Overheard at the Office

Me: So, has anyone else seen the rumors in the blogosphere that Cheney is going to resign so that Bush can put Condoleezza Rice in as VP before the 2008 race?
Coworker #1: There’s no way the Republicans will put a black lesbian in the White House.
Coworker #2: Condy is gay?!?
Rest of us: *rolls eyes* 

This was followed by an interesting game of verbal political celebrity death match: 

• Hilary v. Condoleezza (aka clash of the controversial women)
• Obama v. McCain (aka the “populist” candidates)
• Edwards v. Romney (aka the “safe bet” choices for primary voters)
• Kucinich v. Pataki (aka the long shots keeping things interesting)

Eventually, we decided that it’s unlikely any of these candidates will actually make it to 2008.

Things I learned from my Washington DC Trip

• ATA is very kind to me, assigning me a seat next to hot gay guys both directions (Chicago to DC)
• That guy sitting two rows back and talking very loudly about the flaws in the Lord of the Rings movies… do I sound like that? Do the gay guys sitting a few seats away from me mock me the way we mocked this loser?
• Things in Washington DC are closer together than I once imagined
• The Capitol building is farther away than it looks when you’re at the Lincoln Memorial
• The White House is smaller than I thought
• The Capitol building is bigger than I thought
• You can’t buy cheap shoes in downtown DC
• The middle of a business trip in a new city is not the best time to break in new shoes
• Even on business trips, one should bring a back-up pair of sneakers for sightseeing
• The Bay Area has not cured me of my tendency to believe that cities must be far away from each other (i.e. Vegas is surrounded by hours of desert. DC is surrounded by Arlington and Baltimore.)
• Big puffy coats are not in style in the downtown DC area… I stood out like a tourist. Next time, I’m there during the winter, I’m bringing a tailored wool coat… must research better (watch more West Wing)

Objects in picture may appear smaller than…

Week in Television

Week in Comic Books

Damn you, Marvel! After I went and depleted my checking/savings to go to DC–I’ll be reimbursed but it’ll be a few weeks–you had to have a good comic book publishing week. Now I’ve dropped $100 on comics. Outstanding titles this week: Silent War #1; Civil War: The Return #1; Eternals #6. I also picked up my first DC book – people won’t stop talking about the new Justice Society of America, so I’ll give it a few issues before I become insanely addicted.

I have a feeling that the whole Civil War crossover event isn’t really the big event building in the Marvel universe. Last week, in Fantastic Four #542, some major hints were dropped that have not really been leaked in the main storylines. I suspect that House of M, Civil War, the upcoming World War Hulk, all these are just teasers and build-up to some catastrophe that will actually live up to the hype (or not). If I were on Marvel’s editorial board, I’d be looking at the 5 year plan here… as huge universe-altering things keep happening, heroes and villains of epic and nearly omnipotent power are being killed and ressurected, and long held mysteries are being revealed… it’s got to be building to something huge.

ETA: I also read King Rat by China Mieville this week. Good book, reminded me of Neil Gaiman.

Filed under: livejournal by Jere Keys