Saturday, April 09, 2005

o.k...this is scary...

From Congress Daily:

Members of the new coalition said they would immediately focus on bringing an end to Democratic filibusters of President Bush's judicial nominees before pushing Senate Majority Leader Frist to enact sweeping changes in the judiciary.
They also warned that Frist and other politicians who have thus far been reluctant to force a confrontation with Senate Minority Leader Reid over the nominations would be held accountable if Democrats continue to block conservative judges.
Participants at this week's Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration meeting said the group also will focus on forcing Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against any judge who does not conform with their biblically based interpretation of the Constitution, as well as permanently curb judicial authority over matters of church and state, marriage and governmental acknowledgement of a Christian deity.


Fight theocracy!
PLEASE...
pretty please.

Friday, April 08, 2005

we make money not art: Sensitive vehicles to help drivers

we make money not art: Sensitive vehicles to help drivers:
"'The in-car voice would talk to you in an attempt to improve the state of your mood.' "

Oh yeah, cause when I'm pissed off about the jackass who just cut me off what I really need is my car telling me to calm down...
I like some of the ideas for this thing...maybe...but my car best just shut the hell up if it knows what is good for it...
really...

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, and RDF

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, and RDF:
"More than 318,000 people are currently behind bars for breaking U.S. drug laws. This is more than the total number of people incarcerated for all crimes in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain combined."

Well I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free,
unless of course I've been locked up for smoking a spliff...

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Kid Ornery

So, I've been working on something for a while...
and now I've created a myspace page for it.

Kid Ornery
presents
Dance Songs
for
Dead Ends


I'll try to change out songs as I finish things...
and occasionally just post whatever odds and ends
I find on my machine that I've never done anything with.

NOISE ANNOYS!

we make money not art: Pure data noise: "Pure data noise"

Add this to my want list...
any of you people out there wanna tinker me some obnoxious noise makers?

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, and RDF

corrente / Leah, Lambert, Tresy, the farmer, Tom, Xan, and RDF:
"Friday, February 19, 1999 Published at 14:38 GMT
World: Europe
Vaitican confirms it has intervened on Pinochet's behalf

The Vatican has confirmed that it intervened on behalf of the detained former Chilean military ruler, Augusto Pinochet, over moves to extradite him to Spain. "


You can't turn left,
in General Pincochet's Cadillac

This one's for you Ryan...
you can go read Corrente talk about the bad Pope.

and

Remember all this while listening to the cheery smiling yes-men, panting lap-dogs and obedient horseshit shovelers of cable tee-vee "journalism" critique JP2's "historic" legacy.

Warrenellis.com � Sony Patents Sonic Brain Gun

Warrenellis.com � Sony Patents Sonic Brain Gun

The technique suggested in the patent is entirely non-invasive. It describes a device that fires pulses of ultrasound at the head to modify firing patterns in targeted parts of the brain, creating “sensory experiences” ranging from moving images to tastes and sounds. This could give blind or deaf people the chance to see or hear, the patent claims.

The CIA has been using this stuff for mind control and harrasment for years...glad to see the gaming world is catching up!

Cheer up Emo kid!!!

Countdown to Infinite Rampage!!!:
"Emo Boy, an outsider who is constantly physically and mentally bulllied, uses his super-human sensitivity to sabotage his own happiness and his unpredictable emo powers to confound his enemies. "

Finally a comic book for folks who like crappy music!
Or maybe it's for people who like to make fun of people who like crappy music...
hmm...
either way, the press release is funny.
and the comments at Rampage! spend a lot of time making fun of Billy Corgan,
and tha'ts always fun.

Wednesday, April 06, 2005

MungBeing: The Premier Issue - page 21

Go read an interview with someone smarter and more creative than yourself...
yes...smarter and more creative than YOU!

MungBeing: The Premier Issue - page 21:
"The Snafu law holds that, the greater your power to punish, the less factual feedback you will receive. If you can fire people for telling you what you don't want to hear, you will only hear what you want. This law seems to apply to all authoritarian contraptions, especially governments and corporations. Concretely, I suspect Bozo knows factually less about the world than any dogcatcher in Biloxi. The Cosmic Schmuck law holds that [1] the more often you suspect you may be thinking or acting like a Cosmic Schmuck, the less of a Cosmic Schmuck you will become, year by year, and [2] if you never suspect you might think or act like a Cosmic Schmuck, you will remain a Cosmic Schmuck for life."

Stay Free! Daily: Disney's film about venereal disease

Stay Free! Daily: Disney's film about venereal disease:

"Disney's film about venereal disease"

I imagine it going something like this:

"Uh, Hey Goofy! There's this burning sensation when I urinate."

"That's why I told you not to cheat on Minnie with that whore."



o.k. that's probably not even close,
but tell me you don't want to see it!

follow the link and you can.

Why smart people defend bad ideas - scottberkun.com

Some great stuff in this essay...
We all know, or are, smart people who defend bad ideas...
hell, politics is full of em...
This essay makes a good jumping off point for analysing why it happens and what we can do to curb it.

