:: Archipelapogo ::

:: 28.2.02 ::

Well, last night were the Grammy Awards , and I must say that I was somewhat saddened but not surprised by David Gray not winning the Best New Artist Award, which went to Alicia Keys. I'm not that familiar with much of Alicia Keys' work, but she definitely cleaned house last night, along with long-time rock icons U2, who I will confess to still enjoying. Although I'm not all that into their particular scene, I wouldn't mind listening to some more Alicia Keys and India.Arie. It is really cool to see some of the younger singer/songwriter folks doing so well these days. Bravo people, and keep on doing what you're doing!
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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I hate to come across like I'm complaining here, but I am slightly disappointed that no one but myself has commented on Scott's post from the 24th pertaining to one of the final chapters in The Tin Drum. That's some seriously profound stuff, and I guess I wrongly assumed that it would spark some good discussion. If you haven't checked out the post, do yourself a favor and scan down a little ways. It'll be worth your while, trust me!
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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Great posting and comment from "This Modern World" by Tom Tomorrow on 13labs.
:: Scott [+] ::
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The String Cheese Incident is coming to Tulsa April 9, and for those of you that know me, you can imagine how incredibly pumped I am! This will make the third time I've seen them live, which is nothing compared to my good friend Jeff Porter, who has seen them between thirty and forty times. At last year's show, Junior Brown played a few songs with the fellas, and it was amazing! I can easily say that show was one of the top three concerts I've ever been to, along with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones a few years ago in Kansas City and the Beastie Boys in Ft. Worth back in 1998. Then again, that Phish show back in 1999 in Kansas City was a great time as well, wasn't it Kruggel???
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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Some people think that when you hit graduate school, you suddenly look forward to going to class every day and despise the rare occasions when a professor actually cancels class. Speaking as a graduate student, I'm here to say that such a statement is a crock of crap! I just checked my mail and saw that my afternoon class was cancelled, and I literally let loose a yell of excitement. It sucks that my professor has the flu, but at the same time, it does not suck that I don't have class this afternoon. God is definitely merciful! Too bad it's so damn cold and Scott's out of town because this would be a perfect time to squeeze in a round of disc golf!
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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I know we all have our different tastes when it comes to music, but I believe there's some stuff out there that you have to give props to, regardless of whether you're really into the scene or not. Pink Floyd is a perfect example of this. I for one thoroughly enjoy their music, but I could easily see why some would not. Aside from whether you dig their sound or not, lyrically and musically they must be given some serious credit. I was recently schooled to this website that has some fairly decent commentary on The Wall, one of Pink Floyd's more popular albums that was made into a movie.

Whether you've heard the album or not, I definitely recommend checking out the movie sometime. It's somewhat on the depressing side of things, but it is incredibly powerful and well done! If you haven't seen the movie, I would suggest watching it before reading any of the commentaries, simply because that would allow you to better form your own opinions without any outside influence.
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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Good lord. I leave for one day, and things fall apart. Cease the violence (or at least do it via e-mail). GB? You've commented here before. Who are you? Why do you leave no address? Are you George Bush? Gary Busey? Just curious.

Anyways, I'm in dallas, looking for an apt. and a job. Yippee. Try to keep things under control, eh? Thanks.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Canada just won their first Olympic hockey gold in 50 years. That makes me happy.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I finally finished "The Tin Drum" by Gunter Grass yesterday afternoon. It's easily one of the wierdest books i've ever read, and i've read some strange stuff. I think Will Self definitely took some influence from this book when he wrote "My Idea of Fun". From the opening chapter with the oddest, yet funniest conception scene I've ever read (taking place in a potato field) to the end, this book delves in many different directions, with a host of different characters, and carries Germany from the beginning of the 20th century to the post World War II years. Heralded as the "greatest German book written since WWII" (from the back cover) it does present many historically accurate moments in Germany during these times, and there was probably a lot of symbolism that I missed in my absence of knowledge of said history. That being said, it was a very entertaining book, yet slow at times, and pretty long at almost 600 pages.

