THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

Please look for it here.

Rondi's Got a Brand New Blog

Hey folks -- it's kind of exciting! I have a new site. My blog is there along with some other stuff...I'm being suitably vague, because the other stuff is still "under construction," but the blog is up and running!!! And that's where you should check for Wonkitties 2.0. This site will stay up and its archives are linked at my new space. I just thought it would be easier to have everything in one cyber-spot. So please join me at my new home on the internets. Special thanks to my sister for putting it all together.

Mad Men This Week

Best line was from Roger, referring to the Japanese Honda executives visiting the SCDP office -- "They won't know it's over till you drop the big one. Twice." It reminded me of when I lived in Japan, and my father told me he would only ever visit me there "in a B-52."
Best exchange -- between Don and Faye (I actually liked her this episode).
Don: Why does everybody need to talk about everything?
Faye: I don't know but they do and no matter what happens when they're talking, when they're done they feel better.
Anachronism -- use of the word "inappropriately" in reference to Sally's, er, behaviour.
Thing that most disappoints me -- the writing for Betty. It seems pretty lazy to relegate her to harpy-ness.

Further to My Midlife Crisis

Pirlo bum. (Rondi wanna pinch it.)

(*Pinches.*)

(Both pictures from Sunday's Luigi Berlusconi Trophy in Milan.)

You Had to Know This was Coming

Of course, the Ground Zero Mosque is a Zionist conspiracy!

A number of Al Azhar ulema expressed their opposition to building a mosque near [where] the events of September 11 [occurred], convinced that it is “a conspiracy to confirm a clear connection between the strikes of September [11] and Islam.” Dr. ‘Abd al-Mu‘ti Bayumi, a member of the Islamic Research Academy [of Al Azhar] told Al Masry Al Youm that he rejects the building of any mosque in this area [Ground Zero], because the “devious mentality” desires to connect these events [of 9/11] with Islam, though he maintains that Islam is innocent of this accusation. Instead, it is a “Zionist conspiracy,” which many are making use of to harm the religion.

Blasé Feral

Hey human, I see you...

...and you bore me.

Gorilla Plays Nintendo

Recently, at the San Francisco Zoo...

A little boy accidentally dropped his Nintendo DSi XL game system into the Gorilla habitat, drawing considerable interest from the residents who did their best to figure the device out. You have to love how quickly the gorilla seemed to work out how to hold it correctly and even at one point raise it up to its eye like a camera.

Photos and a short video clip here and here.

(H/T, Laurel.)

Dowd is Not Always a Twithead

She sure nails it here.

Let me be perfectly clear, Mr. Perfectly Unclear President: You cannot take such a stand on a matter of first principle and then take it back the next morning when, lo and behold, Harry Reid goes craven and the Republicans attack. What is so frightening about Fox News?

Some critics have said the ultimate victory for Osama and the 9/11 hijackers would be to allow a mosque to be built near ground zero.

Actually, the ultimate victory for Osama and the 9/11 hijackers is the moral timidity that would ban a mosque from that neighborhood.

Our enemies struck at our heart, but did they also warp our identity?

The war against the terrorists is not a war against Islam. In fact, you can’t have an effective war against the terrorists if it is a war on Islam.

George W. Bush understood this. And it is odd to see Barack Obama less clear about this matter than his predecessor. It’s time for W. to weigh in.

This — along with immigration reform and AIDS in Africa — was one of his points of light. As the man who twice went to war in the Muslim world, he has something of an obligation to add his anti-Islamophobia to this mosque madness. W. needs to get his bullhorn back out.

(Emphasis mine.) Kudos to Dowd for giving credit to Bush...though I disagree with her that it is "odd to see Barack Obama less clear about this matter than his predecessor." Obama is less clear about virtually everything than was his predecessor.

My Samson is Getting his Mojo Back

Alright, so the boyfriend is away on a LONG business trip and my midlife crisis is ongoing and so I had nothing to do but google pictures of my alternate-universe-boyfriend, who is finally back in action after his injury which totally screwed up that thing I prefer not to think about since Italy did so badly World Cup for me (and for him, I imagine). And I found these pictures of his first game back (Friday, in Bari). Now tell me -- and please keep in mind the absence of the boyfriend as well as the midlife crisis -- is it wrong that I am totally turned on by Drea's forearms and thighs...

...as well as by his hair? Is that so wrong?

My New Favourite Song

Obama's Teleprompter Says...

...(on Twitter, that is)...

Big Guy doesn't want Israel bombing Iranian nuke site; supports building a synagogue within a block of it, instead.

Follow Barack's Teleprompter on Twitter.

QBVII

What a fine series. I remember watching it as a kid with my parents and not understanding it. Well worth the grown-up viewing. In a plus ca change sort of way, there is a scene where Ben Gazzara (hunk), Lee Remick and Dan O'Herlihy are leaving QBVII, and they walk up to a news kiosk. The headlines of the day read "Guerrillas raid Israel: 9 dead, many wounded." It is 1972 and Palestinian terrorists are attacking Israel. The conversation goes like this:

O'Herlihy: I suppose if Israel responds she'll be guilty of aggression.
Remick: Can't the United Nations do something to help that situation?
Gazzara: Nobody's going to help Israel. They have no oil.

(Emphasis mine.) The more things change...(And I love Remick's character's naivete, which, unbelievably, lingers in many to this day.)