Does anyone else think the Democrats are acting like a bunch of pussies?

I am so frustrated and disappointed that Congress is now putting forward an Iraq funding bill with no withdrawal dates included. I realize the Democratic majority is a very slim one, but I can't help but feel like they backed down pretty quickly. Bush has made an art out of ruling as though the country was his own General Lee and every political battle is a game of chicken. The Dems couldn't even pull a Ren MacCormack and get their shoelaces caught long enough to make their loss respectable.

And, frankly, I've had enough with non-binding measures. Do something that counts! A non-binding vote of no confidence on Gonzalez doesn't effect change anymore than rubber stamping the president's bullshit war spending does.

Bridal Shower

Saturday was Pam's bridal shower--she looked pretty as a picture, and I was excited to give her the blanket I crocheted for her. And Caryn (looking more and more pregnant every time I see her!) did an amazing job as host as always. I worry that she's so focused on everything being perfect that she doesn't have any fun, but she really does put on a good event. Way to go, Caryn!

Rory's not going to war -- relax, everyone

Last night was the series finale of Gilmore Girls, which used to be one of the smartest shows on TV. For six seasons, the writing was as witty, clever, and pop-culture-referenced as anything else on the small screen. Unfortunately, the current season was so mediocre that when we finally got to the series ender, which should have tugged at my heart strings and gotten me all teary-eyed, I didn’t care half as much as I should have.

Stars Hollow used to be a place I wanted to visit, both virtually each week and in real life (if such a place actually existed, I would have happily made a road trip). By last night, though, the town’s folk were more annoying than entertaining and plot points were so over the top as to be silly even in this admittedly silly town. An entire graduation reenactment since the whole of the town couldn’t attend what was surely a boring ceremony? I don’t remember Taylor, Kirk, and Babbett showing up when Rory graduated from Chilton, so what’s the big to-do this time around?

Though the spirit of Lorelai and Rory’s relationship remained strong to the end, their recent banter left something to be desired. If anyone doesn’t believe me, just rewatch the final scene and pay special attention to Rory’s last few lines. It’s as if attending Yale has addled her brain. On the positive side, Luke’s verbalization about how important Lorelai’s happiness is to him was very sweet and a nice pay off to everyone who wanted to see them together all along.

As an aside, hats off to Liza Weil, who played Rory’s friend Paris. Her character should, by all rights, have been extremely annoying, but instead she remained entertaining through and through. She grew to be a surprise favorite of mine on this show.

I read in an interview with the very talented creator/exec producer/one-time show writer Amy Sherman-Palladino that she knew from the start how she wanted the series to end. Though this season’s mediocrity was surely never part of her plan, I wonder if the broad strokes were what she had in mind.

Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit, and Devotion

I began this book with an admittedly bad attitude. It’s our latest book club pick, and it’s not one I’d ever have ever chosen on my own. But, I told myself, discovering books you’d never pick on your own is one of the great joys of being in a book club. After all, I’m not sure I’d have read excellent novels like The Voyage of the Narwhal without a book club’s push. So, I tried to put my cynicism aside (fairly impossible, I found) and went into this with the best attitude I could muster.

Modern Love is a collection of essays that have appeared in the New York Times style section. My fear going in was that it would be 350 pages of sappy, how-we-fell-in-love stories. I’m happy to report that it’s not; I doubt I’d have finished it if that were all it offered. The compilation is organized around various stages of love (seeking it, having children, break-ups, etc.) and focuses mostly, though not exclusively, on romantic love. The structure forms a tidy organization, but I found myself skipping around so as to avoid the tedium of reading too many similarly themed pieces in a row. There are gems in this book, and it was nice to read Ayelet Waldman’s much ballyhooed piece, “Truly, Madly, Guiltily,” in which she admits that she loves her husband (Michael Chabon) more than their four children. The essay caused quite a stir when it originally appeared in the Times, and I hadn’t read it before. I’m late to the party, but it’s still nice to know what everyone was on about.

I didn’t like this book enough to really recommend it, but the essays are short and mostly good. It would make a good read for someone who knows her reading time will be short and/or often interrupted.

I’ll wait and see how the group’s discussion goes in a couple weeks, but I’m not anticipating a rousing conversation. I just don’t see how we could talk about any collection of essays with great fervor. We’ll constantly be reminding each other which essay it is we’re talking about. We won’t be able to discuss the author’s choices about language use, pacing, etc., because there are fifty authors here. That said, I’ll still try to put my cynicism aside. The group might surprise me with a great conversation, and a good discussion can help me really appreciate a book, even if it can’t make me like it.

Double Header: Spidey and the Great White Way

Jen and I spent the better part of our Saturday at the movies. We took in a matinee of Spider-Man 3 first, and I won’t rehash the whole movie here since it seems like everyone in America already saw it last weekend. I will say this, though: obviously when you go into a super hero movie, you check your brain at the door to some extent—willing suspension of disbelief and all that. So, that said, it seems sort of silly to be nitpicking about what was realistic and what wasn’t. But wouldn’t the Sandman storyline be better told when Spidey goes to the Hamptons for a weekend getaway? I mean, what’s up with all the giant piles of sand at every construction site in Raimi’s version of NYC? One of the things I really enjoyed during the movie was recognizing locations around the city. He takes such care to show New York that his disregard for the city’s real flavor in this way seemed out of keeping.

I also thought (and the fact that I’m saying this probably proves that I’m not the movie’s key demographic) there were too many fight sequences. I felt like I was just watching the same thing over and over but with a different villain punching Spidey. The only one I really enjoyed was his fight with Harry in Harry’s mansion. The music made it almost too good.

And speaking of the music: did anyone else feel like they wandered into a spoof of The Mask during Peter’s jazz number? Ok, so he’s wearing a black spidey-suit instead of a yellow mask, but otherwise it felt pretty derivative.

Otherwise, I agreed with what most of you have said. Not enough character development and not enough Topher. It was a fun few hours but definitely the worst of the three Spider-Mans.

The second movie we saw was a theatre-based documentary called ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway. I’d actually seen this movie two years ago at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I guess the filmmakers have been looking for a distributor since then. It tracks the 2004 Broadway season, focusing on four new musicals: Avenue Q; Caroline, or Change; Taboo; and Wicked; beginning with the composing process, rehearsals, etc., and culminating with the Tonys. Director/producer Dori Berinstein hit the jackpot, since the Ave Q creative team and cast are maybe the most lovable people in the industry and managed to be the unlikely success story of the season. To be honest, I’m not sure how interesting this movie would be to anyone who isn’t a theatre-buff, but I really recommend it to anyone who is (Shannon, I’m looking at you). I love this movie and can’t wait for it to come out on DVD; when I saw it at the festival, Berinstein said she had approximately 400 hours of unused footage. I’m hoping a lot of that makes it into special features. In the meantime, I really want to go back and see Avenue Q again.

In a surprise move, Mitt Romney says something that doesn't make me vomit in my mouth

In last week's Republican primary debate, three presidential wannabes proudly raised their hands to say that they did not believe in evolution. The possibility (very slight though it is, according to polls) that we could have a president who denies the overwhelming evidence supporting (some crazy liberals may even go so far as to say "proving") evolution, is horrifying and scary.

Mitt Romney is quoted in the NYT today as saying the following, not so horrifying and scary thing: “In my opinion, the science class is where to teach evolution, or if there are other scientific thoughts that need to be discussed,” he said. “If we’re going to talk about more philosophical matters, like why it was created, and was there an intelligent designer behind it, that’s for the religion class or philosophy class or social studies class.”

Now, I'm no fan of Romney, and he doesn't really have a snowball's chance of winning. But it's nice to have at least one person on that side of the aisle advocating for evolution.

Of course, couple this with Giuliani's slow-in-coming but ultimately supportive stance on a woman's right to choose yesterday, and the conspiracy theorist in me comes out. Could the GOP, realizing they have no candidate who can cut it with the ultra-conservative evangelicals, be trying to lure unsuspecting Independents and Democrats into believing that another Republican president wouldn't be the worst possible outcome? I'm not fooled.

If you're looking for a quick read...

David Henry delivers his twins during a freak blizzard in 1964. His son, Paul is perfectly healthy; his daughter, Phoebe, has Down syndrome. In a split-second decision that haunts him for the rest of his life, David asks his nurse to take his daughter to an institution and tells his wife that their daughter died. Thus begins The Memory Keeper's Daughter, a highly readable book by Kim Edwards.

David's decision irrevocably changes not only his own life but also the lives of his wife, Norah, and his nurse, Caroline. In a single moment, they inherit futures they never envisioned where secrets are carefully kept and bind people together as much as they push them apart. David and Norah's relationship never recovers from the loss of their daughter, and their marriage is one of slow but sure deterioration. Caroline, meanwhile, recoils at the institutionalized life David instructs for his daughter. She spirits Phoebe away and raises her as her own, fighting against a society where anyone with Down syndrome is seen as a lost cause.

Edwards doesn't explore the characters' subtleties or the ambiguity of their decisions as much as she could. Her plot is ripe with opportunities for real complexity, but she often skims the surface of these characters rather than exposing the raw emotion that sustains their desires and heartaches. Even so, The Memory Keeper's Daughter is readable and provoking enough to be good, though not great.