The Best TV and Music of 2007

Earlier, I fed the self-indulgent beast with my picks for the best movies and books (I read) of 2007. Now, I’m going to tell you what I thought were the best TV shows and music of 2007. Why should you care?

Honestly, I have no idea. First, the TV…and a few caveats. I have no doubt that Season 4 of The Wire would be on this list…but I haven’t watched it yet. (We’re almost – ALMOST – done with Season 3.) Just missing the cut here were a few reality TV shows I liked, just not quite as much as the below: Big Brother, Amazing Race, Project Runway, The Biggest Loser. Additionally, the second season of Heroes was so mind numbingly boring that it misses the list, despite the first season being, as one might say, awesome.

The rest of the lists after the fold...


In classic reverse order:

10. Flight Of The Conchords -- I’m not sure a second season is going to work as well, but this short comic, music-based HBO series made me laugh out loud more than any show this year. I’m going to go put on my business socks.
9. How I Met Your Mother – some missteps, but any show with the Slap Bet and Robin Sparkles is going to make the cut.
8. Survivor – the seasons were very, very solid, and Survivor continues to be Best in Breed for unscripted television.
7. Top Chef – That being said, I liked this season of Top Chef more than any other reality series this year. The quality of the contestants was great, the challenges appropriate and clever, and any combination of Padma Lakshmi and Anthony Bourdain is good stuff.
6. The Office – Without the misfiring hour long episodes, this would be even higher.
5. The Sopranos – A brilliant end to a landmark, phenomenal series. Don’t stop believing.
4. Friday Night Lights – Again, a sophomore slump pulls it down – on the first season alone, it’s even higher than #4…
3. Damages – A show I didn’t think I was going to like (not a huge Glenn Close fan) was simply put, amazing. Great acting, really clever direction, and flat out great television.
2. Battlestar Galactica – This show rocks, I don’t care what you say.
1. Lost – Hey, not every show worked, but nothing else made me want to watch more…and along with BSG, I’m anxiously awaiting the next season of this show more than anything else. Good times.



As for music, it’s an even more subjective list. I just had the following exchange with a co-worker:

Him [1:15 PM]:
did you see pitchfork AND tiny mix tapes both selected that panda bear album as record of the year?
Me [1:15 PM]:
no...you mean "person pitch"? that's the only one I have...
i don't think i've listened to it more than once
Him [1:15 PM]:
yeah, its not very good

OK, I probably didn’t need to cut and paste our IM, but my point is my point. I don’t even have that on my list and so-called experts love it to death. (It’s boring.)

So here are a few CDs that missed the cut but are very good nonetheless:

Blonde Redhead – 23
Explosions In The Sky - All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone
Battles – Mirrored
The White Stripes – Icky Thump
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
The New Pornographers – Challengers
Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War

Honestly, the fact that a new Arcade Fire or White Stripes CD didn’t make my list is suprising to me, since I love both of those bands. But they just didn’t ever grab me. The Battles, Explosions and Blonde Redhead are all great, but I can’t list them above the next group. I’m a bit torn about leaving the Stars and New Pornographers off the list, but in truth I just haven’t listened to either of them enough - including them would be even more pretentious than this list itself...


That being said, here’s my top ten:
10. Okkervil River - The Stage Names
9. The Frames – The Cost
8. Peter Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
7. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Feist – The Reminder
5. Radiohead – In Rainbows
4. Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog
3. The Shins - Wincing The Night Away
2. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
And the best album of the year…well, I agree with Paste Magazine:
1. National – The Boxer

I listened to The Boxer so many times, it's a little embarassing. But not too much, because it's great and I still like listening to it. If you haven't listened to it, or any of the music on this list, do yourself a favor and get on it, stat.

As always, this is MY list, not yours...but i think there was some really great media out there this year. For all the bitching and moaning about pop culture, there's plenty of great stuff being produced on a daily basis. Good times, as they say.

Immediately updated to say...this is why I hate lists. Because the second I posted this, I realized I forgot two of my favorites from this year! The Editors - An End Has A Start and Interpol - Our Love to Admire. In fact, they'd probably be rounding out the top five, along with The Boxer, Wincing The Night Away and Cease To Begin. In fact, let's put them there.

Sigh.

The Best Books and Movies of 2007

And now…it’s time for the most self-indulgent time of year, making “Best Of” lists! As if writing a blog itself wasn’t self-indulgent enough, now I’m going to assume that you actually care what I think was the best music and TV shows of the year. Note that unlike some prior years, I’m not able to write about the best films of the year because I think I only saw ten of them at most…that being said, a few that stood out particularly were: There Will Be Blood, Ratatouille, Superbad, Knocked Up and plan on seeing Zodiac, No Country For Old Men, Juno, The King of Kong and The Darjeeling Unlimited as soon as possible.

As far as books go, some of the best books I’ve read this year were published long before 2007. Nitpicking about publishing date seems foolish, so here are the best books I read this year:

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
Suite Francaise
Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid On Earth
Then We Came To The End
The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History in Four Meals
Wait Till Next Year
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
The Keep

...and the best book I read this year, and one of the best books I’ve ever read, is Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. What an astonishing piece of literature. Damn, I hate it when Oprah is right.

A bit later (should you care), my picks for the best TV shows of the year as well as my favorite 2007 CD's.

