Absurdito

Author Tobias Wolff

2006-08-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

The radio program "This American Life" today featured author Tobias Wolff reading one of his short stories, "Bullet In The Brain." A passage in that story reveals that the protagonist - a jaded and cynical book critic - in flashing back on his life realized that, "He did not remember when everything began to remind him of something else."

What a terrific concept. Perhaps this critic has grown more poetic and interprets things metaphorically. Or maybe he feels bored in that nothing in real life lives up to the measure of the characters and situations he's encountered in books.

Whatever the cause for him, will we all come to a point at which we no longer actively experience or appreciate things in their moment with the wonder of "something new" but instead judge today's experiences as substantively empty reflections of people and events only available elsewhere: either in stories, in the past or in some place other than where we find ourselves today?

Either way - by living in fiction, or by having actually lived more exciting experiences with more colorful characters in one's past than one encounters today - one arrives at a point where real life is a bore. What does one do at that point? Go mad and imagine oneself at cocktail parties with intellectuals and artists and at debauched orgies? Or does one actually seek these out? What if one can't find them; is this when a person turns to drugs to find the fantasy? Finding no source and forgoing drugs, one can turn only to cynicism and depression. And this is my current situation.

The book critic also "did not remember his wife, whom he had also loved before she exhausted him with her predictability." I've always said that I can't stomache "predictable people." Like the critic, my rating bar for characters has been set high. So many people in real life simply fall into routines whose behavior and lifestyle choices any sociologist (or astrologer) could predict. I prefer people who surprise me and don't speak in cliches. People easily bore me. Choose something new, people!

That's enough.

HERE is a good blogpost review of this story. And HERE is the story itself (in .pdf format).

I Feel So

2006-04-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes
I wish I was brave
I wish I was stronger
I wish I could feel no pain
I wish I was young
I wish I would try
I wish I was honest
I wish I was you not I

'Cause
I feel so mad
I feel so angry
I feel so careless
So lost, confused, just mad
I feel so cheap
So used, unfaithful

Sometimes
I wish I was smart
I wish I made cures for
How people are
I wish I had power
I wish I could lead
I wish I could change the world

The Onion Headline

2006-04-02T23:41:00.000-07:00

March 29, 2006

Controversial Christian Faction Believes Jesus Was Nailed To Two Parallel Pieces Of Wood.

'The Onion' website

Patti Smith Concert

2006-01-02T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have Sirius Satellite radio. On New Year's Eve, Sirius presented a live concert of Patti Smith. It was, of course, really good, and one song in particular caught my attention. The lyrics started from the Declaration of Independence, then continued in that vein with her own version:

We hold these truths to be self evident, that all mean are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...

...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter it or abolish it and to institute a new Government...

...But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.

The history of the present president of the United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has suspended the rights of American citizens to fundamental civil liberties. He has forgotten that the United States was founded on the proposition of the separation of church and state. He has encouraged torture and abuse and hatred. A president whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

We indict George W Bush. For befouling our country's name. For using the rhetoric of freedom to justify tyranny. For rigging the election process. For squandering a vast federal surplus, while giving tax breaks to the rich. For forsaking the poor. For ignoring international agreements to protect the environment. For abandoning Alaska to the oil companies. For abandoning New Orleans. For depriving prisoners of the benefits of a trial by jury. For establishing secret prisons on foreign soil. For authorizing illegal eavesdropping and surveillance. For waging a war based on lies. We indict George W. Bush!!

The American Theocracy Taking Hold

2005-12-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

The "Christian" lifestyle is taking such strong hold in America today that advertisers are feeling "in the right" enough to incorporate faith into their advertising. Yesterday on the radio I heard a commercial for a local RV Dealer who clearly feels enough support in the community against the recent anti "Happy Holidays" campaign to announce emphatically that when customers come into their dealership they will be told "Merry Christmas, because that's what it's all about. And, we'll say, 'Bless you.'"

Lordy.

Later that same day, on TV late at night was a local mortgage broker commercial. All was going along cheesy enough (I didn't feel that I would trust the company owner who was the spot's talking head), then the closing graphic on the commercial clearly displayed "John 3:16" in the corner.

Discuss...

Now As Much As Ever

2005-12-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

John. d.Dec 8 1980

All We Are Saying...

I was 21 and at work when I heard the news. Everyone in the place kinda stopped working for a few minutes, and most people felt a kind of shock. Like it was the end of something important. The end of an era. Not the mere end of a life, but the death of a generation's voice. Who now would speak for us, when he had been so eloquent? The future looked dark from that point on and, in large degree, has been dark without John. I think that people born later don't understand that John had been something of political and spiritual guide for a generation. That's a huge, huge thing. Guru John.

WAR IS OVER!
If You Want It
Happy Christmas From John & Yoko

I found some statements from "regular people" on a Canadian website in response to the question, "Why do you think John Lennon remains such a popular icon?"

His music and lyrics. His striving for change and peace. He was intelligent, acerbic, witty and he spoke his truth freely. This resonates especially in an age of manufactured celebrity, artificial controversy and pervasive public relations hackery. John Lennon was real.

John Lennon inspired the dream that one day we would have a world of peace where all people are equally respected for whom they are and also for their differences.

At times there are individuals who we look to for guidance and hope. John Lennon's message was that if we could shed the realities around us and be inspired to hold the vision of our world with love and peace we would be able make a new reality. This message may be our only hope for the future.

In a New York Times article today, Dr. Stephan G. Lynn, the Emergency Room physician who worked on Lennon that night, is asked to remember that night:

Asked how he felt at the time, Dr. Lynn, a longtime Beatles fan, replied stiffly that emergency doctors are taught not to feel but only to react to medical emergencies. He stifled a slight quiver and gave this clinical judgment: "I think the world would have been substantially different if we could have saved him."

Blue Iris

2005-12-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Howard Stern fan here; perhaps even a "superfan" (someone who listens every day; can answer obscure show trivia). Howard is moving from FM radio to Sirius Satellite radio in January. His two channels on Sirius are already on-the-air (though Howard can't appear there yet), and he's beginning to test out programming by giving some of his "Wack Pack" regulars their own hour-long shows. One such program (two weeks ago) was to give a Playboy playmate her own program called "Tissue Time." It was a bedtime stories program for guys. The Playmate would tell sex stories, and guys would call in and do pretty much phone sex with her. (Get it?.. male listeners would then need to use tissues and then they'd fall asleep.)

One of Howard's regular guests is an elderly porno actress named Blue Iris. Apparently, "Granny Porn" is a remarkably popular genre. So, this week Howard gave Blue Iris her own "Tissue Time" program. It was a freakin' hoot! Tahahahaaaa!! She's got this ancient really destroyed-sounding voice, and to hear her telling guys that she's gonna suck the *** outta their ****s, and stick a couple fingers up in the male callers' ***es... hahahaha.... I love this kind of sardonic ironic humor. Funny as hell. Hahahaaaaaa...

Self Portrait, by way of...

2005-11-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

Portrait of Mr Absurdito, à la South Park:

Thanks to the ever-artistic J.S. Magruder for alerting me to the website where YOU too can paint yourself into a South Park scene.

OpenOffice.org Free "Office" Suite

2005-10-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

If you can't afford Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc), or if you share issues with others around the world regarding Microsoft's domination of the world market, there is a new alternative. The OpenOffice.org office suite of programs is a no cost (100% legally free - yes, $0) alternative to Microsoft Office. It is an open source project that has been in development for five years and has finally been released as a "final" version.

"Open Source" is a movement that publicly provides the programming code of software so that anyone around the world can help to modify and improve that software (and is usually overseen by a control group). Developing alongside this worldwide movement toward no cost "Office" software is the requirement for an international standard document format ("format" = the program code that produces documents). The OpenOffice.org suite meets this newly-established worldwide standard format called "OpenDocument."

Here is a description of the product from the OpenOffice.org website:

OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office, and the vendor-neutral OpenDocument standard from OASIS.

Governments across the globe are adopting this suite (more specifically, the OpenDocument international standard, which this suite produces), and the state of Massachusetts has also adopted this new standard for all their documents (effective 2007). This new international standard for documents guarantees "Future-Proof" documents that you'll be able to open in the decades to come (MS Office has changed the way their program handles files at least once already, and is now working on another version. This means that your Office documents from earlier versions of Office can't be opened with later versions without converters (which MS does typically provide when they change to a new format)).

