When I posted the first picture of the oddball, schizophrenic plant I keep in my office, I did not expect it to get any weirder. Well, since then it has changed directions multiple times, shed half its leaves and finally decided which direction it was going to point (with me photographing each transition, of course.) I finally have time to post these. Sorry the second one is a bit dark.

A reminder:

Anyone who knows me knows that I was jumping up and down with excitement all day yesterday when:


1. our nation's first African-American president was sworn into office,


and 2. W got on a helicopter and went back to Texas for good.





Yeehaa! Yippee! Mazal tov! Cheers! Hallelujah! Hope! Change! Hope! Change! Hope! Change! All that.

My inauguration experience involved me being stuck at work, toggling between every news website out there because they all took forever to load and all of them crashed multiple times. (MSNBC.com had an EPIC FAIL which I will post the pic of later.) It was strange to me that I was practically the only one in my department watching it; everyone else was working like it was just a regular day. I mean, come on, one of our nation's most historic and momentous events was happening right then and ya'll were reading lanes? What the hell?

Speaking of WTH, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court AND the President-elect both biffed the oath of office? HA! I find that amusing. (UPDATE: Pres Obama retook the oath today at the White House just for safety's sake.) In light of this rare occasion, a popular diarist on The Daily Kos posted his own version of the oath today:

I, Chief Justice John Roberts do solemnly swear, That I royally fracked up
trying to administer the presidential Oath of Office from memory. That I
embarrassed myself and the nation by getting something so simple---something
memorized by every boy and girl in, like, second grade---so excruciatingly
wrong. And, in so doing, came within a butt hair of accidentally making Sasha
Obama President of the United States. Not that that would necessarily be a bad
thing, But you have to admit juggling first grade and the presidency might be a
bit much for a seven year old.
But I digress.
Most important, I do
solemnly swear that four years from now, When I'm swearing in Barack Obama for a
second term, In fact, any time I'm swearing anybody in for anything, whether
it's President of the United States or notary public, I will execute the...no,
wait!...I will faithfully execute the Herculean task of doing what Justice John
Paul Stevens had the good sense to do, given the gravity of the moment, by
bringing an index card---which I can get a whole pack of for a buck over at The
Dollar Store---on which I will have scribbled, legibly, the words to the Oath of
Office, so that I don't frack up again, unnecessarily reminding the world once
more that I am an appointee of former President Bush
So help me
God.
Faithfully.

--Bill in Portland Maine

Anyway, I love our new First Family. They are beautiful, strong and passionate. But what gets me every time is seeing President Obama and Michelle together.... I have to resist the urge to say "awwwww" at every photo I see. They are just so cute together!

Here's to the next four years of hope and change!

*Obama ball photo swiped from Getty Images on MSNBC.com

Here we go again. Grumpy crowds, namedropping celebrity stalkers, mean publicists, gawking teenage girls, snooty movie stars and bizarre foreign films about gay zombies. Wait, gay zombies are so last year. NAZI zombies are the new thing! (Oh goody.)

I'm back at the Egyptian Theater on Main Street, probably THE best place for people-watching in the entire area. Everyone has been asking me which movies I am looking forward to seeing, so my top films so far are:

1. Sergio (US Documentary)

2. Reporter (US Documentary)

3. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (US Drama, directed by John Krasinski of The Office)

4. Spring Breakdown (Sundance @ Midnight, with Amy Poehler and Will Arnett)

5. Kimjongilia (World Documentary)

6. Taking Chance (US Drama)

7. I Love You Phillip Morris (Premiere)

Check back for more updates from Sundance 2009!