:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 31.12.01 ::

Also, I finally bugged my dad enough for him to give me an old record player out of the attic. After some tinkering, i got it to work and hooked it up to my stereo. This makes me happy. 7"'s here I come. The two i have and used to test the player are a split b/w Citizen Fish and the Tossers put out by Thick Records out of Chicago that i picked up at the CF show this summer, and a Showcase Showdown picture disc that is a couple of songs from the movie/musical Shampoo. I'm happy.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I posted my first link/thread for submission to MeFi this morning, and it's already garnered some good discussion. The stroy is from CNN about how the new federally run airport security people will not be required to have h.s. diplomas or GED's, so long as they have one year of job experience. Story from CNN here, discussion here.

:: Scott [+] ::
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Aaah. Out with the old and in with the new. Happy New Year to you all. Let's do a brief wrap-up.

People who died (non 9/11 related)
I knew about Joey Ramone and Eudora Welty, who were the two that i was probably most saddened by. I didn't know that John Lee Hooker died, but then again, i wasn't sure he was still alive. Add George Harrison and Aaliyah and music was hit pretty hard.

On a brighter note, here's some of my favorite things of 2001, things that i just flat out enjoyed:
Books: the Cesar Chavez bio i read; A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving; The Emporer by Ryzcard Kapuscinski; Re-reading Fellowhip of the Ring by Tolkien; and The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy stand out among others
Music: Really dug into, or re-dug into; At the Drive-In, Kid Dynamite, Soul Coughing, Morphine, my old Sonic Youth CD, Subhumans and Cit. Fish, of course, Beenie Man, Dialated Peoples, and I'm really digging the re-emergence of good live music in Tulsa, especially And there Stand Empires.
Movies: Hmm, Fellowship, anyone? Also, Memento was really good, Steal This Movie, Cecil B. Demented, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, American Pie 2 made me laugh my ass off, Trees Lounge, and a host of others that are slipping my mind.
Misc. Disc Golf, Graduation, Blogger, MetaFilter, Gin, Morningstar Farms Meat-Free Corndogs, Punk Planet, Painting (oil), playing guitar again, and however else i spent my time.
I could link to almost everything up there, but that would take forever. So, if you're curious, either go through my archives and there's a good chance you'll find an old link, or try google.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry I haven't posted much lately, but Blogger's been down b/c someone hacked into their system, and i figured with all of the regular readers travelling for the holidays, there was little point. I hope eveyone's christmas was at least as cool if mine, but mine, as usual, had room for improvement. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it just could always be more exciting. But, i did get to hang out with the elusive Kruggel for a little while, and that was cool. He told me that this blog is going to get him fired, b/c he checks in too often, or something like that (let me know if i butchered the quote, shawn). That's probably the highest compliment a blog can get, so go me.

In other news, Blogger was ranked by the Quardian UK as one of the 7 wonders of the web. Congrats to them. Keep up the good work.

Let's see, what else? Well, Ryan and Trav are in KC, Sean's in Louisiana, Shawn went back to Chicage, Denise is in Honduras, my friend adam is in illinois, and Nader's in Norman. Ho hum.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Man, i just downloaded a song by The Desaparecidos, the saddle-creek all star band, which includes the amazing Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame. This is some really rad stuff. It's definitely more rocky than bright eyes, and the lyrics, on this song anyways, are very different from the bright eyes lost love and death fare. This song, called "The Happiest Place on Earth" is from the album that is coming out in February. I'll just toss the opening lines up here for you....

"I wanna pledge allegiance to the country where i live,
I don't wanna be ashamed to be American,
But opportunity, no, it don't exist,
It's the opiate of the populous,
We need some harder shit now,
the truth's getting 'round(?)
each public school is a halfway house.."

And it goes on. I really dig it, and I'm anticipating their release in Feb. Check it out if you get the chance.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Ryan just gave me this book (The Gospel in Dostoyevsky) which I'd never heard of, but I'm psyched about. Dost was a hardcore Russian Orthodox, and i'm totally hip with seeing the spiritual influences this had on his writing. Unfortunately, the book only pulls from four of his writings, none of which are my favorite of his, being Notes From the Underground, which everyone should read, but I'm still pumped up. Thanks, Ryan!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Basically just for Trav, or any other simpson's fanatic that comes across here (via MeFi discussion here ) An attempt at an inricate map of Springfield, simpson's style. It's, i don't think, all athuentic, but it's worth checking out.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I got an e-mail from Ralph... Ok, so it wasn't so much from him to me, but it's from him regardless. I know that i've posted about it before, but here's Ralph's ten main goals for CitizenWorks. For what it's worth, and before you pundits from both directions hack at it, I may not agree with it all, i just find it worthy of reporting.

