The Binary Circumstance

I rented The Stepford Wives on DVD this weekend and enjoyed it.  It’s totally campy and over-the-top but I enjoyed it more than I expected to.

It’s been changed considerably from the book by Ira Levin and from the first movie version which I did not see. 

The latest version even has a gay couple that moves to Stepford in the hope of being just like all the straight people.  At one point, Roger (played by Roger Bart who is current playing the pharmacist on Desperate Housewives) converts from being a swishy architect into a Republican politician preaching family and God.

The new version is more a stinging satire on conformity and the illusion of perfection and control, rather than the commentary on weak males afraid of strong women that was Levin’s book.

The film, which was not well-received by critics, seems more timely after Bush’s reelection than it would have before "moral values" became the litmus test for presidential elections in November, 2004.

It’s not a great film but nonetheless entertaining.

The Seattle Times reports the latest in the Republican effort to have Christine Gregoire’s victory in the governor’s race nullified by the courts:

Republicans said yesterday they have found 249 more felons who voted in the November election.

That’s nearly double the number state party officials had reported just two days earlier.

And Republicans expect the list to grow as they continue their investigation and build a case to have the gubernatorial election overturned and Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire removed from office.

Republicans backing their candidate, Dino Rossi, say they are confident ballots were cast by at least 489 felons whose rights to votes had not been restored by a court.

Of those, Party Chairman Chris Vance said yesterday, 424 are in King County and 14 in Pierce County.

The Democrats may have already come up with a guaranteed way to lose the 2008 presidential election.  And it’s only 2005!

Why don’t they just run Michael Moore instead?

UPDATE 1/31/04:  To satisfy a reader’s request, here’s another copy of the story that doesn’t require a subscription.

I don’t know how this happened but for some reason Google is now listing The Binary Circumstance as the number one search result when users type in the keywords gary ridgeway.

For the past couple of days users have been flocking to my post Gary Ridgeway Sets Record of Serial Killings which was posted on November 5, 2003.

The post has always gotten pretty good traffic but I’m not sure why it’s suddenly number one.  Maybe because it’s one of the most frequently commented posts on my blog.

The strange thing is that the post doesn’t really say that much about Gary Ridgeway.  I was contrasting his attitude about prostitution with that of Heidi Fleiss.

Some of the readers’ comments have made me want to know more about him, however, especially the abuse that he suffered at the hands of his mother. 

It also amazes me that he was able to get away with his crimes for so long.

Other people must be facinated with him, too.  Why else would they be searching on the Internet for more information?