There was one chapter (of 46) that I wanted to tell you all about. It's called "The Onion Cellar". Oskar (protagonist) and two of his friends start a jazz band in post WWII West Germany. They get hired by an eccentric club owner to play gigs at his place, which is called "The Onion Cellar". Briefly, the club is really trendy, visited by artists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc. Yet, it serves no food or drinks. What the owner does do is pass out cutting blocks, paring knives and onions, all at an extremely high cost, and the people all wait for the signal to start chopping. At the prompt, they furiously begin chopping their onions to fine little bits, rubbing the juice all over their hands and arms, until the club is completely filled with the smell of onion, eliciting tears. This is what the patrons have come for. Here's a good quote describing the reasons for coming to the cellar:
"it is not true that when the heart is full the eyes necessarily overflow, some people can never manage it, especially in our century, which in spite of all the suffering and sorrow will surely be known to posterity as the tearless century. It was this drought, this tearlessness that brought those who could afford it to Schmuh's Onion Cellar, where the host handed them a little chopping board - pig or fish - a paring knife for eighty pfennigs, and for twelve marks an ordinary, field-, garden-, and kitchen-variety onion, and induced them to cut their onions smaller and smaller until the juice - what did the onion juice do? It did what the world and the sorrows of the world could not do: it brought forth a round, human tear. It made them cry. At last they were able to cry again. To cry properly, without restraint, to cry like mad. The tears flowed and washed everything away. The rain came. The dew. Oskar has a vision of floodgates opening. Of dams bursting in the spring floods. What is the name of that river that overflows every spring and the government does nothing to stop it?"

I thought this was extremely poignant, and a great allegory for people living in that locale in that era (and arguably many people today). This chapter alone would stand as a great short story, and it can be read and enjoyed without knowing much else about the book. So, if you don't want to read the whole book, go to Borders, find it, read this chapter, and then put it back on the shelf. It's great!
:: Scott [+] ::
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And there were two! For those of you that never visited my now dead weblog "The Goods," do yourself a favor and don't check it out. I think it definitely had its brief moments of worthwhile commentary, but near the end, its final attempt at treading water and staying afloat was truly weak, I'll admit that much.

Speaking of weak, I believe that we all have our weak moments from time to time. My man Frank, aka Biker Fox, is possibly in the middle of one of those moments with his personal website. For those of you that live in or around Tulsa, Frank is this guy that basically spends most, if not all, of his time riding around town on one of his extremely nice Cannondale full-suspension mountain bikes. I make the comment about the weak and/or lame moment due to his webpage having a definite dating personal feel to it. In my opinion though, I think there's much more to this guy than just that. I have stopped and conversed with him twice now, and both instances have left me feeling very positive about him and life in general. Here's a guy that absolutely loves to ride and spend time outside, obviously. Unfortunately, I also know that a fair majority of people see him riding around town, yelling and doing his trademark "Biker Fox flip," and think he's mentally "not all there," to put it kindly. I think he's a genuinely nice guy that cares a lot for people.

SO, my question is this: are you someone like the Biker Fox or have you seen or known someone like him? Someone that breaks the mold of the day to day routines of "normal" society. Someone that loves something so much that they do not care what others think of them. I personally admire such people. Not necessarily because they ride a nice bike around town all day or have people honk and give them a thumbs up. I'm not talking about hedonistic or selfish people. Rather, these folks are cool in my opinion because they appear to live life with an internal locus of control. Pardon me for possibily delving into the world of psychobabble, but one's locus of control is a very important thing to be aware of. It's definitely important to be caring and respectful of those around you, but I believe that an internal locus of control is a crucial aspect of living a healthy, positive life. When we live externally, we tend to over-censor our thoughts and actions, and ultimately, we can turn into someone we are not. It's kinda like Mike D says in Pass the Mic, "be true to yourself and you will never fall." And so ends my first post on the Archipelapogo. As you may be able to tell, my style is somewhat different than Scott's, but we definitely have our similarities. And if you don't like where I'm coming from, bring it on! I welcome the comments and criticisms.
:: Ryan Myers [+] ::
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I officially gave Ryan the ability to post here to the Archipelapogo. I trust him. I hope that his posts here will be better than his previously failed blog. I trust his posts will be something better than "I'm sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I'll put something good up soon!" (Sorry Ryan, i had to add some pressure. this is as close to a baby as i have, i had to protect it.) Speaking of quality blogs, there's an odd discussion going on at MetaTalk (MeFi's bastard brother). (Sorry, Sean, i had to drop your name, even though you've been non-existent on MeFi, even before I joined....but you seem to have cred). Godspeed, young chickenhead!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Alright, here you all go.....take the "Which Muppet Are You Quiz?"
I got......

	You are Kermit! Though you're technically the star, you're pretty mellow and don't mind letting others share the spotlight. You are also something of a dreamer.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

Kind of lame, but it could've been worse. What about you? (via 13labs)
:: Scott [+] ::
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I've decided that "All Over You" by the Buzzcocks is the closest to a perfect song that anyone has ever gotten.
:: Scott [+] ::
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The future of politics is looking awfully dim. The Tulsa World reported today that John Westbrook, 21 year old candidate for District 3 City Council, has a rather murky past. He won the Republican primary uncontested, and the general election is March 12. Westbrook was going to run in 2000 for the same position, but pulled out of the race after the Tulsa World found that he fibbed a little on the biographical section of a candidate questionnaire. He then reported that he graduated from Bishop Kelley in 1998. He didn't graduate from BK. (and, yes, things get worse). It has also been revealed that Westbrook plead guilty to a misdemeanor DUI in 2000, and also was convicted of assault and battery. The police report from his arrest includes the follwing quotes that Westbrook espoused while being cuffed by a black, female officer, "It sucks being arrested by a poor, dirty n----r lady." and then asked the lady if she had heard about "that mass grave they found....that's where all dirty n----s belong." Wow. I'm kind of left speechless.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Okay, many serious posts below. If you're here, and you care, please take time to read them all. Sorry, i'll try to post one of those "which ____ are you?" soon, just to appease you all. In the meantime, do me a favor, and dig into the stuff below!
:: Scott [+] ::
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I've been watching the Daily Show on Comedy Central a lot lately, b/c it's truly smartly funny. I used to watch Politcally Incorrect for this fix, but it doesn't work anymore, b/c all i do after watching it is get too pissed off to fall asleep. Yet, the Daily Show has had a lot of cool stuff on lately. They had Ralph Nader on last week, and tonight, Michael Moore will be on. Give it a shot, if you give a damn. Plus, on last night's show, they showed a clip of Cheney on Jay Leno, and Leno asked Cheney if "someone should go to jail over the Enron scandal". Cheney said, approximately, that 'I don't know all the facts, but from what I've been presented with, someone needs to be punished' (my paraphrase), to which Jon Stewart added "and by someone I mean You, Me". Damn funny. May not make sense to someone who didn't see it verbally, but it was great. Plus, Jon Stewart had a great piece on Bush's slip-up in Japan. It's a great show. Especially watch it tonight with Mike Moore. He's phenomonal.
:: Scott [+] ::
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'Kay. Had to speak out on it. It's really funny, and when i first saw one, i laughed at the absurdity. Yet, the new War on Drugs commercials are completely laughable. I've only seen one, (the MasterCard ripoff add with the whole "computer, $1400, used van, $5500, etc. etc.) but denise told me about another one. Good lord. these are horrible.

Here an e-mail i got from ActForChange:

If you watched the Super Bowl, you probably saw two dramatic ads that link illegal drug use and terrorism — including the terrorist attacks on September 11. Super Bowl Sunday has become as famous for the slick commercials run between plays as for the actual game played on the field, and by any measure these particular spots sent a powerful message. Unfortunately, that message is misguided, and the millions being spent to promote it are a sad waste.

Don't get us wrong: Addictive drugs like cocaine and heroin are destroying lives and families in America every day. It is also true that drug sales generate profits for overseas cartels and terrorists often sell drugs to finance violence. However, it makes no sense for the government to buy the most expensive airtime there is to air spots that seem designed mainly to link the popular War on Terrorism with the unpopular War on Drugs.

