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.
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.
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