Meghan Daum and Rob Walker
Wow, East Coast business hours hadn't even begun, and I'd already made an error. As you diplomatically suggest, it was Dan Burton on Face the Nation who said Hillary didn't pass the smell test, not Richard Shelby. I'd actually thought it was Burton but then, unwisely, attempted to fact-check myself by looking on the Face the Nation Web site and saw Shelby's name and not Burton's. But, yes, Bob Kerrey did characterize Burton's slope as slippery and, true to his sensible Nebraskan nature, said he did not agree with all the pardons but questioned the constitutionality of the investigations. Whenever I see Bob Kerrey, I find myself wishing I had been in Lincoln back in the early '80s when he was the governor and dating Debra Winger. As most Lincolnites will tell you, Terms of Endearment was filmed here (even the parts where Debra Winger and Jeff Daniels are supposed to live in Iowa), and during the production, Winger began dating the governor and they were frequently spotted around town together. They would hang out, for instance, at the Zoo Bar, a famous blues bar downtown where citizens of every stripe gather to hear the likes of major blues artists on their way to and from Chicago. I can just imagine Debra in a little boho beret drinking 50-cent drafts with both state legislators and assembly-line workers from Goodyear. (Amazingly, this mix does occur here, which is a refreshing change from Manhattan's classist, cliqueish social topography.) Lincoln's other brush with glitz was the nearby filming of To Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar. There's a loft apartment downtown, complete with exposed pipes and brick walls, that's usually used for office Christmas parties but is famous for having housed Wesley Snipes during the shoot. It includes a hot tub where, according to the building's owner, Wesley, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguiziamo "partied" during their off hours. (Nudge, nudge.)
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StumbleUponJust visited the Romenesko site and got sidetracked for 45 minutes and then depressed. Hard to say why. Is it because out here in Nebraska, where the wind is currently whipping across the pasture so hard that I can't get the back door open, Dave Eggers and his recent flap with the New York Times is about as culturally relevant as Darva Conger's Web site? That's not to say it's not relevant somewhere (for every McSweeney's devotee, there must be someone who appreciates tips like "you can try to avoid the blow dryer by letting your hair air dry or slicking it up into a chic up do"), but I must say I'm glad to be able to cross things like "don't have $1.45 million paperback deal" off my self-pity list. Until today anyway. God, I suck.
Prediction: That the Eminem/Elton John version of "Stan" performed on the Grammys last week will be released as a single, make the top 10, and eventually find its way onto a teen movie soundtrack or, at the very least, an episode of the Zwick Herskovitz drama Once and Again, wherein an angsty adolescent will be playing it in her room right before her mother comes in and announces that the whole family's entering counseling.
I'll check out the Times obits. But they're a pale shadow of the wedding announcements.
Meghan
After Fort Hood, There's No Excuse for the Ban on Women in Combat
What Does "Stable Condition" Mean? Absolutely Nothing.
Jim Carrey's Admirably Restrained Scrooge
The Great New Single That's a Little Bit Whitney Houston and a Little Bit Rusted Root
Joe Biden Explains His Gaffe-Evasion Strategy
The Box: A Creepy, Confusing Thriller From the Guy Who Brought You Donnie Darko
Reader Comment From The Fray:
I have a suggestion for some 'reality based' TV programs. How about Refugee Boat? We could take contestants and put them in a third world, war torn country and give them thirty days to figure out how to make a raft, find food and get set afloat before despotic soldiers order them to dig their own graves.
Or, how about Street Survival? In this one, the contestants must survive three months on the street with only the clothes on their backs and no identification. They would be required to jump trains, sleep outdoors in alleyways and in shelters, and generally try to survive their new found compatriots, welfare rolls and dumpster diving.
And, how about this beauty? Prison Guards would be a reality based show where one would become a prison guard in one of the most feared prisons in the United States. In this show contestants get thirty days training and then must work as a prison guard in the most violence-prone sectors of the prison for at least two months. Talk about ratings! I know that I would personally be glued to the screen.
Let's give vanity and greed a real price. Instead of paying people to play the mind games most of us have to wade through in our regular work week, let's up the ante a little. I can't wait until the spotlights burn and we get to see one of these numbnuts have to face a freight train's worth of trouble rushing headlong into them.
--Rogue
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