Two things:

1. I'M GOING TO NEW YORK!! AND I'M SO FUCKING EXCITED!! WOOHOO!! Ten days in May. May in New York City! It's a University trip, and my professor is ridiculously well-connected, so we get to do all sorts of geeky things. Three private lectures at Columbia University, visiting the Danish consulate, private tour of the UN headquarters, possibly frolicking around the New York Times offices, those sort of things. And I want to go see the Yankees play :) I already checked their schedule, it's gonna be one of the games against the Tampa Bay Rays. I'm going to one of those, definitely.

Oh, all the museums! The parks! Then there's a new production of Death of a Salesman on Broadway we have to see. And I need a night out drinking at Employees Only (a cocktail bar; Rachel Maddow recommended it).

There's always been a huge New York shaped hole in my heart, and now it's going to get filled. I can barely wait XD

2. I'M GOING TO SEE TOP GEAR LIVE IN COPENHAGEN IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS!! Which I have known for ages, of course, but I don't think I've remembered to shout loudly about it on LJ. I'm going with my dad :) Another proud father-daughter moment for him, I think. His ticket was my Christmas present to him, and my ticket was a present from my parents.

Hammond isn't coming. Yes, it's sad that he isn't coming, but hey, I'm a James May fangirl and I will survive. Getting to see a Top Gear Live show at all is super exciting, and something that I never thought would happen. Apparently Denmark has finally managed to prove its eternal love of Top Gear, and as a result be put on the live tour map ;)

Oh, one more thing before I go... Happy Birthday, mercystars! I hope it's a good one :D

The CNN reporter stationed in Alaska for the caucus just randomly got a hold of Sarah Palin and she agreed to an improvised interview in the middle of the caucus hall.

And you know what? She sounded pretty good. All of her comments were very astute and to the point, and yet she appeared casual, relaxed, almost likeable. There was barely a trace of the classic egocentrism or stupidity to be found anywhere, she sounded smart, well-informed, candid, like she really knew what she was talking about without having to think about it too hard.

I've never seen that from Sarah Palin, so I'm sort of amazed. Paul Begala was delighted, smiling very broadly as he complimented her on the interview, which he thought was better than any interview she did during the 2008 campaign. Then the Best Fucking Political Panel on TV, Ever spent 15 minutes talking about Sarah Palin and why she isn't running this year and whether she'll run in 2016. They all think she will and are all looking forward to it like kids before Christmas.

Newt Gingrich is talking right now, basically just recapping how every single candidate in this primary has been a front runner and Santorum isn't going to last much longer (that much is true). "There's lots of bunny rabbits running through, I'm the tortoise, I'll just take them one at a time." Oh, you will, will you? Gingrich is still the most bitter and negative candidate I've ever seen, while repeatedly claiming that he just wants to be positive. He is such an arsehole. Seriously, almost every sentence that comes out of his mouth goes to convince me that he really is a total dick. He is condescending as hell, isn't he? He just mocks his opponents constantly. He

He seems like he is enjoying himself immensely tonight though.

He has moved on to trashing Obama, in that special, dickish and haughty manner of his. And he just flat-out lied about what Obama said about gas prices earlier today. Which really isn't charming, and I can't image that a broader electorate would ever find this douche remotely likeable, and people have a tendency to not vote for people they don't like.

Oh dear, Santorum wins Oklahoma as well. I was hoping he would go away. I just hope he doesn't win Ohio. Chuck Todd doesn't think he'll win Ohio, and that without Ohio, he will have to drop out soon, because he can't beat Romney in the Midwest. What's potentially most embarrassing is that Santorum is in his Ohio headquarters tonight.

ETA: Well then, Santorum spoke before Ohio was called for anyone. He is ahead though, scarily enough. I hope Romney will pull through like he did in Michigan.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that I went to a panel discussion at the University earlier today. It was my professor, a famous journalist/employee at the Danish consulate in DC, and our former prime minister's (currently the Secretary General of NATO) son, who is an American citizen with a huge boner for Mitt Romney and Republicans, or rather, fiscal conservatism. (Republicans generally don't manage to be fiscally conservative.)

It was quite interesting, and twenty minutes into it the moderator, a newspaper editor, quoted James Carville. I almost whooped, but luckily managed to control myself. Then near the end, the journalist/consulate guy quoted Carville. I'm such a nerd, I get unreasonably excited when things like that happen.

