My thoughts on A Fortunate Age. This is mostly for snarkout_rat but if you read it, please feel free to comment.

( Long and rambly )

Also, I watched Glee last night, which I highly recommend (it'll be on Hulu all summer, till the show starts for real in the fall), especially if you were involved in any sort of geeky performing group when you were a teenager. There were some cringeingly cliched moments, but it was all eclipsed by the pure joy of the glee kids when they were singing. Remember that feeling?

If nothing else, watch it for Jane Lynch's awesome, dark-humor-filled role and the cheesy-yet-awesome rendition of "Don't Stop Believing" at the end.

ETA: I also finally saw Children of Men and can't quite get it off my mind. What a beautiful and really haunting film. That second-to-last scene, where they're leaving the apartment building just floored me.

Hey NYC peeps - I will be in town Saturday-Wednesday. I was thinking about brunch Sunday afternoon - who's in? Last time was so much fun!

Hopefully all the Americans on my flist are smarter than me and you have already done your taxes. But if you haven't, don't get seduced by TaxACT and their free filing. Last night I did my return with them and almost had a heart attack - they estimated that I owed $3K in state taxes. I said "eff that. If I have to pay $3K in taxes, I guess I will just have to leave the country."

Well, this morning, I decided to give Turbotax a whirl, since they've always delivered me a nice refund. Sure enough, according to Turbotax, I will actually be *getting* $3K in refunds. w00t. And man, do I ever need that money. I think the problem was that TaxACT just couldn't really deal with my multiple residences. But really, that's a pretty basic thing.

Like my dad always says: you get what you pay for. Pay $20 for a real tax service if you have anything more complicated than a lone W2.

This has been going around the blogosphere. Things I feel no obligation to do before I die:

1. Run a marathon
2. Become a morning person
3. Buy a house
4. Live in the suburbs
5. Highlight my hair
6. Train myself to put my clothes away every night
7. Give a shit about internet dating
8. Watch The Wire
9. Appreciate Sonic Youth or experimental jazz (sorry, ex-boyfriends)
10. Dress my age

Well, Jezebel's finally gone and done it. Looks like they won't be getting my page clicks anymore. These links all contain sexual assault triggers, FYI.

Here's the AskMetafilter post that started it all.

Then Jezebel got involved in a sort of skeevy way.

People nicely asked Jezebel to show some respect to the woman involved, Megan and Jezebel said "fuck you, nyah."

Stay classy, ladies!

Do you believe that a google search for "Becky Sharpie" yields nothing?

A perfect, punny blend of Victorian lit and modern artsy/hipster aesthetic going unused. What a waste.

So it seems like Thursday is bad for a lot of folk, but: how about Saturday lunch/brunch? Maybe somewhere in Williamsburg? LMK.

So, I know some of my other flisters watch Battlestar. If you don't, or if you're not caught up on the current season, then move along, nothing to see here. Actually, if you just don't watch it at all, you totally should.

But if you are watching it...( Really? 8 more episodes of this hell? )

This is for those of you who live/have lived in Boston: do you have a gyno you would recommend? It's about that time.

So... guess who got to see THE ARCADE FIRE, OUR NEW PREZ AND VICE PREZ, AND JAY Z at the Obama staff alumni party last night?

That's right, me!


This week has been a crazy rollercoaster - much like the campaign itself. I will post more later, promise.

I got the Arcade Fire! No Radiohead for me!

http://www.helloquizzy.com/results/the-indie-band-for-you-test/?fromCGI=1&var_popularity=105&var_maturity=52&var_individuality=46&var_intensity=71

And yes, I took an iphone pic of my ballot like a big dork. But it's so exciting to vote for someone for president that I actually LIKE and RESPECT.

To all the friends that keep calling/IMing me and worrying that we're not gonna make it:

I have a simple prescription for your worries: VOLUNTEER. Blogging won't help, commenting on other people's blogs will help even less, joking about Palin is fun but won't help either. Get your ass into an Obama/Dem office and knock on some freaking doors or join a phonebank.

If you've never done this before, you will probably be shocked at how much it helps. Even if you only talk to three people all night and one of them hangs up on you/shuts the door in your face, you will still feel better. About yourself and about the country. Yes, that's cheesy, but doesn't the cheesy stuff often feel really nice? At the end of the night, sign up for another shift. When you come back for your second shift, bring something to eat or drink for the poor organizers and interns. They'll love you for it.

If you don't live in a swing state, well, there's probably one near you. In New York? Take the train to Philly this weekend for the day. Boston? I'm sure the campaign is running busses to New Hampshire. On top of that, there are all the great Democratic challengers hoping to pick up seats in Congress. Barack will need them there in Washington.

I know a lot of people on my flist are not used to working on political campaigns. That's ok, you don't have to become a "political campaign" person. I won't ask you to wave any miniature American flags, or say nice things about the Democratic Party, or otherwise change who you are. One of the things I've always really loved about the Obama campaign is the inclusive nature. This is a campaign that wants people to "come as they are."

But we have two weeks, people. It's now or never. If you wanbt to make sure that we have any hope at all of weathering the tough coming years, then give a few hours to the campaign. You won't regret it.

Think of it this way. When Obama wins, if you volunteered, you will be able to tell your kids and grandkids, "I helped President Obama get elected." Cause you know this is fucking historic. On the other hand, do you want to wake up on November 5th with Sarah fucking Palin as our Vice President, and know you did nothing to keep it from happening? *



*No, I'm not above guilt-trips and scare tactics. :) But Sarah Palin as VP? What's scarier?

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are a Katharine!

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

I just couldn't resist:

This week I bought a crockpot! This weekend I want to make something wholesome and yummy in it that I can eat throughout the week. No wheat, but preferably with meat, because I find cooking meat otherwise a pain.

What should I make?

You may have heard that the McCain campaign has withdrawn their staff and ad dollars from Michigan. This is really, really bad news (for them) for a few reasons:

1. At one time, Michigan represented their best hope to take a Kerry state. That's pretty much gone now.

2. Even worse, it puts them at a structural disadvantage. McCain's only hope now, really, is to somehow strike it lucky and find a game-changer, then ride the momentum to November 4th. But the thing about momentum, is that you need the infrastructure in place to take advantage of it. This is one of the reasons the Dems won so big in 06 - Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy meant they had staff and resources on the ground to take advantage of late-breaking momentum in their favor. McCain won't have that in Michigan.

3. Word is, their Michigan staff is going to Virginia. This is actually pretty smart, as Virginia has become a key battleground state this year. But this puts them squarely on the defensive. The electoral map already favors Obama this year - they need to be on the offensive somewhere.

It's definitely not over. But it feels pretty good to be an Obama supporter right now.

One halfway-decent thing about the economy collapsing around us: my student loans will almost definitely end up being worth less than or about the same as they were when I took them out.  How glad am I that I consolidated?