadians are always looking to invade Alaska and steal their polar bears.

But people took her seriously when she said these things. They took her seriously even when she failed to know why there was a North and a South Korea or when she didn’t know what was meant by “Bush Doctrine.” Uh, that’s your boy there, Sarah. Shouldn’t you kind of have an idea about what you’re campaigning to inherit? They took her seriously when she couldn’t even name a specific vote or law or action from John McCain’s political career that supported her overuse of the word “Maverick.” I swear, she used that word so many times, she almost ruined my love for Top Gun. And that really would have pissed me off.

But she looked GREAT each and every time.

Again, it’s all about celebrity and celebreality. We’re far more interested in pretty than substantive. And, yes, before you even say anything, I consider Obama to be another prime example of this phenomenon. Was he the most qualified Democratic candidate? Nope. Was he the best dressed and the most dapper? Oh, you betcha. “Brains before beauty” is so last millennium.

So, there you go. I have nothing else to say on the matter. I wonder if my commenter will feel the same…or if I’ve just poked the bear even more.

Hen in the Fox House

~ lobablanca

Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen. I do believe the apocalypse is now in full swing. Sarah Palin has joined Faux News.

My respect for mainstream journalism in this country wanes steadily every passing day. I suppose Fox will tout the fact that Palin, in addition to having “knowledge” about “politics,” also has a “degree” in “journalism.”

I have a degree in “English.” That doesn’t make me the fucking queen.

You know what though? This is a perfect match-up. We live in a country in which utterly insipid things are considered newsworthy (and I think Palin definitely fits into the “utterly insipid” category along with all the other media-whoring piffle). The one radio station dedicated to local news sent me a “breaking news” update this weekend to inform me that Jay Leno’s primetime show was being canceled. It’s all about celebrity and celebreality in this country. So any wonder the beauty queen would get signed to Fox? They need some way to compete with the cheerleader over at the CBS news desk…although a little warning: The cheerleader drew blood the last time she met the beauty queen. You might want to keep them separated.