As part of my latest cigarette cessation efforts, I've started a daily brisk walk routine of 3.3 miles a day. It's brisk enough that I could probably wear athletic-type stuff as I did it. But sweatpants ... I just can't wear them. I don't want to be a sweatpants guy, ever.
I don't walk around any parks or anything. I just wear regular street clothes. It probably looks like I'm late for work. That's fine with me.
11/9/09
11/7/09
11/6/09
Beatles Rock Band's got me all Beatlesy. Last night, my friend Heather sang "I'm Looking Through You." Her old band the Prom Queens covered it nicely. Check it out.
I never really listened to the lyrics until last night. Lennon and McCartney ruled so well. Upbeat, catchy, despairing, but also somehow removed.
I'm looking through you, where did you go
I thought I knew you, what did I know
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
Your lips are moving, I cannot hear
Your voice is soothing, but the words aren't clear
You don't sound different, I've learned the game.
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight
You're thinking of me, the same old way
You were above me, but not today
The only difference is you're down there
I'm looking through you, and you're nowhere
Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight
I'm looking through you, where did you go
I thought I knew you, what did I know
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
I never really listened to the lyrics until last night. Lennon and McCartney ruled so well. Upbeat, catchy, despairing, but also somehow removed.
I'm looking through you, where did you go
I thought I knew you, what did I know
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
Your lips are moving, I cannot hear
Your voice is soothing, but the words aren't clear
You don't sound different, I've learned the game.
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight
You're thinking of me, the same old way
You were above me, but not today
The only difference is you're down there
I'm looking through you, and you're nowhere
Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight
I'm looking through you, where did you go
I thought I knew you, what did I know
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same
11/4/09
Though this video montage of Fox News' breathless coverage of NY-23 is meant to be a kind of sad trombone directed at the losers, it's illustrative of the fact that the Tea Partiers are not some kind of sua sponte grassroots movement of the disgruntled but rather a well-coordinated, well-funded and top-down organization. Dick Armey and his crew run the political side while NewsCorp and its crew handle the communications side. They lost NY-23, but they're likely to get better.
LG&M breaks down last night's odd-year election results, and sees turnout and Tip O'Neill's adage of "all politics is local" as determinative. Core Democratic groups such as young people, minorities and low-income people stayed home. The winning candidates ran campaigns better tailored to local concerns. I would not be surprised if the insurgent conservative candidate in NY-23, Doug Hoffman, lost votes due to perceptions that he was an outsider backed largely by outside elements (Sarah Palin, Dick Armey, et al). Upstate New York may be conservative, but not that kind of conservative.
I watched the Obama campaign documentary on HBO last night. I thought that it was kind of uneven. A little too much fawning at times, and not enough of the true behind-the-scenes moments that make The War Room so good. Still, it's worth a watch. What I took from the film is the calm and discipline of Obama's inner circle, especially Axelrod and Plouffe. They are such a contrast to Carville and Stephanopoulos in The War Room. Different campaigns in different times call for different people, I suppose.
I watched the Obama campaign documentary on HBO last night. I thought that it was kind of uneven. A little too much fawning at times, and not enough of the true behind-the-scenes moments that make The War Room so good. Still, it's worth a watch. What I took from the film is the calm and discipline of Obama's inner circle, especially Axelrod and Plouffe. They are such a contrast to Carville and Stephanopoulos in The War Room. Different campaigns in different times call for different people, I suppose.
11/3/09
It is election day today in some places. New Jersey and Virginia elect governors. NY-23 elects a new member of Congress. Nate Silver writes about the state of the GOP brand in all of these places.
The NY-23 race must have given pollsters fits. Tea Party-backed conservative insurgent Doug Hoffmann appeared to have a slight plurality lead over both moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava and conservative Democrat Bill Owens. This weekend on my way to Nashville I heard on the radio that Scozzafava dropped out. I figured that she got the push in order for the vote not to be split, which would raise a real possibility of a Democrat occupying a seat that has been Republican since like 1850. I thought wrong. GOP former-candidate Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Now nobody has any clue what's going to happen today. How many Scozzafava supporters will now support Owens? What will turnout look like in general? Every pollster mapping and following this race is in the dark.
Adding to the NY-23 circus is a kind of proxy war between national elements of the hard-right and the soft-right of the GOP. There are even bestiality jokes a-flyin'.
