It’s a slow day at work. Lots of people are out because of last night’s snowfall. (My boss’s boss’s boss’s boss doesn’t seem to like giving us snow days, but apparently people voted with their shovels.) So I’ve been catching up on things that don’t require communication with others, and so forth. I’m a little disappointed — I was hoping it would be one of those days where I stay home from work and the snow falls outside my window and I drink hot cocoa. Not that I have cocoa at home.
Since I have some time, I’m just going to blather on about a few things today.
I like Henrik Hertzberg’s lead piece in this week’s New Yorker about Bush’s shitty State of the Union address. If Bush gets re-elected (and that’s by no means a sure thing), he will have won two elections in a row based on luck: Florida in 2000 and 9/11 in 2004. I honestly don’t get what some people see in him. He’s so obviously a worse president than his father, who got just 38 percent of the popular vote in 1992. His approval ratings should be somewhere in that range right now. And I bet they would be, if not for 9/11. Remember how ambivalent people were about him during most of 2001? Jim Jeffords’s party-switching was seen as emblematic of the administration’s problems. Remember Alaskan oil-drilling? Faith-based initiatives?
This whole damn presidency has been one big faith-based-initiative-related program activity.
Someday, when we’ve got a normal president again, someone who knows how to form a coherent thought, someone who knows how to use his brain, we’re all going to look back on former President George W. Bush and think oh my god, I can’t believe we went through all of that.
Speaking of which, I hope Karl Rove & Co. don’t try to weasel out of having debates next fall. I can totally see them trying to do that. And then they’ll give in and there will be debates after all, but we’ll be back to the “soft bigotry of low expectations” crap and people will expect Bush to tank during the debates, and he’ll do a mediocre job but he won’t tank, and the press will be impressed again, and the populace will eat it up with a spoon, and who knows what will happen next.
I wonder what W. will do after he retires?
Lately I’ve bought a few cast albums, using assorted Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble gift certificates I got for my birthday. In the last week, the following CDs have arrived in the mail, wrapped in cardboard: Urinetown, Oklahoma (Hugh Jackman recording), Follies (original cast), A Little Night Music (original cast), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996 revival cast), and Sondheim: A Musical Tribute (a.k.a. the “Scrabble album”). I’ve also bought the Bernadette Peters and Tyne Daly Gypsys. (I once borrowed the latter from my parents for about two years and I thought it would be nice to have it again.) All told, in the last four months I’ve more than doubled the number of cast albums in my possession. I think I’ve got about 45 now. That’s not including the ones that Matt has burned for me.
I’m trying to like Follies more. I’ve been listening to the album a lot in the hopes that the more I listen to it, the more I’ll like it. I used to not get the fuss over Bach’s B Minor Mass, but one day while listening to one of the movements it finally clicked, and I realized what a genius piece it was. I’m hoping the same happens here. It would probably help to see a performance, though. As it is, I’m having enough trouble getting the story straight in my head. The main characters are named Buddy and Ben and Sally and Phyllis. I keep getting Buddy and Ben confused, and the same with Sally and Phyllis. Being a synesthete is hard enough without having to distinguish between people who have the same letters in their names.
Speaking of synesthesia, maybe that’s why I’m good at anagrams.
Which reminds me — a few days ago, one of my U.S. senators, Frank Lautenberg, married a near-anagram of himself. Lautenberg and Engelbardt are one letter away from being anagrams. So close… and yet ocossle.
How about those Oscar nominations? For Best Picture there are two L movies (both of which I’ve seen), two M movies (neither of which I’ve seen), and Seabiscuit (which I’ve seen). I don’t know — last year’s movies spoke to me more: we had Chicago and The Hours and The Pianist, and Far From Heaven got some nods. This year feels kind of blah. A year ago I went on a big movie-watching binge, and by the time the Best Picture nominees were announced, I’d seen all of them. But this year I’m not as interested. I’d still like to see Mystic River and Master and Commander, though.
And don’t forget the Razzies.
Like I said, it’s a slow day at work.
