Maya gets in the mood for her first ballet lesson with some low quality "Food Network" shwag

Maya gets in the mood for her first ballet lesson with some quality "Food Network" time.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Ballet lessons started this morning for Maya. She loves the outfit but was a bit shy about the whole show. Nonetheless, a few pics from the morning follow.

Oh, and the "Food Network" reference will be explained more fully later, for those that are interested. Hope your own cable networks have broad demographics. Rock on.

Maya sizes up her classmates and ponders if black is indeed the new black in tutus.

Maya sizes up her classmates and ponders if black is indeed the new black in tutus.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

"A room full of mirrors. Is this heaven?"

"A room full of mirrors. Is this heaven?"
Originally uploaded by emaggie

"Wah wah wee wah - I thought those shoes were disposable. Couldn't they add a heel or something to not confuse a kid?"

"Wah wah wee wah - I thought those shoes were disposable. Couldn't they add a heel or something to not confuse a kid?"
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Because you can't spell "Unity" without a big "Unit"

The indisputable lead story of the day - hell, maybe the month - was the Obama-Clinton lovefest in New Hampshire earlier today. It will certainly go down as the best stagecraft of this entire campaign. Thus far. Those Obama folks are on frickin' fire. McCain's campaign just ordered in pizza because, man, it's gonna be a long night. But, where credit is absolutely due, Hillary was unbelievably good today. She erased 16 months of vitriol in a half-hour of prideful asskissing. And Barack followed right up with his casual brilliance in returning said asskissing. So here's my theory, not that it's gonna surprise most people. There's absolutely no way she'll be picked as his running mate. Sure, every baby-faced pundit is ready to start dropping fake old school rap about "chemistry" and "the crowd's reaction" and maybe even "lack of sexual awkwardness". But what I read from the whole show boils down to one thing - Hillary's out. She's got bigger issues to address and she knows it. Like an $11.4M overdraft in her joint account. And her off-the-reservation Hubbie who's conveniently in Europe while this whole Unity deal goes down. And the prospects of by not being the most magnanimous loser since Al Gore she'll get sent back to the Senate without the slightest chance of leapfrogging the 28 other Senators in her Party that have more seniority. No, Hillary's out. With class. Kudos to her for the fiesty, brainy, humanish way she did it. That chick's got a huge brass pair.

Hope your own inappropriate sexist postings are especially long and hard-hitting today. Rock on.

George - this fondly offered "woolybooger!" is for you

Our Nation lost another hero of mine over the weekend. George Carlin died of a heart attack. When I saw the first report this morning, I uttered almost his entire brilliant list of "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" ("tits doesn't even belong on the list"). I still remember discovering and then endlessly listening to his comedy albums on high school bus trips for various activities. Especially when my punkrock friend Crito and I dominated the far back seat and got to choose what would play on the one allowed boombox for really only the cool kids within limited range to hear. I also remember once getting said boombox confiscated by one of the ubiquitous overly-churchy bus drivers and feeling as Constitutionally attacked as any fan of Carlin's hard-core wisdom ever felt. He was more accesible than Lenny Bruce, slightly less self-destructive than Richard Pryor, every bit as essential as both and even more on point when it came to censorship. I will miss him.

Hope your own classic comedy albums get dusted off today for the first time in years. Rock on.

Today's bonus rating - if "Mad Men" ain't on the A-List again this season, I'm totally voting for Goldwater

For a Friday, here's a few glancing blows.

Barack Obama isn't taking public financing. For those that find offense in this, consider the last time you filed your taxes and refused to donate the $3 to said public financing system. This issue is, thereby, less than moot.

Scott McClellan has been testifying this morning before the House Judiciary Committee about the Valerie Plame outing. Can't say I care, mainly because I've seen where this bread gets buttered from way back when. But the fact that he's out there has to piss off those loyal Bushies and that's worth something to the nation. So kudos, Scotty.

On Father's Day I caught a matinee - "The Happening". My rating - a pissy C-minus. Dumb concept, horrible marketing, just dumb dumb dumb crap that no one should feel obligated to see. Spoiler alert! There's no surprise ending. Consider yourself warned.

Hope your own weekend plans get you nowhere near a multiplex showing "The Love Guru" (I haven't seen it, but my rating is a D-minus). Rock on.

If that Pantera shirt's not scoring you the chicks anymore...

First up - a big plug. A graphic designer in DC has put together a beautiful Tim Russert tribute.



Consider it a concert t-shirt for dorks. Or rather, dorks that care about politics instead of emo or Radiohead or (insert your own stupid migratory musical genre reference here). After seeing a quick blurb this morning I ordered one. The proceeds go to Tim's favorite charity in DC - the Boys and Girls Club, as mentioned on Sunday's "Meet the Press" tribute during the end titles.