Most polls of the New Jersey Governor's race show a dead-heat between incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine and GOP challenger Chris Christie. Independent Chris Daggett pulls in about 8% of the vote. It seems that every cycle New Jersey looks poised to elect a GOP governor but then it does not pan out. I'll believe it when I see it. Corzine has a huge war chest and a genuine get-out-the-vote operation crucial in close elections. President Obama is making direct appeals to the Democratic base on radio and television on behalf of Corzine. I think that Corzine will have just enough to squeak by to victory. Still, the amount of corruption scandals in New Jersey and consequent anti-incumbency feelings among the NJ electorate should not be underestimated. If I were a betting man and this was a horse-race, I'd take Republican Christie because the pay-out would be better on the odds.
Virginia reprises what for me is its role as the national battleground (see here, and here). Perhaps 2008's biggest coup for the national Democrats was winning Virginia in the presidential race. A Democratic Virginia breaks the back of any GOP victory coalition. While Virginia has elected Democratic governors of late, it appears as if Republican Bob McDonnell is poised for victory. Republicans are smart to push McDonnell as a 2012 presidential candidate. Virginia is crucial to any Republican presidential victory, and having a native son at the top of the ticket could pull the Commonwealth back into the Republican column three years from now.
And if that's not enough election stuff for you, this is on tonight:
The NY-23 race must have given pollsters fits. Tea Party-backed conservative insurgent Doug Hoffmann appeared to have a slight plurality lead over both moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava and conservative Democrat Bill Owens. This weekend on my way to Nashville I heard on the radio that Scozzafava dropped out. I figured that she got the push in order for the vote not to be split, which would raise a real possibility of a Democrat occupying a seat that has been Republican since like 1850. I thought wrong. GOP former-candidate Scozzafava endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Now nobody has any clue what's going to happen today. How many Scozzafava supporters will now support Owens? What will turnout look like in general? Every pollster mapping and following this race is in the dark.
Adding to the NY-23 circus is a kind of proxy war between national elements of the hard-right and the soft-right of the GOP. There are even bestiality jokes a-flyin'.
Most polls of the New Jersey Governor's race show a dead-heat between incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine and GOP challenger Chris Christie. Independent Chris Daggett pulls in about 8% of the vote. It seems that every cycle New Jersey looks poised to elect a GOP governor but then it does not pan out. I'll believe it when I see it. Corzine has a huge war chest and a genuine get-out-the-vote operation crucial in close elections. President Obama is making direct appeals to the Democratic base on radio and television on behalf of Corzine. I think that Corzine will have just enough to squeak by to victory. Still, the amount of corruption scandals in New Jersey and consequent anti-incumbency feelings among the NJ electorate should not be underestimated. If I were a betting man and this was a horse-race, I'd take Republican Christie because the pay-out would be better on the odds.
Virginia reprises what for me is its role as the national battleground (see here, and here). Perhaps 2008's biggest coup for the national Democrats was winning Virginia in the presidential race. A Democratic Virginia breaks the back of any GOP victory coalition. While Virginia has elected Democratic governors of late, it appears as if Republican Bob McDonnell is poised for victory. Republicans are smart to push McDonnell as a 2012 presidential candidate. Virginia is crucial to any Republican presidential victory, and having a native son at the top of the ticket could pull the Commonwealth back into the Republican column three years from now.
And if that's not enough election stuff for you, this is on tonight:
10/30/09
Tomorrow, we go to Nashville and debut our new score to Nosferatu in the evening. Happy Halloween.
Each score written and rehearsed means watching each film one thousand times. I start to love or loathe certain characters for their quirks. I feel like I become familiar with the actors and actresses in a very odd, intimate way.
Then I remember that these are very old movies. Probably all of the actors and actresses in them are long since gone. Even the child actors would be at least in their late nineties. But here they all are on film, alive and beautiful. It is bittersweet.
Each score written and rehearsed means watching each film one thousand times. I start to love or loathe certain characters for their quirks. I feel like I become familiar with the actors and actresses in a very odd, intimate way.
Then I remember that these are very old movies. Probably all of the actors and actresses in them are long since gone. Even the child actors would be at least in their late nineties. But here they all are on film, alive and beautiful. It is bittersweet.
10/29/09
Why are American soldiers in Afghanistan? To what end are they dying? When will their mission be accomplished? Honestly, I have no idea. The whole situation looks to me more and more like this.
10/27/09
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