Only a third of federal anti-drug money is earmarked for prevention and treatment programs — even though waiting lists for treatment programs are so long as to be cruel. Yet out of these limited funds, the White House spent $3.2 million to air two 30-second commercials.

The ads were created under the auspices of President Bush's drug czar as part of a $10 million campaign. In the first ad, a litany of a terrorist's expenses concludes with a question: "Where do terrorists get their money? If you buy drugs, some of it may come from you." The second ad splices images of teenagers claiming drugs are "just fun" with other teens taking the blame for atrocities committed in other countries. "I helped murder families in Colombia," says one kid, "I helped the bomber get a fake passport," claims another.

While such shocking statements may hit viewers in the gut, they will do little, if anything, to end either drug abuse or drug-related violence. By almost any measure, the United States' War on Drugs continues to be an abject failure, and the reasons are pretty simple: The profits from the illegal sale of drugs, like cocaine and heroin, are so large that drug cartels can overwhelm the billions of dollars spent on seizing drugs and counter-narcotics operations overseas.

The White House's Super Bowl ads represent the continuation of a failed policy that does not serve our kids, fight terrorists or help to liberate those living under the scourge of governments corrupted by drug money. Instead, they represent a missed opportunity to channel millions of dollars into drug prevention and treatment programs that work.

E-mail President Bush to express outrage that millions of dollars were spent on misguided Super Bowl ads when important treatment and prevention programs are underfunded.

They make a good, overstated yet under-acted point. In a time where these commercials are super-ironic due to Cheney's dealings with Enron, and the less-publicized dealings with energy companies in the mideast (where he may have/be funded/ing terrorist cells in the mideast more than the $30/day crack addict) (via MeFi, discussion here)......what is the avg. citizen supposed to say? Discuss further......
:: Scott [+] ::
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For many, many months, i've been meaning to post about this website. Doing a search on blogger, i don't appear to have ever done so. The site is family.org. Totally religious right-wing propyganda...you know the drill. Yet, they make an extensive effort to inform parents and youth leaders about current trends in TV, music, and movies in a section called "plugged-in". I found this via a Beastie Boys BBS, when someone linked to family.org's review of Hello Nasty. Of course it's funny. Of course it's ignorant. Of course there's all kinds of problems with it. Yet, coming from a home where i wasn't allowed to trick-or-treat or watch the Smurfs (okay, not to knock my parents, who i love, and not being allowed these things has had no effect on me, b/c they're not important) I can see how many present parents would use this as a resource. Yet, if i were a pre teen now, and my parents read this crap, i'd be pissed. Look at these examples: On the Shakira review, they list under "objectionable content" the fact that she "alludes to her modest breat size". In a culture where most pre-teen and teen girls are obsessed with their bodies, why is this so damn bad? The first time i heard the song, i thought it was a cool rebuttal to a lot of what pop-culture tries to cram down our throats. Secondly, and more important to me, they seem to have issues within seeing political criticism. They review very few bands that have any political thought, just as mainstream media plays very few bands that have political thought, but there are some good quotes: (from the review of the System of a Down CD called Toxicity) "On "Prison Song," the band wants to fix the prison system by decreasing law enforcement and eliminating mandatory sentencing for minor drug offenders. Police brutality should be condemned, but officers are painted with a broad brush as badge-wearing thugs ("Deer Dance"). I really like SOAD. They, despite their OzzFest tendencies, are a breath of fresh air. And i think most would agree that we need prison reform, and i've always said that mandatory sentencing is completely wrong and ineffective. Why is that so wrong for little religious kids to hear? Also, take Rage's reviews (renegades, and battle for LA) And i quote from the Battle for LA review "The political causes aren't always clear, but the band's anger is unmistakable. At the church. At the rich. At governments. And settling things peacefully isn't an option. Rage Against the Machine preaches anarchy and violence, believing they can somehow solve the world's problems by throwing gasoline on the fire. Keep teens away from the self-righteous rioting in The Battle of Los Angeles." Do these people not understand symbolism?

