Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

In which Datsa leaps up (it being Leap Day) to help Robin with his work...



It could have been worse, he could have jumped onto the lightbox or drawing board.

For Robin's Fans...

...another Pulse interview with Jamal Igle has just been posted, wherein he says very nice things about Robin. Oh, and while I'm in comics mode, Bully reminds us that today is Superman's birthday. Update: Might as well stick this into an all-comics post: My ComicMix colleague Michael Davis' column today has grown legs, as the announcement of his tentative plans to "walk the floor" with Barack Obama at the San Diego Comic Con has been picked up everywhere from Newsarama to Free Republic to Digg. Equally exciting, at least from where I sit, is his personal offer to secure a hotel room for me should I decide to attend the con. I'm a-flutter. I can't make any plans until I know my employment situation, but it certainly has me considering the situation...

Silly Site o' the Day

Comrades! Via Wil Wheaton, please to give your attention to The People's Mario! Спасибо, and happy Leap Day! (Robin, will you marry me?)

Disqualified?

Hang on, so McCain wasn't even born in this country? Doesn't that automatically disqualify him from becoming President? If so, why was he allowed to run in 2000 and again this year? Wow, talk about a free pass!

Update: Senator Claire McCaskill (Democrat from MO) introduced legislation yesterday that would define a "natural-born citizen" (the problematic phrase in the Constitution) to include anyone born to any U.S. citizen while serving in the active or reserve components of the U.S. armed forces. Barack Obama's campaign announced yesterday afternoon that he'd cosponsor the bill.

Speaking of "Just So Wrong"...

Thank you, Daily Mail, for our daily dose of weird:



Honestly, on balance sometimes I just give up.

Silly Site o' the Day

Brr! Glad I didn't set up any interviews for today, it's a good one to stay inside! Today's site is one Leah (originator of the Link o' Silliness concept) would have loved. Via Arthur, here are the 40 most inappropriate children's book covers (actually titles). Wow, who new Cracked was still around?

Long-Promised Blogaround

Dinner's done and I'm all caught up with blog reading, so I can finally get to my blogaround. I've just deleted an entire draft post blowing off steam about a bad experience I had with an agency this morning, in favor of this truncated version: It seemed the recruiter hadn't mentioned on Monday during the "come see us at 11 then we'll send you to see them right away about noon" call that, surprise!, the potential employer wanted someone bilingual (which I'm really not any more), or that they were too busy to schedule anything today, or that hey, I wasn't the only fish in the sea so tough luck! At this point they didn't need to spell it out for me. There was no interview. I suspect the job itself may not have existed. Not only had I utterly wasted my time, but I was left with two and a half hours to kill in chilly Manhattan before my next interview, this one with an actual potential employer that I'd set up directly. (Fortunately, those people were terrific; they graciously accommodated me and moved me up to noontime so I wound up getting all my business done and I was home again by 2. It sounds like a good fit as well; I hope I get a call-back.)

You cannot go through a career expecting coworkers, vendors, customers, etc. to be incompetent and untruthful. It just doesn't work. You must assume honesty and competence on the part of others, or you'll go nuts. Of course, the downside to this is that sometimes you're bound to get rooked. Today's escapade has only further soured me on the supposed value of employment agencies, which I keep trying to give the benefit of the doubt; after all, they're workers too. If you're a recruiter who happens to be reading this post because you've seen my resume, Googled my name and found this blog, I'd love to hear from you, but please don't call unless you have an actual prospect in Manhattan and are willing to set up a real interview with them. If anyone is curious as to the name of the agency that deceived me today, please email me and I'd be happy to oblige. They're the kind of place that gives good agencies a very bad name.

Onward:

• The Law of Threes, indeed: Noted intellectual snob, paleoconservative, marijuana legalization supporter and charter member of the American Boys' Club for the Defence of Errol Flynn (against statutory rape charges) William F. Buckley is dead. All that's left of him now is a passable imitation by Robin Williams and hundreds of YouTube uploads of him attacking Gore Vidal. It rather disturbs me how many liberal bloggers are toasting him, but I think that speaks to their obsession with wonkery (Buckley was certainly an erudite wonk) in this age of the breakdown of any sort of logical political discourse. I have to say I'm with Patrick on this one -- "A poisonous, wicked man. Good riddance." Also see Tristero at Digby's place and Richard at American Leftist. Moving on to some people worth remembering more: Jennifer Baumgardner eulogizes Barbara Seaman on HuffPo. I remember reading Seaman's work in my college women's studies classes. Drummer Buddy Miles just passed away. And a blog commenter named Darryl Pearce died suddenly; lots of bloggers are singing his praises, and he seemed like a great guy, but apparently he mainly commented on the A-list blogs so I never ran into him (I don't have time to peruse most blogs' comment sections).

• The Golden Clogs were handed out as promised last weekend. Co-creator Tony Bourdain follows up with these two posts, both pretty amusing. I loved how disturbed he seems: "I tell you, it shakes you to the core when people you’ve been insulting for years--at every opportunity--are decent to you." I had my chance to comment on this post of his about Romania, because a bit of the episode reminded me of when my family visited in 1973 and bits of it moved me to tears remembering my Dad.

• Speaking of visiting foreign countries, I really don't get what's wrong with being polite and paying tribute to your host by wearing some of their ceremonial clothing when you visit them. It's no different than taking your shoes off when visiting a Japanese home. And every politician does it. For proof, see these photos on the blogs of Cliff Meth, Capt. Fogg, Maru, and Maru again. Oh, and Melissa presents a pictorial called Georgie Goes to Africa, featuring wacky sashes.