I've been using the OpenOffice.org suite for a month or so and find it very streamlined, efficient, and easy to use. One feature I really like is that you can save documents as different formats: save as the OpenDocument format (the new international standard), as MS Word (or Excel, etc) formats (so you can give your documents to people who are still using MS Office), and you can even save in the .pdf format (Adobe Acrobat).

The OpenOffice.org suite is a totally free download, and is a great alternative for students on a budget (you'll still be able to save as MS Word for homework assignments, if you professors need that format).

It's totally FREE! Download it. Try it, you'll like it!....

You can just click on the OpenOffice.org button in the column over on the right of this page, or just click on the link below to go to the OpenOffice.org home page:

http://www.openoffice.org/index.html

(PS: Here is a good review/overview of the OpenOffice.org software)

Antony and the Johnsons

2005-10-21T22:38:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago David Letterman had on his program as musical guest Antony and the Johnsons. I typically videotape the program and watch it the next morning, usually listening to only a few notes of the musical act then fast forwarding past the rest of the performance. I didn't fast forward this time; in fact, I rewound and watched the performance again and again and again.

Even before they sounded their first note, I was intrigued. The camera lingered for a few seconds on the man waiting at the piano for the audience to quiet their applause before striking the first notes. This man had scraggly black hair, was overweight, and had an androgynous look. This is Antony:

With the first few words from this odd looking man I couldn't decide if I was horrified or awed. This was a voice unlike any I'd ever heard. Like an ethereal soprano, with a vibrato that reminded me of Tiny Tim. Is he a eunuch? It took me a few lines of his singing before I shook loose my conditioning of expecting sameness from every singer and found myself enraptured. This was beautiful, moving music. To be able to make music like this must be a gift from some higher place. 99.999% of the millions of musicians around the world throughout time produce mere replications of true music that comes from some otherworldly place of universal perfection. That perfectly poetic grace found a channel through Antony.

He is a magical embodiment of contrasts: a Brit living in New York; his music is both East Village and Carnegie Hall. He is between man and woman; between heaven and earth; between cherub and goth; between happiness and sorrow. He is each and both of these things simultaneously.

And it happens that Antony and the Johnsons have just won Britain's most prestigious award for music: The Mercury Prize. This is voted for by a panel of industry experts, journalists and artists, and is said to reward originality and creativity rather than sales success. Yes, it had to be.

The next day I went out and bought their most recent CD, “I Am A Bird Now,” about which one reviewer wrote,

Antony and the Johnsons are unlike anything you've heard before and yet they sound like they've been here forever. 'I am a Bird Now' is an album that will haunt you.

Young and old, naïve and wise, this album of opposites coming together in one tortured, exquisite production is so lovely it demands that you accept it… and cradle it in your arms.”

UPDATE (a few days after I wrote the above post):

I wrote the above before actually listening to the album I Am A Bird Now. I've now listened to it and have this observation: Antony should have left Boy George off this album. The song on which he sings, "You Are My Sister," was performed with overwhelming beauty on the David Letterman program by ONLY Antony and the Johnsons, but on the CD it's a duet with Antony and Boy George, who has entirely lost his voice since his Culture Club heyday. On Letterman, Antony soared to gorgeous high notes; on the CD, Boy George has very limited range and, as well, sounds like he's singing from a sickbed. Alas.

I Mailed Christmas on Cards Sept 29

2005-10-07T16:20:00.000-07:00

Two years ago I got fed up with stores beginning to display and sell Christmas decorations so long before "The Holidays" (you know: even before Halloween). So I told myself that I'd buy the first Christmas cards I saw and mail them out immediately (again, before Halloween). But I didn't actually get around to buying AND mailing Christmas cards uncomfortably early until this year. Yep, I've done it.

In the last week or so of September I saw that a local Lowe's (like Home Depot) had their Christmas section already set up. BAH! But I didn't actually see any Christmas cards. Then a few days later I was in a supermarket and right inside the door was a Christmas decoration section (lotsa Santas and stuff) including a table with boxes of Christmas cards. These are the first cards I saw this year, so I bought them.

And so this year I got right down to it. That evening I began to write the cards and my first batch were mailed on September 29th. This meant that the nearest recipients received Christmas cards even BEFORE OCTOBER!!! I'm so glad that some folks have received Christmas cards from me on September 30th. It made me feel all wry and stuff.

RubberNecker

2005-10-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

When I pass by a traffic accident I don't look for gore, I look at the damage to the vehicles and where they ended up after hitting and try to figure out who hit whom. What do you look for?

tBlog

2005-07-05T14:42:00.000-07:00

Imagine that. I go to tblog.com for the first time in ages and it's down. That place just sucks. Always down, and when it's up it moves sloooooowly.

I was gonna retrieve RSS feed codes for a couple peoples' blogs to install into my Mozilla Thunderbird email/Newsreader program.

Choking The Chicken

2005-07-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

My increasingly-irritating neighbors now have a ROOSTER. Jee-zuss fucking CHRIST!! 5am and this thing starts crowing and won't stop. You shoulda' heard me yelling at the top of my lungs out my bedroom window this morning and throwing yard furniture (broke a chair) at the fence between our yards, while continuing to yell, of course. I haven't spoken to these neighbors about it yet - what their plans are for it: just a visitor, tonight's dinner, or do they intend it to be a new permanent resident? - but they certainly heard what I think of this goddam foul-ball fowl.

To stop me from yelling at 5am, I looked up the CC&R's ("the rules") of our neighborhood that you get a copy of when you buy a house. Paragraph 15 states,

No animals, livestock or poultry of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept on any lot, [except dogs & cats as pets].

So I've got that on my side, if I need to pull it out. Also to stop me from yelling, I looked into the phonebook for possible agencies to call. County Animal Care and Regulation, for example. They have a phone # to report "Stray, Loose, Dead or Nuisance Animals. (875-5656).

What goes on (or doesn't) in these people's minds to think that people living nearby would accept or even welcome that goddam noise? Are they outta their f'ing minds??! THIS IS A GODDAM RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD, not a fucking FARM community!! I DON'T HAVE TO WAKE UP AT 5:00 TO GO PLOW THE FUCKING FIELDS OR PICK THE GODDAM TORTILLAS!! &%*#%&@#!^%!!!

It Must Just Be Me

2005-06-10T01:15:00.000-07:00

Since I'm constantly getting really irritated at so many people, it must just be me. Right? Irritated and pissed off has become my way of life. Yeah, it must just be me.

Certainly it's not the people who don't explain things and then expect me to read their minds and then later say, "I told you!" when in fact they did not. Or the people who agree to certain terms in an agreement then change their minds and say, "No! I never said that." And it must just be me when my irritation is compounded by the same person doing both.

Certainly it's not the people who, when I don't understand and to avoid one of the two situations above ask for clarification, then glare at me and get huffy and respond to me like I'm retarded.

Certainly it's not the unacceptably huge percentage of stupidly daring, and illegally slow, drivers out on the roads.

Certainly it's not the hypocrites who think it's ok for them to do against me what they don't want me to do against them.

And certainly it's not the people who take or damage my things.

Nor could it be the people who always want my time but then never give theirs.

And it certainly couldn't be the people who deny my feelings when they tell me I'm fulla' crap for thinking I see the above situations.

No, no, no. It must just be me.

Is It Right?

2005-06-10T01:10:00.000-07:00

Is it right that of the people I know, only I publish my thoughts on a blog -- for these people. I think that posting such thoughts tends to make me appear troubled, for being introspective and revealing. Perhaps I am troubled, but I'm also troubled that in this hide-nothing world, among the people that I know, only I hide nothing. Is it right?

I'd like to read other peoples' inner thoughts.

Do you know of the Wikipedia? It's an internet encyclopedia written by "just us folks" out there. A sort of open-source compendium of knowledge. On the Wikipedia, I found a page about the Personality Enneagram. Two personality types of the nine in the Enneagram define me exactly:

Four: Romantic, Individualist, Artist. Driven by a fear that they have no identity or personal significance, Fours embrace individualism and are often profoundly creative. However, they have a habit of withdrawing to internalize, searching desperately inside themselves for something they never find, creating a spiral of depression. The stereotypical angsty musician or tortured artist is also a stereotypical Four.