As a sidenote to those that will trash these folks for what they are....My point here is not to bash these people for their intent. My point, and knowing some of the main readers, is to get a little response, especially from Sean and Ryan, sorry guys, but i have to single you out, b/c you're why i put this on here. I'm not a parent. Yet, I am a Christian. Sadly enough, i think, if i were 13, and trying to live a "good Christian life" i may actually look to these people for advice. I know now, when i have kids, and want to raise them well, i won't go here. Yet, the eternal question remains, where do you draw the line between protecting your kids from evil things such as "allusions to drugs, anarchy, etc." when you know damn well that most of what is "okay" is worse? Porfa.....discuss.


:: Scott [+] ::
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Okay, we're heading to a new low in Fox-land. Don't get me wrong, Fox has a lot of good programming, from the Simpsons, the best tv show ever, period....to Grounded for Life, starring the brilliantly funny Donal Logue, and other programs. But this is just wrong. Fox has always had this nasty side to it. Damn you Ruper Murdoch! Starting with those damn "When Animals Attack" and whatever else shows, to the blatantly crappy "Who wants to Marry a Millionaire" (yeah, it had an ironic ending), to Temptation Island, Fox has never shyed away from cheese programming, but this is almost putting lives in danger. I'm waiting for them to have drinking contests, and "Who can snort the most Coke before passing out" contests. Feh, pitiful! (entertaining MeFi discussion here)
:: Scott [+] ::
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Crazy, man. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (hall of famer, NBA's all time leading scorer, hookshot king) has been named the new coach of the Oklahoma Storm, a minor league basketball team based in Enid, of all places. I didn't even know this team existed. It's pretty cool, though. The linked article says that the Storm start their 30 game season in late April.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Right on! I was just checking out Pollstar, and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is going on tour again! Hitting Dallas on May 2 and OKC on May 3. Do yourself a favor and check them out, b/c they are one of the best live bands i've ever seen! Totally high energy. I also saw that Kids in the Hall are touring around that time too, hitting dallas a few days before. I would definitely like to check them out too, b/c they are some funny Canadian bastards!
:: Scott [+] ::
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A final post before i go to sleep. I still consider it President's day (even tho it's an hour and a half over) and I'm going to post a querie that I meant to earlier. A question that I often ask of people, no matter who they are, is, "Who do you think is the most overrated President in U.S. History?" I've gotten various answers, from the easily justifiable Nixons, Regeans, and Kennedys, for their various obvious reasons to random people. My personal answer is Teddy Roosevelt. From his still influential policy of Manifest Destiny to his hypocritical P.O.V. as a nature conserving hunter to his self-righteous building commission of Mt. Rushmore, putting his own face with that of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, I just don't dig the guy. My favorite answer so far was from an ex-coworker at Mazzio's and re-kindled friend Jim Zink, who mentioned Abe Lincoln as his answer, justifying it not b/c of Abe's actions, but the fact that anyone with half a brain would have done what Abe did in the given situation, and Abe did nothing extraordinary, which i thought was a great answer. So, to those of you that read this regularly, being Ryan, Denise, Shawn, Sean, Travis, Cameo, etc, I'm expecting answers. Consider it my unofficial poll. Please, speak your piece while it's appropriate.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sidenote to Cameo: Yeah, Texas may need executioners. I heard an interesting story on NPR a couple of weeks ago about this book..which sounds very interesting, and i should probably add to my amazon wish list, but the people in Florida would randomly pick up applicants like an hour before an execution was about to be done and pay them $150 to pull the switch. Odd eh? There was a big debate about a former executioner who became an anti-death penalty advocate, and had to undergo psychotherapy for the stuff he put himself through, and another former exectutioner who is a pro-death penalty advocate. Odd stuff. And, while it seems like Texas executes more people than anyone else in the country, and they really do seem to, Methinks that Oklahoma, sadly enough, executes more per capita than even that other, aforementioned state. Piss. I've lots of work to do. And, sidenote, still to Cameo, I'm surprised to hear of your love for Avail. Have you seen them live, b/c that's the only way to go. As Punk Planet even said in a review of some other band, "if it wasn't for their live show, Avial would be pretty fucking overrated", which is true, b/c their studio albums aren't much to talk about, but their shows and live albums ( i have two) are Amazing. Hope you have witnessed it!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry everyone, but this is a Shawn-centric post. Shawn.....are your boys at Victory going towards a bad road or what? First of all, your boys in Thursday are becoming the new darlings of MTV2 (i've never watched the station, but denise gets it in dallas, and they're on there more than freaking Creed for goodness sakes, and, btw if you don't know, it's the song about a car crash, can't remember the title, but it's on probably five or so times a day), and then you have this review from James Squeaky, who, see the post below, i trust..."Snowdogs: Animal Farm (Victory) I swear to God, i thought this was a joke when I saw it on the Victory Site. This band has nothing to do with the hot new movie starring Cuba Gooding Junior. Now, it's white guys probably doing rap-rock or something. Egads." I've never been a big Victory fan. The whole Youth of Today-ish stuff was okay, but it was never my dig. Regardless, what's the story SK? Please, don't tell me they're going the way of other labels, i.e. Epitaph, Lookout, Fat Wreck, etc. It's cool for a label to expand horizons, and Victory was definitely the epitome of a single genre, but there's limits, right? Let me know what you think.
:: Scott [+] ::
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James Squeaky of Mr. Ridiculous, which i went to basically solely for music stuff, has started a strictly music site. I tend to trust Squeaky. He does good stuff. I do find this statement ironic, however: "In an age when being "emo" is so very marketable, it's becoming harder and harder to identify who is screaming and tearing their hearts out because they have something to say and who's doing it to get on the cover of Punk Planet or Vagrant Records." He's listed in PP as a guest columnist. Whether that was once or whatever, i dunno. Maybe punk planteteer SK can answer?
:: Scott [+] ::
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Pith and Vinegar is hosting an Oscar contest. There's even prizes at stake. Since that's the case, i entered. Here were my predictions (remember, not the way it SHOULD be, but what it WILL be).