Because...why not? Thursday Treasure Hunt

Courtesy of Carrie Brownstein's Monitor Mix post today, a survey, with some questions...

If you are so inclined, please respond if you fall into one or more of the following categories. If you do choose to respond, please provide a brief explanation (if necessary). Thanks.

You have a bumper sticker on your car expressing a political belief or opinion
You have a band's sticker on your car
You voted for Bush in 2004
You think Hillary Clinton would make a horrible president
You would vote for Mike Huckabee
You don't like The Beatles

More below...



Here's the whole list:

You have a bumper sticker on your car expressing a political belief or opinion
You have a band's sticker on your car
You voted for Bush in 2004
You think Hillary Clinton would make a horrible president
You would vote for Mike Huckabee
You don't like The Beatles
You would have made out with Robert Plant in 1974
You have seen a Pink Floyd laser show
You have one leg shorter than the other
You used to have your nose pierced
You have made a gift or baked cookies for a band you love
You have never been to a play or musical
Yellow is your favorite color to wear
You have never cut your hair
You have been or are in the military
You currently have an un-ironic moustache
You have more than five siblings
You have a treadmill at home
You are a hunter
You have never purchased a vinyl record
You don't know how to drive a car
You live in the city in which you were born
You don't own a television
You have a pool in your yard
You are still in high school
You are retired
You have never used an iron
You don't have a home phone
You used to carry a beeper
You have a song as your cell phone greeting (as opposed to ringtone)
You have never voted
You only wear one brand of tennis shoes
You call your mom or dad every day
You fall asleep to music
You drive a Prius
You drive a Hummer
You were in the Olympics
You've put song lyrics in a letter or email to help explain yourself
You've done a stage dive
You've met a member of ZZ Top

And the ones I fall into...

You have a bumper sticker on your car expressing a political belief or opinion Yes, a "No W" sticker, thanks.
You have seen a Pink Floyd laser show Hells yes.
You have a treadmill at home Yes, if an elliptical trainer counts. I think it does.
You don't own a television I don't own "a" television...I own three.
You used to carry a beeper Sadly, yes.
You have a song as your cell phone greeting (as opposed to ringtone) Several, depending on who is calling. Should I be embarrassed about this? I guess so.
You've put song lyrics in a letter or email to help explain yourself I think I have done this, but not since college.

The Krugman-Alter Showdown

We have a winner.

Recently, Paul Krugman of the NYT started blasting Barack Obama, stating that he was too safe, and not the “change candidate” that many have anointed him to be. It’s clear that Krugman favors John Edwards, whose ‘Two Americas’ platform resonates with him. Fair enough. And while it stung me to see criticism by someone I respect (Krugman) of someone I plan on voting for, everything is fair in politics, right? Krugman’s most recent gripe was that Obama’s statements of getting everyone at the table for healthcare reform is naïve.

Over the last few days Mr. Obama and Mr. Edwards have been conducting a long-range argument over health care that gets right to this issue. And I have to say that Mr. Obama comes off looking, well, naïve.

As health care goes, so goes the rest of the progressive agenda. Anyone who thinks that the next president can achieve real change without bitter confrontation is living in a fantasy world.

Which brings me to a big worry about Mr. Obama: in an important sense, he has in effect become the anti-change candidate.

Hm...


Well, I just read a fantastic retort to Krugman by another journalist I respect, Jonathan Alter of Newsweek. Here are a few of his choice clips:

Krugman is a populist. He writes that if nominated, Obama would win, "but not as big as a candidate who ran on a more populist platform." This is facile and ahistorical. How many 20th Century American presidents have been elected on a populist platform? That would be zero, Paul. You could even include Al Gore, who won the popular vote in 2000. Instead of exploiting the peace and prosperity of the 1990s, Gore ran on a "people vs. the powerful" message. It never ignited.

Krugman says that pundits like me who reject sharp anti-corporate rhetoric and prefer cooperation are "projecting their own desires onto the public." We'll see. But last time I checked, millions of Americans still work for corporations or aspire to do so and bashing them wholesale is a loser politically. It works sometimes in Democratic primaries with a heavy labor vote (though not for Dick Gephardt). But not in general elections. The last two Democrats elected president-Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in 1992-also campaigned during recessions. Both were smart enough to reject populism in favor of a responsive but upbeat message.

To call Obama "anti-change," as Paul Krugman does, is anti-common sense. Leadership requires a mixture of confrontation and compromise, with room for the losers to save face. "They have to feel the heat to see the light," LBJ liked to say. That heat is best applied up close. In public. Across the big table.

Well said. Krugman’s logic is sadly one of the reasons Democratic candidates lose a lot – they don’t blame the politics game as well as Republicans. Did any rational person think Bush’s “compassionate conservative” line was anything but hooey? No…but he likely wouldn’t have “won” had he stated that he was going to lead the most partisan, vitriolic and secretive administration in recent memory. Obama may or may not be the progressive darling Krugman hopes to be, but he’s obviously thinking smartly about how he’d lead the country in general. That’s, well…leadership.

Updated: Kevin Drum weighs in:

Alter goes on to make some interesting historical analogies, but I want to stop right here because it strikes me that he's misinterpreting Krugman in an important way. Krugman — I think — isn't actively recommending "bitter confrontation" as a policymaking tactic, he's simply observing that any Democratic president had better expect sustained, dogged, and bitter confrontation from their opponents if he or she tries to implement serious healthcare reform.

Krugman's fear seems to be that Obama is expecting that he can charm and negotiate his way out of this inevitable confrontation, and won't be prepared when that turns out not to work. Edwards and Clinton, by contrast, since they harbor no illusions, will be willing to play hardball from day one. That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be out on the hustings every day during their first term hurling populist invective at pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry, but it does mean that, like FDR, they'll be willing to use every lever of power they can think of, both public and private, to get their way.

Now, that may or may not be fair. Obama might very well know what to expect. Or Krugman might just be wrong about the reception he'll get. But bitter confrontation is what Krugman is predicting, not what he's yearning for. It's an important difference.

Drum, as usual, has a good point...but I still think Krugman is being a weenie.

Tim Tebow Has A Good Life

Readers here will note that I know virtually nothing about college football. This is a result of my attending two schools without D-1 football programs, mostly. I'll watch few bowl games and root for Cal and Michigan, but that's about it.

Until someone emailed me pictures of Tim Tebow's girlfriend.

Tebow, if you didn't know, is the Heisman trophy winning QB for Florida. And below the fold, there are two photos (safe for work, but still a bit revealing) that suggest Tim has a very good life. Let's hope he appreciates it. (Note: It's not at all clear that the second photo is actually the same girl as the girl in the first, but I think most readers will agree...it was worth posting anyhow. Thanks to Mike for these.)

Owens vs. Simpson

If I were a Cowboys fan, I'd not only be a brainless twit, I'd be praying that Terrell Owens was joking:

The Cowboys are off Friday, but don't expect to find T.O. checking out Blonde Ambition during its opening day in Texas theaters. He's not joking when he says that Jessica Simpson is screwing up Tony Romo's focus.

"Right now, Jessica Simpson is not a fan favorite in this locker room or in Texas Stadium," T.O. said. "I think with everything that has happened, and obviously the way Tony played and the comparison between her and Carrie Underwood, I think a lot of people feel like she's probably taking his focus away.

"Other than that, she was at the top of my list until last week."

Romo didn't make his usual Wednesday appearance in the locker room, so we didn't have a chance to get his reply to T.O.'s concern about Ms. Simpson. And T.O. isn't done dealing with her, either.

"I've got a message for her when we make the playoffs," T.O. said. "Just stay tuned."

On the other hand, I sort of doubt it. What a maroon -- calling out the girlfriend of the quarterback who you rely on each and every day? Brilliant.

Reflections Aren't Just For Mirrors

I was perusing the archives of this site last night, mainly out of boredom but also because I was looking up something, and realized how long I'd been writing this here blog - over 4 1/2 years, though certainly not steadily that entire time. That's awhile.

Over that period, I've had my fair share of lame insight and a few good ones as well.

For instance, back in December 2005, I asked a salient question, "Can we at least stop pretending Joe Lieberman is a Democrat?" And hey, that was before he lost the Democratic primary, ran as an Independent, and endorsed a Republican for President. Some of my other musings have been less exact, more crude and often flat out moronic.

After the fold, take a look and see what gems you might have missed...

Back in September 2006, I pointed out the inevitability of the housing bubble exploding.

A month prior to that, I lamely complained about the hiring of Don Nelson, who subsequently led the Warriors to their first playoff berth (and victory) in 13 years.

Through the history of this blog, I talked a lot about reality TV.

In October 2006, I correctly predicted that Roger Clemens wouldn’t be subject to the “Barry Bonds treatment” if and when he was linked to steroids. This one hurts.

In November 2006, I posted a story with a picture of Pamela Anderson that is responsible for roughly 75% of the traffic to this site, while just last month, I wondered about the ongoing attraction of Pamela Lee Anderson.

In August of 2005, I gasped about the way Bush seemed to not care a whit about Hurricane Katrina

Over the years, I've written ad nauseum about Barry Bonds and steroids, including this post.

Referred to Barack Obama as “the future of the Democratic party” while reviewing his excellent memoir.

This past September, I launched into a tirade about my experience at McCarran Airport...

Posted links to songs I liked by Band of Horses, Heartless Bastards, and The National, among others.

Along the way, there was a lot of piss and vinegar about the current state of politics in this country, many book reviews, potentially inappropriate posts of hot women, and other things that I found interesting at the moment I wrote them, and possibly not a second afterwards. Such is the nature of the blog.

Lieberman and McCain: The Joke of Unity '08

It’s interesting how politics works…a few years ago, I lamented how if John McCain ran in 2008, we were probably going to have to suffer through another Republican presidency. McCain has faltered substantially since then, based largely on his stance on the Iraq War, but also (for those paying attention) by tossing away his “Straight Talk” and sucking up to the Jerry Falwell types he once bravely attacked as “agents of intolerance.”

Now, we see that Joe Lieberman has endorsed John McCain, and this news has led many to resurrect the tired old talk about the two of them running together as Independents. But...I fear this about as much as what I’ll do when Jessica Alba and Moon Bloodgood show up at our house demanding a threesome. (By the way, Ms. Bloodgood is - as far as I can tell - the only reason that it's sad news that Journeyman is cancelled. She's crazy hot. OK, let's move forward.)



Why? Because there’s really only one thing that tie McCain and Lieberman together – their love and adoration of our Iraq war policy. They think things are going swimmingly over there, and continue to beat the drums of war. Which is, of course, their prerogative. But whether it’s the right or wrong perspective on the war (hint: it’s wrong), it’s clearly one thing – the politically suicidal position. There’s a reason Ron Paul just raised $6 million online in one day, and it’s the fact that about 60% of the country think the Iraq war is an unmitigated disaster.


Are these the faces of Unity '08?


If McCain and Lieberman want to run as an aged, war-loving tandem of Republican and faux-Democrat, they should be everyone’s guest to do so. It’s a sad chapter in both of their impressive political careers, but at this point, they are pretty sad characters anyhow.

Good Times Abound At The Stick

On Saturday, I had a few pretty unique experiences out at Candlestick Park. First and foremost, I watched the Niners play a complete game – to be sure, against a pretty mediocre team (the Bengals), but a team with enough offensive firepower to beat anyone in the league not named the Patriots. The 49ers passed downfield, utilized a strong running game and had excellent return coverage and yardage. That’s all three facets of the game, and they did them ALL well.

I can’t remember the last time that happened. Shaun Hill looked like the quarterback Alex Smith was drafted to be (more on this in a bit), Frank Gore looked like...Frank Gore, and the defense played airtight football. Not a single turnover by the offense, no penalties worth remembering, only one idiotic coaching move by Mike Nolan, who went for it on 4th and 2 instead of kicking a field goal to earn a 10-point lead. When asked in the post-game why he did that, he basically said it was because he told his team he would do it and wanted to inspire them.

OK...sure.

But a win inspires everybody, and that dumb move (even had they made it, it was dumb) kept the game alive…had Chad Johnson held onto that pass by Carson Palmer, I hope Nolan wouldn’t have laughed off a moronic call like that.

In any case, the game was magnificent; the best the team has played in years. Or, at least since sometime last season – when Alex Smith showed a ton of promise. Remember those times? I surely do, which is why the recent tidal change against him rubs me the wrong way. To be sure, this season is wasted for him, and he never played well. But I’m not convinced it’s a manifestation of him working not only with his fourth Offensive Coordinator in four years, but a terrible one at that in Jim Hostler. Then, he got hurt, and was forced back into action earlier than he should have by a head coach who clearly doesn’t like Smith (even though he drafted him.) The way Mike Nolan seemingly pushed Smith back onto the field belies a “tough it out” mentality that is appropriate and needed in football, but when you are dealing with a KID, selling him out like that in front of the team is preposterous and amateurish. It seems like Mike Nolan and Alex Smith aren’t going to both return next year, though I’d like to see them each give it one more try – with a new GM, and some confidence in Smith. Will he be the next Montana, Young or even Garcia? Probably not…but he easily could be a solid career QB who can win games for you consistently, and that’s all the team needs.

All you need is something to go your way, something unexpected perhaps, but something positive.

Which is what also happened to me at the game. I had with me a seat cushion with a 49ers logo on it – an older version of the one featured to the left. I bought it a few years ago at a game for less than $10, and while it’s wholly unnecessary, it’s nice to not have to sit on the hard plastic seats at the Stick for three and a half hours. Because it was cold outside, I told Dorf that hot chocolates were on me…and while waiting in line, a guy next to us asked where I’d bought the cushion.

I told him I’d bought it at the Stick, but a few years ago.

“How much do you want for that right now? I”ll give you $50.00,” he said.

Without flinching, I said, “Done.”

And then, to my shock – he peeled a $50 off a huge roll of cash, handed it to me as I passed him the piece of junk seat cushion. I’m still not sure why he wanted it so much, but that all happened before kickoff, ensuring this would be a game I wouldn’t forget in a long time. (It also strikes me that at a 400% return in three years, it’s probably the best financial investment I’ve made in awhile!)

Good times.

Never Trust A Guy Named Marion

The most frustrating thing about fantasy football is that you can lose in the playoffs even when, on paper, you have a really talented team. That was my case yesterday, as I was cursed by Marion Barber III posting three lousy points for my squad, and the New York Giants defense also failing to show up.

I love fantasy football, but sometimes it stinks.

Overall, I can't be too upset - my team looked horrible a few weeks ago, and I am happy to have made it this far. Joseph Addai is a great player to have, but even he's been inconsistent week to week (really, you could only muster THAT against the Raiders, Joe?)

This season has been interesting because it's the first in a long while that there haven't been at least a handful of running backs who dominate each and every week. In fact, the only players I could have said that about at all were Tom Brady and Randy Moss, and yesterday proved that even they take weeks off (sad for their owners that it happened in Week 15.)

It probably makes for a more competitive sport when there isn't such disparity, and it will make drafts next season complete crapshoots, which is also fun.

But for now, I guess I just have to enjoy the games on their own. More later on this, including the best 49ers game I've watched in years.

Validation!

One of the things that folks who defend Barry Bonds (such as myself, to a degree) have relied upon is...everything people accuse him of doing are things that EVERYONE in baseball did. Well, the Mitchell report is being released today, and like any good piece of reporting, a lot of the names have already leaked...sure, some names on there are not shocks (Bonds, Ken Caminiti, Mark McGwire), but others...oh, so juicy. So very juicy.

Roger Clemens, I'm talking to you.

Albert Pujols, I'm talking to YOU.

Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Bret Boone, Mark Prior, Andy Pettitte...oh, this is going to be fun.


The following names are expected to be named in the Mitchell report, according to WNBC:

Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafael Betancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenny Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsoworth, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez, Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez, Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Sc hoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez, Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

Good for Him

Pop quiz, hotshot. Who said the following, spot on quote about climate change?

"Suppose that climate change is not real and all we do is adopt green technologies which our economy and technology is perfectly capable of, then all we've done is given our kids a cleaner world. But suppose they're [the skeptics] wrong, suppose they're wrong and climate change is real and we've done nothing? What kind of a planet are we going to pass on to the next generation of Americans?"

John Edwards? Al Gore? Barack Obama? Read on to find out.

The source of that quote? None other than the dottering old Mr. Magoo himself, Senator John McCain. I don't have reason to praise him or any other Republican too often, but this time McCain has it exactly.

Mark Cuban and Taxes

If there's a guy who fits the profile of "billionaire" less than Mark Cuban, I don't know who it is -- and I am a big Cuban fan. He does what he wants with his money, seems to have fun with his celebrity, and in general serves his penances for when he is a genuine ass.

He also has a blog, called Blog Maverick (because, like any smart guy with tons of cash, he owns a sports franchise, the Dallas Mavericks). His most recent post is called "Warren Buffet, Taxes and the Presidency." It's pretty interesting - here are a few snippets, with a few more after the fold.

It makes absolutely no sense that he, or I should pay a smaller percentage of our income than those who go to work 8 hours a day and have to save as much as they can to afford a vacation every year and stress out about whether or not they can pay their rent, mortgage or college for their kids.

Its also wrong that those who must live paycheck to paycheck find themselves paying the same amount of taxes on consumables as the super rich. That 8pct sales tax on life's basic necessities is real time cash out of pocket, a far greater percentage of income and much more expensive money than the federal taxes we pay the following April 15th.

The perspective that Hillary Clinton is offering that 250k in annual earnings qualifies you as rich is not only ridiculous but its a huge disincentive to those who work their asses off every day and have accomplished a salary that rewards their hard work. It also will impact millions who can least afford it.

I will tell you who will suffer the most if a "tax increase for the wealthy" starts at only 250k. The 50 plus year old executive who has spent the last 25 to 35 years working his or her butt off to reach a 250k salary. The 60 year old executive who is already scared shitless that their job could be eliminated tomorrow and that they have not saved enough for retirement.

Is that who you want to impact Hillary ? Men and women who are approaching retirement already in fear of job security and their futures ?

Right now I hate paying taxes because I feel like I'm giving money to a known crack addict. However much you give, its not enough. They will buy their crack, get a short term high and soon be back asking for more.

The federal government , whether in Republican or Democratic hands is the same way. No matter how much you give, they are always asking for more, more, more. Always spending on the ridiculous, without remorse and without the ability to restrain itself. Just like a drug addict.

If you are going to raise my taxes, I want somethings in return.

Raise my taxes by 1 pct, by every 1 pct you cut federal spending. Your choice of raising taxes on luxury items, or on annual income of 10mm dollars per year or more. Cutting spending means the government needs to raise less which allows you to raise the income threshold on which you charge this "Forbes 400 surcharge"

And I want 1 more thing. I want transparency. The way the government publishes information on money it spends ,receives and owes is a joke. No one in this country has any real knowledge of how much our country really owes. There are so many hidden and unpublished liabilities that if our country were a public company, someone would go to jail.

Testify...

That other bookseller...to the North.

It's never good form to praise your biggest competitor, but a few things at Amazon are worth reprinting here. The first two were linked to by Seth Godin, the last by Andrew Sullivan.

Here is a sarcastic complaint to Amazon about a laptop the customer didn't "win" and a brilliant, perfect response from Amazon's customer service.

The next two are customer reviews of banal objects like a Bic pen and milk. Yes, milk. Some of the more amusing reviews are below the fold.

Bic Pens:
Perfect for spooling leftover linguini

I am clearly someone who takes order seriously, and I do not skimp when it comes to the tools that stave off the ever-encroaching entropy of the universe. And I can conclusively declare that these pens are the PERFECT (the ***PERFECT***) thing to use for spooling cooked linguini for storage purposes. You'll find that one tightly rolled piece will fit precisely between top and cap. It's as if they made these things for that precise purpose! And for those who double spool, the plastic "grips" the first strand beautifully, so you can get a nice, even second outside spool.

One thing I'd definitely caution about: never spool just-cooked pasta on plastic. Melting is, of course, unlikely, but you'll find that a definite plastic taste will permeate your noodles if they're too hot. I find that cooling the pasta to somewhere between 85 and 90 degrees (I have a battery-powered handheld fan for this purpose) will result in a nice tight spool with no plasticky-aftertaste in the reheating.

Tuscan Milk:
Combine with other foods!, August 6, 2006

Has anyone else tried pouring this stuff over dry cereal? A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Tuscan Whole Milk Haiku, October 13, 2006
By Fat Goth Chick "nobody"

cold, delicious, white
Tuscan Whole Milk satisfies
does a body good
-----
plastic gallon jug
oh why must you mock me so
keeping me from milk
-----
udder of the cow
squirt forth delicious beverage
thousands of pus cells
-----
Tuscan Whole Milk, 1
Gallon, One Hundred Twenty
Eight Fluid Ounces

I'm sorry if this makes me a geek, but this is good stuff.

