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Archives for 01/25/2006 - 01/25/2006

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Project Runway…

Posted by on January 25 at 9:59 PM

…is ON!!!

“I can’t believe the bitch did this!”

50 Most Loathsome

Posted by on January 25 at 6:16 PM

The Beast lays out the 50 Most Loathsome People in America for 2005. I can think of a few they left out, but they’ve probably never met my neighbor across the street or those jerk kids who work at Subway. The rest of them are spot-on.

paris-hilton.jpg

#25. Paris Hilton

Charges: Won’t go away. A head so empty, the rails of coke that sustain her must dissipate in clouds around her ears; this residual high the only explanation anyone would come within five feet of her. Brainless, her spinal cord defies physics, like an Indian rope trick. Her Carl’s Jr. commercial, while an uninspired approximation of eroticism, was still hotter than her actual “sex” tape, in which she only made noise when she wasn’t screwing—that’s not hot. Squints inexplicably for photo ops, suggesting even minimal focus is beyond her. Her continued success as a celebrity famous for nothing, despite the eerie resemblance she bears to the inbred banjoist from Deliverance and a lack of talent so profound that others become duller as they approach her, indicates that something is fundamentally wrong with humanity.

Exhibit A: Somehow, everybody in America knew that this completely pointless person had lost her dog, and we are all diminished by the experience.

Sentence: Locked in a room with a high steel ceiling which lowers a centimeter per hour, until she either solves a Rubik’s cube or is crushed; whichever comes first.

Plus 49 others, all unquestionably loathsome.

Doc Watch ‘06

Posted by on January 25 at 6:10 PM

So, as I stated in My Platform a couple weeks back, I believe documentaries can save the world. With this in mind I have decided to go on a doc-watching binge. Last Tuesday I went to On 15th Video and took advantage of their “Half-Price Tuesday” deal. Four non-new release DVDs cost a mere eight bucks plus change. (Yeah, I know, Netflix is only a dime a month and you never have to leave your house and blah, blah, blah. You don’t run into cute girls on Netflix, dude.) This week I picked up Cane Toads, Word Wars, Hell House, and Trekkies.

Of the bunch, Word Wars was easily the best. The filmmakers follow four word warriors on their way to the Scrabble campionship in San Diego. Now, I’ve played a few rounds of Scrabble in my day, but I had no idea the depth of strategy or obsession involved in this game. Generally, to excel in the world of professional Scrabble one must devote the majority of your day to playing the game and studying the dictionary, leaving little time for such trivialities as regular meals, developing social graces, and being employed. The scene where we see the towering piles of paper cluttering G.I. Joel’s apartment (the G.I. stands for “gastro-intestinal”) hit a little too close to home. A truly fascinating film.

Hell House is a compelling look at that Pentacostal church in Texas that puts on an annual haunted house of the horrors that afflict those not saved. Apparently if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you are damned to a violent death involving AIDS, guns, drug-induced gang-rapes, or a perpetually bleeding womb. Oh, and you get to hear them speak in tongues.

Cane Toads is about a species of big, ugly toads that is taking over Australia. They were brought over from Hawaii in the early 20th century to eat the cane grubs that were decimating Australia’s sugar-cane crops. Due to an anomaly of nature, the toads did nothing to stop the ravenous cane grubs, but did succeed in reproducing like rabbits (another problem on that continent) and eating anything else that crosses their paths (you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a giant toad choking down a live mouse). Oh, and they secrete a deadly neuro-toxin as well. Fun! Also, if they are facing you when you run them down in your car, they make a satisfying pop as the air trapped inside them blows their ass out.

Trekkies is a relatively light-weight examination of just how freaky obsessive Star Trek fans can be. A highlight is interview footage with that weird Trekkie lady, a Starfleet Commander no less, who served on the Whitewater jury (and who, I believe, may have inspired the character of deputy Trudy Wiegel, my one true love, on Reno 911). It’s also fun to try and notice how many bits of Star Wars ephemera slip into the mix.

I picked up four more docs last night and I’ll report back with my impressions.

As always, suggestions are encouraged.

