020080127

Redesign and Reply

So Conner and I have given the site a going over. Trying to make it easier to read and use. Things are still in flux and probably will be until we find a way to make the look of the blog match it's feel. Tricky business indeed, and so please feel free to leave your comments about the design. If things don't look quite right, you may be using Internet Explorer and you should get used to the entire Internet looking crappy until you switch.

All this webwork has got me thinking about past sites and past blogs I've done. I recently stumbled upon one in particular and discovered quite a bit of discussion in the comments about the only real post on the blog. It's the first time I've ever broken the top 20 results for a Google search of someone else's name.

I'm going to be vague and not actually provide a link, because I don't really want people who read that post to be able to find their way back to this blog. I'm not super proud of the post, but I am very proud to have earned their comments. Anyway, if you want to check it out type this address into your browser:
And here's another dead blog of mine:
http://fanafield.blogspot.com/
Maintaining it was a class assignment. And though I stopped as soon as class ended, it did help me prepare for THE G'ST.

020080126

Don't Let Criminals Escape


President Bush wants the Senate to pass retroactive immunity for telecommunication companies who spied on Americans. For the President, this isn't just about letting his friends at AT&T and Verizon off the hook. He knows this is the American people's last chance to hold the Bush administration accountable for their warrantless wiretapping of innocent Americans.

The key vote is scheduled for late Monday afternoon and the count is down to the wire. We need 41 Senators to stand up to President Bush and right now we have only 36.

Senators Clinton and Obama are the missing votes. If Senator Clinton or Obama stands up and leads from the floor of the U.S. Senate and calls upon the 8 senators that have endorsed their campaigns to stand with them, we'll have the votes we need and the American people will win.

[Prove It]

TVTVTV!

If your looking to put the zap on your waking mind, there's really nothing like television. And if you want to see a collection of Youtube finds, I just updated my four playlists on my Youtube Channel. Cartoons, music, politics, and craziness, are the four pillars of my Church of Youtube.

But if you'd rather use TV to learn about the outside world then I can not recommend Louis Theroux enough. You can watch his show on the youtube and alluc.org. I want to get the DVDs eventually. If you'd like glimpses into the hidden corners of the world, you really need a guide like Louis. Watching him alternately disarm and arm a situation, and watching the characters he meets as they're essences are completely revealed before the camera, well it's quite a show.

If you'd rather not drift into the weird world of Louis, then maybe you'd be more comfortable with his less friendly, but equally lovable BBC counterpart, Charlie Brooker. His show about television and cultural decay is called Screen Wipe and can also be found on the youtube and alluc.org. If you want to know just how great Charlie Brooker is then just watch this:

020080125

Better Than Cellphone Watches

So I was thinking how I really wanted to build a watch with digital hands that preformed a few specific tasks. Just a little piece of wristwear that would tell time and serve as a compass, an instrument tuner, and maybe a thermostat and barometer. Well eventually this line of thought lead me to a simple question. Could you fit a lie detector in a watch? And "modern lie detector test" lead me to this gem of a website. Turn up the speakers and enjoy:

Expert Polygraph Testing -

Young actor's murderer still on the loose - could this be the beginning of a spree?

I have recently received insider information from an actor working in New York, that Heath Ledger was killed by the Joker. Ledger was recently quoted as saying that playing the part of the psychotic Joker in the upcoming film, The Dark Knight, put such a strain on the actor that he could not sleep at night.

Ledger told The New York Times last year that Heath Ledger stressed a little too much over the role.
The interview was done in London during the filming of Batman.
'It is a physically and mentally draining role (his Joker is a “psychopathic, mass-murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy” he said cheerfully ) and, as often happens when he throws himself into a part, he is not sleeping much," Heath Ledger told The Times.

“Last week I probably slept an average of two hours a night,” he said. “I couldn’t stop thinking. My body was exhausted, and my mind was still going.”
[Link]
So there you have it. Now the Joker's started killing people out here in the real world. Well, kind of the real world. New York City anyway, not LA, or Tokyo or one of those DC cities. A proper Marvel city. I'm starting to see it more and more. Life drifting into the broad strokes of a comic book: pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Chick Stone, and fuck sake let's say it, script by Stan Lee.
And that might be putting too precise a point on it. The inks aren't always by Chic Stone, and sometimes the pencils are by Steve Ditko. But regardless, like in the Mighty Marvel Age of the 1960s what we're seeing around us is a world shaped by the artists. A world that is running a few steps faster, and a fews steps deeper than what the writers are picking up or getting down.

Things are starting to happen which lead me to think that the dread iron system, whose shadow we have been cowering under since the birth of our New American Century, when on September the Eleventh the assault on the hearts, minds, and rights Americans began, but what I'm trying to say, is maybe that's ending now.

Yeah, so this is the thing. I might be fooling myself, and even if I am, its okay I need the break from the bleak. But I really am starting to think that maybe things are getting better. I really don't want to jinx it, but maybe the brutal and much loathed system, will just break. Fall apart like a poorly thought out Rube Goldberg machine. Not so bad. Weeds are springing up through the cement. Tree roots cracked it but the dandelions have the flowers now.

But it seems this is a transition period; reality is becoming less fixed, and change starts to happen faster and faster. New technologies are rippling into ever facet of life and every field of thought. And so the world starts to look more like a comic book. But I've said that already, so let's go to some examples:

Okay Tom Cruise is a lot of my evidence. I don't know when you first realized that he's a super hero, but for me it was a picture I saw on some tabloid last May that looked something like this,
I believe here he's pictured riding towards Avengers Mansion shortly before his falling out with Hollywood types he once considered nearly family. So far Tom Cruise seems a lot cooler than Tony Stark, who he was originally on the team to replace. Perhaps since Tom Cruise thinks he can move things with his mind, and did overcome his dyslexia through hard work, his mental powers make him more appealing than a gadget hero like Stark's Iron Man.
[Tom Cruise taking ‘Mission’ to Tribeca]

Also if you watched the latest Tom Cruise bit to hit the web, (but not the news, copyright is still ironclad for them) you may have gotten the impression that Tom Cruise's legacy will overshadow that of Scientology. I think he is using his mental powers and personal energy to summon forth something. And his image is starting to represent that something more than the dying cult he is presently apart of.
[Watch the Secret Scientology Tom Cruise Video]


And if Tom Cruise is our superhero, we know we're in the Marvel Universe since his arch villains are a shadow band of hackers known as Anonymous who have vowed to destroy Scientology. Sometimes, over the top is exactly the spot you need to hit. Seems like this could actually start some commotion.
[Message to Scientology]

I'll try to start posting more comic art and more evidences of this most enjoyable turn of events. And hopefully as my world outlook has been brightened, the stories I find and share will be a bit more upbeat from now on. But no promises.

020071217

Charges of Sadism Hound Republican Candidates

Romney clan less brutal to fuzzy animals than Huckabee according to a recent old story.From Kinky Friedman's Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch:

(Miller County, Arkansas) Two boy scout counselors, 17 year old Clayton Frady and 18 year old David litickabee, the son of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, have admitted to catching a stray dog during their summer session at Camp Pioneer in Hatfield, AR, and hanging the dog by his neck, slitting his throat and stoning him to death.

Camp officials, who did not report the crime to law enforcement officials, have admitted that the act did occur and have fired the boys from their positions. However, no charges have been filed against the young men.

Arkansas State Police conducted a perfunctory investigation, but did not attempt to locate witnesses to the crime.
Huckabee denies all. Romney tortures dogs. Giuliani would kill everything if he got the chance. And ol' Hil says, "I will be a good president for dogs."

Vid Lists

I've decided to start making video playlists on youtube. Making playlists with iTunes really has changed how I listen to music, so I'm excited to see how this new medium and application feel when squished like clay against my head and hands. I'm anticipating the limitations. So far I've made 4 playlists, and I'm planning to stick with these for awhile and try to grow them.

MY VIDEO PLAYLISTS