Cruise Controlled

TomKat? Damn. Now I'm nostalgic for those halcyon days when we had good couple names like Bennifer, Romber and Brangelina.

End of the Trend: Couple Name Conflation

Okay, first it was Bennifer, then it was Romber, then it was Bennifer 2, now it's Brangelina?

Can we stop it with the name conflation of newsworthy couples? I guess it was cute at first, but now with Brangelina, it's just embarassing. I feel sorry for the people who have to type that out day after day for a job.

And is Brangelina even fair? Brad gets only half of his name and Angelina (who is hot, but frightens me) gets the whole thing. I guess it could be Bra and Ngelina, but that's just weird. Br is more of a believable consonant blend than Ng (in non-Asian names, natch) I call foul on behalf of the Br half of the couple.

Br, you can thank me later.

Free Katie

Like I've been saying, the best way for Tom Cruise to not seem gay is to date one of the most famous virgins on the planet. The only thing not gayer would have been to start dating James van der Beek himself.

But please, Tom, Free Katie before she starts believing in Xenu. Xenu's usually not a topic of discussion in Roman Catholic homes...

What I feel about Felt

The past week has been Deep Throat-mania. With the self-outing of W. Mark Felt as the legendary whistle-blower, many former Nixon staffers have taken to the air to brand Felt as a traitor who was disloyal to Nixon.

While I can't say that Felt's motives were purely selfless (he did want the top post at the FBI, after all), I can say that he surely put himself at risk to help right things he saw that were wrong. Felt tried to make sure that the Nixonites (who clearly still would walk into a fire for him) wouldn't make all the evidence disappear.

I'm not sure why the Nixon crowd is so loyal. He broke the law. He violated the nation's trust. He tried to cover it all up. Why should he get a pass, Pat Buchanan? Why should Felt be the goat, Robert Novak?

I'm glad Mark Felt did what he did. It's about the only honest thing done in DC in my memory, even if it was illegal.

Live8

Live8, the Live Aid sequel concert is landing in Philadelphia next month. Not to seem ungrateful, though, but the truth is that the Philly lineup is nothing compared to the London concert. They have Paul McCartney, Sting, U2 and REM. Philly has Jay-Z, Keith Urban and Rob Thomas.

Still, I was happy when they announced they were going to come to Philly. It's a nice way to have an echo of the past while you try to heal the present for the future.

I doubt I'll be down at the Ben Franklin Parkway on July 2, but I'll be there in spirit when I watch the whole thing on TV.