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SUGGESTED LOGO/T-SHIRT DESIGN
Are we liking this as a logo for Obama-Biden 08? I got inspired to try my hand at some graphic design. Let me know what you think.
REDISCOVERED MOJO
I missed the Mets and the Democratic Convention (had to catch up on both via TiVo later), so i could attend the night session at the U.S. Open where I saw Andy Roddick finally find his mojo. He served 147 miles per hour and notice that he's back. I later discovered that both Bill Clinton and the Mets rediscovered their mojo too.
Other highlights from the Open: I saw a woman who looked just like Jimmy Connors, watched a doubles team on a side court who had an uncanny resemblance to Simon and Garfunkel and enjoyed playing "Which of these things is not like the other?" with the corporate sponsors' logos along the side of Arthur Ashe stadium. (Lexus, Chase, George Foreman, American Express.)
As for Clinton Mari (a lame riff on Bush Pere):
The wounded Leo rose to the occasion, buried the hatchet and really helped unify the party. He showed far more graciousness and magnanimity than one might have expected and it was great to be reminded how compelling and charismatic he can be when he's not being petulant. It was also nice to see how directly and emphatically Obama acknowledged both of the Clintons in his brief "surprise" appearance at the end. (Based of recent evidence, it appears the Democrats do Surprise about as well as the Republicans do Honesty--or, to be less controversial, Competence.)
Kerry was strong and impassioned. Nothing like someone working with conviction to redeem past failings. Reminds me of how great Gore was endorsing Kerry in 2004--exhibiting more righteous conviction in one brief speech than he had cumulatively summoned in all his campaign appearances and debates in 2000.
Love watching the big, cheesy, guileless smiles that Hillary and Bill give each other when the other one delivers a good applause line on stage. It's a touching glimpse into the genuine love and deep mutual regard that transcend their specular narcissism and spectacular ambition.
Beau Biden's speech was, for me, the highlight of the night. A speech from the heart of tragedy and truth delivered without a trace of vanity or rhetorical artifice. It was wonderful in the context of recent Party pride and pettiness to have such gravitas conferred upon the proceedings. It was a truly moving and powerful tribute and I had goose bumps on my arms and tears in my eyes.
After that, Biden was perfectly solid. But the truest thing he said was that he knows he's done all right because he sees that his son has turned out to be a better man than he.
In any event: It seems like the Democrats finally have their house in order. The necessary words have been said, the unifying gestures have been made, the generational torch has been passed and it seems like, as long as they don't do something pretentious and grandiose on the last night of the Convention to play right into the Republicans' Celebrity-slamming hands, they should they should be in good shape.
Oh, wait...
Yeah.
Hmm.
PROPS OF THE DAY:
To Carlos Freaking Delgado
Beau Biden
Bill Clinton
And Anyone who can talk Obama out of doing his planned Demonsthenes (or is it Delphic Oracle?) Impression tonight.
OBSERVATION OF THE DAY:
Tennis is boxing for people who don't like to get hit and chess is tennis for people who don't like to get up.
PROPOSED BAND NAME OF THE DAY:
Andy Roddick's Girlfriend
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY: (And, no: this does not relate to anyone I know.)
While he was a hell of a competitor, he seldom brought his hygienic A-game.
POLITICS:
Hillary did her part. She felt more real and vibrant and authentic than ever before. All the cheeesiness and sing-songiness was gone from her voice--replaced by a credible sense of gravity and conviction. That said, she really had no real alternative as it was essential to her self-interest to appear to be giving her wholehearted support to the ticket. To the extent that she still harbors hopes of a future presidential run (and she most certainly does), she knows it's political suicide to have her fingerprints on any possible Obama loss. Bill Clinton, too, will no doubt rise to the performative occasion tonight (even if he is unahppy with the speech topic he's been given: hey, NOBODY tells the smartest kid in the class what to write or talk about. Nobody.) as he has a profound investment in his legacy. But in his heart of hearts, you know that what he hopes for most is an Obama loss that can't be blamed on him and the sweet redemption of a Hillary victory in 2012. He's the biggest, babiest, boomerist ego of them all and he is simply not ready to be eclipsed by this undeferential Illinois upstart.
