DNC Report: Day 4
Posted on | August 29, 2008 at 6:32 am | 2 Comments
Well, whadoyaknow, I actually have something to report today. I walked over to the 16 Street Mall during lunch yesterday and snapped a few pix. They’re in my Flickr set here. When I got up to the Hard Rock Cafe, I found I couldn’t go any further. There was a crush of crowds there blocking the way. They had even spilled out into the “street” so that the mall shuttles couldn’t get by. (FYI, only mall buses and other city vehicles are allowed on 16th Street downtown.) There were many bouncers in front of the restaurant preventing people from entering. I saw one gray-haired gentleman in an expensive business suit repeatedly bump heads with a bouncer (literally) as he tried to get in there. The bouncer just smiled and kept blocking his way. It was hilarious. Wish I’d got that on video. I heard later the HRC was closed off because that’s where a lot of the celebrities in town for the DNC were lunching that day.
The crowd reached all the way across the street to Earl’s, another restaurant, where it was said other celebrities were chowing down. Then at one point the earth opened up and swallowed the city whole the cops, bouncers, and bodyguards opened up a path in the crowd from Earl’s to the HRC, and the celebs flowed like expensive bottled water from one eatery to the other, trailed by a lot of microphones and video cameras. I saw Spike Lee in that river (or someone imitating him) and maybe the top of Oprah’s head. People around me said that Anne Hathaway was in there too. The Celeb Train made it inside the HRC, and then I stood around there some more while actor/director Tony Goldwyn came out and talked to those people with the mics and cameras. I only vaguely recognized him -at first I thought it was actor Steven Weber- but couldn’t place the face or recall the name. I just knew him as one of those character actors with a distinct face that you see in lots of shows and movies. Then the woman next to me kept going “It’s the bad guy from Ghost!”, so that helped in my identification. Eventually he went back inside and I turned around and headed back to work. So much excitement for one day! Whew. I almost couldn’t take it.
As for the convention itself, I heartily enjoyed Obama’s acceptance speech, even if I wasn’t one of the 84,000 people there in person. I thought it was hard-hitting and inspirational, and I just hope it’s enough to sway the swing voters (and that they actually saw it). And maybe even make some converts? I thought the pre-speech video dipped into cheesiness at spots, but it served its purpose.
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 58°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Paul Sez” (Mind Reels)
- “Battle Scars” (Dear Leader / Taxpayer)
- “Down in the Shacks Where the Satellite Dishes Grow” (Judybats)
- “Eros Arriving” (Bill Nelson)
- “Life’s A Bitch” (Rock Kills Kid)
- “Accretions” (Shriekback)
Pet Peeve of the Day: I was in the HOV lane of Santa Fe today, going to visit my Dad after work during rush hour, using my Hybrid HOV exemption, when a giant red Hummer suddenly cut into the lane in front of me. And you guessed it, it wasn’t making a left turn and there was no one besides the driver in it. That’s gotta be one of the all-time most arrogant prick acts. I’m sure he didn’t have an exemption! “Look at me! I’ve got a big old gas-guzzling mini-tank, and I’m going to skip the traffic and illegally cruise right by all you suckers!” And then to make matters worse, we passed a cop who didn’t even go after him.
So then I’m driving home after the visit, going north on Santa Fe after rush hour, and there’s a guy driving a scooter in the far left (non-HOV) lane. He’s going like 30 in a 45 MPH zone, blissfully ignoring all the cars trying to get around him and the drivers giving him dirty looks. Sometimes I wonder if people are evil or just stupid. If I hear he ended up getting splattered across the road, I’ll guess stupid.
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “mud banana”.
Videogame(s) Played Yesterday: None.
Comments
2 Responses to “DNC Report: Day 4”
August 29th, 2008 @ 8:11 am
“the HRC was closed off ” – geez, you too with the “oh poor Hillary” thing?
August 29th, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
> I thought the pre-speech video dipped into cheesiness at spots, but it served its purpose.
…which is to dip into cheesiness in spots.
Hey, don’t spoil too much of the festivities for us, we’re a day behind in the Jon-&-Stephen coverage here this week, and for one reason or another haven’t taken time to tune into the “real” BBC coverage for several days now.
I’ve read some of the speeches in text form, though, which is like Tivo in that you skip past the applause breaks.