The Great Schlep

Funny site encouraging Jewish people to go visit their grandparents in Florida and convince them to vote Obama so Florida will swing the election. Watch the welcome video from Sarah Silverman (but not at work...if you've seen her comedy before you'll understand what I mean). At first glance the site seems like simply a joke but it's paid for by the Jewish Council for Education and Research, which is a legitimate organization that created the site Jews Vote.

The site's a pretty darn clever tactic to direct viewers, who may just end up viewing the video for laughs, to more serious sites that encourage voting and endorse Obama. Well done, JCER.

The Glass Castle

My mom bought this book and gave it to me, warning me that while it was a remarkable story, she had stopped reading because it was too depressing.

Jeannette Walls, the author of this memoir, is a journalist who had a childhood so dysfunctional, people would laugh at it as absurd if it were written as fiction. Her father was an alcoholic and her mother an unsuccesful writer and artist, neither of whom ever held a job for more than a few weeks at a time and forced their children to raise, feed, and clothe themselves from when they were toddlers. The story is intensely sad at times, chronicling poverty, neglect, and abuse. But it is also a fantastic comeback story. The Walls children persevere despite their crazy upbringing to make functional, even successful lives for themselves (with the exception of one sibling, about whose future Walls is more vague). Walls never has a woe is me tone, and she manages to find just the right balance between the pockets of humor and the depth and intensity of the family's dysfunction. I don't think Augusten Burroughs, author of the memoir Running With Scissors, achieved this nearly as fully when he awkwardly tried to make abuse into one joke after another.

Beavers Topple the Trojans

It's so wonderful to see #1 fall...especially when Georgia has dropped to #3 despite being 4-0 and USC being 2-0. Well, 2-0 until last night when Oregon State knocked a whole lotta air out of their inflated heads. I love it. Now onto Bama and the Blackout. I don't have tickets to the game but if the Blackout even comes close to the awesomeness of last year's Auburn game, which was the best game I've been to in my life, we will crush the Tide and skeezy Nick Saban.

Here's a slideshow of images from the game, featuring lots of happy people in orange and sad people in maroon and gold.

On Spanking

This is an excellent article from Slate about what science and psychology research says about hitting, spanking, or otherwise using physical punishment against children. The bottom line: it works in the very very short term but has a variety of damaging effects in the long term (both for the child and the parent). The author also points to a UN initiative toward a universal ban on violence against kids, including corporal punishment at home. Some other highlights:

• More than one-third of all parents who start out with relatively mild punishments end up crossing the line drawn by the state to define child abuse: hitting with an object, harsh and cruel hitting, and so on. Children, endowed with wonderful flexibility and ability to learn, typically adapt to punishment faster than parents can escalate it, which helps encourage a little hitting to lead to a lot of hitting.
• The negative effects on children include increased aggression and noncompliance—the very misbehaviors that most often inspire parents to hit in the first place—as well as poor academic achievement, poor quality of parent-child relationships, and increased risk of a mental-health problem (depression or anxiety, for instance). High levels of corporal punishment are also associated with problems that crop up later in life, including diminished ability to control one's impulses and poor physical-health outcomes (cancer, heart disease, chronic respiratory disease).
  
• If you hit another adult you can be arrested and sued, after all, so shouldn't our smallest, weakest citizens have a right to equal or even more-than-equal protection under the law? In this country, if you do the same thing to your dog that you do to your child, you're more likely to get in trouble for mistreating the dog.

Yard Dog Wine

I must be especially hungry today with two posts about food and drink. I discovered the Redheads Yard Dog wine at the Decatur Package Store, which does a great job of displaying descriptions, awards, and recommendations of wine. The fugly dog was what first caught my attention, and the price was the second ($12). I read the rave review and was sold. This was by far the best wine I've ever had for that price, and probably better than a number of those costing $25 or more a bottle. I'll leave the fancy-schmancy technical description of the aromas and tastes to the experts (or at least the wine blogger I link to above who seems pretty popular). If you can find this wine, snag several bottles and enjoy!

