Israel is 60, or 12 Years Younger Than John McCain

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• Hey, did John McCain quote Chairman Mao on "The Daily Show" tonight? Between him and Stewart, only one of them was getting laughs. I'll let you guess which one.
• The funniest moment was when Stewart made a crack about how Al-Qaeda's worst nightmare would be, rather than McCain, if they got to heaven to find out that the 72 women weren't virgins: "These 72 women are whores!" McCain made some kind of weird squealing noise and spun around in his chair, looking uncomfortably off-stage.
• America finally got one right with Jason Castro gone. How I wish they would have let Simon say one more thing after they announced the vote. You might have seen Simon; when they went to Castro one last time, he was the judge who wasn't clapping. Rewind it, it's obvious.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• I present to you the worst movie trailer of the year.
• There are some scary people out there.
• Now that the general election race is on, let's go back to a poll from last week. Voters are more concerned about McCain's association with Bush than Obama's association with Wright. Makes sense right? The President has actively done more to harm the country.
• Daily Rave:
• Today marks the 60th anniversary, in the Hebrew calendar, of the formation of the State of Israel. It's America's greatest ally in the world. It's the only democracy in the Middle East. Its military persistence helped avoid World War III in 1973. More than anything else, to me, it's a country founded on the protection of people that were murdered and driven from their homes of hundreds of years. It's a true sanctuary for Jews around the world, something that people my age take for granted. We may not face anti-Semitism on a daily basis, but there is a safety net if it pops up again. Many thanks to the struggles of the early Zionists, from Herzl on, and to those that continue to preserve and protect it.

Jason Castro Vs. Hillary Clinton For Loser Of The Night

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• I was thinking about doing a running diary kind of thing for the last big night of the primary season and the last big election night until November 4, but we're all tired of this and I didn't think there would be much humor. So, of course, I had all of these jokes throughout the night that I forgot.
• While I mostly watch MSNBC, I'll flip over to CNN during a break, especially when a call is imminent or has just been made. John King just looks like the kind of guy that wouldn't be real fun to hang out with.
• It was almost all politics, with a break to catch the 9th in Gavin Floyd's failed no-hit bid. The only other thing was "Idol", which had a pretty crappy show tonight. This season has fallen apart faster than the pig's house of sticks when the Big Bad Wolf blew on it. I think I'm having a metaphor issue.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• Huge night for Obama, of course, but I have a better metaphor for this one. This is the last week of the baseball season, you're from Boston, and the Sox have long clinched home field. Beckett throws a shut-out. You're happy that he's going well and that you have one in the win column, but mostly you're just hoping October finally comes so you can move on to the real deal.
• This story is totally wacky in a way, but I don't think I can really describe how good it makes me feel. It could be the first sign of the Kasparov test coming to fruition.
• I listened to Glenn Beck for a second this afternoon. He was talking about the problems with illegal immigration. His quote was something like: "I don't want to hear you talk about slavery, Barack Obama, that happened in the 1600s. I'll tell you what slavery is, it's these illegal immigrants who can barely afford to rent a bed by the hour." Uh, Glenn, pretty sure slaves don't get paid. I won't even touch anything else in that.
• Does it make me elitist when I think that I'd rather my President not be picked only by people without college degrees? If so, is it bad to be elitist?
• Ranking The "Idol" Performances:
• 4. Jason Castro -- See, you stoner idiots should have voted him off weeks ago so we didn't have to go through that tonight. You knew that was coming at some point! I'm surprised he didn't just respond with, "Learning about Cuba, having some food."
• 3. Syesha Mercado -- You know, I wasn't going to rank her third, but then I looked into the mirror and said to myself, "Josh, you can do this."
• 2. David Cook -- Yeah, I dropped him to second. His first performance was a little weak and there was an obvious winner tonight. I did think the beginning of his second performance sort of sounded like a Springsteen version of the song. You're not going to get much better praise out of me.
• 1. David Archuleta -- He was ridiculous tonight. He sounded great, even if he is tough to watch with his awkward arm movement and weird nodding and facial expression. I do not, however, buy that he sits alone in his room and sings "Stand By Me" to himself. What he does do alone in his room I will leave up to your imagination.

