Hey! That guy won the election!
*Unlike Christmas or Reverse-Christmas, this morning was like waking up to find your parents still putting out the presents, smiling sheepishly as they tell you that Santa must have left the boxes in another room and they were just moving them. There's something just so anti-climactic about waking up and rushing over to the computer only to see "All States Not Counted". Bah! Anyway, in the interests of providing readers with the spiciest entertainment salsa ever, here are my most potent Election 2004 memories:
1. Listening to my undecided friends carefully weighing the relative benifits of each candidate's position with a knowing and critical eye toward potential shortcomings and campaign trail spin, and engaging in critical debate over the choicest topics. Then listening to one of my relatives declare her support for Bush because she 'doesn't like the look' in Mrs. Kerry's eyes and another vow to aid Kerry because the ladies at the beauty shop think Laura Bush is a Stepford Wife. Ah, the mandate of the American people!
2. The religious personality on television advising persons faint of heart or children to leave the room as they launched into a lengthy and graphic account of the abortion procedure, in order to drum up some Bush support the "Blood Feast" way.
3. A friend ruefully evaluating the effect that Hollywood Stars had on the Kerry Campaign: "People see all these stars supporting Kerry, they instantly see Bush as the underdog. The average plain-spoken blue-collar Joe fighting against the elite. Really, it'd have been better if they'd all shut the fuck up."
4. My state did not have Gay Marriage on the plate. But I'm reminded of the recent state supreme court overruling (California?); when the news came through and people literally stood up and cheered at the announcement while I sort of sat around quietly. We'd have been #12 if we'd had the chance, I assure you.
5. Driving along today for lunch. On the side of the highway was a middle-aged woman dancing in the grass holding up a Bush/Cheney sign and whooping. She was all alone, her SUV pulled over to the shoulder, but she just had to dance. I wish I'd brought my camera. Every every day, I wish I'd brought my camera somewhere.
6. The soft realization that in regards to the tone of ploitical discussion, much like the end of an 'arc' in a current superhero comic this is only a false conclusion, a means of packaging history, and the shrillness of discourse will continue, and the lines will grow more sharply split, and the anger will continue to bubble. And I doubt a Kerry win would have had much of an alternate force as far as tone is concerned. I think we're in a state where we can't really escape a hunkering down into our trenches, regardless of surface events. We have to learn to thrive in this environment for a while, if we haven't learned already.
7. But at least those annoying campaign ads are done - UNTIL THE ANNOYING CHRISTMAS ADS BEGIN IN A FEW DAYS AM I RITE PEOPLE LOL!!1!
*And as for comics, look for hot new reviews later tonight. I did Kevin Huizenga's "Or Else" #1, and Chris Butcher has already said it all; I totally agree with him. I will say that it was quite canny of Mr. Huizenga to label the book 'KH Book #3' with books one and two being some of his recent minicomic releases. The appeal to the completist! But it's really a great book, and issue #2 is supposed to reprint all of the final issue of Huizenga's "Supermonster" minicomic series, which was over 100 pages long if I recall, so that'll be really cool. The stories in this issue are mostly re-drawn or re-formatted versions of minicomics work, with a new story added in and a new one-page piece to boot. Read Chris' review: this book is great work!
1. Listening to my undecided friends carefully weighing the relative benifits of each candidate's position with a knowing and critical eye toward potential shortcomings and campaign trail spin, and engaging in critical debate over the choicest topics. Then listening to one of my relatives declare her support for Bush because she 'doesn't like the look' in Mrs. Kerry's eyes and another vow to aid Kerry because the ladies at the beauty shop think Laura Bush is a Stepford Wife. Ah, the mandate of the American people!
2. The religious personality on television advising persons faint of heart or children to leave the room as they launched into a lengthy and graphic account of the abortion procedure, in order to drum up some Bush support the "Blood Feast" way.
3. A friend ruefully evaluating the effect that Hollywood Stars had on the Kerry Campaign: "People see all these stars supporting Kerry, they instantly see Bush as the underdog. The average plain-spoken blue-collar Joe fighting against the elite. Really, it'd have been better if they'd all shut the fuck up."
4. My state did not have Gay Marriage on the plate. But I'm reminded of the recent state supreme court overruling (California?); when the news came through and people literally stood up and cheered at the announcement while I sort of sat around quietly. We'd have been #12 if we'd had the chance, I assure you.
5. Driving along today for lunch. On the side of the highway was a middle-aged woman dancing in the grass holding up a Bush/Cheney sign and whooping. She was all alone, her SUV pulled over to the shoulder, but she just had to dance. I wish I'd brought my camera. Every every day, I wish I'd brought my camera somewhere.
6. The soft realization that in regards to the tone of ploitical discussion, much like the end of an 'arc' in a current superhero comic this is only a false conclusion, a means of packaging history, and the shrillness of discourse will continue, and the lines will grow more sharply split, and the anger will continue to bubble. And I doubt a Kerry win would have had much of an alternate force as far as tone is concerned. I think we're in a state where we can't really escape a hunkering down into our trenches, regardless of surface events. We have to learn to thrive in this environment for a while, if we haven't learned already.
7. But at least those annoying campaign ads are done - UNTIL THE ANNOYING CHRISTMAS ADS BEGIN IN A FEW DAYS AM I RITE PEOPLE LOL!!1!
*And as for comics, look for hot new reviews later tonight. I did Kevin Huizenga's "Or Else" #1, and Chris Butcher has already said it all; I totally agree with him. I will say that it was quite canny of Mr. Huizenga to label the book 'KH Book #3' with books one and two being some of his recent minicomic releases. The appeal to the completist! But it's really a great book, and issue #2 is supposed to reprint all of the final issue of Huizenga's "Supermonster" minicomic series, which was over 100 pages long if I recall, so that'll be really cool. The stories in this issue are mostly re-drawn or re-formatted versions of minicomics work, with a new story added in and a new one-page piece to boot. Read Chris' review: this book is great work!
posted by Jog at 4:08 PM
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