Blandella

Babysitting

2009-04-28T21:17:00.003-06:00

I was talking to my niece recently, and was flabbergasted to hear that she was getting paid nearly $10/hour to babysit and watch "Hannah Montana." Then, I realized we have the same job. *sigh*

Modern Discourse

2009-04-23T21:16:00.002-06:00

I hate walking into conversations where someone is automatically looking for confrontation. I don't generally like confrontation, but I hate it even worse when someone is looking for validation to their opinions, and can only feel validated if they've somehow intimidated or bullied other people into agreeing to their view. Its a poor form of intellectual dishonesty, and more importantly, it shows a real lack of emotional intelligence and maturity.

Yeah, that's right, I'm actually complaining about someone lacking maturity.

My problem is that modern discourse seems to have faded from the society I find myself in. Instead, it has been replaced by the modern viper-pit of back biting and venom that usually constrains itself to catty blog comments. It seems that the anonymity of writing horrific comments on blogs has emboldened a number of people to start saying similar things in real life. Why must everything be so polemic? Why must everyone have to fight (and notice I don't say argue, because there's no trying to see one another's point of view anymore) instead of finding points of commonality? And more importantly, why does everyone feel that they have to serve righteous indignation with their quest for validation?

Frankly, I'm getting tired of it, and tired of walking into these emotional/verbal time bombs. They're not edifying in any way, and most often, both sides are so riddled with psychic shrapnel that you rarely find survivors.

Perhaps I should stop writing and go buy a bulletproof vest instead. *sigh*

Job Layoffs

2009-04-22T21:41:00.000-06:00

Surviving the latest round of job layoffs is like being a contestant on American Idol, but nobody blogs nasty things about me the next day.

One chain of slavery down...

2008-09-03T21:38:00.002-06:00

I got rid of my mobile phone last week. Well, let me be honest... it was gotten rid of for me. The friend I'd been sharing an account with freaked out on me and kicked me off his account. I found out over a passive-aggressive email complete with ultimatum/deadline that I received after the deadline. I am not glued to my computer 24/7, so I realized this wasn't the best way to get in touch with me. There's nothing like finding out your phone has been cut off before you actually had a chance to read the email.

I thought it would be the end of life as I know it. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. I'm tasting a freedom I'd forgotten about. I don't have a tether anymore. I don't have to feel like I'm on call every minute of my life. I don't have to live through stupid text conversations. People aren't soundbites anymore.

I got a house phone. Damn, the 70s were so much easier for a reason. Technology just breeds new forms of slavery, and I'm trying to find some more time in my day.

And most importantly, I'm alive. I can do this, and damnit, it's kinda fun.

The Agenda: Sam Sparro

2008-08-08T10:59:00.003-06:00

The first thing I want to get right is that his name is pronounced "sparrow" like the bird. I don't want anyone else making the same foolish mistake I did of walking around talking about Sam Spar-oh and looking like a total idiot.

Sam Sparrow's debut album is a lot of fun. It's pretty much what you would expect if you crossed Jamie Lidell's soulful sounds with the fun/campiness of the Scissor Sisters. I've listened to the album a few times now, and can heartily recommend it to anyone who happens to like either of those groups - and yes, homos, you know who you are. And yes, homos, Sam is family.

Sam's first single is Black and Gold. I realized I'd been listening to a remix of it for about a month, but never had listened to the original until about a week ago. It's funny how those things work out. If you want a great remix of the song, I also recommend checking out the Russ Chimes remix. I'd love to dance to it in a club.

Here's Black and Gold for your listening enjoyment.

Glowing (which part?) Reviews

2008-08-08T10:51:00.002-06:00

I was just reading reviews for the Holga camera on Amazon.com. I have the Diana + and really enjoy it, and Shawn mentioned that he'd like to get a camera kind of like it. I was thinking I would get him a Holga for a birthday present, since it's coming up. And now that I said that... I really hope he doesn't know this blog is here.

Here's one Holga review that instantly caught my eye:

I've been shooting porn digitally for years and my results have been getting stale. More megapixel really isn't the way to SEX IT UP. The unpredictable nature of the Holga combined with rich Fuji Velvia 120 gives me the old 1970's look I lost when my models began shaving their kootches.

If that doesn't make you want to run out and grab a Holga, I don't know what will.

Avalanche

2008-08-04T12:27:00.003-06:00

Some days it seems like life is like an avalanche, with you trying your darndest to outrun it, knowing the entire time that the smallest misstep will lead to your inevitable demise. It seems like the avalanche used to just be about money. You could never have enough, and the bills just seemed to get bigger each passing year. Then the technology avalanche comes crashing down around you, sending you skittering with refreshed vigor. You need a new iPod so you can watch videos on it, but then you need more albums to download to fill the iPod, and then you realize that the groups you listen to are inferior to the groups your friends are listening to. They rule, you suck... you're not even beginning to realize how the word "obscure" is a badge of honor, not a lack of advertising. You were listening to the new Coldplay when you should have been listening to the new Sam Sparro (which you pronounced incorrectly... it's said like the bird.)

You didn't respond to the text messages quickly enough. You ignored my IMs. I won't respond to your IM until you respond to my text through a text - no, you're going about it all wrong, and my ego is not stroked enough yet. I will throw a few more pebbles on your ever expanding avalanche of money/technology/time/relationship/work guilt that snaps at your heels and constantly threatens to do you in.

Then you find a small sanctuary; a small hiding place where you can stop and breathe and feel a little serene. You watch others running from their avalanches and you start to realize that most avalanches don't need to be so big, and are usually self-created.

Neologisms and Portmanteus

2008-07-30T12:19:00.002-06:00

Is it just me, or does there seem to be about 20 new neologisms and portmanteaus every time you read something on the internet? I think it's a requirement for snarky gossip blogs to create at least three new ones every day, and that's not counting the new proper-name portmanteaus being created like brangelina, LiLo, etc. ad nauseum.)

It's nearly as bad as seeing the same 10-dollar-words being used in blog entries over and over - schadenfreude anyone?

I often wonder if the internet and other new media will lead to the complete dumbing down of society, or if the rising ranks of self-published proletarian will revolutionize the English language more than we could possibly foresee.

The Agenda: Adele

2008-07-30T09:22:00.002-06:00

I love my iPod shuffle most days, but I especially love it this morning. I was just walking to my favorite coffee shop when a song by Adele came on the iPod. I've listened to her album a few times, but I don't think I've ever really listened to it. As the song started to play, I realized it had a haunting piano melody very reminiscent of "Breathe Me" by Sia. Then, I realized I was getting that same choked-up feeling I get when I listen to that song. I could feel the pressure behind my eyes begging to be released in a flood of tears, despite the fact I really didn't feel the need to cry any time soon.

About 10 seconds later, I heard the lines "I like it in the city when the air is so thick and opaque/I love to see everybody in short skirts, shorts and shades" and I was instantly transported back to England. I miss it at times, but I think I miss the urban experience and the freedom more than I actually miss England. I experienced the same thing on my recent trip to Seattle. Maybe it was the rain, or leisurely wandering around downtown, but I felt so alive all the sudden. Idaho can make you feel like dust at times. It wears you down and dries you out, and you wonder if you're even alive under the layers of discarded skin and dead memories.

I've been wondering what to do with my future. Shawn really likes it here now, and I've got a sweet deal with the university. Hell, it will cost me about $150 to take 7 credits this fall semester, so I can't really complain. But honestly, I feel this need to move on. This need to get away from my family and their silly drama and how sick it tends to make me, physically and mentally. The mental seems to always hurt the most. It hurts me, it hurts Shawn. I've got to figure something out.

Anyways, here is Adele's "Hometown Glory" in all of its mp3 glory. Enjoy.

Quote of the Day

2008-07-29T09:38:00.004-06:00

Greece persists in being very hot and beautiful. We saw giant turtles being chased like they were starlets without panties.

Such beautiful prose with a pop-culture twist!

Hack/Slash Annual

2008-07-24T15:44:00.003-06:00

Reading the Hack/Slash "SuicideGirls" Annual comic while you wait for your Chinese food in a very public area probably isn't the best idea. Who knew you could put so many cartoon titties on a two page spread? The story is interesting, but like Shawn said, it feels like a Lawnmower Man ripoff.

I don't get the appeal of the SuicideGirls. I keep hearing about straight guys who can't get enough of them, though I'm forced to question why. Is it their "individualistic" fashion sense (which is all "individualistically" purchased at Hot Topic,) bad tattoos, bad hair, faux-lesbianism, lack of personal hygiene (come on, you know these girls are a day away from getting Toxic Shock Syndrome) or penchant for taking nude pics of themselves? I just don't understand the fascination.

Just one more probing question, but a rather important one; shouldn't "SuicideGirls" all have to commit suicide at some point, or does that qualify as false advertising?

O.S.C. is G.A.Y.

2008-07-23T08:46:00.002-06:00

Shawn found out the other day that Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game was going to get the comic book treatment. Or, maybe it was a movie. Frankly, I couldn't be bothered to keep it all straight. Either way, it reminded me of OSC and my long-lost obsession with him.

I went through a phase in either junior high or high school where I read nearly every Orson Scott Card book I could find. The phase ended when I read the crappy space series that was just the story of Nephi and his family from the Book of Mormon rehashed. If we're going to start writing science fiction based on LDS stories, I'm going to write a masterpiece based on Johnny Lingo in space. Mahana will be a 10 Darlaxx woman now, rather than being purchased in cows. Oh yeah... now she's twice as hot.

