More from the Blogs--The Tour of the Summer: Brett Michaels!

We all know how much we love to loathe Rock of Love on VH1, and now the action is coming to a city near you!

Will Heather, Lacey, Daisy or Rodeo be in the crowd, as a devoted groupie? That'd be the only reason why I'd go. Fake boobs are fun to see up close.

Anyway, tour date:

http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/bret_michaels/tours.jhtml

And thanks to Jen H for passing the news along!!!

Series: Epistles to Ikea - Dog Helps Owner Keep Pounds Off

Dear Ikea,

Despite the meal yesterday and the fact that I only exercised once last week, I have still been able to keep off those 20 lbs gained from mi loca autumn/winter. And, thanks to EFFING DAISY my dog, I will continue on this path because

SHE ATE ALL THE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE CRISPS we bought yesterday (94 calories each...). You know how chocolate is allegedly bad for dogs? Yeah, not for Daisy. She has guts of steel. She once at a whole box of Puopol o's Candies, and we all know how deliciously rich those candies are. (Though, come to think of it, it's been a while since I had one. If only I knew someone, if only I lived with someone who had regular access to that candy...)

So, instead of 3000 calories, only 300 calories were consumable (three were left untouched by her savagery.)

Looks like I've got yet another excuse to go back ASAP.

(Plus, I'm buying the effing loft bed, regardless of what my mother thinks and what--ahem--issues she has brought up for its downsides. Still can't believe it.)

Jag älskar dig!

Birgit

Network Campaign Coverage 0, Elizabeth Edwards 1

This is an excerpt from an op ed piece written by Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, in the New York Times today:

---

April 27, 2008

Op-Ed Contributor

Bowling 1, Health Care 0

By ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Chapel Hill, N.C.

FOR the last month, news media attention was focused on Pennsylvania and its Democratic primary. Given the gargantuan effort, what did we learn?

Well, the rancor of the campaign was covered. The amount of money spent was covered. But...the information about the candidates’ priorities, policies and principles — information that voters will need to choose the next president — too often did not make the cut...

Why? Here’s my guess: The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country’s inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles...every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture...

View the full article at:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27edwards.html?th&emc=th

I always did love her, even if I was iffy about John Edwards.

It's Okay to Cry!

After winning the 500 & being the first woman to do so, Danica Patrick cried. Then later apologized for crying, calling it "Girlie."

Um excuse me, but when Brett Favre retired, was that girlie? When Michael Jordan cried after winning the championship, after coming out of retirement, was that girlie? When the Sox won in 04 and every man woman and child in New England cried for their rewarded faith, and for their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents up in heaven finally smiling, was that girlie?

No.



People cry in sports. Especially when it's because benchmarks were made or perseverance paid off big. That's one of the many beauties of sports, of athleticism -- it's never just the game. It's the triumph of mind over matter; it's the hope of breaking barriers and forging new milestone in history. And, yes, it is the grace, skill & strength we like to watch from those people fortunate enough to be gifted in ways we admire and sometimes envy.

Right now, people are at least thinking about Tibet, because of sports and the besieged Olympic torch. Women are making records. Minorities are breaking down barriers. Etc Etc Etc. The story behind the story, the passion portrayed, it's all part of why we watch, why we care.

So, girl, cry cry cry. You earned it!

More About the War: Part 2

New Film: Standard Operating Procedure

There is a new documentary from film maker Errol Morris (Fog of War is the most recent film of his). It covers the Abu Grhaib prison scandal and exposes, as any good skeptic already knew, that it wasn't "a few bad apples" as Donald Rumsfeld had put it, but, in fact, the standard operating procedure for the place.

I-e-i-e-i-e. If I don't quit witht he exposes, I'll have the folks at the CIA, FBI and NSA getting my blog as an RSS feed...(They might already, even if I do sometime divert my attneiton to the Red Sox, my shoes and General Hospital...)

See the trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8vk3v1BJBE&feature=related

Listen to the movie review I heard that made me want to see it here:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89818507&ft=1&f=1045

Here's a deleted scene I found on YouTube. The last 15 seconds are...something else. Her anger and indignation. I need to see this movie: