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Ladies and Gentlemen, I present your new Poet Laureate


The first time I saw this, I stared wide-eyed and amazed for a full 60 seconds, before yelling to Jay in the other room, “JAY! You wanna see the most perfect rock song EVER?”

For those of you without speakers on your computer (or if you’re dying to know what those two bleeped words are), I proudly present the lyrics in their entirety:

Kid Rock: So Hott

You got a body like the devil and you smell like sex
I can tell you’re trouble but I’m still obsessed

Because you know you’re
SO HOT I wanna get you alone
SO HOT I wanna get you [stoned]
SO HOT I dont wanna be your friend
I wanna [fuck] you like I’m never gonna see you again

You’re like the kiss of death, like the hand of faith
I can tell you’re trouble but I still wanna taste

Repeat chorus 4 times, sundry “uhhh yeahs,” “nnnghs” and “yeowwws”

The entire song has a total of 41 unique words, and that includes minor words such as “the,” and “of.” For reference, research shows that the average dog knows about 165 words (some dogs understand up to 300). It is conceivable I could teach Orwell and Edison “So Hott,” and they would not only have their little faces rocked off, they would understand every word.

There are only 10 polysyllables in “So Hott” (none in the title, obviously), and there is not a single word in the entire song consisting of more than two syllables. There are only two verses, each made up of a single couplet.

This folks, is fucking ROCK EFFICIENCY.

The message is simple (”I would enjoy having intercourse with you”), the drums throb under a generic but thrilling guitar riff, and the video touches on every thing that is fantastic, and fantastically cliched, about rock music.

Warehouse fight club: Check

Strip club (possibly also in a warehouse): Check

Fireworks behind the drum set: Check

Federal agents and helicopters swooping in to break up all the rocking: Check

Kid Rock getting it on with two chicks in the back of a Lincoln: Check

Quite simply, and I am not mocking when I say this, “So Hott” might be the most perfect rock song ever. Is it reinventing the wheel? Blazing new ground in musical innovation? Of course not. But not every song needs to, you know? Christ, too many bands out there are trying way too hard anyway. Kid Rock has made a song that strippers will get into catfights over who called first dibs on it. That’s just what he does. It might be the only thing he does, but that’s beautiful.

If nothing else, give it up for the line “wanna fuck you like I’m never going to see you again.”

That’s just poetry, people.

To be honest, my favorite part was when the people who weren’t me fell down.

picture-086.jpg

This might just be the perfect day. Well, the perfect day would probably include my husband,* but other than that, today’s been pretty fucking awesome.

Paul came by at 7:00am this morning, and helped me wrestle Orwell and Edison into his car. I was about as bright eyed and bushy tailed as you’d expect at this time, and also heavily laden with snacks and sodas (it’s genetically impossible for anyone related to my mother to NOT over-pack a whole bunch of treats for road trips). We dashed back to his and Jeff’s place and dropped off the dogs with our friend Christian, who, in a fit of previously undiagnosed brain damage, had agreed to watch all 4 collective dogs for the day while we frolic in the snowy mountains.

It was a sleepy, but utterly blissful 2 hour drive up to (or I guess down to, I’m still pretty hazy on Washington geography) Crystal Mountain. The clearest blue sky you ever saw soared over a twisting mountain road fringed with deep pine and bubbling icy streams. Sheer cliffs glazed with still-life waterfalls of pure ice looked down upon us. My first glance of Mount Rainier came as we turned a corner at the same time the sunrise did.

Basically the whole thing looked like a beer commercial. Or a painting from an insurance company calendar. It’s legitimately breathtaking stuff in person, but when you try to describe it, it’s all so exceptionally lame and cheesy.

Anyway, we made it up here, and I’m now sitting with a frosty pale ale, looking up at a FUCKING MOUNTAIN covered in snow and pine trees. Seriously, this thing is like 10 feet from the window of the lodge I’m sucking down pints in.

I cannot even express how cool this all is.

