For the record

I have a scotch-bet with a friend who is deluded enough to think that Obama will “sweep.” I say “deluded” because he’s a smart guy, but he’s been drinking the Obama kool-aid from the campaign and getting seconds from the media. So our bet is about whether or not Obama will win by over 110 electoral college points.

I have no worries about losing.

And, for the record, I think there’s about a 15% chance that McCain will actually win. A number that doesn’t exude confidence, but that at least allows me a good “told ya so” to those who gave him a 0% chance if he does win.

My new favorite

Yea America… still.

Remember how I pointed out that France doesn’t really have free speech? Yeah, Canada doesn’t really either.

Thesis

George W. Bush has long since moved into the category of Richard M. Nixon–a president so caricatured that it will be at least another century before there is a reasonable general assessment of his quality as the Chief Executive.

Thesis

Iron Man would have been at least 17% better without that horrible blond reporter.

Michel Monday: The Foo Fighters – Everlong

[Michel Mondays were instantiated and explained here.]

Okay. With a Michel Monday I am good and back.

Michel Gondry. The Foo Fighters. Lumberjacks. Dresses…. I don’t even know.

Brief Hiatus

I should have posted this long ago, but I will be on a brief hiatus until the semester ends. Look for more posts to start coming around a week into May.

Ridiculous ‘Riting

Okay, new feature. This one is where I point out dumb things people write, then sit back and feel superior. (Feel free to join me.)

“It may be only six days until the clock begins ticking on Mark Mulder.”

Courtesy of Matthew Leach, writing here for MLB.com. The “may” almost saves this one… but not really.

Zeppelin, Klosterman, and the definition of irony

Remember when I told you that Led Zeppelin had played a successful reunion show with Jason Bonham on drums? That made this passage from Chuck Klosterman IV the most deliciously ironic I’ve seen in a long time…

(Caution! I know this will surprise you, but Robert Plant does a bit of cursing).

Chuck Klosterman: But couldn’t you have toured with Page, Jones, and Bonham’s son Jason on drums?

Robert Plant: But what the fuck for? John Bonham’s kid isn’t as good as John Bonham. Look, I know you’re a journalist, so I’ll go along with this question. I don’t make my living by making my living. My time is so important that I can’t compromise my taste–or my idea of what’s right–simply to match someone else’s view of what’s a good, calculated move. And can you imagine what a lumbering monster that tour would’ve been? It would have been quite sluttish to come back firing like a bunch of hard rockers.

It would have made for great icing on the cake, but unfortunately the rumors about Bonnaroo getting the Led out seem to have been untrue.

Happy Rabbie Burns Day!

Today is the 249th anniversary of the birth of the bard of Scotland, Robert Burns. Alternatively, Robbie Burns. To the Scots, Rabbie Burns. And to the Jews, Rabbi Burns.*

To celebrate, enjoy a haggis, some whisky (no’ whiskey, whisky), and here is his most famous poem, which contains the line “The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men…”

To a Mouse

On turning her up in her nest, with the plough, November, 1785