Five: Observer, Thinker, Investigator. Believing they are only worth what they contribute, Fives have learned to withdraw, to watch with keen eyes and speak only when they can shake the world with their observations. Sometimes they do just that. Sometimes, instead, they withdraw from the world, becoming reclusive hermits and fending off social contact with abrasive cynicism. Fives fear incompetency or uselessness, and want to be capable above all else.

Given that I'm prone to this inward searching and in constant need of a checking-up-on to see that I'm not going too far down, is it right that no one visits me? Is it right that I have no real friends who drop by for a beer out on the patio in the evening? To watch a movie? Is it right that I'm always so busy with things that I tend to push people away from coming over, if ever I receive a hint of such a visit? Where's the balance? What's the answer?

Excuse me while I venture inward in search of a resolution to this dilemma.

The FIrst Record I Ever Bought

2005-03-21T00:37:00.000-08:00

This should really tell you something about me. First, let me place myself: I was born in late 1959.

The first recorded music I ever bought was a 45rpm record. When I was around ten years old I had heard the song "See Me, Feel Me" from The Who's Tommy. What I especially liked about that record was when he sings, See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me it's so almost ethereal. So when I saw a 45 in the store with the song title Touch Me I thought this was the song from The Who. I bought it.

Click here for a 30-second clip of the record I actually bought. [link opens Windows Media Player]

Yes, that's Yoko Ono. A song from the Plastic Ono Band's 1970 release, the song called "Touch Me". But here's the thing: I liked it! A lot. I kept on playing it over and over again. It was so unlike anything I'd ever heard. I was fascinated by the elements in it: the voice, the music, the melodies. Yes, melody, and rhythm, definitely rhythm.. It was so extreme, yet it made so much sense, in some hidden logical way - it's disparate parts somehow working together.

So I'll cut to my point: right from the start I've been attracted to beyond-the-norm arts and entertainment (and maybe this record is what turned me onto on-the-fringe art; maybe it's this very record that opened a ten year old's eyes and forevermore led me to look away from the norm). From the start I recognized the mainstream as dreck and wanted something different. Imagine your ten year old instead of listening to Britney Spears and Usher choosing to listen to the above clip. I think I'd be proud, to be honest! And I'd foster an appreciation of alternative art in such a kid. (I didn't get that.)

By the way, reviews on Amazon.com of the album on which this song appears alternately say that this music is either: A) Brilliant, ahead of its time and an early influence for later alternative music of the 1980s. Or, B) god-awful, the worst album ever created. I like to think it's A). Listening to that song again tonight, for the first time in probably 30+ years, I hear that Yoko Ono has definitely combined traditional Japanese vocal technique (kabuki, or opera or whatever) with late '60s avante garde poetic extremism. (Trying to find words to describe the outer edges of the zeitgeist of art at the time.) You're definitely aware of the improvisational jazz feeling in the tracks, too. And while, yes, the result may be wierd, I hear the brilliant creativity in it. It's a blending of east with west; of ancient and ultra-modern, all in one.

So check me out: ten years old and digging jazzy improvisation of ancient kabuki hetai singing technique melded with avante garde 1960s thrash guitars all producing Greenwich Village kinda' performance art. Woo woo! Some high-functioning brain power going on inside my little ten year old head, eh?

Here is the Amazon.com page with that album, clips of all the songs on it, and reviews alternately telling how bad and how brilliant the music is.

Sugar and Caffeine

2005-02-14T11:33:00.000-08:00

It's Monday morning; I'm @ work. I made myself a nice cup of coffee and ate a handful of chocolate-covered raisins and one Valentine's Day chocolate from a heart-shaped box.

The sugar and caffeine are doing their magic. I rarely feel this nice. I actually feel like I'm in a good mood; happy; elevated. Usually I'm physically tired, mentally numb and irritable. This momentary lapse into sanity makes me wonder what I'm missing 95% of the time, and whether a daily regimen of medication might be worth investigating. I like the happy mood. (Unfortunately, consistent with sugar's properties, the elation is already beginning to fade.)

Better living through chemistry.

Comic Strip

2005-01-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/ (2005 Jan 24)

When To Use The Ampersand (&)

2005-01-20T17:02:00.000-08:00

I've just done a Google search for the definitive rule of ampersand usage and I saw many divergent opinions. I've always had my own rule concerning proper use of the ampersand, and this is it:

I consider it acceptable to substitute the ampersand ("&") for the word "and" when pairing two separate entities that together make something recognized as a whole unit, for example: Smith & Wesson. Misters Smith and Wesson are separate persons, but their names together indicate a recognizable object (a gun). We can speak of Mr Smith and we can speak of Mr Wesson, but we would not speak of Mr Smith & of Mr Wesson; however, we could speak of "a Smith & Wesson."

Example 2: If you write a list of department stores such as Macy's, Bloomingdales and Sears, you would write them as above, using "and," because they are separate entities, instead of writing, "Macy's, Bloomingdales & Sears." ("Bloomingdales & Sears" looks confusing, as if the two are partnered in some business arrangement separate from Macy's).

Can we all agree on my rule of usage? Thank you.

Tsunami-Area Photos by Photographer Arko Datta

2005-01-06T04:29:00.000-08:00

While there are very good images by many photographers working in the tsunami disaster areas, I've been highly impressed with the huge number of great images from one man, Arko Datta, working for Reuters news agency.

His images have been on front pages and are seen on websites of charity organizations perhaps more than any other photographer. And more than any other, he has an unrivaled talent to combine journalism, emotion and artful composition.

Click the light blue link immediately below to see a slideshow of just some of his amazing images of the tsunami disaster. All these photos are taken in his native India.

Photos by Arko Datta/Reuters

The Best Part of Christmas

2004-12-30T10:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a time of joy, of showing loved ones our affection by buying gifts for them, of decorating our homes to reflect the merriment and purity in our hearts. And so on.

We are now upon my favorite part of Christmas: when all of that good cheer is tossed into the gutter. It tickles me every year when I see Christmas trees thrown out into the street. I love the irony of that symbol of Christmasy love tossed away with the trash. How easy it is to dispose of the warm & fuzzy feelings that come with the season (each year like clockwork). The hypocrasy of tossing aside the tree which two weeks ago symbolized all the good possible in man delights me each year. "Just leave it in the gutter like a drunken whore when you're done with it. City sanitation will come along and dispose of it for you."

As if the tree were an annual confession into which you deposit your year of lies, dishonesties, jealousies and rage, like a priest absolving you the Public Works Department will clear away the reminder that you're frequently impure the rest of the year.

Have a happy next eleven months of being genuinely human.

The Power of Photography

2004-12-28T19:01:00.000-08:00

Of all the images of the recent tsunami tragedy, this one just kills me. A father (in India) cries as he holds up the lifeless hand of his 8 year old son. We're spared any gruesome detail, and in the closeup we catch an intimate glimpse into the overwhelming grief of the disaster. Nothing more is needed. It is a perfect photo.

Photo by Arko Datta/Reuters

Incidentally, 35 year old Arko Datta appears to be one of the world's greatest news photographers. He's won awards, and goes to the most newsworthy places, including Iraq.

This Country Is SCREWED!

2004-11-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

Bush 2nd term. We are about to get screwed like you've never seen before. But, hey, since all you smarties made your choice you apparently know what you're in for and want it so bend over and take what's coming...

By the way, I consider each and every one of you who voted for Bush to be a murderer. I hold each of you who voted for Bush the first time responsible for the deaths of each of those 1000+ soldiers who died in Iraq up 'til now, and I hold each of you who voted for Bush this time responsible for each death to come.

I also consider 11/2 a worse tragedy than 9/11. Why? Because on election day 51% of our own people actively went out of their way to bring about this tragedy of a Bush second term. AND, you can bet that in Iraq we'll exceed the 9/11 number of Americans dead (we're going on halfway there already).

Notice that I said "in Iraq," not Afghanistan. We needed to get Osama bin Laden; we had no business going into Iraq.