Don't Blink, You'll Miss the Tragedy

This is just weird...from todays' SF Gate's Niner Insider (yes, I still read this stuff), the following bullet points appeared:

-On Chester Taylor's 84-yard run for a touchdown, the 49ers were caught in a blitz on that side.

-Mike Nolan said he considered starting Hill in the second half even if Dilfer didn't get hurt. "You're always looking for that spark," Nolan said.

-Hill said he was able to complete several of his passes because the Vikings were playing soft late in the game. He finished 22-for-28 for 180 yards, a touchdown and an interception. His 90.5 passer rating was second to Dilfer's in Arizona two weeks ago as the highest of the season.

-A fan was killed at halftime when he tried to sit on a cement railing and fell backwards 20 feet.

-Wide receiver Ashley Lelie said he got back his fumble after two Vikings fought over the ball and push it to him.

One of these things is not like the other...just in case you missed it, here it is again, in bold font:

-A fan was killed at halftime when he tried to sit on a cement railing and fell backwards 20 feet.

I'm just saying...this is weird. Either don't talk about it, or don't include it in a laundry list of things like Ashley Lelie's bad hands or Chester Taylor's TD. It's a bit...crude.

I Like Golf

And who would I be if I didn't link to a few photos of the woman undoubtedly bound to unseat the Anna Kournikova, Maria Sharapova and Natalie Gulbis as the hot sexy female athlete?

You have to love Anna Rawson, a MODEL turned GOLFER. It usually works the other way around...

The Ghost of Billy Volek

Back in the 2004 season, my fantasy football season - as well as many others around the world - was crushed by the unlikely combination of Titans QB Billy Volek and WR Drew Bennett. Previously considered scrubs barely worth starting, the two developed some chemistry (football chemistry, weirdo) that exploded at the end of the regular season (playoffs for us fantasy nerds.) As Barney on How I Met Your Mother might say, it was "legen-wait for it-dary."

Well, last night I went into the Monday Night game up on my opponent by 47 points, but he had Atlanta QB Chris Redman and WR Roddy White. Surely, history couldn't repeat itself, could it?

Almost.

The duo scored (in our high performance league) 37 points, more than one could reasonably expect from a no-name NFL QB and the leading WR on one of the worst offenses in football.

But that's why fantasy football is - again, as Barney would say, awesome. Though I am considerably happier with the outcome the way it occured, had I lost this game, I would simply have to laugh it off. You never know what's gonna happen.

This week, I move onto the divisional championship against the Asses of Fire, a team that was clearly the worst in the league when the season began. However, they wheeled and dealed (with me, among others) and picked up some good waiver wire gems along the way. It will be tough, but fun (especially since the team owner Dorf and I will be at the 49ers game on Saturday, where I'll be starting Carson Palmer...)

Tight-Rod

It's hard to deny claims of being "Pay-Rod" and obsessed with money over titles when stories like the one in the New York Times about Alex Rodriguez is out there.

Rodriguez has earned nearly $200 million over the past decade, but, according to 990 tax records dating to 1998, he is a cheap tipper to his foundation.

In eight years of available documents, donations averaged $30,000 a year and gifts distributed to the community averaged $13,000 a year. In 2002, A-Rod did not contribute more than $5,500. In 2006, the foundation did not give away more than $5,090 despite a fund-raiser that collected $368,000.

A-Rod isn’t exactly a slumlord — some renters interviewed at his other properties had milder complaints — but he has become a landlord caricature among dwellers who hold him accountable for, say, the stack of molding mattresses by the dumpster at Newport Villas on MacDill Avenue.

A-Rod is the face on their leaky faucets, and yet his name isn’t in the welcome kit. Rodriguez’s brother-in-law, Constantine Scurtis, is the company manager — the one whose signature is on nearly $50 million in mortgages for properties in Tampa, according to records — but some of the cashiers and cooks who live at places like Newport Riverside know who holds their house keys.

To them, he isn’t A-Rod, a regular-season crackerjack on the verge of a Yankees deal potentially worth $300 million. To them, he is Tight-Rod, an apartment tycoon, who, renters say, has jacked late fees to $100 from $50 on units that run around $600 a month.

Here is A-Rod, steeped in a paradox of principles, engaged in a corporate venture that binds the needy, the very same people his foundation was designed to help.

“As far as keeping the grounds clean, it’s fine,” said Horace Bacon, a resident of Normandy Park, a recent acquisition by Newport Property Ventures. “But the late fees? When I sign my next lease, it’s $100 for being a day late — a day. I don’t agree with that. So, you know, it’s not the outside of the apartment I’m worried about.”

Will A-Rod ever worry about what’s beneath a moneymaking veneer? Or will he forever be Mr. Potter in pinstripes?

The Best (Only?) Reason to Vote for Mike Huckabee

Seriously...how funny would it be if THIS guy was the First Son (or whatever they'd call the son of the conservative evangelical president)?
That would be just insanely funny. To quote Wonkette,

David, on the other hand, is what might happen if Roger Clinton ate Billy Carter. David Huckabee tries to smuggle his guns aboard commercial flights, angrily pays $6,000 fines in pennies, and brutally kills stray dogs at Boy Scout camps. He will also sue you if you say he’s a pothead.

