a quiet protest?!
Mood:  incredulous

bush's inauguration celebration is going to cost some $40 million, not counting security costs. there will be nine balls (inlcuding a special one for the few soldiers we've bothered to let come home from iraq), a concert, a parade, fireworks and the swearing-in ceremony

and, an aside, did you know there's a joint congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies? i know that our culture loves its parties, but, seriously, we need a congressional committee for this kind of thing? from their website: "this website has been created to provide comprehensive information about presidential inaugurations past and present. it is part of our continuing effort to encourage all americans to appreciate and participate in the inaugural ceremony... it is our hope that this website will encourage you to become more involved in this important part of american history." who knew this was an important part of american history? raise your hands. then, hang your heads in shame, cause you are all stupid, stupid people. we don't need balls (permit the unfortunate pun). we don't need parades. we don't need parties. hell, we barely need the damn swearing-in; we all know the president lies for the rest of his four years, so why try to get an oath for this one day?

anyway, it's a big deal (apparently), the inauguration, lots of partying and parading and lots of money spent--gotta wonder how much people will be spending to travel to dc to see the whole shindig go down. bush will get a big celebration, all the gay-hating, abortion-despising folks who voted for him will get to grin all day cause they won, and screw the other half of the country (and the rest of the world, for that matter)

and, the best we can come up with is a quiet protest in which the participants don't even have to acknowledge one another as they turn their backs on bush as he parades past 'em. see turnyourbackonbush.org for the boring details. the protestors don't have to know one another (a useful detail, to be sure), don't have to wear pins or carry signs (a useful detail, since security can't herd them into a pen like they have tried at other events in recent years), and they don't have to acknowledge one another or even all participate at teh same time (while i like this, it certainly is not a useful protest, as there's no guarantee anyone will notice scattered folks turning around, and it probably won't disrupt anything)

and, it should be about disruption. they already know half of us don't like him. we've already turned our backs on him. doing it in a literal fashion isn't going to do a thing. blocking the streets and stopping the inaugural parade, locking down dc traffic for the day, storming the inaugural stage--those kinds of things will get some attention. it's all nice and good for us hermit types (like me) to think there are protests out there that won't involve us having to actually interact with others, but come on. this won't have an impact and ultimately, won't make us feel any better. you've got to create a spectacle, got to make life hard for the other guys. you've got to have signs ands tee shirts and pins and arm bands and you've got to parade through the streets, and damn the security forces who try to coral you out of the way. it doesn't have to be violent (though security will likely make it so), but it does have to be big, it does have to be active. none of this turning around crap. then, you'll just miss the spectacle they've got going

watchlist for yesterday:

• collateral - while i rather liked this film, and it made we want to watch heat again, the cell phone not working at the end pissed me off. it's too common a suspense trick now, to have the cell phone not work. and this was in downtown los angeles; i could be wrong, but i've never heard of any cell problems in the fucking middle of los angeles. max could've just stolen the cell phone closer to the building if you wanted to leave it working until then (obviously, he had to find the cell phone cause he (and we) needed him to call here for reasons i won't spoil here)
• unlocking the da vinci code - the shortest and the most boring of the three da vinci code documentaries i've watched in the past week or so, and not just cause it was reiterating stuff from the other two
• babylon 5 "no retreat, no surrender" - up to this climax of season four, rewatching the series with the kids, and the themes of this show's big revolution seem more relevant now than when the show was made
• the rebel billionaire - taped most of this (sarah's psychology final altered the already complicated tuesday night schedule a bit), haven't watched it yet
• amaxing race 6 - jonathan is an abusive asshole (even the host, who tends to stay disconnected from the players, seemed fed up) and kendra is a stuck up, rude bitch, and too bad for the old folks. i think i'm rooting for lori and bolo at this point. didn't expect that
• house - taped, haven't watched yet
• veronica mars - taped, haven't watched yet
• the daily show - funny stuff. loved the thing about the guy suing the muscular dystrophy association for not paying him a million dollars. guest and interview were a little boring

watchlist for today:

• a movie from blockbuster, not sure what
• the door in the floor, maybe
• jeopardy
• ghost hunters
• south park, maybe
• the daily show

tomorrow (maybe): "the season of lists" begins