Vacation Pix

2004-10-23T17:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos I took while on vacation in Portland, Oregon (click on the link below for a slideshow):

Portland, Oregon

Screw it

2004-10-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

I see why my siblings all got into drugs and said, "Fuck it, who cares." When you have a problem Dad says, "Oh, things will be fine, it'll work out" as if things happen miraculously without work or effort. In other words, "Don't try, and all things will come your way." Bullshit. Mom expects life to be wonderful because that's the unthinking thought about what's supposedly normal life, and if your life has problems she derides you. She married because that's what you do and when things turned sour she had no idea how to handle any reality outside the propaganda of normalcy. When you have a problem the support from her is something like, "What's wrong with you?!"

No encouragement, no support; let fantasy take care of you and don't be a douchebag and complain when nothing works out for you.

When I was a kid my three elder siblings all got into drugs and crime. Because I sat back and cowered mom and dad thought I was "the good one" and left me alone. So I grew up emotionally alone, abandoned, and never encouraged to become anything. They assumed that I was "the good one" and making right decisions. In truth, I was making no decisions, only doing the minimum to survive. Now I'm nothing, no success in anything. My "job" is just that: no career, I do a job that a 20-year old should be doing. I'm alone, no relationship for support. I'm ill-equipped to handle problems when they arise. And for all this mom declares, "What's wrong with you?"

I enjoy nothing in my life now. And I see no hopeful future. I see things only getting worse or at best continuing in this empty and embarrassingly underachieving and sad manner.

I used to say, "I'll not do anything while my parents are alive." But now I realize, "why should I care?" Indeed, I just don't care. Fuck it. I seem to be here only for others' benefit, only for them to get something from me while I get nothing. No help from anyone, nothing.

Indeed.

The Time Has Come!

2004-09-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Stop using bug-infested Internet Explorer. Stop downloading necessary security-fixes and Service Packs. Use the open-source Mozilla Firefox browser, which is getting rave reviews in tech publications and even the Wall Street Journal. The time has come. Open Source is finally gaining a foothold thanks to the extremely popular, customizable and critically acclaimed (and FREE!) Firefox internet browser from the non-profit Mozilla organization.

Look, I'm no techy guy. All I know is that the very idea of Microsoft releasing products (OSs and browsers) that it KNOWS are buggy (then releasing fixes as they can get them done instead of waiting to release a secure final version) always pissed me off. Now they're up to all kinds of crazy things with this new Service Pack 2 upgrade. I've had it. Months ago I began using the Firefox browser (free 4.5MB download -- click icon below) and LOVE it. It is customizable with skins, has tabbed browsing, built-in pop-up blockers, and all kinds of a la carte options you can download (very small DLs) to customize the look and operation of the browser. I freaking love it. No more IE security vulnerabilities making my entire computer insecure, plus Firefox is just so much more fun to use! (I love the "themes" (skins) and the tabbed browsing most of all). Look, just do it. download Firefox and thank me later.

Talk About Absurd!

2004-09-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ex-pop singer Cat Stevens, a Muslim, will be deported to Britain after being denied entry to the United States because his activities could be "linked to terrorism," a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

See:
Story

What a ridiculous country the USA has become. Deporting folk singers; suing television networks for pop singers flashing a breast on TV (I mean really!, it's just a TIT for chrissake!!); and the U.N. Secretary-General (Koffi Annan) pointing his finger at the U.S. (among other countries) when he called for an end to constant violation of world law (our abuse of Arab prisoners, and our illegal [his wording] attacks on Iraq). It's an embarassing time to be an American.

"Today the rule of law is at risk around the world," said Mr. Annan. "Again and again we see fundamental laws shamelessly disregarded; those that ordain respect for innocent life, for civilians, for the vulnerable - especially children."

"We must start from the principle that no one is above the law, and no one should be denied its protection," he added. "Every nation that proclaims rule of law at home must respect it abroad. And every nation that insists on it abroad must enforce it at home."

See:
http://newsfromrussia.com/world/2004/09/22/56205.html
http://baltimorechronicle.com/092204MathildeSoyer.shtml
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/news/article06/170904

"Credo Quia Absurdum Est." ("I believe it because it is absurd.")

Car Smash-up

2004-09-19T01:18:00.000-07:00

Some old man ran into me tonight. I was making a U-turn and this dude pulled out of a shopping center parking lot driveway (apparently looking the other way, to the left to verify that no traffic was coming at him, instead of looking where he was going ... toward ME) and as I was completing my U-turn I saw him coming at me but as I was now looking foward (completing my turn) I hoped he'd see me and stop and I was saying to myself, "Oh, duuuude!! Don't hit me!!!" but then he did. Sonofabitch!! But get this!!.... As I yelled something like, "Ohhh, sonofafuckingbitch!" and was slowing down after being hit, I looked to my right and saw him not stopping but continuing forward and sharply turned right toward the parking lot he just drove out of... and yes, he jumped the curb and plowed head on into a parked car. "Why the fuck did he do THAT??!!" I wondered. (Actually, thinking back on it now, it's probably good that a car was parked there or this old dude might have stepped on the gas (I suspect that's what he did, instead of the brake) and driven right into the Del Taco which was farther behind the parked car he hit (the ONLY car parked in that area).

So, shocked (and thinking the driver might be a stoned teen or something), I pulled into the parking lot to ... to who knows what I'd find! In any case, the dude driving was about 60 years old with a learner's permit (!) and his wife (licensed) in the passenger seat. The car he hit in the parking lot had a mother (she was just leaving Del Taco -- also a good thing she was fully in the car) with her appx 8-11 yr old daughter in the car, who was now crying (the old dude's wife was also crying). Nobody appeared hurt, thankfully.

None of us really spoke or traded info, but I guess we were intending to (I was)... Mostly, for about 20 minutes, we were all just sorta shaky and just kinda went to our respective cars and calmed down and jumped onto our cellphones. Unable to contact any friends, I called my insurance co and started a claim. I was finishing that call when police arrived. They took all our info and made a report. I never did share my insurance & ID info w/the other drivers, because the police said I didn't need to, as they were making a report with all that info. Ok, fine. I said "Bye" to the woman in the parked car (she was remarkably cool, after having the front of her car smashed up (her front bumper was laying in the parking lot .. oh, and the old dude's car's hubcaps were all over the place .. the road, the parking lot... his car was pretty f'd up.. front end all smashed and hood bent up etc. Liquids spilling out).

Anyway, as the cop took my info and gave me a case/report #, he said I could go, so I did. Then I came home and called friends n relatives. Damn.. I sure am all shaky... I should have a drink but I don't want one.. and I don't want to watch the scary movie I rented yesterday... not sure what I want to do... Anyway, here is the damage to my car:

My Smashed Up Car (just the rear door)

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

2004-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

I just read a news article on Yahoo that details how the Republican National Convention (RNC) will present Bush as a leader following 9-11 and that Rudy Giuliani and John McCain will speak glowingly about Bush in this regard. The article goes on about all the platitudes that will come Bush's way in the days ahead.

But listen, these are all just opinions, spin, or rhetoric. Call it what you like. It's all talk. Frankly, I'm sickened that so many citizens believe rhetoric as fact. For me, talk is cheap and not to be believed (especially opinions such as will be given at the RNC). For me, what a president actually DOES is what matters, not the editorials others give about him. Therefore, all I really needed to read in the article was the following paragraph. It tells me all I need to know to vote against Bush:

At their morning session, Republicans will approve a conservative, nonbinding party platform that endorses constitutional bans on gay marriage and abortion and vigorously defends Bush's conduct of the war in Iraq.

Please shoot me the day I vote for someone who is for such things. Why, I don't even like such people as friends!

Need To Get Outta Town

2004-08-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

It'll be 100 degrees here this weekend. 100 degrees, and nothing in this town worth staying for. So I'm seriously planning to get outta here for the weekend, probably toward the coast.

