It's a good thing I don't gamble

…because I totally didn’t see this happening. I thought for sure Guliani was gonna ride the 9/11 wave (and his “liberal” stances on the gays and abortion) into the White House. I don’t know if I’m that happy about being wrong because I think McCain (and his scary, scary teeth) and Romney might be a wee bit more frightening. I think this is the point in the race when I might start paying attention. A little.

And the best hair in politics is also dropping out; it was cute of him to hang around as long as he did.

The United States better be ready for a woman or a black dude as president. Enough with the white guys running things into the ground. Hate Hillary all you want, but I think she’s a tough chick who commands more respect than some think. I refuse to be one of those people who criticizes her for staying with her cheating husband for political reasons (women have stayed with worse husbands for worse reasons). I refuse to act as though her ambition and desire for power are curses because she wears skirts. An ambitious and powermad man has had this country in a losing war for almost 6 years. I refuse to berate her for getting emotional because I really don’t want some automaton running things.

Obama may well provide a since of hope and change, but there is still a part of me that thinks he has bought into his own hype. The air around his campaign is almost like he is the latest trend that everyone is into. The string of celebrity endorsements may end up hurting his more than they help. Some of us kinda hate Oprah and the rest don’t give rat’s buttcrack whom Toni Morrison is endorsing. His lack of experience makes me nervous and worried for him (although, I’m not one of those black people who are sure he will be assassinated if elected…not that I would put it past some of the crazies in this nation) because Hillary has enduring years of this political crap. She’s berated for not letting it get to her (except that ONE TIME she let her emotions show which I’ve already covered), but she kinda just lets it roll off her back. Girlfriend is tough. I wonder if Obama is really prepared for the intense scrutiny he will be under.

Hey, Medium. Exactly who do you think you’re fooling? Continuity is a good friend of mine, and she said you were all out of whack in last night’s episode. As you apparently do not recall, last season included a particularly good episode in which a young Allison dreamed about her older self running into a high school friend who would turn out to be a serial rapist and murderer (Creepy Pryz). ‘Member that? I do! In that episode Allison is a junior in high school and although the year is never stated, the musical cues (“Hungry Like the Wolf”; “Sister Christian”) used in that episode solidly placed the year around about 1983 (although your set designer got screwy and slapped a Guns ‘n Roses poster up with the fuchsia haired DD and mulleted Bono pics). And that Allison was a fairly shy, reserved girl (your costuming peeps didn’t do much in the way of 80-fying anybody) scraping by with her annoying hard-up single mom.

You can imagine my confusion when Ariel starts dreaming about her mom as a high school freshman in 1987. That's not even in line with the age you've indicated adult Allison is (about 37). Or was the class of 1987 sign indicating her graduation year? Still wrong. That would have put it around 1984 and that makes the Crowded House wrong wrong wrong (although the Seven and the Ragged Tiger poster would fit), so make up your damn minds.

This is the third young Allison we’ve seen (the above mentioned and a 1st season college Allison) and this was the least consistent one yet. This Allison was nothing like her previous incarnations. She looked more like some skanky reject from a Def Leppard video than the self-conscious quiet jumper-wearer and reluctant partier we’d seen before. And what was that mention of “parents” plural? I thought we’d made it plain that Allison’s dad was not a part of the picture. Ugh! Also, so far it seems you really didn’t want to be Allison’s friend back in the day because you were doomed to have something horrible happen to you. Yeesh!

The episode itself was a bit plodding at first, but I have yet to totally dislike an episode which features Ariel discovering her powers. Petulant whiny teen she may be, but I love that kid. Joe really needs to get a job and Devalos really needs to come on back to us now. Overall, it was better than last week’s but still not on par with the first two seasons.

Don't bring me down

So I watched some of Celebrity Rehab the other night. It was the premiere so it mostly involved introducing the participants and explaining why they're there. The celebs are your typical VH1 z-listers, many of whom you've seen on other VH1 shows (Chynna--will I get sued by the WWE for calling her that?--, Bridgit Nielsen, that one dude from Taxi). But then there are some really cracked out stars like the guy from Crazy Town. Who? EXACTLY!!! Also along for the ride is that girl from Family Matters who's BFFs with Mary Jane. I didn't know anyone went to rehab for pot. Methinks she's more addicted to TV exposure (or a lack of it) than to the giggleweed, but they do say it's a gateway drug. Also along is that other crazy, fat Baldwin and pornstar Mary Carey who is so desperate for a dude that she can't resist the guy from Crazy Town. That...is sad. Speaking of porn, there was some nurse who greeted our celebs when they arrived. She was this young blond hottie wearing this menswear shirt with a loose tie with her hair up in a messy ponytail and her glasses sitting on the tip of her nose. I kept expecting her to pull the pin from her hair and jump on Jeff Conaway's lap. (Not that he would have noticed.) Instead she spent much of her time cockblocking Mary Carey. That, my friends, is a thankless job.

