Quick Thoughts on Walk the Line, and I Need Advice for Making T-Shirts and a Website

I Forgot

I forgot last night was the season opener for the NBA, and fortunately I missed it because the Phoenix Suns got picked apart by the Lakers. No sense drowning myself in alcohol and pills over this thing... Actually, it's really not a bad excuse to do some careless womanizing and mind blowing drugs. That creak you heard was me popping open my desk drawer where... Actually I can't tell you about that, since the government is watching me, don't want them hitting up my door in 20 minutes with their flashy badges, super sharp suits, fancy sunglass wearing, frowny looking faces. Not to mention the fact that they have guns... Cooooooollll, I love gun play...

Walk the Line

I did watch a movie I'd been meaning to see for a long time, Walk the Line, which was quite good, but you know, the stuff with all the drugs and everything, it was kinda sad to me, but it's good to know in the grand scheme of things everything turned out pretty ok for Johnny Cash. His music is really unbelievable, he's one of the few singers whose songs I can truly feel, they're very powerful. I'd like to see a movie made about him that spans a greater part of his career, something with a little more arc to it.

I did like Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, thought he did a good job, takes some dedication to try and sing like Johnny Cash for a movie. I love that scar he has above his lip, don't know how he got it but I think it's pretty cool. I got this feeling he's probably a very intense person in real life.

Johnny Cash Singing 'Ring of Fire'

Can Anyone Give me Advice on Making a Website and T-Shirts

So, now that I've been starting to feel better I've been thinking about a couple of things I'd like to do. First major thing I need to do is set up a website for my art. Does anybody have any recommendations on the best way to get this done, I have a friend who's willing to do it, and not for much money, but I'm not sure he's very good at the design aspect. Also, once you have someone set up a site, is it easy to do your own updates, instead of having someone else do it for you? I already have the domain and everything, all I need is to set something up.

As for the t-shirts, I was thinking it'd be fun to make shirts with little monster characters. A good way of going about it seems something like this site, Printmojo, but I've never done anything like this, so if anyone has any advice on this let me know. The quality of the shirts is important to me. So, I don't know if I should get shirts printed locally or through the internet...

Foster's Home of Imaginary Friends

I am feeling great today. And I felt pretty good yesterday too! Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! I am soooooooooooooo happeeeee!!!

Anyways, this show is my favorite on tv, it has provided me with laughter even in the darkest and most painful moments of my illness. I just saw that a bunch of the episodes have been posted over on youtube, and I'd post the ones that I really like on my site, but I kinda feel guilty if I did that, does seem a little wrong doesn't it? Instead I'll post a short clip from the show. I've posted it before but you can never watch it too many times. This clip taught me how to get people to do what you want... Be as annoying as you can possibly be! Who says you can't learn important life lessons from cartoons???

Do You Fear The Government? and Quick Thoughts on Two Movies

Sure I'm covering ground that has been tread over and over again... but I think it's a thing you can't talk about enough.

Do you fear the government, or, in other words, do you trust your representatives? I think we all need to be watchful and informed, but then again, lives are so hectic these days that such a thing is easier said than done.

I just saw two movies that are pretty cynical on government, or at least worried about growing surveillance methods and the curbing of civil liberties. One was V for Vendetta and the other was Enemy of the State. Both were pretty decent, although I thought Enemy of the State was extremely good, I especially liked the fact that Jack Black, Seth Green, and Gene Hackman were in it. The suspense was perfectly orchestrated, you're on tenterhooks the whole time (and I love that!). I also loved the fact that Seth Green and Jack Black were working for the NSA in a covert op unit, I think that's hilarious. If it's guys like that spying and doing surveillance on us, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Oh, and sprinkled throughout the movie, a couple explosions here, a couple of car chases there, even a bit of gun play, and a finale punctuated by a marvelous bloodbath. As this movie further proves, for a good movie to reach the next level, it always needs a certain amount of ridiculous explosions and fiery gun play.

On to the thought provoking questions these two movies made me think about...

It's true that as technology gets more powerful, one individual can do more good and also exponentially more harm in one fell swoop than ever before. A lot will argue that civil liberties have to be curbed at least slightly to hedge our bets and decrease the likelihood that someone will be able to execute the use of increasingly powerful technologies against us. And by technologies I mean a variety of things, including nukes, diseases, stuff we haven't even thought of and don't want to think about!!

But of course, if the government is going to be in charge of our security, it is also very easy for the government to manipulate us with false information and fear, really something similar to all those future dystopias you read about in books and see in movies, like the two I mentioned above. So the question, to a large extent, is how much do you trust your government and its representatives, and how honest do you think they are in relaying information to the people. Do they manipulate us to gain more power? Are they assessing real threats and telling us the truth about the things we need to give up in order to be safer? Do some representatives have their head in the clouds, and not out of greed or egotism (or maybe because of those things), but just plain naivety not understand the extent of the threats?

What do you think? Are you cynical about how the government operates and uses its power?

Ok, I guess those are vague questions, I'll give you free pass to post any sort of wacky cracked out comment you want.

One Word For You: DOGS!!!

My parents and I dropped by a nearby church to check out the dogs up for adoption. Here's a couple pics. I especially like the second picture, cute how the pugs are vying for the little girl's attention. Anyways, it was nice getting out of the house, especially for something as fun as this!

Johnny Depp Is In Nightmare On Elm Street? What I Think About Balzac, and more on BEARS!!!!

Nightmare on Elm Street

As I watched Freddy Kruger do his slashing and bashing and whatever the hell he does I realized Depp was in this movie. Cool. Anyways, the movie is not very scary, I've been meaning to see it forever. I was severely disappointed with Kruger, he looks like an old man with a wussy glove. That's not hot. Damnit Paris...

Anyways, I just love movies that scare the crap out of me. I think a good dose of scary movies can only be good for you. Kinda like eating your vegetables.

Balzac, a Pretentious Writer You Need to Read

So, I started reading this book by Balzac, a French writer from the 19th century. It's called Le Pere Goriot, and it is excellent. Highly recommended, although I can tell it's not a happy story and the characters in this book are going to get severely punished by fate in one way or another. I'm more of a happy book kinda person, but suffering and tragedy can be interesting... or at least instructive I hope.

BEARS!!!

Ok, I did spend a lot of time in front of the tv today, I was pretty zonked (but no headaches!). Guess what I saw, a show on... BEARS! BEARS! BEARS! Bears are even more amazing than I ever imagined. Their sense of smell is so keen, something like 2100 times more sensitive than ours, 7 times more sensitive than a bloodhound. Crazy. The show talked about grizzlies, polar bears, black bears, brown bears, talked about every kind of bear I guess.

Anyways, tomorrow my mom and I are going to the church nearby to check out dogs that are up for adoption (we're just looking). I kinda wish we would adopt a black bear, they look soooo cute!!!

If you need further proof that bears will take over the world, here you go:

Good News on My Health

Well, I'm finally doing better with my health. The headaches have really subsided, so now my mind is feeling so much sharper, I can finally concentrate and focus on things like reading! Hopefully pretty soon I'll be able to hang out with people and do things, like leaving the freakin' house! I don't mean to get ahead of myself, I'm just thankful the nightmarish headaches have subsided, it feels like sweet sweet heaven.

I've still got a ways to go. My body is still somewhat fatigued, but I can really tell things are getting better! I just gotta keep resting, and staying focused on getting better. I KNOW I'm going to be back to my old self!

I feel like posting a fun song... Puffy Amiyumi's v.a.c.a.t.i.o.n.

