The Malcontent

Prescient Chinese Secret

Last night we planned a trip for this weekend to the Hamptons.  Then we had Chinese food.  Here was our fortune:

Spooky.  Have a good weekend, y'all.

A Very Fishy Poll

See the cute, little, world-weary fish I put up on my banner, blowing bubbles every few seconds?  I brought him home from the pet store the other day to audition him/her as a possible Malcontent Mascot.  (Many bloggers have dogs; I do not like to pick up poopies with a plastic bag.)

The problem is, my piscatorial friend doesn't have a name.  And that's where you come in:

I thought about possibly calling him "Malcolm," or maybe 3M ("Malcolm, the Malcontent Mascot") for short.  But a blog is supposed to be a dialog, not a lecture.

So it is up to you to suggest names for him (in the comments section), and when a sufficient number of good nominees come in, we'll have a vote.  Or maybe I should flush the fish altogether?

Either way, it's up to you.  Just don't disappoint me like my last poll.

Enforced Homo-geneity

It's not often that I can give a hat tip to Mike Rogers, but in this case I will, although probably not for the reason he might hope.

A couple of days ago, by way of Mike's cesspool blog, I found a link to this editorial (also here) by the Washington Blade's Chris Crain.  Mike and others of his phylum are all a-tither that Chris would dare defend his decision to allow Jeff Gannon onto the Blade's op-ed page.

Gays and Iran

Kudos to Doug Ireland for doggedly following the persecution of gays in Iran.  But is he really deserving of such special credit, as Andrew Sullivan suggests?  (Gay Patriot's attention to this issue, for instance, is also worthy of mention.)

Has "liberalism" been brought so low that the idea of a liberal shining a light on Islamofascist brutality – even when gays are involved – is now suddenly alien?

Or is it really just that anything which redounds to the benefit of George Bush's gimlet-eyed view of evil must be avoided?

You Win a Few, You Lose One

Gov. Schwarznegger's long-promised veto of gay marriage legislation is overshadowing other bills he signed giving GLBT folks in California major, important rights.  As usual, BfT is all over it.

Was Gray Davis ever this gay friendly?

Still, blogosphere cheap shots abound.

Imponderables

A question: You've got yer Google, you've got yer Froogle, so why isn't this called "Bloogle"?

Oh, I guess they'd first have to sue these people out of existence.

Debra Messing Up

Missed last night's live season-eight premiere of Will&Grace?  Never fear, I have distilled the (East-Coast-feed) parts that are worth watching down to about five minutes.  Come to think of it, it's probably the only truly watchable five minutes of W&G in the past three years or so.

Mostly, what's involved is a series of scenes in which Debra Messing (Grace) and Sean Hayes (Jack) try not to completely crack up on camera.

Alec Baldwin (guest starring as "Malcolm") also has a couple of memorable moments toward the beginning and the end, including an up-to-the-minute reference that practically shouted, "We're live, see?  We're talking about Tom DeLay!"

[Watch video – 13.2mb, 5:08, WMV format – with humblest apologies to ye of little bandwidth]

Elsewhere: TV Squad live-blogs the epi.

UPDATE: Hello, Slate readers!  Thanks for the link, Surfer Girl.

UPADTE (2): Buon giorno, lettori di Libero!

What Price Freedom

Didn't John Kerry say a year ago that the war in Iraq had already cost $200 billion?

Well, it's now a whole year later, and according to even the anti-war left, the actual cost (as of this writing) is now just beginning to approach that level.  (Not that liberals are my sole arbiter of the truth, mind you.)

My question to the left is this: What price to remove a murderous despot (remember him?) and free 30 million people, sparking democratic change in much of the Middle East, would be considered "acceptable"?

Rapier-Like Wit Felled By Butter Knife

Ethan has been a very, very bad boy.

Sullivan Watch

I am introducing a new semi-regular feature ("semi-regular" being whenever the hell I get around to it) called "Sullivan Watch."

The general concept of a "watch" is not new, nor is it as it pertains specifically to Andrew Sullivan.  In fact, entire blogs have been dedicated to the task.  But to my knowledge, his "watchers" have heretofore been mainly on the left, and there has not been any sort of sustained critique of Andrew Sullivan from a libertarian/right perspective.

Pleasure To Meet You, Ms. Sarandon

What do you do if you are about to meet one of the biggest actresses in Hollywood?  If you're me, then obviously you dump your entire lunch down the front of your pants.

I was in a hurry and was going to eat at my desk.  I was just about to set down the hinged plastic container of food, when it collapsed in upon itself.  Greens with blue cheese dressing, and chicken strips with pesto went cascading down my sartorial splendor and onto my new Taryn Rose shoes.

I had to spend several minutes in the bathroom with a wet wad of paper towels the size of my head, and the faint funk of blue cheese persists around me.

If that weren't bad enough, I'm still ... very ... hungry.

How To Run an Awards Show

Paul Mooney

Most televised awards shows are tightly scripted and sanitized, with celebs so busy kissing each other's asses that they bore the rest of us to sleep.

And then there are the mold-busting awards shows for African-Americans like the 2005 BET Comedy Awards.

