Archive Page 2
Transients and leftovers
So I am employed in Pioneer Square here in Seattle. It is one of (in my opinion) the coolest areas in Seattle. Lots of old-timey brick buildings all constructed in the 1890s and many edifices that are registered in the National Historical Places (or whatever you wanna call it). Pioneer Square was the original downtown Seattle. This area was reconstructed in the 1890s after a fire wiped out most of all of the builidings in the area. New codes mandated that each building must be constructed using brick and mortar to prevent future fires from repeating the destruction of the 1880s. After the fire, the area was literally raised one (1) story above the previous street level to help with some of the sewage and sanitation problems that plagued the area in the late 1800s. So now the new area has created an underground world where tourists can pay some cash, hop in a line, and walk underground and see the old storefronts and sidewalks of the 1800s. Pretty cool, but that means there is a litany of tourists every day parading around Pioneer Square. Sometimes I will literally see one hundred (100) or more (100+) people all in an enormous mass walking from corner to corner in Pioneer Square. I don’t mind this, seeing as I’m pretty much a tourist myself. The side effect is the hordes of transients who inhabit the Square asking for change and cigarettes from the tourists. There are many more streetwalkers here than in any part of the city (that I know of) because the out-of-town tourists with big pockets are much more sucseptible to handing out change than the seasoned locals who deal with the transients on a day-to-day basis. I can’t step outside of work without being hounded for change by a homeless person. Walking to the bus stop, I will literally be asked three or four (3 or 4) times if a can spare some change or a cigarette. It is becoming quite the nuisance to me. I don’t have a whole lot of money in the first place and any change that I do have, I usually have to use for bus fare, so I rarely give out any change. I am quickly becoming a hardened Seattleite. But that is not to say I am comepletely devoid of empathy. I honestly feel bad for most of these people and if I had infinite resources, I would give money to them all. The thing that bothers me is that many of these people need some sort of help with either physical addictions or mental disorders and just giving them money isn’t going to help them. Conversely, giving them money will only fuel their addictions and aid them in their lifestyles. What concerns me is that these people are starving while I work in a restaurant and can eat whatever I want when I’m there. So now, I’ve started a habit of preparing a little something extra [usually a pretty big slice of pizza or two (2)] while at work and keeping it handy for the first bum who asks me for money to buy food. I usually respond to them by saying “Sorry [sir, maam], I don’t have any change.” They give the standard despondent look and I proceed to walk away. Then at usually about five (5) paces I will turn around and say “I do have some pizza [or a sandwich or some chicken wings or whatever] here if you’d like it.” Their reactions are priceless. It makes me feel really good inside to know that I’m helping someone with a basic need, and not fueling an addiction or supporting an unhealthy lifestyle. I just hope I don’t gain a reputation of being the food guy and then all the transients start hanging out front of my store waiting for a handout. That could get hairy.
In other news, I totally called Aaron as one of the Oceanic Six. My dark horse candidate paid off. My other two (2)(…why do I keep doing this?) predictions are Sun and Sawyer, so if either of them makes it off the island, I will be 2-0f-3. And if Meatloaf ['his name is Robert Paulson'] were here, he’d reassure me that 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
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ringtones
I was just updating my Facebook. I changed the favorite music section to my LEAST favorite music section (a rather ingenius move if I do say so myself) and I was smack dab in the middle of typing in Metallica when the cell phone of this grungy looking dude about two computers down from me rang. What was his ringtone you ask? ‘One’ by Metallica. Crazy. I only hope the ringtone was pirated.
That brings me to another point: I am SO g.d. sick of music ringtones. Everywhere I go I’m confronted with music that I absolutely hate. I’m on the bus, minding my own business, reading quietly when BAM! I get Flo Rida in my ear. I’m typing at a quiet computer lab when I’m aurally assaulted my James Hetfield and Co. What ever happened to phones actually ringing? I feel like an old timer, but c’mon.
