Post-absentee ballot Obama rationalizing

The way this woman seems to feel toward Obama, I think, mirrors how I think about him: He hasn't won me over the way he has most of his supporters, and I'm pretty tough on him. Then again, the thought that he really could restore dignity to the White House while simultaneously repairing our fucked-up policy situations is really freaking exciting, and I'm actually counting on him to pull it out.



[via Wonkette]

The second half perfectly showcases the Obama charm -- easy banter, loudly enthusiastic supporters, jokes, a sliver of youthful edge. He can hype my mom into writing "Yes We Can!" in the margins of letters to me.

Still, I guess I'm cautiously optimistic. 2004 was devastating; 2006 was awesome and I honestly celebrated -- congressional scales slightly tipped in our favor, Macaca, Rahm Emmanuel, Rumsfeld resigning -- but that hasn't lived up to the hype. And now it's hard to trust even the politicians we like with our hopes.

i think some things about some other things

My first music reviews at the Feminist Review blog are up! Not sure what albums I'll be reviewing for next month, but one of them might be Mixel Pixel's Let's Be Friends, which I picked up at their seriously awesome performance at Special Agent Dale Cooper last week (more on that in my upcoming Recent Live Music roundup).

Otherwise occupying my time: re-learning to ride a bike, re-watching The Wire, reading 33 1/3 books, listening to the Kinks all damn day, experimenting with frittatas, and pointing shoppers in the direction of the nonpariel capers.

Experience has taught me

If you're looking in vain for desktop wallpaper featuring The Band, make sure you turn SafeSearch ON before doing a Google image search for "Big Pink."

Status report

The last time I posted, I lived in North Carolina.

Now I live in Philadelphia.

Before, I was self-exiled from real adult life (or what passes for it at age 23, anyway). Never did I picture myself moving back in with my parents for any reason, ever. In school, I loved running my own damn life, cooking, catching buses. Even the detestable act of paying a bill would bring on a little surge of pride. I stayed on top of that shit this month. For a time, I was schoolin', cohabiting with what I thought (with increasing doubts) was a pretty decent boyfriend, enjoying not fast-tracking myself to grad school. I was in Ann Arbor, and if you don't think about it too much and the weather is nice, Ann Arbor is just the right size to make you feel like you're in control and getting stuff done while the big shit, like money and self-worth and the future, nuzzle up on the edges of your easy, yuppie-lite life.

I knew I was not okay when I found myself crying uncontrollably in the middle of my course on Dada & Surrealism. And walking home from the student newspaper. And any time I'd visit a favorite teacher at office hours, trying to get some kind of affirmation that I wasn't going crazy or throwing my life away.

But I kind of did, and I kind of was.

I went on antidepressants, started counseling (I've had three great counselors and one awful one since), and broke up with my live-in boyfriend right after graduation. He smashed a guitar when I told him, but we rode out the rest of the summer together. (Now he's engaged to some girl four years his junior and working in a chicken restaurant outside Detroit.)

I moved back home and spend most of my time in my pjs or working at either of two mediocre part-time jobs, blowing my money on CDs and student loan payments and generally moping. I got more and more miserable over the summer, saw the opportunity to move away to Philly (a 4-month lease; it's a start) and spent September through January anxious as hell about the move and completely head-in-the-sand about job prospects. I managed to save a few months rent, packed a few bags, got on the train, and now I'm here.

It's kind of scary and very intimidating and I like the city but it can make you feel, well, transparent. Still trying to find jobs, hoping to find some more freelance work, ready to leave behind the aftermath of the mindfuck that was my last relationship and that rudderless post-graduation feeling.

Okay, so that's what's going on. Now maybe I can post something deeper and more interesting than personal life bullshit without making excuses to myself.

Let's stage a dramatic reading of Gil Thorp

Despite my interest in current events and the inner workings of print media, I read my local newspaper -- The News & Observer -- primarily for entertainment, not information. Each morning (or late afternoon, or whenever the hell) I grab the A section (which has the always ludicrous Opinion section in the back), Life, etc. (the lamely named weekday features section), and occasionally metro (whenever Barry Saunders has a column). On Fridays, I always grab the North Raleigh News supplement, brainkillingly boring except for the restaurant inspections.

But my attention is truly devoted to the comics, which until a few years ago (I think? it's so not worth looking up) proffered moldy three-panel shitshows Cathy, Drabble, Gil Thorp, Wizard of Id, and Hagar the Horrible. Until they got dumped for some kinda half-decent strips (like the cute Pearls Before Swine and Calvin & Hobbes semi-homage Frazz). I have this weird thing where I have to read all the comics, in order, every day. I'd dive into the inevitably shallow, inane, and misogynistic Cathy; turn a glazed-over gaze on Drabble and Wizard of Id, and marvel at how the fuck the Browne could sustain a semiliterate readership over multiple generations. But I honest to God couldn't stomach the seven seconds it took to read Gil Thorp six days a week.

Now, years later, I find myself compulsively reading This Week in Milford. Under such scrutiny, Gil Thorp is even more inscrutable and bizarrely drawn than I remember. It is also hilarious. Viz:



ETA: In the nanoseconds I spent researching this post, I discovered that Lois of Hi and Lois is supposed to be Beetle Bailey's sister! I know! I mean, it's obvious that nepotism runs wild on the comics page, but I didn't realize that shit extended to characters. This explains so much.

lolbunn

Lekha made an Office-themed lolbunn!



(starring Catilla and Komissar)

One of the many reasons I freaking love Amanda Marcotte:

"In a battle between what is still technically a feeling-free parasite on a woman’s body and a living, breathing, feeling woman, the latter wins hands down, and there’s no complexity or shades of gray there."

Check her out at RH Reality Check and Pandagon.