More Time Wasters!

Bored again? Sorry I have not posted in a while. In the meantime, try visiting. . . Automusik. Don't ask. Remain clean. Wikipedia, to check the featured article of the day. Buy F the Pres stickers and stick them randomly over W the Pres stickers. Ha! Achewood is always a good bet: even when not very funny, still funnier than most sh*t out there.

Time Wasters

Bored? For a sure cure, try. . . playing the celebrity memory game, selecting "random" at urban dictionary, visit Smoking Gun for crazy mugshots and celebs who look really, really happy to be arrested (like DeAngelo, Kid Rock & Kimora Lee Simmons), reading The Deep South comics, browse Go Fug Yourself (you'll thank me, I promise), Exquisite Corpse (Don't ask), and The Pauper's Grave---whee!

A Must-See from Serrabee

Finally got to see Born Into Brothels, which I am honestly surprised to see is still playing at all. It barely made it into a 2004 release, was nominated for Best Doc Film and won, which it only narrowly deserved (in my opinion---not having seen Tupac: Resurrection or ever even having heard of Twist of Faith) . Personally I enjoyed Super Size Me more---but hey, that's just me. I dug watching the guy vomit after eating a whole super-sized Big Mac meal, in some sadistic way. (Here's a tip for what to do with those biggie fries, if you find yourself in a tight spot.) Anway. Go see Born into Brothels while you still can.

Gypped (sp?)

This is such a cheat! Read my horoscope for today:

Quickie: Don't get bent out of shape over a minor slight. Sometimes things come out wrong. Overview: It's Sunday, you're finished paying off your cards from the holidays, and there's something you'd dearly like to own. Now. So whether or not it's going on sale next week won't matter. Go get it.

I thought your horoscope was supposed to predict something, or tell you how to deal with an event specific to your life. This is just useless bullshit aimed at getting me pulled into the mindless conspicuous consumierism that is America. But the "quickie" pisses me off first of all with its negativitiy---of course, the first thing I'm thinking is: "what happened to match these circumstances?" and "who slighted me? and when? has it happened yet, or is it an impending insult?" so I'm all sensitive to it. How am I not going to get bent out of shape, dammit? My horoscope is setting me up for it!

Spring Break!

Wow, I am so pumped up to be off for a week! Spring Break is a gift from the gods--why don't real jobs give you a spring break? That is what everyone needs this time of year, honestly. Of course, where I am (FL) it is raining right now. But I just had an adorable baby just come running into the room trying to approximate my name--how cute! More posts on the way, folks, including the New Orleans trip roster. Anyone headed to JazzFest this year?

What's in a name?

Ask Napoleon Dynamite: he's all about the liger, although in his world they also have magical powers. But here's the real story:

"There was a really weird commune or cult and they were breeding ligers," he said by phone from Buenos Aires, where he was shooting a commercial. "It was called Ligertown, USA. The humane society or some animal rights group found out about the horrible conditions that the ligers were living in and they, or maybe the owners, set them free one night. There were all these ligers running around our farming community for a couple days. My brothers had a football game and they could hear all these sirens and gunfire."

At least, according to Jared Hess---wait, isn't that the Subway guy's name?

Movie Day

Haven't done the mini movie reviews lately, so here they are (if I can remember everything): Be Cool--A good laugh. Creative. Fun. Won't blow you away or anything, though. Constantine--"Hell wants him. Heaven won't take him. Earth needs him"---yawn. It's good for Keanu Reaves, I guess, but not my bag, baby. Hotel Rwanda--unfortunately, the people who should see this movie never will. A stark look at heroism in the face of insurmountable odds. If you don't feel like crying by the end, something is wrong with you. A wonderful film in the way La Vita e Bella was years ago. I'm sorry it didn't win any Oscars, cause it surely was better than most. The Life Aquatic--one of my favorite ugly-old-man actors, Bill Murray, absolutely makes this film! If you haven't seen it, I guess you'll have to wait for DVD, but make sure to see it. Also fabulous are Willem Dafoe and Anjelica Houston, people not in enough films for my satisfaction. Man of the House--my other favorite ugly-old-man actor Tommy Lee Jones is the only reason to see this movie (that and being stuck on a 31-hour plane trip). Ocean's 12--I don't know why everyone's saying it's not as cool as the first one.

Can you imagine. . .

If you suspected your father was a serial killer who had evaded detection for decades, killed his own father, and You know, you get one of these every time:

Some who know him expressed shock Sunday, saying they could not imagine that he was behind the crimes.

"I've known him for years," Clark said, adding he has seen nothing "that would even tend to lead to these accusations."

"To my knowledge he was very nice, he was friendly," Clark said. "What I know of him, definitely a family man."

(from CNN) They said it about Manson, Scott Peterson, and Jack the Ripper (aka Walter Sickert). When will people learn to quit saying this?

