Todd's Mischief Blog

I miss old Hollywood, when they were full of original ideas.

Snippets from other conversations: There is a reason why the analogy is "slippery slope" and not "sheer cliff," because reaching the bottom is not inevitable on the slope. But if you only focus on the bottom, you are liable to not catch sight of the footholds you pass on the way down. If there is one thing I wish I could make more people realize, it is that Republican ≠ Conservative. I also wish I could get more people to realize that Conservative ≠ Right-Wing. Conservatism is the real centrism. "Moderate" just means taking liberal Republican ideas and throwing them in a blender with liberal Democrat ideas. Comparisons between Paul and Obama cannot be made too strongly. Both have run on a blank-slate platform claiming their pasts don't matter. The Ron Paul R ЭΛΘΓ UTION posters put me off before I knew anything about the man simply because they reminded me of Obama's HOPE and CHANGE posters. Those gut instincts seem to have borne out. Isn'...

Christina Aguilera did not ruin the national anthem. I, for one, feel bad for Christina Aguilera. What should have been the highlight of her singing career (yes, even above five Grammys) has instead become a launch pad to criticize her beyond her lyrical flub and into her singing-style, preparation, and even her patriotism. I'm sure she is feeling beyond embarrassed, today. For any American singer, being requested to perform the “Star Spangled Banner”—a notoriously difficult piece besides being the national anthem—is a great honor at any event. For the Super Bowl, the most viewed television program annually, the honor is magnified beyond calculation. Whatever one thinks about her music or singing style, Christina Aguilera takes her musicianship seriously. So it is an honor that I doubt she took lightly, as is being supposed by so many. By all accounts, she was devastated after botching the performance. But in the moment, she did what any good performer is trained to do: she kep...