November 2008 Archives

Amazon is selling 50 MP3 albums for a mere $5 each. I'm downloading stuff from Portishead, TV on the Radio, Death Cab and Flight of the Conchords as I type this. They even have Metallica's latest album on there. Doesn't quite atone for their asshat attitude about filesharing before, but it helps.

Of course, you can also get High School Musical 3 for $5. But why would you want to do THAT?

And oh the material you have to work with!

Two articles profile the designer and design process behind Barack Obama's iconic logo in the New York Times and the Philadelphia Daily News. In addition to all the other striking contrasts between the two candidates, I was really intrigued by the difference between Obama's logo and attractive typography, and that of McCain Palin, which seemed very state-of-the-art-1982. I suspect the difference is more emblematic of the reasons for the outcome than responsible for it, but good logo design never hurts, I say...

Conservative schmuck gets into war of words with awesome columnist Dan Savage.

My favorite exchange:

TP: "You can't get a word in edgewise with this guy."
DS: "You strip me of my rights and I interrupt you. Who's really suffering here?"

Also from DS: "I hope Tony Perkins doesn't pray to Jesus with that mouth because he bears false witness against his gay and lesbian friends and neighbors..."

Hysterical.

"I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door," Palin said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. "And if there is an open door in '12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door."

(And I'm thinking, don't let that open door hit your butt on the way out!)

Also love this part.

Her father, Chuck Heath, said Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party.

"She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out," Heath said. "That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for. Nothing goes right back to normal,"

Yeah, I know how that feels. Because I lose $150,000 worth of kids' underwear ALL THE TIME.

I really hope we don't have to deal with her again in 2010, 2012, 2016, or... EVER.

Via Newsweek, we learn that the presidential campaigns' were both hacked by unknown foreign entities, and oh so much more...

NEWSWEEK has also learned that Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family--clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast," and said the truth will eventually come out when the Republican Party audits its books.

It gets even better...

McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. Palin asked to speak along with McCain at his Arizona concession speech Tuesday night, but campaign strategist Steve Schmidt vetoed the request.

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.

McCain also was reluctant to use Obama's incendiary pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as a campaign issue. The Republican had set firm boundaries: no Jeremiah Wright; no attacking Michelle Obama; no attacking Obama for not serving in the military. McCain balked at an ad using images of children that suggested that Obama might not protect them from terrorism. Schmidt vetoed ads suggesting thatObama was soft on crime (no Willie Hortons). And before word even got to McCain, Schmidt and Salter scuttled a "celebrity" ad of Obama dancing with talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres (the sight of a black man dancing with a lesbian was deemed too provocative).

The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for them during the Democratic primaries, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

Four years ago, when our wedding went off as planned without a hitch — nay, exceeded expections, the Red Sox swept the World Series, and Bush inexplicably got returned to the White House for another term, I tried to be philosophical about it. Still, I was unjustifiably pleased when the Red Sox didn't make it this time, telling my husband that if we had to pick one thing to go wrong, better the Red Sox than our marriage or the election. So by last night, I wasn't just gleeful, I was manic. We drove home from my parents' election night party yelling "WOOOOOOO!" out the window until our sleepy toddler joined in on the fun, even mustering a rousing chant of "USA! USA! USA!" which I have not once wanted to do in eight years, if ever.

This morning, though, I'm sad. My fellow Californians decided to amend the state Constitution to take away people's rights. To enshrine their religious beliefs — and the religious beliefs of people who don't even live here — in our Constitution. Beliefs that many of us, including myself, don't share.

The sad truth is that I didn't do as much as I should have. I tried making calls, but got too anxious, so I tried to buy off my guilt with donations to No on Proposition 8. And it wasn't enough.

I am trying to make myself feel better by telling myself that ultimately, this issue is going to have to be dealt with on a national level. It's crazy for people to have rights in some states that they don't have in others, and marriage is one of the most fundamental rights of all. There will be legal challenges; they will wend their way through the courts up to the Supreme Court. That Court, thanks to Obama, may look very different in a few years.

In the meantime, I just feel very, very sorry and angry.

This too shall pass, and one day we'll look back on this time and marvel that people could be so very stupid about civil rights.

Wow, this election has so many propositions to loathe, but Proposition 8 may be one of the most loathesome. It's certainly up there with Prop 4.

There seems to be a massive disconnect between those who think everybody should be allowed to get married and those who are all, "EW, teh gay is gross! And God hates fags! And I don't have anything against homos but I don't want them trying to make my kids gay and make my church lose its tax-exempt status and redefine marriage..."

There's that ridiculous argument which goes something along the lines of, well, if we allow men to marry men and women to marry women, then we're going to have to allow men to marry children and women to marry sheep. Well, folks, there's a simple answer to that one. Sheep aren't allowed to get married. Children aren't allowed to get married. Therefore, no human/sheep or adult/child marriages are permitted. However, adult men are allowed to get married. Adult women are allowed to get married. So what's the problem?

Also, what's with the fucking Mormons? Listen guys, I don't tell you how to live your lives, so can you please stay out of everybody else's?

Republicans, this doesn't reflect well on you.

Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., handed out candy Friday only to those who shared her support for the Republican presidential candidate and his running mate Sarah Palin. Others were turned away empty-handed.

TV station WJBK says a sign outside Nagel's house warned: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."

Nagel calls Democrat Barack Obama "scary." When asked about children who were turned away empty-handed and crying, she said: "Oh well. Everybody has a choice."

Dear New Yorker Magazine:

As a long-time subscriber with many worn-looking copies of your magazine strewn liberally around my house, I am thrilled that you are launching a digital edition. I have long wished for a version of your magazine I could carry with me on some convenient little handheld device.

I'm still wishing.

1. What's with the two page sizes? One is unreadable, and the other is WAY too big, even for my generously proportioned computer screen.
2. How am I supposed to read those multiple columns on my computer screen? Do I have to scroll up and down like that?
3. WHY CAN'T I CUT AND PASTE? What about fair use?
   
4. Why do you log me out so quickly?
5. Did anybody actually try USING THIS THING FIRST?
6. Works on the iPhone, did you say? Oh how we all laughed!
   
7. Why do I have to zoom out to turn pages?
   
8. An online magazine Should.Not.Require.So.Many.Instructions.

I'm listening to a playlist I made a while ago, "Maybe 2008 won't be like 2004." The mix of songs matches the mix of my emotions: one minute optimistic, the next minute despairing, the next minute simply really pissed off.

1. Don't Make Me a Target - Spoon
2. Yes We Can Can - the Pointer Sisters
3. War Pigs - Cake
4. 16 Military Wives - the Decembrists
5. Free World - Kirsty MacColl
6. Big Hollow Man - Danielle Dax (this one goes out to Sarah Palin!)
7. Mentira - Manu Chao (this one goes out to John McCain... and just about every Republican lying sack of s*** who has opened his or her mouth this election)
8. Peace Love & Understanding - Amy Rigby
9. Ride the Fence - the Coup (this one goes out to all you "undecided voters.")
   
10. The Revolution Starts Now - Steve Earle (a defiant anthem... and a reminder of the heartbreak last time)
11. It's a New Day - the Skull Snaps
12. There Won't Be Trumpets - Bernadette Peters (are we the ones we've been waiting for?)
13. Yes We Can (pass 3) - Tano Sokolow, ingenious mashup artist