One thing that always struck me as a little bizarre was that OSC had a few homoerotic themes running in different books. In Songmaster, the proponent is a castrato singer who ends up taking it up the butt from an older guy. And this wasn't just hinted at, it was drawn out in every gay detail you can imagine, and this was the sort of homoerotic writing that could make Poppy Z. Brite blush. The thing is, this is only one of his novels where homosexuality is not a major theme, but a pretty significant one.

So imagine my surprise today when I discover that he's now a huge homophobe who is championing the LDS Church to fight any form of gay rights. He's written some very interesting opinion pieces lately that try the whole "love the sinner, hate the sin" meme that always equates to a gooey Jesus coating with a hard gay-bashing center. Card maintains that he's not a homophobe, and that he loves gays. Yes. I would agree that he does love gay men. How can you write about gay sex scenes (in more than one book) and not love gay men.

Sadly, I think OSC is your average case of self-loathing gay man who has decided to suppress his orientation to elevate his faith. You see this much too often in the Utah/Idaho area, because of the strong LDS influence here. They're the guys who reek of The Gay but are the first to talk shit about out gay people. They're the ones who howl with some twisted sense of schadenfreude when they see guys like Ted Haggard get busted in gay-sex scandals. They're the guys who think everyone is as deceived as they've deceived themselves about their sexuality, even though if you get close enough, you can almost smell cock on their breath because they're so gay.

I guess I'll just go back to forgetting the existence of OSC for a while. He can get his books turned into comics, or movies, or whatever he's doing, and hopefully in a while, I'll see his profile appear on Bear411 or BearCiti, and we'll have a good chuckle over how deluded he was.

Things Raising My Hackles Today

2008-07-22T13:23:00.005-06:00

Reading the sentence "I have to say, I really admire how much Chris Brown and Rihanna are changing the sound of American pop," and realizing there wasn't any hint of sarcasm.

Guys with popped collars. Especially if they're layering collared shirts. Just add a bluetooth headset, and you've officially upgraded to a Douche Bag Deluxe.

People from the department down the hall bringing their crotch fruit to work like it was a state-registered daycare facility.

The downstairs neighbors saying they would rather water the lawn than mow, yet never putting a drop of water on the grass. It will be watered with their blood if they don't get to it soon.

Magazines becoming D-grade blogs in paper form: Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and the Advocate instantly jump to mind. You have to learn to compete with the new media, not ape it in a less interesting way.

Speaking of the Advocate, please stop putting (allegedly) *cough* gay people on your cover who refuse to admit that they're gay. Anderson Cooper must be a lesbian's walking wet dream, because he's one of the biggest twats I've ever seen.

The REAL Family Circus

2008-07-21T15:51:00.002-06:00

I came across this on KnuckleCrack's blog. Ironically, I just watched the movie "Go" last night, where Timothy Olyphant's character reminds us how much The Family Circus sucks.

The Other Family

Haloscan Back

2008-07-16T15:18:00.002-06:00

I finally remembered the original email/password I used to set up my Haloscan comments. I'd forgotten that it was set up under an email and password I haven't used for a really long time.

I even got the colors of the templates to match. Hooray!

Now, if I ever get comments again, I'll see if it was worth all the trouble. ;)

New Template

2008-07-15T12:02:00.001-06:00

I was getting really tired of the old layout, so I upgraded to a new template. I forgot that my Haloscan comments would get lost in the process. I'll have to work on getting those back up.

In the meantime, enjoy the new look, and hopefully I'll get something more up soon.

Dr. Horrible

2008-07-15T11:33:00.003-06:00

How did I not know about Joss Whedon's new online musical Dr. Horrible? I had to find out about it reading Katie's copy of TV Guide this morning. I want to see the first episode, but the website has been down all morning. *sigh*

Here's to hoping we can see it later.

Traveling With Film

2008-06-20T08:12:00.002-06:00

If you're like Syndie and I, and have decided to selectively ignore the digital revolution, you may be interested in knowing how to get camera film through an airport. I bought a Lomographic Society's Diana+ camera a few months ago, and have grand intentions to take fun photos during my trip to Seattle. I'd love to take some pics at the George Michael concert, but I figure I'll get enough dirty looks in my kilt, let alone with a plastic 1960s replica camera around my neck.

Since I haven't traveled with film since the early 90's, I thought I better do some research. After numerous Google searches, and an intense fear of having to buy an expensive lead bag for my film, I realized I could have just gone to the TSA site and gotten the information. Oh well. My researching pain is now your convenience.

Sexy Summer TV

2008-06-19T18:52:00.002-06:00

I've happened across two of the best written and sexiest shows I've seen in a while. The first I happened to come across by chance on tv last Thursday night. It's Swingtown on CBS, and it's an incredibly intriguing show involving a couple who moves into a new home, and their open-relationship neighbors who are determined to help them blossom. I happened in on the second episode of the show, and I was instantly hooked. I just watched the pilot, and was in awe. I can't wait for the third episode tonight!

The other show is Secret Diary of a Call Girl from the UK's ITV2, but is being aired on Showtime in the US. It features Billie Piper (Rose from the revamp of Doctor Who) as a community sex provider (aka prostitute) in London. I'm only halfway through it, but it was good enough to stop and blog about.

I'm looking forward to a summer full of great television, for the first time in a really long time.

The Agenda: MGMT

2008-06-17T13:34:00.002-06:00

This week's Agenda is dedicated to the band MGMT. They're one of those bands who leave you scratching your head wondering how they actually got a recording contract. I don't mean that in the "how the frak did Scarlett Johansen get a recording contract because she can't sing" kind of way, but in the "wow, there really isn't any commercial appeal here" kind of way. They certainly defy the homogenized sounds you so often hear on the radio these days. Hell, even the iTunes top albums are pretty rancid for the most part. Then again, that's what happens when you let 13-year-old girls dictate pop culture.

But I digress. I've been listening to MGMT's album for a week now, and it's definitely an eclectic affair. They go from sounding like a lost brit-pop group circa 1992 to sounding like James Murphy's lost love child. Personally, I'm digging it quite a bit right now. They kind of remind me of Ghostland Observatory, because they're quirky, fun, mellow, and exotic, all at the same time.

I also just watched their video for the new song Electric Feel on their homepage. I'd link to the video, but it's in some weird QuickTime format that looks pretty damn amazing. I suggest you head over to their site and give it a look. It's kind of like a scene from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe if they'd decided to use futuristic-retro neo-pagan slacker-hippies instead of CGI animals and had thought it would be a good idea to drop a bunch of acid and make the movie. I also need a pair of 3-D glasses because I really want to see the 3-D version of their video for Time to Pretend.

Quick TV Observations

2008-06-16T19:04:00.002-06:00

1. The faux-hawk is dead. Tired. Finished. Please stop sporting it, people. Oh, and apparently it is still the hip hair du jour in SLC (at least at Pride) but that doesn't make it right. 3000 SLC homos CAN be wrong.

2. Rachel Ray: please never wear the blue silk top that had the weird knot piece below your breasts. Blech! The color was all wrong, the drape was rather dowdy, and most importantly (and sadly) it made you look portly. Yes, I just went all "Project Runway" on your ass. Now fire your stylist before I feel compelled to comment on the new hair.

3. TV on Monday nights is the true abomination in Gawd's eyes. It's all either family-friendly drivel, or political pundits playing the straight equivalent of angertwinks on the news. Either way, both types of programs are equally likely to give me shingles.

4. Bill Engvall was on CMT doing some stupid interview, and he was looking good. Keep up the good work, Bill.

5. My Firefox browser has stopped displaying images or playing mp3s correctly. While this is not connected to the tv at all, I will still blame it on the tv, because it is a big black box of suck.

Been Sick

2008-06-13T12:10:00.002-06:00

I got sick this week. What I thought had just been bad allergies transformed into a bad cold sometime between sleep and waking on Wednesday morning. I think the transformation was pushed along by the smoke in the bar on Tuesday night. Shawn decided we should go out Tuesday night, for one beer and one karaoke song. We ended up staying for almost 2 hours, as I got suckered into the karaoke contest (which I won, and now have a standing date for the last Tuesday of the month to compete in the larger contest... sheesh.)

I ended up missing 2 days of work, which sucks because I've now used up all of my paid sick leave, as well as losing the paid vacation hours for this pay period. Being an adult totally sucks. Being responsible is highly overrated. I wish I was a kid again. I'd gladly give up my economic freedom (what tiny bit there is) for being able to just play with my Transformers all day.

The Agenda: Amy W.

2008-06-10T21:55:00.003-06:00

I just decided that I'm going to choose Amy for the Agenda this week. I know that most people have heard her Back to Black album, but I'm surprised how many people in the US don't even know that she has another album, which was her first.

So, in honour of Amy and her issues, here's Help Yourself from her album Frank.

Amy Winehouse

2008-06-10T21:44:00.004-06:00

She's in the news again. This time, it's for a video of her doing a footie chant that had a lot of racist terms in it. Her husband recorded it one night, when he'd told her he wasn't. Amy claims that she didn't mean to be a racist, and she isn't a racist, and that it was just a footie chant. After hearing some of the late-night drunken footie chants while living in Plymouth, it sounds completely true to me.

I was just listening to her two albums. She's amazing. I wish she'd get off some of the drugs, but I'm not going to judge or castigate her because of them. Hell, how many other celebrities do drugs like I do antacids? People need to cut her some slack and leave her alone. I think the media (worldwide) was so happy to watch Britney implode that they're doing their best to replicate it with Amy.

Keep on, girl. You're better than them.

