Tuesday, July 07, 2009

All pallbearers should wear spangled gloves

Today marks the 81st anniversary of the creation of sliced bread also known as “The Greatest Day Ever.” Very seldom has an inventor had the chance to look down upon his creation and go, “There has never been anything greater than this in all of existence.” Only thing I can think of is the first guy who marketed hotcakes who got to say “These sales are unprecedented.”

I did watch a bit of the Michael Jackson memorial service at work. I was tempted to live blog it but the thought of losing my job because I live blogged Michael Jackson’s funeral was something that I didn’t want to tempt. Somehow I could not figure out a way to spin that one in future job interviews. “Why were you let go from your previous position?” “Apparently my company and I did not see eye to eye on how to act during the most critical cultural event of my lifetime.”

I also lost money on my bet that at some point during the ceremony that the casket would open and Michael would step out wearing his Thriller jacket and makeup and perform with a cast of zombies. It would have made wonderful television for the entire thing to be shown to be a promotional ploy for his concerts in London. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me that people in the crowd were prepared for the appearance of a zombie Michael Jackson. I have said it before and I will say it again, no matter where you find yourself you should always be able to answer the question “What would I do if there was an uprising of the living dead?”

The other topic that I have been requested to discuss is the whole Sarah Palin situation. In a way I have to give her credit for doing something that I have never seen a politician do before; especially one who seems to feel that she has a future in politics. Essentially she destroyed any possibility of running for higher office in the future by this move. All anyone would have to do to counter her campaign is run an ad stating “She quit on the people of Alaska when things got tough. What makes you think she would not do the same again?” Instant campaign killer. And no matter how she tries to spin it she is quitting. She is resigning from office with years left on her tenure for a rather poorly explained reason.

So why did she quit? I don’t buy into the whole rumor mill that she is resigning ahead of a scandal because given all of the investigations into her already you would think that it would have come up by now. I also don’t think that it was to run for president in 2012 because as I said, I can’t see how in the world she would win a campaign with half a term of governor as her history. My theory is this. I don’t think she liked being governor of Alaska and preferred being famous in her own right. Politics is nasty, dirty work and it sucks when you are on the wrong end of the stick as she is. So instead of being stuck in Juneau she has decided to leave office. Maybe we can give her the benefit of the doubt and say that she truly wants to spend time with her young child and grandchild. I also think she sees the fact that she can have a book deal and television show in nothing flat and make a lot more money for a lot less heartache.

It is going to be a great what if of history as to what her career would have been like if John McCain hadn’t called. My guess is that she would have been a successful multi-term governor working in obscurity. No one in the mainstream would ever have known that she existed. Maybe that would be better, maybe it would be worse.

The five random CDs for the week (which I have been forgetting to post):
1) The Neville Brothers “Live on Planet Earth”
2) Josh Ritter “The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter”
3) Freakwater “Springtime”
4) Sarah McLachlan “I Will Remember You”
5) Jump, Little Children “Vertigo”

No comments: