election bidness (v2.0)

I actually tried to post this this morning. But for some reason it didn't. Here goes again:

Well, another "too close to call" they say. As of 7:30 am eastern, however, it's looking more and more like Ohio will go to Bush, solidifying a second term for him. I wish I cared more about either candidate. However, I did go vote yesterday, so that was exciting.

I wonder what Bush Sr. is thinking now:

"I never did cocaine, I WON my war in the middle east, and I can put together a complete sentence . . . How in the world did the family bozo win two terms and I got left out in the cold?"

I'd probably be a litle bitter too.

I'm kind of looking forward to being in the English department this morning. I'm envisioning a lot of wailing and nashing of teeth from various professors and colleagues. It should stand to be quite entertaining.

Speaking of English, I finally decided on my paper topics. Here goes (suggestions are always welcome):

Whiteness--
15-20 page paper: I'm going to look at the effects of romanticizing 20s and 30s era baseball on film in terms of race, since this is the heart of the era when blacks weren't allowed in the majors. I'm specifically going to look at "Eight Men Out" and "Field of Dreams," and probably "The Natural" as well.

American Culture 1945-1975--
Oral Presentation: I'm going to basically talk about Jackie Robinson and breaking the color barrier in baseball, both in terms of Robinson's history, the debate over who would break the barrier, and just how fast did baseball integrate (answer: not very). I picked this topic because I think there'll be some nice overlap between this and the topic above, which should help inform both projects.

15+ page paper: I'm going to examine the use of black comedy in 60s and 70s anti-war films. Specifically I'll be focusing in on MASH, Catch-22 (both book and film--I'm wondering if the film, made in 68, has more application to Vietnam than the book, published in 61, among other things), and possibly Dr. Strangelove. I may also compare these films to Patton, because both that film an the first 2 films mentioned were all received in 1970 and all received somewhat different responses.

The only challenge with this yet is that I haven't seen any of the films except Dr. Strangelove, though I have read Catch-22, so if worse comes to worse I'll just focus on the black humor aspect. Should be good.

So that's what's going on in my neck of the woods.