Potpourri - Weekend Review

Cheers to Toys R Us for coming through on their promise of a sizable shipment of Wii's Sunday morning. I was in line by 6:40 am. I was twentieth. The electronic games clerk had told me that 20 Wii's were expected, so I was nervous. But the other hopeful consumers told me that the latest word was that there would be 30, which eased my apprehension. And 30 it was, as confirmed at 7:30 am by a store employee sent out to update us, "the line."

So we stood in the cold, cloudy sunrise, cheerful of our soon to be consummated victory in toy shopping. It was pretty cool. We got one! I felt good and went home satisfied.

The little boys will love it. I can picture them already, asking that it be hooked up right away while they impatiently ask questions and get in the way. It's gonna be good.

The wife and I (boy, don't women hate that phrase) have taken to renting tv shows instead of movies. It seems like a lot more movies than normal really stink lately. I don't know much about how they make movies, but I'm suspecting that market research and test-screening have displaced whatever was left of artistic vision, leaving us with movies that all basically seem the same.

So we watched the entire first season of "Big Love." It was FANTASTIC. As my four year old said when we took him to the ballet, to see Peter Pan, "I thought this would be stupid, but it's not!" It's the best show I've seen since the Sopranos. I won't go into detail here, since this is a review of the weekend and not the show. But get past the first two episodes and it really gets good.

So, inspired, we rented "Weeds" on Friday night. SUCKS! The upside is that Mary Louise Parker does look pretty good in it. And Elizabeth Perkins is pretty sexy as an upscale, suburban, middle aged, boozy floozy. The show though, is shallow, over the top cynical, and self-consciously profane. It makes us wonder if there is an actual group of low-lifes in Hollywood who think that lots of real people live the same trashy life that they do, and that they are showing gritty realism with this crap. Well, most people don't. And it's not realistic. And it's not even entertaining. It's just annoyingly bad.

We are still running out of water here in Atlanta. Our state plan is to pray for rain. While that may seem like a risky strategy to some, it is way better than the federal plan, which is to do nothing. Unfortunately, the feds control the water we do have, and are sending it down to Florida. Trivia quiz: Which state gets the most rainfall every year? I'll give you a hint - FLORIDA! That is just the first of many of the string of absurdities that constitute this fiasco. And so, we pray for rain.

Back in Iraq, the military part of the surge has worked, but the political part has not. Looks like a nice Medal of Freedom in Condi's future for totally screwing this up.

OJ . . . well, who really cares anymore.

The sheikhs are really crazy rich again. Just like in the 70's. At least we should get some new gossip fodder out of them for the E! channel.

They've finally caught Barry Bonds. Apparently he has been hiding out in San Francisco this whole time. Still awaiting word on Osama Bin Laden. But at least one public enemy is being brought to justice. Your tax dollars are hard at work. Aren't you glad you voted to spend billions more for more security? Maybe next the feds will track down Brandi Chastain for exposing her sports bra years ago. We'll all feel safer then.

Something is happening in Pakistan, and we don't like it. They are, in fact, either with us or with the terrorists. Apparently they decided to answer that question with a determined "Yes."

Hillary is kicking ass every day, despite the newsies trying to pretend there's a horse race to be had. Rudy is ahead of the rest of the reds. He's what we used to call "one weird dude." Chicks dig him. Go figure. He just seems creepy.

Kansas may play for the national championship. No, in football. Seriously.

Is it just me, or does the Biden plan to split Iraq into 3 parts for Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds sound a lot like an intro to ethnic cleansing?

Asked why the US had any influence to tell Pakistan what to do, the answer is that we give them $10 billion a year. So I guess giving money influences Pakistani politicians, but not American politicians. Aren't we fortunate for that.

The anti global warming crowd is claiming that while the North Pole is shrinking, the South Pole is growing. Maybe the Earth is just getting middle aged and it's weight is shifting south.

That missing kid who's picture is on the Internet still isn't real.

The dollar has bottomed out. That sounds bad but it's really good. Oil has topped out. Ditto. The war will end one way or the other. So, by next summer our economy should be a lot better.

Predictions: Mini-recession 4th qtr 07 to 1st qtr 08. Georgia beats LSU for the SEC Championship. Bush figures Georgia is more likely to vote Republican anyway, so hopes to appease Florida by draining Lake Lanier and letting Atlanta run out of water on St. Patrick's Day. Florida's mussel crop thrives and Atlantans get by on green beer. Dem ticket - Hillary and Richardson, Red ticket - Romney and McCain.

Happy Thanksgiving.