Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Inauguration thoughts & other stuff


The cafeteria was uninhabitable on Tuesday due to the water pipe break that I mentioned from Friday. So people were spread throughout the building at TVs watching the Inauguration ceremonies.

I stayed at my desk so that I could continue to field any project-related emails (Inauguration-related, don'tcha know) and write and rewrite lists of tasks that needed completion. And I loaded the C-SPAN streaming video on my work computer to keep track of what was happening in Washington.

Of course, the video . . . buffered . . . skipped . . . wasn't . . . continuous . . . but what was I to do? I managed to get reliable audio and so I imagined that I was back in 1933, listening to Franklin Delano Roosevelt get inaugurated for the second time. I don't REALLY need the video imagery do I? Radio was good enough for the Greatest Generation, so I think I can hack it.

Impressions:

1. Should John Williams get paid money for his "original composition" when we basically ripped of Aaron Copeland throughout? I question . . .

2. Chief Justice Roberts screwed up the oath!!!! That was extremely disjointed?! Does it count?

3. Whoops! 44 Americans have NOT taken the oath of office, Mr. President. It's just been taken 44 times. Gotta remember those who were REELECTED.
[UPDATE on my stupidity--I am, of course, wrong on both counts and I choose to keep this factoid of stupidity in my blog to point out that in the heat of the moment, I incorrectly jumped to the wrong conclusion. Surely, such a thing has never happened in the history of blogging! Mr. Obama was correct that 44 Americans have taken the oath, because any history book (or web site) can tell you that he is the 44th president . . . signified by the fact that he took the oath. ALSO, I was additionally wrong to state that the oath has been taken 44 times. In fact, it has been taken 56 times for each of the Inauguration ceremonies.]

4. Alright, start out dire and eventually bring the HOPE?!!

5. Is this the firs time "bitter swill" has been used in an Inauguration speech? I think so.

6. He wrapped up on a high. And I didn't do a good job. Sorry everyone. I'm multi-tasking badly. Listening to speech, reading/answering emails, and blogging reactions are not working cohesively. Mostly I'm half-listening and not blogging at all.

Now I've got to locate a decent public-use video of the speech and a transcript of the words.
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Now that the pomp is out of the way, we can move on to other stuff. Everyone will start judging Barack to see if he reshaped the world in 100 days, to see if the First Kids do something embarrassing at Sidwell Friends, and to mercilessly harp on First Lady Michelle for her clothing choices and hairstyles.
And we'll ignore that to celebrate two items:
1. The return of LOST, season 5 is TONIGHT!!!!!! I am so, SO glad. Here is today's parody video that in no way, shape, or form, helps you get ready for the Wednesday night premiere.
Also there is this . . .
2. The eminent release of WATCHMEN. [SPOILER ALERT!!] Here is the link to the official movie site. The photo at the top of this image is a melding of the now famous Obama poster and Rorschach, a character in Watchmen. For all other Watchmen information, check out this Wikipedia entry on everything.
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Well, that's it for today's random posts. I'll possibly Twitter my LOST reactions as I go tonight, so check that out. Or come over and watch it with me, if you're in the area.

3 comments:

A P said...

Hasn't the oath been taken by 43 people? Since Cleveland took it twice non-consecutive?

lulu said...

I love the First Lady's clothes. Even if I wouldn't wear some of them (not flattering for me; a few too many florals), I applaud her distinct and relatively accessible style. And I thought the Obama women looked positively fetching on Inauguration Day, in their smart, bright, wonderfully non-matchy coats. And chartreuse with green? I'm in color heaven!

Anonymous said...

the Wonder is totally right, here. trust your instincts, Burb.
yeah, some dolt a hundred years ago called Cleveland the country's 24th president the second time he (Cleveland) was elected (instead of just keeping his (the dolt's) porridge hole shut). ever since, we've been +1 on the count. so now we have to live with this---we've had 43 different men sworn in, . . . but Obama is called #44.