June 25, 2004
next time won't you sing with me
A is for Abortion
"Abortions for some, miniature American flags for others."
B is for Birth Control
I practice it regularly. So should you.
C is for Correctional System
The phrase gives me images of a legion of severe faced grammarians.
D is for Death Penalty
It can be moral. It can be practical. It can't be both.
E is for Euthanasia
A good way to go.
F is for Fetish
I am boringly free of them. Luckily, I am somone's fetish.
G is for Gun Control
I am in favor of it in the case of morons, but as they blend in with the general population rather well, I am just in favor of it.
H is for Hookers (because P for Prostitution was taken)
Wouldn't it be nice if they were ever cute?
I is for Illnesses *
I don't ever worry about them and they rarely trouble me. Hypochondria is the opposite of happiness.
J is for Justice
An oft capitolized word, that gives us much pain.
K is for Karma
I don't believe in God. I don't believe in Karma. But I would rather believe in God, because the world seems designed and only after we inestigate it did we come up with reasons why it probably was not. Karma - right rewards for right actions- is an idea manifestly contradicted by my RSS feeds every morning, and investigation does not give any good reason for why it should seem so.
L is for Love
If it is an illusion, a romantic myth, then it is my favorite.
M is for Marijuana
An unpleasant drug that does little to me other than disrupt my ability to stand up straight. Seems to be harmless and quite a boone to the snack food industry. Overall, a social good.
N is for Nationalism (because P for Patriotism was taken)
A feeling of community, of shared purpose. Rather ugly when stirred up though.
O is for Occupation *
unemployed economist, barista and assitant at a montessori school
P is for Political Affiliation *
Democrat, of the Rubin/Summers/Krugman/DeLong faction.
Q is for Quotation *
My old roomate was very quotable.
R is for Religion
Athiest indicates where I am betting the dice will come up. Agonistic tells that I know that we discussing a game of chance. I don't think "Bright" will catch on.
S is for Sexual Orientation *
I like girls.
T is for Taxes
I'm too poor to pay many. I do have a certain amount of sympathy for reforming the way capital is taxed.
U is for United States
We dominate the world. We don't like it, they don't like it. Rudyard Kipling is laughing his ass off right now.
V is for Vices *
Sloth, Lust and Avarice are my favorites. Gluttony is pretty nice too.
W is for War
Dangerous stuff, when the leaders of the world arrive at a simultaneous decision to murder each other.
X is for X-Ray Vision (I don`t know...be creative...)
I would use it for Lust and then Avarice
Y is for Youth of Today
What the hell is wrong with you kids?! Rap-rock? Boy bands? Avril Lavigne? Why? The worst thing we made everyone listen to when we were in High School was ska and Prodigy.
Z is for Zodiac Sign
Taurus, if you must know
June 23, 2004
provocation
I'm not a huge fan of Michael Moore. His documentary style is argumentative, but his grasp of his opponents' arguments is generally so weak that even when he is funny I feel guilty about laughing. Everything the man says taints me with like-minded self-indulgence.
Still it isn't true that one can't make a good documentary while still failing to make a good argument. Roger and Me is a fantastic documentary about Flint's struggles, but I think utterly fails as an argument. It fails so much so that in the end, it loses its nerve and becomes an argumentative tone without an argument. You come away from that movie wanting to hurt the bastards responsible for this . . . and then what? Is there a policy, a rule that we should follow? How are we going to protect the poor Flint workers from rapacious capitalists? And what about those Mexicans should be protected from working for the vile and bestial General Motors?
Personally, after watching that movie I came away with one lesson, possibly intended by the filmmaker. Thank God the American economy is diverse enough that one almost never hears the words "company town" any more.
So I think that where Moore value lies is in provocation. People come away from his movies fired up and combative. They argue in a way that American seldom do. What's more some of those people write movie reviews and they are inspired to brilliance.
Josh flagged Roger Ebert on Moore and impartiality. Christopher Hitchens, another agent provocateur has a long and passionate attack on Moore's new movie.