But Bill and Hillary's conflicts of interest aside: the onus is really on Obama now to graciously embrace the Hillary supporters and to truly acknowledge the indispensible contribitions of the Clintons. Bill needs his ego stroked. And Hillary's passionate supporters need her historic run to be properly acknowledged. Obama simply can't give this short shrift. At the same time, he has to really start getting less abstract and make a direct, gut-level appeal to the average American. Give them a sense of who he is and what he would do to improve their lot. To concretize his promise of positive change. His complex and nuanced policy ideas have to be distilled down to something clear and readily intelligible. "Smarter ideas for a better working America." or "Smarter policies for a healthier America" or "Smarter Policies for a Safer, Stronger America." Or some such thing. Those three just sprang to mind...but frankly, while none is very good, they are all much better than any formulation he has yet to offer.
Aside from the instant communicability of a "Tax cuts, Small government" platform, McCain has another truly insisidious asymmetry working in his favor. Namely this: Fear and doubt are a much easier sell than trust and hope. As the Middle East has shown us again and again, years of careful, painstaking peace negotiations can be undone by a single act of hate.
If all else fails, Obama could embrace this slogan: "He's never called his wife a C*nt."
PROBABLY UNNECESSARY P.S. OF THE DAY:
In case that last sentence elicited a "Whaa??" reaction: McCain evidently called his wife the C word in front of a lot of people a couple of years ago. And by C word, I don't mean Christian, conservative or cougar.
BEST NEW OBAMA-BIDEN ANALOGY TANDEM SUGGESTION OF THE DAY (Courtesy of friend of blog, R.C.)
Luke Skywalker and Han Solo
Damn. That might give Ashton and Demi a run for their money.
VEGASISM OF THE DAY:
Not to date myself, but, hey., everyone needs a social life...
STATE OF THE VEGAS OF THE DAY:
The U.S. Open has started, the Democratic Convention is underway, the Mets are in a pennant race, the back-to-school feeling is creeping back into the air and Theodore Vegas is simply overwhelmed by the bounty, the plenitude and the abundance.
QUICKLY SCRIBBLED CONVENTION NOTES:
I thought Michelle Obama was excellent. Articulate. Lovely. Warm. And fist-bumpalicious. Struck me how this really was a different vision of America. An America in which things really are possible. In which the American Dream is more than a lovely piece of rhetoric to be cynically trotted out around election time. It struck me that Michelle and Barack and, I believe, Biden were all the first people in their respective families to attend college. What a breath of fresh air from the usual patrician sense of waspy white entitlement. The scions of privilege, groomed for greatness since just before their births. This is as true of recent Democratic candidates (Kerry comes from wealth, Gore's father was a famous senator, Clinton is, of course, the glaring exception...) as it's been true of the Republicans. Anyhow, a nice thing to see and a true slap in the face of one's habitual cynicism.
My only nit pick: I could have lived with her saying "You see" a few fewer times. But otherwise, damn. Just jealous Barack got to her first.
Obama appearing via satellite: The camera pulls back to reveal him sitting there next to this middle American white family in Kansas City. Awkward. So silly and stage-y. Like a movie comedy premise gone bad. Sort of like the Jerk in reverse. Or Me, Myself and Obama. Who is that skinny black guy at the edge of the family portrait?
Still a big rift between the Hillary delegates and the Obama delegates. And, of course, between the Obamas and the Clintons. I'm sure Hillary and Bill will say all the right things in their scheduled speeches, but their hearts will not be fully in it. And that's a real problem. With all the racial resistance Obama faces, any failure of party unification could prove fatal. Bill Clinton is a big entitled baby and Hillary's self- interest is at war with her political principles (which is to say, Obama losing is better for her chances in 2012). That said, I think she may surprise us with an unprecendented display of Clintonian self-transendence. But even if she does, the obstacles are still formidable: Millions of bitter women and one huge, bitter male ego.
