More Rope
…which was another harness.
This one involved a series of diamonds running down the front. Again, Pam tied me up first. Sarah had quickly demonstrated how one might completely wrap a leg. (After the harness is done, take another piece of rope and secure it to the harness. Then you wrap it around the thigh. Work your way down in a series of stitch knots until the whole leg is netted.) This time round, Pam got all artistic and improvised. Whereas everyone else just did the harness, Pam started on my leg. And she kept going. I really enjoyed it. For some reason, it just felt really good on my leg. Perhaps because I had been standing for a while or perhaps there was a visceral thrill that registered in my brain from having a gorgeous womyn kneeling down before me. Or perhaps both. Pam got so into it, that we ran out of time on this lesson and I didn’t get a chance to try the harness out on her.
By this time I was feeling a bit high. A mixture of arousal and being intrigued. Pam and I have been friends for many years but we’d never done anything quite like this. It was that feeling of heightened awareness. I noticed that I was completely comfortable learning an erotic activity alongside total strangers. In fact, I felt a certain connection to them. Plus Pam and I were just having fun.
For the final lesson, Sarah announced that it was for womyn only. That is, the ropework would not work on men. Once more, Sarah chose Miss Hairstylist to demonstrate. It basically involved sandwiching the breasts from the top and bottom while binding the arms to the side and creating a pattern on the back with the emphasis firmly on the breasts. Ogling Miss Hairstylist’s breasts as they were pressed between the rope was quite titillating. With the demonstration over, it was my turn to do that to Pam and her mammary glands. It must be admitted that I really enjoyed this particular bit of tying as it involved lots of concentration on her breasts. I was a bit nervous at first but warmed up to the task as A) we are good friends and B) she has a nice pair. The fact that she’s quite ticklish under her arms helped too. With her arms bound, I had to slip the rope underneath them and to her back which caused her endless laughter.
The class having ended Pam and I walked across the hall back to the store. I kept thinking about, not only how much fun I had, but also how much fun it would be to tie up The Dulcinea with no clothes involved.
Back in the store, we started poking around. For my part, I grabbed a bottle of Liquid Silk as I knew that I was out.
A digression: The Dulcinea is a fan of Maximus while I prefer Liquid Silk. But each has its place. Maximus is more viscous and better for lubricating orifices such as one’s vagina or anus. But I find it less well-suited for masturbating whereas LS is quite good for this. It’s smoother – silkier, if you please – and not so sticky which just makes stroking my member more pleasurable.
So Pam wanders off to look at the wall of dildos and vibrators while I got check out the selection of videos which is already being perused by a pair of pulchritudinous young womyn. It occurred how often I’d been to the store in the past several months compared to how often I’d been there the previous 14 years or so. A good thing, perhaps, for my anatomy but probably not so much for my bank account. One of the womyn had found a video to her liking so she and her companion were looking it over. I walked over to the shelves and began looking for the two videos in particular: 1001 Erotic Nights and Passion Bi Fire. You see, I had written the store a week previously asking if they carried any videos which featured womyn with unshorn pubic areas and those were the titles I was given. Sometimes I feel like a pariah finding pubic hair to be sexy as I do. If you ladies wanna shave or wax or whatever, so be it but I find that triangular tuft of fur to be a huge turn-on. Unfortunately, I didn’t find either of them so I wandered over to a display and looked at some books on bondage. There were some great pictures of some fantastically creative rope-tying. As I was reading, er, I mean looking at the pictures, I noticed this brunette looking at dildos. She was tall with a gorgeous figure and long hair. (I absolutely love long hair!). My eyes kept darting from her mane to her ass and back to her mane and then her ass again. I finally stopped after I realized that I’d soon be caught and hurled out of the store. Everytime I got to AWT, there’s always at least one stunning womyn in her early to mid-20s looking at dildos and vibrators. Now, a beautiful womyn alone is wonderful to look at but a beautiful womyn with an effigy of a cock in her hand, well, that’s even better. Part of me is still your typical dumb guy and asks, “Why in the name would a gal as fucking hot as she be in need of a dildo? She could get laid by any guy she chooses.” Then the more enlightened part (only slightly) of my brain kicks in. Masturbation is a necessary part of life whether you have intercourse or not.
Setting the book back on its shelf, I wandered over to Pam who was busy perusing some dildos of extraordinary magnitude. I mean, these were big, veiny horsecocks that put me to shame. I finally found one that wasn’t a hundred times longer than my penis only to find that it was as wide as a hockey puck. I had to bolster my self-esteem by repeating my mantra, “It’s not the size of your wand, it’s the magic inside that counts.” I then saw a different model of the Isadora line that I’d bought for The Dulcinea and her strap-on and remembered that she needed a smaller o-ring. So I found a stash of them and began looking for one that was 1.5” in diameter. The 1.75” ring that came with the strap-on was too big as the dildo would pop loose when she was thrusting hard. Pam wandered over to another section where she had become enamored of the latest in dildo technology – Cyberskin. It’s this version of silicone(?) that mimics human skin quite closely. “Here, touch it,” she said thrusting one of them at me. It really did feel a lot like my cock. Still, there’s nothing like the real thing. My cock is warmer and you don’t get the throbbing with the simulacrum.
Soon we made our purchases and decided to head down to Mickey’s for a beer or two before Pam headed back to Milwaukee.
11 March, 2005
Action! Adventure! Drama! Fresh Fruit!
I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately. For instance, there’s the fantastic Clayborne drama which is getting interesting. Frank and Thompson went to the station to find out what happened to it but Frank found that his passcode no longer works on the door. Who changed the code? A womyn that Thompson thought had worked at the station dies but he finds out that she, in fact, did not work there. Why was she there? What will happen to Karen now that her estranged husband has found out where she is? Run – don’t walk! – to clayborne.blogspot.com and find out!
I also subscribed to Chris Pirillo’s podcast. Chris, as you computer types out there probably know, is computer geek. He used to be on TechTV helping people out with their PC problems but left for reasons I cannot recall. I guess it’s not a big deal as TechTV is now G4 and seems to avoid any mention of computers that is not related to video gaming. Although I should, I haven’t watched any of this G4 hoo-ha as 2 minutes of television about gaming is more than enough for this non-video gamer. From the web page, it looks like they still have hot young things gracing the screen, though. Personally, I liked Leo LaPorte and the other guy who wore a Utilikilt. Hey, I fix computers for a living – they’re my kinda people. And I liked Martin what’s-his-name. Not his late night show but when he was on The Screensavers. With a degree in English or literature or English literature, he made good, geeky Dennis Milleresque puns. I dig that stuff.
If I may go off on a digression, has anyone seen his MSNBC show or whatever cable news station he’s on? I saw most of one of them a week or so ago and, boy, how far the mighty have fallen. Our political differences aside, he’s just not very funny anymore. He’s been castrated – there’s no ooomph to his schtick. His demeanor is just way too mild-mannered and he seems about as comfortable as Mother Theresa at a Chippendales show. Anyway, back to podcasting.
So I get like a million podcasts from Chris Pirillo’s feed a day. And they’ve all been interviews with folks attending SES which is this convention for techno-marketers or something like that. I am so fucking tired of hearing about how blogs are going to be the primary means for people to get their fill of news in the not-so-distant future. What a fucking nightmare that’s gonna be! Right now, I’d hazard a guess that perhaps 0.00001% of all the blogs out there are worth a shit (and I count my blog in the other 99.99999%). Of them, a lot are just news aggregators, that is, they just have brief commentary on a story and lots of links to sites that employ real human beings to go out and research the story. (And even that’s becoming rarer nowadays.) Pretty soon we’ll require blog aggregators to filter through all the blogs that winnow through the news. Who the fuck wants to tack those seas? Just find good news sources and go to their page directly or get their RSS feeds. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly revolutionary about any dipshit being able to post a link to an AP story and say how wonderful or how awful the story is. Fuck, pretty soon there won’t be any investigative journalists left. News outlets will just offer press releases and talking point memos because it’s cheaper that way. Save yourself the hassle of navigating all those blogs and just go to the taproot of lies: whitehouse.gov.
The BBC podcast I’ve been listening to is pretty cool. Some guys hosts a show about an obscure topic and brings some university professors on to discuss it. So far, I’ve listened to their thoughts on alchemy and the modern conception of utopias. The Sex Geeks feed has been hit or miss. The show on Inside Deep Throat bored the shit out of me but the latest one was alright. They just bantered on about various things sexual. At one point, silicone was mentioned and the female host asks where it comes from. The guy replies, “From silicon.”
Her: “Where does silicon come from?”
Him: “It’s one of the elements like oxygen.”
Me: “It comes from sand you moron!”
The Dulcinea directed me to a podcast on shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, called Rope Weekly hosted by a guy calling himself Graydancer. He’s a dork in the grand tradition and, although I’m a dork too, it makes for bad listening. Oddly enough, he lives here in Madison.
So, as with blogging, the lesson about podcasting is that, just because anyone can do it, doesn’t make it interesting or worthwhile.
I had my second tutoring session with Alex on Wednesday. He’s got the alphabet about 85% down. Well, more like 45% if you don’t count the fact that he doesn’t recognize lower case letters. So I’m having him write out the letters over and over in upper case until he’s got them down cold. Then I’ll move on to lower case. From there we’ll go into the sounds of the letters. Yeah, it’s a long row to hoe but it’ll be worth it. I realized at our first meeting that he wasn’t good with the letter V. He’d draw the left-hand line vertically instead of at an angle. However, by the end of our session on Wednesday, he was writing it correctly and even doing so without lifting the pencil off the paper. Personally, I felt this was an accomplishment and got all giddy inside when I saw him do it.
As I wrote previously, Alex is from Gambia and his native tongue is Mandinka. As we were going over the alphabet, he told me that “today” in Mandinka is pronounced “bee”. So I learned something myself. Next I wanna get him to give me some Gambian recipes. It’s pretty weird to think about how he gets through life right now not being able to read. That’s gotta be a real bitch. At least he can speak English. I’m fairly certain that he wants to get a GED at some point but I’m thinking he’ll be fucking thrilled as pie when he can read the newspaper. I asked him why he came here and he told me that he watched TV, such as CNN, and one day he pointed to the TV and told his mother, “I have to go there”. And he came here. He loves America and he thanked me over and over when I left his apartment. Not many Americans give up their lives here and move thousands of miles away across The Pond in search of a better life. We’ve got it pretty good here so let’s not fuck it up.
I got my tickets for the Wisconsin Film Fest yesterday. There were 2 or 3 films that were sold out but I got a good smattering:
Wheel of Time - Werner Herzog – ‘nuff said.
Kabala
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction - Sam Fuller and Lee Marvin.
Moolaadé
Nomi Song
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen - it’s about bowling!
Vodka Lemon
What’s Wrong With Frank Chin?
Consuming Spirits
Old Boy
The Kino Film Revolution
Wisconsin’s Own Narrative Shorts – Program 1
I wasn’t able to get tickets for Shake Hands With the Devil or Henry Aaron’s Summer Up North. Still, plenty of cinema to keep me busy.
I’ve gotta remember to get a ticket for Steve Earle so I can get drunk and yell for “Condi, Condi”. I may go meet up with a bunch of pagans tonight. It would be in public so I don’t think anyone would be skyclad but you never know with these people. Perhaps Gem can give me the info I seek…
I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately. For instance, there’s the fantastic Clayborne drama which is getting interesting. Frank and Thompson went to the station to find out what happened to it but Frank found that his passcode no longer works on the door. Who changed the code? A womyn that Thompson thought had worked at the station dies but he finds out that she, in fact, did not work there. Why was she there? What will happen to Karen now that her estranged husband has found out where she is? Run – don’t walk! – to clayborne.blogspot.com and find out!
I also subscribed to Chris Pirillo’s podcast. Chris, as you computer types out there probably know, is computer geek. He used to be on TechTV helping people out with their PC problems but left for reasons I cannot recall. I guess it’s not a big deal as TechTV is now G4 and seems to avoid any mention of computers that is not related to video gaming. Although I should, I haven’t watched any of this G4 hoo-ha as 2 minutes of television about gaming is more than enough for this non-video gamer. From the web page, it looks like they still have hot young things gracing the screen, though. Personally, I liked Leo LaPorte and the other guy who wore a Utilikilt. Hey, I fix computers for a living – they’re my kinda people. And I liked Martin what’s-his-name. Not his late night show but when he was on The Screensavers. With a degree in English or literature or English literature, he made good, geeky Dennis Milleresque puns. I dig that stuff.
If I may go off on a digression, has anyone seen his MSNBC show or whatever cable news station he’s on? I saw most of one of them a week or so ago and, boy, how far the mighty have fallen. Our political differences aside, he’s just not very funny anymore. He’s been castrated – there’s no ooomph to his schtick. His demeanor is just way too mild-mannered and he seems about as comfortable as Mother Theresa at a Chippendales show. Anyway, back to podcasting.
So I get like a million podcasts from Chris Pirillo’s feed a day. And they’ve all been interviews with folks attending SES which is this convention for techno-marketers or something like that. I am so fucking tired of hearing about how blogs are going to be the primary means for people to get their fill of news in the not-so-distant future. What a fucking nightmare that’s gonna be! Right now, I’d hazard a guess that perhaps 0.00001% of all the blogs out there are worth a shit (and I count my blog in the other 99.99999%). Of them, a lot are just news aggregators, that is, they just have brief commentary on a story and lots of links to sites that employ real human beings to go out and research the story. (And even that’s becoming rarer nowadays.) Pretty soon we’ll require blog aggregators to filter through all the blogs that winnow through the news. Who the fuck wants to tack those seas? Just find good news sources and go to their page directly or get their RSS feeds. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly revolutionary about any dipshit being able to post a link to an AP story and say how wonderful or how awful the story is. Fuck, pretty soon there won’t be any investigative journalists left. News outlets will just offer press releases and talking point memos because it’s cheaper that way. Save yourself the hassle of navigating all those blogs and just go to the taproot of lies: whitehouse.gov.
The BBC podcast I’ve been listening to is pretty cool. Some guys hosts a show about an obscure topic and brings some university professors on to discuss it. So far, I’ve listened to their thoughts on alchemy and the modern conception of utopias. The Sex Geeks feed has been hit or miss. The show on Inside Deep Throat bored the shit out of me but the latest one was alright. They just bantered on about various things sexual. At one point, silicone was mentioned and the female host asks where it comes from. The guy replies, “From silicon.”
Her: “Where does silicon come from?”
Him: “It’s one of the elements like oxygen.”
Me: “It comes from sand you moron!”
The Dulcinea directed me to a podcast on shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, called Rope Weekly hosted by a guy calling himself Graydancer. He’s a dork in the grand tradition and, although I’m a dork too, it makes for bad listening. Oddly enough, he lives here in Madison.
So, as with blogging, the lesson about podcasting is that, just because anyone can do it, doesn’t make it interesting or worthwhile.
I had my second tutoring session with Alex on Wednesday. He’s got the alphabet about 85% down. Well, more like 45% if you don’t count the fact that he doesn’t recognize lower case letters. So I’m having him write out the letters over and over in upper case until he’s got them down cold. Then I’ll move on to lower case. From there we’ll go into the sounds of the letters. Yeah, it’s a long row to hoe but it’ll be worth it. I realized at our first meeting that he wasn’t good with the letter V. He’d draw the left-hand line vertically instead of at an angle. However, by the end of our session on Wednesday, he was writing it correctly and even doing so without lifting the pencil off the paper. Personally, I felt this was an accomplishment and got all giddy inside when I saw him do it.
As I wrote previously, Alex is from Gambia and his native tongue is Mandinka. As we were going over the alphabet, he told me that “today” in Mandinka is pronounced “bee”. So I learned something myself. Next I wanna get him to give me some Gambian recipes. It’s pretty weird to think about how he gets through life right now not being able to read. That’s gotta be a real bitch. At least he can speak English. I’m fairly certain that he wants to get a GED at some point but I’m thinking he’ll be fucking thrilled as pie when he can read the newspaper. I asked him why he came here and he told me that he watched TV, such as CNN, and one day he pointed to the TV and told his mother, “I have to go there”. And he came here. He loves America and he thanked me over and over when I left his apartment. Not many Americans give up their lives here and move thousands of miles away across The Pond in search of a better life. We’ve got it pretty good here so let’s not fuck it up.
I got my tickets for the Wisconsin Film Fest yesterday. There were 2 or 3 films that were sold out but I got a good smattering:
Wheel of Time - Werner Herzog – ‘nuff said.
Kabala
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction - Sam Fuller and Lee Marvin.
Moolaadé
Nomi Song
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen - it’s about bowling!
Vodka Lemon
What’s Wrong With Frank Chin?
Consuming Spirits
Old Boy
The Kino Film Revolution
Wisconsin’s Own Narrative Shorts – Program 1
I wasn’t able to get tickets for Shake Hands With the Devil or Henry Aaron’s Summer Up North. Still, plenty of cinema to keep me busy.
I’ve gotta remember to get a ticket for Steve Earle so I can get drunk and yell for “Condi, Condi”. I may go meet up with a bunch of pagans tonight. It would be in public so I don’t think anyone would be skyclad but you never know with these people. Perhaps Gem can give me the info I seek…
Action! Adventure! Drama! Fresh Fruit!
I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately. For instance, there’s the fantastic Clayborne drama which is getting interesting. Frank and Thompson went to the station to find out what happened to it but Frank found that his passcode no longer works on the door. Who changed the code? A womyn that Thompson thought had worked at the station dies but he finds out that she, in fact, did not work there. Why was she there? What will happen to Karen now that her estranged husband has found out where she is? Run – don’t walk! – to clayborne.blogspot.com and find out!
