the circus/robot dreams

Odd-looking clowns with freakish makeup? Check. TB-riddled elephants forced to perform unnatural balancing feats? Check. Sound turned up to earbleed? Check. PETA handing out leaflets afterward? Check. Probably the one and only day you'll spend with your kids at the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus? Priceless.

As for written entertainment, the best book I've read in a long, long time has absolutely no words. It's called Robot Dreams and it's the first graphic novel I've ever read. I checked it out from the library for Greta, but I ended up reading it twice, and crying both times. A masterpiece and a great gift for that person whose close friendship you've never been able to replicate.

9/11 anniversary

Since it's nearly our 7th wedding anniversary (we got married October 13, 2001), it reminded me that it will be 7 years since 9/11. Just browsing the other day, I came upon a story about a couple who (illegally) lived in an apartment they created out of an abandoned area in a mall in Rhode Island. The guy, Michael Townsend, is an artist, and did this incredible project where he and others created "tape art" silhouettes all throughout the city of the over 400 firefighters and airline passengers who died in NYC on 9/11. It took 5 years to complete, and is a very cool tribute to those lost.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen

Most people think the news about John Edwards' affair and alleged love child is a big so what. They say that politicians are known to stray, and who cares about John Edwards anyway -- he's not the nominee. For some reason though, I am fascinated! It's the imagery, I suppose, of Edwards running away from reporters in a hotel and becoming "ashen"-faced while trapped in a bathroom and confronted with what reporters from the National Enquirer (who, by the way, continue to break stories about this issue) were saying about him. Also intriguing is the pointlessnes, and potential harm to the child, of Edwards' failure to admit that he is the father of Rielle Hunter's baby. His lawyerly parsing in the recent Nightline interview just stinks to high heaven. Come on John, man up!

Update: Check out deceiver.com's posts on the Edwards scandal. The most comprehensive rendering of the story on the interweb