Packing? Not packing? Unpacking?!?!

Since we're not moving this week or next, what do I do? I have bubble wrap, a half-mile of tape, and 30-40 empty boxes. I've already packed 90% of my guitar stuff, all I left out was my practice amp, one cable, and one guitar. My giant stack of books to read next is in a box in the garage. All of the DVDs, games, and most other entertainment stuffs are boxed up as well. I was planning on packing this computer away, and shutting down my man cave for good.

Now? Now we're maybe not moving, maybe moving, maybe not moving that far away. What do I do? I could keep packing, in which case I'm going to be really bored and stressed out while we figure out what's next. I can stop packing, and live in this "are we/aren't we" limbo for what could be months. Or, I can unpack most of the stuff, except for the books that we've already read, and go back to living semi-normally until we see how things shake out.

Or, I can start drinking now, and not deal with any of it until tomorrow. Mojito!

Because Bento isn't Bento without...

Sushi! For those of you who missed it, my wife has a semi-obsession with bento boxes, which are Japanese lunchboxes. They are meant to be decorative as well as functional, and there are blogs and websites that discuss it. I'm behind it because I like cooking stuff for my wife, and I'm always happy whenever she finds something she's really into. Part of looking forward to her working is looking forward to making her fancy lunches. She's into making some stuff for it too, so she bought a fancy rice cooker. 

I ran out for some beer and dinner tonight, and I stumbled across an Ultimate Sushi Kit that I thought would be just perfect. It came with sushi rice, pickled ginger, and a bunch of other sushi fixings and accessories. I'm also thinking an X-Acto knife and a small bamboo cutting board might be a good idea as well. As per last night's post, gadgets and such always seem like a good idea to me. ALWAYS. I'm even considering some small squirt bottles, like the mustard and ketchup bottles in a diner, to decorate the food with swirls of fancy sauces. I'm not generally an artistic type... except when it comes to food. Then, I want to really get creative.

I have little doubt that tomorrow or Sunday, I'll have some pictures up. Lunch has never been so interesting, has it?

Having one of those weeks...

I was going to whine a bit about stuff, but then I figured "what's the fucking point in that?!?!"

Instead, I'm going to talk about gadgets. As you all know, my wife and I are big gadget hounds. I've got the iPod, she's got a Kindle, we've got a $250 universal remote with a touch screen. I've got a nifty computer set-up with blue lights in the case and a back-lit keyboard. I have more guitar crap than I want to think about. Fancy tools, video games and peripherals, all sorts of stuffs and doodads.

It goes to my general philosophy in life: Where other people see problems, I see solutions... solutions that involve buying a bunch of expensive gadgets. Other people are happy with a hammer; I want a nail gun. Other people go get batteries when the old ones die; I need rechargeable batteries and a fancy recharger. I have a $250 pocket knife, a 90-piece computer toolkit, and a pair of scissors with titanium blades. I feel like every problem has a perfect solution, and that there is a perfect tool to help me get there.

Don't look now... I'm very close to buying that Dyson vacuum cleaner. Very, very close. Don't tell my wife. Wife, forget that you read that.  

Nachos Wednesday!

It was another odd day. Wife got her Kindle, I had amplifier problems that I might not be able to fix on my own. Got some news that wasn't exactly thrilling, but maybe some other options have opened up. Forget all of that. None of that matters.

WE HAD NACHOS!

Beef and refried beans and olives and jalapenos and cheese and sour cream. Nasty stuff. There's something wonderful about shitty food like that. Nachos are greasy, salty, spicy, nummy nom nom goodness. I would eat them every day, except... well, Zantac gets expensive quick. *grins* 

Decent day!

It started out pretty weird, so I says to the wife that we should go out. She didn't even want to take a shower, but I talked her into it and we had a good time. She got a new watch and some muffin-making hardware, and some other chick crap. It was pretty cool that she was willing and able to spend a little money on herself.

Since the Wii is busted, we also bought... SCRABBLE!! That shit is sort of groovy. 

Now, I'm going to sleep for the next 30 hours or so. 

The things I want... a list

Just because I could think of nothing else, and my "want" list is probably mildly interesting to... somebody?!?!

• A Luke Skywalker replica lightsaber. Not the blue one, the green one. The one that's hard to find.
• A '63 Fender Reverb unit. There's nothing better on a guitar solo than too much reverb.
• A hardcover copy of The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass because it is the only book in the series that I DON'T have in hardcover. It haunts me. 
• A diamond plate face for my amplifier. The current faceplate is a dull grey color, and it bores me senseless.
• A copy of the Wolverine #16 comic. It was the last issue of a six-part story arc when I was a kid, and I never did find out what happened at the end. 
•  A ring-tailed lemur.
• A $10,000 gaming computer. For no good reason at all.
• A Tesla roadster electric car.
• An Ibanez Jem guitar. I had one years ago, and I was forced to sell it. I have always regretted losing that guitar.

