I didn't find anything particularly of note in the Democratic National Convention that took place over the last week. I wasn't surprised by the pick of Joe Biden as Obama's VP nomination (and in fact originally believed Biden would be the nominee when the VP discussions first came up months ago, although I forgot about him when the media started focusing on other choices). I didn't watch any of the speeches, although I hear they were good.
On the other hand, I *was* surprised by McCain's VP announcement today. He chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to compliment his ticket, a move that has puzzled pretty much everyone (regardless of party or position). Alaska always votes Republican (their economy is based on oil production) and has only 3 electoral votes, so there is no advantage there for McCain. One of the McCain campaign's leading criticisms of Obama is his lack of experience (both in government in general and in Washington); Palin has been governor for less than two years and has no Washington experience at all, which severely undercuts McCain's criticism. She appears to bring very little to the ticket.
What I think McCain thinks she brings is a chance to snag some of the disenfranchised Hillary supporters (from what I've read, the campaign *really* wanted a woman candidate, with names like Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman being tossed around). I don't think that will work (and if it does I'll be even more disappointed in the Hillary holdouts than I am now). Palin is pro-life and even belongs to an anti-abortion group. She supports teaching Creationism in public schools. She is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She strongly supports opening up Alaskan wilderness preserves to oil drilling. She supports constitutional bans on gay marriage. These are all things that are essentially "anti-Hillary" (okay, maybe Hillary isn't pro-gay marriage, but she did vote against the federal bill to ban it), and I'm hoping the Hillary supporters realize this.
In the "positive" check box (not in the "reasons I think she's great" way, but in the "reasons she might help McCain" way), she's very telegenic. I've watched a couple of video interviews with her and her speaking style is much closer to Obama's than McCain's (more familiar and cross-generational; she even uses "it's cool!"). She might appeal to moderate "soccer moms" because she fits into that category, as well as undecided blue-collar males (not only because she's more attractive than the other three main figures but because she rides snowmobiles, likes to hunt and is married to a blue-collar fisherman). I'm guessing my father and brother will think she's fantastic. Her pro-life, pro-Creationism and anti-gay marriage stances will also win over at least some of the evangelical right that has so far kept its distance from McCain.
But in the long run I think McCain screwed up. If I'm right, the Hillary contingent won't fall for the ploy (they're adamant about not supporting Obama, but will they really vote for a candidate who opposes most of their core values just because she's a woman?). McCain's "experience" criticism has been severely weakened. And there is a whole range of criticism open to the Obama campaign regarding her lack of experience should McCain die in office and hand the presidency to her (a very real possibility, given McCain's age). She's also under investigation by the Alaska Legislature for a firing controversy during her watch (which, to her credit, she has voluntarily complied with, although it's still going to come up repeatedly during the campaign). It's too early to call the race, but I'm not sure McCain's wild card is going to gain him that much.
I received 8 single-ring calls from Linde today in the space of 3 minutes. Turns out she *thought* she was calling her voicemail and it was, somehow, dialing my number instead. When I finally answered, she seemed surprised and then said she wasn't calling to talk to me. I feel loved. ;)
The twins, while finishing the coconut-pineapple smoothies they helped me make, were watching one of their DVDs, one I had not seen before from a television series entitled "Charlie and Lola." The protagonists of said series are English, which made for some interesting observations. Kylie and I had a humorous exchange involving one of the characters, a hamster named "Burt."
Kylie: "Oh no! Butt's in trouble!" Me: "Who?" Kylie: "Butt." Me: "Oh, right. Burt." Kylie: "No, Butt." Me (laughing): "I'm pretty sure it's Burt." Kylie (shaking head): "No. It's Butt." Me (looking directly at her): "Burt!" Kylie (staring back defiantly): "Butt!" Me (still laughing): "Okay. You win."
A few minutes later I was quoting along with the show in a mock accent when Kylie, mimicking me mimicking the show, started saying "perfect" in a scarily accurate accent ("puh-fect"), to the point that Lisa thought it was the show and not Kylie (although I tried to get her to do it later and she reverted to her standard accent).
It was an interesting observation on how our brains compensate for anomalies; my brain automatically translated the English-accented context while to Kylie at least some of them appeared as entirely new words. In a similar vein, while listening to the BBC web cast today as I usually do, I sailed along with their accents until I tripped over "alu-MIN-i-um" and had to pause for a fraction of a second to figure out what they were talking about.