Sex and the Town

2008-06-09T20:24:00.003-06:00

Shawn and I went to see Sex and the City: The Movie this Saturday. It's the first movie we've gone to since The Orphanage scared the poop out of me last winter. Don't get me wrong; I see a lot of movies, just not at the theatres.

I have to say that SATC:TM is one of the best films that I've seen for a while. You get the closure that you never really got with the ending of the series, and you also get some resolution to a few things that may have rubbed some viewers the wrong way with the end of the series. The movie is also really long but it didn't feel long at all. It felt like you were watching an elongated episode - but I mean that in every best sense. Hell, they even wink at themselves when there's an order of cosmos that comes to their table. And damnit, I wish I was there with those fun-loving women.

I've heard some bitchy reviews for the movie, but they all seem to be from men, and one gets the general impression they either never watched the show, or didn't like it. Entertainment Weekly offered a fairly misogynistic article about how they would shorten the film, full of spoilers and bitterness. I had a mixture of disappointment and disgust when I read it, but shouldn't have been surprised, since that seems to be my general impression of EW the past few months.

I suggest you get your finest Prada bag out, grab your Hermes jacket, and head to the nearest theater to see this one.

Lost a Contract

2008-06-05T16:08:00.003-06:00

I lost my contract with the Blackfoot Performing Arts Center for doing their brochures for the fall/spring season. I lost the contract because I didn't get back to the woman on time, and she went through someone else.

It's a mixed blessing. I'll miss the money, but it was such a pain last year that it really put me off working for them again. There were a million last-minute changes and sudden side projects for them, and although they paid me, it wasn't a good experience. I also haven't done any kind of graphic arts work in over 6 months, so I think I was a little scared of what I would produce.

I need to do some graphics work soon though, because I don't want to lose those skills by not doing them. I keep thinking about working on the indie magazine I proposed a few months ago, but haven't done anything about it. Maybe now is that time. Maybe I'll do a little side project, similar to the Weather (our coffee friends in Poky know what that is) just to do something.

The Agenda: Santogold

2008-06-05T16:02:00.002-06:00

Santogold is getting a lot of comparisons to M.I.A., but I don't really see it myself, except on two songs. I actually like that her album tends to go from a MIA type of sound to full-on dance rock. It's a fun album if you listen to the full thing in context.

I did read an interesting review in the iTunes store saying that it was about time an alternative-music artist who was black came along. I guess Kenna hadn't been on their radar yet. ;)

Here's Santogold's Say Aha. I tried to go for a song that's more of a combination of the two musical poles Santogold tends to swing between.

Peaches or Coconuts?

2008-05-22T18:51:00.002-06:00

I was just watching a travel show where the host was discussing a chat she'd had with two French men. The men had said that there are two people in the world: peaches and coconuts. Peaches are all fuzzy on the outsize but have a dark, hard pit on the inside. Coconuts are hard on the outside, but are sweet on the inside.

After being in Europe, it actually makes a lot of sense. People there are initially more reserved and inaccessible, but after a short time, you get to really now them. People here tend to be open and friendly at the beginning, but then you realize you probably won't get to know the real them, and usually it's pretty bitter at its core.

I never thought I'd say this, but hopefully I'm a coconut. Then again, I'm becoming pretty frakking jaded, so maybe I am just a peach.

Taco Hell

2008-05-22T14:20:00.003-06:00

I ran into my old boss today at Taco Bell, and was reminded what a huge douche bag he is. I saw him get out of his car ahead of me, and almost considered going somewhere else, but decided I hadn't ever done anything wrong, and he should be the abashed one who went elsewhere. I said hi to him, because he was staring at me on my way in, but I wasn't polite. I didn't hold the door for him, and ignored him the rest of the time I was in there.

I tried to leave that job on a good note, but he wouldn't leave me be, and thus deserves nothing but my condemnation. What he demanded I do on my second to last day was unethical and illegal, and adding the phrase "you're still under contractual obligation" just made it even more so on both ends. I realized today how angry I still am about the situation from last fall.

Oh, and here's a news flash dude; you're not a real ally to LGBT people at all, because you exploit them to further your own professional status. You're just as disgusting as those fascists at Focus on the Family. Actually, you're worse. At least they have the dignity to be open about their willingness to use and abuse LGBT people for their own personal gains, while you rely on subterfuge to get the same end result.

California Dreamin'

2008-05-21T20:40:00.004-06:00

The Agenda: The Ting Tings

2008-05-21T16:18:00.003-06:00

I have an agenda. It's to get people to listen to more diverse musical acts, and experience an artist they might not normally gravitate towards. (Unless you're Rui, in which case you probably heard their album 2 months before I even heard of the group. He's amazing that way.)

This week's spotlight artist is the Ting Tings. I don't really know much about them, and can't be bothered to look up info about them. I just know that they kind of sound like a quirky mix of CSS and New Young Pony Club. One of their songs is on an iPod ad right now, but our tv reception is crap so I haven't seen it. I just listened to the clips on iTunes and though the album was worth checking out.

Since today is cloudy and gross, I decided to add a sprinkle of sunshine by offering the Ting Ting's Fruit Machine. Enjoy!

Storm is comin'

2008-05-21T01:44:00.002-06:00

Our weather has been really odd as of late. It's gone from the mid-60's last week to the lower 90s over the weekend, and now it's going to return to the 60s for a while. I really just wish it would find some consistency, rather that be warm or cool.

There was a big wind storm this evening. Shawn and I got to see all of the lights on Yellowstone Ave. go out as we pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot. I know it sounds dumb, but I thought I'd gone blind or something, because suddenly there was no light except the dashboard in the 4Runner. It only took me a second to figure out what'd happened, but I felt like the blind sister in Little House on the Prairie. Scratch that... I totally felt like her hot blind boyfriend. Shawn could be the blind sister.

Pandora Radio

2008-05-15T16:45:00.003-06:00

I usually love Pandora radio, because you're able to create your own stations and tailor it to your own tastes. I have an adult alternative one, a Brit(ish) one, a mellow jazz one, well, you get the idea. Lately though, it seems like they've been picking some seriously odd songs, or just playing 10 remixes from the same LP over and over. I swear if I heard one more crap remix of "Ice Cream" by New Young Pony Club, I was gonna throw the work computer off the desk.

Hopefully it gets a little better soon, or I figure out how to make it better.

Well, if Opieblue can do it...

2008-05-15T16:40:00.002-06:00

I just saw that Opieblue was blogging again after a year, so I figured maybe I could too. Perhaps I'll get some of the diaries I've posted over at Pam's House Blend and post them here for filler. Perhaps I won't. Either way, I feel inclined to blog again. And yes, I did say that just a few months ago and then drop it. Such is the way of life.

Crazy Sexy Cancer

2007-09-06T13:51:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Chris Glass, I just saw a trailer for a really interesting looking documentary. Crazy Sexy Cancer follows the life of a young woman who discovers she has a rare and lethal form of cancer, and how she learns to fight it, accept it, and discover herself and what really matters. The trailer's only 7 minutes long, but it nearly made me cry. It just reminded me of what's really important in life, and how quickly our lives can change dramatically.

I want to change some things in my life, and I hope that it'll be easier with Shawn's help when he gets here next week. I want to be healthier. I want to be better at making my own happiness. I want to learn to prioritize better. I want to learn to set better boundaries. I want to live an fuller life. And no, I don't want no damn Jesus, so don't try to sell my any.

Moving

2007-09-01T11:28:00.000-06:00

I hate moving. Now that I'm in the new place, I should feel relieved, but instead, I'm filled with a sense of dread because the new place could use a thorough cleaning and I have no desire to do so. I'm content to live with a living room full of boxes and bags for a while. I need a break to recover from the many trips up and down my stairs-of-doom at the old place. Besides, I already had to clean the bathroom this morning in the new place so that I could use it.

Instead of cleaning and unpacking, I think I'll just be lazy and play on the internet in the coffee shop instead.

Fresh Cut Grass

2007-08-27T23:05:00.000-06:00

I kept smelling fresh cut grass tonight, which was odd, because I was sitting in my office. It took me a while to realize it was grass caught in my shoes from using them as brakes while we slid down a large hill on a block of ice. It was actually a lot of fun, despite the "train" accident and subsequent smashing of someone else's genitals.

Ah, the joys of fall evenings.

Chinese in the Park

2007-06-21T23:08:00.000-06:00

Syndie and I went to one of the most awful movies I've seen in quite some time tonight. If you've ever thought about watching the film "Reign Over Me" - don't. It was boring drivel that managed to make something novel and personal into boring and trite. I think the movie might have been two hours long, but it felt at least like 5 hours passed in the theater. That's never a good sign for a movie.

The one thing to come from the film was a hankering for Chinese food. Adam Sandler's whiney-ass character is always wanting Chinese food. So, Syndie and I went and got takeout, then went up to the city park a few blocks away and ate our food. As we were about to leave, the sprinkler system turned on and we ran shrieking from our table as cold water sprayed across us. It was shocking, yet refreshing... very unlike the film we'd seen just before then.

Scary Movies

2007-05-23T11:08:00.001-06:00

Last night, Kellyn asked me what the scariest movie I'd ever seen was. I had to think about it, since I went through a phase during high school where my friend Jason and I watched hardly anything but horror films. I'm pretty sure we'd seen nearly every horror VHS tape our little rental shop owned.

Initially, I'd told Kellyn that it had been "Lady in White" which is quite a scary movie, from what I remember. I just remember getting really into it and being quite freaked out.

When I got home though, I got thinking about it more, and remembered the uber-creepy "Suspiria" by Dario Argento. It's a tripped out film about a Yank girl who goes to dance school in Europe, and discovers that there's something evil afoot at the dance academy.