Anyhoo. That's the list. Exciting, right? Right?!?!?!

A note about our dog...

There's something about Ginger, our 2-year old basenji. We basically adopted her to go along with this house when we first moved in. When we got her from the shelter, she came with her own crate, and really lived in it for a big chunk of the first few weeks we had her. She still hides in it whenever we start cleaning house, and now whenever we start packing boxes for the move. Our best guess is that her previous owners bought her and the crate, planned on keeping her, and then had to move and dumped her at the animal shelter. Ever since, anything that resembles moving freaks her out completely. We're trying to give her a bit of extra loving over the next few weeks to help ease her stress.

One of the best things we've found are these stuffed animals that we found at the local supermarket. 

She tears all the stuffing out of the head, and there are squeakers in the head and legs that she manages to dig out. We bought her the first one in September, a second one around Xmas, and a third one today. She's become VERY efficient at getting the stuffing out of the head... it took her about three hours from when we got it home to when she got all the stuffing and the squeaker out of the head. She was sort of prancing around with it for a second too, like she was hugely proud at how much damage she did so quickly.



She's such a strange dog. She doesn't like you to watch while she poops, and she won't poop if the grass is wet or she doesn't like the spot. She sleeps on the bed without problems, once you fight her off of your pillow and out of your spot. She does this thing we call "spinning," where she runs and jumps onto the sofa, then spins around and jumps off and runs to the love seat, spins around and jumps off and does a back-and-forth until both pieces of furniture have been moved 4-5 feet further apart than they started. She knows a bunch of words, including WALK, NAP, BED, TREAT, BELLY RUB, COUCH, and SNACK. She also knows the difference between "good girl" and "best dog in the world." One gets a tail-wag, and the other one means she jumps on you and licks your face.

We're looking for places to move into... if they don't take dogs, we're not interested. Or, we'll lie. Either/or.

An Improbable Dinner

Sitting around the house this afternoon, close to the time that I normally start cooking dinner, my wife kind of hints that I should get started. Unfortunately, absolutely nothing was thawed. And when I say "nothing" I mean the only package of meat we had left. We're trying to eat more raw veggies, which means we shop one week at a time. That should have been yesterday, but we ran out of juice after the whole Home Depot thing. I considered going out for something, or even calling ahead and picking up a mess of wings from the local sports bar. 

And then Iron Chef came on. Sorry, but I rise to the challenge even when I'm not being personally challenged. That's something that comes with the scrotum... it is genetics, it gets complicated. You women wouldn't understand, genetics again. (I'm making my female readers hungry for my blood AND my cooking!)

Anyhoo, I decided to make a stuffed meatloaf. Feta and mozzarella cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and olives for a stuffing. The stuffing is laid on top of slices of prosciutto, and then wrapped in a pretty standard meatloaf blend: ground beef and pork, whole wheat bread crumbs, onion, oregano, and parsley. It should be done in about an hour... with some marinara and pasta, and some green beans. It cost a little less than a meal out, and will taste TONS better. 

Fun times at Home Depot!

Well... moving is going along OK, with the main problem being that boxes tend to stay wherever they were packed, and haven't moved a bit. So the wife got the idea of renting a hand truck, and I got the brighter idea of just buying one because they don't cost that much and who is going to just rent you a hand truck, and nothing else? We found a sweet-ass collapsible hand truck for $30, got it home and tried it out, and then realized that there's no way it would pick up the washer or dryer. So, it was pack to the Home Depot for a refund and a $50 monster hand truck that will handle 600 pounds.

I also picked up a dowel rod. I have one of those semi-cheap DIY desks from Staples, and it is sagging. I like the desk, but I'm not sure how well it will travel when we move, so instead of buying a new one I'm going to reinforce it with all sorts of bracings and such. I'm going to have to learn to live a more frugal lifestyle, at least for the next few years. The ability to fix things, as well as the fact that I own lots of tools, is going to come in handy in a big way. I don't mind that part of it. I always feel a little bit of pride when I can repair something instead of replace it. It is a testament to skills I learned on my own. My parents can barely glue a broken mug handle back on, let alone fix something major around the house. 

Not everything about this move is bad after all. 

Great morning!

Weird morning too, let me tell you all about it. 