What’s worse is that the actual style and genre of hip hop music is being modified by the cell phone ringtone. Shit like Soulja Boy (don’t get me started) and Dem Franchise Boys is being created merely to sell ringtones. These tracks are produced so that they will sell millions of copies via ringtones and make such-and-such amounts of money. Zach Hendricks alerted me to this fightening new trend and now it’s one of the countless trivialities which occupy my mind. But, seriously, music should be created for personal and artistic reasons. It should enlighten, inspire, and touch, not instruct you to ’snap yo fingers, do yo step’ or to ’stop. wiggle wit it’. When it becomes mass-produced just to make money, there is no heart or soul in it and it drives me crazy.
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Random thoughts…
So in wordpress, there’s a niblet that shows if people used google or other search engines to find and visit your blog. It tells you what term that person entered in the search box to get to your blog. I just looked and yesterday, someone was referred to my site by using the term ‘hip hugger kokomo report’. I have no idea what would lead that search to my site, but it kicks ass.
I have a great chord structure and melody written for a song, but I just can’t write lyrics. I don’t know what it is about me, but I have never once been able to write any lyrics. So if anyone out there is a fantastic lyricist, maybe we could start an Elton John/Bernie Taupin thing.
I watched the Grammys and they sucked as usual, except for: Foo Fighters were good; Vince Gill (yeah, that Vince Gill) made fun of Kanye; Lupe Fiasco won a much-deserved award; and the return of MORRIS DAY AND THE MAHFUCKIN’ TIME!!!!
Kanye West is such a douchebag. I hate everything about him. We he started on the scene, he was alright, but now he’s an egomaniac who thinks he’s the best artist that has ever lived. Fuck him. I know his mom died and that’s sad, but goddamn is he cocky. Just keep your mouth shut and be gracious to those who have helped you. He’s not even a good lyricist. Stick to making beats. Jesus. Quit wearing Max Headroom glasses.
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The Oceanic Six
So, I’m going to go out on a limb and make my prediction for who will be included in the ‘Lost’ Oceanic Six. I’m making the assumption that this means only people who were actually on Flight 815 [i.e. not Ben, Rousseau, Juliet, Desmond, etc.]. I’m also not including Michael and Walt. The viewers assume that they are already gone and have no need of ‘rescue’ (although Michael and Walt are both supposed to be back this season).
First off, we know Kate, Hurley, and Jack make it off the island. Those are 3. I believe the others that will make it off the island are Sun, Sawyer, and Aaron. These are just very preliminary hunches. I believe that Sun has a huge, central role in the story that we just haven’t delved deeply enough into yet. She is at the heart of the crew of survivors. Sawyer has an uncanny ability to keep surviving. And little Aaron. I don’t know why, but I just feel that his presence on the island will end up greatly affecting the outcome of the series. So there are my predictions. They all may be wrong, but whatever. For other Lost fans: who do you think will make it?
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Random Notes…
First off, how about the Season 4 opener of Lost? I don’t know about anyone else, but I thought it was fantastic. The Oceanic 6?! Jack firing an empty gun at Locke. Christian Shepard in the Jacob cabin. The Jack group vs. the Locke group. Jack visiting Hurley in the hospital asking if Hurley is ‘going to tell’. Good start.
I just finished a book on Lee Harvey Oswald’s involvement in the JFK assassination. The theory? That Lee Harvey Oswald was a real person that was in the Marines until 1959 when he was discharged and traveled to the Soviet Union, where he was hospitalized. During his stay, a remarkably similar looking impostor ‘Oswald’ emerged from the hospital [2 inches shorter, much thinner and balding, spoke fluent Russian with a Baltic accent, and different scar patterns (documents found may point to possible extensive plastic surgery) ] and demanded to renounce his American citizenship but was told to come back at a later date to make it official. He never returned to the embassy for renunciation and remained a U.S. citizen. He was then trained in espionage in Minsk, married a Russian girl, and after 2 years in the USSR, requested to return to America with his new wife. He was speedily returned to the U.S. where his mother and siblings noticed many physical and behavioral differences between the Oswald that was a Marine and this impostor ‘Oswald’. But, they accepted that the man was their kin, having not seen him since he enlisted in the Marines, some 5 years earlier, as opposed to recognizing him when he returned. Without going into great detail, he was a trained assassin sent by the Russian Intelligence Agencies to kill Kennedy and also cast blame upon the Cubans. It was a highly interesting theory and provided solid evidence for its claims [including multiple medical records displaying quite a few differences and contradictory statements between the Marine Oswald and the assassin 'Oswald']. No one knows what has become of the real Oswald in the USSR. I’m surprised I hadn’t heard this theory before. My Sausage Fingers hit some random combination of keys and automatically italicized this part of the text. I’m so tech-illiterate that I don’t know how to undo it. Just clicking the ‘I’ button at the top doesn’t have any effect. Just go with it. I got a job in a restaurant in ‘Historic’ Pioneer Square here in Seattle. It’s called the Crimson C and it’s a combo club-restaurant-bar. It’s a pretty cool environment and I will be attending to most of the kitchen duties myself. So yeah, that’s good news. I encountered a midly retarded girl who went bi-polar on me and scared me. She was walking towards me (by herself, mind you) when she asks, “Are you excited for the snow?” There was a forecast for snow that evening and I guess it rarely ever snows in Seattle, so in the words of Ron Burgundy, it was kind of a big deal. I replied “No. I hate snow” and kind of chuckled. I thought it was a friendly small talk thing to say, but it pissed her off. She was heartbroken and dumbfounded than anyone could ever hate the snow. Hating the snow meant hating everything she stood for. It was a personal attack on her valued belief system. She freaked. She started screaming at me “Well you’re going to have a lot of fun tonight then!!! It’s supposed to snow and there’s NOTHING (I would have italicized that, but, alas) you can do about it!!! NaNaNaNa BooBoo.” At this point she stuck her tongue out and made that PBBLLTT sound. Walking away, she was waving her ass in my direction, implying that I either kiss it or recieve poop in my face. It was distressing to say the least. I still hate snow, though. That is my right as an American citizen and there’s NOTHING she can do about it. NaNaNaNa BooBoo. Why did I just taunt a retarded person? I was walking to the library and I wanted something to do to pass the time on the walk, so I took a basketball to dribble along the way. People looked at me fuuny. I guess it’s a unique sight to see a kid walking around with a basketball. I’m a Hoosier, though. I can’t help it. I have a strong feeling that it is going to get played out, but there’s a song from some Brit named Kate Nash on the radio here. I’m pretty sure it’s just the English accent, but I love the song. It’s infectious and she swears multiple times a la Lily Allen. Righteous! I think I saw Eddie Vedder the other day. Actually, that’s a lie. I knew from the start that it wasn’t Eddie. The guy was too young to be Eddie and he was on the bus. I’m sure Eddie doesn’t do metro. I just kept trying to convince myself that it was 1995 and it truly was Eddie.Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Conservatives…
I just watched a documentary on Rudy Giuliani aptly titled ‘Giuliani Time’ that dealt with his terms as mayor of New York. Most people like to think that Rudy turned New York around by ending crime and cleaning up the streets. He also gets credit for the economic boom that occured during his term in office. But what most people don’t know is the way that the voters of New York were bamboozled by exaggerated reports of lower crime rates and fewer welfare dependants, saving New York millions of dollars. While it is true that New York saw a decrease in violent crime during his term in office, what wasn’t stated was that the ENTIRE COUNTRY saw the exact same drop in violent crime, with some large cities’ (Chicago, Houston) rates dropping much more than New York’s. Rudy also bragged about his Work Experience Program which forced people who recieve welfare checks to go out into the city and perform menial, mindless jobs in order to earn those checks. These jobs offered no formal business training and many people who had jobs in the first place or were going to school to earn G.E.D.s or college degrees while trying to support families on welfare were forced to quit their previous jobs or school because they were forced into menial labor in order to avoid being cut off from welfare. The poverty level rose in New York city during Rudy’s time in office but most people thought that the city was better off because the homeless and poor were physically forced off the street and underground into shelters where available resources were atrocious. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Because of Rudy’s cutbacks, many shelters were only able to provide food to the hungry and poor once a month. ONCE A MONTH. That is horrifying. Little children were starving and cold while Rudy used the money he cut from welfare to fund and support huge, multi-billion dollar companies (Disney, NYSE, Trump). Rudy also instituted the infamous Zero Tolerance policy in New York which, in effect, created a police state through much of the 90s in New York. If you were panhandling, jail time. If you were a young black kid in Harlem, you were manhandled and harrassed by the police who would plant guns on these kids and haul them off to jail. During Rudy’s reign police brutality lawsuits skyrocketed, many of the cases being validated and unheard of amounts of restitution were given back to the filers of these claims because their civil rights were violated. Street artists were arrested and booked, violating their first amendment rights. Rudy cut $7 million dollars from the budget of the New York Art Museum because he personally didn’t like a painting of the Virgin Mary created by an African man using dung. What he didn’t understand was that in many African villages, dung is seen as a very sacred and holy substance, meaning that his painting was produced in reverence to Mary, not desecrating her as Rudy believed. The New York Supreme Court overrulled Rudy and demanded that money be given back to the museum. Do you remember the innocent black guy who had a plunger shoved in his ass in a bathroom at an NYPD station? Yep, that was during Rudy’s reign. How about the unarmed black kid who was shot 41 times by 4 NYPD officers (who, unbelievably, were aquitted)? Rudy’s reign, too. The police were under Rudy’s control and these things were not seen as violations of human rights and dignity. Under zero tolerance, many such brutal acts were committed. I won’t even go into detail about the Giuliani family mob ties, or his multiple mistresses while in office, or how his own children won’t even talk to him. I just hope that this information is presented to U.S. citizens so they can be well informed before stepping into voting booths. We will have endured 8 years of criminality and human rights violations by the Bush administration. I can only pray that we don’t see 4 more. This new wave of conservatism must be stopped. Too many rights are being violated and paranoia is the new norm. To me, it truly is horrifying.
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Movies I’ve Watched in 2008
So, I’m going to attempt to keep track of all the films I’ve seen in 2008. It may be a daunting task, but I’m up for the challenge. So here goes:
-Home Alone [classic]
-Lady In The Water [far-fetched; Bryce Dallas Howard is gorgeous]
-Domino [too frenetic]
-Live By Request: Hall & Oates [fantastic; pop gold]
-Firestorm [Howie Long + forest fires = terrible]
-Today’s Man [touching story about autism]
-Jackass Number Two [hysterical]
-Monster [intense]
-The Benchwarmers [lame; predictable; the opposite of funny]
-You, Me, And Dupree [slow; as always, Luke Wilson would have been a far superior choice]
-The Goonies [gotta love the truffle shuffle]
-Matchstick Men [tries too hard]
-The New Guy [how does DJ Qualls have a film career?]
-Giuliani Time [eye opening]
-Capote [good, although it felt rushed]
-Lost Boys Of Sudan [fantastic documentary about two Sudanese refugees]
-Paradise Now [intense, heartrending story of suicide bombers in Palestine]
-War of the Worlds [although Tommy C may be a freako scientologist, I still dug this one]
-Dreaming in America [documentary following Tenn.-based rock band Lucero. If you haven't heard them, they're definitely worth a listen. Sort of Wilco meets Rancid. Bitchin']
-Starbucking [documentary about a super caffienated nutjob who is on a mission to visit every Starbucks in the world]
-White Noise [paranormal thriller in the same vein as The Ring. some genuinely creepy moments]
-Animal House [classic comedy, yet I feel it is mildly overrated mainly due to the fact that Tim Matheson sucks. Belushi is hysterical, though.]
-Rebel Without A Cause [James Dean plays the troubled, brooding teen well, yet, like most older movies, I find the other acting to be over the top and unrealistic. Natalie Wood is (was) a babe]
-Beerfest [average. good for a couple laughs]
-The Groomsen [good cast, decent laughs - surpassed my expectations]
-Million Dollar Baby [highly enjoyable although I usually tend to avoid Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood flicks. Morgan Freeman makes any movie better]
- Office Space
-The Science Of Sleep
-Walk The Line
-A Scanner Darkly
-Little Miss Sunshine
-Employee of the Month
-Thank You For Smoking
-Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny
-Catch Me If You Can
-The Beach
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Public Television
I have just recently gotten over (mostly) having the flu. The illness was exactly what I had hoped for when I planned my move to Seattle. Nothing better than puking, sneezing, and being confined to a couch when you first move to a new, strange place.