I found a copy of it today, and I can't tell you how excited I am to watch this film again. Even if it's not as scary as I remember, it's got a copy of the soundtrack by Goblin, and that sure as hell is enough to scare anyone.

An Ode to Circus Animal Cookies

2007-05-21T15:34:00.000-06:00

Circus Animal Cookies,
Taste So Good!
Make Me Happy,
Like I'm On Mt. Hood.
Eating Them With Coffee,
So Suck My Tit,
If You Don't Like Circus Animal Cookies,
Because They're The Sh*t!

GP Website

2007-05-21T15:28:00.001-06:00

I was so busy enjoying my time off that I completely forgot to post a link to the website I made for the Genesis Project for my final project in my web design course. It was supposed to be a group project, so of course I ended up making 95% of it by myself. Thanks to Anthony though, we got our registration forms working, which makes me happy.

If you check out the pics at the top of each page, they reload with a new image when you go to a new page or reload the current page. I'll probably work on making some more headers for the site when I'm not swamped with getting ready for SLC Pride and Camp Genesis.

Genesis Project Website

School's Out For Summer!

2007-05-11T11:50:00.000-06:00

Today's my last final, possibly forever, possibly for a short time. I can't believe that my time here at ISU is coming to a close, at least for my undergrad degree.

I turn in my web sites for web design at 3pm today, and then I'm free. I should have worked a bit more on my redesign for my personal site, but it makes me mad that he wants me to actually redesign my site so that it looks UGLY. Design professors with no sense of aesthetic value make me sick.

Enough of this self-reflection stuff though. If you need me, I'll be off partying.

No More Bear on the Bus

2007-05-11T11:40:00.000-06:00

I just got reading a very sad story over at Pam's House Blend. A bus driver in Georgia was fired after his Bear411 profile was passed through the school where he worked. Once again, it more or less boiled down to a "protect the children" and a "pushing his sex life on others" defense.

For the record, you have to be a registered user to be able to search the site. You can access someone's profile by accessing the link directly, but you have to know that person's profile name. So, obviously, some wanker was on there for whatever reason, and wanted to get somebody else fired.

I'm tired of vindictive assholes. I'm tired of people being so vicious towards each other. I'm tired of America. I can't imagine what we'd do if we found out that Lady Liberty was a Muslim lesbian. I can just imagine a giant statue burning, surrounded by a crowd with pitchforks, as real liberty and justice look on and weep.

Avant-garde Book

2007-05-08T16:52:00.000-06:00

I turned in my final book project today, and I'm kind of worried about it. I tried to go avant-garde with my final design, since it had worked so well for me on the previous project. I just think I may have gone a bit too avant-garde for Pocatello. It's technically a book, but the form and function has been completely messed with. It's circular in shape, and kind of looks like a paper octopus exploded on my professor's desk right now. Hell, I should get extra points for experimenting and sewing sheers onto a metal frame though.

It'll be interesting to get feedback after Paula opens her door and finds it on her desk tomorrow. I'm sure she'll not be thrilled about it, but at this point, I don't really care.

I miss the experimental factor and the critical evaluation portions of the education in the UK. They were more impressed with you branching out than they were with the final product, and the critical evaluation allowed you to share what you'd really learned through the course. I know this would have saved me, as I could have defended my work and shown what I'd learned through the course of the class. Oh well. Such is life.

Thanks for the Giggle, Jimbo!

2007-05-08T01:07:00.000-06:00

I'm glad I stop by Jimbo's site periodically. Today, I learned that Duran Duran kicks even more ass than I previously thought, and that there's a Crocs code that mimics the gay Hanky code.

For the record, I still think Crocs are some of the worst shoes ever invented, aesthetically speaking. I don't care if dog turds were the most comfortable things to wear on your feet, you wouldn't wear those out in public, so why wear the equally obnoxious Crocs?

Duran Duran anime fight music video:

On Thursday...

2007-04-30T12:39:00.000-06:00

I was an electric tiger.

Today, I'm something entirely less amazing.

Too much glam rock. Too much Bjork.

Watch Tiger Tunes.

Kelly Clarkson

2007-04-14T16:37:00.000-06:00

Weird. I was just talking with someone (can't remember who) about how Kelly Clarkson was due to grace us with another album. Next thing I know, I'm finding out an hour ago that she has a new single available, called "Never There." I've been listening to the Dave Aude remix non-stop for almost 1/2 hour now.

I wanna dance. I wanna blare the music and see sweaty bodies thrashing about. I miss England, where they'd dance to just about anything. People here will only dance to the most mediocre of the mediocre: blandella at its best.

I'd die of joy if they played this song tonight at Chucks, since I'll be dancing there with Syndie.

Censorship

2007-04-12T13:44:00.000-06:00

I was just censored by a fellow artist on an art project I was working on. Apparently, I somehow slipped back into the 1950s, and the word "panties" is highly offensive, and is was NOT to be used in our group project. I'm sorry... I thought that we were each given a portion of the assignment to work on, and had the option to add our own personality to our own page.

Having your art censored by another artist is bullshit. If anyone should know how vile that is, it should be a fellow artist.

The condition every art requires is, not so much freedom from restriction, as freedom from adulteration and from the intrusion of foreign matter. - James Walker

25% off at Midtown

2007-04-08T21:29:00.000-06:00

Midtown Comics is having a 25% off sale, which is really tempting to partake in, considering the average prices of TPBs. I'm thinking about getting the second installment of "Loveless" and possibly a few others.

In other comics news, Buffy the Vampire Slayer's second issue was great again, and I just found out that Brian K. Vaughan will be writing the second half of the story arc - involving Faith! Faith and Brian K. Vaughan?!? Whooohoooo!

Charleys? (With some minor alterations)

2007-04-01T17:37:00.000-06:00

And now, it seems, they are all here: the handsome masculine ones desired alike by men and women; the gushing swishes, hands aflutter like wings; the few stray women secure among the men who will idolize them but not love them; and as in any group of homosexuals and for those lured for whatever reason to them, there is here a mood of superficial good humor, of euphoria bordering on hysteria.

This quote is from John Rechy's City of Night. It's amazing that I can just come across a quote to pretty much sum up every weekend at Chucks. Nothing has meaning; nothing is real. Friendships and relationships seemingly forged from mutual exploitation, rather than love.

Vapid. Disposable. Trivial. Inconsequential.

A damning summation of my surroundings.

I want out of here.

(Shane, this does not include you.)

Clothes As Pages

2007-04-01T14:47:00.000-06:00

My artist book idea fell apart yesterday, due to some incidents that still chafe my ass. Desperation breeds innovation though, as I've always learned. So, deciding that my original idea to build a small-scale armoire was just too much, I instead made the scale real.

I'm now making a mock closet using one of those portable closets on wheels. I'm using actual shirts/jackets/underwear as pages in my book. I'm painting, and spray painting, and inking a short story on the clothes. And. It. Will. Work. Damnit.

I'm supposed to be writing the story now, but I can't get into it. I think it's gonna have to happen fairly organically. At least, that's what I'm praying right now. I need to look for the photos I'm going to put on the clothes, Banksy style.

Jesus, I hope this works. *sigh*

Pickle Surprise!

2007-03-22T11:50:00.000-06:00

I stumbled upon this video yesterday on YouTube, just by chance. I'm scarred for life and inspired at the same time. I just wish I could find out more information about Tom Rubnitz, since there isn't much about him on the internet. I think I have found my Halloween costume for next year though - I'm totally going to be the Pickle Surprise guy.

Yeah, that is RuPaul and Lady Bunny in the video.

Sick

2007-03-20T18:16:00.000-06:00

I feel like crap.

My eyes burn like someone poured hydrochloric acid on my contacts. My lungs are burning, and I keep coughing, which makes my lungs burn worse. I'm having random nose bleeds, and worse than that, my gums started bleeding badly again. I started coughing up blood earlier today, but I'm not sure if that's from my lungs, or from the bloody mouth. Either way... not good.

Jesus, I hate the student health services here. I don't feel like they ever do a thorough job, and I'm tired of them acting like I'm just making shit up. Then they wonder why I only go there when things get really bad.

I'm off to watch the stupid film for film class, and then off to bed. I'm craving a hamburger... probably due to the blood loss. This sucks.

New Music

2007-03-15T18:28:00.000-06:00

Here are some bands worth checking out. I'm too lazy to write a whole lot, and include links, but you're a big kid now, so find it your damn self.

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) - Myth Takes Great dance/rock from a NYC band. They're kind of like The Rapture, but a little harder on the rock end of things. Trust me though, your booty will still have a mind of it's own after you've heard just a few measures of any song.
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible The follow up from this sexy Canadian band isn't nearly the disappointment I feared it might be. Is it as good as their first album? No. But it's still pretty damn good.
Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City This follow up is definitely different than their first album. It's not bad... just different. After a few listens, I realized how good this album really is, and absolutely LOVE it now.
Cold War Kids - Robbers and Cowards Alternative rock that doesn't sound like every other generic alt rock band out there. It's not the best album I've ever heard, but it's not too bad either.
Feist - The Reminder I just blogged about this a little while ago. Much different than her first album, and I like it much more. I still listen to "I Feel It Now" on repeat.
Final Fantasy - He Poos Clouds I didn't know about this guy until I finally got my first copy of Butt Magazine, where he was interviewed. He wrote all of the string arrangements for the first Arcade Fire album, and he makes some trippy music. Kind of like a male, stoner, violinist version of Bjork or something.
Mika - Life in Cartoon Motion Hailed as the "Next Big Thing" in the UK, I'm not really seeing why there's all the hype. It's ok, but a little whiney for my taste.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black Now this is what Neo-Soul is supposed to be. Imagine Nina Simone singing about going to rehab, but making it modern and fun. Yeah, you actually want to dance to lines like "they want me to go to rehab, but I won't go... no no" This is hot.
The Bird and the Bee - TBATB Trippy folk rock that occasionally surprises. "Fucking Boyfriend" is kind of about a girl asking a guy if he wants to be her fucking boyfriend. Whether that's figurative or literal... I can't quite tell you.
Freemasons - Shakedown Some of the best dance music out there, in my opinion. I'd much rather dance to these two discs for a few hours than listen to the crap most club DJs play, and have twice as much fun doing it. Definitely good for workouts and your home dance party in your underwear.