• Okay, I'm officially beyond sick of how the mainstream media are covering the Democratic Presidential campaign. MSNBC's tagline for last night's debate said it all with the ultimate in false equivalency: "His words. Her voice." Yes, the stirring eloquence of Obama's every utterance, versus That Voice. Like fingernails on a blackboard. That harpy. That Bitch. How dare she open her mouth! Like vastleft sarcastically notes, "Ungracious loser Hillary Clinton has yet to respond to calls for a concession speech." Not only is Olbermann spending way too much time on this campaign to the detriment of any news of actual importance in the world, but he's firmly entrenched in the boys' club who think Obama can do no wrong but every eyeblink of Clinton's must be scrutinized to within an inch of its life. Oh sure, there was mention tonight, when I wasn't flipping to other channels in disgust, that Clinton criticized the media during the debate, but absolutely no self-examination followed. It was all like "She says we're picking on her -- the bitch!" Oh, and What Digby Said. For that matter, What Melissa Said as well. Especially "Telling women that they should merely abstain from reading and/or participating in [online public spaces that insult women] is akin to telling women their choices are to tolerate sexual harassment in order to participate in it, or segregate themselves and necessarily limit their opportunities in the public sphere. In addition to unfairly punishing women, that's also a tacit endorsement of openly expressed misogyny." I really don't like not being able to watch a news show on which I'd previously counted for somewhat accurate information because their gender bias is so obvious. It's not my fault they're being sexist assholes. I just want the news!

• Thanks to both Bryan and Archcrone for giving Pen-Elayne an "E" blog award. Technically I'm supposed to pay this forward by listing ten "Excellent" blogs on my blogroll, but I think almost all the blogs on my blogroll are excellent, or they wouldn't be there. So I'll just cheat and refer you to my left-hand sidebar. :)

• Although I gotta say Scott's old-time serial reviews always make me laugh, particularly the latest Batman one, introduced by Lorne Greene and his Alpo.

• Lots of bloggers are running Ricky Gervais' story of how he became an atheist, first linked to from PZ Myers' blog. And Keith has a nice follow-up talking about what he believes in now instead of religion. The other big thing everyone's discussing is the Pew Forum poll about the US religious landscape. Except for Jessa, who pleads, and forgive me for publishing her post in its entirety but I found it amusing, "Can we have an end to the religious memoir now, please? We get it. You once believed in god and now you don't. Or you were once a nonbeliever and now you go to church. Congratulations. You're just like most people in the world, you unique little snowflake. Perhaps you can tell us the riveting tale of your weight loss instead?"

Wrapping up with a comics-related bit, Jen Contino has posted an interview with Alan Davis for your reading pleasure. Speaking of which, time to delve back into my unread comics box -- night all!

Silly Site o' the Day

Sorry I didn't get to that blogaround yesterday. The combination of the afternoon rain and our unregulated heat (I hate having to rely on the landlord's wonky boiler instead of being able to adjust the heat ourselves) meant we both got really sleepy and were struggling to stay awake in our little steam room for much of the day. I mean, how much of a waste is it to have every single window open when the weather outside is in the low 40's? Anyway, I should have more when I return from today's interviews. Meanwhile, my ComicMix column is up for anyone curious about the modern ins and outs of jury duty. And you knew it was inevitable that someone would combine Obamamania and LOLcats into a site they like to call Yes We Can Has. Via Jesse at the Group News Blog.

Silly Site o' the Day

Blogaround coming as soon as I upload my ComicMix column. Say, did you know there's a whole movement out there to ban the Comic Sans font? ("No, but if you hum a few bars I think I can fake it...") Honestly, it's just a tool like anything else, it can be used for good or evil. This is the kind of attitude that does away with thought balloons in comics because some people don't know how to use them properly.

Silly Site o' the Day

Robin and I may have picked up something during our pre-snowstorm shopping and dinner out on Friday. We both have this weird tickle at the back of our throats that doesn't seem to clear even when we cough. It's not a total relapse into our flu-laden days, but as it's worse when we're horizontal it's played havoc with our sleep cycles -- well, that and staying up for the Oscars last night to see a Frenchwoman, an Irishman, a Brit and a Spaniard pick up all the major acting. But hey, when you're self-employed (Rob) and temporarily unemployed (me) you don't need to worry that much about normal cycles. Except that Robin has a pretty hefty workload, which not only makes me feel lazy but guilty. Ah well, at least I did a ton of online job-search stuff on Saturday and today it paid off with two phone calls for interviews, both set for Wednesday. When it's supposed to be cold with flurries *sigh*... At least it'll be seasonable tomorrow so I can get my food shopping done and pick up my interview suits from the dry cleaners. My goodness, what an exciting life I lead! Mini-blogaround tomorrow, maybe. Keeping spam out of my life, today! Speaking of which, have you heard of the Spam Poetry Institute? You knew there had to be one.

Silly Site o' the Day

Will the phrase that slots in a subject and ends "is your new bicycle" take over from "I drink your milkshake; I drink it up!" and "Don't tase me, bro!"? The internets are hoping to find out with Metafilter Is Your New Bicycle (via Hanan). You know the drill; keep hitting Refresh to see new messages. Don't forget to watch the ads between the Academy Awards telecast if you're settling in to view Oscar(TM) tonight!

Silly Site o' the Day

It's hard not to become an instant fan of the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre. I hate the design of their website, but I thought their video mocking Torchwood (via Keith) was hilarious:



Their obligatory Mac/PC ad parody is pretty cute too.

What Rob's Up To Now

Just a reminder that Robin will be inking Jamal Igle on the main story in issues #2-12 of Tangent: Superman's Reign, as DC Comics' solicitations for May 2008 have been posted at Newsarama and didn't contain either gentleman's name on the solicit for issue #3. Also, there's a nice interview with Jamal up at the Comics Bulletin, where you can see some of his and Rob's finished art.

This is in addition to Rob's inking work on the latest Suicide Squad miniseries, the last two issues of which will also contain some pages which he will have pencilled and inked. This will be the first published full-art of Robin's since his work in DC's 9-11 tribute book. It's wonderful to watch him going through this process again, it really seems like a whole different discipline.

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

News about Robin to follow, so I thought I'd do a special FCB edition featuring kitties and "Daddy."



