Weekend!!!!!11!!

I'm really tired today, and I've already mentally checked out for the holiday, so I'll just say yay Obama, and also, WTF McCain? (For those who don't bother with the news, he chose Alaska governor Sarah Palin to be his VP.)

Actually, although the choice seems to come out of nowhere, it actually could be a pretty good one. She's young and inexperienced, sure, but I'd bet McCain would say, "Wouldn't you rather have an experienced President and an inexperienced VP than the other way around?" Plus, she's definitely a Washington outsider, which combats Obama's message of post-partisan change. I'm sure they're counting on her bringing in some women voters, but aside from their gender, she really doesn't have a thing in common with Hillary, so I wouldn't count on her drawing anyone that wasn't already in the "sore losers for McCain" camp. What good is a woman candidate if she doesn't support women's rights?

Listening to her speech, I thought she had great presence and felt very conversational - just the right person to portray the "I'm just like you" message and make people forget about McCain's 7 houses. Her political positions seem to be pretty in-step with the Republican party (anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-oil drilling in her own state), so other than being a woman, die-hard conservatives ought to like her.

The ethics thing is a little curious. Sure, she supposedly has a great record on ethics standards and stuff... but she's being investigated! She's been accused of improperly using her office to have her ex-brother-in-law fired from his state trooper's job. As part of the fall-out, the state commissioner who was asked to fire him was then fired himself.

Also, I don't know that holding this event on McCain's 72nd birthday was a good idea. Way to remind us that he's friggin' old.

Anyway, in other news, Aaron Sorkin now has a Facebook group (it's research for the movie I mentioned yesterday), and you can ask him questions, and he'll answer. Also, more Heroes spoilers, an interview with Chuck creator Josh Schwartz, and an interview with Josh Jackson about Fringe.

I can do other stuff!

Just to prove to Kelly that I do care about things other than politics (and let me just point out that since the primary season ended, I have been very light on the politics, and it's just this one week, so let me have my fun!), here's a whole bunch of TV news to rot your brain. :)

If for some ungodly reason, you haven't been watching Mad Men, you're in luck! AMC is showing a marathon of the season so far, so you have a chance to catch up. Meanwhile, Chuck got a full season pick-up, and Kiefer Sutherland thinks he's paid too much (I'd be happy to take some of it off his hands, if he's that concerned about it).

Aaron Sorkin is making a movie about Facebook, while former West Wing-er Allison Janney is starring in a musical. And they keep getting my hopes up with these rumors about a Red Dwarf movie. Please let it be true!

More convention news

I was in Middletown last night having dinner with Danielle, so I missed Bill Clinton's speech, but you can read it with me here. Joe Biden was pretty good, and Obama made a surprise appearance at the end of the night.

Also, McCain has picked a VP, but he's not telling until the Dems give up the spotlight.

Spoilers!

Want to know what's happening on your favorite shows this fall? Kristin at E! has lots of info on Bones, The Office, Heroes, HIMYM, and just about every show ever, so be careful if you're trying to avoid spoilers for any particular show. TV Squad has a similar minefield, with info on those shows plus 24, Friday Night Lights, and more. There's also a more detailed post about Bones.

Also, an interview with Tahmoh Penikett about Dollhouse.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits

Yep, I still love her.

In case you're not a humungous dork who spends hours watching C-Span, last night was Hillary Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention. (You can read a transcript of the whole thing here.) I, of course, thought it was brilliant and moving and a little sad, because I still so incredibly wish she'd won. I thought she did a great job of not showing the disappointment she surely still feels, and Obama couldn't have asked for a better show of support.

Less notably, our dear Gov gave a speech on energy, which you can read here.

Tonight's a big night, with speeches from Bill Clinton and of course, VP nominee Joe Biden.

My dorkdom shines through

So, who watched the Democratic National Convention last night? Just me? Okay. It's cool, the good stuff is still to come.

The exciting news is that Michigan and Florida will have their full delegate vote counted, now that it doesn't matter because Obama's going to win anyway. Yay?

Also, I want to recommend this blog by Alex Epstein. He's a screenwriter, and his blog is generally geared toward advising people who want to get into the business, but with all the election stuff going on, he's taken to analyzing political ads and messaging, which I think is really interesting and cool. Check it out.

And on a completely non-political note, a report from an Edward James Olmos con appearance that talks about the last episodes of BSG. Eeeeeee!! Is it 2009 yet?

Biden?

Really? Well, at least this guy will be happy. He's good for foreign policy experience, as well as the working-class vote, and apparently he's old enough that he won't want to run in 8 years, giving Hillary another shot (although he's only 65 - if McCain is running now in his 70s, who's to say Biden can't?). But I was kinda thinking they'd choose someone from a better state than Delaware. (No offense, Delawarians.)

I also thought it was interesting, because Biden kind of has a mouth on him, in an Ed Rendell-esque, says whatever he thinks kind of way. Not exactly Obama's disciplined on-message speechifying. McCain, of course, is already pointing out that back in 2007, Biden was quoted as saying Obama wasn't ready for the Presidency. We'll see how this works.

Kittyspam!

Another kitty picspam, because my cat's insane.

First, playing dress-up:


Then, deciding the beads are a toy:


Extreme close up!


Watching Buffy, do not disturb:


And, of course, great feats of scaling the wall:

Random randomness

Just a brief update to let you know that France has banned TV for children under 3, NY Magazine poo-poos the VM movie idea, Yahoo News shows itself to be woefully outdated (Bones filmed in London in June), and the truth behind the Spaghetti Cat comes out.

Not getting my hopes up...

Don't toy with me, Rob Thomas!!!!

I can't think of anything clever...

Hope you all had a good weekend. I'm still all "OMG I love Mad Men" because this week's episode was fantastic.

We attempted to go out for Danielle's birthday on Saturday, and we had a nice dinner at the Firehouse (and Cat even came, and Cat never comes out with us!), but by the time we got to bar #2, Danielle had a migraine and wanted to call it quits, so Jade and I ended up partying for her. But it's okay, because her actual birthday isn't until the 25th, so we've got time to try again, lol.

After bar-hopping for a while, we ended up at good old Zembie's, and they had the Olympics on pretty much every TV. So, despite my aversion to all things 5-ringed, I did manage to see Michael Phelps break the record for most gold medals in a single Olympics. (Sidebar: Damn. He is hot.) It was pretty funny to watch everyone in the bar get all excited about it.

In other news, the Democratic convention is shaping up (it starts next Monday). I'm trying to figure out who the likely VP is by eliminating everyone who's already slotted for a speech, lol.

Also, Russia invaded Georgia (the country, not the state), and W. went on vacation. That's the kind of leadership we're looking for. But don't worry - France has got it covered.

Promo time!

Thought you might be interested to watch the promo for Heroes season 3, as well as the promos for the Bones season premiere (the London eps!).

Linky linky

Lots of links today.

First, New Clue disturbs me. Don't mess with my childhood!

Big (spoilery) developments on How I Met Your Mother. Plus, Regis Philbin guest stars. Also HIMYM-related, which NPH character would make the best VP for Barack Obama? I vote for Barney.

Friday Night Lights casting news: It'll be a rough year for Matt Saracen, since his estranged mother is apparently popping up, and there's a new hotshot quarterback in Dillon.

And finally, links to interviews with Tahmoh Penikett (where he talks about BSG and Dollhouse) and Aaron Sorkin (where he talks about why Studio 60 failed, and how much we all miss Sports Night).

Really, I'm still alive

Okay, since I apparently have people wondering if I'm okay, here's an update to prove I'm still kicking. Haven't had much to say about anything lately, hence the lack of chattiness. It's not like I've missed much... okay, the Olympics started, but I don't really care, John Edwards imploded a little bit, but when is a politician having an affair news?

My mother had a birthday - but I'm not allowed to say how old she is. I went home for the weekend to celebrate it, Mom liked my presents (jewelry and hair product stuff she asked for), and my dad made a cake (which totally fell apart).

