MY 2008 RECESSION DEPRESSION

Long time, no write. I haven't been motivated to write even though there has been so much to write about.

It's just that i'm going on 4 months unemployed and no sign of when it will end. A couple of days ago the NY Times ran a page 1 story about NY, among other states, is running out of unemployment funds. Woo hoo!! And the hits just keep on coming!

I'm depressed. Well, it's actually more like scared but I sleep alot these days. Well, I sleep odd hours and when i'm awake I just remain in bed watching CNN and soap operas and getting more depressed and scared.

Hundreds of resumes have been sent and 1 phone interview has been netted. 4 MONTHS!!!

As the saying goes, Misery Loves Company. So who wants to share their economic misery with me? Come on, it'll be cathartic for all involved.

But on a positive note (see, i'm trying), HAPPY 45th BIRTHDAY, BRAD PITT and congrats on the SAG nom!!

SONG OF THE WEEK: AND THE BEAT GOES ON

Wow, it's Madonna!

Never been a big fan but this song is HOT!!! Enjoy!

THIS JUST WOKE ME UP FROM A 4-DAY COMA

Sarah Palin and the RNC have blunted the already miniscule bounce Barack Obama had coming out of his convention. After having been up 10 points in Gallup's daily tracking poll, he's now down three. He's publicly stating that some of his answers at Saddleback could have been better and the media's total hard-on for Palin has not gone soft.

It's nervous times if you're a Democrat, but if it's Sunday, it's time to just have a smile.

Enjoy...

MICHAEL PHELPS: SHUT IT DOWN!

I, like many over the Olympics, was mesmerized by the quest for 8 that fish-man Michael Phelps undertook. I was all over him and he was my new boyfriend.

But as the new "new celebrity" business model demands, once the Games are over, you have to hit the media markets hard and make as deep an impression as possible for maximun earning and name recognition potential.

In the process, you ALWAYS leave yourself open to overexposure, and in my case, eventual disgust.

Probably a little harsh but enough already, Michael!!

Mr. Phelps taped the season premiere of Oprah Winfrey (along with 150 other US olympic medalists and his mom, Debbie Phelps).

Mr. Phelps will soon embarass himself mightily on the season premiere of SNL.

Michael Phelps's Corn & Frosted Flakes boxes will roll out next week.

Michael Phelps is and has been everywhere and now he must swim away.

Swim away, Michael Phelps, and see you in London.

2012.

FASHION: THE NEW ICONS...

While I never have nor never would go out of my way to see a film any of these three were in, they have gotten my heart beating a little faster with their totally unique and recent looks.

My favorite of the three, Natalie Portman (at the Venice Film Festival):






















Anne Hathaway, always annoying to me but consistently perfect on the R.C.:






















Amazing!


And finally, Keira Knightley. A total bore on every occasion except for when she occasionally impresses on the R.C. This is one of them. Nice dress.

AND HERE IT IS...YES!!

We finally get to hear the truth about what the Republican pundits really think.

Former McCain 2000 campaign staffer & MSNBC commentator Mike Murphy and former Republican speechwriter Peggy Noonan telling NBC Political Director Chuck Todd what they really think about the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's VP running mate.

Too good.

TODAY'S COMMERCIALS: WHERE'S THE DRAMA?

After almost a lifetime of obsessive compulsive tv watching, I am on a decidedly downward trend. I'm down to three channels and maybe 3 or 4 "Must See TV Shows." I've resigned myself to the fact that on a whole, tv sucks and my attention span isn't what it used to be, but I've realized that I don't even glean much entertainment from commercials anymore either.

Maybe it's just a heightened sense of nostalgia or the fact that I'd like to turn the clock back 20 years and do it all a different and better way, but why aren't commercials today as good as they used to be back in the day.

There's only so many times I can be entertained by that singing Free Credit Report guy.

Anyhoo, the above is the original British version of the Taster's Choice series of commercials that I was absolutely obsessed with.

I miss the drama and romance on full display here.

SARAH PALIN: PISTOL PACKIN' MAMA

The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind. Surely the McCain team knew it would happen like this. With the small exception of the right-wing nutballs that lay desperate claim to the soul of the Republican party who campaigned for Gov. Palin to be included on the ticket, noone really knew who this woman was.

But the media went to work. And drip...drip...drip came the info. "Surely, the campaign didn't vet her properly or else they would not have picked her," went the conventional thinking. "What does this say about McCain's judgement?"

But not so fast.

The McCain team says they already knew all of what has consumed the media cycle in the last 2 days, but McCain says he chose her anyway because of her vast "executive experience."

My question is, what does that say about his judgement?