Howard Stern has some of the highlights, including a very un-PC tirade by Paul Mooney that bazookas everyone from Li'l Kim to Oprah to Miss Diana to Michael, and host Steve Harvey's hilarious efforts at damage control.

[Listen – 5:43, 1.96mb, MP3 format]

Goodbye, Tony

The WaPo is reporting today that D.C. Mayor Tony Williams will not seek a third term.  As a recent District expat, I will be sorry to see him go.  (Indeed, it was not uncommon for Republicans to cross over and vote for him in both primaries and in general elections.)

Just as Abe Pollin and the MCI Center deserve an enormous amount of credit for igniting a renaissance in some of the District's most blighted downtown areas (and helping again make real estate there a worthy investment), Tony Williams might someday be judged as the driving force behind a future such transformation of the city's ravaged Anacostia waterfront.  (Of course, a historic gay playground will be razed in the process.)

His baseball-sy crusade to bring the Nats to town was criticized by some whose motives were largely their own political ambitions.  He has been known for a style that tends to the aloof and egg-headed, but if there is one thing the cesspool of District government sorely needs, it is a technocrat – and several fewer "deputy mayors."

The Post nails it:

Drafted to run for mayor in 1998, Williams won -- and inherited a boarded-up, trash-strewn downtown along with a dysfunctional city bureaucracy that still used rotary phones, couldn't manage to collect people's garbage and operated at the whim of a federally appointed control board.

Williams quickly brought an air of competence to the District Building, balancing city budgets and releasing Washington from control board authority. He also attracted development downtown and to neighborhoods across the city, while pushing for radical changes in the urban landscape, including redevelopment of the Anacostia waterfront and renewal of the city's historic thoroughfares.

Tony Williams was handed a thankless, Herculean task, and he worked wonders within those confines.  His successor will have mighty big wingtips to fill.

Thanks for everything, Mr. Mayor.

IFC: RIP

The International "Freedom" Center will not be.  Good job, Robert.  Thank you, Governor.

Like I said, toast.

L'affaire DeLay

Nancy Pelosi reacts:

"The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people." (emphasis mine)

Mr. Kettle, there is a Ms. Pot holding for you on line 2 ...

You Are (Rudy) Getting Very (Rudy) Sleepy (Rudy)

Enjoy this cool, tag-enabled, presidential straw poll.  And my guy is walking away with it!  [Hat tip: AGR]

As an added bonus, it comes with more trackbacks than the Swiss Alps.

Early Adopters = Suckers

Way back in the Copper Age, after I had played my Diamond Rio PMP 300 into the ground, I bought a 2G iPod.

Then I bought a 3G iPod.

Then that one broke (just days out of warranty), and I still bought another one.

Then that one burned down, fell over, sank into the swamp, and I got an iPod Mini.  (Of course, mere days later, they announced the top-line Mini would go from 4 gigs to 6 gigs.)  I also bought a Zen Portable Media Player to watch videos on long flights.

So you think I would be a perfect sucker candidate for the new iPod Nano, right?  Wrong.

The new iPods have simply come much too fast and furious for me.  What's more, the speed with which new models are released suggests strongly that "planned obsolescence" is a central and cynical feature of Apple's business plan.  I had decided to hit "pause" on the iPod.

So it is always fun to watch Steve Jobs wipe a little egg from his whiskery face.

And Now for a Word From ... Me

For anyone in the tri-state area who might be interested, I am selling my (almost new) sleeper sofa/chair/ottoman combo to make way for something much more fabulous.  (Details on Craigslist.)

Almost new:

Really new:

The price(s) listed over on Craigslist are pretty close to my final offer.  If it doesn't sell within a few days, I will donate it to charity for the tax write-off and the vague sense that somehow, after far too many administrative expenses are skimmed off the top, I did something good.

"Warmonger" vs. Hatemonger

Cindy Sheehan is at it again.  Fresh from the pokey for protesting without a permit (something that is ridiculously easy to obtain in D.C. but which many intentionally overlook for the PR value of an arrest), she's now trying to make hay out of a meeting with someone who is not even her Senator.  And, of course, the sycophantic media are right along for the ride.

First, Cindy secures a meeting with Sen. John McCain through deception.  Then, even after he had the grace to hear her views, she returned the favor by labeling the Republican-Democrats-love-to-love a "warmonger."

I have never thought it would be a simple matter for John McCain to out-class anyone, but he makes breezy work of Cindy:

"She's entitled to her opinion," McCain said. "We just have fundamental disagreements."

Meanwhile, Cindy's spokeswoman is doing about as well at making purses from sows' ears as Tom Cruise's sister.  Lame explanation for her client's dementia: "She's exhausted."

"Cindy Sheehan: The Sequel" is a turning out a little bit like William Hung's Christmas album.  The first time around, it might have had mild entertainment value.  But now it would be nice if you would just shut the hell up.

Our Money Keeps Getting Gayer and Gayer

Hot on the heels of the "peach" 20 comes the new ten-spot.  (Animated gif a Malcontent original™.)

Loves it!: