I Love It!

From the Washington Post media column:

National Review's Jay Nordlinger doesn't sugarcoat the verdict:

"Don't shoot the messenger.

"I thought Kerry did very, very well; and I thought Bush did poorly -- much worse than he is capable of doing. Listen: If I were just a normal guy -- not Joe Political Junkie -- I would vote for Kerry. On the basis of that debate, I would. If I were just a normal, fairly conservative, war-supporting guy: I would vote for Kerry. On the basis of that debate."

More from the NR column linked above:

Bush said, "We're makin' progress" a hundred times — that seemed a little desperate. He also said "mixed messages" a hundred times — I was wishing that he would mix his message. He said, "It's hard work," or, "It's tough," a hundred times. In fact, Bush reminded me of Dan Quayle in the 1988 debate, when the Hoosier repeated a couple of talking points over and over, to some chuckles from the audience (if I recall correctly)....

Why did Bush keep requesting a special 30 seconds to say the same thing over and over?...

I hate to say it, but often Bush gave the appearance of being what his critics charge he is: callow, jejune, unserious [my emphasis]. And remember — talk about repetition! — I concede this as someone who loves the man...

Kerry's closing statement was superb — couldn't have made better use of his time.

Hey George--Real life sucks losers dry. If you wanna fuck with the eagles, you have to learn to fly.

(no subject)

Rehearsal last night went better (for me at least) than I feared. I was stressing about having to call for line, but I actually did quite well. Duncan said I switched a couple of words in the limericks and I jumped a couple of cue lines but that was pretty much it. I have to use a lot of compensatory memorization techniques with the first act, because Calliope's lines are so random. Some of it is muscle memory, but right now I'm relying on certain letters and cues in the cue lines, like when Carlos has a line where he starts off by saying Burro"--that reminds me that my next limerick is about a bull. When Elizabeth has a line about "you're an orphan, that's so sad" that reminds me the next limerick has a lot of Ss in it "Esser...lesser and lesser..."

I tried something new last night--a character voice for the first act. I think it works--it's an outside-in sort of thing that short-circuits me to the essential wise-child that Calliope is. I don't know if I'm typically outside-in or inside -out--I just sort of feel my way through roles. It helps when they're well-written and textual, since I respond to the written word so much.

(no subject)

Richard Avedon has died.

Ideology

Something I find infuriating about the Bush administration (and remember, after 9/11 I was all about giving him a chance, and supporting him--it took quite a bit of effort to throw away that goodwill) is its ideological nature.

Let's review: this man came into office holding on by his fingernails as it were (and of course, he didn't win the popular vote at all) and subsequent Congressional elections only confirmed, and continue to confirm, how ideologically split the country was. Furthermore, he ran on a promise of "I'm a uniter, not a divider." You'd think he'd realize he didn't have a mandate (remember, more people voted for Gore)--you'd think he'd live up to his promise and try to negotiable an acceptable ideological middle ground WRT to policy.

But no. Things like the appointment of John Ashcroft, the anti-stem cell research thing, the blatant attempt to insult 10% of Americans by pushing a Constitutional Amendment that basically says "Fuck You"--it's just infuriating. Dude, get the picture. Stop standing around surrounded by your damn sycophants and look at us--a lot of Americans don't agree with your policies. A LOT of us have a problem with your conservative policies.

If this is the way he acts now, I truly dread how he'll be if he "wins" the election. Nothing so potentially dangerous as a lame duck.