Holy Galloping Teeth, Batman!

A little long, but cool just the same:


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Did you spot the Q-Bert reference?

Dust Off Your Dance Shoes

Papa Bear pumps up the jam:



And Colbert sympathizes here.

Paging Dr. Rove

I was wrong. The Republicans will be talking about gay marriage ahead of schedule.

Least Important Post Ever?

And still you read it. I've blogged on some pretty insignificant stuff in the past, but I just want to say that John McCain's wife creeps me out. Of course, the only spouse of a candidate with relevance for this election - in my opinion - is William Jefferson Clinton; the Constitution has no guidelines for the role a former president would play in his wife's administration. But there is something sinister about Cindy McCain. Imagine a sequel to Village of the Damned in which the cursed hamlet is menaced by the grown-up children:

I'm going to stop writing about this before she invades my mind and convinces me not to care about her tax returns.

You Could Set Your Clock To It

Time was we'd be approaching midsummer before the Right started marching out tired old hobby horses like this. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I just think it would have been nice to have the Democratic nominee decided before we indulge the Republicans in their hollow, election-cycle fear-mongering. But I suppose everything in this campaign season has been accelerated. I guess that means we'll be hearing about gay marriage in a couple of weeks. That'll make for some stunning contortions of logic. I can't wait until someone goes on Hannity & Colmes trying to sell the idea that Obama is both a secret Muslim extremist AND a Sodomite hellbent on destroying the sanctity of marriage. How do Islamists view homosexuality again? Oh, right. Well, no matter what, I'm with Hamas.

The Misogyny and the Prodigy

My good friend and one-time roommate Matt - knowing my love for both vintage ads and YouTube - sent me this tonight:


And it got me thinking about Hillary Clinton.

As aggravating as the last few months of the campaign have been, the end is in sight. I have been impressed with the degree to which Obama has kept his cool and resisted the temptation to resort to identity politics. Though - I should add - I've followed his trajectory for nigh on four years now and have seen no viable evidence that he's ever been all that tempted in that regard. Maybe that detracts from his political courage, but it certainly speaks on behalf of his political maturity.

I can't say the same for Senator Clinton. She has done more pandering, faked more accents, donned more disguises than her opponent. More unfortunate than talking about the gas tax holiday from the back of a vintage pickup truck (the good ol' days? subtle!) were the few times when she lapsed into paleo-feminist victimhood. Sexism is very much alive and well in the United States. And electing a woman president would go a long way toward assuaging that historical inequality. Just the sight of it. Americans are visual learners. They need to see a powerful woman before they will believe it's possible. And the same is true with African Americans. It's a puzzling bit of circular illogic you hear from West Virginians and others. "I won't vote for Obama because the country's not ready for a black president." And how will we know when we're ready? When we vote for one, of course.

But it's still a tricky business. Not voting for candidates because they're female or black is ignorant while voting for candidates because they're female or black is merely shallow and anti-meritocratic. What's a voter to do? Hopefully vote on the basis of other issues. It appears that many people have done just that during this primary season. Hillary deserves a lot of credit for being a trailblazer. It has not been easy for her to find (and keep) her voice. In the end, from where I sit, Obama beat her fair and square. Yes, there's Florida and Michigan, but can any Clinton supporter say - with even a modicum of intellectual honesty - that they'd be as adamant about the "disenfranchisement" of those renegade delegations had Obama carried their majorities? He's outmaneuvered, outraised, and outsmarted the most powerful and most popular Democratic family since the Kennedys.

I am anxious to see how Clinton will make her dénouement. My prediction is that she will end her campaign as she ran it: making excuses. Maybe I'm being pessimistic. Or maybe I'm just blowing smoke.

Lorne Again

It's been a long time since I cared about SNL, which is a little sad since it was the center of my comedic universe when I was twelve or so. Just ask my family, beleaguered as they were by me impersonating Dana Carvey impersonating George H.W. Bush. I can't really envision a scenario in which the show becomes relevant to me again, but I do think Kristen Wiig (of Virgania Horsen's Hot Air Balloon Rides fame) is a rare talent:



She's the next Gilda Radner. Just kidding. There's no one like Gilda Radner. Just kidding. I wasn't even alive when Gilda Radner was acting. Just kidding. I was, but I was a baby. Just kidding. I was a man baby. Just kidding. Just kidding.