At this point I think it's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention that The OC is the most important development in popular culture since at least Hamlet. Every week I tune in to watch attractive 20somethings pretend to be attractive teenagers and namedrop indie bands. I feel pretty confident that several members of the Pitchfork staff will be driven murderously insane by this before the end of the first season.

But what really interests me is the bizarre parallel universe the show's creators have set up. Every week the parents trade witty quips with their kids, then everybody goes to the same fancy dress ball. They're now starting to introduce some romances spanning this bizarrely functional intergenerational social scene. Most notably, the mom of ol' bug-eyes has started sleeping with some guy who's even more angular than the male lead, and therefore evil. In a post-"The Graduate" world -- which various quiz shows assure me we're in -- this isn't so shocking. But they've also started foreshadowing romance between an older guy and a vastly-though-probably-not-criminally younger female character.

Don't you see what's happening? It's all an ingenious plan. Some fat, bald TV producers were sitting around a table -- probably around the time "Baby One More Time" came out -- lamenting how little attention Catholic schoolgirls pay them nowadays. "Hey! I know!" one said. "Let's invent a TV show and use it to rewrite sexual norms! That should get us some hot young tail!"

Just you wait. By the end of season 2 they'll have made the ancient Greeks look like these people.

from a comment over at nancynall.com:

speaking of bush, we got a hilarious mailing at our house today -- a "personal" letter from marc racicot, chairman of bush/cheney 04, pleading for our financial support. this letter refers to my husband as a "grassroots leader," which is hysterical. as a newspaper editor supervising election coverage, he can't so much as put a "vote for joe blow" sign in our front yard.

my favorite part of the package: a color 8X10 glossy, "suitable for framing and display," of the first couple. signed! with a personalized inscription thanking my spouse for his "early commitment and dedication as a charter member of the campaign in wisconsin."

marc implores us to confirm that the photo arrived in good condition: "this may seem like a small thing, but it is very important to me personally to know that your support has been properly acknowledged."

if only they could see how hard we're laughing.

is bush trying to mobilize supporters at the ground-level by pretending theirs is a *grassroots* campaign? i find that so absurdly funny.

i don't want to sound like a frazzled, middle-aged federal employee who's put in a hard, thankless day at the office, but, man: i need a drink.

i need a tropical drink, i think. something fruity, with a little umbrella. it should be pink, perhaps, or orange. tasting strawberry-ish or citrus-y, with just the right amount of crushed ice, and served in a heavy, frosted glass tumbler with a curlicue straw.

i think winter is starting to make me hallucinate.

something i also need: i've been feeling a little adrift lately, in terms of the bar scene. i go to happy hours occasionally, and am usually out somewhere on the weekends. but i have yet to find a bar that i can really, truly love. a place i adore, without reservations. where i can always get a booth, good service and good food. you know, a place where everybody knows your name and all that bullshit. so many of the bars i've been to are charmless, crowded meat markets; i just want a place i can hang out after work that feels comfortable, like it's not trying too hard. bonus points if it's a bar where i don't see a uva graduate within the first thirty seconds.

the galaxy hut is a wonderful, small, fun bar in arlington, but i need a place i can go to right after work, in the dupont circle area or a metro stop or two away.

i think i'm going to start like, catherine's bar challenge. i'll hit up a bar or two every week, and the first one that feels like it could be *my* bar wins. my patronage.

any suggestions?

ps: i still need a drink. happy hour? tomaso?

i just read an addition to the quote of the coach of CU that i hadn't noticed before.

"You know what guys do, they respect your ability. Katie was a girl, and not only was she a girl, she was terrible. She couldn't kick the ball through the uprights," he said.

i'm sorry, is he suggesting that her suckiness at football was a *justification* for her rape?

i mean, i know he probably isn't suggesting that, but i feel that it might be kind of implied somewhere in there.

could he be any more monumentally stupid?

so far the theories that have been advanced:

intelligent women = more attractive than stupid women
brunettes = more attractive than blondes
public school girls = more attractive than private school girls

i agree with #s 1 and 3, and generally, i assume women of all hair-color are equally attractive, though i do think redheads are especially beautiful.

and in the interest of ego, i will propose:

taller girls = more attractive than short girls
blogging girls = more attractive than non-blogging girls
liberal arts girls = more attractive than e-school girls (but overall, poorer)
which might go against a theory that
rich girls = more attractive than poor girls
(and i have to add a disclaimer that i have many short, non-blogging friends that are very beautiful. so i guess they're the exception to the rule. or whatever.)

this could get more and more specific and go on forever (girls who wear gap jeans = more attractive than girls who wear levis) so i'll stop.

just read, also: "Diotima, Dan Moore and Tyler Cowen all point to a study showing that when they are particularly fertile, women are likely to rate other women as less attractive. Nature concludes that this says something about the use of cattiness as a competitive tactic. Maybe."

yay for cattiness! but i don't understand why it would matter what other women thought of other women's attractiveness when they were trying to get pregnant. unless it gives them a super-boost of ego and confidence and they can just strut their stuff all over the place and get their man. or something along those lines.

the colorado football coach is something of an idiot. to be sure, i know nothing about football, nor would i ever want to play on a football team, and i have no idea of the protocol surrounding a college athletic team.

but that guy is a huge dumbass. all i know is that i saw a clip of him on the today show, admist allegations of a female player having been raped, saying over and over again that the female player in question was "let's face, it she was terrible. she couldn't get a ball between the two poles. really awful. etc." that quote is approximated, but that's basically exactly what he said.

what in the world is going through your mind at a time like that to say things of that nature? a female player has probably been sexually assaulted under your watch, not to mention several other women. and you're going to be on national TV. and you slam the girl in question. he also went on record as saying he knew of no one who would support her claim.

thank god he was placed on administrative leave. from what i saw of this man, i wouldn't be surprised if he helped cultivate the environment in which these assaults took place.

oh, i see the exact quote now: Asked why she left Colorado after the 1999 season, he said, "It was obvious Katie was not very good. She was awful."

"Katie was not only a girl, she was terrible. OK? There's no other way to say it."

nice.