They like him best anyway *snif*...

Toast to Friends Blogaround

Wow, it's been awhile since I've closed my open windows, so to speak. But Heidi just got engaged (and here's hoping she doesn't have to search for a new job) and it's Cliff's birthday, and it's snowed outside which sets the perfect mood to sit and type if I can keep my eyes open. I'm just glad my scheduled second interview at a potential employer was moved up to yesterday afternoon, as NYC is looking to shut down early today even though the snow's all but stopped now. Although it's made Maru happy, which she deserves to be since her blog WTF Is It Now?!? has passed its six-year mark; congrats, Maru!

• I've blogged previously about becoming more and more disillusioned by Keith Olbermann's Countdown, the only US news program that had been worth watching. I've seen the sportscaster descend more and more into the stat-driven horserace speculation end of the 2008 presidential campaign -- you know, the part that doesn't matter, as opposed to actually discussing the issues that do. Now the newscast has gone so far as to completely ignore vital goings-on in the rest of the world (Cuba, Kosovo, Pakistan, etc.) and even in the rest of the country (not one word about the NIU shootings) in favor of stuff that is by no stretch of the imagination (except Olbermann's and his fellow pundits') news. But we still tune in sometimes to see whether Keith's ratio of news to nonsense has improved, as he's really kind of the Last Best Hope modern TV journalism has. We're increasingly discovering that this hope ain't much. On Wednesday he spent half an hour discussing supposed allegations in a New York Times article that weren't even the point of the article, and weren't even allegations as much as a "teaser" to get people to read beyond the first few paragraphs. As those first paragraphs implied "SEX!" heaven forbid the usual suspects leave it alone and concentrate on the meat of the matter. And Olbermann is now firmly within this clique of usual suspects. I hope more viewers wake up about this; the degree of difference between Keith Olbermann and other pundits is like that between the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates -- when all is said and done, they have much more in common, and pal around, with each other more than they ever will with us. (I mean, Rachel Maddow playing patty-cake with Pat Buchanan? Granted, that's a better left-right match-up than Hannity and Colmes, but the civility is sort of unnerving.)

Fortunately, bloggers are getting the story right. Kevin Drum explains why it's disingenuous of the NY Times' Bill Keller to be shocked, do you hear me SHOCKED, to find out there's sexual innuendo going on in the story and being picked up by most sensationalism-seeking media outlets. The Rude Pundit interprets things thusly: "It's pretty much like the New York Times thought, 'Aw, hell, we gotta do something to make people read this story about the arcane rules regarding favors and campaign contributions, so howzabout some hints at some lobbyist ballin'?'" Roy Edroso is wonderfully skeptical of all the media hypocrisy that adds to the McCain hypocrisy. Pete McGowan illustrates how this story might have legs via the indictment of Rick Renzi, a member of McCain's "Leadership Team," on "35 Counts of conspiracy, money laundering, insurance fraud and wire fraud." Wow! And, of course, What Digby Said. She, like a heartening number of bloggers, wasn't fooled at all by the major media coverage of the, erm, major media coverage. Quoth Digby, "The meat of this thing has to do with favors he [McCain] did for this lobbyist in his position as Chairman of the Commerce Committee, and I frankly don't care whether he did it for money or sex or just because she made him feel young again, it's unethical and hypocritical coming from someone who's running as a reformer." Bucking the trend, publius at Obsidian Wings insists the story actually is "about the affair."

• A lot of bloggers think Republicans aren't the only party to use coded language, and of course they're right since, as I call your attention again to the above paragraph, we need to remember these people all have more in common with each other than with us -- including money, class, methodology, ambitions, etc. Still, even with his eloquence and obvious knowledge that Word Mean Something, the way Barack Obama has spoken about his Democratic opponent in the 2008 presidential campaign didn't seem that unsettling to me. Are accusations of "subtle sexism," as illustrated by Mad Kane and others (Amp has a good roundup), or "sexist dogwhistles" as Zuzu terms it, just a matter of finding something you're hyper-sensitized to look for? I've seen this with feminist cultural critics as well. Because there's so much actual sexism still beating down upon us (see this astute analysis from Melissa about intimidation at political caucuses), we tend to assume it exists everywhere, even in places where it's the farthest thing from people's minds. I'm not saying these folks don't have a good point and argue a good case (and yes, it bothers me that Obama's site doesn't even discuss gender issues), I'm just not sure I agree with it. (I'm glad to see other feminist bloggers like Hilzoy agree with my conclusion; it tells me I'm not utterly crazy for thinking it.) I'm still among the Thinking People who wouldn't mind either a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama presidency if that's our only choice given neither of them is exactly left of center, and I'm just about tuning out any newly-manufactured controversy as de facto manipulated by our mass media. Seriously folks, EuroNews or the Beeb. There's so much important stuff going on now in the world besides this campaign crap! I mean really, Obama supporters are a cult? Make these idiots read them some Athenae, I says. And seriously, bloggers, isn't a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq a tad more newsworthy than Ann Coulter's credit card being declined or Janet Huckabee staying at a Hooter's hotel in Vegas?

• Of course, that doesn't mean we oughtn't be concerned about stuff like Dallas police officers being given the order to stop security checks before an Obama rally. Oh jolly, just the thing to help some enterprising good-ol'-boy racists. Or perhaps Bill O'Reilly's "hypothetical" lynch mob gunning for Obama's wife for saying she was proud of America for the first time in her adult life (and I know how she feels, even though I was a lot prouder when Carter won back in '76).

• Speaking of which, please read these three very touching articles about the shootings at Northern Illinois University by Liberal Coalition member and NIU employee Michael Spires, who blogs at Musing's Musings: "Let not our own darkness conquer us"; Merci; and NIU one week later: it is what it is. Michael is one of the most eloquent writers I know, and a blogger who certainly deserves wider recognition.