PICTURE - A Beautiful Mind
DIRECTOR - Peter Jackson
ACTOR - Denzel Washington
ACTRESS - Sissy Spacek
SUPPORTING ACTOR - Ian McKellen
SUPPORTING ACTRESS - Jennifer Connelly
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY - Gosford Park
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY - Lord of the Rings

And, if you were ruler of the entertainment world, Gosford Park would be the
Best Picture.

Just to save myself from the evil hand of Sean and others, yeah, Fellowship is probably a better movie, but i like it when little quirky picks win things. And Gosford Park was a really good movie. Very well done. Gotta root for the underdog, ya know? Oh yeah, please don't just steal my picks and enter them in. And keep in mind, i haven't even seen most of the nominated movies, so i'm just going on a hunch. Enter yourself here....it's free.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Whew. Apologies again for the lack of posts, but it's difficult when i'm in dallas. I'm back in tulsa now. Yippee.
quick notes:
The job fair was okay. I gave out maybe 4 resumes, and there were only about 35 booths set up, including the peace corps, Navy, trunking companies, manufacturers, etc. So not a total waste of time.
Denise and I went and saw Fellowship on Saturday. Her first time, my second. (Ryan finally saw it last week, too). There wasn't quite the feeling of excitement and dorkiness that there was opening night's midnight preview, but it was still very, very good.
That's about all for personal notes. Boring, eh?
:: Scott [+] ::
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To make it easier on, well, me, I'll just copy and paste this e-mail that I just got from the guy at Gamestop.....

Scott, I appreciate you continued interest in GameStop and these positions.
I have followed up with the departments heads under my direction who are
doing the hiring for those positions and they have internal candidates with
whom they plan to fill the positions. The familiarity with our systems and
company became overriding factors in their decisions. I apologize for the
long process that this has been and wish you well in your search.

It's a civil e-mail, but i wonder if he was going to let me know? (this was his response to an e-mail that I sent him this morning). Sigh. Oh well.