I woke up at like 6:15, which is about two hours earlier than I like to get up. I had a glass of iced tea, and started packing up DVDs and books. My wife and I filled 12-14 boxes, and decided to call it a day at 8:30. Wife had her telephone interview at 9:00, and she is driving up to North Carolina next week to check out the job and hopefully get hired. After she got done, we went BOWLING! It was a kind of special day for it, too. The early bird old people league was out playing, plus us. The first game went pretty badly. I broke 100 but only barely, and my wife didn't even do that well.

The second game? Well... I started out with a 4 in the first frame. My wife got eight or nine. Then she threw a spare, and then a spare, and then a strike, and suddenly I was almost 20 pins behind. I put on my game face, played with my sack, and bowled five strikes and two spares. 

Final score: 

Wife o' Mine -135(a new record!) 

Joe -184

Qualifies as a good morning, don't you think?

Happy Anniversary!

It was 6 years ago this month that my wife and I first started dating, 5 years since we moved in together, and 4 years since we got married. To celebrate, we went to a new Japanese hibachi joint, and Dairy Queen for dessert. Good times! Hopefully we're good for at least a couple of months more. *grins* We're going to finish the night with a couple of episodes of Lost, and I might do a little packing. Yay!

Ripping off my wife!

Just to give her an answer to #25....

1. Who was your FIRST prom date? Mellisa, sort of?
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love? No... I'm pretty sure she has no clue she was my first love, either.
3. What was your 1st alcoholic drink? Some wine cooler my mom bought.
4. What was your FIRST job? Swinging a sledgehammer under the table. 
5. What was your FIRST car?  Pontiac 6000 
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today? No one sent me a text. No one cares enough to text me.
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning? Kyle McLachlan
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher? I don't remember anything before I was 10 years old.

9. Where did you go on your FIRST ride on an airplane?  I'm ny sure, but I know they kept my ninja weapons.
10. Who was your FIRST best friend & do you still talk? Some kid before I was old enough to remember?
11. Where was your FIRST sleep over? No memory?  
12. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today? Myself? My wife was at an appointment when I woke up?
13. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time? Crazy aunt Nancy. I want to shoot her. Long story. 
14. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?  Pooped. I poop first thing in the morning.
15. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to? No clue... saw a bunch in the early years that I can't remember.
16. FIRST tattoo? One and only. An eagle on my right shoulder.
17. FIRST piercing? Once, my ear was pierced as soon as I left the Marines. I let it close up, no more piercings since.
18. First foreign country you've been to? First and only, Mexico. Never again.
19. FIRST movie you remember seeing? Star Wars. 
20. When was your FIRST detention? just once, in 8th grade, and I can't remember why!
21. What was the FIRST state you live in? New York.
22. Who was your FIRST roommate? Some redneck who was studying jacking off pigs.
23. If you had one wish what would it be? To be financially stable and stay that way.
24. What is something you would learn if you had the chance? Singing?
25. Who do you think will be the next person to post this? Brian Boitano??

Tuesday not much better...

I'm stuck in a holding pattern waiting for things to fall into place so I can move forward on some things... and the waiting sucks donkey dick. For those of you who don't read my wife's blog, she's quit her job, I've been forced to quit school, and we're moving to North Carolina in the next month or so. We can't find a place to live until my wife finds a job, so she's got lots of things to do with nuring licences and applications and stuff. Me? I'm in charge of the move down here, once she's up there and working. Once she finds a job, I'm going to be up to my eyeballs in stuff to do, but not until then. Right now I feel like a giant lump of useless. I'm sitting here drinking beer and listening to music and that's one more thing than I've managed to do all day.

Tomorrow morning first thing I'm headed out to buy some packing materials, so that I can start packing things up. At least that will be something!

Monday blah...

Crappy day, maybe tomorrow will better? You know it is an off night when my wife decides that whay she really needs to watch is The Descent, a rather grusome horror flick that also manages to be creepy and scary. 

As for me, I'm sort of run out of energy for the week, and it is just started. Good times! Now would be a good time for someone to come up with something to cheer me up. 

Sunday Stealing: The Q & A Meme

Go ahead and steal it here. I know you want to, you know you want to, you know that I know that you know you want to...

Sunday Stealing: The Q & A Meme

1. where is your significant other? Right over… THERE!

2. your favorite thing? My #1 guitar. I’m planning on being buried with it.

3. your dream last night? In my dream I was back in high school… and I was also a professional assassin. I don't get it either. 

4. your goal? World peace and bowling a 200 game.
5. your hobby? Bowling!6. where do you want to be in 6 years? I’m just looking for some 9-5 stability.

7. where were you last night? Home, as usual. Where else?
 
8. what you're not? I’m not unhappy.

9. one of your wish list items? Just one?!?! I don't have a nice acoustic guitar, so I guess that would do. A Taylor, of course!

10. your pet? I’ve got three. The best three pets in the whole world.