Public Enemy Not #1 Anymore

Posted by on January 25 at 5:52 PM

Not by a long shot, I’m sad to say. Back in the ’80s and early ’90s, my favorite hiphop group, Public Enemy, made some of the greatest albums of all time, regardless of genre. Their first four LPs are all essential components in any intelligent music fan’s collection. For lyrical sophistication and production innovations, they’re unbeatable.

However, Chuck D and Co. really should’ve called it quits in the ’90s. That way they could’ve avoided releasing legacy-tarnishing duds like the new Rebirth of a Nation (Guerrilla Funk). Joined by another great rapper gone weak in the vocabulary, Paris, PE lamely rehash old ideas that burned so much brighter when they were aired 15-20 years ago.

Right about now, Chuck D should go into politics; Flav should continue furthering his thespian aspirations; and everyone should buy It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet posthaste, if you haven’t done so already.

Another term for “leaking”…

Posted by on January 25 at 4:49 PM

… is “providing information.” To hear Joel Connelly rant, you’d think the Seattle City Council was the CIA. Staff members are supposed to provide information to reporters about what their council members are doing, Joel. It’s part of the job of serving the public.

Angry White Man

Posted by on January 25 at 4:44 PM

Recent City Council hopeful Aaron Shuman - a white male who didn’t show up for the six-hour public-testimony-a-thon earlier this month - is contemplating a lawsuit against the city of Seattle for discriminating against non-minority, non-female council candidates in its process for choosing a successor to Jim Compton, who resigned in December. (At least four members have said publicly that the winning candidate would likely be a minority woman.) Right-wing blogger Stefan Sharkansky alluded to the news on Monday; this morning, Shuman e-mailed me to say that he was still seriously considering a suit against the council:

Basically, the crux of the matter is this:  Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said [in the Seattle Times], “It seems like the council is headed in the direction of [appointing] a woman of color. It seemed to be the momentum of this process, and I think it’s going to stick”.  Well, since he is one of the ones appointing the interim councilmember, he is stating that he has a racial and sexual preference.  That preference is counter to the spirit, if no the letter, of RCW 49.60.400: “The state shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”

Two problems with Shuman’s argument: 1) The last time the council appointed a council member, in 1997, all the finalists were men, and all but Richard McIver and Bruce Bentley were white. (McIver eventually won the appointment.) At the time, the council consisted of seven women and two men, including John Manning, who resigned. So if the council had a legitimate interest then in promoting diversity in its ranks (by narrowing the list to an all-male field of finalists) why is that interest illegitimate when the group it benefits is minority women? And where were angry white men like Shuman in 1997, when they could just as legitimately have cried discrimination?

2) Shuman isn’t qualified to serve on the council anyway. His resume, which lists his most recent address as Kyrgyzstan (where he works as a contractor for the US Air Force), says he is “seeking a full-time position in voice or data network installation, operations, and maintenance.” In his brief letter of interest, Shuman laments that “the quiet, peaceful and firendly city I grew up in is not as it once was,” but does not claim to possess any qualifications for the position.

Even if Shuman’s lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful, a temporary injunction could leave the council with just eight members — exactly the situation that has prevented them from moving forward with their business in the month since Compton left office.

Burqas—They’re Not Just for Muslims Anymore

Posted by on January 25 at 3:40 PM

Via Sullivan: A Christian website is selling “wholesome” swimwear for women.

Tapas Virgins, Hit This.

Posted by on January 25 at 3:05 PM

Nothing’s worse than killing a good booze-lube by eating too much food. Little plates = buzz maintenance. My Tapas Cherry was popped last night at Chez Gaudy, one of my favorite new Capitol Hill hideaways. If $7 bottles of wine aren’t a good enough incentive to get out on a Tuesday night, consider an endless parade of delicious hot and cold snacks to nibble while you’re getting sauced (vegetarian meatballs, ravioli with pesto). The mood is super cozy, warm, candle-lit. You can open your own bottles while waiters wander around with tempting miniatures. But make a reservation, cause shit gets bumpin’.

Guess what? You’re ugly.

Posted by on January 25 at 2:52 PM

Some jaunty Scottish researchers got together to study the “beer goggles” phenomenon (seriously, guys? Nothing more important you could be working on?), and it turns out the things are totally real.

