It’s been almost a year since I was first introduced to Sarah Palin, and it still brings me infinite joy to make fun of her. It’s been about 20 years since I was first introduced to David Letterman, and it still brings me infinite joy when he trades barbs with nutjobs.

These lines are real gems - perhaps collectively the Hope diamond of quotes:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is accepting comedian David Letterman’s apology over the controversial joke directed at her daughter, but says she hopes “men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve.”

“Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,” Palin said in a statement. “And this is all thanks to our U.S. Military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America’s Right to Free Speech – in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.”

Comments:

1) The line “men who ‘joke’ about public displays of sexual exploitation of girls will soon evolve” suggests that this is something Letterman does routinely. All he was really doing was making fun of Bristol Palin for being related to Sarah Palin. Fair game.

2) David Letterman is a much better role model for young women than Sarah Palin is.

3) That kind of “go troops!” pandering must make even the most zealous right-winger cringe. And what about me, an ACLU member, and what I do to protect freedom of speech? I’m on a pretty tight budget, but I still manage to give them money every year. Am I not putting my life on the line?

No wonder you get D’s in everything.

…But now I think I will. Please join if you’re not already a member. And if you are already a member, please give them more money.

If only we could ban these assholes.

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If there’s one thing I love about modern coffee shop culture, it’s the ability to browse other people’s music collections. Just try and tell me you don’t get a little excited when you open iTunes in a public space and see that someone else in your vicinity is sharing his or her music library in its entirety. Never will you find someone with taste better than your own. Most of the time you’ll be disappointed and find a lot of bland junk. Sometimes you’ll find a fairly impressive collection and nod approvingly. And very rarely you will find something like this, which belongs to my new best friend Chandra. Chandra, I have no idea who you are, but we need to talk. For your viewing pleasure, here is Chandra’s iTunes library, from start to finish:

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Supergroups have always been hit or miss. Mostly miss. For whatever reason, you take a bunch of musicians who are individually talented and successful and throw them together, you’re usually left with a lackluster product. Look at the Traveling Wilburys and the Highwaymen, both collections of some of the greatest musicians who ever lived. Put them all together, and the outcome is just meh. Blame it on egos, laziness, or whatever else drives them to stunning mediocrity… in the end supergroups generally aren’t worth anyone’s time.

But perhaps the problem with the formula in the past is that the parts have always been too similar. Who needs Tom Petty when you already have Bob Dylan? What if - and I’m just pulling these ideas out of the ether - you grab the drummer from a ’70s arena band, the guitarist from a some angsty ’90s alt-goth rock group, and the guy from Fountains of Wayne, and then top it all off with, oh, I don’t know… the girly one from Hanson (the REALLY girly one)? Oh, shit. Somebody beat me to it?

Come with me on this one. Bun E. Carlos and James Iha are both very good at playing their instruments, so they’re pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme. Name recognition and all that. Taylor Hanson can sing, and hopefully the 15 years of ridicule he’s put up with have given him a little bit of humility and a wicked sense of humor. Adam Schlesinger has proven time and again that he can write a killer pop rock song, and if he’s the creative force behind this band, we might be in good shape. It’s just crazy enough to work!

*Thanks to Sam for the tip.

1) Barack Obama - Preempting primetime TV yet again. Hasn’t done anything awesome in a long time.

2) The weather - Still?

3) Me - “Wire” pace isn’t what it should be. Omar can’t watch himself be awesome.

4) Landlord - Leak in my closet growing worse by the day. Doesn’t want to fix. Casualties so far: One shoebox, one sweater, one blanket.

5) The Detroit Pistons - It was a nice eight years.

“The anaconda-like creature lived 58 to 60 million years ago, and was as long as a city bus and as heavy as a car…”

I don’t care if it lived 58 to 60 trillion years ago, that’s still too close for comfort. No snake should be capable of eating me in one bite.