As Tatooine Goes, So Goes The Nation

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• Finally caught last week's "CSI:". The weirdest moment was also the coolest. Nick is doing a test, succeeds, then looks over to the window where Jamie and Adam from "Mythbusters" are standing and then he gives them a thumbs up. No dialogue, no other acknowledgement of their presence.
• Nice little nod on "House" to the fact that the show isn't realistic and doesn't need to be. Also, notice how Cameron and Chase are slowly getting more and more screen time each week.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• Had chinese food tonight and my fortune was: "You are surrounded by true friends." This immediately proved to be untrue when my dog, sitting next to me, lunged for the cookie.
• And finally, after months and months and months (okay, only four, but it seems like twenty), we have the greatest YouTube video of the 2008 campaign!
• Daily Rant:
• For a reason that nobody can guess, Tony Kornheiser's radio show is on the same station as Bill O'Reilly's and Glenn Beck's. The same Glenn Beck I listened to growing up when he was part of the cheesy and Don and Mike rip-off Glenn Beck And The Morning Guys on B104 in Baltimore. But I digress. Most days that I drive, I'm listening to Mr. Tony when I get to work and so when I jump in the car in the afternoon, Beck is on. I usually listen to a couple of seconds, just to see what the enemy is saying. The other day he spent his whole show playing one of Jeremiah Wright's most inflamatory sermons. Today, I got in and he was talking about driving an SUV around New York with dead liberals in his trunk. Since he's picking on a minority of Wright's sermons (and frankly, the one Beck was playing about how the USA used its political capital from 9/11 to wrongly attack Iraq and sacrifice our troops is not something I wholly disagree with), I'll pick on a minority of Beck's words. Of course, he'll make a ton of money with a Democrat in the White House to complain about.

Week In Review

Random bests from the past seven days:

• Movie of the Week: Iron Man. It's really, really good. I'm not sure though that I got across last night how good The King of Kong is. It's not cheesy, which I may have implied. It really is very compelling.
• Athlete of the Week: Kobe Bryant got his first MVP award. It's about time.
• Activity of the Week: Went to Mount Vernon today for a work-related (though free time) activity. The new museum there is incredible. Great movies and great insights. The part on Washington's slaves is prominent, though gets a little less space than one might like. Best of all, the views around there are amazing. The GW Parkway has to be one of the top ten prettiest roads in the country.
• TV Show of the Week: "Survivor". This season has gotten great.
• Event of the Week: Tornadoes all over the country. My house was hit by a tornado when I was 14 and while I can't say it was a particularly harrowing experience, I saw some of the houses down the street literally obliterated, so I feel for the people in Virginia and the Midwest.
• Weird Moment of the Week: Paula Abdul messes up just a little bit. One funny thing about this: Yahoo ran some story where the teaser was that the mistake led to a dirty secret being revealed that most viewers suspected. The secret was that the judges watched rehearsal. I honestly thought that it was that Paula is on drugs. We do all suspect it.
• Villain of the Week: Jeremiah Wright. Why his ego has to get in the way of the ultimate ascendance of an African-American politician is beyond me.
• Coming Attractions for Next Week: Maybe the end to the primary race? The official one, of course; it's been over since Feb. 12.

At The Movies: A Blockbuster And 100% Awesomeness

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• Okay, three movies today.
• Went to see Iron Man. It's fantastic. Robert Downey, Jr. makes the movie, but overall it boasts one of the best casts of any comic book movie with Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Terence Howard. It's funny with great special effects and it's exciting all the way through. You don't see many movies in a fairly full theater where a certain thing happens and just about everyone exclaims at the same time, "Oh, damn!" I'd put it at just a slight level below Spiderman, but not much.
• I ended up waking up pretty early this morning and browsing through On Demand until I came upon The Number 23, a "thriller" starring Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen. This movie is awful. I never gave a crap about any of the characters and I was firmly ensconced as far away from the edge of my seat as possible. It deals with the paranoia that some people have (apparently in real life, even) that the number 23 pops up everywhere. If you add the numerical value of letters, add up license plate numbers, etc. You know what? I've become obsessed with the number two. Not only do you get 23, you get 24, 27, 82, and so on. The number two shows up freaking everywhere! I just wrote about the number two in the last sentence! And in the last one, also. And what's a synonym for also? Too, which rhymes with two! It's blowing my goddam mind!
• Finally, I used my Netflix Instant Viewing to see a movie I've been waiting to see since I first heard about it last year -- The King of Kong. It's a documentary dealing with competitive video gaming, specifically the battle for the world record in Donkey Kong. I might say, "X is awesome," but the word "awesome" was actually coined so this movie could be best described; true story! Believe it or not, there's a villain with minions who spread out to protect his record and an underdog good guy for whom you root as hard as you can. Even the music is awesome -- it uses both "Eye of the Tiger" and "You're The Best"! Plus, see if you can find the comparisons I easily made between Billy Mitchell and Hillary Clinton.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• I drank just a bit more tonight than I have in a long time. Being your own bartender at a party can be a curse.
• Daily Rant:
• Ask me how much I care about a bunch of horses turning left for 90 seconds. It's like NASCAR with cleaner air and mint juleps instead of Bud Light.

