and another thing...

Here's something I have been meaning to get off my chest for sometime now. Somebody stole my book/movie idea! I have had the idea since the last election to write a book/movie about a presidential tie. My idea was basically this: Set in the near future when voting is all done electronically and everthing is so high tech that voters and the media have instantaneous feedback on the results. Not only that, but the capacity exists to seamlessly monitor the voting process, so much so that they know exactly how many people are in line, how much time is left, and who will be the last voter. As it turns out, the election ends up in a dead tie except for one state, the last one to report. The press monitors the process and realizes that the state was literally won by one vote. That means that by finding the last voter to cast his/her ballot, they can find out who decided the presidential election. Of course, what ensues is not good for that person. They immediately get thrust into the spotlight and get celebrity, along with death threats and lots of alleged friends and enemies. It really is a human story against the backdrop of the election.

Now there is a movie that came out with Kevin Costner that basically turns the idea into a popcorn cheesy date comedy. Gross.

presidential debates

Seriously...does either candidate have any idea how much trouble our economy is in? They couldn't even answer the fundamental question that the moderator was asking, both opting instead for their prepared generalizations and punchlines. I want to know that they get it, I want to be assured that they will take this seriously when one becomes president. I didn't see that from them. I sometimes wonder if McCain truly does understand how the economic/tax system in this country works. He kept calling the standard deductions "dividends". Does he know what a dividend is? I hope so. I thought Obama nailed him pretty good when he explained that yes, we do have high corporate tax rates, but because of the enourmous deductions available to them, they hardly pay any tax. Here is the problem though, I disagree with Obama's economic policy. He is too anti-corporation just for the sake of being anti-corporation. Prosperous corporations and business truly are what make this economy, and its people, so strong. However, at least he understands the argument. McCain has serious trouble understanding the "fundamentals" of our economy. As for the rest of the debate, I thought both candidates did very well. It was fun to watch, mostly because Bush wasn't standing up there.

So I went to see Conor Oberst last night. Amazing. He is the new Bob Dylan. He is a prodigy. A strange thing happened to me. A very cute girl came up to me at the beginning, introduced herself and then, for lack of a better word, latched on to me for the entire show. She was very drunk and kept forgetting my name. She also thought on numerous occasions that I was in the military, I guess because I have a shaved head. Nevertheless, she insisted on giving me her number. Did I mention she was literally finalizing her divorce the next day? I wonder if I should call her?