Story About a Bear on a Pole, Includes a Happy Ending, But This Doesn't Take Place at the Strip Club

I was really shocked when I saw this video clip. I'm not going to lie, I was so sad for what happened to the bear I thought I was going to cry (I didn't though, look look, no tears in MY eyes, whew, that was close, don't want everybody thinking I'm some overgrown crybaby!). The bear looked so scared and confused, I kept whispering to myself,"Come on buddy, come on, you can get out of this bind. Please. Puuhhhleaaazze just climb down to safety." Then the inevitable happened, the poor bear gets electrocuted and falls to the ground. At that moment I felt sad and guilty for seeing the video, I don't like seeing tragic things. But the end of the video is what redeems the whole viewing experience, it's the best part: the bear survived!!! The bear freakin' survived! Hooray!!!!

Yes, I would be insanely afraid of bears if they didn't look so cute and cuddly. Awwwww..... well, no actually, I am still scared of bears no matter how cute they look.

Tips On How To Win an Election

What you are about to read does not fully encapsulate my views on politics. It's more of a comic book version of my views... actually I just made it up, it makes no sense and you will learn absolutely nothing. You might even lose intelligence, but maybe that's a good thing. Us humans, we're a bit too smart for our own good, we could use a bit of stupididification.

I'm only gving out these tips because it's election season here, so we got a lot of arguing going on. I'm thinking I should run whenever I'm better, I'd love to be called senator.

Anyways, here are several excerpts from my playbook...

A Couple Tips on How to Win an Election

• Being loud, obnoxious, and incomprehensible are three key facts to winning arguments. If your opponent can't understand what you're saying it only makes him look stupid. Only stupid wussy intellectual types will think you are stupid for being loud, obnoxious, and incomprehensible, but most of those intellectuals are stuck in their ivory towers and can easily be dismissed as commie bastards.

• Be brash, brazen, call your opponent a 'homosexual pedophile,' slander his good name as much as is legally possible. Slandering your opponent is a great way to have fun and relax, but it's also a hell of a lot cheaper than making sense.

• Look confident, sneer a lot, have a toothpick between your teeth, and crack your knuckles.

• Make people believe you're Santa Claus. Promise everything to everyone. You cannot promise enough, promise this and promise that, you gotta be a promising machine. You gotta be pretty good with reading people, knowing what makes them tick and what they want in life. Once you can read them, you know every pretty little thing they wanna hear. You can tell that weird cowboy guy he can have his freakin' pink pony if that's what he wants. But you got to do this promising with a big fat smile on your face, a smile that hides all the crazy deceit seeping through every bone in your body, deceit which your eyes might betray from time to time. Which brings me to the next point...

• Make sure you have extremely, ridiculously shiny million watt looking teeth. In effect, when you smile, the dazzle will be so blinding that people won't be able to see the subtle hint of deceit betrayed by your eyes. The eyes never lie, and that's why you make sure people don't focus on 'em.
  

• Have about 4 gnarly looking bouncer types standing behind you in the shadows, at all times!!! Try and arrange it so that only their silhouettes are perceptible to those around you. It helps if the bouncer types wear fedoras and smoke, the smoke will create a hazy, nefarious, maybe someone's gonna get murdered if they piss me off kinda atmosphere. This will further instill fear in your opponent. Intimidation works!

• Use the media! Release fake reports that tacitly link you to the mob, this will help prevent your opponent from even thinking about slandering your good name. If he thinks you're cozy with the mob, he'll be too worried about a new pair of cement shoes and the sad dim glow of sunlight that reaches him at the bottom of a lake, reminding him that if he had kept his slanderous mouth shut, he could be a hell of lot less dead, not to mention getting a better tan.

• Turn negatives into positives. Did your opponent or the media discover that you, the family man, participated in a wild, crazy, awesome sex orgy the night before (you don't regret a minute of it), not to mention the dead hooker they found in the trunk of your car (that of course is a bit more damning). You got a lot of explaining to do. Here's what you do. Say it's all a misunderstanding. It's actually your sorry, failure of a brother who did all this, and since he looks like you, everyone was mistaken and thought it was you (this is a plausible story, please refer to the Carter family for precedent). Next, explain how amazing it is that you were able to find success, considering the gene pool you come from includes such a wicked, amoral brother as yours. Please feel free at this point to include stories of your dire, miserable upbringing (sure it was upper-middle class, but has a bit of embellishment ever hurt anybody?), and that through sheer will and talent you have beaten the odds and found the path to success. People will drink that shit up like kool-aid.
  

• Talk about God. Make sure people know how much you love God. Tell them night and day. Find a church, accost some churchgoers, and coerce them into telling the media how devout you've been all these years. Once again, if you've got to convince these people to lie for you the hard way (ie, putting a gun to their head to lie about how great and pious you are), do it, you need the votes. Just make sure you don't get caught in your coercive measures.
  

• Have lots of money. Lots, lots, and lots. None of our senators is less than a multi-millionaire (or so I believe), so make sure you are super rich, you'll have better chances of winning.

• Win baby. That is your code, the pillar of your existence. I don't care if you have to sell your kids to the Dalai Lama! And don't forget to always lie your freakin' pants off. Evade the truth, evade it like Ali avoiding punches, be that butterfly that dances around the truth, dodging it with grace and beauty. Truth is your kryptonite, it's radiation poisoning, anathema... Avoid the truth and do whatever it takes to win baby!!!
  

• And always remember, sucker punches are perfectly acceptable, even encouraged in the art of politics. You gotta be a bastard, but you gotta love being a bastard to win!

Crap, the cynicism from this writing spilled over onto my hands and onto my shirt. Yucky, I hate cynicism, get it off me, get it off!!! What kind of detergent should I use?

A New Version of Hamlet (Extremely Violent and Modernized), Ghost Pictures, and My Personal Experiences with Ghosts and Monsters

This movie needs to be made, maybe directed by Quentin Tarantino, that would be nice.

I stumbled across this page that has the top ten best ghost photographs, EVER! I'm finally vindicated! I was at that dinner party a while back, telling everybody about the monsters and ghosts that live in my closet. My closet houses a variety of monsters, there are those with googly eyes, jello heads, ghastly hammerhead shark teeth, then there are those with samurai sword arms and drugged out junky bodies who ask me for a dollar, there's also a rubik's cube monster who slobbers all over my pillow when I'm out of my room, not to mention the chocolate frosted covered mini-zombie rabbit army that hides under my bed (this is why I don't sleep well). Those stupid chocolate rabbit mini-zombies are waging war against the Chuck Norris wannabe milk carton monsters who when not fighting, or pillaging my fridge, play their insanity inducing harmonicas. I know, I know, how do I protect myself you ask. Well, I'll tell you, in case you have similar problems, but only because I'm feeling extremely charitable. I've found that if I stuff baby carrots and mashed potatoes under my mattress, a magical shield is created around my bed, a shield so powerful that not even these psychotic monsters can do me any harm.

Anyways, pardon my loquaciousness. Back to the dinner party. Suffice it to say, the dinner guests ridiculed me beyond belief, telling me, "Oh Sebastien, you are insane, monsters and ghosts aren't real. The doctors must have injected you with a big dose of crazy when you were born." So infuriated was I that I broke out into tears of righteous anger. I just hate it when you KNOW you are right, and everybody else is so dumb and wrong. Freakin' herd mentality.

You better respect ghosts and monsters, they are FOR real, not fake, and if you don't give them some respect, they will mess you up. Those mean bastard ghosts actually worked with the CIA in developing the wicked torture methods that we use today. Those ghosts have very twisted minds.

Wow! I didn't mean to write this story, just sort of happened. I'm not doing drugs, I promise!

