STUPID U

Further proof of the idiocy of our electoral college system is that very real possibility that, if things are as close as the pollsters say they are (which is a whole 'nother subject...whom are they really polling here; people with land-line's only, which is very rare among the youth vote), then that means the electoral college will be split exactly down the middle. In that eventuality, the presidency will be decided by the Congress and the VP, by the Senate. And what does that mean, Meghan? Well, the congress is dominated by Republicans, so the president would be (pleasegodno) Bushy, and in the Democrat heavy Senate, their vote would push-through (WOOHOO) John Edwards as VP. Bush-Edwards??? Eeek. But I guess, should any HARM befall said W, we'd get the benefit of a President Edwards!! Huzzah!!

Won't happen, though. Kerry's going to win, no matter how long the Repub's fight the decision. Pack your bags, Bush clan, you're OUT. Buh-bye. It's time to write your books.



UTOPIAN THOUGHT OF THE DAY

All partisan lines are jumped, and Howard Dean runs for Prez, with John McCaine as his VP. Dude, I wold find a way to vote one hundred times for that ticket.

UNCLE UPDATE

Thanks to all the expressed their concern for my Uncle. I am happy to report that he has been released from the hospital and is on his way to a full recovery.

I have recently gone "back to school" and am taking advanced scene-study classes at The Stella Adler Acting Academy. For those outside of the "acting" world, Stella Adler is a huge name in acting teachers and either taught directly or had a hand in the careers of people like Marlon Brando, John Ritter, Melanie Griffith, and many more. If you ever watch Inside the Actor's Studio on Bravo, you can play a drinking game by taking a shot every tine a guest mentions Stella Adler...you'll get pretty messed-up.
What's the point? I am very happy to have gotten accepted to classes because it's a prestigious school, and I think I will benefit greatly from the training. Not to mention the fact that it's just nice to be working on the craft again.


SCARY THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Kevin and Bean had a discussion on KROQ today with a man that works for the people that count all of the votes for the election, and even the guy that works for the company is saying that there are going to be worse problems this year with uncounted or lost votes due to the horrible voting systems we have in place. He said the electronic voting machines are so easy to tamper with, it's beyond laughable, and that because of the second-rate system they're using, there is absolutely no way to trace who might have tampered with the machines, or even to see if they HAVE been tampered with. Yeesh...here we go again...

THE WORLD'S GONE MAD

I just found out that, last night, my lovely Uncle Jack was a hero. He now lies in the hospital recovering from his multiple stab-wounds (TEN, in all), with his likewise injured girlfriend down the hall. Seems they were returning to her apartment after a date last night and while Jack was parking the car, his girlfriend was met by her ex-husband in the hallway. He had come prepared, apparently to do some considerable damage, with a hammer, a crow-bar, and a very nasty knife. When Jack came-in, he pulled the man off of his girlfriend and in the ensuing scuffle, trying to subdue this crazed lunatic my Uncle Jack sustained ten stab-wounds and multiple scratches and lacerations. I don't know all of the details yet, but I do know at the the end of the ordeal, the crazed ex-husband took his own life with the knife he brought. My Uncle Jack lost a lot of blood in that hallway, and his last clear thought before he lost consciousness was to tell the policemen his sister's phone number. He was in critical care for most of the night, but he's now in stable condition and the doctors believe he will be able to go home in about a week. If my Uncle Jack hadn't been there last night, his girlfriend would have been killed. Needless to say, my entire family is a little freaked-out.

My Mom's side of the family is quite extensive. She is the oldest of seven brothers and sisters, and between them all, there are about 30 grandchildren. The majority of the family lives on the east coast, so Mom and I are frustrated to be too far away to help in situations like this, but we send all of our love and hope for the best.

How crazy is this world, though??? You never think that things like this actually happen, but I guess they do. We're just lucky he's okay.


MAN I WOULD BE "SECOND WIFE" TO

I am aware that Jon Stewart already has a wife, but I would like to be Wife #2, please.

QUICK THOUGHT

I heard that in Detroit, the term "doorwall" is used instead of "sliding-glass door". This blows my mind.



BIGGEST SPIN OF THE DAY

instead of focusing on the POINT, which was TOLERANCE of alternative lifestyles and how low in character one has to be to be to deny a member of one's own family a chance at happiness, they repub's focused on kerry mentioning a child of a candidate. ahh, the spin-doctors of the far-right...unfortunately, genius.

