And the win goes to - Palin?!

And the win goes to - Palin?! I'll make this brief, because it is one of the funniest things I've ever heard. A lot of people, and I mean a lot of people are calling last night's debate in Sarah Palin's favor. She was in command of it. She was on point.

My. Fucking. Ass.

Last night, Sarah Palin was that little prick you used to play tag with as a child, who would abruptly change where "goal" was. Every time you would say "goal is the big oak tree," she would nod and smile, and then when you were just about to tag her, she'd grab the mail box and say "this is goal now!" And then, when you went along with it, and were about to evade her, she'd take out a rubber ball and hit you with it. "I wanna play dodgeball now."

She was fucking awful. She changed the subject a million times, she was outright rude to the moderator, refused to rebut some of her own interjected charges being shot down, and goddammit, if I hear the word "maverick" again or another fact about Alaska, I will rake my fucking eyes out. Nobody gives a shit about Alaska! That's why we jammed them up behind Canada! AND YOU. ARE NOT. A MAVERICK. Has she ever, until joining the McCain campaign, EVER referred to herself as a "maverick"? I doubt it.

One of the favorite lines in the house last night was when she was talking about how there are a lot of countries that hate us for many things, including women's rights. Maybe she meant they'd like us a lot better if we were going along with what her notion of women's rights are.

Look, don't believe the hype. She was a trainwreck last night. I think Biden should and could have done a lot better, but he seemed to be unwilling to call her on the whole "I'm sorry I don't answer the questions the way you like, I want to talk straight to the American people" logic, which basically meant "I want to talk about what I think you want me to talk about." He would have been seen as a bully if he had, I think, but it would have been better than letting her have control of everything. And what does that say about what a McCain/Palin administration would be like? It's says to me that if anyone tries to engage them on anything, it had better be something they want to talk about, cuz if not? We can talk about something else. The American people had questions they wanted answered last night, and she refused to do it. That's what it was. "I REFUSE TO ANSWER THESE, YOUR QUESTIONS," and it came off like a big "fuck you." A big rehearsed "fuck you," which is what it was. She sounded rehearsed. I think she deserves a Tony.

I was surprised, however, that she didn't have John McCain up there with her, cutting her off to answer her questions first. I think it would have been really cute.

Will

Books and Driving

Okay, two quick topics here.

I've finished another book and completely dropped one. I finished Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk, which I thought was great (still like Rant the best though!). As expected, it revolves around a completely immoral anti-hero, Victor, who pays for his mother's health care by scamming money from people he scams into saving his life. Oh, and he's a walking pile of psychological trauma. Big fun.

The book I've dropped was Pulp by Charles Bukowski. I don't know why, I just fucking hated it. I could not get into it for the life of me. Maybe it's good. Maybe it's terrible. I'll never know.

Second, is driving. Seriously, not too difficult. The lines in the road? Stay between them. Follow them unless you need a different one, then try to cross into that one without killing anyone. If you're in a lane, and it stops, or goes in a direction other than what you want, don't pretend like you don't know it's not the same as the one next to it. Then don't get angry when people don't let you into their lane when you decide at the very last second to merge without warning. Trust me, if you don't do it like a dick, you'll be just fine.

L'Etranger or The Stranger or The Outsider... You choose!

So I just finished The Stranger by Albert Camus. It's been one of the more difficult ones for me to derive any meaning or take anything away, and I had to cheat in order to really appreciate any of the absurdist themes in it. I've never read anything like it so I'm not being too hard on myself, I would like to pick up some more existentialism lit to see how I fare. Some Kierkegaard or some Sartre perhaps. It's certainly a philosophy I'd like to learn more about.

Will

A Couple Cooks and a Lovely Vacation

Kate and I just got back from lovely (if rainy) Martha's Vineyard. It was very relaxing, and I miss it already, but I've decided I will be once again be joining up at my favorite restaurant. Next summer, me and Johnny are all about owning that island, or to be more precise, a small apartment somewhere in O.B. where we will write, draw, paint, drink and play video games. The excellence will know no bounds.
Meanwhile, on this trip, I finished The Bang Bang Club, which was brutal, heartbreaking and eye openning (and real). Needs to be read to be believed. We also picked up a few, one of which I finished within the few days we were there. Waiter Rant: Thanks for the Tip - Confessions of a Cynical Waiter is everything I've ever wanted to see become reality. Someone with a razor keen wit and eagle caliber observation just laying the fucking smackdown on the every prick who thinks it's their right, nay, responsibility to fuck with humble waitstaff. The dressing down is not limited to asshole guests, I found a few habits of my own that are (what should be obviously) undesirable. Very fun read.
The next one up is The Stranger (or L'Etranger) by Albert Camus. It's off to a very somber start, and I'm not sure where it's going, but I'm enjoying the anticipation. I can't put my finger on it, but something is just way off. We'll see.

Will

Book Five Completed!

This one was a doozy. I just now finished Rant by Chuck Palahniuk, and all I want to say is fucking wow. I won't go too much into detail, because everything is completely up front (if you happen to read it, and from the get go alarm bells go off and there is a little voice in the back of your head protesting conventional reason, take a moment to listen) and I didn't believe it til later in the book. It is easily the most fucked up thing I have ever read, and totally brilliant. Do. Not. Skip. This. Book. Ever. I seriouly could not put it down.

I'm going to have to read it again, to really take all of it in, but with that, I've knocked out five books for the rest of the year in just under two months. Luckily, while I was complaining about wanting to read everything I bought and never read, I still had a ton more in the collection and bought a bunch more anyway.

Next up: The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots of a Hidden War by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva.

Will

Obama - Celebrity?

Okay, they haven't played this card too much in the last couple weeks, but it still bugs the shit out of me. I wonder why they cut that shit out?

They went off on this tangent about Obama's "celebrity status." I couldn't figure out why this bugged the hell out of me. Why, why, why does that bother me so?


A president. His guns were the only law! "Cut and run in Grenada" was his only order!


Speaker at the last Republican National Convention ("FAW MAW YEAHS!!!"x30)


Recently failed presidential candidate.

Oh, I figured it out. It's okay to be a white celebrity and be involved in politics. It's okay to weild your ACTUAL celebrity status, as opposed to an assumed celebrity status, when you're touting nice tax cuts for rich people (some of which are ACTUAL celebrities), telling women they can't decide what happens inside their bodies, promoting a war, or telling people they don't deserve to be married (what's that, Thompson? I can't hear you shouting about the sanctity of marriage over your D I V O R C E). How fucking shameless are you?

Will

Book Number Four

Tonight, I finished my fourth book, Rumble Fish by S.E. Hinton. I enjoyed it, as I do so many things that deal with social alienation. The story revolves around Rusty-James, a young man who is desperate to follow in his brother, Motorcycle Boy's, footsteps, as he is regarded as somewhat of a local gang hero. Motorcycle Boy, while fairly self reliant, must constantly save Rusty James' ass, which suggests the footstep-following is not going so well. In the short span of this book, Rusty James manages to completely screw up everything, while barely appearing to care about it. I know that doesn't sound great, but I liked it.

Got a few possibilities next. I could always sit down and finish off Grapes of Wrath, but I also just got Rant by Chuck Palahniuk , They Called Her Tokyo Rose by Rex Gunn, and The Bang Bang Club by Greg Marinovich and Joao Silva, just to name a few.

Oh, and GObama.

Will