Awesome Quotes

I just talked to some old friends from college, and it was wonderful hearing their voices. Some of them I hadn't been in touch with in a very long time. It just so happened that the friend I called was at a party with all these other friends. Anyways, I think it helps me, talking with old friends gives me extra strength to make it through these difficult times.

I'd like to share some quotes that really resonate with me. They mostly deal with adversity and suffering.

• "Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong."

• "All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming." Helen Keller

• "He who has hope has everything."

• "He who suffers much will know much."

• "Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before."

• "Determination, patience, and courage are the only things needed to improve any situation."

• "Never talk defeat. Use words like hope, belief, faith, victory."

• "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict."

• "The mind is everything. What you think you become."

• "A smooth sea never made a skillful mariner."

And with that battery of quotes, I'm ready to murderate this illness! Hooray!

Can You Guess The Number I'm Thinking Of? It's Between One and a Million

Probably not, but if you do guess right I'll smoke crack for a year and document the experience via photography and film.

I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm reeaaaaallly bored.

Here's a song that always makes me happy and makes me want to get up and dance!

Oh! And I just discovered this song by a band called Shonen Knife. How awesome is this...

Violent Movies, Who Doesn't Like Them?

First of all, a moment of silence so we can give thanks that there are so many ridiculously violent and amazing movies out there to choose from and watch.

I just watched Assault on Precinct 13, and I was thoroughly entertained. It was nicely shot, had good action, and something interesting was always happening (mostly someone getting shot or blowed up every 3-5 minutes). Most of us like this last fact because at heart we are all sadists.

Anyways, Assault on Precinct 13 is one of the few kinds of movies I've been able to watch since I've been ill. Why you ask? I'll actually be serious for a moment. My headaches can be pretty bad and last a long time, so it's hard to focus on anything that isn't extremely visceral and carnage-ridden. Nonetheless, I've always had a love of the violent at every stage in my life, whether it be Schwarzenneger, Stallone, it doesn't matter who does the blowing up, so long as it gets executed in the most bombastic and theatrical ways possible.

Seeing things getting blown apart is satisfying to us all. Yet while I love and treasure this violence, I am at heart such a peaceful person. You could call it the paradox of my existence, of every man. Maybe the love of violence and destruction is part of our cultural rage because we are frus.... haha just kidding, who cares, just go throw in a crazy ass violent DVD right now and soak up all that stuff getting blown up, and be proud of our culture that is cool enough to allow this kind of wacky and seriously messed up shit to be made in the first place.

My Thoughts on an Animated Dinosaur Movie, Immanuel Kant, and Muhammad Yunus

Movie Thoughts

I watched part of this random animated dinosaur movie (mostly because I felt spaced out and tired will be my official excuse). All I can say about it: it was weird and kind of annoying, but I couldn't stop watching it for about 20 minutes.

I have no intellectual thoughts and great comments to make about the movie, although I do have this strange desire where I'd like to find a connection between this film and Immanuel Kant. What would Kant think about this movie? I think the movie allowed my mind to transcend reality and understand the limitation of empirical observations. I think that would make Kant happy.

I'm sorry for making you read that, there was no point to any of that.

Thoughts on International Politics and Yucky Stuff Like That

I know, I know. North Korea's got you down, making you worried about a new era of nuclear proliferation. First of all, be thankful you don't live in Japan. If you do live in Japan, well... be thankful you don't live in North Korea. If you live in North Korea, well shoot, I suppose you can always be thankful you don't live in the tinderbox that is Iraq.

As for some wonderful news that I consider uplifting and upbeat: Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in lending money to poor Bangladeshis. This work has helped to spread a movement of microcredit loans in the developing world, giving some of the world's poorest people opportunities and a chance at success. The story is genuinely uplifting, and it's a reminder that there are great possibilities in making the world better for everyone.

Two Lists: Five Things I'd Like To Do When I'm Better and Five Goals I'd Like to Achieve Once I'm Better

Thanks to Anomie-Atlanta for giving me this idea. I'm going to try and avoid writing the obvious, things like painting or riding my bike. Not too sure if there's much of a difference between goals and things you want to do... but who cares!

Five Things I'd like to do when I'm better:

• Spend more time with friends.

• Kiss the girl I love in the middle of the desert, under the night sky. I'm a hopeless romantic :)

• Visit my grandparents, relatives, my sister, and really make efforts at seeing my good friends in this world.

• Read a book in peace, without my head hurting.

• Explore Arizona by hiking and camping, and sorry, but I gotta mention it...BIKING!!!

Five Goals I'd like to work on once I'm better:

• Write a book about this part of my life. This may be years down the line, I'd like this to be a solid undertaking which I can execute to the best of my abilities. Years of perspective will probably be helpful. I want the story to be positive in outlook and inspirational if possible, but hopefully I can rein in any sappiness, self-promotion, and delusions of grandeur... although, I do find people with 'delusions of grandeur' to be oh so entertaining.
  

• Get my art business off the ground, while maintaining moderation and balance in my life.

• Volunteer some of my time to help the mentally ill or younger kids in need.

• Improve my Spanish, and learn German.

• Live as closely to my ideals as possible, basically being as good of a person as I can!

Well, we'll see what happens...

Insane Video of Bike Jumps, Dancing Cats, and a Map of Springfield (Simpsons)

I wonder how much you rack up in medical bills with this kind of thing as your hobby??? There is a tiny part (ok, ok, I'm lying, a huge part!) of me that would love to do this. The minute I'm better, I'm not going to smoke crack, I'm going to jump off huge dangerous rocks with my bike and enjoy the several seconds before impact. New medical problems, here I come!!! And hurray for all the sadists out there!

• Dancing Cats: Nicole has posted the most hilarious thing ever, dancing cats!!! The cats have such power that they will make you laugh, cry, and allow you to understand the meaning of life. Please be on the look out for technocat, he's hilarious.

• Simpsons' Map: Who wants to see a map of Springfield, the imaginary town where the Simpsons reside? Well ok, I know this is pretty high up there in terms of triviality and unimportantness, and interest in such a subject can easily be called nerdy and very nearly tips over into the realm of the psychotic. Nonetheless, I found this was an enjoyable time waster!

Another Little Monster Drawing, More About My Health, and How Bout One More Song I Love

Say 'Hello' to my little fwend...



So, this is another little drawing(I think he's a very close cousin to those freakin' killer rabbits). In moments I feel ok I'm able to make these simple little cartoony things. I like making little monster characters, I've been able to develop some crazier and more intricate ones which I'll try and post in due time. It's a wonderful feeling when I feel well enough to draw, but I just can't wait to be healthy and truly productive again!!!

Aaarrghhh! I've been headachy today, I'm so ready to be better and doing things again! I hope this thing ends soon enough, I'm bored out of my mind but the ridiculous bind I'm in is that I usually don't feel well enough to 'unbore' myself! I'm just glad I had those couple days where I felt good, the closest I felt to normal throughout this whole illness. I know I'm getting better, but I am so fed up with these headaches.

One cool thing though, that proves that I'm better: I'm finally able to start thinking about all the art projects and business things(I know this is very vague, it's not drug dealing though I promise:) I'm going to set up when I'm better.

Anyways, I'm also including another of my favorite songs, Marty Robbins' El Paso, a song that is unbelievably truly ridiculously amazing in it's greatness.