Why smart people defend bad ideas - scottberkun.com

Put simply, the fact that you’re not dead yet doesn’t mean that the things you’ve done up until now shouldn’t have, by all that is fair in the universe, already killed you. You might just need a few more data points for the law of averages to catch up, and put a permanent end to your short term thinking.

Pope-er-ry!

So, I've been following this story,
and as far as I can tell, he's still dead.
But that's not the news I'm interested in.
I was listening to the radio on the way in
and accidentally heard the news, and they said
that the pope's will had no mention of the
"secret" cardinal he claimed to have appointed.

Now, we know this pope was in bed with Opus Dei
and had a hard-on for silencing dissent
but what do we know
about secret cardinals?
anyone?
anything?

The countdown for the extinction of CDs is about to begin - Blog Maverick - www.blogmaverick.com _

The countdown for the extinction of CDs is about to begin - Blog Maverick - www.blogmaverick.com _

"Until then, if Im a band selling on my own, I’m carrying a laptop to every show, and charging 5 bucks to drop a show on an IPod. Call it concertpodding."

Brilliant! I had the last TDU show up on-line within a couple of days, but if I can get Joe to start bringing his laptop to shows we could conceivably have it available burned or d/l'ed to an mp3 player on-site right after the show...
hmm...

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: April 03, 2005 - April 09, 2005 Archives

Josh does the math:

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall: April 03, 2005 - April 09, 2005 Archives:
"If we hadn't gone on President Bush's red ink binge, that would be more than enough cash to pay back all the money owed to the Social Security Administration.
Do you understand what Al Gore was talking about now with the 'lockbox'?"


blog | Reviews index

More from bookslut:
blog | Reviews index:
"'Trying out Islam.' In fairness, it has been proved that Islam is a gateway religion, and kids who experiment with it can soon turn to Zoroastrianism or even hardcore Caodaism. "

that's just funny.
Unfortunately the story behind it isn't.
It's just another story of good ol' fashioned American bigotry.
GO TEAM!

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Theatreport.com- Theatre in Houston, Texas - Forum

Theatreport.com- Theatre in Houston, Texas - Forum

“Do you know who that is?” I had just stepped onto the Lexington Avenue subway platform in the middle of the afternoon rush hour. Almost immediately, I felt someone pulling my shirt sleeve. I looked down and saw a little old man standing beside me pointing his finger at the name on the baseball cap I was wearing – STANISLAVSKY. I must have looked confused as my new friend repeated his question, “Do you know who that is?” It took a few more moments for my slow Southern charm to respond to New York directness. “Yes, I do,” I said. “Stanislavsky was a famous actor and director from Russia.” By now the expression on the man’s face had changed from excited questioning to pure joy as he continued, “I saw Stanislavsky act! I saw the Moscow Art Theatre here in 1923! I was there! I’ll never forget the CHERRY ORCHARD. I’ve gone to theatre all my life but I’ve never seen anything to equal Stanislavsky. I saw him! I saw him!

I read theatreport too much...
Bobby's stuff is always worth reading.
this is so good that I just printed out the whole thing (yay free printing at work) to hold on to.
go read it.
it's good writing and the topic is interesting.

Bookslut | An Interview with Camille Paglia

On the theme of poetry, and since I stole the last few links from Bookslut, here's Camille Paglia talking about her latest book.
It's 43 close readings of poems.
I like her. I don't always agree, but I like reading her. She calls out sloppy mediocre thinking where she sees it.

like this:

This poststructuralist thing was a horrible evasion. It’s not even good thought, it’s not even good philosophy. You run into people all the time who think that Foucault invented an idea that Heraclitus had. Oh, “All things flow, all things are relative”! They don’t even know Nietzsche, they only know Foucault! It’s unbearable. It’s all part of my war.

Bookslut | An Interview with Camille Paglia

as a fan of Herclitus I'm always happy to see his name dropped...
anyway, go read it...
not as important as the Gore Vidal interview maybe, but rich, entertaining and thoughtful...
actually full of thoughts! YAY!

SMRT-TV: Vol 1, Issue 1

looks like an interesting new site...
and there's an interview with Yunjim Kim from LOST.

SMRT-TV: Vol 1, Issue 1

Nothing on Battlestar Galactica yet,
but they are looking for writers...

I, Too, Dislike It - Slate celebrates poets who don't like poetry. By Robert Pinsky

WHOOHOOO!

I, Too, Dislike It - Slate celebrates poets who don't like poetry. By Robert�Pinsky:
"Slate celebrates poets who don't like poetry."

Poetry is a real sticky subject with me.
I like what I like.
The rest of it,
I have little to no use for.
There is nothing worse than bad poetry.
Nothing.
o.k. maybe some things,
but not much.

I don't like to go to poetry readings,
because well, there only full of other poets,
or even worse, poetry fans.

One day, when I retire to the south of France,
perhaps I'll write my Poetics and explain it all...
for now let's just say, "No. I don't want to read your poetry."

Daily Kos :: Most unpopular president ever in second term

Just in case you hadn't seen this elsewhere...

Daily Kos :: Most unpopular president ever in second term: "Here are the ratings for presidents as recorded by Gallup in the March following their re-election:

Truman, 1949: 57%.
Eisenhower, 1957: 65%.
Johnson, 1965: 69%.
Nixon, 1973: 57%.
Reagan, 1985: 56%.
Clinton, 1997: 59% .
Bush, 2005: 45%"

Monday, April 04, 2005

Stay Free! Daily: Neuroeconomics

You all know I think economics is broken...
here's somebody's idea of how to fix it.

Stay Free! Daily: Neuroeconomics: "Business Week makes the bold proclamation that 'The study of neuroeconomics may topple the notion of rational decision-making.' "

Another reason BSG is better than real life...

I get the feeling Ron Moore actually thinks about these things...
now if only our President did...

Battlestar Galactica Blog: April 2005 Archives#a000024:
"I hope this show makes you think. I hope this show makes you question the moral choices that are being made in your name and by your representatives. I hope this show angers you at times and makes you outraged at the actions that good people like Kara and Laura sometimes take. But the show is not a polemic; our aim is not to screech and demagogue these issues in search of facile answers. Good people can make bad, even horrific decisions, just as bad people can make noble, even righteous ones. Balancing civil liberties with security is a complicated, difficult gymnastic act which defies the easy, pat answers typically served up by an hour of episodic television."

thur-sun! long weekend minus an hour

Thursday I made it out to see "Maximal Schnapper" - the latest work from Suchu Dance. It was great as always. A wash of dance and sound. Really great use of video. Let me just say, "go see it!" and leave it at that.
I may try to go see it again this Thursday.
Then I went to Rudz and tried to convince people to buy me drinks on my birthday.
It was a moderate success...Then I hung out at Joe Mathlete's till I was sober enough to go home.
Friday was lunch with Mom in Deer Park, then "Sin City"...
hmmm...
"Sin City" looked great. It wasn't, but it sure looked it. If you're a fan of pretty people who can't act then this is the film for you! seriously! It looked amazing and was a literal translation of the comic as much as a film ever has been, and that's a good and bad thing. Using the graphic novels for the storyboard meant that often the shot was a character just staring directly into the camera while his poorly written voiceover played. "Whoohooo! THAT'S CINEMA!" I'm not saying don't go see it... Go see it. It looks great and is groundbreaking in some ways, it's just not a cinematic masterpiece or anything...
After "Sin City" it was a trip to Spec's and then back to the house to finish cleaning while I waited for the party to start.
The party was good...Ted and Mondro both spun, and there was a bit of some drumming (with fiddle! yay leah!) and by the time I was ready for bed we were down to 3 or 4 folks left on the porch... For the first time in a LONG time there was beer and liqour left.
Saturday during the day was spent recovering from Friday night...
then around 7 I went to see...THE JUDY'S! It was a "secret" show out in Pearland. The Mod Ceasars opened and I enojoyed some of their stuff (especially the old "reagan youth" tunes) but I didn't have the connection to their music that I have to the judy's so mostly I was just waiting for them to be done...
The show was a cancer benefit for one of the guys in The Mod Ceasar's brother and it was definitely a family affair. The place was full of kids and parents and grandparents... I got there and ended up sitting behind one of Houston's OTHER legendary defunct bands, none other than "Junior Varsity"... It's always nice running into Matt & Kim. Anyway, The Judy's were totally on. They opened with "Vacation in Tehran" and played pretty much everything you'd want to hear...
I could write a lot more about this experience, but I won't...
the only thing left to say is, "sorry you missed it..."
I was planning on heading over to INK to see Les Saucy Pants after the show, but The Judy's wore me out so I headed home, but shortly thereafter I got a call from my friend Laura who was in town and headed out to Poison Girl to meet her and her b/f Chris. It was good to see her and we had a couple of drinks at PG but then Jenni showed up and decided she didn't like PG and drug us all to rudz...where we had one more drink, and ran into Matt & Mo from Les Saucy Pants (among others). Then it was time for mexican food. Jenni and I picked up Joe and went to Andy's. I had fajita enchiladas! by the time I got home it was 5 (since we lost an hour)...and by the time I was puking up my enchiladas it must've been 7...easy come, easy go...
Sunday...ahhh...Sunday...sleep till about 2:30 - eventually make it out to the Rice Outdoor show where I confirm the death of rock. I did not see one "band" or even a drumset...had fun anyway...took a break during "Treewave" (who played an Eno cover "Needle in the Camel's Eye" before I took off) and made it back for some of Ana Oxygen, but I'm not sure a stage in a field is the best venue for her...
Went to Poison Girl. Had one drink. Went home.
and now...
I'm at work!