:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 29.11.01 ::

I'm leaving here in a couple of minutes to go with Ryan down to Norman to see Nader and his mom, and eat some good Egyptian food. I'm psyched. I'll let you know how it was tomorrow. Peace!
:: Scott [+] ::
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We got the first dusting of snow this year in tulsa tonight. So, I had to do my favorite thing with snow and that is go drive around at night. I love the cool Star Trek (or SpaceBalls, if you prefer) vibe you get when the flakes go by real fast like you're going through space. I love it.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Uruguay defeated Australia in their two game playoff, which fills the final slot for the finals, which begin in May. Here's all the qualified teams, for those who care: France, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Russia, Portugal, Denmark, Croatia, Italy, England, Slovenia, Turkey, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Brazil, Uruguay, Costa Rica, United States, Mexico, South Africa, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Japan, China, Saudi Arabia. For those of you not in the know, France is most everyone's favorite to win, seeing as how they've rocked the last four years, and weak play is coming from normally good teams like brazil and germany. The cup is co-hosted by south korea and japan, the first time it's been in Asia, and the frist time it's been co-hosted by two countries. It starts in may. i think they release the first round groupings sometime in December, which should be interesting. More info can be found here.




:: Scott [+] ::
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Uh oh. No posting for several days. Should apologize, but i'm not gonna. Yet, i must win fans back. Need pseudo-intellectual fodder for people to waste time reading. Must use lots of long words. Can i extrapolate any further? Not at this time. Attempts to be humurous have failed. Shit.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I finished Fellowship of the Rings today too. I'd totally forgotten or missed many of the deep spiritual implicationos of the book. So, I also checked out the cast list. I'm not excited about Elijah Wood playing Frodo, or Sean Astin playing Sam. However, the guy playing Aragorn looks perfect, and Sean Bean should do well as Boromir (I saw bean in that "Don't say a word" movie), and Cate Blanchett should be the perfect Galadrial. Liv Tyler as Arwen is sketchy, not because it's Live Tyler, but because she's one of the biggest names in the film, but thse plays a very minor character. We'll see if they expand it for the movie. I wouldn't be surprised. Anyways, here's the official website. There's lots of cool stuff there like trailers, information, etc. December 19th is the magic day!!!!!!!
:: Scott [+] ::
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A late reminder, but don't forget that Buy Nothing Day is on Friday! This year is especially quirky, since the propaganda machine has sqeaked it wheels loud to the tune of BUY BUY BUY, IT'S THE PATRIOTIC THING TO DO!!!! They were having a rather boring discussion on NPR today about shopping during the holidays, and there was a guy driving from somewhere in Texas to Dallas, passing through Waco. After cracking a lame joke concerning something to the tune of Rosh-Shophana, the moderator asked him if he and his family were going to spend the same amount of money they usually do, or if he was going to save more, with the economic downturn. his response was "Oh, were going to spend as much, if not more than usual, just like the President told us to. It seems to be the American thing to do." That was dangerous for me to hear while driving.
Why participate in BND? It's a simple day to step outside of the normal way of the "American" life of voracious consumption and mass commercialization of the holidays. No one is asking you to not buy presents for your family and friends, or even yourself. It's a simple request to not spend any money on the day that epitomizes our consumer culture. Tke the day and spend it with family and friends. I'm even going to go ahead and buy my gas and stuff tomorrow so that I don't have to on friday. It's simple. All the stroes right now are running the commercials about early bird sales and post thanksgiving specials, etc. ad nauseum. Sadly enough, the friday after t-giving has become almost a ritual of mass exoduses to the stores and the apex of frivolous spending. What is the microcosm of this sad event? Mall rage. It's sad, but also really funny. I love hearing reports on the news about people fighting over toys and stuff. It's amusing, kind of like an ant farm, but with more serious overtones.
Anyway, i'm rambling, so check out adbusters website, spread the word, and don't buy anything on friday, ok?


