No Candy Here

I was posed with a dilemma tonight. There were some kids out for Halloween early this evening because it's on a Sunday this year.

Stickin' it to the Man TWICE

Here's a great interview (mp3 25.9mb) with Seth McFarlane of Family Guy. He talks about Family Guy and American Dad obviously, but what he really focuses on is how the current administration in the White House has really came down on free speech. He recommends that if you want to see Family Guy on TV in the future without any more hassles, vote for Kerry. If there is anyone that knows about what the current administration is doing, it's someone that has been cancelled from TV. Other news of note: American Dad will do a premiere (hopefully) immediately following the Super Bowl and it's regular season will start sometime in April. The new Family Guy episodes don't have an official release date yet, but Seth McFarlane guesses that it will be sometime between March and May.

And even more edgy is this audio clip (mp3 16.5mb) of Howard Stern taking on the chairman of the FCC. Ironically enough, one of Howard Stern's friends called him to tip him off about Michael Powell (son of Colin Powell, imagine that) being interviewed on a radio station. So what does Howard do? He calls up the radio station and asks to be put through to talk to him live on the air. It's funny to hear the guy taking the call when he first realizes who it is that's calling in. This is definitely worth listening to because Howard Stern really surprised them and really that's the only way to go about getting the real story because Michael Powell was forced to answer questions live on the air without any preparation. I think Howard Stern should be commended for this stand against the FCC because I've heard that what happened wasn't even his fault. Someone called in and started saying a lot of things that were inappropriate before anyone could really do anything. Then the thing with Janet Jackson and the rest is history.

Mikey da Worm

Here's a short clip and another one of my friend Mike doing "the worm." I've seen him drunk at 4 a.m. and doing this on a wet lawn.

Jon Stewart on Crossfire

This is an .mp3 (14.9mb) of Jon Stewart's controversial interview on CNN's Crossfire on 10.15.2004.

Update: Here's an .mp3 (1.7mb) of Jon Stewart reflecting on his Crossfire appearance on the Daily Show the following Monday.

I've listened/watched both of them 2+ times and I think they are quite ballsy, but definitely what we need as far as someone standing up against the media. As far as I can tell, CNN isn't the best source of news that you can get. I've seen them screw up news that I knew was wrong and they never fixed it. This particular instance was when a lot of news organizations including CNN were reporting that officials in the UK (I think) were claiming that the Apple iPod is a security threat because it can be hooked to a computer and have large amount of information stored on it and it is highly mobile. Where they came up with this is unknown. But after some investigation, all the Apple news sites that I went to said that it was fixed. Even the BBC was reporting this directly, but CNN didn't change their story. That's one instance that I distinctly remember, and I also remember emailing them about it. I bookmarked the story and checked back two days later and CNN still hadn't changed it. So much for accurate news reporting. It's sad that Americans have to check the news from other countries to really find out what's going on in the world. My Poli-Sci teacher recommends the LA Times for accurate news reporting because they are the only US news organization that has offices in almost every country in the world.

However, what Jon Stewart did wasn't about accurate news reporting. And I don't think it was to be funny, although I heard some people say that he was trying to be cute but ended up looking stupid for approaching it like that. I think he went on there and used sarcasm and biting truth to bring to light what they are doing. From what I can tell, they are contributing to cookie cutter politics. Partisan hackery is what he called it, and that's about what it is. People don't realize that a long time ago some idiot came up with the two-party system and everyone thinks they fit on one side or the other. I think it's bullshit. You can just be a person with different feelings about different issues and even then it's not that simple. Every situation has it's own nuances that might cause one person think outside the partisan box. For instance, I took a 40-question quiz on issues that most people consider to be key topics for liberals and conservatives. Of the 40 questions, I had 22 of them lean toward conservative and 18 leaning toward liberal. Why is that? Because most people don't completely fit on one side or the other. The problem is the candidates almost always fit their issues nicely on one side or the other. In turn most people think they have to conform to one side or the other. If you're not for us, you must be for them. No. And this isn't about the common "don't label me" propaganda. I'm just saying that people are people and trying to categorize them politically into one side or the other is really misleading. Jim Goad calls this the "binary brain." I must agree. And I think that's what Jon Stewart was trying to point out, that they are basically kowtowing to the idea and furthering it instead of providing civilized discourse. Many people have pointed this out, but still the media doesn't understand. I'm glad Jon Stewart went on national TV to try to do some good. In my mind what he did was relatively harmless, but in our sensitive public arena just pointing out obvious truths causes an uproar.

The problem here is that people don't try to think outside the box. They don't try to think for themselves, they try to think in terms of liberal vs. conservative, good/evil, etc. Instead of making up their own mind, they tend to think "what would a liberal do" instead of thinking, what would I do?