In the meantime, I kinda have a hankerin' to see the Vincent Gallo movie "Buffalo '66" or "Donnie Darko" (which I've never yet seen!). I need something wierd and artsy tonight. Artsy, because I was just reading all kinds of things on NewYorkTimes.com about various art shows. Ach!! On a public forum (where people can post their thoughts on a topic) on NYTimes.com, people were mentioning all the art galleries they've visited in NYC recently. Oh, how pained my heart was that I'm stuck here in this dumb city while over there people are viewing paintings of Georges Braque, Maxx Beckmann, Henri Matisse and all the others mentioned. Also, I was energized by the online articles and artworks about the counter-movement in NYC about to begin against the Republican National Convention which is to begin there on Sunday. Hundreds of artists have created all kinds of anti-Bush, anti-Republican, anti-lies and anti-Convention posters and sculptures and etc. Many are presented online. Instead, here I am stuck in a 100-degree city that, in addition to being much too hot, has nothing to offer to make the heat worth staying for.

Here are some links:
A great article about RNC- and politics-inspired art in the
New York Times.

A website mentioned in the above article with lots of artists' anti-RNC works (some are very fun-clever-smart; check 'em out).

A more political website about the protests against the Convention (also mentioned in the NYTimes article).

When you click on the NYTimes.com article link above, be sure also to click on the "Multimedia Audio Slideshow" link for a report from the article's author, Roberta Smith, about current political art. She speaks about the current art and eight examples are displayed.

And also from the article be sure to click on the link to "Readers' Opinions: Forum: Join a Discussion on Artists and Exhibitions

Anyway, that's it for me. I'll be on the beach somewhere in mere 78 degree heat instead of 100.

Enjoy yourself.

Myriad Variosity

2004-08-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

Jeepers, I ain't done no entry in a spell. Kay-o then, here it be:

Random thoughts, just because:

I got a Gmail account. Not thru Blogger, but a client sent me an invite. So no need to send me any invites, thanks. I'm all set.
I've been having gastrointestinal upset. It seems to start in my stomach, nowhere else in my lower tract. Gas and diarrhea. Lovely. It was bad about a week or two ago, lasted about a week. I stopped having coffee (I make it strong as battery acid), then it subsided. But after pigging out at a chinese food smorgasbord, I had another urgent run to the toilette. That was about a week ago, and I've been mostly alright since that attack, but the problem yet lingers though to a much lesser degree. Irritible Bowel Syndrome? Ulcer? Cancer? Nerves? Who knows. I'll just play it out for awhile.
A) I've got to move permanently out of this city.
+ B) I need a vacation.
= C) I guess I'll take a vacation to a possible move-to city and investigate the place. Possibles: Portland, OR. Seattle, WA (I love rain). Los Angeles (it's just so nuts you gotta love it). San Diego. Basically, I need a cosmopolitan city. I've had it with this cow-town lack of amenities.
I've been participating quite a lot in the Howard Stern [message] Bulletin Board off of his main HowardStern.com website. It's chock-full of creative, sardonic, opinionated and perverted people. Exactly my class of people. If only every workplace, family, dinner party and city could be populated with such people as have gathered there. That'd make me very happy (for the most part).
I'm going nowhere in my life. How 'bout yours, how you doin'?

Cravings, Yearnings

2004-07-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Just now I'm having a craving for Pumpkin Pie ice cream.

But bigger matters are at hand. Don't let my glad expression give you the wrong impression. Baby I'm sad. Ugh, I just feel empty. But, that's standard fare for 85% of all blogs, so I won't even bother continuing on that topic.

Hm.. other than that, there's nothing much to say.

oh, wait, here's one: As I was driving someplace the other day, I thought up the perfect personals ad for myself. Something like,

Wanted: Progressive Japanese artist type with business savvy (OMG! I want Yoko Ono!) to have fun with as we move into middle age and beyond. Progressive in art, politics and sex (a little kinky would be ideal). Let's be known as the "hip" couple in the neighborhood. Slightly eccentric, perhaps. Thin, good cook, enjoy staying home or going to art events (but not necessarily to clubs and dancing, etc).

I dunno, now I forget most of the ad as I "wrote" it mentally the other day, but something like that (including the "OMG.. Yoko" part).

But, back to reality: blah.

Yadda Blah dee blah

2004-07-20T14:21:00.000-07:00

Whassup all you no ones following this blog? I've been busy. Doing photos of people, hanging out on the Howard Stern Message Board (www.howardstern.com, take link to Bulletin Board), and falling asleep on the couch. Pretty exciting life, eh? Yeah, well.

Oh sure, some of you have kids, decent jobs, fun friends and have calendars full of weekend activities. Me? ....uhh.. next subject:

Oh gee! There is no "next subject" to talk about. Such is my life. Thanks for stopping by. Whoever you aren't.

Atheism

2004-07-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Here are some great quotes that very nicely state how *I* feel. These are mostly from Madalyn Murray O'Hair:

People...don't even know what atheism is. It's not a negation of anything. You don't have to negate what no one can prove exists. No, atheism is a very positive affirmation of man's ability to think for himself, to do for himself, to find answers to his own problems. I'm thrilled to feel that I can rely on myself totally and absolutely; that my children are being brought up so that when they meet a problem they can't cop out by foisting it off on God. It's about time the world got up off its knees and looked at itself in the mirror and said: "Well, we are men. Let's start acting like it." -- Madalyn Murray O'Hair

An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.-- Madalyn Murray O'Hair.

Atheism may be defined as the mental attitude which unreservedly accepts the supremacy of reason and aims at establishing a lifestyle and ethical outlook verifiable by experience and the scientific method, independent of all arbitrary assumptions of authority and creeds.-- Madalyn Murray O'Hair

An Atheist loves himself and his fellowman instead of a god. An Atheist knows that heaven is something for which we should work now -- here on earth -- for all men together to enjoy.-- Madalyn Murray O'Hair

I think this would be the best of all possible worlds if everybody were an atheist or an agnostic or a humanist -- his or her own particular brand -- but as for compelling people to this, absolutely not. That would be just as infamous as their imposing Christianity on me. At no time have I ever said that people should be stripped of their right to the insanity of belief in God. If they want to practice this kind of irrationality, that's their business. It won't get them anywhere; it certainly won't make them happier or more compassionate human beings; but if they want to chew that particular cud, they're welcome to it. -- Madalyn Murray O'Hair

...two more...

You [Christianity] have so debilitated the minds of men and women that generations must come and go before Europe can throw off the yoke of your superstition. -- John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838-1923); English Liberal politician and writer.

All religions die of one disease -- that of being found out. -- John Morley.

These quotes from: http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/quotes/quote-m4.htm#MMOH which I found thru the great new blog:
http://atheistbiblestudy.blogspot.com/

Weddings

2004-07-06T13:25:00.000-07:00

I think weddings are ridiculous. Here are some thoughts that I posted as a comment on some other blogger's post:

I always laugh (scoff) during weddings. All that ritual ceremony and mock reverence for things the participants don't believe in (or practice) at other times in their lives. And all the women ooh-ing and ahh-ing for the same damn wedding ceremony elements every damn time (what's so special about THIS wedding? Just wait two weeks and it'll be the same damn thing again someplace else!) I've only been to one wedding I could stomach: my stepsister's. They did it in a NorCal(ifornia) winery, and had some atheist sorta preacher guy say something. They knew they weren't religious, so they didn't involve religion. Oh, one other "wedding" I liked: in the 80s, some pair of guys in their backyard said things to each other with invited guests around to devote themselves to each other. See? That's how it should be. Or just do like Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon: they're together, have kids, but the marriage contract and ceremony? P'shaw! Oh yeah, one other wedding I liked: this slut friend of mine hijacked a lawyer (whom she promptly divorced soon after): I was the "Bride's Butler" (because she didn't have any girl-friends to be her Bride's Maids). I got really stoned, and got a BJ in the parking lot. *THEN* I actually tried to say something from the dais to the entire crowd. I hadda try to be all "traditional" for the guests, but knew it was all bullsh... And I was stoned off my ass, too! hahaha.. Yeah, that was another good one. Good times. Good times.

Getting ready for Fourth

2004-07-04T01:03:00.000-07:00

Spent Fri & Sat getting house ready for people to come over on July 4th. Still gotta clean the house in the morning. (Dust, vacuum, clean toilets; that kinda stuff.) Been shopping and fixing up other things in the house.

Still don't have a Gmail invite. C'mon.. someone. Send me the invite!

