LOTS OF STUFF

I have only given intermittent attention to this blog over the past couple weeks. I have a feeling that this trend will continue through much of the summer, I must be honest.

With that in mind, let's cast a wide, non-dolphinish net...

--The Incredible Hulk wants to know why there aren't any plans in the works for a sequel to his 2003 blockbuster. That is, "Why no one want make Hulk 2?" Laugh-out-loud funny.

--Wait a minute. I thought that a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was supposed to be used as a wedge issue to divide Democrats. Boy, that sure worked out! Kitten Kevorkian Frist says:

"This issue is not going away," Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee said in a virtual concession that the measure would fall short of the 60 votes needed to advance past a Wednesday test vote. "Will it be back? Absolutely, yes," he added.

Remember that just a week ago, Republicans were the ones pushing for an up-or-down vote this week. Many Republicans out there like to lecture us liberals that 2004 is nothing like 1992. To them I say, we can now add "culture war wedge issue that backfired" to the comparison. (1992's, of course, was the flag-burning amendment)

--A lot of people around the blogs have either commented on, or taken this marginally useful "culture test", which asks respondents to pick their cultural preference from 100 pairs of people, places and things. It's a bit long, and some of the pairs required me not to reply due to my insufficiently expanded cultural palate, but here are some of my highlights:

1. Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly? I'm a sucker for Singin' in the Rain, so obviously Kelly.
10. Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning? As a pretentious songwriter, I need organization in my art, so de Kooning it is.
11. The Who or the Stones? Let's face it: Both of them sucked after their relevance threshold, the former in the period up to and after Moon kicked, and the latter after about 1973. At their peaks? Stones by a nose.
22. Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe? Marilyn in a walk.
28. Tchaikovsky or Chopin? I was in The Nutcracker when I was 6, and I'll always love it, but the drama of Chopin's best work is too much to resist.
31. Grosse Pointe Blank or High Fidelity? Good god, why do they even bother asking a question like this? I can think of 5 reasons...
40. Rodgers and Hart or Gershwin and Gershwin? I grew up with Gershwin, I'll die with Gershwin. It's very cleeeeaarrr...
54. Ghost World or Election? Shit. For the sole reason that there was a girl in one of my Political Science sections last year who reminded me exactly of Tracy Flick, Election it is.
67. A Midsummer Night’s Dream or As You Like It? Whereat with blade, with bloody blameful blade, he bravely broached his boiling bloody breast!
71. North by Northwest or Vertigo? Vertigo. San Francisco baybee.
74. The Music Man or Oklahoma? Oklahoma, for the sole reason that I was in it once. My production was directed by none other than Gene Nelson, who played Will in the movie.
81. Diana Krall or Norah Jones? Diana Krall looks like Ann Coulter. So it's all you, Norah!
89. Huckleberry Finn or Moby-Dick? Moby Dick, obsession rules!
94. Liz Phair or Aimee Mann? Liz Phair, if only for Exile in Guyville. That pop crap she came out with last year made this a close call.

--Lastly, I know some people who would do well to plan a road trip around this idea.

More blogging soon.