One of My Favorite Songs Plus Temporary Elation About My Health

I felt quite good today, I'm really starting to believe I'm going to get better! There've been times with this illness that my getting better felt impossible, my body just always felt wrong, weak, headachy, lifeless, and painful. I'm finally getting some of my crazy energy back at times, albeit briefly, and at least my mind is working better(no snide remarks on this please!) and doesn't feel like a sludge ball as much. I know it's going to take a while, and a couple of good days are always buttressed by difficult weeks of headaches and fatigue. I just feel so elated, I finally truly believe I'm going to be better! I'm going to bust out the crack pipe the minute I'm really better, and get soooooo high!!! But seriously, maybe I will.

This is one of my favorite songs! Guided by Voices' Official Iromen Rally Song

A More Grisly Header? and the movie Sea of Love

1.Working on the Header
I'm still fiddling around with this header, fortunately I've been feeling well enough to work in photoshop! I'm making it more gory, because I think that's what we all want, more violence, blood, guts, etc... We love that stuff. I guess with this new header my site probably got bumped up to an R rating. Anyways, more ideas are always welcome. Maybe I'll change one of the people out from the picture and instead include a rabid dog eating a human leg, as Shaymus mentioned. Not sure if I can pull it off, but certainly worth a try. Ah, the myriad ways I amuse myself!

2. Movie: Sea of Love
I was able to catch huge chunks of this movie last night, but sadly I missed some parts because of phone calls. Without even realizing it I found myself immersed in the story and completely engrossed with the characters. Al Pacino is amazing(as usual), and the mood and atmosphere of the film were amazingly well constructed. I hope this is on tv sometime, because I need to see the whole thing. This movie has a film-noir sort of feel to it, which I love, and if you couple that with a great actor like Pacino, well, you just can't go wrong. John Goodman was in this movie, and he's also excellent. Anyways, I highly recommend this film even though I didn't see all of it :)

I'm Slightly Tempted to Use This As My Header

This is a little on the macabre side, but maybe I should use something like this for my header because Halloween is coming up! I have quite a few other ideas...let me know if you have an idea for this.

I Just Realized Steven Seagal is Awesome and Links to Dark, Twisted yet Somehow Sweet Arty Stuff

• Steven Seagal is Great: As my dad and I watched a Steven Seagal movie on tv the other night, we both came to the conclusion that this guy is ridiculously awesome. I thought I should share that, because I too want you to bask in the superamazingness that are Seagal's films(now that I think about it, you probably already know how awesome he is, as for me, I'm always behind in figuring things out!). The movie we saw, Above the Law, was especially great because it took place in classy ol' Chicago! Seagal's movies are completely formulaic and hilarious, yet there's something poetic in their silliness. Or am I just delusional now...
  

• Animation: There's an animation link over at Cruelly Cunning that is really worth checking out. The animation is a creepy crawly gothy sort of thing, and showcases a tiny girl, a mouse, and weird little monster thingies that grow out of the girl's head. My verdict: Unbelievably cool.
  

• Scary Art Links: Stumbling across the internet lately I've run into some fascinating finds. Here's a couple of links to creepy crawly gothy arty stuff that hopefully won't upset your stomach too much. This first link, Elizabeth McGrath's site, is probably the nastiest of the links. The second link is Mizna Illustration, definitely more cutsy, at least some of the work is. Third is this site called Babyart, uh, well, you'll see. There's some wickedly crazy stuff here. Lastly is a link to Spookyland. I've been getting more and more interested in this kind of happily creepy artwork lately.

A Monarch Butterfly, Grocery Item Reviews, My Connection to the NFL, Japanese Simpsons Commercials

• Little Creature: I saw a beautiful Monarch butterfly as I was eating lunch outside. It's always uplifting seeing such dazzling little creatures fluttering about!

• Grocery Item Reviews: LA over at My Looking Glass has a post on something that sounds like it could be as addictive as crack. This new addiction? Grocery item reviews over at Amazon. Follow her links to the reviews, and I think you'll understand the greatness that lies within these grocery reviews.

• Random NFL Thing: Listening to an NFL game yesterday, Packers vs. Rams, I kept hearing the same name over and over again, Noah Herron. It turns out he's a running back for the Green Bay Packers, and he had a really good game, going for over 100 yards and scoring a touchdown. Well, it finally clicked and I realized that this was the same guy who lived down the hall from me in college, and with whom I also played basketball with in quite a few pickup games over at Northwestern. Very random...but it was exciting watching someone I knew doing well in an NFL game!

• Too Much Spider Talk: Please stop freaking me out with all these crazy spider stories. These creatures are quickly rising in my list of things to fear. I even think I saw a black widow in our yard yesterday!

Japanese Simpsons Commercials!

Sesame Street Tried to Kill Me, Sharks, an Art Link, and the film, Sexo con Amor

• SESAME STREET: Sesame Street just got gangsterfied, so I'm gonna run for my life. I consider sharks, snakes, and airplane crashes as extreme fear-inducing things. I'm in terrible pain and full of melancholy and soul crushing sadness, because I must now add the classic Sesame Street to my list of things to fear.

• SHARKS: Do you, like me, have a morbid curiosity with all things related to sharks? Probably not, but if so, visit this site to fulfill your wacky desires.

• ART: I've been a huge fan of the New American Painting series for a long time. I just realized they have a website, and it's quite good, it includes links to some of the artists they feature in their magazine.

Language Practice: Quick notes on the Film Sexo con Amor in Spanish(please let me know of my mistakes por favor!):

Ayer vi una pelicula chilena de 2003, Sexo con Amor. Es una pelicula simpatica, la cosa que me gusta es en el titulo! Mucho sexo! Pero en serio, el cuento no es dificil a explicar, la historia revuelve sobre parejas de amores que tienen sus infidelades y problemas distintos con el sexo. La pelicula hace pregunatas como, por que hacemos el sexo y como se concilia el sexo con el amor. Los actores juegan muy bien, hay muchos momentos chistosos, y tambien me gusta la musica. No es una obra maestra, pero la pelicula me ayuda a pasar el tiempo de buena manera!

Es todo :)

++++++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++

WAT was kind enough to correct my mistakes, so I thought I should post his revision. Thanks WAT! Seeing the original and the revision side by side really helps me!

Ayer vi una película chilena del 2003, "Sexo con Amor". Es una película simpática, ¡lo que más me gusta es el título! ¡Mucho sexo! Pero en serio, el argumento no es difícil de explicar, se trata de parejas amorosas que tienen sus infidelidades y problemas distintos con el sexo. La película hace preguntas como, ¿por qué hacemos el sexo? y cómo se concilia el sexo con el amor. Los actores son muy buenos, hay muchos momentos chistosos, y también me gusta la música. ¡No es una obra maestra, pero la película me ayuda a pasar el tiempo de lo más bien.

Es todo. :)

Photoshop Tutorials Must Die, Paris Hilton, and a Disappearing Cat

I found this pretty cool looking photoshop tutorial. You start with any basic image of a person and turn it into a Roy Lichtensteinesque image. Cool, no? The tutorial makes it look so easy, but of course I'm running into some problem now. The problem is I can't figure out what the problem is! I think I'll try and work on it tomorrow if I feel up to it, the annoying part about this is that it's not often I feel well enough to do stuff on photoshop... Rest assured, I will triumph over this bullshit tutorial and create my own Lichenstein like art!!!! Why you ask? Well, I don't know, it just seems like a nice way to amuse myself.

• Paris Hilton News plus Dita Von Teese: I was getting a bit worried about Paris, she hadn't been in the news for a while, so I was begining to wonder if something had happened to her! Fortunately this delightful story popped up, fully reassuring me that Paris is alive and keeping on with the drama. While you're at Haute Gossip's website, check out the pics of Scarlett Johannson and Dita Von Teese, very very nice.
  