11. missing someone? Nope.

12. your car? I’ll take credit for the nice one, even though my wife mostly drives it. 
13. something you're not wearing? A wedding ring. I bought one a year or so after we got married, but I never took to wearing it. It is around here somewhere…

14. love someone? Hell yes! She’s sitting right over… THERE!

15. when is the last time you laughed? Probably five minutes ago. Life is a funny thing.

16. last time you cried? I couldn’t tell you… maybe when I had my tonsils out two years ago. Sweet crispy chocolate-covered caramel Christ on a stick, that hurt for like three weeks!!

17. favorite past time? Playing guitar. I’m not much good, but I am pretty loud!

18. are you a hater or a lover? Both! Some people and things DESERVE to be hated.

19. any vices? Booze and deep-fried stuffs.

20. favorite meme other than Sunday Stealing? No others… this is my one and only meme. 

Nothing says loving...

... like a new bowling ball? My wife and I went to the pro shop to pick her out a ball "for Valentine's Day" or at least ON the day. They had ended the beginner's package deal, which meant that we spent more money than I'd planned on. On the plus side of the deal, she was open to buying a better ball, nicer shoes, and a really nice purple bag for the ball. I'm glad she was able to get that stuff instead of just whatever was cheapest. Nothing but the best for my baby!

We continued the romance-fest with a dinner of Dominos... yeah, we're like a storybook couple!

Here's the thing: I moved here 5 years ago today, it was another Saturday Valentine's Day. We'd been dating a year and decided to move in together. There have been lots of ups and downs since then, but I still think that moving was the best and smartest thing I've ever done. I've got the most kick-assest wife EVER! 

New high score!

147!

I bowled with an older guy today, who got me the league discount. He also gave me a few pointers, complemented me on my new ball, and averaged over 220 per game. Good times!

PETA is right-wing, and other clarifications

We've got a strange sort of confusion about political terms in America. We call Republicans "conservative" when they are really reactionary. We call Democrats "liberal" when in fact the entire party is profoundly conservative. How can this be? How can everyone but me be so very wrong about everything?!?! 

Well, first off it isn't just me. There's a well-defined psychology involved here, called Authoritarian Personality. This was sharpened by Dr. Bob Altemeyer into Right-wing Authoritarianism. Fun stuff to read about, because it explains why Republican politicians and their supporters are all dishonest pieces of anti-American shit... that's my conclusion, the research is much more subtle and unbiased. *grins*

Republicans like the label "conservatism" because it covers up the fact that they are way out of the mainstream and hold radical and usually failed views. They have a delusional view of "common wisdom" that drives a big chunk of their attitudes. The Democrats allow themselves to be called "liberal" because it sets them apart from the right-wingers without actually requiring them to do much of anything but go along with the flow. 

Moving beyond the mistaken "conservative/liberal" concepts, there is also the incorrect assumption that some causes or actions are inherently "conservative/right-wing" or "liberal/left-wing" when they are really neutral. Tax cuts, for instance, are basically neutral. A religious belief that tax cuts are the answer to every problem in every situation despite all evidence to the contrary is an ideological position promoted by the right-wing, but it is just stupid. Animal rights isn't a "left-wing" cause... and, in truth groups like PETA are as right-wing as can be. The definition is based on the psychology behind the organization, its leaders, and its members. 

There's a great episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit that completely tears apart the PETA leadership, starting with their head Ingrid Newkirk. The chick is a wanna-be Hitler from all accounts. There's tons of hypocrisy involved too: one of the leaders uses medicine made from animal parts to keep herself alive while telling others that their diseases shouldn't be treated at the expense of animals. PETA euthanizes animals all the time. The dishonesty in the name of the cause is just like any other right-wing group. 

Further, there's nothing "ethical" about their treatment of people OR animals. When I let my pets "free" because PETA thinks pet ownership is "unethical", who is going to feed them, keep them off the interstate, or give them a warm bed to sleep in on cold nights? My pets are part of the family, they love me and I love them and it would be a betrayal for me to do anything but keep them here with me for the rest of their lives. At the same time, a chimp in a lap or even a thousand chimps aren't worth as much to me as a single human being who could be saved by medical research. And I know as well as every sane person that medical researchers don't use animals because they get off on the suffering of other beings. 

What PETA is about, is control... the sort of control that goes along with right-wing authoritarian psychology. It isn't about the animals at all. It is about telling people what they can and cannot do with their lives, based on an inflexible dogma... inflexible unless it interferes with the behaviors of the leaders. They want to make us eat what they approve of, wear what they allow, and just follow follow follow. It isn't about what is best for people, or for animals, or anything in between. 

