Beltmann

I've always thought this is weird, too. By virtue of having fewer games, each game of a best-of-5 actually has higher stakes than each game of a best-of-7.

Just got back from Game 3 of the NLDS at Milwaukee's Miller Park. I've never had more fun at a sporting event, never done so much yelling, jumping up and down, and high-fiving strangers. My voice is shot. And I'm going back tomorrow. Can't wait.

Rad.

Me too.

Stephen Frears' The Deal is much smaller in scale than its sequel, The Queen, but it's equally smart, suspenseful, and brilliantly acted.

That skit has promise.

Or even offering an answer that had a coherent through-line, rather than just a pyramid of disconnected soundbites. I can't imagine hearing Palin's rolling answers and considering that strong "presentation."

The media keeps talking about how Palin exceeded the low expectations everyone had for her performance. I guess I don't see it that way, mostly because I don't think anybody besides the media expected her to fall off the stage. I never thought Palin was an idiot, and tonight I expected her to be reasonably skillful in her style and delivery. However, that very fair expectation is what made her performance so damn underwhelming. I'm still not convinced that she's an idiot--clearly, she knows some stuff--but I'm more convinced than ever that she is not qualified to be vice-president. I was

My wife just said, "I don't want folksy in my vice-president. I want folksy in my children's librarian."

Is it reasonable to suggest that Palin had her clock cleaned? After a very shaky start, Biden was in command of the facts, generally answered the questions, and spoke in paragraphs. Palin was folksy (which grew increasingly empty), set her own questions, and eschewed coherent paragraphs for lists of familiar talking points, often piled up one after another in a rambling, rapid, free-associative way devoid of any connecting thread. Sometimes I had to strain to follow her line of logic, and had to strain even harder to locate any substance underneath all those feel-good generalities and Ameri

I was thinking of you during the game. Glad that you were able to be there!

It's not what I'd pick to protect my indie cred, but if I'm being totally honest, I have to go with James' Hey Ma. Love it.

After my careful explanation of why I was jumping up and down, my daughter shrugged and said, "So, did the Packers win today?" She lost her ticket right there.

I tried to explain the magnitude of this to my 4-year-old daughter, but you have to endure 26 years of futility to fully appreciate it. We have 4 tickets to Saturday's game, which is game 3 of the series. I'm still in shock--playoff games in Milwaukee!!!--and a little hoarse.

Got mine today! (I've been waiting 26 years to say that. Still have my fingers crossed for it to be real.)

"Hate It Here" might work.

I just tried tonight, and my link was emailed within five minutes. Try again, perhaps?

Yeah, I read Newt's post at The National Review yesterday and thought to myself, "Dude is making sense."

That's how I approached my thesis defense, and it ended up being a very pleasant experience. Good luck, Cortez!

I thought so, too. Then again, I was at the movies today and when I returned, my wife told me that Kael had been singing a song about "coming home in pieces." When asked where she heard that song, she replied, "Oh, that's just one of Dad's songs."

I have hazy recollections of really diggin' Jimmy Cliff's "I Can See Clearly Now" while zoning in and out in a recovery room.

I believe the enduring power of art, and the human need to create and connect with art, is evidence that there is more to life and truth than empirical reality.

I love the part where the kids use makeup to convince a substitute that they slaughtered a bunch of Muslims.