Monday Potpourri

Just a few brief (hopefully!) random ramblings...

Madeleine Albright was very impressive at the book signing on Friday night.  She drew a standing room only crowd and was quite engaging - talking about her book (as opposed to doing a reading) and then taking questions for about 45 minutes.  She just oozes intelligence and rationality... and eloquently jumped from questions about North Korea to Iran to Kosovo to the Middle East without missing a beat.  While she certainly took (well deserved) shots at the current administration (much to the pleasure of the unsurprisingly partisan audience), her answers were genuinely non-political and certainly echoed what she feels is best for our country.  We were lucky to have her as Secretary of State... and one hopes that all her work will not totally be undone.  And she has a great sense of humor, too!  What an honor it was to see and hear her speak!

[For Todd's take... click here... not exactly sure what I said to Ms. Albright, but something like "nice to hear someone speaking rationally and sanely about these things" to which she responded with a smile "I'm trying"... or something like that! It wasn't one of my best book-signing moments... did a much better job with Hillary!]

Re: the Pope, I think I said this around Ronald Reagan's death/funeral... while I certainly don't agree with their politics or what they said/did, I have a hard time not finding some respect for the "office."  Not stepping on anyone's right to speak their mind (and no one on my blogroll need be nervous... I read a whole heck of other blogs that I don't link to!), but personally I can not bring myself to bash (for lack of a better word) pretty much anyone on their deathbed or shortly after their death.  I think the 24-hour news cycle gets a lot of the blame... perhaps it is only natural to want to backlash when we are spoonfed all the "good" with hardly (if any) of the "bad" during these times... especially when it is relentlessly covered by the media.   But I really don't think it serves much of any constructive purpose other than an outlet to the person doing it... it is a black vs. white... it may be engaging the "black," but I think it only makes the person doing it become more "white"...  and I think you start to lose the support of the "greys" in the process... if that makes any sense?!  Anyhow, color me grey.

I am happy for Charles & Camilla... it was nice to see a genuine smile on their faces after their weekend wedding.  Everyone involved is pretty much a victim in a "system" that forces one to marry for any reason other than love.  Hopefully, that'll change down the road, though I suspect it won't happen in time for William and Harry - sure all the parties involved are guilty in some respect (including Diana)... but hopefully a lesson has been learned in this tragic tale of the past 20-30 years. 

Being a recent convert to martinis, we finally got around to trying appletinis (one of JD's favorites on Scrubs!), whipping up or own batches in the last month or so... yummm!    While there is certainly nothing wrong with the traditional concoction, the extra flavoring definitely makes it quite a bit more palatable.  We bought some citrus-flavored vodka over the weekend... so will begin to experiment with more versions on the classic drink!

While I am still a fan of the show, I think Desperate Housewives hasn't "aged" as well as ABC's other breakout new show of the season, Lost.  I know apples/oranges comparison, but I am slightly disappointed with the repetitive nature of the DH leading ladies - Susan's bumbling, Bree's iciness, Lynette being overwhelmed... and well Gabrielle lacking a redeemble feature.  I would like to see a little more growth and a 3rd dimension... something that Lost has been able to continue to do very well as layers are been unpeeled or added onto to each of the primary characters.  While DH has been a bit more willing to give us answers to the show's mysteries... I think Lost is easily winning the "character" battle.

Comments

[Jeff]

I started reading Albright's "Madam Secretary" a long while back, and should get around to finishing it one of these days. I was proud to be a State Department intern during her tenure (though my post was halfway around the world!).

[tLM]

I seem to have the opposite reaction concerning Desperate Housewives/Lost. Plotwise, DH seems to be clicking again after a few aimless episodes at the middle of the season. And I absolutely *loved* last night's (with the exception of the pointless Susan scenes). I still watch Lost, despite having earlier sworn it off as garbage. The plotline seems unnecessarily complex -- almost as if they're making it up as they go along. Still, I hope it does well, since it's a terrific lead-in for J.J. Abrams other show, Alias, which I never miss.