I very much liked Heather Thompson's take on Britney:

"You wouldn’t have ever found me out at night flashing my bare vagina, but so what? I did things that were far worse, a lot of yelling, a lot of walking away, a lot of wishing I had never had a child. But I forgive myself for all of that because I was sick. I am not that person anymore. I wasn’t that person before my breakdown, and I’m doing everything I can to not ever become her again."

Read the entry here.

Though I can't imagine the magnitude of either Britney or Heather's depression, after I had Frankie I suffered from depression as well. Even with the support of friends and family, I felt shitty about Frankie being sick (he was in the NICU for a month & a half), about my life being turned upside down, about not sleeping. And I felt like my body had failed me in producing a sick baby, too. What would be crazy is having a baby and reacting with an "Everything's Great" smiley happy face when your body and life are so totally out of whack. I don't think most people understand how common a problem this is for most women.

Anyone as disappointed with The Shins' Wincing The Night Away as I am? After the first four songs, which are rather nice, I feel…honk-shooooo, honk-shooooo…soooo sleepy. What annoys me too is that the quite similar and overall better Pernice Brother’s album, Live A Little, which came out last winter, never got the sort of media attention or promo opportunities The Shins are now receiving. Why? Because the Pernice Brothers ain’t pretty. The Shins are relatively cute. Having seen them live (and they were great btw) I can tell you this is even a really flattering picture of the Pernice Brothers. Their new bass player has a mullet and looks like he may have been in Toto (as Dave so astutely pointed out). Yeah, I know this focus on appearance is nothing new, but I think we forget it affects dudes too.

I'm sort of obsessed with Scottish Folds.

I veer between feeling sorry for Britney Spears (people take advantage of her!) and being very angry at her (she has kids!). Here I go being all puritan, but when you have kids you really shouldn’t be out every night exposing your lady garden (as Amy Poehler so elegantly put it) or in a state of half dress. You have a responsibility to not be photographed in your underwear out at a club. And really, is that so hard a goal to accomplish? Does she have people watching her kids at night? Sure she does. And I’m sure they are confident and capable. But it’s also important to be there for them at night, when they wake up and are scared. I’m no stranger to celebrity gossip - I like to read about ugly dresses and ridiculous break ups and get togethers as much as the next person. But this is not just a girl in an ugly dress. I'm starting to feel guilty and concerned. It’s not at all entertaining to see someone’s breakdown being broadcast for public consumption. And yet, it’s hard to look away.

I actually feel a lot more sorry for Anna Nicole Smith, a Marilyn Monroe wannabe who stopped going to school after 8th grade. Though it’s embarrassing to admit that I just read 5 or 6 pages of a court document on Smoking Gun outlining her relationship with J. Howard this morning, doing so led me to conclude she was certainly entitled to some cash after his death -- and to have the relationship acknowledged. Apparently they had a relationship for three or four years (he was even planning on adopting her son) before they were married and it was pretty clear to both parties what the terms were all along. Anna Nicole wasn’t smart enough to survive on her own, but was smart enough to find someone who could help her and it does seem as though she had genuine regard for her protector. All in all, she seems to have turned out more like Jayne Mansfield than Marilyn, though all met with curious deaths. Perhaps Britney will be next?

This sorta makes me want to stop reading celebrity gossip. Sorta. Can I be reformed?

Saturday, Frankie, Dave, Dave's Mom Judy and I went up to the "Arms Around Northcross" protest at Northcross Mall. I was surprised to see so many people on a cold Saturday morning. It was actually very inspiring. They did indeed have people around the entire mall -- in total, around 2,500 people. And yet the TV news coverage I saw via the internets was really shoddy and liked to focus on the fact that ther weren't MORE people. 2,500 isn't enough??? Gosh, I wonder if Wal-Mart happens to advertise on these stations. They focused on either teenagers that were there (?) or the radical contingency who are all "No Corporations!". Sadly, that was a tiny percentage of the people there - most were families who don't want to see their neighborhood deteriorate. Geez, what a bunch of crazies, right? The Statesman again gave poor coverage of the event and story in general (an article in the business section after they were announced as a tenant practically crawled right up Wal-Mart's ass & their understanding of events is pretty poor), not a surprise for the conservative rag.

So, Molly Ivins has to die instead of Karl Rove? "Why doesn't Karl Rove get cancer?" I asked my friend, Dirty Weekender. "Yeah, he should have cancer of the soul" she answered.

Molly remembered here.