And I quote:

1. Strengthen citizen participation in our political economy. Enact
legislation that mandates publicly-financed public elections and broad
reforms of the electoral process so that votes count far more than dollars.

2. Enact living wage laws, strengthen worker health and safety laws, and
repeal Taft-Hartley and other obstructions to collective bargaining and
worker rights.

3. Issue environmental protection standards to systematically reduce global
warming, and other damaging environmental toxics and promote sustainable
technologies.

4. Provide full Medicare coverage for everyone and revamp our national
programs for prevention of disease and trauma.

5. Launch a national mission to abolish poverty, as other western
democracies have done, based on proposals made long ago by
conservatives, liberals, and progressives.

6. Design and implement a national security policy to counter violence and
the silent mass violence of global diseases, environmental devastation and
extreme poverty. Reduce waste and corporate domination of defense budgets -
a wasteful defense is a weak defense. Wage peace and advance nonviolence by
educating, foreseeing and forestalling global perils.

7. Renegotiate autocratic NAFTA and GATT to be democratic and to be
"pull-up" not "pull-down" trade agreements that subordinate labor, consumer
and environmental standards to trade matters.

8. End criminal justice system discrimination, reject the failed war on
drugs, and replace corporate prisons with superior alternatives.

9. Defend and strengthen civil rights and the civil justice system, apply
criminal laws against corporate crime, and fully prosecute consumer fraud
and abuses. Expand consumer, worker and children's health, safety and
economic rights.

10. Strengthen investor-shareholder rights, remedies and authority over
managers and officers and boards of directors so that those who own the
companies also control them. End the massive corporate welfare schemes that
distort and misallocate public budgets. Reintroduce the historic function
of corporate chartering as an operating instrument of insuring corporate
accountability and the sovereignty of the people.

Idealistic, yes. Noteworthy, hell yes. I especially like the following:

#!) I recently had a semi-coherent conversation with a "republican" who is also an outdoor enthusiast about campaign finance reform. Basically, he agreed with my premise that we need alternative fuels and better national public transport. I told him it was all a pipe dream until campaign finance reform took place, due to the fact that the companies that control the elections are 1) oil, 2)car manufacturers, 3)dot.com pricks and 4)etc. big business (i.e. tobacco, food, airplanes, etc.). And I drove the point home and got him to agree that until this changes, nothing as far as alternate fuel/clean transport will not take place.

#2) Just b/c i saw a tidbit on CNN not too long ago that a study conducted found that NO ONE in ANY CITY in the US could afford a low standard of living while working at a minimum wage job. Anywhere. That blows. That takes any argument for minimum wage and blows it up. It doesn't work (except for teenagers who still live with their parents. I was one of them. I started working on my 16th birthday for $4.25/ hour...min wage at the time)

and lastly, b/c this post is long enough, #8) The "war on drugs" has failed miserably. Anyone, if lack of any further education on the topic, who has seen "Traffic", which is one of the better movies of the last several years should agree. The War on Drugs is futile. Mandatory minimum sentencing is such crap that I feel like vomiting. I'm not one of those that will say "legalize everything". I'm definitley more for the treatment of addicts and the route of going towards the demand side vs. the supply side of things. Criminalizing them only makes things worse, which is a point that "traffic" missed. Too many people that go into prison for marijuana possession get hooked on something far worse. Nothing is being solved. The system doesn't work.

