'Tis Tuesday in November, So . . . Elections!

Hey, just 'cause it's an off-year election doesn't mean i'm not paying attention.  Truth be told, I pay more attention to off-year/midterm elections because they're usually far more interesting than the presidential ones.

So, here's a quick recap of the night

• Bob McDonnell (R) is the new governor of Virginia
• Chris Christie (R) is the new governor of New Jersey
• Bill Owens (D) won the congressional race in NY23 (New York's 23rd district, for you non-politics people)
• Main voters overturned their legislature's law legalizing gay marriage
• Michael Bloomberg (R/I) is still mayor of New York City
• Democrats picked up another House seat, from Northern California
  

Writing this in the few days after the election, I can't say I'm surprised by any of it.  Disappointed by a lot, sure.  I would have liked to see the governor's races and the Issue 1 in Maine go down differently.  But when you think about it, y'all should've seen it coming.

Jon Corzine, the incumbent in NJ, was hated, hated by so many people . . . even those of his own party.  For such a small state, it has a ton of problems.  I can completely see why he would lose.  Even though Obama campaigned for him, Corzine has none of the glitz and glamour and excitement that the so-called "Obama surge voters" associate with the president.

Virginia, well, they have a history of being rather unhappy if their governor is from the same party as the president.  Add to that the fact that they are historically a very Republican state, and, well, bye-bye, Mr. Deeds.

Maine's Issue 1 was California's Prop 8 all over again, right down to the same firm running the "yes" campaign's attack adds.  And, yes, it makes me just as mad the second time round.  When you have ultra-fundamentalists/conservatives running blatently false ads, you have little chance of people voting the sensible way.  And yes, I'm aware that that's a generalization.  Not everyone who voted "yes" is fundamentalist, and they're perfectly entitled to their own opinions.  But this repeal is a disappointing setback to equal-rights activists everywhere.  Not to mention that the ads that were run for the "yes" campaign were completely unture (there was nowhere in the law where it was stated that gay marriage would be taught in schools).  They were purely playing on irrational fears, which leads me to believe, once again, that most Americans just don't think enough.

NY23's race was probably the one I was watching most closely, because the dynamics there were so interesting.  It's a historically Republican seat, yet the Republican nominee here, Deirdre Scozzafava, was basically forced to withdraw from teh race by her own party, for being too liberal.  I think she simply had a good head on her shoulders, but anyway.  That left the Democrat running against the Conservative Party nominee -- who just so happened to pick up an endorsement from Sarah Palin (maybe that's why he lost!)  Add to all that the fact that Scozzafava still walked away with 5% of the vote, AND threw her support behind the Democrat, and you have a fascinating election.  I think this one went pretty well :)

As for Michael Bloomberg, all I can say is "duh".  He goes to all the trouble to make himself eligible for a third term, then spends a ridiculous of his own money on the (entirely self-financed) campaign.  It would be crazy if he wasnt elected.  Although the margin of victory was much smaller than anyone (including me) had thought, seeing as how Bloomberg was leading the polls by double digits.

And Democrats picked up a second congressional seat, this one from California.  So overall, an okay night.

So what does all this mean?  I don't think it means as much as other people think.  It's not really a reflection on Obama so much as it is a reflection on the party in power.  And I think we Democrats did pretty well tonight.  I also think that if the two gubernatorial races had been in, say, Texas and Alabama, that we would have been much less surprised to see two Republicans walk away with the seat.  Theres so much hype here, in my opinion, because Virginia, although historically Republican, voted for Obama last year, so people were maybe half expecting that trend to continue.  Also, NJ is a historically Democratic state where the Republican candidate won pretty handily.  So that might have been a surprise to some people.

Okay, this post is getting way long now, and I'm tired.  G'night everyone :)

Computer Updates + Halloween = Happy Anya!

So, it turns out that when I'm bored with schoolwork, I become very productive with non-school related things.  More to the point, updating pretty much everything on my computer!