:: Scott [+] ::
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Looking on my stats on sitemeter, I've found that i've gotten visitors from many various places. I always take notice of the isp's that these people use, and many are from colleges. Lately, I've had visitors from Purdue, Columbia, Temple, MIT, and Penn State, plus a university in Australia (not sure which one). My country list is up to 3, not counting the US, those three being Australia, UK and Canada. Pretty cool, i think. Do you care? Probably not.
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A thousand apologies for the lack of posts lately. I swear, I'll put something good up tomorrow! I'd do it tonight, but i'm exhausted.
:: Scott [+] ::
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For all of you junkies out there, the ultimate irony. The "do you take too many computer tests" test. the results are random. Here's my favorite. It's worth clicking refresh a couple of times to see the various results you can get.

:: Scott [+] ::
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Sweeeeeeeeeet! Got the BlogBack back up and working. Don't ask me how, but i did it. So, comment away! Especially all of you who are here for the first time, via google searches and whatnot. I'm so psyched!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Well, Ireland lost their match to Iran 1-0, but they won the first match 2-0, so they win and go to the cup. 31 of the 32 teams are set, the only lacking post to be filled by either Uruguay or Australia, their two matches are on November 20th and 25th, one at each home. When those are over, I'll post a list of the final 32 qualifiers, or if you can't wait that long, go to FIFA's site. Apologies if you're not into soccer, but the world cup is damn exciting, and i'm going to post about it. So there!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Coach Krzyzewski Gets Lifetime Deal at Duke This is nuts. I've never heard of anything like this. Details aren't given, except that he's guaranteed to be there through 2011, which seems really far away, even if it only is ten years. No financial terms have been disclosed either. We'll see what else comes out of this.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Well, both Germany and Brazil pulled off wins today, Germany 4-1 over Ukraine and Brazil 3-0 over Venezuela, so they are both qualified and the soccer world returns to normalcy. Interestingly enough, Ireland plays Iran tomorrow in another do or die match. I'll let you know who wins.
:: Scott [+] ::
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This is getting a little ridiculous, don't you think? Bulge jeans? I guess it's like a "men's rights" movement of sorts. I dunno. (via daypop)
:: Scott [+] ::
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Brazil plays Venezuela today, and Germany plays the Ukraine, both are pretty much win or go home situations for the powerhouses. Neither Brazil nor Germany have ever failed to make the finals of the world cup. Could get interesting.

Also, did anyone else happen to catch Dilated Peoples on Conan last night? I meant to put a post about it before it happened, but i forgot. They played "Worst Comes to Worst". Conan's good about bringing non-mainstream acts on his show. Much more so than anyone else.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I found this from FIFA. Interesting. Will it have implications for China's hosting of the olympics in 2004?
:: Scott [+] ::
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whew, what an exhausting weekend. but im' back. i made up for sleep last night by sleeping from 11:45 to 10:15. i needed it. (and if you know me, you know how big it is for me to go to bed at 11:45. I go to sleep before midnight about once every two months.) Regardless, I'm back. News to report:
My interview was with these people, in their corporate office. I think it went well., plus i get discounts on video games if they hire me. YAY!
Mexico beat Honduras 3-0 on sunday. It would've been so sweet for Honduras to have won and get to go to the World Cup for the first time since Spain '82, but how weird would it be for Mexico to not go?
I left my CD's in denise's car, which made the ride home that much longer. I listened to talk radio the majority of the time, (even for a little stretch between Atoka and the Turnpike where I had to listen to Rush Limbaugh! HOYT!!!!!!!!!!!) Rush had a caller from Providence that has a theory about the plane crash yesterday. Apparently there was a fireman from NYC that spoke during the "concert for america", who said, among other things. "Osama bin Ladin, you can kiss my royal Irish ass! My name is Michael Moran, and I live in Rockaway Beach, Queens. Come and get me!" or something like that. Now there was a plane crash in Rockaway, Queens. do dee do do. Anyways, ever Rush said this lady was an idiot, and if Rush thinks you're crazy, you need to just shut up. By the way, am I the only person that has had "Rockaway Beach" by the Ramones stuck in my head for the last 30 hours? "We can hitch a ride to Rockaway Beach"
:: Scott [+] ::
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Hey party people. No blog-action this weekend, i'm in ft. worth right now, after spending the evening in dallas last night, and i'm going to waco tonight. Then, i have an interview on Monday. Hard to believe, eh? I just may put my degree to use sometime. Anyways, more info as it comes.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Aaaah, found a link to an article on the "War Spin Docter". Check it out via the BBC here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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There also was an interesing piece in the Editorial section of the Tulsa World today that talked about how the Taliban have gone from being the harborers of the enemy to the enemy themselves. With no such bat of an eye, the shift of emphasis on the war has gone from a struggle against terrorism/Al-Queda to a war against the Taliban. I admit, in hind-sight, that i have fallen subject to this as well. Reports that i have linked to/spoken about speak frankly about what government will replace the taliban, whi's big in the taliban, why they exist and why they need to be taken out. Yet I never cognizantly acknowledged the shift of emphasis until i read this editorial. Interesting, eh? How do you feel? E-mail me and let me know!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Listening to the BBC world report on the radio coming home from Ryan's tonight, I heard an interesting story, which i can't find an article to link to. Damn. Let me try to reiterate what i remember.
--Bushie appointed a new position today. He appointed a Madison Ave. account executive (Advertising Guru, for the layman) to be in charge of communicating reports between the White House/Pentagon and the media. This is reportedly due to concerns that support for the attacks is waning, which is no doubt happening. I would love to claim that this wane is due to the anti-war movement, but i know it's not. I'm not that naive. The attention span in this country is so low, that two months (less than) after the attacks, people have already stopped caring. Toss in the anthrax scares, and noone can even tell you the capitol of Afghanistan anymore. The BBC did talk about concerns that the American people may be more skeptical with a new "propaganda secretary" (not my words) in office, but I think that's an issue only feasible to the intellectuals of the country. Most people will see this lady (Charlotte something, i don't remember what) and think that she's been there all along, and swallow the wafers that she hands out. So be aware!