In our first episode, the most dramatic thing to happen was Jeff Conaway had some kind of nervous breakdown and had to be whisked away by ambulance. It was actually really freaking sad. I watch VH1 to laugh at washed-up celebrities (and don't doubt that there were many ads for Rock of Love 2 and Scott Baio is 46 & Pregnant--and still really full of himself for a guy who played Chachi--throughout the program), not to feel bad for them. Will that stop me from tuning in next week? Hells no.

I think I might continue my PSH moviethon by seeing Charlie Wilson's War today. I've heard it's good. Problem is that in addition to the PSH, I have to endure the TH and the JR. I'm not so sure that's worth it. I suppose I should save my dough for Rebecca's bday celebration tomorrow. We are going for sushi, then over to Grumpy's NE for drunken debauchery. Why she chose the Grumps on the other side of town is beyond me. I can't really afford sushi and beer and cab fare, so I think one of those things is gonna be cut out. Most likely, that will be the sushi. That bums me out because sushi sounds mighty tasty. At least I still have a couple of drink tickets so that save me a dollar or 4.

Direct Quotes

"I am the anti-racist because I am the only candidate -- Republican or Democrat -- who would protect the minority against these vicious drug laws." - Ron Paul

Um, does he not realize that his anti-racist statement is itself kinda racist? I mean, "the minority"? Who is that? I want to meet him or her? And yeah, drug laws do affect those in non-white and poor communities more, but that really isn't the MAJOR concern of most of those communities. I'm thinking schools, employment, housing, crime (drugs included) would take some precedence. I could be wrong since I'm not the minority.

And I really kind of hate it when people claim that they are "incapable" of being racist. Frankly, I think that term is overused. Most times the more accurate term might be "bigot." Anybody can be a bigot. In this case, the racist label applies. The comments about picking up welfare checks and carjacking whitey for sport sound like the rants of some backwards Klan wizard circa 1950.

Either he said these things which makes him a racist or he allowed someone else to use his name to promote these kinds of views which makes him a moron. Either way, I don't think we want him in the White House.

Dude, I haven't posted in 2008 yet.

Happy New Year, nobody!

I continued my PSH roll by seeing The Savages Sunday afternoon. It's a good movie, and I'm not saying that just because of my crush on the portly actor. For some reason the ads and some of the critics are treating it as a comedy which...no, it really isn't. I mean, it has some funny moments, but most comedies don't have too many moments which quiet the entire theatre for over a minute (and *shocker* I--people hater extraordinaire--saw this movie in a fairly full theatre) because there is really nothing to say. In a way, the flick is kinda like Happiness (yet another PSH vehicle) which has comic moments, but is soooooooo not a comedy.

Once again, it is chockful of NY actors that I recognized from their L&O or HBO appearances. I already mentioned PSH was on L&O, but so was Laura Linney. And Philip Bosco has been on all three incarnations (I like to pretend Trial by Jury just didn't happen). In addition, the guy who plays Partlow on The Wire shows up here as a nurse making me a bit afraid for the old guy for a bit, but here, he's a totally nice guy. (And speaking of which, I can't begin to tell you how sad I am to not have HBO right now. Thank the gods for TWoP---and hopefully, a quick release to DVD.)

Last night I watched Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon. It's actually an interesting take on the horror movie. A documentary film crew follows a guy who wants to be the next Jason or Freddy or Michael. He shows them all the things that need to happen in order to fulfill his classic serial killer destiny including selecting his 'survivor girl' and her friends and describing all the was he'll pick them off. It a clever way to poke fun at the cliches of horror movies. Of course, there's a bit of a twist at the end, but still it's pretty good. Worth a view. Better than fucking Hatchet which...ugh! I'm sorry. I don't care how many awards it got, that movie sucked and I couldn't stop thinking of Rook from The Killer Shrews when the black kid (better known as Kenny from The Cosby Show) was hiding in the tree. Not scary enough to be horror (lots of blood doesn't mean anything) and not funny enough to be comedy (and well, I hate that shit anyway).

Dude, that's a lot of movies I've watched seen in the last month.