Screw you, Marvel

2007-03-15T18:19:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that the end of Civil War was so damn anti-climatic, and that this was then followed up with the assassination of Captain America by a sniper. LAME. LAME. LAME. Cap'n was that perfect combination of cool and sexy that rarely comes along, and they kill him with a sniper. Arrrgh!

Rui has a good suspicion that the Punisher will take over as Captain America for a while, which could be cool if it was the MAX version of Punisher, instead of the milktoast regular Marvel Punisher. And no, not just because MAX Punisher swears and has sex; he's just infinitely more macho.

Someone else pointed out to me that as with all "big events" in comics, 90% of the events will be overturned in the near future. Sheesh... back to soap opera story arcs where people arise from the dead and someone sleeps with a distant (or not so distant) relation. If someone wakes up with amnesia, I'll vomit.

DC is gearing up for their Countdown/WWIII thing in May. I hope it's not as lame as Civil War ended up being. Hopefully Black Adam goes totally bonkers and wreaks some serious havoc. I wasn't all that into him, but during the course of 52, I've come around to liking him, and liking him best when he's a little psycho/angry. Kind of how I best enjoy myself, ironically enough.

I Heart Chris Glass

2007-03-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

I've made no bones about the fact I have a huge online-crush on the super Mr. Chris Glass. What's most important is that I love him for his MIND. Yes, his mind. And his talent, and his creativity, and he's kinda cute... but mostly for his mind. Mostly.

After he designed one of my favorite shirts, the "Make it Work" Tim Gunn line drawing shirt, I thought he couldn't top himself. Yeah... I was wrong. He's now created the Ladies Hair Shirt, and trust me, this is hotter than Knight Rider era David Hasselhoff in a speedo. What's that? You doubt me? Fine, check out this amazing video, and then even attempt to tell me I'm wrong.

Chris Glass
Ladies Hair Shirt (via Wire & Twine)

Campaign Reform

2007-03-07T10:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's official. ISU can go suck a big horse cock and choke to death in the process. I'm so tired of idiocy here at this university.

Today is re-elections day for ISU Student Senate, since the two lead contenders for Pres/VP were so close in votes. It wasn't until I got the Student Union Building that I discovered just how crooked things were this year.

One of the guys running for VP had a booth set up to campaign in there, and had two laptops set up for people to vote. So, as he hands you candy, pens, and other assorted worthless shit, you can handily vote for him!

Disgusted, and thinking that they're doing something wrong, I go to the ASISU Student Senate office to let them know what's going on. There, I'm told that since voting is online, and they can't control who campaigns near any given computer, they decided to allow people to campaign anywhere they damn well please, and can even have their own little "voting booth" of laptops set up for online voting. I asked the Electoral Committee chair why this was even an acceptable option, to which he replied, "well, we get nearly twice as many to vote online as did when it was on paper." Gee, I wonder why. People now get paid to vote, and there's nothing like selling your soul for a handful of cheap-ass candy. I told him that this was morally reprehensible, and that they should be abashed. He told me that I should email him with some suggestions, and then turned around and walked off. Here's an idea, let's not allow our campus to sink into moral bankruptcy and allow bribery for votes. That's disgusting and demeaning.

I can't believe that elections here have sunk to such an all time low on the sleaze factor. There's a very real and important reason that in any other official election, people are banned from campaigning within certain distances of voting booths, including intimidation, bribery, and other morally flawed factors. It's ridiculous that this is allowed to go on with the campus, just because they're too fucking lazy to work on proper electoral methods and are willing to see votes being bought just so that they can brag that they increased voter turn-out.

Thank you, ISU, for proving to me that I hadn't even scratched the surface of reasons to be disgusted with you.

Feist - The Reminder

2007-03-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I was bad and got a "preview" of the new album of Feist. I wanted to see how she'd matured as an artist, and if I liked her any more than I did on her first album. Don't get me wrong... I loved the first album, but I found myself a little bored with it after a while. It just didn't have the repeatability factor that some albums have.

Anyway, I just realized I'd been listening to the song "I Feel It All" on repeat for nearly 20 minutes, which is pretty remarkable. Admittedly, there was that day I listened to Travis's "Love Will Come Through" for an entire day, but that was a fluke, rather than the norm. I swear!

Yeah, her new album is pretty damn good. It's mellow like her first album, but seems to be better produced and some better self-editing seems to have taken place. I'd definitely recommend giving it a listen at some point.

My Love

2007-02-13T01:50:00.000-07:00

Get this stupid song by Justin Timberlake out of my head! It's been floating around my head for about 8 hours now, and this was made worse by the fact that one of the twinks had it as a ringtone for their texts tonight.

What's the giggling cracked out ferret sound in the chorus? Heee - ee- eee- ee- eee - eee....

Arrgh!

Duran Duran

2007-02-08T21:54:00.000-07:00

Two references to Duran Duran this week so far, and I'm running to get my hands on their Greatest Hits. Duran Duran is great! My sister Jan had a huge crush on them in the 80's, so it wasn't cool to like any band who your older sister has giant wall posters of. I missed out on some good music because of her. Why couldn't she have been all about the Judds like Amy?

The first reference to Duran Duran this week was in Layer Cake, where a guy beats the crap out of another guy to "Ordinary World" and I'm left thinking to myself, "why don't more people get beat nearly to death to Duran Duran songs?" Personally, if someone decides to give me a severe beating, I hope I hear "Come Undone" in the background.

The second reference came this afternoon from Syndie, telling me something about getting "No. No. Notorious!" I guessed the band, she was supposed to drink. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if she did or not, but it was 4:30 in the afternoon, so I'd feel like an alcoholic enabler if I was forcing her to drink dirty martinis before dinner.

Next karaoke session, I might stick with KT Tunstall, but I'm definitely dropping Pete Yorn for Duran Duran. Hells yeah.

Sketchel

2007-02-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

For the discriminating shopper who wants to be hip, but much hipper than their hipster counterparts, I have discovered the Sketchel.

The Sketchel is a one-off specially art designed satchel that you can carry "a laptop or old vinyl in." (Their words, not mine.) It's actually pretty cool to think that for $150, you can get a special bag that you, and only you, will ever have. Well, you can get on if you have money, which I don't, due to two posts down. You get the picture.

Sketchels

GP Entertainment

2007-02-05T22:54:00.000-07:00

Tonight reminded me that I'm crap when it comes to small venue entertainment. After our HIV/STD testing got canceled by the district health department, ironically due to their health issues, we had to come up with something to do for tonight.

The problem is that I can think of the elaborate things, but can't think of even a semi entertaining small scale thing to do. For the record, we ended up watching my copy of Layer Cake but our tv/dvd player at the GP space is messed up and you couldn't hear the dialogue through the music. It was frustrating as hell.

So I came up with a great idea for an elaborate Monday night event. (And no, you may not steal my idea for your future party... wanker.) I want to rent out the local old school skating rink one monday night, and have a Madonna "Confessions On the Dance Floor Concert" skate-o-rama party. Rolling around on old school skates while the Madonna concert is being projected on the walls sounds pretty kick ass to me. Hell, I might even whip out a purple leotard for the last part of the concert/skate party. Whoohoo!

Muahahaha!

2007-02-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

They're mine! Finally, they're mine!

I've been drooling over Frye boots for a long time now, and have been tempted to order some online, even though I couldn't really afford it. Then, this weekend I came across a killer deal and got a pair of Frye's for less than 1/2 price! You never find Frye boots for less than 1/2 price!

Here's what they look like:

Yeah, these babies are smokin' hot.

Sympathy for the Devil

2007-02-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

Films that make you sympathetic for terrorists are hot. Urban terrorism a la Fight Club? Hell yeah... that was some glamorous terrorism.

Sadly, this was not the case for Catch A Fire, a film about a man in South Africa during the age of apartheid, who becomes a terrorist/freedumb fighter after he and his wife were kidnapped and tortured. It was the wife issue that really pushed him into terrorism. Apparently, them smacking his wife around a little was reason to grab a bomb or two. You can tell his rage about the wife issue because he howls with extra special anguish and double spittle this time. I think he was just pissed that they didn't have the decency to smack her around while wearing white tank tops and holding a Pabst Blue Ribbon. I know I'd go Rambo if someone smacked my wife around, and did a half-assed job like that. What, no Pabst? It's on!!

The guy, who I cared so little about I didn't even learn his name, moves to some country to join some terrorist group to blow up the Secunda factory. Hmm... on further reflection, I only remember the wife's name, Precious, because my friend's mother had an obnoxious poodle named Precious whom everybody hated. And it's sad I can remember the name of the factory, but not any character except the wifey with a dog's name. That's always a good sign that this was a bad movie.

