Read at your own risk.
Liberals (and some conservatives) may not like what I have to say.
I certainly don't mind (in fact, I won't even know about it (g)) if you blow me a raspberry right now and run back to the safety of the Daily Kos or the Huffington Post, instead. ;o)
*** *** ***
Thing One,or "OMG, Pelosi Rickroll'd Me":
First, if you have no idea what on earth I'm talking about, let me
Apparently, it was considered amusing for a while to present people with a link purporting to take them to something they might find useful or interesting. However, because you were one hip and happenin' guy (or gal), you'd fix it so that the link actually sent them to a video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up". Much hilarity would ensue, of the "Aw, dude! You totally just Rickroll'd me!" variety.
I know.
Don't ask me why. For the same reason that people now think it's fun to constantly label things as either an "epic win" or an "epic fail", I guess. Personally, I don't really get it, but then again, I still have a hard time bringing myself to say or write that something is "cool" without quotation marks, because that was the "cool" thing to do when I was a kid, and it always felt so incredibly fake to me. It might not be fake for some people-- and that's fine-- but for me to say "cool" feels completely unnatural. No, I think things are "neat", but very rarely are they ever "cool". Most likely, it's because I was born an old fuddy-duddy. Fortunately, I have learned to embrace my fuddy-duddiness.
Oh, who am I kidding? I love being an old fuddy-duddy! Woo-hoo! Fuddy-duddies rule, man! (g)
If you're curious about the history of this bizarre practice (the "Rickrolling" thing, I mean, not my strange inability to use current slang without sarcasm), I point you to the Wikipedia entry. (Say what you will of the unreliability of information found on Wikipedia, but for something of this sort, it's pretty much getting it straight from the horse's mouth!)
So, anyway, evidently Pelosi suggests (somewhere out there on the WWW) that people follow a particular link, which leads to this YouTube video. (If you can just get through the first few seconds, the most offensive thing you'll see is a cat investigating a gavel and Rick Astley doing a fairly dorky-looking dance.)
I'll admit that I had no idea what Rickrolling was, so after I watched the video, I had to go "look it up". After that, my first thoughts were these:
1. I'd be willing to bet that Nancy Pelosi had almost nothing to do with making this video. In fact, I doubt she knew what Rickrolling was, either, until one of her "cool" staffers explained it to her (and frankly, maybe not even after that).
2. If a Republican had done this, (more) people would be complaining that it was a waste of time and resources, given the state of the world today. (Point of interest: When someone talks about "the state of the world today", they are always implying that said state is more-or-less crappy. It's amazing that the world's still around, given how long it's been in such a "state".) Also, Republicans are strictly forbidden from being "cool". It's written in the Constitution, somewhere.
Then I read a comment (on this page) that sums it up pretty well:
Okay, y’know how when you came across some super-cool fad when you were a teenager, and then your parents thought it was cool too and started doing it, and then you realized how super-UNcool the fad really was…?
This.
*** *** ***
Thing Two,
or "National Turn-Off-the-TV Day, But For Reals This Time":
I'm looking forward to January 20th, but I solemnly swear that it has absolutely nothing to do with The Biggest Event in the History of the
The promotion ABC is running mentions that we're in for a real treat that evening-- we get to see the Obamas' first dance as President and First Lady! (*Gag*) Oh, come on! Ok, so the prince is having a ball (or ten). I'm sure that's nice for him and his friends, but why should I want to sit at home and watch him party? What is this-- an important political event or Dancing with the Stars? I never have understood the way some people idolize others.
Look, I know it's historical and many people are excited, but does it really deserve this big an increase in attention over past inaugurations? Predictably, much of the media is going overboard on this one. Actually, "going overboard" isn't strong enough. They're tying concrete blocks to their feet and planning to take up residence in Atlantis. Yep, and that's likely where they'll be broadcasting from for some time to come.
Of course, these are just my opinions. ;o)