LILY-WATCH

So, I am Lily-sitting tonight while my sis and bro have a fab night out at their friends' Oktoberfest party. I tried to convince Brooks to wear some leiderhosen, but he wouldn't go for it. Whatev's. My Lily girl isn't too used to anyone but Mommy (and occasionally Daddy) putting her to sleep, so I wasn't sure if she was going to fall asleep for me. But we sat in the rocking chair and rocked back and forth and I sang her songs quietly, and miraculously, she fell asleep. I don't know if there is any greater feeling than singing your baby niece to sleep! Too sweet. Though, I am probably jinxing myself by talking about it now, but I guess I'll just have to take that chance.


MUSIC PURCHASE OF THE DAY

Keane-Somewhere Only We Know

Can't go wrong with a mellow trio from Ireland.

FACTCHECK.DUH

As my brother-in-law reminded me and The Daily Show was also kind enough to point out, Cheney had more than one inaccuracy in his "command of the facts". The first being that the website that he pointed people to to verify his claims, factcheck.com, actually points you into an anti-Bush website. What he meant to say was factcheck.ORG, whose leading story the day after the debate was how Cheney couldn't even get the name of their site right. Secondly, Cheney delivered a big zinger by saying that Edwards had a bad attendance record in the Senate and that being the Senate president, the night of the debate was the first time Cheney had ever met Edwards. This is a tough claim to support, considering that Cheney has only attended TWO Senate meetings in this past year, and what else....oh yes, the VIDEO that exists of the two candidates sitting RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER while at a fundraiser.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were on The View today, and when asked if there was anything he would have liked more time to clear-up (which I believe was a definite set-up) he mentioned that part about them meeting before, and Mrs. Edwards (whom I LOVE) said that she actually said as much to Cheney right after the debates when they were all shaking hands, and he said, "Oh, yeah." Right.

MUST-SEE SHOW OF THE DECADE

If you're not watching The Daily Show, and you have any interest in politics, you're only getting half the story. Comedy Central, nightly, 11 PM.

THE "VEEPS"

Ah, John Edwards. Thou art fair, thou art lovely, thou art...hot. I was very proud of our young VP candidate, and I thought he handled himself quite well, especially considering he had to withstand all of the heat that Cheney was radiating...Cheney being THE DEVIL, and all. Bainey reminded me of those two crotchety puppets from The Muppet Show, the ones that sit in the balcony and comment grumpily on the goings-on. The word "curmudgeon" came to mind more than once. He was so defensive and I think partly insulted that he had to debate someone so new to the politics game, but when posed a question on that exact subject, I think Edwards said it best. Something like, "Experience doesn't always equal quality." I felt he represented Kerry well, and proved he was a strong candidate that could hold his own on the world stage, should that need ever arise.
I am excited for Friday's debate, to see what kinds of questions will be posed from the audience, and what will be allowed on-the-air. I don't think Bushy-britches can handle thinking on his feet very well...nor on his hands, or bum, or head, in a tree, on a farm, riding a bike...not very good at thinking, in general, matter of fact.


A FEW OF THE WORST COVER SONGS

Satisfaction-Britney Spears
When a Man Loves a Woman-Michael Bolton
I Love Rock and Roll-Britney Spears

TOP TEN BEST COVER SONGS

Not ranked, and in no particular order...

I AM THE WALRUS (OASIS)

Now, I know it's redundant to say the Oasis covered a Beatles tune, because of their often strikingly similar musical styles, but this is a fantastically rocking cover of this tune. It was recorded live at a Sony music party, and each of the bandmembers were about two bottles of Jack in, which is evident towards the end when things sort of fall apart, but it does rock...maybe because of all of those factors.

HELP (NOEL GALLAGHER)

Noel is the leader of the band Oasis and he ocassionally plays this song in his acoustic set. It's slow and haunting, especially in the chorus where instead of going up the octave on "...Please, please help me...", he leaves it down where it started, which makes it sound all the more tragic. I have often borrowed his version of this song for my own...sorry Noel.

I WILL SURVIVE (CAKE)

I know that a lot of people are probably going to use this one, but it's still pretty kick-ass...especially since it takes you until the chorus nto realize what song they're really singing...and when you do, it rocks.

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART (90'S REMAKE, DON'T KNOW WHO BY)

I am not old enough to have known the first depressing version, and the dancier upbeat version came out in my freshman year of high school...we rocked-out to it at just about every dance. Good times...