I Want Gmail

2004-07-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

This now begins my effort to win a Gmail account. Word has it that if you post actively here on Blogger (a Google property), you will receive a Gmail invite. I want a Gmail account.

I want to give a gmail address to websites when I register for their free services; I'll use the gmail account as the place I then receive all the spam (and desired) email resulting from signing up with all those free services. And I'd like to be able to sort thru all those emails and find, for example, mails from a certain sender only (I think this is possible in Gmail).

Currently, I have an account for this use @ lycos.com; however, that gives you only 5MB of storage. Over the years of registering @ websites, I'm maxing out that account. Plus, there are emails from the websites I've registered at that I actually LIKE to receive (regarding marketing, home/garden services, etc), and if I were to receive ads targeted to those topics, I'd actually probably click on them!

So, here I go. I'll begin posting thoughts daily, or even more frequently, so hopefully I'll get that gmail invite eventually for being an "active" user here on Blogger.

This Potentially Great Country Sucks

2004-06-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

With all its resources and infrastructure, this country could be so freakin great. But its leaders are making it suck.

Senator Brownback from Kansas and his obsession with keeping kids on the Disney (fantasy) side of morality. George W Bush with his corruption RE sidestepping previous gov't regulations (i.e., media ownership) to empower his supporters ($) and friends' and making them rich by granting their companies with lucrative contracts (Halliburton/Iraq). Also, giving his buddies' kids jobs (Colin Powell's son Michael as FCC chief). Hell, the entire Bush family; we could even call Barbara a "Mafia Wife" because she knows what's going but doesn't blow the whistle. State Senators all over the country (even here in CA: Senators Feinstein and Boxer) approving "Indecency" legislation in the name of "protecting children," which is bullshit: Government shouldn't legislate speech - that's censorship. Parents ought to monitor their kids and talk to them so they grow up understanding things. "Fuck" isn't going to make a child a rapist or bank robber (but politics a la Bush and Cheney will turn a kid into a corrupt CEO).

They all doing taking time to do these things while Americans (and others) are being beheaded by the people we've pissed off by invading for Halliburton's sake, and while lax border control allows terrorists to come here and live and blow things up. Among other things (and hey, what about that $2 billion stolen that was supposed to put computers into poor classrooms? Thank FCC Chairman Michael Powell for that one.) I think politicians' time is being mis-spent and their priorities are WAAAAAAAY outta whack. Or they're just impotent fucks who can't attack terrorists and have only enough power to "fight for children." Dumbphux!

Jesus fucking christ, what a fucked up place the USA is. Time to trim the Bush.

And by the way, as silencing speech seems to be the way in this country currently, I am going to LIBERALly delete comments from you bush-suckers. May as well follow the "political spin" santizing guidelines currently in place in government.

Courtney Cox Baby

2004-06-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Courtney Cox and David Arquette have had a baby girl, whom they've named "Coco." Hopefully, "Coco Arquette," because you can just hear the jokes made toward the name "Coco Cox."

"I'm cuckoo for Coco Cox."

'The Birds' schoolchildren song

2004-06-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

UPDATED! (Scroll down for the update).

For years I've wondered exactly what the words are to the song sung by the children in that famous scene in Alfred Hitchcock's film, The Birds when Tippi Hedren arrives at the Bodega Bay School and sits outside smoking a cigarette while the birds gather in the schoolyard behind her (while the kids sing the song inside the schoolhouse).

Finally, today, I've found the actual lyrics as sung in the film. Other lyrics I've found on the internet were shorter. It turns out that The Birds screenwriter Evan Hunter extended the song with new lyrics (and has been receiving royalties ever since!).

I took these lyrics from the actual shooting script of the film, which can be found at: http://www.screentalk.biz/hitchcock.htm
The following begins with the script's description of the action, and then I omit all other scene descriptions and present only the song's words:

EXT. BODEGA BAY – DAY – LONG SHOT

Melanie’s car turns and goes up School Road.

EXT. SCHOOL – DAY – MED. SHOT

Closer shot of the car coming to a stop outside school.
Inside the school, we HEAR the children SINGING.

CHILDREN (O.S.)
I married my wife in the month of June. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo mo!
…
I carried her off in a silver spoon. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
She combed her hair but once a year. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo! With every rake, she shed a tear. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
She swept the floor but once a year. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo!
She swore her broom was much too dear. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
She churned the butter in Dad’s old boot. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo!
And for a dasher she used her foot. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
The butter came out a grizzle-y-grey. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo! The cheese took legs and ran away! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
I brought my wife a horse one day. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo! She let the critter get away. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Mo, mo, mo!
…
I asked my wife to wash the floor. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Mo, mo, mo! She gave me my hat and showed me the door! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey bombosity, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, (the song slows – it is near the end) willoby-wallaby, Mmmmmmmo, Mmmmmmmo, MO!

UPDATE! [2005 02 23]

Though the above is in the shooting script for the film, in the film the children shuffle around the lines to the song and change a few words. The changed words sound like they changed the unrhythmic "hey bombosity" to "hey donny dostle-tee". Also, "I carried her off in a silver spoon" appears to have changed to "I brought her off by the light of the moon." And "Mo, mo, mo!" sure sounds more like, "Now, now, now!"

Finally, I *SWEAR* that, instead of the word "butter" (in the first stanza) the kids sing "poison"!! This would certainly be keeping with Hitchcock's macabre humor. So, I've taken the liberty to make these changes to the updated version below.

Thanks to SEAHAAS and their website The Pit!, for posting a .wav audio file of the children actually singing the song in the film. Their website has lots of other great audio clips for your entertainment -- kudos to creators of "The Pit!" Check out their site!

So here are the above lyrics modified as sung in the film:

The poison it came out a grizzle-y-grey. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now! The cheese it took legs and ran away! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!

She let the critter get away. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!

I asked my wife to wash the floor. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now! She gave me my hat and she showed me the door! Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, Now, now, now!

I married my wife in the month of June. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, Now, now, now!
I brought her off by the light of the moon. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!

She combed her hair but once a year. Ristle-tee, rostle-tee, hey donny dostle-tee, knickety-knackety, retro-quo-quality, willoby-wallaby, Now, now, now!

To hear the children singing the song, go to the website "The Pit!" (link above), and scroll down almost half-way to the .wav file risselty.wav. Remember, my above modified song lyrics are based on that .wav file. (I'll confirm that it's the complete song by watching the movie for myself.)

So there we are. I'm sure we now have THE definitive version as sung in the film. By the way, I'm getting lots of hits from websearches for the above song. It looks like people from all around the WORLD are interested to know what the kids are really singing in the great Hitchcock film, The Birds. :-)

Miscellaneous

2004-06-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

Miscellaneous thoughts:

1) I'm watching the Reagan funeral on the internet (CNN feed). It strikes me that, even with a broadband connection, live video on the internet is at about the place television was along it's technological evolution in about 1948. Small, fuzzy, and it sure seems like I need to adjust the www's rabbit ears, or something.

2) The Reagan funeral. Ugh. Don't get me started on the whitewashing of the Reagan legacy (I've written elsewhere about all that). But as for the funeral coverage itself: Geez! This CNN feed I'm watching is very well planned. I mean, outside the Cathedral they've got cameras swinging around on cranes and everything. And as for the service, I thought about the military musicians: they were told they'd play today, and I'm sure they've been rehearsing all week. Including the choir. It all sure sounded nice as it echoed through the Cathedral. But that's the way with music in a church. I once performed a Samuel Beckett radio play (I was the lead, of course; virtually a monologue) in a church: my voice similarly echoed and sounded ethereal; perfect for a Beckett character, whom one never really knows if he's real, or if these are random dreams in some guy's head while dying, or whatever. Plus, that Beckett was Catholic and imbued his characters with a suggestion of faith (never outright religious belief), the Beckett script echoing thru a church added just that extra bit of perfection.

