In the news...

Here be one of my infrequent current events posts, because sometimes the news shifts into a reality that is just so much weirder and sadder than our own.

A lawyer who was booted off the Scott Peterson case has written a book claiming that Peterson is innocent and that Laci was killed by Satanists . . . or something. Apparently Peterson and lawyer Mark Geragos are trying to stop publication of the book. Perhaps it's unjust of me to think that it would have been remarkably convenient for these Satanists to dump Laci's body right where Peterson was fishing the morning of the murder. Satanists. Um, yeah. Not buyin'. Sue me.

Per jaylake, the FBI is angry about "radical militant librarians" keeping them from library records. IMHO, radical militant librarians kick ass and take names. The FBI should watch out.

In the not-weird-but-just-sad category, Stanley Tookie Williams was executed last night. Why sad that a murderer was put to death? Because while I understand the arguments for the death penalty, I'm not convinced it's a deterrent (but I'm still sorting out my feelings about this), and because Williams has done a lot of anti-gang work since his imprisonment. Nobody wins in this particular case because a death for a death won't bring back those who are gone, and because we'll never know how much more work Williams might have done, or how much and whether or not he would have made a difference.

On a completely different and rather amusing note, this morning on the Today Show, they did a piece on the physiological pleasure induced by shopping. (Shopping induces dopamine production. Who knew?) On the subject of differences between the genders in shopping styles, one of the talking heads said, "They say men hunt a shirt and wear it until they kill it, then hunt another shirt. Women, on the other hand, gather." This, I thought, was funny and very, very true. (Although I can think of at least a couple of men I know who gather, including one particular wearer of Hawaiian shirts who will go nameless only because everyone already knows his name.)

And—yay!—Philip Seymour Hoffman, whom I've always thought was a brilliant character actor, has been nominated for a Golden Globe for "Capote." A well-earned nomination indeed.

And in personal news, tonight's yet another chapter of "As the Chorus Turns. . . ."

Torture, SLGC style, Part Anyone-still-keeping-track?

Tonight the chorus director auditioned and/or re-auditioned not two sets of two people as previously announced, but about 8 or 9 of us for parts in two songs, "For Good" and "I Come from Good People." We won't find out until next week who'll be singing what. On the upside, I feel good about how I sounded tonight, I felt confident and my voice felt full and strong. I was also the only alto in the group of women who were called back or stayed so there may be something in that.

Nothing's settled but, like knowing I've sent a story to an editor who has a reputation for long turn-arounds, I've sort of switched into forgetting-about-it mode. I actually haven't thought about this process for most of the past week; today was the first time I listened to the "Wicked" sound track to brush up on "For Good" in a week; it almost felt new again. So now we wait.