Male and female students were shown pictures of members of the opposite sex and asked to rate them on a scale of 1-7 (sounds cruel, we know). The more students drank, the higher they rated the photographs.

It sounds to me like drinking actually just promotes kindness.

God, yes

Posted by on January 25 at 2:47 PM

awesome.jpg

I Heart Kitties

Posted by on January 25 at 2:39 PM

Is this mental illness, or just not being a quitter?

Slogdance 16 - Overview so far

Posted by on January 25 at 2:22 PM

There are a couple of things at this festival that are much better this year than last. The festival trailers, those short official films that play before every single movie, are a difficult item to produce because you are almost guaranteed to be sick of them by the end of the festival. This year Seattle’s own Digital Kitchen took an interesting track when they took the mythical story of Icarus flying too close to the sun, and broke it into several abstract pieces that combine cut-outs and animation. The story is appropriate, too, in the sense that every filmmaker is reaching for that golden ring but most of them will fall into bankruptcy or worse. Is that the message I was supposed to be getting from those spots?

The other thing that’s better is much more subtle. The blurbs in the official festival guide are better written than the ones in last year’s guide. They must have gotten a new editor or something. Last year, most of the film descriptions were chock full of adjectives and blurb filler (“an arresting first film” “engrossing” “a tremendous achievement” etc.), which actually pushed out descriptions of what the films were about. This year, you can tell what the films were about from the descriptions.

The downside is that it’s been hard to find a great film. The programming this year feels like it’s on Prozac. There’s nothing really terrible (it feels like I’m in the minority in hating Bobcat Goldthwait’s movie Stay), and there’s nothing really great either. That’s been the most frustrating thing about this trip.

I will write about one of my favorite films in a bit.

-Andy Spletzer
reporting from Sundance
Park City, Utah

U.S. and Iran: Finally Agree on Something.

Posted by on January 25 at 2:10 PM

Gays Bad.

Equal Opportunity Offender

Posted by on January 25 at 2:04 PM

Yesterday, I sternly held Weyerhaeuser accountable for donations it made to The Speakers Roundtable, the GOP PAC that financed the recent sleazy and misleading sex offender attack ads on Democrats. (Weyerhaeuser gave $5,000 to the Republican committee back in June 2005.)

In going over the finance reports, however, I also found this donation to the GOP group: $2,500 in December ‘05 from SEIU, the super progressive labor union.

I called SEIU to ask what gives.
SEIU 775 spokesman Adam Glickman said his union works with both sides of the aisle. He also put the donation to the GOP PAC in perspective, noting that in the big 2004 election cycle, SEIU gave $92,000 to the Democratic Party and just $22,500 to the Republicans. Additionally, SEIU spent $800K on Gregoire TV ads in the 2004 campaign and another $450K for her recount effort.

Glickman wouldn’t comment, however, on the Speakers Roundtable sex offender ads, which SEIU money helped pay for.

Project Runway is on Tonight

Posted by on January 25 at 2:04 PM

…who will be eliminated tonight?

My money is on the weepy fag with the shaved head whose name escapes me. Santino, of course, deserves to be kicked off, but they’ll keep him around for the drama—please note the credits at the end of each episode. The judges discuss their decision with the show’s producers before booting anyone off. No way will the show’s producers allow the judges to book this season’s Wendy Pepper. Santino stays—and Daniel V., of course, because that sexy motherfucker is going to win this thing.

Discuss.

“Grandson of the Year”

Posted by on January 25 at 1:03 PM

Not only are the crimes alleged in this SPLOID! report horrifically fascinating, the style of reportage is a dazzling horror unto itself. Bravo!

But They’re Not Voting Today

Posted by on January 25 at 12:30 PM

What you’ll see if you click on the link Josh just posted is debate in the state senate over the gay civl rights bill, and some proposed amendments. But you won’t see a vote. What’s going on today is what’s called a second reading.

Backers of the bill say the vote will likely take place on Friday.

The Senate is Debating the Gay Rights Bill

Posted by on January 25 at 12:25 PM

Listen in: The Washington State Senate is currently debating the gay rights bill.