Living in the city, I always forget how much I miss the woods, and wide open spaces, and just…nature. When we go to visit Jay’s folks in the backwoods of Ontario, I spend most of my time ecstatically looking at trees.**** Just driving up here, I started reminiscing about how my dad used to take my brother and me hiking through the Flint Hills of northeast Kansas, and the times we tracked deer across the Kwanza plains.

That said, most of my family and I are pretty adamant that “Karla’s the ‘Big City’ Pacheco.” I am an urban creature. I like not having to drive, or leave a two block radius for anything I need. I’ve lived in the country before, and I was fucking miserable (of course, I was also in Nebraska, so I would have been miserable regardless of rurality). But when you spend a heartbreakingly gorgeous day soaking up crisp, clean air, snow-topped mountain views, and the spicy aroma of a vibrant pine forest…ditching Seattle’s urine stained downtown and moving to a log cabin in the woods seems like a brilliant idea.

Of course, I’ve also been drinking since 10:00am, so my judgment is not to be trusted. And my view out the lodge window is of the bunny hill and the entrance to the chair lift. So half the time I’m watching stupid little kids fall on their asses, and the other time I’m watching hot-shot douchebags in expensive snow pants misjudge their approach, resulting in them falling on their asses, usually with even less grace than the kids.

What I’m saying is, I’m pretty much having the time of my life. Bravo, Crystal Mountain, bravo.

Much thanks to Paul and Jeff for inviting me to tag along, letting my dogs hang out at your house, and apparently seeing nothing wrong with a tiny woman’s plan to get quietly drunk at a ski lodge all day. I apologize that you didn’t realize that a day of beer, fried foods, and my previous days’ menu of frozen burritos and box wine would require us to drive most of the way home with the window open in 18 degree weather.

In case I was being too subtle, I am sorry that I farted up your car.

But skiing. Dude, that shit is AWESOME. Maybe next time I’ll even try it with skis on.

*If you needed any more proof that I’m completely dick-whipped** it’d be that the entire day I’ve been going “Wow, I bet Jay would LOVE this.” “Jay would be out of his head with this view.” “Oh, man, Jay would probably really like skiing,” and finally…”I wish Jay was here.” Shut up.

** Interestingly, “pussy-whipped” is such a common term, but “dick-whipped” sounds…not good. Which is weird, because technically you CAN whip someone with your dick (the prosecution hereby submits to the court: the entire history of pornography, when guys do that little cock tap thing***). Why didn’t “dick-whipped” ever catch on as an expression? You guys should all start saying “dick-whipped” a lot.

*** By the way, the cock-tap is ridiculous, and if you do it to a girl/boy in real life, you look like an utter tool. It’s not sexy, it’s not cool, and anyone you’ve ever done this to thinks you’re an idiot. Just so you know.

**** And then, burning said trees. I’m kind of famous for my bonfires in Kingston at this point. Jay’s dad actually made that fact the highlight of his speech at our wedding reception.

I enjoy new and exciting places (to drink).

 

Jay took off Sunday night for Burbank to help supervise the voice-over recordings for the video game.  He’ll be gone all week. 

 ”I’d take you with me, but it’s…Burbank.” 

“Yeah, no thanks.  I’m cool.”

Which might not be entirely accurate.  The last time Jay went down there, he was barely in the cab before I regressed into the disgusting little slattern I was before I met him.  By the time he made it to the airport, I think I was already half passed out in the middle of a filthy living room, spooning a near-empty box of chablis and singing along to the “SpongeBob SquarePants” theme.  SpongeBob SquarePants was not on the television at this time, nor do I know any of the lyrics to the aforementioned theme song.  I let neither of these things deter me.

Basically, I’m saying that at any given moment, I am approximately 5 minutes away from Jay leaving me before I surrender to utter sloth and total inebriated devastation.

That said, so far this week’s been great!

Oh, the house is disgusting.  Seriously, it’s gross.  For the most part (despite my promises to Jay to stick to our diet) I’m living on frozen burritos, fistfuls of Cheetos, and boxed wine…but, unlike last time, I’ve been showering and leaving the house, and talking to people, and everything.  I had a really nice cooking class/supper club thing last night, and tomorrow I’m going skiing with my friends Jeff and Paul!