• Amanda Marcotte is spot-on in two of her recent posts, one about credit card debt (which I've never had, and I've often thought that makes me some sort of freak in this country) and how the NY Times just can't seem to report about it correctly (because, of course, they all have more in common with each other than with us... no, as a matter of fact I won't stop saying that) and one about fat-shaming making inroads in chick lit, one of the places one would hope never to find it.

• Of course, we all pay attention when the NY Times comes out with articles we like, such as this one about more girls blogging than boys. Naturally, the "where are all the women bloggers?" set will dismiss this out of hand, because they don't see girls and women blogging about anything (they consider) important. And what was that latest *yawn* basketball score again? Of course then it's right back to skewering the Times, as Avedon does admirably, for articles like this one talking about how stupid kids today are.

• I've been saving this reprinted gem from Kate Harding since Valentine's Day, as it's very keen indeed. Speaking of V-Day, I can has marriage proposal? And Rob and I were too lazy to get dressed and go out in the cold on Wednesday night to glimpse the lunar eclipse which we couldn't see from just looking out the window, but there are plenty of cool photos online, like these from my favorite photoblogger NTodd Pritsky.

• "My first thought was 'Whoa! There must be a really famous person shopping here!' I turned around to see who it was. That's when I realized the famous person was me." Congratulations, or condolences, to Jenna Fischer on her first paparazzo stalking.

• Hey Steve, is Ken Jennings going to be at your OC library soon? Tell him your ex-wife is a big fan who writes about him a lot on her blog. :)

• Yoko Ono, who just celebrated her 75th birthday, insists she's not suing Lennon Murphy over the use of her surname, but over the young singer's supposed desire to use that name as an exclusive trademark. Julian Lennon also had a comment up about this but he seems to have deleted it, as well as his original comment supporting Murphy. Lennons and litigation, perfect together!

• On the weirdly partisan nature of the steroids-in-baseball hearings, What Digby Said, again. "Of course they are protective of a big, white Texas boy using steroids to win by any means necessary. It's a fundamental conservative value!" Oh, snap! Also see Thomas' post at Feministe.

• The snark twins of the culinary world are at it again, as Michael Ruhlman and Tony Bourdain announce the nominees for the first annual Golden Clog awards, and Tony adds another category on Ruhlman's blog to make it a baker's dozen.

• Even when teens get pregnant and follow the repressive rules their society expects, they still get dumped on. Jill at Feministe has the story.

• Your pareidolia for the day comes via Melissa at Shakesville, who reports on Our Lady of the Rold Gold. Speaking of Shakesville, you must read this post about feminism from their Teen Analyst, Kenny Blogginz, who's like a smarter, funnier Dmitri Martin.

Well, at least I finished linking to all the posts I had checked off before Bloglines quit on me. So I'm off to read through some of the DC comp box (two months unread so far) before coming back later for a couple more posts (including Friday Cat Blogging).

Silly Site o' the Day

I guess the hamburger phone in the movie Juno (which I haven't seen and don't plan to, not being A Movie Person) has inspired a lot of websites; this one here is selling all kinds of novelty phones, including Beverage and Food-Themed Phones. Hey, if the market's there... Via Mike at Left is Right.

Silly Site o' the Day

Via Marv Wolfman, it's "Sweeney Floyd, the Dim-Wit Barber of Mayberry":



I never watched either Mayberry RFD nor Sweeney Todd, although I have fond memories of Eugene Levy's impression of Howard McNear on SCTV episodes, but I enjoyed the heck of this video.

Silly Site o' the Day

Jury duty is over, and I'm not allowed to be called up again for at least the next four years. Good job, too -- even though I got the limited (i.e., "express") bus today, it's still almost an hour and a half each way, and tons more enforced inactivity, sitting, walking, sitting, standing, sitting, being questioned by the judge and lawyers, sitting, walking, and sitting. And then I got my piece of paper and hied it home. Tomorrow is catch-up day, and I'm pretty sure I have two follow-up interviews on Friday. My ComicMix column is up, the cats are fed, the internet and phone are behaving since Rob did a reboot this morning, and this parody McCain campaign site (via Chicago Dyke at Corrente) is like the last political silly site I have, so I welcome more suggestions via email!

Silly Site o' the Day

Gah, exhausted. One and a half hours each way on local buses (no parking in the area), and the enforced inactivity that encapsulates the jury duty experience is very wearing. Got assigned to a judge/courtroom but not picked for the actual jury, at least not yet. I have a bad feeling I might be, since some of the chosen ones appear (to put it not at all kindly) to be dumb as posts. This is the best deterrent to crime that I can imagine, showing people what a jury of their "peers" might actually be like. For me it's mostly been fodder for my next ComicMix column; I mean, why not? Meanwhile, so many momentous things going on in the world what with Kosovo and Cuba and Armenia and Pakistan and all the American cable news networks can talk about (Olbermann included) is the stupid, stupid horse race. Thank goodness we get EuroNews and BBC World News on our cable system. On the other hand, as Susie points out, Barack Obama is your new bicycle, and a host of other things (didn't that sort of "please keep hitting Refresh" generator used to be about Huckabee supporter Chuck Norris?).

Silly Site o' the Day

Interview went well, Rob's put another issue to bed, and tomorrow-- well, I'll deal with it as it happens. I'm expecting at least two nice relaxing jury duty days of sitting around, but who knows? Been watching lots of fun TV today, the Bourdain marathon and the History Channel "Presidents" marathon and now that same channel has a 2-hour special with Lewis Black wherein comedy looks up its own ass. So, you know, go wrong. Lots to do instead of blogging today. Speaking of comedy, I found this parody commercial for "Mandles!" extremely funny even though it's apparently put out by some religious website:



Via Thomas at Feministe.