• In other news: I saw this really cool disappearing cat video. The cat looks like it gets teleported, the article accompanying the video explains how to set up this trick, there are a lot of mirrors involved. Now that I think about it, this whole thing is probably a fake but it's fun to think that it's real :)
  

Bicycle Chase

I'd like to post a video I just found. Reminiscint of that classicly bad yet fun bike messenger film, Quicksilver, you know, the one starring Kevin Bacon. The biker in this video comes pretty close to getting crushed by a semi. In other words, pure unadulterated entertainment!!!



Observations of the day: The crickets...the crickets are everywhere!!!! The Yankees got destroyed today. For some reason I am disappointed by that. I love the word rascacielo.

I've been tagged: 5 Random Facts About Myself

I've been tagged by SKY. So 5 random facts about myself, here goes...

• Odd thing I'm fascinated with: bike maps. I've combed the internet for cities that send free bike maps. Once they arrive I put these up on my wall...so far I have Phoenix, Tempe, San Diego, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. I'm looking to go international! Send me a bike map from your city!!!!

• I'm one of those twisted souls who loves the feeling of getting up at the crack of dawn. Not because I smoke crack.

• My favorite artist is Ivan Albright. One I don't like...please don't pull out your machetes!!! Andy Warhol.

• When I get a hold of the newspaper, the first part I jump to is the last page of Arizona Living, in other words, the trashy celebrity gossip section!!!

• My favorite place in the world is Quinson, a tiny village of 200 people in the south of France. The town has a magical feel to it, plus my grandfather was from there :)

I will now tag Stratocat, Jayne, and WAT.

Simpsons en Espanol,the Digable Planets in English, and Theo Jansen

1. LANGUAGE PRACTICE FOR THE DAY
Mira este video de los Simpsons, es uno de mis favoritos. Es la primera vez que miro los Simpsons en una otra lengua que ingles. Me gusta!!! Hay otros Simpsons en espanol a youtube. Tambien quiero descubrir videos de los Simpsons en frances!



2. MUSIC FOR THE DAY
Back to English. Here's a song by the Digable Planets that I ran across on youtube. I've never seen it before, I really like the way it's shot, and the song is just great.



3. LINK FOR THE DAY(ART RELATED)
Norwoodmatt posted a great video at his blog. It's actually a BMW commercial featuring a kinetic sculpture by Theo Jansen. Very impressive. I found some photos of his work at this site.

Notes: I'm not even going to get into how I've been feeling this past week, but it's been rough :(

Random Fun Stuff

Lets start they day off well, shall we? This video offers one more reason you should be proud to be an American!!! Caveat: the video is crude, immature, and shouldn't be watched by people who don't enjoy hearing naughty language.



In other news...

• Porn Star Injures Leg in Skydiving Sex Scene. This story is a gem, the perfect embodiment of our wacky culture.
  

• If you still need extra confirmation of our culture's wackiness, please check out this post at Sam's blog.

• Also, if you enjoy animated tv series, please check out Jeremy's article on the current state of animation, a most edifying post.

Sharks, did you think I had stopped worrying about you?

This post involves one item which melds two things that utterly fascinate me: art and sharks.

Because I spend an unbelievable amount of time thinking about sharks, my mind was bound to get around to this question.

Whatever happened to that art piece by Damien Hirst, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”?

Basically, whatever the hell happened to that huge, rotting, frightening, yet delightfully dead giant shark which Damien Hirst artfully placed in a giant tank? I was going to tell you, but my link died. Instead I'll provide this link to Hirst's bio.

Although Hirst's shark piece is cool/ridiculous(depending on your views), we can't ever forget that sharks are everywhere, very much alive, very very hungry, and they love the thrill of feasting on poor defenseless humans who don't even see them coming and don't stand a measly chance against such magnificently awesome apex predators.

That is all :)

+++++++++UPDATE+++++++++++++++++
I found a site that links to a video of Hirst refurbishing his giant shark piece!!!! Coooooooooollll.

Curse of the Were-Rabbit and the Creation of Supermouse

Good news: I finally saw this movie, it was on tv the other day! Hurray!!

Unfortunately this wonderful stroke of luck is tempered by the fact that I felt very sick, so I had a hard time fully appreciating the movie.

The rabbits in the movie are so great, makes me want to have pet rabbits. Wait a second, I forgot!!! Rabbits are evil and demonic!!! At the very least the rabbits in my yard are evil, having forcibly seized the yard and established a totalitarian rabbit regime that continually flouts my authority.

Don't be fearful. On one of my good days I was able to capitalize on my ridiculously amazing ingenuity. Using full-on brain power I was able to create a top-notch prototype to fight these evil fiends. My creation(pictured below) is a very very good-looking, charming, genetically altered saber-toothed supermouse. I am expecting that this supermouse will be doling out some wicked punishment to those fiendish rabbits...

Sunday News

I can't help but feel like a lot of weird perverted stuff has been in the news lately.

As confirmed through a post at Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Screech, aka the nerdy guy from Saved By the Bell, is coming out with a sex tape. No words can fully explain my shock, all I can do is fall out of my chair in a fit of delirious laughter. Yet, with much agony and heart-wrenching, gut-searing pain I must now cross out Saved by the Bell from my list of wonderful childhood memories. Why Screech??? Why oh why!!!

And then there's the story involving Congressman Mark Foley. Hmmm, I think this is going to the top of my list of hilariously stupid things, unfortunately, as funny as it seems, it's really disconcerting and jars even my sensibilities. The worst part about it is that other representatives knew what was going on. I guess it's just sad, and leaves me feeling disappointed.

To brighten things up...turn your maturity factor down a couple notches(yeah, as if that's necessary!!) and revisit your 12 year old self, so that you can fully appreciate this hilarious prank phone call. Please note, I think prank calls are pretty stupid, yet, I can't stop laughing at this call. Somehow I figured out how the kid doing this got Arnold's voice, he used this Arnold soundboard.

Some people were born hilarious, or they just got really stoned

What a wonderful video. This professor really seems stoned, or he took a pill to happyworld. He starts off like this: 'Wooooohhhhhhhh. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude...Code of Hammurabi.' Need I say more.

I love his summaries of the books they are reading, they are the definition of pithy. The best part was when his voice cracks when he mentions Sun Tzu, a moment that can only be characterized as insanely hilarious. He also gets confused about when that book was written. No, The Art of War was not written six years ago!!

This video certainly begs the question, 'Is our children learning?'

Artwork: Scary-looking monsters plus news and notes from my fascinating life

I discovered this amazing artist, Nicholas Di Genova, through a post at the blog Drawn. The artist's website is www.mediumphobic.com. I love artwork of crazy looking monsters, yet even though they are scary-looking, these monsters have a touch of the comedic.

Other notes: I discovered(just call me Columbus ok!) a site that has the sound recordings of the Truffaut/Hitchcock interviews. How cool is that! A tad on the obscure side, but if you're a Hitchcock fan probably worth listening to.

Other other notes: I went to the doctor today. I am watching many Simpsons' episodes. I've had more energy lately. I am going to an acupuncture session tomorrow. Snakes still haunt my thoughts. I want a cat. I want an army of cats. The cats will hunt the scorpions(cats are immune to scorpion venom) and possibly flush out the snakes from this house.

I almost stepped on a snake

I was barefoot, exiting my room to get some tea. The lights were dim, and as I was putting my foot down I saw something move underneath it, a beautiful, small, black and yellow striped snake. I pretty much jumped out of my skin. Fortunately, we used the pool net to put it in a paper bag, and then we were able to put this guy outside.

