Russians Protest for a Better Economy

Photo from The New York Times

It turns out Americans aren't the only ones with economy problems. On Saturday, protesters in Russia held marches in order to demonstrate against the government's policies toward the economy. Government protests are rare in Russia, and Saturday's is just another part of the citizen's growing discontent with the Russian government.


Russia's economic decline is owed mainly to the global financial slide and drop in oil prices, and the government has spent billions bailing out banks and companies, as in the United States.


One march in Moscow, supporting the Russian Communist Party, was over 1,000 people strong. They called for the government-run economy that served the Soviet Union in years past. The authorities approved this protest, but not another one that circled through the metro before declaring, "Down with [Prime Minister, Vladmir] Putin!" Others call for the current government to resign. It's clear the Russians are unhappy with their economy, and change may be occuring in more place than one.

It Must Be Wednesday

Well, let start off my saying, LOST is back! Personally, LOST is my favorite show on television, for both its complex, mind-numbing plot and extraordinary cast. To believe that I've gone more than six month without Ben's cryptic messages, Jack's tears, and Desmond saying "brotha."

Last season, the Oceanic Six, which consists of Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Sun, and Aaron (although both Frank the helicoptor pilot and Desmond got off), escaped the island. And then the island disappeared, which is perfectly normal behavior for islands. Our island, anyhow. Sawyer sacrificed his spot on the helicoptor for Kate, and then he gets to disappear on the island, along with everyone else remaining, and one boat that wasn't quite far enough to escape the effect. Oh, and Ben disappeared too. After turning the wheel thing, he ended up in the desert.

The first hour gave us the following info:

-Marvin Candle, the Asian orientation movie guy, is real, and has a child. Is it Jin? Wouldn't that be a twist?

-The island is not changing posistion, but time.

-What has happened in the past stays in the past. The past cannot be changed. Daniel is very stubborn about this; Sawyer is not.

-Desmond is excluded from this, and can serve as a medium between the lost-in-time islanders and present time via "memories."

-Sayid has broken Hurley out of the mental hospital, but killed some people. And then he killed some more people, including one who fell on a dishwasher that held butcher knives. (There were a lot of butcher knives in that dishwasher, weren't there? What were they doing?) This is why I always put my knive in pointy side down, and not because of laziness.

-Jack has sided with Ben, and Locke is still dead.

-Kate is not off the hook yet. Someone, somewhere wants to prove Aaron is not her child. She doesn't like that, so she does the Kate thing, and runs away with cash and a gun.

-Daniel Faraday is trying to figure out why the island is doing this, but he isn't much help. He is able to communicate to present-day Desmond, though. And the fact that he is still wearing a tie only adds to his good qualities.

-When the island changes time, everything brought onto the island (e.g. the camp) had disappeared. Bernard the dentist is forced to attempt to build a fire and is yelled at by some vaguely familiar character who will probably die anyway.

-Charlotte's nose is bleeding. If Charlotte was born on the island (I think this was said. Although I thought no one was born on the island, and that's why Juliet was brought in.), and the island traveled back in time to before her birth, then wouldn't she cease to exist? Hence the nose bleeds. Her brain is imploding from being an island baby time traveling on a time traveling island. Freaky stuff.

The second hour brought more of the same, really.

-We get to see the Oceanic Six make up their lie. Hurley is relectant and outvoted, but not before telling Sayid that he wouldn't help him when he needed it.

-Sayid is passed out in Hurley's van. An Anna-Lucia ghost pulls Hurley over and tells him what he needs to do. she says that Libby says hi. Do you remember Libby? I do. That was so long ago... the second season.

-Charlotte is suspicious of Daniel, because Daniel is a horrible liar.

-The islanders walk back to the beach. Tragically, Sawyer puts on a shirt. Bernard starts a fire, but then it goes out. But surprise! Someone doesn't like them on the island and had decided to use a rather medieval method of execution: flaming arrows. How ironic. The slightly-familiar guy is shot first. Figures. He was annoying, and no one can be mean to Bernard and live to tell the tale. The arrow shooters have bad aim (or it might be the fire part) and only manage to knock off a few of the islanders running for the trees. They split up. Why do I sense a Sawyer-Juliet storyline this season?

- Hurley, in the present, hides out at his parents house. His dad is very chill, but might be watching porn. It was hard to tell. He lies to the police for Hurley, and a still-unconcious Sayid is laying on the Reyes' couch.

-Ben takes a visit to a butcher store to visit some woman named Jill with tiny eyebrows. Apparently, she does a side job of stowing bodies.

-Kate meets up with Sun, who tells her that she doesn't blame Kate for Jin's death, even if it is kind of her fault.

-Hurley's mom comes home and says the best line of the episode: "Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch." Ah! But Sayid is still breathing. All is well. Mr. Reyes takes Sayid to Jack, who tells Ben where Hurley is and takes Sayid to a hospital, where he is revived. Back at the Reyes', Hurley tells his mother the real story of the island. Although it is totally true, it would make no sense in real life. But maybe Mrs. Reyes's extra-long fingernails help her believe in smoke-monsters. Wait; it's not a monster, it's a security system!

