How 'bout these Democratic primaries, eh? I'm not sure just how much I want to write here -- this could easily turn into a novel-length entry if I don't keep myself in check -- but I've been wanting to share my thoughts on the race for some time now. And it just so happens that Geraldine Ferraro's recent comments have given me a perfect occasion to do so!

According to Ferraro, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is." In another interview, in which she discussed this response, Ferraro affirmed that she responded "in large measure, because he is black" when asked why Obama is where he is today. And now, rightfully so, in my opinion, she is taking a lot of heat for these remarks. But whereas Ferraro seems to think that she's being attacked because of her own skin color, I submit that people's response largely stems from the obvious ignorance of her comments -- whether they fully realize it or not.

Now, I admit that Barack Obama's skin color has played a role in his success this far. In fact, in the beginning, I didn't even like Obama all that much because he was clearly being used as the Democrats' token black. Every time I looked, he was being paraded out to give the same speech about how he came from mixed parentage and how that symbolizes the promise of America and blah-de-blah blah -- it basically amounted to, "My mom was white, my dad was Black, ergo America is wonderful." I wondered if he was capable of talking about anything else. People have accused Obama's more recent speeches on hope and change of lacking substance (I disagree), but these speeches are overflowing with depth and meaning when compared to his old rhetoric.

So certainly Obama's skin color aided his rise within the Democratic party, if only because the Democrats were so eager to use him to better appeal to the people and further their own agenda. And it probably factors into the reasons that people support him, though I would hardly state that it is the only or even primary reason -- or that, if the color of his skin were different, people would not feel so strongly about him. Rather, I think that the primary reasons that people are behind Obama are because he a) is an eloquent and inspiring speaker, b) is running an excellent campaign, c) appears cool and downright presidential in his debate performances, and d) successfully presents himself as being uniquely poised to bring about some much-needed positive change in this country. There are, of course, other important reasons regarding Obama's platform (which albeit is not that different from Hillary Clinton's), but still. Does Ferraro mean to suggest that people would vote for Obama even he were a poor and rambling speaker, seemed thoroughly uninformed, unkempt, and unfit to lead in his public appearances, and had been thoroughly defeated by Clinton in each of their debates -- simply because of his skin color? Please. (more...)

As noted in A Crayon Haiku #74 and the attendant Scary-Crayon blog entry, I really, really would like to stop watching this awful show. But I can't. And why not? Because Allison Mack is just too cute. Argh.

I was about to draw a parallel between my viewing of "Smallville" and many women watching "The Oprah Winfrey Show" -- despite both programs being undeniably terrible and headache-inducing -- but I don't think it's a proper comparison. True, women swoon over Oprah, but I don't think they're doing it in quite the same way. Unless, of course, they are.

Ick.

And with that brilliant segue into disgusting subject matter comes our other news -- which I suppose isn't really news if you've been keeping up with Scary-Crayon. The good folks at Basic Fun stumbled upon my review of the Series 1 Madballs and were kind enough to hook me up with an advance set of the Series 2 'balls! (Thanks again, y'all! ) So here's the review of those! I love Madballs even more than Allison Mack.

I was about to suggest perhaps combining Miss Mack and Madballs into an even greater entity, but somehow I don't think that would work very well.

Seriously. I think I look pretty darned good on paper, but then I get into interviews and blow them so badly that the hiring organizations don't even bother to contact me to tell me that I didn't get the job -- they just repost the classified ad and only let me know when I write to find out about the (fairly obvious, but still) status of my application.

Anyway, I mention this because I had an interview last Friday that was flipping brutal. I'm not sure how appropriate it is to mention many of the details in an online forum -- what I was applying for, specifics of the interview, etc. -- but let's just say that I felt like the lead interviewer essentially called me an ignorant American and at one point told me that I'd given a terrible response to a specific question. It was the kind of interview where I almost wish I'd flipped out, cursed everyone relentlessly, and maybe even tossed in a few German suplexes for good measure. Yeah, that kind of ferocity isn't really in my nature -- and I certainly wouldn't have gotten the job unless I'd been applying to the UFC competition (which I wasn't) -- but I a) wouldn't be worried about whether I got the job (which, amazingly, I'm still hoping for at this point despite the utterly abysmal nature of the interview) and b) could have walked out of that room with my pride intact. As it was, I felt utterly emasculated when it was over.

If I did anything right at all during the interview, I think it was that I probably came across as wholly docile and non-threatening -- which may be good considering that half of the interview consisted of the interviewers telling me how reviled and potentially feared I would be in the position owing to the color of my skin. I guess there were other parts of it that may not have been completely terrible. I got a chuckle out of my mention of octopus-flavored ice cream, even if I did choke on the word "octopus". I probably choked on more words that I don't precisely recall -- I know I choked on my words at least five times while saying goodbye to another interviewee with whom I had the pleasure of chatting during the bus/metro ride to and from the interview. Yep -- my Smoothest Dude Ever Award is in the mail.

