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Today I joked with Lou Brock in my boss' office.
My first business trip will most likely be to Jamaica, to cover the wedding of a St. Louis couple. I interviewed the bride-to-be today in her travel agent's office. Did you know a few hundred feet down from the Breezes resort is a Hedonism III resort where people get married naked? Isn't that gross?
I love my job.
01-27-2004 10:07 PM - comments (0)
O Craggy One has won the New Hampshire primary. Hooray!
01-27-2004 7:32 PM - comments (0)
I'm terrible at predicting election results, but here's my (mostly superficial) take on some of the candidates on this New Hampshire primary night:
John Edwards: Good-looking (relatively speaking), well-spoken, intelligent and likeable. Oh, yeah, and he's running a positive campaign. I think he's so busy running a positive campaign that he forgot to tell us what he actually stands for. I think he said last week he was against child poverty. Now that's an opinion.
Verdict: Would make a great president in four or eight years and a great VP now.
John Kerry: The craggy one. I'm not really into his Massachusetts fashion sense (then again, I'm from New Jersey, and we view Massachusetts like a rich snob who wears his collar upturned and thinks "wicked" is a synonym for "cool"). For anyone who thinks this guy is the trust fund baby's candidate, consider this: He was both a veteran of Vietnam and was anti-war. He seems to have some good thoughts on the economy and on social programs.
Verdict: I could do without his sunken ghost face, but yeah, I like him.
Howard Dean: I almost dislike this guy as much as Bush. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, all 10 of my Republican readers. He's neckless. His aggressive attitude reminds me a lot of President "We don't need no damn permission from nobody!" Bush. I can see Howard Dean becoming President "Suck it, Republicans" Dean, and that's just not cool. Surprised? Though I'm obviously biased toward the left, I try not to be hypocritical. A disagreeable personality trait is a disagreeable personality trait.
Verdict: Howard Dean screams, "Yeahhhhh." I reply, "Hell, no."
Joe Lieberman: "Que pasa, Hadassah" was all I heard today on NPR. It's almost enough to make me want to see him as our presidential candidate. Almost. Good guy, lots of experience, Al Gore didn't endorse him...all in the plus category.
Verdict: I know he's got Joementum or whatever, but he just doesn't do it for me.
Wesley Clark: If your only complaint about a politician is that he's too short, you've got a decent candidate. Too bad I have more complaints than Clark's vertical limitations. For one, though I can appreciate his open-mindedness toward the political parties, I kind of wish he had been a Democrat longer. I know it's difficult to be political in the military, but I want someone who lives and breathes the ideals of my party. I want someone like Bill Clinton, a brilliant guy (by which all accounts, so is Clark) who grew up poor and as a result, cared his entire life about making a difference for those who needed it. But Clark made such a fantastic argument the other night about faith and compassion that it was enough to get my vote if it comes down to it: He (basically) said that Republicans are always claiming to have God on their side--that they are the party with faith. Clark said while the Republican Party may talk about having faith, the Democratic Party actually lives that faith by actively trying to help people, as their faith would compel. He said Republicans talk a lot about family values, but those values usually end up alienating most of America because most of America doesn't share those values. Family values is a term used condescendingly, he added. Although I'm not religious, I was really moved by what he said. It's important to understand that I have never opposed the "good works" part of religion, but rather the politics of religion.
Verdict: Military guy, foreign policy experience, very smart. Plus, I wouldn't have written so much if I didn't like him. Yeah, he's got my vote.
Dennis Kucinich: Okay, all I can think about is Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler doing an impersonation of him. There simply cannot be analysis when that image is in my head.
Verdict: He says he's never smoked pot, but all of the former Nader supporters and current stoners like him? That's enough to warrant a big fat no.
01-27-2004 7:30 PM - comments (0)
...but this is the UNSEXIEST THING EVER.
Found courtesy of www.deangoesnuts.com.
01-26-2004 7:00 PM - comments (0)
there's...something...on...the...wing
My dad sent this link to the new Priceline commercial to me. William Shatner (or "Bill," as my dad refers to him), is really a funny guy.
01-26-2004 6:21 PM - comments (0)
This message is for anyone back home in Texas who has romanticized views of wintry weather: While the first 20 minutes of violently scraping a quarter-inch of ice off your (ahem, front-wheel drive only) vehicle might seem delightful, the next 20 minutes are all downhill. Also downhill: Trying to reverse out of a pile of snow. That burning smell probably can't be good news. Also, why was I the only person whose car had a perimeter of snow around it? Also, a nice guy helped push my car to safety after I almost careened into the heap-of-junk car that has sat in my apartment building's parking lot since September.
Isn't it kind of bad that when I tried to back out and finally could go straight, I decided I'd rather crash into that heap-of-junk than another, nicer-looking car? I didn't think so either. But probably it is really bad that I secretly wanted to crash into the heap-of-junk, even if it weren't necessary.
In other news:
*My work plant, a pink amaryllis named Lola, began to bloom this weekend. It's so neat looking. I'm no horticulturist, but I can't understand how it bloomed while in a glass jar with rocks for soil sitting on a window ledge while it was cold and cloudy all weekend. Also, it smells so bad that I have to stop myself from spraying it with Victoria's Secret Angels body splash every chance I get. Although, you have to admit, that would certainly teach Lola a lesson.
