Month: January 2001 (Page 2 of 4)

Now this is funny. Stupid, but funny.

So Tim McVeigh’s execution may be broadcast over closed-circuit television. (My apologies to my colleague Mosey for blogging Salon, but this was just too good to pass up.) This is fascinating for many pop culture and political reasons. The question really is, why weren’t all of GWB’s executions televised? I believe people should have to confront the results of their pro-death-penalty stance, especially when the condemned isn’t a famous evildoer whose death everyone is supposed to cheer.

And since watching someone drift away after lethal injection doesn’t make for very good television, I would suggest hanging. Or even better, firing squad. Let’s show five or six of those in a row, with state troopers pulling the trigger, and see how national attitudes change.

I’ve come to believe that the new media is not cable internet, or TiVo, or advertisements played for you as you stand at the urinal. It’s good old-fashioned radio. Low tech, high touch. In the last few months I’ve rediscovered National Public Radio, which has an amazing amount of lively, thoughtful programming every day. My current favorite program is Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s The Splendid Table, which comes on Sunday mornings with tales of ice wine, chef school and Chinese New Year celebrations. Good stuff.

I dare you to read this and tell me you’re still perfectly comfortable with this man holding the nuclear launch codes.

This is my StorTrooper. Handsome devil, eh? Try it yourself. It’s a revealing exercise trying to match yourself up to the limited choices of an avatar. (The blue sweater isn’t in the standard set – I cheated in Fireworks)

Playing with this little Java applet really cleared my mind of the tumultuous happenings of the past week, and got me thinking about 1) how infrequently you see something on the web that feels new and fun, and 2) the many ways we represent (or obfuscate) our personalities online. But forget about all that and give it a try – and send me yours.

I don’t usually blog personal stuff, I try to make this document about words, politics and pop culture. But I just have to say, Pepto-Bismol is a miracle substance.

When I think about it, I guess I’ve just moved into product endorsement, which is definitely a pop culture topic. So there you go.

This Onion story is funny because it’s really a boldfaced treatment of what conservative Republicans actually believe.

Also, check out the photo for proof of my “smacked by an iron” hypothesis from yesterday.

Ideology matters
Something?s been bugging me about this whole John Ashcroft situation, and I only just now figured out what it was. It?s amazing to me that even Democrats on Capitol Hill are saying that ideology doesn?t matter in a cabinet appointee. If you?re (even marginally) qualified and haven?t hired an illegal alien, you?re in. Here?s your desk. Have we all bought so completely into the conservative lie that positions and convictions don?t matter, only ?character??

Would you hire a vehement anti-gun activist to manage a gun store? If the candidate said to you in the interview, ?I?m against guns personally, but that won?t interfere with my ability to sell as many as possible,? would you believe them?

But then, millions of people apparently believed that it doesn?t matter if a candidate is even remotely qualified to be the leader of the free world, or even intellectually able to string two sentences together. If he seems like a nice guy, that?s what?s important.

Is it just me, or does GWB, in every still photo ever published of him, look like he’s in some stage of getting an iron slammed into his face? The next time you see a picture of him – on the news, on the internet, wherever – think about this and tell me if I’m off base.

There’s been an important breakthrough in personal comfort (a $4.8 billion industry), ably covered by a new news aggregate site, Plastic. “Neither Jeff Bezos nor Steve Jobs could be reached for comment…”