Bachelor Weekend

Your Sis drove down to Greenville to visit a college buddy, leaving me to roam the house and neighborhood unsupervised. I finished watching Donnie Darko Friday night. It's an odd movie, one made up of moments that could work as music videos and an ending that doesn't spell out what the film is really up to. I understand that the director's cut explains everything and makes for a less fun film. I don't think I'll see it, but I want the soundtrack very badly. Good acting abounds here.

On Saturday, I finished the director's cut of the Dawn of the Dead remake, and it was a solid horror movie. Easily in my top five. I was impressed with the time taken to let the impact of events seep in, and the end credit sequence my be the best I've ever seen. I've never been a fan of zombie movies. OK, to be precise, Ive never been lured to a movie based solely on the premise that its about zombies. I liked the notion of the first Dawn of the Dead as it sounded clever: survivors hide in a mall and zombies return there out of habit. That's cute. The remake ditches the consumer commentary, and the zombies head to the mall to simply eat the living. Still, it retains enough cleverness to be a fun movie.

I worked on the cover art for a new mix CD for Your Sis and maybe finished up her Star Wars drawing. I'll take another look at it tomorrow. I took advantage of the alone time to eat badly: KFC, Wendy's, and Burger King. But I ran yesterday morning for the first time since the race, and you know, I'm thinking about running in the December 5k. Maybe not. We'll see. I made lasagna Saturday night, and we ate it last night. I thought it turned out a little bland even though I added a chunk of spices. We went through a bottle of Sangiovese (from Biltmore) with the meal. Sleep ensued.

Picture of the Day
I hope this is a joke.


In the News
The elections are tomorrow, and virtually everyone agrees the Democrats will win the House. The question is by how much; some projections suggest a 35-seat swing. They might take the Senate majority, but that's a point of debate. As we learned in 2004, polls mean nothing. The Democrats were projected to win then too. There's no way to spin the election any other way than as a referendum on the administration, specifically the Iraq occupation. And Bush said last week he has no plans to oust Rumsfeld if the Democrats win tomorrow. Democrat representative Nancy Pelosi kept a low profile last weekend so the GOP couldn't use her as a target for their campaigns. She is a top contender for the Speaker position if the Democrats win the majority, and the GOP makes too much hay out of prominent female Democrat candidates. So if the Democrats win as much as some say, who does the GOP blame for it? Bush will already be a lame duck for his last two years. Rumsfeld has Bush's backing (but so did the head of FEMA). The current Speaker of the House will already lose his job if the majority switches. The Big Mean Liberal Media will catch some shit for reporting that Iraq isn't going so well, but the unions aren't really a factor this year unless someone tries to blame the domestic car company losses for scaring voters. Local gas prices here were holding at $2.18 for about three weeks and then shot up seven cents overnight last week. Will that have an effect? If the Democrats win, will this be seen as much as a revolution as when the GOP took Congress in 1994? And will the Democrats likewise screw up their win by trying to pass a heavy handed list of cultural mandates?

Me, I'll just be glad all the damn ads are gone.