Random round-up

[teaberryblue]

1) I keep meaning to say that I was disappointed with Obama's press conference. After the amount of time he spoke to reporters during his campaign, I don't feel he has any excuse for the performance he put on.

I feel that it's my responsibility to say this because you all know how supportive I was of his campaign and I feel I should also be critical when it is necessary. There were two key things that bothered me.

First off, I felt like there was much too much finger-pointing and accusatory language used by him to talk about the Republicans in Congress. I am pissed with the way the Republicans handled the stimulus package, but I felt like Obama was defensive and accusatory. Come on, Barack. We all know they were being lame. What happened to you stepping above that shit? That's part of why I voted for you.

Secondly, he did not appear to have ready answers. He ummed and y'knowed a lot. He ummed and y'knowed much more than he did during the campaign, and these were all questions he should have expected to receive. On top of that, he gave a lot of non-answers. Non-answers are okay if you explain why you're giving a non-answer. Some, he did, like the issue of photographing the coffins of American troops, which I was pleased to see Gates followed through on almost immediately. Others he didn't, and he sounded kinda wishy-washy.

There was one other, but since I can't remember it now, it can't have been that important. So, yeah, Barack, sorry, but I expect to hear that was your stand-in or something, or you're getting like a C+ from me on that performance. I said frequently during the campaign that as long as he could inspire confidence, I would be happy even if he didn't get everything one his list accomplished. Likewise, even if he's getting things done, I won't be pleased if he can't hold a press conference together without being all whiny about how he inherited this problem.

2) Also on politics, is anyone else annoyed about the whole Daschle thing? I know the guy "failed to pay" his taxes. And frankly, for a former public official who got paid out of those taxes and knows how important taxes are to the working of, well, everything, I'm very disappointed. But I also think that he was one of the strongest and most effective members of Obama's transition team, and I feel strongly that he was the right guy for that post. So I'm kinda torn.

3) I have felt absolutely NO urge to liveblog LOST this year. That being said, I don't think it's because it's bad. The first episode was meh, but I've been liking it a lot since then. I just don't feel like it; I think in some ways it's actually because it's become smarter again and less WTF LOL than it was for a while. I do have one comment about tonight's episode
If Charlotte has a constant, why the fuck is she so sick? I know they're all like "island exposure" but that seems kinda bull after the whole Desmond plot. Her constant should be keeping her okay.


4) What is even better than LOST, is Fringe. Fringe is one of those TV shows that comes around once in a blue moon, that is well-written and complex without being overly complicated or completely dependent on novelty, that has amazing characters (Walter is possibly my favorite TV character, EVER), and that is filmed beautifully to boot. That's what got me to keep watching the show. It's beautiful. The last show I can remember being this good is, well, Twin Peaks.

5) It was beautiful and warm today. I took a walk at lunch; without my jacket. Sometimes simple things like sunshine can make life wonderful.

6) I am going to San Antonio this weekend with my mother. To get my bike out of the basement of the Alamo. I like telling people that and seeing who gets the joke, who laughs, but doesn't get where it's from, and who is like, bzuh?

7) Tomorrow I have dinner plans with cheshire23 and her friend, and cacophonesque. We will probably discuss clicks and our deccenting opinions over Ethiopian foodz.

Comments

[katieupsidedown.livejournal.com]

Okay I do not get that joke so. Are you actually coming to San Antonio? because, DUDE! :DDD

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Pee Wee's Big Adventure. And I am! But it is for Weekend Getaway With My Mom that I have been promising her for like, three years. The only person I might be able to convince her to see is Brenna because she's met her before :-/ But I would like to come to Austin very much sometime!

[skirmish-of-wit.livejournal.com]

*Does* Charlotte have a constant? My friend and I were trying to remember and couldn't.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

As of this episode, she does.

[skirmish-of-wit.livejournal.com]

Apparently we missed it!

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

"Daniel, I think that man was you."

[skirmish-of-wit.livejournal.com]

Oh -- I saw that. But how does that make Daniel her constant? Maybe I don't get what a constant is in this situation.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Oh, wait, never mind. In writing an explanation to you, I realized that he's not her constant, she's his. Because he knows her in different times where she is grounded and he's jumping; she doesn't know him in different times where he is grounded.

