All hope is not lost.
So I get my tax refund and I’ve just been completely geeking out on Ebay. On this. And this. Oh, not to mention this. And I’m contemplating this. I need help.
Feb 252003
Feb 222003
Remember that whole Afghanistan thing? Remember how we were going to lift those people into a new era of democracy? That’s okay, neither does the Bush administration. Yes, people of Iraq, prepare for liberation. Just don’t expect our poster boy for ADD to give a fuck about you in six months.
I got some CDs in the mail, including Diana Krall’s Live in Paris. If you like vocal jazz, check it out. Her cover of “A Case of You” is a lovely and melancholy torch song.
Feb 182003
Okay, who’s been doing searches for nude Jennifer Garner pics? I’m shocked, shocked, that my blog is being used for such lascivious queries. This is a fine upstanding establishment and I’ll have no such tomfoolery. So get thee to Google and download all the fake Photoshop celebrity porn you want, cuz I’m pretty sure there aren’t any real pics of her.
Er, not that I’ve looked.
In all seriousness, here are some great pictures of this weekend’s protests.
Feb 172003
The massive demonstrations that occurred in cities around the world this weekend were remarkable. I�m nearly thirty and I don�t remember anything on this scale before in terms of organized political protest. Most of the networks gave it decent coverage with the exception of the tools over at Fox. I get a kick of how their motto, �Fair and Balanced,� really is just a code phrase for �Whatever the Administration Tells Us to Report.� And I�m getting tired of attempts to portray these demonstrators as �serial protesters.� I�m willing to bet many of the protesters voted for Bush in 2000.
I saw Daredevil with my friend Tim yesterday. It was passable. Ben Affleck just doesn�t have the chops to do dark and brooding. But the soundtrack wasn�t bad. And Jennifer Garner looks stunning in leather.
Feb 142003
People are staring to get a little weird with the whole paranoia thing. The idea that duct tape will save your ass if the Big Bad (to borrow a phrase from Buffy) comes knockin� is just too bizarre for words. The whole country needs to take some Paxil and put on some chill music. Listen, the Europeans have been dealing with terrorists for the past 30 years and Paris isn�t burning yet. We need to get over ourselves and realize that, sometimes, bad stuff will happen and there isn�t much we can do about it. We should certainly try to stop the bad guys when we can, but we�re becoming a nation of hysterics and it�s sad to watch.
In a bit of good news, Congress has prevented Total Information Awareness from being used against American citizens. TIA is a project designed to collect vast amounts of information on individuals via the Internet, telephone records, credit card records, and other sources in an attempt to identify �suspicious� patterns. Charming, no? Interestingly enough, you can buy clothes with the TIA logo here (proceeds go to the ACLU). I mean, look at this thing. It looks like it was designed by the Freemasons.
I was going over some old poems of mine a couple nights ago. I�m always reluctant to tell people I write poetry. For whatever reason, poetry has, for many people, become a therapy instead of a craft. People write poetry to confront their past traumas or tragedies. And that�s fine. But I love it for the rhythm of words and the images they conjure. Anyway, most of my stuff is terrible, but the poems I was editing the other night sounded pretty good to me even after a few years. And that�s a rare thing.
Feb 112003
Today I decided to cut back my hours at work. Nothing too drastic; 5 days one week, 4 the next. I just have a hard time going full bore 5 days a week, every week. I guess I’ll never be a terribly successful lawyer, but that’s okay. Life is short and I tend to have a heightened awareness of my own morality, so I might as well enjoy it while I’m here. I’ll have a little more time to read, to write, to meet a friend for lunch. I have friends who work so very hard and I sometimes wish I had that in me, but that’s probably the competitive streak in me. To be honest, I could probably not work at all and most people would be sympathetic, except those who know me well. So maybe I’m not as much of a lazy bastard as I think I am.
Off to bed.
Feb 092003
Having a significant disability means I’ve never had a crappy service-sector job like working at a covenience store or clerking at a video store. True Porn Clerk Stories is a sharply written journal about one person’s travails in a video store with a substantial porn collection. There’s some stuff in here that will make you cringe, but it’s also insightful as hell. Just check out the author’s take on the anthropological concept of a polite fiction.
Feb 092003
Woke up this morning feeling a little foggy after having some really weird dreams. It probably didn’t help that I was up past two last night because I was watching a really weird French horror film: Brotherhood of the Wolf. It made some sense for the first two-thirds or so, but then it devolved into some cryptic patter about religion and philosophy. Those French.
Just when you thought our government couldn’t get any more paranoid, here come plans for a sequel to the Patriot Act. Here’s an interesting little tidbit that caught my eye:
Section 501, �Expatriation of Terrorists�: This provision, the drafters say, would establish that an American citizen could be expatriated �if, with the intent to relinquish his nationality, he becomes a member of, or provides material support to, a group that the United Stated has designated as a �terrorist organization�.� But whereas a citizen formerly had to state his intent to relinquish his citizenship, the new law affirms that his intent can be �inferred from conduct.� Thus, engaging in the lawful activities of a group designated as a �terrorist organization� by the Attorney General could be presumptive grounds for expatriation.
Quick, everyone, cancel your public radio memberships!
I have most of the layout complete for the site. Just wish I could come up with a more interesting title banner. Tell you what, if someone out there feels like designing a banner for me, e-mail your submission to me. The winner will get a $20 Amazon gift certificate or a free case of beer (you pick) and permanent and credit on this website.
Got over 9,000 words on paper. When will it stop? Nobody knows.
Feb 072003
Well, the new site seems to be shaping up okay so far. The links will be in tomorrow. It’s getting late and I need to do some writing or I won’t feel productive.
Here, go amuse yourselves.
Feb 062003
Well, I’ve moved my blog to a new host after Roadrunner kept preventing me from uploading from Blogger. I’ve also created my own domain, which should make this site easier to find. I’m switching to Moveable Type, so you might notice some changes in the layout.
More soon…