Catching Up
I've been a little busy lately and a lot uninspired so I haven't been putting much into the blog. To catch up, here's a quick summary of my opinions on recent items of note:
The Unsinkable Stimulus-tanic: Wow, that sure is... big. It's loaded with enough pork it will be difficult for the Dems to keep their preening moral high-ground in the face of the least bit of scrutiny, but their heady election win has them feeling invulnerable at the moment. Despite the chidings of the leftocracy, I wouldn't be to worried as a Republican legislator opposing this thing. It will, of course, pass anyway.
Pajamas Drops Its Drawers Pajamas Media finally killed off it's ad service. I was shocked to learn that lots of venture capital is not, in itself, a viable business model. Pretty classless handling of the matter by the guy in the fedora. But this was inevitable.
The Economy: Stimulus or no, it's bad out there. Really bad. As bad as I can ever remember in my adult life. Still, I find that in one's personal life if one refuses to panic and continues to make rational decisions based on their up-to-date priorities, there is a calming sense that this will pass, and things will get better again. It's not the end of the world, or end of capitalism, or end of anything really. In large part, people need to buck the hell up. Which is not to say losing your job doesn't suck. It does.
Limbaugh-rama: Much as I respect a man who is already a radio legend, doesn't this have a bit of a "90's" feel to it? I really don't think Limbaugh has much more guidance to give the GOP than he's already given. The attention being given here seems... weird. I don't understand why people from either side of the aisle think we need to think so deeply about Rush Limbaugh as some essential test of... whatever it is they're going on about.
Princess Caroline Returns to Her Castle: This made me a little sad. She was going to be so much fun for so many reasons. Alas, much as America's political class is moving toward a kind of aristocracy this proved a little much a little soon. Caroline wanted to be the kind of princess who gets flowers tossed at her rather than middle fingers.
Television Land:
Super Bowl: Meh. A 9-7 team playing in it kind of killed the excitement for me. Considering the state of the nation, it's kind of creepy that the Steelers are champs again... just like during the Jimmy Carter years. I liked the Career Builder commercial though.
Battlestar Galactica: If the first two episodes of the new season ratcheted the tension good and tight, this last episode exploded with all the chaos, messiness, grudge-settling, and psycho-drama it could muster. Every time I think this show might be slipping, the writers bring it back around in BIG fashion.
American Idol: Finally we're out of the auditions and into Hollywood. Unfortunately spoilers of who made it through Hollywood already about on the Intertubes. I'm scrupulously avoiding that stuff, so please no hints or links from the spoiler lovers.
Hell's Kitchen: This season they decided they'd better pull in a lot of experienced chefs. I'm guessing it's so they don't have to lie about the restaurant position the winner is going to receive like last season (short version: last season's culinary student winner did NOT really become the executive chef at Ramsay's new LA restaurant. She got a nice position more in line with her resume, but that was not what the show claimed). It's still a nasty boot camp experience, and getting weirder that contestants who have watched previous seasons haven't figured this out, thinking Ramsay will find nothing to criticize about them.
That's all for now. More coherent posting (hopefully) as the week progresses.
The Unsinkable Stimulus-tanic: Wow, that sure is... big. It's loaded with enough pork it will be difficult for the Dems to keep their preening moral high-ground in the face of the least bit of scrutiny, but their heady election win has them feeling invulnerable at the moment. Despite the chidings of the leftocracy, I wouldn't be to worried as a Republican legislator opposing this thing. It will, of course, pass anyway.
Pajamas Drops Its Drawers Pajamas Media finally killed off it's ad service. I was shocked to learn that lots of venture capital is not, in itself, a viable business model. Pretty classless handling of the matter by the guy in the fedora. But this was inevitable.
The Economy: Stimulus or no, it's bad out there. Really bad. As bad as I can ever remember in my adult life. Still, I find that in one's personal life if one refuses to panic and continues to make rational decisions based on their up-to-date priorities, there is a calming sense that this will pass, and things will get better again. It's not the end of the world, or end of capitalism, or end of anything really. In large part, people need to buck the hell up. Which is not to say losing your job doesn't suck. It does.
Limbaugh-rama: Much as I respect a man who is already a radio legend, doesn't this have a bit of a "90's" feel to it? I really don't think Limbaugh has much more guidance to give the GOP than he's already given. The attention being given here seems... weird. I don't understand why people from either side of the aisle think we need to think so deeply about Rush Limbaugh as some essential test of... whatever it is they're going on about.
Princess Caroline Returns to Her Castle: This made me a little sad. She was going to be so much fun for so many reasons. Alas, much as America's political class is moving toward a kind of aristocracy this proved a little much a little soon. Caroline wanted to be the kind of princess who gets flowers tossed at her rather than middle fingers.
Television Land:
Super Bowl: Meh. A 9-7 team playing in it kind of killed the excitement for me. Considering the state of the nation, it's kind of creepy that the Steelers are champs again... just like during the Jimmy Carter years. I liked the Career Builder commercial though.
Battlestar Galactica: If the first two episodes of the new season ratcheted the tension good and tight, this last episode exploded with all the chaos, messiness, grudge-settling, and psycho-drama it could muster. Every time I think this show might be slipping, the writers bring it back around in BIG fashion.
American Idol: Finally we're out of the auditions and into Hollywood. Unfortunately spoilers of who made it through Hollywood already about on the Intertubes. I'm scrupulously avoiding that stuff, so please no hints or links from the spoiler lovers.
Hell's Kitchen: This season they decided they'd better pull in a lot of experienced chefs. I'm guessing it's so they don't have to lie about the restaurant position the winner is going to receive like last season (short version: last season's culinary student winner did NOT really become the executive chef at Ramsay's new LA restaurant. She got a nice position more in line with her resume, but that was not what the show claimed). It's still a nasty boot camp experience, and getting weirder that contestants who have watched previous seasons haven't figured this out, thinking Ramsay will find nothing to criticize about them.
That's all for now. More coherent posting (hopefully) as the week progresses.
Posted by Doug Williams on
Monday February 2, 2009 at 11:06am