Observation watching the post-Convention commentary: Not to generalize, but Republicans tend to be mean and ugly. At least the party hacks and spinmeisters. And, a propos of that: While I'm not a big fan of celebrity culture, it is striking that the only notable G.O.P. celebs are Wayne Newton and Bo "I.Q. of 10" Derek. G.O.P: The celebreality series. Next on Fox TV!
Best Convention Image of the night: A shot of a guy wandering outside the convention with a sign that said "Bring Back Crystal Pepsi."
SIGNS OF RACIAL PROGRESS OF THE DAY:
a)
Donald Young and James Blake played a 5 setter last night at the U.S. Open and no where in the article did it mention that they were both black.
b)
The Democrats are about to nominate the first black presidential candidate ever from a major party.
SIGNS OF LACK OF RACIAL PROGRESS OF THE DAY:
a)
Lots of white working class voters still think of Obama as "Other" and "Not Like us" and use all kinds of code words to signify an unwillingness to vote for a black candidate.
b)
Some white supremist creeps were arrested in Denver after being found to have automatic rifles and claiming to be in town to shoot Obama.
http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/assisination.plot.obama.2.802827.html
Terrifying. Yeah, you've got a self-made black guy who went to Harvard and built this amazing life for himself with a loving, brilliant wife and beautiful respectful children and is about to be nominated as the Democratic Party candidate for President of the United States. Then you have these freakish angry meth-mouthed losers with swastika tattoos trying to kill him because he's black. Yup. Clear proof of the superiority of white people!
The five stages of my reaction to this news:. Denial, Fear, Rage, Sadness, Laughter.
The Obamas clearly love each other more than the McCains do. They have cuter kids than the McCains do. They are better looking than the McCains. They are better educated than the McCains. But, there's just something about them. I can't quite put my finger on it. Oh, wait, that's right: They're black.
STORY OF THE DAY:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080825/sc_livescience/surveywomenleaderssmartermorehonest
In a finding that will be bittersweet for Hillary Clinton supporters, a new Pew survey finds that when it comes to honesty, intelligence and a handful of other key traits valued in leaders, the public rates women as superior to men.
Still, a mere 6 percent say that, overall, women make better political leaders than men.
My thought: Men aren't prefered as political leaders in spite of their inferior honesty and intelligence. But because of it.
STORY SUMMARY OF THE DAY:
Women are better people. But men are better at a lot of other things.
RANDOM SINGELE SENTENCE PORTRAIT OF THE DAY:
We enjoyed his occasional spasms of lucidity.
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Posted on 8/28/2008
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IMAGE OF THE DAY:
This image has in no way been Photoshopped or otherwise manipulated. It was simply that on the afternoon of Sunday July 27, the Montauk sky was channeling Mark Rothko.
POLITICAL COMMENT OF THE DAY:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/07/30/politics/horserace/entry4307418.shtml
I assume you've all seen the McCain attack ad against Obama. If not, check it out at the above link. A stunningly shameless semiotic stew--concocted by the same fine folks who swift boated black senatorial candidate Harold Ford in 2004 with a loose white woman signing off the spot with a sexually suggestive "Call me, Harold."
Highlights include:.
The association of Barack Obama with Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton. Say WHAT!?!?
The subtextual connection of a black man to loose white women to appeal to the bigot base. ("Call me, Barack.")
The malicious dishonesty of claiming that Obama's principled opposition to offshore drilling implies a greater dependence on foreign oil. (This Rovean dishonesty itself of course being compelling confirmation of Obama's claim that McCain is just four more years of Bush-Cheney.)
The subliminal suggestion of Obama's "foreign-ness" via the lle about increased dependence on FOREIGN oil.
The intimation of the black candidate's audacity (read uppitiness) in fraternizing with foreign leaders and presuming to already be The Man.
The pathetic, fear-mongering.
The ugly innuendo.
The exactly what you'd expect-ness of it.
I mean the McCain camp has started an "Audacity Watch" for the uppity Obama. Honest to goodness. It's the audacity of shamelessness versus the audacity of hope.
And it's officially gotten ugly.
Freaking haters.
I hate 'em.
And no: I'm not trying to be self-referential and paradoxical and cute.