Regarding politics, I had until tonight been confused on the Electoral College system. I now consider myself educated on the subject and I have found that despite the fact that I once thought the presidential election should be direct vote (one person, one vote vice electoral college or bloc voting) the EC system actually works and in fact prohibits a variety of bad situations from occurring. For more information, visit this site. Of particular interest in really understanding how the EC works, I highly recommend reading this excellent primer on it (.pdf file), particularly the last half about the modern state of the EC. I have asked many people about how the EC works, but no one really knew. Now I know. Not that there aren't flaws in the way certain states are over-represented, but for the most part, it works well.

New Photo

Here's my new photo since SOME PEOPLE didn't like the old photo of me that I was using. :) This was taken with my cameraphone last night.

I Forgot to Mention...

So now that I'm going to go through the next few days remembering a ton of stuff that I've done over the past two months that I forgot to put on the previous post, here's one of them. I found a band called The Siderunners that I really like. I found them through the Evil Genius Chronicles Podcast last week and the second I heard the song "Due South" I knew I had to find the CD. Well, it's on iTunes and the album is called Ain't Inventin' the Wheel. You can find it on iTunes here if you're interested. Great music from a cowpunk (kinda country, kinda punk...trust me, it's good) band out of Chicago, Illinois. I'm not sure what to classify them as, but as Adam Curry would say, don't call it independent, it's just good fucking music.

In other news, my plans for world domination are almost complete. Oh wait...a Stewie moment. I've also been listening to the debates...uh, that's a whole separate entry altogether. Let's just say I'm not voting for Bush. Although, I must admit he didn't mispronounce as many things as I thought he would. But he's definitely not as comfortable talking in a public forum as John Kerry is. Not only that, but every time Bush screws up, many T-shirt companies get a lot more business. If you listened to the debates, you'll understand the "Internets" reference.

The Last Two Months of my Life Roundup

Contrary to popular belief, I actually have been updating my website. I just haven't actually posted the updates. I've updated a few times, but none of it got finished or I didn't like the posts enough to fully post them. Or I bit off more than I could chew and stopped in the middle of the post.

Let's see...here's a fraction of what has happened in the past two months:

-I'm a year older as of 10.15.2004...I'm 26 to be exact.
-My love life went to shambles, then back to being great again, the best it's ever been, in fact.
-I bought a cameraphone.
-I bought the Altec Lansing inMotion iM3 speakers for my iPod a few days before my birthday as an early gift. This is probably the most outrageously expensive gadget I've bought on a whim. Yet. But I really, really like the speakers. And they are completely portable.
-I found out about Podcasting. It's basically TiVo for spoken word content to put on your iPod. Now I get free audio content (mostly spoken content) downloaded straight to my iPod for something to listen to on the way to work besides shitty radio and the same music I listen to everyday. It's nice to hear what smart people think about things when they aren't controlled by big machine radio and they can say what they want.
-I helped a friend move.
-It rained in San Diego. No, really this is big news here. We didn't get rain for almost 6 months.
-I found the best taco shop I've ever been to.
-I met a psycho bitch who had numerous problems, that I ditched without hesitation.
-I found a new free messenger/chat client that is a million times better than MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger put together. Funny, that. How is it that two Internet superpower conglomerates have a messenger that doesn't even compare to a free one that is probably done out of someone's basement?
-I've watched a LOT of episodes of the Family Guy.
-I emailed Adam Curry and got a response about making audio bookmarks for Podcasting.
-William Gibson is blogging again, finally!
-I found out I'm addicted to Starbucks peppermint mochas. Don't laugh. As soon as the Torani Italian peppermint syrup gets here from Morgan (they don't have it at Von's here so I had her ship me one that she got special from their supply guy), I'll be making them on my own so I can have my fix whenever I want at my own leisure. No more Starbucks coffee-codespeak and no more overzealous baristas saying, "What special drink can I get started for you today?"
-I learned that only a tiny fraction of Wi-Fi hotspots are free. I just thought it was a bonus for going to some businesses and using their services.
-I've learned a lot in college. I read a good book in my Political Science class called Ecotopia.
-I have registered to vote with an absentee ballot, although somehow I don't think I'll be voting because somehow they will screw it up. Besides, the electoral college is what counts anyway.
-Two new neighbors moved in next to me. In keeping with tradition, they are both quiet people.
-I ordered the first three seasons of Seinfeld on DVD, to be shipped on November 22. Why did they wait so long to release this? Buildup, I guess.
-I bought the DVD Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I highly recommend NOT buying the soundtrack. I'll give you mine.
-I've gotten drunk a lot.
-I found out about Flickr, the ultimate online photo management service. I've uploaded my new photos here. I will probably continue to upload them there, especially my cameraphone photos, because they upload instantaneously to Flickr when I send them.
-I found out about Google SMS. It basically allows you to search Google Local (a fantastic search tool for local businesses) from your cell phone and it gives you the first three responses on your phone via text messaging in less than a minute. The procedures are easy to use and there is a nice little help guyid you can print out and put in your wallet for future reference. From the site: What is Google SMS? Google SMS (Short Message Service) enables you to easily get precise answers to specialized queries from your mobile phone or device. Send your query as a text message and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product prices and more. Just text. No links. No web pages. Simply the answers you're looking to find.
-I found out today that I will not be staying on shore duty an extra year. I will be departing the military in September 2005 as planned.
-Goddamn, I went on a trip to Montana. I forgot, it has been a while.
-And a ton of other personal stuff that I can't go into here.

Anyway, here's the half-ass postings that I didn't get around to actually put on my site. Two of them kind of cut off in the middle, but you get the idea.

Carpe Diem My ass, or: Today is a Gift (written 10.15.2004)

While I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant today, I had an epiphany. While my waitress was talking to a table of Mexicans in Spanish even though her native tongue is some Asian language (don't know, don't care), I thought, wouldn't it be nice if we could just eliminate all other languages besides English. How great would it be to go to any place in the United States (or the world for that matter) and know that the person you are talking to clearly understands exactly what you are saying? I know this is impossible, but I think it would be so much better for the world. The guy behind the counter at 7-11 would understand exactly the type of liquor you want without pointing 3 times and Mexicans wouldn't be able to talk behind your back in front of your face. Life would be great.

On the other hand, I've always thought of how absurd white people sound when they say something they think is profound in another language. For instance, Carpe Diem means Seize the Day, as we have all heard before. Or Webster says: "Etymology: Latin, literally, pluck the day: the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future." I remember when I was in the 3rd grade and one of my teachers had this coffee cup that said Carpe Diem on it. I didn't think it was some deep meaning, I thought it was stupid that it was in another language, even if what it means in English could be considered significant. Why not do what I did and get a tattoo that says, "Today is a gift."



Other examples of people doing asinine things in another language is getting a Chinese symbol as a tattoo. I couldn't imagine how annoying it would be for a person to explain to every curious person they meet for the rest of their life that the

I don't think learning another language is necessary except in a business sense. The only way I assume most people learn another language is so they can take your money and put it in their pocket. I wouldn't learn Spanish to feel more educated, because it would be a waste of time. I would much rather learn something important in my own language than to learn the equivalent of

Being a Pessimist (written 9.16.2004)

"The worst part about being a pessimist is that you are usually right. The best part about being a pessimist is that, when you are wrong, you're happy that you're wrong."

-vec (waxing intellectual)

From the William Gibson Board

Modern Drunkard Wisdom (written 9.4.2004)

“Depression is just anger without enthusiasm. It’s an empty beer bottle with no one worth throwing it at.”
Norma M., her seething rage barely contained by apathy at the Cricket on the Hill.

(via The Modern Drunkard)

and the big one...

I'm in Big Sky Country (written 8.12.2004)

Right now I'm in Melrose, Montana typing on my Mac from a dial-up connection because cable and DSL don't run out in these parts. Despite that, I love every other aspect of the areas of Montana that I've seen so far.

Here is a photo from our drive back from the Louis and Clark Caverns tour:



The drive to Montana wasn't bad at all. After a lot of caffeine, a lot of Reverend Horton Heat music and Henry Rollins spoken word CD's, and 1100 miles later I finally got to Montana. The total trip time was 24 hours, but that is including all the stops, the traffic on the 15 by LA, and my 4 hour nap after I got into Utah. The greatest thing of all is having a dependable, comfortable car to drive that's an automatic, it has cupholders, reclining seats, and cruise control (my 4Runner) compared to a car that's a stickshift with no cupholders, the seats don't move, there's no cruise control, and the car has no power (my old Isuzu Rodeo).

The trip started out with me gathering all the stuff I was going to take and loading my car up in about 30 minutes before I went to work on Friday the 6th. A funny thing happened when I was loading my car up. As I was loading my computer in my car, the last possible thing to put in it, as it's the most expensive and easiest to grab and run with, I set it just barely within the arc of my back seat door. For fear of the criminals and thieves in my neighborhood getting a peak at my computer and because I hadn't had much sleep the night before, I opened the door rather quickly without thinking. As I opened the door only to notice my thinking error just a second too late, the door slammed into the rear handle of my computer. Basically, my G5 bitch-slapped my 4Runner and left a nick in the tough plastic of the edge of the door. It's not a big nick, but the funny part is how the G5 didn't even move when I did it. The door opened and smacked into the rear of my computer and it deflected it, leaving the nick and making the door on my car bounce back. I just thought that was funny.