The hypocrisy is the same as any right-wing group. Bush demonizes Democrats while claiming to be improving the "tone" of communication in Washington, Ted Haggard preaches about morality while paying hush money to guys he had sex with and snorting meth off a gay hooker's cock, and PETA's VP uses insulin from animal sources to stay alive while attacking all medical testing on animals. They euthanize most of the animals they take in, the bastards. 

When you look at their behavior and attitudes, PETA is clearly right-wing... just like all evil fundamentalist nutjobs. 

I know there are readers who read my blog...

... therefore, I thought I would share my current stack of books to read so far this year (hi Kitten, welcome to my bloggie-thang.) 

I've got most of Kim Harrison's "The Hollows" series of supernatural detective books. There are a couple of Greg Bear science fiction novels. There's the whole stack of  Witchblade graphic novels, because those of you who read my wife's blog know that my wife is a fan of the TV series. I've got a political criticism of that batshit crazy Ann Coulter's anti-humanity screeds. There's the new Repairman Jack novel from F. Paul Wilson. I'm working my way through a series of Star Wars novels, even though I generally HATE those sorts of "movie tie-in" books, because these books are effing brilliant! There's a Richard Dawkins evolutionary biology book, some Henry Rollins punk rock poetry, fiction from William Gibson and T.C. Boyle, bad military/science thrillers by James Rollins, and a graphic novel from Stephen King's kid. 

These should last me at least a few weeks, right? 

Another bowling post, featuring old black guys!

Bowled a big fat 127, including a hardcore 29 points in the last frame. Once I get consistent with my approach, and learn the control to hit the 10-pin, I have the feeling that my scores are going to shoot up a good 40-50 points. Bowling is much more fun when you have a basic level of competence. My dad was telling me that when they visited my mom's sister in California, my aunt and uncle had fancy balls and bags and wrist supports and all the gadgets and doodads... and bowl in the 7o-80 range. I don't understand how you can find bowling enjoyable enough to buy fancy gear, but not so much fun that you would actually bother to learn how to play. That's like buying a $4000 guitar and then not learning how to play more than one chord.

The place was mostly empty, but there was this one pretty big group of old black guys in there. They were hooting and hollering at each other, making jokes about each other, and generally cutting up. It really made me think. I don't have any friends, but if I did I think it would be cool to go bowling with them. More importantly, that seems like EXACTLY what I want to do when I get old and retire. 

When I was a younger guy than I am now, I worked in fast food joints part time, over summers, whatever. I remember seeing these old people come in, drink a gallon of free refills of coffee, and read the newspaper. They's all sit in the corner together, but they never seemed to actually talk to each other or enjoy each other's company. For fucking hours. And then a few of them would complain and whine about the joint being closed for a holiday, wondering where they were going to go if we didn't have a pot of free coffee waiting for them? I remember thinking that they were the saddest, most pathetic thing on earth. I would rather put a bullet in my brain than live out the last 10-20 years of my life in that sort of tedium. 

On the other hand, if I find some bowling buddies, and spend every Wednesday afternoon cutting up, doing weird chants to distract whoever is up, and otherwise having a good time? I could live with that. I can certainly imagine worse ways to finish out my run.

Sweet frakking ball!

I got my very own bowling ball this week. I've been bowling on and off since I was a little kid, but this is the first time I have committed to a ball of my very own. I can't believe it took me a few days to post about it! Here it is:

That's a Hammer Black Widow Pearl. It is a mid-range performance ball, which will give me a little bit of a hook, but not so much that I can't control it. They can drill the holes in them to give you different amounts of hook, and I had them drill the ball to be pretty conservative. It is still going to take awhile for me to start getting some consistent scores, but I am looking forward to the practice.  

Tomorrow... I'll be bowling on my own first thing in the morning, and I'll be kicking the crap out of the wife on Sunday. It will be a serious change of pace: she's been a MUCH more effective bowler than I have over the last few weeks of playing. MUCH. Not for long! *grins*

Blu-ray VS. Blurry!

Defina wants to know: 

"So is there really any difference between bluray and regular dvd? High def just doesn't really blow my socks off."

The answer is a solid "maybe" which depends on the movie and the quality of the TV. You also have to take into account the fact that newer DVD players will "upconvert" your regular DVDs to near-HD quality. 

First off, newer movies generally look better on Blu-ray than older ones. Unless the transfer is made from original or digitally restored film stock, the HD version of an older movie isn't going to be particularly impressive. My "Ultimate Edition" version of Terminator 2 on DVD actually looks slightly better after the upconvertion than the Blu-ray version from an inferior film transfer. If the company just copies a VHS onto Blu-ray, it is going to look like shit. 