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For what it's worth, I think Obama's campaign is handling it well. Exposing it as another batch of fear-mongering and lies from a desperate candidate with no new ideas. ("Ooops,. He did it again.") I do think there will be karmic repercussions--soon detectable in the polls.
And if I'm wrong. Well, this future Minister General of The Commentariat is ready for the big secession.
Obama States of America, here I come a quipping.
UNNATURAL SHOCKS OF THE DAY: (Only 904 to go!)
The exercise pill. (What's next, the PhD lotion?).
That Barack Obama has been compared to Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears.
REPRESENTATIVE ANECDOTE OF THE DAY:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/28/iowans-arrested-trying-to_n_115290.html
Evidently, a bunch of people attempting to perform a citizen's arrest on Karl Rove (for ignoring a Congressional subpoena, I believe) were themselves arrested before they could do so for disturbing the peace!! Can you think of a more brilliantly self-referential distillation of Rovean principle-free pre-emptive tactics? Or indeed of the Bush-Cheney M.O. of villifying if not criminalizing those who oppose them in the name of defending their freedom?
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE DAY:
Muhammad Ali: The Mahatma Ghandi of pugilism.
LFAQs of THE DAY:
Now that Karadzic has been apprehended, will he lose the awful disguise or try to plead insanity?
What is the more preposterous: Comparing Obama to Paris Hilton or comparing Bush to Abraham Lincoln?
How many times have guest said, "Charlie" in the mode of rhetorical address as a guest on the Charlie Rose show? (I would love to keep stats on the number of times each guest has recourse to that cozily gratuitous form of address. "Well, Charlie..." "...As you know, Charlie,..." , "Well, that's a good question, Charlie...etc.))
REMINDER TO SELF:
Start a "Charlie Meter" for the Charlie Rose show.
SPEC AD IDEA OF THE DAY:
For Baby Gap. Visual. A photo of a little baby.
HEADLINE: Isn't it nice to see a model who doesn’t make you feel too chubby or too short?
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Posted on 8/1/2008
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IMAGE OF THE DAY:
Inspired by Jasper Johns' "American Flag", the Twin Towers and, of course, happenstance.
POLITICAL REFLECTION AND SUGGESTION OF THE DAY:
Here's my feeling. If, given the choice between a young, handsome, intelligent, calm, inspiring, articulate, charismatic. culturally-respectful, oratorically-gifted candidate who can play hoops and an old, scary-looking, curmudgeonly, irrascible, ignorant, inarticulate, erratic, uninspiring, occasionally apoplectic war-crazed coot who's got no game, America picks the latter, then it is simply time for sane America to secede from that other America and to declare itself not the Blue States of America, not the Red States of America, and not even the United States of America, but (drumroll please), the Obama States of America.
You heard it here first.
And I nominate myself First Under Secretary and Over Lord of Hoop and Minister General of the Commentariat.
BIRTHDAY ACCOMPLISHMENT:
Eating three forms of lobster in two days: Lobster, lobster roll and lobster ravioli. Also, starting to resemble a lobster. Whether this is primarily due to excessive crustacean ingestion ("you are what you eat" etc.) or insufficient beach side SPF-ing is an open question.
BIRTHDAY INSPIRATION:
On my birthday, Nancy Lieberman, age 50, played in a WNBA game. It was as if the universe were sending me a message. I'm not sure if the message is that I've got a long way to go until I need to hang up my high tops or that I'm getting so old and soft that I can only get my hoopic inspiration from menopausal women. In any event, she got a couple of assists and scored no points. About the same as my production last Wednesday. I'm gonna choose to go with the inspirational rather than the emasculating interpretation. Because with age comes wisdom and there is wisdom in knowing when your ego could benefit from a little timely self-deception.
LFAQ:
Now that Karadzic has been apprehended, when is gonna lose that ridiculous disguise?
SKETCH CHARACTERS OF THE DAY:
The germ-a-phobe naturalist
The spacy obsessive compulsive neatness freak.
QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"We are the change that we're tired of hearing about."
-This Obama bash from David Brooks in the NYT elicited a reluctant chuckle out of me.
"If Godard wasn't a genius, he'd be a college sophmore."
-From a review of new book about Jean-Luc Godard in the NYT.