Silly Site o' the Day

Despite a restless night borne of having slept too much during the day yesterday (half of which I spent catching up on a lot of blog reading and making inroads on my next ComicMix column), this morning I cooked brunch (fried eggs, fried tomatoes and turkey faux-bacon) and, having washed up already, am psyched for cooking dinner as well (turkey negimaki and assorted veg from our freezer), so I know I'm starting to feel better despite the rib muscle pain. Rob's next crushing deadline is tomorrow so he's knee-deep in things now and we won't be going anywhere today, but I'm hoping we get to do something after he's recovered enough and my jury duty's over. Maybe another Ikea run, just for the heck of it. Have I linked to the Ikea Game yet (via Hanan)? If not, have a go!

Silly Site o' the Day

I've spent much of the day sleeping even though I hadn't planned on it. My rib muscles are so sore that I guess my body just said, "Right then, I'm going to break down and make sure you're immobile enough to start healing properly." Again, I'm just glad all this is going on before I return to full-time work. I hope the general seating during jury duty is comfy enough that I can continue to heal. Our internet and phone connection is still cutting out in spurts, which was annoying during my phone call with Mom this afternoon, but is still pretty minor compared to it being out altogether last Monday. I'd like it to hold steady enough to get through some more blog reading, though; unless I can bring my laptop to the courthouse and find wifi there it's going to be a boring few days! At least I'm getting through some comics, and speaking of pretty pictures here's a fun text image converter to play with (via Gerard)...

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

We've utterly given up on the cat grass. I'll be taking the pot outside for the basement tenants' cats to munch on. Meanwhile, here's Datsa:



All unconcerned about cat grass and everything. I mean, how dare he?

Silly Site o' the Day

Dang. The cable/phone/internet connection supposedly fixed on Monday has been intermittently cutting out again. It's only for about half a minute at a time, but it's really annoying when I'm trying to order take-out or, you know, blogging. Rob's on a fairly tight deadline so we're leaving it until Monday to call Cablevision back; I just hope the FTP doesn't cut out when he's submitting completed pages. Gotta love the 21st century! Passport app and enclosures all done, so I'll be swinging by my favorite East Village post office after my interview this afternoon to finally mail in my renewal. That only leaves a couple months' worth of Previews to peruse, a mess of blogs to read, and probably another night or two of uninterrupted sleep, and I'll finally feel caught up again. Short opinion post(s) and Friday Cat Blogging to come. Meantime, how about some music?:



Via my "neighbor" (aka fellow Riverdalian) Keith R.A. DeCandido.

Silly Site o' the Day

Well, this is more like it! Although the side effects of the illness persist (mostly body aches and the cough, for now), I'm getting back into the rhythm of the job search, with an interview this morning and another tomorrow afternoon before jury duty screws with my schedule again. Today I found myself at 57th Street and 6th Avenue, where I ducked into the local Duane Reade to do a mess of shopping I hadn't gotten to yesterday (including treating myself to a Lindt heart o' truffles) before boarding the express bus home. Wouldn't mind this job at all, the commute's a breeze! Tomorrow I'm in Union Square during a farmer's market day, which pleases me as well (although I'm not sure how many vendors will be around in February). Feels great to be getting back into Manhattan! It'll feel even better when I can do it every day to and from the same well-paying, satisfying job. Hope everyone's had a happy Valentine's Day; I've spent most of it catching up on the sleep I didn't get last night (note to self: no more garlic-laden pizza the evening before an early AM interview) and trying to whip my job-search spreadsheet into order. As an admin assistant I hate hate hate disorganization, but I just haven't had the energy to update it; it's been all I can do to get through applications. In any case, here's a Valentine's Day-themed game for you: Heart Breaker. I can't get more than maybe 13.

Silly Site o' the Day

Trying to shake off sleep before my phone interview, but it's not easy with this rain. Looks like the wet won't completely drive off last night's snow/ice combo (now slush), so I'll be walking about in boots to go to the doctor and supermarket. My new ComicMix column is up (an actual feminist one for a change). Way behind in blog reading, job search organization... no time for online games like Pirateer (via Laura)...

Silly Site o' the Day

Ah, solid food at last. And just in time; I have a phone interview tomorrow before my last dermatologist appointment (hoping the snow and ice melts with the promised rain and rise in temperatures), then an in-person interview Thursday morning. Just in time for... jury duty next week! But at least there's forward movement again. I'm even starting to post more to ComicMix under the watchful eyes of my new supervisor Rick. My queendom for an established routine again! Until then, peace out (via Hanan).

RIP Steve Gerber

I'm still in shock. I was hoping against hope that he'd be improving, but given the periodic updates on his blog I suppose it may have been too much to hope for. Mark Evanier now has a post up on Steve's blog to which people can come and pay their respects.

Cablevision Update

The phone and internet are working again, and the channels that have been wonky for about a month (including my favorite cooking-show channel) have been fixed. My stomach, alas, is still in bad shape. Even eating a banana was a struggle. I'm sticking to yogurt and applesauce for the foreseeable.

Silly Site o' the Day

So apparently it's not enough that I suffer through this flu for a week, then a lingering cough for another week. The weekend brought on something that closely resembled food poisoning, to the point where I actually threw up yesterday for the first time in at least a decade. (I will go to extraordinary lengths not to throw up, so this was officially a Big Deal.) I haven't had anything substantial to eat for a couple days, although I managed to down a yogurt this morning, but this latest round in the Mighty Morphin Lurgy has left me too weak to do much of anything helpful like vacuuming or (gak) food shopping. Added to that, the wind storm last night knocked out the internet and phone portion of our Cablevision service. They're sending someone 'round by 8 PM, but in the meantime that's another day lost when I could be getting phone calls and looking for jobs online. As it is, I'm "borrowing" a neighbor's wifi to blog so I can at least let folks know we're okay (well, within reason) and ask potential employers who may be Googling my name to please contact me on my cell phone. Speaking of tech things gone wrong, Fake Steve Jobs brings us a fake Vista ad from Blimp TV.

Silly Site o' the Day

Via Hanan, let's all take a trip through The Pointless Museum!

