Bullet Train*

Recently I had the pleasure of taking the Amtrak out of town, following the Adirondack line, where the late summer sun blanketed the Hudson Valley in a golden wash, the peaceful lull of the locomotive soothing me as I chugged northwards, through Albany, and Rhinecliff, Saratoga Springs and Ticonderoga, and even smaller historic hamlets of the Empire State, so picturesque and quaint.

I can only imagine how much more enjoyable this pastoral journey would have been If my fellow travelers and I had made it with our firearms!

*The provision is for unloaded guns, stowed in checked baggage, to be correct.  So no actual bullets permitted. Ostensibly.  Still!

You Can Get With This, Or You Can Get With That

Our long national slog towards election day is almost over, and now it’s down to poll-watching, last minute gambits for attention, and of course the possibility of an unforeseen October surprise — a rootin’ tootin’ Sarah Palin dragging the corpse of Osama bin Laden onto the stage of a televised press conference, say.  But it’s probably a safe bet most people know who at this point they are going to vote for.  Most!  Except those elusive, inscrutable “undecided voters” that capture the hearts and prescious television minutes of our national media.  Luckily, humorist David Sedaris addresses the quandry of the UV in a piece in this week’s New Yorker. Sayeth Sedaris:  “To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. ‘Can I interest you in the chicken?’ she asks. ‘Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it?’ To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked.”

Sarah Palin Rendered Even More Two-Dimensional

Following the four-colorization of Barack Obama and John McCain, Republican veep nominee Sarah “the Thrilla from Wasilla” Palin will get her own comic book from Bluewater Publications.  “Palin’s life story from PTA president to the Alaska governorship to her surprise nomination as John McCain’s running mate is scheduled to be the second story in the recently announced ‘Female Force’ comic. A final chapter is yet to be written.”  No kidding about that last part.  But the publishers are prepared for whatever may transpire:

Scheduled for a February 2009 release, a month after Inauguration Day, there will be two prepared endings readied for print. One, if Palin and Senator John McCain are successful in capturing the White House and another if their bid fails. The 32- page book promises to be an evenhanded perspective of Palin’s life and accomplishments.

Bluewater previously announced a comic featuring Hillary Clinton, and is reportedly looking at “several candidates” for the third “Female Force” comic.  Ugh, anyone but Pelosi, please.

[Newsarama]

Get Yer Anti-McPalin Gear

I know you guys, you are totally feeling campaign fatigue, and yet the election is still a little less than a month away.  You cannot wait for your chance to cast your vote for Obama.  You’ve canvassed and made phone calls and registered voters and LOLed at Tina Fey’s SNL appearances.  You’ve reblogged a thousand McCain/Palin memes on your Tumblr.  How else, you are wondering, can you express your dirty liberal leanings?  You could buy some propaganda products with images like this one (<—-).  Hey, shopping!  It is sometimes the most patriotic thing you can do, as a leader of ours once proclaimed.

Fast Ice Cream [Cafe Press]

Audio of the NYRB’s Panel Discussion ‘The Consequences to Come’

So, that New York Review of Books panel at the Brooklyn Book Festival?  You can now listen to a podcast of the whole shebang, or they have conveniently chopped it up for you to just play cuts from your favorite NYRB contributors.  Here’s the link to Joan Didion’s remarks.