Next, you have to think about whether you really want to pay the extra money for an HD version of a comedy or faily drama. Do you really need to see the hairs on Seth Rogen's ass on the HD version of Zach and Miri Make a Porno? Or will the regular resolution of his pasty-white buttcheeks be just as funny and slightly less gross? Big blockbusters look pretty impressive in HD, but you aren't going to watch some Oscar-winning historical drama for the color contrast and black levels. Don't forget that an upconvert DVD player will sharpen up the picture.

Now let's talk televisions. HDTV's come in three varieties: 720p, 1080i, and 1080p. The 720p is the lowest resolution, which means that your HD discs are going to be downconverted and you'll lose any advantage of the Blu-ray format. 1080i is better, but 1080p is the best out there as far as I know. I've got twoHDTVs: a 32" 720p in the bedroom, and a fancy 40" 1080p in the living room... and I'd never bother getting a Blu-ray player for the smaller TV. The picture just won't be good enough to justify the expense.

Finally, size DOES matter. If you want a REALLY big TV, you want to go HDTV and get the Blu-ray player. Otherwise, you're going to have a 50" or bigger blurry mess on your hands. 

I hope that I've been of some help. This stuff is always a little complicated, especially for people who just don't care that much... and I guess that's really the point, isn't it? If you give enough of a crap to notice the difference, then you should go for the HDTV and Blu-ray. Otherwise, save the money for a ring-tailed lemur.

I've got NOTHING!!!

Well, no. I have bunches of stuff. I'm starting this blog entry tonight with literally no goal in mind. 

I've been watching a lot of movies? Is THAT a topic? I used to be really into the whole special features thing. I listened to all of the commentary tracks. I watched all of the "making of" features. I even watched all of the deleted and extended scenes. I was really excited when I got a Bluray player, because the special features were supposed to be even better. I just don't have much interest anymore. I've had the 2-disc Dark Knight thing for a month and just watched the movie. I bought the 5-disc Blade Runner set and only watched Disc 1. Dammit, what happened?!?!

I think what happened, besides being overloaded with features, is that it all became sort of... expected? When I first started watching DVDs, it was a rare and exciting treat to see a couple of special features. Sometimes the commentary tracks would be as good as the movie, and much more unpredictable. The rare deleted scenes might actually add something to the understanding of the movie. Like most new things, there was an unrehearsed spontaneity to a lot of the extras that made them more interesting.

Now? Now it seems like the "bloopers" are as scripted at the movie. It seems like the "deleted scenes" were filmed specifically for the disc. The commentaries are very self-aware performances instead of insightful discussions on the film. The whole thing has become as cynical and jaded as my reaction to it. 

Also, they rarely include gummi bears. Why no gummi bears?

Bowling again!

Went bowling today, with my DAD (thanks for driving here!) and I kicked his ass! I'm still not any good, but now I'm not any good with a hook!

Otherwise, things are completely turned to shit here, and will never ever be the same. Have a great week everyone!

Dr. Drew is a Dr. Douche Nozzle

For those of you who don't know, Dr. Drew Pinsky is an addiction medicine specialist, national radio show host, and "star" of VH1's Celebrity Rehab, and VH1's Sober House. He is also someone in whom I have invested a lot of my own emotional success. For the past two decades, he has been co-host of the radio show "Loveline." I really got into the show during a very rough time in my life.  The advice on the show was often harsh, but always fair, and it really helped me straighten out my own BS. Dr. Drew became a voice of reason in my life, when I really needed it.

Of course, it is ALWAYS a mistake to invest too much hope in anyone. Turns out that a professional addiction medicine specialist is no exception. I read his book Cracked and enjoyed it, and also made note of Drew's co-dependent tendencies. I started to pay attention to his relationships with others in light of his admitted deficiencies. I was still cool with him... until Celebrity Rehab.

Celebrity Rehab was a "reality show" depicting the lives of F-List pseudo- celebrity addicts trying to sober up. It was bullshit from start to finish. It was abbriviated rehab, staged for the cameras. Sobriety took a backseat to ratings, which means that the health of the participants was always secondary to the need for televised drama. Now there's "Sober House" and in the first two episodes we see Dr. Douche Nozzle cram a extremely high Steven Adler(from Guns N' Roses) into a house full of sober D-list celebrities. On the second day, he smokes a shit-load of heroin in the bathroom, and leaves the leftovers for everyone else to stumble on. Finally the people running the house have to call the cops on him.

Dr. Dipshit's response? He bails the junkie out, detoxes him, and shoves him right back into the "Sober" House. Way to go, moron: for celebrity addicts, actions DON'T have consequences. No wonder none of them manage to stay sober. Someone should sue him for malpractice over this. 

