(no subject)
For better or worse, tomorrow night is going to be a very, very emotional time for everyone. Phyllis and I are going to order Chinese and stay up all night to watch the polls. What else can I do? There's no way I'll be able to sleep through it! (Luckily, we both took off on Wednesday, which is the only reason I can pull off the all nighter to begin with).
So far, the battleground polls have pretty much been going the way I expected them to (the one I posted on LJ is very old and outdated). I've read people exclaim their surprise that the race is as close as it is, as if Obama was somehow guaranteed a double digit victory just because he was going up against a despised and reviled Republican party. I'm not surprised. How can you be with a two party system? Law of averages says 50% of the people will go one way and 50% will go the other, regardless of how bad Bush fucked the Republicans, simply because that's what they have to choose from (and no, third, green, and independent parties don't count, I don't care what you say. Like it or not this country is a two party system).
Battleground states will inevitably be won by narrow margins. After showing some support for Obama, Missouri has since flipped in support of McCain, which I was absolutely expecting, along with North Carolina, which is currently tied in the polls (I think it will flip for McCain +1-2 points in the polls). Which is fine, I saw that coming and it still doesn't make one bit of difference for McCain so long as he loses Virginia, Ohio, and Florida, all of which seem to be the case as of this writing.
Frankly, I'm baffled as to why McCain's been pumping so much time and money into Pennsylvania and New Hampshire when he's got three times as many red states in jeopardy. Penn and NH are both polling strongly in favor of Obama, so much that any efforts on McCain's part aren't going to make a big enough dent in the polls to swing the state his way. Seriously, I hope whoever came up with that idea was summarily executed, it was so bad.
Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to Missouri and North Carolina. Those two states have been constantly flipping back and forth between the candidates, and by narrow margins. Even if McCain wins them though, along with Indiana, at best it only gives him 200 electoral votes. By contrast, if Obama can maintain his leads in Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, (which all look good right now) he stands to net 338 electoral votes.
This can happen, provided all those registered voters the Democrats signed up actually get out there and vote. Turnout itself could also be a problem, as people during early voting in states have had to wait up to three hours to vote. People will need to weight the potential inconvenience of such a wait against the historical significance of this election and decide if they're willing to stand in line that long. And then there's the risk of (another) voter fraud. I have this nagging fear that the Republicans are up to something Bad, but I hope I'm wrong.
Halloween was good, kind of. I went as Bobba Fett, and am tempted to keep the costume, simply because it is that damn cool. However, there weren't any trick or treaters! The doorbell rang maybe 20 times all night. Maybe. And for each ring there were about 3 kids on average. I don't know, it seems like fewer and fewer kids are doing this, nowadays. Why is it I remember Halloween being so much *more* when I was a kid?
Went and saw Phyllis in "Guys and Dolls" yesterday. She was, of course, my star of the show and an absolute delight to watch. You could tell she was cutting loose and having fun with the part. I was surprised though by how dull the leads were, and by how much more fun I was having watching the secondary characters. The guy they chose to play Sky especially (and I'm not just saying this because I wanted the part!) was TERRIBLE, not to mention old enough to be the female lead's grandfather! I think he was trying so hard to be suave and cool that he completely forgot about bringing any energy to the part. Even Dad said he could barely keep his eyes open when the guys was on stage. It's a shame HOTT dropped the ball on what could have been a great show. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm done with them. On to other things.
This morning I was surprised to see that weeklycomicbookreview.com was looking for review editors to join their staff. They were quick to point out that it's not a paid position, but were accepting submissions for reviews. So what the hell, I went ahead and put together a review for the Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein hardcover that Dark Horse released last week (didn't actually buy it, but god I spent an entire lunch hour admiring every page). They said if they like the review they will email back a response, so we shall see. I love the site, so that would be cool as hell if they asked me to review for them....fingers crossed!
Working on two story ideas right now that both explore the role of the superhero in society. They're good ideas, and are pulling together themes I've read in everything from comics like Planetary and The Boys to my long-standing criticisms of religion. In an earlier entry I'd once complained how I felt like I never had anything to *say* in my stories, but lately I feel like that's changing. Like maybe I've hit the right age, or right frame of mind, to express myself and my outlook on the world, and if I can use the medium of comics and superheroes to achieve that, well then shit, more power to me, right?
