Quarterlife

Granted, I am beyond my quarterlife at this point, but am still in the throes of the crisis (probably more so than ever right now). So flipping through the channels last night I came across the new NBC show "quarterlife." It was written by the guy who did "My So-Called Life" and since I was a giant fan of that show, I thought I'd tune in for a few to see if he nailed it.

Oh. My. GOD. The show was horribly, unbelievably awful. It was just so phony and angst-y, I couldn't even bear it. And it reminded me nothing of my life at 25. "How I Met Your Mother" does a better job of that (with some laughs to boot. NOTE: If you have not watched HIMYM yet, do not pass go, do not collect $200, TUNE IN - Mondays, CBS, 8 PM).

But I couldn't even like the characters. I turned it off after about 10 minutes, hoping the whole time that it would get better, but it just got worse. It's set in LA, so has the typical players - magazine editor, actor, film students turned video producers, all over-talented, under-employed people. The only thing I could relate to was that they lived in a smallish apartment (thank you, at least, for being realistic about that). But the under-decor was almost too much, especially since it was an apartment shared by females. It looked more like a bachelor pad. And of course, everyone is in love with someone they shouldn't be. And the main character is a "writer" and video blogs about her life and her friends on some Beta site she invented called "quarterlife." Way to lamely bring technology into the mix.

So why did I just spend an entire post ranting about a show I never want to watch again? Because I hope to god that this does not become the "generational" show that MS-CL did - that show was realistic and dealt with some real issues. This show is not (can anything set in LA really be, come on?!), and just seems whiny. And if his show is going to make the rest of the population think that this is how people near my age act, I'm appalled.

Ralph Nader is...

a giant steaming pile of shit. Thanks, Ralph. With your help, we might luck out with a repeat of the 2000 election, when you stole the race from the Democrats.

All your consumer goodnik-ness has been lost, especially if you force another GOP in the big house. Quit while you're ahead.

Plastic Surgery Gone Bad

Please Donatella, stop with the surgery, Botox, etc. Otherwise you'll have to accept that you're an unemployed Muppet (from the looks of you these days).

Snow - close 'er down

I'm officially sick of winter in the suburbs. It makes me realize that I must live somewhere you can walk around where sidewalks are shoveled and commerce can be had easily when bad weather rolls in.

I've been housebound for two days this week, meaning I did not leave to work out, or do anything. It's just not worth the hassle to try and drive around, especially when the temps have been in the teens and 20s and the ice on top of the snow is treacherous. And our street is the last one in the city to get plowed. Luckily I work from home, so this has not affected my livelihood (although Yahoo! did the other day. To their partial credit, they fixed it, but that was scary).

I'm jonesin' for some Szechaun chicken for lunch today, and it just won't happen. The place is too far, and the only thing that can be delivered around here is pizza. And, sorry Domino's, I don't want it.

I do, however, enjoy the mob mentality at the grocery stores the day before a big storm. It's like Armageddon....the shelves are wiped clean. It feels like you wake up in Whoville on Christmas morning ("...The Grinch even took the last can of Who-Hash").

Also, I miss you, NYC, because you never let a little nor'easter get you down. And if you did, you slapped on your snow boots and walked to the park. There is definitely something to be said about underground transportation as well.

Please spring. Come soon.

The douchebagginess begins

Seriously, how unoriginally lame can one be?

And later, the story of AVD and how it became a tradition.....

On purpose?

So why is it that every picture of a campaigning candidate is Hilary with some unfortunate candid look on her face. Like this, from the New York Times today.

Where are the funny glimpses of Barak or McCain? Is it because she's a woman? Or is it because she's a polarizing woman? Or is it because her tough facade is hard to crack, and the media wants to do all they can to abuse her? I mean, what woman likes a bad picture of herself? (Britney Spears, you are hereby removed from this conversation).

Is the media ganging up on her? Hilary is a fairly photogenic person (let's try to forget about her first few years as First Lady, before the hair cut and makeover). So why do they pick on her with bad photos? Or is it only a bad photo because she's a woman?

I mean, there are plenty of stupid-looking pictures of George Bush with his little cowboy sneer or monkey lips. But it never makes me think of him differently politically. This photo of Hilary annoys me and it makes me dislike her just a bit.

Is this on purpose? Talk amongst yourselves...

The election plot thickens

So Romney's out. Huh. Now unless Huckabee blows ahead in some crazy blaze of scary insanity, I could actually tolerate having McCain in office. I won't vote for him, and am still pretty turned off by his move to the evil bedsheets of our current president, after said President royally screwed him over in the 2000 GOP nom, but IF he happened to be elected, it definitely would not be the worst Republican that could be in the White House. He is moderate on many issues, and has done some good things in his tenure in the Senate. He also fought in Vietnam and was imprisoned and tortured as a result, and I'm all for anyone with an actual service background (at least in the GOP), who didn't try to get out of actual fighting with the help of his powerful father.

However, I will vote democratically, but am very down the middle as to which candidate I prefer at the moment. Since I'm no longer living in NY and was only a registered party member there, my vote won't count in the primary this year, which is fine. I'm actually so firmly against the primary/electoral college/delegate process, maybe I should register as an independent from now on anyway.

So, I've kind of passed my civic buck at the moment, not voting in a primary. But whichever Dem is on the ballot in November gets my tick.

I'm just saying, in a worst-case scenario for me, as a democratic voter, McCain is not the scariest option (thank goodness Rudy is out. Yikes.).

I'm just waiting for Bloomberg for Prez. Then we'll talk.

The Dark Knight

Batman returns, and
I
Can't
WAIT...

Dark Knight Trailer

Like mother, like daughter

Does anyone else agree with me in that the new Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey vehicle, Fool's Gold, look surprisingly like a less-good version of the classic Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell vehicle Overboard. However, the fact that they're keeping it in the family I can appreciate.

Premise: Rich blonde woman attempts to screw over dull poor guy, who then proceeds to screw rich lady both literally and figuratively. However, in Overboard, we have a dash of amnesia suffered by Goldie, so she doesn't actually remember screwing over dull guy, but he doesn't soon forget. Hijinx ensue at her expense, but then the poor schlub falls in love with her. And...scene.

It looks like Fool's Gold is a poor man's imitation, since I'll take Goldie Hawn with plates glued to her hands while helping design a miniature golf course any day of the week (you must see it to believe it). Also, I get sucked into watching it every magical time it's on TNT or TBS.