The Iowa caucus is tomorrow night and I’m not even going to try to predict the outcome. The polls are all over the place, but I must admit that I’m hopeful Edwards will come out on top. As for the Republican side of things, I’d like to see Ron Paul get put out of his misery so that his supporters can turn off their computers and go back to reading The Fountainhead for the nth time. That’s probably expecting too much, though. Frankly, I regard the whole caucus process as woefully undemocratic. Why should ten percent of voting-age adults of a relatively obscure Midwestern state exercise such tremendous influence on the selection of a presidential nominee? I get the fact that we like to perpetuate the myth of the heartland as the soul of the nation, but it’s just that, a myth. Not to pick on Iowa, but it’s hardly representative of the country as a whole. Hell, it’s not even that representative of the upper Midwest. The Iowa caucus is just one more example of American tradition getting in the way of progress.

All bloggers are mandated to post some kind of end-of-the-year list. Bloggers who don’t comply risk ostracism and snarky, veiled put-downs from their peers. Since my need for approval can politely be described as “all-consuming”, here’s my obligatory list:

Best Movie I Saw in A Theater: The Lives of Others At a time when Americans are becoming ever more complacent about daily intrusions into our privacy, this brilliant film is a devastating study of a total surveillance society and its effects on both the watchers and the watched.

Best Movie I Watched at Home: Pan’s Labyrinth This fairy tale for adults is a powerful reminder that fantasy doesn’t have to be about boy wizards or talking lions with messiah complexes.

Best Book I Read: Spin by Robert Charles Wilson Anyone who says that science fiction can’t rival the artfulness of mainstream literature needs to have this book shoved into their faces. I’m anxious to see if Wilson can deliver another bravura performance in his sequel Axis.

Best Album I Heard: Untrue by Burial I didn’t know this artist until a few weeks ago, but his ghostly electronica is enthralling.

Most Disappointing Political Trend: The Democratic Congressional Majority that Wasn’t Yes, they raised the minimum wage, but that doesn’t excuse all the other times they allowed the Republicans to bend them over the table.

Biggest Thrill for Me (Not Involving Fishnet Stockings): Blogging for the BBC Any other media outlets interested in my services?

Happy New Year, Constant Readers. Here’s hoping 2008 brings me lots more fuel to feed the blogging fires.

When my brother arrived last weekend, he told me in no uncertain terms that he wanted to spend a week vegging out and playing computer games. Always one to oblige my guests, I downloaded a copy of BioShock. It’s been years since I’ve played a first-person shooter, but comparing this game to earlier standards of the genre is like comparing a Lamborghini to a Big Wheel. Yes, it’s a shooter and the primary goal is still to blow stuff up, except that you get to blow stuff up in a beautifully realized undersea city with an unfolding story that is equal parts James Bond and 1984. It’s the kind of game that helps me justify the money I poured into my new system. I don’t know if we’ll reach the game’s end before my brother leaves next week, but we’ll have fun trying.

If you’re coping with dyslexia, take heart. You could one day become a successful business magnate, thereby mocking all of us part-time bloggers who have deluded ourselves into thinking that we’re making good use of our English degrees.

My brother is staying with me for the next week and blogging might be more sporadic until the end of the year. Incidentally, I had the opportunity to mess around with my brother’s iPhone. I’m normally indifferent to cell phones, but I could probably be convinced to give up my landline in exchange for one of these at some point. The storage capacity needs to increase and it needs to be provider-neutral before I’ll seriously consider it. Still, I felt a goofy smile spread across my face as I admired the touch interface and the purty display.