Boca Chik'n Patties

I've always liked the Boca veggie burgers for a healthier grilling option (though don't get me wrong, I love a real burger even more). I found these Boca Chik'n Patties (made from soy) recently and came up with an AWESOME, quick, and healthy-ish sandwich. I toasted two pieces of sourdough bread, from Publix of course, added the Boca patty, melted a little cheese on top, sliced a plum tomato, and spread a bit of wing sauce on the bread instead of mustard or mayo. DELICIOUS. I have found a new favorite easy meal.

Gossip Girl

My newest not-so-guilty pleasure. I thought all the good had gone out of the world once "The OC" rolled into a third season and started sucking something horrible. But oh, Josh, Schwartz, I knew you'd be back and better than ever at making high schoolers speak like cynical pop culture professors and dress like they walked straight off the runway at Fashion Week. The story lines, unsurprisingly, are very similar to those experienced by our dearly departed friends in Newport Beach. I'm two thirds of the way through the first season (so no spoilers please!) and so far I don't like it as much as "The OC," but it's still shamelessly entertaining. Dan Humphrey is no Seth Cohen and Rufus Humphrey no Sandy Cohen, but those two characters leave impossibly big shoes to fill (Converse sneakers and Brooks Brothers loafers, respectively).

PCB, Baby!

No, I'm not on spring break, nor am I 19 sporting a fake tan and airbrushed apparel, but I am headed to glorious Panama City Beach this weekend with the family. Somehow I doubt we'll have the wild and crazy time most visitors seek out when they're in town, but we will certainly enjoy the gorgeous sand, water, and September weather. More posts to come Sunday night or Monday, have a great weekend!

Oh, and GO DAWGS.

He's a Lumberjack and He's Okay....for PRESIDENT

Awesome faux campaign video by Michael Palin, former member of Monty Python, proclaiming his candidacy and asking for your vote through a video montage demonstration of why he's the more qualified Palin. Guaranteed to make you want to queue up some Monty Python classics on Netflix. Oh, and to not vote for McCain and that other Palin.

Best Running Shoe on Earth

Well, the title of this post may be a bit misleading because I never have been and probably never will be a runner...but anyway. Greatest shoe ever for running, walking, working out at the gym, whatever you do to stay fit. I just bought my second pair of shoes in the Asics GT-2130 line and after I wore out the first pair (took two years of gym workouts and walks/hikes on various turf). I don't think I will ever wear another brand. It's so nice to be able to wear the shoes day one and have them feel just as comfortable as my old ones. I'm obsessed. I also like the Carolina blue colors...maybe I'll one day get to work at that school...a girl can dream...(sorry UVA)

Doris Kearns Goodwin

Though a six minute interview on The Colbert Report doesn't often give guests much time to show much depth (or convince me to read their books), historian Doris Kearns Goodwin managed to quickly make herself my hero. Perhaps I'm too easily bought...but she's just so darn likeable. She touches on Palin and women, Obama and black voters, the history of the vice presidental role, and Lincoln's political genius in just a few minutes (all the while holding her own again Colbert's jokes and persistent interruptions, including his offering her Mardi Gras beads). I'm adding her books to my list on Goodreads.

How Open Are We? Race & Gender in Politics

As a former intern and staff writer for my alma mater's Arts & Sciences magazine, I'm certainly biased, but I always enjoy the timely features about the ways UVA students, alumni, and faculty are making an impact in their communities, in the nation, and in the world. The feature article in this latest edition discusses the roles of race and gender in politics, specifically exploring how implict and explicit bias affects our publicly stated versus privately cast votes. Several professors in the department of political science are doing fascinating research on different facets of this topic.

Women Against Sarah Palin blog

Thanks to Meredith for alerting me to this blog.