I think this snake was eating all the crickets in our house, although now I'm nervous, just thinking about snakes under my bed, and scorpions in my bed...Ahhhhhh! And I never even make my bed! Which means it's easier for them to get in there. Ahhhh! The paranoia!

Anyways, I'm guessing this is a shovel nose snake, but he was trying to rattle his tail. Maybe all snakes do that, not just rattlers.

If anybody knows what kind of snake this is, please let me know.

Little Guy Dancing

As I keep surfing the internet, I only discover more and more frightening things. Witness this clip, and you will begin to see the dark undercurrents that lurk beneath the surface on the internet.

We have a big time problem in our yard...

We have an infestation of killer rabbits. They stare me down, taunt me, flagrantly display their vicious carnivore teeth. They have a cracked out look in their eyes... maybe they ate too many carrots. One cool thing though is that they are tri-lingual. They've really helped me with my Spanish. Nonetheless, they really scare me. We also have another kind of rabbit that is endemic to our yard, the saber-toothed bunny. When I feel ok I'll try and snag a photo of them or create a realistic artistic rendering. In the mean time, pray for me.

Learning about random things

My life long goal of learning as many random things as I can in one week is coming to fruition, and I'm not even trying. It's all because I haven't felt well and have gotten insane amount of tv and youtube time this past week.

Fun random things I've seen and learned:

• Location: Florida Everglades. A huge snake eats an alligator. As he is digesting this meal another alligator promptly joins the scene and kills the snake(damn, you'd think the snake would at least be given a moment to celebrate!). Eaten alligator(now dead) slowly floats out of the dead snake(a scene I would characterize as utterly mesmerizing). Fact I learned: Snakes can eat alligators. Honestly... I'm pretty frustrated that I could have gone through 24 years of my life without knowing this, chalk it up as another black mark against our failing education system.
• Lots of Simpsons episodes. I love that episode where Lisa creates a miniature world, let's see, all I need is a tooth, coca cola, and some static elecricity.
  
• Random medical facts from Grey's Anatomy. Yup, watching this show is how I'm going to study for the MCATs and end up taking over the world. You are probably now asking yourself if I'm on crack. The answer would be yes.
  
• The military channel taught me that war is good. Repeat after me, WAR IS GOOD. I also learned about our awesome arsenal of weapons. What this taught me is that if your country has sweet weaponary, war is even better.
  
• I learned about Mars, and a little bit about Jupiter. Mars, ahhhh, what a kickass planet. The show I saw was very efficacious, due to its content I now think Mars is the best planet ever. That's right, Earth is just getting trashed anyhow, so sayonara, I'm going to Mars. I do need someone to come with me and help me melt the ice caps there. I also need some generous funding, because equipment and the like will run into the billions. Thanks in advance.
  
• I learned Bill Clinton can get angry, and has the ability to make a Fox News reporter look, how should I put this... Well, I'm sure you can judge for yourself.
• HUGO CHAVEZ! This guy is hilarious. He calls Bush the devil, and rails against the US(I mean, he has a right to be angry, didn't we try to lead a coup there amongst other things). He also includes references to Alfred Hitchcock and Noam Chomsky(damn that Chomsky, always making us feel guilty about being capitalist piggy-wiggies). After Chavez's devil comments, I have to assume subtlety is not one of his strengths. So.... I guess that's a good thing, because subtlety is for wussy intellectuals and for countries that don't have enough military might to back up incendiary rhetoric.
  
• Incendiary rhetoric... That gets me thinking about Ahmadinejad. He was visiting the US wasn't he? There's something ironic and quite twisted in the fact that we attacked the wrong country(Iraq) and now find ourselves with our hands tied because of that endeavour while Iran happily makes its way to nuclear weapons power. We should have asked the Iranian people to pay for this war in Iraq, because they've reaped all the benefits. Lucky duckys.
  

My plans, thwarted once again

I should give up even trying to do anything that involves leaving the house. It took me 4 days to feel well enough to get a haircut! And today, once again I had to bail on my friends, I don't even feel well enough to go to dinner for my friend's birthday!

Sorry. I'm done complaining now.

In other news...

There is no other news. God I'm cynical when I don't feel well.

Ode to the towel

Every once in a while I'd like to thank a particular object that has served me well(yes I'm bored, but at least I feel well enough to write, HURRAY!!!).

Dear towel,
We've been through a lot together. You've kept me dry and safe for so long, I don't even remember life before I had you.

Do you remember my crazy dog?

I'd be in my bathing suit. You would be hanging limp in my arms, safe and cozy, quietly anticipating a balmy day at the pool. I don't know if it was your wild array of colors, that rainbowy skittles mix, but whatever it was, you sparked an intense fury within my dog.

As we would make our way through the hallway on our way outside, more often than not that crazy canine would spot us. I swear that dog's eyes lit up like a slot machine on a million dollar take. You did something to him, your sexiness drove that dog to madness.

I really did try to run, it's true towel, I ran for your sake. But I ate too much ice cream, I drank too much coke, I was a piggy-wiggy, too damn lazy at the time, and because of my indolence, you suffered.

Alas, my reflexes were blunted by sloth and soon enough the dog was on top of us. Before I could even react, the dog's teeth were sunk deep in your cushy, porous fabric. I'm sorry towel, I wish I could have spared you the pain.

But you took it like a champ. You were the willing martyr, ready to sacrifice yourself for the good of the cause.

That dog was strong as an ox, and coupled with his monsterous teeth, he maintained an unyielding lock on you. Looking into my eyes, the dog would crouch lower towards the ground as he started thrashing you about with a wild glee. It was a glee I had never before witnessed, it was the glee of the demented. I'd try my best to protect you, to pull you away and save you from that terrible fate. Yet, I learned that letting you go and running for the pool was sometimes the best thing for both of us.

Towel, I did not mean to abandon you. I feel so ashamed these days, just thinking about those incidents. They gnaw at my core, they reduce me to guilt and intense introspection, I don't even know if I can respect myself anymore. My record would be sterling if it hadn't been for those incidents. I thought I could save you, by not fighting the dog and letting you go I thought things would be better. Only now do I realize that that kind of thinking was a pitiful attempt to camouflage my cowardice.

Yet somehow you managed to survive. In spite of my cowardice, you avoided becoming rags. I don't know how you did it. Was it sheer will power? I always thought you'd end up as a pile of rags, reduced to Sunday car washes and shining objects that inexplicably needed to look shiny. Your existence would truly have become existential and absurd, but if it had happened that way, I'm sure you would have discovered God, and found the strength to fight through the existential abyss.

I can't thank you enough. You took the pain, just so I could go swimming. You were such a stud, even after the crazy beat down you'd take, fresh with dog slobber and full of newly minted holes, you were still there for me, waiting to dry me off.

Damn you were tough.

Forgive me, I'm a bit bitter at the moment

Let me preface this: I'm sorry, I hate people who are bitter and angry, two very disagreeable qualities. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I will promptly join their ranks!

I've been tired this week and have basically spent the whole time in front of the tv. There's about a million other things I would rather have spent my time doing but was too tired to do. Arrrgghhhhhh!!!!!

Let's see, my productive week included... Televised baseball games. I also watched some bone crunching football action which is a great way for me to vicariously unleash my anger. I felt very evil in finding my anger appeased when I saw some dude(actually a complete showboat) get hit so hard his helmet flew off. It was truly vicious! I'm laughing right now just thinking about it. This insane amount of evilness leads me to worry that my soul has surrendered to the dark side. I'm still a good person, right? When I'm having my bad days I'm just tinged with a slight melancholy and a dash of the macabre, that's all.