The selection of Sarah Palin is pandering at its finest. The selection of Sarah Palin is gimmicky politics at its most frightening. The selection of Sarah Palin is desperation at it's most desperate.

She's young. She's "conservative" (although I think that's a load of crap!). She's a woman. She's being used for her vagina and she's subjecting her family to it willingly.

So sad.

SHOULD WHITE PEOPLE ADOPT BLACK GIRLS?

We supposedly live in a post-racial world. The US is on the cusp of electing a bi-racial man. China worships our (black) NBA stars, Will Smith is Hollywood's most bankable actor as the era of The Movie Star fades into oblivion, and the biggest demographic of hip-hop music is the white suburban kid.

So we really shouldn't have a problem if someone adopts outside their race, right?

Well.....I do. It's a position that i've taken in since Zahara Marley Jolie-Pitt came into our radar screens.

Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie have the world at their disposal. Obviously, their hearts were in the right place when they chose to adopt Zahara. But i'm curious if they, or more importantly Angelina, thought about the ethnic responsibilities that she will have to uphold for her.

Was Angelina ever concerned about how she would manage her liffle african daughter's hair? Doesn't seem so. In the 3 years we have seen the girl in paparazzi pictures, she is often allowed to go out with her hair looking wild and unkempt, uncombed and messy.

While they don't have to care, this is very offensive to the African-American community. They seem to not bother with trying to keep her hair presentable, or at the very least, free of knots and tangles.

A black woman's hair is a very sensitive subject. The multi-billion dollar black hair care industry is testament to that.

When a white couple comes along to adopt an african/african-american girl, they should be respectful of her ethnicity and heritage to put in the effort to learn how not to make her look like a laughingstock.

WHAT IS IT WITH THE WEATHERMEN?

Watching CNN all morning and night because I find the anticipation of an approaching hurricane to be fascinating. The best part is watching all of the weathermen and Anderson Cooper getting right in the path of it and saying it's really bad. But as they have their ruby red CNN windbreakers on, standing head first into the camera, displaying their bravery and manhood for all to see, there always seems to be a homeless guy walking by with no coat or hat, or a yuppie couple walking their dog doing just fine. Ha!

I think I need to find a job soon because I could easily slip into a CNN coma.

GUSTAV & SARAH = HURRICANES ENTWINED

It's been quite an eventful few days, and probably the most exciting time in this entire election cycle.

Barack Obama had what started to be a dry, meaningless convention that turned into first rate political theater whose drama built to a perfect crescendo on it's final historic night.

John McCain countered with a decision that turned my blood cold for its reckless disregard of the entire country's safety & security.

And Hurricane Gustav--as if retribution for the Republican administration's neglect of the citizens of the Gulf Coast three years ago--whips itself up into a frenzy on the eve of the Republican's convention, throwing a big, fat, wet monkee wrench into plans three years in the making.

Hurricane Gustav is just in time to go up against Hurricane Sarah. In the 48 hours since the world outside of Alaska has come to know of her existence on earth, she has whipped up her own frenzy among the Republican base. They love her and why wouldn't they? Anti-Abortion, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-pantsuit.

But on what should have been her nationally televised pageant runway walk & wave in the Twin Cities, could very likely be a quick high five from the site of an affected gulf coast city (most likely in Mississippi). She came up against Hurricane Gustav and Gustav won.

With expectations lowered for her performance at the "convention" (and the upcoming VP debate, and reading from the TelePrompter, and getting out of a car without giving up a crotch shot, etc.), I'm sure she'll perform her high five so well that the RNC will issue a release saying that she has the traditional values all reasonable Americans share to perform a regular, open hand high five and not the terrorist fist bump of the elitist Obamas.

Who will spin this spinning storm to their advantage? Obama has recused himself from making an appearance on the Gulf Coast, lest he appear to be impeding the important work of evacuationg a city that's already under way in N.O. McPalin has already shown up in MS.

All is not lost for the R's. Gustav has already done something that Sarah couldn't: He's removed Bush/Cheney from McCain's game.

HOORAY! I'M HIP. I'M COOL. I'M A BLOGGER!!

This is my first post on my own official blog! I think i'm a generation behind but that's ok.

I find myself with a lot of time on my hands, so why not start a blog to share the inane ramblings that have occupied the cavernous space between my ears. Why not? I'm game, and I hope you are too.

My interests are varied and my attention span is short, so while I envision posting on things from politics and world events, I will also post on recipes, celebrities and what Michael Phelps could possible be doing at any particular moment! (Sorry, I'm still on Olympics time.)

So I hope my friends enjoy, but ultimately I do this for me because I am an egomaniac and it's about time the world come to know the Important! Cultural! Voice! that is ritzygal!

Ole!