I also subscribed to Chris Pirillo’s podcast. Chris, as you computer types out there probably know, is computer geek. He used to be on TechTV helping people out with their PC problems but left for reasons I cannot recall. I guess it’s not a big deal as TechTV is now G4 and seems to avoid any mention of computers that is not related to video gaming. Although I should, I haven’t watched any of this G4 hoo-ha as 2 minutes of television about gaming is more than enough for this non-video gamer. From the web page, it looks like they still have hot young things gracing the screen, though. Personally, I liked Leo LaPorte and the other guy who wore a Utilikilt. Hey, I fix computers for a living – they’re my kinda people. And I liked Martin what’s-his-name. Not his late night show but when he was on The Screensavers. With a degree in English or literature or English literature, he made good, geeky Dennis Milleresque puns. I dig that stuff.
If I may go off on a digression, has anyone seen his MSNBC show or whatever cable news station he’s on? I saw most of one of them a week or so ago and, boy, how far the mighty have fallen. Our political differences aside, he’s just not very funny anymore. He’s been castrated – there’s no ooomph to his schtick. His demeanor is just way too mild-mannered and he seems about as comfortable as Mother Theresa at a Chippendales show. Anyway, back to podcasting.
So I get like a million podcasts from Chris Pirillo’s feed a day. And they’ve all been interviews with folks attending SES which is this convention for techno-marketers or something like that. I am so fucking tired of hearing about how blogs are going to be the primary means for people to get their fill of news in the not-so-distant future. What a fucking nightmare that’s gonna be! Right now, I’d hazard a guess that perhaps 0.00001% of all the blogs out there are worth a shit (and I count my blog in the other 99.99999%). Of them, a lot are just news aggregators, that is, they just have brief commentary on a story and lots of links to sites that employ real human beings to go out and research the story. (And even that’s becoming rarer nowadays.) Pretty soon we’ll require blog aggregators to filter through all the blogs that winnow through the news. Who the fuck wants to tack those seas? Just find good news sources and go to their page directly or get their RSS feeds. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly revolutionary about any dipshit being able to post a link to an AP story and say how wonderful or how awful the story is. Fuck, pretty soon there won’t be any investigative journalists left. News outlets will just offer press releases and talking point memos because it’s cheaper that way. Save yourself the hassle of navigating all those blogs and just go to the taproot of lies: whitehouse.gov.
The BBC podcast I’ve been listening to is pretty cool. Some guys hosts a show about an obscure topic and brings some university professors on to discuss it. So far, I’ve listened to their thoughts on alchemy and the modern conception of utopias. The Sex Geeks feed has been hit or miss. The show on Inside Deep Throat bored the shit out of me but the latest one was alright. They just bantered on about various things sexual. At one point, silicone was mentioned and the female host asks where it comes from. The guy replies, “From silicon.”
Her: “Where does silicon come from?”
Him: “It’s one of the elements like oxygen.”
Me: “It comes from sand you moron!”
The Dulcinea directed me to a podcast on shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, called Rope Weekly hosted by a guy calling himself Graydancer. He’s a dork in the grand tradition and, although I’m a dork too, it makes for bad listening. Oddly enough, he lives here in Madison.
So, as with blogging, the lesson about podcasting is that, just because anyone can do it, doesn’t make it interesting or worthwhile.
I had my second tutoring session with Alex on Wednesday. He’s got the alphabet about 85% down. Well, more like 45% if you don’t count the fact that he doesn’t recognize lower case letters. So I’m having him write out the letters over and over in upper case until he’s got them down cold. Then I’ll move on to lower case. From there we’ll go into the sounds of the letters. Yeah, it’s a long row to hoe but it’ll be worth it. I realized at our first meeting that he wasn’t good with the letter V. He’d draw the left-hand line vertically instead of at an angle. However, by the end of our session on Wednesday, he was writing it correctly and even doing so without lifting the pencil off the paper. Personally, I felt this was an accomplishment and got all giddy inside when I saw him do it.
As I wrote previously, Alex is from Gambia and his native tongue is Mandinka. As we were going over the alphabet, he told me that “today” in Mandinka is pronounced “bee”. So I learned something myself. Next I wanna get him to give me some Gambian recipes. It’s pretty weird to think about how he gets through life right now not being able to read. That’s gotta be a real bitch. At least he can speak English. I’m fairly certain that he wants to get a GED at some point but I’m thinking he’ll be fucking thrilled as pie when he can read the newspaper. I asked him why he came here and he told me that he watched TV, such as CNN, and one day he pointed to the TV and told his mother, “I have to go there”. And he came here. He loves America and he thanked me over and over when I left his apartment. Not many Americans give up their lives here and move thousands of miles away across The Pond in search of a better life. We’ve got it pretty good here so let’s not fuck it up.
I got my tickets for the Wisconsin Film Fest yesterday. There were 2 or 3 films that were sold out but I got a good smattering:
Wheel of Time - Werner Herzog – ‘nuff said.
Kabala
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction - Sam Fuller and Lee Marvin.
Moolaadé
Nomi Song
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen - it’s about bowling!
Vodka Lemon
What’s Wrong With Frank Chin?
Consuming Spirits
Old Boy
The Kino Film Revolution
Wisconsin’s Own Narrative Shorts – Program 1
I wasn’t able to get tickets for Shake Hands With the Devil or Henry Aaron’s Summer Up North. Still, plenty of cinema to keep me busy.
I’ve gotta remember to get a ticket for Steve Earle so I can get drunk and yell for “Condi, Condi”. I may go meet up with a bunch of pagans tonight. It would be in public so I don’t think anyone would be skyclad but you never know with these people. Perhaps Gem can give me the info I seek…
I’ve been listening to some podcasts lately. For instance, there’s the fantastic Clayborne drama which is getting interesting. Frank and Thompson went to the station to find out what happened to it but Frank found that his passcode no longer works on the door. Who changed the code? A womyn that Thompson thought had worked at the station dies but he finds out that she, in fact, did not work there. Why was she there? What will happen to Karen now that her estranged husband has found out where she is? Run – don’t walk! – to clayborne.blogspot.com and find out!
I also subscribed to Chris Pirillo’s podcast. Chris, as you computer types out there probably know, is computer geek. He used to be on TechTV helping people out with their PC problems but left for reasons I cannot recall. I guess it’s not a big deal as TechTV is now G4 and seems to avoid any mention of computers that is not related to video gaming. Although I should, I haven’t watched any of this G4 hoo-ha as 2 minutes of television about gaming is more than enough for this non-video gamer. From the web page, it looks like they still have hot young things gracing the screen, though. Personally, I liked Leo LaPorte and the other guy who wore a Utilikilt. Hey, I fix computers for a living – they’re my kinda people. And I liked Martin what’s-his-name. Not his late night show but when he was on The Screensavers. With a degree in English or literature or English literature, he made good, geeky Dennis Milleresque puns. I dig that stuff.
If I may go off on a digression, has anyone seen his MSNBC show or whatever cable news station he’s on? I saw most of one of them a week or so ago and, boy, how far the mighty have fallen. Our political differences aside, he’s just not very funny anymore. He’s been castrated – there’s no ooomph to his schtick. His demeanor is just way too mild-mannered and he seems about as comfortable as Mother Theresa at a Chippendales show. Anyway, back to podcasting.
So I get like a million podcasts from Chris Pirillo’s feed a day. And they’ve all been interviews with folks attending SES which is this convention for techno-marketers or something like that. I am so fucking tired of hearing about how blogs are going to be the primary means for people to get their fill of news in the not-so-distant future. What a fucking nightmare that’s gonna be! Right now, I’d hazard a guess that perhaps 0.00001% of all the blogs out there are worth a shit (and I count my blog in the other 99.99999%). Of them, a lot are just news aggregators, that is, they just have brief commentary on a story and lots of links to sites that employ real human beings to go out and research the story. (And even that’s becoming rarer nowadays.) Pretty soon we’ll require blog aggregators to filter through all the blogs that winnow through the news. Who the fuck wants to tack those seas? Just find good news sources and go to their page directly or get their RSS feeds. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything particularly revolutionary about any dipshit being able to post a link to an AP story and say how wonderful or how awful the story is. Fuck, pretty soon there won’t be any investigative journalists left. News outlets will just offer press releases and talking point memos because it’s cheaper that way. Save yourself the hassle of navigating all those blogs and just go to the taproot of lies: whitehouse.gov.
The BBC podcast I’ve been listening to is pretty cool. Some guys hosts a show about an obscure topic and brings some university professors on to discuss it. So far, I’ve listened to their thoughts on alchemy and the modern conception of utopias. The Sex Geeks feed has been hit or miss. The show on Inside Deep Throat bored the shit out of me but the latest one was alright. They just bantered on about various things sexual. At one point, silicone was mentioned and the female host asks where it comes from. The guy replies, “From silicon.”
Her: “Where does silicon come from?”
Him: “It’s one of the elements like oxygen.”
Me: “It comes from sand you moron!”
The Dulcinea directed me to a podcast on shibari, the Japanese art of rope bondage, called Rope Weekly hosted by a guy calling himself Graydancer. He’s a dork in the grand tradition and, although I’m a dork too, it makes for bad listening. Oddly enough, he lives here in Madison.
So, as with blogging, the lesson about podcasting is that, just because anyone can do it, doesn’t make it interesting or worthwhile.
I had my second tutoring session with Alex on Wednesday. He’s got the alphabet about 85% down. Well, more like 45% if you don’t count the fact that he doesn’t recognize lower case letters. So I’m having him write out the letters over and over in upper case until he’s got them down cold. Then I’ll move on to lower case. From there we’ll go into the sounds of the letters. Yeah, it’s a long row to hoe but it’ll be worth it. I realized at our first meeting that he wasn’t good with the letter V. He’d draw the left-hand line vertically instead of at an angle. However, by the end of our session on Wednesday, he was writing it correctly and even doing so without lifting the pencil off the paper. Personally, I felt this was an accomplishment and got all giddy inside when I saw him do it.
As I wrote previously, Alex is from Gambia and his native tongue is Mandinka. As we were going over the alphabet, he told me that “today” in Mandinka is pronounced “bee”. So I learned something myself. Next I wanna get him to give me some Gambian recipes. It’s pretty weird to think about how he gets through life right now not being able to read. That’s gotta be a real bitch. At least he can speak English. I’m fairly certain that he wants to get a GED at some point but I’m thinking he’ll be fucking thrilled as pie when he can read the newspaper. I asked him why he came here and he told me that he watched TV, such as CNN, and one day he pointed to the TV and told his mother, “I have to go there”. And he came here. He loves America and he thanked me over and over when I left his apartment. Not many Americans give up their lives here and move thousands of miles away across The Pond in search of a better life. We’ve got it pretty good here so let’s not fuck it up.
I got my tickets for the Wisconsin Film Fest yesterday. There were 2 or 3 films that were sold out but I got a good smattering:
Wheel of Time - Werner Herzog – ‘nuff said.
Kabala
The Big Red One: The Reconstruction - Sam Fuller and Lee Marvin.
Moolaadé
Nomi Song
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen - it’s about bowling!
Vodka Lemon
What’s Wrong With Frank Chin?
Consuming Spirits
Old Boy
The Kino Film Revolution
Wisconsin’s Own Narrative Shorts – Program 1
I wasn’t able to get tickets for Shake Hands With the Devil or Henry Aaron’s Summer Up North. Still, plenty of cinema to keep me busy.
I’ve gotta remember to get a ticket for Steve Earle so I can get drunk and yell for “Condi, Condi”. I may go meet up with a bunch of pagans tonight. It would be in public so I don’t think anyone would be skyclad but you never know with these people. Perhaps Gem can give me the info I seek…
Condi & Rose
Oh Condi Condi beggin’ on my knees
Open up your heart and let me in wontcha please
Got no money but everybody knows
I love you Condi and I’ll never let you go
Sweet and dandy pretty as can be
You be the flower and I’ll be the bumble bee
Oh she loves me oops she loves me not
People say you’re cold but I think you’re hot
I’ve been listening to Steve Earle’s The Revolution Starts…Now constantly here at work and I can’t get “Condi, Condi” out of my cranium. It’s just so blatantly catchy. And so I’m trying to shake it out by listening to the first album by Masters of Reality. It’s been quite a while since I’ve heard it. The album originally came out in 1988 or 89 and I bought it at the time based on the album cover. I was expecting something akin to Black Sabbath since their name came from the Sabs’ Master of Reality and the cover was full of deep blues and black featuring an old mansion replete with overgrown weeds & vines. Instead of dark heavy metal, I discovered that they were quite an anomaly for the time: MoR were steeped in Cream and Led Zeppelin much more than the Sabs. Plus there were some nice acoustic elements that sound like what we now call Americana. Chris Goss was the leader of the band as he wrote most of the material. All of the songs on the album are quite tuneful. However heavy or acoustic a song is, it’s got a catchy melody. Obviously The Beatles were an influence on him as well. Goss isn’t a typical hard rock singer. He has a really smooth voice and he doesn’t scream. The songs are just so wonderfully melodic. Rick Rubin produced the album and gave it a clean sound that has a warm ambiance. There’s a scene in one of Steven Seagal’s flicks where he wanders into a club and MoR are onstage playing “Domino” from this album. I think I was the only person to recognize them when a bunch of us watched it back when I lived in the dorms. Goss went on to produce a few Kyuss albums and I think he also produced the first Queens of the Stone Age disc. (Have they made a second?)
OK. I snagged the new Doctor Who episode which was leaked onto the Internet and finally got a chance to watch it the other night. There are quite a few differences between this new incarnation of the series and the old beloved series that ended in 1989. Firstly, there is length. Each story of the new series is one episode that is 40 minutes long. Previously, each story was 2-6 episodes that were 25 minutes long and ended with a cliffhanger involving either the Doctor or a companion or both in great peril. Those days are gone. On a technical note, the new Who is shot completely on DV so the show has a nice, uniform look. For the old series, interiors were done on video while exteriors were shot on 16mm film so the various scenes looked drastically different because of the differing media. The theme used now seems to be the one from the 1970s when Tom Baker portrayed the Doctor (and at the end of the Pertwee era?) but remixed with some bits added.
The Doctor’s new companion is Rose, played by Billie Piper. When I first heard about her being cast, I had no idea who she was. Then I read that she’s a complete bimbo with a failed singing career behind her who flashes her tits when she’s drunk. (You can find such pics on the Net easily.) Ergo, I wasn’t expecting much out of her other than being eye candy. However, I thought she did a good job. (Hey, it’s not Shakespeare.) And she’s good eye candy. Also grabbing the eye was the new TARDIS console room. It’s now this huge cavernous space with flying buttresses. It’s dimly lit with a funky-looking console in the center. There was a shot of the Doctor standing at the TARDIS door talking to Rose who was standing outside and you could see the console room behind the Doctor instead of darkness. The sonic screwdriver is featured as is the return of an enemy that was last seen back in the early 1970s during Jon Pertwee’s tenure as the Doctor. The show is a lot more PC now with Rose having a boyfriend who’s black. (African-English?) As for the Doctor, Chris Eccleston seems like a good choice so far. I miss the Edwardian clothing but I found that I got used to his leather jacket and short hair quickly. Eccleston’s Doctor is as hyper as a whore in church. He’s running around doing this and that just like Pertwee’s Doc did. But he’s also a bit goofy and eccentric in the Tom Baker vein. As a character, I really like him so far.
Now to the special effects. While they aren’t as good as you’re going to see in Revenge of the Sith, it seems the Beeb dropped some serious ££££ in CGI. Honestly, I’m still undecided about them taking away the cheesiness factor. It was one of the endearing things about the original series – all those cheap plastic monsters and laser guns that send smoke and sparks out the barrel when they fire. We’ll see how I feel after I’ve seen some more episodes. Lastly, while the structure of the story have changed due to the change in format, the plot was the same old stuff: an alien intelligence that can animate and control plastic. Lots of perilous situations with humanity being saved at the last minute by The Doctor and the forces of good. Oh, the TARDIS sounds the same when it de-/materializes.
There was a part in which Rose looks up the Doctor on the Internet and is led to a conspiracy buff who has evidence of the Doctor’s presence at moments in history when disaster strikes. For instance, he shows Rose a picture of The Doctor in Dallas watching JFK’s motorcade driving by. It’s was a nice inside joke (the very first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on the day JFK was killed) and made me wonder if there may be a tie-in somehow with the book Who Killed Kennedy.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I laughed aloud a few times, ogled Rose, and just had a good time. My only criticism is that it’s too short. I’d have liked them to either keep the old format of multiple 25-minute episodes or one 50-minute episode. I read a criticism of it that said it was “too English” which, after having seen the episode, don’t understand at all. It’s no more English than the old series which the person didn’t rake over the coals. Although no American network picked up the show, we Yanks can always find it on the Net. As far as I know, the transmission date is still March 26th.
