You know those days where time passes oh so slowly and everything is wrong and your head just pounds? I had one of those -- which I am attempting to banish with that age-old cure wine (the way adults deal with stress!) and comic books and being in the same room with Christopher and George and ibuprofen and possibly going to see people dressed as robots parade down the street later in honor of Mardi Gras. I sure hope it works. As you can see, the modern version of trench warfare against the entrenched bad day is extremely tricky.

It helps when one comes home to a package full of books. Yay! But someone always has impeccable package timing. I started MORTAL ENGINES yesterday, and it's wonderful so far (zeppelins galore), but like most young adult books it will end too soon. And now we have SONTAG AND KAEL: OPPOSITES ATTRACT ME by Craig Seligman, THE ETCHED CITY by KJ Bishop, THE STEERSWOMAN'S ROAD by Rosemary Kirstein, and THE SPEED OF DARK by Elizabeth Moon. Anyone read any of these or have a suggestion on which to read first? (And thanks, package queen!)

If we go down to watch the Mardi Gras parade then I'll take the digital camera and try and snap some pics, unless it turns out to be sad and then I'll pretend I forgot my camera. (Unless I really did forget my camera.)

The Washington Post gives out make-believe awards for best Hollywood magazines, including one to Creative Screenwriting. The interviews in Creative Screenwriting I like, but like pretty much every screenwriting rag except Scenario, the rest of the pieces usually seem pretty worthless. There are exceptions, but they're few and this seems odd to me. There don't seem to be any funky small press or indie zines for screenwriters and screenwriting either, probably because it's such a time-consuming slog and it would denote a certain lack of success (which one is never supposed to admit to in H-wood). Maybe I'm wrong -- any of you guys know of good sw mags? Maybe I should do a zine, but then, there's probably no market. I did consider running a scene in each issue of Say... at one point, but wasn't sure I could sell it to Christopher.

Most of you have probably already seen on Wonkette the following from the WP's Reliable Source column:

But former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV is probably the last person in America the Bushies should try to hit up. He's the uranium-in-Africa debunker, Iraq war foe and fierce administration critic married to CIA operative Valerie Plame -- the leaking of whose name is the subject of a federal grand jury investigation. He is supporting Democrat John Kerry for president. Wilson, an admirer of President George H.W. Bush, had given $1,000 to his son's campaign in 1999, so he remains on the current president's thank-you list.

Wilson recently received a picture of George and Laura Bush and, he says, a personal call from the Republican National Committee. "The RNC called me at dinner like a telemarketer," Wilson says. "He started in with: 'I want to thank you for all you've done.'

"Do you know who I am?" Wilson asked the solicitor, who confessed ignorance.

"Just tell Ed Gillespie you called Joe Wilson," he said, referring to the RNC chairman. "And put me down for a no."

Oh, I love call lists. I know so many people who are or used to be at least tangentally involved in politics that have great call list/direct mail stories. Mine is the chill of the heart I got when the day after I leave my job working for a politican I hit playback on the answering machine and hear his voice and the message starts exactly how he used to begin a convo when he called you. Good thing I didn't have access to a panic button. This is why I don't check messages often enough. This is why I screen calls.

Last, looking for another fact on Jack London today, I found this: "Jack London and Science Fiction". Hmmm... Jack London, science fiction writer? I dunno. I'm mostly a fan of the nonfiction, which is great stuff.

And now, on to the war against badness.

earworm: "Backwards Guitar," Catherine Wheel

rec: Catherine Wheel b-sides

namecheck: Alan "I still heart you even if you disagree with me, Ptarmigan" DeNiro