All Quiet on 11th Avenue

Posted by on January 25 at 12:17 PM

The office is unusually still this morning, so I did what I always do when there’s nothing else pressing: I cleaned up a bit. Detritus unearthed: Mothy Worthen’s wonderfully titled biography of Charles Hill (The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost), at least a half cup of Christmas-cookie crumbs, one fruit-cake-scented air-freshener, GWAR’s Live from Mt. Fugi CD and a hardcover Bizarro World wherein Wonder Woman, SuperGirl, and Catwoman learn a valuable lesson from a bellydancer (I’m keeping both of these), a third-full bottle of oblong pills unmarked besides the instruction “Take with milk or food,” and Jennifer Maerz’s almost-empty cubicle (sniff).

Give Me an N!

Posted by on January 25 at 11:56 AM

In today’s Settle PI, Joel Connelly writes:

City Hall note

Effusing like a teenage cheerleader, The Stranger’s news editor Josh Feit wrote in a Monday blog that he was “thrilled” at Nick Licata’s election as Seattle City Council president.

He ought to be, since Licata is notorious for leaking news to the Capitol Hill newspaper. In fact, his office has been such a sieve that one staffer is informally known around the council chambers as “Lisa who Leaks.”

Joel, since you’re evidently an avid reader of the Stranger Slog, you—as a reporter—must be thrilled too. With the access The Stranger’s apparently gonna have now, you’ll really be able to keep informed about city hall politics.

Slogdance 15 - R.I.P. Chris Penn

Posted by on January 25 at 11:31 AM

The streets of Sundance are abuzz with the revelation that Chris Penn was found dead in his house in California. Officially, there is no evidence as to the cause of death, outside of “no foul play.” Which leads to two completely unfounded guesses as to what happened: drugs or suicide.

The truly awkward timing of it is that he stars in the Sundance premiere The Darwin Awards, which is about people who die stupid deaths.

-Andy Spletzer
reporting from the Sundance Film Festival
Park City, Utah

Cover Seattle’s All-Ages Music Scene

Posted by on January 25 at 11:26 AM

Fulfilling my public service announcement quota, I present this press release.

Seattle’s all-ages concert guide, MercurialSound.com, is looking for new writers and photographers! If you haven’t heard of us, we review shows, run a concert calendar covering the Vera, Firehouse, Paradox, and other local venues, hold interviews, manage a community forum, and now even review albums. Our aim is to draw attention to the large underage population and support all-ages shows and underage bands all over Seattle.

We’re looking especially for new writers as we start off our Album reviews, but also for consistent show-goers interested in reviewing the concerts they attend. In addition, we welcome new photographers interested in photographing concerts they attend.

Details and an application are available if you’re interested at:
http://mercurialsound.com/archives/announcement-for-january-writers-wanted

Feel free to email editors@mercurialsound.com with any questions.
Justine-Marie
http://www.mercurialsound.com

The Best Intentions

Posted by on January 25 at 11:06 AM

From the New York Times

DES MOINES, Jan. 18 - In the seven months since Iowa passed a law restricting the sale of cold medicines used to make methamphetamine, seizures of homemade methamphetamine laboratories have dropped to just 20 a month from 120. People once terrified about the neighbor’s house blowing up now walk up to the state’s drug policy director, Marvin Van Haaften, at his local Wal-Mart to thank him for making them safer.

But Mr. Van Haaften, like officials in other states with similar restrictions, is now worried about a new problem: the drop in home-cooked methamphetamine has been met by a new flood of crystal methamphetamine coming largely from Mexico.

Sometimes called ice, crystal methamphetamine is far purer, and therefore even more highly addictive, than powdered home-cooked methamphetamine, a change that health officials say has led to greater risk of overdose. And because crystal methamphetamine costs more, the police say thefts are increasing, as people who once cooked at home now have to buy it.

No free lunches when it comes to bat sex

Posted by on January 25 at 10:56 AM

Here’s a fun AP story the Seattle PI ran today:

A research team led by Syracuse University biologist Scott Pitnick found that in bat species where the females are promiscuous, the males boasting the largest testicles also had the smallest brains. Conversely, where the females were faithful, the males had smaller testes and larger brains.

“Bats invest an enormous amount in testis, and the investment has to come from somewhere. There are no free lunches,” said David Hoskens [a biologist at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter in England and a leading authority on bats’ mating behavior.]

