houseguest

we have a houseguest. his name is tim and he is the godson of my aunt - no blood relation. he got a job in lafayette as a personal pilot for some giles dealership manager, and when he's not flying here or there he's a salesman. whacky stuff. he already has an apartment in laf, but can't move in until the end of next week. i have to be honest, it's cramping my style man. he watches television, but only cbs....what is up with that? i only really watch cartoons anymore, they're the only things on tv that don't aggravate me.

album du jour: the cardigans long gone before daylight

what personality disorder do you have?

especially odd because the guy in the picture actually somewhat looks like me, aside from the fairly accurate description.

borderline

Which Personality Disorder Do You Have?
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zeitgeist

al gore's speech at nyu yesterday was really something. were he only that empassioned when he was running for president he may have won. i'm sorry, he may have won by a lot more. if you haven't heard it then please listen to the audio, it's just great entertainment. in fact, i would almost qualify it as exemplerary.


 

over 65 million people voted for american idol. people really need to start reading more. these really are such proud days for our country and people.

album du jour: girlsareshort early north american

airport love

there's this girl that works at the local grocery store who i used to go to middle school with. i don't think she recognizes me when i go in, but it doesn't matter. i wonder if she's happy working at a small local grocery store in a tiny town, and i almost start to feel sorry for her that she's working at ten a.m. on a tuesday. but then i remember that i don't work at all, and i'm at a tiny grocery store in a tiny town buying paper towels at ten a.m. on a tuesday. how's that for self-awareness.

i watched love actually yesterday. it's more or less a greatest hits collection of love story cliches with several little happy endings. i'm not against happy endings, just formulaic stories. formulaic anything actually (the music production factory known as american idol comes to mind). and these grandiose gestures of love that have been used in movies ad nauseum really annoy me. if i see one more person running through an airport trying to catch another person to profess their love i'm going to wretch. airport love is so passe.

album du jour: ac newman the slow wonder

gotta wear shades

graduation ceremonies are just grueling. the air horns, my god the air horns. always signifying such a proud day for you and your family. i liken it to fat, cowboy boot-wearing, bolo tie-wearing, ten-gallon hat oil tycoons shooting revolvers into the air because they struck black gold (yelling yaaaaa-hooo!). the principal of my cousin's school gave an address in which she compared the graduates all to spinning tops ("you all are tops in my book" was in there a few times). it was so embarrassing. she even gave out little toy tops to everyone. i just sat in my very uncomfortable seat getting more and more embittered with every cliche i heard the various speakers utter at the podium.

the whole thing got me a bit nostalgically depressed, remembering those days of relative optimism when you thought a college degree would ensure success and everything was going to be shiny. and maybe i'm remembering high school as much better than it was. not necessarily high school itself, but the outlook after graduation. i was jealous, i think.


the picture is a little blurry, but so was i

i had a dream last night that i was doing an impression of marlon brando doing an impression of barbara streisand for a bunch of kids. they ate it up. i was really good in my dream, but i just tried to do it and wasn't quite as good.

i rented kill bill vol. 1 this weekend and i think i really like japanese surf music. it might be my experiment of the week.

album du jour: shonen knife let's knife

rock the what?

my mom's visiting this weekend for my cousin's graduation (high school). my parents always bring me dvd's when they come. i recommend things i know tney won't like that i know i would, and they just buy them instead of renting. i like dvd's.

also i got a european-issue double-cd greatest-hits-and-b-sides of curve in the mail yesterday. for some reason i can't bring myself to take the shrink-wrap off of it. i have no idea why. something about the phrase "limited edition" makes me nervous i think.

in my last post i mentioned the jerry springer show, and oddly enough i heard him interviewed on air america yesterday. he's actually very eloquent and has some pretty cogent ideas, one of which was making voting mandatory for all u.s. citizens. and really it's not as bad an idea as you might think, or as i thought initially. since most people who vote are the upper-middle class and corporate lackies and shills, the policy-makers end up only catering to those voting constituents. this is also why you see politicians coddling the elderly during election times - old people have nothing else to do but vote and complain about health care. if everyone had to vote then the politicos would have no choice but to actually act on behalf of people instead of corporations. it's just deplorable that the people who need government-sponsored programs the most are the ones not voting.

album du jour: the apples in stereo velocity in sound

soapy fat man

while flipping through channels i passed a jerry springer episode where this gigantic fat man was naked in a bathtub while five of the show's security guards were washing him down. the title of the show was "bizarre stories". on springer? whaaaaaaa? i would usually never even consider stopping on the show while channel surfing, but a lathered-up fat man in a bathtub was just too car-wreckishly fascinating.

i wonder if today will be one of those days we look back on in fifty years as a significant achievement in gay rights (coincidentally falling on the 50th anniversary of the brown v. board of education decision). i think it's more about human rights and the separation of church and state and equality for all, etc. than anything else. why are vertical improvements in civil rights always historically such a struggle? hasn't "liberty and justice for all" been around since america's inception? it's amazing how we can make advancements in our definition of equality but still continue to discriminate. and not just on the usuals (race, religion, gender, sexual orientation), but more and more on social class. it's all such a huge quagmire of hypocrisy.

and what does it say when u.s. athletes are advised not to wave the american flag too exuberantly at the olympic games? probable bush administration responses:

- people around the world are afraid of freedom.
- subterfuge? that's not a word.
- isn't it great that we live in a country where we can debate civic pride? damn!
- if we are boastful the terrorists win.
- we're sending the secretary of defense to athens.
- hey look at the kitty! look over there!


album du jour: the alpha conspiracy aura

simple life

my favorite people in the world, nicole richie and paris hilton, are on the cover of entertainment weekly. i just look at their faces and there's that old feeling of wanting to eat my own hand. however it does make good fodder for bathroom reading - very pavlovian. i try not to read my ew until my weekly shrink appointments on wednesdays because the reading material in his office really sucks. and like clockwork he always makes me wait at least ten minutes before seeing me. good thing i don't have abandonment issues.

sidenote: i subscribe to entertainment weekly because i'm trying to cut down on my television viewing but i still like to keep up with things. savvy?

i sleep at odd hours, today it was from three to ten p.m. (hereafter i will refer to my latest period of slumber as "last night", just rmember that it doesn't necessarily mean i slept during the night). i had a dream that my younger brother and i were astronauts and we flew to the moon on apollo 13, and wouldn't you know it the darn thing broke. we did make it back to earth though, and we visited kevin bacon who just bought a new condo and had started his own trucking business. we were hauling a load down i-10 in his brand new tractor-trailor, when he got out of the truck and made his way to the back to fix a rattling noise. while the whole thing was flying down the interstate at high speeds, he fell off and was run over several times. i woke up thinking, "wow, every time i go down i-10 i'm going to have to pass the spot where we killed kevin bacon". what do you mean i gotta fight city hall?

album du jour: black box recorder passionola

too multi media

i really can't be listening to talk radio anymore. if it's humanly possible i've gotten more skeptical of absolutely everything. i either want to throw my television away or lie in front of it and pull it down on my head, which, if you think about it, is kind of a metaphor for just watching it in the first place. the politics and frivolity and intolerance and ignorance are getting to be too much for my little mind. i just need to go to the library and check out some nice judy blume books and get under the covers with a flashlight and mister teddy. back to the womb.

my fleeting fancy of the day is to move to austin because of all the cool concerts that happen there. i would wait tables to pay the rent and become something of a bohemian (like you, yeah i like you, and i feel so bohemian like you, oo oo oooo). maybe be a totally different person and give myself a new name; i like re-inventing, it's the best. who's comin with me? who's comin, man... who's comin...

album du jour: ned's atomic dustbin god fodder

wave of mutilation

my pixies dvd arrived in the mail today so i immersed myself in all things pixies, which really just entailed me watching the dvd. it was very satisfying, although the included documentary called gouge was interspersed with a few live performances from the same concert that was already included on the dvd, so it was a little repetitively redundant. and they had interviews from everyone in the band except kim deal. but still, it's the pixies so how can i complain.

i've been hearing these really funny commercials on the radio for on-star, and in one a woman calls, frantic, because her house is on fire. would on-star really be first on your mind when your house is on fire? does 911 still work? you'd think the fire department would come to mind in such a case. nope, on-star. help from above. we don't need no water let the motherfucker burn.

we may be hearing alot about this incident in the coming days. and honestly, i get much more nauseous when i think of some of these senators' reactions and comments. and rush limbaugh is just a wretched excuse for a human being possessing no redeeming qualities in him whatsoever. judge for yourselves, this is what he said concerning the beheading of nick berg:

"You'll see an effort to get the Nick Berg's family in Philadelphia to go public and say, 'Yes, if it weren't for the Bush administration, our son, whatever, would still be alive.' This is the normal procedure that the left has taken on such matters."

if you read that article (linked above), you'll see that the family did not want their son's execution made public. it was, in fact, the state department that released the story (maybe to lessen criticism brought about by the prisoner abuse photos?).

interesting nugget of the day: for every $3 we spend on the iraqi shimsham mishmash, we spend $1 on homeland security. look it up, i promise.

album du jour: ash meltdown

as in "pull out" of the region, iraq, etc.

an interesting tidbit: yesterday was not only mother's day, but also the anniversary of the fda's approval of the birth control pill (44 years ago or so). what a coinkydink.

this is how lazy i am right now in my life. i have a book at the local library waiting for me, which is about a quarter of a mile away, and i can't make myself walk to get it. not just because i have to go there to pick it up, but because i'd have to eventually go back to return it. also when i'm on my computer doing whatever (surfing, spamming, identity theft, etc.) i avoid having to use my left arm to type with by saving various usernames, passwords, and other copy in a file so that i can just use my mouse to open it, then copy and paste. that has to be very close to rock bottom - i don't want to move my left arm. actually i'm just preparing myself for when i have a stroke. and i know i can just force myself to do things, i just can't exact change right now.

