Making McCain Exciting

My new favorite thing. The brilliant people at The Colbert Report took note of a recent John McCain speech in which the GOP chosen one not only was robotic, monotone and lifeless, but he ALSO was standing in front of a green screen. Thus, the "Make McCain Exciting Greenscreen Challenge" was born, and the floodgates opened. Some of these are so funny, they are awe-inspiring. Something the candidate himself was several decades ago, (not funny, but awe-inspiring). A long career in politics causes one to lose all awe-inspringness, though.

My favorites: Gray Ambition

Street Racer McCain


Bucktooth Bunny McCain

Star Trek McCain

Toto, I don't think McCain's in Kansas anymore

Putting kittens to sleep


And finally, this weird little Mini McCain



Ahhh...life is good, with a bit of computer enhancement.

Big Brains

So, I get spammed occasionally by a Speakers Bureau called "Big Speak." Since I'm a PR person, Big Speak assumes I'll book one of their people for a keynote at some gala or special meeting. Reasonable enough. Yesterday, I got a postcard from them that advertised "Big Business Minds" and the speakers, presumably, who had them.

What struck me about these Big Business Minds was there were 16 of them. But only one was female. I felt depressed.

I go to the Web site. OK. Buzz Aldrin. You can't argue with that. He's a legend. And Lance Armstrong. Same thing. I scroll down the page and find one female speaker and her topic is...menopause.

Have to take my wee little brain off to work now. Thank goodness we have such smart men running everything for us. Like the White House, Federal Reserve, EPA and the Pentagon.

Toodles.

Pawn Shop Guitar

I'm listening to a tasty little band called "Computer vs. Banjo." Two guys who give lie to the old Steve Martin aphorism that you can't be depressed while playing the banjo. But, what got me thinking, and blogging, was this catchy line from their song, "Guitars need a sinners touch":

We all need a good sinner's love because we've all been pawned and beaten up. Maybe you'll find a good sinner today.

You could use a button or two because we all deserve to be found and groomed. Maybe you'll find a new suit today.

Along the way...you'll find someone else you won't forget. But you'll do something else that you'll regret.

Speaking for us pawn shop guitars, I must say that a good sinner's touch is the only thing that can unlock the music inside. And, (who would've guessed?) we beaten up guitars can make the sweetest music. So take a minute and listen to an incredibly bluesy banjo and tell me what you think...

Oh, and in case you're wondering. The picture above is Willie Nelson's famously battered guitar. I don't know if it's ever been in a pawn shop, but Willie certainly has...back in the 1960s, before the trademark red braids and Outlaw days. He had oily, short hair, wore scary ill-fitting suits and made commercials for the local Ford dealer.

We've done things we regret. That's what makes our music sweet, even when it's blue.

Wheezing Earth, update

The little tree Mark lovingly nurtured through its first 5 years died this summer. Too much heat, too little water. We should listen to the big message that little tree is sending all of us...


I found this neat applet that gives a quick and powerful visual of the carbon emissions different countries generate. It also displays the birth/death rates in those countries.

I'm not doing enough to make a difference, and I do more than most people I know. But, one of my new heroes, Annie Leonard, made this wonderful observation about the sorry state of things.

"The good thing about such all-pervasive problems is there's so many points of intervention."

See why she's a hero? She's not just an environmental wacko without credentials, either. A Columbia University graduate who went on to study city and regional planning at Cornell University, Annie traveled to over 30 countries, including Haiti, Bangladesh, India, the Philippines, Pakistan and South Africa, in her work investigating and promoting anti-pollution issues internationally.

Annie also produced The Story of Stuff a 20-minute video that opens your mind and your eyes to the insanity of our unsustainable lifestyles. Watching it is like swallowing the red pill in The Matrix, except it's just a cute little video with stick-figure animation and Annie talking...



We have to change, or change will be done to us and it will be more painful than $4 bucks to feed the gas guzzler. But then, pain's what motivates me. As my dear friend Nolan says, "I move, not because I see the light, but when I feel the heat."

And oh, it is getting hot out there...
If you were wondering, in the time it took me to create this post, 969,000 tons of CO2 were admitted into the atmosphere, and 5575 people were born, while 2420 died.