So Mr. Terrorist plants a bomb and Tim Robbins chases him with bad clothes and some undiscernable/contantly switching accent. Then, Tim magically happens on the bomb and disarms it at the last second. They then catch Mr. Terrorist, and I'm thinking Tim Robbins' character is the hero of the movie. Nope. I was wrong. Suddenly there's some stupid epilogue about how Mr. Terrorist was sent to and released from prison and how he was somehow like Nelson Mandela, and then how he could have killed Tim Robbins, but valiantly doesn't... and then there's footage with the real man this story is based on... and suddenly I'm on the couch wondering what the hell happened to the end of this story, and why I actually watched all of this drivel. Damn, somehow I missed all the cues I was supposed to feel sympathetic towards this guy.

Catch a Fire? No thanks. I'd rather feel the burn from catching syphilis than watch that crap again.

Busy Lil' Bee

2007-02-01T19:27:00.000-07:00

I can't even begin to express how busy and stressful this week has been. I thought last week was bad, but it really doesn't compare to this week. Work, homework, class, projects, etc... it's been non-stop. I feel like I've ran a marathon and no one was even nice enough to provide Gatorade along the way.

Anyway, I've noticed that when you're really busy and can't be bothered... everyone feels the need to bother you. You'll get about 5 IM conversations going at the same time, two text messages, and two call-waiting calls on your cell phone. And during this time, you're trying to work with some damn photo in Photoshop for your book project. *sigh* It's just the way these things work out.

Then, when you're finally free for a bit and able to communicate like a normal human being... nothing. No texts, no phone calls, no IMs... nothing. You're stuck home alone watching Doctor Who waiting for people to respond to your communications while fighting off sleep because you were dumb and only got about 5 hours of sleep last night.

Yay!

2007-01-31T23:52:00.000-07:00

Tracey Thorn finally is coming out with her long-awaited solo album! The first single, "It's All True" is now available for purchase.

The new single's pretty good, and reminiscent of her work on Everything But the Girl. I'm excited about the new album.

Personality Testing plus Book Making Woes

2007-01-30T22:38:00.000-07:00

I want to do a personality test on people in Idaho Falls sometime, mainly to find out why a good proportion of the people there don't seem to have one. Tonight was the second coffee night my work hosted up there, and I'm just amazed at the people up there. Don't get me wrong, there were some great guys who showed up, but there were at least 4 of them who had as much charisma as the chair I was sitting on. I just don't get it, and it seems like I meet quite a few people up there who are similarly lacking in any signs of life.

There was also a closet case in the Quiznos we stopped in for dinner. He kept staring at us the entire time he was there, including the long, deliberate walk past our table while he made sure to make lingering eye contact with all of us. Ben said the guy looked like a "camping buddy" and we all laughed, knowing exactly what he was getting at.

On to book making. The mock up is due on Thursday for the book I proposed this afternoon. This is seriously getting to me. I have 48 hours to make a quick version of my final book, including the materials I'm supposed to use on the final project. Um... I don't even have time to go look at materials in the next 48 hours, let alone plan out the entire project. Some of us have 6 hours of work tomorrow or more, 5 hours of class, and a whole bunch of homework for other classes. Not to mention the fact I've had class and work tonight after I left book making class. Arrgh... I hate that the Mass Comm department still refuses to be realistic about students' schedules.

Movie Blog

2007-01-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

I just got a surprising email. I got asked to join a movie blog, where I guess I'm supposed to blog about films that I've seen. Apparently they found Blandella and thought I'd make a valid contribution.

I balk though, because I seem to have vastly different tastes than the average film consumer. I agreed with Lisa Schwartzbaum when she said that Little Miss Sunshine was tired. Maybe if Thumbsucker and The Squid and the Whale hadn't both come out recently, it might have seemed a bit fresher, but I just felt like I'd seen LMS before, because it felt like recycled bits of dysfuctional-family dramedy mixed together for something new. I do, however, concede to the fact that the final dance scene was one of the funnest scenes I've seen in a long time.

I also look at what's playing at my local theatre, and realize that I'm surrounded by asinine twits in the general community, at least here in Pocatello. They love to settle for the worst of the worst, and support it wholeheartedly. Perhaps I just don't understand the common man. Does that automatically make me uncommon?

Anyway, I don't know what to do... so I'll just waffle in the mean time, and go watch Catch a Fire for my class on Wednesday.

La Haine

2007-01-29T22:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I was busy working on both my film and book-making project proposals when I suddenly remembered the film Submission, part 1 by Theo Van Gogh. Theo was the great-nephew of Vincent Van Gogh, but was more famous for his vicious murder in Amsterdam a few years ago due to his involvement with Submission.

Anyway, this made me think of other films I watched in the UK, which made me remember the French film La Haine. French for "The Hate," La Haine is one of those brutal films that makes you cringe, think, and get all emotional at the same time. For some reason, I think about this film over a year after I saw it, which is fairly remarkable considering all the foreign/indie films I watched in just that one class.

The story follows three disaffected youth growing up in the ghettos of France. The story follows their brushes with the law, Parisian art snobs, and life in general. The film's most notable for predicting the race riots that would tear through France only a short time after the film aired, for nearly identical reasons to the riots shown in the film. It was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, who's most recognized for playing the boyfriend of Amelie, another great French movie.

Sadly, La Haine has been unavailable in the US for over 10 years now. However, I discovered last night that it'll be available on the Criterion Collection DVD set in April. I know it's a ways off, but keep it in mind for a few months from now.

Watch Nothing

2007-01-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to go to the movie theatre and see a good film this evening. Oops. Nevermind. Two big problems there. 1) No movies were playing after 7:10, and I didn't think to check on them until 7:30. How foolish of me to expect a movie to play at 9pm in Idaho. Arrgh. 2) There are no good movies playing here in Pocatello. I really wanted to see Children of Men or Notes on a Scandal or The Queen or anything with some class to it, but instead, I'm presented with the following:

Code Name: The Cleaner Films like this remind me the general public is idiotic.
Eragon It looks like Dungeons and Dragons, and there will be no "fool me twice" shame-shaminess this time.
Happily N'Ever After Just go rent Shrek instead.
Primeval That Lake Placid and Ghost in the Darkness hybrid we never needed to see made.
Rocky Balboa Does Stallone know someone stole his Madame Tussaud's wax figure to make a film? I'd be pissed.
We Are Marshall (Remember the Titans - race issues + sadness) x (Waterboy - funny) = We Are Marshall = hell no.
Dreamgirls The only desirable option, thanks to Bill Condon, but Beyonce's obnoxiousness gives me shingles.
Freedom Writers Dangerous Minds without the great Coolio song on the soundtrack.
Night at the Museum Ben Stiller plays Ben Stiller, yet people still find it fresh. *sigh* He's the new Kevin Costner.
The Pursuit of Happyness The fact that they spelled "happiness" wrong drives me crazy, almost as crazy as Will Smith does.
Stomp the Yard Ugh. Stomp my balls if I ever even entertain the thought of seeing this.

So, what's the lesson about films today? Obviously, derivative is the new imaginative. I support recycling, but this is just sad.

Today's Revelations

2007-01-10T11:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Rui!

2006-12-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Someone great turns 28!

Happy Birthday, Boobear! :*

Open Letter

2006-12-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

I wrote this open letter in the diary section of Pam's House Blend. It's for Peter LaBarbera, who operates the Christian group Americans For Truth, though it could apply to any number of current Christian leaders (Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon, etc.)

Yes, perhaps it's a bit heavyhanded, but I'm a bit tired of this crap. I'm at the point where Stuart was (UK "Queer As Folk") when he blew up the mom's car. I just meant in mindset... not that I'm going to blow up a car. I just move electrons on monitors instead.

He's Hung Like A...

2006-12-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Saddam Hussein was executed early this morning (well, last night for some of us).

I'm still not really sure how I feel about it. Honestly, I worry that this is just opening a big Pandora's box. We're already seeing large numbers of people being killed in Iraq in protests and car bombings due to the incident. I know he was a bad man, but I think there were some other issues that hadn't quite been worked out yet, such as the trials involving the Kurds. I just feel this whole issue got rushed a little bit. I also worry about the PR situation America already has with the rest of the world, and how this is only going to make things worse.

I also wonder if we'll see the same for Bush, though I highly doubt it. He's not exactly spotless in this whole war situation. We've witnessed a laundry list of war crimes he's committed, and I think he'll get away with each and every one, never seeing any justice or accountability. Hell, I'll probably be detained and tortured very soon just for writing this. Such is life in the new Amurka.

Dr. Who, Reindeer, and Condoms

2006-12-23T03:22:00.000-07:00

I watched the last two episodes of the season for Dr. Who tonight on the SciFi channel. It was actually much better than I thought it would be, and now I want to see all of the ones that build up to the climactic ending.

Tonight, Shane and I went to hand out condoms at the bar for work. We decided to make it more festive though, and dress Christmasy. Shane was an elf, and I was the hottest reindeer ever. i made brown cut-offs, wore a fur coat and hat, and had reindeer antlers. I also wore my Norwegian socks. Yeah, it was a little odd, but it was fun.

We handed out condoms at the bar, and then went around to neighboring bars. Neighboring bars aren't as nice, and people were rude. You'd have though we were handing out syphillis, instead of condoms. One guy told us he didn't want condoms because he was straight. Shane said he should use them, because Shane didn't want to pay for this guy's bastard children. Amen.

I'll try to get up a photo in the next few days, if I remember with all of the Christmas hullabaloo. I'll be headed to Salt Lake in the morning, and my nieces want to watch the first two seasons of Monarch of the Glen in three days. Phew!