Double bloggin'

So I wil be keeping a blog for school sometime soon, as well as for this page. It will be completely different, since I doubt I'll be able to put everything there that I have to say here. I suppose it will relate almost exclusively to life as a student. Does anyone read the newspaper's online blogs (if you live somewhere that has one)? I'd be interested to know if I'll be talking to myself. Must get them to put a separate counter on the page.

Didja miss me?

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Now this is getting creepy!

I am now also the 1,111th visitor to my own blog. Creepier and creepier! If you haven't yet, visit Manolo's Shoe Blog today. It's Sex & the City for the Soul! Better than Chicken Soup. . . I s'pose.

Sorry I haven't more time for you this week

We had an event last night which totally wiped out my psychic energy for the past week. Thankfully, I have the day off. Unfortunately I also have 1,000,000,000 things to do this weekend, so of course I'm off to the movies. Well, give me a break! I have to have some play time, right? Then I'll get down to work.

Wonders of the Law

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12292252%5E2902,00.html

Financial news of the world

The Guardian did a story on a British company charging 50%-70% interest on a new credit card it plans to market to the poor. Don't you think at some point, people won't pay their bills simply because you have quickly doubled or tripled what they've spent? I suppose the idea is not to be embarassed when you go somewhere and everyone else whips out their card to pay for dinner or something.

To find customers, Vanquis will trawl through the files of private credit rating agency Experian - it holds data on almost everyone in Britain - to identify individuals rejected by other lenders often because they have run into debt problems in the past.

My favorite part of this is their writing style:

It expects the typical customer to have an income of half the national average. Provident Financial's executive directors last year earned from £376,000 to £583,000, while the chief executive saw his pension fund rise from £916,000 to £1.3m.

You wouldn't get that understated comparison in most American papers. Facts speaking for themselves, rather than us being beaten over the head with them. After getting into the habit of being bludgeoned with facts, information, and pre-drawn conclusions, it's no wonder we have to be repeatedly assaulted in a similar way. I'm sure we're pretty much deaf to subtlety by now.

WILCO 2nite!

They're playing at our old theatre called The Orpheum tonight, as part of their new album tour. (That's where I wish Jill Scott would play when she's here later this month, but unfortunately she'll be at the FedEx Forum, which is huuuuuge. Not at all cool for a neo-soul show.) I have busted out the old albums (Being There, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot) since I don't have the new one yet. Not sure if I'll get it, either, cause I don't know how good it is. Anyone out there have it yet? Let me know if it's worth it.

4.1 on the Richter scale

So we had an earthquake today. We were oblivious, walking the dogs, when it happened around 8am. Our neighbor (whom I've never met) came trotting up to us, asking if we felt a tremor -- you can't imagine how stupid you feel not to notice an earthquake, even a small one. Later I talked to one of our volunteers who said only people at her job who were sitting down felt it. What a wimpy quake. Thank goodness. Interesting fact -- the Richter scale is a logarhythmic one, so that an increase from 4 to 5 is tenfold. The energy release variation is roughly 3 to the power of 10, so you can see why I'm thankful for a 4.1 instead of. . . anything more at all, I suppose.

Life overwhelms

Sorry I have neglected you lately. Life has begun to overwhelm me in that way where you get frozen when you have free time. I can't seem to make the most of every second without adequate downtime. I woke up at 1am and my mind began racing, but aimlessly. Then I started obsessing about not being able to get a full night's rest. I took almost 3 hours to get back to sleep.

Crazy news of the weekend

Kite-flying can kill. Beware!

THIRTEEN people have been killed and more than 500 injured during an annual kite-flying festival in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore. Seven people with severe head injuries died in the city's General Hospital alone, and about 220 people were admitted with a variety of injuries including broken bones, hospital officials said.

The two-day festival of Basant, marking the start of spring, began with thousands of revellers perched on rooftops.

What I want to know is: why does spring come so early in Pakistan? Ah, crap. I must go walk giant dogs now since it has rained all day long. Ciao!

Recommendations sought

For the Big 3-0 in a couple months, I'm going to N.O. to laissez le bontemps rouler (party or whatever). Any suggestions for hotel, clubs or restaurants while we're down there? Comment here, or send me email if you know it. Here are some of my favorites: Restaurants: Irene's, Deja Vu (not a strip club, no) Clubs/Bars: Toulouse, Pat O's, someplace attached to a hotel I'd know if I saw it Hotels: You tell me. Haven't found a great one yet Attractions: Liked the Garden District, walking tour, historical kinda stuff. People watching is fun there -- haven't had my palm read yet. Scared to?

Are you bored?

Go look at my dragon friend, then. I'm off to walk dogs; be back later.

Which cult movie character are you?

Find out today! Let me know if this link doesn't work -- it's a little long. Sorry for the blog blackout once again. If you care, I had a fabulous weekend. More on that later as time permits.