I guess one of the good things about it was the fact that I watched a crap-ton of interesting programming on PBS. It was brought to me by viewers like you. See, we don’t have cable, so we get about 5 or 6 channels, one of which comes in clearly – PBS. So I’ve been watching the shit out of it. I’ve seen programs on insomnia, cuisine, autism, the Bonus Army, Taoism, and, the most interesting, the JFK Assassination. This program kind of blew my mind and has led me to pick up a couple of books on the subject. I guess 70% of Americans believe that there was some sort of conspiracy or that Oswald did not act alone. As of now, being pretty well uninformed on the subject, I tend to believe that Oswald acted alone, given that over 40 years have elapsed since the incident and the passing of time, and the passing of many directly involved with the investigation has not led to any news clues or explanations to verify the ‘grassy knoll’ and other conspiracy theories. But, my mind is definitely open to the possibility of multiple assassins, conspiracy theories, and government cover-ups. So, I will do some more research on the subject and formulate an opinion afterwards. But, what do you think?!
I recently read a book about John Wilkes Booth and his 12 day manhunt after the assassination of Lincoln. I think it’s pretty safe to say he acted alone. Crazy anti-abolitionist bastard. Sic semper tyrannis my ass.
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Notes From The Road
Driving from Noblesville, Indiana to Seattle, Washington is a long trip. Especially in a U-Haul.
Central Illinois is boring. So is Iowa. And South Dakota, too. Pretty much everything west of Montana sucks.
Wall Drug is a bizarre, creepy place. But they have free bumper stickers.
That one Colby Callaite (or however the hell you spell it) song was played over 10 times on the trip, nudging past Fergie’s “Clumsy” and some Daughtry song, making it the most played song coast-to-coast.
Chris and Nicole are the best hosts ever. Nicole got up and cooked us a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, hash browns, and toast. That was unexpected, but awesome.
Bozeman is a cool little town in which I could see myself living. It’s like a rural town without a meth problem. Whoever calls it MANtana is wrong. I saw quite a few cuties in town. Snow bunnies.
Gas is expensive. Good lord.
Crossword puzzles are an amazing time killer. Especially when all you can do is listen to friggin’ Daughtry on the AM/FM.
But, overall, the trip went smoothly. Nothing was stolen and we didn’t die. Success!
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Walking…
I just met the most intense, hyper-caffienated dude ever. I was walking from our apartment to the library (where I am now) and I passed this coffee kiosk called Chicka Latte. Sidenote: Chicka Latte is the best idea ever. They have one busty girl working at all times, wearing not much more than a tanktop and a smile. Genius! The Hooters of the coffee world. Anyhoo, I walked past the kiosk and saw this mean looking dude paying for his coffee. He starts walking in the same direction as me and I’m thinking “Great…now this jerkoff is going to walk behind me the whole way.” I have weird phobias. Like, I don’t like to have my neck touched by anyone or anything other than my own hands. I freak out when I can’t move my arms. And I really hate it when people are walking behind me. If we’re in a big crowd, it’s cool. Understandable. But when it’s one-on-one and someone is walking right behind me I get fidgety. I want to turn around and look, but that’s always awkward. So I do the half way head tilt pretending to look at something on my sides, but I’m really using my peripherals to scope the person out. It’s just a mess in general. I can’t stand it. So that’s what I was thinking when MegaMan started cruising at my speed. “Watch out for these fuckers, man, they’ll get you,” MegaMan said, pointing at the puddles on the sides of the road. It had rained earlier and now there were big pools of water just waiting for some 16 year-old to drive through, soak us, give us the finger, and laugh. “They’ll splash you and they won’t give a fuck.” This guy was also highly vulgar. I’m pretty sure he dropped the f-nugget over 30 times in 5 minutes, or roughly 1 every 10 seconds. He must have just assumed [rightly] that I was cool with blunt profanity. Anyway, we get to talking about this and that, from kids in college to the local strip clubs we walked past [his advice: "the strip clubs around here aren't worth a fuck. You need to go to Portland or Vancouver for good strip clubs." "Cool," I said. "But I'd say go to Portland 'cause it's in America." Hell yeah, MegaMan. Thanks for the heads up]. We ended up walking about 10 blocks together before he had to go to into his job. His employer, you ask? A gun shop. Shit, yeah.
Now I know where to go when I need a shotgun.
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