My mother keeps shanghaiing me into helping her with computer-related aspects of her lesson plans, right? So I guess she's teaching about parody and she wanted the kids to write a parody of a Christmas song. And she wanted me to make her a CD with a real song and then a parody of it so they could see what she was talking about. I got her into the Capitol Steps years ago, so she figured they'd be perfect, but the song couldn't be too inside politics for redneck high school students to understand. Which is why I had to spend ages going through Capitol Steps songs, before finally picking "God Bless My SUV". (I refused to buy "God Bless the USA" because I hate that song with the fire of a thousand burning nuns, so I ripped the Lee Greenwood audio off a horrible 9/11 tribute Youtube video.)

Anyway, now that I've looked at so much Capitol Steps music on Amazon, it's decided to start reccing things based on that. And guess what people who browse the Capitol Steps also browse:



Yeah, David Archuleta and the Capitol Steps totally go together like rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong.

WTF?

Next it'll probably start telling me that because I purchased Adam Lambert's album I would also like Pat Boone.

Thanks for the cookies guys!

So...anybody seen Velvet Goldmine? Should I watch it? Seeing as how Adam and Tommy are tweeting each other nicknames from it and stuff like that.

I just watched the X-Files episode Ghost in the Machine. I really really wish people would figure out that, if you have a sentient supercomputer that's killing people, you don't have to mess around with viruses or other bullshit to "kill" it. JUST FUCKING UNPLUG IT! GOD.

Lucy sitting on my Star Trek shelf:

Otherwise known as: ADAM LAMBERT NEVER CHANGE!

His AMA performance! I just-- *flails*



( HE MADE OUT WITH HIS STRAIGHT KEYBOARDIST PEOPLE )

In conclusion: ADAM LAMBERT IS MY HAPPY PLACE! GO BUY HIS ALBUM!

"Confident" and "confidant" don't have even remotely the same meaning, people! You should know by now that you can't just rely on spellcheck! It's called proofreading! Look into it. Please view the video behind the cut and keep proofreading in mind for all your future writing needs. Thank you.

( The The Impotence of Proofreading )

I'm listening to Adam's album streaming on Facebook and dude, it fucking ROCKS. I JUST DON'T EVEN. HE USES THE WORD RAISON D'ETRE! AND MENAGE A TROIS!

In conclusion:

ADAM LAMBERT = FUCKING FABULOUS

Damn. I don't have any icons. This situation must be remedied.

picara successfully pimped me into White Collar last night. They are so freaking married! It's like the plot is just there to give them something to do while they're flirting!

Hope you have a great one!

So, my parents gave me a $50 Amazon gift card for my birthday, and I've been trying to decide what to spend it on. Because there's so many choices! My wishlist is 6 pages long, people! But! I have finally decided! I have ordered:

The Sting
Twitch City - The Complete Series
Live Free or Die Hard (Unrated)
The Dark Knight

Exactly $50.96! And I have free 2-day shipping!

Happy birthday to me! *twirls*

Have a great one!

Kate Harding of Shapely Prose wrote a piece for Salon on the Polanski arrest that I can't recommend enough.

Reminder: Roman Polanski raped a child

Roman Polanski raped a child. Let's just start right there, because that's the detail that tends to get neglected when we start discussing whether it was fair for the bail-jumping director to be arrested at age 76, after 32 years in "exile" (which in this case means owning multiple homes in Europe, continuing to work as a director, marrying and fathering two children, even winning an Oscar, but never -- poor baby -- being able to return to the U.S.). Let's keep in mind that Roman Polanski gave a 13-year-old girl a Quaalude and champagne, then raped her, before we start discussing whether the victim looked older than her 13 years, or that she now says she'd rather not see him prosecuted because she can't stand the media attention. Before we discuss how awesome his movies are or what the now-deceased judge did wrong at his trial, let's take a moment to recall that according to the victim's grand jury testimony, Roman Polanski instructed her to get into a jacuzzi naked, refused to take her home when she begged to go, began kissing her even though she said no and asked him to stop; performed cunnilingus on her as she said no and asked him to stop; put his penis in her vagina as she said no and asked him to stop; asked if he could penetrate her anally, to which she replied, "No," then went ahead and did it anyway, until he had an orgasm.

[...]

...I have to agree with Fecke that my favorite Polanski apologist is the Washington Post's Anne Applebaum, who finds it "bizarre" that anyone is still pursuing this case. And who also, by the by, failed to disclose the tiny, inconsequential detail that her husband, Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, is actively pressuring U.S. authorities to drop the case.

There is evidence of judicial misconduct in the original trial. There is evidence that Polanski did not know her real age. Polanski, who panicked and fled the U.S. during that trial, has been pursued by this case for 30 years, during which time he has never returned to America, has never returned to the United Kingdom., has avoided many other countries, and has never been convicted of anything else. He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

There is also evidence that Polanski raped a child. There is evidence that the victim did not consent, regardless of her age. There is evidence -- albeit purely anecdotal, in this case -- that only the most debased crapweasel thinks "I didn't know she was 13!" is a reasonable excuse for raping a child, much less continuing to rape her after she's said no repeatedly. There is evidence that the California justice system does not hold that "notoriety, lawyers' fees and professional stigma" are an appropriate sentence for child rape.

But hey, he wasn't allowed to pick up his Oscar in person! For the love of all that's holy, hasn't the man suffered enough?

Those are my favorite bits, but definitely read the whole thing. It's amazing how much crap and apologism has grown up around Polanski, and yet how easy it is to cut through it just by repeating the essential facts of the case--Roman Polanski plead guilty to raping a child. Let's not forget that.

Roman Polanski arrested in Switzerland.

I don't care if it was 32 years ago. I don't care if you're considered a great artist. You shouldn't get to rape a 13-year-old girl, flee the country before the sentencing hearing, and get away with it.

UCI Votes to Ban Radios

We're talking all road racing, including the Tour de France. And they seem hella out of touch--they act like they think the teams want this. The Tour tried to do two stages without radios this year. The first one was stupid--it didn't make the race in any way more interesting, and the riders didn't take risks, because they thought the entire idea was dumb. So they canceled the second planned radio-free day. And now the teams are all like, "um, hello? Didn't you guys notice that this is NOT what we want at all? Now stop running around making stupid new rules, kthxbai!"

Morans.

I just finished rereading Monstrous Regiment. *sigh* I wish I could find a way to eat chocolates in a big room where the world is a different place.