Silly Site o' the Day

Today could have been better. Feeling particularly useless, depressed and unsettled, I didn't even go out to food-shop and get my passport photos done today. The law of averages says I'll have to hear back from some potential employers this coming week; in the meantime I'm trying my darndest to relax and enjoy my time off as much as I can. As I come out of the flu period I'm once more keeping up with most of my reading, and can therefore wish my "blogfather" Neil Gaiman a happy seventh blogiversary on the actual day. Given recent political goings-on, I've also been particularly grateful for two posts at the Group News Blog, one from Jesse Wendel about how he hopes Democrats stop the circular firing squad and get it together by the time there's a nominee because, when you get right down to it, we have an embarrassment of riches and the top two candidates' positions really aren't that far from one enother; and the other from Sara Robinson about institutionalized sexism at a particular cable news network (I also liked what Melissa observed about all this). And, of course, by all indications it appears the writers' strike may be resolved soon; can a resolution of my own employment situation be far behind? It's all positive from here on out, I'm sure. On the other hand, my tummy still hurts:



Candy heart generator via Frank Paynter. Wonder what Robin will get me for Valentine's Day?

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

They're not eating the cat grass, damn it! So I crinkled their catnip bags over it. And naturally, they went for the catnip bags.



Datsa never looks cuter than when he's into the 'nip.

Silly Site o' the Day

More resumes sent out today, no phone calls yet but perhaps it's just as well, I'm still coughing a lot. Hey, the Grammys are on this weekend, aren't they? Perfect time to pass along this math chart rap thingie from Cheryl...

Life During Wartime

Unlike many other liberal bloggers, I'm more upset by the first part of Mitt Romney's farewell sentence than the last part: "And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be part of aiding a surrender to terror." I mean yeah, it's horrendous that this doofus doesn't realize we surrendered to terror the minute Bush did pretty much everything bin Laden wanted him to do, from curtailing Americans' freedom to withdrawing from Saudi Arabia, and the biggest "terror" being concocted now (and really for the past 6 or so years) is internal to our own country, coming pretty much from the radical reactionaires in power -- which means a Democratic presidential win would actually mean and end to the surrender, or a victory over terror.

No, what I really resent is this "time of war" crap. The Democrats do it too. Saying we must or must not do this or that because we're in a "time of war" is like the old joke about the guy who murdered his parents then threw himself on the mercy of the court on the basis that he was an orphan. This war wasn't thrust upon us. We invaded another country, one that had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11. If we're at war, it's a war of our own making. And some of us were warning from the very beginning that the people in power would be using the "we're at war" excuse to take away more and more of our rights and freedoms. I just wish the Democrats weren't buying into this, particularly since at least one of them seems very keen on ending this horrid "time of war" that we started.

Tornado Ally

As expected, Bush offered the usual meaningless platitudes yesterday to the victims of the tornados that devastated wide swaths of the southern states in this country, killing at least 54. "Prayers can help and so can the government," he mealy-mouthed. Of course, the former don't really work even though they might make people feel better, and he has just as little intention to implement the latter as he did to actually help New Orleans. So once again it's up to the citizens. Please ignore the "pay for my hobby" fundraisers currently being run by popular liberal bloggers who don't need the money, and the political fundraisers for Presidential candidates who also really don't need the money, and consider giving instead to people who do. Monkeyfister, who lives in the area, has the details.

Silly Site o' the Day

Via Hanan, the Internet Now in Handy Book Form! Do look around. I loved the Amazon parody, and Hanan specifically linked to Porn for Girls by Girls. I've just subscribed to David McCandless' blog as well, should be a good source for future Silly Sites.

Silly Site o' the Day

Finally caught up on job searching, and have a phone interview and in-person interview set up for this week; probably about all I can manage with the vestiges of this flu (mostly the cough and lung congestion) still refusing to leave. But it's forward movement again! And my latest column is up at ComicMix -- no comments yet, so please feel free to go over there and have at it. I've even included a video for your watching and listening pleasure! Speaking of which, I'm going to try to embed a video from MySpace; I have no idea if it'll work...



Via my favorite militant atheist.

Received Wisdom

For some reason this date was sticking in my mind, and I knew it wasn't just because of Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras or Super-Duper Pooper-Scooper Tuesday. Then my friend Vastleft from Corrente reminded me -- it's the fifth anniversary of the day the US was to lose any remaining credibility and moral high ground it still held at the UN. It was also the day that a lot of us said, "oh well, there goes any chance of a moderate-leaning, intelligent, articulate black man making a serious and credible run at the Presidency."

On 5 February, 2003, the US Secretary of State Colin Powell completely capitulated to his White House masters and knowingly lied to the United Nations to make a case for the United States invading Iraq. Five years later we're still there, where we've no right to be, occupying a country in a state of chaos and bloodshed. Our once-sterling (if not entirely deserved) reputation as cavalry to the world, riding in on great white chargers to right every wrong, is in tatters. Our citizens are less safe and less free than they've been in half a century, the divide between rich and poor greater than at any time since the Gilded Age, and the promise that America once represented has nearly been obliterated (as the last good Republican president warned might happen) in the hands of a few selfish, radical oilmen.

But we're humans, no more nor less than anyone else in this world, and so we harbor hope. It's going to take years to regain any shred of credibility and reputation, but it starts with hope, and with hard work. And it starts with a citizenry united to see that hope and hard work through. And so today I cast my vote in the Democratic primary for Barack Obama -- despite misgivings which I would have had no matter who was running -- because he's effectively conveyed hope better than anyone else out there. And because we have to start somewhere.

Bad Enough Not To Eat

There seems to be a theme developing on the food blogs today. This one's passed along by Sarah at Slashfood:



That's from the BMF Sydney corporation, advertising a new skin care product. As Sarah notes, "Let's hope that BMF Sydney does something useful with those peaches afterwards." That's as doubtful as any good coming out of this:



Via Robyn at Serious Eats, that's the Banana Wall from Stefan Sagmeister's exhibition Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far, now showing at Deitch Gallery in Soho. I love Deitch's homepage, very colorful and lots of food stuff, but I question how interactive Sagmeister's exhibit is. Do visitors get to eat any of the bananas?

