A few things bumming me out:
1) According to Forbes, Kurt Cobain is America's richest dead celebrity, beating out perenial champ Elvis Presley. Sure, Nirvana's back catalogue continues to sell, but how did his estate get so rich? Courtney Love sold the rights to some of his songs, meaning that Cobain's works can now be used in ways he never would have intended, as background noise for TV shows, or commercial jingles. Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl are understanably pissed about this development, but the songs are owned by The Widder Cobain, and she's allowed to do whatever she wants with them. Christ, if I'd been married to her, I'd have killed myself, too.
I hadn't heard it in a long time, but I happened to hear Hole's Doll Parts on the radio the other day, and it reminded me how great Love briefly was before she began her twelve year slide to total irrelevance. In all that time, I'd never quite been able to hate her; by selling out her late husband's legacy, she finally allowed me to turn the corner.
2) As somewhat snidely reported by NPR, far-right Republicans are expected to cruise to easy victory in all the "Old Confederate" states this election day save one, and that would be George Allen in Virginia. It's a depressing reminder of how, in some extremely conservative parts of the country, politicians barely have to code their racism. And in a way, you have to wonder why all the fuss about Allen. After all, as Virginia's governor, he fought the Martin Luther King holiday, reached out to white supremacist groups and flew the confederate flag anywhere he could. So why punish him for calling a dark-skinned guy "macaca"? Why now do we pretend to be surprised that our leaders are straight-up racists?
3) On the other hand, for a glimpse of just how condescending the other side can be, look no further than Aaron Sorkin, the king of feel-smug-about-yourself liberalism. On the most recent episode of his increasingly dreadful Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, one of the stars of the show's fictional SNL knock-off (played amusingly by Nate Corddry) was expecting a visit from his parents. Since they were from Columbus, Ohio, Sorkin naturally depicted them as not only rock-ribbed conservatives but culturally vacant--when Corddry mentions Abbott and Costello to these two, who are apparently in their mid-to-late fifties, they've never even heard of them. I'm sorry, that's just not possible. But to Sorkin, and to far too many of his elitist brethren, the Great Unwashed have no appreciation for anything remotely "cultural", even if that culture comes in the form of a wildly popular comedy team. I'm sure Sorkin is pro-civil rights and believes in raising the minimum wage and thinks all Americans deserve decent health care, but if he was ever locked in a room with one of the people who's rights he claims to support, he'd have no clue what to say. After all, what do you say to someone who is--let's face it--not as good as you?
4) Fox's coverage of the World Series--are they trying to turn viewers away? Ramp up the testosterone, pad time with fake music videos, showcase actively irritating announcers(Tim McCarver looks like Jackie Cooper on a bender, and Joe Buck's scary whiteness makes the Pillsbury Doughboy look like Bootsy Collins)--hey guys, this is baseball, not football. We don't go for that crap around here.
(By the way, I'm rooting for the Cardinals, not because I'm such a fan, but because the Tigers deserve to lose for taking out the Yankees. Actually, the Yankees did a pretty good job of taking themselves out, but hey...)
5) Ah, why the hell not--George Bush. He's a bummer for all seasons.