Well, they’re going skiing.  I’m going drinking. 

While Jeff and Paul are up here:

 

Doing this: 

Or maybe even this:

I’ll be down here:

Hopefully by this:

Drinking copious amounts of these:

I mean, I don’t know how to ski, I don’t have the proper clothing and equipment and little hats, or whatever it is you need to ski.  But I definitely know how to drink, and despite what my last physical said (”You have the liver of a 78 year old Polish coal miner”) I feel fairly well equipped in that area as well.  I’ve never been anywhere near a ski…club?  Lodge? Resort mountain thing?  However, since I assume most everything is as shown in the movies, I imagine while Jeff and Paul are freezing their asses off fighting international jewel thieves and Russian terrorists on the peaks of Mount Rainier, I’ll be drinking mulled cider by the fireplace of a charming Swiss chalet while enjoying the harebrained antics of the local ski patrol.  I’m pretty sure hot tubs figure heavily into it too, at some point, so I should probably bring my swimsuit.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Apparently the City of Seattle hates me, my husband, and the year 2008.

(Legal Disclaimer:  The City of Seattle probably doesn’t hate me, my husband, or the next 365 days, I mean, they really don’t even know us that well.) 

December 31st, 11:35 pm, 2007:  Jay’s been in bed for almost an hour.  I informed him before he went to bed that I’d most likely wake him up at a quarter to midnight.  We already sorta rang in the new year at 9 pm EST, since both of us believe that East Coast time is the only real time zone in the country (and also we’re both sleepy, lazy bastards that wanted to go to bed already, like the lame asses that we are).  That said, I heard there were gonna be fireworks at midnight in Seattle, and the roof deck (that we’ve never visited) of our rather costly apartment complex allegedly grants an amazing view of the Space Needle (where many amazing fireworks are alledgedly launched on New Year’s Eve).  I thought Jay and I watching said fireworks would be really romantic and cool.  A nice ending/beginning to one of the best, most exciting years of our lives.

December 31st, 11:48 pm, 2007: I drag Jay’s sleepy ass out of bed.  “Dude, there’s gonna be really amazing fireworks shooting off the Space Needle!  Wake UP!”  Jay grumpily but obligingly puts on his slippers and coat, I toss a pack of smokes (our last, since we’re quitting tomorrow) and a couple of beers (my last, since my doctor said I should “Really quit drinking.  Like, forever”) in my coat pocket.  We head over to the building that has the roof deck, which isn’t the building we actually live in.  On our way, the street is jam-packed with drunk idiots waiting for the countdown and fireworks. I stupidly take this as an “awesome sign that everything’s gonna be super awesome.”

December 31st, 11:52 pm, 2007: I struggle with the keys that allegedly let us into the section of the building that we don’t actually live in with the roof deck.  After way too many anxious minutes, the lock finally gives, and we get onto the elevator with a family with 2 dogs, a 4 year old child, and an assortment of slightly drunk parents and relatives, all talking about how incredible the fireworks are gonna look from the roof.

December 31st, 11:59 pm, 2007:  I offer Jay one of my pocket beers, and a cigarette.  He sleepily, but politely, refuses both.  The roof deck is festively adorned with Christmas lights, inebriated adults, and a couple of roaming dogs that have no idea what the fuck is going on.   People inquire as to what time it is, and if anyone knows the exact countdown.  They don’t, but we all assume that the Space Needle will alert us when the proverbial shit starts going down.

January 1st, 12:00 am, 2008:The Space Needle briefly lights up with fireworks as several people shout out at least three differerent countdowns for the New Year.

 January 1st, 12:00:12 am, 2008:  All fireworks end.

January 1st, 12:05:07 am, 2008:  I apologize to Jay profusely, and we head down a dark stairwell to street level.  Jay is still half asleep as I sheepishly mention I heard there were gonna be at least 10-15 minutes of amazing fireworks, and that like, 20,000 people were supposed to be over at the Space Needle, checking all this awesome shit out.  So it was supposed to be really cool.  And we would have seen it all from our roof deck, like no one else.  If it had actually happened.

