It's 4pm on a Friday

...and it's snowing. Who's doing work, honestly?

I'll spare you the politics, even though I have three days of newspaper reading, and just give you the fun stuff.

This may very well explode my geeky brain: Tricia Helfer (from BSG) guest-starring on Chuck. Eeee!!!

Kiefer Sutherland points out how ridiculous it is to think that people actually elected a black President because of 24. And, of course, more on the 24 movie. Plus, why the name changed from Exile to Redemption: "Somebody at Fox didn't like it." Ha.

Here's the second half of that Christian Kane interview I posted a while ago.

And finally, I haven't really spent much time on Heroes since I stopped watching the show, but I couldn't resist commenting on these two things. First, I saw this quote from a recap of a recent episode: "Why does Sylar get to be the new force of great justice in this show, while Hiro is consigned to the role of cutey clown?" Uh... because Sylar is awesome and Hiro is unbelievably not? I don't understand why people are getting so worked up about Hiro being a 10-year-old. (No, I have no idea how that happened, and I don't care.) He's always acted like a pre-pubescent idiot, so really, what's the difference?

And second, wow. If I hadn't already lost interest, this would have been the final nail in the coffin. In fact, Tim Kring pissed me off so much that I almost wish I were still watching just so I could quit in protest.

Open to suggestions

Or I might just carve a dent in a block of cement.

We started with a regular plastic bowl that was always meant to be temporary. Then we went to plastic bowl with rubber no-slip bottom, which I discovered is only helpful if your cat swats at the bowl, but doesn't prevent sticking her whole paw in the bowl and flipping it sideways.

Then we moved up to this, which I thought surely she couldn't knock over. It weighs over 2 lbs. when full! Foolish assumption.

Next was this, which is what my parents use for Patches. I was hesitant about the ceramic, because if she breaks it, then we'll have bloody kitty paws from walking around in the broken pieces. But it's heavy and has the no-slide grip thing on the bottom, so I thought surely, surely it would work. Flipped completely upside down, landed a foot away from where I left it. But at least it didn't break...

Next step: filling the sink up with water.

So fucking pissed right now

The little shit just knocked over her FOURTH water bowl. And she so kindly waited until I'd JUST FILLED IT so there was maximum water spillage for me to clean up. Well, you know what? FUCK YOU CAT. I'm not giving her any more water. She can lick it off the fucking floor.

And I'm still leaving her here for Thanksgiving. If she gets dehydrated because she spills all her water, well TOO FUCKING BAD.

I saw flurries!

Yep, it was snowing on my lunch break. Not enough to actually stick, but still, disturbing.

Anyway, just a couple linkety links today - an interview with John Noble (from Fringe) and in anticipation of the return of Battlestar Galactica in January, the eleventy billionth "Who's the Final Cylon?" post.

Also, the Democrats are gonna let Joe Lieberman stay at the cool kids' table.

There should be special supermarkets

Special supermarkets for non-holiday shoppers only, so that those of us who are NOT cooking Thanksgiving dinner don't have to wait in line behind people buying eighty-pound turkeys, sixteen tons of sweet potatoes, and ingredients for enough pumpkin pies to feed a starving nation. What about those of us who just want someplace to buy the fixings for our bologna and cheese sandwiches, maybe a frozen pizza or two? Can't we have a place to shop free of turkey madness?

Anyway, the big political speculation now is on whether Obama will ask Hillary to be Secretary of State. Here are pros and cons from two of my favorite ladies.

Also, another sneak peek at the 24 movie. (Seriously, with all the promos and sneak peeks and interviews, by the time the movie actually airs, I'll know the entire plot.)

Neil Patrick Harris is one of EW's Entertainers of the Year, and his interview is awesome.

Politicky stuff

From the past week or so:

President-elect Obama (whee!) is calling for an economic stimulus package to be passed right friggin' now, and if not, he'll do it himself once they let him in the pretty room shaped like an oval. His team is also deciding what issues to start with once he's in office, since the dismal economy may have put a damper on how much he can do.

And for those still recovering from the election, how to be gracious winners and losers and for those in withdrawal, which elections you can still obsess over.

Rainy afternoon

I'm sitting here listening to a 3.5 hour conference call, so I'll probably be posting a crapload of links, trying to catch up after posting kind of sparingly since the election.

I can't remember if I linked to this article or not, but much rending of garments and angry fist-shaking was happening on the internet last week due to Dollhouse being bumped to the death slot on Friday nights. On the plus side, Bones will NOT be on Fridays, and Fringe, which I'm still watching, has a good lead-in with American Idol.

