The choice is yours....

I must confess- I'm a political junkie.

Not only do I watch the returns for the US presidential primaries come in (on CNN online, since Calvin and I have the most basic cable package ever), but I have watched ::ahem:: caucusing on ::cough cough:: C-SPAN. (That's what happens when you get 10 or so like minded grad students in the room. We're surprisingly apolitical, and spend more time analyzing the analysis- "That's what the polls say, but are they looking at likely voters? In what states? What's the margin of error?"- than we do about rooting for the victory of one candidate over another.)

Needless to say, I am very interested in the results of "Super Tuesday", or if you will, "Super Duper Tuesday." And I'm all for getting people out to vote.

But Brides Decide? Um, no. It just doesn't make sense to me to view "brides" as a specific demographic within the electorate. Gender, race and income- those demographics make sense. But getting married? I see no common thread at all between women getting married, except that they are women.

While the site has some information about the candidates (as well as some wedding pictures; noticeably absent are Barack Obama and John McCain), it just strikes me as, well, a little bit silly. Why would I turn to Brides Decide when I could check out CNN or the New York Times?

And I really disagree with their advice to pay attention to the articles and polls dealing with issues "concerning women voters." First of all, while some issues are often considered women's issues (such as abortion), the ones that the article cites are the war in Iraq, healthcare, and taxes. Last time I checked, those issues were gender neutral.

I don't buy the whole "Bride Decide" thing. But I am incredibly fascinated by politics. So:

Is there anyone else out there more interested in the latest political analysis than invitation colors? (And anyone have any predictions for Super Tuesday?)

To read or not to read

This may have come through in my last post regarding a certain article in a certain magazine, but just in case there was any ambiguity-

I don't really like bridal magazines. Yes, that even includes you:

Image found here.

I just don't get it. Nearly all of the information found in the magazines is available online- even the projects that aren't officially published find their way into the blogosphere. I must confess that I have purchased a few magazines (3 in total; two Martha Stewart and one Bride and Bloom- the latter which actually had very few ads), but haven't really found them to be particularly useful or inspiring.

Maybe this is because of the non-traditional nature of much of our wedding day. No need to worry about the veil, since I'm wearing my mom's; no need to worry about cake since we aren't having it. Poofy dresses were never really my style, and the bridesmaid dresses are from J Crew, so that right there eliminates 90% of the magazine.

I can't count the number of times that I have picked up a bridal mag, only to put it down, trembling in fear, and reached for the nearest Vogue instead- although it has just as many (or even more!) ads, the photographs are much more stimulating.

I'm a DIY kind of gal for a lot of things, but so many items in the magazines are really expensive, and that just doesn't fly with me. I'm also pretty against a lot of the "wedding industrial complex", which means that if a company advertises items that are absolutely necessary for getting married, it makes me want to run away as fast as my heads, waving my hands and shrieking in fear. For a translation:

Items like this:

If you must, inflatable wedding arch available purchase here; originally spotted here.

Make me want to do this:

Original images found here and here.

Seriously. Does anyone else feel this way?