The Mole had their season finale last night, and I totally called the mole... and it only took me three tries. I have to say, Craig was the best mole ever on this show. I'm also a little relieved to hear that Nicole and Paul were deliberately being obnoxious to arouse suspicion and/or throw people off their game. I did actually like them by the end - they definitely toned down the bitchery, and even started to get along, which made me think it might be strategy rather than actual personality flaws. I even kind of wanted Nicole to win. Mark, although he played a good game, was just too psycho obsessive about it for me to really like him. I guess it's better that he won, though, because I think his head might've exploded otherwise.

I also (sort of) called the My Boys season finale, except that I didn't realize the season was only 9 episodes long, so I didn't realize it WAS the season finale. But Bobby totally had second thoughts about the wedding, and he totally found out about PJ and Jack, and all the ensuing angst that I predicted will surely happen next season (or the second half of this season... it's still unclear whether this was an actual finale or just a "summer finale." Cable's so weird).

I'm also addicted to Mad Men (which just keeps getting better and better) and Psych (omg Steven Weber as Shawn's uncle!), so my summer TV watching has been somewhat sparse, but quality.

Generally, a Heroes casting announcement elicits a groan, but I'm super excited that Seth Green might be coming on board. My life needs a little more Seth Green in it.

I think that's all I've got, unless anyone wants to give me boy advice. (Seriously, he was obviously interested in me, called me and texted me a LOT last week, and yet was incapable of asking me out on an actual date. He was busy the two times I invited him out with my friends, and hasn't returned my call since Saturday. Boys are stupid.)

My cat is actually useful!

So, we seem to have settled into a nice compromise in the mornings. Chelsea appears to have learned what the alarm clock means, and doesn't wake me up before it goes off. Once it does, though, she's a little pest until I get out of bed. Which is helpful on days like today, when I just wanted to roll over and go back to sleep (and thus be late for work). The only trouble is that we haven't quite worked out the concept of the snooze button yet, so sometimes she pesters when I actually DO want to go back to sleep. We'll keep working on it.

Anyway, let's kick off with more Dr. Horrible stuff, since it's still my favorite thing ever. This blogger has ranked the singers in Dr. Horrible and Buffy's Once More With Feeling. Personally, I think Amber Benson deserves to be above Felicia Day, and Nathan Fillion should probably be switched with Sarah Michelle Gellar (did no one notice how off-key she was in some songs?). Overall, though, not terribly surprising.

Here's the eleventy millionth interview with Joss, and an interview with Tahmoh Penikett about Dollhouse.

Speaking of Tahmoh, word on the streets is that the last half of the last season of Battlestar Galactica will be supersized, although the exact details are sketchy. I can't remember if I posted the Caprica promo yet, so here it is just in case. And finally, an interview with Tricia Helfer, who's now guest starring on Burn Notice. (Sidebar: she should've done the Sweet'n'Low trick JM recommends for bleaching her hair.)

Oh, and this was posted in the comments, but I'm moving it out here for everyone to check out: the animated Buffy series (or at least, the first four minutes of it). There's also an interview with Jane Espenson that hints it may be making a comeback.

Lethargy

What is it about slow work days that makes even the little work you have to do that much more unbearable?

We did get a surprisingly inappropriate letter today from a legislator. The cover letter claims that it's an issue with Sallie Mae, and right off the bat we're going in the wrong direction because a.) all financial aid questions go to PHEAA, and b.) Sallie Mae is a private provider, so the state doesn't get to tell them what to do. But then, it gets even better. The attached letter from the constituent isn't even about Sallie Mae - it's about someone's problems with the Western PA Water Company. Now, I'm very sorry to hear that the replacement of the water line has left a mud pit in your yard, but as our secretary, Stephanie, said, "Unless the mud pit is full of school children, we're not really gonna do anything."

And then, when I go to call them to tell them that there's been some mix-up and they've sent us the wrong letter for us not to care about, no one's in the office to answer the phone! Rep. Kortz, you get the gold star for today.

Anyway, it's Friday, so we must have a little fun. You could watch Joss take on the nature vs. nurture debate, or read this article about several "re-freshman" shows, including Chuck, Dirty Sexy Money, and Life, which I keep saying I should watch, but still haven't yet. Maybe they'll make it easy for me and do a marathon before the next season starts. Also, rue the fact that you don't live in Texas, otherwise you could be an extra on Friday Night Lights. I'd make an awesome fan.