The Day After

Still not feeling the expected lack of burden from the show's close. My lines haven't vanished overnight; I can still recite them in under five minutes. I spoke to a college student on one of my message boards who just got cast as Gooper and offered words of wisdom for any character insight. Not that he needs it; the part's clearly delineated on the page. It's one of those roles where you should try to not get in it's way. Just read the words aloud and let the playwright do the heavy lifting. I say this now, of course, after months of worrying over inflections and motivation. I have the Buddhist contentment that only comes after the work is done.

Last night was gloriously ho-hum. We watched "Six Feet Under," talked about our workdays, and I gobbled wings while Your Sis went to bed. Much like the rest of the nation, we are in the depths of winter. It's shockingly cold out there. I thoughtlessly left a newly purchased bottle of frappuccino in the car for the next morning and discovered when I got to work that it had turned into ice cream.

Picture of the Day
This is Hyperion, a moon of Saturn. As moons go, it's puny and ugly and nothing you'd want to take to bed. But as extraterrestrial objects go, it possessing the natural beauty of a thing we can't make. It reminds me of sea sponge mixed with honeycomb, and that kind of collage analogy underscores the poetic nature of astronomy.



In the News
This kind of ugly love story is only unique because it involves astronauts. Having just finished reading The Right Stuff, I can tell you Wolfe paints a picture of martial indiscretions given unspoken approval by their spouses. With jobs that stressful, one-night stands were a given for the married, noble air soldiers. This is no way dilutes the early judgment that the arrested lady is cuckoo for Cocoa-Cocoa Puffs.

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Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign is doomed from the start unless he can convince the GOP majority to accept his moderate social ideas. He's pro-choice and pro-gun control. You almost have to be to win the New York City mayoral job. The party needs a new direction after the neo-con administration, but it may reflexively rally around a hardline social policy to counter the centrist Democrat candidates. And make no mistake, Clinton and Obama and Edwards are not the hardline lefties pundits may wish you to believe. They're gonna follow the Bill Clinton stance of government (smaller, compassionate, proactive) because it worked well and remained popular despite his inexcusable fling with Monica.

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The trail of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada began yesterday. He's facing four years for refusing to serve in what he calls an illegal war. The judge ruled yesterday that the legality of the war cannot be argued, a statement that may directly defy the Nuremberg rulings involving soldiers following illegal orders. Not that we should bandy about World War II precedents easily; it's bad enough when folks toss in a Hitler comparison to make their shrill points. But the judge's decision does allow early appeal room for whatever verdict is handed down.