the underwear drawer

in which i weigh in on various pop culture events about a week too late

I know all these things happened a little while ago and have been discussed to death, but humor me here. I'm out of touch.


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So, this David Blaine thing. So we all know that it's kind of a dumb stunt--as well as physiologically implausible, the idea that someone struggling against 500 lbs. of chains and thereby increasing their metabolic rate could actually break a breath-holding record set under resting conditions--but am I the only one that thinks that the idea of being submerged in a glass ball for a week is just gross? He wore a fucking condom catheter for seven days! And he was showing various gawkers his bag o' urine! That's just MAGICAL! Also, where was the poop? Just because he was in a glass ball all "Labyrinth"-style and not eating doesn't mean that the gut stops making poop. Poop waits for no man. So, what, did he have a colostomy too? Furthermore, I would think that the water would get all murky after a few days just from the accumulation of all those sloughed-off skin cells in suspension. It would be like amniotic fluid.

These are just some of the things that I think about when I see a man in a snow globe.


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So, Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. (My, that's a long name for a dinner. How about just, "The Chow Line?" Think about it for next year.) Now, let me preface this by saying that I know that we all have different political leanings and ideologies, and I'm OK with these differences if you are. It's a melting pot, people. I also know that reaction to the Colbert speech was mixed, some people hailing him as a comedy hero, while some people thought him to be mean and one-note and not very funny. Well, let me tell you that we have watched the Colbert speech three times total here at our camp (two times were back to back), and we are of the opinion that THE MAN IS A GENIUS. Seriously, that line, "That's because you looked it up in a book. Next time, look it up in your gut," has entered our lexicon of inscrutable communication-by-quoting-things-other-people-have-said. (Also: I love lamp.)

I just can't believe he got away with it, is all. I would think there'd be some sort of screening process for the speeches, especially with this administration, so intent on controlling their image, and that anything too racy or incendiary would be yanked or edited out while glowering Secret Service agents stand behind you cracking their knuckles. Yet, that would probably not be in the spirit of FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, now would it, at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. So bravo, Mister Colbert, for not pulling your punches. Bravo for being that kid who points out that the emperor is naked. Bravo for looking at the giant white elephant in the room that everyone is studiously trying to avoid and pointing out, "Hey! There's a freaking giant white elephant in the room! And it's THE WAR." It's the responsibility of the press to illuminate the truth. It's not the responsibility of the press to eschew the truth in order to be polite.

As for the other featured skit with Bush and the Bush impersonator--well, that was a whole lot of nothing. Same lame, old, tired, clean jokes, meant to convey the impression that ALL IS WELL WITH THE ADMINISTRATION, TRA LA LA! Oh, Bush and his malapropisms! How droll! Why, I have practically busted a gut laughing! And then I done laughed me some more! What's next, a joke about Bill Clinton eating McDonald's?


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(This next bit is not pop culture related.)

Joe and I are going to a Job Fair today. I didn't know that they had job fairs for medicine jobs--sounds more like something they would have in a high school gym after classes, with heavy recruiting from local industries and one table recruiting for the army set up discreetly in the corner--but yes, there are medical job fairs. I've never been to one, obviously, but since Joe's going to be in his final year of residency next year, and since both he and I need to find jobs in the same geographic area (though unclear yet which area that will end up being) going to a job fair seemed like a good way to see what's out there. The job fair is at a hotel in midtown, with food and drink, and while I'm not quite sure what it will be like, my guess is that it'll be similar to a science fair, though with less posterboard.

The other thing about going to a job fair is that I actually have to redo my CV. Not that anything significant has really changed since the last time I updated my CV (no major major research papers accepted to Science...YET) but I have changed my computer, and the program I used to write my old CV does not translate over to Mac. Oh, Microsoft Publisher, I miss you. Anyway, so maybe "updating" my CV is not quite accurate--what I have to actually do is retype my CV before the job fair. Time to hop to it.

Currently watching: "Match Point." Despite the obvious similarities to "Crimes and Misdemeanors" (a superior story, in my opinion) and despite the somewhat flimsy deus ex machina that allowed for the amoralistic ending, this was a pretty good movie. It was also devoid of all those verbal tics and one-liners that have made the last few Woody Allen movies pretty annoying.