Okay, back to the telly. Romney has been talking for a loooong time now, and most of the speech is obviously aimed at Obama. Funny how all of the candidates are starting to ignore each other and speak like they're "looking ahead" now. Pretty arrogant, considering how their party obviously can't decide which candidate they want.

I can't believe Ohio is still too close to call, with Santorum ahead. Ah, and now he won North Dakota. Damn it, universe, why can't you just swallow Santorum up so the rest of humanity doesn't have to listen to him?

Just now on CNN, they read some Tweets commenting on the subject of Democrats voting in Michigan's Republican primary today, and they brought up a Tweet by Paul Begala on the big touch screen.

Paul Begala is in the fucking studio.

20 feet away, tops.

Honestly, CNN. This techno-obsession of yours is getting out of hand. You need to step back for a bit. Look at your life. Look at your choices.

And if you want to know your own commentator's opinion, why don't you try asking them, instead of just showing us what they're tweeting?

I accidentally bought a PlayStation 3 the night between Sunday and Monday, because it was on sale online. And then I went and bought Red Dead Redemption Monday afternoon, before the console had even arrived. The PlayStation showed up yesterday afternoon, and I've basically been playing that stupid, wonderful game ever since.

SingStar is in the mail.

Skyrim too. I'm looking forward to it arriving any day now, if only because I played Red Dead Redemption for eight hours straight today without noticing, and boy, that's the sort of submersion that will fuck with your head. I've got a thing for epics, but damn, do they make you lose track of time.

I'm in love with this game though. I am so in love. It's the most beautiful thing I've played since forever. I know that, being a PS3 game, it's automatically bound to be prettier than all my PS2 games, but DAMN! It's gorgeous. Everything is just so well done, the details are amazing. And it's well written! I'm truly interested in the story.

Some brief observations:

- That same guy outside the saloon has now knifed that same prostitute three times, even though I've shot him dead every time I caught him. Should I simply write this off as déjà vu, randomly-lazy programmers? First time around she was stabbed pretty bad, but just got right up again and stood there, covered in blood, frozen in place, not speaking. That's a scary sight, I tell you.
- Every times I get a horse killed, I grieve more than when I get "myself" killed. I accidentally killed the horse Bonnie gave me (unexpectedly steep hill/cliff), and I was heart-broken for several minutes. Now I've caught myself a new one (I'm not gonna rely on whatever the game gives me/what I can buy, I want to catch that damn thing with a lasso, all by myself: that way I feel like I've earned it), but it's just not the same.
- I am attracted to John Marston and I can't for the love of me figure out why. He's just... Hnnnng. Brilliant. Of course it helps that I play him as a good, honourable guy, because I always do that when games give me a choice. And I find him very appealing; rugged, tough, scarred but not without hope, decent, willing to help those in need despite his dark past, OMG I'm turning him into a Gary Stu, fuck it all.
- Although seriously, sometimes his credulousness borders on stupidity. (American Appetite, anyone?)
- I have yet to save a single person from being hanged (apart from Bonnie). I keep accidentally shooting the victim in the heat of the moment. Ooops?
- I am, however, getting good at shooting stuff, which is very satisfying :)

I'm gonna go play for a bit before dinner. Yes, that sounds like a good idea.

This post was brought to you by the I Blame rionaleonhart For All of This Corporation. Blaming Riona for videogame-related purchases since Silent Hill II.

Stephen Colbert on Morning Joe this Friday was probably one of the best things I've ever seen. 20 minutes of pure, gorgeous hilarity. His constant, gentle ribbing of both the show, its "journalistic integrity", and Joe and Willie is absolutely wonderful ("I can't believe that a journalist of your... stature?... would lead with garbage like that. I don't care to answer that question. I don't care to answer that question, Willie."), and he had the entire team (and me) cracking up from start to finish. And the audience! It's just... Wow. You have to admit, they do have a sense of humour on that show.

Joe and Willie are such giggling fanboys, it's brilliant.