3a) Religious ceremony. For me, a definite athiest, all that rote verbage of Christian ceremony seems so robotic and creepy. Especially the way priests always drone that stuff out. Like they're bored outta their minds having to repeat that s a m e l i t u r g y a - g - a - i - n and a - g - a - i - n. And that everyone in the pews knows the drill and drones the appropriate replies at the appropriate times. Wierd. It's like I'm watching a Twilight Zone episode about a hypnotized citizenry. This creepiness was once artfully depicted in an opera I saw: Faust, by Charles Gounod. At one point, the Christians confront the Devil. They stand in a line, Invasion of the Body Snatchers-like, and sing some religiousy chorus at the Devil. They were all white and emotionless. Frankly, they were scary! The Devil was far more charismatic (played by the great Samuel Ramey) - someone you'd love to party with - than those dullsville numbskull automaton Christians. And so I laughed with recognition and empathy with the Devil as he cowered and shielded his eyes from these frighteningly machinelike ghouls.

3b) It also always strikes me as strange how so many people live their lives with religion always at their side. I see people going along just being people and then when something goes wrong in their personal lives or with the world, or when they want to wish someone strength or thanks, they expose this need inside them to call upon some mystical thing outside themselves. Frankly, this calling upon God suggests to me a weakness in people to deal with life here on earth on their own. I'm sorry, but this thought happens. (Ask yourself, how would you deal with difficulty or the prospect of life here on earth if you didn't have God or Jesus or scripture or Allah or ... to rely on?)

4) Here is an article about a college radio DJ who was suspended just for turning his on-air shift into an anti-Reagan rant. The guy was upset at the whitewashing of Reagan's record so he told it like it was, and was promptly silenced and sentenced. Quote from the article:

...he berated Reagan for his foreign policy in Latin America, Iraq and Afghanistan, and for what the student called a 'homophobic' response to the AIDS epidemic.

"I said that I was sick of all of the media that was glorifying Reagan and rewriting history that was pretty despicable," he said.

So let's add this all up: your Absurdito is:

A) Anti-Reagan
B) Anti-Religion
C) Pro-Free Speech

A & B ("A" referring to this week's Reagan whitewashing) really mean that I don't like people buying into bullshit (as I see it). And "C" means that I like people who tell it like they really see it, without self-censorship in the interest of being inoffensive and "PC."

Hm, I like this Absurdito fella.

Quick statements posted elsewhere

2004-06-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

Time to eat.
I'm not hungry.

Ought to work.
I'm not motivated.

Would like to find love.
I'm not lovely.

Boston Love-Hate

2004-06-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

I lived in Boston 1997-1999. I loved it, except for the weather. That is, the summer weather. Well, even that was a love-hate thing. I hated the humidity on very hot days, but those days often brought GREAT thunderstorms, which I absolutely loved. I'd sit out on the back balcony as the rain came POURING down and lightning would seemingly always strike in the part of the sky visible from the balcony. And it was close, too, and therefore LOUD! I loved those summer thunderstorms. One day, as I was down the street in the laundromat, I swear a bolt must have struck just yards away because it was LOUD and the crackling, thundering sound was immediate (no delay for distance). I happened to be standing in the laundromat doorway, and when that bolt struck, I jumped, flew! back into the 'mat.

Anyway, I see that the weather in Boston today is hot and humid (96 degrees and 67 degrees dewpoint, which is really gross!) However, this weather is also bringing with it the report of thunderstorms. Here's Boston's weather forecast today, from theweatherchannel.com:

High Later Today: 96°
Current Conditions
Feels Like: 89°
Dewpoint: 67º
Barometer: 29.90 inches and falling
Wind: W 10 mph
Humidity: 48%
Sunrise: 5:07 am
Sunset: 8:20 pm
Visibility: 600 mi

Local Forecast:

Today: Sunshine along with a few clouds. A stray thunderstorm is possible. High 96F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.

Tonight: Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms more numerous this evening. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

5 6 7 8

2004-06-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

Meet my new favorite band: the 5, 6, 7, 8's:

Here is their official website (you can hear their music on the "Discography" page); and,

Here they are on Amazon.com.

I've found my future wife! (or wives...) Any girl who can play surf guitar, shake her booty and sing like Cartman from South Park is MY KINDA GAL!!

Gosh I'm Tired

2004-06-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

I'm awfully tired. Here's the problem: after work, I feel as though I'm not getting enough done so I stay up late...typically not getting things done. I'm too tired - from staying up too late the night before (getting things done or not) - and so I'm tired the next day and don't tackle my To Do list after work because I'm pooped from staying up late the night before. So I stay up late, but being too tired to do anything, I just sit on the couch and after a rest I try to tackle something but now it's too late to finish it. But if I am determined to finish it, then I'm up until all hours which just makes me even more tired the next day.

It's all really very silly. And I suspect that this borders on insanity or retardation or some such.

Weekend

2004-06-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Busy @ work, this has to be qwik..

Long weekend. Me? Nothing. Stayed home the entire three days. And I don't mean that I stayed in town, I mean I stayed HOME. No going to movies, nightclubs, friends (I have none anyway). Oh, I went to the grocery store & video store Saturday evening, and Home Depot Monday night, but that's it. Period.

Weather was great. Worked around the house. Planted things in the garden, pulled weeds, and pulled a muscle in my back/neck. Couldn't turn my head without pain yesterday; better today. Sat in my yard (naked, sometimes) in the sun; drank lemonade in the day, wine @ night. Watched two movies. Read some of a book. Fixed my in-ground sprinklers (or tried to, in the case of the front yard).

Saturday weather was excruciatingly perfect: about 83, I think, with a breeze. Got up to around 95 Sun & Mon. During all this time at home alone, I thought: "Gee, this is kinda nice. No one around demanding anything of me. I have absolute control of what pace I get around to doing things, if at all. I totally feel like I'm on vacation." I didn't even shower any of those days. Not until Tuesday morning! Ahh, the bachelor life.

I wanna go home after work this evening, pour myself another glass of chardonnay, strip off my clothes and sit in the last sun of the day. Gotta get started on that tan for the summer.

Heights

2004-05-28T12:05:00.000-07:00

Oh damn, heights scare me.
I do photography, and someone recently asked me if I ever take fotos from up on the roof, that I could get some interesting angles from up there.

Hell no!

No roof climbing for me; I'm afraid of heights. Even going up a ladder against the side of my house - not all the way up even - to hang Xmas lights or clean my rain gutters, I get all wobbly-knee'd. Higher heights, and I feel genuine panic.

Maybe it comes from when I was a kid: our backyard dropped off down to a ravine with the creek at the bottom. Once or twice I fell off our backyard down into the grand canyon that abutted our yard, and I fell into many prickly-bushes. To this day I experience panic at heights.

Even highrise buildings, I can't go near the windows on upper floors. Why, I even have a mild attack when I walk along the front row of a theatre balcony. When walking along the low edge of a balcony, I crouch down so my body is more equal to the low height of the balcony edge. If I'm on a roof - like an apartment building or something - I stay at least five feet from the edge. If I absolutely need to look over the side, I'll lay down and crawl up to the edge (I'm not kidding).

The scariest dream I ever had: I was atop one of the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge (I'm from San Francisco originally) but the elevator inside wasn't working. So the only way for me to get down was to get over to the other tower to use it's elevator. How would I do that? By climbing hand-over-hand along a rope stretched between the two towers, high above the bridge roadway. In the dream I think I may have begun going across when I finally woke up in SUCH a panic! I woke up literally sweating and panting. I was having an extreme panic attack in my sleep!

I'm a mess.

Professional Sales

2004-05-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

I work with some Media Sales people. Right now they're listening to a tele-seminar led by some consultant on how to increase your sales. Here's my point:

It amazes me how big ($$) the "advice" market is, and how interested seminar attendees convince themselves they are, in "experts" going on and on - putting glossy spin on - the most basic of topics. Right now, as I overhear this seminar, this "expert" has spent about 15 minutes on what every sales person knows and could explain in one sentence. These seminars are all about making common knowledge sound new. This is done by going on and on and on about very few simple concepts so that you say a lot about very little. If you can talk a lot about common knowledge, you could make a mint as a "consultant" and on the speaker's circuit.

Medical Condition?

2004-05-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

Do I have a problem? Sometimes my pinkie fingers get all dried out and the skin cracks. Now the spaces between my little-and-next toes are doing that. First the left foot broke open and painful, now my right foot has done it. And previously, my pinkie fingers would develop, like, callouses and next to those the skin would dry out and crack open and, not bleed but, you could see it all red and exposed down in there. Like between my toes right now (and the cracked-open skin on my toes is much bigger than on the pinkies).