The study found that in more monogamous species, the average male brain size was about 2.6 percent of body weight, while in promiscuous species, the average size dipped to 1.9 percent.

Which begs the question: Are humans considered a monogamous species? And may I get brains with my testicles?

Sweet Child O’ Mine!

Posted by on January 25 at 10:52 AM

Axl Rose has once again broken a silence. The quick rundown: yes, he’s still “working on a new record”; yes, a G’n’R reunion is still pretty unlikely; and yes, he still has those ugly-ass cornrows

Jacko in an Abaya

Posted by on January 25 at 10:50 AM

As if the form-fitting lycra body suit he wore to a Bahranian water park wasn’t enough, now beleagured pop star/impending celebrity corpse Michael Jackson has been spotted trotting around Bahrain in a veil and robe traditionally donned by “conservative Bahraini women.”

Full story—with pics!—here.

Wanted Dead or Alive

Posted by on January 25 at 10:49 AM

He’s a cowboy, on a steel horse he’ll ride. (Thanks to Nipper for that one).

Loveless Sex

Posted by on January 25 at 10:44 AM

Headline of the day: “Pope Warns About Loveless Sex.”

Take it from the Catholic clergy—they know all about sex without love. They’ve also got that sex-without-consent stuff nailed too.

McGavick: A Tale of Two Cities

Posted by on January 25 at 10:44 AM

On Saturday, Jan 21, former Safeco CEO Mike McGavick kicked off his campaign for U.S. Senate at Seattle Center. He told the crowd of hundreds that he would bring a voice of “civility” to the Senate.

Two days later, McGavick was in Eastern Washington kicking of his campaign at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane. Here’s what Mr. McGavick had to say about Seattle:

“You know over in Seattle where I’m from, and by the way I like to say I was born in Seattle when you weren’t embarrassed to say you were from Seattle.”

Just a little Seattle baiting in Eastern Washington from Mr. Civility.

Hey dude, next time you speak at Seattle Center, I hope you elaborate.

Right-Wing Sonics

Posted by on January 25 at 10:43 AM

It seems the Sonics’ threats of moving to Bellevue are serious. Next season, they’re ditching KJR (950 AM) in favor of The Truth (770 AM), home to Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and other right-wing blowhards. How fitting.

One of the Greats

Posted by on January 25 at 10:38 AM

Chris Penn has died.

One word: Footloose. RIP.

A Tax Break Earned

Posted by on January 25 at 10:24 AM

Amazing:

Jan. 24, 2006 - It’s almost enough to make you laugh—bitterly, of course. Here was Ford Motor Co. announcing yesterday that it had cut 10,000 jobs last year and that it will cut up to 30,000 more. But shedding jobs at muscle-car acceleration rates didn’t stop Ford from pocketing hundreds of millions of dollars courtesy of the American Jobs Creation Act.

No, I’m not making this up. Right there, on page 2 of one of its news releases yesterday, Ford said that “repatriation of foreign earnings pursuant to the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 resulted in a permanent tax savings of about $250 million.”

Hello? How can you simultaneously cut jobs and benefit from the American Jobs Creation Act? Welcome to the wonderful world of Washington nomenclature.

Re: When Soup Is Racist

Posted by on January 25 at 10:12 AM

I guess this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “Soup Nazi.”

“You think you can get soup?! Please, you’re wasting everyone’s time.”

When Soup Is Racist

Posted by on January 25 at 10:03 AM

That’s the question burning up synapses in France, after officials in Strasbourg banned a charity soup kitchen with far-right ties from distributing Jew-and-Muslim-baiting pork soup.

Given that neiher Jews nor Muslims partake of the swine on religious grounds, the free pork soup is being denounced as “deliberate discrimination” against down-on-their-luck Jews and Muslims—a view upheld by Strasbourg’s mayor: “Schemes with racial subtexts must be denounced,” said Mayor Fabienne Keller to the BBC. Full report here.

Speaking of Hutcherson…

Posted by on January 25 at 10:03 AM

Has anyone ever seen him

hutch.jpg

and dub maestro Mad Professor

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in the same room?

Die Letdown

Posted by on January 25 at 10:02 AM

The second act of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus is an opulent party—there’s a swimming pool filled with champagne—thrown by a chronically bored, bizarre, and impossibly wealthy Russian (imagine a Viennese Michael Jackson).