A summary:

• Mac OSX 10.5.2 to OSX 10.5.8.  Honestly, I don't see much of a difference, maybe it runs a bit faster, and I can run Safari 4 and other stuff now.  Reccommended in any case :)
• Safari (something) to Safari 4.  Okay, everyone needs to do this.  Well, probably everyone already has, I feel like I'm a bit behind the times here, but it's much faster, much prettier, and has a ton of new features, like being able to browse your most-visited sites in cover-flow style, that are pretty cool. 
• iTunes 8 to iTunes 9.0.2.  The whole reason I went through all of these updates in the first place!  Now that I can actually use the iTunes store, I'm loving this particular upgrade much more than I was previously!  To avoid turning into an Apple commercial, let me just say that if you haven't tried iTunes 9 yet, you are being deprived of LIFE!  Haha, okay, not that extreme, but you should get this :)

 And, on a totally random note, I'm sure the Vatican has better things to do than condemn Halloween as dangerous, pagan, and satanic.  The main danger comes from kids crossing the street in the dark, pagan is not a bad thing, and Halloween originated as a harvest festival, which I do not think is satanic at all.  What's next, trying to ban Dia de los Muertos because it celebrates dead people?  Sheesh.  Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely, safe Halloween, and happy November to you all :)

U's and Reviews

Lame title, maybe, but just deal =)  it'll all make sense, eventually, haha.

U2 is playing at the Rose Bowl tonight, and I'm not there!  Life is so not fair sometimes.  But on the plus side, I'm sitting here at my computer, watching the live stream on youtube.  In a way, it's better than actually being there, becuase with the 90,000+ people there, I'm sure I wouldn't have seen a thing.  Add to that the fact that U2 has lovely camera people (do you know how rare that is at concerts?) and that my little geeky self is loving the lens flares, you have a pretty happy Anya, all around.  Bono is funny, the stage is amazing beyond words, and the band overall is perfectly top-notch.  I'm crossing my fingers that they'll play "New Year's Day", but I was looking through old set lists and they haven't recently =(  In any case, I can't wait for the DVD of this!

My friends got me totally, utterly, helplessly addicted to Law & Order: SVU.  Thanks a lot, you guys . . .  I won't be doing reviews for each individual episode (I wish I had that much free time!) but I'll do a recap at the end of each season, 'kay?  'Kay good.  I watched the first four episodes this weekend . . . Olivia Benson is fast becoming one of my favorite TV characters, period.

I finally finished watching Atlantis Season 3!!  So now I have three more episodes to review, and then I can cross something off my to-do list! =)  Review for "Sunday" is finally up on my website, check here.

A few words of advice:  naps are not just for little kids, they are lovely for everyone.  Just don't take them on couches in hotel lobbies while waiting for your sisters to dance at a feis.  The people who work there tend to be rather unamused.  Um.  Yeah.  Story of my weekend . . .

Anyway, that's all for now, since I'm beyond tired, but check back soon for some more politics-related stuff, rather than just my random ramblings =)

Things Wrong With The World, Part 2

This was originally going to be in honor of Banned Books Week, a rant about censorship and stupidity, and the futility of trying to keep knowledge from children.  Well, I kinda missed that train (stupid.schoolwork.takes.over.my.life.) but I'll just incorporate that into a larger rant.

I was driving with my mom the other day (well, fine, my mother was driving, but hey) and I just happened to look out my window.  The woman in the SUV next to us had about six bobby pins in her mouth and both her hands were occupied with putting up her hair.  Going sixty miles an hour.  On the freeway.  Are you trying to get someone killed?  I know people in LA can't drive, but this is really taking it too far.

Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.  For, um, making nice speeches about "hope" and "change" and being an optimist?  Because that's all I can think of at the moment.  I'm sure there were plenty of other people who have sacrificed much more and accomplished better things that this prize could have gone to.  And as much as I love my country and think President Obama is pretty cool, I would have much rather have seen this be awarded to him in a few years' time, when he's made genuine progress on his Middle Eastern peace initiatives.  This lovely New York Times columnist has written what I think to be the perfect speech for Obama to give at the ceremony in December.

NASA crashed a spaceship into the moon to look for water vapor.  And practically no one cared.  Except the scientists.  And me.  What's up with people?  This is the future we're talking about!

Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck are pathetic excuses for human beings, just like FOX news is an insult to good journalism.  Honestly, it's people and organizations like this that give all Republicans a bad name.  I laughed when I saw that the White House was treating FOX like part of the "political opposition", because .... they so are.  Really.  And as for some of Anita Dunn's comments . . . wow, remind me to never get on her bad side!

I'm still shocked by the amount of incivility and childishness that our Congresspeople demonstrate.  California's Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano thinks it's perfectly appropriate to yell "You lie!" at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, along with several other unreapeatable things.  Sheesh, all the governor did was show up at a fundraiser.  A Democratic one, to be sure, and he's certainly made many of us Democrats angry, but there's no excuse for saying what he did.  And then a senator says that Republican opposition to healthcare reform just means they wan't people to "die slowly".  True?  Possibly.  Inappropriate? Oh yes indeed.  And if that wasn't enough, a representative finishes up his rebuttal against a House colleague by cussing him out.  That's practically beyond ridiculous.  I mean, no wonder Congress never gets anything done, everyone is too busy fighting.  I cant believe people think that it's okay to say these things.  Because it's not.  I have the urge to go up to some of these people and shove a bar of soap in their mouths, because these people need a good mouthwashing.

And finally, Pepsi wins the Bad Taste award of the month for it's iPhone app, designed to help men "score" women.  It's rude, it's degrading, it stereotypes women, and as a joke, it goes way too far.  What happened to Apple's famed "app approval process" (oooh, alliteration skillz xD) which is criticized for being to harsh but lets something like this slip through?  Not okay.

In Your Place: Randomz

I made it my mission a bit ago to find Republicans With Brains (they get capital letters in their title 'cause they're just that rare, y'know?).  Actually, Ash kinda inspired me to go on that search.  I found two: Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, two lovely senators from Maine who care about things like bailout packages, social equality, and affordable healthcare.  Kudos to them for knowing when to drop the party line.

I want a Kindle.  And an iPhone.  And a tablet.  Why do all the best things in life come with such huge pricetags?  Apple should hurry up and release their tablet . . . but if it's just a large-scale iTouch, I will be quite unhappy.  On the subject of computer-y things, I have a newfound respect for Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator (we're using them a lot in designing our yearbook).  I'll still take GIMP over Photoshop any day, but I haven't found anything to compare to Illustrator or InDesign (my dad thinks I'm a bit crazy.  He says, "why would you want software you have to pay for?"

I love Nancy Pelosi.  She doesn't stand stupidity from anyone, and when told by a senior army figure that she needs to be put "in her place" she responds with "I am in my place".  And her place just so happens to be Speaker of the House of Representatives.  I approve =)  There needs to be more people like her in Congress.  Maybe then things would actually get done in an orderly fashion.

Speaking of, I'm in my place right now . . . watching Stargate Atlantis and "doing schoolwork".  I suppose I have to get back to the second part of that now (though the schoolwork is the reason I have to multi-task and watch SGA at the same time, because it's taking me three months to watch four episodes.  Sheesh).  Catch ya on the flip side! =)

Warehouse 13: "MacPherson" Review

This episode was absolutely. bloody. brilliant.  I have no idea how on Earth I am going to survive waiting MONTHS for Season 2!!  (Watching shows on DVD has spoiled me, I'm afraid).

Some comments . . .