-Ben comes to visit Hurley. Hurley responds by throwing a Hot Pocket at him. Seriously. It leaves a stain on the wall, which means Hurley's aim was highly inaccurate. Ben tells him if he comes back to the island with him he'll give him cookies he'll never have to lie again. Hurley responds by running outside and getting arrested. Ben looks chagrined.

-On the island, in the forest, Sawyer and Juliet are on a romantic walk together. At some point Sawyer's foot is injured. It's really dirty. Like, I thought it had to be amputated it was that purple with God knows what. Then, they hear footsteps and hide behind a bush. Yeah, like that ever works. After some strange through-foliage camera shots, the two are discovered (no!) and held at gunpoint. One has a machete. I thought this should be mentioned. They ask Sawyer some questions, but the Dharma guys (oh, yes. Dharma guys. In their gross uniforms.) decide to cut off Juliet's hand. she is forced to wear a hook the rest of her life. Kidding! Locke gets all deux ex machina and arrives literally milliseconds before Juliet's hand is chopped off. Then he emerges from the trees all dramatic-like.

-Somewhere, in a dark room, a hooded figure, presumably female. Also, there is a giant pendelum that seems to be marking a position in the Pacific, which I'm guessing is the island. She goes up stairs where we find Ben in a church. The hood goes down, and REVEAL! It's the lady from the trippy Desmond episode who knows about time travel. She informs Ben he only has seventy hours until something happens, e.g. the end of the world.

In other words, we're all screwed unless they all go back. How will they get back? Can you sneak a corpse on as carry-on? How does Locke get off the island? But the real question of the episode is, why was Sawyer sending evil glares at Vincent the golden labrador? Maybe we'll find more... next time on LOST!

America Reborn

At 12:01 on January 20th, 2009 the United States of America was reborn. Not only was a new President inaugrated on the steps of Capital Hill, but a new guardian of peace, prosperity and patriotism took his rightful seat at the head of our government. Barack Obama illustrates the absolute, raw elation of so many voters who dreamed of a better tomorrow, of a new tomorrow.

Barack Obama is the manifestation of that American dream. In the face of a dark winter of discord, anxiety and fear he stood proud in the face of adversary and advised the American people to fight corruption with fierce patriotism and communal drive. Never in the history of the United States has one man so embodied the hopes, dreams and prayers of millions. Only with such amazing dedication and devotion to duty could he attract not only the alleigance but the absolute faith of millions. America now is reborn in every nuance of the word. We are no longer isolated and fearful of the future but rather herals of the amazing new world to come. No longer will Americans shrink from national pride but rather we will all embrace with open arms what it means to be free, and moreover, what it means to be a citizen of a nation which personifies the glories of a bygone age of liberty. Truly, today Americans have made history. We have united as one behind a new present whose vitality and vigor will carry us through to a brighter and more joyful future.

Cherinou's Sunday Playlist

Every Sunday, I'll try to post (at least) five songs for an appropriate theme. This week's theme: movie credit songs, or songs that would make good movie credit songs.

1) April March- "Chick Habit," "Laisse Tomber les filles." Featured in Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof.

2) King Harvest- "Dancing in the Moonlight."

3) Beirut- "Elephant Moon."

4) Belanova- "One, Two, Three, GO!"

5) Marianne Faithfull- "As Tears Go By."

6) The Postmarks- "Know Which Way the Wind Blows."

7) MIKA- "Relax, Take It Easy."

What makes a good movie credit song? Well, it has to be good. And it has to have a few beginning seconds of perfect music with no words. Numbers two and three are perfect examples. This is the transistion music from movie to credits, see?

Geek++

Okay, I'm not going to lie. This is pretty much the best website ever created. Why? Let me say the reasons why:

1) It's the 90's. The prime of children's shows. the ones you used to watch. And still secretly do. They are there. Hiding. Waiting for you to relive your childhood. Who could forget attempting to sing along to the "CatDog" theme song? Or "Aaah! Real Monsters?" Kids' shows are lame these days. This is where the true gems are.


Courage the Cowardly Dog. It makes sense in context. Kind of.

2) It has both live streaming and on-demand. So, for example, when I checked it this morning, Disney's Tarzan was stremaing live. Unfortunately, I missed the part where Phil Collins sings, but still. Wouldn't Tarzan know something was up? And messy hair does not equal dreads. Dreads take time, and effort. BUT, right now I am watching "Courage the Cowardly Dog" (probably the best show ever made. there is no refuting this.) on demand.

3) They have television shows, movies, music vidoes, and beloved commercials.

If you are going to abuse the internet's streaming media, why not do it here?