Sometimes I Can't Believe What A Snob I Am

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• I really liked this letter that was printed on The Daily Dish.
• I had to drive up to Baltimore this afternoon. Why 105.7 airs Ed Norris instead of Mike O'Meara, I can't guess.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• At the bar to which I went tonight, every female looked like Jessica Sierra. If you know what I mean by that, you know what I'm saying.
• I wrote so much crap last night that I forgot a few things.
• Had BBQ chicken last night using Gates BBQ sauce. Gates is a famous restaurant in Kansas City and I visited it when I was in town to see a Royals game a few years ago. I'm not prepared to say without a doubt that their sauce is the best-tasting thing in the world, but it is definitely in the conversation.
• This article made me laugh out loud. I thought of some other jokes to go with this, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I wrote them down for perpetuity.
• Daily Rant:
• I went back for a party with some ex-coworkers, people I hadn't seen in over three years. I love my job now for a number of reasons and absolutely hated working in the old place for the last few years I was there. Yes, years of misery. They eventually laid me off and it kicked my ass into finding out what I really wanted to do. It's the best thing that ever happened to me professionally; it's why I truly believe that one door closing is a great opportunity to find a new, open one. The people at the party talked about how things are so much worse than they were when I was there. I can't for the life of me imagine why people would put up with that kind of crap for so long. I guess Isaac Newton would say that inertia is just a really powerful force. Being back in Baltimore and talking to random people made me realize that among other things, I take for granted what an intellectual atmosphere I work in now compared to then. Upon hearing my musing on that, my wife simply responded with, "Well, you work with a lot more Jews now." Touche.

Sure Happy It's Thursday

• What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
• Lots of stuff to get to on a TV-busy Thursday night.
• One of the funniest episodes of "Earl" this season. DILF? "Is that what daddies do when mommies are away?"
• Have to spend more time on "Survivor" than anything else. It's hard to believe that the season was boring three weeks ago. It is absolutely fantastic at this point.
• Parvati is playing one of the best games I've ever seen anyone play. The social aspect of her game may be the best. The other greats (Richard, Tom, Boston Rob on "All-Stars") were all dominant through pure power.
• I certainly didn't think I'd be rooting for Amanda and Parvati at any point, but sure enough I was doing just that tonight. That tribal council -- and their performance specifically -- was so awesome on so many levels.
• And James walking in with an IV? He reached a whole new level of bad-assedness.
• "Grey's Anatomy": Not a big fan of Ava coming in with the whole pregnant thing. Unnecessarily soap opera-y. The overdramatic HIV thing was a little much, too. They crammed a hell of a lot into this one. Still a ton of better moments than almost any episode last season.
• Random Thoughts/Links:
• Take a break from the TV stuff for a second for a couple of sobering things today. Today was the commemoration (moved for a religious reason) of Yom HaShoah, the Israeli holiday in memory of those who were killed in the Holocaust. It's also observed in the United States, with a ceremony at the Capitol today.
• Holy cow. I don't know what else to say. Shocking, shocking news.
• Today is also the fifth anniversary of the "Mission Accomplished" banner. Man, I miss "Arrested Development"...
• On a lighter note, I saved myself much ridicule while watching "Grey's". When the HIV-positive mother told Izzy that she immediately wanted an abortion, I argued, "But we learned on 'Idol Gives Back' that there are drugs that significantly decrease the risk of passing the virus to the baby!" My wife started to go off on me because of how much I had ranted about the charity extravaganza. Luckily, I realized that we actually learned it on "Survivor: Africa", which we watched recently. Whew.
• "Lost" Comments/Questions of the Week:
• My wife squealed happily when Jack kissed Kate at the beginning. She also pointed out that if Jack and Kate were together, Jack was actually taking care of his nephew.
• So Rousseau is actually dead? I never really believed it.
• On a related note, the whispers must then be the sounds of ghosts. I don't think that's a huge revelation, but it was up in the air.
• If the island heals people (Ben aside, of course), why did Jack get sick? (I want to note that I wrote this before Rose asked the exact same question on the show.)
• "Where do you suppose the power comes from?" "Add that one to the list, Dan." I liked that.
• Now the game is all about how long into the future the flash-forwards are.
• Our good friend Christian is back. I'm thinking we'll be seeing a lot more of him, what with Locke and Ben searching for Jacob.