 January 1st, 12:07:00 am, 2008:  While walking back to our building, we hear a huge amount of rocket retorts and explosions.  They can’t be seen from where we are, and they abruptly end, right before…

 January 1st, 12:10:00 am, 2008: We get home.  We keep hearing explosions, and see a few lights reflecting off high-rises near us, but we can’t see anything. 

 January 1st, 12:20:00 am, 2008:  We turn on the T.V., and learn that the Space Needle apparently had massive technical difficulties, resulting in all fireworks being delayed by at least 10 minutes or more, ending with the “Official Firework Technicians” having to go through and light every rocket and blast cap by hand. Which by all accounts looked disappointing and retarded.

 Whatever time it is now, January, 2008:  Gahhhhh.  I’m writing crap for a goddamn blog while my husband sleeps soundly, and I despise the entire city of Seattle for ruining what I thought was gonna be this awesome, totally romantic evening, where Jay and I would look deep into each other’s eyes, and talk about what an amazing year it’s been, and how awesome we thought this next year would be, and maybe we’d make out a little bit.  So fuck you, Seattle. 

Fuck you in your stupid ass. 

My housewife life

Housewife

“You’ve got to be shitting me.  Seriously, put a video of your day on Youtube and send me the link.  ‘Cause I don’t believe it.”

That’s what my friend Rebecca (”Rebar”) in Chicago had to say when I described my new life as the species known as ”Domina Domesticatum Americanus.” 

I am a housewife. 

About 6 months ago Jay finally got the opportunity he’s been dreaming of his entire life.  Working from home, writing comedy full-time.  Cracked.com’s new owners dissolved the on-site office, allowing all the editors to work remotely, plus he was doing contract work for a video game company.  “That’s no fair!” I said when I heard the news, “I wanna work from home, too!”

“I bet,” Jay replied, “but what exactly would you, you know…do?” 

“I…I could take care of the house? Yeah, and I could start working out, so I’d be skinny again.  And I’d walk the dog every day.  And I’d be able to make you lots of delicious, time-consuming meals…” 

“Are you sure you just don’t want to not work anymore?”

“…and I’d do it all dressed as Wonder Woman!  Every day!”

Sensing a chance to quit my day job (Jay was working TWO jobs, so we didn’t need the money, right?) I began throwing out all sorts of ridiculous promises and crafting elaborate scenarios about how great life would be if I was home all day.  It wasn’t that I hated my current job, a long-term temping position at a real-estate office in mid-town Manhattan…it was just that I didn’t LIKE it.  And quite frankly, when it comes to employment, I’ve been spoiled rotten most of my adult life.

I never had a regular 9-5, Monday-Friday day job until I was 29.  This is the part where you start hating me, so now’s a good time to hone your pitchforks and pick out the best rotten tomatoes to throw.  I started working as a “Radio Personality” when I was 18, and spent the next decade with a 20 hour-a-week work schedule that allowed plenty of time to get into the type of retarded adventures that are so excruciatingly detailed elsewhere on this site.

However, after 10 years of radio I lost any passion I’d had for the field, and somewhere in there I fell in love with this funny Canadian fellow living in Los Angeles.  I quit the music biz, put the contents of my filthy apartment into storage, and made my way to sunny California.  From there we moved to New York, where I finally had to get the type of mind-numbingly boring, “yes, you have to wake up before noon and no, you can’t wear pajamas into work” office job that everyone else my age has.

Basically, I was a spoiled little whining monkey that despised everything the majority of the country puts up with to survive.  So when I saw a chance to stay home all day and sleep in as late as I wanted?  Hell yes, I wanted in on that gravy train.  But Jay was naturally (and rightfully) suspicious.

“Are you SURE you’re not just trying to stay home and sleep all day?  Because I’m actually gonna be working, you know.  Two jobs.  You can’t sit on the couch eating cheetos and watching soaps the whole time.”

“No!  I promise!  I hate television!  I’ll clean the house, and do…stuff.  And things!  It’ll be awesome.  If I don’t stick with it, I swear to god you can plop my ass right back on the street corner.”

Jay finally agreed to “the experiment,” as I referred to it.  It started out great.  I got up every morning and took the dog for a walk.  Came home and made Jay a hot lunch (not a euphemism).  Washed dishes and went to the laundromat.  Researched delicious recipes and made wholesome dinners every night. 

That lasted about a week.

Lovingly crafted lunches of homemade soup and freshly baked bread quickly devolved into baloney sandwiches and finally ”I’m catching up on my webcomics, but I think there’s a little bit of peanut butter and some mostly not-too-stale saltines in the cupboard.”  Jay had his doubts about our arrangement at this point, exacerbated by the growing realization that two people and a dog spending the entire day in a 400 square foot New York apartment tends to get just a teensy LOT smothering at some point. 

Luckily for me (and I guess Jay), soon after that the video game company offered him a full-time gig, and we headed off to Seattle.  Jay now works in an office where he’s not bothered by his wife coming in every ten minutes to ask “Soooo…whatcha working on?” or doing the “Look at me!” dance (it’s exceptionally annoying, I’ve been told), and I’ve got the apartment to myself.  A night owl by both nature and 10 years of job-related conditioning, I’ve solved a couple of problems by forcing myself to stay on East Coast time.  With my body convinced it’s really well after 10am, I wake up at 7:30 every morning, make Jay coffee, pack his lunch (still not a euphemism), feed the dogs and start cleaning up the house.  I do laundry and dishes, and then around 10:30 take Orwell and Edison to the park for a couple of hours.  The rest of the afternoon I have to myself.

I’m a fucking housewife.  And it’s AWESOME.

When I first told my friend Abbie that I was quitting my job to be a housewife, her reaction wasn’t “How can you degrade your gender like that,” but total jealousy.  “Oh, man.  I’d LOVE to spend my day cleaning my house and cooking.  I never have time to do that.”  Which got me thinking.  Women of my generation were told from an early age how lucky we are to have more options than cooking, cleaning, and taking care of babies.  Which is true.  It would be awful not to have a choice other than that.  But at the same time, being a housewife is the original “Be your own boss, work from home” job.  And isn’t that what everyone allegedly wants?  Certainly seems popular according to all those Herbalife and “Make big bucks doing medical billing” ads I see.  Rather than thinking men are keeping us bitches down, I’ve started wondering if the dudes just don’t know what they’re missing.

I set my own schedule.  Sometimes I do the household chores first thing in the morning, other times I make Jay’s lunch then go back to bed for a couple hours.  I should state right here that for a lot of women, housewivery is HARD.  Depending on your situation, it can be a full-time, grueling job that would make my clock-watching at the real-estate office look like a happy, petunia scented vacation.  That said, I’ve got a dishwasher and washer/dryer in the apartment.  I order all our groceries online and have them delivered (Safeway.com is the BOMB).  We don’t have kids, so I don’t have diapers to change, or homework to help with.  My biggest chore is making sure the dogs aren’t ripping our furniture or each other apart, and maybe sewing them some Halloween costumes (Batman and Robin, most likely) if I’m feeling adventurous.  If I get bored, I’ve got plenty of time to do volunteer work or something.  I could go hold crack-babies at the hospital, or hand out orange juice at blood drives.

 Hahahahaha.  No, honestly, I could do that.

And trust me, I realize just how lucky I am.

Rebar and Abbie were shocked, and if you’ve gone through the previously mentioned archives of this site, I’m sure you are too, that drunken rock-chick Karla would end up so domesticated.  Hell, I’m shocked myself.

