Kris Schultz

There are tons of things that I think about passing along. Now I’ll start doing a random amount of randomizing here on the blog to list a few of the interesting and – well – random bits to share with my 5 loyal readers!

New Hampshire & Iowa
Anybody even slightly interested in politics must read this article about the Presidential selection process. The bigger sociological delimma isn't diversity, but the fact that the candidate who runs the best primary may not run the best general election strategy. Having worked in both states, it would be bad for this tradition to go away, but not simply to maintain a tradition. The good people of both states have examination of candidates down to a science. Both states bring a qualitatively different process assessing candidates that helps define the primary process for the better. While diversity should be considered, the bigger sociological complaints shouldn't be IA & NH, as they successfully choose the candidate who runs the best primary. Gore and Kerry ran tremendous primaries. Clinton pulled out a great second place in NH, and was deemed the winner because of a superior primary campaign strategy. Iowa and New Hampshire aren't the problem, they choose the best primary strategist. The solution: Democrats should keep IA & NH as is and do better general election strategery. Rather than hold this national DNC commission to review the primary process, do one to review the general election process. Fix what is broken.

Movies
Five movies I highly recommend are Munich, Brokeback Mountain, Syriana, Good Night, and Good Luck, and Capote. I could write full blog postings on each, but gosh, if only I were paid full time to be a blogger, I would. But I digress. Oh, heck, more digressions… can I just tell you guys? I am so frustrated with movie-going, in general. There is a lot of pressure now to catch movies on their opening weekend to help support the indies, with the ways corporate cinema gauge a movie's success and failure by quickly ousting the low performing films. Or, feeling pressure to catch a film before you get tainted by too much information about it. This creates a delimma for me, as one of my biggest pet peeves in life is to be in a movie theater with people who talk during a film. People talking ruined Crash for me (another film I recommend, now out on DVD), and caused me to miss the last minute of Syriana, and created anxiety during Brokeback Mountain, too. If Entertainment Weekly wants to know why regular cinema-goers are not going to the cinema, I think the number two reason is because of poor cinema etiquette (reason #1 is $/inflation). I know! Me, you say? Give an etiquette lesson? But seriously, the last thing I want to hear when I’ve paid my hard-earned $10 to see Brokeback Mountain is some prissy person behind me gasp in awe when two guys kiss. I don’t care that she’s shocked. I just want to watch my movie. Note to you who talk during a film: the people in front of you can hear every word you say, even when you whisper. Your voice carries forward, you goobers.

Vitamin D
This Washington Post article (see the bottom) made me want to start taking Vitamin D beyond my daily multiple. If the research cited is true, using Vitamin D for cancer prevention will be the new aspirin for heart disease prevention. I love following health news, was a vegetarian for 13 years, am dedicated to improving my health, and have worked at health food stores twice. I don’t focus enough of my blogging attention to it, but after considering this article, I vow to do more.

Anna Nicole Smith
I love it that CNN had this piece about her court case and I love it that the White House, for all their troubles (war, indictments, bad economy, and tanking polls) has time to support her case. I don’t know why, but I love her. Not at all the same way have I loved George Clooney, who I look up to, but as a guilty pleasure. She really IS so outrageous. And I love it that I was at Live 8 to see her crazy appearance crashing the stage that pretty much went under the radar, until this. I think she’s a hoot. I just wish her a visit to rehab and deep happiness, and hope she gets some of Hughes’ money – that’s what he wanted, it seems. Go Anna! Even the President supports you – and doesn’t that just seem fitting?

Wishes & Gratitude
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, & Happy New Year. I am a sentimental person, and use this time of the year to look back on all that has passed, doing an assessment of how the year went and how I can do better next year. For all the crud that happened in 2005, I am happy. I am deeply blessed with great friends and family who make me laugh hard and feel love, worked with a wonderful group of warm-hearted Democrats who’ve inspired me to work harder, and have the best doggie in the whole world. A toast to 2006! May it get even better for us all – and may we have lots of victories in November, world peace, single-payer health care, and a better economy for all. And, what the heck, an Oscar for George Clooney too.