Oh, that's true -- I meant to mention that here! I don't believe I ever saw much of the first season, so it will be nice to be able to catch it all over again.

Which reminds me that I have the DVDs for The Office S1, which I still haven't watched. That's another fascinating series that I didn't bother to try, even though it ran directly after My Name is Earl ... I guess the directorial styles of the two shows are so different that I didn't want to try warpping my brain from one to the other unprepared.

What a relief, Matt. Continued improvement wishes for your dad.

My Name is Earl is a really cute show. I started watching it because Cashmere was so enthusiastic about it.

Best. Soundtrack. On. Television. Bar. None.

I dunno, Cashmere, there's the Life on Mars soundtrack -- but you're right, it's pretty awesome. Not a big surprise, some of the same production people used to work on Malcolm in the Middle, which also has a rocking good soundtrack.

Glad to hear your dad's better, Matt.

Might the hivemind know where I might buy a large turtle shell? Faux is fine, probably better for being guilt-free. I found a huge one on eBay but it's $100. My not-boyfriend has once again requested something eccentric for his birthday. I found him the brass diving helmet. I found the six-foot-tall jungle fetish mask. I found the elk skull. I found the full-size suit of armor and the sarcophagus, too, but I wasn't paying that much for a gift for someone I'm not still sleeping with.

Good news about your dad, Matt.

Fall resolution: watch Scrubs.

Zenkitty, that sounds like a crazy request. I'd be inclined to whip up some papier mache rather than spend any money at all.

I am aggravated this morning, thanks to my neighbor who woke me up -- specifically, on purpose -- at 2:30 in the morning. BAH.

Hopefully these aren't fighting words, but - can we please get over ourselves a little about 9/11?

Ray Nagin, unsurprisingly, said some things a little carelessly. (Being pressed on why NOLA isn't back up and running yet, he said, basically, New York's had five years and they haven't managed to fix a hole in the ground. Cue outrage.)

But now Russert is all "Can you answer this? Do you feel sorry for the families who lost people on 9/11?" The fuck?

Nagin needs to think before he speaks, for sure. And he was doing his best to put it in context, that it wasn't a slap at 9/11 or NYC, but just a [really stupid] way of illustrating how long and complicated a job it is to deal with catastrophic events. That conversation, definitely, was an appropriate line of questioning. But that? "So, to confirm for the American people, by 'hole in the ground', did you or did you not mean 'Osama Uber Alles' ?

I remember that day vividly, from hearing air sirens and watching people stream up 16th street away from the White House to watching the smoke from the Pentagon from my rooftop and waiting for the next strike to hit.

But I'm beyond over any insufficiently reverent reference to the events of that day being treated as apostasy.

But I'm beyond over any insufficiently reverent reference to the events of that day being treated as apostasy.

It wasn't even about "That Day" -- it was about all the political stupidness that has followed.

Me, I'm still pissed off that people continue to equate the two events. Both tragic, sure, but one nearly destroyed an entire region. I mean, really.

It wasn't even about "That Day" -- it was about all the political stupidness that has followed.

Exactly. Apparently even that is off limits to critical examination.

Me, I'm still pissed off that people continue to equate the two events. Both tragic, sure, but one nearly destroyed an entire region. I mean, really.

And not only that, was entirely within our power to prevent, or at least alleviate. For all the Federal gov very clearly did wrong in the years leading up to 9/11, their culpability in Katrina is far greater, and clearer.

The original Nagin interview in question is on 60 Minutes tonight, FYI.

And not only that, was entirely within our power to prevent, or at least alleviate.

Yeah, I heard someone on some One Year Later thing recently talking about how Katrina was not actually a natural disaster, but a failure of the Army Corps of Engineers or whoever. Ugh.

Fuck. I've got to get a move on so I can shower and go to the glasses store before I meet a friend at the movies, but I just don't want to.