[sileri.livejournal.com]

I hope the ban on photographing coffins stays in place. If that's how one of my friends comes home, I'd like their privacy to be respected. They don't need to be a propaganda piece on the nightly news, regardless of which side's being argued. There's my deccenting opinion. Am I going to be kicked out of the click now?

My annoyance with Daschle is entirely selfish. Some of the IPA leadership had a connection to him. It would have been nice to make use of that connection to push the federal drug testing laws in a more paruretic friendly direction. As the CFRs stand now, there's a reference to "shy bladder" protocols, quotation marks and all, with no protocol to speak of and basically labels us as troublemakers. Even the NIH doesn't recognize it, lumping it in with "urinary retention". Suffice to say there was a lot of swearing when I saw that story on CNN.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

It's not so much that I have a strong stance on the coffin-photography issue as it is that I feel like that was the only question Obama didn't have a specific answer to that he handled well. He said that he couldn't answer it, explained why he couldn't answer it, and within 48 hours, Gates had a response prepared on the subject matter in question. He was a lot more wishy washy on some other subjects and that annoyed me, because he's not a wishy washy kind of guy.

I will tell you if you are being infalmitory and can't be in our click.

And yeah, that pretty much sucks on the Daschle thing. I am sorry to hear that, especially since from what i know about Daschle, that is something he would have supported.

[sileri.livejournal.com]

His conference was one of those rare occasions in which I find myself agreeing with O'Reilley. I was ready to take a nap by the time he was done spending a lot of time to say nothing. General Grievous votes Squib!

Maybe his replacement will be sympathetic. Who knows?

[craterchest.livejournal.com]

Hmm, looks like I gotta check out the Fringe. Man, they were even at the con. :\

I didn't know Charlotte had a constant either . . . hmmm.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

I know! I wanted to see them at the con but I hate going to the giant presentations.

[jadaze.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I LOVE Walter. So. Much.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Do you like coffee cake?

[jadaze.livejournal.com]

I do! Perhaps Asterisk can bring some to us.

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

I think that there is a difference between what Desmond (and the crew members on the freighter experienced) and what the people on the island are experiencing. In the case of Desmond, his mind was unstuck in time... in those cases, it seemed like the mind was jumping to past selves.

In the case of the island people, the problem seems to be that the *island* is unstuck in time. When Locke sees the light coming out of the hatch, he knows that past!Locke is there. His mind hasn't jumped back into his past body.

So, this leads me to believe that while the origins of the problem might be related, the "illnesses" are distinct from each other--thus having a constant in the case of the island dwellers doesn't matter. Also, Daniel hasn't started exhibiting symptoms yet, but he's also the one with the least island exposure... I don't think that it's because he has a constant.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Well, see, I was operating on the assumption that the reason for bringing back the Six was because they would act as constants to the other characters?

You're right that it's not jumping into the previous bodies, but what doesn't make sense then is that if the island is jumping, and the people who are on it are jumping with it because they are part of the island, why isn't everything else that was on the island when it started jumping (plants, buildings, etc) preserved?

[skirmish-of-wit.livejournal.com]

Because of the island's MAGICAL HEALING POWERS! *handwave*

[my-arrows-aim.livejournal.com]

Fringe is amazing, watch it every week. There's a group of us at work who get together at lunchtimes and obsess and bat insane theories around. I really hope it's not going to be a one season wonder.

[teaberryblue.livejournal.com]

Considering everything ABC put on hold while they kept Fringe going? I don't think it will. They dropped DSM and Pushing Daisies which both had fairly sizable audiences, especially for shows that debuted right before the writers' strike, and kept it. I think that means they're fairly confident in it.

[(Anonymous)]

Ya know I watched Fringe and was excited about a new JJ show but Idk.. I don't really like what's his face- the main character, and the /idea/ of the old crazy dude is cool but I feel like that guy is super over acting. :/

[dootsie.livejournal.com]

Obama's press conference sounded a whole lot like Obama running for president. Um, cello dude, you won. It's time to Barack.

The taxes were on car service and consulting work. A lot of people forget stuff like that. I realize it's a big deal, and I do not want to negate that--taxes are important. But, yaknow. I just have a hard time feeling like this was malicious.