Oh, good times.

The Echo Maker

I've been reading slower lately, because my schedule has been crazy - not as crazy, I know as when the baby arrives, but crazy nonetheless. I picked up The Echo Maker a few weeks ago, almost forgetting when and why I'd bought it. It won The National Book Award, which is probably the genesis of my purchase, but the plot line seemed potentially melodramatic and Oprah-esque for my taste.

Thankfully, that turned out not to be the case.

The book centers around Mark Schluter, a man in his late 20s who flips his truck in the middle of the night. His sister Karin races back home to care for him - and Mark makes it out of surgery. However, when he regains consciousness, he believes that the woman helping him is NOT his sister, but an impostor.

What Mark is suffering from, apparently due to the injury, is something called Capgras Delusion, or Capgras syndrome. This rare happenstance causes no shortage of emotional pain for Karin, and she seeks help everywhere, including from a noted author who writes about rare brain syndromes such as this.

The book has a few minor mysteries, some of which are quite well revealed and others which I didn't care as much about. Author Richard Powers does a nice job of writing from several perspectives: Karin, the doctor, and most interestingly, Mark the patient. He is a very talented writer, and his prose is both lyrical and modern, and it's a pleasure to read. While the book rarely captivated me, I enjoyed it quite a bit and would definitely recommend it.

Rating: 7.5/10.0

Not a Great Choice

As excellently put by Keith Olbermann, these are the choices we have in deciding what George Bush knew about Iran's nuclear program and when he knew it:

"We have either a president who is too dishonest to restrain himself from invoking World War Three about Iran at least six weeks after he had to have known that the analogy would be fantastic, irresponsible hyperbole -- or we have a president too transcendently stupid not to have asked -- at what now appears to have been a series of opportunities to do so -- whether the fairy tales he either created or was fed, were still even remotely plausible.

"A pathological presidential liar, or an idiot-in-chief. It is the nightmare scenario of political science fiction: A critical juncture in our history and, contained in either answer, a president manifestly unfit to serve, and behind him in the vice presidency: an unapologetic war-monger who has long been seeing a world visible only to himself."

Stupid Things That Piss Me Off

Until we move into our new house, my evening commute involves the godawful Bay Bridge. To drive the 14 miles door-to-door, it can take anywhere from 35 minutes to 1 1/2 HOURS, as it did last night.

But that's not what I'm going to complain about, because complaining about traffic is even beneath me. (OK, no it isn't, but let's move on.)

Like many high traffic freeways, as you enter the city after getting off the bridge, you're inundated with billboards. I'm okay with this - let's keep the massive advertising there, and commerce is commerce. Good to go. But more than a few of these just kill me.

First, there's one for the Gap -- this rotates every few months, and for awhile now has featured several "famous" people wearing Gap clothes. I know that Maria Bello was on there, and my memory fails me for others - but generally speaking, they are either nameless models or genuinely famous people. Today, one of the pictures is of Angie Harmon and her husband, ex-NFL'er Jason Sehorn. Sehorn has been out of football for four years, and really should legally change his name to Mr. Angie Harmon. Let's be clear - despite being way too bony for my taste, Angie is a gorgeous woman and her accent only helps things. But Sehorn is not a celebrity. He's better looking than most NFL players, I'll grant you, but really? He gets to be in ads still? This angers me - and it probably shouldn't. And that angers me a little bit more.

Then, driving just about twenty feet further (which took about five minutes, I'd point out if I was going to complain about the traffic, which I'm not), I see the following tagline for a Toyota Prius: America's Most Fuel Efficient Vehicle.

Can you figure out what's wrong with that sentence? TOYOTA'S ARE A JAPANESE CAR. Now, I know what they're doing here - mindless robots will go buy a car, or at least pay more attention to the advertising, if the name of our glorious country is involved - but this is not an American car! It's a great car, and one that many douchebags like myself should consider buying instead of our SUV's, but it's NOT AMERICAN.

The next one - yes, right across the freeway from these other two - is for Nokia, and it says something along the lines of "WHERE MY PEEPS AT?" Apparently, there's some product by Nokia called 'peeps' and I can't talk about this any longer or my head will explode.

You know what else I'm upset about? Nowhere on the world wide web can I find pictures of existing billboards. That's moronic. Especially because there WAS one I particularly liked, for a Motorola RAZR featuring some young Asian woman with her hair flying all over the place. I wanted to show this as "good" advertising - but I can't. This also pisses me off.

Some non-billboard related notes:

This season of Heroes ate ass. It was boring, perhaps the worst thing you could say about a show that's about people with supernatural powers. The fact that the show's creators have acknowledged the missteps is good; let's see if they can correct it whenever the show restarts. But here's another thing that gets on my nerves -- Hayden Panettiere IS NOT THAT HOT. She's blonde, has a cute body, and has a nice smile. Don't get me wrong - she's definitely pretty...but I can't figure out for the life of me what all the fuss is about. And let's be clear - part of the reason the show sucked was that it asked her to ACT...and it's altogether unclear whether that's in her wheelhouse or not.

San Francisco sports teams suck. That hurts in places I don't want to talk about.

I'm thinking about changing from DirecTV to Comcast but I'm actually so uninterested in diving in to figure what is a better option that I'll probably just stick with DirecTV. That sucks.

