LIGHT BROODING AND HEAVY INSOMNIA last night, plus jury duty today, equals head full of white noise. I’m not really capable of thinking anything beyond, “Og want food. Og want bath. Og want sleep.” (Am only awake now b/c I don’t want to mess up my sleep schedule even more.) Tomorrow I will be fun, come here tomorrow.

In the meantime, why don’t you check out this stuff?

Big Sunny D (more of him at the end): Odd hair on the rise in East Kilbride. I’m pretty much pro- anything that falls “somewhere between 80’s pop star and evil sci-fi villainess.” In fact, I think that is my new career choice. (“Um…’new’?”)

The Old Oligarch: Great post on being a Catholic theologian moving through a world where everybody has a question.

Unqualified Offerings: More on decoupling health insurance and employment. As a lowly ant in the vast wasp’s nest of the self-employed, I am on his side. More here.

A hilarious Style Invitational this week: Washington, DC-themed pickup lines. Samples: “Excuse me, ma’am, but the gentleman at that table has sent you a FYH 2005 energy and water appropriations bill rider for a $52.3 million solid-waste treatment plant upgrade in your home congressional district, with his compliments.”

“I’m guessing you work for Fannie Mae, because your fanny may be the best I’ve ever seen.”

“How about if we get away somewhere and completely deregulate ourselves?”

“Boy, that dress you are wearing is the most effective Request for Proposals I have ever reviewed.”

And, for once, the Invitational winner is actually the funniest entry: “Your beauty renders me as powerless as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.”

read the rest

And now is the time on “Sprockets” when I indulge my X-obsession. Both Big Sunny D and Paul “How–And Why?–Does He Read All Those X-Books?” O’Brien heap praises on the Big Twist issue of “New X-Men.” (The spoilers! They taste… pointy!)

D and O’B have much, much more faith than I did that this will turn into something interesting rather than collapsing under pressure to return the franchise to status quo ante.

So I will elaborate very briefly: NXM #146 is a beautiful example of what somebody or other called, in praise of Agatha Christie, “animated algebra.” Yeah, I totally went back and looked through all those old episodes, reading them with new eyes, seeing all the clues. That was a fun puzzle. Click-click-click-click all the frames of the Identikit fall into place. (With a few mysteries left hanging for the next issues!)

But. All kinds of nifty moments and ideas and themes have been woven in along the sides of Morrison’s X-Men issues, never getting nearly enough time, and I am really hoping that they will not simply be abandoned in favor of making this storyline all about… how to say without spoiling… well, status quo ante seems adequate. I’m worrying that this is all we’re gonna get–animated algebra, attention to the clockwork of the plot and the expectations built up by 40 years of X-stuff, but that’s about it.

I of course hope to be proven utterly wrong. The more I thought about the Twist, the more highly interesting repercussions I saw it could have on the characters, and if Morrison takes us there I will happily eat my hat with ice cream.

Also, you can buy a “Magneto Was Right” t-shirt. It was only a matter of time. Too bad my birthday just passed!