It's cool though. I'm going to a job fair in Arlington tomorrow, so maybe something cool will come from that. Anyways, wish me luck. I'll try to post from the library some this week.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Blogger noted that "This Modern World" cartoonist Tom Tomorrow, who is great, has his own blog. Cool. Check it out if you get the chance, and if you've never seen his stuff, check out some of the cartoon archives too.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Ryan and I went to the tulsa-bingo-gaming-center-casino-sin-bin-whatever-you-want-to-call-it on friday night. We were there for about 20 minutes. He lost four bucks, i lost three. Playing video poker, mostly. That's a really wierd place. Many zombied-out, mostly older, chain-smoking people just plopping in dollars or plopping down on bingo cards with their dobbers. Ryan's quote was great..."i could write a paper on this place". I told him he could probably do his dissertation, but by the time he got it done, he'd probably have 6 kinds of cancer. The guy on the machine next to me was popping in twenties playing video black jack. Ugh. It left Ryan and I both with a pretty sick feeling, so we just went to yankees to play ntn trivia. It was much better there.
:: Scott [+] ::
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Sorry for not posting yesterday, but i had a busy day of disc golf tourneys. I'd never gone to a tournament before, but i came out pretty well. Tied for second in the opening round, in the novice division, of course, and won a toss off to win six bucks, and took first in the afternoon round, novice division, for a prize of twelve bucks. Of course, i didn't get cash, but i got some new discs, so I was happy. Plus, my name is in today's tulsa world in the sports section. go me!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Again, if you're observant you noticed, but i placed the archives section at the bottom of the links, b/c i figure they're the least used. If you read them, then hell yeah i appreciate it, but i doubt they get used often. However, if you've never checked 'em out, go for it, and e-mail me any thoughts, b/c i won't see the comments for a looooooong time.
:: Scott [+] ::
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And, yes, Shawn, I changed my heading quote. Great song, by the way. And, BTW, i tried my hardest to find the origin for "if you're not pissed off, you're not paying attention." For the record, i doubt it's origin is from Ani or an old school punk band. I think more likely that it's from the late 60's movement. Just my two cents. If you prove me wrong, then you're better than me for 30 seconds. I would like to know though.
:: Scott [+] ::
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I just heard the word "kegler" on tv. What a great word. takes me back to second semester, freshman year. i made an A!
:: Scott [+] ::
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Well, piss. The bastards at OETA decided to air an old episode of Frontline on hackers instead of the aforementioned new episode. If anyone saw it, info would be appreciated, or especially if you happened to tape it. Sorry.
:: Scott [+] ::
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There's supposed to be a very interesting episode of FrontLine on tonight at 9 (but all PBS stations run their own programming, so it may not be all in all areas, and i'm not even sure it's going to be on here). But it deals with Pornography, and issues of free speech versus community standards. I'm gonna watch, and probably have a good post afterwards, so if you'd like to discuss, feel free to watch and comment.
:: Scott [+] ::
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This is a really cool site with images from a space observatory. Many different shots, all very breathtaking. I especially like the night one with all the lights, which i've seen before, but never ceases to amaze me.