The wild card in my immediate family (referring, of course, to the youngest of my siblings, who was the grand age of 6 when I went to college and thus has always known me as this sort of absent, mysterious figure while I remember only the flashcard-like highlights of her life: Christmases and graduations, for the most part) spent four days with me this week on a frenzied back-to-school shopping spree. Highlights:
- We finally did the climbing wall at Westroads Mall. There is some small degree of contention here about who actually "won." Haley maintains she was higher on the wall and thus won by default, while I point out that I pushed the "finish" button (which plays this little fanfare for the entire store) first (by about half a second) even while climbing a more-difficult course. In any case, I've discovered this is an activity that requires preparation (in the form of an ongoing stretching and cardiovascular regimen); my arms were so sore that I wasn't sure I'd be able to drive afterward. We also watched a little blonde 8-year-old waif kick the wall's ass (holy cow); judging by the way she was discussing the gear with the staff I'm guessing she does it as a hobby.
- We had lunch one afternoon at the not-cheap-even-though-it's-just-melted-cheese-and-bread Melting Pot fondue restaurant at Village Point (Haley's pick). It was good, although neither one of us felt particularly well afterward (perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not).
- Haley officially adopted her new MacBook. I put money toward a shiny green wireless mouse we found at Best Buy as an early birthday present.
- Haley, Meghan and I watched "21" on Sunday evening. Kevin Spacey can be creepy when he wants to be.
- Haley's car wouldn't start on Tuesday as she was preparing to leave. Two phone calls and three Internet searches (plus some fiddling with the battery and assorted other arcane rituals) finally convinced the car it wasn't being stolen and it deactivated its anti-theft system (for now, anyway).
- After Haley's departure, Meghan and I celebrated her birthday with an outdoor concert at Lauritzen Gardens and a heavy dinner at The Olive Garden.
And finally . . .
- The utilities company *finally* finished their repairs and patched up my street (the day after Haley left, of course), so I have full access to my garage again.
A Mother's Roles: Teacher, Protector, Chauffeur . . . Pimp?
The time difference between the U.S. and China means that my nocturnal schedule affords me access to live Olympic feeds (including the all-around gymnastics competitions last night, which were interesting but not as impressive as previous years). NBC has spread coverage around its family of channels, meaning NBC may be carrying gymnastics while USA has boxing and MSNBC has swimming. This also means channel flipping.
Which unfortunately subjected me last night to a precious gem of television history called "Date My Mom," an MTV production in which an extremely overconfident young man in the range of 18-22 years old decides which of three unseen girls of similar age to date . . . by first dating all three of their mothers. During these dates the mothers essentially pimp their daughters in horrifying language, making pitches at length on their progeny's body dimensions and sexual prowess. The numerous retakes are obvious as disproportional amounts of language are rehearsed, "sound byte"-style, attitude-filled phrases like "If you wanna date my daughter, you better respect the boo-TAY!", "My daughter may be more bitch than you can handle!" and "My daughter and I tend to date the same sort of wild guys" (whose mothers actually talk like that?). Perhaps more disturbing is the creepy innuendo between the young man and the mothers (because 45-year-old women should really be hitting on 19-year-olds while their daughters watch on camera). And during the brief, "what the hell?" five minutes I watched, one mother showed up in an open-backed (and front) shirt that looked like a curtain hanging around her neck and draped down her chest and convinced the obnoxious main character to pick her daughter by . . . *drumroll* . . . flashing him. There's stellar parenting.
"Gather around, grandkids! Did I ever tell you how your grandmother and I met? Well, it all started when your great-grandmother flashed me while we were on a date . . ."
Okay, I get it, you're unhappy that the person in whom you put all of your hopes and dreams didn't make the cut. But we're not talking hanging chads here. Sure, there was the dust-up in Florida and Michigan, but your candidate agreed to the rules that governed both candidates beforehand; is it realistic to claim Hillary deserves all of Michigan's votes because Obama voluntarily removed his name from the ballot? Aren't we then alienating the Michigan Obama voters in the same way you're claiming to be alienated now?