Women aren’t expected to be satisfied being housewives anymore.  We’re supposed to want more, do more, achieve more.  At the same time, we’re told to recognize that if we DO choose to be housewives, it’s a very difficult and worthy job.  And I agree with all that.  But at this point, I’m starting to think being a housewife might be this totally awesome secret women have been keeping from the guys the whole time.  Granted, I DO work hard.  And I’m lucky that I’ve got a husband who appreciates that, even before I give him overly prolonged, long-suffering sighs while looking at whatever coffee stains he splattered on the kitchen counter.  That said, once my work is done, I’ve got a lot of time to write meandering essays about how girls aren’t funny, and how video games are awesome, and how lucky I am to be a housewife.  Plus, I can finally catch up on all my webcomics. 

Being a housewife is awesome.

So anyway, those pitchforks sharp enough yet?

The Real Demise of Dumbledore

dumbledore 

In front of a full house of hardcore Potter fans at Carnegie Hall in New York, J.K. Rowling, sitting on the stage on a red velvet and carved wood throne, read from her seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” then took questions. One fan asked whether Albus Dumbledore, the head of the famed Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft,  had ever loved anyone. Rowling smiled. “Dumbledore is gay, actually,” replied Rowling as the audience erupted in surprise. She added that, in her mind, Dumbledore had an unrequited love affair with Gellert Grindelwald, Voldemort’s predecessor who appears in the seventh book.” - Newsweek, Oct. 19th, 2007

A flurry of shrieking bells echoed through the darkened halls of Hogwarts in the midst of a bleak and blustery October night.  Deep within the castle’s highest turret, a wizened hand reached for gargoyle adorned telephone.

“Hrmph…yes? This is Albu-”

“D!  We’ve got big problems, friend.”

“Who is this?  It’s the middle of the bloody night, you know.”

“D!  Big D.  Biiig daddy D!  It’s Larry, your lawyer.”

“I’m sorry young sir, I don’t recall enlisting a solicitor.”

Solicit her?  I swear to god that girl was 15!”

“…”

“Hah ha, just jerking your beard there, Dumbly, I know that’s what you pudding munchers “across the pond” call us legal-beagles.  I’m Larry Goldstein, the lawyer the studio assigned to your affairs when that J.T. broad bought the rights to your life story.  Anyway, speaking of pudding munching…we got a prob, honcho.”

“I’m not quite sure what you’re talking about, but if you’re referring to Madame Rowland, yes, I allowed the lady in question to chronicle some of the more exciting chapters of our hallowed halls.  I enjoyed her tales most immensely, despite her rather fetching liberties (my premature death for one, ha ha), and found some of her insights illuminous en extremus.”

“Right.  Very extremus.  Anyway, she outed you about 45 minutes ago.”

“What the…”Outed?”

“Listen, have you ever heard the term “in perpetuity?”

“Certainly, “Ano Perpetuitum” while rarely used, is an impressive spell which may extend an avatar, that is to say a likeness or embodiment of the user for centuries, coming from the old Latin for - ”

“It comes from the old Latin for “We own your ass, and we’d like to protect it.”  So I need you to be up front with me.  Just how many little wizard robes have you looked under?”

“I BEG YOUR PARDON!  This is an outrage sir!”

“No, what’s an outrage is some snarky bitch on a book tour telling the whole world which way your wand waves, especially when we’ve still got two more pics in production.  And we were banking on Dumbledore being all man, baby.  We had plans.  “Dumbledore vs. Snape: Final Countdown,” “Dumbledore and Jackie Chan vs. The Death Eaters: This Time It’s Personal.”  Incredible, right?  We’ve already got action figure prototypes on Mattel’s desk.  And there’s a lot more where that comes from, I assure you, but not for somebody the American public thinks might be a little light in the magical…whatever magic shoes you people wear.”

“By the sword of Gryffindor, I simply have no idea what you’re talking about, young man.”

“Oh yeah, you were part of that whole “sword” frat.  A bit too phallic for my taste, I’m more of a Hufflepuff man, if you get my drift…huff that puff, am I right?  Hooya!  Anyway, we gotta spin this thing and fast.  It’s already been rocking the AP for an hour now.  By Monday this is gonna be outta control, unless we get lucky and somebody bombs U.S. soil over the weekend.  Say, you don’t have a spell for that do you?  Some sort of Terrium McMassive, say?” 

“Terrium McMassive?  The spell to build large bodies of land quickly?  It’s quite an advanced piece of magic, I’m not sure -”

“Forget it.  What we’re looking for here is damage control.  What’s the deal with this Grindywalk?”

“Grindewald?  Gellert was my dearest friend for a time, a bright and shining young man.  So charismatic.  We thought we were going to take over the wizarding world, until that terrible day when he betrayed all that was most precious.  I don’t think I ever quite overcame such a traumatic loss - ”

“Right, betrayal and all, that sucks.  So were you two doing it or not?”

“Doing…”

“IT.  Were you waxing his cauldron?  Poking your wand into his goblet of fire?  C’mon, if you’re straight with me, and I use that term lightly, I might be able to make this all go away.”

“I refuse to sully the deep, albeit ultimately tragic relationship Gellert and I shared with these base accusations.”

“Listen, D, we’re about two hours away from some pissed off mudblood crying that her freak kid got brainwashed into a school that said it was training wizards when it was really converting fairies, so let’s deal.  Whatta ya’ got on the Potter kid?  He come on to you first?”

“I…my god.  What is wrong with you?”

“No god about it, or whatever it is you pagans worship.  We’re in some deep fucking shit here, and I’m trying to make sure you’re a sustainable investment for the next four years.  Let’s talk deep cover.  The McGonagall chick, is she down?”

“Professor McGonagall is an exceptional teacher, and Hogwarts is privileged to have her.”

“That’s great.  Will she take 20 large to claim you’re an excellent lover and a hippogriff in the sack?”

“Minerva would never…”

“Okay, right, fraternizing with the troops, no good.  Any other witchy types willing to pony up that your robe isn’t really pink?  No?  What else do we have going here?  Whatcha working on right now?”

“Well, I’ve been talking to some fine gentlemen from the Southern Continents about expanding my efforts into the field of acting.  They said I’d be a natural for a role they had in mind.”

“Mmm, little fruity, but doable, if it’s something with lots of explosions and titties.  What’s the project?”

“Playing Gandalf in “The Hobbit.”

“Oy vey.  No.  We can’t have you prancing around with a bunch of furry little kids, not now.  This is me, Larry, your trusted attorney, saying you can not do this thing.”

“Again, sir, I must stress that I have never met you, much less heard of you, before this most unexpected, and might I say, unwelcome conversation.”

“I hear what you are saying, Albie, and I respect the place where you are coming from, but I need you to understand that you…being that way…is a non-starter for anything that shows you tenderly guiding anyone under 18.  Much less hairy young boys called “Pippin” and “Merry Candyfuck.”

“From the script I was messengered, I do not believe there are any characters by those names in the moving picture you are referring to.  Also, whether or not I am, as you ever so charmingly put it, ”that way,”  there is no connection to being “that way” and being a paederast.  In fact, it’s proven that far more heterosexuals have inflicted that type of utterly unthinkable affront than-”

“Okay, listen D.  I will fix this.  I KNOW things about Rowlings.  Awful, dirty, horrendous things.  We have people for this.  We can make this go away.”

“I must insist that I do not have anything to apologize for.”

“Of course you don’t.  You just accidentally converted a bunch of mentally unstable pre-teens to some voodoo philosophy fraught with illicit symbolism.  Rocket powered broomsticks, limber willow wands, golden snitches, and all that.”

“I must again state that I have done nothing wrong.  My personal life is my own, and I truly resent these insinuations, Mr….”

“Goldstein.  Larry Goldstein.”

“…Really?  Is that Jewish?  Because you should know I totally hate Jews.”

“Ohh boy.”

“In fact, my editorial on the evil that is Israel is coming out in next week’s “Goblin Times.”  It should be the very thing to expose those money grubbing big-noses for the charlatans they are!”

“Okay, could you hold on a sec?  Hey, Cheryl?  Can you make up some coffee?  This is gonna be a long night.”