Life has gotten a full season pick-up, which I'm very happy about. Like Bones, it's a procedural with a fun twist, and it centers around a really interesting main character.

The prodigal Darling returns on Dirty Sexy Money, as Juliet is set to make a guest appearance. (She was mostly written off the show after the actress had drug problems, I think.)

Damages is returning in January! Gosh, it seems like such a long time since this show was on (due to the writers' strike), and I've missed it so. Speaking of shows I haven't seen in forever (but have missed somewhat less), Kiefer Sutherland talks about filming the 24 movie in Africa.

My Own Worst Enemy has been canceled. I feel a little bad for Christian Slater, because I like him and wanted his show to do well, but it was pretty sucky, and I didn't watch past the first episode, so it's not terribly surprising.

And finally, the writers of The Daily Show talk about their jobs, and Kristen Bell talks about... a lot of stuff.

Just checking in...

...because when I don't, people start asking me if I'm dead. I had a nice loooong weekend, since we had Tuesday off for Veterans' Day, and I took a sick day Monday. I went home for my dad's birthday on Friday, did lots of shopping (four pairs of shoes!), and then my parents put me to work raking the leaves in the backyard. Apparently, I'm still not old enough to drive the tractor. :( I think my dad just has too much fun to give it up. I came back with lots of leftovers, though, so it's all good.

On Monday, I had a doctor's appointment at Lankenau, and then met my grandmother for lunch at my aunt and uncle's luncheonette place. I came home to find one dehydrated kitty, since Chelsea had proceeded to knock over both bowls of water that I left for her (even though one of them was the big water jug that weighs two pounds when full, meaning she probably had to throw her whole body against it to tip that fucker over). I am now worried about leaving her alone for Thanksgiving, so I'll be out shopping for yet another even heavier bowl.

Megan came to visit me on Tuesday (yay!) and she passed the kitty inspection, which means we're allowed to stay friends. (So far, no one has failed kitty inspection except Patches - Chelsea will love pretty much any person who likes to cuddle.) We went to the Whitaker Center, partly because it would be embarrassing if I'd lived her for two years and never gone, and saw Madagascar 2 on the IMAX. (Not as good as the first one, but still funny. Also, I want a penguin.)

Today, I managed to do a startlingly little amount of work, since I was at an EPLC breakfast forum until 10:30, and I'd only been at my desk for an hour when the fire alarm went off. (Seriously, if it's not my apartment building, it's the office building. Must... stick to... lower... floors...) Then a task force meeting from 1-2:30, where sadly no fistfights broke out, but I'm hopeful for the December session.

I am woefully behind on my TV watching - I think I have 2 episodes of Life to watch, plus last week's Dirty Sexy Money and this week's HIMYM and Fringe. I'm losing interest in Life on Mars.

Round Two

Okay, had a chance to go through the articles in my Firefox tabs and whittled it down to just the important stuff.

The Obama team is getting right into the swing of things, naming Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff and the leaders of the transition team, and getting things rolling on the economy (as well he should).

Here are some things to be cheerful about, even if you aren't happy with the election results. And, less cheerfully, more on the gay marriage bans.

Quickie for a Friday

I have a lot of articles to link to on Obama and the transition (and yes, I've already applied for a job), but I have to read them first, so I will leave you with two things for now:

First, a very long (but so far very, very interesting) behind the scenes report on the campaigns. I think it can best be summed up as, "The question isn't 'How'd I win?' The question is 'Why'd they lose?'" (Bonus points to the first person to identify that quote.)

And second, a bipartisan funny.

And now for the bad news...

The results of this election weren't all sunshine and puppies. Oh, there's definitely a puppy (Obama says the girls earned it), but there were other issues at stake than just electing our leaders.

Unfortunately, Proposition 8 passed in California, reversing their earlier Supreme Court decision to allow gay marriage. Similar propositions were passed in Arizona and Florida, and a measure aimed at preventing gay couples from adopting was passed in Arkansas. (On the other hand, assisted suicide is now legal in Washington, and medical marijuana is now legal in Michigan.)

We broke a lot of barriers with this election, but we've still got work to do.

Taking a victory lap

That was a great night. Not only did Barack Obama make history by winning the presidency, but the Democrats also made gains in both the House and Senate. This election was made even more remarkable by record turnouts across the country. You can check out the full electoral map, which I think is especially cool because you can compare the results of the last five elections, and it's fun to watch the states change colors. (Yes, I know I'm both a dork and easily amused.)