I think much of this fervor is based on an entitlement theory; the die-hard Hillary supporters believe Hillary owned the nomination before it began, and it was usurped by Obama. The vague claims of "irregularities" (which I translate as "Hillary didn't understand the mechanics of caucuses as well as Barack did") are pretext to mask a core unwillingness to admit that Hillary herself has conceded the nomination. I applaud them for their exercise of free speech and dedications to their beliefs; I just picture them as being driven by bitterness rather than inspiration.
Posted at 11:19:00 PM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
Monday, August 11
The Surreal Life
Wal-mart, early afternoon, check-out line.
Elderly gentleman with all of his purchases bagged *except* an alcohol product of some sort. Line on hold while underage checkout girl waits for a customer-service person to ring up the last item.
Young man in line between the elderly gentleman and me, with no items to buy, spilling to the girl that he's seen her several times and has finally gotten up the courage to come over and ask her out. Awkwardness for the rest of the line. Panic on the girl's face. Pause after the nervous boy's pitch. Girl stammering out something about having a boyfriend (whether it's true or not). Dejected but polite guy slinking off embarrassed.
Girl paging customer-service person again. Fed-up elderly gentleman saying to skip the alcohol, paying for his bagged items and leaving.
Me bantering with the red-faced girl (who has had one unhappy customer and one unhappy non-customer in 30 seconds). Her joking that it's not her fault she can't ring up alcohol and she would if she could. Me joking that it really *is* her fault for not being born earlier (clearly a facetious comment).
Her gesturing to the woman ringing up items in the lane immediately behind hers. "Blame my mom."
Thanks to work (*grumble* silly attorneys *grumble*), I missed the opening ceremonies of the Olympics this year (although I hear they were impressive). I did, however, see the American sweep of the women's sabre event. Yay for Olympics! Yay for women with swords! Yay for an event I actually know all the rules to (I'm in the black)!
It's always fun to wake up and discover the bottom of your only-way-out-of-your-garage driveway has been torn up and blocked with construction equipment. The guys doing the work were pretty nice about moving their stuff for me, but it's still a hassle.
Posted at 11:29:00 AM. |
| Permalink
to this post.
(Limelight, by the way, was a form of high-intensity theater lighting before its replacement by electric incandescent bulbs, by the way, in case you were ever curious about the phrase "in the limelight." I'm just full of random trivia.)
I'm not making a big deal out of this because it's not like I'm ready to quit my day job or anything, but since my friends all seem very excited about it . . . I received my check in the mail yesterday for the first photo I've officially sold. Without going into too many details, I signed an agreement with an ad agency in Boston for a three-year "lease" on my Jacksonville planet photo. They're planning on using it in trade magazines in the eastern and southern United States for a company that provides environmentally friendly cleaning services. I'm not going to say exactly how much I was paid, but let's just say it was enough to cover my recent car repairs (how fortuitous); if you want to read between the lines there and figure it out, go to town.
Interestingly, they found the photo on Flickr and e-mailed me directly through my Web site to set up an arrangement. It's too bad I can't replicate that on a regular basis. :)
I've avoided making money on my photography in the past (even doing portrait sittings for friends of my parents for free) because I'm still well within the learning curve and I've never quite been comfortable with the mindset of jumping into the commercial aspect of a hobby before you know what you're doing. The recent availability of consumer and "pro-sumer" level digital SLR cameras and the advent of services like Flickr (all within the last 5 or so years) has opened up the world of photography to hundreds of thousands of people (whereas before it took some degree of effort to break into photography), which is a wonderfully fantastic thing. The gear I'm using now would make a photographer from even 10 years ago salivate.
On the other hand, although I am a great fan of passing on the tools of creativity to the masses, I've been less comfortable with the shortcuts some of the new wave have taken when transitioning from hobbyist to "professional" (which is itself a vague term, but to me means someone who charges money and derives a substantial amount of their income from photography, or alternatively someone who pursues it as an art form and has been recognized by their peers for their talent). Most of my gripe is directed at photographers who use their paying gigs to learn the craft, something you see frequently in the saturated markets of wedding photography and portraiture. This has led to a reluctance on my part to explore the commercial aspects of photography, and up until now I've been able to say I've never been paid. I guess I'll have to amend that now to "I've never been paid for photos for which I've advertised" or some such.
