twelve things, continued:
04 i've finally found a DVD that stumps both blockbuster and netflix, and naturally it's something i need to see right away. in the course of researching annette funicello beach party movies yesterday (for work), i was introduced to the seventh and final one: the ghost in the invisible bikini ("When a pretty ghoul trades in her bed sheet for a bikini!").* boris karloff as a ghost (not, presumably, the titular one) and nancy sinatra as, um, "vicki" are enough to sell me on the thing, but basil rathbone (!) is the villain; i love actors who played sherlock holmes more than, um, john edwards loves shitting on hillary clinton.
05 i haven't made up my mind about yesterday's weepy? hillary episode. it did look kind of staged, honestly, but she's had a hell of a week: iowa (and the news outlets' coverage of iowa, especially the questionable enthusiasm at her afterparty) was embarrassing, and i felt for her when she lost her temper at edwards in the debate. i do know that i love, to get a bit meta, commenters' dorky responses to salon blogger rebecca traister's response to john edwards's response to the hillary episode. here's traister:
Edwards, speaking to reporters in Laconia, N.H., later in the day, took advantage of Clinton's emotional display to helpfully point out, "I think what we need in a commander-in-chief is strength and resolve, and presidential campaigns are tough business, but being president of the United States is also tough business."and here are some of my favorite comments on traister:
Hey, John Edwards! What an incredibly retro-crappy, desperate, sad thing to say! Congratulations on winning Broadsheet's first-ever daily award for Orc-like incivility!
Here's an award for you, Traister - you win my Lobelia Sackville-Baggins Award of the Year, for pettiness, mean-spirited finger-pointing, and overreaction to the point of inanity.
History is written by the winners. Orcs have been besmirched by elves, men, and hobbits for too long, and it's time for progressives like ourselves to stand up to this sort of ignorant, Second Age bigotry.
That picture comparison was just nasty. Shelob-like, if we're using Middle-Earthian metaphors.
in related news, jen linked to an amusing breakdown of the gop primary field in buffy villains. it's good, though i agree with the commenter who noted that rudy giuliani is one of the gentlemen ("hush"), not angelus.
*which is appropriate, i think. when offering variations on a teen sex comedy theme, throwing down a haunted house plot is the filmic equivalent of smashing one's guitar at the end of a concert. good night, cleveland!
There are two camps on Hillary -- besides the "she really killed Vince Foster" nutcases, for whom there is neither shame nor hope. Thusly: "You Go, Girl!" and "Power Hungry Robot."
ReplyDeleteThe trend towards robotic politics is not unique. [BEHOLD! MittBot2000! It's alive!] But popularizing it is basically Clinton's fault -- not Hillary, but Bubba.
There was message control in the past, obviously. But Bill took it to a science, and Hillary learned well. Of course, she turned into the famous Far Side cartoon -- "stimulus, response, stimulus, response... don't you ever think?" Everything is message, message, message.
Hell: after her stifled sob, she went back into her "ready on day one" talking points, almost reflexively. So claims of faking emotion are harsh, yet somewhat conceivable at the same time.
That's one side of the coin. The other is that she is fucking tired. They all are. When you get tired, sometimes something happens and you get all sniffly without even seeing it coming. So that could be it too.
feel the mittmentum!!
ReplyDelete@jacob: i love that some of romney's supporters actually have giant, MLB-style foam mitts. maybe clinton's people could wave giant foam...hills?
ReplyDeletethis morning's creepy "personal" note from the clinton campaign:
Dear Lauren,
You and I surprised a lot of people tonight!
In the days after Iowa, I turned to you and asked you to stand with me. When I needed you most, you came through with flying colors.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you.
All the best,
Hillary
and here i thought i was just changing out of my nasty gym clothes and microwaving leftover chili!
i love the giant mitt idea. and i slept a little better last night, finally knowing that mitt is not actually his real name (it's willard). for some reason, i've been more bothered about what would happen if one of the republican candidates ended up winning, and we had a president named mitt or named huckabee.
ReplyDeleteit would be hard to lift one's head in germany with a president huckabee, is all i'm saying.
I have to say, the best part of watching all the talking heads is the cool, 30ish liberal woman talking head. I call her "the adorable lesbian" but who knows if that is true. You know, the one who blamed Chris Matthews, to his face, for the Clinton come back?
ReplyDeleteAlso? Chris Matthews? Obsessed with Hillary hatred in a shockingly unhealthy way, and in Obama-as-Jesus in a even more creepy way.
30ish liberal woman = Rachel Maddow. Rhodes Scholar (really), and Air America host. Also: attened small female-only liberal arts school in Western Mass. So, yes, she's gay. (According to her website, she's actually hitched.)
ReplyDelete(This is to contrast with the 50ish liberal woman on that night, Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel, who is an insufferable bore.)
i like the timing this morning: i'm reading the buffy/GOP listing just as i'm hitting play on "Graduation Day, Part 2" - the Demon Mayor/Ascension episode. woot.
ReplyDelete-s