Lists like this piss me off.

I haven't started buying anyone a gift for the holidays except for my wife, and time is, shall we say, ticking. Good times. Also, I seem to spend roughly eight days per week running between my apartment, our new house and my job. Doesn't leave a lot of time in for finding that perfect gift for Mom, you know?

Wow...this list has gotten really long already. Let's break it in half, and I'll come back another time with more stupid things that piss me off.

Disappointing Speaker

Abby and I went to see Azar Nafisi speak at Cal Performances earlier this week. Who is Azar Nafisi? She is the author of, among other titles, Reading Lolita In Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Neither of us had read any of her work, but hey, we're literary types and it certainly sounds interesting. (It's an account of her and other women reading Western books in the rigid fundamentalist Iranian world.)

In light of the recent news that Iran suspended it's nuclear program in 2003, as well as the general drumbeat towards war our administration seems taken with, it seemed like a really relevant lecture, and I was looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, it sucked.

Sucked is too strong of a word - certainly, Nafisi wasn't offensive - despite her Wikipedia entry suggesting she's a neoconservative, she derided the Bush administration several different times. The problem, in fact, was closer to the converse:

She sounded, at least to me, like an idealistic idiot.

You see, her new book - still a work in progress - is tentatively titled "The Republic of Imagination." It's an interesting title, and certainly there's something there. But to hear her talk about it, she sounded to me like a college freshman who suddenly discovers that, "We're all the same kind of person, regardless of where we came from!"

She asked rhetorical questions like, "If we see suffering on the streets of America, why do we not care about the suffering elsewhere?" (Um...who says we don't?) She implored the audience to not be limited by lack of an imagination. She literally said nothing I hadn't heard before, mostly from stoned classmates sometime in the late 1980s.

That being said, I'm glad I went - it's always good to be disappointed every now and again, since it makes the good lectures we've attended this year (Eric Schlosser, Richard Ford, Michael Krasny among others) all the more enjoyable.

No One's Ever Gonna Love You

I think it's a sign of maturity that when I hear music I like being used in TV commercials or shows, I no longer cringe and worry about whether "my" music is going mainstream.

Certainly, some shows use music I like more than others - and Chuck is definitely one of the shows I both enjoy on its own and for the use of music I really like. In a recent episode, they used a song I've been mildly obsessed with of late, Band of Horses' "No One's Ever Gonna Love You"...the lyrics and a YouTube video of it below. (And no, this wasn't just a reason to post a photo of Yvonne Strahovski.)

It's looking like a limb torn off
Or altogether just taken apart
We're reeling through an endless fall
We are the ever-living ghost of what once was

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

And anything to make you smile
It is my better side of you to admire
But they should never take so long
Just to be over then back to another one

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

But someone,
They could have warned you
When things start splitting at the seams and now
The whole thing's tumbling down
Things start splitting at the seams and now
If things start splitting at the seams and now,
It's tumbling down
Hard.

Anything to make you smile
You are the ever-living ghost of what once was
I never want to hear you say
That you'd be better off
Or you liked it that way

But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do
No one's gonna love you more than I do

But someone
They should have warned you
When things start splitting at the seams and now
The whole thing's tumbling down
Things start splitting at the seams and now
If things start splitting at the seams and now,
It's tumbling down
Hard

Is it Me? Or Them?

I'm not sure if this news - which pleases me greatly - means the NFL has finally gotten it right (instead of Britney Spears, Janet Jackson or the woefully out-of-place Prince) but i have to say I'm happy about it:

Rock 'n' rollers Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers will perform during halftime of the Super Bowl on Feb. 3 at the University of Phoenix Stadium.

The NFL made the announcement Sunday.

The group has sold more than 50 million records since releasing its debut album in 1976. Its hits include "Free Fallin'," "Breakdown," "Refugee," "I Won't Back Down," "Don't Come Around Here No More," "You Don't Know How It Feels," and "Runnin' Down A Dream."

Petty, an 18-time Grammy nominee with one of rock 'n' roll's most distinctive voices, has also done solo work and was a founding member of The Traveling Wilburys, playing alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne.

Recent Super Bowl halftime acts include the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and Prince. Nearly 140 million TV viewers in the United States watched Prince last year.

I'm not sure this makes up for Prince...but it starts the healing process.

Wrong Again!

You know all that saber-rattling the White House has been doing about Iran? The one that have forced Bush to state that he'd PREFER not to bomb Iran? The one that John McCain turned into a parody of a Beach Boys song? Well, this bunch of incompetents got it wrong...again.

A new assessment by American intelligence agencies concludes that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003 and that the program remains frozen, contradicting judgment two years ago that Tehran was working relentlessly toward building a nuclear bomb.

The conclusions of the new assessment are likely to reshape the final year of the Bush administration, which has made halting Iran’s nuclear program a cornerstone of its foreign policy.

So, the cornerstone of their foreign policy seems to be built on misinformation, they stubbronly stick to their opinions in the presence of contradictory evidence and seem to WANT nothing more than war, perhaps to prove that they are not the sissies we all know that they secretly are. Cowards, all of them, all too willing to put "other people" at risk for their misguided values. Sound familiar?

Christ, it would be nice if these guys got ONE GODDAMNED THING RIGHT BEFORE THEY LEAVE OFFICE. Not too much to ask of the most powerful people in the entire world.