BACK FOR GOOD (ROBBIE WILLIAMS)

Now, Robbie was actually a member of the brit-pop super boy-band, Take That, whom originally released the song. But Robbie broke away and made his own success (The ORIGINAL Justin Timberlake), and he ocasionally breaks into this song, much to the delight of his screaming legions of fans. He starts out all slow and sweet, and the girls melt, but then when he gets to the chorus he goes into hyperdrive and amps it up to a super hard-rock version. He then goes back to the sweet version in the verse. By the time the audience recovers from the chorus, they are already on the floor. Yum.

LETS GET IT ON (JACK BLACK)

There is nothing sexier than a man with talent...for example, out of nowhere at the end of the movie High Fidelity, Jack Black slowly gets incredibly hot in a strange way during the course of his singing of this song. So fabluous!

SMOOTH CRIMINAL (ALIEN ANT FARM)

For MONTHS, and MONTHS, that driving baseline of the verse was humming silently through my head at all times. Besides the fact that the video rocked, featuring many poignent tributes to the fantastic years of MJ. Interesting take that didn't need any improvement, but they found the other side to the song.

SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW/ WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD (ISREAL KAMAWIWO'OLE)

This sweet and lilting version of a medley of these two beloved songs is sung by what one can only assume due to the tenderness of his voice is an inherently gentle man, one feels transported away to a quite time with one's thoughts. I know that makes no sense, but this song just makes me so happy.

WHITER SHADE OF PALE (ANNIE LENNOX)

Her voice is so haunting and wise. I like the reworking of the arrangement and the ethereal quality she injects it with.

ITSY BITSY SPIDER (LILY AYOLA)

There is, so far, only one known recording of this remarkable piece of music and performance art. Her parents hold the only copy, but, luckily, they don't horde it's genius; you can visit Lily's Blog and scroll to the the post concerning said song, and experience the joy of viewing what I am sure will agree, is utter perfection of musical ability.

Other music list bloggers this month:
Alien Fur
Bitchalicious
Brooks Blog
Chapati Mystery
Chele Blog
The Dune Shack
I See Monsters
Reality Remixed
Sheets & Blankets
Shoulda Said
Write On Megs

I'M ON THE WEST SIDE, I'M ON THE EAST SIDE....

I went to New York this past weekend and spent a lovely couple of days with my Dad. I had a free airline ticket that I needed to use before November, and my dad was in NYC for a convention, so we figured it would be a good use of the ticket. I caught up with some of my college friends (one of whom is dancing in 42 Street on Broadway and I am ridiculously proud of her), which was delightful. The people I saw I hadn't seen since graduation, so it was nice to catch-up on where everyone is. Dad and I walked around the city a lot, went to the village and had great food, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, walked in Central Park...good times. I went on a run in Central Park and of course got myself lost and ended up running in circles for forty-five minutes or so, but hey, whatev's.

A very cool moment was when my dad and I stood in the middle of Times Square watching the debates on the jumbo-tron. We of course couldn't hear them, but the captions were rolling under it, letting us know what they were saying. It was interesting to not be able to hear them and just judge them on how they were looking, and there Kerry stood, noble and dignified, delivering his points with clarity and decisiveness, and there slouched W, all but rolling his eyes when Kerry attacked him. My dad felt that if Bush could've taken his jacket and tie off and rolled up his sleeves and popped a corn-pipe in his mouth, he would have...anything to appear the bumbling-aww-shucks-everyman to all the down-home hicks out there that would fall for that. Anyhow, I was hoping Kerry would come out strong and take Bushy-britches to task for all of the messes he's made of his presidency, and he did exactly that. He was tough, he was unrelenting, he was presdential. I couldn't have been prouder. I think the best point he made was when W was using the old "he's a flip-flopper on the war issues" thing, and Kerry came back with the point that being CERTAIN is not the same thing as being RIGHT, and that any good leader must learn to grow and change with the needs of the issue.

I am STOKED for Tuesday, when my boy John Edwards is set to debate satan-incarnate (Cheney). Hold on to your horses, kids, it's gonna be a GOOD one. Ooohhhh....can't wait!!! You're my boy, blue!!

The countdown begins, kids! Let's go get 'em!!!


DISTURBING IMAGE OF THE DAY

My dad saw a woman with a shirt that had a picture of the pig that planned the 9-11 attacks on the front, and under it was the caption, "My Hero"!!! Wha??? Walking down the streets of New York City???!! Or anywhere, for that matter! I am pretty sure she got tackled on the next block, hog-tied and horse-whipped by the people of NYC. Maybe it was her attempt at suicide-by-New-Yorker.