Silly Site o' the Day

Two out of the three guys I mentioned in my Blogroll Amnesty Day post responded, and are now on my sidebar. Welcome, Flawed Plan and RJ Eskow! I'm all set to go out and vote (one of the perks of temporary unemployment being that I don't have to wait until after work to exercise my franchise) but it's pissing down a storm out there so I'm waiting until things ease before venturing outside; my cough and inability to breathe deeply are bad enough as it is. Say, have you seen the Jedi Ginsu yet? I want one!



Via the Tree.

Silly Site o' the Day

I have no idea how many more days I'll have to suffer through this greatly diminished lung capacity. Should I consider it a good thing that I got no phone calls today? Tomorrow I go out to vote, to deposit some checks, and maybe to get my passport photos taken. It all depends on how well I can breathe, which is "not well at all" at the moment. Ah well, tomorrow is another day. Meanwhile, perhaps Today is the Day (via Susie)...

Brief Blogaround

Because, in addition to halving my job search in-box, sending out many resumes and paying necessary bills, I've just finished my blog reading, haven't yet scoured the news, and wanted to close open windows.

• I have no idea for whom I'm going to vote tomorrow. If Edwards is still on the ballot his name will get my vote. There are lots of things I like about both Clinton and Obama, and lots of things I don't like about each. But that's modern politics (and, to a greater extent, modern America) for you, the illusion of choice. If Edwards isn't on the ballot, I'll probably mark myself down for Obama on the basis of him being Laura's distant relative. I've certainly known elections to be decided by sillier means than that. Speaking of Edwards, I liked Melissa's farewell to him, thought Matt Bors really hit the nail on the head with this strip ("Rich, overpaid pundits can't grasp the notion of a rich, overpaid trial lawyer caring about someone seventeen income brackets below him."), and Susie points to a Ted Rall column that pretty much sums up why Edwards had to drop out.

• This one's all over, but I saw it first at Cathie from Canada's place: today NASA will broadcast the Beatles' song "Across the Universe" across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star. "Jai guru deva," indeed!

• The comics world is abuzz about the ending of Y: The Last Man, but they've overlooked another denoument: the last installment of Rachel Hartman's The Mad Bun. Girlamatic gives Rachel a quality sendoff with a spotlight interview. In other comics news, Heidi hits the mark again with her comments about women working in "mainstream" comics (i.e., American superhero companies that pay a living-wage rate) as opposed to real-world comics (which have paid lousy in the past but contain greater fame rewards); and Rachel Edidin points to a Guardian article about women in comics, number x in a series of articles suddenly rediscovering that women read and create the stuff, which happens just about every half dozen years.

• Remember what I was saying yesterday about toeing the line politically? If you don't it can sometimes lead to nasty blogwar-type stuff, as evidenced by Zuzu's experiences with Scott & co. I've met both Zuzu and Scott on numerous occasions and like them both, but I dunno, I gotta wonder sometimes.

• Lastly, the Pareidolia Award of the Week goes to the Mars Smiley Face (via Maru). I'm considering doing a regular Pareidolia of the Week bit on this blog, as I'm pretty fascinated by the phenomenon, particularly as it relates to religious delusions.

And that'll wrap things up for now. I still feel like crap, my euphemism having arrived before my cough and congestion has fully dissipated, so I'm going for a lie-down now.

Silly Site o' the Day

Holy cannoli, that meta-post took a lot out of me! But it's a good kind of tired; I feel like I'm finally starting to regain my writing energy, something I've been hoping for since my last job left me. I think the biggest leap is finally deciding, "I'm going to write before I read instead of after." That's a huge mental shift for me as a writer, it's so ingrained in me that you must read in order to write. It took some effort to realize that saying doesn't apply to a daily routine but rather to life in general, and I hope that rearranged thinking frees me up a bit. I also hope this illness is finally leaving me; aside from the lingering cough, I'm almost up to 90% strength now. Finally went downstairs to get the mail, and discovered I've been called for jury duty on February 19. It goes back to one of Robin's favorite sayings, "everything happens for a reason." Better to get sick now, to have jury duty now, than to have anything like that interrupting a new job. Too bad they don't process mail-in passport apps there. My other goal for this month and beyond is to shore up my Silly Site listing; right now it consists mostly of generators, but I think with more blogging I'll start attracting more readers and they'll bring some Silly Site suggestions with them. Today's offering is Universcale, via Hanan. Very cool stuff.

Thinking B.A.D. Thoughts

Today is so-called Blogroll Amnesty Day, spearheaded by Jon Swift and skippy, wherein participants are supposed to extol and publicize those bloggers who don't get a lot of attention, aren't on the A-list, have very low hit counts, and in general ought to be better known. So I'm thinking, how many of the people currently on my blogroll, particularly on the political end, get lower hit counts than me? And as I checked my Site Meter and other stats, I realized: probably none. And then I immediately acknowledged, it's my own damn fault.

I've been blogging for over five years, but less and less of late. Sometimes I barely make one post per day. I don't know that I've done much more than Silly Sites, Friday Cat Blogging and blogaround link posts for maybe three months now. And my stats show it. I used to get around 200 daily hits; now it's down to maybe 80 if I'm lucky. And it's directly related to how much effort I put into writing here.

Comic book fans don't read Pen-Elayne regularly, because I don't write about comic books any more; I haven't been able to properly write about them since I used to keep up with my reading back when my job was in Manhattan and I went to the shop each Wednesday like other "early adopter" fans. The biggest comic-related thing I've ever done here was publish Robin's whistleblowing on CrossGen, and I think that day I got maybe 500 hits. Compared with Newsarama and The Beat, that's nothing. Besides, nowadays most of my comics-related stuff gets written for ComicMix.

