odds and ends

23 Apr

♦ The race rolls on…the small net gain Clinton picked up yesterday will almost surely be cancelled out come May 6. It continues to be essentially a 51-49 split within the party. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the vast majority of Democrats (and consistently, Democratic primary turnout has been twice that of the Republicans) would be reasonably happy with either option. Of course, the longer this goes on, this number’s going to erode a bit; but I think that the overall momentum is with the Democratic party for the general. Some small part of me is wondering if an Obama-Clinton ticket might not be the right idea, but I don’t take that part seriously just yet.

The most interesting bit to come out of PA, to me, is that Ron Paul (yep, he’s still on the ballot) managed to pull in a full 16% of the Republican primary vote…That can’t be that good for McCain; Paul’s people are with him primarily because of his opposition to the war.

♦ I watched a couple of good movies recently:

I liked Juno quite a bit, and greatly enjoyed the “hyper-real”, excessively clever dialogue from the characters. I will concede it’s not for everyone; a friend whose opinion I generally trust took issue with the perception that the movie somehow made light of the weighty issue of teen pregnancy (but he otherwise enjoyed the film). I think I disagree with this; while the point may not have been made with a +5 Hammer of Obviousness, the inherent stresses of dealing with pregnancy (both, I imagine, from the unwed teen perpsective, and from the perspective of a married couple expecting their first child) was definitely there. It’s one of those movies where everything doesn’t quite wrap up in “Happily Ever After”, but nonetheless, everybody got basically what they needed, and accepted their due consequences. And, it was really funny.

Last night I watched Cloverfield, and enjoyed it for entirely different resasons. A visceral, economically-paced thrill ride, with an interesting hook. The film is presented as “found footage” (not unlike “The Blair Witch Project”), and basically chronicles a giant Kaiju attack on Manhattan from the perspective of a group of anonymous civilians; “Godzilla” according to the screaming masses fleeing in terror (one of whom happens to be carrying a DV camera). It’s well put-together, with seamless effects, amazing sound design, and works precisely because there are no stars to speak of (the biggest name is Lizzy Caplan? -exactly-) and no easy answers, which makes it all the better.

♦ Otherwise, I’m just trying to get through the week, taking care of slow but somewhat steady work, and trying to keep one step ahead of the latest sinus thing that’s hitting me (I’m really starting to blame the building where I work in Northern Virginia; there are now command-level inquiries into air quality issues after numerous complaints about mold in the basement).

Oh well – I live, and mostly breathe.

More baseball this weekend, with the boys flying solo, as the girls will be busy with girl scout activities.

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