This week I have been

Reading

The 2011 Tour de France race guide.

Watching

An Idiot Abroad

Listening to

The xx

Discovering

(Or rediscovering) Hamlet - Nicki Greenberg's beautiful new version, thanks to the fabulous Snarkattack, who invited me along to see Nicki talk about the creative process behind the book.

Eating

  • An enormous serve of bangers'n'mash and a nourishing pint of Kilkenny at the Town Hall one dismal Tuesday evening.
  • A "Chachi" - chianina meatball sandwich - another brioche donut and some amazing chocolate tart at Beatrix, which Essjay has reviewed.
  • A lazy Sunday lunch at The Crimean. The Polish hunter's stew (bigos) was just the thing to revive me after a chilly bike ride.
  • Generous piles of fried food with oodles of chillies and sichuan peppercorns at Sichuan House
  • Succulent suckling pig at Liberteene.
  • An array of bright, zesty flavours at Chin Chin, where the only problem was having to choose only some of the items from what looks to be a menu that is all hits, no filler.

Links

Perhaps there’s not even a word for…

…how excited I felt when I found this:

Transcript of Palin, Biden debate

I particularly like this line:

Palin: “Now, what I’ve done as a governor and as a mayor is (inaudible)…” Or, perhaps, a void is indescribable.

And what does this mean? “…we need to be appreciative of John McCain’s call for reform with Fannie Mae, with Freddie Mac, with the mortgage-lenders, too, who were starting to really kind of rear that head of abuse.” (R)ear that head of abuse? Is that what happens when Putin “rears” up and crosses into Alaskan airspace?

I think this might be what’s called a Freudian slip: “It’s a toxic mess, really, on Main Street that’s affecting Wall Street.”

During the debate, I was confused when I heard this line: “John McCain is right there with an “all of the above” approach to deal with climate change impacts.” Having read through the transcript, and seen that the “all of the above approach” is mentioned three times by Palin, I am not much clearer. I’m guessing, though, that she likes multiple choice tests.

There’s more, but to finish: “Oh, yeah, it’s so obvious I’m a Washington outsider.” Please, American voters, keep it that way.

Vice Presidential debate

ABC1 is showing the VP debate. It seems as though it is likely to run into Dr Phil time. It also seems to be less of a debate than a chance for each candidate to stroll out their stump speeches.  Instead of talking back to the television, I’ll do that here.  It will probably benefit nobody to read this…

Continue reading Vice Presidential debate

This time it is Tina Fey

I think…

Politics, or comedy?

Is it possible that this is actually Tina Fey?  Please, tell me it is.  The alternative is… too horrible to contemplate.
Sarah Palin on Foreign Policy – CBS interview with Katie Couric

Kathleen Parker, described by CNN as a “prominent conservative columnist“, initially supported Sarah Palin but now concedes that she is “out of her league” and suggests she step down.

“Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.”

Surely subeditors across the globe are setting the heading “Palin into insignificance” in anticipation…

Patronage (…or matronage?)

Gov. Sarah Palin lives by the maxim that all politics is local, not to mention personal.

So when there was a vacancy at the top of the State Division of Agriculture, she appointed a high school classmate, Franci Havemeister, to the $95,000-a-year directorship. A former real estate agent, Ms. Havemeister cited her childhood love of cows as a qualification for running the roughly $2 million agency.

NY Times

Hey, I want that job.  My love of cows is not just limited to my childhood!  Does Ms Havemeister have a favourite cow?  Can she recognise a Charolais at 100 paces?

Oh, and then there are the implications for the US (and, by extension, the rest of us) if Palin becomes VP, I guess.

And I think the sub responsible for the heading over Bob Herbert’s column (“She’s Not Ready“) was being kind.  It seems clear to me that She’s Not Right.

“They’re our next-door neighbors. And you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska. From an island in Alaska.”