BBC in the USA

2006-12-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

I just read that the BBC will start to offer their tv shows for legal download using Azureus's Zudeo bittorrenting software. There was no mention of pricing, but it did say that the files will be protected, so can only be used through Zudeo.

Some of the shows it mentioned include Dr. Who, Little Britain, League of Gentlemen, and Red Dwarf, all in High Def. If they added Monarch of the Glen, I'd be a very happy boy.

I surfed over the Zudeo and looked around a bit. It looks like all the stuff available on there right now is just film-school type stuff, almost like a classy YouTube. This should be an interesting developement though, and I'm excited to see where things are headed.

Attn: Dartford Slapper

2006-12-19T22:17:00.000-07:00

I was doing some research about STIs this afternoon at work when I came across the following information, which negates Charlie's "1500 calories in semen" theory. Sorry, love.

A typical ejaculation fills up about one teaspoon; the actual amount is determined by a man's age (younger men usually make more semen), when he last ejaculated, and how long he's aroused before ejaculating, among other factors. Contrary to what you've heard, semen is not loaded with calories. Each teaspoon of ejaculate has about 5 - 7 calories and some 200 - 500 million sperm.

Band Names

2006-12-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Occasionally I like to make up fake band names, in case I ever go to Paris and somebody asks me if I'm a rock star. Hey, it happened to Jeffrey on Project Runway, so it could totally happen to me. Anway, I was thinking I should start chronicling them somehow, and what better way than the blog? Here are two that I came up with this morning:

Yeah, I know they're lame, but then again Panic at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, and My Chemical Romance are all currently popular bands.

You guys got any for me?

Christmas Cheer

2006-12-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

The student union decided last week that food could only be purchased to the sounds of blasted crappy christmas music. It was so loud you couldn't even talk to people in the food court. So, being the antagonistic bastard I can be every now and then, and seeing as how I was bitchy from finals, I made sure to loudly voice my disdain. "Damn, this music doesn't make me feel very comfortable to be a Jew here at ISU!" I noticed it was only half as obnoxiously loud the next day.

Note: No, I'm not a Jew, despite the big nose and curly hair. I just despise having X-Mas shoved down my throat, like I'm Linda Lovelace in Deep Throat or something.

I'd Forgotten...

2006-12-18T00:12:00.000-07:00

how good cold meat lover's Pizza Hut pizza can be. Thanks Mom, for bringing me the leftovers that Brit-brat and Rooster didn't eat.

PS - I may have turned them into Project Runway junkies during the weekend. Sorry.

Debauchery Debunked

2006-12-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

I just got a phone call from my sister informing me that my planned weekend of high debauchery would now be altered. It looks as if I might have to spend some "quality time" with my nieces after some lovely Utah drama.

Apparently, the painter went apeshit and has demanded that my sister pay him an extra $17,000 by the end of the week, or he'd blow his brains out. Then my brother-in-law caught him outside the house around 11pm with a hoodie pulled over his face, near the master bedroom window. Then cops were called as the painter drove away. Then the car was back at 5:30am. Then deranged painter followed my brother-in-law to his office, and made veiled threats. Then a second police report was made, then a restraining order filed, then possibly security hired. *sigh* Just the phone call left me drained.

So, it looks like I'll be helping entertain the nieces while they're in Idaho for their safety. I'm just hoping nothing comes of this, but it really looks as if the painter owes somebody bad a lot of money. And I've seen Sopranos so I know what happens next.

Soy Is So Gay

2006-12-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

This is probably one of the most unintentionally funny articles I've seen in a long time. Jim Rutz is claiming at WorldNetDaily that soy is making children gay. Here's a lovely quote:

Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That's why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today's rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because "I can't remember a time when I wasn't homosexual." No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can't remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them.

Ummm... I'm more interested in someone who can remember a time when excess estrogen wasn't influencing them. I'm pretty sure that's a more compelling story.

I'm amazed at the stupid logic that people go through in their minds. Here we have a pastor who buys organic food thinking he's some kind of authority on biochemistry. Impressive! Does this mean that because I went to Taco Bell for lunch that I'm an authority on Mexican domestic policy? Sure does, if I was in WND world!

hat tip: jimbo

Edit... D. F. A. Remix.... fressssshhhhhh......

2006-12-11T17:46:00.000-07:00

That's a snippet from the DFA remix of Le Tigre's "Decepticon."

Rui's probably the only one that'll give two figs about this post, but I just discovered that DFA has released some Radio Mixes for download off the DFA Records site. This means you get some James Murphy/LCD Soundsystem and Tim Sweeny for free! Hooray! I still need to get the DFA Remixes Chapter Two album at some point in the future, but it'll have to wait for a bit.

I'm still downloading the Radio Mixes as I write this, so I can't give any reviews at this time. I'm still pretty stoked to throw it on the iPod though, since Christmas family time always necessitates iPod alone time. You can argue I should spend time with family. I can argue that it keeps me from lighting them on fire. What's a few hours with family compared to a few years in prison?

Size Matters?

2006-12-11T17:40:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post about this story for days, but have been busy with getting ready for final exams and doing final projects. I about pissed myself laughing this afternoon when I realized the story's been on the BBC's top 5 most popular stories for four days now.

Condoms 'too big' for Indian men

Doctor Chander Puri, a specialist in reproductive health at the Indian Council of Medical Research, told the BBC there was an obvious need in India for custom-made condoms, as most of those currently on sale are too large.

The issue is serious because about one in every five times a condom is used in India it either falls off or tears, an extremely high failure rate.

Ol' Friends

2006-12-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

I recently got back in touch with some friends I haven't had contact with in a while. It was my choice to be a silly git and not stay in contact, so part of me wonders how and why I made such a foolish decision.

Anyway, it was good to see that they welcomed me back with open arms and are really encouraging. It's something I need at this time.

Note: Too much of the UK version of Queer as Folk is making me use a lot of Brit-slang again. I'm sure listening to Lady Sovereign isn't helping any either.

Mobile Tumors

2006-12-06T15:19:00.000-07:00

The BBC has a report about a Danish study claiming there is no link between mobile phone (cell phone) use and brain/neck tumors. Good news everyone, our annoying mobile phone habits aren't going to slowly kill us yet! Driving while talking is a whole other issue though, and yes, I'm guilty of this as well.

The researchers, from the Danish Institute of Cancer Epidemiology in Copenhagen, looked at data on people who had been using mobile phones from as far back as 1982.

More than 56,000 had been using a mobile phone for at least 10 years.

They found no evidence to suggest users had a higher risk of tumours in the brain, eye, or salivary gland, or leukaemia.

This does make me remember how paranoid Dimitris was about using his cell phone, and how he was convinced we were all going to get tumors. Don't worry Dimi, I'm sure we all will get some sort of cancerous tumors, but it's more likely to be from our iPods or some other technology now.

Presentation Redux

2006-12-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

I was approached by a guy in the SU building this afternoon as I attempted to locate some lunch amongst the rubbish they usually display as edible goods. The guy had a serious look on his face, and he informed me that he had been in the class I gave the presentation in last week. He thanked me for speaking, but he stared way too long and much too intently for normal purposes. Yeah, I think he's a big ol' closet case.

Then, I found out he was sitting with the student group from my church that booted me out a few weeks ago. Apparently, he's really involved. I feel bad that I let it be known I'd recently been kicked out of my former church during the presentation, but then again, people should know that's what happens around here.

Anyway, I'm sure he'll have a "fun" few years in store for him. Too bad he couldn't just learn from my example now, and save himself many years of torment and inner turmoil.

Vietnam Saved My Grade

2006-12-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

I never, ever, thought I would hear those words coming out of my mouth, but as of this morning, it's officially true.

I've been sweating bullets and peeing blood over my Visual Anthropology project I thought was due this Wednesday. I didn't know where I'd find the time or effort to finish the project on time, and I was worried this was really going to mess things up for me academically. I just can't be bothered with this project for some reason, even though I know it's really important. Definitely not good.

Today, I went to beg my professor for an extension, due to all the drama in my life the last few months. I'd heard that she's fairly lenient, but I was still really worried. Instead, I got to her office only to find out that she'd buggered off to Vietnam until the first of January, and that I have until the end of next week to finish the film. Thank gawd! Now, to just get my ass in gear and get this stupid thing done.

Hot Fuzz

2006-12-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

The team behind the great romzomcom Shaun of the Dead have created a new film that will be coming out in a few months.

Hot Fuzz

Yeah, it's gonna be hawt. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are both in this one too. Hooray!

My Trip To The Zoo

2006-11-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

I dreamt this morning that I went to the zoo to see the animals. Things were going really well until I got to the hippopotamus cage. Once I got there, the hippos decided to put on a live sex show very similar to the one I watched in Amsterdam.

The hippos were really noisy about it too. Moaning, groaning, wailing and all sorts of carrying on. It was like a Pentecostal revival/hippo orgy.

Then I woke up, only to realize it was just my neighbors downstairs going at it. Yuck.

Presentation

2006-11-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

I had to give a presentation about the Genesis Project in the Licensed Practical Nurse class this afternoon in front of about 75 future LPNs.

The girls that invited me to speak were very nice and rather grateful to have me there. It's always nice to feel appreciated in your job. Heck, they even got me a $15 gift certificate to Applebees for my efforts. I told Shane I'd take him to dinner one night. I figure it's the least I can do after he helped me change my flat tire this afternoon.

