| Now as a video! |
[Oct. 11th, 2008|09:39 am] |
| [ | music |
| | "It Can't Happen Here," Mothers of Invention | ] |
Too much reading? How about a nice little movie..
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| De-what-cracy? |
[Oct. 8th, 2008|10:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | in a wee tizzy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Al Jourgensen screaming "CONNECT THE GODDAMN DOTS" | ] |
First, a Smattering of History:
September 29, 2006: The Military Commissions Act is what W uses to call anyone he wants an "unlawful enemy combatant" and strip them of habeas corpus, which, if you don't know, is what you are relying on when you think, "They can't arrest me because there's nothing they can charge me with!" (Hilarity ensues, particularly for US citizen José Padilla.)
September 30, 2006: The John Warner Defense Authorization Act expands W's power to declare martial law and also wrest control of the National Guard from state governors.
May 9, 2007: National Security Presidential Directive 51: W can suspend elections pretty much on a whim.
TODAY:
NYT reports predictable voter roll purges across America. And the Washington Post points out that activist = terrorist. None of which should bother us, except that of course, surprise, a university's study points out what people like Ohio's secretary of state have been saying for quite some time: the crap security of computerized voting systems makes them eminently hackable. Call it a redundancy plan, since, as NPR observes, there are plenty of efforts to keep people out of the polls in the first place. But what's better than redundancy? That's right, double redundancy. You've probably heard about the threats to Congressmen of martial law if they didn't pass the bailout bill (ironic, considering that the modified bill grants $100B to the president for, potentially, funding martial law). If there were martial law, I don't know if you know this, but FEMA would be in charge, and apparently that's the way the wind is blowing. And wouldn't you know it, today the ACLU brought up old habeas corpus and Guantánamo, discussing how the habeas-free zone has indeed extended onto U.S. soil and to U.S. citizens (e.g. Jose Padilla), but we already knew that--now they just have more disgusting details to share via the Freedom of Information Act.
Naturally, various people would say that we should be alarmed that U.S. troops have been deployed on U.S. soil, and some might even call it a coup. This is only possible thanks to recent changes like the few dots I've picked out from the past, above. "But surely people would protest!" you say? "They'd need some sort of concentration camp or something to deal with it, right?" Ah, but have you heard of Rex 84, the little contingency plan they cooked up just in case people got upset when Reagan started invading Central America? (Luckily for the government, we were all too busy discovering MTV at the time.) This seems to be a popular notion with the muckety-mucks. As it happens, KBR (yes, of Halliburton) has built plenty of new detention facilities for the feds over the past few years, ostensibly for unwanted immigrants--and hey, there certainly have been a lot of ICE raids lately--but the camps never got much attention. With a little imagination, one might imagine the uses that the government might put modular prison cells to... Do I need to go dredge up more articles about how the government is calling anyone who jaywalks a terrorist if they feel like it?
QUIZ:
1. Will there actually be an election in November if Obama keeps polling ahead?
2. If there is, will there be widespread and obvious shenanigans?
3. What in the fuck is anyone going to do about any of this? |
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| Omer's wedding |
[Sep. 21st, 2008|09:46 am] |
Where are you? How did you get here?
A certain electrical tang, a warm and moist quality of the air, darkness--sudden drops of rain, big globs, but even these don't feel very cold. The noise of them striking the earth around you--pavement, packed earth, plant stalks--is a sudden and dull roar. You are soaked through in the merest moment, suddenly aware of the dragging weight of your clothing, which you begin to inspect for clues, or memory cues.
You are immediately distracted by a bright, silent flash. Your snapped-over gaze picks it up: the dashed line of the pavement striking off toward an unlit horizon without a hint of ever bending toward either side, but driving a ruler-straight division between two identical-looking rows of some tall, stalky plant. Corn, maybe. You don't really get a good look because in that momentary flash you mostly notice the lurching figure in the middle distance--a man, you are quite certain. Though he has long hair, like a woman's, it looks unkempt. With his hair plastered to his head by the rain, you can make out just enough of his features to wonder if there is a certain familiarity there.
The light disappears, leaving the man's afterimage on your retinas, which amplfies the momentary blindness brought by the darkness. The boom of thunder comes barely a second later, and you cast your blind gaze about in a futile effort to learn whether there are others about who share the first man's shambling gait. The thunder is uncomfortably loud; it seems to roll through your body and vibrate every organ individually. As the noise recedes, the rain slackens. You make out a voice coming from the man's direction:
"I found the simple life...eent so simpole, no. When I jumped out...ON that row-ood."
*First of all, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) omer333 & Cara had a very nice wedding about a week ago. Everyone looked impressively spiffy; the b & g both looked deliriously happy & lovely. The day was a beaut, and the location (a lovely garden tucked away in plain sight in Monterey) was fantastic. Great food, superlative people, superior DJ, great time. Well done, you two! From this guest's perspective, you done a weddin' right. (What an ordeal to live up to! The planning and the looking and the shopping and the hiring and the et ceteraing, that is. Oh, mang.)
*"WOOooooooo!"
You've been slowly stumbling backwards at a pace more or less matching the man's shuffling approach. You aren't certain that he would harm you, but his seeming derangement is unnerving.
Your eyes have adjusted to the dark. There have been no further flashes of lightning, just the steady but now almost gentle rain and a constant stream of often meaningless gibberish coming from someplace deep with the man. After a few moments, he releases a slightly softer "Woooo....", but has otherwise mostly fallen silent. Still stepping toward you with an agonizingly slow stride, he somehow produces a small object, shaped like a tiny cigar but shiny. He brings it up to his lips, and soon has demonstrated that he holds a tubular whistle: FFFWWEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuupppphhhhhhhhh!!!!
This man is really starting to concern you. You jump--just a little--when, shortly after tucking his whistle away (who knows where), he explodes into another meaningless affirmation.
"AAAHH HAaaAaaAaa yAeaEAH!"
*But I ain't gonna lie and say that one of the best parts of the whole wedding thing, for me, wasn't getting to hang out with all the cool people who came. hetros and j_dog stepped off the same plane and filled our house with laughter and our back seat with a rotating menu of: discourses on the relative merits of various Steely Dan songs, curses accompanying dice-based gambling games played on a tupperware lid, and several "best of" lists. blau was hard at work on photo duty, which is doubly awesome since our camera started talking about memory card errors mid-ceremony. Gögi gamely snapped shots too. They are a fun mini-bunch. Everyone gamely endured my constant stream of gems like, "Right here? This is where I skinned my knee one time. Over there? Yeah, I've been there. Lots. Know what? That place right over there, that used to be this right here. Why, Dolores? WHY?!" At least I found us a place serving a decent breakfast, and a twisty road home.
*The gravel on the shoulder of the road is digging into the heels of your hands. Somehow you've fallen and are now crawling backwards. The man is clawing his way forward toward you. In the darkness you can't make out his expression clearly, but his voice has taken on a mad tone of urgency. He suddenly erupts into some sort of fevered blues breakdown...
"PeopleigonnatellyouonetimeimeanithinkimrunninAAAAuuuHHHH YEAH"
Collapsing onto your back, you let the rain land on your slack face. There really is no use in fighting against this kind of madness. Somehow, you know: Either he will reach you or there will be another flash of lightning. One of these will happen first, and only one of these events can happen. That is the size of the universe. Those are the overlapping, interfering realities right here and now. Wherever here is. Whyever you're here. You're too calmed up to care anymore. |
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| FoxSpace |
[Jul. 14th, 2006|07:47 am] |
Another reason MySpace sucks:
According to my mind-reading interpretation, they killed an account for posting a satirical song because it went against Mr. Murdoch's politics (or rather, his financial ambition, if there's any true distinction there). It made fun of Ted Stevens's, the chair of the Senate commerce committee's, complete ignorance of the internet's operation--the whole "tube/truck" thing you may have heard about. (His ignorance is quite convenient for handing said "internets" over to companies like Murdoch's own--the "net neutrality" fiasco-to-come.) And then they reinstated his account with a "whoops" when there was publicity about it. Whatever, I'm half awake and can't be bothered to sound intelligible. But..
RUPERT FUCKING MURDOCH, people! I know you've been there longer than he has, but he's got more money than you and he's happy to spend it on re-fascification. Get out while you still can, while the floor between you and the door isn't six inches deep in bullshit! Grrr! And don't dare take advantage of their whole "we'll host your content" because you're just conceding ownership to RUPERT FUCKING MURDOCH. I .. I .. fucking criminy, I am not a friend of that man.
PS - I haven't posted since forever and I know it. I gotta finish my boring life story thing and I'm lazy. |
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| stare |
[Feb. 1st, 2006|02:56 pm] |
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| a night's stand |
[Jan. 26th, 2006|05:03 pm] |
I would be remiss in my duty of self-promotion not to make an announcement, despite the fact that it violates my double-secret oath to finish my masturbatory, succinct autobiography before posting anything else. But I don't have time right now to do that too, so the remains of my personal honor can slide right on down the crapper.
Anyways, I'm playing at Slim's this Saturday night with my coworker Flair and a couple of his friends--the event is called One Night Stand. Basically, folks who aren't in a band get together and play covers. We're up last (which can only be read as headlining for sure!), slated for 12:20, which likely means 1. I hear there's a keg in the green room, so I guess it's ok.
Our act's called Quaker State, which is a clue as to who we're covering. Not that the cat's not out of the bag I suppose. It'll be fun, but given that we're on late and only playing three songs, I won't jump up and down about how people should totally come check me out the way I did the last time I got to play in a real club (that DNA Lounge show was the biggest blast ever!). On the other hand, if you're in the city and sans plans, I hear it's a fun night in general. I was recently forwarded the ( play list. ) |
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| kk |
[Dec. 18th, 2005|08:13 am] |
I haven't d/l'd a decent client for this phone yet, but anyway...
king kong was purty, and touching, tho occasionally it felt a little bit like 'the moria cave troll: the movie'... not that there's a whole lot wrong with that...
whatever. why bother? |
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| rien |
[Dec. 15th, 2005|09:57 am] |
Wow, that's a purty little frame. (Swiped from the Onion's review.)
Been quite a lot going on, yes indeedy. I bought a cell phone, which I still haven't adjusted to. But now I can download a palm LJ client so I can potentially update this times other than when I'm supposed to be working! So ... so... whatever, I just wanted to post that picture. |
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| Reminiscing on THE FUCKING DISASTER THAT IS THIS PRESIDENCY |
[Nov. 10th, 2005|05:49 pm] |
Granted, not everyone played Magic: The Gathering. But you don't need to have played it to appreciate this: http://waterthread.org/images/ktg/
Someone made a bunch of Magic cards based on the Hurricane Katrina debacle--the personalities (from Michael Brown to Jabbor Gibson, the kid who taught himself how to drive a bus), the places, the things. Some of the quotes and insight are just priceless. For example, on the Karl Rove card we have: "If I'm Karl, do I want the visual of black people hollering at the President as if we're living in Rwanda?" -- a friend of Rove, on why Bush has not yet visited New Orleans. But really, please go check it out, it's darling... in that makes-you-want-to-scream kind of way.
Friends of c2tink forwarded her this article, "Powerful Government Accounting Office report confirms key 2004 stolen election findings," which she forwarded to me. I'd read about this GAO report, requested by Rep. Conyers, in one of my favorite rags ever, but this article is a nice set of bullet points about the stolen election to get your blood boiling enough that you might be willing to read the actual report itself. (Which I haven't done, I confess.) |
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| One small lesson learned |
[Nov. 9th, 2005|12:09 pm] |
Today I learned a valuable lesson that thousands of gearheads have known before me for decades...
A man needs some hairspray if he's gonna change his bicycle grips. |
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| reminiscence |
[Oct. 25th, 2005|09:52 am] |
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Back in my time as a midnight demon, when I rode a hog I'd tricked out to run twice as loud as the rudest Harley, when I was habituated to chomping on cigars I'd rolled from the souls of third graders, and when my pale skull wore for hair a foot-tall column of ghastly blue flame, I paused on the hill above your town, watching. A sea of darkened windows all whispered of the hapless slumberers within. The sulfurous lights which flopped down to the street along your corners and cul-de-sacs sickly illuminated the grubby garbage cans along your curbs, your dewy soccer balls abandoned in prim gardens, your automated sprinkler systems. I considered your town, chewing and pulling on my soul-cigar, idly revving the engine until a thunder filled the space between my prospect and all of your quiet, sleepy bedrooms. I considered your town, and decided I would wait until the road brought me someplace that might have some decent fucking coffee. |
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| at the request of omer333 |
[Oct. 14th, 2005|10:28 pm] |
chirrun, in case you wasn't hepped:
one does also nut. it is both a transitive and intransitive verb! |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 25th, 2005|10:48 am] |
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Tihs mgaesse I orfefr to staule a rencet eimal wchih dnmerostaetd taht raniedg sbcalremd wdros is aucltluy qiute esay piredovd the edinng lteerts heanvt ceaghnd temlhesves aurond halixoy. |
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| life-enhancing covers |
[Aug. 22nd, 2005|04:28 pm] |
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at http://www.wingtunes.com/ click on "Free Samples" on the right border, and listen to Wing's soulful renditions of such classics as "Fernando" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand"... and be really glad you did. |
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| Norwegian Blood |
[Jul. 17th, 2005|12:31 pm] |
Ah good old Norway--it spoke to my blood.
We started out in Oslo, where boats are popular. Norway was celebrating 100 years' independence from Sweden, so in typical reserved fashion, the Oslovians gently applauded a march by the Kings of Norway and Sweden, this year's Nobel laureate in tow. This picture has almost nothing to do with any of that.
In Oslo we saw lots of nifty stuff: a folk museum with old, transplanted buildings; the Kon-tiki and Ra II; the national gallery with great paintings (Munch it turns out kicks the shit out of portraiture); old viking funereal longboats; and the Vigelund sculpture garden, a park packed with simple figure sculptures on the theme of life's struggle. It culminates in a massive pillar of stone containing a couple hundred figures piled up.
We interrupted a train ride across the country to Bergen with a couple of overnight stops. By far the most spectacular one was our trip down from the mountains into Flaam (the modern spelling would use that angstrom letter instead of the double A), where my popular refrain, "They took Yosemite and made a country out of it," was born. Flaam is at the end of an arm of the Sognefjord (the world's longest, however relevant that is), nestled in a steep glacial valley. The next morning we took a short cruise to the end of the next arm over, to Gudvangen; in that hour and a half we must have seen literally a thousand waterfalls. I couldn't keep my damn camera in my pocket. (Please pardon whomever's head that is polluting that shot.)
We got to Bergen, which I liked well enough. But we spent several days about 40km north of Bergen with my father's cousin Tordis and her husband Oddvar. They, like all the other semi-distant relations I visited on this trip, had to endure stunning views on a regular basis.
And ... and ... stop me before I post another picture! If you want more, they're here (at the bottom). Note that there are a buttload, and even they are only a sampling of what I took. I went mad, I tell you! |
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| One day in Ireland |
[Jul. 17th, 2005|12:07 pm] |
Ireland, it turns out, is as pretty as they say. Smells a bit like manure, but apart from that I recommend it highly!
It is green as all get out...
And packed with old stuff.
The leprechauns are a little larger--and much cuter--than I'd been led to believe.
Did I mention it was green there?
More pictures can be seen here (near the bottom). |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 6th, 2005|10:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | bleary | ] |
| [ | music |
| | LCD Soundsystem | ] |
I am alive. It has been something entirely too close to a year since I've updated. I haven't been feeling very communicative for the past nine months. I'm still not feeling all that communicative, but here's an icebreaker entry.
Jellyvore didn't exactly disintegrate after the peak of our collective lives (the DNA Lounge show mentioned in my most recent entry) but it's not exactly a juggernaut at the moment. Patient's vitals still green without support, but remaining under constant observation.
Work is the same company but better because the location has been improved, my life's nemesis has quit (which heavily outweighs the substantial burden of our exacerbated shorthandedness), and I am being paid more to do the same work I would have done.
Most importantly, c2tink and I recently returned from a tour of Ireland, Norway, and New York (hi j_dog!). Wow did that trip rock. Why don't I live in Norway again? I actually would like to return close to the other solstice and see what I think of subzero temperatures and a few hours of brightness as opposed to constant light--enough light to read by at midnight makes for a happy androit.
When I've culled the copious pictures to something navigable and uploaded them, you'll be the first to know. |
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