*My new computer at work is a glossy new white Emac. Not to be confused with Imac. I know it's because I'm used to a PC, but I feel as though Apple makes things harder than they need to be. Such as not letting you make programs take up the entire screen, therefore causing you to be distracted by the other open programs in the background. I have discovered the maximize button, but that doesn't really accomplish much. I can manually widen the screen, but the viewable area is still the original size. Argh. If there's a way to fix this, please let me know.
*During the Golden Globes pre-show on E! last night (yes, I'm masochistic), Joan Rivers asked to see the engagement ring of Kevin Costner's fiance (who looks younger than his teenage daughter, by the way). Joan proceeded to exclaim, on national TV, how utterly small and pathetic the ring was and how Kevin Costner is a total jerk for getting her such an ugly, little piece of junk. I have only one question: Isn't Joan Rivers' existence proof that there is no God?
01-26-2004 6:04 PM - comments (4)
When I first heard Eddie Vedder's voice nearly 12 years ago, I was blown away. (Well, about as blown away as someone who had recently counted Paula Abdul and Debbie Gibson among her favorite singers could be.) Twelve years later, I am still moved by his voice and especially how much it's evolved.
Buy the single, buy the soundtrack, download the song, but you have to hear "Man of the Hour" from the Big Fish soundtrack. You know those commercials for Bose products? The ones that promise that you'll be able to hear music the way it was meant to be heard? I always wondered what more I could get from the music I already listened to, but I bet with those Bose headphones Eddie Vedder would fill your ears the way an opera singer fills a concert hall.
01-19-2004 6:27 PM - comments (4)
if i were an voter in iowa or new hampshire...
...I'd be divided between Clark, Edwards and Gephardt right now. For anyone (like me) who's complained about the lack of decent, intelligent, thoughtful and exciting Democrats in the last few years, this is good news. Well, Gephardt's not what you'd call the life of the party, but at least he's got a better neck than Dean. Actually, he's got a better everything than that smarmy guy from Vermont.
01-18-2004 7:06 PM - comments (1)
The Top 10 Singles of 2003
10) "Weak and Powerless" - A Perfect Circle
9) "Talk to Me, Dance with Me" - Hot Hot Heat
8) "Suga Suga" - Frankie J. and Baby Bash
7) "Rock Your Body" - Justin Timberlake
6) "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" - Jet
5) "Holidae In" - Chingy, feat. Snoop Dogg and Ludacris
4) "Seven Nation Army" - The White Stripes
3) "Think Twice" - Eve 6
2) "The Scientist" - Coldplay
1) "Hey Ya" - Outkast
Honorable Mentions*
"Shake Ya Tailfeather" - Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee; "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - Darkness; "Fashionably Uninvited" - mellowdrone; "Crazy Beat" - Blur; "Like a Stone" - Audioslave; "You Are" - Pearl Jam; "Crazy in Love" - Beyonce feat. Jay-Z; "Stacy's Mom" - Fountains of Wayne (Only on the list because they've been a great band since the mid-90s. Screw that "Best New Artist" crap. I guess it's only good if it's on the radio?); "Bigger than my Body" - John Mayer; "Unwell" - matchbox20; "I Don't Blame You" - Cat Power; "It's My Life" - No Doubt; "Hands Down" - Dashboard Confessional; "Feelin' This" - Blink 182; "The Way You Move" - Outkast; "Home and Dry" - The Pet Shop Boys; "Fighter" - Christina Aguilera
The 10 Worst Singles of 2003
10) "Ignition (Remix)" - R. Kelly (Has anyone ever heard the non-remixed version?)
9) "All the Things She Said" - Tatu
8) "Girls and Boys" - Good Charlotte
7) "Invisible" - Clay Aiken
6) "Miss Independent" - Kelly Clarkson
5) "Why Can't I?" Liz Phair
4) "Getcha Good" - Shania Twain
3) "Hey Ma" - Cam'Ron (may have come out in 2002, but still is the bane of my existence)
2) Any and all songs by Evanescence
1) "Headstrong" - Trapt
*Some, as you may note, aren't singles but from rather good independently released albums.
01-14-2004 3:43 PM - comments (3)
it's like it wasn't there at all
I think I'm going to make a Top 10 Singles of 2003 sometime soon. I'll give away the big secret: "Hey Ya" is number one. I take it you're suitably shocked and awed.
In other music news:
-I heard Space's "Female of the Species" on a commercial for Newlyweds. That song might have made my Top 10 Singles if 1997 hadn't been such a great year for music.
-"Title and Registration" by Death Cab for Cutie is a really fantastic song. Transatlanticism is a really fantastic album. (I've been under a bad-rock rock for the past few months, admittedly.) The band has really grown up since I discovered them a couple of albums ago. My only issue is with Ben Gibbard's voice; the music is almost always lovely, but he has a tendency to sound a little too sweet and childish.
01-11-2004 9:53 PM - comments (0)
Out of curiosity (and complete and total boredom), I just visited the web sites of Columbia's premiere newspapers, beginning with the Tribune, then on to the Missourian, then The Maneater, and finally, yes, the MU Student News, which will never find its place on any future resume of mine. Granted, it wasn't good even while there were competent people on staff, but this new development takes the cake. I was checking out their "Jobs" section, when I noticed this:
The MU Student News is constantly looking for the best creative writers to help continue our reputation as one of the best newspaper in Columbia.
Yes, one of the best newspaper in Columbia. That's exactly how I'd put it. Exactly.