My political friends, even the locals who used to invite me to NY blogger gatherings, have pretty much deserted me. Some probably kept me at arm's length to begin with, as I never seemed to toe whatever they considered to be the party line from moment to moment. I don't get that much pleasure out of demonizing anyone, for instance, even if their politics are diametrically opposed to my own. I refuse to consider most people as inherently evil for believing differently than I do. I'm used to most of the folks around me having opinions that diverge from my own, whether it's about cooking or comics or Congress. But at one party I distinctly remember, when I didn't agree with some point or other that was raised, the sudden accusation, "You're a Republican!" Coming from a family of lifelong Democrats I was kind of floored by that reaction, but by and by found it indicative of a lot of the echo-chamber mentality so prevalent in political bloggers of all stripes. Which makes it all the more ironic when these same liberal blogs delight in accusing right-wing blogs of being "the mighty Wurlitzer."

Then too, there's my outspoken opposition to the obsession many bloggers have with making money from their hobby. And yes, I'm aware many people don't see blogging as a hobby, or even a public service or civic duty, but I'm afraid that's my personal prejudice that I'm hard-pressed to shake. I know wanting to see a profit from your creative efforts is as legitimate a hope as having a political candidate who shares every single one of your values. It's just as unlikely to happen. There are tons of really good writers out there, and there's little incentive to pay for content in one place that you can get for free elsewhere. But some liberal bloggers can't see beyond their own overinflated sense of entitlement. And so they hold these periodic fundraisers to rake in money to pay for their blogging. I already have a computer with an internet connection, and I've never paid one additional penny to blog; I don't see why anyone should expect a handout for something which nobody's forcing them to do and which they can do for free. Sure enough, the great majority of these fundraisers are for people who already make a perfectly good living and honestly don't need the money as much as want it. And when I point this out, as I have time and again, I'm a killjoy, a traitor, a Republican.

So I'm kind of the rebel. I don't stick to one topic; I'm neither a political nor a comics blogger, neither a photoblogger nor a food blogger, neither a religion blogger nor a cat blogger. I'm just Elayne. And I don't stick to the pre-approved script; when bloggers go on an all-expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam, I'm the one who points out at what price they've been bought. When all-white bloggers brag about lunching with Bill Clinton in largely-black Harlem, I'm one of those wondering what happened to all the non-white bloggers, and making good on a promise to never again link to A-list liberal blogs that attack others who question this status-quo (blogs that also, not coincidentally, used blackface as humor). I don't demand readers pay for my hobby, and I'm not shy about mentioning repeatedly how wrong I think that is. And I don't like to echo what everyone else has already said.

Which is one of my main problems. If I'm not a bandwagon jumper, I'm not as noticed. But in my effort not to make that leap, I tend to wait until I've finished reading other blogs before opining about something, so as not to duplicate effort. And with one thing and another I often find myself with too many unread blogs at any one time to venture forth with my own blather. And that's wrong; I should never have to feel the need to wait until I've read what others have said about something to put in my own two cents. From this day forth, my promise to readers and to myself is to try and write more before reading. It's always better to go back to a post and add an update and link to what others have said about a topic than it is never to have written about it at all.

I'm going to write more this year. And it's not just going to be diary-type posts either. I'm engaged enough with the outside world in my offline life; you'll start to see that reflected more here at Pen-Elayne. Then when I wonder why I'm not on the blogrolls of writers I admire, or why my comments sections are so blank, I'll have more legitimate ground on which to stand. I want to again make Pen-Elayne a more attractive must-read blog for all of you.

Once again, if you still have me on your blogroll and don't see your name on my sidebar, or if you want to reciprocate blogrolling, please let me know ASAP; I would always like to blogroll anyone who blogrolls me (within reason). In the meantime, instead of hyping bloggers who doubtless all get more hits than I do by this point, I'm going to link to the three blogs remaining in the Guys in Waiting section of my Bloglines subs, guys whose blogs I like but who haven't blogrolled me, in the hopes that they someday will: Driftglass, Flawed Plan of Writhe Safely, and R.J. Eskow of Night Light. And I'm going to start working on becoming worthy of being blogrolled again.

Update: Thank you, Susie and Scott!

Silly Site o' the Day

Not out of the woods yet, I fear. Lots of coughing and body aches. Somehow from here in NY I've managed to infect Mom all the way out in Vegas, who has no fever but terrible laryngitis. Get well soon, Mom! I think you should stay away from this blog, it could be contagious. I got through a little of my job search email and applied to about a half dozen places today, so it wasn't a total waste, but I still feel like "there's a week I'll never have back." Didn't pay the bills, didn't send off my passport renewal (heck, haven't even done the photos), didn't even go out to check the mail. Ick. Bloglines isn't working at the moment, so I'll direct you to The Maze, advising you to turn the sound off before starting to play as you get a frightful scream when you lose.

Friday Cat Blogging (™ Kevin Drum)

Amy loves to play with light beams, so we try to create it during sunny days so she can chase it around. She also likes being atop the bookcases where we've put the dry food she can eat but Datsa can't. I managed to take a little movie combining the two:



I wish she'd at least have batted at it, but she'd been doing so for the previous 10 minutes or so...

Silly Site o' the Day

White Rabbits! Let's hope February is better than January but, thanks to this wet weather and the way it aggravates our not-quite-post-illness coughs, I'm afraid it's not getting off to a very good start. Finished rereading Order of the Phoenix and couldn't resist starting to reread Half-Blood Prince right on its heels; should've known Rowling would suck me in again. Other than that I've been away from keyboard and computer; as evidenced by how much I coughed during a phone conversation with Joan Hilty, who'd called to update Robin on his workload and me on some job applications I'd submitted to DC Comics, it's a good thing I haven't been working on the job search, I would never have been able to do any phone screening interviews today. Every day I get a little stronger but I'm just not quite there yet. Kitty blogging to follow; for now, click on this unless you're my Mom, and blame Jeff at Shakespeare's Sister and PZ.