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Thursday, January 29, 2004
busted
ronnie james dio...for president.
dio on same sex marriage: "Rob Halford wants it, so it's cool with me."
dio on health care: "Emergency limb reattachment readiness to become cornerstone of the plan."
for all the conspiracy nuts who think cbs is now owned by the bush administration b/c they won't air a moveon.org ad during the superbowl, here's their policy explained.
laying down some smack on all you ikea/starbucks/nike bashers.
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
not sure which is more surprising (and yet not surprising at all in an end-of-the-world sort of way)
polish breakdancers beatboxing for the pope.
jack paar dying.
al franken knocking down a lyndon larouche supporter at a dean rally.
polish breakdancers.
a talking parrot that confounds scientists.
the (tired) meme of the indian job vacuum finally getting its due on the cover of wired after three years of exporting tech work overseas.
lyndon larouche supporters.
clinton only sending two emails his entire presidency.
bill gates being knighted.
brother bear nominated for best animated feature.
a 50-ton sperm whale exploding in tainan city, taiwan.
nice article on possibility of using the foraging characteristics of ants to build a truly untraceable file sharing network.
Monday, January 26, 2004
misc.
- i've started playing poker on thursdays. last week i was in a tournament and won $20. i came in second. first place took the pot which was $200. it's addictive stuff. not much beats the adrenaline that's flowing when you put $50 on two pocket kings and one on the table after the flop.
- i've also started cooking. we'll see how it goes. so far so good. i cooked three days last week. i'm shooting for four this week. we've been mouthing the same lame excuses for way too long. i don't like to cook. lonanne doesn't like to cook. the kids are the ones who end up suffering from our poor eating habits. so i decided i'd do it. it's really not that much of a pain in my ass and i have a knack for using a knife. it is funny how small changes like this seem to change everything. i've been happier when i get home. lonanne seems less stressed. a small, good thing.
- my job continues its too-good-to-be-true trajectory. we all got a 4% profit sharing bonus due to last year's incredible performance. i came on in december, so, needless to say, my contributions were worth the most. if they'd hired me in january, they'd be bankrupt by now.
- i had a rough patch with my graduate application. they wanted my transcript from kansai gaidai even though the grades were factored into my overall gpa. turns out they need the original transcript b/c they calculate the last 60 hours of grades to figure their own gpa. it seemed ridiculous, but then i realized that they probably get a lot of kids who took the first two years at junior college. or maybe that's not it at all. so i had to call japan and try to use the last few remnants of japanese i have ("moshi moshi") to get them to send my transcript via dhl. the whole experience left me pissed off. i had to talk to three different women in the tsu dean's office and they were all bitches...crabby, rude, seemingly ignorant of their own rules. one told me "well, you may just not make it in this year." i think this sub-species of college bureaucrat (admissions) is possibly the worst of all creatures.
- over the weekend, thomas told grandma he wanted to be a scientist when he grew up. william wants to be a red power ranger.
- we all went out to the salt lick on sunday for kevmo's b-day bash. we had a great time. joe showed up with his family in tow. on the way back though, all the meat and ice cream and peach cobbler and winding hill country roads got to be a bit much for poor thomas. we pulled over five blocks from our house and he blew chunks all over the sidewalk. lonanne walked him home and i drove william. maybe he's a vegan?
- thomas has opened up a rock shop on our porch. he's got all the rocks and precious gems we bought at innerspace caverns a few week's back, as well as the ones he dug up at grandma's house. we have a open/closed sign hanging from our lamp in the yard. he sits on the porch after we all get home and yells "rocks for sale" at passing cars and pedestrians. he nearly closed a major account with the mailman on saturday. yesterday, a new neighbor came over and bought a rock, which just about sent him through the stratosphere for all of five minutes. later, after the excitement had worn off, he was naturally upset. "i want to sell more rocks," he said, nearly in tears. don't we all, kid. don't we all.
Saturday, January 24, 2004
via graham - the captain is dead. long live the captain.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
ok, so the interesting things to me about the results in iowa are...
- dean came in third despite the fact that he has been campaigning in iowa FOR TWO YEARS. and poor gephardt. he's from iowa. those wacky iowans. i think i wouldn't waste my time with 'em. i'd say, "screw you iowa." what could it hurt?
- you don't see much about the details of the results, but kerry handed dean his ass. he got twice as many delegates as dean did.
- the 18-25 set (despite what you saw on mtv) was a no-show. it makes you wonder about the intelligence of running an "internet campaign" in a largely rural state. you think those high school graduates are home surfing the web and watching trl? they're in the back forty making corn licquor and busting shit.
- all the former dean-heads are now john edwards fans. do they know he voted in favor of the war in iraq? just curious about that.
- dean has independent written all over him. i bet the green party scoops him up after new hampshire and everyone blames him for handing bush the election just like they blamed nader.
i'm often struck by sentences so well written that, surely, the author, upon writing them, got up out of his or her chair and whispered to the ceiling, "thank you. thank you."
this is one i read recently in a collection from john cheever.
"He was a stranger to me - my mother divorced him three years ago and I hadn't been with him since - but as soon as I saw him I felt that he was my father, my flesh and blood, my future and my doom. I knew that when I was grown I would be something like him; I would have to plan my campaigns within his limitations."
