I've always loved the children's book, Millions of Cats. Who knew there is a woman living the life? And she's not a crazy cat lady. She just runs the best animal shelter ever.
Cat House on Kings
And One Baby Panda
This zoo in Japan is not the best shelter, but it is a protected place for the birth of a baby panda - don't miss the first second or two!
Drinking without being thirsty and making love at any time, Madame, are the only things that distinguish us from other animals. - Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, The Marriage of Figaro, 1784, translated
Believe it or not, I rarely watch TV unless there are new LOST episodes involved or I am in the mood for Stewart & Colbert. But I've just spent two weeks watching the Olympics and now the the Democratic national convention. Watching the convention is fascinating, especially if you cut out the nitwit pundits and take it in straight for yourself on C-Span.
I have a few friends back home in Pennsylvania who supported Hillary Clinton and now say that they are wavering between Obama and McCain. So watch and learn for yourself. I'll just share some highlights here for those of us who know that "women's issues" matter for all of us, including men.
A conversation with NOW past-president Eleanor Smeal
McCain's own words
A conversation with current NOW president Kim Gandy
A few more words from McCain
How does Hillary Clinton feel about McCain's attempt to use her to elect himself?
So think for yourself, but don't think that a vote for McCain is somehow a vote for Hillary Clinton or for women. Were you watching? No way. No how. No McCain. Boom shaka laka laka boom. Burn baby burn. Hilary had a nice soundtrack. Missed it? You can watch the whole speech on C-SPAN.
It's about time I give the Beijing Summer games some deep thought. I've been watching daily and I have a lot of questions.
1. Why do I love China? 2. Why does the fuss about Michael Phelps bug me so much? 3. Why do the beach volleyball women wear sports bra bikinis but the beach volleyball men, the indoor volleyball men and indoor women wear shorts and tank tops? 4. Are all medalists really from the U.S., Europe and China? Or is that an accident of my viewing times? Or a product of biased media coverage? Or will the second week of events open up a wider international competition?
Let's start with the question I can answer. Why does the fuss about Michael Phelps bug me so much?
I like Michael Phelps. I enjoy a personal story about the life of an Olympic athlete. It builds a human connection to the rest of us couch potatoes. Sure, Michael eats 5 breakfasts for breakfast. But he has a mom and two sisters and they all look like my kind of people. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and allow their emotions to play all over their faces. Mom's proud of him and he's proud of her. He loves that as a single mom she went to graduate school. Her late nights working as a school principal were a positive influence on the kids, inspiring them to work hard at something they care about. I like all of that.
Now here's what bugs me. Phelps is the greatest swimmer ever so let's just stop there and have a big party. Do we really need to pretend that the number of golds makes Phelps the greatest Olympian ever? What's harder, 8 golds for swimming 8 ways or one all around gold that requires excellence in different gymnastic events? I don't know. What other sport has 8 very similar events? I don't know. But I'm starting a new campaign. I want to get the world on board for track sprints 8 ways. I don't actually know much about track either, so I suggest that the 8 events should be sprints forward, backward, waving your arms over your head, skipping, hopping in a potato sack, holding an egg on a spoon in your mouth, balancing a water balloon on your head, and finally building up to that last gold medal for the best silly walk. It's okay if one of these is a relay.
Ahh, July means the LOST producers' panel at Comic Con. In their style, Cuse and Lindelof give us what some might call mild spoilers but I call teasers and clues. Now your average movie review is full of serious spoilers. Why don't critics give spoiler warnings on their movie reviews? Anyway, here's balm for those midsummer LOST cravings. And maybe a summer ARG to play.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
The Dharma Video
George Bush is President. Time is the essence. Ready to sign up? Dharma wants you.
________________________________________________________________ Here's my catch of highlights and clues.
Part 1: Dharma is reforming and recruiting. Get ready for your ARST - Aptitude, Recruitability and Suitability Test.
Part 2: The new Dharma recruits need secret training. Nope, the island did not move during the earlier hatch implosion. We have not seen the last of Jin or Locke, but then death is a relative thing. Yep, there will be 2 more seasons, starting in February 2009 and February 2010.
Part 3: We will see Rousseau's story, but don't expect the old flashbacks and flashforwards. A new approach is coming. Vincent the dog is fine. A woman is at Comic Con and she asks a question! Oh yeah, and the special guest appears.
Part 4: Yes, Kate will see Sawyer again. (But then Desmond can time travel and see people in the past again. And Hurley has seen Charlie again. And Jack has seen his father again.) Faraday is okay, but fate may not be so kind to the non-line-speakers in the zodiac boat. Keep an eye on Faraday's little black notebook. Gotta love Stewart!
Part 5: Richard Alpert is quite old. We will see him barefoot in the very near future. Remember that the man in the coffin was named Jeremy Bentham, who invented the panopticon? Are the people on the island being watched and if so, do they know who is watching them? What the heck happened back there in the new recruit training?
Apparently people really like to make lists of stereotypes about our own types. They are pretty funny and it is good to laugh at yourself, yes? Take your pick:
So it's over now. The book is out. What did it all mean? Back in February NPR asked the big daddy of them all. (White people like NPR.) Surely, someone is writing a dissertation on all this.
I'm the type of person who thinks a life focused on a career is a selfish life wasted. When someone leaves the room because it's time to go to work, I call out, "don't work too hard." That said, I love my work. And I love doing it a little better. Lately, I'm trying out these ideas.
Recently I was in one of those conversations comparing the virtues of reading the news online versus reading the print edition of your local paper. To each her own of course, but here's my current morning paper.
First, I like to wake up with some nice and easy stuff. Cute Overload Horoscopes It's nice to know that there's never a really bad day for a Taurus.
Then, some different perspectives on the news. The Root The BBC Small Town Papers My hometown paper. It's great to be from a town whose letters to the editor include, "Remember to use your turn signals" next to "Let's Disarm the Nuclear Arsenal."
That makes me wonder what Mav and Steph were doing last night. 3191
I spend an hour or two waking up, but now it's gotta be time to go to work. Living in DC, I take the Metro everywhere and hardly ever turn on a radio. This makes me miss NPR. But if it's a weekend morning with time to loiter, it's time to pick a show. Any show. NPR
You may be thinking, "what no food section?" Ah, that's another post. See Yum. Western Spaghetti and food porn.
