I’m not a hipster
But you might be.

The first pic is a classic guitar-playing Portland hipster from this summer who plays by the carts on 5th. His style reminds me of that Irish guy in that movie Once, and I would always start missing on Dan after he’d left for Pennsylvania when I listened to this guy sing.

Last weekend in NYC, I spotted many hipsters and captured a few on camera without looking like too much of a stalker. They were looking at the John Lennon Memorial in Central Park. And no, just because I was also at the Memorial does not make me a hipster too!

I spent last weekend in NYC getting my fix of tango and politics and visiting my friend Laura. Highlights:

• The cabbie bringing up politics to me (unprovoked!): “I can’t believe McCain chose that woman. What was he thinking?!”
• An ad for storage space that read, “What’s more limited? Your closet or her experience?”
• Heading out for breakfast and happening upon a 15-block-long street fair.
• Looking up from dancing and seeing my favorite Portland tango dancer in front of me.
• Seeing Laura and the craziness surrounding making her mom’s surprise party happen (that’s a story all of its own).
• Walking through Central Park, 70s degrees, sunny and people watching.

This handy little Palin debate flow chart is the best analysis of Palin’s responses in last night’s debate that I’ve seen yet.

I also think I’m going to start incorporating the WINK into my daily conversations. If only I had done it earlier that evening when I did an interview for a local TV station from the Obama HQ! Then it would have been my signature move! Damn, bested by Palin.

And I can’t wait for Saturday Night Live!

This comes from a fascinating bbc.com article today about how the U.S. financial woes are perceived abroad:

The political philosopher John Gray, who recently retired as a professor at the London School of Economics, wrote in the London paper The Observer: “Here is a historic geopolitical shift, in which the balance of power in the world is being altered irrevocably.

“The era of American global leadership, reaching back to the Second World War, is over… The American free-market creed has self-destructed while countries that retained overall control of markets have been vindicated.”

“In a change as far-reaching in its implications as the fall of the Soviet Union, an entire model of government and the economy has collapsed.

“How symbolic that Chinese astronauts take a spacewalk while the US Treasury Secretary is on his knees.”

And it just keeps getting better:

Couric asked Palin what newspapers and magazines she read regularly before becoming McCain’s running mate “to stay informed and to understand the world.”

Here is her response, according to a transcript provided by CBS:

Palin: I’ve read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

Couric: What, specifically?

Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.

Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where it’s kind of suggested, “Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?” Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

The best news of the last two weeks by far has been Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric.

I actually saw the SNL take on the Palin-Couric interview first. Then I watched the real thing, and it was pretty shocking — the SNL skit actually didn’t make too much up, just exaggerated. Both are worth watching.

But if you’re more into reading, here are excerpts:

On how an Alaska-Russia border = foreign experience

Couric: You’ve cited Alaska’s proximity to Russia as part of your foreign policy experience. What did you mean by that?

Sarah Palin: That Alaska has a very narrow maritime border
between a foreign country, Russia, and, on our other side, the
land-boundary that we have with Canada. It’s funny that a comment like
that was kinda made to … I don’t know, you know … reporters.

Couric: Mocked?

Palin: Yeah, mocked, I guess that’s the word, yeah.

Couric: Well, explain to me why that enhances your foreign-policy credentials.

Palin: Well, it certainly does, because our, our next-door
neighbors are foreign countries, there in the state that I am the
executive of. And there…

Couric: Have you ever been involved in any negotiations, for example, with the Russians?

Palin: We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It’s
very important when you consider even national security issues with
Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the
United States of America, where do they go? It’s Alaska. It’s just
right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make
sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia,
because they are right there, they are right next to our state.

On why the bailout deal is a good idea

(watch the interview part II, from 2:04 – 3:05; the best part is her “oh!” in the middle of a question when she obviously recalls a talking point)

Katie Couric:
Why isn’t it better, Gov. Palin, to spend $700 billion helping
middle-class families who are struggling with health care, housing, gas
and groceries; allow them to spend more and put more money into the
economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played
a role in creating this mess?

Gov. Sarah Palin:
That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the oh! — it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

And finally, on being asked to name something specific McCain has done:

Couric: You’ve said, quote, “John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.” Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

Palin: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie – that, that’s paramount. That’s more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

Couric: But he’s been in Congress for 26 years. He’s been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

Palin: He’s also known as the maverick though, taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he’s been talking about – the need to reform government.

Couric: But can you give me any other concrete examples? Because I know you’ve said Barack Obama is a lot of talk and no action. Can you give me any other examples in his 26 years of John McCain truly taking a stand on this?

Palin: I can give you examples of things that John McCain has done, that has shown his foresight, his pragmatism, and his leadership abilities. And that is what America needs today.

Couric: I’m just going to ask you one more time – not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation.

Palin: I’ll try to find you some and I’ll bring them to you.

A friend from Portland visited us last week, and so we took off to explore a small part of Pennsylvania (more accurately, 15 miles southeast to south of us).

The campground was our first destination, about 14 slow miles down an unpaved, tree-lined road. At the end, we found a campsite and decided our sleeping pads would hopefully be enough on the gravel lot. Apparently there are not many smooth-ground camping spots in Pennsylvania (or so said a guy who works at the local outdoors store). Dan and our friend tried to swim in the river – unfortunately, it wasn’t as deep as it was picturesque.

On our way back into town, we headed into Amish country and spotted a horse and carriage soon after we turned off the main highway.

“Is that [pause here, because that’s how this friend speaks, which I say with complete affection] what I think it is?” he asked, pointing ahead. We slowly passed the carriage, trying to look and not look. (We’re cool — we see this kind of thing all the time.)

As we kept driving, we passed barefoot children in blue dresses and pants with suspenders, white bonnets on the girls and tan hats for the boys. Dan waved from the driver’s seat to the carriage drivers, and they waved back.

Definitely no hipsters out here.

Hanu was a hit at our first house party in State College, even if was a bit harder to walk as superdog.

On my way East, I passed through the Minneapolis airport and was snapped out of my progressive Portland bubble when I spotted not one, but two terrifying sites: a Fox News store and a McCain kiosk, filled with McCain wear and trinkets. The Republican convention had just ended here a day before.

As I walked down the airport’s pathway rolling my eyes, I looked up and spotted even more Republican references — every banner hanging from the ceiling proclaimed “welcome delegates!” or something simliar in red along with the sponsor’s ad. I don’t think I could have felt further from Portland in any other place.

And for some reason, no, those glitter-on-black McCain T’s didn’t appeal to me.

A coworker forwarded this terrifying UK ad for Orangina to me. I’m not sure what I’m most disturbed by — the lap-dancing octopus or the zebra strippers. Make sure to check out the video to be fully weirded out.