Closer to the home front, we fondly said goodbye to Maya's visiting friend, Penelope, yesterday morning as she and her mom, Alix, prepped for the flight back to Boston. It was a rare Seattle weekend, especially for this year - sunny in June. That window of summery bliss, however, disappeared this morning under a low slung hammock of drizzle and temps in the 50s. We're glad to have had our summer while it lasted. Hope your own sandbags and/or air-conditioners are getting little use today. Rock on.

A legend lost

Tim Russert was a hero of mine. I loved his style (frumpy, old-school, appropriately dickish, willing to ask the toughie). I remember reading a magazine profile in, I'm pretty sure, "Esquire" while I was still in college. It detailed his ascendance. But moreso, his loving courtship of his wife that to this day sticks in my mind as a display of the ultimate newsy nerd (they read the NYTimes Sunday paper together after a date before ever getting close to sleeping together). I will honestly miss him. I'm so sad he wasn't able to see this election cycle play out. My best to his family.

"Not to mention that Barack would never know how to split one of those Bloomberg Onions."

Three quick swings. Maya's doing great - thriving, learning small engine repair, saving small spiders whenever her Mom freaks out at their presence. But a comment from yesterday must be preserved. Maya loves the FoodNetwork. LOVES it. Her standard line in the kitchen is "let's watch a cook" just before she gets up on the counter and messes with whatever sort of actual prep I've got underway. I try to then mute the commercials, partly because Maya always says "I want to watch another cook" and partly because I hate capitalism amidst food porn purism. Yet the point of the story was a small window of commercialism that Maya caught and the follow up. A GEICO commercial. Maya's reaction as I turned away from the cutting board - "I didn't know lizards could talk?" My reaction - "well, it's actually a gecko and if you helped Daddy more around the house, they might." This morning, Maya detailed the Volvo.

Worst political story of the day - Mark Penn (that horrendous bag of glop that had been Hillary's top strategist and solitary pollster) has given a must read interview to GQ. Must read if you must read every piece of crap out there trying to justify incredible hulking incompetence. Penn's main point - he wanted to attack Obama before it wasn't cool. Oh, and I think he also said that Katrina and vagina rhymed and should be used in a campaign song. That guy's BRILLIANT!

Turdly, nobody can doubt the import of the Supremes ruling today that Gitmo detainees can appeal via American civilian courts. Chief Justice Roberts has shown just what sort of jib he's got on under his robes (hint: worst lynching costume EVER). And Justice Kennedy continues to delicately parade his transformation (hint: we still have some laws on the books, right?). Fascinating scrum. I'd love to hang out with David Brooks at Applebee's and discuss it all over a working class plate of greens sometime soon.

Hope your own salad bar today is heavy on the bar, light on the salad. Rock on.

If ever there was a snarky academic that needed to get stranded in Gary, Indiana with a flat tire at 3am...

Two quickies today. Can't say that I'm ready to synopsize the same extended speech my wife's been hearing all week about why Hillary lost, but the 8-minute video that Slate Magazine produced today pretty much nails the timeline of the Dems march toward inevitability. Please watch.

And while there were years and years seemingly decades ago when I would quote Paul Krugman ad nauseum, his post-mortem column for Hillary today is the worst thing he's ever written. Smart guy. Great ability to subtly talk down to all of us morons when it comes to economics. Horseshite political analyst. Please take a vacation, Krug.

Hope your own campaigns are sailing along as if last week never happened. Rock on.

What better remedy for a missed flight exists than...a bouncy house.

What better remedy for a missed flight exists than...a bouncy house.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Our return from Santa Barbara got delayed by a day for Maya and me. Luckily, few places on the planet are more fun to spend an extra day in than this sleepy seaside burg. We hope y'all appreciate just a few shots from our time away. Rock on.

"Who knew my Mommy was part Wookie?"

"Who knew my Mommy was part Wookie?"
Originally uploaded by emaggie

A strut worthy of a "Sex and the City" premeire.

A strut worthy of a "Sex and the City" premeire.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

Maya reconsiders the value of Santa Barbara's famous "Buried for the Summer" kids' beach course.

Maya reconsiders the value of Santa Barbara's famous "Buried for the Summer" kids' beach course.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

If this ain't a summery shot, I'll eat my camera.

If this ain't a summery shot, I'll eat my camera.
Originally uploaded by emaggie

"Holy moly. I think I see Bradgelina sunbathing topless."

"Holy moly. I think I see Bradgelina sunbathing topless."
Originally uploaded by emaggie