ideas

Your Moment of Zen

posted by Leigh Householder

An Internet Quiz for the Intellectual Snob

Come on, I pass on so few of these, but the questions alone are indulgent on this one - please enjoy.

Which Extremity of the World Are You?

Oh, and MOUNT EVEREST am I!

posted by Leigh Householder

Oh what fools are we

Reading Rob Brezny's quirky and oddly inspired horoscopes reminds me how otherwise seemingly rational humans can buy on QVC, believe in Atkins and otherwise go just a smidge off the deep end. It's all flattery and implication and room to imagine - and, it is pure addiction. Thank you, Rob.

I'm falling in love with you all over again, Gemini. You've been turning frustration into fuel, and that has impressed me deeply. I'm fascinated by how you've been using your sense of desperation as a good excuse to go crazy in creative and constructive ways. Your inner child and your inner wiseass have been collaborating to pull off unpredictable departures from tradition, and I find that very entertaining. I especially admire the warrior energy you've been bringing to your dreams: how you punched a hole in the nightmare, how you told jokes to the monster, how you risked everything to wake up.

posted by Leigh Householder

Pod Pod the Rhino

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, Leigh was an angry little Republican roaming around in a drug-addled swarm of liberal colleged-aged students who (blessedly) already knew all there was to know about the world. In a pseudo-intellectual blur, fueled by boxed wine and contact buzzes (of course), Leigh used to write obnoxious and bizarre letters-to-the-editor of the school paper. Here we find our heroine …

I’m not sure what compelled me to write this particular LTE (second listing on that page) and I can’t tell if it’s excerpted in the archive or if this is really all there is to it. Suffice to say, it was a random attack on liberals, likely inspired by a particularly close-minded classroom discussion or a coffee-house ideological attack. Or, drugs. At any rate, it incited quite the little controversy. In addition to lots of hate mail and surly little comments, I also rated a biting (if goofy) editorial cartoon:

Basking happily in the attention (wink), I wrote back to the angry mob and asked the cartoonist for a signed copy – ‘cause, really, how many times does one person get to be enough of an ass to rate cartoon-ification? (well, anyone not named Bush /Booooosh/ or Rumsfeld)? Alas, I never received the signed strip, but I did come across Ben’s (artist's) site recently and was very amused and pleased to find that Pod Pod the Rhino lives on.

And, although the first LTE was pure nonsense. I think the second one still makes some good points about partisanship and good humor on any side of the aisle.

See the strip with flattering commentary
View the series
Send your compliments to Ben

posted by Leigh Householder

That Girl

Is it just me or have the Scientific American and Internet quizzes made life seem somehow less... mystical and unique? Am I really so predictable, an utterly uncomplex sum of parts. Wildly disappointing. Just look how neatly I fit this profile ... all from a highly silly quiz:

I need a little mystery, a sense of distinction ... perhaps Rob Brezny?

posted by Leigh Householder

Great Cartoons

See also:

posted by Leigh Householder

Favorite things

A couple of fun and funny posts I came across:

March 14 from Coffee Grounds

Would we put our right foot in? Yes.
Would we take our right foot out? Definitely yes.
Would we put our right foot in and shake it all about? I don't think I would advise the President or anyone else to do that.

March 13 from Jay
Please, John Kerry: Stop rolling up your sleeves at campaign rallies like you're about to man a register at Costco. You're a Boston Brahmin who married not one but two eccentric heiresses -- you're not Joe Sixpack, you're Claus von Bulow. I think your current wife is great, but hello, she inherited the Heinz fortune! She's the ketchup lady! -- which explains why sometimes he's gotta smack her on the bottom to get her to come. --Bill Maher

Also, the New York Times has a new poll out (you know how I love that stunning journalistic monolith). My favorite things from the poll are:

Americans do view Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry as strong leaders who share their moral values and have a clear vision of where they want to take the country, the poll found. Anytime, Americans believe that someone shares their values, I have to laugh. Really, what would those be:

1-Entitlement, entitlement, entitlement
2-Consumption: get more shiny, pricey stuff than everyone else you know
3-Diversion: don't get caught doing things you shouldn't be doing
4-Elitism: i am special; i am better than you (especially if you are from another country, speak a different language, look different from me, or love someone i don't approve of)
5-Contradiction: whatever i say is right is right; nevermind the internal contradictions - think of it as parenting an entire life
6-Don't think: regurgitate

So, great, very laudable that your candidates agree.

Surprisingly, Nader is polling at 7% (46% Bush; 43% Kerry). Is he even on the ballot yet? I have to admit that when Kerry took Super Tuesday, I thought about voting for Nader - I mean, Kerry and Bush are more alike than any other two candidates in my lifetime. But, really, I wouldn't actually do it. Hopefully, those poll respondents were just sending a cheeky warning to our presumed candidate.

Also, speaking of #6, I love the way we regurgitate at the will of television. It's it handy how the perceived negatives poll respondents have about Kerry are exactly those that appear on Bush ads. Coincidence?

Finally, if you're having a Positive View of Humanity Day, please do not read on. By 59 percent to 35 percent, respondents said they supported a constitutional amendment that would "allow marriage only between a man and a woman." But 56 percent said that they did not view the issue as important enough to merit changing the nation's constitution. If the twisted intrusion of that isn't already troubling, consider the significant chunk of people there who would support the Amendment, even though they don't support amending (head spinning?)

One wonders if Middle American Moralists realize that they are supporting pre-marital sex? Since the Lawrence case made it perfectly legal for all kinds of people to have all kinds of sex, the only thing we're prohibiting anymore is committed relationships. Well done, America.

posted by Leigh Householder