If all the Palin news has got you down, watch some of these.

Well, they had me sorta pumped, anyway. I know it seems weird to watch politicians give speeches, but the impetus for getting Obama on the ticket in the first place is the stunning speech he gave four years ago at the DNC. Almost everyone I know remembers that moment and had the same thought: "When do I get to vote for that guy?" It's happening sooner than we thought, and while the luster has diminished some--as political luster is wont to do--I'm still excited to vote for a candidate who is inspiring and history-making. Besides, this time around, seems like everyone else felt the need to step it up, too.

Barack Obama's nomination acceptance speech
Joe Biden's VP nomination acceptance speech
Michelle Obama's day 1 keynote (warning: may cause a girl-crush)
Hillary Clinton's "Vote Obama" speech
Bill Clinton "Vote Obama" speech
Dennis Kucinich gets riled up!
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer rocks it

Obviously, convention speeches are about celebrating the party and stumping for the candidate, so it is a little higher on style and a little lower on substance, but damn, it's good to feel good about something, you know? Even if it isn't anything certain, even if we're about to face a vicious fight, even if we eventually face defeat. Just once, I'd like to vote in an election that doesn't totally depress me while I'm voting in it.

Keep going!

Another fun link about the McCain/Palin ticket: Corpus Callosum's linkfest take, including a charming table of Cheney (status quo) vs. Palin.

I am going to go finally watch Idiocracy now.

Political nonsense.

Are you kidding me?

Sarah Palin?

It's not her age or her gender, though I do feel like McCain picked a woman just for the sake of doing so, and that's insulting. It's not that she's an outsider, allowing McCain to claim another victory for "mavericks." It's not that she is a former Miss Alaska or an aggressively nicknamed college basketballer, though I don't know why we're supposed to care. It definitely is her lack of experience, which flies in the face of reason, and her platforms. It's the way they're using basically the same words, the idea of change in D.C., when McCain has been an ardent supporter of Bush most of the time.

I had a PMS-ing week of tearing up to the DNC speeches, especially the feminist stuff, so I felt punched in the crotch when I woke up to the news of McCain's pick.

And stealing Hillary's momentum, or trying to. Fuck you. And especially if you are going to vote GOP because you're upset with the way Hillary was treated BY THE PRESS. There isn't some vast conspiracy to elect Obama, just a groundswell of legitimate supporters. Look at that effing football stadium last night. And yes, Hillary was clearly popular, too, and that doesn't mean she would have been a good pick or even accepted an invitation to be his running mate. You don't have to be a woman to be a feminist, and just because you're a woman doesn't mean you're pro-women. That's the choice we're facing.

EDIT: Because I don't write about politics intelligently, here's a couple links for people who do.

Feministing's take
Slog's take

Why I'm ahead of the curve today, and how that isn't all that impressive.

It's Monday, and I'm feeling productive. I submitted three of the four tiny little sources of anguishing panic, I sent over a couple Movie Times.com news bites, I made the crucial first phone call to the last potential profile subject (who isn't in today, dammit). It's sad that I didn't have this level of productivity, say, last week, and instead went to bed and woke up every morning with a pit of anxiety nestled in my belly, but I have it today, and that's better than never.

I found the Nature's Miracle (to non-pet owners, that's an animal mess spray cleaner), work gloves, and garden clippers I stashed in a bag somewhere and lost to our wasteland of a garage over the weekend. The rosebush is finally trimmed down after its heavy blooming season. The hibiscus has three blooms open today and it's still going strong. The tomato bush that looked admittedly a little sad when first purchased has gone totally nuts, and if all goes well, we'll end up with a few dozen homegrown sungold cherry tomatoes yet. If this year's gardening experiment goes well, maybe next year I'll line up a handful of tomato plants in big terra cotta pots--I want to drown in the damn things. The thyme is a happy camper, so much so that one of these weeks I'm going to get a little oregano plant from the same place. The serrano pepper plant is growing up well and has lots of flowers. The beautiful bronze fennel isn't a huge as it will one day be, but it looks really nice. It's the first time I've failed to kill all my plants.

Only the manzanita didn't make it--I have no idea why. It has a lot of sun, a raised bed, the crappy soil it supposedly likes, and I gave it only a little water to help it adjust to its new surroundings, but beyond that, left it to show its native plant true colors. It's only showing dry, dead, orange leaves instead. I think we can dig it up and take it back to the nursery for a replacement, but I might wait until September, if they'll permit me. I might've just planted it at a bad time, or it might've been a sad little plant to begin with.

Fear of calling.

I feel like some calm, but strong, invisible hand is gently squeezing my trachea and bronchi where they meet, making it hard to feel like I'm breathing as deeply as I should. I think this is what they call asthma. I'm sure it's allergy-related, further agitated by air pollution and anxiety.