also i've gotten addicted to air america radio, which i guess is good and bad, becaus it keeps me informed but also gets me very flustered and stressed. yesterday i was even listening to re-airings that i had already heard last week. why can't i ever get addicted to normal things, like heroin or pcp.

i could blog and bitch about politics several times a day, but i won't because i know it gets redundant. isn't it nice that i think of my audience (both mom and dad)? one last thing though, i don't think i will ever get tired of hearing paula zahn say "pull out" on a nightly basis.

album du jour: ben kweller on my way

buttercup

today is the government-endorsed national prayer day. thoughts? i'm just going to pray to on-star, because their commercials are just great.

orlando bloom really looks like prince humperdink (the princess bride) in the previews to troy. i know the character paris who he plays is supposed to be sort of a charming, lover-not-a-fighter type, but mostly he just reminds me of an armored-up michael flatley (not that there's anything wrong with that). he's been playing these lead-hero lead-romantic roles but he just doesn't convey that intended manly-man hero mythos, to me anyway. he seems to always have more on-screen sexual chemistry with his male co-stars (depp, vigo) than the fems.

here's my prediction for the friends finale, keeping in mind i haven't watched it in about two years so i have very little knowledge about the current plotline. but i did figure out the basic formula some time ago, so here it goes: ross comes clean with rachel, who at first rejects him but then with about ten minutes left in the episode comes running off a plane or a train or another means of conveyance and professes her reciprocal love (audience does the predictable "wooo-hooo"s and cheering), and blah blah happily ever after. joey eats something with tomato sauce, chandler says "could this be any more predictable?" monica cleans stuff, phoebe (or "pheebs" as i like to call her) does a rain dance, and everything ends happily and safely, leaving the 700 trillion fans of the show feeling good about themselves. and friday morning every water cooler in the world wants to commit suicide to avoid the chatter.

rumsfeld going on tv tomorrow, i'm giddy. i'll be watching it drinking out of a big-gulp-sized jug of my pappy's homemade moonshine with a big fat cigar i made out of parsley, while going deaf from the high level of decibels blaring out of my surround speakers. it's gonna be great!

album du jour: the cranes loved

hail the conquering hero

this is how w's writers come up with his speeches: let's take into account everything that has happened in the past four years under our administration and say that the polar opposite has happened, and we'll come out sounding rosy (the absolute best is when someone from the commerce department tries to explain how exporting jobs to other countries is actually good for the economy. entertainment gold!).

do some fact-checking, i promise i'm not kidding. and please don't watch the news, or at least realize that it is all skewed. we see the story as interpreted by the media, whatever their political alignment (or misalignment) may be. observing the subject always changes it. so read, or watch cspan, because nothing you hear or see on any news network is true. this is not me being cynical, take any news story and google it, or whatever. find out for yourself.

something else that's interesting to do: go on cnn and read any particular global story and then go on al jazeera (or any foreign news network, bbc, etc.) and read their story on the smae thing. i don't mean to imply that either is more accurate than the other, but you can see how at least one is propagandizing the story. who's to say which is right? how can anyone be obtuse enough to believe that we get the straight story 100% of the time because we live in america and foreign news agencies spout lies 100% of the time because they don't?

and how much sense does it make that terrorists hate us because we are free and enjoy a better quality of life. does anyone seriously believe that religious jihads are undertaken because of jealousy? bin laden is (or at least was) wealthier than most of us will ever be. i can't imagine he had a very difficult life. why then all the hatred for america?

the people we went to "liberate" are now being referred to as "insurgents". and another interesting tidbit - one of saddam's former generals (jassim mohammed saleh) has now been made leader of iraqi troops (you have to check out the picture of him in this article and the article itself, it's eerie). but this is perfectly fine, i'm sure he was one of those top-tiered underlings of saddam that had absolutely no idea about the atrocities he committed (or ordered to be committed?), and was completely innocent of any wrong-doing. maybe he's one of those "nice" former iraqi generals with a heart of gold. "i was just following orders" comes to mind.

aside from the fact that saddam hussein was evil and inhumane to his people (and if that's our only rationale how many other countries can we thus "liberate"), i see no redeeming quality whatsoever in invading iraq. there's that whole "region-stablizing" theory that we can't know for sure about for several years, but that seems at best flimsy to me. maybe there's something i'm missing in all this; i honestly and truly hope so. if anyone can offer some semblance of a sensible reason why any of this is going on please let me know, because i'm getting exponentially disheartened in our country as the days go by.

this is why we shouldn't vote for kerry: he threw away two medals he was awarded for his vietnam service 30 years ago and owns an suv. i know these aren't the only arguments, but it's funny how they're the ones you hear being shouted most loudly from the peanut gallery.

sorry about the political tirade, i needed it.

album du jour: french kicks the trial of the century