Weblog Sin Pies

By Charley Daniels

Yes, yes, I know. I’m not even going to start by acknowledging that it’s been a while before I’ve posted anything. Ah hell, I just did. Moving on …

At some point in the last several months I predicted that 2008 was going to be the greatest year of my life, and so far I’ve been right, provided you read the fine print in which I specified the definition of “greatest” in that case as relating to tons of work and not enough time. Yes, I went and got a new job with a weird schedule, have half-assedly took on too many extra things, and am still finding time to make up cool new words like “half-assedly” and “extra” (you just prove that I didn’t make that up, smart ass). But things should settle down. When I’m dead.

And this month — don’t even get me started on this month. The writers strike ended, which is great now that it’s over because I’ll have a smidge less work to do, but jeez it was hell while it was ending. “Smidge.” Did I make that up, too? Lookit me go!

Also, Oscars are coming. Cue Jaws suspense music. That weekend will not be good for me, lemme tell ya. Speaking of Jaws, Roy Scheider died. Defamer had the best headline (though I’m sure it was oft-repeated in many forms, I saw it there first): Heaven’s gonna need a bigger boat.

I’ll stop complaining right after I mention that we’re trying to move this month, and at this point we have nary an option for parking our belongings. But hey, there’s still 16 days left in February. No sweat, right? Wrong! No time, no time! Help me!

Also, I’m getting sick, so that’s good.

In politics, Clinton and Obama, McCain. Huckabee? Not Romney, etc. That about sums it up. McCain is the Republican frontrunner. The Democrats don’t have a frontrunner because they’re commies, and that’s not the way commies roll. Back in April I wrote a post on this blog defending John McCain in a way, though I was mostly defending the idea that politicians should be allowed a bit of levity. I said:

Look, If politicians aren’t allowed to have a sense of humor in a situation that’s informal and lighthearted, maybe we should just skip to the part where robots take over, since we’re already at least a third of the way there.

What I was referring to was a joke McCain made in which he took the hit Beach Boys cover “Barbara Ann,” which is the title and 95% of the lyrics, and cleverly switched the words to “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.” Many people saw that as callous, and I definitely agree, but that’s sort of why it’s funny, so I’m not very torn. When you have a choice, humor always trumps tact. Always.

So now he’s the frontrunner, and if he becomes the nominee I’ll definitely be giving my support wholeheartedly to not him. With this in mind, it’s a good time to get that video out again and revive the outrage. I mean, do we want this callous megalomaniac running our country?

By Charley Daniels

I should have posted about this sooner, but the last couple weeks have been crazy. Stephanie Haranczyk, who disappeared more than a year ago, has made contact with her family and is doing well.

Thanks again for everyone who showed up seemingly out of the clear blue sky to help a bunch of strangers.

Special thanks to Maryam Scoble, Teresa Valdez Klein and Hasan Diwan, whose efforts got a lot of attention for the cause.

Updated to add Maryam Scoble to the short list. She certainly isn’t the only one I left off, so thanks to anyone and everyone who belongs there. Feel free to remind me in comments and I’ll keep adding.

By Charley Daniels

I’m mostly sorry for not posting, but it’s been a hectic few weeks. I have a new full-time job, which wasn’t part of the plan, but hey — plans change. I’m now a news editor for this little website, which is cool, but my schedule is way different now and I’m trying to adjust.

It’s like I’ve made a decision that could alter the course of my entire life.

More like this here.

One day I’ll post more. One day.

By Charley Daniels

Hey NBC! Why not have the new American Gladiators serve as hosts and presenters at the ailing Golden Globes? Picket-line problems solved! Also, I’d totally watch that.

“And the winner for best actress in a musical or comedy television series is …”

By Charley Daniels

Someone was talking about Christmas truces the other day. I apologize for not remembering who it was. At the time, I thought, “Wow, that’s a really great story.” And I meant that, although I must admit I was a bit skeptical about how true it was.

I mean, soldiers from opposing sides in a war go from killing each other on Dec. 24 to singing carols and giving each other presents on Dec. 25 and then back to killing each other on Dec. 26. It sounds like a movie plot that you would find ridiculous. And it ends sadly, true, but that middle bit is the part we should try to focus on and maybe even emulate — and not just on Dec. 25.

The link above mostly verifies the truce story, and that makes me happy. Granted, it’s from Wikipedia, so you never know, but the references seem legit. Aside from that, I’m going to just go ahead and believe it. I’m going to have a little faith this x-mas eve day. And thanks to Cardhouse for reminding me to read about that.

Probably won’t be much posting from me for the rest of the year, but you all have my permission to make it the greatest week of 2007. In fact, I order you to go out with a bang. I predict that 2008 will be the best year of my life, and I hope you’re similarly optimistic. If you’re not, I hope 2008 proves you wrong, because if every year isn’t better than the last, what the hell are we trying to do here?