Dear voters in Michele Bachmann's district:

Seriously?

Sven

Sven Sundgaard is back on the cover of Lavender, promoting Dining Out For Life for The Aliveness Project.

The Modern World is Alive With Magic

There's such a thing as Diet Sunkist, and it has caffeine in it.

Commodification

If you walk around a mall, you'll find many, many, many different products featuring the Peace Symbol. Many brands and many stores feature the Peace Symbol.* I'm extremely doubtful any of these stores are actually interested in the political (potentially subversive) intent the Peace Symbol may imply. They are capitalizing on a general mood (passive opposition to war) that contributes to a fashion trend.

So the Peace Symbol has become a fashionable symbol in a consumeristic culture. And in some ways, this makes the fashionability of the Peace Sign representative for the American mood toward war. There are few "supporters" of the current wars--most are weary and skeptical about these wars. But most people are either not so opposed to these wars they're taking any action, or feel incapable of taking any positive action (it does often feel like a helpless situation, that opponents of war can't really do anything to stop it). Thus people are willing to passively express these (general, vague) negative feelings toward war with the passive means we're most familiar and comfortable with: consumerism.**

*In my experience, the overwhelming majority of Peace Sign products are for women, which calls for further--if obvious--comment. Just as "real men" are supposed to love eating meat (just ask Taco Bell--men shouldn't just want steak but they should want "triple steak," and the only way men can eat a salad is if it is "fully loaded" and the lettuce is buried beneath meat), men are not expected to embrace the cuddly, mushy, huggy Peace Sign (usually around pink, purple, and pastels)--that's for sensitive, softer women.

**I own a hat, a bracelet, a key chain, a pair of pants, and three shirts with the Peace Symbol, and two more shirts featuring the word "pacifist." I'm rarely not wearing clothing expressing a peace message, and I love getting new clothes with the Peace Symbol. I'm not exempting myself from this critique.

Why I like "Parks and Recreation"

Yes, the tone and humor is exactly, precisely that of The Office. But you know what? The Office is funny. Having another half hour a week of this style of humor is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Furthermore, The Office has gotten a little stale--I don't find it as funny as I used to. To take that style of humor, and apply it to entirely different characters, in an entirely new context, gives me uncontrollable, full-experience pleasure laughs again (when Amy Poehler called the town "lousy with hippies," I lost it).

Getting Birthday Gifts From Restaurants

If your inbox can handle a few extra emails a week, go ahead and get on the email list of restaurants you like. So far for my birthday I'm getting a free giant piece of cake for dessert at Romano's Macaroni Grill, a free beverage from Caribou Coffee, and a free sundae from Culver's.

Commercial Inquiries

Do you notice a lot of commercials start with questions? Have advertising experts determined this is a successful tactic to get peoples' attention, because people instinctively pay attention when asked questions?

Usually the question comes at the start of the commercial. Wherever it comes, though, I usually start answering. When some rube says "What's in your wallet?" I start with "ummm...a coupon for a free Diet Dr. Pepper...my PETA membership card....uh...a library card...maybe four dollars...a coupon for a free cinnamon dessert at Papa Murphy's...do you want me to keep going?" I don't think the commercial actually cares.

Start answering aloud whenever a commercial asks a question. It's fun, because if you're with people and they're not paying attention to the commercial (they usually aren't, and even if they are, they don't expect you to answer) they suddenly think you're talking to them about something else. Enough non sequiturs, and you could get committed, and then you get a break.

Television Confuses Me

I don't understand how reruns work. For the last two months or so, I have been confused by the tv schedule. It seems like every other week is a new episode and every other week is a rerun. I get all excited to watch certain shows, and then they either aren't on (like New Christine last week) or they are reruns (like Grey's Anatomy last week and the Monday CBS comedies today). I wish shows would just do new shows for a couple months straight and then do a bunch of reruns. At least then I would know what to expect.

Kings

Kings is a good show; I don't have mixed feelings. Watch it. Watch full episodes online.

TV Coverage of the Tobacco Tax Rocks!

It's not the stock footage of people smoking that makes news coverage of the cigarette tax fun.  It's when the network sends cameras out to find angry smokers willing to talk about how they're discriminated against, proudly proclaiming they'll still be smoking and they'll quit when they're ready.  That's fun times.

Drugs Are Bad

I know we usually stick to local interest stuff, but I found this amusing.

Saybrook man wanted to feel pain of shot

I wouldn't have given this article a second thought, but then I read this:

"The stepbrother did shoot Fortune and then began to cry and so did Fortune, according to the report."

Can you imagine seeing this happen?  What would it take for a stoned guy to convince you to actually shoot him?  I wonder what kind of logic he used to convince his brother that shooting him in the leg was a reasonable thing to do. 

The whole thing is just insane.