:: Scott [+] ::
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Well, i got published in the tulsa world today. A couple of weeks ago, the world published an AP article on women who are flying the bombing missions in Afghanistan. According to the article, the first time women were allowed to fly in combat was during the Kosovo affair. Before that, they were only permitted to do recon work, refeuling, spying, etc. Red Stevenson, of Bixby, wrote a letter to the editor that divulged his distaste for women in combat. He made references to a book about the Korean War in which a pilot was shot down and had to fight hand-to-hand combat to survive. He questioned a woman's ability to handle a similar situation. He also kindly expressed fears that a woman captured could be subjected to further bad things, such as sexual assault. He finished by saying that women in combat violates the principles of his and 99.9% of American males. I took great exception to Red's letter and submitted my rebuttal for the editor's to review. They published a shortened, choppier version of that letter today. it goes a little like this:

Women in combat up to the job
In response to Red Stevenson's Oct. 31 letter, "Risky roles for women," I disagree wholeheartedly with his concerns. He contends that women may not be able to handle hand-to-hand combat if they are downed and may suffer further assaults if they are captured.
I can assure him that any woman who is in a combat position, be it air or ground, goes through the same training and has the same abilities as any male in the same scenario. If the millitary had any reservations about any soldier to do the task at hand, that soldier would not be in combat situations.
Furthermore, and more importantly, Stevenson overlooks the point that these brave women have the same desire to fight, and the same willingness to accept any consequences therein. These women are not naively putting their lives on the line thinking that the worst cannot happen. They are honorable and should be lauded for their contributions, just as any soldier should.
I guess I'm in the .1 percent of American males whose principles look at what a soldeir has accomplished and dealt with, not how they look.

While this may seem like an odd position for a peace-preacher to take, i must make the distinction between supporting a war and supporting the people that are fighting in the war. One of the greatest mistakes that i think the anti-war movement made during Vietnam was their treatment of the men and women returning from overseas. The fight against a war should take place on the level of those that have the ability to set the parameters of the war, and those men are not combat soldiers. While I'm against the current "war", I still feel it is up to the individual as to how they react, and if they choose to enlist, I feel it's a respectable thing. Just as I wouldn't want anyone forcing me to go fight for a war I don't believe in, I wouldn't want anyone telling people not to go fight in a war they do. These people are putting their lives on the line, something I'm not willing to do. They deserve to be treated with respect. There's many more issues involved with this than i'm willing to tackle today, so I'll end it here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Only about 6 months or so until the World Cup 2002 starts in South Korea and Japan. Yeah, buddy! The qualifing system for the world cup has to be one of the most complicated things. I really don't understand it all. Fortunately, for North and Central America and the Carribean, it's fairly simple. There've already been a ton of matches played, and through it all, so far Costa Rica and the US have qualified. The other berth will go to either Mexico or Honduras, to be decided at a game in Mexico City's Azteca stadium (which is enormous, seating around 106,000 people!!!!!) on Sunday. So, root for the underdog, and we'll see what happens, eh? Other teams already qualified include Argentina, France (who had an automatic berth anyways as the defending champ), England, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, China, Saudi Arabia, blah blah blah. Three powerhouses that have yet to qualify, although they all have a chance, are Germany, Brazil and Colombia. Colombia's odds don't look great. Germany has to beat the Ukraine in a two game playoff (damned if i know how that works), and Brazil just needs to not drop down further in their division. (all info can be found at fifa.com). The world cup is so much cooler than the olympics. I don't care what anyone says.
:: Scott [+] ::
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After going to Barkley's tonight and hearing Ben Kilgore and his brother, Blake, finish up a great human beat-box/freestyle session with the first and last verse of "things that make you go hmmm..." by C + C Music Factory, I return home to once again blog about nothing. (Is it okay to use 'blog' as a verb? I think so!) So here's my two bits.

Bit #1) Ryan still isn't worthy of being perma-linked on my sidebar, as his ability to maintain a consistent blog is still lacking proof. He's on link-probation. (god, i'm such a tool!)

Bit #2) For those that don't know, when you sign out of your blogspot account, you go back to the blogger frontpage, where they list the ten most recently updated blogs, so it's a constantly rotating thing. I occasionally click on some, if I'm bored enough, or if they have a title that interests me. One of the least poignant observations that I can make is that there are a surprising amount of blogs in Portuguese. I click on them thinking they're just weird names, or at least in spanish, which i can read well enough. But portuguese? who knew? Plus, portuguese is such a pisser of a language b/c it's just enough like spanish to tease you, but just different enough to really irk you b/c it's not really wortth reading.

I know you don't care. Ask yourself, "why am I reading this?"

That's the stream for the night. I'm going to bed.
:: Scott [+] ::
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There's an emerging new wave of female soul singers. Are you listening? The one i'm keeping an eye on are Jill Scott and India.Arie. If you like that style, check em out.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I got an offer to join the "Wall of Tolerance" they're building in Montgomery, Alabama. I don't have the 35 bucks it takes to get my name on the wall, but i will help spread the word. So check out their website. There's all kinds of tips for raising tolerance, tests for checking your own tolerance, and various tools for ways to get involved.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Go pick up the new Punk Planet, it's the art and design interview, with an empasis on many mediums. There's four different covers too, so you get a choice.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Having a low self-esteem day? Check out these pics of Celebrities Without Make-up. (the michael Jackson one is extremely scary!)
:: Scott [+] ::
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"I knew a guy that was both dyslexic and cross-eyed, so everything came out normal." Watched the movie "gummo" last night for the first time. It was done by Harmony Korine of "kids" fame. It wasn't as disturbing or depressing as "kids", but it is an interesting movie on its own. There's a fine line between genius and random, and where this movie falls is debatable.
:: Scott [+] ::
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sorry about the lack of comments, but blogback reupdated and i'm having issues getting the new code to work. Hopefully it won't take long.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Viva Frodo! It's about 6 or so weeks until "Fellowship of the Rings" comes out in theatres, so I've begun re-reading it. Man, i haven't read this in about 10 or so years, so it's almost like reading it again for the first time. I was reminded though, of one of the many great passages in the book. And it goes as follows:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow it if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many parks and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

If you've never read this masterpiece, do yourself a favor and do it soon, before the movie comes out. I even have an extra copy for someone in town to borrow if they wish. They've begun showing the trailors on TV, and man do they look nice!
:: Scott [+] ::
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