- from Reunion
he starts off immediately, straight to the action. he doesn't say "my mother divorced my father blah blah blah and so he was a stranger to me." no. he was a stranger to me. and then also the sensations. i "felt" that he was my flesh and blood, my future and my doom. and then the cold compassion. i knew that when i was grown i would be something like him. the more i read of cheever, the more i find him lyrical in that cold compassion and i am convinced that is what is at the heart of every good writer. an almost clinical reserve that pierces the heart.
Monday, January 19, 2004
ten mistakes writers don't see.
funny, she doesn't mention proper capitalization. my repeats are "just" and "anyway" and "everything." i also fall for the empty adverbs. totally. all the time. really. and the non-transition transition. at any rate, i googled my blog and found twenty instances of at any rate. that's ACTUALLY a lot less than i expected.
Saturday, January 17, 2004
one that looks like it could match spirited away for best animated movie of the year. has a look that's different. reminds me of that old mtv show, liquid television. not in the style (although possibly a little aeon flux in there), but just in the feeling that you got watching it. it was new stuff you'd never seen anywhere before.
mixmaster web
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
all i have to say is that kyle turned me on to the best band i've heard in a long time. yes, better than kings of leon. yes, better than the latest prefuse or krush. yes, better than the latest strokes. yes, better than that fucking dusty amon taubin or however the fuck you say his name. yes! what can i say that the above review doesn't? the name is stupid. the packaging is so-so. i do like the title. you forgot it in people. i certainly do.
from the review: "I wish I could convey to you just how perfectly this record pulls off that balancing act, how incredibly catchy and hummable these songs are, despite their refusal to resort to pandering or oversimplicity. I wish I could convey how they've made just exactly the kind of pop record that stands the test of time, and how its ill-advised packaging and shudder-inducing bandname seem so infinitesimal after immersing yourself in the music. And I hate to end this saying, "You just have to hear it for yourself." But oh my god, you do. You just really, really do."
this is why i won't write for pitchfork, mike. i could never write a review that describes exactly how i feel. i also wouldn't sit through a pile of cubanismo/midwestern bar band/downtempo/dance dj cds to pop out this pearl.
whew. i don't know what i've been doing. going to chuy's too much. that's what. i've been to chuy's no less (and no more) than three times in the past week. we went for elvis' birthday (and our anniversary) last week. then we went on saturday for some reason i can't remember. i think william said he wanted to see "that rock and roll star." then i went tonight for a friend's birthday. i took william along with me. he likes the fish.
anyway, awhile back i posted a link to dirt magazine. in addition to publishing my alternately sad and spit-saturated short story (THERE WAS ONLY ONE GUY SPITTING ONE TIME KEVIN), they had some of the funniest cartoons i'd seen by this guy Graham Roumieu. so i finally found his site. i think this one is my new favorite.
who wants some? do you want some?
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
misc.
-stayed up late last night watching the fast runner. it starts slow, but grabs you in its sweep. i felt like i dreamed the whole thing. i'd rate it on a list of best films from last year, but i think it was released in 2002.
- i've been told i'd like big fish, the new tim burton film. i don't really care to see it and can't quite get over that hump. it seems like forrest gump by way of edward scissorhands. when people say things like, "billy crudup is simply amazing" it's time to start questioning which toilet we've all been flushed down.
- mailed off my applications to grad school. now it's just a waiting a game. a nerve-jangling, alcohol-fueled dance of death. if i don't get accepted, no biggie.
- tomorrow is our ten-year anniversary. me and lonanne. ten years. i know, i know. i should've led with that one. she's having trouble finding me a gift. she says i'm hard to buy for. i can't quite see that. i like books and cds and movies in that order. but ten years seems to demand a little more. something tin or aluminum perhaps? how about an aluminum watch?
- i'm waiting for my job to suck. so far, nada. gourmet coffee. massages. wireless conference rooms. no real schedule. friendly smart people. where's the material in that?
Friday, January 02, 2004
transcripts from palestinian authority sermons 2000-2003.
panorama of time's square. this is one of those things that leaves me guessing how the hell they did this. here's the 360VR website + explanation with some pictures of the cameras used.
interesting speech by michael crichton on environmentalism as the new religion.
Thursday, January 01, 2004
akemashite omedetou gozaimasu
we went over to brian & vanessa's new house for new year's. nice house. a lot of board game folks were there. i don't really consider myself a board game person. i go to parties to get away from having to play board games. chutes and ladders. toy story monopoly. adult board games aren't much better. still, i was somehow talked into playing a charades-like game called celebrity. i got Dr. Sulu. only it was spelled Dr. Zulu. i got in a sloppy argument with the girl next to me about Ogden Nash. she told me i should "try reading some poetry." "you'd like it," she said. "i seriously doubt it," i said. later, kevin paid me $15 to jump in their bacteria-infested pool. lonanne told me the party got better after i jumped in the pool. i'm not sure what that means. there's a cheever story i'm reading that describes a party as being "the sort where people jump in the pool with their clothes on." i guess this was that sort of party. we woke up this morning and spent two hours trying to find a place that would serve us breakfast in a reasonable amount of time. i guess it wasn't really morning. we ended up at krispy kreme.
so gambatte in 2004. the japanese say that to each other. gah-m-bah-tay. it means "buck up" or "stay strong." it's their equivalent of saying good luck; luck never really amounting to much in japan. i suspect it doesn't here either.
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