WTF?

Ok, Hillary and Obama, the unelectables, look like knocking each other out in the first minute of the first round. That leaves Edwards, slightly less unelectable, but his intangibles improve if its either Romney or Giuliani on the GOP side. It would be nice if both conventions deadlocked, and the candidates were chosen in smoke-filled rooms like Mother Nature intended.

I hope somebody uses "WTF?" in an attack ad. Like Bush, Condi and Cheney saying "Weapons of mass destruction" on an advancing timeline, then "Spread democracy ... Democracy ... Democracy ..." The Q rolls down and the N drops into I-R-A-N, followed by strident "weapons of mass destruction!!!" followed by the atom bomb.

Followed by WTF? Followed by a sane voice: "You can stop these madmen before they blow up the world. Vote Democrat on November 4." Whenever.

Code Erised

Was there ever any doubt? I tumbled at the Mirror of Erised, with its odd man boy tone talk about ... what? ... snow? Flying solo? The movie, with that snowy calendar scene and the flying owl, was almost explicit, but I put it down to Rowling's fresher status, she, if not blissfully unaware, at least perhaps a little tone deaf.

And that was a huge closet, there at the end, in which to keep a secret. And what guardians! A three headed dog, a deadly embrace by weeds that hate sunlight, a flock of furious keys (omg, keys!) and a lock a girl can't open (sorry, dear Hermione), a game of wizard's chess starring of all things knights and queens, followed by the curious dual nature of queer old Quirrell confounded in front of the self-same mirror that reveals something other than nature, Desire, something backwards and encrypted.

Hagrid's guardian, Cerberus, Hell's own watchdog, was the only archetype in the bunch. The number three, like the Norns, measuring time past, time present, time future, the dog that denies passage until you throw it a bone (one of your own, of course; by longstanding tradition, a femur bone will serve.) The singing harp was interesting, but Rowling's dark muse was clearly not aroused by this scene. Was it only a movie?

[FFXII Update — Got Fury? Scathe works great.]

Lv. 74

Gilgamesh bugs me.

Nailed that Humbaba Mistante in T.N.O.N., though.

Hope Solo, yay! Greg Ryan, pbbfft!

Serves the goob right. More coaches should lose their well-greased elbow room at the high trencher boards of other peoples' talents, hopes and aspirations — particularly if they tank 4-0 against Brazil. Solo nailed it.

Why must men coach a women's game, anyway? Just another glass ceiling?

Time Out

Really.

Dada who?

My kid and her friend are writing a novel, salient feature — "random." They're better at it than I am. I didn't know you could pop lock prose.

Clinton Revolts

I'm a former Democrat, so almost by definition, I lean left. Not as left as was my wont, mind you, but gauche-ward. Unfortunately, I share the nearly universal Republican grue that makes Hillary Clinton anathema to right-thinking political wonks anywhere.

For example: It's not that Hillary wants to take the right-wing political agenda out of science, it's that her cantilevered prose means STEM CELL RESEARCH WILL BE OK. Stem cell research? Ok? Fine by me. But translating Hillary-speak from gibbering generalities (the stuff used to glitter, I know) into plain speaking reveals the lengths she's gone to avoid offending anyone while smuggling controversy under cloak of glint.

Hillary, like Bill, can't say a word without making skeptical listeners don the rubber glove and breathe a little warmth onto the speculum. The woman smuggles, and gives smuggling a bad name while she's doing it.

Any real commie pinko socialist hack knows how to say "Charles Darwin Rules the Schools!" proudly, like he or she means it. None of yer onion rings, Hillary! If you want to get elected in November, put your cards on the table.

I'm still leaning towards Joe Biden or Bill Richardson. But those are some choices — the anti-Scarecrow whose already got well-above-average brains, or the anti-Tinman, whose solid gold innards are covered o'er with common zinc. I'd believe Hillary is the anti-Dorothy, were she not wearing curly socks above those ruby slippers.