Lent

As Ash Wednesday loomed, Your Sister and I hashed out our Lent surrenders. I, of course, am not Anglican, but since we’ve dated I’ve joined her in solidarity. This year, I’m giving up the PlayStation2. Your Sister will start exercising again. We both need to; the holiday season has bequeathed many parties and leftovers, and we need to shed the winter weight. The cold weather, hearty meals, and TiFaux have lead to a couch-based hibernation. She thinks she’ll need to bring more work home, and that’s fine with me. I can work on the comics while she dishes out grades. Also, we’re starting to look at the yard and making mental lists of what needs to be done with it.

Speaking of TV time, we watched “Sex and the City” last night. I think Your Sister has added a new man to her mental harem: David Duchovny. He played the high-school sweetheart of Carrie. In one scene, he shows up at her door in a white Izod polo shirt, and I believe I heard Your Sister gasp. This makes, what, 13 guys on her wish list now.

The new glasses frames don’t work with my previous short haircut, and I’ve grown out my hair a little. I had it cut yesterday to clean it up and got my first cut from a guy since I was in high school. Did a good job too, but he was meticulous to the point of being obsessive. I thought I was never going to get home. I go to a local stylists hop in the Wal-Mart plaza because they do a good job for the $8 price. (Note: I’ve gotten bad haircuts for $20 and bad haircuts for $7. A good haircut for $8 is something that does not embarrass me). The only problem with that shop is that the women tend to get each other worked up over their lousy husbands and boyfriends. If you happen to sit in their chairs while they’re in a rant, they’ll chop your hair like they’re pruning hedges. I’m surprised I can still wear glasses with the way they’ve snipped my ears. Why do I go back? Good haircuts for $8.

The Picture of the Day
Making the online rounds today is this photo of Harry Potter star Emma Watson striking a pose. She’s 15 and British so swigging Corona should be OK for her native fans, but it’s bound to give her street cred in the States as a Paris/Lindsay/ partygirl. After seeing the most recent film and Ralph Fiennes rocking it as Voldemort, I’m squarely in the bad-guy’s corner.

In the news
More bombings in Iraq today. That curfew may need to go back in effect.

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Bush heads to India today after stopping over in Afghanistan to talk shop with new president Hamid Karzai.

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NPR’s “On the Media” host Bob Garfield talked with Farnaz Fassihi, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal about media coverage of Iraq:

BOB GARFIELD: When you read criticism of the press in general, that it is somehow so fixated on bad news that it doesn't report the good, that it's essentially suppressing the good news out of Iraq, what do you all say to one another? How do you react?
FARNAZ FASSIHI: I can just say that if there were five car bombs going off in New York and 50 people kidnapped a day, I'm sure that metro reporters would be writing those stories and not talking about the school that was painted. When you're sitting in Iraq and putting your neck on the line to try to bring as balanced a story as possible, it's very frustrating to hear criticism like that, because you know, as a professional reporter, that the only reason you're there is because you want to convey the truth. And I can say that everyone is trying to go out their extra mile to find out exactly what's happening there, good or bad, to try to find progress, obstacles, frustration. And I think, considering, we've done a pretty good job. I'm proud of what my colleagues have achieved.

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Several former members of the “West Wing” cast are returning for the last episodes, including Rob Lowe. The new show from “WW”creator Aaron Sorkin is still being cast, but WW alums have joined the project: behind the scenes at a faux Saturday Night Live. Sounds a lot like “SportsNight,” the Sorkin show that preceded (and created character templates for) “West Wing.”