McCain picked a vice presidential running mate. He chose Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. Yes, that's right, a woman.
Okay, I will give them props for this. They're good. They're very good.
She's younger than even Obama. One of the big concerns about McCain is his age and what kind of nutjob we'd get in there if he died in office. So with his pick and Hillary Clinton's very close run with Obama for the Democratic nomination, McCain brings up the possibility of a female president should he die in office. And he bridges the age gap at the same time.
Overall, Taoism probably isn't my cup of tea (no pun intended), but it does have some good ideas I'm gonna snag, one of them being a conscious awareness and respect for one's place in the cycle of life. For example, it mentioned the Chinese solar calendar, which seemed pretty neat.
Wikipedia explains things technically, but the gist of it is that the year is divided into 24 approximately 2-week long segments that each have a name related to what's going on in the natural world at that time. Some examples are "insects awaken" and "descent of frost." I have no idea what October is supposed to mean to me, but "autumn begins" I get. Right now we are in "limit of heat" which fit perfectly with what's going on weather-wise.
The book encourages readers to make up their own names for the two-week periods. Working at the U, there's a lot of cycles that happen in life here. So that's an idea too.
Anyway, it's an interesting concept. Modern life can be so isolating that I really like the idea of something as simple as a calendar creating connection to the larger world.
The Netflix Powers That Be (NPTB) sent me Balls of Fury several weeks ago. A friend of mine loaned me the first four seasons of The Simpsons, which has been taking up my NPTB time. (Oh, I do so love the old eps though. I now do Bart's Touch of Death move in my head when someone upsets me.)
Anyway, Balls of Fury was completely asinine, juvenile, and crude. The timing seemed rather odd as well as the movie starts with the table tennis competition at the Olympics and I just watched some real-life Olympic table tennis last week. But the movie made me laugh. And that's not nothing.
It was good to see Christopher Walken in a more relaxed and fun role. He plays villains so very well. And George Lopez as a semi-serious actor? I guess he did better than I thought he would. Oh, and I recognized Hiro from Heroes as the lavatory attendant with an Uzi.
Overall, not sure I would watch it again and it would have made me furious to pay for seeing it in a theater, but it gave me enough to laugh about that it wasn't wasted time.
So tonight is the last softball game of the year with the Rainbow Brites. As our sponsor has already closed, it is likely the last Rainbow Brite softball game period. If the team continues next year, we'll have to find a different sponsor, which might be difficult given Michigan's economy these days.
I'll still have the Sarcastic and Crass Crowd (my Wednesday night team) next year though, as the SCC's sponsor is one of the women on the team.
Softball ending is one of the signs of the seasons coming around for me. The students came back to the U on Monday and the first college football game of the year is on Saturday.
Solidifying his place as my master, I bow yet again to Joss Whedon for making the fabulous Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. I have been singing the soundtrack for a few weeks now and the ending was so beautifully Joss.
I love that this is one of the very first instances of a new kind of media. Dr. Horrible was made during the writer's strike to get around the issues that were going on then. It was made specifically for the Internet format, which, to my knowledge, hasn't been done in exactly this way. Dr. Horrible showed very clearly how the Internet is changing entertainment.
Also, for those of you who were sucked into the awesome fan-made Buffy season 1 trailer I mentioned, but didn't know where to find the Buffy goodness, U.S. viewers can see Buffy seasons 1 and 2 free on hulu.com.
I've been watching season 1 again and I see so many connections between it and later happenings. It is amazing to see the master plan in its entirety.
So, AFTER you have seen Dr. Horrible, go to hulu and watch.
I seriously thought the story would be about Clay Aiken coming out at long last and confirming that Kathy Griffin was right about him , much to the dismay of his female fans. Fans who call themselves "Claymates". No, I'm not kidding.
And I love that the name of his "good friend" is Jaymes. *ahem*
Ahh, Michigan. I've lived here 10 years now and the place still amuses me.
For instance, this weekend I am going to attend a regionally-renowned carnivore fest called the Pig Gig, famous for its pork ribs. A friend of mine is just getting into running and she wanted me to accompany her on the Pig Gig 5K.
So I will get up ridiculously early on Saturday for the 1.5 hour drive to the Gig. That's not so much, but there are so many good things. The best thing about this plan, other than spending time with friends and the inevitable T-shirt (that has a picture of a pig running its little heart out on two legs and no, I'm not kidding), is that all 5K entrants get free admission to the Pig Gig festival.
How?
The race's finish line is actually in the festival itself! This is genius. Race participants will stomp by out of breath and soaked with sweat from the August heat, passing festival goers soaked with barbeque sauce and stuffing their faces. Nothing says "Enjoy your food and please, eat more!" than watching someone else exercise.