Why the Republicans want America to fail: Part Tw

In the comments to the last entry, Mrs. Chili mentioned the petty, dismissive nature of Republicans in a time where we need to make big bold action right now. They are nitpicking the stimulus package over things that they admit are only 2-3% of the funds, and using those petty and often dishonest complaints to block passage or force more useless tax cuts. Let's look at some more recent comments from Republicans, to show that their heads are in the wrong place:

Sessions' call for GOP 'insurgency' draws fire

"WASHINGTON – The Republicans are taking a page from the Taliban's book. So says one of their own leaders.

Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, the leader of the GOP's House campaign arm, compared the party to the terrorist-supporting Afghan group in an interview with the Hotline, a Washington political newsletter. He was trying to describe the Republicans' strategy for the 2010 midterm elections.

"Insurgency, we understand perhaps a little bit more because of the Taliban," Sessions said during the 60-minute sitdown. "And that is that they went about systematically understanding how to disrupt and change a person's entire processes."

He continued: "I'm not trying to say the Republican Party is the Taliban. ... I'm saying an example of how you go about [it] is to change a person from their messaging to their operations to their frontline message. And we need to understand that insurgency may be required when the other side, the House leadership, does not follow the same commands, which we entered the game with."

That's good to know, isn't it? The Republican Party should be "insurgents" and stage a revolt against the Democrats, and subvert the electoral will of the American people. When the Republicans were in power, you will surely remember that they accused the Democrats of being obstructionist forsimply trying to do their jobs. Now the Republicans are actively calling for in "insurgency" against the Democrats. But wait, there's more!

Members cheer vote at GOP retreat

"Before Gingrich offered that somewhat surprising praise, Boehner reminded Republicans that they are no longer in the business of legislating and should focus almost solely on communicating their message with voters.

 

"We are in the communications business,” Boehner told the crowd during his opening remarks. “We can build a new Republican majority one issue at a time."

How much do you love that? The Republicans in Congress are no longer in the business of doing their jobs in Congress. Their ONLY job is to pull stunts to get publicity, in order to improve their electoral prospects. They aren't interested in helping America get back on its feet, they only care about getting votes next election. Their best bet is to block anything that will help Americans, drive the country into worse straits than it is already in, and then blame the Democrats. 

That's what "patriotism" and "public service" mean to the GOP: grasping power for themselves at any cost. 

WHY THE REPUBLICANS WANT AMERICA TO FAIL

Why the Republicans want America to fail:

Because their worldview requires failure as validation.

Let's get into some detail, keeping in mind that there is a reason that the Republican Party attracts racists, holocaust deniers, Biblical literalists, Ayn Rand devotees, and other people who embrace fact-deficient philosophies.  It is necessary to remember this when diagnosis the Republican delusion, and why it is so dangerous for America.

People who hold beliefs in the face of overwhelming evidence against them share common traits. One of those traits is to associate everything negative in life with a failure to properly follow the dictates of their philosophy. It goes much further than expecting other people to fail because they aren't doing things "right"; they actively desire pain and suffering in others as "proof" of their own righteousness. 

When they cannot succeed, they refuse to accept that they are simply wrong about the way the world works. Instead they concoct conspiracies in which everyone is conspiring against them. The world would be perfect, they think, as soon as all dissenting views and unapproved behaviors are smothered. The fact that no one can perfectly follow their philosophy actually acts as some sort of perverse strength of their position. They have a 100% complete "out" when their ideas fail: somewhere along the way, someone didn't follow the rules completely. So it means that they never have to admit failure, and can always claim that if we only follow them again, only more so, things will somehow magically turn out differently.

There is also a kind of warped sense of morality that puts the ideology ahead of all other considerations. These people have no problem lying about pretty much everything, all the time. If you listen to them speak about something you understand, you will see that they are not only wrong, but fractally wrong. Even when they are corrected repeatedly, even when you know that they know better... hell, even when they know that you know that they know better, they will just keep lying. They have absolutely zero problem breaking the law, breaking their promises, snorting meth off of a gay hooker's cock... you get the picture. At the same time, they will claim the moral high ground because they are defending the "right idea," which makes them righteous and everyone else morally bankrupt by definition, if not by any logical standard.

Put it together now. These people can't surrender their beliefs no matter how wrong they are. Their philosophy has a self-preserving element that resists any self-correction. They believe that they are better than everyone else no matter what harm they do. They are willing to do any amount of harm in pursuit of their goals. They LIKE the misery that their actions cause. 

