Grammatical Corruption

"The issue before us really boils down to the seven ‘C’s,”’ said Rep. Edward Markey (D., Mass.), a senior member of the subcommittee. “Will this combination of communications colossi curtail competition and cost consumers? That is the question that must be answered as this process moves forward."

That, and is Rep. Ed Markey taking money from the alliteration lobby?

Uniqueness Regained

In a very strange way, I'm glad Corzine didn't get reelected in New Jersey. Not that I like Chris Christie--I don't. I don't like anyone who's first and last name have the same root: Mike Michaels, Dave Davis, and even a guy names Jones van Jones.

No, my reason for not wanting Corzine to win was a result of the fact that by nature of being tall, a member of the Marine Corps, a former U.S. Senator, New Jersey Governor and multi-billionaire, he was basically my exact double. We have identical biographies and we were constantly getting confused at Sun Valley and Trilateral Commission meetings.

At last, that unpleasantness is over.

Noel Gallagher for Poet Laureate

There are many things that I'd like to know / There are many places that I wish to go / But everything's dependent on the way the wind may blow

I have no idea what that means, but I know that I like the sentiment. It's basically how I feel about Maya Angelou's work, but this has better guitar riffs.

A message worth remembering, but perhaps too often forgotten

St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians: "St. Paul tells us from one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For the body is not one member but many. He tells us: 'The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of thee.' Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble . . . and those members of the body which we think of as less honorable—all are necessary. He says that there should be no schism in the body but that the members should have the same care one to another. And whether one member suffer all the members suffer with it."

If I can hand it in tomorrow it'll be all right

An excerpt from a highly entertaining, and penetratingly insightful, e-mail exchange with a friend about the factual discrepancies put forth by that imprimatur of all things teen-aged and 1992, Saved by the Bell.

Me: Zack's willingness to throw away Yale for the purpose of attending Cal U would only make sense in the context of a scholarship, but his Dad's ferrari and his status as an early adopter of the mobile phone obviates that option. Side QQ: If Saved by the Bell were set today, would Zack have an iPhone or Blackberry? I say Blackberry bc he'd probably be texting multiple girls at a time, and that's easier via Blackberry.
Zack's attendance at Cal U is completely unbelievable, as is the idea that Slater and Screech would go to the same college. Either Screech is willing to toss aside a successful career and all those years of studying (at severe risk to his social life) to go to college with his buddies, or Slater was a lot smarter than we thought.

But given his latently chauvinistic tendencies I doubt he was terribly bright. Not to mention unresolved Oedipal issues, given that we never saw his Mom and know he had a contentious relationship with his Dad over not wanting to join the Army, calling his girlfriend Momma starts making more sense.

Lillian:You're right that Zack was definitely wealthy enough to attend Yale, so the Cal U scenario doesn't really wash. I think Zack would have been a Blackberry man as well, it's a bit more "little black book" than the iPhone. By the way, "Little Black Book," with Brittany Murphy and Ron Livingston? Worst movie ever made. (Ed. note--Lillian is completely right. That movie is awful.) Slater attended Cal U on a wrestling scholarship, only to find out upon arrival that he was a very small fish in a very big wrestling pond, and needed to step up his game if he wanted to stay. He got a 1050 on his SATs, so he was obviously not the brightest crayon in the box, and, as you said, clearly had mommy issues. Screech's attendance was less easily explained, as he was the valedictorian

of Bayside High, but perhaps his decision was financially based. We never really knew much about his family life, did we? If we hadn't witnessed his whole junior and high school experience, I would have pegged him as a typical homeschooled kid.

Après moi, l'Excel!

I'm at a banking conference in Midtown today, and within 15 minutes see a woman using her Hermès scarf as a sling for a sprained arm. I also heard her suggest to a caterer that we all eat cake.

The lede for an article that is guaranteed to make me roll my eyes and not read it

Rik Hertzberg, who is a very well-respected columnist, has a blog posting on The New Yorker's website that I laughed at. I don't know quite why this was deemed relevant for social or political analysis.

Everybody has been saying that Obama is like Spock. What struck me more forcefully, though, was how much this movie's James T. Kirk resembles John S. McCain

Maybe this is just me, but I have very little tolerance for diving incredibly deep into pop culture arcana and trying to draw out complex, and too often ludicrously tenuous, links to "real world" events and people. The Wire is meant to be dissected and the allegories are intentional. But drawing links between Senator McCain and James Kirk and the current political landscape? Spare me.