Things were rowdy in Philadelphia (again... have they even recovered from the Phillies chaos?), as they were all over the world - how cute was it when they showed people cheering in Kenya? Awww. Look, even John Baer's happy!

Anyway, now it's all waiting to see what the transition looks like, and I'm wondering if it's too early to ask for a job. (Okay, I was saying that at 11:02 pm last night.)

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that this is like Christmas morning for me, but I have to say, in terms of entertainment value, the election coverage is almost as great as winning. I was flipping back and forth among CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and PCN all night, but spent most of my time with the cable news networks. I love how they're so unintentionally hilarious.

Like Chris Matthews saying, "Before we talk about numbers… which we don't have yet…" I'd gotten all excited that they showed PA at 62-37 for Obama, and then realized that was with 0% of the vote counted. Did they just make the numbers up? WTF MSNBC? (In all seriousness, they had about 2 precincts reporting, and the percentage was so small, they couldn't even round it up to 1.

It's great to watch them flounder trying to come up with things to talk about to kill time. And watching them play with their technology that never, ever works right on the first try. Like the weird-ass virtual Capitol thing they had, which I couldn't figure out the purpose of, not to mention Anderson Cooper talking to a hologram, like we're on Star Wars or something. "A lot more holograms ahead"? Say it ain't so, Anderson.

However, even the talking heads have their limits. Chris Matthews: "I think we can confirm that Oprah has arrived [at the Obama campaign headquarters], but whether she is actually in the crowd or not is open to speculation. But not by us." Thanks, Chris. Way to draw that line in the sand. We're all very proud.

Best quote of the night, however, goes to this exchange:

Anderson Cooper: "So, when he gets to 270, what do we do?"
Wolf Blitzer: "We report that. Then we leave."

Aww, poor Anderson. *pets him* He still hasn't quite gotten the hang of this "reporting" thing.

Biggest "ouch" moment:
MSNBC analyst: "John McCain is appropriately hunkered down in the Goldwater Suite…" The Goldwater Suite? Oh, that's cold.

And the biggest WTF moment would be this one:
CNN Pundit: "No one in any election has given more to his country than John McCain." Really? REALLY? No one? Not even, oh, let's just throw a name out there, George Washington? No one? Okay.

And of course, the night wouldn't be complete without a WWTRD? (What Would Tim Russert Do?) Someone on MSNBC asked what state Russert, were he with us, would be writing over and over on his dry erase board. (FYI, they went with not a state, but "Bush.")

Surprisingly, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's election coverage was disappointingly unfunny, and I switched back to the real news pretty quickly. It's sad when the cable news is unintentionally funnier than Jon and Stephen, who were actually trying (and trying way too hard, IMO).

We won!!!

President Barack Obama, folks.

I also watch TV

So, while the election is certainly the most important thing happening today, there's also lots of other stuff to mention. (Also, there's nothing to do in work and I'm bored. This is what happens when ever single legislator and their staffers leave town to campaign.)

Let's start with interviews. The showrunners of Bones and How I Met Your Mother both have interviews on where the shows are headed this season. There's also the first part of Christian Kane's interview about his new TV show, Leverage. And someone finally tracked down Jimmy Smits to see how he feels about the whole Obama/Santos comparison.

There's also a new Joss Whedon interview, in which the interviewer seems to be really, really defensive of Buffy and really, really hates the new vampire series True Blood. I'm not entirely sure why, other than "It's not Buffy." Joss, however, is happy to talk about both the Buffy comics and Dollhouse.

And finally, Jenna Fischer's got a new movie.

It's Election Day!!

It's like Christmas for political junkies. Well, unless your guy loses, then it's kind of like getting coal in your stocking.

Believe it or not, there are still people who haven't made up their minds. Are you kidding me? It makes me want to knock heads together. This has been the longest campaign EVER. How can you possibly not know everything there is to know about both candidates, unless you've been running around with eyes squeezed shut and your fingers in your ears shouting, "LA LA LA LA LA!" Okay, I can understand being conflicted - maybe you prefer McCain's health care plan, but Sarah Palin scares the shit out of you (true story, I know someone who said exactly that). But not having enough information to make an informed decision? Where the fuck have you been?

Anyway, in case you're looking for that one little thing to put you over the top, Sarah Palin got pranked by a Canadian radio station, and thought she was talking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Nice.

And if you haven't already, VOTE!

Wow...

This is absolutely fucking ridiculous.