That's today's Republican Party. When Rush Limbaugh declares that he wants Barack Obama to fail, he is actually holding back and censoring himself. He wants AMERICA to fail. He hates most of us, because we disagree with even one part of his position. He hates everything that America stands for because ideas like laws and freedom of expression mean that he can't have his way and other people can have their say. Ultimately, he would be happy to see America destroyed because he's set for life and he can sit back and laugh at the suffering of the rest of us.

Tomorrow, we discuss why the Democrats suck.

Quick Political Rant!

Just a fast, drive-by sort of complaint here. I won't keep you long.

Why is it that the Democratic Party, President Obama, and the entire media has adopted the right-wing spin on the stimulus package? Aren't the Republicans and their "tax cuts in good times, tax cuts in bad times, tax cuts to fix EVERYTHING" and "regulation is bad, we can trust people to do the right thing except when it comes to their genitals" nonsense the reason why we're in this mess? I'm sick and tired of right-wing idiots and their failed political ideology being taken seriously! Their viewpoint has already had a hearing, it has failed America and has been rejected at the polls.

They had their chance and they failed miserably, so there's no reason to pretend that they should have any say in anything ever again. Well, at least until they repudiate their anti-American philosophy. Until then they need to STFU.

Went to the doctor...

Yeah, that was fun!!

I've been going to a shrinky-dink to get my happy pills. I missed an appointment, so she canceled my refill which meant that I came damned close to running completely out of my meds and going into a serious withdrawal. When I went to see her she left me in the waiting room for a half hour, talked to me about three minutes about me, and then talked about herself for 15. That counted as an hour for billing purposes. She also changed my meds from a cheap generic to something much pricier for no good goddamned reason.

So, I decided that if I was paying her $45 a visit (plus the $100 my insurance company was kicking in) for a chick to write me prescriptions and otherwise do nothing for me, I might as well see an actual medical doctor and only pay $30 and get advice on my health. I waited about one minute before going into an examining room. I had to go through a bunch of tests from a bunch of techs, so I was there for almost two hours. Of that time, I was waiting maybe 15 minutes? The doctor spent a good 20-25 minutes going over my entire medical history, my diet and exercise, and even some commiseration over the stupidity of the shrinky-dink. 

All in all, a positive experience. You won't hear any complains from me... for a change!

Low-carb Nightmare!

Yeah, we're on that train, and it is kicking our asses. No bread, no pasta, no rice, no sugar, not even Splenda because it has 1 gram of carbs. I had a shake for breakfast, then celery and dip for a snack, and then some cheese and salami for lunch. Dinner is chili without beans, without chips, without masa. It makes me miserable and somewhat weak-feeling. Horrible headaches are pretty awesome too!

Anyhoo, as long as it doesn't interfere with my bowling. Of course, that means no nachos or beer at the bowling alley...

Sunday Stealing: The Super Sunday Stealing Meme

Sunday Stealing: The Super Sunday Stealing Meme

1) What was your dream growing up? I wanted to pilot a transforming robot. 
2) What talent do you wish you had? I wish I could sing. I REALLY wish I could sing. A lot.
3) If I bought you a drink what would it be? Scotch on the rocks. Maybe Johnnie Walker Green Label?

4) What was the last book you read? The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire by Matt Taibbi
5) Worst Habit? Nail biting.
6) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? I don't know... would you?
7) What is your favorite sport? Underwater basket weaving.

8) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Hey! I don't even know you! I would... try not to fart?

9) Worst thing to ever happen to you? I broke my ankle in two places, and tore every muscle, tendon, and ligament thingy in my lower leg. It wrecked my military career, ruined my fitness level, and led to depression and tons of weight gain that I'm still dealing with 12 years later.
10) Tell me one weird fact about you. I refer to lime-flavored stuff like Jello as "green flavored" and have since I was a little kid.
11) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly? Again, I don't know you! Of course, if you show up with a bottle of Johnnie Walker Green Label all bets are off.
12) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? I'd like my hair to be less frizzy. I have to keep it cut close or it sticks out in all directions.

13) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Neither... I would probably just watch, point a finger, and laugh when you screw up.


14) Ever been arrested? Sort of... long story.



15) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? I would buy a Taylor acoustic guitar, pay a couple of bills, and stick the majority of it in the bank. 
16) Favorite thing to do in your spare time? What spare time?!?! I try to sneak in some guitar playing and reading when I can.

17) Biggest pet peeve? People who get too close to other people, whether when standing in lines or cars tailgating each other. Here's the thing: you won't get where you are driving any faster by riding my bumper, and the cashier can't ring up your stuff until she's done with mine, so BACK THE FUCK UP!

18) In one word, how would you describe yourself? OUTSTANDING!

19) Do you believe in/appreciate romance? Sort of, I guess... with my own unconventional spin on it.

20) Who wins today: Arizona or Pittsburgh? Steelers by 10.