Fun Fact #50: Palin is from Alaska? Really?!

Today was a big day in politics. Now, thanks to Palin becoming McCain's running mate, getting either McCain or Obama into the White House will be a historical event. A lot of people have issues with Palin considering her stances on abortion and off-shore drilling. Personally, I think it's an obvious ploy to try to get the disgrunteled Hilary voters and I hope those voters will realize that though Palin is a woman, she might not be the best person to push a lot of the "women's" issues forward. And while it's always nice to see a woman "break the glass ceiling", it's also kind of uncomfortable to realize that the main reason Palin got her position is due to her gender. I don't see how a man with the same experience (or lackthereof) would've even been considered by McCain.

McCain's choice of Palin seemed like it took a lot of the media by surprise. The NYT.com seems to have been going through all their footage of Palin to try and find one that conveys the proper image as their main picture has been changing constantly. They seemed to have settled on one and it's certaintly an intersting choice:


I love how Palin is dwarfed by both the bear carcass she's sitting on and the giant crab in front of her. It's really just such an awkward picture for the NYT to chose, though I guess they could be trying to showcase her Alaska roots. I'm not a fan of Palin, but I think a lot of their earlier picture choices were more appropriate. Maybe, if we're lucky, tomorrow's picture will have her frolicking in the Alaskan wilderness with some huskies and polar bears while wearing an Eskimo outfit!! Because what could get more Alaksan than that?!

Fun Fact #49: I thought "Contact" was the deepest film ever

When I was a kid I loved the movie Contact. I thought it was deep and profound film, I remember having little debates with my friends about the possibility of life on other planets and other thrilling topics. I don't remember if I ever actually took my friends' opinions into account since I was always kind of headstrong regarding my opinions. As my dad put it, I always liked to be able to declare myself the winner (even in cases where I obviously wasn't)

Anyways, I recently watched Contact again and was horrified to discover that it's not nearly as thoughtful I remembered it to be.In fact, it's a pretty bad film all around. The plot is slow and the twists are fairly ludicrous. Of course, I also thought Armageddon and Titanic were the epitome of great films, so my opinions from that age probably don't hold much weight.

Ten years from now, I hope that I won't look back on my current favorite films and be embarrassed by my tastes.

Fun Fact #48: Karl Marx and Dan Brown are totally easy to confuse!!!

I'm someone who constantly needs to be occupied. For example, it's almost impossible for me to just watch TV, so often I'll be online looking at various websites. I don't really absorb what I'm reading but at least it keeps me from getting too fidgety and shredding whatever paper is nearby (a lovely habit that almost anyone who knows me can attest to).

Anyways, I was watching the Olympics and looking at the Freakanomics blog on NYtimes.com. One of their more recent posts was discussing the fact that some author of one of those "Greatest Quotes of the Twentieth Century" books was having problems finding a lot of exemplary quotes from novels published after the 1950s. So, the author of the post asked the readers of the blog for some suggestions. There was a lot of Cormac McCarthy, Dave Eggers, David Sedaris, Chuck Palahniuk, Douglas Adams... basically the usual suspects.

But one lovely individual, by the name of "Frank", suggested the quote, "Religion is the opiate of the masses" and cited Dan Brown's Angels and Demons NOT Karl Marx as the origin of the quote. I actually burst into laugher and then was quickly embarrassed for poor "Frank" since he must either be really young or have had a horrid education to attribute what is arguably one of the world's most famous quotes to Dan Brown.

I may shred paper when I get too fidgety, but at least I don't confuse the words of Karl Marx and Dan Brown.