I'll keep my eye out for more. So far, Moore's movie has already provided me with enough entertainment, that I should probably fork over the money.
June 22, 2004
scary, random crap
Being a fan of MST3k means that you have to accept certain social limitations.
You think that doing a Torgo impression is good idea, no matter when. You delight in calling everything with a trunk "trumpy". You are at risk for watching bad movies, and occasionally reinacting said movies with home-made props.
These things, I have noticed, will cause people to like you less.
You get used to it.
The latest social handicap I have acquired from MST3k is a compulsion to stare lovingly at this terrifying visage:
It has a theme song!
June 17, 2004
assortment
Q. cat got your tongue?
A. Not all events in my life are suitable for blogging. Lately I've been through a plague of those. I feel old and tired a lot lately. Which isn't to say that I haven't had my fun here and there.
Nonetheless my personal life has had some real awkward moments that I just don't feel comfortable sharing. These things preoccupy me and drive out other subjects but I can' really bring them to the internet. Lame, huh?
Q. Did you run out of opinions?
A. My attitude towards politics is unusually depressed and unhopeful. I'm used to being a can-do guy on politics and I just am not sure how to deal with it. I feel like many people that we are in a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation in Iraq if not in the world in general.
The economy is alomst sure to keep on getting better over the next few months. I'm sure Bush will take credit that he doesn't deserve for it.
Still I feel totally disconnected. I want to read every book that comes out on the Bush admin, but I settle for one every month or so.
Q. Customers still bug you?
A. THey just don't go away, no matter how much I abuse them.
Q. What about the scientific stuff?
A. I've had a few interesting conversations about cognitive science and fringe sciences lately. I'm going to grab a copy of the Blank Slate and Why People Belive Weird Things next time I try. I think much of my intellectual energy is going to go into learning about China over the next few months. Maybe learning some PHP after elex is done with his new PHP book.
Q. Hear any good jams?
A. I compulsively listen to songs these days. Not much in the way of albums, just songs. My momentary top 6 goes:
1. Caring is Creepy - The Shins
2. In an Aeroplane over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
3. Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks - The Rapture
4. Deceptacon - Le Tigre
5. Muzzle of Bees - Wilco
6. The View - Modest Mouse
Q. China, eh?
A. It hasn't really hit me yet. It's like its happening to someone lese. I go about my day without even acting like a guy going to China in two months.
Q. You gonna q it up soon?
A. hell yeah.
June 09, 2004
there ya go
Close the polls. I have witnessed the most complicated and retarded drink that has ever been made. I think this girl's modifactions ended up making her 12 oz. latte cost about $5.25. We, of course, made her pay for every single one that we could.
I wanted to calculate how many bits of information were contained on the boxes on the side of the drink.
Below is the recipe, complete with interjections in parenthesis.
1 pump vanilla
2 and 1/4 pumps toffee nut
(elex: "what kind of drink is this?!"
her: "oh. . . a latte")
one quarter soy
one quarter nonfat
one quarter whole
one quarter organic
(me: "why do you bother putting organic milk in with all that not-organic stuff?"
her: "I just like the way it tastes."
Rob "how did you even figure out that you liked this drink?)
extra hot
5 ice cubes
(her: "six ice cubes makes it too cool, but sometimes I burn my mouth on the extra hot."
me, rob, elex: incredulous stare)
It might be added that her companion ordered almost as silly a drink. She wanted one quarter soy and one quarter nonfat. When elex asked what the other half was going to be he was met with incomprehension.
There is going to be sign on the register soon, "Must Able to Add Fractions to Order."
here it comes . . .
This is the reason why I was listening to a Dio cover band in my own living room the other day.
This I do not comprehend at all. It appears to be a picture of softcore pornography, a sound clip and the lyrics to the song.
Why?
I really, really don't know. I am afraid to ask.
Props to Thalisha and Kylee for turning these up. I guess.
