A New Era

I have to go to Dublin tomorrow with my study abroad group, which will be fun for the photo opportunities at least. Can you believe that I've been blogging every day for the past month or so? What a pathetic achievement! Also, four people commented on my last entry, which is almost a record. This truly is a new era.

I watched Hard Candy today. I'd put that movie off for a while, but it had always been on my radar. I generally enjoy any button-pushing movie that can walk a line between arty-pretension and exploitation without falling either way, but I'm not sure if this movie succeeded. It sure started out creepy enough. It's like, as the cat-and-mouse game goes on and more things come to light, it goes from being a great movie down a couple notches to pretty good. But it's hard to beat the two performances. Noted non-uggo Ellen Page was amazing, and she was only 15-years-old (imdb tells me). She's the same age as me! What the hell am I doing with my life? The stench of perpetual failure never comes off!

In other news, I finally got the new BFP today. I was so happy because I had assumed it'd been "lost in the mail." Maybe it sounds like a) I think that my college newspaper staff should/do care what I think and b) I'm scared of people I don't know bringing my dick-sucking to light if I say that this edition is one of the best I can remember, but it honestly is. Having an election to write about probably helped. Since my last post was a snarkfest and there's so much hope in the air, let's look at what went right. If you don't go to Bennington and you're reading this then bail out now; it won't make enough sense to be worth your time, and your time is very valuable:

Imagine my shock to find Senator Apple-Potatohead himself leering at me from the front page as if paper-McCain had frozen in time upon hearing the news that his real-life twin had just got his ass handed to him. I guess not enough people followed the first part of Geoff Pigman's plea to "choose experience," opting instead for the latter bit, "choose judgement."
Meanwhile Brian Morrice, official Obama Student Representative, takes some time to remind the laymen who haven't worked closely with the President-elect that there were lower-level races to be won as well and provides a handy little guide to them, which is nice to see.

The politics continued throughout, but, oh my God, it's like all my BFP wishes came true: they were all unique opinion pieces and not dry reporting! I was happy to see:

• Sarah Palin's full name (Sarah Louise Heath Palin McLoserstien)
• Chris Matthews' earnestness compared to Ralph Wiggum
• That the young Panzariellos were brought up to call Bill Clinton "the monster." Honestly, if you think back on most of our recent presidents as "the monsters" and put yourself in a child's shoes it doesn't take much imagination-stretching to make them seem pretty scary looking (except Obama, who is dreamy). Incidentally, it's always best to put on the shoes of children when thinking about politics. (Just ask Dennis Kucinich! Zingggg!!!!kill me)
  
• The headline "Late-breaking newts" made me extremely happy.
  

In even better news, Zimmer's angry screed against dining hall problems is back, in more succinct form. I agree with every statement in it except for the bit about vegans eating meat - Michael, just because Kilpat wishes it lived in a barbecue grease trap instead of a house doesn't mean the rest of us do. Will change come to the Dining Hall? Er... doubtful.

Also, Baking With Faith is now hand-drawn and adorable, featuring a cartoon Amanda Vorce and the personification of Baking. Question: why does Baking have to wear a mask? What has she done previously in life that she needs to hide her identity? My guess is that she sold her soul to the Devil to ascend from life as a verb to that of a person. Amanda, for her part, must've sold her soul for that sweet harmonica that plays itself.

Two complaints:

• Big Guy/Little Guy has taken over the paper, spreading over four pages like a virus. I think the lot of the Guys is a sad one: perpetually floating in space, talking in elliptical conversations with no endings. Now that politics has entered the scene the conversations are going to become more and more insufferable. I guess there's not much to do while waiting for the rest of your head to materialize.
• Where's Dr. Randy's column? Is Geoff Pigman the new Dr. Randy?? Is Geoff Pigman a liscenced gynocologist???? The women of Bennington deserve answers!