A New Post Over at Recap Attack, by Yours Truly

A new podcast is posted at RecapAttack, and I'm guesting again, so go on and check that out here.

To go along with it, I've cooked up one of my usual blog-essays especially for Recap Attack. Here's the teaser:

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Read the rest on Recap Attack's page, here. And check back on this blog on Monday - there will be a piping hot post, fresh out of the oven just for you.

Behind the Pantomime, A Genuine Possibility for Change

I skew to the left on most political issues, from your garden variety hot-button issues on down. I believe in a woman's right to choose if her body will carry a pregnancy to term; I believe that guns should be legal but tightly regulated; and I believe that taxes are the bread and butter that keeps my roads paved, food fecal-matter free, and my house from burning down or getting burglarized -- generally, I wholeheartedly support paying them.

Not everyone feels the way I do, and I can accept that. Hell, I can even embrace it -- this is a complex world, and it takes more than one viewpoint to create a rich and varied culture like that of our U.S. of A. What I cannot accept is the level to which our intolerance of opposing viewpoints has risen in recent years. More specifically, I cannot believe that in the pantomime of our soundbite-ready political system, we actually permitted ourselves to come to the very brink of default. Funny money or not, there were real people with real paychecks and our credibility as a nation at risk, and our elected officials could not manage to step down from the grandstand long enough to do what had to be done -- at least not soon enough to save us international embarrassment and a whole lot of freaking out -- and raise the debt limit so our city on a hill could pay the electric company and keep the beacons lit.

Google PLUS

The Future.

I'm guessing that you've probably heard of Google at some point in your life -- and if you're a regular reader of this blog, you should have also heard of the very, very exciting Google+ -- that, though still in beta, has basically been released into the wild and has been very busy kicking ass and taking names (at least in my opinion -- check out Recap Attack over the next few days for an opposing take from my pal Amir). Here's why I'm on board:

• FINALLY a way to set people's privacy that doesn't make me hate myself. Seriously, the Groups feature is fun, easy, and straightforward -- although I'm still waiting for Privacy A.I. to become part of my social networking experience. The day Social Networking Site X knows that any posts with swear words in them aren't intended for my mother will be a truly great day indeed (and will spare my !@#$%^&* keys from all the undeserved abuse).

• It's PURTY. Facebook has nothing on the chic, modern design of G+, especially since Facebook clutters itself up with all those ads. Now, I'm sure Google+ will eventually add advertisements to its hallowed walls as well, but I'm hoping they have an algorithm smart enough to figure out that when I mark my relationship status as "married" it doesn't automatically mean I'm ready to start popping out babies or that I've already popped a couple out (Seriously, most annoying ads ever - and I'm pretty sure this is a nearly female-exclusive experience).

• I love Google. Check the podcast if you don't believe me. Also I love that although Google does make some anti-user calls, generally I feel like their company politics are more in my corner -- and in a world where almost everything seems owned by unscrupulous people (hi, Rupert Murdoch Scandal, it always makes me feel good to be able to back someone who at least tries to not be evil.

• As more and more people hop on board, G+ is becoming the fun-filled place Facebook was before Zynga came along -- only with a much more cleverly integrated toolbar in the form of the black bar now appearing at the top of nearly all of Google's sites. Being able to see notifications of all the cool stuff going on in Google+ without having to either clutter my inbox with notification emails or actually go to a different website is so very sexy to me.

All these things said, however, there are some definite issues in Google+ that I would like to see addressed:

The Podcast is LIVE!

All right, I know you've been waiting with baited breath, and it is FINALLY HERE -- go check out the new Recap Attack podcast, and listen to me and a bunch of other cool dudes butcher any serious discussion of recent news with questionably-thought-out jokes and plenty of attitude.

For a direct link to the podcast, go here.

Stay posted for my personal take on Google+, a creative portrayal of just how disgusting the infamous baby shower "Diaper Game" can get, and why I think I'm giving up on superhero movies. Unless they come out with a Wonder Woman flick, in which case I'm in. Totally in.

My First Podcast Discussion, and Wally Wally Wally Wally WORLD!

Whoo-hoo! Last night, I got to take part in a podcast discussion on Recap Attack, hosted by my friend and local technophile Amir Muntasser. While wading through the week's news, we got sidetracked into impassioned discussions of men versus women's bathroom cleanliness, the possibility that it was Osama bin Laden's beard that put him out of touch with the younger generation, and the reasons why only Amir is privilaged enough to refer to Justin Timberlake as "J.T." I think they'll be posting the podcast this next week, so be sure to check back here or on the Recap Attack blog for updates, sometime around next Wednesday -- I'll keep you updated as I know more.

In other news, here's my new favorite YouTube video -- immortalizing the mezmerizing keesters of the women of Walmart:

You're welcome.

Boobs on a Billboard!

Last semester, while driving to and from my music theory class at the local community college, I would pass what became a familiar sign: Two smirking men's faces, pasted on either side of two words in extremely large font: "NICE PAIR." Ah yes, the gorgeous wit that it my local talk 'news' radio station. Observe the sign:

There's something about it that makes me just want to slap someone . . .

Yes, that there would be two of the most irritating political commentators on the airwaves, Mr. Glenn Beck and Mr. Sean Hannity. And no, it's not that I don't like them because they're Republican or because Fox News provides them with an irresponsibly loud megaphone through which they can blast their utter cow pucky - although I do take issue with that second little detail (more on that some other time). In this particular moment, they are irritating me because they are the stars of a billboard advertisement that uses a pathetic sexist pun in order to pass itself off as clever.

What Rejection Means

I remember reading a short fiction piece in Seventeen magazine (when I was fourteen, of course). In it, our hero goes to the mailbox to check for a letter from the college he applied to and finds a small, thin envelope decorated with official school insignia.

At the end of the fifth week of compulsively checking my mailbox daily, sending up little prayers to the mail gods that something, something would be there, I turned my key in the lock yet again, almost on a whim. It had been nearly three months since I turned in my application, and not a word. I started to imagine wild possibilities -- maybe they never lost it, maybe they think since I turned it in late I actually meant to apply for next next year's program, maybe my letter got lost in the mail, the way emails disappear into an internet void - only this was a dead letter closet or worse, simply the wrong mailbox.

But yesterday, when I swung back the little gray door of my mailbox, there was a letter. A real, tangible, school-insignia letter, and the words of that short story ran through my mind the moment I saw it:

Too thin to be an acceptance letter. Rejection.

It was indeed too thin, a single piece of paper folded business style inside the envelope. Even so, I held my breath a little as I opened it, then unfolded the paper. Maybe grad school doesn't send big giant acceptance packets; maybe I got in after all.

Nope.