upside down world

11 Things: Upside down world

Thursday, November 8, 2007

1. San Francisco: Gentrifying faster than you can say the word "gentrify."
Wealth now celebrated like a whore in Hollywood.

Upside: 96 Hours offers cheap alternatives.
Downside: Rich people don't.

2. The mayor: A wealthy young socialite in charge of a famously liberal city.
He ran without a serious challenger.

Upside: The imaginary race in my mind was wildly entertaining.
Downside: Matt Gonzalez may have actually won this time around.

3. Global warming: Al Gore wins an Oscar.
Arnold Schwarzenegger takes some political initiative.

Upside: Canada looking better and better.
Downside: Not having children looking better and better.

4. International politics: Bleeding heart conservatives.
Isolationist liberals.

Upside: Hillary Clinton coasting right along.
Downside: Hillary Clinton coasting right along.

5. Fiscal politics: Republicans spending like there's no tomorrow.
Democrats pleading for responsibility.

Upside: Still working on this one.
Downside: Been working on it for at least the past five years.

6. MySpace: Everyone hates Rupert Murdoch.
He owns the most popular social network on the Web.

Upside: Fun with irony.
Downside: Socializing without socializing.

7. Reality: Reality owns TV.
TV no longer owns reality.

Upside: TV no longer owns reality.
Downside: Reality owns TV.

8. Life: The public is becoming private.
The private is becoming public.

Upside: Mercenaries like Blackwater get exposed.
Downside: Mercenaries like Britney Spears get exposed.

9. Tolerance: Tolerance no longer tolerated.
Intolerance is.

Upside: Wake-up call for those paying attention.
Downside: Nobody is.

10. Religion: Skeptics met with skepticism.
Believers met with belief.

Upside: I'm listening to "Highway to Hell."
Downside: I'm going to hell.

11. News: The Internet no longer fights to keep up with the news.
The news fights to keep up with the Internet.

Upside: Today is tomorrow.
Downside: Yesterday's gone.

- Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/07/NSP7T6NCV.DTL
This article appeared on page G - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle