Thursday, September 25, 2008

My mind is boggled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbg6hF0nShQ

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/palin-on-russia.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z75QSExE0jU

Sadly, this is making me hopeful about the upcoming election, but the fact that people are willing to give their votes to her for the most superficial reasons is insane. I’ve never understood the American desire to have someone “average” in the office, because the President should be anything but. Read this:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/160080

Also, a detailed yet readable explanation of our current economic situation:

http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/diamond-and-kashyap-on-the-recent-financial-upheavals/

I need to drink more. The Office premier party tonight and Opeth tomorrow…thank fucking god…

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Calfa got married over the weekend, and it was a great reason for all of us to basically go on vacation together before summer ends. The resort was absolutely beautiful – right on North Bay and Lake Michican. We drove up on Friday night and spent the night drinking and talking around the fire, woke up, ate breakfast, and discovered some ridiculous bike trails belonging to the resort. It was perfect outside – slightly overcast and misty. All the life that had sprouted over the summer was stunning. We came back and got ready for the wedding – thankfully the rain let up and they got married right on the shore. It was a late afternoon ceremony so we headed to the lodge for cocktails, dinner, and the most dancing I’ve done in a long time. Everyone was pretty drunk, so I wasn’t too surprised to come back to our room to hear a couple of our friends loudly boning, but thankfully I passed out shortly thereafter. Sunday Russ and I went to Peninsula State Park and hiked around. Afterwards we went to a bar/grill in Fish Creek for some food and the newly married couple and other friends were there, so we watch the Packers beat the hell out of Detroit. It was the perfect way to end summer and spend a romantic weekend away. I love Milwaukee, but it’s awesome to find new places in your own state that rival the beauty of anything you’ve seen (and listen to a shitload of Swedish metal while doing it). I recently got a new camera so I went a little crazy with the photos, but everything was so overwhelming and I just wanted to document it all. A few photos...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bundlesofvitals/sets/72157607302890410/

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

One good beat...

We were lazing around last night and out of pure “oh I have cable again” curiosity, I watched the beginning of the VMAs. I liked Russell Brand in Forgetting Sarah Marshall and thought he might be funny, but the first 20 minutes of this thing (all I could make it through) were painfully unfunny and unparty…bad jokes, bad music, bad people. This is pop music nowadays? I mean it’s always kinda sucked but it they’d throw in a few legitimate musicians and nugs of entertainment here and there. And this isn’t because I’m nearing my late 20’s and feeling out of touch, because I can jam “Girls All Around The World” loud as fuck in my car and enjoy it (thankfully it samples “Ashley’s Roachclip”, which is used on Eric B & Rakim's "Paid In Full" among others, so maybe I’m just enjoying its origins...see 3:31 here), but man this show was baaaaad. I never thought I'd miss the days of RATM bassists climbing the set and Courtey Love yelling about drugs. As usual, fourfour sums it up perfectly...

Thursday, September 04, 2008

I just had a long conversation with a co-worker, a woman about twenty years older than me who is like this calm, benevolent mom of the office. She always sees both sides of issues so I can talk to her rationally about pretty much anything. I brought up catching some of the Republican National Convention last night for the pure entertainment value, and I mentioned how hard it is for me to get involved in anything political, since I get a robotic, disingenuous vibe from about 90% of statements politicians make. It creeps me out that there are people’s entire lives that are dedicated to pleasing (i.e. lying to) large numbers of people, namely people who’s jobs consist of twisting the same situations to represent different things (from both parties). Bizarre. I really pride myself on being able to see both sides of a situation, but last night it was very, very hard. I mentioned that Giuliani and Palin’s speeches were particularly weird since statements like “clinging to religion” were met with screams of pleasure from a bunch of old white ladies in straw hats, among other things. But our IT guy made it clear that he thought the exact opposite – that the Democrats had a negative vibe and the Republicans were merely celebratory. I made some neutral comment to try to diffuse the situation while my other coworker and I made “what the fuck” eyes at each other. Yikes. He’s also suuuper into Jesus. I just hope he doesn’t block my internet access.

Anyway, here are some things I learned from 20 minutes of the Republican National Convention:

John McCain can “protect us from anything nature throws our way”. Next tornado warning, he better be here doing some ridiculous shit.

Todd (“Second Dude”?), Padge (or whatever the older son’s name is), and the rest of the Palins look like all the douchey jocks from high school. Yes, I’m judging them based on appearance. Todd.

The shots of Giuliani in front of the water looked almost exactly like the bad CGI shots of Wyckyd Scepter performing “Getting the Shaft Again” for all those gay guys.

Roberta McCain, mom of John McCain, is still alive. Wow!

Calls for offshore drilling from Giuliani will be met with chants of “DRILL BABY DRILL” followed by his maniacal laughter and Joker-like smile.

The kid who knocked up her daughter looked freaked the fuck out. It ruled.

One random old man likes to wear his baseball hat backwards. It was kinda cute.

After that it started to get unsettling, so we watched Bear Grylls eat a raw sheep’s heart after pulling its body from a peat bog. It wasn’t that much different…

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Ugh...

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.