I think that's about it. I can't believe the end of the year is almost here, what the hell happened to the last ten months!?
So far, the battleground polls have pretty much been going the way I expected them to (the one I posted on LJ is very old and outdated). I've read people exclaim their surprise that the race is as close as it is, as if Obama was somehow guaranteed a double digit victory just because he was going up against a despised and reviled Republican party. I'm not surprised. How can you be with a two party system? Law of averages says 50% of the people will go one way and 50% will go the other, regardless of how bad Bush fucked the Republicans, simply because that's what they have to choose from (and no, third, green, and independent parties don't count, I don't care what you say. Like it or not this country is a two party system).
Battleground states will inevitably be won by narrow margins. After showing some support for Obama, Missouri has since flipped in support of McCain, which I was absolutely expecting, along with North Carolina, which is currently tied in the polls (I think it will flip for McCain +1-2 points in the polls). Which is fine, I saw that coming and it still doesn't make one bit of difference for McCain so long as he loses Virginia, Ohio, and Florida, all of which seem to be the case as of this writing.
Frankly, I'm baffled as to why McCain's been pumping so much time and money into Pennsylvania and New Hampshire when he's got three times as many red states in jeopardy. Penn and NH are both polling strongly in favor of Obama, so much that any efforts on McCain's part aren't going to make a big enough dent in the polls to swing the state his way. Seriously, I hope whoever came up with that idea was summarily executed, it was so bad.
Ultimately, I think it's going to come down to Missouri and North Carolina. Those two states have been constantly flipping back and forth between the candidates, and by narrow margins. Even if McCain wins them though, along with Indiana, at best it only gives him 200 electoral votes. By contrast, if Obama can maintain his leads in Ohio, Florida, and Virginia, (which all look good right now) he stands to net 338 electoral votes.
This can happen, provided all those registered voters the Democrats signed up actually get out there and vote. Turnout itself could also be a problem, as people during early voting in states have had to wait up to three hours to vote. People will need to weight the potential inconvenience of such a wait against the historical significance of this election and decide if they're willing to stand in line that long. And then there's the risk of (another) voter fraud. I have this nagging fear that the Republicans are up to something Bad, but I hope I'm wrong.
Halloween was good, kind of. I went as Bobba Fett, and am tempted to keep the costume, simply because it is that damn cool. However, there weren't any trick or treaters! The doorbell rang maybe 20 times all night. Maybe. And for each ring there were about 3 kids on average. I don't know, it seems like fewer and fewer kids are doing this, nowadays. Why is it I remember Halloween being so much *more* when I was a kid?
Went and saw Phyllis in "Guys and Dolls" yesterday. She was, of course, my star of the show and an absolute delight to watch. You could tell she was cutting loose and having fun with the part. I was surprised though by how dull the leads were, and by how much more fun I was having watching the secondary characters. The guy they chose to play Sky especially (and I'm not just saying this because I wanted the part!) was TERRIBLE, not to mention old enough to be the female lead's grandfather! I think he was trying so hard to be suave and cool that he completely forgot about bringing any energy to the part. Even Dad said he could barely keep his eyes open when the guys was on stage. It's a shame HOTT dropped the ball on what could have been a great show. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm done with them. On to other things.
This morning I was surprised to see that weeklycomicbookreview.com was looking for review editors to join their staff. They were quick to point out that it's not a paid position, but were accepting submissions for reviews. So what the hell, I went ahead and put together a review for the Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein hardcover that Dark Horse released last week (didn't actually buy it, but god I spent an entire lunch hour admiring every page). They said if they like the review they will email back a response, so we shall see. I love the site, so that would be cool as hell if they asked me to review for them....fingers crossed!
Working on two story ideas right now that both explore the role of the superhero in society. They're good ideas, and are pulling together themes I've read in everything from comics like Planetary and The Boys to my long-standing criticisms of religion. In an earlier entry I'd once complained how I felt like I never had anything to *say* in my stories, but lately I feel like that's changing. Like maybe I've hit the right age, or right frame of mind, to express myself and my outlook on the world, and if I can use the medium of comics and superheroes to achieve that, well then shit, more power to me, right?
I think that's about it. I can't believe the end of the year is almost here, what the hell happened to the last ten months!?