Speaking in classes is really fun. I like pulling out the shocking statistics to watch their eyes get big. It's kind of like watching Anime without all of the screaming and weirdness. I made sure to get in a dig about how HJR-2 (the anti-gay marriage amendment) will actually hurt the economy as larger corporations shy away from states with those laws. I saw a few "oh crap, what did i vote for" looks on faces. The "oh crap" faces just got longer as I told them about how fighting against AIDS prevention now literally costs the government billions of dollars in the future. It's funny how people are a little more relaxed about "moral principles" when it directly affects their pocketbooks.

The only problem with the presentation was trying to get in about 1/2 hour or more worth of information in 10 minutes. I hope it wasn't like trying to drink out of a firehose for some of them.

IF Coffee

2006-11-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

Shane and I risked slick roads and snow storms to travel to Idaho Falls for our first Genesis Project Coffee up there.

Initially, we were very disappointed as only 5 guys showed up during the first hour. We were certain that this would not only be the first, but last IF coffee. Soon though, people started to filter in, and we ended up with at least 20 guys there. Some of the guys were really great. It was good to see Tim, Nate, Kevin, and Jose again. It was good to meet Doyle and finally meet the previously unseen Dwayne. The only guy I didn't like was a pretentious twat from BYU Idaho who thought he was much better than everyone else. Why would I assume such a thing? Perhaps the 3 snide comments he made about people around him, to their faces, within the first 5 minutes of being there. I had to move to the other part of the room before I either ripped him a new one verbally, or just reached over and knocked him out. My tolerance for blatant rudeness grows shorter every day. Nor am I impressed by closet cases from BYU Idaho who think they're some kind of special-case Mormon. Dude, 90% of that room was raised Mormon, and probably at least 1/4 are returned missionaries. Sheesh.

All in all, it was a good trip and I look forward to future coffee nights in IF. If we get enough interest, we might do a Revelations meeting up there, and get some training done.

Like a Virginal Scissor Sister

2006-11-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

I know I'm a bit obsessed about it, but the Confessions on a Dance Floor tour was incredible. Shane and I watched about 1/2 of it tonight before he had to go to work. And yes, this is penance for the long post below this one. I always feel compelled to balance a heavy post with a lighter one.

I decided to be nice to Rui and make an MP3 of the Like a Virgin performance from the concert, since he hasn't seen it yet. I love the new remix they did for it. I skyped it to him a couple of hours ago, and we chatted about it. Rui commented that it sounded like Scissor Sisters. I agreed. He said he expected Jake Shears to start singing at any moment. I said maybe he was. We decided that the new Scissor Sisters album isn't as bad as first impressions gave us. I wanted it to be more immediately danceable; I wanted it a little less Elton, and more Thin White Duke. We both agree BabyDaddy needs to buzz his hair again.

Anyway, I'll spread the love. Here's Like a Virgin from the concert. Right click to save for PC. Control click for us with good computers.

On Sacrilege

2006-11-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

According to Merriam Webster's dictionary, the second definition for sacrilege is as follows: gross irreverence toward a hallowed person, place, or thing.

I can agree with this statement in one sense of the word. I can agree that some people may feel that another's actions, words, or art are a form of sacrilege to them. I can see how they would be offended. However, I'm tired of the trite whining about sacrilege being used to neuter free speech.

Case in point: part of Madonna's concert being selectively edited for the NBC broadcast. In the concert, Madonna sings Live to Tell while hanging on a mirrored cross. This portion was cut from the televised version, and instead, we were shown the video which was actually playing on the screens behind her. We watched images of adorable African children pass by while a counter quickly counted to 12,000,000. We later see that this is the number of children currently orphaned in Africa due to AIDS. After Madonna gets off the cross, we see her on stage with the crown of thorns still on her head. She proceeds to finish the song, collapses on stage, and then a series of Bible verses appear on the various screens on the stage. They're the passages where Jesus spoke about clothing and feeding the poor. Heck, she even gave proper attribution to the scriptural passages. This was then followed by internet addresses where aid could be given.

The thing that gets me about this is that there's a lot of negligible assumption going on with this whole thing. Madonna's not performing a "gross irreverence" towards Jesus, but instead trying to emulate him while making an emotional plea that we need to help these children. Yes, perhaps the cross aspect was a bit much, but if you watch the clip, you can easily tell that sacrilege was never an aspect of this performance. Trying to get people to help the poor sounds pretty Jesus-like to me, rather than sacrilegious.

It bugs me that religious groups are so quick to cry persecution these days. More scary than that is the fact that they get away with it so often, and are even catered to. It's clear that NBC bowed to pressure from religious groups to edit the piece, when these groups had never seen the performance in question, nor would they. Her piece wasn't weighed on the merits of the performance, but on the perception of ignorant fools. Or perhaps it would be more fitting to call them "white washed tombs." Newsflash: watching Madonna as Christ is not persecution. Hearing swearing is not persecution. Being told you're not liked is not persecution. Sex on tv is not persecution. Being forced to grant equal rights to homosexuals is not persecution. If you all really want to experience persecution, join your brothers and sisters in Sudan or Indonesia and be put to death for your faith. The big difference is that those people don't whine about petty trivialities or sacrilege.

So, Rick, what's with the vitriolic rant? Well, you see, I view Madonna as a hallowed person. In light of that, any editing of her performance was a "gross irreverence" in my eyes. Also, to clear my conscience, at least I can say I watched the performance and went to church too.

Flash for Money

2006-11-26T14:01:00.000-07:00

You click on the flash-based candle. They donate $1 to AIDS research.

https://www.lighttounite.org/

World AIDS Day is this Friday. See if your area has any events going on.

Pocatello:

Thursday 7pm

Friday 10am-2pm

I <3 Madonna Even More

2006-11-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

I know that it's been a while since I last blogged. Suffice it to say the last few weeks haven't been the best for me. I might come back again soon and fill in some of the blanks.

Anyway, I'm watching the Madonna Confessions on a Dancefloor concert right now on NBC. I'm so impressed that I had to pause the live tv (thank gawd for my freinds' dvr where I'm dog sitting) and comment on it.

The VJ work in the background is blowing my mind. The whole horse race montage for Like a Virgin nearly had me drooling on myself. I loved that the entire thing was in black and white too. The previous kaleidoscopic red beauty was a sight to behold. For Jump I almost wanted to cry from the aesthetical beauty of the spectacle. The guys doing acrobatics while the VJing when on in the background. I'm jealous. It's a lot like the 30th birthday extravaganza I had started to plan for myself, that alas, won't come to fruition in December. *sigh* Mine had a strong fashion edge to it, based off my obsession with Project Runway. Perhaps in January, when I have the time and resources to pull it off.

Oh man. I can't wait until the concert is available for either purchase or download. I know I'll wet myself pulling it apart layer by layer in examination of the sheer beauty and creativity.

B'Day Use

2006-11-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Beyonce put out a new album titled B'Day which I'm fairly sure is pronounced "bidet." How ironic, since both should be used to clean my ass.

Democracy, My Ass

2006-11-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

I'm going to vote later tonight, but it hasn't been an easy endeavor so far. Just trying to figure out where to vote in Pocatello has been a nightmare. I had to go to my student union, praying that somebody there actually knew, since the city of Pocatello has decided the location of voting is some esoteric triviality reserved for the precious few deemed worthy of such knowledge. I now call this the Gnostic Gospel of Pocatello.

I finally found out where to vote after locating a politically savvy student, and having him call two different people (public officials) to find out where I vote.

Apparently, I'm supposed to vote at a junior high, while they're in session for school. So, I have to go to a public school, wade my way through bratty 13-year-olds, and try to figure out exactly where to go. Screw that. I'll have to wait until I'm done with work before I go. We'll just pretend that the Marshall Public Library doesn't exist in the centre of my voting district, which would be more condusive to the voting process. Arrgh! This is all assuming I'm even able to vote, since the whole local address/permanent address difference has caused problems in the past. You'd think that in a college town, they'd have figured out that issue by now. It's not as if the university spontaneously generated last week.

I think I've officially had it with America. Saying we're all about the public having a voice is a joke. People in Iraq had it better when it came to public voting. They actually got the day off from work in order to take on this serious task. I'm not saying everyone will take the time off to ponder the gravity of this responsibility, but it frustrates me to no end that those who need to vote most are the ones who are often denied the right to vote because it's more important to work and keep their job than go fill out a silly paper. Why should the right to vote be reserved only for those elite enough to have the time/money to be able to vote? Democracy, my ass!

Pam's got a much more eloquent post about protecting the vote and voter fraud over at her place.

I <3 Coffee

2006-11-06T14:04:00.000-07:00

but this might be even a little much for me.

Espresso Porn

It's actually a series of photos of espresso shots being pulled. Very interesting, that's for sure. The guy even has his own blog about the espresso he's drinking around NYC, which seems a bit pathological for my tastes, but fascinates me to no end.

Nibbles and Bits

2006-11-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Just for the record, new Cracked Pepper and Olive Oil Triscuits are amazing. It's like the Food Network did a Rachael Ray makeover on your basic Triscuit, and now it sizzles with amazement. Or something. Heck, I'm not very good with the food porn descriptions. That, however, doesn't change the fact that they're amazing.

I'm attempting to make heads-or-tails of CSS design for the website at work. We want to use CSS in case we need to make changes in the future, and you always need to make changes in the future. The problem with CSS is that you have to know it in order to learn it. I got a great free CSS template, but have no idea how to start altering it. So much has changed in web design since I did websites (nearly 7 years ago) and I wasn't exactly bleeding-edge then. Hopefully I'll get something figured out, since we need to get even a bare-skeleton site up and running in the near future. Maybe I'll actually go through some of the tutorials on DreamWeaver, and weave my dream. *sigh* Or maybe I'll just pay some 18-year-old to do it for me. That sounds much easier at this point.