Yeah, anxiety: I'm going to interview people for some little writing pieces. I am, of course, terrified of doing so, and my head is adept at making up reasons to put it off. None of them are good reasons, but I'm not good at convincing myself of the superiority of sucking it up. It shouldn't be hard--I just have a few questions to elicit enough for a <150-word, positive profile; it's basically free publicity for these business owners. For a lot of reasons, I can't squirrel out of it, much as my defense mechanism-addled brain wants to. I know this is beyond stupid. I know that once I actually DO it, I'll be glad I did. I just have a very active, phobia-fueled imagination.

Besides which, I absolutely need the money. That ought to be enough to compel me. Stupid phobia.

By the way, the job market? Sucks.

There goes the invisible hand again...

A little thing I'm actually doing...

My good friend Steve threw me a freelancing bone last week, so now I am contributing to this movie news page. My name isn't attached to stuff (at the moment; I don't know if that will change), but it's something. And it's kinda fun! Who knew that IMDb internship would ever be useful for anything?

Go check out the site; ad revenue FTW! Well, someone's win, anyway.

Before you forward that funny link...

Please, take a moment to see if you're waaaaay behind on your Internet memes.

A fascinating read, really, and easy access to all your old favorite viral videos. I, for one, was happy to see "Gonads and Strife" again.

I may not enjoy the sun, but pretty flowers sure do.

hibiscus 'cherie' in bloom
Originally uploaded by emily ca..

Frak, these things are gorgeous. But the blooms are a one-night-only deal, so I'm trying to document each one. What, it's better than steamed up shots of the pasta I'm cooking for lunch, right?

"We're napping. Go away...unless you have treats."

sleepy bunnies
Originally uploaded by emily ca..

If only the picture I took of them practically spooning turned out... all you could see was fluffy tail and 'tocks (a la Cute Overload). Funny how they choose places under the furniture where the lighting is poor--clearly they're not camwhore bunnies.

I think I've found the perfect job.

Too bad the Craigslist community violated the hiring manager's FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS by flagging it for removal!

Writer-Interviewer Wanted for New Marin NewsPaper (san rafael)

We are introducing to Marin-ites an alternate to the BIAS-LADEN
Independent Journal. We will seek to print the truth about the MYTH of GLOBAL Warming- The PLIGHT of Illegal ALIENS on our Local Culture-Interview
County Officials about the Sanctuary Law that could lead to the tragedy played out recently in GANGSTER-FRIENDLY San Francisco! AND MORE!

We need an enthusiastic female with interview skills that can and will be developed. We also need a devoted male writer with expressive verbal talent.

The only qualification is that you are between 18 and 80 and that you have not been brainwashed with vicious Left-wing propaganda. One of our first stories will be about the rights of those to protest against the left and why it's not considered HATE-FULL to be spit upon and called vulgar names by liberals.

For the LEFTIST STALINIST Hitlarian Type that finds this HATEFULL---
AND would Flag It.....it is YOU who is the HATEFULL One ---
starting with your HATRED for the TRUTH

contact EIC LC
@ [phone redacted] OR E-mail your contact info with a brief description about why you are interested----again! DO NOT VIOLATE MY 1st AMENDMENT AND FLAG!

Two thoughts, after I stop laughing: putting aside the thought that people will flag this because it's purposely inflammatory, stating gender preferences for hiring is kind of illegal. Plus, Craigslist is private, so the first amendment doesn't apply.

The logic (and the spelling) are astonishing.

Save the beef, skip a shower.

The vegan boyfriend and I were checking out a new vegetarian restaurant in the lovely Milpitas Square yesterday, one affiliated with the downtown San Jose institution Vegetarian House and the cult-y Supreme Master Ching Hai. You can always tell a Supreme Master restaurant by the ubiquitous flatscreen TV playing only Supreme Master TV, and we are both amused and distracted by its 20-language subtitling and save-the-world rhetoric every time.

I mean, you guys know me: vegetarian for environmental reasons, pretty staunch about it but not to the point of being an asshole. Kevin: basically the same, but with more of an issue with harming animals. (Except insects. Insects can suck it because honey tastes good!) And on that level, we are pretty pro-Supreme Master peeps, with their new "Be Green, Go Veg" campaign. And if not go veg, well, eat veg more often. Y'all know; I don't have to preach.

But really. There's no need to fiddle with funny statistics to make your point.

One of the SMTV stories the other day regarded water consumption and raising cattle. According to a very amusing animated infographic, four Quarter Pounders use the same amount of water to produce as you would use in half a year's showers. Well, we don't eat Quarter Pounders, but we do shower. Every day.

We have to save the ground beef, Kevin said to me. Let's stop taking showers.

People already think we're dirty hippies anyway.

--

P.S. Already can't wait to see what kind of Supreme Master comment spambot I'll attract with this post.