Filed by Lance at 1:48 pm under General, The Arts
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New Year’s has always been a time to look back and think to myself, “So… what have I done with my life this year?”

It’s easy to get discouraged that we’re all still in the trenches, working every week so we can pursue a separate career, but in my reading this week for The Meaning of Anthology, I ran across this, and was reminded that others have been here, and conquered:

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Filed by Bil at 3:31 pm under Damn Hippies, The Arts
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As I walked into the super-cheap Chinese/Korean food restaurant across the street from my office today, I heard the sound of a human voice singing loudly, which is a very unusual thing to hear in that particular restaurant. It seemed to fill the entire dining area, and there were four humans in there who might have been the one singing, but I didn’t know who.

When I listened more closely to the words being sung, I figured out that it was the homeless guy by the free water cooler. The words were along the lines of “This shit ain’t right, it’s broken, bitch, there ain’t no water in here…” and it was all in kind of the same four-note melody.

I ordered the lunch special, and the nice lady behind the counter who knows me (whom I will refer to only as “Nice Lady,” because I don’t actually know her name) confirmed that I was indeed getting the same thing I always get there, the lunch special with white rice. It went like this:

Nice Lady: Hello!
Bil: Hi there.
Nice Lady: Lunch special today?
Bil: Yes, please! Sesame chicken.
Nice Lady: White rice?
Musical bum: Whiiiite riiiice…
Bil: Yes. White rice, please.

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Filed by Lance at 12:47 pm under Activism, Fightin' Words, GOP, Gay Agenda, General, Politics, Religion, Social Issues
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As a sure sign that we’ve elected the right man for the job, Mr. President-Elect is in hot water with some of his most ardent supporters for doing exactly what we elected him to do… it’s just that he’s not only going to do it with his most ardent supporters.

The lineup for Obama’s inauguration ceremony was announced yesterday, which includes Rick Warren delivering the Invocation. Rick Warren is the pastor of Saddleback [mega-]Church in Lake Forest, California and author of The Purpose Driven Life, which is one of my Mom’s favorites, and which I never finished reading. Warren has been credited with broadening Evangelical’s focus to social issues that aren’t gay marriage and abortion, including AIDS and poverty, which can be like getting a rabid bulldog to recite Milton.

It’s no secret that Warren supported Proposition 8, and is opposed to abortion and stem-cell research, and when the Inauguration committee released the news Warren will pray at No. 44’s Oath of Office, The Human Rights Campaign sent this letter to Mr. President-Elect:
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Filed by Bil at 10:48 pm under General, Social Issues
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This is my favorite awkward news since I read about Blagojevich’s arrest.

Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied

Yes. If you read that, you read that right. This guy in New Jersey who named his child Adolph Hitler Campbell thinks that people need to not be so stuck up about the kid’s name. To quote Mr. Campbell:

“There’s a new president and he says it’s time for a change; well, then it’s time for a change,” the 35-year-old continued. “They need to accept a name. A name’s a name. The kid isn’t going to grow up and do what (Hitler) did.”

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Filed by Bil at 9:48 pm under Environmentality, Fightin' Words, Politics, Social Issues
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All righty then. The bailout for the automakers didn’t go through. Like everyone else, I’ve got some thoughts and opinions. For the benefit of the readers, I’ll try to breeze right through them and get to something that hasn’t been discussed ad nauseam.

The rejection of the Auto bailout is good because:
- fewer tax dollars are going to help out irresponsible money-giants.
- this will (hopefully) force Detroit to rethink current business standards, increase the quality of their vehicles and maybe, just maybe, focus on environmentally-friendly products.

It is bad because:
- the country is going to see even more jobs lost. Like, a lot more jobs. There would have been mass layoffs anyway, but they might have saved a few.
- it sends a message that Manhattan trumps the Midwest in importance to Congress, and that’s not fair. Where were the tough standards for the Wall Street tycoons who also flew into Washington in private jets?

I am not necessarily a conservative, but I do insist that my tax dollars are wisely spent.
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Filed by Bil at 10:22 am under Politics, The Media
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It’s only Tuesday, and look what’s happened:

- Tribune Company files for bankruptcy protection.
- IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich arrested on federal corruption charges.

If you are awake in Chicago, neither one of these is particularly surprising. Something else that’s not surprising: it was a lot easier to find a story about the Tribune Company bankruptcy filing on the Boston Globe’s website than on the Chicago Tribune’s. Hmm…

I don’t really have anything especially interesting to say at this point in time, but I will certainly be following both these stories as they develop. Blagojevich’s arrest will probably be good for the state in many ways, but the immediate and long-term effects are uncertain. I’m not sure who will replace him as governor, and I have a feeling this will be a hot topic in the next gubernatorial election. (Luckily, the Green Party is automatically on the ballot, so resources can be better used toward actual campaigning. Seriously, people, vote Green in local elections. Seriously.)

As for the Tribune filing Chapter 11…well, I do love the Cubs and I have no idea what this means for old Wrigley Field. My own day job company is partly owned by the Tribune, but we have been assured by our CEO that our company is actually a source of income for the Tribune, not a drain, so there won’t be any effects on our operations. Still, though, you can never be certain.

More to come as these unfold.

Filed by Bil at 3:38 pm under Fightin' Words, Pop Culture
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This is Diddy’s recent video blog. It’s kind of awesome. It’s basically a shameless plea to let him play James Bond, cleverly disguised as a shameless promotion for his new smell-water line. You don’t actually have to watch it. All you need to know is that he struts around in high-priced clothing (a suit, a tuxedo, a velvet-robe/giant-gold-cross-on-a-chain ensemble, etc.) while highly-paid models pretend to be interested in him.

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Filed by Bil at 1:25 am under Pop Culture, The Media
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According to Yahoo! the ten most searched items of 2008 are as follows:

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Barack Obama
4. Miley Cyrus
5. RuneScape
6. Jessica Alba
7. Naruto
8. Lindsay Lohan
9. Angelina Jolie
10. American Idol

In case you don’t know what any of these are, I’ve linked to their respective Wikipedia articles. (I had to look up RuneScape.)
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