Miscellany

Miscellany or mishmash, hodgepodge, potpourri, olio (great crossword puzzle word), assortment, etc. all mean a jumble of unrelated matters. So why not?

• In the May 17th post, TNB suggested (tongue in cheek as usual) that a McCain/Hillary ticket might happen. Have you noticed how much attention this possibility (???) has received in the media now that Hillary has made her rather ungracious exit? Supposedly, Obama is looking for a military man (Jim Webb, Wesley Clark) as his veep. Considering the battles Hillary has fought, she doesn't qualify? BTW, have you also noticed how many powerful women are known mostly by their first names (Hillary, Oprah, Madonna) while even men with unique first names (Barack) aren't generally referred to this way. Is this some sort of sexism?
• Speaking of sexism, the good news is that the great AMC series Mad Men returns for a second season beginning Sunday, July 27. If you don't know, the brilliantly written and acted series takes place in the early 60's and TNB is old enough to verify that it is bitingly accurate as to the rampant misogyny, smoking, racism and other facets of society that are hard to believe today were taken for granted back then. Not that everything's so perfect in 2008 (see teen drug use, massive credit card debt, America's decline as a world power).
• Since it's been a long time since the last TNB movie reviews, here are two capsule critiques for the price of one. In the interest of all you readers, TNB and Mrs. TNB attended adjoining mall showings of Sex and the City (her) and Adam Sandler's Zohan movie (him). She gave the former a solid 3 stars (great fashion, very graphic--a major change of course from the 60's mentioned above). He (of dubious low taste) roared at the coarse, filthy, rather poorly made Zohan but believes that many of the jokes are way over the heads of the core teenage audience (unbelievably a PG13) it will attract. A grudging 3 stars.
• The recent "annoyances" post has naturally elicited a lot of personal pet peeves which are being stored (!) for a future book (just kidding or am I?). On a point of personal privilege , my new heroine is a clerk at a fast food counter who told Matt Lauer that she refused to accept a taped "I'm sorry " forced by a judge on some idiots who threw a hot drink in her face yelling "fire in the hole" to be later shown on YouTube. In today's world every sort of rude, stupid and aberrant behavior is supposed to be immediately excused by an automatic "I'm sorry"? I'm sorry to say I don't buy that just mouthing those words should make the victims feel better. No punishment of any sort is meted out for any offense. This is NOT an improvement over 1961 (spanking was then acceptable).