I may have accrued some positive karma points, though -- and not just because the interview went so terribly, either. At the bus stop en route to the interview, this old woman happened to drop one of her gloves before going off to hail a cab (apparently the bus was taking too long for her). Now, I didn't notice her dropping the glove, but another woman at the stop happened to see it and stated flatly, "She drop [sic] her glove." And then I found myself in one of those moments where time stands still, because I was totally waiting for the woman to reach down, pick up the glove right in front of her, turn to the other side, and hand the glove to the old woman -- who, at this point, was still standing on the curb about an arm's length away. Instead, she did flipping nothing. When it became apparent that no one else was going to do anything either, I found myself dashing forward (I was standing on the opposite side of the bus stop enclosure), scooping up the glove from the ground, and running up to the woman just as she got inside a cab while waving the glove and shouting, "Ma'am! Ma'am!" The cabbie rolled down the window, the woman got her glove, and all was right with the world -- until the bus showed up about a minute later and carried me off to botch that interview in a very real and very, very unfortunate way.

But while I may be a terrible interviewee, at least I'm not an entirely terrible person. Right? 😐

So I never did finish up that new year's post I'd started way back when. Maybe I'll get around to that someday. Anyway, I'm ready to post about new stuff, but before I do here's the part of that old entry that I did complete. Woo.

For those not in the know, the topic is one of the many Bizarro ways of saying HAPPY NEW YEAR! There are others, of course -- and although technically Bizarro speak simply involves speaking in opposites, it can be pretty imprecise. For example, in Superman/Batman #24, Bizarro says, "Superman no am in trouble!" -- meaning that Superman is in trouble. Yet he then says, "He no am with Darkseid having fun!" At the time, Superman is indeed with Darkseid. However, since he certainly is not having fun, the entire statement isn't a negation of the truth -- and given that Superman isn't having fun with Darkseid, it is arguably true as stated. Similarly, Bizarro will refer to Superman as his "worst idol" -- by which he means his greatest idol -- but refer to Batzarro as his "worst enemy" -- by which he means his best friend.

Needless to say, deciphering Bizarro speak can be a confusing affair.

Anyway, I hope your new year is going well thus far! Mine is going less well than I'd hoped -- that is, in the dream department. (Not that things are going great otherwise, mind you, but they're not going terribly either. As usual, we're about par for the course.) See, whereas my last dream of 2007 was a new experience for me and my first dream of 2008 proved similarly encouraging, my second dream pretty much dashed my hopes of 2008 ushering in a new era of awesome dreams. Let me explain.

On December 31, 2007, I took a several-hour midday nap and awoke on schedule to the frenzied beeping of my Mickey Mouse alarm clock. However, when I rose from my bed and attempted to turn off the clock, I found myself unable to silence it despite pressing and depressing the singular button several times. I sadly assumed that the clock had finally broken on me -- I've had it as long as I can remember; I distinctly recall its beeping sound waking me at 4:30 AM on Saturday mornings so I could watch "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" -- and ventured to remove the batteries from it one final time.

I had the batteries in my hand, but it continued to beep.

Impossible? Yes, impossible. Impossible. Unless...

"This is a fucking dream!" I said aloud. When I turned to see another identical alarm clock perched atop a floating shelf that isn't actually in my real room (which, despite my apparent understanding of the nature of my reality, didn't register with me at the time), I repeated my assertion. "This is a fucking dream!!! And when attempting to turn that clock off and removing its batteries failed to silence the beeping, I closed my eyes and willed myself to wake up for real.

Upon doing so and silencing good ol' Mickey (still working just as well as ever!) I considered that that was the first dream I have ever had in which I realized with certainty that I was dreaming. I've had other dreams that I've suspected of being dreams, but then I am prone to getting that sneaking suspicion in waking life as well -- particularly when I find myself in well-stocked toystores or the VCD/DVD shops of NYC's Chinatown.

And perhaps I'll write more about that at a later date (but probably not). Long story short, though -- the next dream had me wandering around different locales and somehow controlling the dream so that I was ultimately cuddling with this cute little blonde number in a grey sweater (who, though I wasn't familiar with the actress at the time, bore a strong resemblance to Allison Mack). Encouraging, right? Then I went on to dream about being shot in the back of the head and bleeding profusely for what seemed like an eternity before I finally opened my eyes and found myself in bed. Yippee.

Still working on that "official" new year's post -- it's currently in the form of a half-finished draft -- but here is a quick photo post in the meantime!

I'm planning on redoing Scary-Crayon's site info page and including a proper "About Me" blurb, so I decided to take a new photo for it. I know how much you were pining for another shirtless Wes pic, but I decided to try out the new SC shirt I ordered and pose with the original site mascots and inspirations for the design (as well as the site's name). Behind me on the top shelf is somewhere between 30% and 50% of the insane amount of Transformers toys I acquired last year. If you look closely, you can also see Yoshi and some Creepy Freaks on the bottom shelf. (more...)