Our New (?) Treasury Secretary

So, remember yesterday when I noted that Geithner, President-Elect Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary had "neglected" to pay some taxes? Well guess what? Today we discovered that he had somehow forgot that he owed $34,000 in back taxes. Specifically, he forgot to pay a self-employment tax on income he earned by working for the International Monetary Fund from 2001-2004. Although he paid some of the taxes when informed of the issue by the IRS around 2006, he did not pay them in full until several days before he was nominated for the cabinet position. While I am a staunch democrat and even recognize (as has been pointed out repeatedly to the press) that tax guidelines are confusing for those employed by international organizations or who work abroad, I feel that President-Elect Obama should certainly reconsider his nomination (again, not that he did not already face this problem when vetting Geithner in the first place.) I guess my argument comes down to one point: should someone with as much financial knowledge as is required to work at the IMF and enter consideration for such a massively important government position understand taxes? and by extension the very nature of political economics? Additionally, the Treasury Secretary oversees such organizations as the IRS and it is therefore interesting that the leader of an organization may not even understand its core regulations.

Warning: this man may be a creeparrrr. (thanks Swedish-American slang)


Think what you will.........but I personally believe there's something a tad bit fishy about Geithner.

Congressional Hearings

So......as you may already know, President-Elect Barack Obama will be taking office next tuesday. However, it is also essential to realize that Obama's cabinet will (hopefully) be beginning their direction of the federal executive departments at or around the same time. It must be recognized that these cabinet secretaries must be confirmed by Congress, and here we reach the essential roadblock for many administrations. In the run-up to the next administration a new round of Congressional hearings over appointments has begun. Today, Senator Hillary Clinton entered into her first round of questioning by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Given her relative popularity with Democrats she received a warm welcome. In her remarks she continually mentioned the importance of negotiation with our enemies- imparticular Syria, Egypt and Iran. It is interesting to note that in fact she did not mention beliefs such as these during the Democratic Presidential Primary. Rather, these beliefs are much more like those of President-Elect Obama. In a post which involves the authority and duty to craft America's foreign policy, Clinton will no doubt face issues where her own personal opinion may diverge from that of President Obama. As these events transpire, many journalists will probably focus specifically on this issue.


In other news, President-Elect Obama's nominee for Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has evidently "forgot" to pay thousands of taxes in the last decade......hmmmmm isn't he supposed to understand money? Am I forgetting something or is he going to inherit a $1 trillion deficit as well as a possibly $1 trillion "bailout" plan. This should be a fun confirmation hearing :)

President Bush's Farewell Address:haha....no

So President Bush is about to interrupt primetime television to present a speech to the American people. No this is not the state of the union address nor even an inauguration. This speech will be a farewell address. You may wonder why he feels such a speech is necessary. Well, it isn't. While many Presidents have made similar addresses, they only make sense when a President is bidding farewell to a nation which is generally sad to see him (or in the future, her) leave. In case the rest of you haven't noticed......


WE DON'T LIKE HIM!
Let's remember all the good he has done for us:
-link us to a two-front "War on Terror" in two hostile nations with absolutely no exit strategy
-essentially ruin the economic success of the Clinton era by allowing subprime mortgages and credit default swaps to go unrestricted
-destroyed America's international face
-distanced our allies
-enraged our enemies
-told us that the "Mission was accomplished" (hmmmm am I missing something or is that war still killing American soldiers?)
-failed to utilize American patriotism for a true multigenerational movement in the aftermath of 9/11 like a total overhaul of green technologies
-made many, many Americans despise their own government and national identity

Lara Stone & You.

Vogue Paris's Febuary issue has been dedicated to the well-endowed model Lara Stone. I feel it is a rather bold choice to dedicate an entire issue to one model, especially one so, well, determined to show off her body. The name 'Lara Stone' has been intertwined with 'fashion nudity' for a while now. In fact, it has become predictible that Lara's editorials feature nudity. And I don't mind nudity, if it is used artfully, but too much of it can look trashy, and Lara's editorials often do. I understand that France is less prude than the United States, but that does not mean they should print the porno equivalent of a fashion magazine. Hopefully, Vogue Paris will take the higher route and only feature nudity (because there will/must be some) in the classiest way, the way the French are supposed to do it.

The War for the Obamas' Puppy Rages On.

Today, the second most important thing in America (after American Idol, of course. Which I will NOT be watching. It moved House. It moved Fringe, and for what? So people can watch EVEN MORE bad singers for the 4,565,739 time? No, thank you. I will be watching Family Guy reruns, thank you very much.) is the Obama's dog! Barack Obama promised his family a dog if we won the presidency (which he did, in case you weren't aware), and now the search has begun.


The Bush family dog, Barney. He has important powers, not to mention his own website.

Apparently, the Obama family was looking for a labradoodle, but the American Kennel Club has decided this matter is suddenly important and has thrown themselves at the Obama family, saying a Portuguese Water Dog would be perfect. Where that one came from is beyond me. They also played the allergy card, saying the dander could be unpredictible, especially "if the labradoodle is more Labrador than poodle," said club spokeswoman Lisa Peterson. "It could be a health concern."
Because there is nothing else going on in the world right now.
Could the AKC possibly be pushing the PWD onto America? I can't see why they would want to, except the fact that it is a lowly sixty-five on the top breeds list.
How will the Obama's Puppy War: Part Two (The Portugeuse Water Dog Strikes Back) conclude? You know you'll know the details.