During the party, a barker announces fictional and sometimes real-life dignitaries who smile and waltz in front of the presumably surprised and delighted audience. But Seattle has had a little trouble in the cameo star power department: Governor Gregoire was supposed to show up opening weekend but had to cancel, forfeiting her one chance to be popular at a party. Tonight, political cartoonist David Horsey will make his second appearance, alongside actor John Procaccino. (How hard is it to get a local actor to mug on stage?)

Who’s next in this sad parade of semi-celebrity? Rev. Hutcherson?

Enter the Dragon

Posted by on January 25 at 9:09 AM

Zimbabwe is taking a hard look at the future:

Zimbabwe Standard (Harare) January 22, 2006 Godfrey Mutimba

University students around the country should brace themselves for the tongue-twisting and difficult to write Mandarin (Chinese language), as government wants to introduce it as part of its controversial “Look East” policy, The Standard has learnt.

Zimbabwe embarked on the widely derided “Look East” policy after falling out with its former European trading partners.

Speaking at an international conference of the transformation of Masvingo State University to Great Zimbabwe National University, Higher and Tertiary Education minister, Stan Mudenge, said the government intends to offer a curriculum that will see students from all universities in the country taking Chinese in a bid to promote tourism and trade between the two countries. Mudenge revealed that he had already held meetings aimed at making this a reality.

He said: “At a recent meeting I held in Paris with my counterpart the Chinese minister of education, we agreed to intensify our programmes in the field of education, cultural exchange programmes including language training. “The compelling need to bring our two peoples together could be strengthened by introducing studies e.g. teaching of Chinese as a foreign language as well as learning Chinese history. Our universities have an important role in this regard.” He ordered vice chancellors from various universities that attended the conference to make frantic efforts to introduce the subject before year-end.

The Whole World is Laughing

Posted by on January 25 at 8:11 AM

Last year, at the height of his anti-gay celebrity, eastside Rev. Ken Hutcherson told the New York Times that his grand ambition was to become “the most feared man in America.”

Would he settle for the most laughed at man in America? Because that’s what he became yesterday, when he announced his revised plan to bend Microsoft to his anti-gay will.

The new plan (not to be confused with the old, non-existent boycott plan) is for Christian fundamentalists to all buy a few shares of Microsoft stock over the next few months and then sell those shares all at the same time, on May 1. Apparently, Hutcherson believes this will cause Microsoft’s stock price to tank, an idea that “one market expert laughed at,” according to the AP.

Over at Americblog, John Aravosis is also laughing at Hutcherson’s plan, describing the pastor as “not exactly a walking billboard for intelligent design.”

Here’s something else that’s funny: Microsoft is planning to launch a new system for placing ads with its search results in June, a move that will position the company to better compete against Google and seems highly likely to drive up Microsoft’s stock price. So, all those Hutcherson-following fundamentalists (if there are any) who rush out now and buy Microsoft, and then sell their shares on May 1, just before the stock is likely to jump — well, they may come to constitute one of the dumbest classes of investors in the marketplace.

But here’s what I think is the hands-down funniest part: The AP consulted a professor at the University of Washington about Hutcherson’s planned market manipulation, and the professor said it could be illegal.

How long do you think it will be before the first SEC compaint is filed? Tick, tick, tick….

Smobriety Cleanup News

Posted by on January 25 at 1:48 AM

So, since I decided several days into my smoking cessation to go cold turkey, I wound up with a mostly-unused bottle of Wellbutrin. I thought about the many different ways I could dispose of the Happy Pills—I’m not a pill-taker, really, despite this one time I recreationally took a couple-three Percosets and had an hour-long orgasm, which actually left me feeling quite jealous of Sting for the first and only time in my life—but I opted to go for the upstandingly socially-responsible route of flushing the pills down my toilet. For some reason, though, they won’t go down. They’re still in there, slowly dissolving, after about eight flushes over the last twenty-four hours. And it just occured to me a minute ago that, right now, I have the happiest toilet in the Seattle metropolitan area. For some reason, this, in turn, makes me really happy. So, see? Antidepressants work, after all!