Hopefully this will garner more discussion than previous "hot topic" posts. It's serious. It deserves it. Give me feed back!!!!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Ah yes. Happy Birthday to my dad. the big 55, but i don't think anyone would say he looks it. Send him e-mail here, if you want. He might not check it for a while, but he'll get it soon enough.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I finally joined MetaFilter tonight. I know i'm not as cool as those that have been on for years (sean), but I've enjoyed reading many things on there, and want the opportunity to post my opinion. btw, my name is Ufez Jones. I would've done the traditional ProfBooty48, but I probably wouldn't get much respect from the intelligensia.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Now i know where to go for grad school. Siena Heights University, in Michigan, is offering an "Animated Philosophy and Religion" class next semester in which the main books are "The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh! of Homer" by William Irwin, and "The Gospel According to The Simpsons: The Spiritual Life of the Most Animated Family." How cool is this? Find the cnn article here.

:: Scott [+] ::
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Right on. The movie was phenomenal. Costumes and scenes were amazing. Especially Rivendell, which looked just like the painting on the cover of my book. Looked amazing. Yeah, the Arwen/Aragorn thing was annoying (as sean and I exchange thumbs-down), but it was only about 2 minutes in three hour long movie, so it's bearable, if not forgivable. I was especially surprised by Legolas, the elf. He was a character that I didn't pay much attention to in the book, but he rocked some serious ass with the bow and arrow in the movie. Either they hired the actor for his ability, or he trained real hard. He was whipping arrows out of his quiver, loading them, and shooting them in a matter akin to a semi-automatic weapon. Very cool. My main complaint was the leaving out of certain characters and relationships. Like no Tom Bombadil, and Sam's friendship with Bill the horse, which was one of my favorite aspects of the journey, was all but ignored. Bill's name is mentioned only once. But, it was a three hour movie, and they did a pretty good job of holding true to the story, which is pretty long and intricate. To have had the whole book in it's entirety would have at least doubled the length of the movie. My only other qualm is with some of the special effects that seemed unnecessary and cheesey, when Bilbo, Gandalf, and Galadrial are confronted with the ring. Bilbo's in Rivendell got a pretty good laugh by most in the audience, but it's not supposed to be a funny moment. Oh well, maybe i'm just nitpicking. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. And the best thing is, only a one-year waiting period until the next one!
The theatre was packed as hell, and the AMC was showing it on at least three screens simultaneously. Of course, the geek factor was really high (did i count? that's up to you). But about 25 to 30% of the crowd resembled Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons in one form or fashion. I only saw two or three people dressed up, and it looked, from far away, that they were dressed more in just medieval garb than as a particular character. Could be how they dress every day, who knows. But yeah, go see it! Hope i didn't give anything away, and believe me, there's lots more i'd like to say, but i won't. I won't.....
:: Scott [+] ::
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I'm going tonight at 12:01 to the AMC at 41st and Yale to see the opening of "Fellowship of the Ring". Hell yeah! You know you'll get a report.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Governor Frank Keating has found a new way to piss off his constituency, that being this here state of Oklahoma. This could take a sec to explain. Congressman Steve Largent is leaving his position early to begin running for Gov Keating's position when he leaves office next year (his term limit's up). Since Largent's leaving early, there's to be a special election to fill his position in congress. So Gov Keating's wife, Cathy, decides she knows how to be a politician and runs on her husband's coattails. She lost the primary to a man named John Sullivan, but Sullivan got less than 50% of the vote, so there was to be a special run-off between he and Cathy Keating, since she came in second. A distant second. She withdrew, apparently thinking it was a lost cause. Frank Keating was none to happy about this, and stuck his foot in his mouth real well, saying "I am just saying my hometown (Tulsa), to do this, was very dumb. They did it and they wil lhave to live with it." Hope he's not planning on running for anything else in the near future. This is the man that there was talk about him being a running mate for Bush last year, and when he wasn't selected for that, there was talk that he would be appointed Attorney General. How close were we to disaster? Let's hope this hurts Largent's chance for the governorship next year, b/c i'm confident he was counting on the Keating's support. After all, Largent supported Cathy publicly, and we all know how that goes.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I really like this stuff from explodingdog.com. This guy's an artist, sort of, who takes phrases from people and draws pictures for them in his style. I really like: "Every day i worry about something", "Boredom's not a burden anyone should bear", "Our first meeting", "Sucks to be you" (kind of cheesy, but i think it's funny), and "Right now i just want to sit here" (this reminds me of Radiohead's badass video for "just"). I know this stuff's not monumentally pretty or anything, and some of it does seem random, but there's a lot of emotion in the faces and the eyes of the characters. Maybe it's just me. What do you think?
