Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Cornjob's Transient Brushes With Fame®

Tonight was my LIS 7996: Research Methods class. Coincidentally, at the same time there was scheduled a "Vote or Die" rally (Is that a promise or a threat? Whatever happened to "Rock the Vote"? For that matter, whatever happened to "Reading Is Fundamental"?) organized by the NAACP right outside the window of the library. It featured P-Diddy, Mary J. Blige, and Leonardo DiCaprio. It was scheduled to start at 5:00PM, but evidently Mr. Diddy & co. didn't come out onstage until 6:30-ish, which, coincidentally, was the time that Dr. Ankem decided to take an extra-long break. I'm pretty certain I saw The Artist Formerly Known as Puff Daddy, and I know that I heard him. I did see Leo, just because there were not that many blonde folks representin' on the stage. I don't know that I saw Mary J., which is a shame; I like her. Or at least that one "Drama" song, and that cover of that Rose Royce song. I had to go back to class before I could see her sing, and the entire shindig was over by the time class was over. I actually did hear it though, at least the bass, through the windows.

Evidently, while the event was allegedly non-partisan, all three celebs implicitly endorsed John Kerry. As has, apparently, a member of the editorial staff of the magazine, The American Conservative. Kerry's a uniter, not a divider.

I am so sick of being in a g-damned swing state! And I'm so sick of "poll numbers" and "horse races"! And the phrase, "My vote doesn't count"! I think the draft should be re-instated, selecting just those people, regardless of age or gender, who utter those words.

The anti-gay marriage proposal that's coming up for vote in Michigan apparently bans not only gay marriage (which is already illegal anyways). Here is how it is phrased:
“The union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”
This is so vague, that the status of the various domestic partnership benefits many of the companies in the state provide would be in question. So much for the free market doing its thing, huh? It's one of the broadest such proposals being voted on this election cycle. And it looks like it's going to pass with a 57% majority. Don't give me that shit about your vote not counting, you stupid little punks. I really will kick your ass. Just try me.

Song: Alpha Team: "Speed (Club Mix)". (Thanks, Kevin!)

6 comments:

nichole said...

I hear you on the swing state woes. We're getting pummeled. My only wish is that I lived somewhere like, say, (rich white burb) Waukesha, where talking to my neighbors and putting up a Kerry sign would make more of a difference. Here in Madison, especially in the library and university circles, it's preaching to the choir. Sigh.

Bill S. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Derek E. Baird said...

Irony. Gotta love it. Out here in electoral & popular vote rich California, we don't get candidate visits or attention. Nary an ad either. They just come out to get money from movie stars, eat expensive dinners, and then head off to Ohio, New Mexico, and other points east.

But we do have Gov. Gropenfuher campaigning for Proposition 66 to, as he says, "keep da criminal behind da bahrs......." So that's always good for a laugh. Which I figure is exactly what we all need. More laughter. Less war. Less hate. More Life. More brushes with fame (My brush: I saw Marie Osmond eating a chili dog in a gas station. Which is sick and wrong on so many levels).

All I can say is Nov 2 is going to be interesting.....

Derek E. Baird said...

Oh......I forgot to add:

Song: Donny & Marie Osmond "Goin Coconuts"

Bill S. said...

I've had nothing but respect for Marie Osmond since I heard a recording of her reading of this Hugo Ball poem, "Karawane", from memory on "Ripley's Believe It Or Not":

jolifanto bambla o falli bambla
großiga m'pfa habla horem
egiga goramen
higo bloiko russula huju
hollaka hollala
anlogo bung
blago bung blago bung
bosso fataka
ü üü ü
schampa wulla wussa olobo
hej tatta gorem
eschige zunbada
wulubu ssubudu uluwu ssubudu
tumba ba-umf
kusa gauma
ba - umf

"I'm a little bit Dada, I'm a little bit Hugo Ball..."

I can't say I sympathise about being ignored; the rest of the time it feels like we're pretty much ignored. Just be glad. Although I did see the Diddy-fest on Extra (AKA, Entertainment Tonight-Lite), which was vaguely unsettling. I don't expect my life to be that close to being broadcast nationally.

Derek E. Baird said...

Take this library job, and you can be ignored in 2008 too! ;-)

Plus, its a hell of alot warmer--even in the Bay Area.