Yup, it's been a bad week. But I do thank God I haven't been having the headaches and nausea, and I have a feeling the next couple of days will be better and I'll have some energy to read.

Coma Lockdown Mode

I've been tired lately. Been too tired for most things. Though I have been watching this show, Grey's Anatomy, it's really good(although it has some cheesy moments but I don't mind so much). Once I get more of season 2 under my belt I'm pretty confident I will be ready to perform intensive brain surgeries. Ahh, the magic of television, it makes everything look soooo easy and straight forward.

Birds I've seen today

Woodpecker, hawk, hummingbird, quail, lots of small random birds. And I saw all of this from our yard! Unfortunately I haven't seen a roadrunner in a while.

I saw the woodpecker while I was eating lunch outside, I laughed my ass off. I would hate to be a woodpecker, bashing my head against trees all day long. What a ludicrous existence. Although now that I have so thoroughly trashed the woodpecker, I do feel a little guilty.

Allen Iverson likes the word 'practice'

I can't be grateful enough to the friend that turned me on to this video. The clip features Allen Iverson, a professional basketball player, and after watching this I'm pretty sure his favorite word is 'practice.' There's something about his super serious demeanor and his constantly repeating the word practice, both those things in conjunction, I dunno, funny is all it is.

Why is channel 52 so awesome?

Because it is the E channel... A channel full of entertainment, celebrities, filled with all sorts of magical, delirious, mad-cap adventures and wacky celeb beefs and sex and and backstabbing and intrigue and crime. I LOVE IT! Quite frankly, I didn't even know reality could stretch that far, until I started watching E.

So last night there was a show on this channel, all about celebrities and people who try to extort them for money. A show like this, well, I refer to it as Grade A entertainment, pure uncut glee and phantasmagoric explosions of unbelievable hilarity and naughtiness. Moreover, I learned a slew of valuable lessons. The main lesson I learned was, be careful when you make sex videos. You got a decent chance that's gonna get out one way or another. It's obvious, but I'm just saying.

I didn't make it through the whole show unfortunately. It mostly revolved around some person having lewd pictures or sex tapes of some celebrity(you'd be amazed at the variety of ways the criminals came up with such tapes or pics, sometimes it's even your husband who has a sex tape and extorts you!!!!). The best was seeing Joe Francis(the guy who does Girls Gone Wild) get humiliated in his extortion case. That guy is a slimeball so I don't feel too much shame in seeing him embarrassed.

They Might be Giants and Meow Mix

Sometimes this band is annoying, and sometimes they are perfect. I think this is one of their perfect songs. I also like their crane song, I only heard it once or twice but I have never been able to get it out of my head. That song is stuck in my head just like those meow meow commercials where the cat sings, "I want chicken, I want liver, meow mix, meow mix please deliver..." Those advertising people really know what they are doing, God knows I don't want a frikkin cat jingle stuck in my head yet there it is.

Been digging through old pictures...

And looky looky!! I found this one, dating back to when my dog(how I miss him!!) was just a wee pup. Awwww. Just brings a smile to my face, and a soft ache in my heart remembering how he brought this house to life.

In other news...
I finished the book I was reading. Ah. I love that feeling, when you have just finished a satisfying book, and now the horizon has expanded, anything and everything is possible with this next read. The next book might just save my life(did I tell you I was an optimist?), it could be immensely entertaining, or it could really piss me off, and even that can be good.

I haven't decided what to read next which is what makes things really exciting. I could read about wacky, murderous cracked out pirates(actually I'm not into that). I coul read something naughty like Jenna Jameson's biography(sounds more promising). I could read some book on politics where someone I don't like gets trashed(but that is too easy, and tires very quickly). I could read a novel in Spanish that has a bunch of crazy magical adventures(this is where I'm leaning).

I have been fully entertained today...

Since about yesterday I've felt more energetic, more awake, yet paradoxically I still feel tired(not to complain). But, the good part is, I can actually go on the computer again and do fun stuff(punch in the face for all of you thinking porn), and I can finally concentrate enough to read my book again!

I watched a ton of Ali G on youtube, haha that guy is the greatest. I love the interview he does with the FBI guy, absolutely classic. Oh, and I found this music video a while back. I love this, very catchy and fun. I don't know why, but I just realized all this stuff is British.

New Methods in Learning Languages

This might possibly be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. This video has it all, great production values, funky beats, wonderfully touching, nuanced acting, and a grizzly story line that really hits home. I'm serious when I say I'd like to learn Japanese, so if they introduce this new method here in the US, I will be ecstatic.



I wonder if there's a perception in Japan that the US is plagued by crime. I worked in France for a while, and some people there were congratulating me on being brave enough to live in such a dangerous country. They seemed to think that you had to spend more energy and focus avoiding gangsters and machine gun fire than energy and focus at your workplace. Of course there are dangerous neighborhoods. But I think that for some French people to be thinking what they think, well, I don't know, I guess the media in France is just as effective as here, it twists and warps your mind in all sorts of crazy directions.

Cat Power

This song just blew my mind. Not sure if there's much point in posting this, since I'm behind the loop on this band, but I will do it anyways.

OH....MY.....GOD!!! I've been blinded by my dazzling genius! This band has everything to do with that previous post about Kitlers, because this band is called CAT POWER! Those Nazi cats are drawing inspiration from this malevolent band. It all makes sense...

Forward Thinking

It is important to remember and pay respects on a day like 9/11. It is a sad day and the memory of that event highlights the danger of our age. We live in a time of uncertainty(although all times are uncertain) in which terrorism, nuclear power, global warming and degradation of the environment offer a wide spectrum of possible calamities.

It is easy to get carried away with pessimism, it is also easy to become frightened of the future. Although I harbor fears, I am very optimistic about humanity and the progress we will make. Many things could go wrong, but I think there are many things that will go right.

Here are a couple of things I'm optimistic about...

1. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The United States will soon truly turn the corner on the issue of global warming and could possibly take major steps in the right direction on this issue. This would give further impetus for countries like India and China to follow the US's lead, especially on issues like cutting carbon emissions. As it stands, how could those developing countries consider cutting carbon emissions when a country like the US has yet to take a stand.

2. RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
The continuing development and implementation of renewable energy sources brings so much promise. Who knows, there could be other ways to create energy that we haven't even touched on, I think I read about the possible use of magnetic fields to create energy the other day. That's cool, and seriously, humans are smart. And stupid too, I mean, if you can create nuclear bombs, come on, can't you create some magic way to make energy that costs nothing and has no negative externalities. Do it, do it NOW! That would be a loose quote of a line Arnold Scharwzenneger used in one of those Predator movies.

3. COMMUNICATION ADVANCES
Although terrorism makes it seem like the world is splitting apart, we live in an age where varying cultures are much closer to each other(because of computers, tv, airplanes). Maybe enhanced communications between different parts of the world(and all different strata of society) will be a good thing. I think it is. Call me naive on this point, but I still like the idea. Awwwww. I can see it now, all different sorts of people holding hands and supremely happy because the internet showed us the path to peace and love. Sometimes I wonder if I'm not actually a hippy.

4. CHARITY WORK
People like Bill Gates are making a difference(I know, it's fun to hate Microsoft but give this guy respect on this). Although it could be argued their money should be used at home for people who suffer(the amazing lack of care and funds for those with mental problems in the US comes to mind), 2 cents in Africa goes way further than it does here. Hopefully there will be a day in the future where little children don't die by the thousands from a variety of diseases, and actually get a chance at living a decent life. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is chipping a dent in this colossal endeavour.