This is a collection of women's voices from all ages, all across the country, Republicans and Democrats and independents, writing about Sarah Palin. I don't agree with all the content on here, as some posts are more fact based than others, BUT I do greatly appreciate the blog for helping women's voices be heard and debunking the ridiculous idea that women will support the McCain Palin ticket simply because of her gender or her role as a mother.

Knowshon's Hurdle

I can't leave out the amazing human hurdle from Knowshon Moreno at last weekend's UGA game against Central Michigan. I fully expect (as does the rest of the Bulldawg Nation) for this clip to play over and over in the background as he accepts the Heisman. Looking forward to what tricks he'll pull out against the Gamecocks this weekend. GO DAWGS!

Demarcus Dobbs' interception was also amazing and hilarious because he is SO BIG to run that far. First career TD, good for him.

Zombies Do Athens

Two undead thumbs up to this group of UGA students who plan to invade Downtown Athens dressed as zombies and inevitably entertain and/or freak out the late-night revelers. I might question my own level of consciousness if I saw the lady zombie from this picture lurking around a bar.

This event also recalls fond memories of the ninja incident, which in its absurdity made national news on MTV and MSNBC. Perhaps the ninja and zombies can join forces and invite along some pirates and cowboys. They better watch out for the spoilsport ATF agents though.

Thanks to Mark for the link. If you'd like to read more about zombies, check out the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (son of the great Mel Brooks).

Matt Damon on Sarah Palin

Great clip of Matt Damon talking about Sarah Palin and her qualifications as president. I don't think he's trying to be funny, and he does make a serious point, but I had to laugh at some of his lines: "It's like a really bad Disney movie...she's gonna be president and facing down Vladimir Putin and using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink" and "I really need to know if she thinks dinosaurs were here 4,000 years ago. I need to know that, I really do, because she's gonna have the nuclear codes."

Also, I appreciate him bringing up book-banning. It appears she never actually went through with it, but she did ask the Wasilla librarian how one might go about it. When the librarian disagreed, according to some reports, Palin fired her.

Sound familiar to anyone?

The Reversible Raincoat

Good article from Slate about the cliche of the moment in political speeches: the reversible raincoat, more formally known as antimetabole. This device has produced such gems as "We were elected to change Washington, and we let Washington change us" and "In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change."

My take? The device as used in this election is gimmicky and tired-sounding. As the article points out, the candidates today are likely trying to echo other politicians who used the reversible raincoat to create memorable and somewhat more powerful statements (Bill Clinton: "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power;" JFK: "ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country;" Churchill: "Let us preach what we practice—let us practice what we preach.")

Thanks to the Kate, my favorite fellow English major and crusader against cliches, for the link.

Spaced

This BBC show is a bizzare blend of Freaks & Geeks, The Twilight Zone, Seinfeld, The Office (British version, naturally), Arrested Development, and Are You Being Served. It stars Simon Pegg and other cast members from Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead, so if you appreciate the sense of humor in those movies, you'll enjoy this show. If you don't like British humor in general, though, you'll hate it. Probably best viewed later in the evening when you're ready to shut off your brain. First episode is here and there are more clips on YouTube.

English Fail Blog

Gotta love a hilarious grammatical mistake...or 600. This blog highlights some of the best, which will make you laugh, cry, or stare hard at the screen till you finally get it and feel like an idiot.

Dr. Horrible

Since he waltzed back into my life a few years back via "Harold and Kumar" and "How I Met Your Mother," I can't get enough of Neil Patrick Harris, or as his BFFs call him, NPH. Dr. Horrible is a funny funny funny series of Webpisodes (is that how you spell that? Dumb word) in which Dr. H hatches his plans to become an evil superhero and worm his way into the Evil League of Evil. The first episode is here and the rest are on iTunes.

Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka

For all you Southerners and wannabe Southerners who understand the power and glory that is the perfect glass of sweet tea, here is heaven in a bottle: Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. Mix it with half water and a lemon slice, plop down in a rocker on the porch, close your eyes and take a sip...it doesn't get any better.