I've noticed that this happens to my fingers unless I keep myself really hydrated (drink a good amount of water). Could this be the reason, or is there some medical condition that causes skin on extremities to crack like this? I sorta vaguely recall something terrible like that causing this sorta symptom.

Ugh. Do I have a nerve disease? Diabetes? MS? Or do I just need to drink more water?

Terrorists To Help Kids Mature

2004-05-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Parents fail. Church leaders simply molest boys. Teachers are too lenient. Kids today learn about boy bands and blogging; nothing about business and planning for the future. They learn to be lazy, not to be determined; they learn to assign blame, not to accept responsibility.

The coming terrorist attack ought to wise-up today's kids. There's nothing like an extreme abuse or disaster to help young people see the light.

That is, hopefully it will. Back in 1989, following San Francisco's "Pretty Big One" 7.1 earthquake, I loved seeing that city's affluent middle-aged women running around not knowing what to do and getting all huffy at the lack of services tending to their needs. Nothing like inconveniencing a well-off white woman to bring out the indignation. (Yes, I'm from S.F.)

So, as regrettable as it is, it might just take a biological, chemical or radiological "inconvenience" to wake today's kids up to what the rest of the world is like away from their comfortable homes, MP3 players and broadband-connected computers, or what the world is capable of.

Apparently we'll see these lessons taught sometime this summer.

Theatre Idea

2004-05-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

I just had an idea for a one-man-show:

Publicize that I am nightly performing - and actually perform - a one-man show to an empty house. A monologue, a la Samuel Beckett. Release the script to the press, and perhaps distribute copies of it outside the theatre, but sell no tickets (and likewise offer no comp tickets). There will never be anyone in the audience.

I will put the character thru the Beckettian emotions of despair and end and limbo, and at the end I will bow - probably in black and white - to the empty auditorium.

[Exit stage left]

Yes/But; If/Then; Why or Why Not?

2004-05-25T13:14:00.000-07:00

1 or 2?
Mom or Dad?
Urban or Rural?
PotAYto or PotAHto?
Conflict or Resolution?
Rubbermaid or Tupperware?

Handjive or Horizontal Bop?
Rat Bastard or Pussyass?
Classical or Romantic?
Decaf or Regulah?
Now or When?
+ or -

Yes or No?
Hetero or Homo?
Fixed or Variable?
To Be or Not To Be?
Til Death or Til You Part?
Blended or On The Rocks?

Republican or Independent?
Surrealist or Expressionist?
Symphony or Quartet?
Wealth or Welfare?
Smith or Jones?
Me or You?

I'm Not Prejudiced

2004-05-24T13:23:00.000-07:00

I'm not prejudiced; I love bakery-sweets from every country.

Today: Mexican pastries from the panaderia up the boulevard.

It's tough trying to remain a slim international gigolo stud when your favorite lovers are cakes, cookies and other sweets. Why, just now I'm licking the cream from the middle of a triangular-shaped empanada dulce.

Tastes Like Christmas

2004-05-24T11:32:00.000-07:00

Newsflash:
Drinking a Cafe Mocha (coffee w/chocolate) immediately after brushing your teeth tastes like Christmas.

Weekend, etc

2004-05-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Monday morning blahs.
It's being one of those Mondays when all seems to be "off." This is probably due to .. take a look at my yesterday:

I worked around the house. But getting not enough done, I was still working in my yard about 10:30pm. Just a little earlier, I had cut two artichokes from the plants in my backyard and started them cooking (my home-grown 'chokes seem to require a little bit more time to cook (I steam them) than store-bought ones). With the 'chokes steaming, I returned to my back yard to do a couple things, and to turn the sprinkler on the front lawn. Finishing these, I checked the status of the 'chokes and sat on the couch to watch a little TV. I fell asleep, and about an hour later I awoke to the smell of the pot now out of water and the pot itself cooking, becoming black, and emitting a nasty odor (metal + artichoke).

I turned off the heat (also of the pot of brown rice, which was on another burner and probably not in great shape either; I hadn't the nerve to look inside the pot) and realized that the sprinkler in the front yard was still on. I ran outside and put a stop to that mess. Then I sat back on the couch for some stupid reason and fell instantly to sleep (instead of climbing into bed). I again awoke at 3:00am, and finally went to bed.

My alarm came on at 6:30am, but I didn't "hear" it (radio, not buzzer) until 7:02am, when I bolted out of bed. I managed to be only 40 minutes late to work, and on the way I experienced ... ugh, let's make this a whole 'nuther topic:

Bad Drivers. My Road Rage.
I swear, people in this city are the WORST drivers. And by that I mean SLOW. Isn't it written somewhere in the Driver's Handbook that slower traffic is supposed to keep to the right? Not in this city! In fact, what usually happens is a slow driver is in the right lane (of two lanes, in my example of this morning's frustration) and in the left lane another driver is going the exact same speed and is right alongside the right-lane slow driver. Result: I can't pass. Mind you, both drivers are going below the speed limit (and I usually drive a good 10 MPH above the speed limit). DRIVING LESSON FOR IDIOTS: If you're in a left-lane going the same slow-ass speed as someone you're next to in a right lane, MOVE THE FUCK OVER and get behind that person so others can, as roadways and their laws were designed, drive faster in "the fast lanes." We have stupid drivers like this, and yet authorities and other activistas tell us that Road Rage is an unacceptable response to idiot drivers? I think not! Stupid, irritating, get-in-my-way drivers deserve the full wrath of whomever they inconvenience. In my case, I would issue punishment of yelling at them how gawd-awful stupid they are, and then, if a man, kicking them in the nuts or, if a woman, slapping them silly across the face while continuing to shriek, "Stupid! Stupid!! STUPID BITCH!!" This is a just punishment for idiotic driving. Maybe they'll learn something.

So after my artichoke-pot melting (the smell seems now permanently in the walls of my home), the couch-sleeping and the few-hours-here, few-hours-there night of non-continuous sleep, I awoke with a headache (asprin hasn't helped), and my body feels "tired" and achy. No, not achy, but sort of "nervous," as if it wants to twitch and ... basically, it wants to sleep. Plus, I have blisters on my hands from chopping firewood (a city guy like me chopping wood! HA!)

And here I am now at work, not working, and I just want the day to end. I want to go home, sleep, and then awake for a few hours of getting things done, then sleep by 9pm. Actually, that's most days. How can I make that my permanent lifestyle?

Gawd am I "off" today. Blah.

Why I Won't Watch Nick Berg Die

2004-05-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it's because I'm a native Californian but I am not easily offended by things others might call shameful, like nudity. But I am not immune to feeling embarassment at spotting someone in other situations where they might feel ashamed. Like worldwide public display of being demeaned by being made to sit on the floor hog-tied before your captors then grabbed and dragged to be savagely decapitated like an animal and shrieking at the horror of it before you ultimately die. And, supposedly, your lifeless head then held up to the camera for all the world to see.

I feel there are certain moments in one's life that should be private (unless you desire to be viewed doing them), one's death being one of them. Not only is Nick Berg's death made public against his will, he is degraded in the act. I would feel embarassed and ashamed to have the world watch me be a helpless victim of someone taking my life in such a demeaning scenario.

And this is why I will never watch the video. I prefer to keep Nick Berg's name in my head honorably, as an unfortunate victim, rather than disrespect his name by forevermore keeping in my memory an image of his death made into demeaning spectacle against his will. I won't do that to his name. He deserves better.

I Like Sex

2004-05-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

I figure this topic would be a good one to start with. Maybe I can grab attention from a few people.

I like sex, don't you? It feels great. As a guy, I love feeling the length of my thang getting all paid attention to by something all warm and wet. Whew! Not to mention all the energized feelings from the aerobic activity of it all.

And there are so many myriad arrangements possible! Not just in terms of positions and number of people, but genders as well. There's the M-F, F-F, M-M, F-M-F, M-F-M (which could include the infamous DP), M-M-M and F-F-F, and so on.

And when you get into 3+ participants, there are also possibilities of one sitting out and watching, shooting photos and/or video while the other two keep at it. And switching off of partners when one feels spent.

Good golly! The possibilities seem endless!