Open up your heart and let me in wontcha please
Got no money but everybody knows
I love you Condi and I’ll never let you go
Sweet and dandy pretty as can be
You be the flower and I’ll be the bumble bee
Oh she loves me oops she loves me not
People say you’re cold but I think you’re hot
OK. I snagged the new Doctor Who episode which was leaked onto the Internet and finally got a chance to watch it the other night. There are quite a few differences between this new incarnation of the series and the old beloved series that ended in 1989. Firstly, there is length. Each story of the new series is one episode that is 40 minutes long. Previously, each story was 2-6 episodes that were 25 minutes long and ended with a cliffhanger involving either the Doctor or a companion or both in great peril. Those days are gone. On a technical note, the new Who is shot completely on DV so the show has a nice, uniform look. For the old series, interiors were done on video while exteriors were shot on 16mm film so the various scenes looked drastically different because of the differing media. The theme used now seems to be the one from the 1970s when Tom Baker portrayed the Doctor (and at the end of the Pertwee era?) but remixed with some bits added.
The Doctor’s new companion is Rose, played by Billie Piper. When I first heard about her being cast, I had no idea who she was. Then I read that she’s a complete bimbo with a failed singing career behind her who flashes her tits when she’s drunk. (You can find such pics on the Net easily.) Ergo, I wasn’t expecting much out of her other than being eye candy. However, I thought she did a good job. (Hey, it’s not Shakespeare.) And she’s good eye candy. Also grabbing the eye was the new TARDIS console room. It’s now this huge cavernous space with flying buttresses. It’s dimly lit with a funky-looking console in the center. There was a shot of the Doctor standing at the TARDIS door talking to Rose who was standing outside and you could see the console room behind the Doctor instead of darkness. The sonic screwdriver is featured as is the return of an enemy that was last seen back in the early 1970s during Jon Pertwee’s tenure as the Doctor. The show is a lot more PC now with Rose having a boyfriend who’s black. (African-English?) As for the Doctor, Chris Eccleston seems like a good choice so far. I miss the Edwardian clothing but I found that I got used to his leather jacket and short hair quickly. Eccleston’s Doctor is as hyper as a whore in church. He’s running around doing this and that just like Pertwee’s Doc did. But he’s also a bit goofy and eccentric in the Tom Baker vein. As a character, I really like him so far.
Now to the special effects. While they aren’t as good as you’re going to see in Revenge of the Sith, it seems the Beeb dropped some serious ££££ in CGI. Honestly, I’m still undecided about them taking away the cheesiness factor. It was one of the endearing things about the original series – all those cheap plastic monsters and laser guns that send smoke and sparks out the barrel when they fire. We’ll see how I feel after I’ve seen some more episodes. Lastly, while the structure of the story have changed due to the change in format, the plot was the same old stuff: an alien intelligence that can animate and control plastic. Lots of perilous situations with humanity being saved at the last minute by The Doctor and the forces of good. Oh, the TARDIS sounds the same when it de-/materializes.
There was a part in which Rose looks up the Doctor on the Internet and is led to a conspiracy buff who has evidence of the Doctor’s presence at moments in history when disaster strikes. For instance, he shows Rose a picture of The Doctor in Dallas watching JFK’s motorcade driving by. It’s was a nice inside joke (the very first episode of Doctor Who was broadcast on the day JFK was killed) and made me wonder if there may be a tie-in somehow with the book Who Killed Kennedy.
Overall, I enjoyed it. I laughed aloud a few times, ogled Rose, and just had a good time. My only criticism is that it’s too short. I’d have liked them to either keep the old format of multiple 25-minute episodes or one 50-minute episode. I read a criticism of it that said it was “too English” which, after having seen the episode, don’t understand at all. It’s no more English than the old series which the person didn’t rake over the coals. Although no American network picked up the show, we Yanks can always find it on the Net. As far as I know, the transmission date is still March 26th.
RotS Trailer
Here's the one that played last night during The OC and is now in theaters (Windows Media):
Click Me!
Oh fuck, is it gonna be fun! Watch for the scene where Mace Windu and a few Jedi go to arrest Palpatine - man, the Chancellor opens a fucking can of whoopass!
Here's the one that played last night during The OC and is now in theaters (Windows Media):
Click Me!
Oh fuck, is it gonna be fun! Watch for the scene where Mace Windu and a few Jedi go to arrest Palpatine - man, the Chancellor opens a fucking can of whoopass!
07 March, 2005
Chat With Richard Dawkins
There will be a webchat with Richard Dawkins on Sunday, 20 March at 4PM EST/9PM GMT. The folks at faithless.org will be hosting it.
There will be a webchat with Richard Dawkins on Sunday, 20 March at 4PM EST/9PM GMT. The folks at faithless.org will be hosting it.
Rope
Miss Pamela and I have known each other for quite some time – since 1987. Our friendship has survived high school crushes, a drunken college make-out session or two, living in different cities, her marriage – it’s really flowered into one that I cherish immensely. It’s a real benefit of growing older, to see a relationship change and grow for nearly 18 years. There are, to be sure, benefits to being young, but nurturing a friendship over the course of almost two decades has its challenges and its great rewards that are unknown to those younger than us.
We seem to have this great mixture of common interests and a common past along with differences that make things interesting. Having gone to high school together, we can talk about those awkward times with a laugh and, perhaps, compare ourselves to our former classmates. Our interests in the arts converge at some points and diverge at others. So we can appreciate our mutual interest in, say, the music of Wilco, but then introduce one another to new bands such as when she burned me a copy of Get Born by Jet. We can freely confide in one another and just enjoy spending time together. She’s such a pleasure to be with. How could I not be attracted to someone who is smart, makes me laugh, and is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet? Of course, Pam is also very beautiful.
My eyes drifted from looking at the rope back to my fellow students. The womyn in the older couple looked to be in her mid-40s but she still looked good. She was about 5’8” with nice curves and long hair. One of Sarah’s friends – the one who had cut her hair – was also very beautiful. She looked to be more my age. Olive skin, black hair that ended just above her shoulders, and nice curves like the other woman but shorter. The instructor gave a brief spiel about BDSM including why anyone would want to get involved in it and safety. The safety bit was obvious to me but a couple of the reasons one might want to tie up a lover or be tied up had never occurred to me. For whatever reason, I had always thought the appeal of tying up a womyn would have to do with exercising power. But when Sarah remarked about the erotic nature of it, I thought to myself, “Well, duh! How did I miss that?” By erotic nature I mean being close to your lover and applying the rope on his/her skin. Making patterns with the rope that complement your lover’s body. It requires strict attention and concentration on certain areas. And you’re touching your lover through most of the process as you run rope between legs and under arms. Why I always thought of power as opposed to the sensual/erotic nature of it escapes me. See, you learn something new everyday.
Sarah then handed out a sheet with instructions on tying various knots and had us open our bags and check out the ropes inside. There were two gauges: a piece 33’ in lenth and half an inch(?) thick and a much shorter run that was about twice as thick. Nylon. Sarah went over the uses of various gauges of rope and the various said she’d begin by showing us a fairly simple harness. Her guinea pig was the hottie, Miss Hairstylist. She started by hanging a loop down Miss Hairstylist’s back and then began wrapping the rope around her front. Sarah herself is pretty good-looking so right off the bat I was titillated by watching one beautiful womyn tie another beautiful womyn up in knots. As the harness came together, I noticed that it really accentuated the womyn’s curves. For example, she was wearing rather loose clothing but nearly the full outlines of her breasts were exposed by the rope pulling as it pushed the sweater against her skin. As Sarah finished tying off the rope in back, I was given a chance to ogle Miss Hairstylist’s behind which was quite nice. Beautiful hips, lemme tell ya. Having seen an example, it was now up to us, the Padawan BDSM learners, to give it a go.
Before any tying could commence, Pam and I had to figure out which of us would tyer and which would be the tyee. Pam decided she wanted to tie me up. (I should have known.) I took my position in the circle and she threw the loop down my back. Then she went to work. Even wearing clothing, it was a nice sensation to have the rope looped around my body and pulled tight. Not too tight, though, just kinda snug. Nothing was constricted and the pressure of the rope was rather nice. When Pam was in front of me, I could see a look of concentration on her face, like that of a painter hard at work before a canvas. She was really getting into it. Watching her reach between my legs and feeling her tug on the rope so that it pressed against me was erotic even though we were in a roomful of strangers and fully-clothed. Not only were the physical sensations pleasing but I also like the idea of being submissive, of being tied. When she’d disappear behind me, I’d look at my classmates and try to see what they were doing as I’d be tying Pam up soon. Just to my left, the older womyn was being tied up. She was, quite frankly, hot. Her shirt would occasionally lift up revealing her flat tummy and I’d stare at it as long as I could before I got paranoid that she’d see my gawking. Looking to my right, Miss Hairstylist was tying up Sarah’s other friend. She was a big girl. Not so much overweight as just stout. Still, Miss Hairstylist was hot as tyer as well as tyee.
Next it was my turn to put the harness on Pam. It took me a while and some help from Sarah but I was able to complete it. I must admit that it was a wonderful, erotic experience. It was my turn to reach between her legs! At one point, I stood there staring at her breasts trying to figure out what kind of pattern I wanted in front. As with the other womyn, Pam’s breasts came into sharp relief with the rope pressing her shirt to her body. It was difficult to concentrate at times. But I quickly understood what Sarah meant when she talked about the artistic aspect of it. It was a challenge to try to devise a pattern, say, that looked right on Pam, that matched her curves. It became immediately apparent that I would need lots and lots of practice. As I was tying, I remarked to Pam that I should have brought my camera. The older womyn overheard me and graciously allowed me to take some snaps of my work in progress. I got the harness mostly completed by the time I needed Sarah’s help to figure out the best way to tie off the ends. When it was done, Pam looked at herself in the mirror and was somewhat impressed.
The next lesson involved binding hands and ankles. (Remember: 2 fingers of space!) This is fairly easy and I managed to bind Pam at the wrists and ankles without having to ask Sarah for any assistance. Then it was Pam’s turn. She got all creative and tied my wrists behind my back and, for this, the camera came over with the womyn taking the picture herself. At this point, Miss Hairstylist had her wrists bound behind her back and was preparing to be freed when Sarah asked if she could demonstrate hog-tying on her. Luckily, she agreed.
Man, was I glad she did. Lying prone on the futon mattress, Sarah began to bind her ankles and then connected the rope to that at her wrists. Now, being from Madison, I’ve been inculcated with ideas that white men are evil rapists and that our society degrades womyn. And my brainwashed gray matter equated a womyn being hog-tied with oppression. But then I saw that she was very comfortable and I was able to shake off my preconceptions. I must admit that seeing her hog-tied before really aroused me. It just looked so incredibly erotic and I could feel my penis beginning to get hard. Looking back, the scene was just a wonderful confluence of things that arouse me. Firstly there was the fact that she is an incredibly beautiful womyn. And I was really attracted to how her lovely hair fell over her face. Secondly was that she was in a helpless position. Thirdly she was being tied by another beautiful womyn. Lastly was that, because she was lying prone, attention was drawn to her shapely ass. I suppose I should add the sheer thrill of it. By this I mean that I had never seen a person, much less a hottie, hog-tied before so there was a certain visceral newness to it.
Somehow I managed to calm my erection down in time for the next lesson…
Miss Pamela and I have known each other for quite some time – since 1987. Our friendship has survived high school crushes, a drunken college make-out session or two, living in different cities, her marriage – it’s really flowered into one that I cherish immensely. It’s a real benefit of growing older, to see a relationship change and grow for nearly 18 years. There are, to be sure, benefits to being young, but nurturing a friendship over the course of almost two decades has its challenges and its great rewards that are unknown to those younger than us.
We seem to have this great mixture of common interests and a common past along with differences that make things interesting. Having gone to high school together, we can talk about those awkward times with a laugh and, perhaps, compare ourselves to our former classmates. Our interests in the arts converge at some points and diverge at others. So we can appreciate our mutual interest in, say, the music of Wilco, but then introduce one another to new bands such as when she burned me a copy of Get Born by Jet. We can freely confide in one another and just enjoy spending time together. She’s such a pleasure to be with. How could I not be attracted to someone who is smart, makes me laugh, and is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet? Of course, Pam is also very beautiful.
My eyes drifted from looking at the rope back to my fellow students. The womyn in the older couple looked to be in her mid-40s but she still looked good. She was about 5’8” with nice curves and long hair. One of Sarah’s friends – the one who had cut her hair – was also very beautiful. She looked to be more my age. Olive skin, black hair that ended just above her shoulders, and nice curves like the other woman but shorter. The instructor gave a brief spiel about BDSM including why anyone would want to get involved in it and safety. The safety bit was obvious to me but a couple of the reasons one might want to tie up a lover or be tied up had never occurred to me. For whatever reason, I had always thought the appeal of tying up a womyn would have to do with exercising power. But when Sarah remarked about the erotic nature of it, I thought to myself, “Well, duh! How did I miss that?” By erotic nature I mean being close to your lover and applying the rope on his/her skin. Making patterns with the rope that complement your lover’s body. It requires strict attention and concentration on certain areas. And you’re touching your lover through most of the process as you run rope between legs and under arms. Why I always thought of power as opposed to the sensual/erotic nature of it escapes me. See, you learn something new everyday.
Sarah then handed out a sheet with instructions on tying various knots and had us open our bags and check out the ropes inside. There were two gauges: a piece 33’ in lenth and half an inch(?) thick and a much shorter run that was about twice as thick. Nylon. Sarah went over the uses of various gauges of rope and the various said she’d begin by showing us a fairly simple harness. Her guinea pig was the hottie, Miss Hairstylist. She started by hanging a loop down Miss Hairstylist’s back and then began wrapping the rope around her front. Sarah herself is pretty good-looking so right off the bat I was titillated by watching one beautiful womyn tie another beautiful womyn up in knots. As the harness came together, I noticed that it really accentuated the womyn’s curves. For example, she was wearing rather loose clothing but nearly the full outlines of her breasts were exposed by the rope pulling as it pushed the sweater against her skin. As Sarah finished tying off the rope in back, I was given a chance to ogle Miss Hairstylist’s behind which was quite nice. Beautiful hips, lemme tell ya. Having seen an example, it was now up to us, the Padawan BDSM learners, to give it a go.
Before any tying could commence, Pam and I had to figure out which of us would tyer and which would be the tyee. Pam decided she wanted to tie me up. (I should have known.) I took my position in the circle and she threw the loop down my back. Then she went to work. Even wearing clothing, it was a nice sensation to have the rope looped around my body and pulled tight. Not too tight, though, just kinda snug. Nothing was constricted and the pressure of the rope was rather nice. When Pam was in front of me, I could see a look of concentration on her face, like that of a painter hard at work before a canvas. She was really getting into it. Watching her reach between my legs and feeling her tug on the rope so that it pressed against me was erotic even though we were in a roomful of strangers and fully-clothed. Not only were the physical sensations pleasing but I also like the idea of being submissive, of being tied. When she’d disappear behind me, I’d look at my classmates and try to see what they were doing as I’d be tying Pam up soon. Just to my left, the older womyn was being tied up. She was, quite frankly, hot. Her shirt would occasionally lift up revealing her flat tummy and I’d stare at it as long as I could before I got paranoid that she’d see my gawking. Looking to my right, Miss Hairstylist was tying up Sarah’s other friend. She was a big girl. Not so much overweight as just stout. Still, Miss Hairstylist was hot as tyer as well as tyee.
Next it was my turn to put the harness on Pam. It took me a while and some help from Sarah but I was able to complete it. I must admit that it was a wonderful, erotic experience. It was my turn to reach between her legs! At one point, I stood there staring at her breasts trying to figure out what kind of pattern I wanted in front. As with the other womyn, Pam’s breasts came into sharp relief with the rope pressing her shirt to her body. It was difficult to concentrate at times. But I quickly understood what Sarah meant when she talked about the artistic aspect of it. It was a challenge to try to devise a pattern, say, that looked right on Pam, that matched her curves. It became immediately apparent that I would need lots and lots of practice. As I was tying, I remarked to Pam that I should have brought my camera. The older womyn overheard me and graciously allowed me to take some snaps of my work in progress. I got the harness mostly completed by the time I needed Sarah’s help to figure out the best way to tie off the ends. When it was done, Pam looked at herself in the mirror and was somewhat impressed.
The next lesson involved binding hands and ankles. (Remember: 2 fingers of space!) This is fairly easy and I managed to bind Pam at the wrists and ankles without having to ask Sarah for any assistance. Then it was Pam’s turn. She got all creative and tied my wrists behind my back and, for this, the camera came over with the womyn taking the picture herself. At this point, Miss Hairstylist had her wrists bound behind her back and was preparing to be freed when Sarah asked if she could demonstrate hog-tying on her. Luckily, she agreed.
Man, was I glad she did. Lying prone on the futon mattress, Sarah began to bind her ankles and then connected the rope to that at her wrists. Now, being from Madison, I’ve been inculcated with ideas that white men are evil rapists and that our society degrades womyn. And my brainwashed gray matter equated a womyn being hog-tied with oppression. But then I saw that she was very comfortable and I was able to shake off my preconceptions. I must admit that seeing her hog-tied before really aroused me. It just looked so incredibly erotic and I could feel my penis beginning to get hard. Looking back, the scene was just a wonderful confluence of things that arouse me. Firstly there was the fact that she is an incredibly beautiful womyn. And I was really attracted to how her lovely hair fell over her face. Secondly was that she was in a helpless position. Thirdly she was being tied by another beautiful womyn. Lastly was that, because she was lying prone, attention was drawn to her shapely ass. I suppose I should add the sheer thrill of it. By this I mean that I had never seen a person, much less a hottie, hog-tied before so there was a certain visceral newness to it.
Somehow I managed to calm my erection down in time for the next lesson…
So Begins a New Week
The first episode of the new Doctor Who series has been leaked onto the Net. The rumor is that someone at the CBC perpetrated the dastardly deed. It's absolutely reprehensible that someone would do such a thing. So I am not just talking out of my ass, I'm downloading the episode right now to investigate the hubub for myself.
In other news, the trailer for Revenge of the Sith will premiere on the 10th during The O.C. The O.C. is a TV show of some kind on Fox or UPN or WB or something - I dunno. Then, after however long it takes someone to take the recording and create a movie file of it, it'll be on Usenet and P2P networks around the world. Finally on Friday, it will be in the theaters being shown before Robots.
Speaking of movies, I saw The Jacket with The Dulcinea yesterday. Ostensibly, I wanted to see it because Onkel Fish has a bit part in it but I found that it was a pretty good flick. The first half or so was really good. It was dark and moody with this Phildickian thing going. Then it got all hackneyed when Joey Leading Man has to save girl. At least we get to see Keira Knightly's tits.
One of the trailers was for A Scanner Darkly. Keanu Reeves did not ruin it for me! (I personally think that we'll find out what happened to those colonists at Roanoke before we find out why he was cast as Siddhartha in Little Buddha.) Linklater has refined the rotoscoping he used initially in Waking Life. It's sharper and less nebulous and, to my mind, fits Scanner perfectly. Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey, Jr. play his buds and I just can't wait to see the scene where they dismantle their apartment looking for bugs.
I got me a copy of Steve Earle's latest, The Revolution Starts Now and I must say that it's really fucking good. Damn lefties! "Condi, Condi" is awesome - just blatantly catchy. It's got this reggae/calypso thing going. Harry Belafonte would be proud. I was humming it to myself today at work as I traipsed down the hallway. In addition, I got another package of CDs from my editor. Let's see...Drufiacc by a Norwegian band called Flukt, a polka album by Jimmy Sturr, Fiendhandle's eponymous album, and Oil and Water by Stephen Kent. There's a lot of reviewing to do.
Tonight I had my first lesson as a literacy tutor. Surprisingly, I found that I wasn't really nervous. My student, Alex (not his real name), is from Gambia. He came over here in 2000 and, although he speaks English pretty well, he can't read a word. Right now he's learning the alphabet and so, when we meet again on Wednesday, we'll keep going on upper case letters. We'll do that for a stretch and then start the lower case.
Tomorrow I have my last Celtic music class and will be at Fyfe's for a short while with the Toad Hill gang as it's Downtown's birthday. It'll be really nice to see everyone again. Oh! Wendy gave birth last Wednesday to a boy - Benjamin. Lush will now have even less time on his hands. And Miss Regan has begun to walk and even speak a bit as well. I must remember to stop cussin' around her or Mel will have my ass in a sling when Regan starts saying, "Dickfer!" Christ, at this rate, she'll be in college tomorrow.
The first episode of the new Doctor Who series has been leaked onto the Net. The rumor is that someone at the CBC perpetrated the dastardly deed. It's absolutely reprehensible that someone would do such a thing. So I am not just talking out of my ass, I'm downloading the episode right now to investigate the hubub for myself.
In other news, the trailer for Revenge of the Sith will premiere on the 10th during The O.C. The O.C. is a TV show of some kind on Fox or UPN or WB or something - I dunno. Then, after however long it takes someone to take the recording and create a movie file of it, it'll be on Usenet and P2P networks around the world. Finally on Friday, it will be in the theaters being shown before Robots.
Speaking of movies, I saw The Jacket with The Dulcinea yesterday. Ostensibly, I wanted to see it because Onkel Fish has a bit part in it but I found that it was a pretty good flick. The first half or so was really good. It was dark and moody with this Phildickian thing going. Then it got all hackneyed when Joey Leading Man has to save girl. At least we get to see Keira Knightly's tits.
One of the trailers was for A Scanner Darkly. Keanu Reeves did not ruin it for me! (I personally think that we'll find out what happened to those colonists at Roanoke before we find out why he was cast as Siddhartha in Little Buddha.) Linklater has refined the rotoscoping he used initially in Waking Life. It's sharper and less nebulous and, to my mind, fits Scanner perfectly. Woody Harrelson and Robert Downey, Jr. play his buds and I just can't wait to see the scene where they dismantle their apartment looking for bugs.
I got me a copy of Steve Earle's latest, The Revolution Starts Now and I must say that it's really fucking good. Damn lefties! "Condi, Condi" is awesome - just blatantly catchy. It's got this reggae/calypso thing going. Harry Belafonte would be proud. I was humming it to myself today at work as I traipsed down the hallway. In addition, I got another package of CDs from my editor. Let's see...Drufiacc by a Norwegian band called Flukt, a polka album by Jimmy Sturr, Fiendhandle's eponymous album, and Oil and Water by Stephen Kent. There's a lot of reviewing to do.
Tonight I had my first lesson as a literacy tutor. Surprisingly, I found that I wasn't really nervous. My student, Alex (not his real name), is from Gambia. He came over here in 2000 and, although he speaks English pretty well, he can't read a word. Right now he's learning the alphabet and so, when we meet again on Wednesday, we'll keep going on upper case letters. We'll do that for a stretch and then start the lower case.
Tomorrow I have my last Celtic music class and will be at Fyfe's for a short while with the Toad Hill gang as it's Downtown's birthday. It'll be really nice to see everyone again. Oh! Wendy gave birth last Wednesday to a boy - Benjamin. Lush will now have even less time on his hands. And Miss Regan has begun to walk and even speak a bit as well. I must remember to stop cussin' around her or Mel will have my ass in a sling when Regan starts saying, "Dickfer!" Christ, at this rate, she'll be in college tomorrow.
04 March, 2005
The Best Laid...Plans...
Had our plans held true, Saturday would have been a fun, yet fairly mellow day. Miss Pamela and her hubby, Bill, were going to come to town sometime in the late morning or early afternoon. Pam and I would go to the Bondage for Beginners class while Bill hung out with his friends. After class, we’d catch up with them and The Dulcinea for dinner and a cocktail or two before Pam and Bill headed back to Milwaukee. That was the plan. But, as they say, the best laid plans…
Pam had emailed me on Friday saying that she was sick but would still make it to Madison. Hearing this, I figured that it would be even more mellow than expected. She’d written that she’d be at my house around noon. Well, noon came and went and it wasn’t until about quarter to one that she appeared on my doorstep - sans Bill. I knew that he works on various weekends so I presumed that this was one of them. It was a nice, sunny day out and Pam wore dark shades. I had her come in whereupon she presented me with a bag. Moving into the kitchen, I examined what she brought me. First was a 6-pack of Devil Duckies, one of which is now atop my pen at work. Second was a box of her favorite brand of chai. (I’d emailed her previously asking which she prefers.) In turn, I handed over a rather larger order of chocolate from Gail Ambrosius.
Pam had pointed out the existence of this confectionery to me a couple weeks previously so I placed an order for her and myself which I would give to The Dulcinea. We hoped to be able to pick up the orders on Saturday together but Gail wouldn’t be around. So I grabbed them on Friday during my lunch hour. Although Gail’s store is fairly close to my house, I wasn’t sure exactly where it was located so I attempted to look it up on the Internet. My flaky PC, however, would have none of it. I kept getting “Page Cannot be Displayed” when going to Gail’s site. I couldn’t even bring up one of Google’s cached copies. I knew from having poked around her site before that her chocolates are sold at A Woman’s Touch, where Pam and I would be taking our class. So I called down there and they gave me directions. I made it there no problem. Entering the store, I found a gorgeous brunette in her mid-20s manning the store. Chocolate and eye candy. Having paid for the orders, she told me to grab a sample. On the counter was a glass cake display stand hoolie lined with maroon doilies. There were only a couple samples left and I eagerly nabbed one of them. Oblivious to the hoolie on top which indicates what flavor it was, I took a bite – it was just marvelous! As I wrote to Pam a short while later, I nearly creamed my Dockers®!
Anyway, back to Saturday. Pam and I finally hugged and chatted a bit. Bill indeed was at work and she was still feeling sick. Life in Milwaukee was the same as it ever was and she & I both were looking forward to spring. We then decided to head out for some lunch before class.
I drove us in my freshly-cleaned car over to the Gateway Mall which is where is located in addition to a few restaurants that I’d never frequented. We ended up at Mekong, a Thai/Vietnamese place. Surveying the menu, I found countless dishes I had never heard of that sounded quite tempting while Pam found many a meal that conformed to her vegetarian ways. Oddly enough, we both ended up ordering pad thai with tofu. I love pad thai and, although I was keen on something very spicy, I didn’t want to be stuck in glass with an aching belly. I also got a bowl of a shrimp something-or-other soup which was very tasty. The pad thai was excellent. In fact, probably the best I’ve had in this town. And a spot of tea was the right thing for my tummy which had been subjected to coffee all morning. For her part, Pam attempted to kill off whatever germs ailed her with a lager – Capital Amber.
We chatted as we ate and Pam told me that her paternal grandmother had died recently. It served as a poignant reminder that I need to get a hold of my grandmother, something I’ve neglected for a couple weeks. Her throat sore, Pam ordered some warm sake. I’ve not had much sake in my time so I snatched a couple sips of it – good stuff. We were lost in conversation when Pam looked at her watch to discover that class started in 2 minutes! I grabbed a couple more bites of pad thai and washed it down with some more tea before flagging down the waitress. We didn’t want to miss one minutes of bondage instruction. Fortunately, we needn’t have worried.
At a brisk pace, we walked into A Woman’s Touch and were greeted by our instructor. She was still waiting for everyone to arrive - we hadn’t missed anything. Pam took the opportunity to powder her nose while I bought a small box (2 pieces) of Gail’s chocolate to prime us for class. Well, that and I had a sweet tooth. Pam returned and we followed the instructor (I think her name was Sarah) to a room across the hall where class would be held.
Inside, we settled down on a mattress-less futon frame and surveyed our classmates. A couple who looked to be in their mid- to late-30s, another couple about 10 years older, and a couple frauleins. The instructor sat down on the floor and introduced herself and then we went around the room doing the same. The womyn opposite us were friends of Sarah. One exchanged a haircut for bondage instruction while the other was from out of town and checking out what our fair city had to offer in kink. With intros being done, I glanced at the floor behind Sarah and saw a few plastic bags filled with rope…
Had our plans held true, Saturday would have been a fun, yet fairly mellow day. Miss Pamela and her hubby, Bill, were going to come to town sometime in the late morning or early afternoon. Pam and I would go to the Bondage for Beginners class while Bill hung out with his friends. After class, we’d catch up with them and The Dulcinea for dinner and a cocktail or two before Pam and Bill headed back to Milwaukee. That was the plan. But, as they say, the best laid plans…
Pam had emailed me on Friday saying that she was sick but would still make it to Madison. Hearing this, I figured that it would be even more mellow than expected. She’d written that she’d be at my house around noon. Well, noon came and went and it wasn’t until about quarter to one that she appeared on my doorstep - sans Bill. I knew that he works on various weekends so I presumed that this was one of them. It was a nice, sunny day out and Pam wore dark shades. I had her come in whereupon she presented me with a bag. Moving into the kitchen, I examined what she brought me. First was a 6-pack of Devil Duckies, one of which is now atop my pen at work. Second was a box of her favorite brand of chai. (I’d emailed her previously asking which she prefers.) In turn, I handed over a rather larger order of chocolate from Gail Ambrosius.
Pam had pointed out the existence of this confectionery to me a couple weeks previously so I placed an order for her and myself which I would give to The Dulcinea. We hoped to be able to pick up the orders on Saturday together but Gail wouldn’t be around. So I grabbed them on Friday during my lunch hour. Although Gail’s store is fairly close to my house, I wasn’t sure exactly where it was located so I attempted to look it up on the Internet. My flaky PC, however, would have none of it. I kept getting “Page Cannot be Displayed” when going to Gail’s site. I couldn’t even bring up one of Google’s cached copies. I knew from having poked around her site before that her chocolates are sold at A Woman’s Touch, where Pam and I would be taking our class. So I called down there and they gave me directions. I made it there no problem. Entering the store, I found a gorgeous brunette in her mid-20s manning the store. Chocolate and eye candy. Having paid for the orders, she told me to grab a sample. On the counter was a glass cake display stand hoolie lined with maroon doilies. There were only a couple samples left and I eagerly nabbed one of them. Oblivious to the hoolie on top which indicates what flavor it was, I took a bite – it was just marvelous! As I wrote to Pam a short while later, I nearly creamed my Dockers®!
Anyway, back to Saturday. Pam and I finally hugged and chatted a bit. Bill indeed was at work and she was still feeling sick. Life in Milwaukee was the same as it ever was and she & I both were looking forward to spring. We then decided to head out for some lunch before class.
I drove us in my freshly-cleaned car over to the Gateway Mall which is where is located in addition to a few restaurants that I’d never frequented. We ended up at Mekong, a Thai/Vietnamese place. Surveying the menu, I found countless dishes I had never heard of that sounded quite tempting while Pam found many a meal that conformed to her vegetarian ways. Oddly enough, we both ended up ordering pad thai with tofu. I love pad thai and, although I was keen on something very spicy, I didn’t want to be stuck in glass with an aching belly. I also got a bowl of a shrimp something-or-other soup which was very tasty. The pad thai was excellent. In fact, probably the best I’ve had in this town. And a spot of tea was the right thing for my tummy which had been subjected to coffee all morning. For her part, Pam attempted to kill off whatever germs ailed her with a lager – Capital Amber.
We chatted as we ate and Pam told me that her paternal grandmother had died recently. It served as a poignant reminder that I need to get a hold of my grandmother, something I’ve neglected for a couple weeks. Her throat sore, Pam ordered some warm sake. I’ve not had much sake in my time so I snatched a couple sips of it – good stuff. We were lost in conversation when Pam looked at her watch to discover that class started in 2 minutes! I grabbed a couple more bites of pad thai and washed it down with some more tea before flagging down the waitress. We didn’t want to miss one minutes of bondage instruction. Fortunately, we needn’t have worried.
At a brisk pace, we walked into A Woman’s Touch and were greeted by our instructor. She was still waiting for everyone to arrive - we hadn’t missed anything. Pam took the opportunity to powder her nose while I bought a small box (2 pieces) of Gail’s chocolate to prime us for class. Well, that and I had a sweet tooth. Pam returned and we followed the instructor (I think her name was Sarah) to a room across the hall where class would be held.
Inside, we settled down on a mattress-less futon frame and surveyed our classmates. A couple who looked to be in their mid- to late-30s, another couple about 10 years older, and a couple frauleins. The instructor sat down on the floor and introduced herself and then we went around the room doing the same. The womyn opposite us were friends of Sarah. One exchanged a haircut for bondage instruction while the other was from out of town and checking out what our fair city had to offer in kink. With intros being done, I glanced at the floor behind Sarah and saw a few plastic bags filled with rope…
02 March, 2005
Mittwoch
It's not even 10 yet I feel like I've worked a whole day. I must be a lazy American. First thing I did today was to finish installing software on a guy's computer that I had to reimage yesterday. He rebooted because he couldn't get to a network drive and then got a "Non system disk" error. No CD or floppy was left in a drive. After poking around for a while, I discovered that the partition table was hosed, as in not there any longer. So I reformatted the drive. With that being done, I headed back down to my desk. Stepping off the elevator, I found myself standing before a DOA guy who looked exactly like Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. The resemblance was uncanny.
Now this is pretty funky - a womyn who can taste music. At first it sounded cool but then I thought, "What happens when she's in a restaurant?" I mean, if there's Musak playing, it would probably mess up her dinner as her whole mouth would be saturated with a sour taste.
I'm waiting for episode 12 of Clayborne to be posted. And I just recalled that the schedule for the Wisconsin Film Festival is supposed to be announced today. Nothing post as of yet, though.
It's not even 10 yet I feel like I've worked a whole day. I must be a lazy American. First thing I did today was to finish installing software on a guy's computer that I had to reimage yesterday. He rebooted because he couldn't get to a network drive and then got a "Non system disk" error. No CD or floppy was left in a drive. After poking around for a while, I discovered that the partition table was hosed, as in not there any longer. So I reformatted the drive. With that being done, I headed back down to my desk. Stepping off the elevator, I found myself standing before a DOA guy who looked exactly like Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. The resemblance was uncanny.
Now this is pretty funky - a womyn who can taste music. At first it sounded cool but then I thought, "What happens when she's in a restaurant?" I mean, if there's Musak playing, it would probably mess up her dinner as her whole mouth would be saturated with a sour taste.
I'm waiting for episode 12 of Clayborne to be posted. And I just recalled that the schedule for the Wisconsin Film Festival is supposed to be announced today. Nothing post as of yet, though.
01 March, 2005
28 February, 2005
The End
I read a couple things earlier today that have inspired me to write.
Whenever life gets me down, I try to think that it could be worse, that my problems are, in the big picture, quite insignificant. Of course, being my problems, they take on significance but it’s helpful to step back and gain some perspective – obstacles start to seem less insurmountable. Case in point: imagine you’re Joey Finance. You go to work on one of the upper floors of the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001. A couple hours later you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to choose between two incomprehensible choices. Either A) you burn to death or B) you jump nearly a thousand feet to your death on a Manhattan street. I can only try to imagine the absolute horror of being faced with two choices, both of which lead to your death. A situation devoid of hope in which the end cannot come soon enough. Think about the agony those people faced. Most of us will only have minimal choice in the method and timing of our demise but these people had these forced upon them. No chance to change eating and exercise habits, no chance for a doctor to ply his trade with all the knowledge of modern medicine behind her. Most of those people weren’t able to proclaim their love to family & friends one last time, say goodbye to their children, or set their affairs in order so that those who survived them could be assured of the best possible headstart in getting their lives back on track after the death of their loved ones. When I think about those poor people who died on 9/11, I feel great sadness. I also feel thankful that neither I nor anyone I know was one of them. Lastly, I feel tremendous anger towards the fuckers who hijacked those planes and flew them into the World Trade Center.
In moments of morbidity, I’ve been contrasting the deaths above with the recent suicide of Hunter S. Thompson. Now, I never met HST and cannot speak to the state of his life just prior to him taking his own life. From what I have read, he was not terminally ill, suffering from incurable physical pain, or suffering from a mental malady such as manic depression which would lead him to do what he did. Not that I ever considered HST to be exactly normal but being even highly eccentric is no prescription for suicide. And no statements from his family lead me to believe that he was in any state of mind other than the one the public has know for the past 40 years.
In the wake of his death, encomiums have been published everywhere about HST by friends, former editors, fellow writers, et al that all tend to say the same things: how unique he was, about his pioneering style of journalism, the influence he’s had, lots of crazy stories, and so on. I’ll miss his writing. No more new books, no more columns up at espn.com – it is a real loss. What no one seems to be saying, however, is how cowardly his suicide was. If there was no illness physical or mental to be had, how could he put a loaded gun into his mouth and pull the trigger? He had a wife, a kid, a career – and he threw all of those away and caused tremendous pain for those that knew him. Everyone is romanticizing HST’s suicide as an appropriate end to his life. How so? A drug overdose would seem more fitting. According to some, it was not unexpected but that does not justify a completely stupid and selfish act and no one should be going around glorifying his death. His life and his writings should be remembered and enjoyed but his death should be labeled what was – pointless and stupid. That there is glory in death is a tool of the deceitful or a refuge of the delusional. (Such as those who flew planes into the WTC.) Why will no one come out and ask what the fuck happened to him? Why did he become such a chickenshit and bail on life? People keep speaking of the tragedy. While literally correct, they use it with more of a connotation of misfortune. In this sense, if he’d fallen off a cliff or been hit by a car then his death would have been a tragedy. The fate of those people in the World Trade Center was tragedy. But HST’s hand was not forced. Let us pull no punches let us not pretend that cowardice is a fitting end to one’s life.
I read a couple things earlier today that have inspired me to write.
Whenever life gets me down, I try to think that it could be worse, that my problems are, in the big picture, quite insignificant. Of course, being my problems, they take on significance but it’s helpful to step back and gain some perspective – obstacles start to seem less insurmountable. Case in point: imagine you’re Joey Finance. You go to work on one of the upper floors of the World Trade Center the morning of September 11, 2001. A couple hours later you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to choose between two incomprehensible choices. Either A) you burn to death or B) you jump nearly a thousand feet to your death on a Manhattan street. I can only try to imagine the absolute horror of being faced with two choices, both of which lead to your death. A situation devoid of hope in which the end cannot come soon enough. Think about the agony those people faced. Most of us will only have minimal choice in the method and timing of our demise but these people had these forced upon them. No chance to change eating and exercise habits, no chance for a doctor to ply his trade with all the knowledge of modern medicine behind her. Most of those people weren’t able to proclaim their love to family & friends one last time, say goodbye to their children, or set their affairs in order so that those who survived them could be assured of the best possible headstart in getting their lives back on track after the death of their loved ones. When I think about those poor people who died on 9/11, I feel great sadness. I also feel thankful that neither I nor anyone I know was one of them. Lastly, I feel tremendous anger towards the fuckers who hijacked those planes and flew them into the World Trade Center.
In moments of morbidity, I’ve been contrasting the deaths above with the recent suicide of Hunter S. Thompson. Now, I never met HST and cannot speak to the state of his life just prior to him taking his own life. From what I have read, he was not terminally ill, suffering from incurable physical pain, or suffering from a mental malady such as manic depression which would lead him to do what he did. Not that I ever considered HST to be exactly normal but being even highly eccentric is no prescription for suicide. And no statements from his family lead me to believe that he was in any state of mind other than the one the public has know for the past 40 years.
In the wake of his death, encomiums have been published everywhere about HST by friends, former editors, fellow writers, et al that all tend to say the same things: how unique he was, about his pioneering style of journalism, the influence he’s had, lots of crazy stories, and so on. I’ll miss his writing. No more new books, no more columns up at espn.com – it is a real loss. What no one seems to be saying, however, is how cowardly his suicide was. If there was no illness physical or mental to be had, how could he put a loaded gun into his mouth and pull the trigger? He had a wife, a kid, a career – and he threw all of those away and caused tremendous pain for those that knew him. Everyone is romanticizing HST’s suicide as an appropriate end to his life. How so? A drug overdose would seem more fitting. According to some, it was not unexpected but that does not justify a completely stupid and selfish act and no one should be going around glorifying his death. His life and his writings should be remembered and enjoyed but his death should be labeled what was – pointless and stupid. That there is glory in death is a tool of the deceitful or a refuge of the delusional. (Such as those who flew planes into the WTC.) Why will no one come out and ask what the fuck happened to him? Why did he become such a chickenshit and bail on life? People keep speaking of the tragedy. While literally correct, they use it with more of a connotation of misfortune. In this sense, if he’d fallen off a cliff or been hit by a car then his death would have been a tragedy. The fate of those people in the World Trade Center was tragedy. But HST’s hand was not forced. Let us pull no punches let us not pretend that cowardice is a fitting end to one’s life.
Keepin' It Real
I read today that Beatallica were served with papers by Sony to take down their web page. For anyone who’s not familiar with them, they are a parody band from Milwaukee that mixes Metallica and Beatles songs together and quite well, if I may add. Titles of songs include “The Thing That Should Not Let It Be” and “Enter Taxman”. Before their site was taken down, mp3s of their music were to be found and could be downloaded for free. Sony had a cease-and-desist order sent to the band’s ISP claiming copyright infringement. They’ve also demanded “an accounting of all sums received or earned in connection with the material.” Um…they gave it away for free, dumbasses. Lars Ulrich of Metallica is supportive of the band as Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater has also come down on the band’s side. (Beatallica opened for Dream Theater on their tour last year. I’m downloading a copy of this show as I type.) Come on! It’s parody, folks! Sony isn’t going to lose any money. No Beatles fans are going to suddenly lose interest because of a band most have never even heard of. Fucking major labels…
Honestly, the Academy Awards™ didn’t really interest me but I am happy to read that Bob Richardson won for Achievement in Cinematography as he shot The Aviator. Richardson was Oliver Stone’s DP for years and is, in my humble opinion, one of the best working today. You hipsters saw his work in the Kill Bill flicks which I didn’t really care for. I saw them only because Bob shot them. I haven’t yet seen The Aviator so I must get my ass to the theater and check out the photography.
As I mentioned previously, I’ve been listening to the audio drama, Clayborne. They’ve finally started posting episodes beyond the first 8 that I grabbed from mp3.com a few years ago. The mystery is pretty well established and now they’ve gotten around to developing the characters more.
Has anyone else gotten into podcasting? I’ve subscribed to a few channels so far. While I’m not remarkably impressed with most of them, I do like the concept. I don’t have a portable mp3 player so I just listen to the shows on my PC. I subscribed to 3 geeky tech shows, 1 about s-e-x, and a BBC show about history. One of the tech shows apparently hasn’t podcasted in a while as iPodder hasn’t downloaded anything. The mp3 of another of the tech shows was cut off after only a minute or so. The final one was horrible as it was just this chickie wandering around an industry show. Maybe if she had the personality of, say Triumph, then it would have been amusing. As it was, however, I was just bored because she just doesn’t have the personality to make an audio account of wandering the aisles at a convention center interesting for nearly half an hour. The sex hoolie was also rather boring. A man and a womyn review the new flick, Inside Deep Throat. Again, they just didn’t have any chemistry. We’ll see how the next episode goes. The BBC show is about alchemy. Not surprisingly, what I’ve heard so far is pretty cool. Gotta love the Beeb.
Work today has been pretty boring. The highlight was having lunch with Dogger down at the Argus. On returning, Scott had me proofread this project overview hoolie that he’s been working on. And now I’m listening to this CD I burned last week. It’s about half-filled with Genesis but it also has “Scissor Man” by XTC on it and the song won’t get out of my head. My plan right now is to crank up “Duchess” in my headphones and see if that’ll chase it away. It’s one of my favorite Genesis songs and I really like this new mix. “Duchess” has 2 elements which were for the most part absent towards the end of Phil Collins’ tenure with the band: 1) harmony vocals and 2) lead drums.
Unlike Yes, which throughout its career has had at least 3 members contributing vocals, Genesis has had only 1 singer for most of its career. Collins added vocals while Peter Gabriel was with the band. After Pete left, they multi-tracked Phil’s voice. But after Duke in 1980, the songs had precious little harmonizing. I think that if you put aside any preconceptions about Collins’ voice gained via “Sussudio”, “Invisible Touch”, and the like, one would see that he’s got a really good voice.
The drums on “Duchess” really aren’t that fancy but are the lead instrument. Bass pedals, guitar, and piano hover in the background so the snare/hi-hat combo really propels the song. The rhythm is to the fore but not quite like, say, a rap song. It’s like a slow surf beat but with oodles of open hi-hat.
Alright – I’m going home.
I read today that Beatallica were served with papers by Sony to take down their web page. For anyone who’s not familiar with them, they are a parody band from Milwaukee that mixes Metallica and Beatles songs together and quite well, if I may add. Titles of songs include “The Thing That Should Not Let It Be” and “Enter Taxman”. Before their site was taken down, mp3s of their music were to be found and could be downloaded for free. Sony had a cease-and-desist order sent to the band’s ISP claiming copyright infringement. They’ve also demanded “an accounting of all sums received or earned in connection with the material.” Um…they gave it away for free, dumbasses. Lars Ulrich of Metallica is supportive of the band as Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater has also come down on the band’s side. (Beatallica opened for Dream Theater on their tour last year. I’m downloading a copy of this show as I type.) Come on! It’s parody, folks! Sony isn’t going to lose any money. No Beatles fans are going to suddenly lose interest because of a band most have never even heard of. Fucking major labels…
Honestly, the Academy Awards™ didn’t really interest me but I am happy to read that Bob Richardson won for Achievement in Cinematography as he shot The Aviator. Richardson was Oliver Stone’s DP for years and is, in my humble opinion, one of the best working today. You hipsters saw his work in the Kill Bill flicks which I didn’t really care for. I saw them only because Bob shot them. I haven’t yet seen The Aviator so I must get my ass to the theater and check out the photography.
As I mentioned previously, I’ve been listening to the audio drama, Clayborne. They’ve finally started posting episodes beyond the first 8 that I grabbed from mp3.com a few years ago. The mystery is pretty well established and now they’ve gotten around to developing the characters more.
Has anyone else gotten into podcasting? I’ve subscribed to a few channels so far. While I’m not remarkably impressed with most of them, I do like the concept. I don’t have a portable mp3 player so I just listen to the shows on my PC. I subscribed to 3 geeky tech shows, 1 about s-e-x, and a BBC show about history. One of the tech shows apparently hasn’t podcasted in a while as iPodder hasn’t downloaded anything. The mp3 of another of the tech shows was cut off after only a minute or so. The final one was horrible as it was just this chickie wandering around an industry show. Maybe if she had the personality of, say Triumph, then it would have been amusing. As it was, however, I was just bored because she just doesn’t have the personality to make an audio account of wandering the aisles at a convention center interesting for nearly half an hour. The sex hoolie was also rather boring. A man and a womyn review the new flick, Inside Deep Throat. Again, they just didn’t have any chemistry. We’ll see how the next episode goes. The BBC show is about alchemy. Not surprisingly, what I’ve heard so far is pretty cool. Gotta love the Beeb.
Work today has been pretty boring. The highlight was having lunch with Dogger down at the Argus. On returning, Scott had me proofread this project overview hoolie that he’s been working on. And now I’m listening to this CD I burned last week. It’s about half-filled with Genesis but it also has “Scissor Man” by XTC on it and the song won’t get out of my head. My plan right now is to crank up “Duchess” in my headphones and see if that’ll chase it away. It’s one of my favorite Genesis songs and I really like this new mix. “Duchess” has 2 elements which were for the most part absent towards the end of Phil Collins’ tenure with the band: 1) harmony vocals and 2) lead drums.
Unlike Yes, which throughout its career has had at least 3 members contributing vocals, Genesis has had only 1 singer for most of its career. Collins added vocals while Peter Gabriel was with the band. After Pete left, they multi-tracked Phil’s voice. But after Duke in 1980, the songs had precious little harmonizing. I think that if you put aside any preconceptions about Collins’ voice gained via “Sussudio”, “Invisible Touch”, and the like, one would see that he’s got a really good voice.
The drums on “Duchess” really aren’t that fancy but are the lead instrument. Bass pedals, guitar, and piano hover in the background so the snare/hi-hat combo really propels the song. The rhythm is to the fore but not quite like, say, a rap song. It’s like a slow surf beat but with oodles of open hi-hat.
Alright – I’m going home.
23 February, 2005
22 February, 2005
New Who
I found a couple new stills from the new Doctor Who:
Here's the new Doc struggling with an Auton. It's probably been 30 years since we last saw them.
Now here's the Doctor's new hottie companion. Looks like she's in the TARDIS control room. I guess that, even if the show sucks, there will at least be eye candy.
I found a couple new stills from the new Doctor Who:
Here's the new Doc struggling with an Auton. It's probably been 30 years since we last saw them.
Now here's the Doctor's new hottie companion. Looks like she's in the TARDIS control room. I guess that, even if the show sucks, there will at least be eye candy.
21 February, 2005
Free Your Napster Files
I mentioned a few days ago that the DRM on Napster's files could be circumvented but that the Winamp plug-in needed to do this has been removed from winamp.com. I found a copy along with some directions at this site. For anyone not wishing to leave my precious blog, I'll elaborate.
Firstly, download and install Napster, sign up for 14 day free trial.
Download and install Winamp.
Download and install the Winamp Plug-in Output Stacker.
Open Winamp Options->Plug-ins->Output->Dietmar's Output Stacker->Configure
Add out_ds.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
Add out_disk.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
Select out_disk.dll in the Output Stacker->Configure
Set the output directory and output file mode to Force WAV file
Exit preferences
Load downloaded Napster protected WMAs into your Winamp playlist
Press play and each file will be converted to WAV as it plays
Now you've got the raw wav files to burn onto CD.
N.B. - I had to uninstall Output Stacker from Winamp to get mp3s to play afterwards.
I mentioned a few days ago that the DRM on Napster's files could be circumvented but that the Winamp plug-in needed to do this has been removed from winamp.com. I found a copy along with some directions at this site. For anyone not wishing to leave my precious blog, I'll elaborate.
Firstly, download and install Napster, sign up for 14 day free trial.
Download and install Winamp.
Download and install the Winamp Plug-in Output Stacker.
Open Winamp Options->Plug-ins->Output->Dietmar's Output Stacker->Configure
Add out_ds.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
Add out_disk.dll from Winamp/Plug-ins folder
Select out_disk.dll in the Output Stacker->Configure
Set the output directory and output file mode to Force WAV file
Exit preferences
Load downloaded Napster protected WMAs into your Winamp playlist
Press play and each file will be converted to WAV as it plays
Now you've got the raw wav files to burn onto CD.
N.B. - I had to uninstall Output Stacker from Winamp to get mp3s to play afterwards.
Monday
It was a mellow weekend. I took it easy Friday night and then went to training on Saturday morning. I am now a fully-armed, though not yet operational, adult literacy tutor. The 9 hours of training went by rather quickly. Kind of a bummer because I can't stare at the one womyn's enormous breasts. She recently gave birth so her mammary glands are milky swollen and ready to feed. Tangentially, they make for nice things to ogle. After class, I headed over to Lush's where we ate lunch, shot the shit, and watched Hannah while Wendy was out. Having eaten, Hannah was all tired so she was laid to sleep and Lush and I assembled a foosball table that he'd gotten for Xmas. Actually it was a multi-hoolie deal with air hockey and ping-pong in addition to foosball. It took a little while to figure out what the directions were telling us but we got it up. We played a game of foosball and then some air hockey. Finally we tried out the ping-pong bit. The table is about 3 feet high and 2'x 4' so it's more suited towards 6 year olds than we manly men. We rarely landed a ball on the table and we forced to return shots after they'd ricocheted off a wall or box. It provided amusement nonetheless. With the table finished and Hannah needing a look-see, Lush and I headed upstairs. A diaper change later, all was well and good again so we started chatting again. He and I both wanna go abroad. Obviously having a kid and another due in 5 days makes it more difficult for Lush than myself. We tossed some ideas around and thought it would be cool to try and schedule a 4-day weekend this fall for a trip of some kind. I had mentioned to him earlier that Rhubis came to mind the other day and neither of us had heard from him in a while so a reunion of drunken college cohorts sounded like fun. We'll see what actually becomes of this idea but I think getting some guys together and going somewhere/anywhere would be a hoot. Maybe Vegas...When evening rolled around, I was off as I had told Dogger that I'd help him troubleshoot his PC. I went home briefly and grabbed the CPU from my PC and headed over to his place.
His 'puter took a digger a couple months ago. The power supply was one culprit keeping it from booting. We swapped the bad one out for a known good one but it still wouldn't boot. Couldn't even get to the POST screen. So we threw in my CPU and powered up: nothing. So we knew the motherboard was hosed. I took Dogger's CPU home to see if it had blown too. Since Mel and Regan were in Milwaukee, we sat around and shot the fecal matter. Work, computers, the building craze in Madison, et al were topics of conversation. Marv commented that, although he's lived here for about 11 years, it wasn't until only recently that Madison has become his home. I think the way he put it was "being from Taylor vs. being a Madisonian" or whatever the fuck he said - you get the picture. I basically understood what he meant. It took me a much shorter time to get to that point. I never really felt like I was from Elvira. It was always more of a layby on my journey from Chicago to Madison. I went from being a FIB who moved to Wisconsin to a Madisonian who happens to be from Chicago in a short time. I had no allegiance to Hicksville but also found Chicago to be drifting further back in time so I was a bit hometownless. Identifying myself as a dope-smoking, lefty Madisonian took little effort on my part.
A bit before 9, Lenore - Dogger's mother-in-law - had returned with Mel and Regan. Marv and I bailed lest we be subjected to more than a couple minutes of Nori and headed over to Mickey's. For someone who said he recognized hardly anyone there, he sure ran into a lot of people he knew. I guess if he knows less than 6 people there, he feels surrounded by strangers. Let's see...there was Micah. I was told that we'd met a couple weeks ago at the Bou but I was too drunk at the time and didn't recall meeting him. He's a musician/aspiring audio engineer so I may call on him to remaster a boot or 4. There was a hottie named Amy, I think. She'd gone back to school I recall. Then there was this other chick with an acre of cleavage. It took a great deal of effort on my part not to gawk, lemme tell ya. Then there was David(?) who lived downstairs from Marv. He and his old lady are apparently on the outs so he was on the town trolling. At one point Marv told me that he's been dating this fraulein named Jill. I shall have to meet her to find out if she's good enough for my friend.
Sunday was a murder of a day. I felt kind of blah so I slept through most of it. However, I did get to listen to the first two parts of The Juggernauts and run a couple errands. And I caught a speech by Sam Harris on BookTV. His tome, The End of Faith concerns how religion is evil and needs to be replaced by reason. To him, religion plays a large part in the conflicts we face today - too large a part - and it will only become greater. It was very interesting and I kept saying "Preach on, brotha!" to myself as I listened to him speak. He did some religious comparisons and noted how the dogma of certain religions, especially Islam and Christianity, were very conducive to violence. Plus he went off in only the most mild-mannered way on people who take the Bible as fact. That was cool. I'll have to get his book as he seemed to be a really hoopy frood.
Today I started work an hour earlier than usual as I went over to DOA to help out. They started rolling out Office 2003 today so Mark and I headed over there in case the fecal matter hit the fan. We basically did nothing as only a handful of boxes had problems. Why they sent me over there is a mystery because I don't have a DOA account so I couldn't log onto the network and I don't have a card for the elevator/doors so I had to be with someone if I wanted to get back to a desk in DET. Not that it was busy here but at least I could have gotten on the Net or use Notepad to write. Instead I basically sat around staring at my shoes waiting for someone to have a fucking problem. At least I get to leave an hour earlier.
I got a letter from a soldier in Iraq. Back in December I sent a care package to a platoon over there and their supply sergeant wrote me back. I feel really badly for her:
Their poor daughter. Both mom & dad gone off to war. She could lose both of her parents. I didn't think the Army did that kind of thing any longer. I can't imagine how awful she feels. I shall have to write her back soon...
It was a mellow weekend. I took it easy Friday night and then went to training on Saturday morning. I am now a fully-armed, though not yet operational, adult literacy tutor. The 9 hours of training went by rather quickly. Kind of a bummer because I can't stare at the one womyn's enormous breasts. She recently gave birth so her mammary glands are milky swollen and ready to feed. Tangentially, they make for nice things to ogle. After class, I headed over to Lush's where we ate lunch, shot the shit, and watched Hannah while Wendy was out. Having eaten, Hannah was all tired so she was laid to sleep and Lush and I assembled a foosball table that he'd gotten for Xmas. Actually it was a multi-hoolie deal with air hockey and ping-pong in addition to foosball. It took a little while to figure out what the directions were telling us but we got it up. We played a game of foosball and then some air hockey. Finally we tried out the ping-pong bit. The table is about 3 feet high and 2'x 4' so it's more suited towards 6 year olds than we manly men. We rarely landed a ball on the table and we forced to return shots after they'd ricocheted off a wall or box. It provided amusement nonetheless. With the table finished and Hannah needing a look-see, Lush and I headed upstairs. A diaper change later, all was well and good again so we started chatting again. He and I both wanna go abroad. Obviously having a kid and another due in 5 days makes it more difficult for Lush than myself. We tossed some ideas around and thought it would be cool to try and schedule a 4-day weekend this fall for a trip of some kind. I had mentioned to him earlier that Rhubis came to mind the other day and neither of us had heard from him in a while so a reunion of drunken college cohorts sounded like fun. We'll see what actually becomes of this idea but I think getting some guys together and going somewhere/anywhere would be a hoot. Maybe Vegas...When evening rolled around, I was off as I had told Dogger that I'd help him troubleshoot his PC. I went home briefly and grabbed the CPU from my PC and headed over to his place.
His 'puter took a digger a couple months ago. The power supply was one culprit keeping it from booting. We swapped the bad one out for a known good one but it still wouldn't boot. Couldn't even get to the POST screen. So we threw in my CPU and powered up: nothing. So we knew the motherboard was hosed. I took Dogger's CPU home to see if it had blown too. Since Mel and Regan were in Milwaukee, we sat around and shot the fecal matter. Work, computers, the building craze in Madison, et al were topics of conversation. Marv commented that, although he's lived here for about 11 years, it wasn't until only recently that Madison has become his home. I think the way he put it was "being from Taylor vs. being a Madisonian" or whatever the fuck he said - you get the picture. I basically understood what he meant. It took me a much shorter time to get to that point. I never really felt like I was from Elvira. It was always more of a layby on my journey from Chicago to Madison. I went from being a FIB who moved to Wisconsin to a Madisonian who happens to be from Chicago in a short time. I had no allegiance to Hicksville but also found Chicago to be drifting further back in time so I was a bit hometownless. Identifying myself as a dope-smoking, lefty Madisonian took little effort on my part.
A bit before 9, Lenore - Dogger's mother-in-law - had returned with Mel and Regan. Marv and I bailed lest we be subjected to more than a couple minutes of Nori and headed over to Mickey's. For someone who said he recognized hardly anyone there, he sure ran into a lot of people he knew. I guess if he knows less than 6 people there, he feels surrounded by strangers. Let's see...there was Micah. I was told that we'd met a couple weeks ago at the Bou but I was too drunk at the time and didn't recall meeting him. He's a musician/aspiring audio engineer so I may call on him to remaster a boot or 4. There was a hottie named Amy, I think. She'd gone back to school I recall. Then there was this other chick with an acre of cleavage. It took a great deal of effort on my part not to gawk, lemme tell ya. Then there was David(?) who lived downstairs from Marv. He and his old lady are apparently on the outs so he was on the town trolling. At one point Marv told me that he's been dating this fraulein named Jill. I shall have to meet her to find out if she's good enough for my friend.
Sunday was a murder of a day. I felt kind of blah so I slept through most of it. However, I did get to listen to the first two parts of The Juggernauts and run a couple errands. And I caught a speech by Sam Harris on BookTV. His tome, The End of Faith concerns how religion is evil and needs to be replaced by reason. To him, religion plays a large part in the conflicts we face today - too large a part - and it will only become greater. It was very interesting and I kept saying "Preach on, brotha!" to myself as I listened to him speak. He did some religious comparisons and noted how the dogma of certain religions, especially Islam and Christianity, were very conducive to violence. Plus he went off in only the most mild-mannered way on people who take the Bible as fact. That was cool. I'll have to get his book as he seemed to be a really hoopy frood.
Today I started work an hour earlier than usual as I went over to DOA to help out. They started rolling out Office 2003 today so Mark and I headed over there in case the fecal matter hit the fan. We basically did nothing as only a handful of boxes had problems. Why they sent me over there is a mystery because I don't have a DOA account so I couldn't log onto the network and I don't have a card for the elevator/doors so I had to be with someone if I wanted to get back to a desk in DET. Not that it was busy here but at least I could have gotten on the Net or use Notepad to write. Instead I basically sat around staring at my shoes waiting for someone to have a fucking problem. At least I get to leave an hour earlier.
I got a letter from a soldier in Iraq. Back in December I sent a care package to a platoon over there and their supply sergeant wrote me back. I feel really badly for her:
Dear Tim,
Hello! Thank you very much for the package that you have sent to us. We are very appreciative for the kind gestures and for supporting us over here in this time of conflict. A little about us. WE are 184 Military Intelligence Company. Part of the 2nd Stryker Brigade based out of Fort Lewis, WA. All together our brigade has over 4000 soldiers. It seems a lot, but not compared to the amount of troops currently deployed over here right now. Our brigade is currently fighting in the town of Mosul. What an adventure that is, let me tell you. Hopefully President Bush will not let us down and we will soon resolve the conflict over here and be able to go home to your families. That is our only hope. A little about myself. I am 28 years old, married and have a little girl, Laryssa. My husband is also in the Stryker Brigade with me and is also over here, so unfortunately the little one is being spoiled with her Grandpa and Grandma. Imagine how hard that is going to be to break when we return. I was recently attached to the 25th BSB, which is a support battalion within the brigade but have since been reassigned to the 184 MI. After the Chow Hall attack on Marez we lost some of our soldiers within the brigade and some of us had to be reassigned to fill the positions, which is unfortunate. I am originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, born and raised, but have since become a resident of Oregon where my parents have retired. Well I better close for now. Once again thank you very much and god bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
SGT Carolyn Isaacs
Hello! Thank you very much for the package that you have sent to us. We are very appreciative for the kind gestures and for supporting us over here in this time of conflict. A little about us. WE are 184 Military Intelligence Company. Part of the 2nd Stryker Brigade based out of Fort Lewis, WA. All together our brigade has over 4000 soldiers. It seems a lot, but not compared to the amount of troops currently deployed over here right now. Our brigade is currently fighting in the town of Mosul. What an adventure that is, let me tell you. Hopefully President Bush will not let us down and we will soon resolve the conflict over here and be able to go home to your families. That is our only hope. A little about myself. I am 28 years old, married and have a little girl, Laryssa. My husband is also in the Stryker Brigade with me and is also over here, so unfortunately the little one is being spoiled with her Grandpa and Grandma. Imagine how hard that is going to be to break when we return. I was recently attached to the 25th BSB, which is a support battalion within the brigade but have since been reassigned to the 184 MI. After the Chow Hall attack on Marez we lost some of our soldiers within the brigade and some of us had to be reassigned to fill the positions, which is unfortunate. I am originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, born and raised, but have since become a resident of Oregon where my parents have retired. Well I better close for now. Once again thank you very much and god bless you and your family.
Sincerely,
SGT Carolyn Isaacs
Their poor daughter. Both mom & dad gone off to war. She could lose both of her parents. I didn't think the Army did that kind of thing any longer. I can't imagine how awful she feels. I shall have to write her back soon...
Paris' Sidekick Reveals All
If you've ever wondered what Paris Hilton stores in her PDA, here's your chance to see.
If you've ever wondered what Paris Hilton stores in her PDA, here's your chance to see.
20 February, 2005
Trailers Abound
A larger version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer can can found at the film's official site.
Also, a trailer for A Scanner Darkly is up at ifilm.
A larger version of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer can can found at the film's official site.
Also, a trailer for A Scanner Darkly is up at ifilm.
18 February, 2005
17 February, 2005
Dorky Mood
It's gotten all cold outside again. We were kind of spoiled earlier this week, I suppose. Now it's back to Old Man Winter for a spell.
Nothing blatantly exciting to report - just the normal crap. I signed-up with Sony to see if they'll let me tryout for Jeopary. They'll be here in April or May to conduct the search. Imagine me on Jeopardy. Up there in front of millions proudly flying my geek flag. Would it be best to wear my Periodic Table of the Elements shirt? Or perhaps a Jethro Tull tie-dye? Decisions, decisions.
While I'm waxing geek, I see that Firefox has surpassed 25 million downloads.
The inventors of TCP/IP, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, were given the Turing Award for their protocol. For those that don't know, TCP/IP is the series of rules that define how data is transmitted on the Internet. Like Firefox but in sharp contrast to Microsoft's policy of keeping technology proprietary, Cerf and Kuhn made their invention open-source and gave it away:
In other tech news, the technical/scientific Oscars™ were awarded this week. OK, so there's no glamour involved with it and the recipients are a bunch of geeky old duffs, but the event was hosted by Scarlett Johansson - a lass I'd like to schtup. While you may have no interest in funky cranes and node-graph compositing systems, you see what filmmakers can do with them. These folks create new lenses and cranes so directors can have cool shots in their films. They invent new types of silicone materials so actors' faces can be manipulated in the grossest ways yet still look like real flesh. They invent new CGI technology so you can see the neatest SFX on the big screen. Give them all a hand.
OK. I've got time to build me a funkadelic surround stereo system. The release of the SACD of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway has been delayed once again and is not expected until the last part of this year.
It's gotten all cold outside again. We were kind of spoiled earlier this week, I suppose. Now it's back to Old Man Winter for a spell.
Nothing blatantly exciting to report - just the normal crap. I signed-up with Sony to see if they'll let me tryout for Jeopary. They'll be here in April or May to conduct the search. Imagine me on Jeopardy. Up there in front of millions proudly flying my geek flag. Would it be best to wear my Periodic Table of the Elements shirt? Or perhaps a Jethro Tull tie-dye? Decisions, decisions.
While I'm waxing geek, I see that Firefox has surpassed 25 million downloads.
The inventors of TCP/IP, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, were given the Turing Award for their protocol. For those that don't know, TCP/IP is the series of rules that define how data is transmitted on the Internet. Like Firefox but in sharp contrast to Microsoft's policy of keeping technology proprietary, Cerf and Kuhn made their invention open-source and gave it away:
"Dr. Cerf said part of the reason their protocols took hold quickly and widely was that he and Dr. Kahn made no intellectual property claims to their invention. They made no money from it, though it did help their careers. 'It was an open standard that we would allow anyone to have access to without any constraints,' he said.
In other tech news, the technical/scientific Oscars™ were awarded this week. OK, so there's no glamour involved with it and the recipients are a bunch of geeky old duffs, but the event was hosted by Scarlett Johansson - a lass I'd like to schtup. While you may have no interest in funky cranes and node-graph compositing systems, you see what filmmakers can do with them. These folks create new lenses and cranes so directors can have cool shots in their films. They invent new types of silicone materials so actors' faces can be manipulated in the grossest ways yet still look like real flesh. They invent new CGI technology so you can see the neatest SFX on the big screen. Give them all a hand.
OK. I've got time to build me a funkadelic surround stereo system. The release of the SACD of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway has been delayed once again and is not expected until the last part of this year.
16 February, 2005
New H2G2 Trailer!
The front page over at Amazon has the new trailer for the Hitchhiker's movie. The Americanization of the dialogue aside, it looks good.
The front page over at Amazon has the new trailer for the Hitchhiker's movie. The Americanization of the dialogue aside, it looks good.
15 February, 2005
Fully-Armed and Operational Moon
This is pretty humorous. It seems that one of Saturn's moons has more than a passing resemblance to the Death Star.
This is pretty humorous. It seems that one of Saturn's moons has more than a passing resemblance to the Death Star.
14 February, 2005
Looking for the Perfect Metaphor
Well, we ended up finishing in 11th place. Shit started going downhill Saturday evening when we missed the question asking where the initial run of "Jelly Roll Blues" orthophonic records were pressed. We had the right answer but kept getting a busy signal when we tried to call it in. We made our comeback starting around 4AM but it was too little too late, unfortunately. It was a good time, though. I got home around 1 yesterday and went to sleep. Woke up sometime that night and chilled with Becca and Stevie before going back to sleep. While I am fully-rested, I sure don't feel like it. Must be the lack of Toad Hill.At any rate, I now have the Stevens Point contest to look forward to.
The museum for my trivia team, the Flying Zupan Brothers, is due to open on March 4th. By "museum" I mean a series of displays of some kind and a bar in a garage in Deerfield. One exhibit is called "Living Zupan". I asked Kias what it was to be but he didn't know exactly. Presumably this means a Zupan sitting before a bunch of books with a beer in hand and joint in mouth.
Claybourne is an audio drama that I discovered at the now-defunct mp3.com a few years ago. I managed to snag the first 8 episodes only and have been wondering how the series pans out. Looks like I'll have my chance soon as it will be podcasted! If anyone wants to hear some good radio drama from New Zealand, go to the Claybourne blog. You can get an RSS feed for updates.
I begin my literacy tutor training after work tonight. It'll be 3 hours so I'm hoping that it will be interesting in some capacity because, right now, I think I'll fall asleep if it's boring. After that, it's off to The Dulcinea's for a V-Day quickie. I feel bad because I haven't gotten her anything yet. I was considering that Make-Your-Own-Dildo kit but I want to be a bit more frugal as I'm looking at paying Dogger's mortgage. I'll find something. But I had better do it soon lest I end up sleeping with the dog. I'm looking forward to seeing her as I'm pretty frisky today.
Tomorrow is part deux of my Celtic music class. We're to cover bagpipes and dancing so it should be fun. Then training again on Wednesday. And Saturday. I think I'll be spending the evening with The Dulcinea on Thursday. Gaming on the weekend too. Busy busy busy.
I asked Lola for permission to see her naughty photos and it was granted. I've gotta say, she does like butt plugs and being tied up. But who doesn't?
On the ride home yesterday, I continued with The Perfect Age. I've got mixed feelings about the book. The relationship between Helen and her mother, Kathy, has potential but it just seems to be flat. There's too little conflict. I just don't find a girl in her late teens to be all that interesting. Only when thrown into conflict with her mother does she appeal to me because the contrast and comparisons between their situtations comes to the fore and lends the character of Helen some life. Let's face it, teenagers are generally boring and stupid. All they do is complain and wallow in confusion. Helen is young. She has precious little experience in life to draw on for reflection, not that teenagers reflect much. So it's interesting when mother and daughter use one another as mirrors, however dark. The one bit that really interested me was when the husband, Edward, fears that he's been cuckolded and tails Kathy as he suspects she's going for a rendezvous with her lover. Having been in the grips of the Green-Eyed Monster, I related very well to that scene. My only complaint was that his jealousy wasn't intense enough. You don't follow your significant other around on a whim. The confusion and jealousy is very intense and I don't think that came across in the book. Maybe it's just me being a man, though. I don't know what it's like to be female nor do I have any first-hand experience of relationships between mother and daughter. Perhaps there are cues in the story that womyn pick up on and I don't. "Oh, X happened so Y."
I find Kathy a much more interesting character than Helen. Reading about a teenager being confused is as exciting as watching grass grow. It's a given. Tell me something new, something interesting. But I can see the parallels between Helen and Kathy that are to make her interesting. Helen is in the process of becoming a sexual person. Kathy never liked sex much but is "discovering" it via her affair. Each of them hiding things from friends and family. Still, this side-by-side comparing and constrasting doesn't reveal much of interest - to me, at least.
Despite this, I'll still finish it. Heather has an easy-going writing style that I can get through fairly quickly. And I suspect my novel would be a piece of crap whereas she is competent. This being the case, I feel like I'm missing something. The other thing that I don't care for is the setting. It takes place in Las Vegas but it's the desert that gets to me. In general, deserts don't do anything for me. The images that form in my head of the scenario are bland. And I don't think Heather is taking advantage of it. Yeah, there's the metaphor of drought. Kathy is nearing middle age and menopause - drought. Helen is young and just discovering all the world has to offer so she works as a lifeguard at a pool and is thus always in or near water. As a metaphor, the desert is underused, in my humble opinion. Unused is the metaphor of Vegas itself. There hasn't been an attempt to use the glitzy, casino and tourist-ridden area in contrast to the areas where residents live as a metaphor. Hey, I dig metaphors.
Well, we ended up finishing in 11th place. Shit started going downhill Saturday evening when we missed the question asking where the initial run of "Jelly Roll Blues" orthophonic records were pressed. We had the right answer but kept getting a busy signal when we tried to call it in. We made our comeback starting around 4AM but it was too little too late, unfortunately. It was a good time, though. I got home around 1 yesterday and went to sleep. Woke up sometime that night and chilled with Becca and Stevie before going back to sleep. While I am fully-rested, I sure don't feel like it. Must be the lack of Toad Hill.At any rate, I now have the Stevens Point contest to look forward to.
The museum for my trivia team, the Flying Zupan Brothers, is due to open on March 4th. By "museum" I mean a series of displays of some kind and a bar in a garage in Deerfield. One exhibit is called "Living Zupan". I asked Kias what it was to be but he didn't know exactly. Presumably this means a Zupan sitting before a bunch of books with a beer in hand and joint in mouth.
Claybourne is an audio drama that I discovered at the now-defunct mp3.com a few years ago. I managed to snag the first 8 episodes only and have been wondering how the series pans out. Looks like I'll have my chance soon as it will be podcasted! If anyone wants to hear some good radio drama from New Zealand, go to the Claybourne blog. You can get an RSS feed for updates.
I begin my literacy tutor training after work tonight. It'll be 3 hours so I'm hoping that it will be interesting in some capacity because, right now, I think I'll fall asleep if it's boring. After that, it's off to The Dulcinea's for a V-Day quickie. I feel bad because I haven't gotten her anything yet. I was considering that Make-Your-Own-Dildo kit but I want to be a bit more frugal as I'm looking at paying Dogger's mortgage. I'll find something. But I had better do it soon lest I end up sleeping with the dog. I'm looking forward to seeing her as I'm pretty frisky today.
Tomorrow is part deux of my Celtic music class. We're to cover bagpipes and dancing so it should be fun. Then training again on Wednesday. And Saturday. I think I'll be spending the evening with The Dulcinea on Thursday. Gaming on the weekend too. Busy busy busy.
I asked Lola for permission to see her naughty photos and it was granted. I've gotta say, she does like butt plugs and being tied up. But who doesn't?
On the ride home yesterday, I continued with The Perfect Age. I've got mixed feelings about the book. The relationship between Helen and her mother, Kathy, has potential but it just seems to be flat. There's too little conflict. I just don't find a girl in her late teens to be all that interesting. Only when thrown into conflict with her mother does she appeal to me because the contrast and comparisons between their situtations comes to the fore and lends the character of Helen some life. Let's face it, teenagers are generally boring and stupid. All they do is complain and wallow in confusion. Helen is young. She has precious little experience in life to draw on for reflection, not that teenagers reflect much. So it's interesting when mother and daughter use one another as mirrors, however dark. The one bit that really interested me was when the husband, Edward, fears that he's been cuckolded and tails Kathy as he suspects she's going for a rendezvous with her lover. Having been in the grips of the Green-Eyed Monster, I related very well to that scene. My only complaint was that his jealousy wasn't intense enough. You don't follow your significant other around on a whim. The confusion and jealousy is very intense and I don't think that came across in the book. Maybe it's just me being a man, though. I don't know what it's like to be female nor do I have any first-hand experience of relationships between mother and daughter. Perhaps there are cues in the story that womyn pick up on and I don't. "Oh, X happened so Y."
I find Kathy a much more interesting character than Helen. Reading about a teenager being confused is as exciting as watching grass grow. It's a given. Tell me something new, something interesting. But I can see the parallels between Helen and Kathy that are to make her interesting. Helen is in the process of becoming a sexual person. Kathy never liked sex much but is "discovering" it via her affair. Each of them hiding things from friends and family. Still, this side-by-side comparing and constrasting doesn't reveal much of interest - to me, at least.
Despite this, I'll still finish it. Heather has an easy-going writing style that I can get through fairly quickly. And I suspect my novel would be a piece of crap whereas she is competent. This being the case, I feel like I'm missing something. The other thing that I don't care for is the setting. It takes place in Las Vegas but it's the desert that gets to me. In general, deserts don't do anything for me. The images that form in my head of the scenario are bland. And I don't think Heather is taking advantage of it. Yeah, there's the metaphor of drought. Kathy is nearing middle age and menopause - drought. Helen is young and just discovering all the world has to offer so she works as a lifeguard at a pool and is thus always in or near water. As a metaphor, the desert is underused, in my humble opinion. Unused is the metaphor of Vegas itself. There hasn't been an attempt to use the glitzy, casino and tourist-ridden area in contrast to the areas where residents live as a metaphor. Hey, I dig metaphors.
What Harry Lime Knew
I read an article about how a memorial service to commemorate the bombing of Dresden during World War II was disrupted by neo-Nazis. While a small minority can make a big noise, I read that 5,000 people with neo-Nazi sympathies demonstrated. 5,000 is not an insignificant number. While the article focused on the march, it did talk about an increase in popularity of the neo-Nazi political party the National Party of Germany. Disturbingly, the NPD won a seat in Saxony's parliament. Britain's ambassador downplayed this by saying that it was a fluke caused by low voter turnout. Still, it should be a cause of consternation.
The whole thing reminded me of Harry Lime's comments in The Third Man. I'm pretty sure they come just after his famous cuckoo clock diatribe - about how the Germans need to be put down once and for all because, being a bunch of Goths at heart, they'll try to conquor the world again. While I don't know much about the situation in Germany, I find these developments disturbing. The NPD candidate didn't get elected dogcatcher, the Herr or Frau was elected to parliament. One NPD voter is quoted, "We believe that the German state favours foreigners and the Jews." Does that unholy marriage of xenophobia and anti-Semitism sound familiar? Apparently the unemplyment rate in the former Easy Germany is around 20%. And now it seems that an increasing number of people are blaming it on foreigners and Jews. Ya know, people ought to try to get to those kinds of people. "Hallo Frau Scheißkopf. There are reasons for unemployment that have nothing to do with foreigners and Jews and I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that these explain the high unemployment over there. If the Juden were so crafty and powerful, you'd think they'd have figured out a way to control everything secretly. They have had thousands of years to practice and many a pogrom for incentive.
While the NPD may not have a blueprint for another Reich, that they captured 9.2% of the vote in an election is cause cause enough to start sounding klaxons. It sure seems like there's a cancer growth that must be removed.
I read an article about how a memorial service to commemorate the bombing of Dresden during World War II was disrupted by neo-Nazis. While a small minority can make a big noise, I read that 5,000 people with neo-Nazi sympathies demonstrated. 5,000 is not an insignificant number. While the article focused on the march, it did talk about an increase in popularity of the neo-Nazi political party the National Party of Germany. Disturbingly, the NPD won a seat in Saxony's parliament. Britain's ambassador downplayed this by saying that it was a fluke caused by low voter turnout. Still, it should be a cause of consternation.
The whole thing reminded me of Harry Lime's comments in The Third Man. I'm pretty sure they come just after his famous cuckoo clock diatribe - about how the Germans need to be put down once and for all because, being a bunch of Goths at heart, they'll try to conquor the world again. While I don't know much about the situation in Germany, I find these developments disturbing. The NPD candidate didn't get elected dogcatcher, the Herr or Frau was elected to parliament. One NPD voter is quoted, "We believe that the German state favours foreigners and the Jews." Does that unholy marriage of xenophobia and anti-Semitism sound familiar? Apparently the unemplyment rate in the former Easy Germany is around 20%. And now it seems that an increasing number of people are blaming it on foreigners and Jews. Ya know, people ought to try to get to those kinds of people. "Hallo Frau Scheißkopf. There are reasons for unemployment that have nothing to do with foreigners and Jews and I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that these explain the high unemployment over there. If the Juden were so crafty and powerful, you'd think they'd have figured out a way to control everything secretly. They have had thousands of years to practice and many a pogrom for incentive.
While the NPD may not have a blueprint for another Reich, that they captured 9.2% of the vote in an election is cause cause enough to start sounding klaxons. It sure seems like there's a cancer growth that must be removed.
12 February, 2005
This Ain't Good
Well, we took a nosedive towards the bottom but halted the slide. It wouldn't be so bad if A) we didn't get jammed on the fucking orthophonic question and B) Pete knew how to use Google. The question asked for the name of the puppy in the film Song of the South so he starts looking up Alabama lyrics. I correct him and he starts looking elsewhere. He doesn't find it so I take over but it was too late. Time was up. All he had to do was type in "Song of the South name of puppy" and the first result had it. But no - he had to use "dog" and omit "name" or whatever the fuck he did.
Some humour came about for the question asking the name of the theme song to Wheel of Fortune. I found it and told Kias, "Changing Key" which he somehow transmogrified into "Ching-Ching Key". He was on the phone with a judge saying "Ching-Ching Key!" and I overheard him. I was incredulous - what the fuck was he saying. So I corrected him. Next was the question about what the 24th Amendment did. "Ended the poll tax," I told him. So everyone starts saying "abolished pull tabs". It all came to a head when the question was "What was Eric Clapton's father's occupation?" Pete answered, "A poll tax collector."
Because of our poor performance, the boys back in Cambridge sent us a picture:
Well, we took a nosedive towards the bottom but halted the slide. It wouldn't be so bad if A) we didn't get jammed on the fucking orthophonic question and B) Pete knew how to use Google. The question asked for the name of the puppy in the film Song of the South so he starts looking up Alabama lyrics. I correct him and he starts looking elsewhere. He doesn't find it so I take over but it was too late. Time was up. All he had to do was type in "Song of the South name of puppy" and the first result had it. But no - he had to use "dog" and omit "name" or whatever the fuck he did.
Some humour came about for the question asking the name of the theme song to Wheel of Fortune. I found it and told Kias, "Changing Key" which he somehow transmogrified into "Ching-Ching Key". He was on the phone with a judge saying "Ching-Ching Key!" and I overheard him. I was incredulous - what the fuck was he saying. So I corrected him. Next was the question about what the 24th Amendment did. "Ended the poll tax," I told him. So everyone starts saying "abolished pull tabs". It all came to a head when the question was "What was Eric Clapton's father's occupation?" Pete answered, "A poll tax collector."
Because of our poor performance, the boys back in Cambridge sent us a picture:
Update #1
So far, so far. We fucked up a couple questions and we've got something like 85 out of 105 points. Zeke is freaking out back in Cambridge as he can't hear the question right away and we have to read it to him.
The Badgers are playing Illinois on the TV and I'm enjoying a new brew by Dan at New Glarus - Black Wheat. A fine "conditioned weiss" that "is bursting with Midwestern wheat, corn, rye and finshished by malted barley." It does a body good. On the way up, we stopped at Fran's Coffee Cup in Plainfield, the home of Ed Gein. They have that graded coffee prices. All the coffee you can drink is $.50 while all the coffee you can drink all day is only $4.50. AND you get an hour off for lunch so you can head home for a bit and come back and continue drinking from their bottomless cup o'joe. As we were leaving, there was a group of old duffs suppin' coffee and playin' cards. A Texas Hold 'Em contest in Plainfield, perhaps?
So far, so far. We fucked up a couple questions and we've got something like 85 out of 105 points. Zeke is freaking out back in Cambridge as he can't hear the question right away and we have to read it to him.
The Badgers are playing Illinois on the TV and I'm enjoying a new brew by Dan at New Glarus - Black Wheat. A fine "conditioned weiss" that "is bursting with Midwestern wheat, corn, rye and finshished by malted barley." It does a body good. On the way up, we stopped at Fran's Coffee Cup in Plainfield, the home of Ed Gein. They have that graded coffee prices. All the coffee you can drink is $.50 while all the coffee you can drink all day is only $4.50. AND you get an hour off for lunch so you can head home for a bit and come back and continue drinking from their bottomless cup o'joe. As we were leaving, there was a group of old duffs suppin' coffee and playin' cards. A Texas Hold 'Em contest in Plainfield, perhaps?
11 February, 2005
Goblet of Fire
The next Harry Potter flick is due out later this year. Some snaps from the production have been released.
Man, that Emma Watson or whatever the name is of the girl who plays Hermione is a little hottie. I'd like to schtup her when she's legal.
And playing the baddie is:
He-who-must-not-be-named
The next Harry Potter flick is due out later this year. Some snaps from the production have been released.
Man, that Emma Watson or whatever the name is of the girl who plays Hermione is a little hottie. I'd like to schtup her when she's legal.
He-who-must-not-be-named
10 February, 2005
Malaprop
WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I don't really understand. How is it the new [Social Security] plan is going to fix that problem?
DUBYA: Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.
-- Dubya explains the virtues of his Social Security plan, Tampa, Florida, Feb. 4, 2005
It's one thing to be a parody of a Richard Brinsley Sheridan character but to not know what the fuck you're calling for when you advocate reform of SSI is another. I genuinely don't think the guy knows anything about the issue other than the system will be paying out less at some point. He's heard about the variables involved but I honestly don't think he understands what they are and how they figure into the equation.
To be sure, being an ineloquent speaker doesn't make you unfit to be President. Thomas Jefferson was not a great public speaker - his forte was with the written word. But, from what I've read, he didn't just dish out a series of malaprops. If he were asked about revolting against the King, he wouldn't give the Declaration of Independence. Instead he'd say, "Hey, we want to be free of tyranny" not "Well, the taxing of tea is done...look, it's muddled...we don't have anyone in the House of Lords across the pond to make sure..." Dubya may be a plain guy but he should at least be able to explain himself coherently. In a plain manner would be fine - not a stream of malapropisms.
WOMAN IN AUDIENCE: I don't really understand. How is it the new [Social Security] plan is going to fix that problem?
DUBYA: Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculated, for example, is on the table. Whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised. Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.
-- Dubya explains the virtues of his Social Security plan, Tampa, Florida, Feb. 4, 2005
It's one thing to be a parody of a Richard Brinsley Sheridan character but to not know what the fuck you're calling for when you advocate reform of SSI is another. I genuinely don't think the guy knows anything about the issue other than the system will be paying out less at some point. He's heard about the variables involved but I honestly don't think he understands what they are and how they figure into the equation.
To be sure, being an ineloquent speaker doesn't make you unfit to be President. Thomas Jefferson was not a great public speaker - his forte was with the written word. But, from what I've read, he didn't just dish out a series of malaprops. If he were asked about revolting against the King, he wouldn't give the Declaration of Independence. Instead he'd say, "Hey, we want to be free of tyranny" not "Well, the taxing of tea is done...look, it's muddled...we don't have anyone in the House of Lords across the pond to make sure..." Dubya may be a plain guy but he should at least be able to explain himself coherently. In a plain manner would be fine - not a stream of malapropisms.
Let The Hobbit Happen
If you're keen on having Peter Jackson turn The Hobbit into a flick, check out this site.
If you're keen on having Peter Jackson turn The Hobbit into a flick, check out this site.
Wilco + Orpheum = Bonus Disk
According to Wilco's webpage, A Ghost is Born will be released in Europe with a bonus disc featuring live tracks and a couple studio outtakes. The live songs were recorded here in Madtown when the band played at the Orpheum in October of last year. The live tunes are:
"At Least That's What You Said"
"The Late Greats"
"Handshake Drugs"
The studio tracks are:
"Panthers"
"Kicking Television"
These will all be availabe at iTunes and for free download from Wilcoweb at some point.
According to Wilco's webpage, A Ghost is Born will be released in Europe with a bonus disc featuring live tracks and a couple studio outtakes. The live songs were recorded here in Madtown when the band played at the Orpheum in October of last year. The live tunes are:
"At Least That's What You Said"
"The Late Greats"
"Handshake Drugs"
The studio tracks are:
"Panthers"
"Kicking Television"
These will all be availabe at iTunes and for free download from Wilcoweb at some point.
H2G2
Some pictures from the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy flick have been posted. Check 'em out. It does seem weird to see Zaphod without 2 heads. On the bright side, Stephen Fry will be doing the voice of The Book while Alan Rickman will be the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android.
Some pictures from the upcoming Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy flick have been posted. Check 'em out. It does seem weird to see Zaphod without 2 heads. On the bright side, Stephen Fry will be doing the voice of The Book while Alan Rickman will be the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android.
RotS
There's some funky pictures relating to Revenge of the Sith to be found here. That shot of Mace Windu & Company stepping into Palpatine's office looking pissed off got me all fired up. Gonna be some ass kickin' to be had!!
There's some funky pictures relating to Revenge of the Sith to be found here. That shot of Mace Windu & Company stepping into Palpatine's office looking pissed off got me all fired up. Gonna be some ass kickin' to be had!!
Thanks For the Throw There, Howard
It’s been an interesting week. I started my Celtic music class on Tuesday. There’s only a handful of us and the professor seems to be a froody guy. We listened to a bit of carnyx playing. The carnyx is this huge horn and is the oldest known Celtic musical instrument. Then the prof put on some harp music from the Robert Ap Huw Manuscript of 1613 and the Edward Jones’s Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1784-1825). The older stuff was really cool. OK, all of the material on here is at least 300 years old so it’s all “old”. But I mean that I really dug the piece from the pre-Renaissance piece. It’s all variations on a theme and dissonant and weird which was fine by me. The later material was more melodic and, although I enjoyed it, I liked the “primitive” stuff more. All of the songs were played on replicas of period harps that were strung with steel strings instead of gut. Really good stuff. Next week we investigate the bagpipe and learn about Celtic dancing. Call me crazy but I’m thinking we’re not gonna go over Riverdance.
Yesterday I had an orientation meeting to become a literacy tutor with the Madison Area Literacy Council. The 7 of us got the intro speech and paperwork to fill out. We shall see if they want me as a volunteer soon, I suppose. Oh! When I got home on Tuesday night, I found out that my cousin Guy had stopped by while I was at class. I wish that he’d have emailed me to let me know he was passing through. Now that he’s out of the navy, he’s got time to relax. He is making his way down to Florida where his dad and stepmom live. I shall have to call them soon. He left me a bag of stuff from the USS Stennis on which he was stationed. Got me a new baseball cap! Now this may sound like no big deal to you but, for me, it’s neat because it’s my only cap not covered in sweat stains.
The weekend looms which means TRIVIA! For anyone who’s interested, you can keep track of our (The Flying Zupans) progress at the WISS trivia webpage.
I see that Son Volt announced some new tour dates but nothing around here in the upper Midwest. Their new album comes out this summer while a DVD of their performance on Austin City Limits comes out next month. And it will be the full show, not the truncated 30-minute set that PBS broadcast. (God! Jay Farrar looks young there. And Gillian Welch is *hot*! I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eatin’ chicken. Is she schtooking David Rawlings?)
If anyone out there lives in District 3 here in Madtown, don’t forget to vote for Amy Westra.
It’s been an interesting week. I started my Celtic music class on Tuesday. There’s only a handful of us and the professor seems to be a froody guy. We listened to a bit of carnyx playing. The carnyx is this huge horn and is the oldest known Celtic musical instrument. Then the prof put on some harp music from the Robert Ap Huw Manuscript of 1613 and the Edward Jones’s Musical and Poetical Relicks of the Welsh Bards (1784-1825). The older stuff was really cool. OK, all of the material on here is at least 300 years old so it’s all “old”. But I mean that I really dug the piece from the pre-Renaissance piece. It’s all variations on a theme and dissonant and weird which was fine by me. The later material was more melodic and, although I enjoyed it, I liked the “primitive” stuff more. All of the songs were played on replicas of period harps that were strung with steel strings instead of gut. Really good stuff. Next week we investigate the bagpipe and learn about Celtic dancing. Call me crazy but I’m thinking we’re not gonna go over Riverdance.
Yesterday I had an orientation meeting to become a literacy tutor with the Madison Area Literacy Council. The 7 of us got the intro speech and paperwork to fill out. We shall see if they want me as a volunteer soon, I suppose. Oh! When I got home on Tuesday night, I found out that my cousin Guy had stopped by while I was at class. I wish that he’d have emailed me to let me know he was passing through. Now that he’s out of the navy, he’s got time to relax. He is making his way down to Florida where his dad and stepmom live. I shall have to call them soon. He left me a bag of stuff from the USS Stennis on which he was stationed. Got me a new baseball cap! Now this may sound like no big deal to you but, for me, it’s neat because it’s my only cap not covered in sweat stains.
The weekend looms which means TRIVIA! For anyone who’s interested, you can keep track of our (The Flying Zupans) progress at the WISS trivia webpage.
I see that Son Volt announced some new tour dates but nothing around here in the upper Midwest. Their new album comes out this summer while a DVD of their performance on Austin City Limits comes out next month. And it will be the full show, not the truncated 30-minute set that PBS broadcast. (God! Jay Farrar looks young there. And Gillian Welch is *hot*! I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eatin’ chicken. Is she schtooking David Rawlings?)
If anyone out there lives in District 3 here in Madtown, don’t forget to vote for Amy Westra.
07 February, 2005
This Is a Good Entry…
…for me to poop on!
I’ve gotta say that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’sDVD is fucking hilarious. In one sequence he goes to Hawaii to cover tryouts for American Idol and Fox kicks him off the premises. So he goes to the local NBC affiliate and pleads his case. Then he does the weather forecast. “Thanks for the throw there, Howard.” Frickin’ heelarious! Check it out.
The Dulcinea noticed that Ozric Tentacles are touring here in the States again. I think we’re gonna catch them at the Abbey Pub in March.
For any Windows users who are keen on the Dock in Max OSX, your dream has come true. I installed it on my box at work and Winders didn’t crash once all day!
Christ! Where did I leave off? This is what I get for not writing everyday. Oh! I start my class on Celtic music tomorrow and on Wednesday become orientated for my new status as an adult literacy tutor. I’ll be having these half-literates saying words like “usufruct” and “campestral” in no time! Finally, a chance to mold the verbal skills of another human being in my own image. In other news, I’ve gotta find The Dulcinea a Valentine’s Day gift. I’m contemplating this but have some reservations. When she dumps me, it will give her the perfect voodoo doll and I’d rather avoid that kind of situation.
This weekend is trivia up north. A couple changes this year: 1) we’re going to be playing at Benke’s instead of Joe’s place. 2) We are going to be working with a smaller crew. To make up for this, we are going to do a little conference call with Yahoo! Messenger. This is made possible with a cable modem! I think Pete is gonna head up with us again this year. One can only wonder just how much mayhem we can cause at the new venue.
On Friday night, I met up with Marv, Pete, Dogger, and Old Man Standiford at the Bou and drank way too much. Driving home is something I should most definitely not have done. Thankfully it turned out all right. We shot the shit for hours. I even got all serious and told Dogger to not be afraid to come to us for help regardless of the type.
Ya know, I had a lot to write about before I actually started this entry and can’t fucking remember what it was I wanted to say. Oh! Today had this penumbra over it because Toad Hill closed its doors – about 3 hours ago. On the one hand, I feel horrible for The Caffeinatrix because it’s a failure of sorts. But on the other, I know that she’ll get some much-deserved rest and, I suspect, take on a cheerier disposition. Hopefully I’ll get to see her and Miss Vicki and Downtown in a social setting soon. I wish them all the best. So now where the fuck am I gonna get coffee? Well, I suppose stopping in at CZ or Mother Fools in the A.M. is a viable proposition. Unfortunately, CZ’s coffee isn’t great and finding a parking spot near Mofos is a tricky proposition. I sure as fuck won’t go to Francois’ den of iniquity.
A bit about work. It goes. I think I’ve been fully assimilated. I think a majority of people in my section know who I am and quite a few in different sections as well. I’ve discovered that DCFS has some hot interns. One blonde was particularly pulchritudinous. I chatted with her for a while and discovered that she’ll be heading back to LaCrosse at the end of the semester. Hell, I’ll probably be gone before that. My situation has finally settled down to the point where I’m usually the only one doing any work. Why do I bother? I mean, we all surf the Net but I seem to surf less than most. Or maybe I’m full of shit.
I made some chicken mole. It’s not bad. I deliberately didn’t add any sugar in hope that it might be somewhat carb-friendly. I suspect I’ll be the only one eating it, though.
…for me to poop on!
I’ve gotta say that Triumph the Insult Comic Dog’sDVD is fucking hilarious. In one sequence he goes to Hawaii to cover tryouts for American Idol and Fox kicks him off the premises. So he goes to the local NBC affiliate and pleads his case. Then he does the weather forecast. “Thanks for the throw there, Howard.” Frickin’ heelarious! Check it out.
The Dulcinea noticed that Ozric Tentacles are touring here in the States again. I think we’re gonna catch them at the Abbey Pub in March.
For any Windows users who are keen on the Dock in Max OSX, your dream has come true. I installed it on my box at work and Winders didn’t crash once all day!
Christ! Where did I leave off? This is what I get for not writing everyday. Oh! I start my class on Celtic music tomorrow and on Wednesday become orientated for my new status as an adult literacy tutor. I’ll be having these half-literates saying words like “usufruct” and “campestral” in no time! Finally, a chance to mold the verbal skills of another human being in my own image. In other news, I’ve gotta find The Dulcinea a Valentine’s Day gift. I’m contemplating this but have some reservations. When she dumps me, it will give her the perfect voodoo doll and I’d rather avoid that kind of situation.
This weekend is trivia up north. A couple changes this year: 1) we’re going to be playing at Benke’s instead of Joe’s place. 2) We are going to be working with a smaller crew. To make up for this, we are going to do a little conference call with Yahoo! Messenger. This is made possible with a cable modem! I think Pete is gonna head up with us again this year. One can only wonder just how much mayhem we can cause at the new venue.
On Friday night, I met up with Marv, Pete, Dogger, and Old Man Standiford at the Bou and drank way too much. Driving home is something I should most definitely not have done. Thankfully it turned out all right. We shot the shit for hours. I even got all serious and told Dogger to not be afraid to come to us for help regardless of the type.
Ya know, I had a lot to write about before I actually started this entry and can’t fucking remember what it was I wanted to say. Oh! Today had this penumbra over it because Toad Hill closed its doors – about 3 hours ago. On the one hand, I feel horrible for The Caffeinatrix because it’s a failure of sorts. But on the other, I know that she’ll get some much-deserved rest and, I suspect, take on a cheerier disposition. Hopefully I’ll get to see her and Miss Vicki and Downtown in a social setting soon. I wish them all the best. So now where the fuck am I gonna get coffee? Well, I suppose stopping in at CZ or Mother Fools in the A.M. is a viable proposition. Unfortunately, CZ’s coffee isn’t great and finding a parking spot near Mofos is a tricky proposition. I sure as fuck won’t go to Francois’ den of iniquity.
A bit about work. It goes. I think I’ve been fully assimilated. I think a majority of people in my section know who I am and quite a few in different sections as well. I’ve discovered that DCFS has some hot interns. One blonde was particularly pulchritudinous. I chatted with her for a while and discovered that she’ll be heading back to LaCrosse at the end of the semester. Hell, I’ll probably be gone before that. My situation has finally settled down to the point where I’m usually the only one doing any work. Why do I bother? I mean, we all surf the Net but I seem to surf less than most. Or maybe I’m full of shit.
I made some chicken mole. It’s not bad. I deliberately didn’t add any sugar in hope that it might be somewhat carb-friendly. I suspect I’ll be the only one eating it, though.
04 February, 2005
Me & Dolby
I've got a couple months yet to assemble myself a 5.1 surround stereo system. April 18th is the release date for the SACD version of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Unfortunately it seems that Deadwing has been pushed back until April 26th.
My downloading progresses. On a local note, I've got David Bowie's appearance here in Madison back in 1974, Pink Floyd's Camp Randall gig from 1988, the demos Nirvana made over at Smart Studios in 1990, and Tull's show from November of last year. Speaking of the Tull show, here's a couple snaps from it:
Being in the middle of a one, there's always lots to be said about war. But I'm sick of the talking heads on the news and the talk shows. They tend to bandy about terms like freedom" and "democracy" as if some grammarian in the sky was about to remove them from the English language. While we do hear about soldiers being killed, we really don't get to hear the soldiers' stories. The stories of the people whose lives are in danger everyday. The Library of Congress is attempting to remedy the situation. Check out the stories of America's veterans. Hear the stories of the men and womyn in the thick of it instead of the politicos with their banal hyperbole.
Now to answer my anonymous commenter's comment. Let me clarify the question. I did not mean to ask if it was OK to invade a country ruled by a dictator to bring democracy but rather if the imposition of democracy in general were morally just regardless of the current ruler. Would it be just to invade a socialist country? A communist? Anarchist? Or how about a country with no government at all? If we were to say that it is justifiable only if the war were to be brief, then democracy is cheap, is tawdry because it isn't worth a long conflict. Why bother to spread something not worthy of sacrifice? Wasn't our own struggle to be freed from the English monarchy "long"? And how are we to determine overall good and overall harm?
Let's agree that democracy is the best form of government. So what kind of democracy should we impose? What should the voting age be? A unicameral legislature? Looking at the recent election in Iraq, just how "democratic" was it? If you've got a ballot with dozens of candidates on it and the voters know anything about only a few of the candidates, just what was accomplished? (And how is it that they had more choices than we, the paragon of democracy in the world, had on our ballots in November?)
Personally, I don't think invading a non-hostile country explicitly to make it democratic is morally just. Invading a peaceful socialist nation to impose democracy would be wrong for the same reason invading peaceful dictatorship to only impose democracy for the same reason. In the real world, of course, there's lots of nuance. There's human rights violations, weapons of mass destruction, threat to allies but not ourselves, et al. Lots of grey in this world.
I've got a couple months yet to assemble myself a 5.1 surround stereo system. April 18th is the release date for the SACD version of Genesis' The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway. Unfortunately it seems that Deadwing has been pushed back until April 26th.
My downloading progresses. On a local note, I've got David Bowie's appearance here in Madison back in 1974, Pink Floyd's Camp Randall gig from 1988, the demos Nirvana made over at Smart Studios in 1990, and Tull's show from November of last year. Speaking of the Tull show, here's a couple snaps from it:
Being in the middle of a one, there's always lots to be said about war. But I'm sick of the talking heads on the news and the talk shows. They tend to bandy about terms like freedom" and "democracy" as if some grammarian in the sky was about to remove them from the English language. While we do hear about soldiers being killed, we really don't get to hear the soldiers' stories. The stories of the people whose lives are in danger everyday. The Library of Congress is attempting to remedy the situation. Check out the stories of America's veterans. Hear the stories of the men and womyn in the thick of it instead of the politicos with their banal hyperbole.
Now to answer my anonymous commenter's comment. Let me clarify the question. I did not mean to ask if it was OK to invade a country ruled by a dictator to bring democracy but rather if the imposition of democracy in general were morally just regardless of the current ruler. Would it be just to invade a socialist country? A communist? Anarchist? Or how about a country with no government at all? If we were to say that it is justifiable only if the war were to be brief, then democracy is cheap, is tawdry because it isn't worth a long conflict. Why bother to spread something not worthy of sacrifice? Wasn't our own struggle to be freed from the English monarchy "long"? And how are we to determine overall good and overall harm?
Let's agree that democracy is the best form of government. So what kind of democracy should we impose? What should the voting age be? A unicameral legislature? Looking at the recent election in Iraq, just how "democratic" was it? If you've got a ballot with dozens of candidates on it and the voters know anything about only a few of the candidates, just what was accomplished? (And how is it that they had more choices than we, the paragon of democracy in the world, had on our ballots in November?)
Personally, I don't think invading a non-hostile country explicitly to make it democratic is morally just. Invading a peaceful socialist nation to impose democracy would be wrong for the same reason invading peaceful dictatorship to only impose democracy for the same reason. In the real world, of course, there's lots of nuance. There's human rights violations, weapons of mass destruction, threat to allies but not ourselves, et al. Lots of grey in this world.
02 February, 2005
G.I. Cody
Oh, this is classic. Terrorists have apparently used an action figure in a photo purporting to show a captured U.S. soldier. Check out the doll's webpage and compare for yourself.
Oh, this is classic. Terrorists have apparently used an action figure in a photo purporting to show a captured U.S. soldier. Check out the doll's webpage and compare for yourself.
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