(This is particularly satisfying to me because Willie has pretty much been shamelessly gushing over how great the running Super PAC narrative on TDS/TCR is ever since it began, and now he gets to be a fanboy to Stephen in person. I think he deserves that, 'cause he really loves those shows. I mean, the final segment on Way Too Early might as well be called What Happened on The Daily Show and/or The Colbert Report Last Night. That's pretty much what it is.)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I'm putting it here, so I will never lose it. This beautiful, beautiful thing.

CNN are at Rick Santorum's head quarters, and all the TVs there are tuned into MSNBC. WTF? Is Fox News down or something? I mean, Rachel Maddow is hosting their coverage (and looking fetching, as always), Rick Santorum probably has nightmares about her and all the filthy, immoral things she has done with other women and their vaginas.

(I legitimately laughed out loud when I noticed, just because it's CNN filming people watching MSNBC, and that's hilarious. Even with CNN standing right there, the Santorum people aren't even bothering to pretend like they would watch CNN.)

I'm watching both. CNN on the telly (they've got Carville: he is my kryptonite. Also Anderson Cooper is almost as pretty as Rachel Maddow. Almost) and MSNBC live streaming on the computer.

Okay, the caucuses: I really, really hope Santorum doesn't win this shit (pun intended), I'd actually rather have Ron Paul win, and I'm still fuming over his idiotic, sexist and just plain disgusting "sexual harassment shouldn't be illegal" comments. Of course neither of them are gonna come close to winning the nomination, but I'd hate for Santorum and his supporters to think he's anything but the scum of the earth.

Of course Romney, who I have no doubt will eventually win the nomination and then lose the general election because all the Republicans hate him, could always win tonight. He's ahead right now. That would be nice, it would probably encourage the most annoying ones to drop out soon: Perry and Bachmann.

Unfortunately, Santorum and Paul will stick around for a bit now, but I guess I'll learn to ignore them. I've been doing pretty well so far. Santorum will stay in the race until after South Carolina, and then hopefully he'll be fading back into obscurity as the elections in the more sane states roll around. And Ron Paul... Well, the Republicans will eventually remember that they hate Ron Paul even more than I do right now.

It would be good for Obama's chances if Santorum stays in the race longer though. Romney will be forced to move from his pretty "moderate" views and towards some more batshit crazy views to gain support from the batshit conservative base, support that Santorum could easily get on his side. Hopefully that shift into batshit country could turn off the more moderate voters in the end.

Mary Matalin has a very questionably fashion sense. Just an observation.

Edit: Santorum is ahead now. It's ridiculous close though.

Apparently, there are more people from "Danish television" than there are caucus goers at the Republican events in Iowa, according to Joe Scarborough.

Yep, I am watching Morning Joe again, and I literally perked up when he said that. It's pretty good all in all. I've been lead to understand that my positive feelings about Joey Scars (when he isn't being obnoxious and yelling at people) are due to his moderate-conservative views, and his tendencies to disagree with crazy Republicans. Basically, he's got the 'Tucker Carlson'-act working for him (Tucker never really owned that act): he has managed to frame himself as an outsider. A conservative who likes making sense. Who doesn't care about stepping outside party lines when their party isn't making any sense.

But they've got so many good correspondents at hand this morning that they've bumped Willie out of the "round table", so I'm pretty much tuning out most of the time.

Personal confession: From Tuesday to Friday last week, Willie Geist hosted both Way Too Early and Morning Joe. That was three and a half hours of Willie being all serious and gorgeous and guh. Yeah, I sat in front of a live-stream on my computer for three and a half hours and cooed every time there was a close-up. Okay, almost every time. Otherwise I would have been all cooed-out by now, and I'm not.

This is procrastination at its finest. Revoking crushes from 2005 to fill your day with time-consuming joy. Thinking about how much we, in the Tucker Carlson fandom, loved Willie way back then, and feeling so proud that he has gone this far. Basically, The Situation with Tucker Carlson gave us The Rachel Maddow Show and Willie Geist being a serious journalist-anchor-guy. We should be toasting Tucker every single day, I tell you.

I'm just being nostalgic as hell over here, and remembering how I actually signed up for Hannidate that one time when I was drunk.

Did I ever mention that they refused to let me have my profile? Their response read:

Dear xavantina, We are sorry but your profile (X055131) has been declined. Please go to our site and modify your profile. Reason for decline: Feelin the sarcasm, but you might want to turn it down a notch. Then you should be good to go. -The Hannidate Team

Yes, I was told by Sean Hannity's people to tone down the sarcasm. I'm pretty sure my life peaked at that point.