:: Scott [+] ::
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From the deeply introspective mind of Juvenile, the rapper who brought you the artistically mind-expanding "back that ass up", we have the new single, which i just saw on BET. It is called "From Her Mama (Mama Got Ass)". Pathetic song of the year, anyone?
:: Scott [+] ::
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Oh Snap! Mumia's Death Sentence has been thrown out. Okay, so it's not exactly what we're looking for here. He needs a whole new trial. This may actually be a stunt by the system to get the anti-death penalty people off of the Mumia bandwagon, as he's been made one of the main spokesmen for abolishing the death penalty. Take that away from him, and he'll have less supporters. Maybe. We'll see how the resentencing goes. If it goes well (i.e. life w/o parole or whatever) he'll at least have more time to get a new trial. And he won't be killed, so that's good. This is one to keep an eye on, and i betcha it won't get much coverage.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I'm back! Had a good weekend down south of here. Got to do christmas with denise (she bought me art stuff, yeah!) and went to her office christmas party, which was pretty cool. I didn't win a door prize, but i got to view all kinds of bio dorks in a social atmosphere, which is always good times. And we saw Ocean's Eleven, which was, frankly, better than I thought it would be. Julia Robert's totally looks like someone punched her in the mouth a couple of times. I guess money can't buy taste, eh? But, I'm back for the holidays. Ho ho ho................oh.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Bueno, gente. I'm off to Dallas for the weekend to do christmas w/ denise before she goes home for a while. And, i get to go to her research lab's Christmas cocktail party. That should be interesting. I've never been to a "cocktail" party per se. Unless you count 40 people drinking trashcan punch in an apt. Probably not though, huh? Anyways, have a good one!
:: Scott [+] ::
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On Sunday, I witnessed a show the likes of which tulsa rarely sees. Three were two local bands and one national. First, ..and there stand empires played. These guys have quickly (i've only seen them twice) become my favorite live local band. The sheer experimentation and talent in the band are notable. Plus, they brought up this kid from the crowd (he's the sound guys son) who was about 12 if i had to guess, to play drums on one of their songs, and he was phenomenal. Completely brought the house down. And he really dug it. He's got a hell of a future in front of him. Second, Rewake, my friend Porter's band played. They have the potential to become one of the most populare bands in tulsa, just b/c they are good at getting the booties shaking. Plus, they're really talented and have a distinctive sound. The guy from the tulsa world called them "Dave Matthews on Ecstasy", but I don't find that accurate at all (maybe it's b/c i don't like dave matthews, i dunno). I'd call them more like Rusted Root with some heavy Santana influence. That's probably still not right, but it's my opinion. Finally, a sweet band from Buffalo (i think) called Drums and Tuba played. These guys were freaking cool. They play all instrumental stuff with some really tripped out experimental things going on like echoes on the drums, a guy playing two guitars at once, an actual tuba, and some trippy samples and voice tweakers thrown in. Very unique band. I probably wouldn't dig their CD too much, but I'd definitely catch em again live if given the opportunity. Needless to say, it was a great show, the crowd was good, and yeah. I love live music!
:: Scott [+] ::
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In case you're wondering, the lack of posts has two reasons. 1) My computer was not connecting to the internet for a while. My best guess is that it was something on the other end (an isp problem, if you will) but I don't know for sure. Regardless, I'm on now, so i'm posting. 2) I purchased the game Zoo Tycoon from sam's on saturday, and have become an instant addict. It's a hell of a lot of fun building zoos. So screw your sarcasm and try it, if you dare.
:: Scott [+] ::
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(In addition to my amazon wish list {see left}) Here's some of the things on my Christmas list this year, just for interested folks::
Picasso's Don Quixote
Britany Spears and Justin Timberlake to either have an accidental pregnancy, or have their "relationship" exposed as a farce and a media hoax.
A valid gas-o-lectric hybrid car, b/c the one that toyota came out with sucked, and i'm not sure they're even making them anymore (couldn't find it on their website).
As always, a Jagermeister tap.
And, finally, people to comment on this thing again!!!!!!!!!!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Went to Bowl-a-palooza last night at Riverlanes ($5, all you can bowl for two hours). I've got just two things to say. Eight strikes in a row. 254. Hot damn!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Cool. I'm a work of art!!!!!!!