5. HUMANS, AREN'T WE AWESOME
There are lots of people that CARE, and many people who want to make a difference. I hope and believe in a future not of zero sum gains, but a world in which all societies gain, in which we all stand to gain if someone else does well.

Maybe living standards will improve across all countries and societies because of new discoveries in energy, medical advances, anything really, you name it, and there is promise. Hopefully improvements will not be limited to the most developed nations, as they tend to be, but improvements will touch all countries and allow higher standards of living for everyone.

What can I say? I'm a sappy optimist.

More sports...

Still haven't felt great, but there was some great tennis and some NFL action today, so that was nice.

Federer beat Roddick in the US Open final in a good match. Federer is amazing, what I love about the guy is he isn't like Pete Sampras. Federer has an all-around game in which he makes use of both power and finesse. Anyways, it's inspiring stuff(to be cliched) but it helps get me through the days in a very good way.

Kitlers. A new disturbing trend...

Brought to my attention from the blog Random Speak, I have learned of a frightening development that is taking the cat world by storm. The trend is fascism. The fascist kitties are frothing at the mouth, brimming with a vile hatred never seen before in the kitty world. Tuna is not enough in our quest for appeasement. It seems that a reckoning will take place, the ultimate of ultimate fights, a modern day gotterdammerung.

Please be kind enough to witness the evidence.

Herbie: Fully LOADED!!!!

Ok, I only saw a couple minutes of this movie, but, yes, oh my god, I have to say it was amusing. I really like Matt Dillon and Lindsay Lohan wasn't so bad. Granted I felt terrible and my judgement tends to get thrown out of whack when I'm not at my most tippity toppedness. Maybe I'm just using that as an excuse, maybe I genuinely enjoyed this movie. Whaddya think about that?

Please God, let it be a fluke. Has my sense of discrimination been blowed up? Am I too lenient in judgement, or just flat eccentric, or is it plain stupidity? Ahhhh, I suppose we'll never know. And no, that is not an invitation for people to answer that question, because I for one place enormous, unbelievable, unheard of, monsterously obscene value in my ability to judge whatever it is that must be judged, so this whole thing is a flippin' fluke.

Shoot me. Shoot me now. I really did like it.

SPORTS!

I've felt sooooo tired all day. Fortunately we own a little magic box that can keep you entertained for hours on end with an assortment of entertainment options. Because I'm sick, I take all the more pleasure in watching sports, I think it's that whole living vicariously thing. Moreover, sports, and especially tennis, are so psychological. I'm fascinated by how athletes respond to various situations, it's like watching a novel in fast forward. The pace at which events unfold is dizzying and mesmerizing, and I love how the outcome usually is tinged with a certain logic or fatalism.

If you ever get a chance or have the time, watch Federer play, totally worth it.

What am I displeased about?

It pains me to say this, it burns the inside of my stomach to admit it, it even brings tears to my eyes.

Dare I say, nothing has really displeased me lately. I mean, other than my illness. So pretty much nothing has been a displeasure: the wasps are gone from my backyard; there haven't been any snakes or scorpions around; no one has made any egregious driving errors in front of me(of course I haven't been out much); no one has insulted me to my face or looked at me in a way I didn't like(once again, I'm not getting out much, but hey, it still counts); I haven't seen any terrible movies(again, haven't been watching any); the tv shows I've been watching have been rock solid in their quality(well, that is a lie, but it's been enjoyable); the weather is cooling down here finally, so my ridiculous sense of hibernation will hopefully be alleviated, at least to a certain degree.

That is why I include this picture with the bear catching a trout. Apt imagery, hopefully paralleling and foreshadowing my rise out of hibernation into a lean, mean trout hunting machine.

Got some good tv viewing under my belt

FLAVOR OF LOVE
First off, I keep coming across this show, Flavor of Love. Now, I love Flavor Flav, I mean, I enjoyed the music he made back in the good old days. But what is this show about? Is this not one of the most misognyistic shows ever? I keep catching this thing at the end, and it seems so stupidly bad, but there's a tiny part of me that keeps begging for more and enjoys not knowing what this train wreck is about. And can you believe that one girl was a porn star, no, seriously, she was a porn star. Well I think that's coooooollll. This show gets upgraded in my book for the random, unwarranted, backstabbing bitchiness that takes place.

MURDER
Secondly, two thumbs up for all the shows on tv about the mafia, gangsters, MS13, Alcatraz, and various top security federal penitentiaries. Who knew I could learn so much, so quickly, about things I never wanted to know about. I think I've had my fill of murder for the week. Thanks to all those top flight learning channels on tv, gangsters are now on my to fear list.

THE SOUP
I like this show.

Oh, I must complain, I must, I must

I call this whiney bitch time.

Sometimes, during my illness, there are days where I feel so tired and headachey, I can't do much of anything. Can't read, can't really watch tv(no seriously, and that is disappointing), can't do much talking on the phone...

I guess it's on these days that this illness feels interminable, like I'm being suffocated by my own body, by time, by space, by every thing. It's not depressing so much as it is infuriating. I have no control over this thing, I can't even feel well enough to occupy myself. I don't even have my dog anymore to keep me company. Sorry for the pity party, but this whole situation is difficult for me, I really am trying my best.

I'm not usually an angry person. But days where my illness effects me this much, the anger just overwhelms my mind like a wave. A friend of mine said I should get a punching bag. I totally would, but what makes me even angrier is that the physical exertion of getting my anger out on a punching bag would make me feel even sicker. Comical, but sad.

Plus, the isolation, when I'm the only person in this house, I mean, I might as well be on Mars.

In the end, there's always worse, and you know, this illness will surely let up at some point. Oh boy, I'm really building character with this whole thing, aren't I!

Artist: Joe Coleman

I discovered this artist through an article on the New York Times website. His official site seems to be this, www.joecoleman.com, and it looks chock full of information. The work looks very intense, dense, and apocalyptic. Some articles define him as an 'outsider' artist, but I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean these days, and I doubt Coleman quite fits into that mold anyhow. Anyways, his work looks very cool and exciting, I'll let you read about if you want to find out more.

Meet my friend

This is my little friend, Sparky. I think he used to be an alligator. He likes to sit on top of my scanner. "Hello," he says to everyone out there in the computer world.

Dream Dinner Party: My 10 Guests

Who I would want at my dinner party all depends on my mood. Instead of just picking artists, I'd like to have some diversity in this thing. Sorry, I included lots of politicians and pundits. I'll make another dream dinner party one of these days that reflects my personal tastes a bit more. I think this would be fun. If a fight did take place at this party, who would win and why? Would they win by force of their words or because they have a wicked right hook?

1. Lucian Freud
2. Mos Def
3. Hugo Chavez
4. Vladamir Putin
5. Paris Hilton
6. Noam Chomsky
7. Dick Cheney
8. Dave Chappelle
9. Mel Gibson
10. Jerry Seinfeld

Hopefully my dinner would be as cozy and fun as this round of Crossfire with Frank Zappa.

Defend yourself!

Believe the hype. Danger is all around you. Living in these incredibly dangerous, amoral times, I've realized it's important to always be aware of your surroundings. You need to learn how to make use of ordinary things such as umbrellas or canes to protect yourself, because you never know when danger will strike(right tv?). This wonderful article provides useful information on defending yourself from a variety of threats, including terrorists, violent crowds, wild animals, pedophiles, muggings, serial killers, basically against any sort of threat that could be lurking around the corner.

How is this even legal?

What fun things have I discovered on the internet lately? Well this video for one. I don't want to laugh, but I can't help myself. Oh so cruel...