Seriously, things have been going downhill for me lately. I'm regressing like woah over here. Last night I watched the old Situation with Tucker Carlson promo (the 70's cop show one) several times on repeat, laughing my arse off, and then supplemented with clips from the show itself, almost tearing up at the memory of how unbelievably bad, yet downright awesome that show was. It was a train wreck, but it was a gorgeous train wreck. With cat circuses. And midget Kiss tribute bands. And hookers. And chimps running wild. Oh boy.

And if you think about it, that show did result in Rachel Maddow eventually getting her own show and Willie Geist getting to do more or less serious stuff for several hours every morning. And Bill Wolff producing Rachel's show and making me love him with all their online specials. Actually, the only people who lost in this scenario were Tucker and Max Kellerman, who at least has a gig on CNN now and still does the radio and HBO thing, I guess. Which leaves us with Tucker. Damn. When your career suffered the most from your failed show, that's gotta be embarrassing.

I just did a presentation on Amy Waldman's The Submission for my 'September 11 in Fact and Fiction' course, and in the process quoted both Glenn Beck and Ann Coulter twice, Sean Hannity once, and Michael Savage once.

Thank God for these people, for providing such wonderful sound-bites bashing 9/11 widows and Muslims. Just what I needed, to showcase links between the novel and reality, and I already knew who could provide.

Bless you, wingnuts, for furthering my career in Evil Elitist European Academia. Couldn't do it without you.

Did I mention that I'm thinking about doing my Master's Thesis on next fall/winter/spring on the 2012 election? You know, it will be a study in political discourse throughout the process. I'm torn about whether to make it about the Republican Primary or the General Election. Republican Primary means more time to study up on it. But General Election means more nuance, a starker contrast between the players (and I can analyse some sane arguments for once, instead of just mourning the loss of John Huntsman's pleasantly reasonable personality as he is finally forced to drop out), less batshit crazy, and National Convention speeches, which are my very favourite to analyse. And you can sign four different six-months long Master's Thesis contracts, but medio August to medio February or medio November to medio May will be most relevant. If I can wait for November to May, I'll have an easier time putting things into perspective of course, if it's the General Election I'm covering.

In which case I get to spend five months, from July to November, sitting on my couch, reading op-eds and watching MSNBC and CNN all day (or rather, night, what with the time difference), drinking coffee and basically doing what I love: being obsessed with American politics. Even better, if I can get a media coverage dimension included in the thesis topic, I can obsesses over that as well! Oh, it will be the best five months of my life! Everybody else would be buried in books and I'll be like "As long as I'm up for Morning Joe and Good Morning America I'm doing all right" and "Oh yeah, I studied so hard last night, I watched four hours of Democratic Convention coverage, ya'll!"

Yes, I'd have to read up on my discourse theory as well. But it'll be easy enough, I already covered that stuff as an under-graduate.

You know, I started this post to point out, that Fox News has been pairing up Tucker Carlson and Alan Colmes for their "debates" on their "issues" quite a lot the last year, from what I can tell. So Tucker really has become their Sean Hannity-Light; prettier, trying desperately to be just as crazy, but just not living up to the real thing.

Morning Joe is much more pleasant to watch when there's no Joe involved. Mika gets to speak without being cut off, Willie gets to partake in serious discussions. I love Willie's Serious Face, almost as much as his Sassy and Sarcastic Face.

Mika does have an unfortunate tendency to constantly undermine her own opinions by apologizing for "maybe being too sensitive here" at every other turn, which is an obvious, and very sad, reaction to the sexist media world she operates in; the idea that displaying emotions will make people respect her less - because she is a woman, and therefore vulnerable to having her opinions dismissed entirely on the grounds of her being overly emotional, weak - is making her come off as strangely indecisive. She flints between "this is horrible, and wrong, and these people are despicable" and "maybe I'm over-reacting. What do you think, random-white-male-sitting-across-from-me?" within seconds, like she is afraid that her opinions are wrong.

Oh, look at that. She just assured a Democratic Senator that Joe will be back tomorrow, so "It'll be a bit more balanced" and then she apologized for "leaning left" this morning. Stop apologizing for being sane, Mika! It's not a crime!