Consistency is All I Ask
In the interest of full disclosure, I must mention that I really fucking hate the Olympics. HATE. And not just because former IOC president Juan Antonio Samarach said the Olympic "movement" (whatever the hell that is) is, "bigger than the Catholic Church," though that asinine remark certainly didn't help. I like to see Americans win gold medals the same way I would like to see the Detroit Tigers win the World Series: I want both athletic contests fade into the the mists of history, but as long as they are around I like to see "my" guys do well. I hate the Olympic Games.

My beef here, though, is with the many, many advertisements I have been seeing for the upcoming XXth Winter Games in "Torino, Italy." Torino is the Italian word for an Italian town, rendered as Turin in English (as in, Shroud of). Italy is the English word for a country in Europe, rendered as Italia in Italian. Why use the Italian word for Turin and the English word for Italy? This is, in short, fucking bullshit. If you want to seem worldly by calling Turin "Torino," please feel free to do so. But don't betray yourself as a parochial hick the very next word by using "Italy" instead of Italia. Torino, Italia or Turin, Italy. Not Torino, Italy or Turin, Italia. Jumpin Jehosaphat!

As is repeated ad nauseum in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, consistency is all I ask.

Vote For Kodos: State o' the Union
My favorite quote from last night was, "hindsight is not wisdom and second-guessing is not a strategy." Hee hee hee. Also, the use of the word "defeatist." I like President Bush best when he's got that swagger in his step.