:: Scott [+] ::
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There's some people that bought the lot behind my house and my neighbor's house. No one has met whoever, but he's obviously not a kind person. I guess, technically, when we had our houses built 10 years ago, something wasn't zoned correctly, and technically a few inches of our yards are on his property. So, he's having the fence torn down, some of our shrubs dug up, our sprinkler system screwed with, etc. so that he can build an 8 foot high "privacy fence". He also had all of the trees torn down in his lot, most of which have been there for a long time and weren't in the way (they haven't even laid out the plans for the foundation yet). Needless to say, my dad is none to pleased by this guy's actions. He told me last night that he was going to get together with our neighbors (who we've never really been friends with even though they've lived there for 8 or so years) and erect a giant sign in our backyards saying "Welcome to the neighborhood, asshole." Made me laugh. Maybe i could just send him a big "Fuck You". (warning, not safe for viewing if you work in a church or someplace else sensitive).
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Congrats to Porter's band Rewake, who got invited to play at this year's South by Southwest festival in Austin. That's really cool, and a pretty big honor. No word yet on a date, venue, or who they'll be playing with.
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Happy birthday to an odd combo of people who were born today. The late great Bob Marley, The lame Ronald Reagan, and the really odd Axl Rose. (via famousbirthdays.com -- check out your day and see who was born on that day. I have no one good {june 24 - Jeff Beck and Mick Fleetwood are the best} Denise has a really good one, though {March 26 - Tennessee Williams, James Caan, Steven Tyler, and Spock - Leonard Nimoy}
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If you're observant, you'll notice I also added a "currently reading" and "listening to a lot of" links to the side. Just for the record, in case you're interested in what I'm currently digging in to. The Desaparecidos album came out a couple of weeks ago, and what I've heard of it is pretty damn good. Unfortunately, my favorite song is the one I got from a single they put out last year, called "The Happiest Place On Earth". But the rest of it is pretty good.
Don Caballero is an instrumental group consisting solely of guitar/bass/drums. Really wierd timing elements, random beats, etc. Kind of like Drums and Tuba, but with more rock in them. And, they have great song titles, like "Details on how to get ICEMAN on your license plate", "Bears see things pretty much the way they are", "Fire back about your new baby's sex", and "You drink a lot of coffee for a teenager". Love good songtitles!
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For both of you disc-golfer types that read this, i found this cool feature on discgolf.com. You can register your name, some info and then it will keep your scores for you if you enter them in. Pretty cool, eh?
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Damn. I wanted to post a lot of other stuff, it'll probably take place in the morning. As it stands, It's 2:25, and i just had an immensely long conversation with my dad. In the end, he hugged me and said "you're a complicated person". Thanks, dad. that speaks volumes. Peace.
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Oh yeah, Bush and Blair are nominated for "nobel peace prizes" for the 'war on terrorism'. insert your own smarmy remark here....
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I also played both of the Dallas disc golf courses. Elgin B. Robinson is in a cool location (wayyyyy east of dallas, actually), right next to a lake (without fear of losing discs in water, though) and there were some cool cats KiteBoarding on the lake, which i'm sure was nice, b/c it was windy as hell. The course wasn't all that well maintained, but there were signs on most holes, and there was a sweet 1,174 ft. par 6, which was insane! I also played at B.B. Owen park, which i'd been to for about 20 minutes, but obviously didn't play the whole course. It was a pretty cool course, and close to where Denise is living, which is a bonus. it definitely favors lefties, but has a good mix of easy enough birdies and hard to pars. i finished i think at about 8 over, but it was, once again, windy.
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Alright, I'm back, and i slept realllllllly well last night, so i'm no longer cranky. go me! The week or so in dallas was pretty good. I watched like six movies, and read the vast majority of The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, which is my current read. Plus, moving denise, painting walls, doing miscellaneous shit. the likes of that.

Denise and i went to see Gosford Park on Friday, the new Robert Altman film. It was pretty confusing for the first hour or so, b/c the names are excrutiatingly difficult to figure out, when the servants go by the same name as the people they serve, plus there's sisters and all kinds of other confusing things. The last, i dunno, 45 minutes or so was excellent though, and there were plenty of really funny parts before the end. It winds up being a classic whodunnit with plenty of plot twists, but some of them can be guessed at if you pay attention and get lucky. I'd like to see it again, when it comes out on video. I do recommend it, though. Pretty good flick.

I also rented Hedwig and the Angry Inch (really funny in a crass way, and better than 99% of musicals, um, ever), and "Do the Right Thing", finally, which was good, but basically re-enforced my bias towards John Singleton over Spike Lee.


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An update on the WEF in NYC. So far protests have been peaceful. According to this article, there have been only eight arrests, and everything else is going well. I love this quote from a man who own's a high-end leather goods shop, complaining that added security and protesters are hurting his business..."``It's a total disaster,'' said Robert Blau, president of the upscale leather goods shop Lederer, which was empty on Thursday. ``Our customers are very sophisticated. They arrive in stretch limos or taxis or they don't arrive at all.''. Aww, poor guy. sniffle.
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Whoa, nelly. sorry folks, but i've been in dallas for a week helping denise get moved into her place and settled. unfortuantely, she doesn't even have a phone line, much less internet, so posting has not been an option. thank god for the public library, which i came to yesterday, but it's closed on thursdays(!?!) so the posting got delayed another day. I'm going back to Tulsa on sunday, so regular posting should resume then.
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