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Posted on 7/30/2008
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BIRTHDAY IMAGE
REPRESENTATIVE ANECDOTE OF THE DAY:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11985.html?noop=1
Robert Novak involved in pedestrian hit and run. He wasn't the pedestrian. He was the one scooting away in his black corvette. I wouldn't expect anything less from the guy who helped leak Valerie Plame's name and then dodged all accountability. His actions stand as a nice representative metaphor for the ethos of the accountability-avoidant administration whose interests he has consistently served. As we survey the wreckage that they will soon leave behind, it is arguable that in may ways the last 7 years has been one long hit and run.
REFLECTIONS ON KARADZIC, IDENTITY ETC.
Really amazing story that this long sought war criminal (ok, alleged war criminal) has been hiding in plain sight like the purloined letter with a beard. Damn. They really needed someone with advanced facial recognition skills over there. Someone who wasn't tricked by the gestalt-altering potential of hairstyle and eyewear but knew how to break down the human face into discreet undisguisable anatomical units of analysis (eyes and brow/nose/mouth and chin etc.). Someone who was not misled by the merely ornamental but could see through to the immutable and essential. Someone who knew his way around the scalene of similitude. Someone like...hmmm. Moi!!
My shameless self-promotion notwithstanding: You've gotta admire the guy's chutzpah. Or psychotic disassociation. Or truly redemptive self-reinvention. Or perhaps all three. In fact, therein lies my fascination with the story. Was the mass murderer's transformation into an inspirational new age teacher/healer some kind of deeply cynical dissimulation? Was it an earnest attempt at karmic correction? Was it a defiant existential joke? Was it some kind of psychotic fugue state--that was in no way under the control of the ego? Was it some sort of public performance art statement about the unmasterable and irreducible contradictions of the Self? Was it a calculated step on the long road to becoming Santa? Was it some ultimately unknowable hybrid of all these things? Will we ever know? And most important: What was with that little black tuft of hair atop his head? Was that some symbolic remnant of his conscience? Was it a symbol of some deep identification with bird life? Was it a place holder for a dwarf yarmulke?
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You know if there is a hell, Saddam must be looking up right now and asking himself: Why didn't I think of this?!?!?!? He could have refashioned himself as the Dr. Phil of Fallujah.
IDEA FOR THE DAY:
Haven't we seen enough top athletes on reality TV shows like Dancing for the Stars? How about we flip it? A Reality show for Dancers in Football training camp. Broadway dancers. Ballet guys. River dancers. You name it. We get to see them block, punt, pass and kick. And then we get to see them blocked, gang tackled, body slammed and de-cleated. Hi jinx ensues.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DAY:
She was dead to him but still haunted him like the ghost of home.
STRANGELY MOVING SIGN OF THE DAY: (Taped to the wall in child's handwriting in the lobby of my building)
"MISSING. My Hamster. If you see him, please let me know. His name is Teddy."
Maybe it was just the name, maybe it was the proximity to my birthday...but it just felt so sad. Like it might as well have read. MISSING. My once cherished innocence. The chances of that hamster being found alive are about as high as the chances of OJ finding Nicole and Ron Goldman's killer anywhere outside his mirror.
SIGN OFF OF THE DAY:
OK, it just turned midnight. It's my birthday. Another trip around the sun has ended. Time to get used to a new number. It's gonna be really hard not to hear from my father today. Probably not as brutally hard as last year. But I expect a certain sadness to hover over the day. Or at least linger along its horizon. Birthdays are days of heightened presence. Presence to what is here and presence to what is no longer. They are reminders of the necessary wound we carry within us. The wound of birth through which we came into being and the inescapably twinned wound of death through which we will one day leave.
Or maybe it's just late and I'm feeling some of the fundamental poignance of things. Which isn't a bad thing at all. And perhaps a necessary condition for true celebration. There is, after all, a sadness that is indissociable from joy. And i guess I'm just feeling it.
In honor and memory of my father, I'm going to recite the birthday song once to myself in his behalf.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday dear Teddy.
Happy birthday to me.
Let the celebration begin.
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Posted on 7/28/2008
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