If I were a work of art, I would be Edvard Münch's The Scream. I express the subconscious troubles and anxieties of the world. I hold my head and let loose the primal terror of my innermost fears, surrounded by a lurid landscape which reflects my feeble grasp on reality. Which work of art would you be? The Art Test

:: Scott [+] ::
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I also forgot to mention that Monday was my Grandfather's 82nd birthday. I never thought he'd get this far. I wasn't even sure he'd make it until my graduation six months ago. But he seems to be in good health, all things considered (diabetes, quintiple bypass, three strokes, broken hip, etc.) And yes, do the math, he was born in 1919, odd, eh? But, even thought he's probably never used a computer in his life, Happy Birthday Granddad!
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My mom's book club is meeting at our house here in few days, and the book they are reading is really short, so i read it this morning. It's the best selling hardback book in the country right now by John Grisham called "skipping christmas". It's about 180 pages, about 2 and a half, three hour read about a couple that decides to disregard christmas and go on a cruise. No tree, no lights, no presents, no fruitcake, no nothing. The town they live in is presumably very small, and very gossipy, and throughout the story you see many examples of this. The rapid way that the news spreads from neighbor to neighbor, all the way to the local priest of the Methodist church they attend. They wind up encountering a problem on christmas eve, and become unable to attend their cruise. This was a very light-hearted Holiday book, with a lot of pretty funny moments. Like i said, it's not very big. Probably not worth the $20 cover price, but i didn't pay for it (i don't even think my mom did, i think she borrowed it). Some of the symbolism, especially through names, seems a bit contrived (there were women named Merry and Candi), and it was somewhat predictable, but I don't regret reading it. I'm sure it will make a lovely TV Movie of Feature Film here in a couple of years, especially knowing John Grisham, and it will probably be successful.
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This definitely fits in with the "people with lives different than ours" category (yeah, i ripped that off of "news of the weird", but what can you do?) Apparently John Walker, age 20, left his California home after high school to study Arabic in Yemen, then returned home for a brief period, went back to Yemen, moved to Pakistan, then to Afghanistan where he joined the Taliban, and was a soldier. I've seen various pieces on this story on CNN, including a brief interview with john himself, conducted by someone, i'm not sure who, where he said the he had trained in camps in afghanistan, seen osama bin ladin many times, etc. He was captured by US troops (he looked pretty injured in the interview i saw), and his status is unknown right now. You can find an excerpt from Larry King's interview with john walker's dad here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Today is December 1, and that means it's national Aids Day. The good people at Link and Think have started a program calling for all webloggers, publishers, etc. to promote National Aids Day and list some links for information. I've never known anyone with HIV/AIDS, and hopefully noone i'm close to will get it. However, it is a continuously growing problem, and (yeah, i know, big surprise) our government is not dealing with it well, domestically or abroad. Here's what the e-mail i got from link and think says:

Individuals in the weblogging and journaling have a unique
opportunity to play a role in spreading information about AIDS.
Although our individual readerships may be small and narrow --
perhaps just our families and friends, peers and colleagues -- our
combined audience is great. Rather than completely removing our
websites from view for a day, we can observe World AIDS Day by doing
what we do best: provide links to vital information, tell compelling
personal stories, encourage our audience to reflect on the world
around them and move them to action.

In addition, we may also use the day as an opportunity to further our
own understanding of how the AIDS pandemic has affected the world.
Perhaps you will use the occasion to do some research, to seek out
website resources you wouldn't commonly read, to broaden your
personal awareness about the disease and about the individuals living
with it.

I would encourage everyone to check out some of the following links, print out information and share it with those around you, and think about what you can do, be it volunteer once a month, money, or a simple letter to a politician (if it would do any good). Without further delay, here's the links:

Planned Parenthood --one of the best ways for people to get information, tests, and birth control.

Pediatric AIDS Foundation:

North American Syringe Exchange Network: <http://www.nasen.org/> Needle exchange is a great program. Unfortunately, for local governments to fund them, it would mean admitting that their respective cities have drug users.

United Nations AIDS Project: <http://www.unaids.org/>

Aids 101 -- a great starter site

So spread the word, and get involved!
:: Scott [+] ::
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They've released the draws for the first round of the World Cup. Find it here.
:: Scott [+] ::
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