• I was right all along.  Leena was the mole!  I knew it couldn't have been Claudia!  Truth be told, I thought there was something odd with Leena way back in "Duped", when she a) couln't tell that there was a different consciousness inhabiting Myka's body and b) couldn't tell that the Myka in the mirror was alive.  I excused the second one because I wasn't sure completely how the mirror worked, but the first part is bugging me even more now.
• I really want to know why Leena decided to work for MacPherson.  Or even if she's doing it voluntarily.
• Warehouse security sucks.  Majorly.  If the Bronze Vault houses the worst of the worst, why is there a huge "reverse" button right next to the machine?  Trust me, you're not going to put someone in there by mistake.  Ahhh, plot devices, we love you.
• The Phoenix is one of the most interesting items in the Warehouse so far.  I'm so glad that this is a storyline that will be getting some attention, because I'm loving the moral/ethical issues that are being raised here.  I think W13 is finally gaining some of the maturity it needs to handle these issues, and I can't wait to see where it leads!
• So, um, someone hid about 1000 stairs pretty darn well, or the Warehouse is bigger/weirder than I had thought.  Either that, or there's another warehouse that's been hiding in someone's back pocket for a bit.
• The psychedelic glasses are so cool!  It's totally awesome how Myka's the only one to be able to see the clues with them.  Although I do wonder if they ever considered they might be walking into a trap?
• "Children . . . I'm working with children . . ."  'nough said =)
• Claudia needs to come back!  I can't wait to see how that is wrapped up.  I think Mrs. Frederic should go looking for her.  She sooo owes her an apology.
• That thimble . . . I'm so curious as to how it works!  I really don't get it.  I mean, if it can make you look like whoever you want . . . then . . . um . . . I dont know!  I can't even properly explain what I don't like about it!  Maybe it has something to do with how it can possibly make the huge muscular bodyguard look like short, fat Artie.  What happens to all that body mass?  And how did it fool the DNA/retina scanners on the different artifacts?  Just a tad too convenient for my tastes, although super-cool.
• MacPherson backstory!  Yay!
• Since Mrs. Frederic had that necklace on the whole time . . . could that possibly mean that she has that chemical in her blood, too?  If so, what did she do to deserve that?  If not, why does she have the necklace?  Curious . . .

Okay, that's all for now.  Im sure there's more that I've missed, but right now I'm too excited (plus I have about 30 thousand fanfic ideas in my brain that I need to sort through).  So check for fic/art later on, and I can't wait for season 2!!

Things Wrong With the World

Call me insane, call me sleep-deprived, call me over-sensitive, but this stuff just shouldn't be happening.

I saw a ten year old reading New Moon at the feis this weekend.  Absolutely disgusting and entirely not appropriate.

Obama dropped his demand that Israel cease building settlements in the Occupied Territories.  Excuse me?  Haven't those been declared illegal by pretty much everyone who matters?  The settlements are one of the true roadblocks to Middle Eastern peace, and it's sad that Obama is willing to bend to pressure from the Israelis (because Prime Minister Netanyahu is the one being unreasonable here.  Did anyone read his conditions for a Palestinian state that came out earlier this year?)

Iranian police are starting to order shopkeepers that any mannequins they have in their store windows be wearing proper hijab.  This is how ridiculous this is:  It showed up as a headline in the LA Times Twitter feed I have in my Google reader, and I thought I had accidentally hit the Onion's Twitter feed.  So I started laughing.  Until I realized it was real.  Stuff like this leaves me speachless with shock over how badly women are treated, and how unable we are to put a stop to it.

Speaking of Iran, President Ahmadinijad has been denying the Holocaust.  Again.  How blind to you have to be to stare all that evidence in the face and say it's faked?  Such hatred and such stupidity.

An off-duty police officer was driving drunk in NYC and killed a woman.  How can you not know better?

Stuff like this makes me want to curl up in a corner with my eyes shut tight, waiting for things to improve.  But if this is ever going to change . . . we have to get out there and make it change!