A few more annoying things (problems at work, gas station bureaucracy and stupid gas station attendants) of little importance that caused my trip to start later than I wanted happened between the time I left for work and the time I was finally on the road to Montana. The drive to Las Vegas was a real treat. I was dropping my friend Rob off in Las Vegas, a trip that he made often because he is a recruiter and has to drive back and forth, but for me it was a first. We hit bad traffic outside of LA all the way to Victorville, but finally after a couple hours it died off right around the area where it turns into a one lane highway because of construction. And it got hot through the desert. Real hot. Every few feet there were blown tires from big rigs. In fact, we seen a big rig blow a tire two lanes over from us somewhere, but I think that was around LA.

Finally, we got to Las Vegas and I dropped Rob off. Because I'm kind of a crackhead when it comes to road trips as far as just getting there, I was ready to get back on the road. It was about 9 p.m. I gassed up the car, grabbed some Monster energy drinks and more ice for the cooler, and headed out into the hot Vegas air. I rolled down the windows, put the top down, turned up the radio, sucked down an energy drink and got out of Vegas as fast as I could. Once I was outside of Vegas for a few miles, there was nothing. It was completely desolate and there weren't cars ahead of me or behind me for a long stretch. After leaving the windows down driving 80 mph, having 4 hours of sleep the night before, and having a 16 oz. jolt of caffeine, your eyes get filmy. I changed back and forth between the hot night air and the AC, only because it was so hot out and the wind was getting to me. I was starting to get tired, but I persevered. Then I hit a stretch of a windy mountain pass that woke me right up. After driving through the curves and hills of the mountain pass, I stopped off once the road got back to normal. I gassed up and hit the road for about another hour before I decided to sleep at a rest stop for a couple hours.

I woke up from my sleep, put my seatback up to normal position, started the car, and got on the highway. Literally two minutes after waking from my 4-hour midnight nap, I'm going down the road at 80 and thinking that I really should have taken a few minutes to acquaint myself with reality before getting back on the road. But no time for that. Little happened until I got into Montana.

About ten hours after my nap I finally crossed the Montana state line. In typical road trip fashion, I played the song Big Sky by Reverend Horton Heat as I crossed the state line, the song that has always been the opening song at their concerts since as long as they have been playing that song. Montana is known as "Big Sky Country" and it wasn't long after I got across the state line that I noticed why. The land is wide open and it seems like some of the clouds are so close you could touch them. Not long after I got into Montana, I noticed one mountain on the left that was totally blocked from the sun by a low cloud. It was weird how just that little mountain was totally shaded, but the rest of the area around it was bright and sunny. About an hour later I pulled into Dillon, Montana where Morgan was waiting for me at her parents store, the local Phillips 66. We just laid around and relaxed the rest of the day at her parents house, as we were both tired.

Day 2

The next day we went to the mining town of Butte, MT, which Jim Goad claims:

"Butte, MT, was once rated "The Ugliest City in America." I've been there four times, and each time I have to leave, I swear to myself that I'm moving there. It's the prettiest place I've ever seen. A dead copper mine and dying brick edifices thrown in a pile against the Continental Divide. Once I get the cash, the Dept. of Corrections clearance, and a nice hooded parka, I'm there."

We drove around taking photos (I'll have to upload these later) of the mine, the city, and the now defunct brothel there. I've been to a lot of museums and tours, but the Dumas Brothel is quite possibly the most interesting and authentic place I have ever seen for a tourist exhibit. Morgan pointed out the brothel on the local travel guide before I really knew what she was talking about because the downtown area was fairly small and by then we were already there. I figured it would be the typical completely refurbished Disneyland-style museum where everything is clean and perfect looking. It wasn't like that at all. In fact, aside from a few basic changes to turn it into a public exhibit, the building seems to be just like what it was when it was in operation. A few tidbits about the Dumas Brothel: it was the longest operational whorehouse in American history, running from 1890-1982. The owner claims that the building architecture is the last of it's kind in America, as the windows are all on the inside except in the front and a couple in the back, as it was a whorehouse. They wanted to keep the business private, but they had windows in the front so that girls could talk to people walking by. I didn't know what to expect from a brothel tour, but after going inside to look around for a minute, I immediately decided to take the tour. The interesting part isn't that it was a whorehouse or the architecture, but the fact that it had 3 stories. The top story, the ground level, and it had an underground tunnel. They called the sex rooms "cribs", which were fairly small with one window, a bed, a bedside table with a candle or light, and a few knickknacks around the room. The cribs on the ground level on the back of the house had been boarded up in 1943 by the government.

Flickr

Here's my Flickr photos. Most of them are one's you've seen on this site, but some of them are uploaded from my camera-phone that you haven't seen. The best thing about Flickr is you can search for tags on photos, like San Diego, iPod, USA, etc, etc.